Finally, that morning, the girl commandeered her bedroom and kicked her out into the living room.
"Help me assimilate the world," she said. "Help me, and I'll stay."
With that she shut the bedroom door, apparently meaning to catch up on her sleep during the day.
That left Kenjaku alone in the living room, dazed. How laughable...
Kenjaku had never imagined that one day she would find making a simple decision so difficult, and making a difficult decision so simple.
She had clung to the old ways, guarding them for a thousand years.
In the end she hadn't held out to the finish, hadn't gotten the ending she wanted—instead she'd gotten a meteor from beyond the heavens that blew her entire world into utter chaos.
Kenjaku was not one to be stirred by momentary emotion or to act on impulse.
Yet once she'd calmed down and reflected, she found that the girl's words truly had shaken her a great deal.
She left the girl at home, told her not to go out, and then, disguised as Kaori Itadori, went to the office to work, came home to make dinner for Itadori, and went out shopping in the evening with a few female coworkers.
Throughout it all, the acting and focus she prided herself on went awry—everyone noticed she was distracted, everyone could tell she was weighed down by something very, very heavy on her mind.
In the end, Kenjaku could only apologize during the outing with friends and head home early.
What she saw when she got home was still that blue-haired girl in the living room, watching a magical-girl anime, her expression rapt, as if utterly unconnected to Kenjaku's own troubled heart.
"...?" The moment she stepped through the door, the girl looked over. That gaze still held an inquisitive quality.
Kenjaku knew the girl was waiting for her answer.
To that, Kenjaku could only give a wry smile: "Can you give me a few more days?"
She really did need more time... to make her decision.
"Oh." The girl tilted her head, then turned back expressionlessly to keep watching TV, leaving Kenjaku hanging off to one side, as if she didn't actually need Kenjaku's help at all.
Later, Kenjaku learned through her own intelligence sources that while she was out during the day playing Kaori Itadori, Mahiru had carried out several more "attacks" called assimilation at various different locations, unleashing "assaults" that plunged everyone into slumber.
She said she still needed to think it over some more.
And so time crossed over another night, another day.
Never once had Kenjaku felt that everything had changed like this.
Facing a thousand years of effort, and the immense sunk cost tangled up with it, the woman truly did not know what to do.
Because, after hearing Mahiru's words, she genuinely realized that her original grand Cursed Spirit plan was actually so ordinary, so uninteresting.
Molding corpses into a ball... and truly sublimating the souls of the human masses into a single whole... sounded like things on completely different dimensions.
...Then let's give it a try. In that case, she would keep the girl around, help her, support her, and carry out the plan to assimilate the world together with her... let's give it a try.
The girl's plan did sound far more magnificent.
And at the same time, the girl had concretely demonstrated the power to assimilate souls—which let Kenjaku see the plan's feasibility, allowing her to choose to believe.
"I'm willing to help you..." So saying, Kenjaku pushed open her own bedroom door, searching for the girl.
But she froze—because she didn't see the girl, only an open window, the night breeze stirring the curtains.
Had she gone out?
Had she run off to some other place to conduct an assimilation experiment again? Kenjaku hesitated slightly, then decided to go out and take a look after all.
Calling on her cursed techniques, Kenjaku set out to find Mahiru.
Meanwhile, in Tokyo, at Jujutsu High.
Two young men, summoned by Masamichi Yaga, had also come to his office.
"Yo, teacher, what'd you call me here so late for?" Walking in front, one hand in his pocket, with a devil-may-care air, was the silver-haired youth Satoru Gojo.
"Yeah, don't tell me some teacher botched a mission again and needs us to wipe their ass?" Following behind, just as languid and yawning as he came in, was Suguru Geto. "We're still just students, you know. Doing this—isn't it bad for the teachers' salaries?"
At this point the two of them were still just high school students at Jujutsu High. But being urgently called in the dead of night was something they'd long since grown used to.
In the jujutsu world of this era, the nominal strongest was the Special Grade Sorcerer Yuki Tsukumo. At this time, neither Satoru Gojo nor Suguru Geto had yet been rated Special Grade.
Yuki Tsukumo didn't bother with such affairs.
Right now, these two, still students, were already what could nearly be called the strongest duo in the entire Japanese jujutsu world.
They were students, true, but many incidents the teachers couldn't handle ultimately had to rely on these two stepping up.
Invincible compared to their peers. Invincible compared to their juniors. Invincible compared to their seniors. Compared to enemies, friends, teachers... they were invincible against them all.
And precisely because of this, the two were usually arrogant and conceited, careless and slack in how they did things.
Yaga had an endless headache over these two uncontrollable brats, but it was also a fact that no one in the jujutsu world could ever put them in their place.
Frankly, only Yaga, as their teacher, could still get Satoru Gojo and Suguru Geto to show a modicum of respect. As for everyone else, these two didn't give them a second glance.
Yaga sighed helplessly, deciding not to pursue for now their habit of shoving the door open hard without knocking, nor the school uniforms he'd just noticed they'd secretly altered the style of, and got straight to the point.
"I called you here for two things—two assignments to give you. One task, a month from now: you'll assist Tengen in handling the matter of the Star Plasma Vessel... that one's not urgent yet. The urgent matter is the other one—we need you to investigate the anomalies that have recently appeared in Tokyo."
"Oh, anomalies." Satoru Gojo leaned against the wall and raised a hand. "I know, I know—lately there seems to be a strange Cursed Spirit that can make people have the same dream."
"Oh yeah, that urban legend's pretty famous. It gave me quite a bit of grief back then," Suguru Geto chimed in.
"You had grief?" Satoru Gojo raised an eyebrow. "Weaklings really are cowards."
"My grief was because that thing makes people share dreams with those around them." Suguru Geto let out a "heh," smiling as he shot Satoru Gojo a sidelong glance. "I have no desire to dig into your head—I'd catch stupidity from an idiot's low IQ."
"Ha? Who're you calling stupid?" Satoru Gojo put his hands on his hips, bent down, and leaned in with wide eyes. "Besides, getting to see my dreams would be an honor for you."
Watching these two about to start bickering again, without a shred of urgency, Yaga sighed once more and rapped on the desk, tugging their gazes back.
"The sorcerers who went to investigate this before were all defeated," Yaga said gravely. "Some sorcerers said that unknown Cursed Spirit's methods resemble Domain Expansion—so before the two of you go, review Simple Domain for me first, then go investigate this."
The two's expressions remained utterly indifferent and dismissive.
Yaga furrowed his brow and added at last: "Don't take this matter lightly, either of you. Because that unknown existence's strength is unclear for now... Remember, when carrying out the mission, you must always put your own safety first."
Satoru Gojo and Suguru Geto knew their teacher was genuinely worried about them, so they both nodded and said, "Okay, okay, we'll definitely be careful."
But even as they said it, the two exchanged a glance, each seeing the amusement in the other's eyes.
Danger? How could there be...
It was honestly enough to make you laugh your teeth off.
Mahiru didn't know that Gojo and Geto were on their way. But she did know that Kenjaku had already arrived nearby and was observing what she was up to over here.
Earlier, the reason Mahiru had kept performing Domain Expansions out in the open was that she needed to keep communicating with Jogo and the others on their side.
That was different from now.
Now, and going forward, Mahiru would likely need to make a sincere confession.
A very, very, very sincere confession.
Because she was about to do a very bad, bad thing.
"So, Yuji Itadori, do you want to become a magical girl?"
In the boy's bedroom, a cute little shikigami resembling a rabbit sat by the window, moonlight reflected behind it.
The shikigami was speaking in Mahiru's voice.
"But... I'm a boy." Itadori was slightly dazed.
The poor kid, who knew nothing about the jujutsu world, had already been targeted by the great villain Mahiru.
In this era, magical-girl works and the concept had only just started to catch on a little, and that night Itadori encountered a "contract beast" that could supposedly form a contract with people and turn them into magical girls.
He was a child, of course, so naturally he'd be enormously interested in transforming into a hero and saving the world. And who was Mahiru? She hyped the sacred profession of "magical girl" up to the skies right in front of Itadori.
Worked over like a pyramid-scheme recruit, Itadori sank straight into beautiful fantasies.
But reality is cruel, and dreams are bony. Little Itadori, having listened to Mahiru, felt he too should join the wonderful ranks of magical girls—then, on second thought, discovered that he was in fact a boy.
What?! If only I were a girl!
Little Itadori was terribly dejected.
But just then Mahiru's little rabbit patted its chest and said it was no problem.
"It's fine! This is exactly what I'm good at!"
Itadori was stunned, not understanding what this "good at" meant. But if boys could become magical girls too, then that was just wonderful.
"Thank you, Miss Contract Beast!" the boy said with heartfelt gratitude.
And hearing the boy's thanks, Mahiru rubbed her nose a little awkwardly on the other end.
Ahem.
This was the bad thing she'd said she was going to do.
Two days had passed since she'd shown up at Kenjaku's door. Over these two days, Mahiru had upheld the principle of "mess with Kenjaku when there's something to do, and mess with Kenjaku when there isn't," turning Kenjaku's home upside down.
It wasn't until today that she began a new course of action.
She'd come for Itadori.
Note that this time she'd set her sights on Itadori not because her wicked streak had flared up. Mainly, she wanted to run an experiment.
She wanted to figure out what exactly was going on with this time travel.
She knew she'd traveled through a Black Hole, and that this was the past. But was this "past" world actually linked to the "modern" world she'd been in before?
On this point she wasn't very clear.
If they weren't "linked," then the "past" and the "modern" were two worlds that didn't affect each other.
But if they were "linked"—that is, if this "past" was the past of the "modern world"—then by rights, anything she did in the "past" would affect the future "modern" era.
Mahiru taking various actions was unavoidable. She had to determine whether her actions would affect the future world before undertaking anything of major consequence.
Over these two days she'd secretly corresponded with the Jogo of the modern era to learn about the state of reality, and she truly hadn't found any conspicuous changes in it.
But what if that was because those changes just weren't noticeable?
Kenjaku had been hoodwinked by Mahiru, but perhaps later, because of something, Kenjaku had lost her memory...
Mahiru had made the news, but perhaps Jujutsu High hadn't cared at all, so no related information could be found in the future.
Still unable to rest easy, Mahiru had to leave an "unchangeable" mark on an "important person," to see whether anything changed on Jogo and the others' side—to run an experiment.
Her final choice was to impose the mark on little Itadori.
It wasn't as though he had to become a girl... anyway, as long as Mahiru used Idle Transfiguration to leave on Itadori a "mark that only Mahiru could reverse," it could serve as the experiment.
"After you become a magical girl, you must keep a heart of justice and resolve to drive out evil. You must ensure your own safety, and at the same time, you must conceal your identity from the family and friends around you—you can't leak your secret..."
"I'm willing! Of course I'm willing!" Itadori's eyes shone.
And so, alas, how tragic—
Pink light flashed, and the little boy turned into a little girl with long pink hair, dressed in a magical-girl outfit.
"From now on you're a magical girl!"
The utterly wicked Mahiru had succeeded!
And in Mahiru's perception, Kenjaku, who'd been watching from the sidelines the entire time, was already dumbstruck with shock, clutching her own head with both hands.
—Her son had become a daughter!
And a magical girl, no less!
Even that smooth string of words spoken while contracting with Itadori had been, word for word, original lines from the magical-girl anime.
Hold on—Mahiru, didn't you agree you were going to assimilate humanity? What's the meaning of turning Itadori into a magical girl? Don't tell me—is this also part of the assimilation?
Although she couldn't sense any necessary connection between the two, and found the whole thing before her utterly baffling, Kenjaku—as a jujutsu scientist with an exceptionally high spirit of inquiry—still began proactively analyzing the deeper meaning of Mahiru's move.
And so Kenjaku gravely reached a conclusion.
—That's right, this must be a link in the assimilation!
Although she still didn't know the specific connection, Kenjaku, at this moment, chose to believe Mahiru!
She resolved to support Mahiru through her actions!
In fact, Mahiru turning Itadori into a magical girl hadn't really turned him permanently into a girl. Just as Mahiru had said before, leaving a mark was enough.
Inside Itadori's body, she'd set up a binding vow similar to the kind she'd set before—only when using Cursed Energy would Itadori transform into a magical girl.
So this wouldn't affect Itadori's normal daily life.
At least, that was what Mahiru thought.
But what she completely failed to anticipate was that the next afternoon, while she was in the living room eating watermelon Kenjaku had bought, she saw Kenjaku leading that young pink-haired little girl in through the front door.
"Let me introduce you—this is my daughter." Kenjaku smiled, presenting the little Itadori at her side to Mahiru. "After she became a girl, I got her a new ID—Yuuko Itadori. That's her new name."
Mahiru's mouth fell open, the spoon in her hand nearly slipping to the floor.
You're way too into this... how could you even go and change the kid's ID?!
____
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