Chapter 217 Original Story Side Story (7): If Daigo raised a little wolfhound, Ichima, in the prison gates...

"Is there something urgent you need to deal with? Then it would be better to go there first."

At a private meeting the following day, Ieiri Shoko looked at Gojo Satoru, who kept glancing at his phone, and gave him an obvious look of confusion.

No, it's nothing.

Gojo Satoru smiled and shook his head, casually putting the phone, whose screen was still on the game interface, back into his pocket.

"Just checking the status."

To avoid their own child feeling insecure, with pitiful black eyes constantly darting back and forth in the air, trying to find proof that Mr. Gojo is still by his side.

Voice chat is enabled by default when the game is open, and it also records ambient sounds from the player's side.

Oh dear, after all, Ichima is just too afraid of being alone.

Gojo Satoru took that special voice as a junior's respect and affection for his elder, and was proud of it—look, he's actually quite good at raising kids.

But this ambiguous explanation left Ieiri Shoko completely confused.

Status? What status is confirmed via mobile phone?

She hesitated for a moment, then realized that it was probably other professionals passing information to Gojo Satoru via mobile phone, so she stopped asking questions.

"According to Article 5, we need to assess the personnel arrangements for the next match based on the strength of the lineup of Ryomen Sukuna Kato Sogarime."

After quitting smoking for a long time, Iori Shoko exhaled a wisp of smoke, letting it slowly linger in the small morgue.

Kiyotaka Ichichi stood awkwardly to the side, not daring to utter a sound.

"While you were in Kyoto yesterday dealing with those Gojo family members who were stirring up trouble while you were sealed away, the people gathered at the high school also held a meeting. Of course, some of them were kept from Itadori."

Gojo understood immediately, "Because of the resonance generated by Sukuna's fingers?"

Yuujin Itadori had served as the physical body of Sukuna Ryoumen for a long time, and the bond they had formed was strong enough that it was hard to say whether Sukuna Ryoumen could now gain insight into the High School's operations through Yuujin Itadori.

“Yes,” Ieiri Shoko nodded, “Itadori currently only knows that we will use Yuyu’s technique to perform soul-swapping training, and a battle plan assuming you are defeated. We don’t know anything else.”

"What if I lose the battle?"

Gojo Satoru muttered to himself, "They actually held this kind of meeting behind my back?"

"The Kusakabe Organization."

Shoko Ieiri shrugged and roughly recounted the contents to him.

"I will ask Mingming to use the Raven Technique to broadcast the battle live. If she sees you lose to Ryoumen Sukuna, she will immediately arrange for Gao Yu to cause trouble for Lu Suo, and for Yi Gu to seize the opportunity to kill him."

"On the other hand, the two sides need to gather all their combat power and participate in the battle in order of priority... Oh, Lu Ziyun also complained here that they should just put all their combat power together and he wanted to be the first to participate."

Lu Ziyun is one of the ancient sorcerers who have been exposed in the game "Death and Annihilation Return". He is quite powerful. After fighting with Jinji, he accepted the deal that Jinji proposed: if he joined the High School, he could have a good fight with Sukuna Ryoumen.

This is why he and many ancient sorcerers agreed to let Lu Suo turn themselves into cursed objects.

Gojo Satoru found it somewhat amusing. "Want to come to the battlefield with me, that guy who can use lightning?"

Jia Ruxiao flicked his cigarette ash. "No, Lu Ziyun has decided to wait until after you to go. He said that for a battle of your caliber with Ryomen Sukuna, having one more person wouldn't make it a truly satisfying victory."

That guy is a martial arts fanatic; he's actually quite concerned with whether he can enjoy the battle itself.

Gojo nodded knowingly, "And then?"

"If Lu Ziyun is defeated, then Riche and Huzhang will take the stage next."

Ieiri Glass counted the people on her fingers one by one, "Well, at the same time, Shō is going to deal with Rime. Then it's Shō and Kusakabe... Oh right, Ino will be here soon too, he has something to say."

Her tone remained calm and her voice was low, carrying a faint sense of world-weariness—just like the rather severe dark circles under her eyes, which had become increasingly difficult to fade after a series of major incidents in the world of sorcery.

"Then let's wait for him to arrive."

Sitting cross-legged on the dissection table with a rather nonchalant air, Gojo Satoru let out a short, melancholy sigh.

"So, we're down to just the three of us now. I thought Nanami was the type who could survive anything."

Surprisingly, among people of similar age, only Shoko and Ijichi are still able to gather in this studio that belongs to Shoko.

Kiyotaka Ijichi, who had remained silent until now, was suddenly mentioned and almost reflexively broke out in a cold sweat. "I'm so sorry..."

Upon hearing this, Gojo Satoru immediately turned to look at Ijichi, "Hmm?"—He immediately interrupted the latter before he could finish the second half of his polite sentence, "Why does Ijichi need to apologize?"

"Well... I've more or less sensed that you seem to be saying that even Mr. Nanami is dead, so how come you're still standing here..."

Gojo Satoru remained silent for a moment, a vein bulging on his forehead in obvious dissatisfaction.

"Tell me, in your hearts, just how much of a scumbag am I?"

Even if he knew that his personality could be quite willful at times, and that he had received even worse criticism before... he would never say something so offensive after learning that Iji had survived!

Gojo Satoru was a little unhappy, but seeing Iji's startled reaction, he softened his tone and emphasized it to him again.

"Listen up, I still have important work that I need your help to complete, so cheer up!"

"...!!"

Just as Kiyotaka Ijichi suddenly looked up and was about to say something, Takuma Ino arrived and asked if he could use the cursed artifact extracted from Kento Nanami after his death.

Gojo Satoru stopped dwelling on the previous topic and didn't even take it to heart.

This was not the first time he had encountered such a situation, nor was it something he had only experienced in Ijichi.

Moreover, after this not-so-long exchange, on his way to the headquarters, Gojo Satoru learned about another of his operational plans from Yuta Otsukoshi and his group who had followed him.

[If Gojo Satoru is defeated and dies, then let Otokotsu Yuuta, who possesses the Imitation Technique, use "Rika" to devour the remains of Ryouso, who possesses the Body-Changing Technique—in this way, Otokotsu Yuuta can borrow Gojo Satoru's body even when his side is completely wiped out, and rely on his unscrupulous techniques to fight Ryoumen Sukuna to the death.]

People at the vocational college generally agreed that the plan was feasible, but the reasons for opposition, aside from considerations of human nature, were almost all due to concerns that Yi Gu You Tai would likely die after the five-minute imitation spell ended.

Or even if they were lucky enough to survive, they would have to rely on Gojo Satoru's body to live from then on.

Yuta Etsukoshi insisted on this plan—he chose to succeed Gojo-sensei, who was regarded as a monster, as the new monster after his death.

Regardless, the long-discussed battle plan was finalized, and its activation was contingent on the death of Gojo Satoru.

"…………"

Gojo Satoru listened quietly to Etotsu Yuta's retelling, his hands in his pockets, and walked slowly toward his destination.

"That's how it is. After you die, your body will be mine."

Following behind him, Yuta Ekiku gave the final summary, noticing that Satoru Gojo hadn't expressed any opinion. "Why do you seem a little angry? Are you unwilling?"

"...No."

Gojo Satoru finally spoke, "I don't think I'll lose. And as for my own corpse, it doesn't really matter... Although Shoko didn't object to that, which annoyed me a little."

It's one thing for the students and Kusakabe, but that girl Shoko, she actually accepted this operation plan so readily?

Damn it, at least try to stand up for him from his perspective.

Gojo Satoru was a little unhappy, but what he was about to do was to make a more decisive preemptive cleanup of the situation after "assuming he would lose" than he had done during the Shibuya incident.

Even if this approach is wrong, he may not have much time left and must first clean up the entire supervisory department that has caused so much trouble.

After that, the ruins could only be rebuilt by these people.

Gojo Satoru's fingers, tucked in his pocket, rested on the phone, which was warm from continuous use.

There's also Yizhen... we need to give him a good ending, that's what makes it perfect.

Even after cleaning up the director's office, when Yuta Otsuko suggested that he undergo some pre-existing training to swap souls with him, Satoru Gojo agreed without saying anything.

Apart from Gojo Satoru, all the further refinement of their physical abilities or techniques was carried out under the premise of "Gojo Satoru's death in battle" through emergency special training.

—Among so many sorcerers and support staff, not a single person proposed even a single word about a tactic against the two-sided Sukuna based on the premise of "five sages surviving".

It's as if everyone assumes that Gojo Satoru himself doesn't care about his own death, so casually ignoring the weight of a life.

But some people care.

Some people care about it to death.

Before going out, Gojo Satoru always fully charges his phone, keeps the game interface open, and keeps the voice chat running quietly in his pocket.

Kazuma Hatori gripped the ballpoint pen tightly, but couldn't write even half a word.

The hard plastic pen was held tightly between the thumb, index finger, and middle finger, making increasingly strained creaking sounds—until it suddenly broke in two, scattering into fragments all over the table.

I cannot forgive these people.

Kazuma Hato remained silent, but he did not accept that Gojo Satoru was so carelessly and coldly watched by his "comrades" as he went to his death; instead, he waited.

While waiting for them, what disgusting, extremely selfish and indifferent things could they possibly say?

Overcome with barely suppressed rage, Kazuma Hatori slowly exhaled to calm himself, swept away the shards, and took a new one from the pen holder.

The blank sheet of paper had been etched with powerful, bold strokes, each bearing the names of the people who appeared in those conversations.

Unforgivable.

"Ichima?"

The moon outside the window had climbed to the treetops, and Mr. Gojo's voice finally rang out, gently calling his name.

"Are you doing your homework? Is there anything you don't understand? I remember you'll be taking the university entrance exam next year. Have you decided which school you want to go to? Ah, actually, it's okay if you don't want to go to university. There's more than one path in life. I'll always support your choices."

Mr. Gojo is always so considerate, taking into account his thoughts and feelings in every way.

[Kazuma Hagoromo: Affection +2.]

[The romanceable character's affection level has reached 100, unlocking the ending route.]

It's over...?

Gojo was stunned for a moment, but then he sensed a slight vibration from the phone and heard extremely calm, almost word-by-word, slowly uttered syllables.

"Mr. Gojo, are you making arrangements for your funeral in advance?"

"Huh?" Gojo Satoru suddenly realized, "Ah, I never closed the interface, so it's normal that you could hear the conversation..."

In his field of vision, the little black-haired figure sitting at the desk remained motionless.

Even his usual behavior of chasing the void with his gaze and trying to make eye contact with him did not occur.

Are you angry?

Gojo Satoru hesitated for a moment, but couldn't refute it, so he could only explain to Kazuma indirectly, "I was just doing it in case..."

“Those people are not worthy to stand beside Mr. Gojo.”

Kazuma Hatake's voice came through the phone again, low and cold.

“Those people don’t deserve Mr. Gojo’s attention at all.”

Before Gojo Satoru could figure out how to respond, the phone rang with a second message.

The lighting on the game screen gradually dimmed, as if black ink had crawled up the edges; upon closer inspection, a dark red, viscous texture could be faintly seen.

"Mr. Gojo only needs to keep his eyes on me."

"Mr. Gojo will always stay by my side."

One sentence after another, faster and faster, accompanied by a buzzing sound like electricity; the phone vibrated more and more violently, as if it had been infused with some kind of intense curse—until the screen went completely black!

What right do they have to steal Mr. Gotiao's attention?

What right do they have to say they want to use Mr. Gojo's body after his death?

Mr. Gojo is his.

Gojo Satoru belongs to him.

No one is allowed to take it from him…!

A line of crimson characters, strange and distorted, as if written with blood from fingertips, emerged from the inky abyss and was clearly reflected in Gojo Satoru's azure eyes.

[END: He came to see you.]

————————

Some people say I have a lot of malice towards characters other than Wu. Does simply rewriting the original content constitute a lot of malice? JJXX drew this content, and no matter how much it ruins the character settings or the plot, it's still from JJXX's hand. We can only grit our teeth and accept that this is the original work. What can we do? Instead of criticizing me for writing this in my comments section, some people should have the ability to make JJXX change the ending—after all, this is just a fanfiction based on the original work. If the original work didn't have this content, the fanfiction naturally wouldn't be written like this.

Those who say "then why not add a second half?", if I actually wrote out some of the parts in the beginning that called Wu a "public nuisance," "scum," "monster," and "bad personality," Wu's fans would still be unhappy :)

If we ignore all these details, wouldn't that be the same as someone insulting me and me closing my eyes and saying I didn't see it, as if I didn't get insulted? Isn't that just playing the Ah Q mentality of self-deception?

If someone in the original story's side story is still blindly claiming that all fans love Satoru the most, then I think all fans aren't really suited to reading this side story.

For those who claim it's malicious slander, here are the original source citations for this chapter:

"The people gathered at the vocational college also held a meeting. Of course, some of them were kept in the dark from Huzhang."

Gojo understood immediately, "Because of the resonance generated by Sukuna's fingers?"

Yuujin Itadori served as the vessel for Ryomen Sukuna for a long period, forging a strong bond between them. It's difficult to say whether the current Ryomen Sukuna can gain insight into the High School's operations through Yuujin Itadori.

—This is a paraphrase of the conversation between Toudou and Meimei in chapter 259 of the manga.

"Yes," Ieiri Shoko nodded, "Itadori only knows that we will be using Yuyu's technique for soul-swapping training, and a battle plan assuming you are defeated. That's all we know."

—This excerpt is from chapter 258 of the manga.

"What if I lose the battle?"

Gojo Satoru muttered to himself, "They actually held this kind of meeting behind my back?"

"The Kusakabe organization."

—This excerpt is from chapter 244 of the manga.

"So, we're down to just the three of us now. I thought Nanami was the type who could survive anything."

...

"Listen up, I still have important work that I need your help to complete, so be on your toes."

—This excerpt is from chapter 221 of the manga.

[Ino Takuma arrived and asked if he could use the cursed artifact extracted from Nanami Taketo after his death.]

—This excerpt is from chapter 257.

On his way to the General Headquarters, Gojo Satoru learned about another of his operational plans from Yuta Otsukoshi and his group who had followed him.

[If Gojo Satoru is defeated and dies, then let Otokotsu Yuuta, who possesses the Imitation Technique, use "Rika" to devour the remains of Ryouso, who possesses the Body-Changing Technique—in this way, Otokotsu Yuuta can borrow Gojo Satoru's body even when his side is completely wiped out, and rely on his unscrupulous techniques to fight Ryoumen Sukuna to the death.]

...

Following behind him, Yuta Ekiku gave the final summary, noticing that Satoru Gojo hadn't expressed any opinion. "Why do you seem a little angry? Are you unwilling?"

"...No."

Gojo Satoru finally spoke, "I don't think I'll lose. And as for my own corpse, it doesn't really matter... Although Shoko didn't object to that, which annoys me a little."

—This is from chapter 261 of the manga, where the text box for the sentence "Why do you seem a little angry?" is placed next to Yuuta's face. I'm a little unsure who said this, but if you give the sentence to Satoru, the dialogue becomes:

Bone: "Your flesh is mine now."

Wu: "Why do you seem a little angry?"

Bone: "You don't want to?"

Wu: "No."

The logic of this dialogue isn't quite right... so I'll leave that line to Yigu for now. If this scene is adapted into a TV series later, or if there's clearer evidence that it was said by Wu, I'll revise it to the correct version.

Gojo Satoru was a little unhappy, but what he was about to do was to make a more decisive preemptive cleanup of the situation after "assuming he would lose" than he had done during the Shibuya incident.

Even if this approach is wrong, he may indeed not have much more time; he must first clean up the entire supervisory department that has caused so much trouble.

—This excerpt is from chapter 261 of the manga.

[Yuta Otsukoshi proposes to undergo advance adaptation training for a soul swap with him.]

—This is from chapter 267 of the manga.