"Ah! Suguru-senpai!"
Haidara Yuu excitedly peeked around the corner of the hallway. When he saw Suguru Geto sitting on a chair, he immediately bowed at a full ninety degrees and greeted him with enthusiasm. "You've worked hard!"
"Oh, Haidara. Want something to drink?"
"Huh? That feels a bit rude to accept… But I'll take a cola!"
Each holding a cold can of cola, the two sat on a bench, chatting casually.
"By the way, I'm heading out on a mission tomorrow," Haidara Yuu said with a sigh.
"That so? Bring me back a souvenir."
"Got it!"
"Do you want something sweet or salty, Suguru-senpai?"
Haidara Yuu's warm, cheerful smile became frozen in Suguru Geto's memory.
...
What… exactly is going on?
Suguru Geto slowly opened his eyes, staring blankly at the ceiling of his dorm room. His unfocused gaze was heavy with dark circles.
The room was dim, and outside, the sky was covered in thick, gray clouds. The rain poured down relentlessly, the raindrops hitting the tightly shut window with a constant pattering sound.
Was that just a dream, or…?
For a moment, he felt as though he was suddenly standing in a vast underground hall. The harsh white light from the fluorescent lamps illuminated every corner, filling the space with an eerie, bone-chilling coldness.
The hall was packed with people in white lab coats. Each of them had the same stiff, almost frozen, happy smile on their face. Their facial muscles were arranged in an eerily identical way, making them look like moving statues. The cold light above cast uneven shadows over their faces.
They clapped nonstop, the loud applause merging into a continuous roar, as endless as the sound of pouring rain.
And in the middle of this strange crowd stood a white-haired boy with an indifferent expression.
Gojo Satoru held a corpse in his arms, covered with a white cloth—Riko's body, lifeless for two days.
"Geto, should I kill them all?" Gojo Satoru suddenly asked. "Right now, even if I slaughtered every single one of them, I probably wouldn't feel a thing."
Suguru Geto stared at him in a daze, his parched throat barely managing to squeeze out a short, confused sound.
"Huh?"
"No…"
A voice, both familiar and foreign, echoed in his ears. Instinctively, he turned his head—
Only to see himself standing right beside him.
"Killing these people won't change anything." Geto Suguru lowered his head as he spoke, his voice heavy. His hands, hanging limply at his sides, unconsciously clenched into fists.
"It looks like only ordinary followers of the Star Religious Group are here. The real culprits who know the world of sorcery must have already escaped. This isn't like bounty killings—there's no way to deny what happened. This group was already a problem, and it won't be long before it's taken down."
"Meaning, huh?"
Gojo Satoru carried Amanai Riko's lifeless body and walked between them. His voice, devoid of emotion, came from behind them.
"Does meaning really matter that much?"
"It does… especially for sorcerers."
Even the Six Eyes, capable of seeing down to the molecular level, couldn't analyze what lay beyond its field of vision.
With his back turned to them, Gojo Satoru couldn't see the flicker of doubt in his best friend's eyes.
Only Geto Suguru himself could see the expression on his own face.
The sound of clapping continued, just like the raindrops falling outside the window.
Pitter-patter.
What… is this supposed to be?
Geto Suguru's pupils slowly contracted, and thin red veins spread across his eyes.
Amanai Riko was still alive in the real world, yet in the dream, she was dead. Haibara Yu had died during a mission in reality, and in the dream, the same fate awaited him—down to the exact date.
What if…
The line between dream and reality was growing blurry. The boy with messy black hair draped over his shoulders was getting lost in that uncertain space, his emotions turning restless.
If this really foreshadowed reality and the future, then why couldn't it have warned me sooner?
He suddenly grabbed his phone and hurled it at the opposite wall.
With a loud crash, the phone shattered.
At that moment, the screen of another phone lit up with a sharp notification sound.
A faint light reflected in Geto Suguru's dazed eyes. He reached for the phone on his bedside table and checked the message.
"A mission…"
He patted his cheeks to snap himself out of it. After forcing himself to wake up, he got dressed, washed up, and headed to the designated classroom.
Inside the classroom, a tall, muscular man with dark skin sat behind the podium with his arms crossed. He wore sunglasses and had a serious expression on his face.
Yaga Masamichi had been waiting for quite some time. When he saw Geto Suguru walk in, his voice immediately turned disapproving.
"You're late, Geto."
"Sorry, I overslept and missed the message." Geto apologized absentmindedly, then casually found a chair and sat down. "So, what's the mission?"
"Overslept…"
Yaga let out a deep breath, clearly displeased with his student's careless attitude, before finally explaining.
"Lately, there have been multiple violent attacks across Tokyo. Normally, these kinds of cases wouldn't fall under the jurisdiction of sorcerers. But because they happened suddenly, in large numbers, and under suspicious circumstances…"
"The higher-ups suspect that the perpetrators were influenced by cursed spirits or manipulated by curse users. That's why they've issued an investigation order."
"Your technique is highly effective against curses, and you're sharp, so they assigned this mission to you."
"This is mainly an investigation, and there's no strict deadline. Your job is to find out the cause of these civilian riots—no matter what it takes."
"That's all."
After hearing Yaga's explanation, Geto Suguru nodded, signaling that he understood. Then, without another word, he got up and left the classroom.
Ordinary people, driven to violence by cursed spirits or curse users… huh?
As he walked down the stone steps at the base of the mountain, an image surfaced in his mind—the underground chamber bathed in cold, blue light.
The sound of the Star Religious Group's applause still echoed in his ears.
…
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