"Yaaah——Stop it! Disrespectful!" Amanai Riko's scream almost overturned the ceiling of the hotel room.
Gojo Satoru and Geto Suguru, one grabbing her ankle, the other unceremoniously holding her arms, effortlessly lifted her entire person off the ground.
Then these two, extremely wickedly, crossed their hands, twisting the struggling girl back and forth in the air like wringing a wet towel. Judging by the posture, they really intended to twist her into a human twist donut.
As for Mukyoku Nagi, he folded his arms and leaned against a relatively intact cabinet nearby, watching coldly, turning a blind eye and deaf ear.
"P-Please stop! Please don't treat Young Miss like this!"
*Ding!* The elevator doors opened.
At this time, the maid Kuroi Misato just rode Geto Suguru's Cursed Spirit 'Manta Ray' (note: likely the flying ray Cursed Spirit) to the room they were in. But as soon as she entered, she saw this hellish scene before her eyes and hurriedly spoke to stop it in fright.
"Kuroi!" Amanai Riko heard the familiar voice, struggling even harder as if seeing a savior, her voice carrying grievance.
Hearing this, Gojo Satoru and Geto Suguru finally stretched Amanai Riko like noodles one last time, then let go and dropped her on the ground.
Amanai Riko propped herself up pitifully. Kuroi Misato explained at the same time: "Young Miss, these people are indeed sent to protect us, they are on our side."
"Hmph! Who wants their kind of protection..."
Amanai Riko rubbed her sore arms from the fall, just about to complain stubbornly, but her gaze was completely attracted by the huge and strange 'Manta Ray' Cursed Spirit beneath Kuroi. Curiosity instantly overwhelmed everything. "...Kuroi, what is... that thing you were riding just now?"
"Ah, this is this Mr. Bangs' technique."
"Um, can you not use that word to describe me?" Geto Suguru couldn't help rubbing his forehead, trying to maintain his image.
"Then... a tuft of hair?" Mukyoku Nagi beside them suddenly chimed in to twist the knife, tone flat and waveless.
"Hey hey, Nagi, are you serious?" Geto Suguru looked at him helplessly, feeling his reputation being continuously persecuted by his teammate.
Geto Suguru sighed, deciding to explain personally to avoid any more strange names appearing: "This is my technique, 'Cursed Spirit Manipulation.' Simply put, it's the ability to absorb and subdue Cursed Spirits, and freely manipulate them."
"Just like Pokémon, gotta beat them first before throwing the ball to capture." Mukyoku Nagi added concisely again, using an unusually easy-to-understand metaphor.
Geto Suguru turned his head in surprise to look at him: "Wow... I thought only Satoru would use such weird metaphors."
"You girl are more energetic than I thought." Gojo Satoru also spoke up at this time. "Originally I was worried you would become depressed because of the merging issue, still thinking about how not to agitate you."
"Tch, truly mediocre way of thinking~ Listen well!"
Amanai Riko was like a cat whose tail was stepped on, jumping up from the ground instantly. To increase her imposing manner, she even stepped on the back of the 'Manta Ray' Cursed Spirit, head held high and chest out, posing with a proud and confident expression.
"Master Tengen is this Young Miss, and this Young Miss is Master Tengen! Through 'Merging,' this Young Miss's will, mind, and soul will be with Master Tengen after merging, and live on forever!"
Her words were resonant, as if she had long carved this rhetoric into her marrow.
*'Amanai Riko,'*
He asked silently in his heart, gaze seemingly trying to penetrate the girl's tough shell. *'Do you truly believe this without doubt, accepting this fate completely... or have you long known the cruel truth that "merging" is actually "replacement," only performing strength with all your might to convince others, and also convince yourself?'*
"Hey! You guys listen properly to what this Young Miss is saying!" Amanai Riko shouted at Gojo Satoru and Geto Suguru who were discussing screensavers and completely disregarding what she said.
"Hey, Miss Amanai."
"Hmm?"
"Is this really okay?"
"Of course, don't look down on me." Although her voice was loud, it felt lacking in confidence.
"Is that so..." Mukyoku Nagi responded softly, asking no further. But he already had the answer in his heart. That posture of feigned strength, that fleeting confusion and fear deep in her eyes, couldn't escape the observation of "Vermilion Eyes."
A thought grew wildly in his mind, carrying a cold chill.
*'Tengen... maintaining the barrier, avoiding evolution, is "merging" with the Star Plasma Vessel really the only method?'*
His thoughts drifted to those ancient materials about Tengen he consulted before departure. A sorcerer who has lived for over a thousand years, almost as ancient as Jujutsu itself; her wisdom and means are definitely not something ordinary people can fathom. He didn't quite believe that for such an existence, in a thousand years, she only found this one method of "merging with Star Plasma Vessel" to avoid losing control of herself. Moreover, a thousand years of time, constant merging... could she really still retain original humanity?
*'If...'* A cold and bold conjecture formed in his mind. *'If she didn't fail to find other methods, but deliberately maintained this state of "needing merging"?'*
Thinking of this possibility, thinking of how many like Amanai Riko had been merged by Tengen over these thousand years, Mukyoku Nagi's vermilion pupils lit up uncontrollably and silently, flowing with cold and sharp luster.
*'If that is truly the case...'* His eyes turned completely cold.
*'Then she,'* a biting killing intent quietly condensed in Nagi's heart, *'really deserves to die.'*
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