Itadori Yuji waited.
Nothing else came.
"...Sure?"
He couldn't help asking,
"There won't be any restrictions?"
Mahito smiled.
"You actually think I'd impose restrictions?"
"Or..."
"Do you really think Gojo Satoru could threaten me after coming back?"
Itadori Yuji opened his mouth...
...then silently closed it.
That was exactly what he had been thinking.
Mahito calmly continued,
"When the Western powers were reestablished, they didn't kill the emperor."
"They kept him alive inside the palace as little more than a historical symbol."
"Why?"
"Because the emperor could no longer influence the new society."
"Keeping him alive also proved to everyone that the old era truly belonged to the past."
"Satoru is that former emperor."
"I killed him because he insisted on challenging me."
"If he had bowed to me back then, that battle would never have happened."
"The reason I haven't resurrected him yet..."
"...is because his death serves as a warning."
"A warning to those who come afterward."
"Now that the warning has already been delivered, his remaining value is gone."
"If his own student becomes champion of the Infinite Possibilities tournament for his sake and uses that precious wish to resurrect him..."
"Why would I place restrictions on it?"
"It would only damage my reputation and create terrible precedent for future rules."
"I won't do that."
Itadori Yuji stood frozen.
He suddenly realized...
Since Mahito first appeared, aside from changing Miyuki's gender, he really hadn't done anything that gave him a terrible reputation.
Even Miyuki's gender swap had mostly become a running joke within the jujutsu world.
And Miyuki herself had long since refused to change back.
This guy...
Aside from having an indescribably strange personality...
...was actually an incredibly decent person?
Itadori Yuji's expression gradually shifted into one of sincere admiration.
"Yes!"
"I understand!"
Mahito finally turned toward Kugisaki Nobara.
"And you?"
"What do you want to ask?"
"This is a rare opportunity."
"It may be the last time you ever meet a god."
"Ask anything."
"Even questions about the future."
"I can answer them."
Nobara fidgeted awkwardly.
"...I actually didn't think of anything."
"I just saw Fushiguro and Itadori coming here."
"It felt weird not coming too."
"So I followed along."
That answer even caught Mahito off guard.
He burst into laughter.
"Nobara-chan!"
"You're really the most interesting one!"
Nobara became even more embarrassed.
She grumbled,
"I couldn't just leave these two idiots alone."
"One overthinks everything."
"The other is nothing but muscles."
"I don't know what they'd do without me."
That wasn't the real reason.
The truth was...
...she had simply followed her feelings.
Mahito laughed even harder.
Nobara sighed deeply before vigorously scratching her short hair into complete disarray.
Then she quietly asked,
"Before I came to the city to become a Jujutsu Sorcerer..."
"There was a big sister I admired very much."
"Can you tell me..."
"...where she is now?"
When standing before a god...
Some ask for money.
Some ask for power.
Some ask for lovers.
Some ask for ideals.
Some ask for ambition.
Some greedily ask endless questions.
Only the purest people ask about old regrets.
Mahito looked deeply at Nobara.
Then he smiled.
"She's working at an ordinary company now."
"It's exhausting work."
"The elegance she once had is gone."
"Now she's just another office worker."
"She comes home every day exhausted, like an old dog lying in the shade during summer because it's too tired even to sweat."
"Even knowing that..."
"...do you still want to find her?"
Mahito wasn't lying.
That exact scene had appeared in the original manga.
The elegant older sister Nobara admired had ultimately been defeated by reality.
She became an exhausted office worker.
Whenever she remembered Nobara, those memories were filtered by nostalgia.
She sincerely wished for Nobara's happiness...
...while she herself had already been swallowed by reality.
Nobara froze.
She couldn't answer.
Mahito brushed his hand across the low table.
A pen and a blank sheet of paper appeared.
He lightly tapped the paper.
A manga panel emerged upon it.
Using the Predictive Manga technique, Mahito located the future where Nobara's older sister could be found.
He dismissed the panel...
...copied the information onto the paper...
...and handed it to Miyuki.
Miyuki quietly carried it over to Nobara.
Mahito smiled.
"If you want to find her..."
"...then go."
"But prepare yourself."
"The elegant, cool big sister from your childhood no longer exists."
"Your reunion may not be beautiful."
Nobara's emotional defenses finally collapsed.
She clutched the paper tightly before slumping over the table, letting out muffled sobs.
Finally...
Mahito turned toward Yuta Okkotsu.
"Okkotsu."
"I've been waiting for you ever since I learned you intended to serve under me."
"Now that half a month has passed..."
"...are you ready?"
Yuta Okkotsu took a deep breath.
"Yes."
"I'm ready."
"From today onward..."
"...please guide me, Lord Mahito."
This was a decision he had made long ago.
He had already told Itadori Yuji—
Once Gojo Satoru truly died...
...and Mahito successfully completed the Apotheosis Ritual...
...he would follow Mahito and personally witness the world Mahito would create.
Half a month later...
He had finally arrived.
Mahito nodded with satisfaction.
"Very good."
"Then I'll give you your very first mission."
"Please instruct me."
Yuta straightened his posture like a samurai awaiting orders.
Mahito clapped his hands.
"I received an invitation."
"I don't really feel like going."
"So you'll be my vanguard."
"Go check it out for me."
A letter appeared in Mahito's hand.
He casually tossed it toward Yuta.
Yuta suddenly had an ominous feeling.
What kind of invitation could make even Lord Mahito say he didn't want to go?
The envelope read:
To Mr. Mahito
He slowly opened it.
Inside was written:
To the boys and girls blessed with extraordinary talents and burdened with countless worries:If you wish to test your Gifts...Then abandon your family, your friends, your possessions, and everything belonging to your current world......and come to our Little Garden.
During the past half month, Yuta had binge-read countless isekai anime because he expected Mahito might eventually send him to another world.
So the instant he read those words...
He immediately recognized them.
Mahito smiled.
"I once told Tengen that I sensed someone's gaze within the River of Souls."
"And during my battle with Satoru..."
"...that gaze watched us directly."
"Back then, I didn't know whose gaze it was."
"But after that battle..."
"...this invitation arrived."
"I still don't know exactly who was watching."
"But I do know where that gaze came from."
Problem Children Are Coming from Another World, Aren't They?
"Okkotsu."
"You've read that light novel before, haven't you?"
Yuta Okkotsu's only response was—
"...Fuck."
The next instant...
His vision suddenly expanded.
The scenery changed abruptly.
He found himself falling from nearly four thousand meters in the air.
The terrifying pressure of free fall assaulted his body.
He completely gave up resisting and screamed at the top of his lungs.
"Mahitooooooo!!"
"I'm fuuuucked—Aaaaaaaahhhhhh!!"
Before him stretched an unimaginable landscape.
The horizon itself resembled the edge of the world.
Far below lay an unknown city...
...covered beneath an enormous curtain so vast that it completely distorted one's sense of scale.
The world unfolding before his eyes—
...was a true fantasy world.
The End.
T/N: This was an incredible journey, hands down the best JJK fic I've read till date. It's a shame it's come to an end but it's a lot better than those stories that don't know when to quit constantly world hopping and manufacturing endless conflicts.
I promised to stick to six ongoing projects at a time so I'll roll in a replacement for this soon (When I mean soon don't expect anything this week.)
For those of you who'd be leaving after this;
"In case I don't see ya, Good morning, Good afternoon and Goodnight."