New Mission

After Gojo got disciplined for causing a massive amount of destruction—and forgetting to put up a veil, no less—the four of them found themselves killing time on the campus basketball court. The sun was starting to dip, casting long shadows across the concrete, the sound of bouncing rubber echoing lazily through the air.

"Looking after the weak is very exhausting, honestly," Gojo said, casually tossing the ball to Geto.

"Survival of the weakest. That's how society should be," Geto replied, catching the ball. "Listen, Satoru—jujutsu exists to protect non-jujutsu sorcerers."

Gojo rolled his eyes behind his shades. "Is that your moral argument?" he drawled. "I hate moral arguments."

"What?" Geto turned his head toward him, eyebrows raised.

That's when Naoya cut in, voice smooth and cold:

"Who decided that?"

He stepped forward and held out a hand for the ball. Geto tossed it toward him without looking. Naoya caught it with a sharp clap and stared at it like it was something beneath him.

"You already know how I look at commoners," he continued. "So how do you think I view monkeys who can't even use jujutsu?"

His words hung in the air like a blade.

"Would you have a problem with that, Geto?" Naoya asked, eyes locked on him now, voice almost playful, almost taunting.

Gojo, lounging on the other side of the court, scrunched his nose and said,

"Quit making yourself feel better by spouting bullshit,"

Then let out a dramatic, "Blegh," like he was about to vomit.

Geto didn't crack a smile. He raised a finger, pointing at the outside as cursed energy flickered behind him, eyes beginning to emerge from the growing shadow.

"You two, wanna take this outside?" he said calmly, but with an edge.

"You feeling lonely? Go by yourself," Gojo replied, sliding his sunglasses down to revealing his eyes.

"Beating commoners always feels good," Naoya added with a smirk as his cursed energy surged in response.

"time to run"

Shoko, watching the tension spike to dangerous levels, didn't hesitate—she stood up and quietly left the court without a word.

Just as cursed energy began to crackle between the trio, the court door slammed open.

"How long are you going to keep fooling around?" Yaga's voice boomed across the gym.

The cursed energy vanished like smoke. The three of them suddenly looked like they'd just been stretching and chatting the whole time, all playing it off in perfect sync.

"Where did Shoko go?" Yaga asked, eyeing the now four-turned-three situation.

"Who knows?" Geto said with a shrug.

"Bathroom, probably," Gojo added.

"This mission is assigned to you two," Yaga continued, pointing at Gojo and Geto. Then he turned to Naoya. "But you can join too… if you want."

Gojo and Geto groaned in unison, slumping back like students stuck with weekend homework.

Only Naoya kept smiling—he knew what was coming.

…

"Honestly, this might be too much for you," Yaga said as they walked through the school.

"But Tengen-sama asked for you specifically."

"Huh?"

"Your mission has two goals," Yaga continued.

"The Star Plasma Vessel is the only one compatible with Tengen-sama. You're to escort that girl… and erase her."

"Escort a brat and erase her?" Gojo asked, confused.

"That's right."

"Have you finally lost it old man?" Gojo smirked.

"It's spring—he's probably still dizzy from becoming principal last year," Geto joked.

"Jokes aside—" Geto started, but Yaga cut him off.

"I'll decide if that's funny or not," Yaga said sternly.

He went on explaining the mission—one Naoya already knew every detail of. He'd been waiting for this.

In fact, he'd even had his clan search for another Star Plasma Vessel as a backup.

And they'd found one.

Now, she was locked away in his clan's hands.

…

The mission was set to begin tomorrow. The air was unusually still as the sun dipped below the horizon, casting long shadows across the school grounds. While the others rested or prepared, Naoya decided to take a walk. He had already gone through his cursed energy exercises earlier, and he still had time before his nightly physical training.

As he strolled around the back of the training grounds, he spotted a familiar figure lying back on a bench beneath a tree. Shoko. Alone. Relaxed. Her usual deadpan stare pointed at the sky.

A slow, devilish smirk crept onto Naoya's face.

Well, well… look who decided to exist without supervision.

He stepped forward, hands in his pockets.

"Hey, Shoko."

She tilted her head lazily, barely giving him a glance. "Hmm? Naoya, huh… What do you want?"

Naoya casually glanced around, cursed energy senses on alert—nothing. Perfect.

He stepped forward, just close enough to poke at her bubble of comfort, his voice low and smooth."What? Can't I just say hi to my favorite gloomy corpse fixer?"

Shoko didn't even turn her head, just exhaled smoke and replied with a tired sigh."Spare me. You only talk to people when you're bored… or when you're about to be an ass."

Naoya chuckled. "Ouch. How cruel."

He circled the bench slowly like a predator sizing up prey, then stopped behind it, resting his hands on the backrest. "You know, it's kinda sad… all that talent with cursed energy, and all you do is heal people. Don't you ever get bored being the team's band-aid?"

Shoko didn't respond at first. She just pulled a cigarette from her pocket and lit it with her lighter, inhaling calmly.

Naoya continued, not missing a beat.

"Tell me, when you're patching up the same commoner or monkey for the fiftieth time, do you ever think, 'Damn… I could be doing something better with my life?'"

Still no reaction

"Oh, come on. No witty comeback? No dry insult?" he leaned forward just a little more. "Don't tell me I've actually managed to hurt the great Shoko Ieiri's feelings."

Shoko exhaled a cloud of smoke.

Then, finally, she turned her eyes toward him.

"You done stroking your ego?" she said, her tone flat,

Naoya's smirk twitched.

"Oh, I'm just getting started."