“This isn’t just any ordinary flowers.” Ragnar Kagenou said with a smile, his tone far too affectionate for comfort.
“It’s the flower of a bond that lasts three lifetimes.” Shoko Ieiri blinked.
“Huh?
What’s that supposed to mean?” She had never heard that expression before.
Ragnar gave her a look, then clicked his tongue dramatically.
“It means a fated connection.
You know, the kind people romanticize way too much but can’t get.” Shoko stared at him for a second.
Then she understood.
“…You asshole.” Thump!
“Oof—!” Ragnar immediately doubled over, clutching his stomach.
“T-That was a little too hard…” “Serves you right.” After that ridiculous little detour, Shoko Ieiri and Ragnar Kagenou returned to Jujutsu High.
Life at Jujutsu High settled back into its usual, easy pace.
Ragnar sat on a bench, watching Satoru Gojo explain the Limitless technique to Shoko in his usual self-satisfied way.
Once Gojo finally finished showing off, Ragnar got up and walked over.
“Geto,” Ragnar said, glancing at him, “you’ve looked busy lately.” Gojo cut in from the side.
“Yeah.
You’ve lost weight.” He tilted his head.
“What, have you been surviving on cold noodles or something?” Ragnar didn’t even look at him.
“Ignore him.
What’s going on?” Suguru Geto’s expression didn’t change.
“It’s nothing.
Just the summer heat.” If missions could be handled alone, then Shoko didn’t need to be sent into danger.
That was the practical side of it.
The other side was simpler.
It meant Geto had more time to be by himself.
“I’m fine,” he said.
But this summer had been exhausting for Suguru Geto.
Maybe it was because of the chaos from the year before.
Maybe it was just the season.
Either way, cursed spirits had started appearing all over Tokyo in endless waves.
And Geto had spent that entire time doing the same thing over and over again.
Exorcise.
Absorb.
Repeat.
Again and again.
Every time he absorbed a cursed spirit, he had to swallow it whole.
No one else knew what that tasted like.
Geto did.
He had tasted it so many times he’d lost count.
It was like swallowing a rag dredged out of a sewer, one that had already been used to wipe up vomit.
Something no normal person could stomach.
A disgust so intense it seemed to crawl under his skin and stay there.
And while he kept enduring that cycle, his original belief—that the strong, meaning jujutsu sorcerers, existed to protect the weak—began to crack.
Then, one day, Geto muttered under his breath, “Stupid monkeys…” A few days later, burdened by those thoughts, he crossed paths with Yuki Tsukumo.
What Yuki said gave shape to the uglier thoughts already growing inside him.
If cursed spirits were born from the negative emotions of non-sorcerers, then the simplest way to erase cursed spirits from the world… …was to erase non-sorcerers themselves.
Ragnar Kagenou didn’t agree with that idea at all.
Cursed spirits were born from human negativity, yes.
But leaving aside the sheer impossibility of wiping out every non-sorcerer, jujutsu sorcerers themselves could also leave behind curses and cursed spirits after death.
On that point alone, the idea fell apart.
It solved nothing at the root.
At best, it was a violent shortcut to nowhere.
And yet, for some reason, Suguru Geto became fixated on that dead end.
A world of only jujutsu sorcerers.
A world without cursed spirits.
That was the conclusion he had started to cling to.
Then, not long after his conversation with Yuki Tsukumo, Haibara Yu—his underclassman, someone cheerful, earnest, and deeply admiring of Geto—died during a curse exorcism mission.
Haibara’s death shook Geto all over again.
For jujutsu sorcerers, protecting ordinary people could start to feel like running a marathon with nothing waiting at the finish line except the bodies of your comrades.
It was around that time that Ragnar found him.
“Yo,” Ragnar called out.
“What are you doing sitting out here alone?” Geto looked up.
“…Ran—” He stopped himself for a moment, then corrected naturally, “Ragnar.” “Catch.” Ragnar tossed him a drink.
Geto caught it on reflex.
“How do you even have time to come looking for me?” Ragnar shrugged.
“What kind of question is that?
We’re friends.” Then he added, more quietly, “And when a friend loses their way, somebody’s gotta drag them back.” Geto fell silent.
“What?” Ragnar asked.
“Not in the mood to talk?” “….” Judging by that face, not really.
And honestly, Ragnar got it.
The thoughts Geto was carrying around now weren’t the kind of thing most people could say out loud.
Then Ragnar spoke first.
“To get rid of every cursed spirit in the world, you’d have to kill every non-sorcerer.” Geto’s eyes widened slightly.
Ragnar continued, calm and casual.
“From a certain angle, yeah.
It sounds simple.” Geto looked at him in surprise.
“…You’ve thought about that too?” Ragnar met his gaze.
“But is that really what you want to do?” Geto was quiet for a moment before answering.
“It’s the easiest path.” “So you agree with it?” “…Yeah.” Ragnar let out a slow sigh.
“Suguru Geto.” His tone lost some of its usual looseness.
“Why do you want to do this?” Geto frowned, caught off guard by how direct the question was.
“To get rid of cursed spirits.
Obviously.” “But jujutsu sorcerers can also leave behind curses and cursed spirits after they die.” “….” Ragnar kept going.
“So even if you kill every non-sorcerer, curses still won’t disappear completely.
Then what?
You kill all jujutsu sorcerers too?” Geto’s voice dropped.
“No.
If it comes to that, then there wouldn’t be anyone left.” “But at least…” He hesitated.
“At least the number of cursed spirits could be controlled.
They wouldn’t keep appearing everywhere like this.” Ragnar looked at him for a long moment.
Then he repeated himself.
“No.
Go back.” Geto frowned.
“Why do you want to do this?” “I told you.
I want to eliminate cursed spirits.” Ragnar’s gaze didn’t waver.
“Then how did that turn into settling for controlling them?” Geto froze.
Ragnar stepped closer, his voice steady.
“You said you wanted to eliminate all cursed spirits.” He tapped a finger lightly against his own temple.
“So think properly.
What is it you actually want?” Geto said nothing.
His thoughts were tangled now.
Because Ragnar was right.
If the end result was only reducing the number of cursed spirits instead of erasing them completely, then that wasn’t his ideal at all.
That wasn’t the answer he had been looking for.
Ragnar spoke again.
“There are no shortcuts to something like this.” Then he turned and walked away.
He had said what he could.
The rest was up to Geto.
A person’s way of thinking didn’t change overnight.
All Ragnar could do was hope Suguru Geto wouldn’t throw himself all the way into that extreme path.
Over the next few days, Geto at least seemed a little more stable.
Whether he had truly worked through anything was impossible to say.
Some things couldn’t be resolved that easily.
Time slipped by, and before long, September arrived.
Then Geto Suguru accepted an investigation mission.
Its contents were simple enough on paper: Investigate a village where people had gone missing and several bizarre deaths had occurred, then exorcise the cursed spirit responsible.
But when he arrived, what he found was not that simple.
Inside the village, Suguru Geto saw two young girls locked inside a cage.
The villagers were treating them like monsters, blaming them for every disappearance and death.
Geto smiled at the villagers.
A calm, gentle smile.
“Could everyone step outside for a moment?” And in that moment, he made his decision.
He would slaughter the entire village.
A short while later, the screaming stopped.
Every villager was dead.
Geto had killed them all.
At nearly the same time, Ragnar Kagenou arrived.
“…Was I too late?” He looked over the village, now stained with blood and silence.
“Not at all, Ragnar.” Ragnar turned.
Suguru Geto stood there covered in blood, while the two frightened girls hid behind him, too scared to step forward.
Geto glanced back at them and said softly, “It’s okay.
Don’t be afraid.
He’s a friend.” There was a smile on his face.
Not the familiar one.
Not the composed, easy smile he always wore.
This one was different.
“Ragnar,” Geto said, “what you said before wasn’t wrong.
But in the end, truth only means something once it’s put into practice.” His eyes were calm now.
“Maybe this way… I’ll finally find the answer.
Maybe I’ll find a way to truly eliminate cursed spirits.”
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