Gojo repeated Yaga's statement incredulously.
"Escort and protect a 14-year-old girl?"
"That's right."
Gojo whispered to Geto sitting next to him.
"Has he finally gone mad?"
"It's summer. He must be heat-stricken."
Ignoring their whispers, Yaga continued.
"The girl—'Amanai Riko' is a clone of Lord Tengen."
"...Ah."
Unlike Geto, who nodded in understanding, Gojo and Zoro showed no change in expression.
"A clone?"
"...First, I need to explain about Lord Tengen. Lord Tengen has been living in this land since the Nara period, over a thousand years ago, and is a great elder of the sorcery world."
The barriers of the jujutsu high, both large and small spread across Japan, and even the veils laid down by assistant directors and sorcerers, are all possible because of Tengen's barrier techniques.
"To use an analogy, it's as if Lord Tengen has already drawn the underpainting and first layer of paint necessary for the picture of barriers."
Naturally, other sorcerers could easily create the desired barriers and veils by just slightly altering and coloring the picture Tengen had already drawn.
"If Lord Tengen were gone, sorcerers would have to do everything themselves to draw the complete picture of a barrier."
From the underpainting to the coloring and adjustments, all would have to be done by themselves.
For the sorcery world, this would not only complicate matters, but also make veiling significantly more difficult.
Veils that block the sight of non-sorcerers. If existing sorcerers couldn't lay them, there were essentially two options:
Either catch the curses without laying veils or only send sorcerers powerful enough to lay veils themselves.
The former would expose the existence of sorcerers and curses to the public, and the latter would significantly reduce the already scarce sorcerer manpower, leading to an increase in curse-related incidents among non-sorcerers.
Either scenario would be a major incident.
"The failure of Tengen's integration could potentially lead to sorcerers losing the expertise they have built up over the years."
Yaga spoke seriously, and Zoro acknowledged the logic in his words.
...Still. Zoro frowned and asked,
"How can a human live that long?"
"It's because of Lord Tengen's immortality spell."
"Suguru is right. But immortality doesn't stop aging, so over time, Lord Tengen's body encounters problems."
"Problems?"
"Lord Tengen's body evolves. He becomes something non-human."
Zoro blinked.
"So what?"
Zoro naively asked, displaying his characteristic lack of prejudice towards non-human intelligent beings.
Zoro, lacking any intention to be hostile as long as Tengen retained his original mind, even if he transformed into something other than human, responded to Gojo's remark.
"So what? I've teamed up with weirder folks before."
Gojo chimed in with Zoro's line of thought.
"Exactly. Sounds pretty cool to me."
"Lord Tengen himself says that at that stage, the entity doesn't have a 'will'. It means Lord Tengen wouldn't be Lord Tengen anymore," Yaga explained, nodding along with Suguru's clarification.
"In the worst case, Lord Tengen could become hostile to humanity. That's why once every 500 years, through integration with a grown clone, Lord Tengen's techniques are reset."
Gojo crossed his arms smugly.
"Just like when Agumon evolves into Metal Greymon, which is good, but a problem if it turns into Skull Greymon. That's why you revert it back to Koromon."
"Is that so?"
Zoro, who had been watching Digimon animations with his younger siblings lately, understood Gojo's analogy.
"…Well, yes, that's about it," Geto affirmed reluctantly.
"That clone's information leaked. That's why you're assigned to guard her," Yaga continued, showing the students a symbol on his laptop.
"The only force currently aiming to disrupt the integration is the Time Vessel Association. They worship Tengen as a deity."
Zoro made a confused face.
"Shouldn't they welcome the integration?"
"The Time Vessel Association worships an un-integrated, pure form of Lord Tengen."
"But this isn't the first integration."
Lord Tengen has lived since the Nara period, and integrating once every 500 years means he must have integrated at least twice already. Zoro mused internally.
Gojo waved dismissively with a cynical tone.
"Don't worry about it, Zoro. What would those fools know? They probably don't even understand what Lord Tengen is up to."
Yaga momentarily glared at Gojo for his rough comment in front of Zoro, then continued.
"Members of the Time Vessel Association are all non-sorcerers, so they lack inherent power, but they have enough funds to potentially hire foreign sorcerers."
"Why?"
"There are sorcerers in Japan. Why would they need foreigners?" Zoro asked tersely.
Yaga hesitated to tell Zoro the truth directly and instead skirted around it.
"…There are hardly any active sorcerers in Tokyo at the moment. Sorcerers from other regions also tend to avoid coming to Tokyo."
"So why is that?"
"Because your dad practically wiped them all out," Gojo bluntly put it.
Zoro's father had once made a major sweep when Zoro was injured and has since been steadily killing sorcerers on missions, effectively desolating the sorcerer population in Tokyo.
The sorcerers who managed to survive had moved away from Tokyo. Toji refrained from long-distance missions because of the kids.
"Is there any guess on who might be hired among the foreign sorcerers?"
"None. I tried contacting Tsukumo Yuki for intelligence, but couldn't reach her."
"Useless, Yaga-sensei. Getting a bit too arrogant since he's about to be the next dean, huh?"
Yaga, the acting dean of Tokyo Metropolitan Curse Technical College, had been designated as the next dean by the current dean who had gone into complete seclusion. Geto playfully nudged Gojo's shoulder.
"Satoru, it's not good to be too harsh to the teacher. He's already on the brink of developing high blood pressure."
"..."
Yaga, holding back his anger, continued.
"The integration with the clone is in two days. Ensure that the clone is safely brought to the high school by then."
"Okay."
"Alright."
Zoro, without responding, sorted through the information in his head. He roughly understood what the mission was and why it had to be done.
'The remaining question is one.'
Did the clone, Amanai Riko, know all this, and did she agree to integrate with Tengen?
...
Thump!
A can of cola rolled out of the vending machine. On a street in Tokyo, where first and second-year students gathered, Zoro picked up a juice that had rolled under the vending machine.
"—So, it looks like I'll be going on a mission to guard the clone."
"That's right."
Suguru had already gone to where the clone lived. Gojo, sipping his cola, added,
"Yaga-sensei said you guys might be mobilized too."
"Really?"
"Not direct guarding, but perimeter security."
Nanami recalled what she had recently learned about Tengen's role in the sorcery community. They were to participate in a mission critical to such a being's existence, even if indirectly.
"...No matter how I think about it, this doesn't seem like a mission for first-years."
"If you think about it, is this a mission for a six-year-old?"
"..."
Nanami had no comeback to that valid point. Haibara, next to Nanami, cheerfully said,
"I'll work hard to show a good performance to senior Geto!"
"Hey, what about me?"
Zoro calmly spoke to Haibara.
"Don't overdo it. You're not yet fully trained to handle sorcerers."
"Still talking?"
"Yes."
"Is it enough to just impress Suguru? What about me?"
As Gojo continued to grumble, Nanami reluctantly responded.
"I'll show a good impression to senior Gojo as well."
"Heh, you all try your best. Haibara, if it gets tough, hand it over to us. Oh, and you too, Nanamin."
Nanami's face twisted severely at that nickname.
"My name is Nanami, not Nanamin."
"That's a new nickname I came up with. How is it?"
"I dislike it."
He flatly refused. Nanamin, what even is that?
"Why, it's cute. I'll keep calling it. Nanamin. Nanamin!"
"Haah..."
Why did it seem like this senior's mental age was even lower than a real 6-year-old's? Nanami seriously wondered.
Zoro turned his head. Toji was approaching.
"Mr. Toji, you're here? Did you hear about the mission?"
"Yes."
He had just called to ask Yaga to look after Tsumiki and Megumi since both Zoro and Toji would be away from the academy.
Toji wasn't really worried about the clone being assassinated, given that those assigned were Gojo, Geto, Zoro, and himself. But it was indeed a combination that was perfect for causing trouble, and that worried him more.
Toji looked down at Zoro and wrinkled his nose.
"You smell like water. Did you go swimming?"
"Ah. Because of the water ghost. I showered once, does it still smell?"
"No. It's just my nose being good."
Being wet, he really smelled like seaweed. Toji stroked Zoro's hair.
"Have you eaten?"
"Not yet."
"Okay, then let's eat together later."
Toji took Zoro's hand. Zoro looked at him for a moment before speaking.
"Dad."
"Speak."
Just as Zoro was about to say something, he turned his head towards the top of the building. Almost simultaneously, a loud explosion came from above.
—Boom!
Amidst black smoke, a girl was seen falling from the building. Geto on a curse swiftly flew to catch the girl mid-air.
...Oh no. Exchanging glances, Toji quickly lifted Zoro onto his back and ran at top speed. Gojo also crumpled the cola can he was drinking from with a spell and disappeared from the spot. Zoro, moving away, shouted to Nanami and Haibara.
"Go back to the academy!"
It might be too tough for you to handle! Zoro pushed on.
Watching Zoro become a tiny dot in the distance, Haibara stood up calmly.
"Shall we go back, Nanami?"
"Yes."
He wasn't really worried. After all, they were those people.
Nanami was startled by his own thought and slapped his cheek with his hand. A 6-year-old going on a mission and he wasn't worried, he too was getting accustomed to this mad world.
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