There's definitely something wrong with this guy's head.
Gojo Satoru was absolutely sure of it at this point.
"A cursed user as ruthless and evil as you, coming to seek help from a Jujutsu High sorcerer, and it's just to fool a little girl's family? That's kind of funny."
"And why do you think I would help you?"
The white-haired man covered his mouth as he laughed, striking a deliberately girly and exaggerated pose to mock Hayashizaki in front of him. However, Hayashizaki, the target of the mockery, didn't care in the slightest.
"Isn't cleanup work supposed to be the job of Jujutsu High anyway?" Hayashizaki said, suddenly flashing a grin. "And besides, you'll agree to it."
"Oh? You seem pretty confident. Are we going to fight again?" Gojo Satoru slightly tilted his head, his arrogance clear, with a hidden, nearly imperceptible intensity behind his gaze.
Hayashizaki leaned forward a bit, and Gojo Satoru mirrored the motion, getting into a battle stance.
But in the next moment, the figure in front of him suddenly vanished. Gojo's expression changed as he immediately sensed Sukuna's cursed energy and chased after it.
In the blink of an eye, Gojo followed Hayashizaki to the rooftop of a tall building. He stood there, watching the back of Hayashizaki, who was leaning on the railing of the roof. The playful tone in Gojo's voice was gone: "What trick are you trying to pull this time?"
Leaning on the railing, Hayashizaki looked down at the city streets below. The cars moved in an orderly fashion, and groups of people walked along the sidewalks, a bustling urban scene.
"Look, the people below" Hayashizaki remarked with a hint of sarcasm.
"Are you threatening me with ordinary people now?" Gojo's tone became low as he slowly raised his right hand, ready to activate his domain and trap Hayashizaki inside it.
Even if his domain got broken by Sukuna's open-domain technique, as long as he defeated him before that, it would be fine.
"Yes," Hayashizaki turned around with a mischievous smile on his face. "So? Do you want to fight me in the middle of the city? I don't mind, but by the time we figure out who wins, all the people here will probably be dead."
[Hayashizaki-kun!?]
Ignoring the alarmed voice of Yukinoshita Yukino in the encrypted channel, Hayashizaki kept his cheeky grin: "So, what will it be, Gojo Satoru? Will you satisfy your thirst for battle, or protect the lives of ordinary citizens? What's your choice?"
"You're really going all out just to ask for my help, huh?" Gojo replied.
"Yeah, well, I've got a troublesome host on my hands," Hayashizaki shrugged. "So, are we going to fight or what?"
Seeing that Gojo hadn't lowered his hand ready to form seals, Hayashizaki chuckled: "Seems like to you, beating me is more important than [protecting] people, huh?"
"..."
At that moment, countless complex thoughts flickered through those blue eyes, which glowed faintly and reflected a beautiful pattern.
For reasons unknown, Gojo Satoru eventually lowered his hand.
Hayashizaki raised an eyebrow in slight surprise.
Based on their earlier fight and Gojo's behavior, Hayashizaki had pegged this white-haired man as the type who was extremely confident in his own strength, likely one of the few at the top of the power pyramid among sorcerers.
He had expected Gojo to strike first, aiming to defeat him before he could cause any damage to the surroundings.
But he gave up that easily?
Without understanding the complexity of Gojo's inner thoughts, Hayashizaki didn't care as long as he got what he wanted. Casually, he walked forward.
"Alright, alright, let's not waste time. Let's head to the police station."
"Are you really Ryoumen Sukuna?" Gojo suddenly asked. He had every reason to doubt it.
From the personality, the way he acted, to the things Hayashizaki said, none of it lined up with the records of Ryoumen Sukuna in the world of jujutsu. He even claimed to have gone to college! A figure who was active over a thousand years ago, turned into a cursed object after death, and he went to college!?
Aside from the power and the techniques, this guy was nothing like Ryoumen Sukuna.
"If you think I am, then I am," Hayashizaki replied cryptically.
"Don't be so disappointed. Actually, we can work together," Hayashizaki said, a strange smile forming on his lips. Hearing that tone, Yukinoshita Yukino knew that he was about to trick someone again.
"Though Yukinoshita can't join Jujutsu High—since she's my disciple and my temporary host—and I don't like taking orders from others, we do have some room to cooperate."
"You're suggesting that Jujutsu High sorcerers work with a cursed user like you? You've got a sense of humor, Sukuna," Gojo said with a sidelong glance.
"Just call me Hayashizaki," he responded, ignoring the sarcasm. "You guys are short on people, right? You can hand over the cursed spirit exorcism missions to us, especially for those tough ones ranked Grade 1 or higher. It'll lower the death rate of your sorcerers, and Yukinoshita can gain battle experience too."
"It's a win-win!"
This way, he wouldn't have to drag Yukinoshita around every day, hunting down cursed spirits. He could just wait for Jujutsu High to send him the missions, and farming points would become much easier.
Win-win, meaning *I win twice*.
"Are you after the six fingers Jujutsu High is keeping?"
Gojo Satoru felt like the moment of truth had come, but this mystery seemed a bit too short.
"What fingers?"
The devil with the face of a beautiful girl asked in confusion.
"?"
This level of playing dumb was so ridiculous that Gojo felt insulted. Seeing the look of disdain in Gojo's eyes, Hayashizaki felt completely wronged.
From their first conversation, all he knew was that he hadn't replaced Sukuna. The real Ryoumen Sukuna, after his death, had turned into a cursed object and existed in this form now.
But he honestly didn't know that the cursed object containing Sukuna's soul was…
Wait a minute.
Hayashizaki stroked his chin, seemingly distracted, but in reality, he was diving deep into Sukuna's memories.
When he first crossed over, he had skimmed through Sukuna's memories without paying much attention, but now he went back to look more closely. In one of Sukuna's memories, he saw that with the help of a man, Sukuna split his soul and cursed energy into twenty pieces, each sealed into one of his twenty fingers.
And after that, there was a long record of him doing absolutely nothing for a thousand years.
After fast-forwarding through Sukuna's idle memories, Hayashizaki could only marvel.
Impressive. When it comes to doing nothing, I'll admit, you're the strongest.
Returning to reality, Hayashizaki realized another issue. If he absorbed the fingers that contained Sukuna's soul and cursed energy, what would happen?
Could they play a three-person card game inside the domain with Yukinoshita Yukino?
"Come to think of it, how about you show me one of those special-grade cursed objects?"
Gojo gave him a look as if he were staring at a fool.
"You seriously want one?"
...
…
—————— ----
You can read 10 advanced chapters at my patreon.com/YeyeQiu