If there is one thing Kento does not want to do on a quiet, peaceful evening, it would be dealing with Gojo Satoru.

The world decides that he must, regardless.

Kento really wasn 't paid enough for this. He wasn 't paid at all to deal with Gojo Satoru. He should be. But the higher-ups decided that, like a stray cat, Kento has fed him and therefore Gojo is his problem to deal with.

It is remarkably terrible how no one wants to deal with Gojo Satoru but they must, anyway. Because a happy Gojo Satoru equates to world peace.

'No, ' Kento says, feeling a building headache creeping back up. 'You did not just have a conversation with a special grade. '

'Yes, I did, it 's for totally good reasons, too, ' Gojo Satoru, half the reason for Kento's current headache, replies gleefully. 'Don 't you want to know more about our resident special grade curse? '

In fact, Kento could not think of anything he 'd rather not know about.

It seems like the exact kind of thing that would give him migraines for days to come.

'What does that curse have to do with Itadori-kun? ' The curse, the other half of the reason for Kento 's annoyance.

'Mhm, well, it 's a bit of a long story, ' Gojo warns. It is terribly disconcerting. 'But- since I 'm so nice, I 'll shorten it for you. ' Gojo Satoru is never nice. Kento knows this personally. It has been learnt through terrible pranks and even worse phone calls that would make fully grown sorcerers break down in panic. Case in point, the text message Gojo sent earlier which made Kento question whether Gojo Satoru was going through a midlife crisis and what this would mean for the future of the jujutsu world. 'Long story short, our newest special grade was once a vessel and executed and turned curse and there was a big, big cover up. '

Kento 's instincts were right. They always were. Especially when it comes to Gojo Satoru.

'That is ' an incredible leap, ' Kento says in lieu of not having anything more apt to describe whatever was dropped onto his lap.

it is an abomination of a conspiracy. Something that was terribly out of a left field at best and treasonous at worst.

Gojo laughs, it is a familiar sound that means that he knows he is torturing Kento and is not about to stop anytime soon.

It is incredibly hateful.

'It could be lying about being a past vessel, of course, ' Gojo continues. There is a playful drawl to his words. It is the prickly kind. It is the kind that means someone somewhere has touched a small nerve in Gojo 's perfect world and now they have to pay. Kento did not want to know who had the displeasure of being Gojo Satoru 's next target to be annoyed to near death. Kento can only hope it wasn 't himself. 'But, well, it offers a chance to help Yuuji-kun. '

The execution, of course. Gojo was incredibly blaise and uncaring when he wanted to be. But he always had a penchant for caring for things that he shouldn 't. And Itadori Yuuji was one of them alongside his other two students.

Gojo Satoru was told

Don 't touch

to Itadori Yuuji and so he decided that he would do the exact opposite and get attached.

The impending execution was something that always touched Gojo's nerves whenever it was brought up. Made him extra annoying for the remainder of any meeting and made whichever curse crossed his path that day regret ever doing so.

Kento could understand the sentiment. To have to execute your student is a heavy, heavy burden. Even for the strongest.

But this? Whatever this new conspiracy Gojo came up with? This is veering far beyond just caring for his student and almost into lunacy.

Let it be said that Gojo Satoru always had a way of making everything turn terrible and insane and

Gojo Satoru please stop-

when he gets involved.

Kento was really not equipped to deal with Gojo Satoru and his wild, and possibly treasonous theories. Nor did he ever want to.

But the world thinks he should. For lack of a better candidate, probably.

It is incredibly unfair. Kento wants to live his life peacefully, too. A life with a distinct lack of annoying special grade sorcerers who want to poke and prod at a cover up that may or may not have happened centuries ago.

'How so? '

'Ah, well, it mentioned generations of vessels, ' Gojo says casually. As though not dropping the bomb of the century. 'You use weapons and all that, you know, and apparently in the olden days you used vessels as weapons. And they worked with jujutsu sorcerers, how nice! And then something or something happened and now we 're here. '

That is ' a lot.

Kento knew that this day was going to be bad the moment Gojo Satoru appeared knocking on his window sill. He just didn 't know what kind of bad.

Now he does. It is the kind of 'Gojo Satoru is going to flip your world upside down and then kick it into the sun ' kind of bad.

'That is a lot, ' Kento comments dryly. Not sure what else to say to

that.

The idea of Itadori Yuuji being used to house Sukuna and then executed was already unique.

The idea of vessels being used as weapons and fighting alongside sorcerers was simply out of question.

Vessels are temporary at best. No one knows when the curse would break out of their vessels, let alone trust the vessels to handle the curse 's power and use it to fight alongside themselves.

Vessels are a temperamental thing- from what was stated on the few scant records of them. It is a dangerous risk to undertake and have under your wings. Let alone allow the vessel to fight alongside sorcerers. Yuuji was an exception, though there were really no records of how to exactly handle him. But Gojo Satoru provided enough buffer for the elders to consider the merit of the idea of extending the boy 's life.

For all that Kento trusts in Yuuji, there is always a tiny thought of

Ryoumen Sukuna

whenever he looks at the boy. There is a primal kind of fear that comes with looking at a vessel who houses a special grade curse.

He cannot imagine it 'd be any different centuries ago.

But apparently it was.

'Isn 't it? ' Gojo says gleefully. 'And then something happened, I don 't know what, but I think I have a clue. '

That

something

could be anything. It is much less innocuous than Gojo stated it was. It could 've been a series of events, or it could 've been the slow decline of compatible vessels.

Though, the idea that the records were wiped indicates that it was most likely a terrible, terrible scandal that sent the house of cards collapsing. Burning the hands of those who fancy themselves strong and powerful enough to put a collar on curses and make them serve the very people who were exorcising their kind.

Something like a vessel being taken over by their curse and turning on their comrades, somewhere along the line. Maybe causing a major incident, or two.

Knowing the ego of the current higher ups, Kento cannot fathom that they 'd let it slide.

If Itadori Yuuji were to go mad now, Kento knows exactly who is being put on the chopping block.

And it wasn 't the elders.

They would execute those who helped delay Yuuji's execution- those low ranked enough to not be missed. Gojo Satoru would live, but have a much tighter collar around his neck- and wash their hands off the matter.

They are the wise elders of the jujutsu world, they never wished for Yuuji to become a vessel- nor let him become one of them.

It wouldn 't be to this scale, though. This grand, terrible scale that Gojo is proposing.

A mass record wipe that left nothing behind and no vessels to speak of.

One vessel went mad, but what about the others?

What happened to them?

Kento 's headache is only going to grow worse, he can tell.

Gojo Satoru certainly isn 't helping.

'You think that curse is related, somehow, ' Kento says decisively.

'Bingo, ' Gojo affirms, making what were definitely finger guns. 'Hole in one. '

Again, that is troubling information.

If it were a vessel before it were a curse, if it worked alongside sorcerers before

something

-

It wasn 't a talented newborn at all but something worse. Something that already had experience with dealing with their kind- being their comrade and knowing their chain of command.

Kento wonders whether its replication was its technique from when it was alive.

If it were-

That marks a terrible disaster.

Gojo, as if reading his thoughts, smiles.

'I think it knew one of my ancestors. '

Kento 's headache only grows worse by the second.

'It looked at me like it knew me, ' Gojo says, there is a peevish note to his voice. Something like annoyance and someone has done something to Gojo Satoru 's perfect world and now they must pay by being annoyed to death. 'And it has intangibility. '

'Your technique brings forth infinity, ' Kento points out. He thinks that he really should be paid to deal with this.

Whatever this is.

'I thought about that, too, you see, ' Gojo replies easily. A smirk on his face that meant that he clearly knew someone would ask and had been precisely waiting for them to ask instead of explaining from the outset. It is a familiar thing. 'Limitless is what brings out the infinity. My Six Eyes is what makes Limitless, well, limitless. '

Kento can see where this is going.

He doesn 't like it.

'If someone without your Six Eyes were to have Limitless ' ' Kento trails off.

'They 'd have trouble bringing forth infinity into the world because they can 't perceive it and you can 't exactly get the world to obey without being able to perceive all of it, ' Gojo finishes. Looking like he 's relishing in his answer. 'However, that 's for bringing forth reality into the world. ' Gojo pauses here, probably for effect. Definitely for drama. 'What if you channel infinity through your body instead? '

Kento was right, he doesn 't like this conclusion they 've arrived at.

'Or, well, I suppose the opposite of infinity and more like negative distance, since it 's intangible and all. ' Gojo shrugs easily, as if he hadn 't dropped another terrible, terrible conspiracy into Kento 's lap.

He is incredibly hateful.

'It 's like my Blue, except less destructive, ' Gojo theorizes casually. Reminding Kento that for all Gojo 's pomp and childishness there is indeed a brain beneath that annoying exterior the man likes to keep. 'Probably because it can 't bring out the full negative distance without it somehow affecting its body as well. If it goes for something like Blue then it 's body will be pulled in to fill in the gap created by negative distance. '

Gojo then makes a pop sound or something along the lines before he was the annoying Gojo Satoru once more. 'Or something like that. '

Again, it is a terrible conclusion.

'It 's a delicate balance between just enough negative distance to negate attacks without the space around you destroying your body instead, ' Gojo says idly. 'You can 't test that kind of thing out without some help. '

Again- Kento should really, really be paid.

He isn 't, and will not be. Because the jujutsu world is a shitty place.

Gojo Satoru smiles, like a cat that knew precisely what it was doing when it knocked the cup off the counter.

'I think only one person can help with perceiving infinity at that time, ' Gojo concludes gleefully. 'Which introduces us to- Gojo No-Name-Definitely-Way-Uglier-and-Way-Less-Talented-Than-Me. '

That was an incredibly long name for someone who had no name.

Kento thinks he has an inkling of who was the source of Gojo 's ire. Just not sure quite why, but he thinks it might 've been the aforementioned ancestor.

It is not a hard conclusion to reach.

'You 're saying your ancestor helped this curse? '

Gojo Satoru shrugs, a motion that was all too casual. 'Probably. Who else besides the Six Eyes can help with infinity related things? '

'That 's- ' Treasonous.

'Also my terrible, no good, very bad and super lame ancestor helped the curse when it was alive, ' Gojo points out, as if reading Kento 's thoughts. 'Comrades, remember? '

A curse that had the helping of a Gojo with Six Eyes and Limitless who helped it. There must 've been trust there. A heavy, binding kind. To be able to replicate Limitless, even in another, cruder, form would 've been preposterous to the Gojo clan at the time. It was their honor and theirs alone, Kento cannot imagine it any differently.

Sorcerers hated their techniques copied- yet, if Gojo 's ancestor were anything like him now, they would 've taken up the offer in a second.

For all that Gojo was seemingly peeved with this mystery relative, they were perhaps more alike than Gojo would like.

And maybe that was precisely why Gojo is annoyed.

'You 're the first in four hundred years, ' Kento notes. His voice sounded so distant. Mainly because he wanted to detach himself from this mess as a whole and never speak of it again.

'Yeah, so this curse? It 's ancient. '

Gojo Satoru, master of giving heart attacks via stress to local sorcerers, is back at it again.

'So the question is, what happened? How did the curse become a curse? ' Gojo muses. The answer already on the tip of his tongue- Kento can sense it. 'How did it go from comrade to enemy? '

'The curse took control of the vessel, ' Kento answers. It was the most plausible one. It must 've been a special grade curse and the hubris must 've gotten to them. Trying to fit a curse too powerful into a vessel that was powerful but nowhere as compatible. It was the hubris of having generations of weapons as an example and proof of their power.

'That 's only part of it, ' Gojo says. Something teasing in his voice, something like-

I know something you don 't.

Again, Gojo Satoru and his goddamn games.

'What do you suggest, then? ' Kento prompts.

'I 'm glad you asked! ' Gojo says gleefully, as if Kento had a choice in the matter. 'So, Jinchuuriki. Power of human sacrifice, dusty term, very grim. ' Gojo made a face, again, childish. 'Sacrifice to the mountain god, or whatever. But in our context. It 's the sacrifice of a sorcerer to become a vessel. Now- the real question is, there were generations, so sacrifices must have come and went. Meaning, some must 've died. So what happened to those vessels that died? '

Kento was really not in the mood to be in an impromptu gameshow and it must 've shown on his tired, weary face. So Gojo just cackled and moved on instead of going gamehost and making Kento choose between a, b, c, or d.

'The curse gets transferred from one generation to the next. Which contradicts against vessels being comrades because the chances of them dying in the field would be way too high for there to be no other contingency plans. Probably something involving these ' seals, a technique, perhaps, but seals. ' Gojo Satoru seemed perplexed for a bit, but marched on regardless. 'Seals probably kept the curse contained in the vessel until it could be transferred onto the next when they died. These ' seals were on the skin, highly effective when the vessels were alive. '

Again, a system that seemed wholly possible and wholly efficient. Something reliable and ran for generations until

something.

'In comes Uchiha Obito, the latest vessel, ' Gojo resumes. 'That 's our resident curse 's name, by the way. Yuuji asked because he got attached. ' Oh dear. 'Now, Uchiha Obito says that the curse reforms if you kill a Jinchuuriki. Which goes against the narrative that vessels had generations, since, again, if a curse reformed instead of being passed on, it would 've been deemed too dangerous for there to be generations of them after one died. '

'It lied, ' Kento concludes.

'It lied, ' Gojo agrees, a teasing smile on his lips. 'Now, why would it lie? It could be another lie on top of it being a vessel, but what if it wasn 't? '

This is Gojo Satoru playing along because he wanted something, anything, to put off Yuuji 's execution.

It is grasping at straws and hoping to win the lucky draw. It is taking the words of an unknown curse at face value because, even for the strongest, the burden of killing a student is a heavy thing to bear.

And when laid out, it did seem plausible to Kento, somewhat. Even for its lunacy.

The most damning evidence of all is the curse 's intangibility. Which connects it to the Gojo clan long, long ago.

It is the thread that held this treasonous theory all together.

'It lied because it was different, it died but it didn 't die quietly, ' Gojo concludes. 'Its curse energy is angry and bitter and grieving, so the circumstances of its death were anything but ideal. '

Kento can see the conclusion, he 's not sure if he likes it.

'An angry, grieving vessel on death 's door. A special grade curse inside of him, who doesn 't want to serve the sorcerer killing its kind. There 's an opportunity there, don 't you think? '

An opportunity for what, Gojo needn 't elaborate.

'The curse took over. '

Gojo Satoru smiles. It is not a nice thing.

'It 's a shameful thing, isn 't it, ' Gojo drawls. 'To be too weak to hold back the curse and cause everything to crumble down. To cause a major incident by letting the curse take over and effectively ending trust in the generations before you. '

It is a heavy failure. It is a thing that would bring shame and dishonor, especially back in those archaic times.

To have the curse take over as a result of your unwillingness to die. Only being able to restrain the curse at the last moments and waking up to realize you 'd ruin it all.

It is a failure that no one would want to be discovered.

Records wiped, vessels struck off history and precedent made to execute any and all future vessels.

It is a failure that no doubt weighed most on the failed vessel himself.

It is rather easy to lie that curses reform to explain its existence. Rather than let the truth of the matter be revealed. Let its shame be known and spoken.

Better to let history be bygones and its failure be forgotten.

That was strangely human. And maybe because it was. Once, when it was alive and ready to do good for the generation before it. Having the trust of the Gojo heir and elders at its back until a bad day came and Uchiha Obito became the curse.

'But that 's not where it ends, ' Gojo continues. 'The curse is now in the present, completely unknown. So something must 've happened between there and now. Something that made the elders confident to erase its name because they knew it wouldn 't resurface. '

'The vessel got executed after the incident. '

'Which brings us to the question of how it is here now. '

Kento can, again, see where this is going. He still doesn 't like it.

'It 's now back as a vengeful spirit, ' Gojo concludes. 'You remember Yuta-kun? Someone must 've cursed the vessel upon its death. And unlike Yuta-kun it was entirely intentional. '

There 's a moment, then two.

'To create a strong vengeful spirit from a curse, the curser must 've been just as strong. To create a strong vengeful spirit that survived for centuries- the curser must 've been extraordinary. ' Gojo pauses, again. 'And so, what I 'm saying is that, that curser was my ancestor. '

There 's another pause, as if he hadn't suggested something terrible and heinous and will have lasting ramifications on the jujutsu world.

'It must've haunted my ancestor until they died, but unlike Yuta-kun, the curse was never lifted. But it wasn 't terribly strong either because the anchor had passed. So it faded into obscurity, because, like Rika, it didn 't want to be here either. ' Gojo shrugs, a motion that was all too casual for the loaded explanation.

One Rika was already terrible enough. Warped and distorted and turned into a monstrous thing because she couldn't quite handle the strain of being cursed. Kento dreads to think of the centuries of madness this curse was under and what that meant that it was still sane now. Still strangely human rather than another Rika.

'But a curse made by a special grade sorcerer just doesn't go away, not entirely. ' And like a terrible, winding maze, Kento can see the heinous finish line that awaits. 'I resemble that no good ancestor just enough, don 't you think? To get an old, ancient curse to work again. '

Gojo Satoru smiles. It isn 't nice. Kento thinks it hides the shadow of another person, once. One who was just as cocky and arrogant and bound a curse to themselves whether out of idle curiosity or being unable to let their comrade die. Comrade was probably a light word for it. You don't teach your heralded technique to just any comrade- you wouldn't break a spoken taboo just for anyone. Let your legacy be brought into question the moment you- an esteemed sorcerer- create a special grade curse spirit with your own hands. You don't do that just for anyone. Kento thinks Gojo knows this, too.

It was someone you trusted. Someone you cared for. Someone you'd be willing to do the taboo for and bring back to life by cursing their death and refusing the laws of nature. It is a terrible act, it is treacherous to state that a special grade sorcerer had done so. It is even worse, still, to keep the spirit bound to the world instead of letting it pass on. It is wanting to let the curse live even for its failures. There is a story behind that, Kento thinks. Though he doesn't really want to know, really, it ended badly, and that's all that matters now.

Kento knows he might have to learn this sooner or later. Know the wretched story from beginning to end someday. Gojo might've already gotten a clue.

'So what I 'm saying is that it 's back because of me. ' Gojo Satoru sounds peeved yet proud. 'For me. '