ほろ苦い . [g. satoru x reader]

七

***

"Are you gonna say hello to me, Tengen?" Yuki glared at him. Holy jeez...look at him! Did the prevention of the merger make him look like this?

"This isn't the first time we've met, Yuki Tsukumo," Master Tengen told her.

I could never decipher what his expression looked like.

Upset? Happy? Angry? Or just chill?

"Master Tengen, why'd you close off the tombs of the Star Corridor?" I asked, removing my Black Scarf. It just won't stop squirming in nervousness.

"I was afraid you might be in alignment with Kenjaku. After all, I cannot see into the human heart," Master Tengen replies.

"Kenjaku?" Yuki presses.

"The sorcerer who was once Kamo Noritoshi and is now inhabiting the body of Suguru Geto," Master Tengen replied again.

Hmm...I didn't know Kenjaku used to inhabit Noritoshi's body before...

Man, I don't remember the details anymore since I stopped time traveling.

"Master Tengen, why do you look like that?" Itadori asks behind me. Pfft! He had the guts to say that in this kind of situation.

"I may be immortal but I am not immune to aging," Master Tengen smiled weirdly. "After five hundred years, you'd look like this too."

"For real?" Itadori said.

"Eleven years ago, after failing to merge with a Star Plasma vessel, my aging accelerated, and my self-awareness as an individual diminished. The very world became me," Master Tengen continued to explain.

"Oh, so that's why your 'voice' doesn't proliferate?" I told him silently. Hmm...over the past eleven years, there wasn't a single Star Plasma born at that time?

Holy...

"Excuse me but...?" Fushiguro raised his hand, instead, Okkotsu asked for him.

"We came to ask about Kenjaku's objectives, and how to open the Prison Realm. Will you tell us what you know?" Okkotsu asks.

"I wish I could simply say yes but, I have one condition," he eyes four of us and continued to explain his condition.

"Yuta Okkotsu, Yuki Tsukumo, (Y/N) Ichimiya-Zenin, and the Death Painting Womb. Two of you must remain here to serve as my guards," Master Tengen stated.

"Guards? Aren't you immortal?" Okkotsu spoke again.

"Are you worried about the seal?" Maki sweatdropped.

"No fair! You haven't even told us why or how long we'd have to do it!" Yuki complained.

If I...No. I wouldn't be able to make it. Probably won't be able to see him if I stay.

When I came back to reality, this is something I heard come out of Master Tengen's mouth: "The method of evolution that Kenjaku has chosen is the merging of humankind and me."

"How could that be even possible?" I said, crunching my eyebrows. "It could only work for a Star Plasma vessel!"

"Now that I've evolved for the past eleven years, it would not be possible for me to merge with someone other than the Star Plasma vessel," Master Tengen spelled out for me.

There's no way...But why would Kenjaku plan it like that? Wouldn't there be another way?

"So why don't you just refuse to verge?" Maki wondered.

"Now that I had evolved, I am more cursed spirit than human. That makes me a target for cursed spirit manipulation," Master Tengen answered.

No wonder...

"That's why you needed guards. Just in case Kenjaku is already after you, the two of us would stay with you, huh?" I mused.

"That's right."

"Though, why now?" I asked again.

"I, the Star Plasma vessel, and the Six Eyes are connected by fate," Master Tengen replied. He also explained that Kenjaku had already lost two sorcerers who had the Six Eyes.

And then Toji Fushiguro's intervention.

"So why is the culling game happening?" Fushiguro asked in turn.

"It is like breaking the body prior to merging. However, in order to perform such a ritual, Kenjaku has undertaken certain binding vows," he said.

"One stipulates that he is not the Game Master. However, this does not work in your favor because the culling game will only end if you kill the Game Master," Master Tengen answered.

He also added that the culling game wouldn't end unless all players are dead.

I bit my thumb and stared at my feet. Meaning...if we reach one hundred points, we could negotiate with the Game Master.

I sighed and thought of ways to...

You know what? Forget it. I'm going nowhere.

***

(A/N): Oh nice I edited it