Ms. Gojo thought she was dating an ordinary person's boyfriend.

The corridor was quiet.

Gojo Satoru turned his head and glanced at Sumireki Kawakawa.

He hesitated for a moment, but finally spoke.

"Xiao Cheng."

"Um."

"Can you... really change the rules that bind other people?"

Kikawa Sumi didn't stop walking. He looked at the end of the corridor and answered calmly, "Okay."

Gojo Satoru said "Oh," and was about to exclaim, "That's amazing!"

Kikawa Sumi added softly, "But I didn't do that just now."

Gojo Satoru suddenly stopped in his tracks.

"……what?"

Noticing that the person next to him hadn't followed, Kikawa Sumi stopped and turned to look at him.

His expression remained unchanged, but his dark eyes appeared even more profound than usual under the pale light of the corridor.

"Nothing was changed?" Gojo Satoru's eyes widened slightly. "Then what happened just now... I clearly saw—"

"I've only postponed the time of the binding backlash," Kikawa Sumi calmly interrupted him. "Using the causal loop, I've temporarily delayed the execution of the trigger condition of 'revealing information.'"

"So in his perception, the restraints had indeed 'failed.' He spoke tentatively, and indeed, 'everything was fine.'"

"But I just suppressed it."

He paused, as if choosing his words, or perhaps waiting for Gojo to digest them.

"Once he has confessed everything he needs to, the backlash from the accumulating causal forces will come down together."

Gojo Satoru seemed to realize something: "So that means—"

"The moment he revealed all his secrets was the moment of his death."

Sumire Kikawa calmly finished saying those words for him.

A brief silence fell over the corridor.

Gojo Satoru looked at him.

He looked at Sumire Kikawa's clean, almost expressionless face, and at her dark, calm eyes, which were as deep as a well. For a moment, he was speechless.

It's not fear.

He was never afraid of Sumi Kichikawa.

It's just that I have some... very subtle feelings that I don't know how to describe.

Gojo Satoru saw the look in the man's eyes when he looked at Sumi Kichikawa.

That was gratitude.

It is a person's almost devout gratitude after grabbing onto a piece of driftwood in a desperate situation, entrusting their entire life and fortune to it.

And Sumi Kichikawa accepted that gratitude with the gentlest of gestures.

Then send him on his way.

Kikawa Sumi didn't look at him, but instead gazed at the other end of the corridor, her voice carrying a hint of caution that she herself didn't realize:

"I just felt that this kind of person had leaked countless pieces of information and harmed countless people. Now that I had gotten what I was supposed to get, I didn't plan to keep him around."

He spoke very quickly, as if afraid of being caught in a compromising situation, or as if he were defending himself.

"Keep him alive; he'll eventually find out about the tampering we've done here. Besides—"

He paused for a moment, his Adam's apple bobbing slightly.

"Since he was able to be turned by that person once today, there's no guarantee he won't do it a second time. He himself knows that once he took that step, there was no turning back."

That's all I have to say.

Gojo Satoru remained silent.

The person, who was usually always smiling and carefree, now had half of his face hidden in shadow, his outline flickering in and out of focus by the broken motion sensor light, making it impossible to discern his emotions.

Kikawa Sumi's heart suddenly felt as if it were being gripped by something icy cold, tightening again and again.

His Adam's apple bobbed, and his lips trembled slightly.

"Enlightenment..."

Kikawa Sumi's eyelashes trembled slightly, and her voice carried a barely perceptible tension and a cautious probing.

Do you think I'm... too cruel?

Gojo Satoru remained silent.

Sumi Kichikawa curled her fingers at her sides, then slowly released them.

He looked at Gojo Satoru, trying his best to maintain his usual expression, but a hint of panic still flashed in his eyes.

"If you don't like me like this... if Wu thinks I'm too cold-blooded, I can use the power of the rules right now to alter the cause and effect just now and bring him back."

As she spoke, Sumire Kichikawa actually prepared to turn around, push back the interrogation room door, and use her trump card.

"Wait, wait!"

Gojo Satoru suddenly snapped out of his reverie, grabbed Kikawa Sumi's wrist, and pulled him back, both amused and exasperated.

"What nonsense are you thinking about!" Gojo Satoru pulled the person into his arms, burying his chin on Sumire's shoulder, his tone somewhat helpless.

"How could I think Xiaocheng is too cruel? Don't take all the blame on yourself, okay? You've said it yourself, it's all about cause and effect. He ended up like this because of his own choices. I don't think you did anything wrong at all."

Kikawa Sumi was stunned as he held her, and her wildly beating heart slowly calmed down.

"...Then why didn't you say anything just now?" he asked sullenly.

Gojo Satoru put his arm around his waist, lifted his head off his shoulder, walked around to face him, and a playful smile appeared on his lips.

Six eyes gleamed with interest beneath white eyelashes.

"I was just thinking about some things," Gojo Satoru said.

"What are you thinking about?"

"I'm thinking..." Gojo Satoru leaned forward again, his nose almost touching that of Sumire Kikawa, a slight smile curving his lips.

"Xiao Cheng's skillful interrogation techniques, and those lines just now, they didn't sound like something a righteous person would say..."

He paused deliberately, drawing out his words.

"Xiao Cheng, tell me the truth."

"You...you didn't actually work for the Mafia, did you?"

Kikawa Sumi suddenly paused.

His eyes involuntarily drifted half an inch to the side.

This reaction is tantamount to admitting guilt without being asked.

Gojo Satoru caught sight of it at a glance, and his entire face instantly lit up to the point of almost glowing.

Like a leopard that has finally caught its prey by the tail, he suddenly moved closer, grabbed Kikawa Sumi's shoulders with both hands, and was so excited that he almost jumped up on the spot.

"Ha! Your eyes are darting around! You're definitely feeling guilty, aren't you!"

"I don't……"

"You did! You were definitely guilty just now! Confess now! Xiaocheng, you didn't actually work for the mafia, did you?"

Kikawa Sumi pursed his lips, knowing that he couldn't get away with this without explaining it today. He raised his hand, awkwardly covering the tip of his nose, and coughed lightly.

After a long pause, he looked away, his voice very low.

"...I served as one for a period of time."

Gojo Satoru exclaimed "Wow!"

"Was this part of your previous work?" he asked very keenly.

Sumire Kawakawa nodded.

"Then...then—" Gojo Satoru's eyes shone brightly, "Sumi, have you ever handled a gun?"

"I touched it."

"real?!"

"Hmm." Seeing that he looked like he wanted to spin around twice, Kikawa Sumi added helplessly, "But in the organization I was in back then, most people had abilities that were much more useful than guns. So guns weren't the main weapon."

"...That's amazing." Gojo Satoru exclaimed in amazement. "What about interrogation? Did you learn those interrogation techniques back then?"

Sumire Kawakawa nodded again.

Gojo Satoru was now completely engrossed. He practically pressed himself against him, wrapping his arms around Sumire's waist from behind and using his height advantage to half-hang on him as he walked forward.

"Then tell me quickly, how did you learn it?"

Sumi Kichikawa glanced at him.

He hadn't originally planned to go into details, but seeing Gojo Satoru's attitude, it was clear he wasn't going to let him go until he explained things clearly.

He remained silent for a few seconds before finally giving in.

"It was because of my job requirements at the time," he said slowly as he walked. "The organization required me to be in charge of interrogating a group of people. However, I'm not good at extracting information, nor am I good at interrogation."

Gojo nods in deep agreement.

"Coincidentally, I have a friend who is very good at this, so I asked him for help."

Kikawa Sumi said, "He said at the time that my expressionless face has its advantages, which is that it is difficult for others to perceive my thoughts from my expression. But it also has disadvantages, which is that my temperament and appearance do not seem to have any threatening power."

Gojo Satoru immediately interjected, "Nonsense, Sumi is incredibly dangerous! She was terrifying inside just now!"

Kikawa Sumi sighed and ignored his interruption: "He said that if you want to break down the other person's mentality at the beginning of the interrogation, you have to put on a show in your own mind first. You have to pretend to be 'the most intimidating and terrifying person in my eyes.' Only in that way will the other person feel real fear from the very beginning."

"I am not a smart person. The only person I can refer to and imitate is my friend and teacher who taught me this method."

Gojo Satoru stroked his chin thoughtfully: "So, Sumi was actually imitating your friend inside just now?"

Kikkawa Sumi nodded, recalling Dazai Osamu's extreme manipulation of people's hearts, and sincerely said:

"However, I still haven't grasped the essence. My friend didn't even need to use any force; he could just sit there and, with just a few words, drive the other person to their own collapse."

"I can't do that. So I can only rely on external forces to increase the pressure of the interrogation, like just now, to make the other party really 'see' the illusion that the restraints have been altered, in order to achieve a similar oppressive effect."

Gojo Satoru exclaimed in surprise, "There are actually people like that..."

Kikawa Sumi nodded, her tone unconsciously carrying a hint of approval for her old friend: "He was truly amazing."

Although his personality was a bit troublesome, he did teach me a lot.

After expressing his feelings, Gojo Satoru offered a very apt assessment:

"It sounds like he's a very helpful and kind friend."

Sikawa Cheng: "..."

He moved his lips, but ultimately said nothing.