Chapter 52 — The Higher-Ups' Plan: Death Penalty?
"No—absolutely not!"
"Yaga Masamichi! Know your place — you're only the principal of Jujutsu High!"
"Don't think that because we let you be principal you have the right to meddle in our decisions. We put you there; we can unmake you a principal just as easily."
A chorus of scolding rang through the dim room. Outside the curtain, Principal Yaga wore an expression of helplessness.
He hadn't expected this. He was the school's principal — shouldn't that count for something? That he couldn't even protect his own students felt humiliating.
"Gentlemen, please — won't you reconsider this decision? Those two students' homeroom teacher is Zen'in Shinsuke. I've heard he's close to them. If you expel them, he'll hold the school accountable." Yaga forced his frustration down and tried to reason calmly with the higher-ups.
If one voice alone couldn't move them, perhaps two would. Surely the Zen'in family's name carried some weight with these old men?
At the mention of Zen'in Shinsuke's name, the room fell silent. After a moment a cracked, elderly voice replied: "Regardless of who their teacher is, the rules can't be broken. If expulsion is warranted, expel them. If he has objections, let him come and speak to us."
Clearly, even Shinsuke's reputation didn't sway them.
Yaga had no choice but to back down. He'd done all he could; it still changed nothing.
Afterwards, Yaga called Zen'in and apologetically explained the outcome. "That's how it stands, Zen'in-sensei. I'm so sorry — those old fossils upstairs, I don't know what got into them. They won't budge."
"No problem. Leave it to me. You wanted me to negotiate with them, right? I'll talk. I'm sure there are a few people among the higher-ups who can be reasoned with." Shinsuke hung up, then faced his students, Hakari Kinji and Hoshi Kirara. "Put your bags away and get on with your lives. As for the higher-ups — treat their orders like the wind."
He was tired of conservative elders who couldn't tolerate anything new. The old man at Kyoto's school was walking around with a guitar and exorcising curses — why not expel him, too? The hypocrisy made Shinsuke scoff.
"Sensei, don't risk getting involved with the higher-ups on our account. You'll be caught up in this." Hakari and Hoshi were equal parts amused and touched when they heard Shinsuke would stand up to the council. They'd never expected the man who'd been so laissez-faire to actually come through for them.
In truth, Shinsuke's motives weren't purely noble — he did want to protect his students, but he also hoped to keep his own bonus intact. And perhaps, selfishly, he didn't relish being the butt of Gojo's mockery.
Only a day later, the higher-ups reversed their decision and cancelled the expulsion.
"Smash!"
In the dark council room a senile elder slammed a bottle onto the table in fury. "How dare he?!"
The others fell silent. The earlier threat had driven home a sobering truth: this man had always been a tyrant—someone who would not hesitate to slaughter his own kin—and being a teacher hadn't changed him one bit.
A whole wall in the room had been split and caved in like a spider's web; streaks of blood ran through the cracks, a grim reminder that what had just happened was no dream.
"He must be executed! Sentence him to death! Have Satoru Gojo carry out the execution!" one elder erupted, eyes bulging with fury, his face flushed as if about to vomit blood.
"Calm down. The death penalty?" another elder countered. "Do you really think Gojo has a 100% chance of killing him? If that man decides to run, who can stop him? If he wants revenge, it won't be simple. A person without cursed energy can move through barriers with ease; even our sacred places would mean nothing to him. If he set his mind to it, could we stop him?"
They all knew it was unreasonable to expect Gojo to sit beside them day and night as a bodyguard—nor could they rely on him to do their bidding without question.
"So what then? Are we just going to let him ride roughshod over us?" another barked. "If we let this pass once, there will be a second time, a third time—countless times!"
Their anger at Zen'in Shinsuke's conduct ran deep. If they could have overpowered him, they would have. But confronted with failure, rancor only deepened.
"We can't let him walk away scot-free," one sensible voice said. "There must be consequences."
Heads bent in thought. The Zen'in family might be implicated, but this incident didn't necessarily oblige them to intervene on Shinsuke's behalf; the council could handle him as they saw fit.
"Publicly executing him is out of the question," an older member murmured, "but we could quietly summon Gojo and have him eliminate Zen'in Shinsuke in private. If the attempt succeeds, all's well. If it fails, it'll be Gojo's unilateral action—no one here will be traceable."
"Do you think Gojo will obey us?" someone asked.
"Don't worry." The elder's voice was calm, confident. "I've checked—Gojo and that man do not get along. He's wanted a duel for some time; he won't refuse. Whether he can kill him is another matter, and that's not for us to control. If nothing else, at least it'll warn the man: the council isn't soft."
The elder presiding at the head of the table nodded. "Make it quick. Don't drag this out."
Some on the council still thought the whole affair overblown—expelling two students might have been the simpler route, and smoothing things over could have preserved face. But the conservative faction prevailed. These old men were stubborn and inflexible; for them, the lesson had to be painful and unmistakable. Only blood, they believed, would prove the point.