"Are you certain we can trust him?" Megumi asked.
It didn't matter to Toge whether or not they could fully trust the man named Muta Kokichi. There wasn't anyone left to trust entirely other than himself and Yuta. Megumi was trustworthy, but the fact remained that it was a different Fushiguro Megumi than the one who had kissed him.
The silver-haired man shrugged as they stood outside a desolate warehouse. The location was just outside of the city, blending in with storage centers and dilapidated apartment complexes. It was all so gross.
There was a large steel door with peeling black paint in front of the pair. Were they supposed to knock? He said to show up and wait, but they had been standing around for twenty minutes. If it was all a trap, Toge would kick himself for falling into it.
"Ah, I see the mechanic has some new visitors," a booming voice called out from behind Toge and Megumi.
When the silver-haired man turned, he saw an all-too-familiar face. The scarred visage of a strange pizza delivery man, or rather, it seemed he was in casual clothes. The dark-skinned man grinned as if he remembered Toge. Did this man remember everything too?
"Ah, I get it. But where's my brother? Don't tell me he stayed back for this one," the tall man frowned.
Toge shook his head, signing to Megumi, "This guy might be trouble. He knows me, and he remembers."
"What's your name?" Megumi asked, narrowing his eyes.
"Easy dude. I'm Todo Aoi. I see that you might not be fully affected, but blondie here is at least more so," Todo nodded.
A scratchy tired voice shouted from the door of the warehouse, "Todo! You idiot! I told you not to go blathering on about all that!"
Standing in the door frame was an exhausted man who couldn't have been much older than Toge. He too had a scar on his face, but otherwise, he was rather handsome. He seemed familiar as well.
"So it really is Gojo's brat and the snake's son. What a pain!" the tired man groaned.
"Ah. So it was you. You're the engineer," Megumi mumbled.
"Yeah, Muta Kokichi, in the flesh. But I suppose it's starting to come back to you a little bit now Fushiguro?" the tired man frowned.
"Mhm. You used to hang around Gojo's place when I was younger. I just thought you were some kid on staff," Megumi said.
"Well, you were kind of right. I guess the hound's blood runs deep in you, huh?" Muta leaned against the doorway.
"Don't compare me to those Zen'in freaks," Megumi huffed.
Muta simply rolled his eyes, "Alright, come in. Todo, you continue your patrol. If that white-haired fuck shows up, beat his ass for me, 'kay?" Muta smiled.
Toge shrugged it off. This was not the strangest experience he had in the last few days. It wasn't the first time someone had called a Zen'in family member "dog" or "hound." It was rather common among old money to call that messy family names. The Zen'in crest was that of a wolf—just as the Inumaki's was the serpent—but no one saw the current Zen'in group as regal enough for that title. There wasn't a wolf within that family, unless Toge counted those either expelled or who hated their own Zen'in blood—present company included.
"Easy enough," Megumi mumbled under his breath as they entered the warehouse door.
Much like Toge expected, the warehouse hummed with electricity. There was a distinct odor that poured throughout the structure, difficult to ignore. It was all so foul. Something about how the loosely hung overhead lights flickered against the rusted walls. There was no way this was the true lair of such an individual, or Muta was lying.
"How many are there now?" Muta spat out his question as he led the pair to a back office area that was much cleaner than the rest of the rotting machinery.
"How many what?" Megumi asked, ignoring Toge's attempt to sign an answer.
"How many of you, people who remember, are there?" Muta turned to look at them as he placed himself in a perfectly upholstered black office chair.
It didn't match the rest of the room. There were screens behind him showing crisp security footage of the exterior and interior of the supposed warehouse. Toge tried to look past Muta, but the man must have noticed, shifting his body to be directly in the way.
Megumi looked to Toge for an answer, signing, "How many?"
Toge simply held up his fingers, conveying as much of the truth as he knew, "Five."
"Huh, not including Todo or me?" Muta scratched the side of his head.
Toge shook his head.
"Sounds like Gojo's got himself quite a network. If you only know five, assume there are at least double that. He might seem a little dense, but there is a reason they say Gojo Satoru has six eyes," Muta remarked, scanning the room as if searching for an answer.
"He is deceptively cunning," Megumi frowned.
"So, Inumaki, you're the brains of this team? All five of you?" Muta inquired.
Toge shook his head, deciding to cast his first lie, "Two."
"Only the two of you? Smart, smart. When you add too many loose ends, stuff starts to break. That's how we got ourselves into this situation after all," Muta reflected.
"What do you mean?" Megumi asked.
"Oh? I figured you knew the story if you had seen the machine," Muta said.
"I actually haven't. Only Toge has," Megumi replied.
"Interesting. And you believed him?" Muta leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees.
Megumi blushed, "I have my reasons too. And he has his reasons not to lie."
"Really? But he has already lied since we've been talking. You didn't know that, of course," Muta smirked.
Megumi turned to give Toge an emerald-eyed glance, "I'm sure he had his reasons, regardless of what it was."
Muta smiled, "A trusting one, I see. Well, let me enlighten you. This isn't the situation that you thought it was. At least, it's become a lot more intense since you've called. So, let's start with the truth, both of you. How many people are there?"
Toge reluctantly held up his fingers, "Three."
"Now, who is the other?" Muta frowned.
Toge signed out his name as Megumi interpreted, "Okkotsu Yuta."
Muta's eyes widened, "Really? Todo's so-called 'brother'? That's hilarious! I knew you two were hanging out a lot, but that's a new layer I didn't see coming!"
"Me either," Megumi frowned.
"Don't worry Fushiguro, there is a lot to this story you don't know. That's okay. In the name of trusting each other, I should bind my own word to you," Muta stood, then bowed. "I am Muta Kokichi, the original constructor and engineer of the machine known as The Splinter of the Mind's Eye."
"Nice to meet you," Megumi gave a slight bow.
Toge signed to Megumi, "There is no way this is his real warehouse."
"It's a little unfair that you two can communicate without speaking. For now, let's keep our hands to ourselves. If I'm not mistaken, you have been working on a project for communicating over the phone, correct Inumaki?" Muta asked.
Toge nodded.
"Use that. I'd love to see it in action. It's been quite a while since I was in a timeline where that actually saw the light of day," Muta smiled.
"How many of them have you experienced?" Megumi asked.
Muta shrugged, "To be honest, I stopped keeping track of the resets and started just keeping track of how old I was back in my real warehouse."
Toge removed his phone from his pocket and typed into his TTS, "This isn't your real warehouse? So, I was correct."
"That you were. Why would I show two random guys I haven't met in person, or in Fushiguro's case years? I have a lot of work there. This is just a place I dump stuff or come junk for parts. My boss is the main person to use this building," Muta said.
"Who's your boss?" Megumi asked.
"So many questions from the two of you. This isn't a drama on TV! Just chill, we're buds, right? If we make a deal then we both get something from that deal. That doesn't mean I have to explain everything to you," Muta smirked again.
"Is it Geto Suguru?" Toge's phone spoke.
"One of the richest men this side of the world? No, I stopped dealing with the rich when I worked with Gojo," Muta said.
"Do you want to know anything else from us?" Megumi asked.
"Actually, I would. If you could end the world, would you?" Muta sat back in his chair with a cold, dead stare.
"What do you mean?" Megumi asked.
Muta smiled, "A boring response to that question would have been something binary like yes or no. Those are the kinds of people I deal with on a regular basis due to my employment. What I mean is rather simple. You want me to break The Splinter, correct?"
Toge nodded.
"Well, even if I did, that wouldn't solve any of our current problems. Whatever events made you think that destroying it would fix everything is unfounded," Muta said.
"Is it because of fate?" Megumi asked.
"What I wouldn't do to be Laplace's Demon. No, sadly, true determinism doesn't exist. Rather, think of existence as a string of various nodes. All nodes can be changed, except for death," Muta said.
"So even if you were to stop a stabbing or shooting, those people would still die?" Toge typed out.
"That's correct. Death can't be truly undone, except it can be rerouted. The thing is, Gojo and I wanted to reset time to save two different people, but we couldn't. They both died and we were helpless to change anything except what happened to everyone else we interacted with," Muta nodded.
"Meaning, what exactly?" Megumi asked.
"Would you like to know about your father?" Muta dropped his brows to shade his tired eyes.
"I don't care about him. He abandoned my sister and me years ago. I'm sure he's dead somewhere, not my problem," Megumi grumbled.
"Interesting. Not a boring answer at all, at least that is what one of my colleagues would say. The simple fact of the matter is that Gojo and I affected more lives than we even thought about. We deviated from the original course of trajectory; any death we caused in the future could be undone, hypothetically of course," Muta said.
Toge rapidly typed, "What do you mean exactly?"
Megumi interjected, "Any future nodes of death caused by a prolonged life or forgotten memory could be erased. But what's the cost?"
"Smart for someone almost jobless," Muta turned to the computer screens to examine the footage. "It's simple actually. A new machine, one that could adapt all of the timelines splintering and frozen from the original into the traditional trajectory."
"Meaning a machine that would give everyone their memories back," Toge typed.
"A machine that could end the world," Megumi softly spoke.
"Every living person. That includes those who would have already been dead and have just been biding their time, and those who are barely old enough to remember anything at all," Muta's voice dropped an octave.
"Kids?" Toge typed.
"Yep," Muta responded.
"How long after the initial event did time go on before you used the machine? How many times did you go back that far? I assume it was far based on how you're acting," Megumi said.
"It was about six years. So, those who lived those six years will remember the lives they had. That timestamp was about five years back from this date. So, that's five new years in the altered timeline on top of the original six altered years. Gojo was twenty-something when we built it. I don't think he even remembers at this point. Maybe that math is wrong but it is pretty close. I have the exact numbers written down; it might be closer to eight years after the jump, and then an additional four years of new time. So maybe twelve years total of distorted time?" Muta turned back to look at Megumi and Toge.
"Jeez," Megumi said.
"Are there nodes of life?" Toge asked.
"No, life is a bit random. That means if someone was born in that additional four years, the time before Gojo being twenty-six or so and now, they would only gain memories from the times they were alive. In four years since the original splintering, any kids born would effectively be unaffected other than with small bursts of memories," Muta said.
"This is all so complicated," Megumi said.
"Yeah, it is. That's what happens when you gamble with souls. It's a dangerous game when you change influential events. Not even Gojo's supposed six eyes could see that. I chose not to as well," Muta said.
"You were a kid though," Toge typed.
"Doesn't matter, I still played a role. So, I ask again, would you destroy the world if you could?" Muta asked with a more genuine, full-lipped smile.
"Is that a choice you're actually giving us?" Megumi asked.
Toge asked his own question, "Would it kill those who die in the original timeline and save those who die in the splinter?"
Muta simply nodded in response with a frown, "Yes."