Jujutsu Kaisen: The Sorceress of Control

"Geto-sama, she said she wanted to help the sorcerers," commented a young girl as she followed Suguru Geto down a dark corridor. Her voice sounded curious, almost anxious.

"Why do you keep insisting on recruiting her if she already refused?" she added, frowning slightly.

Geto turned his head slightly, giving the blonde-haired girl a calm smile. "Look, Nanako-chan, despite what she said, I can see something else. She wants nothing more than to detach herself from the sorcerer society... or, more specifically, from those who think they can give her orders."

Nanako tilted her head, intrigued, but before she could respond, a brown-haired girl of the same age intervened, her hands crossed behind her back. "Then wouldn't it be the same with you? If you recruit her, I don't think she'll like taking orders from anyone, not even you."

Geto let out a low, relaxed laugh. "Hehe, you're right, Mimiko-chan," he said, giving her a couple of gentle pats on the head, "but there's something more about her."

He paused for a moment, turning toward both girls, his gaze acquiring a calculating glint. "She's on edge. She'll do something irrational if this continues. I saw it in her posture, in her attitude. Do you remember how she reacted when Tsukumo interrupted? She was already tense, but Satoru's arrival... that shattered her even more. She hates not being in control of the situation, and that frustration will be our ally."

"Our ally?" asked Nanako, confused, while Mimiko frowned, trying to piece it together.

Geto nodded, resuming his slow walk as the corridor's shadows lengthened around him. "We'll use that to our advantage. It's only a matter of time before the elders try to involve her somehow, maybe forcefully. Satoru might protect her, but he can't do so forever. The moment will come when she'll have to rebel against them... or give in. And if she decides to help the sorcerer society, even against her will, she'll be playing our game."

The words hung in the air, cold and strategic. Both girls nodded in unison, understanding Geto's ruthless logic. Satisfied, he let a slight smile cross his face as he continued down the corridor.

"In either option," he concluded, "we win."

In the facilities, Makima was sitting, hunched over her notes. Her right leg bounced intensely, trembling uncontrollably as if something inside her was about to explode. Her face remained expressionless, but her thoughts churned like a storm.

"How long has he been spying on me...? Could he have discovered something...? Does he already know everything about me? Or did Tengen tell him, and he's been playing me from the start...?"

The trembling of her leg became more frantic, reflecting the anxiety gnawing at her insides. It was a feeling she barely recognized: insecurity. She hated it. Instinctively, her hand rose to her head, clutching her crimson hair with increasing force. Her fist tightened around the strands, pulling harder and harder until some began to tear from the roots.

"AAAAAAH!"

The piercing scream broke the room's silence, accompanied by the crash of the book she threw against the wall, its pages scattering like dead leaves.

Rika, who had heard the scream from the hallway, burst into the room with an alarmed expression. Her gaze swept over the scene: Makima standing, her shoulders trembling, strands of red hair in her fingers, while the shattered book lay on the other side of the room.

"M-Makima-sama..." murmured Rika in a faint voice, clearly worried.

Makima slowly raised her gaze. Her stare was intense, empty, as if a demonic gleam emanated from her eyes.

"You too...?" she said in a chilling, almost inaudible tone.

Rika felt a shiver run down her spine. "Pardon, Makima-sama?"

"Are you mocking me too?" Makima suddenly shouted, stepping toward her.

Rika instinctively stepped back, hitting the wall behind her. It was the first time she had seen such a thing in Makima's eyes: pure hatred.

"Makima-sama!" Rika exclaimed, trying to stop her, but it was futile.

Makima grabbed her by the neck with brutal strength, her fingers digging into her skin. The pressure was unbearable, almost to the point of snapping her neck.

"I knew I couldn't trust... anyone even a little," Makima murmured, her voice dripping with venom.

Rika struggled desperately, her face reddening as the air left her lungs. But then, as if a silent command fell over her, Makima whispered:

"Don't... fight."

Rika, obeying without resistance, stopped moving. She accepted her fate, even as her strength left her. With a final breath, she whispered, "I... would never... betray you... I swore it... to Kaori..."

The name seemed to cut through the storm in Makima's mind. Her empty eyes flickered, and a spark of lucidity returned. Her grip loosened, and Rika fell to the ground, coughing uncontrollably as she used her reverse technique to heal her nearly crushed throat.

Makima watched her silently for a few seconds that felt like an eternity. Then, without another word, she left the room, leaving Rika on the floor, recovering, with tears in her eyes and a mixture of relief and fear on her face.

Makima ran aimlessly, leaving the facilities behind and plunging into the solitude of the night. The small mountains surrounding her seemed like motionless shadows under the starry sky. Her breathing was erratic, not from physical exertion but from the chaos unleashed within her.

She had done something unforgivable, something that went against everything she believed herself to be. She acted without thinking, driven by an impulse that should never have existed within her. She had nearly killed her best pawn, someone who was more than just a tool: her connection to Kaori, her most reliable pillar.

She abruptly stopped in the middle of nowhere, the cold night air brushing her face as she squeezed her eyes shut. She couldn't believe what had happened. "This can't be happening to me..." she whispered, her tone laden with disbelief and anger.

Satoru Gojo's face appeared in her mind like an open wound. He had been the trigger. For years, Makima believed she had eradicated all traces of humanity within herself, that weak and sentimental side she had always despised. But Gojo... somehow, he had pierced through that armor, reaching her dead heart.

The implicit betrayal in his lies, his hidden actions, his distrust of her... all of it had disarmed her in a way she hadn't expected. She couldn't blame him; after all, she shared the same thoughts, the same paranoia, the same predisposition to distrust. But she had never expected it from him. More accurately, she had never wanted to.

Makima looked up at the sky, seeking answers among the stars, but all she found was the reflection of her own confusion. That feeling gripping her chest was something she didn't know how to confront, something she had never had to face before: a humanity she thought she had buried forever.

"I don't know how to get rid of this," she thought, placing a hand over her heart as if she wanted to tear it out. "I don't know how to remove this part of me."

The night remained silent, indifferent to her inner turmoil. Makima, alone under the starry sky, couldn't help but feel that this time her greatest enemy wasn't Gojo or the elders... but herself.