[ He startles, and for a moment Shoko thinks to take it back. He's right - that was much too vulnerable, much too much of a question coming from her. She has no right to ask it, after everything... ]

...

[ But they become what they must. Gojo and Okkotsu had understood that better than the rest of them had. Sorcery has made monsters of her dearest friends, and so it has of her, in its own way. But if it all means its future doesn't have to rest on any one person's shoulders, if that burden can be a little lighter... ]

Mmh.

[ She nods, a subdued little thing, as her hand finally falls away from Nico's, finding its way back into a pocket instead. ]

Maybe it was worth it, to get to see his dream carried on by his students. I don't regret having done it. But when I say this was why I was glad to see my friends as their younger friends...

[ It was because of this. Because when it came down to it, she bore Gojo's severed parts in her hands before she even had a chance to accept he was gone. She slotted the pieces of him back together, and cut his brain out, so that he could be used as a weapon in his death. ]