i always intended for that fic to have an open ending, but my initial plan was to heavily hint that getou kills gojo. i was going to do this by paralleling certain scenes from jjk0, hence the “hey, suguru. long time no see” dialogue from gojo that i decided against reworking. the ending scene was also supposed to be getou whispering three words in gojo’s ear before the fic cut off. however, as i was writing, i decided i didn’t want to influence the reader’s opinion because the fun of open-ended fics is hearing what they think happens next. i ended up having to go back and adjust certain lines that might skew the reader’s perception, for example “the outcome was determined from the start” was initially written as “the victor was determined from the start.”

to be honest, i myself don’t know what happens next despite how certain the narrator was. so this isn't exactly an answer because it’s not the True Ending of the fic, seeing as there's no such thing, but An Ending i’ve been entertaining goes something like: getou lets gojo leave, then gojo says goodbye to his students before traveling the world with his new eyes. getou still launches his attack in an attempt to get his hands on rika but ultimately fails. yuuta finds getou by the same alleyway and calls gojo, who tells him to finish the job before hanging up, but yuuta Loves Love and therefore drops getou off at gojo’s doorstep instead. they find a nice cabin in the wilderness far away from jujutsu society to recuperate as gojo nurses getou back to health. what happens after that? i don’t know, but it’s the kindest ending i could imagine. i’m also partial to gojo's suggestion of being atticwifed but that’s a different matter entirely...

anyway, sorry for rambling, but feel free to let me know what you personally believe happens after the ending ^^ that’s why i wrote the fic after all!