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A few days had passed by since the squad duels at the Zenin estate.
Currently, Naoya was watching a game with Utahime, Satoru, and Nanami.
"I always feel bad for the other team whenever Tetsuya is playing," said Naoya.
"I agree with that," added Nanami.
"What can he do? It's not like it's his fault," replied Utahime.
"What are you all talking about? It's always hilarious whenever they see the ball disappear from their sight," said Satoru and munched on some snacks.
Currently, they are at a basketball match and have come to cheer on Kuroko.
The blue-haired boy, after completing high school, was very conflicted between being a sorcerer and fulfilling his duty to society or following his passion for basketball.
After getting some scolding/consultation from Naoya, Kuroko decided to go for basketball. He could be a sorcerer later, too, but right now, he should choose his passion. Naoya promised to do his part of the heavy lifting as well, making Kuroko accept going for the sport.
Nanami looked at Satoru with annoyance before sipping on the juice he had. Today was one of his few rest days, and he was not going to waste it on being annoyed by the tactless white-haired senior.
Naoya lightly chuckled as he sneakily stole some of Utahime's food.
Utahime noticed that and caught Naoya's hand, catching the Zenin red-handed and immediately shifting to pleading mode.
Utahime simply snatched the piece back from him, making Naoya sigh, though a second later, he saw Utahime feeding him.
Smiling, he happily bit onto the bait while lightly nibbling on her finger as well.
Surprised by the sudden 'attack', Utahime blushed and looked around to see if anyone was looking at them and sighed in relief before shooting a victorious smirk towards Satoru, who was looking at her with a frown.
Without wasting a moment, Satoru reached for his snacks and moved them towards Naoya.
Naoya looked at Satoru, who was staring at him seriously.
Naoya shook his head.
Satoru pushed it towards Naoya, nevertheless.
This continued for a while, but Naoya didn't eat it and was instead pulled into an embrace by Utahime.
"Don't irritate my boyfriend," snapped Utahime.
"Don't butt in between us, you third wheel," replied Satoru.
In the end, Utahime and Satoru started arguing, letting Naoya focus back on the game. Nanami was simply enjoying his drink, not even willing to shut up his senpais.
After the match was over, the group waited for Kuroko, who promptly arrived after saying farewell to his team.
Once they gathered together, Satoru called Shoko. She was busy with her doctor duties, but she could still join them for lunch.
Utahime called Mei Mei, too, but she was in the middle of something and couldn't come.
As they were chatting, Naoya noticed Satoru looking at his phone.
"He still didn't pick up?" asked Naoya.
Hearing his question, all of them looked at Satoru, who shook his head in response.
The cherry mood around them immediately dampened.
The one they were talking about was Suguru Geto. It has been almost 2 weeks since they had any contact with the man. He was not answering calls, nor was there any message that told them where he went. He just disappeared without any heads up.
Though he was strong, they were starting to get worried about him now.
"Did Nanako-chan and Mimiko-chan get any updates from him?" asked Naoya.
Satoru once again shook his head.
Nanako Hasaba and Mimiko Hasaba are twin sisters whom Suguru rescued a few years back during a mission. Since then, he has been taking care of the girls and has been basically their guardian at this point.
It was through them that the group realised that Suguru was gone without leaving behind any traces. The two were worried sick and asked for Satoru's help.
Since then, the group has been trying to find the Special Grade sorcerer, but has had no luck in finding him. They also checked with the HQ and knew that he was not on a mission as well.
For now, Satoru has taken in the Hasaba twins under him to look after them, to make sure that the girls don't take any reckless measures in search of Suguru. He was actively looking for him and had quite a lot of people looking around to search for him as well.
Even the HQ was aiding in the search. Suguru Geto was a Special Grade Asset, and his disappearance was a huge deal for them as well.
Naoya also involved his men in the search, but like the rest of them, he too had no clue yet.
All in all, Suguru Geto's disappearance has caused quite a lot of stress for the majority of the cornerstones of the Jujutsu world.
All of them walked in silence for a while before Satoru finally sighed and slung his arm around Naoya's shoulders.
"Today I will feed you the meat," said Satoru with a serious look.
Naoya stared back at the man.
They were going for yakiniku, so Satoru must be talking about that meat....right?
"I can eat on my own."
"I am not asking for permission," replied Satoru.
"If you focus on me, you will be left hungry and tired by the end of it."
"Heh, putting the meat against your lips and making you gulp it down...I have the stamina to do it for a long time."
"Alright. Stop!" Utahime snapped and pulled Naoya away.
"Agh! Stay away from my Naoya!" complained Satoru and pulled Naoya as well.
Naoya, who was being pulled by the two of them, sighed and pulled the two of them towards the restaurant. Nanami and Kuroko followed him without saying anything at all.
At the yakiniku place, the Kyoto branch sat together while the Tokyo ones sat together, making Satoru pout at the seating arrangement. Still, the Special Grade sorcerer made sure to feed Naoya by firing grilled meat at Naoya with his CT, who was more than happy to catch the flying meat. At some point, they started doing trick shots as well, much to the annoyance of Shoko and Utahime.
Kuroko joined the two as well, while Nanami simply ate in silence, glancing at the ruckus briefly from time to time before focusing back on his meal. Though seeing him be so calm, the boys started to perform trick shots around him as well, making the younger blond snap at them, much to their amusement.
All in all, the group had quite a light-hearted outing, free from the stress of their daily life. There were many problems around them, but these moments of relaxation allowed them to be free from their responsibilities and enjoy the time they had after surviving the dangers they faced.
-----
In the evening, Naoya was walking with a group of children.
The group consisted of people he was quite familiar with and who were quite close to him- Maki, Mai, Megumi, and Tomoko.
Tomoko was the younger sister of Megumi, who was born a few years ago.
Currently, Tomoko was walking hand in hand with Naoya, happily singing a made-up song about cake.
"Uncle! I want chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla cake!" declared Tomoko.
"Only 1," replied Naoya with a smile.
"...2!"
"You want us to turn back. I am already doing badly by taking you guys out for cake before dinner. Miyuki-nee-san will yell at me," said Naoya.
"Boo! Mom makes me eat veggies! Veggies are bad!"
"If you don't eat your veggies, cursed monsters will come to eat you," said Maki.
"True. One time, Megumi didn't eat veggies for 2 days, and scary curses came to eat him. Maki and Me fought bravely to save him, but it was already quite late. Megumi had already wet his bed by then," added Mai 'sadly'.
"..." Megumi looked at the twins who were ruining his image in front of Tomoko and narrowed his eyes. He wanted to say that the story was made up, but Tomoko was looking at him to say it was not true and disprove the 'eat veggies, curse away' theory.
The twins were looking at him with a shit-eating grin.
Megumi was about the same age as them, and thanks to his constant training/torture with Toji, he was quite well built as well. His Jujutsu was strong as well, thanks to training and guidance from Naoya. All in all, he was quite a decent sorcerer.
Yet, despite all that, he couldn't protect his image from the wretched twin bullies in front of his younger sister.
"Now now, don't frame it like you two haven't wet your bed because you got scared by curses. I have done enough late-night pyjama changes, you know," said Naoya.
Megumi looked at Naoya. What he saw wasn't his uncle but his saviour. The man who fought for his cause.
"...Bed wetters," said Tomoko and gave a sagely nod.
Maki, Mai, and Megumi looked at each other before they nodded in approval and each of them took turns to smack the little girl who had mothed them.
"!!! Meanies! Uncle! Anihilate them!!!!" ordered Tomoko as she hid in Naoya's embrace.
"Where did you learn such a complex word?" asked Naoya curiously.
"Anime," replied Tomoko.
Naoya patted the girl affectionately, making her melt up and snuggle up to him.
Tomoko, from quite a young age, was quite fond of Naoya. Because of his blond hair, Naoya resembled the image of a prince that she saw in her picture books.
Because of this affection, Toji was quite upset with Naoya and almost fired a bullet at him when a toddler, Tomoko, ran past him towards Naoya with flowers in her hand and offered them to the hateful blond bastard, who later even pecked her hand in a princely manner.
Naoya was only playing the part of the prince, but the look Toji gave him made him seem like he really was the demon from the story.
While he was talking with Tomoko, they finally arrived at their destination and opened the shop's door.
"Welco- Naoya! Hello~"
The shop they entered was the bakery that belonged to the Miyamura family.
Thanks to the various businesses that Naoya had, some of them even needed a steady input of baked goods, and because of his connection to Izumi Miyamura, both the boys profited a lot. Naoya can have a reliable friend who won't cheat him or tamper with the food, and Miyamura can get more business for his shop.
Thanks to the dealings, Miyamura's shop was now much bigger than before and because of that, they even needed to hire a lot of people as well.
"Yo, Izumi. How are you?" asked Naoya, and placed Tomoko on the ground, who immediately ran up to the cake display. The other kids followed her as well.
It wasn't their first time here, because of the dealings between Naoya and Izumi, they were regular customers here and even got a 50% discount on their purchase.
Miyamura told one of the employees to take over his job for a bit while he went to talk to Naoya.
Izumi Miyamura was now quite a dashing-looking individual, with fair skin, short and neat hair and, fortunately, not an overly scrawny body. Because of being taunted so much by others, Izumi decided to fix his physique, and after quite some effort, he didn't look like a bean pole at least. He was still not ripped like Naoya or had much muscle for that matter, but it was better than nothing.
"Tell your employees to get only 1 cake for Tomoko," said Naoya as he noticed the little troublemaker trying to slip off to give multiple orders without getting caught by Megumi and the twins.
"Don't worry, they are now used to her," replied Izumi with a chuckle.
The two talked for a while until the kids were done buying their things. When they came to the billing counter, Tomoko gave a threatening look to Izumi. This uncle was the one because of whom her scheme didn't work.
Izumi playfully hid behind Naoya.
"Naoya, she is scaring me. Don't buy her cake."
"Huh?! No! I wasn't! You liar, liar, liar!" retorted Tomoko.
The girl continued to fight for her cause for quite a while before she walked out victorious with a box of cake in hand.
Though while she was mid celebration, Naoya took the box from her and tossed it into his shadows.
"You get to eat cake after dinner. If you eat now, you won't eat dinner," said Naoya.
Tomoko looked at Naoya as if he had killed her entire lineage.
The twins and Megumi chuckled at the girl's expression, though a moment later, Naoya took their bags as well and tossed them to his shadows.
"Why us?!" asked Maki.
Tomoko stood in front of them with her little hands on her waist and with her chest puffed out, answered.
"Equality!!!"
Naoya ruffled the girl's hair.
"As she said."
"Hehe." smiled Tomoko.
Maki wanted to retort, but kept it to herself. She was not so much of a kid that she would get upset for that.
While she was thinking that Tomoko's gears were working on overdrive.
'Once Uncle keeps the cake in the fridge, I will sneak in and eat everyone's cake!!!!' thought Tomoko.
'...I will put them at the top.' thought Megumi, as if knowing what his sister was thinking, that was because over the years of bullying by the twins, he was now quite used to dealing with these troubles.
-----
The next morning:
In the Zenin estate, Satoru and Naoya were standing with their arms crossed as they looked at Maki and Mai.
Maki and Mai had a shikigami bird perched on their shoulders and a piece of paper in their hands.
The shikigami were sent by the Jujutsu HQ, and probably contained the details about their Jujutsu High admission.
Maki and Mai looked at each other and then gave a firm nod before opening their letters.
As they read it, Maki's face brightened.
"Kyoto!" cheered Maki.
"...Get me the car! I am going to destroy the HQ!" declared Maki and started walking towards the gate.
"Stop her!" ordered Naoya, and Maki nodded and wrapped Mai in her arms to stop her.
"Let go of me! How dare they put me in Tokyo! Away from you and onii-chan! I will end them! Let go, Maki!" flailed Mai.
"Oi! Calm down! Violence is not the answer here!" said Maki.
"It is if I use enough of it! I will use more than enough of it!" yelled Mai.
Satoru and Naoya looked at the twins. For some reason, they were having a deja vu.
Gojo shook his head and picked up the fallen letters.
"You two are being so dramatic," said Satoru.
Naoya immediately looked at him with a 'you don't get to say that.' look.
Satoru didn't look at Naoya. He was not taking fake allegations. He was a calm and collected individual through and through.
While the sisters were arguing, Satoru and Naoya read the letters.
Immediately, the calm and collected individual sprang up and stood in front of the twins.
"Learn to read, you illiterate brats," said Satoru.
Maki and Mai gave Satoru a stink eye. What the hell did that bastard mean?
Naoya was already facepalming.
The twins looked at the letters once again, more specifically at the points where Satoru was pointing.
Maki Zenin- Tokyo branch
Mai Zenin- Kyoto branch
The shikigami gave them the wrong letters, and the two overlooked most of the words and lasered in on the branch.
-A few moments later-
"Let me go! I will end them on my own!!!" yelled Maki.
"Relax~ Maki, Violence is not the answer~" said Mai in an overly sweet voice.
"I will still use it!!!!" declared Maki as she tried to struggle out of Naoya's shadows.
Mai was already snuggling up to Naoya, celebrating her admission to the Kyoto branch.
Maki, though, was not only stuck in the shadows but was also being annoyed by Satoru.
"We are so gonna have fun, Maki. I will make your high school life so much misr-*cough**cough* memorable," said Satoru with a smile.
Maki glared at the man. She knew that it wasn't the slip of his tongue and gritted her teeth.
Mid-grinding, though, a sudden 'light bulb' idea came to her.
The angry frown on her face immediately turned into a happy smile.
"Gojo-sensei~" called Maki.
Satoru stopped smiling. If this wasn't the conman expression, he didn't know what else would be.
"What?"
"...What do you think would happen if the Tokyo branch were to suddenly, you know....get destroyed?" asked Maki.
"....As amusing as that sounds. No-"
"With nowhere else to go, the students won't be able to perfect their jujutsu to contribute to society. *Sigh* If only there were some other place where they could study and learn....if there was such a place, the students might be asked to move there.....though along with the students..." said Maki.
"....the teachers would be joining as well," finished Satoru.
"Most likely, they won't fire teachers just like that."
"....If that happens, won't I be with my best bud Naoya every day?" muttered Satoru.
"True....but oh well, the Tokyo school isn't destroyed. Well, what can we do? We will need to attend that school. Away from Kyoto. Away from Onii-chan," said Maki in disappointment.
Gojo had already stopped listening. Right now, he was wondering whether [Purple] would be overkill or not.
Naoya and Mai were looking at the idiots planning the insane idea and were blinking their eyes, thinking whether the two of them were serious.
Suddenly, Satoru's back straightened.
"Ah! I just remembered, I need to go and buy some milk for home. I will take my leave now. Bye-bye, my best buddy Naoya," said Satoru and tried to walk away.
"Stay right there!" yelled Naoya and captured Satoru in the shadows as well.
"Let go of me! I need to do it for my rosy future with Naoya! Let me go!" flailed Satoru.
"Yeah! Satoru! You can do it!" cheered Maki.
"No, Satoru won't!" retorted Naoya.
"Satoru wants to!" said Satoru.
"Satoru doesn't."
"Satoru does! Satoru has free will! Satoru wants to go boom boom over school!" said Satoru.
Naoya glared at his 'son'. He was fairly certain that the man was not serious since he could easily destroy the shadow bindings and get away from him. Still, there was a small chance that he was thinking of destroying the school, and he wasn't willing to take that risk. In any case, he cannot let him go for now.