Blood hung thick in the air.
After numerous attempts, Gojo Satoru finally succeeded in repairing the scar with the Reverse Cursed Technique.
Old blood and fresh blood mingled together. The massive influx of newly regenerated blood stimulated his body, causing him to once again fall into a state of exhilarated excitement.
"The handsome and incomparable Gojo Satoru has restored his beautiful face!"
Gojo Satoru indulged in his narcissism for three whole seconds before changing into a T-shirt and cropped pants and dashing off to spread the good news.
He harassed two underclassmen in succession and received the following responses:
"Gojo-senpai is the most handsome!"
And—
"Gojo-senpai... let go of me already! Stop blocking my doorway! I know you're good-looking, but I honestly can't tell what changed!"
Since Getou Suguru wasn't in the boys' dormitory, Gojo Satoru took selfies from every conceivable angle—front, back, left, and right. He even deliberately tugged down the loose collar of his T-shirt before sending picture after picture of his unedited natural beauty to Getou Suguru, who was off campus, thereby completing his round of showing off.
For his final stop, Gojo Satoru ran to Asou Akiya's dorm room and began scratching at the door.
Scratch, scratch, scratch.
Asou Akiya was quietly contacting someone outside the school when the strange noise from beyond the door suddenly startled him.
"What kind of sound is that?"
A moment later, he sensed Gojo Satoru's familiar cursed energy.
"..."
Covering his phone's receiver, he immediately became wary. The other party's excitement seemed unusually intense.
"We'll discuss it next time."
Asou Akiya ended the call, no longer continuing his business-planning discussion with Satou.
He carefully hid Mii-chan inside the wardrobe before slowly making his way toward the door. The scratching noise grew increasingly piercing, as though it were scraping directly across his scalp, perfectly demonstrating the other man's terrible sense of humor when it came to knocking.
The moment he opened the door, Asou Akiya saw a tall white-haired high school boy striking a pose.
The other party wasn't wearing sunglasses.
Nor was he wearing his usual high-collared clothing.
Gojo Satoru's skin seemed to glow with a healthy luster. His complexion was rosy, his grin outrageously wide, and his eyes shimmered with a joy so intense that it was almost unsettling. Standing there, he looked like a character illustration layered onto a completely different plane from the ancient wooden corridor around him, his entire being radiating an air of lighthearted madness.
"Do you need something?" Asou Akiya responded calmly, positioning himself in the doorway and preventing the other from stepping into the dorm room.
"Look~."
Gojo Satoru brushed aside his bangs, revealing a perfectly smooth forehead.
"I suggest you go run fifty laps around the track," Asou Akiya offered as a reasonable recommendation. "Your emotional state isn't normal. It's a shame Getou isn't here, otherwise he could spar with you for a while."
"My neck doesn't have one anymore either~."
Gojo Satoru pointed at the spot on his throat that had once been pierced straight through.
"I'll contact Shoko for you."
Asou Akiya acted as though he hadn't seen anything and opened his phone's contact list.
"Seriously! They're all gone! Fushiguro Toji can't leave a single scar on me anymore!"
After having the point repeatedly ignored by Asou Akiya, Gojo Satoru finally became somewhat exasperated.
"You don't need to keep admiring that guy anymore!"
"Asou?"
Ieiri Shoko's voice suddenly entered the conversation.
"Gojo's gone crazy. Do you have time to come to the boys' dormitory?" Asou Akiya asked while pushing Gojo Satoru aside.
"What kind of crazy? Is Getou there?" Ieiri Shoko asked cautiously.
"Getou isn't here, so there's nobody who can punch him. Gojo has currently run all the way to my door. He's emotionally overstimulated, his pupils are dilated, his blood circulation has accelerated, his sense of self has expanded dramatically, and he's completely incapable of listening to human language."
Asou Akiya described Gojo Satoru's condition in meticulous detail, earning an immediate and decisive response from Ieiri Shoko.
"I'm not coming. He's beyond saving."
Gojo Satoru wasn't offended in the slightest. Leaning toward the phone, he called out in an overly sweet voice,
"Hey, Shoko! Want to come play with us?"
Ieiri Shoko hung up instantly.
She wanted no part of that.
Asou Akiya: ...
Gojo Satoru then began commenting to himself.
"I invited her to play games with me, and she completely ignored me. Not considerate at all. Akiya's better. On weekends, I don't even need to go out and find other people to hang out with."
Unlike usual, Asou Akiya didn't take any photos of Gojo Satoru to preserve another collection of beautiful pictures.
Instead, his expression remained cold and stern.
Gojo Satoru, completely oblivious to danger, continued provoking Asou Akiya.
"Take pictures of me already!"
He grabbed Asou Akiya's wrist.
"Wow, just like Suguru said—it's really thin. Come on, take pictures of me. Aren't you the one who loves collecting beautiful photos of me the most?"
Asou Akiya shook off his hand.
"Gojo, you stink. I suggest you go take a shower."
Gojo Satoru lowered his head and sniffed himself in confusion.
"I stink?"
Then he shrugged indifferently.
"It's probably the smell of blood. So you noticed it."
Every inch of Gojo Satoru radiated delight. His body language was relaxed and open, even his toes seemed to curl upward with satisfaction. Every gesture embodied the carefree self-indulgence that the Gojo Clan had nurtured in him since childhood. His arrogance and confidence continued to swell without end—an obvious sign that his understanding of the Reverse Cursed Technique had deepened yet another step.
"Akiya, Fushiguro Toji is dead. I blasted him to death with Hollow Purple. Do you know what Purple is? Want me to explain the theory behind it? I know your learning ability is only average, but absorbing theoretical knowledge shouldn't be a problem for you—"
Gojo Satoru's chatter simply never stopped.
Asou Akiya forcefully tried to close the door, only for Gojo Satoru to block it.
As if realizing that Akiya had no interest whatsoever in discussing Hollow Purple, Gojo Satoru immediately switched topics.
"I didn't even ask Shoko for help. I handled all the scars by myself. Isn't that impressive?"
Asou Akiya remained completely unmoved.
"Did you actually listen to a single word I said?"
Gojo Satoru blinked.
"Oh! Which sentence? The one where you told me to cherish my life?"
Sometimes Gojo Satoru was frighteningly perceptive.
Other times he was infuriating beyond belief.
Like a giant koala, he clung to the door and refused to let it close.
With a completely innocent expression, he said,
"What I wanted to show you was my restored skin! A little blood in exchange for the chance to heal all those scars—even you would think that's worth it, wouldn't you, Akiya?"
Gojo Satoru rolled up his T-shirt, exposing his chest, abdomen, and the waistband of his low-slung pants.
"See? They're all gone~."
Asou Akiya ended the conversation with a single sentence.
"I am not cleaning your room for you. Figure it out yourself."
Appreciating beauty always came at a price.
Either you offered praise and compliments.
Or you helped clean up the bloodstains.
Asou Akiya had seen through one of Gojo Satoru's motives from the very beginning.
Turning around, he headed back inside.
Gojo Satoru didn't follow him.
His gaze lingered on Asou Akiya's retreating figure. When he saw that the other man truly had no intention of paying him any attention, he finally stopped loitering around.
He ran back to his own dormitory, grabbed a showerhead, and began spraying water everywhere, washing the blood from the tiles and walls.
After hastily finishing the cleanup, Gojo Satoru emerged spotless from head to toe, having maintained the Limitless technique the entire time.
His expression suddenly froze.
"Do I really smell that bad?"
Dispelling the technique, he followed Asou Akiya's suggestion and took a shower. Standing beneath the water, he played with it absentmindedly, freely manipulating the Power of Stagnation, the Power of Attraction, and the Power of Repulsion, washing away the faint trace of blood that still clung to him.
He had already met with two underclassmen earlier. Those foolish juniors hadn't been able to smell the blood at all.
Akiya, however, had smelled it before.
Had he remembered the scent because of that?
Gojo Satoru tilted his gaze upward toward the showerhead. A paper-thin distance separated him from the falling water, preventing a single drop from touching him.
["It will work."]
["Sorcerers can comprehend the Reverse Cursed Technique in the space between life and death."]
["You will definitely come back to life."]
Asou Akiya's prayers still echoed vividly in his ears.
A body that had been completely renewed.
A brain that no longer suffered from pain.
These were all benefits that Gojo Satoru had gained.
In his own opinion, exchanging a near-death experience for mastery of the Reverse Cursed Technique had been an incredible bargain. Since Asou Akiya hadn't interfered with his moment of enlightenment, he had also forgiven him for allowing Ieiri Shoko to treat Zen'in Naoya before attending to him.
Gojo Satoru turned off the shower.
An invisible force rippled outward with a gentle pulse.
The water covering his body was instantly repelled, shooting off in every direction and splashing the surrounding bathroom walls and floor.
His hair became fluffy and fresh. After casually ruffling it a few times, he restored it to its usual style.
Then he opened his neatly organized wardrobe and selected the newest casual outfit from this spring's collection—a white jacket paired with a light blue shirt. He abandoned the T-shirt and cropped pants that gave him the look of an ordinary student enjoying the weekend.
A perfectly dry, devastatingly handsome white-haired young man made his dazzling entrance.
Walking up to the mirror, Gojo Satoru applied lip balm and completed the final preparations for going out and showing himself off.
"Wasn't it you who cried so miserably after seeing me covered in wounds?"
Why, though?
He genuinely couldn't understand why Akiya had gotten angry again.
There were simply too many things Gojo Satoru couldn't understand.
For example, Akiya suddenly becoming angry for no apparent reason.
Or Suguru slapping himself in the face in the middle of the night.
Unable to make sense of any of it, he simply tossed those concerns aside. Carrying his sadly flattened wallet, he headed out to wander the streets.
It wasn't until he arrived at the crowded shopping district, packed with people, that Gojo Satoru realized he had been so overwhelmed by excitement that he had forgotten to put on his sunglasses.
"It's all the driver's fault for not reminding me."
Covering his eyes with one hand, he felt somewhat uncomfortable. Earlier, while riding the bus, the driver had kept sneaking extra glances at him.
He knew he was handsome.
Akiya liked this face of his. Suguru had also marveled at the Gojo Clan's genetic inheritance because of this face. Even the rotten old conservatives of the Three Great Clans would let out quiet exclamations of admiration when they saw his true appearance. The world was supposed to love his looks.
The head of the Gojo Clan had once told him that he was the most perfect existence.
For the umpteenth time, Gojo Satoru declined a talent scout's invitation and stepped into an optical shop that looked vaguely familiar from the street.
Originally, he had only intended to buy a pair of sunglasses for under ten thousand yen and make do with them.
"Sir, that will be one million two hundred thousand yen."
"..."
Gojo Satoru's hand, poised to pay with his usual effortless swagger, came to a halt.
Yes, the price was very reasonable.
The problem was that he couldn't afford it.
Unless he called Akiya.
Gojo Satoru's expression darkened as he swept his gaze across the counter.
"Move aside a little, will you?"
A group of girls in school uniforms had surrounded him, intentionally or otherwise. Even after being shooed away, they only became more excited, whispering and giggling among themselves.
When the female clerk saw him put down the sunglasses and begin examining another pair, she had no objections. Instead, she was completely captivated by the white-haired young man's appearance.
Compared to the excited high school girls surrounding him, she possessed an extra measure of self-awareness. She didn't even dare ask for his phone number.
After all, this customer had visited the store before. Back then, he would casually buy sunglasses worth millions or even tens of millions of yen.
In the past, he had always been accompanied by classmates who were equally blessed in the looks department. Sometimes it was a refined and distant-looking male classmate. Sometimes it was the male classmate with earrings. The faint yet unmistakable aura they carried made people hesitate to approach too enthusiastically.
The consequence of the white-haired heartthrob appearing alone was that he became completely surrounded.
No matter where Gojo Satoru went, he was the center of attention. Only after putting on sunglasses could he conceal that almost inhuman level of attractiveness.
"Smack!"
Gojo Satoru slapped the cheapest pair of sunglasses in the shop onto the checkout counter.
His naturally outgoing personality immediately came to the forefront.
"This isn't my first time shopping here. Give me a discount. I didn't bring enough money with me. If it costs more than ten thousand yen, I'm not buying it."
"Of course! It shouldn't exceed that amount."
The saleswoman hurriedly began calculating every possible discount she could apply, eager to retain such a valuable customer.
One of the girls from the group of high school students stepped forward and said enthusiastically, "Handsome, I'll buy it for you. You just have to treat me to a meal."
Gojo Satoru turned his head and gave her a glance. She was a fashionable girl with dyed hair and ear piercings.
The corners of his lips lifted.
The world still treated him the same as always, but he no longer cared much about the world.
"I never treat strangers to meals."
A woman's admiration pleased the masculine side of his ego, but that was all it amounted to.
["Right now, I have no interest in any women."]
...
The result of always doing whatever he pleased was predictable.
Gojo Satoru spent the daytime indulging himself in dessert shops, frantically filling up his dessert stamp cards while his brain continued consuming enormous amounts of energy. In the evening, after finishing a proper meal, he ended up squatting outside a high-end Japanese restaurant with an empty wallet, waiting for someone else to pay the bill.
When Getou Suguru arrived, the first thing he saw was a white-haired teenager resting his chin on his hand and gloomily staring at the scenery.
"Satoru, did your family go bankrupt? That's wonderful. I'll make sure to congratulate everyone."
"...I already told you, Akiya took away my bank card."
"How long did he confiscate it for?"
"Half a year."
"Understood. Thank you, Akiya, for allowing me to witness six months of a poverty-stricken young nobleman."
"Suguru! You're not allowed to make fun of me! I'll pay you back tenfold next time!"
Gojo Satoru lunged at his friend, and the two immediately began roughhousing.
While Getou Suguru was paying the bill, Gojo Satoru suddenly leaned over and whispered into his ear.
"Suguru, do you have enough money?"
For perhaps the first time in his life, Gojo Satoru displayed a faint awareness of financial matters.
"Barely."
Getou Suguru refused to tell him the truth.
"I don't want to go back so soon. How about coming with me to check out the apartment?"
Gojo Satoru's thoughts immediately jumped to a completely different subject as he sought to fulfill his wish of becoming Getou Suguru's neighbor.
"We've spent so long decorating it together. It's finally time to inspect the finished result."
Getou Suguru replied with a smile, "Sure. We'll ride a cursed spirit over there."
A flying manta ray-like cursed spirit became their primary means of transportation.
Gojo Satoru asked casually, "Suguru, where's your Rainbow Dragon?"
Getou Suguru lowered his voice.
"It's gone."
Gojo Satoru said nothing more.
Instead, he grabbed onto the manta ray cursed spirit to keep himself from sliding off the slightly undersized creature.
At a luxury apartment complex somewhere in Tokyo, Getou Suguru wrapped an arm tightly around Gojo Satoru's waist and shouted with considerable effort,
"You are absolutely not allowed to smash the walls!"
Gojo Satoru was holding a giant sledgehammer that had appeared from who knew where, his enthusiasm overflowing as he prepared to break through the wall separating the two apartments.
"Suguru and I are going to be neighbors!"
"No—you've completely misunderstood what being neighbors means!"
"Suguru, one apartment is too small. Two apartments put together are perfect. Next time I'll bring Akiya here too~."
"I refuse! Leave me at least a little privacy, I'm begging you!"
Getou Suguru's voice sounded pitiful.
His expression, however, was ferocious.
In the end, Gojo Satoru was defeated by Getou Suguru's physical strength.
Getou Suguru successfully preserved the last remaining shred of security for his newly renovated apartment.
That evening, the two returned to Tokyo Jujutsu High.
Getou Suguru dragged Gojo Satoru directly in front of Asou Akiya.
"Akiya, I'm leaving this Satoru to you. Give him a little more spending money next time. He's practically reaching the point where he can't afford to eat anymore."
"...All right."
Asou Akiya accepted the blame with a gentle smile.
Getou Suguru tactfully left the two of them alone.
Once they were by themselves, Asou Akiya asked Gojo Satoru,
"We made an agreement. Expenses for food, entertainment, and anything related to having fun were never restricted. Why didn't you call me and have me pay for it?"
Gojo Satoru stood with one hand in his pocket, pride written all over him. There wasn't the slightest trace of grievance over having other people pay for him.
"I'll do whatever I want."
Asou Akiya noticed the effort that had gone into Gojo Satoru's appearance before going out.
"You must have collected quite a few screams of admiration today," he remarked calmly. The attention had clearly made him even more arrogant.
"Only Akiya was disappointing."
Gojo Satoru immediately raised his voice in accusation.
"You were the only one who didn't compliment me. I was originally planning to ask you to go out with me today."
Asou Akiya replied evenly, "Then it seems I don't need to make it up to you with a gift."
Gojo Satoru froze.
"?!"
Sensing disaster, all of his pride instantly vanished.
He hurriedly changed his tune, even unconsciously softening his voice.
"What gift? Where's my present?"
The helplessness on Asou Akiya's face was entirely genuine.
Only after being urged several times did he finally hand over a blue gift box.
Gojo Satoru had no understanding of social etiquette. Without hesitation, he opened the gift box right in front of the giver.
Inside, he found a ceramic item.
"A ceramic ornament?"
"No. It's a handmade ceramic piggy bank."
Asou Akiya supported the bottom of the box so that Gojo Satoru could smoothly lift out the gift inside.
It was a little white cat piggy bank wearing sunglasses.
Its cheeks were painted with blush.
On its belly, three vertical lines of text had been written from right to left:
[A Piggy Bank from Asou to Gojo]
[May Fortune and Wealth Gather]
[Insert One Coin, Make the Owner Smile Once]
Asou Akiya looked at him seriously and said,
"For someone like you, anything that comes too easily will never be cherished. What I want to tell you is that the value of money does not lie in how much you possess, but in the sense of fulfillment that comes from obtaining it."
Then he continued,
"Gojo, take this piggy bank and show it to everyone. Every time you smile at someone in Jujutsu High, they'll give you a coin."
"In the eyes of outsiders, your Six Eyes and your appearance are your most remarkable traits. But the people of Tokyo Jujutsu High are different. We don't care about your beauty, nor do we care about the technique and constitution that appear only once in five hundred years."
"You can wear your sunglasses. You can remain silent. I believe your smile is a treasure that surpasses your appearance."
Behind this gift lay Asou Akiya's confidence and the influence he held within Tokyo Jujutsu High.
For the first time, the surnames Asou and Gojo were placed side by side in plain view.
"I'll give it a try?"
Gojo Satoru immediately put the lesson into practice. Hugging the piggy bank in his arms, he flashed a brilliant smile, effortlessly putting the events of the day behind him.
He rarely held grudges.
He also rarely understood the true reasons behind his unhappiness.
In the Gojo Clan, he had spent most of his life alone. He had no father, no mother, no brothers, and no sisters. No one had ever gone out of their way to comfort him. The servants did not dare approach him carelessly. No amount of material luxury could give him the genuine warmth of sincere human affection.
Clink.
Asou Akiya dropped the first coin into the piggy bank.
It was a large-denomination coin worth five hundred yen.
At that moment, Gojo Satoru finally found the reason for his happiness.
A smile.
The appearance of the piggy bank made Gojo Satoru realize for the first time that his smile possessed value. It surpassed the beauty of his appearance. It surpassed even the significance of the Six Eyes.
Gojo Satoru stared blankly at the little white cat piggy bank wearing sunglasses.
Asou Akiya gently stroked the cat's chubby ceramic cheek.
"Once a day. I'm out of coins."
Gojo Satoru blurted out immediately, "Akiya, I love this gift. I can't wait to see it filled to the brim with coins!"
The moment he finished speaking, Gojo Satoru discovered the joy of what was nominally called "saving money" but was actually "collecting money." He immediately dashed off at top speed in search of Getou Suguru.
Getou Suguru was completely baffled.
Then he saw the instructions written on the piggy bank that Gojo Satoru was proudly pointing at.
Getou Suguru's eyes instantly turned deadpan.
With a trembling hand, he dropped a coin into the plump belly of the little white cat piggy bank.
"...Satoru, I'm out of money. You don't need to smile at me so sweetly!"
"I'm not blind. I saw there are still coins in your pocket, Suguru. Hurry up and encourage me a little."
"...Fuck!"
Getou Suguru nearly raised his middle finger.
It's easy for you to take this money, but it's not easy for me to earn it, damn it!
—
Author's Note:
If high school Gojo suddenly appeared in front of you carrying that piggy bank, saying nothing at all and simply smiling at you, would you be willing to drop a coin into it?