Before going to sleep that night, Asou Akiya deliberately avoided the other two and spent twenty minutes on a phone call.
After coaxing Fushiguro Megumi to sleep, he returned and immediately encountered the cursed spirit Getou Suguru had left behind to keep watch over the area. The cursed spirit acted as though it could not see him at all. Completely devoid of hostility, it wandered aimlessly around the suite, guarding the place where the three of them were staying.
Asou Akiya knocked on Getou Suguru's door.
As a result, Getou Suguru's voice came from the room next door instead.
"Akiya, I'm over here in Satoru's room chatting!"
"..."
Asou Akiya's eyes went dead for two full seconds.
He reached up and patted Ugly Treasure on his shoulder. When the cursed spirit spat out half of a three-section staff, he promptly stuffed it back into its mouth.
Tonight, he decisively decided not to look for Getou Suguru anymore.
He would give him the Playful Cloud tomorrow instead.
"Taking a bath really does make you feel better."
Ignoring the calls coming from the next room, Asou Akiya returned to his own room and threw himself onto the soft double bed.
Naturally, he did not forget to turn off the lights and lock the door.
Ugly Treasure crawled down from his body and occupied a small corner of the bed.
"Mommy— Mommy—"
Asou Akiya half-closed his eyes, savoring this brief vacation.
"Stop making noise. Later I'll find you a stepmother with a nice body."
Getou Suguru made a trip over, only to return empty-handed.
Asou Akiya had absolutely no intention of participating in their nighttime gathering. The locked door existed specifically to guard against the two of them.
Turning back, Getou Suguru said to Gojo Satoru, who was busy playing video games,
"Your dream of playing multiplayer games together has been shattered."
Gojo Satoru showed no sign of sleepiness and was still bursting with energy.
"Doesn't matter. You can play with me instead, Suguru."
When Getou Suguru was unavailable, Gojo Satoru would go find Asou Akiya.
When Asou Akiya was unavailable, Gojo Satoru would go find Getou Suguru.
And if both of them were unavailable—
Gojo Satoru would simply entertain himself.
"Satoru, you really don't seem to have any worries," Getou Suguru remarked, trying to understand how his friend's mind worked.
"What are worries? Can you eat them? If you can't eat them, what's the point of having them?" Gojo Satoru replied without a second thought.
"That's actually not a bad way of thinking."
Getou Suguru found himself wondering whether he should learn from that mindset.
"If you take everything too seriously, other people will start avoiding you."
While playing a match-three puzzle game, Gojo Satoru immersed himself in the simple joy it provided. Multitasking effortlessly, he added,
"Everyone has their own way of living and their own things they want out of life."
"You've learned to respect other people's lifestyles?" Getou Suguru asked in surprise as he rummaged around for his handheld console.
"The one who hasn't learned is you," Gojo Satoru muttered.
"..."
The rebuttal Getou Suguru wanted to make died in his throat.
Thinking of what had happened with Amanai Riko, he found himself unable to argue.
Faced with a Gojo Satoru whose temperament had improved by more than twice compared to last year, Getou Suguru inexplicably felt increasing pressure.
If this guy kept evolving at this rate, Akiya might end up admiring him even more.
That wouldn't do.
Akiya was already biased enough as it was. If this continued, there would soon be no place left for him.
Picking up his game console, Getou Suguru declared,
"Hop on. Time for battle."
Gojo Satoru flashed an "OK" sign and immediately began mashing buttons, quickly finishing his current game.
By the time the two of them had battled their way deep into the night, Asou Akiya had already fallen asleep with Ugly Treasure in his arms.
After they each finished washing up and getting ready for bed, they found Akiya sleeping soundly. One of his legs, hidden beneath his yukata, was resting on top of Ugly Treasure. The cursed spirit had found a new way to cuddle with its owner, wrapping its body around his thigh while squeezing its head against his chest, barely managing to find a bit of warmth.
In the darkness, the lock on the door was quietly opened.
Two shadowy figures sneaked inside.
Their objective was clear.
Straight to the bed.
"What is this thing?"
Getou Suguru jumped in surprise at the bizarre texture of Ugly Treasure.
Gojo Satoru had already chosen his spot. He casually pulled Ugly Treasure off Akiya and tossed it into Suguru's arms.
"Akiya's adopted pet."
The moment Ugly Treasure came into contact with Getou Suguru, it became strangely excited and clingy.
"Mommy—!"
Getou Suguru: "???"
What the hell?!
Why was the cursed spirit that used to belong to Toji calling him Mommy?!
The commotion finally woke Asou Akiya.
Unable to ignore the noise any longer, he mumbled,
"Keep it down, you two."
Gojo Satoru immediately covered Akiya's ears with his hands.
"Suguru, make it shut up already. It's way too noisy."
"Little cursed spirit, settle down. Otherwise, I'll absorb you."
Getou Suguru fumbled awkwardly as he tried to restrain the suddenly overenthusiastic Ugly Treasure.
His yukata collar had fallen wide open.
Nestled happily against him, Ugly Treasure squinted its enormous goldfish-like eyes into narrow slits. Its sausage-shaped lips curved into a grin as it basked in what it believed to be a mother's embrace.
Getou Suguru, completely oblivious to Ugly Treasure's intentions, finally breathed a sigh of relief once it stopped making noise.
The two members of the "Strongest" duo, who had stayed up late playing video games, climbed onto Asou Akiya's bed. One occupied each side of him, refusing to let him forget their presence. Together, they dragged the half-awake, half-asleep black-haired boy into sharing the bed with them.
Before long, the three of them began influencing one another. Sleepiness spread like an infection, and Asou Akiya drifted back into slumber.
That night, Asou Akiya began having a series of utterly bizarre dreams.
One moment, two suns were revolving around the Earth.
The next, feline and canine creatures were locked in a battle that lasted three hundred rounds.
Even more absurd was a mist-shrouded hot spring world.
He found himself transported to the Edo period several hundred years in the past. A bizarre variation of the Cowherd and Weaver Girl tale was unfolding before his eyes. By accident, he wandered into the bathing pools of the Gojo Clan.
There, a beautiful figure with long white hair gazed at him shyly.
Those Six Eyes—resembling the sky, the stars, and glaciers—reflected the image of the intruder.
The figure was suffused with the refined elegance of someone raised in the seclusion of a noble household.
Asou Akiya felt utterly bewildered.
As the other person drew closer and closer, he forgot to run away.
The portions concealed by the mist gradually diminished.
Just as that immortal-like face and divine appearance were about to be fully revealed—
Wait a second.
Why aren't you wearing any clothes?
Almost without thinking, Asou Akiya shouted,
"Where did your sense of shame go, Gojo Satoru?!"
The dream shattered.
Asou Akiya jolted awake, his heart pounding violently in his chest.
Directly in front of him, he saw a face so close that it startled him.
Gojo Satoru stared back with a bewildered expression, his mind completely blank. He had clearly been awakened by the shout and still looked confused.
Reflexively, he defended himself.
"I didn't do anything bad."
Asou Akiya: "..."
Asou Akiya: "Why are you sleeping here?"
Gojo Satoru immediately put on a wronged expression.
"Suguru's here too. Why are you only yelling at me?"
He released the arm that had been wrapped around Akiya's waist and immediately sold out the other culprit,
"Suguru's tangled up with your cursed spirit. It's way too painful to look at!"
A vein popped on Getou Suguru's sleeping face despite his eyes remaining closed.
The cursed spirit called Ugly Treasure had stubbornly insisted on clinging to him, resulting in him being separated from his two friends by an awkward distance.
"Gojo, stop talking nonsense."
"...Suguru, your chest muscles are huge. They're covered in drool, btw."
"What?!"
Getou Suguru shot to his feet in shock. Tearing Ugly Treasure off himself, he immediately hurled it at Gojo Satoru's head.
Then he bolted from the room and rushed off to take another shower.
Using the Limitless Technique, Gojo Satoru deflected Ugly Treasure before it could touch him. Asou Akiya caught the horrified-looking cursed spirit and placed it somewhere safe.
Gojo Satoru immediately flashed a broad grin, two rows of teeth on full display.
"Akiya, I helped you drive Suguru away in time. I didn't let him bully you. So, what were you dreaming about just now?"
A prickling sensation ran down Asou Akiya's spine. The corners of his mouth drooped as he grew irritated with his own imagination.
Gojo Satoru sat far too close to him, completely lacking any sense of personal space. The warmth radiating from him reminded Akiya of one of the two little suns from his dream—forever energetic, forever giving off light and heat.
"I wasn't dreaming about you," Asou Akiya denied immediately.
In that chaotic dream, the person who had appeared was less Gojo Satoru and more an ancient version of a "cloistered Six Eyes beauty" created by his own wandering imagination.
Everyone appreciated beauty.
He could admit that he had absolutely no resistance to a stunning beauty with long white hair.
However, if that person was not Gojo Satoru, then the dream lost any value worth reminiscing over.
Pinching the bridge of his nose, Asou Akiya said,
"Can you get off the bed and politely leave the room?"
Gojo Satoru grinned.
Deliberately pretending not to notice the other man's embarrassment, he said,
"Looks like we're even now."
Asou Akiya threw a pillow at him.
"Get out."
Gojo Satoru headed toward the door with his back turned.
Yet Asou Akiya remained sitting rigidly on the bed, not daring to relax for even a moment. His eyes followed Gojo Satoru the entire way.
Until that door was completely shut, he refused to trust someone who seemed to have eyes on the back of his head.
The instant the door closed, Gojo Satoru's teasing voice drifted in from outside.
"Keep your voice down. Suguru will eavesdrop."
Asou Akiya: "..."
Meanwhile, on the other side, Getou Suguru had already realized why Gojo Satoru had driven him away. Suspecting he might have guessed wrong about something, and motivated by a desire to collect some embarrassing black-history material on Akiya, he hurried back after finishing his shower to investigate.
He was immediately blocked by Gojo Satoru.
"Suguru, don't do anything weird."
Getou Suguru recovered the composure expected of an honor student and barely restrained himself from acting on impulse.
"Oh? And who might this be? Young Master Gojo?"
Gojo Satoru instantly played along.
"I don't talk to people with chaotic private lives."
Getou Suguru checked his skin to make sure no suspicious marks had been left behind.
Then he looked up and said bluntly,
"Just tell me. What kind of weird movies have you been watching lately?"
With complete impurity in both mind and tone, Gojo Satoru replied,
"The 2000 sci-fi movie Hollow Man."
Getou Suguru: "..."
Gojo Satoru reacted as if he had discovered a new continent.
"Wow, you've seen it too!"
Keeping a perfectly straight face, Getou Suguru turned around and walked away.
"I haven't seen it. I don't know what you're talking about. I'm going to pack up the room. We're heading back to Tokyo Jujutsu High later."
Gojo Satoru cheerfully skipped after him.
"Suguru, let's watch movies together again sometime."
Then he enthusiastically continued his recruitment efforts.
"No matter what genre you want, the Gojo family can help me find a copy."
Getou Suguru was jealous, but he refused to show it on his face.
That morning, the second-years and first-years, having skipped classes for an entire day, returned together to Tokyo Jujutsu High and collectively received a scolding from Yaga Masamichi.
"Do any of you have any respect for this school at all?! Skipping classes? And not only did you skip classes yourselves, you even dragged the underclassmen along with you?!"
Yaga Masamichi's primary targets were Gojo Satoru and Getou Suguru.
"Whose idea was it?!"
Originally, both Nanami Kento and Haibara Yu had been hesitating over how to protect Asou-senpai.
To their surprise, however, their Ieiri-senpai and Getou-senpai both pointed at Gojo-senpai simultaneously.
"Him."
Gojo Satoru proudly shouldered everyone's blame.
"Yep, it was me. But we had a great time."
Asou Akiya immediately spoke up in objection.
"It wasn't Gojo, it was me."
Yaga Masamichi grew even more irritated.
"Which one of you was it exactly?!"
Thinking that these students were covering for one another, Yaga Masamichi felt a blazing fury ignite in his heart. His determination to identify the true culprit intensified dramatically.
"Zen'in Naoya! You're the least likely person here to cover for someone else; You tell me!"
"..."
Zen'in Naoya froze.
How had watching the drama suddenly turned into becoming part of it?
Under the synchronized gazes of Asou Akiya, Gojo Satoru, Getou Suguru, and Ieiri Shoko, goosebumps rose all over his skin.
The woman's gaze had no effect on him.
But the other three...
Those three were all perverts.
But what kind of person was Zen'in Naoya?
In a certain sense, he was someone whose sense of self was so strong that it was almost frightening.
Just as Yaga Masamichi wished, he revealed the truth without hesitation and even added a hint of schadenfreude.
"The one who invited me to go out yesterday was Akiya-kun, not Satoru-kun."
Of everyone who had participated in the one-day class-skipping trip, the only person who had never truly integrated into the school's collective atmosphere was Zen'in Naoya.
...
Gojo Satoru + Getou Suguru + Ieiri Shoko: [Zen'in, you're asking to die!]
Nanami Kento + Haibara Yu: [It's over. Asou-senpai is about to be punished by Yaga-sensei's Iron Fist!]
—
TL Note:
Sorry for the irregular updates over the past few days. I was busy catching up and finally finishing the last few chapters of this fic...
I won't spoil anything... But uh, treasure these peaceful days at Tokyo Jujutsu High while they last...
^_^