The day before summer officially arrived in Japan, Asou Akiya invited Getou Suguru out for a late-night meal.
The two sat at a bustling food stall in the night market. After placing their orders, skewers, tamagoyaki, and fruit juice soon covered the table.
An empty chair sat beside them.
In the unseen world beyond ordinary human perception, the cursed spirit Ugly Treasure was curled up on that chair. Its tail dragged across the ground while its upper body stood upright, its swollen, bulb-like eyes staring blankly at the food on the table, seemingly unable to understand what made any of it appetizing.
Getou Suguru was still brooding. "Tonight, we're not talking about Gojo Satoru, whoever brings him up first has to walk all the way back to Tokyo Jujutsu High upside down."
Akiya laughed. "Words alone aren't enough, put it in writing."
Getou Suguru held out his hand, resting his elbow on the table. His tanned right forearm, toned from constant training, looked more like an athlete's than a student's.
"Let's make a Binding Vow! One that expires as soon as we're done eating!"
"...All right."
Asou Akiya couldn't help admiring how quickly Getou Suguru had picked up the concept of Binding Vows. At the same time, the thought of seeing him walk back upside down was becoming increasingly tempting.
A Special Grade sorcerer ought to be capable of something like that, right?
Little did he know, Getou Suguru was thinking the exact same thing. He was looking forward to catching Asou Akiya slipping first, convinced that Akiya would be the one who couldn't resist mentioning Gojo Satoru.
They crossed their arms and clasped hands, sealing the little game with a Binding Vow.
An invisible chain of cursed energy wrapped itself around the two of them.
["That's the ninth one!"]
Asou Akiya forcibly shook the voice out of his head—the one that inexplicably came with Gojo Satoru's voice built in.
"I heard this summer's supposed to be even hotter than usual. There are already mosquitoes..." Getou Suguru remarked after overhearing people at a nearby table discussing the year's unusual weather. Then he glanced at the Ugly Treasure sitting at their table and couldn't help thinking that perhaps having a cursed spirit around came with its own cooling effect.
"Your hairstyle's the best for keeping cool, Suguru," Asou Akiya said with a smile. "Though mosquitoes do seem to love biting the back of your neck."
"Don't remind me." The moment he heard that, Getou Suguru instinctively felt the back of his neck start to itch.
"They used to bite my ears all the time last year." He rubbed one earlobe. "Living in the mountains has that downside. Thankfully, Yaga-sensei taught us how to use Curtains, so we don't have to lie awake in the dorm listening to mosquitoes buzzing around."
"Suguru, have you ever used a nunchaku?" Asou Akiya abruptly changed the subject.
"No, but I've seen other people use them. It shouldn't be hard to learn." The confidence with which he said it sounded almost shamelessly effortless.
"Then show me after this. If it's really that easy, teach me too." Asou Akiya's interest was immediately piqued. With a close-combat expert who loved training sitting right beside him, it would be a waste not to learn something.
"Sure." Getou Suguru ate his skewers at an unhurried pace, chewing each bite thoroughly instead of wolfing down his food.
"Have you seen your parents since the new school term started?" Asou Akiya asked casually, steering the conversation toward more personal matters.
"No." Getou Suguru fired back without hesitation. "Instead of worrying about that, you should be wondering whether the orphanage forgot you even exist."
"Isn't it nice that we're both orphans?"
"I've got Shoko to keep me company during breaks. I don't need another orphan."
As Asou Akiya sprinkled chili powder over his skewers, Getou Suguru quickly warned him, "Don't get any on mine!"
"I'm planning to be adopted into Yaga-sensei's family this autumn."
The announcement came completely out of nowhere.
"Seriously?" Getou Suguru instantly perked up. "Are you and Yaga-sensei actually related by blood?"
"No." Asou Akiya explained how it had come about. "He originally wanted to take me on as his personal disciple and properly teach me swordsmanship. Instead, I shamelessly latched onto him. I decided I didn't want a teacher—I wanted an adoptive father."
"Impressive!" Getou Suguru applauded, genuinely impressed by Akiya's determination. "So you'll be the principal's son from now on. Remember to pull some strings for us."
"Aren't you surprised?" Asou Akiya asked, sounding almost coaxing. "The last time this came up, your expression completely changed."
"I've had time to process it, so it isn't surprising anymore. Honestly, it happened a little later than I expected." Getou Suguru smiled knowingly, the tension in his mood finally easing. "I thought the adoption had already gone through and we were just waiting for you to officially change your name to 'Yaga Akiya.'"
He offered his friend his sincere congratulations before continuing, "When Yaga-sensei said that the other day, he scared the hell out of me. I had no idea how I was supposed to respond. Shoko didn't seem surprised at all, so that only leaves the people in our class who still don't know were Sato..."
At that point, Getou Suguru's expression froze.
Across from him, Asou Akiya continued stuffing himself with late-night snacks as though he'd heard nothing.
"Go on," he said casually. "I'm listening."
The Binding Vow had already rendered its judgment.
Getou Suguru had broken the rules.
He had mentioned Gojo Satoru.
Getou's pupils contracted. He didn't even have a chance to argue his case. For a moment, his chest tightened, his breathing grew shallow, and sweat seeped through the black T-shirt clinging to his body.
"Asou! Akiya!"
"Yes?" Asou Akiya simply raised one hand in the familiar beckoning pose of a lucky cat.
A harmless little game between jujutsu sorcerers.
Sometimes you won.
Sometimes you lost.
That's what made it fun.
The first half of their meal passed amid laughter and easy conversation. During the second half, Getou Suguru tried to recover by using Gojo Satoru as bait, hoping Asou Akiya would slip up. Akiya didn't bite. Instead, he tossed something over.
"Special Grade cursed tool. It's called Playful Cloud. It doesn't have an innate technique, but the stronger the wielder's physical strength, the greater its power."
The moment he saw the fascinating weapon, Getou Suguru's wounded heart was instantly healed.
Finding an open space nearby, he let Akiya's encouragement get to his head. After fumbling with it for only a few moments, he began wielding the three-section staff on the spot.
The air whistled sharply with every swing.
Without realizing it, Getou Suguru released an aura of battle intent. Standing there alone, he carried the overwhelming presence of someone capable of sweeping through an entire army.
"Nice strength!"
"Watch out! Don't smack yourself in the head with it!"
"Smooth! Those strikes have real power behind them!"
The diners eating nearby called out one after another, laughing and cheering. This was exactly how high school boys ought to be—full of vigor and youthful spirit.
On that humid, stifling summer night, no one's enthusiasm waned. The reserve people carried during the day seemed to melt away with the darkness.
For a while, Getou Suguru forgot all about his troubles.
He devoted himself entirely to becoming familiar with the weapon.
There was no need to worry about accidentally hurting anyone. No one dared approach a high school student swinging a three-section staff.
Before his eyes stood only one person and one cursed spirit.
The reassuring weight of the three-section staff in his hands drove him to unleash every ounce of his strength.
Late that night, the two of them chose to walk back to Tokyo Jujutsu High.
Getou Suguru accepted his loss with good grace.
He tucked the hem of his T-shirt into his sweatpants, handed today's gift—Playful Cloud—to Asou Akiya for safekeeping, then began walking upside down. He reinforced his hands with cursed energy to keep his palms from being scraped raw against the pavement.
"Keep it up, Suguru."
"Only another ten kilometers to go. Victory isn't far now."
"If you want a break, I can hold your legs for you, as long as you don't plan on kicking me."
Walking alongside him, Asou Akiya watched as all the blood rushed to Getou Suguru's head. His face had turned bright red, and sweat had soaked through his hair. Asou Akiya reached into the Ugly Treasure's mouth, pulled out a bottle of mineral water, unscrewed the cap, and poured it over Getou, giving him a brief moment of cool relief.
"Akiya, do you have a hair clip? My bangs..." Getou Suguru shook his head and lifted his face slightly. "They're getting in the way."
His fringe looked as though it had gone from a straw broom to a dripping wet mop, clinging to his eyes.
"No. I've only got leather hair ties, a lighter, and some bandages on me. Though the Ugly Treasure's stomach is full of all kinds of random junk." Asou Akiya smiled. "I'll just redo your bun."
"...You know how?"
"You make it sound like it's rocket science. Who are you underestimating?"
The range of Asou Akiya's life skills far exceeded anything Getou had imagined.
Crouching down, Asou Akiya untied Getou Suguru's hair. He carefully gathered the damp, waist-length strands into his palm so they wouldn't drag across the dirty ground. In less than two minutes, he had tied it back into a neat bun secured with two leather ties, this time keeping those unruly bangs out of Getou's face.
"The hair ties I brought for you finally came in handy." Asou Akiya admired his handiwork—a full, well-shaped bun resting neatly at the back of Getou Suguru's head.
"Stop staring at it," Getou Suguru said helplessly. "Help me wipe the sweat off my face."
Unlike the resident "eyelash king" in their class, Getou Suguru had almost no lower eyelashes to keep sweat out of his eyes, leaving him no choice but to ask Akiya for help.
"I thought you'd been walking with your eyes closed this whole time. Oops—my bad!"
Asou Akiya accidentally blurted out exactly what he was thinking.
Getou Suguru responded by landing an impressively difficult upside-down kick squarely on him.
After that, Asou Akiya wisely kept his mouth shut for the rest of the walk.
Tokyo Jujutsu High was located on the outskirts of the city, where the streetlights stood far apart along the empty road.
Beneath their glow, the shadows of the two friends stretched long across the pavement.
They rarely spent this long walking together alone.
So much time passed that, even after they had stopped talking about Gojo Satoru, they still had endless things to say. With every step, they came to understand each other's pasts and present selves a little more deeply.
Asou Akiya felt that the future was something you walked toward one step at a time.
There were no shortcuts.
You had to keep moving forward in one determined push. Victory might seem just within reach, yet the sweat on your body and the growing exhaustion stretched time into something that felt endless.
"Have you ever thought about the future, Suguru?"
"Me?" Getou Suguru replied. "I like this job. I'll probably just keep being a jujutsu sorcerer."
"Have you ever considered becoming a teacher after graduation?"
"I haven't. Tokyo Jujutsu High barely has any students in each class anyway..." He let out a breath. "What about you, Akiya?"
"I'd be willing to try any profession that lets me live happily."
"You're really free-spirited."
"Not exactly. Happiness is hard to come by. People's threshold for satisfaction only keeps rising until it's almost impossible to feel fulfilled anymore." Asou Akiya smiled faintly. "The only thing that's ever given me lasting emotional fulfillment was becoming classmates with all of you."
"Akiya."
"What do you want to say? There's no third person here."
Seeing that they were now only five kilometers from the school, Akiya suddenly planted his hands on the ground and flipped himself upside down as well, joining Getou Suguru in the middle of their ridiculous late-night stunt.
"Actually, me too..." Getou Suguru turned his head to look at Akiya who had deliberately "broken' the rule and had chosen to accept the "punishment" himself.
The Binding Vow between them had already ended the moment they left the night market.
The one who hadn't wanted to mention Gojo Satoru had been Getou Suguru.
The one whose heart was full of his classmates had also been Getou Suguru.
Now, with the world turned upside down, the two of them walking alone through the night, and Akiya willingly joining him in this absurd handstand march, Getou Suguru felt his eyes grow faintly damp. Sweat stung his eyelids as droplets fell one by one onto the asphalt.
In that moment, Getou Suguru suddenly understood why he loved being a jujutsu sorcerer.
Why he loved this school.
The longer he spent in the jujutsu world, the more he realized that most jujutsu sorcerers weren't people who formed deep emotional bonds with others.
Living alone was the norm.
Rather than saying it was Tokyo Jujutsu High itself that felt different...
It would be more accurate to say that only this class held an extraordinary meaning for him.
He disliked talking about his family or his cursed technique.
Gojo Satoru had no interest in associating with the weak.
Ieiri Shoko never cared to pry into anyone else's affairs.
Three fiercely independent people had only developed a sense of belonging to a class because they had met Asou Akiya.
And the strength of that group had been enough to change the outcome of the Star Plasma Vessel mission. It had also been enough, during ordinary school life, for three votes to overrule the lone dissenting vote that always belonged to Gojo.
In the end, Amanai Riko had survived because every member of their class had been indispensable.
"Akiya... thank you."
When Getou Suguru spoke those words, Asou Akiya said nothing in return.
A clear, limpid light shimmered in his eyes, as though the moonlight itself had coaxed a faint blush onto his face.
Getou Suguru had always known Asou Akiya was handsome.
He also knew how frightening Asou Akiya could be when he calmly laid bare the truth.
But at this moment...
He outshone everyone else.
...
Getou Suguru: Without Class Rep Akiya, this class would have fallen apart sooner or later.
—
TL Note:
Fun fact: According to the Śariputraparipṛcchā Sūtra (T. 1465), one Mahoraga is reborn as a shikigami as a result of practicing generosity and upholding the Dharma, adapting to difficult circumstances, and being inclined toward anger.
Notice how it specifically mentions Mahoraga being able to "adapt" to "difficult circumstances" while also being inclined toward anger?
Considering how volatile the Shikigami can be, the Tenth Shadow doesn't necessarily have to refer to General Makora. It could potentially be pointing to this particular Mahoraga instead.
I doubt it, though. I honestly don't think the VIZ translator cared enough to dig that deeply into the Buddhist source material.
There's also another Mahayana Buddhist text that apparently mentions a Mahoraga named Gandharva, who was appointed as a divine protector of the deities of Gaśa. I haven't been able to find much information about that one online, though. I'll probably have to dig deeper into the original texts and Buddhist sources.
Just a neat thing I want to share.