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A few days have passed by since the whole Star Plasma Vessel incident.
Naoya was currently on his lax period as he was not being assigned any missions. For whatever reason, there was a dry season of high-level cursed spirit incidents, and because of that, Naoya was relatively free these days.
Currently, Naoya was sitting under the shade of a tree in his Kyoto clan compound. His school was closed simply because, aside from him, everyone else was on a mission.
He was happy with his arrangement, but because of this, there were two unfortunate souls who were unhappy.
Maki and Mai, who would have been slacking off at this time of the day, were being forced to train under the watchful eyes of Naoya.
"Your hands are lowering, Mai," said Naoya.
"Agh"
"Maki your form is wrong. John, fix it."
John nodded and showed Maki the correct form, making the kid groan in annoyance but still follow the instructions.
The kids have inherited the 'Will of Naoya Zenin'. They, too, were criers and complainers, but they were not quitters. Naoya made sure the two got on this path because it was their only hope to stand at a relatively respectable level in the Jujutsu world.
Maki was being solely trained as a physical fighter and is now being taught the Zenin clan's techniques and forms for body conditioning.
Mai, on the other hand, is undergoing the standard Zenin clan jujutsu training. Her only con, that was abysmal CE reserves, were now being artificially fixed thanks to Kakuzu, the debt collector cursed spirit's 'profit' reserves.
Naoya was abusing this ability too much by willingly using the debt collector's technique on him and saving around 40% of his CE reserves daily, which was astronomical for many sorcerers.
Even with 60%, he could operate without any difficulties, and if needed, he could withdraw CE from Kakuzu, but for now, no such situation arose, and his CE was solely used by Mai, which made Kakuzu her most hated shikigami in Naoya's arsenal. It was because of the debt collector that her training time increased quite a lot.
Naoya looked at the twins struggling and chuckled. In a way, the two of them reminded him of the time when he, too, had to undergo the training. Though his instructors were far worse than theirs.
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In Tokyo, at two different locations, all of a sudden, two individuals sneezed.
One of them was Naobito, while the other was Toji.
'Who the hell is badmouthing me behind my back?' thought both of them.
-----
Back at Kyoto Zenin estate, Naoya looked at the twins who were lying with their faces planted in the ground.
The two of them just fought one of Maou's lackeys each and were thoroughly defeated by the rabbit shikigamis.
Maou looked at the kids and snorted, puffing its chest in pride.
"Get up, you two," said Naoya and crouched to their level.
"Nii-Nii! Punch the evil rabbit!" demanded Mai.
"Let me punch the evil rabbit!" demanded Maki.
Naoya looked at the two of them with a smile and flicked their foreheads.
"Enough whining, let's get you two to bathe, after that we can go to town."
Maki's and Mai's whining immediately stopped as their ears perked up at the mention of going to town.
The two got on their feet and immediately ran towards the bathroom.
"Playtime!" yelled the twins in happiness, making Naoya smile at them.
"And you, can't you go easier on them?" asked Naoya and turned towards Maou.
Maou looked at its master and showed its foot to him.
'The kids stepped on me,'
Understanding what the rabbit meant, Naoya sighed.
Somehow, even his shikigami were developing an attitude.
'Am I the reason for this?' thought Naoya.
The way he treated his shikigami was quite different from that of other sorcerers, and he was guessing that it was the reason for the difference between his shikigami and theirs.
"Forgive them, okay," said Naoya and caressed Maou's head, making the rabbit shikigami begrudingly let go of his revenge.
Naoya then proceeded to get himself cleaned as well, and once they were all ready, the three of them left the estate.
Currently, aside from them, only the servants and the lower-ranked clansmen were present in the Kyoto estate.
Kagenori was in Tokyo. When Naoya told him that Tengen had asked about him, the old man went to pay respects to the older woman.
Since the old man was not present, the twins had demanded to go on an outing too, and Naoya, being Naoya, ultimately gave in to their cuteness. He had some resistance against the cute, but it seems like he was still lacking a bit.
Maki and Mai, freed from the training, regained their energy and were running around happily.
"...What is this weird sense of Deja vu?" muttered Naoya as he saw them running around.
Maki and Mai suddenly spotted someone and yelled in unison.
"Rabbit Bomb Attack!!!"
"Huh?!"
Utahime, who was standing in front of a convenience store, yelped in surprise and looked around frantically.
Once her gaze landed on Maki, Mai and Naoya, who were laughing at her, her jaw opened in shock, and she rushed towards the three of them.
She crouched down to their level and flicked their foreheads.
"You mischievous brats," said Utahime.
Maki and Mai looked at her in disbelief, pouting in anger at being flicked.
The twins turned around and ran towards Naoya, who crouched as well and hugged them.
"There, there, the rabbit bomb attack lady hit you two. Such a bad lady," said Naoya
"Resorting to violence the moment you meet others. Such a bad personality,"
"You are the bad one for teaching them bad things. Maki-chan, Mai-chan, don't follow your brother's example."
The twins looked at her and struck their tongues at her.
"Bleh."
"...I will buy you candy."
"Iori nee-chan!" cheered the twins and let go of Naoya, and went to hug Utahime instead.
"...You bribed your way through...such a bad personality," muttered Naoya and shook his head.
"Bleh!"
Utahime struck out her tongue at him in response.
During their time in Kyoto, the twins had met Utahime a number of times and were now quite familiar with her.
Utahime too now somewhat understood how the twins acted and had learned ways to manipu- *cough**cough* make them like her.
"Alright, enough. No sweets before lunch," said Naoya and pulled the kids off Utahime.
"Aww," whined Utahime on being separated from the twins.
"Eh? No candy?" asked the kids.
"No candy," replied Naoya.
"Boo!" protested the two of them, only for Naoya to ignore them.
The two looked at Utahime, asking her to intervene.
Utahime simply smiled at them and ignored their plea. She will buy them candy later, but for now, she was going to have her little revenge on them for calling her Rabbit Bomb Attack.
"Weren't you at a mission, senpai?" asked Naoya.
"Completed it and returned in the morning. What about you? Skipping classes?"
"Everyone else on mission. Free time for me," replied Naoya and shrugged his shoulders.
"So lucky."
"Agreed....want to join us for lunch?" asked Naoya.
"Hmm.....is it okay?"
"Sure. Come along."
"Okay."
"Yay~ Maki, Mai, Senpai is treating us to lunch."
"Huh? Oi! When did I say that I was treating you?!"
"You aren't?" asked Naoya and looked at Utahime with puppy eyes.
Maki and Mai joined Naoya and made puppy eyes as well.
"Agh! No! I won't waver!"
*Jii~*
The trio moved closer and used their full power on Utahime.
"....Agh! Alright!!! Only Maki and Mai though!!! Not Naoya!!!"
"Hey! I call discrimination!" complained Naoya.
"Okay!" said the twins in unison, making Naoya look at the traitors.
"Alright. The majority wins. I am not treating Naoya. Let's go, Maki-chan, Mai-chan," cheered Utahime.
"Yay!!!"
The twins cheered in excitement.
"But you need to eat all the veggies I give you, too. Otherwise, the deal is off," said Utahime.
Maki and Mai stopped celebrating and looked at Utahime as if she had cursed their entire lineage. They looked at Naoya, asking for help, only for the older Zenin to look back at them with a smirk.
"Eat your veggies well, okay. They keep curses away."
"Ugh....okay," agreed the two of them.
"If you eat them, I will get you cake," offered Naoya.
"Bring the veggies!!!" declared the twins enthusiastically.
'How easy,' thought Naoya and Utahime and smiled at each other.
-----
The four of them entered an Okonomiyaki store, and the moment the owner's gaze met Naoya, both of them stopped what they were doing.
"...So you have come back," said the owner with a malicious smirk.
"...Sup old man....ready to serve me?" asked Naoya with an equally malicious smirk.
"I am more than ready. I hope you are ready to face the new challenge set."
"Bring it."
The boss snorted at Naoya but still gave a nod.
"Oji-chan! Hello!" greeted Maki and Mai.
"Maki-chan~ Mai-chan~ Hello~" greeted the old man, immediately shifting into a joyful mood.
Seeing the change, Naoya's lips twitched while Utahime chuckled.
"You really are hated, it seems."
"Hey, it's not my fault that I am too strong for their challenge sets," complained Naoya.
"There there, big boys don't complain," said Utahime and patted Naoya.
"Don't treat me like a kid," complained Naoya.
"Stop flirting at the entrance and take a seat," said the owner as he looked at Naoya and Utahime.
"H-H-Huh? Flirting?! With him? N-No!" stammered Utahime.
Naoya was about to deny as well, but he looked towards Utahime, who looked quite panicked at being called out.
In the end, he didn't say anything.
"Let's take a seat, senpai," said Naoya and pushed the stammering Utahime towards their seats, which Maki and Mai had reserved for them.
Once Utahime came out of her shock, she looked at Naoya and whispered to him.
'Oi! Deny that too!'
'...No need, I quite enjoy it.' replied Naoya and smiled at her.
"Huh?"
"Maki and Mai, go wash your hands first."
"Yes."
The twins and Naoya went ahead to wash their hands, leaving Utahime behind, who was slowly turning crimson.
"HUH!!!!" Utahime shrieked