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"Operation Kidnap Naoya is a success!" declared Satoru and gave a thumbs up to Naoya.
"Why are you giving thumbs up to the one you kidnapped?" asked Naoya, and sat comfortably in the car.
"You are my accomplice. After all, if you didn't want to, you would not have been kidnapped by me," stated Satoru.
Naoya shrugged his shoulders. What Satoru said was true.
"So where are you taking me?" asked Naoya.
"...Didn't think that....What do you wanna do?" asked Satoru.
"...It's around lunch time," mentioned Naoya.
Satoru snapped his fingers.
"No need to say anything further," Satoru declared, taking out his phone.
"Hello, Naoya's coming over. Prepare a feast....Yes, just him and me, Maki and Mai are not coming. Yes, I kidnapped him....Wait a minute, let me ask."
"Mom's asking if there's anything specific you want to eat?" asked Satoru.
Naoya cleared his throat and snatched the phone from Satoru's hand.
"Anything accompanied by the beautiful Ruriko-san will be great," said Naoya in a cool voice.
"Fufu, got it, Noaya-kun," said Ruriko with a chuckle. Some things never change after all.
Satoru looked at the shameless bastard with his brows twitching. Wasn't this bastard engaged to that infuriating shrine maiden wannabe? Why was he still making moves on his mom?
"Return my phone," demanded Satoru.
"Shoo Shoo. Can't you see I am busy?" replied Naoya.
[Imaginary technique-]
Satoru started but was smacked immediately by Naoya.
Naoya grappled with the unruly brat who had just tried to attack him, while the brat struggled to free himself from his grip.
Ruriko, who could hear the two bickering, chuckled through the phone. The two kids were as close as ever.
-----
The car entered the Gojo estate, and Naoya and Satoru stepped out of it.
"Yes, I am fine. I came over to my friend's house. I will meet you at Jujutsu High, so go there with everyone," said Naoya.
[If you say so, Big Brother. Call me if you need any help. I will come running to your aid.]
Naoya ended the call. On his way to the Gojo estate, he was called several times by Todo, who was worried sick about him being kidnapped.
Utahime and Mai knew how his friendship was with Satoru Gojo, so the two weren't worried, while to the others, the whole scenario didn't matter much.
Naoya walked through the familiar estate with nostalgia. It had been a while since he came here.
As he and Satoru continued to walk, they were greeted by various servants and clansmen. While many disapproved of the friendship between the rival clans. There were many who supported this friendship. If the two clans were friendly, there would be less strife in the future, and that sounded great to many.
After a while, they came across a familiar couple.
Without hesitation, Naoya appeared in front of the lady and eloquently held her hand.
"Good to see you, Ruriko-san. I missed you a lot. Did you miss me?" asked Naoya with a smile.
Ruriko Gojo was Satoru's mother and was Naoya's first crush. Though she had aged a bit with a few wrinkles starting to form and a bit of grey hair here and there in her neatly styled black hair, overall, she just looked mature and composed, a beautiful lady.
"Fufu, you sure never change, Naoya-kun. Still as energetic as ever. I missed you, too," said Ruriko as she smiled at the boy.
Naoya smiled back. He might not be interested in her romantically anymore, but there was no denying he still had fondness for her.
"Ahem Ahem."
The man beside Ruriko gave a cough.
Naoya decided to promptly ignore him and continued to chat with Ruriko with a smile while still holding her hand.
"Ahem Ahem" x 2.
This time, the man's cough was accompanied by the cough of the ungrateful, unfilial, white-haired, rude brat who came with him.
Still, Naoya decided to ignore the annoying bugs.
Ruriko was barely holding herself back from laughing out loud. Honestly, there were quite a few things she liked whenever Naoya came over.
The man and the unfilial son stood beside Naoya and coughed directly beside his ear.
"That's it! Don't they teach manners at the Gojo clan? Can't you two see I am speaking to her right now?" complained Naoya and gave a stink eye to Satoru, Ruriko's son, and Masahiro, Ruriko's husband.
"Let go of her hand and then talk," said Masahiro, the current acting clan head of the Gojo clan. There were various talks of appointing Satoru as the clan head, but the Special Grade sorcerer told the geezers not to bother him and let him enjoy his youth.
There was a similar situation at the Zenin clan with Naoya being asked to take the mantle of the clan head, but he, too, refused for the time being. He did promise Kagenori that he would look after the clan, but for now, he will let Naobito deal with the troubles. He was too young to get involved with the annoying matters all day long.
Still, despite all their refusals, Naoya and Satoru were appointed as figurative clan heads by the elders of their respective clans. They don't formally hold their offices and don't have to work all the time, while Masahiro and Naobito still function as the clan head, but the two can take up that position any time they feel like it.
However, if they ever use their position to influence clan decisions, then they would have to take up the mantle of clan head. Such a clause was made to somehow trap the two unruly brats to actually take up the mantle and not just continue to fool around.
For better or worse, the two special grades were very unserious individuals, and the clans feared that they might someday leave the clan on a whim, so it was better to assign them a position of power and tie them to the clan in any way possible.
Satoru and Naoya were not in favour of this procedure, but even their parents agreed with the clan on this matter. They, too, feared their whimsical withdrawal from the clan and didn't want such a situation to happen.
Under familial pressure, the two agreed. It's not like they were thinking of leaving their clans anyway, and the two also made sure to add the clause that until they themselves don't agree, no one was allowed to pressure them about the clan head thing, thus giving them free rein to fool around.
Honestly, it was more in their favour than that of the clans.
Coming back to the situation at hand.
Naoya gave a stink eye to Satoru and Masahiro.
Masahiro, for a long time, was a rival and a thorn in his pursuit of the beauty. But after a long time, he had come to terms with the older Gojo. He kept Ruriko happy, and that's all he could hope for now. If Ruriko was happy, then he was satisfied.
"In foreign countries, it is a polite gesture to talk to ladies while carefully holding onto their hand," said Naoya shamelessly with a straight face.
"Too bad it is not that foreign country. Now let go of my wife's hand," said Masahiro.
The two continued to glare at each other.
Ruriko just continued to enjoy the situation. She felt like she was a princess and two men were fighting over her. It was honestly ecstatic.
Satoru, who was standing on the side, took out his phone and called someone.
"Hello," said Satoru as he put the phone on speaker mode.
"What?" came a familiar voice from the phone.
"Here, talk to Naoya," said Satoru and tossed the phone towards Naoya.
Naoya let go of Ruriko's hand and caught the phone.
He put the phone back to handset mode and walked a bit away from the three Gojos.
Seeing Naoya retreat, Satoru smirked.
The one he called was none other than Naoya's fiancée, Utahime.
After all this time, he finally found some use out of that infuriating shrine maiden wannabe.
Masahiro and Ruriko blinked in confusion. They didn't know what had just happened, but they clearly heard a feminine voice coming out of the phone.
Hearing the voice, Naoya retreated and was now happily talking to the person on the phone.
Dots soon started to connect in their heads.
"Ara Ara~ Looks like Naoya-kun finally got himself a girl~" said Ruriko as she covered her mouth with her hand and hid the teasing smile that was starting to form.
Naoya's relationship was mostly a secret, aside from his friends, and they were not ones to gossip around. Considering Naoya's position, they knew well that Utahime could get into danger if the matter was handled carelessly.
Even Naobito didn't know about Utahime. Only Maki, Mai, and the Kagenori squad that worked under Naoya knew about his relationship, and all of them were trustworthy people.
Masahiro Gojo smiled as well. Not only because the Zenin brat won't be going after Ruriko anymore, but also-
"I am so glad he is involved with a girl. I was starting to fear there was thing between you two," said Masahiro and patted Satoru's shoulder with happiness. To him, it felt like a massive weight was off his chest.
"Huh?! What the hell are you saying?! We are not like that!!! We are just best friends! Just because I call him daddy sometimes, go on dates with him, kidnap him, and like to spend time with him doesn't mean I am into him!!!" chided Satoru.
Masahiro and Ruriko looked at their son with suspicion. Did the kid even hear his words?
-----
The next day, Satoru and Naoya arrived at Tokyo Jujutsu High together.
He spent the night at the Gojo estate and thus came to the school along with him.
As they reached the main school area, Naoya and Satoru saw the Tokyo students and teachers waiting there.
"Good morning," greeted Naoya.
"What is he doing here!!!!"
"Naoya-san! Hello!"
Naoya turned his head towards the source of a familiar voice.
"Sup, gambler, Kirara," called Naoya.
Hakari's shock expression was funny to Naoya. He knew that the boy was kinda scared of him.
Kirara happily waved at Naoya.
"What is Naoya-san doing here?!" asked Hakari and looked towards Satoru Gojo. The one who brought the other Special Grade to school.
"He is working as a teacher at Kyoto Jujutsu High. What are you so surprised about?" asked Satoru.
"Huh? Teacher?!"
Hakari didn't know whether he was lucky or unlucky.
On one hand, he was lucky that Naoya didn't work at the Tokyo branch. On the other hand, being a teacher meant, for the duration of the goodwill event, Naoya would be staying over at the school.
"Don't be like that! I am not so scary, you know?" said Naoya with a smile as he slung his arm around Hakari.
Hakari looked at the smiling man. He might not look scary, but he kinda was. Whenever he was around, his own luck got messed up.
"Onii-chan!"
"Maki!"
Maki ran up to Naoya, and the two hugged each other happily.
"How are you? Did anyone bully you? Did you kick their ass? Want me to kick their ass?" asked Naoya.
Without hesitation, Maki pointed a finger towards Satoru, who immediately hid behind Yaga, the acting principal of Jujutsu High.
"Principal Yaga?" asked Naoya
"No, the white-haired idiot hiding behind him. Beat the crap out of him for me," said Maki.
"Boo! You snitch! Boo! Snitching sucks!" said Satoru while still hiding behind Yaga.
"I will do so. What about our gambler here? Did he annoy you?" asked Naoya.
Hakari looked intently at Maki. He tried to remember if he had done anything to displease this junior.
"A bit, but he is good," said Maki.
Hakari unconsciously sighed in relief.
"Well enough with the meet and greet. We need to start the first stage of the goodwill event," said Yaga as he grabbed Satoru by the collar and started walking while dragging the annoying teacher along with him.
"Since you two were absent yesterday, the event has already been decided. Principal Gakuganji and Utahime Iori are currently speaking with the Kyoyto students in their waiting room. I hope you know the directions," said Yaga and glanced at Naoya.
"I know. Thank you. See you guys later. All of you do your best," said Naoya and looked at the Kyoto students.
"You two must be Toge-kun and Panda-kun. Maki did tell me about you two. Thanks for getting along with her," said Naoya and gave a polite bow to the first years.
"Seaweed," said Toge.
"No need to thank us. If we don't be good to her, she will beat us," said Panda.
"Oi!" threatened Maki.
Naoya immediately karate-chopped Maki.
"Bad Maki. Be good to your friends,"
"Onii-chan...." whined Maki.
Toge and Panda smirked, seeing Maki getting scolded and whining.
"Finally, Yuta-kun."
Yuta Okkotsu, who was standing silently with the rest of the students, flinched. It had been a while since he last met Naoya.
"How's Jujutsu High? Adjusted yet?" asked Naoya.
"Y-Yes. It's very different from what I expected. I am trying to adjust, though," said Yuta.
"That's good....Not feeling lonely anymore, right?"
"...No. I made many friends here," said Yuta with a smile.
"Good. See you later. Take care, everyone. Kin-chan don't do anything illegal."
"Why specifically targeting me! It's discrimination!" complained Hakari.
Naoya laughed and walked away to the Kyoto branch's waiting room.
-----
"I am here!... Coming through the door like a normal person!"
The Kyoto bunch looked towards the new entrant in their room. Utahime and Gakuganji had left for the observation room, so they were curious who would come in now.
"Big Brother is finally here!!!! I will now give my 200%!!!!" declared Todo in excitement.
"That's the spirit!" said Naoya and gave a firm pat on Todo's back.
"So? Anyone wanna brief me on what the event is?" asked Naoya.
"Leave the explanation to me, Big Bro-" said Todo.
"Flag Capture team battle," interrupted Mai.
Todo looked at Mai, who had interrupted him.
Mai, in turn, just smiled at Todo. She was getting back at him for his constant beatings when they trained to correct her mistakes.
The two glared at each other as sparks started to form between them.
Naoya looked at the scene and sighed. He didn't know why there were so many kid-minded high schoolers these days.
"Alright, I have the gist of how these work. Tell me how you all are going to proceed. I won't be helping you strategise; that part is entirely up to you guys. Still having a clear idea of how to proceed is necessary."
Noritoshi and Mechamaru nodded and started telling Naoya the plan.
Todo was busy doing a stare-off against Mai. None of them wanted to lose and was thus not paying much attention to the plan.
Naoya didn't say anything to them. From this point on, it was not his place to guide them. It was now their time to use their learning and experience to their advantage.
Once Naoya heard the plan, he gave a nod before leaving the room. He didn't give the kids any reaction or feedback.
Just a simple thumbs up, and Naoya sent his students to the match field.