From June 29 to July 1, Gojo Satoru and Getou Suguru both deliberately cleared their schedules.
They worked overtime, racing to finish every assignment ahead of time. One stuffed himself with sweets until he threw up; the other swallowed cursed spirit orbs until he threw up. The two friends, each enduring their own brand of "extreme summer diet," met up in private to discuss the Yokohama Summer Festival.
When it came to having fun, they were completely serious. They would never miss an event worth attending.
With loud cries of "Let's ditch Shoko!", the two of them kidnapped Asou Akiya in broad daylight, right in front of everyone at Jujutsu High.
Ieiri Shoko cursed after them.
"You two pieces of trash."
She was tied down by her responsibilities as the jujutsu world's healer and couldn't leave—but that was hardly an excuse for Gojo Satoru and Getou Suguru to leave her out.
By the time Yaga Masamichi arrived, Asou Akiya was already long gone.
Zen'in Naoya left the school with a gloomy expression, his face as cold as ever. He boarded a bus alone, grumbling inwardly.
What do they mean, "ditching Shoko"? The one they really abandoned was me. Akiya-kun went off to have fun with Satoru-kun and Suguru-kun, while I'm the one left to pick up my nephew after school!
Yokohama Chinatown.
Standing outside the guesthouse where they had stayed the previous year, Asou Akiya looked at the two of them.
"So after all that discussion... you kidnapped me, then forgot to book a hotel?"
"Hehe..." ×2
The two high school boys laughed awkwardly in unison.
They had been far too busy lately. Their accommodations during work trips were always arranged by assistant managers, so neither of them had remembered that, outside of missions, they actually had to book hotels themselves.
During the festival, every guesthouse in Yokohama was fully booked. There wasn't a single vacant room to be found. If they didn't find a place to stay soon, they'd have no choice but to head back to Tokyo.
Left with no alternative, Asou Akiya led the two of them on foot from Chinatown to a nearby hotel in search of a room.
The receptionist apologized politely.
"These two days are packed every year. I'd recommend trying the next hotel as soon as possible."
Fortunately, the three of them were fast on their feet and had plenty of stamina. About two kilometers away, they finally found somewhere with an opening.
"A guest just canceled their reservation. We only have one twin room left."
"We'll take it."
Asou Akiya made the decision on the spot before anyone else could claim it.
Just like last time, after receiving the room key, he tried to give the room to Gojo Satoru and Getou Suguru.
"I'll spend the night at the children's welfare home."
"No!"
The two high school boys spoke in perfect unison.
Getou Suguru shot Gojo Satoru a meaningful look. Although Gojo Satoru had no idea what it meant, he still grabbed Akiya and pulled him along.
Once inside the room, Getou Suguru quickly pushed the twin beds together into one large bed, then patted the sheets.
"There. Problem solved, Akiya. Now we can enjoy the atmosphere of the summer festival together."
Asou Akiya replied flatly,
"Hotels usually have strict policies. They don't normally allow three people to stay in a room meant for two."
Gojo Satoru's eyes suddenly lit up.
"I'll just pay the difference!"
He dashed out before anyone could stop him.
"Don't go!"
Asou Akiya called after him, but Gojo Satoru only ran faster, disappearing in a flash to sort out the check-in at the front desk.
That evening, they changed out of their Jujutsu High uniforms and into the clean yukata that Asou Akiya had stored inside Ugly Treasure ahead of time. All three yukata were decorated with fireworks patterns. Folded neatly and sealed inside waterproof bags, they had been protected well enough to keep out Ugly Treasure's drool.
Gojo Satoru tugged proudly at his sleeve.
"It fits perfectly."
The three of them wore matching yukata—each with a different fireworks design.
Asou Akiya sighed.
"I was originally planning to give these to you at the fireworks festival..."
"Akiya, we're going to the fireworks festival together anyway. We can't miss the summer festival either."
Getou Suguru had bought a small uchiwa fan. As he gently fanned himself, his face looked clean and refreshed, his expression relaxed, and the fringe over his forehead swayed softly in the breeze.
"You're right."
Seeing how happy the two of them were, any trace of dissatisfaction Asou Akiya had felt simply melted away.
As they wandered through the festival together, Getou Suguru was especially considerate toward Akiya. He thanked him again for giving him Playful Cloud, adding that it felt incredible to smash cursed spirits with it.
"It beats using Cursed Spirit Manipulation. It's way more fun."
Getou Suguru also handed out the souvenirs he'd bought during his last business trip.
Asou Akiya received a bottle of all-natural nail polish made from locally grown flowers.
Gojo Satoru received an edible honey lip balm.
As for Getou Suguru himself...
Asou Akiya gave him a once-over.
He looked flamboyant enough already.
Dressed in a white yukata patterned with fireworks, holding a small uchiwa fan, Getou Suguru wore his usual smiling expression, looking every bit like a sly black fox. His fingernails and toenails were painted black, and a silver bracelet now circled his left wrist.
This was a side of Getou Suguru Asou Akiya had never seen in the original story.
Youthful, handsome, and effortlessly refined.
"Suguru, it's sweet."
After reading the label, Gojo Satoru twisted open the lip balm and curiously licked it with the tip of his tongue.
"If you've developed such a sweet tooth, I'll get you some perfume next time."
Getou Suguru teased Gojo Satoru.
"I don't need to smell nice."
That was what Gojo Satoru said, but his expression suggested otherwise. He borrowed a wet wipe from Asou Akiya, wiped off the lip balm he had been wearing, and applied the souvenir Getou Suguru had given him instead. It was a lightly tinted lip balm that left a pale pink color behind.
Gojo Satoru didn't have a mirror.
But with the Six Eyes, he could see his own face perfectly well.
"I'm so hopelessly handsome!"
"..."
"..."
Some truths really weren't meant to be spoken by the person they described.
A Yokohama summer festival wasn't complete without rows of food stalls or the hot, humid sea breeze rolling in from the bay.
Overhead, a greedy seagull swooped down to snatch food from the tourists.
Instead, it flew straight into Gojo Satoru's Limitless.
Dazed from the collision, the seagull tumbled into Asou Akiya's arms.
Feeling sorry for it, Asou Akiya gently rubbed its tiny head.
Gojo Satoru burst into laughter, pointing at the bird as he called it stupid.
The corners of Getou Suguru's lips lifted as well.
"Satoru, you're bullying small animals."
Gojo Satoru took another bite of his crêpe.
"It was trying to steal my food! Besides, you're way scarier than I am whenever you chase seagulls away."
Smiling, Asou Akiya said, "Suguru, look at Gojo's feet."
Following his gaze, Getou Suguru noticed the trail of crêpe crumbs Gojo Satoru had dropped as they walked.
The crumbs had attracted a line of ants.
Marching neatly along, they headed straight into Gojo Satoru's path.
Gojo Satoru took another long stride forward.
Getou Suguru instinctively frowned.
"Look again."
Asou Akiya released the seagull. The fluttering of its wings interrupted whatever Getou Suguru had been about to say.
Given Gojo Satoru's height and build, he was hardly light.
Yet after his foot came crashing down where the ants had been, they merely paused for a brief moment before continuing on their way, completely unharmed, diligently carrying their food back to the nest.
Getou Suguru stared blankly as he realized the tiny creatures had survived.
Something invisible stirred within him.
How did Satoru do that?
Akiya's powers of observation are incredible... How did he notice that Satoru could step over ants without hurting them?
Is this another application of the Limitless? Has Satoru improved again?
No, no, no, that's not what Akiya is trying to say—
Asou Akiya spoke quietly.
"Suguru, the strong draw their blades against those stronger than themselves. The weak draw theirs against those weaker."
There were many kinds of strength in the jujutsu world.
But Gojo Satoru and Fushiguro Toji possessed the same kind.
Deep down, both longed to test themselves against powerful opponents.
They would never prove their strength by hurting the weak.
How many people lost themselves the moment they gained power?
Gojo Satoru's unconscious actions reflected his true nature.
He had no intention of trampling grass, trees, or even ants beneath his feet.
Yet he could walk over them without taking their lives.
That was a kind of strength that transcended common sense.
An extraordinary strength.
"Satoru…"
No matter how hard he tried, Getou Suguru knew he could never do the same.
"You're really amazing."
"I told you I wasn't exaggerating."
Asou Akiya crouched down with a smile, watching alongside Getou Suguru as the line of ants safely made its way past the feet of the humans.
"Gojo, You did well."
Did he just praise me?
Gojo Satoru turned around, his mouth still full of crumbs and whipped cream. The crêpe somehow complemented his flawless face perfectly—it looked like he could star in a crêpe commercial.
Without thinking, he blurted out,
"Suguru, you can do it too!"
The white-haired boy was sincere, enthusiastic, and cheerful.
His words were so wonderfully encouraging.
Getou Suguru's lips twitched.
He was beginning to understand just how heavily Gojo Satoru's encouragement tended to be diluted with wishful thinking.
Asou Akiya answered objectively, "You do have a chance of pulling it off. The prerequisite is that you master Reverse Cursed Technique. Then you can kill the ants while reviving them at the same time. After taking a quick trip through life and death, they'll be able to walk away just fine."
Getou Suguru felt as though ten thousand arrows had pierced his heart.
Wh-what a merciless tongue!
"That's a great idea! Suguru, want to give it a try?"
Gojo Satoru's earnest expression immediately collapsed into barely suppressed laughter.
Asou Akiya simply shrugged.
Unable to take it anymore, Getou Suguru wrapped an arm around each of their necks and locked them both in place.
"Enough! Both of you! If you keep talking, I'll be so ashamed that I'll slit my throat right here and awaken Reverse Cursed Technique today!"
Even with his throat being squeezed, Asou Akiya managed to speak.
"That won't do. If you actually did that, tomorrow's headline in the jujutsu world would read: 'A Special Grade Sorcerer Slits His Own Throat in the Street, Blood Splattering Three Feet High, Dies at the Yokohama Summer Festival. After Death, His Resentment Refuses to Fade, and Two Grief-Stricken Friends Curse Him into Becoming a Special Grade Cursed Spirit.'"
Gojo Satoru struggled to get his words out as well.
"Whoa—a Special Grade Cursed Spirit? Weird Bangs?"
Thump! Thump!
Getou Suguru rewarded each of them with a solid fist to the head, leaving matching lumps.
Wincing in pain, Asou Akiya rubbed the top of his head as stars danced before his eyes.
Gojo Satoru, meanwhile, bounced around as lively as ever, only to earn a cutting remark from Getou Suguru.
"Satoru, you're pathetic. You can only heal yourself—you can't even heal Akiya."
Gojo Satoru glanced at Asou Akiya.
Akiya raised a finger to his lips and gave him a playful, "Shh."
Gojo Satoru immediately fired back. "Suguru, talk big after you've awakened Reverse Cursed Technique."
Getou Suguru rolled up his sleeves. "No need to wait that long. Let's settle it with an arm-wrestling match. Loser buys dinner."
Gojo Satoru accepted the challenge without hesitation.
"Bring it on! I've always been as strong as an ox!"
Sensing disaster, Asou Akiya quietly began to slip away.
Behind him came Gojo Satoru's miserable cry as he lost the arm-wrestling match to Getou Suguru.
"Akiya, what are you running for?!"
This was the man whose physical strength ranked second only to Fushiguro Toji in the official data book!
Asou Akiya ran even faster.
Getou Suguru treated both of his troublesome friends equally, immediately giving chase.
"Satoru's broke! The only one here who can afford to treat us is you!"
Gojo Satoru stopped helping altogether and switched to cheering from the sidelines.
"Akiya, go! Protect your wallet! Your money is my money!"
For sorcerers, running across rooftops and scaling walls was effortless.
By now, Asou Akiya could do it too.
Swift and nimble, he darted through the city with practiced ease. To the astonishment of the surrounding crowds, he looked like someone obsessed with parkour.
The three of them raced through Yokohama's streets and alleys, one after another.
Sometimes they vaulted over walls.
Sometimes they leaped onto rooftops.
Everywhere they passed, low-grade cursed spirits invisible to ordinary people were stepped on one after another. Their pitiful wails rang out as purple blood burst forth before they dissolved into nothingness.
Their movements flowed as naturally as water.
Beneath their yukata were bodies honed by relentless training.
Their smiles were carefree and unrestrained.
It was as though a dazzling play were unfolding across the city.
This was their youth.
A youth in which cursed spirits were too insignificant to merit a second glance.
The world held both light and darkness, yet they ran through it without restraint. Wherever their eyes fell, blessed by cursed energy, everything became sharp, vivid, and brilliantly clear.
Ten minutes later, Getou Suguru finally tackled Asou Akiya to the ground.
Admitting defeat, Akiya obediently chose to spend money to avert disaster and treated the other two to dinner.
Inside a restaurant in Yokohama Chinatown, Gojo Satoru pulled a face at him and laughed.
"You even got a head start, and you still couldn't outrun Suguru."
"Because you didn't help hold him back."
Gojo Satoru refused to take the blame. His gaze dropped to Asou Akiya's legs.
"It's obviously because your legs are too short, Akiya!"
Asou Akiya fell silent.
With a perfectly expressionless face, he turned to Getou Suguru.
"Let's join forces and get rid of him. We'll report that the Six Eyes died in a hot pot restaurant."
Getou Suguru chuckled.
"I've got a better idea."
"Oh?"
Inside their private dining room, Getou Suguru and Asou Akiya each grabbed one side of Gojo Satoru's belt.
A silent threat.
Gojo Satoru's expression immediately changed. His voice softened at once.
"Can-can we not play like this? It's way too perverted. What if the waiter bringing the food gets the wrong idea?"
Asou Akiya smiled.
"With a face as pretty as yours, how could anyone mistake you for the pervert?"
Getou Suguru went on, "Exactly. Satoru, you should have some confidence in yourself. Just say it was too hot to eat hot pot, so you took your clothes off."
Gojo Satoru bared his teeth at Getou Suguru, fully aware that this was exactly the kind of thing he would do.
Trying to stall, Gojo Satoru said coquettishly, "Akiya, Suguru, I'll take it off for you back at the hotel. Not here, okay~?"
Asou Akiya: "Wow, not shy anymore?"
Getou Suguru piled on, "With his personality, how long could he possibly stay shy? His face gets thicker by the day."
Asou Akiya drawled, "Gojo, you think your legs are long, but Suguru and I didn't get to see them, so we can't verify that."
Getou Suguru deliberately said, "I don't believe your legs are longer than mine~"
Since the topic had turned to physique, Gojo Satoru snorted coldly and stopped giving them any face. He lifted the hem of his yukata, ready to show them his long legs.
"I— have the best physique in the world!"
Asou Akiya suddenly pressed down on his yukata with his hand, his palm cupping the muscle of Gojo Satoru's thigh and stopping any indecent exposure.
"The joke's over."
His expression was gentle as he said it, and Gojo Satoru suddenly went rigid, momentarily imagining the etiquette teacher at home glaring at him.
Gojo Satoru was not someone who could be scared off so easily.
Feeling his pride pricked, he straightened his back and shot Getou Suguru a defiant look. Then he grabbed Asou Akiya's hand and, under the table, forced him to feel the proportions of his waist and legs. His thigh felt strangely tingly under the touch—pleasant, and with a hint of novel excitement.
"I've got a better body than Suguru's! And my legs are longer than his too!"
"...Alright, alright."
What else could Asou Akiya even say? There was nothing left to say. Who was Getou Suguru? He didn't know him!
—The feel of it really was amazing.
That night, sharing the same bed, Asou Akiya was driven nearly to despair. In the middle of the night, he had no choice but to push Gojo Satoru away and get out of bed to take a shower.
By the time Asou Akiya came back, Gojo Satoru was already asleep, wrapped around Getou Suguru in a tight hug.
Getou Suguru gave a faint struggle in his sleep.
Asou Akiya found it amusing. Without saying a word, he dried his hair and sat down on the only sofa. He never should have been crammed into the same bed with the two of them in the first place.
He stretched out on the sofa, and its length fit him just right, which only made him think of Gojo Satoru calling him short-legged.
He was the type who, once awake in the middle of the night, had a hard time falling back asleep.
So Asou Akiya looked outside at the sky, then left a note on the coffee table: [I'm going out for a little walk.]
Yokohama was still the same as always. It was nowhere near as bustling as Tokyo. Most of the people out early in the morning were old men walking their dogs; young people willing to go for a morning run were few and far between. Asou Akiya walked along, passing bookstores and cat cafés he had visited before. He even stopped outside a glass door to tease the big white cat sleeping inside. It was that familiar silver-shaded breed, and it still hadn't been adopted away by the shop owner. It had gotten a little rounder, too. When it lifted its head to look at him, its gaze was already strange and unfamiliar. It didn't know him anymore.
One had to climb high to see far.
Asou Akiya came to an elevated spot overlooking the sea. Dawn is approaching. The sea breeze threaded unkindly through his fingers, forceful and unrestrained, making it feel as though he could grasp the wind that was everywhere at once.
When he looked at the sky, he thought of Gojo Satoru. When he looked at the sea, he still thought of Gojo Satoru.
How could that person be so handsome?
Had they gotten too close without realizing it? Had they crossed a line?
Asou Akiya lowered his lashes, then decided it was not really that close. Gojo Satoru did not understand his thoughts, and he did not know how much he meant in Gojo Satoru's heart, either. They were like admiring flowers through a fog—beautiful, yes, but the beauty depended entirely on that hazy distance.
The only thing he could be certain of was that once the mist dispersed and the two of them saw the other for who they truly were—
Gojo Satoru would still be a fantastical, dreamlike figure.
As for him, he might not be as wonderful as Gojo Satoru imagined.
Not wanting to think about it any further, Asou Akiya's mood soured, and the sea breeze began to feel unpleasant too.
Since he still had time, he decided to go back to the children's welfare home once and see whether anyone had been asking about him.
At Saint Love Orphanage, Asou Akiya was surprised to find that his bed had been kept for him. That touched him a little. His roommates grew visibly stiff when they saw him, as though a transparent barrier stood between them. Not long after, Asou Akiya ran into the director, who had gotten up early. After some careful probing, he received one piece of good news: no one had asked about Asou Akiya.
But the bad news was... someone had inquired with the director, using the pretense of wanting to adopt a child, about healthy boys over the age of fourteen who had lost both parents.
Did that mean that even though he hardly ever came back here, he still could not avoid trouble?
Asou Akiya hated hidden dangers. The thought of setting the children's welfare home on fire to wipe the problem out came to him again.
He already had enough money...
Maybe he should simply donate renovation costs to the children's welfare home.
No, that would raise questions about where the money came from, and Mei Mei-san might not be willing to take the blame for him.
Asou Akiya bit down on the inside of his cheek and let out a frustrated breath. He needed to come up with a reasonable source of funds as soon as possible.
He said goodbye to the director and made his way back, his mind preoccupied while his body moved on muscle memory.
Only after returning to the bed did he suddenly come to his senses.
I've already come all this way.
The familiar saying from his previous life surfaced in Asou Akiya's mind. Frowning, he refused to settle back into a life of rigid routine. He erased any traces of having been there, arriving in haste and leaving just as quickly, preferring to spend a little more time taking in the scenery of Yokohama.
The soul of a traveler from another world moved lightly through the streets, stepping, turning, and eventually wandering into Chinatown in the early morning.
Surrounded by the steam rising from freshly made buns, Asou Akiya quickly bought breakfast. A thin sheen of sweat formed on his forehead as he took a bite of the soft, fluffy bun skin, revealing the first genuinely satisfied smile of the day.
"Delicious."
No fancy Japanese cuisine, no soba noodles—none of it could compare to a simple steamed bun.
"How delicious?"
A brash voice suddenly sounded from beside him.
In an instant, exactly half of the bun in Asou Akiya's hand vanished, skin and filling alike.
"Huh?"
Gojo Satoru chewed exaggeratedly before nodding in approval.
"Yeah. It really is good."
With practiced ease, Gojo Satoru fished a few coins out of Asou Akiya's pants pocket, flashed him a radiant grin, then dashed over to the breakfast stall and bought six buns with different fillings. His appetite was so impressive that the owner assumed he was buying breakfast for his family.
"Young man, how about some red bean buns too? They're soft and sweet—perfect for the elderly at home."
"No thanks. The old oranges back home still have perfectly good teeth."
Gojo Satoru refused without hesitation, answering in the Chinese he had learned back in elementary school, leaving the owner thoroughly bewildered.
Old oranges? What did that mean?
Gojo Satoru demolished the buns at an astonishing pace.
"I'm eating them all myself."
Asou Akiya glanced at the bun in his hand, marked with both his own bite and Gojo Satoru's, then let out a sigh.
He looked around but couldn't find a stray cat or dog, so with some regret, he tossed it into the trash.
Gojo Satoru exclaimed, "You're disgusted by me!"
Asou Akiya didn't argue with him. Instead, he smiled and said, "I prefer the ones you bought."
With that, he snatched one of Gojo Satoru's buns. It was filled with mustard greens and pork, piping hot and irresistibly comforting.
The two of them ate breakfast on the street, while Asou Akiya also picked up a steamed flower roll and a cup of soy milk for Getou Suguru.
"Where's Suguru?" Asou Akiya asked.
"I told him I was going to look for you. He didn't mind—just rolled over and went right back to sleep." With Reverse Cursed Technique constantly sustaining his body, Gojo Satoru didn't need much rest, but Getou Suguru still had to recover the normal way by sleeping.
After finishing his fifth bun, Gojo Satoru dusted off his hands.
"Aren't you sleepy, Akiya? Are you seriously trying to work yourself to death?"
Asou Akiya shook his head.
"No, you're overthinking it. I intend to live to a hundred."
Hidden behind his sunglasses, Gojo Satoru's gaze turned cool as the Six Eyes absorbed the flood of information from every direction. Sweeping a ten-kilometer radius for the lingering traces of cursed energy, he accurately reconstructed Asou Akiya's route that morning.
"So last night I crowded you out of bed and made you go back to the children's welfare home to sleep?"
"I've always been used to sleeping alone, so my sleeping posture isn't exactly great. You could've just shaken me awake."
Even as he spoke, there was a trace of guilt—and grievance—in Gojo Satoru's voice.
Before this, Gojo Satoru had never known what kind of place Saint Love Orphanage was. He had never been there—he only knew it was where orphans lived. From the fact that Getou Suguru would rather spend his own money supporting Amanai Riko, he could tell the conditions there were probably nothing special. He imagined what he'd once glimpsed from afar: five or six beds crammed into a single room, with no privacy whatsoever.
That was why he had the Gojo clan arrange for the orphan he had rescued to be transferred to a children's home with private rooms.
He wanted those children under fourteen to have a better life.
"It's not your fault," Asou Akiya said. "When you sleep by yourself, your sleeping posture is excellent. One look and it's obvious you were raised with proper manners. I'm the one who sleeps badly—I was worried I'd affect your sleep quality."
Gojo Satoru looked half-convinced. "Really? I wasn't the one bothering you?"
Akiya nodded firmly.
Then Gojo's next sentence nearly made him choke.
"You got a hard-on again?"
Gojo patted him on the shoulder. "It's fine, I do too. It's totally normal."
Goosebumps erupted all over Akiya's skin. Suppressing his irritation, he said, "Could you please not announce something like that so openly?"
Gojo grinned again, clasping his hands behind his head as he strolled beside him. "Come on, be more honest."
"I'm not sleeping with you two again next time," Akiya said, tossing the words over his shoulder as he headed back.
Gojo muttered under his breath and followed him to deliver breakfast to Getou Suguru.
What he didn't tell Akiya was that Suguru absolutely hated waking up to find Satoru clinging to him in his sleep and would often kick him away, which usually led to the two of them wrestling on the bed. Thanks to his Reverse Cursed Technique constantly refreshing his body, Satoru never had to worry about looking embarrassed, and he'd even seize the opportunity to tease Suguru over his own morning erection.
Someone who would gently tell him that it wasn't his fault—that the problem lay with themselves instead...
Only Akiya would do that.
He was infinitely better than those old oranges in the Gojo clan who were always trying to throw women at him.
...
After two days and one night of fun, the three of them played the Yamanote Line Game on the Shinkansen ride back to Tokyo.
Knowing that station names would put Asou Akiya at a disadvantage, Getou Suguru thoughtfully suggested a different version of the game.
Gojo Satoru's eyes lit up. "We'll take turns naming one good thing about Gojo Satoru! One word each!"
Getou Suguru calmly shot the idea down, sounding more tired than annoyed. "Even if you do have some good qualities, that's way too restrictive. We'd run out after a few rounds."
Gojo Satoru fell silent and looked at Asou Akiya with pleading eyes.
After considering how to make the game more interesting while keeping it grounded in reality, Asou Akiya proposed, "We'll take turns naming one of our own strengths, using only a single word. You have three seconds to answer, then clap once. Whoever fails has to send 'I'm an idiot' in the Jujutsu High Same-Year Quartet group chat."
Getou Suguru gave him a look that practically said, Only you would come up with something like that.
Taking turns praising themselves? He had never even imagined a game like that.
Gojo Satoru was delighted with the punishment. "I'm in! Bring it on!"
A new round of the Yamanote Line Game began, with Asou Akiya starting the first turn and Gojo Satoru bringing the round to a close.
Round one:
"Quiet."
"Reserved."
"Perfect!"
Round two:
"Mature."
"Dependable."
"Strongest!"
Round three:
"Responsible."
"Kind."
"Handsomest!"
Fourth round...
By the tenth round, Getou Suguru had slowed down considerably. The compliments no longer came to him so easily.
By the twentieth round, he had completely stalled.
In every sense of the word, his thoughts, imagination, gaze, and even his voice had ground to a halt.
He had run out of adjectives to praise himself with. Words stuck in his throat as he stammered helplessly, cold sweat beading across his forehead. Meanwhile, the two friends sitting beside him looked thoroughly entertained, patiently waiting for him to continue.
Half an hour later, the Shinkansen arrived at its destination.
Asou Akiya stepped off the train at an unhurried pace, while Gojo Satoru practically skipped off in high spirits, looking as though he were celebrating a festival.
Bringing up the rear, Getou Suguru clenched his fists and glared at the two shameless culprits.
"So having too much shame to shamelessly compliment yourself is a weakness too?"
That was right. The biggest loser of this game had turned out to be Getou Suguru—not Asou Akiya or Gojo Satoru.
To complete his punishment, he had been forced to spam the Jujutsu High Same-Year Quartet group chat with the message, "I'm an idiot," until it completely flooded the conversation.
The only classmate who wasn't present, their female teammate, heard her phone buzzing nonstop. In the middle of being busy, she found a moment to check the chat history from beginning to end.
[Ieiri Shoko: Getou, did someone hack your account???]
[Getou Suguru: ...Yup.]
The very next moment, Asou Akiya and Gojo Satoru mercilessly exposed the truth in the group chat.
In the infirmary, the utterly exhausted Ieiri Shoko laughed until she was beaming, as though she had been there playing the Yamanote Line game with them. Asou Akiya had somehow managed to recount the entire game in text from beginning to end. Better yet, he had thoughtfully included her as well, coming up with a whole list of strengths for the classmate left behind at Tokyo Jujutsu High.
Ieiri Shoko hadn't even realized she possessed so many admirable qualities. Her eyes softened with emotion.
No wonder Getou had lost so thoroughly on the spot.
[Asou Akiya: Shoko, let's all play it together the next time we go out for a meal.]
The hand that was so accustomed to holding a scalpel trembled faintly with fatigue as Ieiri Shoko typed her reply.
[Ieiri Shoko: Sure.]
With the three of you by my side, this summer that had worked me to the bone... suddenly didn't seem nearly so unbearable anymore.