Unknowingly, two months passed by.
His life had been quite monotonous: wake up, train, eat, doubt the meaning of life, chat with Satori, train more, eat, and sleep.
Because of the regular training, his strength increased a lot. He was now able to use a full 20 out of the 24 frames from his cursed technique, Projection Sorcery.
A month ago, Phantom's strength also reached a desirable level, so he let him leave the Zenin clan and live outside so that he too could train more freely instead of being confined inside a room every time.
He also made an interesting discovery. While using the Ten Shadows Technique, he could use his shadow as an inventory; this was a basic function.
But here's the catch, if he stored something inside, like a cube, then when Phantom used the Ten Shadows Technique, he could take out the cube from the shadow that had been stored before.
This meant that the Ten Shadows Technique worked like a shared inventory between the two of them. They could both share items with each other.
It was extremely useful and practical. He was able to send Phantom living funds by using this.
As for Satori, they seemed to have become pretty close friends. She would talk to him every other day and, for some reason, send random images like that of a flower or an insect, saying it looked cool or disgusting.
Though sometimes Naoya really doubted why she was free enough to send him images of grass for no reason.
He wanted to tell her to focus more on training, but seeing how enthusiastically she chatted every time, he decided against it and let nature take its course.
Anyway, they were not even six yet; there would be plenty of time in the future for her to focus more on training.
For now, he'd just be her good friend and tell her to eat grass as it was good for her health, to which she would reply disdainfully and say she wasn't an idiot like him.
In short, everything was as usual—the same day, the same training ground, the same Naoya.
Everything was the same until he received a message from his good friend, Satori Gojo.
[I'm feeling bored. I want to go out. You're coming with me.]
"Hm?"
It didn't seem like her usual funny tone. Did something happen?
'But there's a clan meeting today… let's shift it to another day—'
Before he could even write, another message arrived.
[What? Don't tell me the genius of the Zenin clan can't even make his own decision and needs his daddy's permission to go out?]
Well, shit.
How the tables have turned, huh?
Fuck that clan meeting.
Without wasting a second, he replied.
[When and where?] (Naoya)
[Hehe, I knew you'd agree. Here's the location...] (Satori)
Ditching the spear in his hand, Naoya turned to Naobito and said,
"I'm going out to play."
Naobito looked at him in confusion at the sudden demand that came out of nowhere.
"You're going out to play…?"
"Yes. So prepare some guards and a car. I'll be leaving soon."
"You… do you think I'm your butler or something? Why are you giving me orders?"
"Oh, sorry, respected father. I'm going out to play, so please prepare some guards and a car for me," Naoya said in a plain, dead voice.
Naobito raised his hand, then remembered that this son of his had become pretty good at body reinforcement, so he helplessly put it down and asked,
"Who are you going out with?"
"Satori Gojo."
Naobito's eyes widened for a moment.
"…What did you say?"
"Satori Gojo."
"You and the Gojo girl know each other?"
"Yes, we're friends."
"Friends? With a Gojo? Since when? Wait, how come I didn't know?"
"Well, you know now."
"Idiot son, that's not the point."
Naobito rubbed his temples.
The fact that a Zenin and a Gojo had become friends was a concept so foreign to him that he didn't even know what to make of it.
After thinking for a moment, Naobito opened his mouth and said,
"Fine, but make sure to be careful. There's a very big bounty on your head right now."
"Oh? Then why don't you do something about it? Don't you love your youngest son, old man?"
"There's nothing much that can be done. A bounty can be taken down, but then another one will be issued the next second—not to mention the company which takes the bounty is not to be trifled with either."
"So you're going to let the hope of your clan suffer potential death threats?"
"More members of the clan want you to die than those who want you to live, son. We are Zenin. Always keep that in mind."
"Alright, prepare the car already. Make it an expensive Rolls Royce or something—"
"We don't have one."
"Wait, what?"
"We don't have any expensive car."
Naoya couldn't help but ask in genuine doubt,
"Why? Aren't we, like, filthy rich?"
"We? No. The Zenin clan is rich. We are not that rich."
"...But aren't you the clan head?"
"Yes, but that doesn't mean I can use the clan's resources without interference. And an expensive car holds no importance to a jujutsu sorcerer. The things of common men are not something you should care about..."
As the old man kept talking, Naoya fell silent and understood what the problem was.
It wasn't that these guys were poor.
It's just that they looked down on the creations of people without cursed energy.
'No wonder… no wonder everyone here wears these stupid sandalwood slippers made with rope instead of comfortable sports shoes... these guys... they're fucking retarded!'
You've got "fuck you" money and you're not even going to use it??
What the hell is wrong with you???
No wonder I don't see a single air conditioner in this place! You people are sick in the head!!
Fortunately, they had some ordinary cars, so Naoya didn't have to fly there on his shikigami.
Arriving at the location, Naoya got out of the car, as did his friend with her bodyguards.
She was wearing a standard Japanese women's dress. It was pink in colour and adorned with flower patterns.
"Naoya!"
Satori waved as soon as she saw him.
Naoya smiled and approached her.
"Yo, Gojo. How are you?"
Satori narrowed her eyes.
"I called you by your name, so why didn't you?"
"Hm? Well, Gojo is kind of fun to say, but if she wants then…"
"Yo, Satori. How are you?"
"Hm~ that's good. We're friends after all!"
Satori said as she raised her right hand.
Naoya followed and clapped his hand with hers.
The Gojo family guards were looking at Satori with shock hidden in their eyes.
How was their master so cheerful today?
They couldn't understand how she was showing a completely different personality.
"So where are we going?" Naoya asked.
Satori didn't answer immediately.
Instead, she reached into the sleeve of her dress and pulled out a neatly folded sheet of paper.
Naoya blinked.
"…What's that?"
She carefully unfolded it and said,
"A schedule."
What?
She came prepared?
Naoya leaned in slightly.
The paper was filled with clean, tidy handwriting, divided into time blocks.
----
10:30 – Dessert shop
11:20 – Roppongi Hills
12:00 – Bookstore
12:40 – Lunch
1:30 – Go home
----
Seeing Naoya's silent face, Satori smiled smugly and said,
"Unlike a certain someone, I plan things and don't make stupid mistakes!"
Naoya narrowed his eyes and looked at her smug face.
This kid, she just wouldn't stop talking about that information mistake, which wasn't even his fault!
He needed to get back at her!
Then, without missing a beat, he raised his hands and grabbed her cheeks before stretching them.
"It's funny, so funny. Why don't you laugh now, huh?"
As Naoya was stretching her cheeks, Satori suddenly fell silent, not making a sound.
She just kept looking at him, not moving a muscle as he pulled her cheeks, exposing her white teeth.
'Well… did I go too far?'
Naoya thought awkwardly after not getting a reaction from her.
Then he slowly released his grip.
But it seemed he might have used some force, as her pure white cheeks were covered in a tint of red.
Even still, Satori remained calm, just looking at him in silence, not even blinking.
'Please just say something...'
Naoya felt like digging a grave and hiding inside.
Just as he felt like committing suicide, Satori opened her mouth and said,
"This is the first time… someone did something like this..."
Her soft words froze him.
'Bro, didn't your uncles ever tease you—'
As Naoya was thinking, Satori suddenly raised her arms and pinched his cheeks.
Then, under his dumbfounded gaze, she stretched them tightly while moving his head up and down.
"Cheese~ Hehe, this is kind of fun~"
She used one hand to take a picture while holding Naoya's cheek with her other hand.
'She seems to be okay. Seems I was thinking too much,' Naoya thought, not minding the funny picture she took.
He didn't care about these small teasing acts. If anything, they helped strengthen their friendship.
Naoya looked at Satori and found her giggling while staring at his funny picture.
On the other hand, the guards sent by the Gojo clan were going crazy.
Just what had they seen?
Should they report to the clan head or not??
The trip went as Satori planned.
They ate at the café, visited Roppongi Hills, and read together in the bookstore.
As an adult, it wasn't anything special for Naoya, but for Satori, it seemed everything was a new experience as she kept smiling and looking at everything with interest.
She even took so many photos.
Though most were funny ones, where she would suddenly pull some prank on Naoya and take an image of his surprised face.
It seemed his little shenanigans at the start had awakened something inside her, as she got more and more comfortable with him and started pulling all sorts of random pranks.
"Hahaha, you have a pig nose!"
Naoya smiled helplessly before taking off the random prop from his face.
At the same time, he picked up a headband with cow ears and placed it on her head before taking a picture.
"Idiot, you have a cow head!"
"What! Let me see!"
It was just two kids pulling small pranks on each other.
As the time drew to a close, they found a park and sat on a bench.
And as they were enjoying some snacks…
Without any warning—
Satori suddenly turned her head to the side.
Naoya looked at her in confusion and was about to ask what was up when he also sensed something and turned his head.
And he knew exactly what it was.
A cursed spirit.
It had somehow appeared so close to them.