Chapter 15: Let Me Think for a Moment!
Geto Suguru didn't know what he liked.
Back when he was running missions with Gojo Satoru, he hadn't been this lost.
Until Gojo Satoru kept moving farther and farther ahead, gradually leaving him behind.
Until he could no longer tell who he was.
"Why would you say something like that? Aren't you afraid he'll go down the wrong path?"
Inside a quiet restaurant, Tsukumo Yuki happily ate a Mexico chicken wrap and asked Zenin Jinsuke.
"Compared to what I said, wouldn't your words be more likely to mislead him?"
Zenin Jinsuke rolled his eyes at her.
What was wrong with doing something you like? No one is born with the duty to save the world. Besides, not everyone even has the ability to save the world.
"You're going too far. I was just explaining my ideas—how would that mislead him?"
Tsukumo Yuki refused to accept that.
Her conversation with Geto Suguru was just an exchange of viewpoints. In the end, the choice should depend on his own judgment.
She believed a special grade sorcerer—even in confusion—would make a choice he wouldn't regret.
"Heh."
Zenin Jinsuke only chuckled.
Normally, that would be true. A few casual lines wouldn't have that kind of power.
But the other party was still just a teen. With everything piling up, a few words really could become a fuse.
Still, it had nothing to do with him.
As a specially hired teacher, he'd already "guided" the kid. He had barely fulfilled his responsibility as a teacher. As for the result—he didn't care, and he wasn't interested.
"Oh right, I'll owe you the money for now. Things are a bit tight lately. I'll pay you back after a while."
Tsukumo Yuki said it casually, as if she was already familiar with the whole process of owing money and not paying it back.
Zenin Jinsuke's cheek twitched.
He knew it—this woman was as much of an old slicker as he was.
So this trip was a waste. He didn't get his money, and he even treated her to a meal?
All he got was to scratch his motorcycle itch.
"So where have you been living off women lately?"
Tsukumo Yuki asked what she actually cared about.
"Don't talk nonsense. Do I look like the kind of guy who lives off women?"
Zenin Jinsuke said it without blushing.
Tsukumo Yuki looked unconvinced. "Don't tell me you've turned over a new leaf?"
"I'm currently a specially hired instructor at Jujutsu High. I don't need to live off women anymore."
Besides, not living off women would be turning back toward evil, if anything.
"Hahahaha, don't make me laugh. You and I both don't take missions. With that Jujutsu High salary, do you earn even close to what you used to make in a day?"
Tsukumo Yuki laughed so hard she held her stomach.
She didn't believe a guy who'd lived off women for seven or eight years would suddenly become righteous.
A man who'd tasted quick money—how could he ever look at that pathetic Jujutsu High salary?
Zenin Jinsuke didn't argue. He just ate calmly.
"Wait… you really stopped?"
Seeing how calm he was, Tsukumo Yuki was shocked. Was this still that money-hungry man?
Zenin Jinsuke felt he'd never been money-hungry. It was just that back overseas, he needed money for a lot of activities.
Like a little harmless gambling, for example.
But now, that degenerate lifestyle was temporarily over.
When Zenin Jinsuke nodded, Tsukumo Yuki's eyes shifted.
"So that means… I've got a chance?"
If he wasn't living off women, wasn't that giving her a chance?
"A chance for what?"
Zenin Jinsuke didn't get what she meant.
Tsukumo Yuki stared at him with big eyes.
"If I remember right, you're twenty-six this year, right? Twenty-seven by traditional counting, almost twenty-eight… when you calculate it like that, you're basically pushing thirty!"
"You can't be that old and still single. So? Have you thought about getting a girlfriend? How about considering me!"
Tsukumo Yuki put both hands on the table, leaned in close to Zenin Jinsuke, and blinked repeatedly.
If she could lock this man down, her first plan might not be impossible to resume. After all, once they were dating, she could freeload his body and wouldn't have to pay money!
Two birds with one stone!
Zenin Jinsuke stared at Tsukumo Yuki's "flirting," then frowned.
"You're trying to dodge paying me back, aren't you? Let me tell you—it won't happen. You're not getting out of this debt."
Don't think he couldn't tell—she wanted to freeload again.
This time she was even eyeing his body. This woman was rotten to the core!
"Sigh…"
Tsukumo Yuki sighed. "So you saw through it."
This idiot.
Cursing him in her heart, Tsukumo Yuki kept chewing her chicken wrap.
After freeloading a meal, Tsukumo Yuki got on her motorcycle and said goodbye to Zenin Jinsuke.
"See you. Don't miss me too much."
She came in a hurry and left in a hurry. Tsukumo Yuki was off again, searching for a way to save the world.
She had already made a decision in secret: next time she came back, if this guy still didn't have a girlfriend, she'd use more forceful methods.
He was strong, sure—but she was a special grade sorcerer. Taking down a guy with no technique would be easy.
Watching Tsukumo Yuki leave, Zenin Jinsuke felt it would probably be hard to get that money back.
He had no idea he was already being targeted.
After that, Zenin Jinsuke returned to his peaceful routine.
Not long after, he heard about special grade sorcerer Geto Suguru massacring a village.
Unsurprisingly, even though he, as a "butterfly," had interfered a little, he still couldn't stop it from happening.
The jujutsu higher-ups labeled Geto Suguru a curse user and put him on the death-sentence list.
Zenin Jinsuke didn't pay much attention to Geto Suguru's choice. He simply continued his quiet life, day after day.
In the courtyard.
Zenin Jinsuke hoisted a boulder weighing several tons and rapidly did squats. Boiling heat rose from his body—he looked like he'd just stepped out of a steamer.
"Woah—Cousin turned into a steam hero! So awesome!"
Zenin Mai clapped excitedly from afar, her eyes shining. Her mouth hung open in pure admiration.
And Maki was nearby, copying her future master's movements. She carried a wooden board and trained along with him.
Even though she hadn't officially become his disciple yet, she came almost every day to learn, just so she could grasp real skills sooner.
Watching carefully—how exactly did this cousin get so strong?
Mai had sworn she'd never come to this courtyard again, but every day her sister ignored her pleading and ran here to secretly learn.
Without Maki, she felt lonely, so she forced herself not to be scared.
As long as her sister was here, she wouldn't get eaten by the monster cousin!
From being too scared to come, to watching from afar as her sister trained with him, to now—she wasn't afraid at all anymore.
She gradually understood he wasn't some human-shaped monster.
He was their cousin.
And he wouldn't bully them like the others did.
So Mai went from crying in fear at the start to becoming his complete fangirl.
After all, the fact that no one dared come bully them whenever she and Maki were here was already enough for her to admire him.
"What steam hero? If you keep talking nonsense, I'll eat you."
"Hehe—bleh bleh bleh! Mai isn't scared!"