Chapter 17: The Yorozuya Upgrade Plan
In the world of Gintama, the initial meaning of the name Yorozuya (General Store/Odd Jobs) was a place that would take any job, but the protagonists accidentally developed it into a place that basically did nothing legitimate.
However, Hikigaya Hachiman's Yorozuya is a place where "all matters can receive a response."
Hikigaya, whose Authority contains the power of life, and Egyptian magic, which is based on the development of life power, are a natural combination. The chain reaction produced by their combination is perhaps limitless; at least Hikigaya himself cannot see the end of this effect, as he is always discovering new things.
Therefore, there are few wishes from ordinary people that he cannot fulfill. Most so-called desires can be solved simply by relying on his "Purpose" technique (Jutsu) combined with the power of his Authority.
Since establishing the Yorozuya, although Hikigaya has only sold one item in total, he has never stopped improving the shop.
The current Yorozuya is no longer the simple place initially endowed with the power of the Authority. Hikigaya has heavily utilized the magical techniques learned from ancient Egypt.
For example, he uses the method of crafting amulets to further enhance the protective function of the Authority. At the same time, he uses spatial magic to grant the Yorozuya the ability to "move."
Hikigaya calls this "portability." His next goal is to use the power of his Authority to nurture the Yorozuya into an existence similar to a Tsukumogami (an animated spirit of an object).
The Tsukumogami born in this manner would be more powerful than those nurtured by human emotion, Buddhist nature, or spiritual power, but nurturing such a spirit is also a huge undertaking. For a Tsukumogami to form naturally, even with all the conditions met, it requires at least ninety-nine years.
But Hikigaya still decided to do this because what he needs is a sufficiently intelligent life. A life that merely possesses a "Purpose" is not what he seeks.
He first had this idea during the process of resurrecting Moe. Through Moe's resurrection, he has gained a certain understanding of the mechanism by which Tsukumogami are generated.
Now, looking at Nueno Meisuke, Hikigaya barely restrained himself from manifesting his body and summoning the Yorozuya just to show off.
However, after quietly reminding himself not to be too impatient, he continued his "creeping in the tall grass" surveillance.
As for Nueno Meisuke, the Demon Claw teacher abruptly stood up again due to feeling a strong palpitation.
The demon in his right hand had recently departed, but that mythological spirit had stayed with him for so long that he had acquired a life force far exceeding that of an ordinary human, and this force reacted strongly to the power of a God Slayer.
"What's wrong, Nū?" Kyōko, standing nearby, noticed nothing and only thought her teacher was being jumpy today, suddenly standing up and looking around.
Hmph! He must be trying to avoid the topic!
Do you think you can escape the conversation by pretending you need to pee!?
Kyōko felt it was unreasonable that she was being kept in the dark despite her close relationship with her teacher. So, she stood up with her hands on her hips and loudly declared, "Honestly, how can you not mention such a big deal!"
She had even given him her first kiss! How dare he keep secrets from her!
"Eh? What big deal?" Nueno Meisuke looked completely bewildered. He had just realized that because he had gripped it too tightly, the instant noodles he had just prepared were leaking soup.
Oh, heck! That's my breakfast!
"Snow Spirit Sweets is an enterprise that represents Japan right now! Their desserts are super delicious!" Seeing that Nueno Meisuke was still worrying about his miserable instant noodles, Kyōko became even more displeased.
They clearly had better food available, didn't they? Did he not know that girls love desserts the most!?
"Sensei, we've collected the test papers... Huh? What's going on?" A few elementary school students pushed open the office door and walked in, only to see their homeroom teacher and assistant teacher seemingly showing public displays of affection.
Seeing the students enter, Kyōko, whose inner child was still very much alive, finally pulled herself off Nueno Meisuke.
Her eyes darted around, and she decided to mobilize the masses.
Honestly, it's been a long time since I've seen Yukime too, you know? If she had known Snow Spirit Sweets was run by Yukime, she would have sponged off her relentlessly.
"It's really annoying," she said, showing the magazine to the students. "Nū has been hiding such a big thing from us."
"Eh!? Isn't this Teacher's wife? Is this real?"
"Yeah, yeah! I love the Nattō Soda flavor Snow Spirit Ice Cream!"
The students all shouted upon seeing the photo in the magazine.
It is said that those who show off their affection die early, but Nueno Meisuke is the legendary Demon Claw Nube. He wouldn't die no matter how many times he showed off, which is why even his new students knew that the Snow Woman was his wife.
"Well... I did tell you that she runs a company that makes ice cream," Nueno Meisuke scratched his head, then continued his persistent efforts to salvage his instant noodles.
"We all thought it was just a small, individually-run shop," Kyōko said.
This statement made Hikigaya, who was standing right next to her, look askance.
I run a shop, and I apologize for that, I guess. By the way, Kyōko, are you afraid of ghosts?
"Oh, well, she really was like that at first," Nueno Meisuke finally managed to plug the leak (though most of the soup was gone anyway). He wiped the sweat from his brow, took a sip to test the flavor, and was satisfied to find that the instant noodles he bought for one-tenth of the price hadn't actually expired and were still edible!
"But she's a Snow Woman, you see. She can calculate even the crystallization of ice precisely, so everyone loves her ice cream," Nueno Meisuke continued after quickly finishing his cup of noodles. "Then, before we knew it, it became a major corporation."
"Is that so..." Kyōko stared at Nueno Meisuke with a dark expression. "So, Nū, you're actually super rich now, right? Why are you still buying expired instant noodles? Wasn't this not the first time you got sick from eating something bad?"
"Eh? Really? But this one hasn't expired, actually..."
Kyōko ignored Nueno Meisuke, turned to the students, and asked, "Does everyone want to visit the Snow Spirit Sweets factory?"
"Yes!" The students answered in unison, very orderly, and looked at Nueno Meisuke with expectant eyes.
Seeing the children so hopeful, Nueno Meisuke instantly looked troubled. He seemed to consider it carefully before finally nodding and saying, "Alright, I'll talk to Yukime about it."
"Yay!"
"We're going to visit the factory!"
"We're going to eat until we're full this time!"
The students cheered, not noticing the extremely complicated expression on their teacher's face.
Kyōko seemed to notice something, but Nueno Meisuke quickly controlled his expression, so she thought she had imagined it and turned back to collect the test papers.
But Hikigaya wouldn't be mistaken. However, given that Nueno Meisuke's reaction to his power seemed sometimes keen and sometimes dull, he decided not to use the Eye of Horus and instead resolved to follow along and see what was going on.
He had to show respect to his childhood idol, and he also wanted to know what the situation was like for Nueno Meisuke and the Snow Woman after more than a decade together.
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