Two hours later—
The three of them finished the exam smoothly, brimming with confidence and satisfaction.
Together, they came to a unanimous decision: they would make Asou Akiya return to being that carefree, sunny, cheerful big boy again!
"Winter break is almost here, so what should we do?" Gojo Satoru said as he faced the other two, casually tossing in a complaint about Asou Akiya as well. "The brightest he ever looks is when he's watching us eat spicy food, right? Most of the time he's in that detached, desireless state."
"Will he go back during winter break?" Getou Suguru asked Gojo Satoru.
"Nope," Gojo Satoru replied with absolute certainty.
Ieiri Shoko waited and waited, but the two DKs still hadn't managed to hammer out a single workable plan. Their efficiency was lower than Asou Akiya's by an unknown number of magnitudes. Finally, she spoke up, "Have you decided yet? If not, I'm leaving."
Getou Suguru called out to stop her as she turned to go. "Shoko, we need to work together here. Do you know what Akiya likes, besides reading, cooking, making money, and getting stronger?"
Ieiri Shoko thought to herself, obviously, he likes watching the two of you bicker noisily.
When her craving hit, Ieiri Shoko popped a lollipop into her mouth, mint-flavored. Gojo Satoru noticed immediately and reached out to ask for one, grinning broadly, as if waiting for some great treat. Ieiri Shoko handed him a lemon-flavored lollipop, which earned a loud complaint of "That's so sour!" from Gojo Satoru. If it weren't for Asou Akiya specifically telling her to help look after the Gojo Satoru who could still smile, she really would have stepped back and kept her distance.
Ieiri Shoko said, "As for him… he'd probably be happy with just about anything we give him."
That only made Getou Suguru more troubled. "But what do we give him?"
Gojo Satoru scrunched up his nose. "I'm not giving anything. Just thinking about that cursed tool incident from last time pisses me off all over again."
Getou Suguru slammed his fist into his palm. "Satoru's tragic example just reminded me—no expensive gifts. It should be something meaningful. Let's treat it as a return gift, like the sweaters we got and the scarf Shoko received."
Ieiri Shoko raised an eyebrow, perfectly imitating about thirty percent of Asou Akiya's talent for praising others. "That reasoning is flawless, Getou."
Getou Suguru accepted the compliment with a smile. "Winter is almost here…" He gazed off into the distance. Winter break was approaching, and he would soon have to leave the Tokyo Jujutsu High he loved so much. "How about a kotatsu big enough for four people?"
"Sounds good." The moment Ieiri Shoko heard "for four people," she already guessed what kind of togetherness the DKs were aiming for.
But this winter… all of you are going to get kicked out anyway.
Gojo Satoru was fascinated by the kotatsu, something he had never seen before, and immediately began firing off questions. "Getou, what's a kotatsu? Is it that square, low table with a thick blanket over it that anime protagonists always have at home?"
Getou Suguru held up his phone and showed him a picture. "It looks like this. Let's go pick one out."
Gojo Satoru's eyes lit up. "We're leaving right now?"
Getou Suguru nodded with a laugh and invited Gojo Satoru to leave the school together, not sparing even half a sentence to invite Ieiri Shoko. He only said, "Shoko, I'll post the cost in the class group chat. We'll split it evenly then."
Ieiri Shoko nodded, slung her backpack over her shoulder, and left, already predicting that the two of them would have the time of their lives during the shopping trip.
After all, there was no real need for a JK to get involved in DK games in the first place.
Her irritation stemmed more from the fact that Asou Akiya had raised her expectations far too high. Even before the semester started, he had endlessly hyped up how outstanding her two future male classmates would be, sending her imagination running wild.
Reality responded by throwing a punch straight at her face.
One was Gojo Satoru, utterly inconsiderate toward girls, who spoke with "this great me" on his lips at every turn.
The other was Getou Suguru, who seemed considerate on the surface, yet spent every day calling out "Akiya" and "Satoru" nonstop.
Heh. Ieiri Shoko finally understood Asou Akiya's "good intentions." When compared to two scumbag DKs like these, Asou Akiya—who merely enjoyed teasing people in subtle, underhanded ways—actually counted as a normal person.
Outside the school, inside a large home furnishings store, Gojo Satoru and Getou Suguru nearly came to blows while arguing over which kotatsu model to choose.
Gojo Satoru had his eye on an extra-large, infrared-heated household kotatsu.
"I'm getting this one!"
"No, the table's way too big."
"My legs are long!"
"But Akiya isn't as tall as us. A normal size is enough. If you want this one, buy it for yourself to use—"
"Getou, Akiya's only fifteen. He'll still grow next year just like me. Do you think you'll stay the same height forever?"
Under Gojo Satoru's emotionally charged argument, Getou Suguru—who still harbored hopes of growing taller—hesitated.
Getou Suguru dragged Gojo Satoru over to the neighboring children's section and measured their heights.
Reading off the numbers, Getou Suguru said, "Satoru, your barefoot height is actually 187 centimeters…"
"When I first enrolled, my barefoot height was 183 centimeters. With shoes on, it was 185." Gojo Satoru reported the data using his Six Eyes, far more precisely. "Getou, your barefoot height is 180.5 centimeters. Flat shoes add one centimeter, and the bun at the back of your head adds two. Your height hasn't changed much this year."
Getou Suguru was suddenly overwhelmed by a sense of crisis. "How much has Akiya grown?"
Gojo Satoru replied, "When he first enrolled, he was 172 centimeters. Now he's 174."
"! ! !"
Getou Suguru immediately realized the necessity of drinking milk and dragging his classmates out to play basketball every single day.
In the end, the two of them worked together to haul a brand-new winter kotatsu back to Tokyo Jujutsu High, along with three crates of fresh milk. Asou Akiya stared in a daze as they placed the kotatsu right in the center of the living room, taking up a huge amount of space. Add some grilled mandarins and toasted mochi, and it would perfectly recreate the image of a four-person Japanese family gathering around the table in a TV drama.
Asou Akiya couldn't bring himself to say, "I'm actually living alone in winter," and accepted the gift with resignation.
"Gojo, Getou, thank you for such a thoughtful return gift."
"No, Shoko chipped in too."
Getou Suguru waved his phone, the screen displaying Ieiri Shoko's transfer record.
"Shoko would never give me a kotatsu. This was your idea, wasn't it?" Asou Akiya moved the tables and chairs aside to clear more space for the kotatsu, then climbed in to test its size. Getou Suguru helped plug it in, while Gojo Satoru caught the smell of the new kotatsu and opened a window to let in some fresh air.
Experiencing a kotatsu for the first time, Asou Akiya found it delightfully novel, and once again affirmed the meaning of the gift.
"At least my feet won't freeze this winter."
"That's good, then."
Getou Suguru brought over some books for Asou Akiya. His eyes inadvertently skimmed the titles, and an intense sense of déjà vu washed over him, leaving him inexplicably uneasy. It couldn't be that Asou Akiya was planning to research his own family issues, could it?
Trying to reassure him, Getou Suguru said, "Akiya, we won't be at school during winter break. If you get bored while you're alone, you can call us. Don't let your thoughts run wild, okay? You're the best at living alone among all the first-years at Tokyo Jujutsu High."
Asou Akiya smiled with gentle brows and eyes and agreed, then asked how their history make-up exam had gone.
Getou Suguru replied, "Pretty well."
Gojo Satoru rummaged through the snacks and declared, "I'm definitely passing."
After chatting idly with the two of them for a while, Asou Akiya calmly stood up to see them off, as though he felt no attachment at all to the final three days of the term. This inexplicably dampened Getou Suguru's mood, but then Gojo Satoru blurted out a sudden reminder.
"Akiya, don't forget my birthday!"
Getou Suguru jolted in realization—right, next month was Satoru's birthday. They needed to start preparing a gift early.
As the door closed, leaving only a narrow gap before shutting completely, Asou Akiya's expression softened.
"I won't forget."
…
Two days later, Gojo Satoru, Getou Suguru, and Ieiri Shoko passed their make-up exams, finally escaping the days of remedial history lessons.
Three days after that, the temperature dropped sharply, and winter truly made its presence felt.
On the night of November 30, only one room in the boys' dormitory still had its light on. Asou Akiya had not left Tokyo Jujutsu High. Yaga Masamichi came to visit him carrying groceries, and the two sat facing each other, sharing the warmth brought by the kotatsu.
The faculty and staff of Tokyo Jujutsu High were also on winter break, and all the students who had families had returned home.
Yaga Masamichi spoke in a low voice, "Would you like to come back with me?"
Asou Akiya peeled a mandarin orange, pale fingertips stained with light-yellow citrus juice. He handed one segment to the man opposite him and said, "I don't want to cause trouble in your family. The New Year is at the end of next month."
Just thinking about this year's New Year made Yaga Masamichi's head ache. "Precisely because of that, I want her to see you more, to understand how outstanding you are. I don't know where she dug up a distant relative about your age, but she insists on having him stay with us starting next year and even wants me to help arrange a good school for him."
Yaga Masamichi sighed heavily. "How could I possibly let him join Tokyo Jujutsu High!"
A non-sorcerer, from no jujutsu family, an orphan hoping to enroll in Tokyo Jujutsu High through family connections?
The answer: zero possibility.
Setting aside the fact that Yaga Masamichi himself was upright and uncompromising, someone who never opened back doors and believed in forging good students through strict discipline, his career was also at a critical juncture. His superiors had hinted that he could succeed to the position of principal next year. To avoid any mishaps on the road to promotion, he did not even dare to let word slip that he had taken Asou Akiya in.
This was a decision he and Asou Akiya had made together: secure the principal's post first, then have Master Tengen put in a good word.
Asou Akiya understood where Yaga Masamichi's pain lay. The man loved jujutsu deeply and cherished his work as a teacher at Tokyo Jujutsu High. Interacting with distant relatives who did not understand the nature of his work would inevitably bring countless inconveniences. For example, there was a curse user known as "Granny Ogami," who specialized in transforming into the relatives of her assassination targets before carrying out close-range kills.
"Sometimes imagination doesn't match reality," Asou Akiya said. "If you bring me home without warning her first, it's very likely to provoke resistance from your wife."
Yaga Masamichi had no good options left. "What if she wants me to adopt that distant relative instead?"
Asou Akiya paused in his movements and looked at his teacher with a playful yet meaningful smile. "It's one thing if she hasn't met me, but trying to find a substitute for me in this world won't be easy at all."
During the period when Bungou Stray Dogs had not manifested in reality, no one could ever find a replacement for Asou Akiya.
At first glance, he looked like the slender, beautiful boy so beloved by the current era.
Yet… in truth, that was not all there was.
Asou Akiya understood himself well. He was someone deeply lacking in a sense of security, constantly wearing disguises, revealing only a sliver of his true nature to those closest to him. But that did not diminish his appeal. Humans were always inexplicably drawn to danger. Whether it was him toward Gojo Satoru, or Getou Suguru toward him, instinct had long since sounded its warnings. His ambition, his desires, his madness were all hidden within this shell. Beneath a surface that seemed like a pool of clear water, there might lie a cold, bottomless abyss.
At times, he even indulged in the thought that perhaps he was Dazai Osamu's alternate-world counterpart within the universe of Jujutsu Kaisen.
Well—on the premise that he possessed a curse-negating version of "No Longer Human."
Asou Akiya said lightly, "Please don't try to stop anything. Steady your heart, spend the New Year properly with your wife, and do what needs to be done at each stage of life. That is the greatest responsibility one can show to oneself and to others."
Seeing Yaga Masamichi holding the orange without speaking, Asou Akiya coaxed him gently, "Have a bite."
Yaga Masamichi hesitated. "Uh…"
Asou Akiya pressed on, "I peeled it myself. Even Gojo and Getou haven't gotten to eat any."
Yaga Masamichi took a large bite, and little by little, freed himself from the weight of daily worries. "It really is good."
With those two troublesome boys gone from the school, life felt far smoother.
Yaga Masamichi asked him, "Do you have any plans for winter break?"
In the warm light, Asou Akiya's black eyes brimmed with bright, vigorous joy. "Of course I do—so many plans."
Meals were eaten one bite at a time, and plans were carried out step by step.
During winter break, with the "Six Eyes" absent, he finally had the chance to practice assassination on site.
Next year, at the school gates, Fushiguro Toji would lie in ambush for Gojo Satoru, while his own target would be someone else entirely.
This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for extended, uninterrupted practice.
Asou Akiya said, "Dad Yaga, are you still worrying about next year's admissions?"
Yaga Masamichi nodded and replied, "Admissions at Tokyo Jujutsu High have always been difficult. I've already sent word to the Zenin clan; the clan head was quite reasonable and agreed. His only condition is that I convince Zenin Naoya. I'm planning to visit the Zenin household tomorrow."
Noticing Asou Akiya's interest, Yaga Masamichi asked, "Do you want to come along?"
Asou Akiya propped his chin on his hand, picturing Zenin Naoya's thoroughly unpleasant, feudal temperament, and said, "No. That place has bad feng shui—it doesn't nurture people."
"Dad Yaga, do you have high blood pressure or heart problems?"
"No."
"That's great. I'll prepare a bowl of cooling herbal tea for you tomorrow. Remember to drink it."
"..."
Before he had even met the young master of the Zenin clan, Yaga Masamichi had already inexplicably been left with a faint psychological shadow.
Even Gojo Satoru, whose history grades had always been poor, had shown improvement.
That so-called "rotten tangerine" Gojo spoke of—the Zenin young master—couldn't possibly actually be that terrible… right?