That night, Asou Akiya had an extraordinarily tranquil dream.
He lay in a world of ice and snow, gazing up at the sky. He felt no cold as the falling snow piled over him, building him into a snowman.
Though the snow was icy, it wrapped around him like balls of yarn, bringing warmth; it was as if he wore a thick white sweater that shielded him from the bitter chill.
His hands and feet tingled faintly, a curious numbness seeping into his youthful body, awakening emotions long forgotten and restoring within him a worldly desire for the complex and ever-changing world.
He loved this world that granted freedom and madness.
Even though he had lost much, he had gained much as well, and each day he moved closer toward a stronger version of himself.
At dawn, Asou Akiya woke, lifted the blanket, rose calmly, changed his clothes, and tossed them into the washing machine in the next room.
During this, he ran into Getou Suguru, who had also risen early on this Saturday. They exchanged a glance, greeted each other as if nothing were awkward, and then returned to their respective rooms to compose both body and mind, casting off the lingering traces left by the repression of a past life.
Recalling Getou Suguru's experience and shameless ease in this regard, Asou Akiya let out a quiet snort of laughter.
He cooked himself a bowl of red bean rice.
"Mm, I'll count this as a celebration."
As for the other two high school boys, there was no need to worry about them: the innocent would remain innocent, and the not-so-innocent would never be otherwise.
Asou Akiya simply did what he needed to do and conducted himself according to his own principles.
Over the following week, out of a certain moral self-reproach, no one accompanied Gojo Satoru to watch adult films anymore.
Getou Suguru busied himself going out to search for cursed spirits, while Asou Akiya helped Yaga Masamichi organize teaching materials, expand his connections, and reestablish contact with assistant supervisors. By a fortunate turn of events, he became acquainted with one assistant supervisor who had dealt with the Land Management Bureau.
Asou Akiya's eyes lit up. He invited the man out for drinks privately and obtained the land registry records for Owari-Asahi City in Aichi Prefecture.
It was not an especially important document, yet without connections, outsiders would never be able to obtain it.
What an unexpected stroke of luck!
Every day, Asou Akiya immersed himself in combing through the land registry records, selecting vacant houses that met his criteria. He no longer wished to wait helplessly for March 10, 2007—the day construction workers would uncover the buried treasure by chance—but instead intended to locate the treasure site himself and secure the fifty million yen in cash in Owari-Asahi City, Aichi Prefecture, ahead of time.
In Japan, a "prefecture" ranks one administrative level above a "city."
Owari-Asahi City is a small municipality in the northwestern part of Aichi Prefecture, with a permanent population of just over seventy thousand and a land area of 21.02 square kilometers—smaller even than the Macau he remembered from his previous life.
As far as he knew, this unclaimed fortune was buried somewhere on the grounds of a vacant house in Owari-Asahi City. The land was uneven, the property had changed hands multiple times, and the identity of the original owner had long since become obscure. After the treasure incident was exposed in 2007, no one ever came forward to claim the fifty million yen in cash, which strongly suggested that the house had remained uninhabited for a long time and had effectively been left vacant.
He was no longer searching blindly for a needle in a haystack; instead, he combined satellite maps with meticulous research through the land registry to identify properties that matched the necessary conditions.
First, the house had to have been vacant for an extended period.
Second, the property rights must have changed hands at least three times, and the original owner had to have disappeared without a trace.
Finally, the house needed to have a yard, and that yard had to be uneven—enough so that construction workers might reasonably be called in to level the ground.
At present, there were twenty-one properties that met these criteria.
On Saturday, February 25, Asou Akiya set out fully prepared. Wearing a hat and plain-lens glasses, and pulling an empty suitcase in hand, he deliberately abandoned the fastest Shinkansen route suggested by navigation apps and instead discreetly boarded a bus bound for Aichi Prefecture.
He did not check into a hotel. Instead, he stashed the empty suitcase in a secure pile of miscellaneous items and relied on the abundant stamina of a jujutsu sorcerer to run to all twenty-one addresses.
Afterward, he surveyed the locations, planned routes for nighttime visits, rested by day inside unoccupied houses he slipped into, and ventured out at night, using the cover of darkness to conceal his unusual activities.
Jujutsu sorcerers possessed certain advantages: they could see at night, had considerable strength, and their five senses were exceptionally sharp.
He carried a collapsible trekking pole he had purchased in advance, locking it firmly into place. At the base, he had chosen a sharp metal tip, which could easily pierce the soil in the yards, allowing him to probe each one methodically.
The treasure was buried approximately ten to twenty centimeters underground, inside a suitcase.
Over the course of those two weekend days, Asou Akiya became utterly absorbed in probing the ground again and again, managing to combine physical training and treasure hunting without neglecting either.
In the end, perseverance did not disappoint—the transmigrator claimed the treasure first.
In the yard of the sixteenth vacant house, he finally felt something different beneath the tip of his pole—neither stone, nor brick, nor metal, but something that was very likely the plastic suitcase he had been searching for.
He prodded several more times in succession, confirming the size of the "foreign object." It indeed matched the dimensions of a twenty-inch suitcase.
After scanning his surroundings to ensure there were no bystanders, he hesitated no longer. With irrepressible excitement, he pulled on a pair of specialized gloves, dug into the soil, and unearthed the fifty million yen in cash that a transmigrator could obtain in Japan in 2006.
He forced the suitcase open and saw fifty neatly stacked bundles of banknotes, each note a ten-thousand-yen bill.
No more, no less—exactly fifty million yen.
At this year's exchange rate, that amounted to approximately 430,000 US dollars.
Converted into renminbi at this year's rate, it was roughly 3.4 million RMB.
Asou Akiya was not particularly exhausted, yet the instant he saw the cash, the tension drained from him, and he dropped to the ground in a seated heap.
He remembered the pressure of his two-hundred-million-yen debt. He remembered Gojo Satoru joking that his wish was to earn fifty million yen. The gap between himself and Gojo Satoru was not merely one of strength—it was also an immense disparity in material wealth.
Asou Akiya sighed wistfully. "If I were an ordinary person, I would already be free from worries about food and clothing."
Fifty million yen in 2006!
This was the only ownerless treasure he, without cheats or innate cursed technique talent, could seize with his own hands.
For an ordinary transmigrator, such an unexpected windfall would be enough to buy property, wait for its value to rise, and live off rental income for a lifetime. But he could not. The day he chose to become a jujutsu sorcerer was the day he relinquished any future of steady, uneventful comfort.
He stood up, closed the suitcase, filled the soil back in, and left behind a patch of disturbed earth that would eventually become an unsolved case in Aichi Prefecture.
In 2007, no construction workers would accidentally uncover this money, and no one would ever learn where it had gone.
There was only one thought in his mind.
[Next year, the yen will depreciate significantly. I have to spend it as quickly as possible within this year.]
Monday, February 21.
He disposed of the treasure-hunting tools and dragged the brand-new suitcase filled with cash back to Tokyo.
Jujutsu sorcerers were not particularly concerned with the origins of money. Outside the girls' dormitory, Asou Akiya arranged to meet Mei Mei and handed the suitcase over to her.
"Senpai, this is fifty million yen in cash. The source is somewhat questionable. Take ten percent as a processing fee to launder it and transfer the remainder into my bank account. Within three years, I will make this money generate more money and repay the two hundred million yen debt along with the interest."
"Fine." Mei Mei showed no surprise at her junior's ability to produce fifty million yen in cash so quickly. After all, someone who spent his days with Gojo Satoru, Getou Suguru, and Ieiri Shoko—if the four of them went out together and robbed a curse user, it would hardly be shocking.
Underground money houses usually charged a fee of three to five percent. Asou Akiya was offering ten percent, which demonstrated considerable sincerity.
Mei Mei smiled brightly at the mention of money. "If you come across opportunities like this again, remember to think of your senpai."
With her consent secured, Asou Akiya asked, "Thank you, senpai. Are you free tomorrow evening? I'd like to treat you to dinner."
Mei Mei granted a bit of face to her junior burdened by high-interest debt. "I only dine at high-end places."
Asou Akiya smiled. "That won't be a problem."
Treating Mei Mei to dinner was bound to cost him dearly.
In the corridor of the girls' dormitory, Ieiri Shoko was about to head to class when she caught sight of the two of them conversing amicably. For some reason, she felt that Mei Mei's complexion seemed radiant, as though she were glowing with a golden sheen.
"Asou? Why are you dressed like that?" Ieiri Shoko called out hesitantly.
"Shoko, is it almost time for class? I need to hurry back and change as well." Not wanting to be late, Asou Akiya quickly made to leave. "Please don't tell Gojo or Getou about me meeting with Mei Mei-senpai!"
"Alright," Ieiri Shoko replied, a beat slower than usual.
"Bye." Mei Mei lifted the suitcase, her high heels clicking crisply as she walked toward the school gates, as if she were carrying nothing more than a case full of money.
Ieiri Shoko eyed the scene suspiciously for a second, but lacking the interest to pry into other people's affairs, she turned and headed toward the academic building.
It didn't matter.
If she had asked, Asou would have told her the truth anyway.
As the only girl in the entire class, she had that much confidence—Asou would not lie to her.
In the classroom, Asou Akiya was the last student to arrive, stepping in just as the bell for class rang.
On the podium for the first period stood Yaga Masamichi. Gojo Satoru was not playing with his phone; instead, he secretly passed a note to Getou Suguru. Getou glanced at it, added another sentence beneath it, and then quietly slipped the note into Asou Akiya's pocket.
Asou Akiya: "..."
DKs—couldn't they just send messages on their phones?
Avoiding Yaga-sensei's oppressive gaze, Asou Akiya took out the note and read the two lines written on it.
[Stay with me tonight. Don't leave me alone in the dorm again!]
[Akiya, want to go catch curses together tonight?]
After a moment's thought, Asou Akiya wrote his reply beneath them: [Gojo, Getou, I want to rest alone tonight. I also have plans tomorrow night. I'll accompany you the day after tomorrow.]
Throughout the entire month of February, Asou Akiya had been living far too "fully"—his mental energy was depleted to the point that he wanted some time to himself.
He passed the note back.
Getou Suguru had no particular reaction and expressed his understanding of Asou Akiya.
Gojo Satoru clicked his tongue. His Six Eyes noticed signs of travel fatigue in Little Tangerine and refrained from stirring up trouble.
On the first night, Asou Akiya fell asleep quickly on his own.
On the second night, Asou Akiya changed into a relatively formal suit and met with Mei Mei. Since those under eighteen could not obtain a driver's license, he was unable to drive. In the end, Mei Mei borrowed a business vehicle from an assistant supervisor, took the driver's seat herself, and drove them out together to a high-end restaurant they had reserved in advance.
In the boys' dormitory at Tokyo Jujutsu High.
Getou Suguru was just about to swallow a Cursed Spirit Orb he had subdued, forcing it down his throat with difficulty, when a barrage of frantic knocking at the door made him jolt violently.
"Cough—cough—!" Getou Suguru clamped a hand over his mouth and swallowed it down with all his strength, the process even more agonizing than usual, terrified that the person outside might break the door down and barge in.
Fortunately, Gojo Satoru, for all his faults, was still technically a human being and did not dismantle the door to his dorm room.
After quite a while, Getou Suguru finally opened the door, his face dark with irritation. "Satoru, if this isn't something important, we can take this conversation to the training grounds."
Gojo Satoru immediately caught the implication of a potential fight and said impatiently, "If Suguru wants to play with me, we'll do that next time."
Gojo Satoru said, "Akiya left the campus."
Gojo Satoru said, "Akiya got into the same car as Mei Mei."
Gojo Satoru said, "Are they planning to start dating and betray our sacred single-brotherhood?!"
Getou Suguru was mildly interested at first, but the moment he heard the name "Mei Mei," he lost all sense of urgency.
"Mei Mei wouldn't be interested in Akiya's wallet. She's famous for loving money more than her own life."
—Asou Akiya has no money.
"Suguru, are you an idiot? Akiya has the black card I gave him!"
—Asou Akiya has money!
"Satoru, you're the idiot. Has he ever actually used your money on himself?"
—Asou Akiya still has no money.
"He hasn't, and that's exactly what's strange about it! He refuses to spend my money because his pride is ridiculously strong, yet now he's willing to ride in Mei Mei's car. Maybe she's even treating him to dinner tonight. What if they're on a date?"
—Even if Asou Akiya has no money, something suspicious is definitely going on!
After conducting a round of intense analysis, Gojo Satoru—having learned quite a bit about relationships between men and women from the adult films he had recently watched—felt unusually confident in his conclusions.
"It would be too rash for us to follow them directly." Getou Suguru frowned, clearly tempted, yet subtly shifted the blame onto Gojo Satoru in advance to avoid potential retaliation from Asou Akiya later. "Do you have a plan?"
Gojo Satoru declared firmly, "We can't let them successfully go on a date. They absolutely cannot end up together."
Getou Suguru looked puzzled. "Do you dislike Mei Mei that much?"
Seeing that Getou did not understand the marriage customs of jujutsu families, Gojo Satoru spoke indignantly, "Mei Mei is a female sorcerer from an established clan lineage. If Akiya gets together with her, he'd have to marry into her family! That's especially humiliating—it would be the man marrying into the woman's household!"
Getou Suguru: "Huh??"
Gojo Satoru said, "In any case, I refuse to let Mei Mei set her sights on Akiya!"
Asou Akiya came from a civilian background.
In Gojo Satoru's view, the difficulty of Akiya marrying Mei Mei was far too high. Not possessing an innate technique was both a disadvantage and, paradoxically, an advantage; it made him suitable only for marrying into the family of a female sorcerer who possessed a technique, thereby conveniently allowing Mei Mei to bear descendants who might inherit the "Black Bird Manipulation" technique.
If that were to happen, the little tangerine who was tempted to "job-hop" into his household could easily be deceived by a beautiful and wealthy upperclasswoman!
Getou Suguru only felt that Gojo's speculation was rather unreliable. Akiya was not an idiot—how could he possibly be fooled so easily?
However, it was not impossible that their upperclasswoman harbored some affection for Akiya… or perhaps the feelings were mutual?
As for sabotaging a budding romance, he would count himself in.
"Let's go!"
"We'll discuss the plan on the way!"
Without hesitation, Getou Suguru dragged Gojo Satoru along, summoning a cursed spirit to pursue the vehicle that had already left the campus.
During the chase, after some discussion, the two of them arrived at two possible plans.
Plan A: They would hide and eavesdrop first, then make a judgment based on what they heard.
Plan B: They would pretend to run into them by coincidence, join the gathering, and prevent Asou Akiya from being alone with Mei Mei.
Gojo Satoru: "BBBBB!!"
Getou Suguru pretended not to hear him. He pinched his chin thoughtfully, a contemplative glint flashing through his fox-like eyes. "Satoru, don't rush. We'll do A first, then B. We need evidence before we sabotage anything. That way, Akiya won't have anything to argue about. After all, Mei Mei is a silver-haired beauty of a senior."
Perhaps she was even exactly the type of woman Akiya would like.
Wouldn't it make things even more exciting to ruin it then?
While Getou Suguru's imagination ran wild, Gojo Satoru glared at him and, fuming, continued tracking the cursed energy of the other two.
The "Six Eyes" watched as Asou Akiya and Mei Mei entered a restaurant and began enjoying a French dinner.
At that instant, Gojo Satoru's sunglasses slid down his nose, revealing a sudden flash of brilliant blue. His expression and his eyes were equally icy. The face of the young man who was prouder than anyone else now displayed unmistakable dissatisfaction, as though he had just bitten into an orange that had gone sour.
[He'd rather sleep alone or go out to accompany a senior than spend time with me and Suguru.]
[You've had a change of heart, you rotten tangerine!]
Gojo Satoru swore that as long as the two of them were around, if Akiya managed to get a girlfriend, Getou Suguru would quit watching adult films for the rest of his life!
For today's matter, they would stake Suguru's entire nightlife on it!