Not long after, Gojo Satoru and Inspector Nakamori walked side by side into the classroom of Fifth Grade, Class B, immediately grabbing the attention of the parents and teachers present.
Inspector Nakamori wore a crisp police uniform, carrying a natural aura of righteous majesty; while Gojo Satoru wore a black trench coat, with every move showing pure elegance, making him easy to spot in a crowd right away.
Kaito's homeroom teacher was named Ayase, a young female teacher wearing thin-framed glasses who looked gentle and earnest. When she laid eyes on Gojo Satoru, her eyes behind the lenses visibly lit up, and a faint blush crept across her cheeks.
Ayase cleared her throat, trying her best to keep her professional teacher persona. After a brief word, she guided both parents to their assigned seats.
Once all the students' relatives were present, the parent-teacher meeting officially got underway.
"Thank you very much to all the parents for taking time out of your busy schedules to join us today." Teacher Ayase stood in front of the podium, her voice clear and pleasant: "Today we will mainly be discussing the children's academic progress and school performance this semester..."
By this point, Kaito and Aoko had already snuck over to the back door, crouching outside with their ears perked up to eavesdrop.
There was no helping it; Kaito was terrified his uncle would pull off some earth-shattering stunt, so he had to keep a close eye on him the whole time.
Yet, to his surprise, Gojo Satoru acted completely normal—
You could even say he was a bit too normal.
He sat quietly at Kaito's desk, his long legs looking a little cramped underneath, but his posture remained calm and proper.
Twenty minutes ticked by without anything unusual happening, making Kaito yawn out of sheer boredom.
"Hey hey, Kaito! So this is where you've been hiding!"
A few of his close friends snuck up, leaning over his shoulders to tease: "We've all heard about it! You rascal, keeping secrets from us for so long!"
"Huh? What are you talking about..."
"Your uncle, duh! That whole squad of bodyguards is still standing guard outside the school gate!" One of the boys gave a snicker: "So cool, the invincible underworld-connected young master of the Kuroba Group—"
"Hold on, that's not what's going on at all!"
And why did it have to sound like such a dramatic title?!
"Come on, Kaito, just be honest with us. What exactly does your uncle do? If one of his underlings messes up, do they lose a pinky finger?"
Kuroba Kaito wore a helpless look: "No way, you guys are watching way too many TV shows!"
"Then what's the deal? Spill it!"
"This..."
Although the Gojo family wasn't some deeply hidden secret—in fact, they were quite famous—precisely because of that, Kaito was even more reluctant to casually blurt out his uncle's identity.
From what he'd observed, Gojo Satoru rarely showed his face in public, nor did he step out into the spotlight under the banner of the Gojo family head, preferring to operate from the shadows and manage the family quietly.
His uncle surely had his reasons for doing things this way.
If his own big mouth ended up drawing unnecessary trouble or enemies toward his uncle, that would spell disaster.
"Anyway, I can't really explain it! It's just not what you guys are imagining."
"Oh, got it."
The kids nodded, looking entirely unconvinced.
One round-faced boy even leaned in closer, whispering, "Hey hey, Kaito, the Kuroba Group... wait, do you guys have other kids in the family, or are you the only heir?"
Kaito's eye twitched, wishing he didn't have to answer any of this.
"Seriously, I'm starting to think about transferring schools..."
He muttered the complaint under his breath, but caught sight of Aoko's face and quickly swallowed his words: "Never mind, forget it."
Aoko blinked, looking a bit confused: "Kaito, what are you talking about?"
"None of your business."
"Hey—why not!"
The rest of the parent-teacher meeting went smoothly.
Near the very end, Teacher Ayase adjusted her glasses, looked toward Gojo Satoru, and spoke up: "As we all know, student Kuroba has stellar grades and excels in everything he does. As his uncle, would you mind sharing a bit of your parenting wisdom with the parents here?"
The classroom fell dead silent as every parent turned to stare at the man with such an overwhelming presence.
"Well, as the teacher probably knows, the person who spends the most time guiding Kaito is actually his mother. She just had a busy workday today, so she sent me in her place." Gojo Satoru smiled slightly: "To be honest, I'm pretty hands-off when it comes to Kaito..."
Kaito, eavesdropping outside the door, couldn't help muttering inside his head—
"Hands-off? You basically ignore me entirely!"
Well, they did hang out and eat junk food together plenty of times, though.
"As for why Kaito turns out so great..." Gojo Satoru's voice remained calm as he went on: "Maybe it's just because he was born a smart, good kid."
Kaito let out an "ah," not expecting such a straight-up compliment to come out of his uncle's mouth.
"However..." Gojo Satoru changed the tone: "That doesn't mean kids who aren't as naturally gifted can't shine. In my view, as long as you truly believe in your children from the bottom of your heart, believing they aren't any worse than anyone else, they can achieve whatever they set their minds to."
"Every child has their own unique spark. Maybe it's academics, maybe it's sports, maybe art, or maybe just having a kind heart."
"Kids have endless possibilities, much like different flowers blooming in different seasons... As adults, our job isn't to shove them into the exact same mold, but to help them find their own path."
As his words trailed off, a low murmur of agreement rippled through the room.
This surprisingly positive speech left a few parents who were convinced he was a mob boss scratching their heads in confusion.
"Oh, right."
Gojo Satoru narrowed his eyes with a smile, adding a final note: "Though I don't tie Kaito down much as his uncle, if he ever runs into real trouble at school, I won't just sit back and watch."
"After all..." The white-haired young man's lips curved into a soft smile: "This is my family's child, after all." Kuroba Kaito froze slightly outside the door.
"What is this guy on about, saying stuff like that in front of everyone..."
Still...
All those worries about overly dramatic bodyguards or what his classmates would think suddenly faded away into the background.
A deep sense of security washed over him.
The boy eavesdropping beside him whispered, "Kaito, you've got a really great uncle."
"...Yeah, yeah, I've known that forever."
Kaito mumbled under his breath, scratching the back of his head to hide the bright red tips of his ears.
Once the meeting wrapped up, Teacher Ayase stopped Gojo Satoru just as he was getting ready to leave.
"Um, Mr. Gojo... right? Would it be alright if we exchanged contact info?"
She handed over a business card with a shy look: "I like to keep a close eye on student Kuroba's progress and how he gets along with others. If anything comes up, I'll be sure to reach out."
She paused, her voice dropping a notch: "Or, you know, if you ever have free time, we could grab a cup of coffee and chat a bit more..."
Gojo Satoru took the card politely: "Should I punch the number into your phone right now?"
Teacher Ayase nodded hurriedly, fumbling with her phone in a panic to pull up the keypad.
Gojo Satoru reeled off a string of digits smoothly, then tipped his sunglasses down just enough to flash a quick wink: "Then I'll leave my Kaito in your good hands."
Blasted by a point-blank charm attack, Teacher Ayase's face turned as red as a ripe tomato as she nodded in a daze.
"This guy...!"
Watching the whole scene unfold from a distance, Kaito's touching moment instantly melted into pure annoyance.
"He's actually flirting! He didn't even spare the teacher..."
As expected, this was still the sleazy gigolo uncle he knew too well!
Just then, Inspector Nakamori walked over, giving Gojo Satoru a friendly pat on the shoulder: "Mr. Gojo, heading back?"
"Sure thing."
A moment later, Kaito and Aoko trailed quietly behind their respective guardians, listening to the adults exchange polite small talk.
Nakamori Ginzo let out a genuine sigh of amazement: "I never thought the head of the Gojo family would be so young. Truly a hero among youth."
Gojo Satoru chuckled lightly: "You flatter me, Inspector."
"I know Aoko's been a handful and you've looked out for her quite a bit." Speaking of his beloved daughter, Nakamori's tone turned a lot warmer: "I can tell you and I are cut from the same cloth—we're both fiercely protective of our kids. I respect that!"
Generally speaking, Japanese society held a deep sense of respect toward shrine culture, and when it came to ancient houses like the Gojo family that had been dealing with "gods" since the Heian period, ordinary folks naturally held a sense of reverence.
As for an ordinary cop like Nakamori Ginzo who didn't believe in the supernatural at all, the main reason he liked Gojo Satoru was simply because he was the cool older brother figure Aoko looked up to, combined with how much he cared for Kaito.
"Family's gotta protect family, that's just how it is," Nakamori nodded, before adding with a chuckle: "To be honest, before Aoko brought it up, I thought the Gojo family was some kind of off-limits forbidden zone. Everyone always talked about them like they were this super stiff, old-fashioned clan. Seeing you today, rumors sure get things wrong!"
As if remembering something, he tacked on: "Kind of like the creepy forest north of Ekoda. People keep saying there's a scary witch living in there, which is obviously just nonsense made up to scare kids."
Gojo Satoru's stride faltered for a second: "A scary witch?"
"Yep." Nakamori noticed he seemed hooked, so he kept going: "It's this weird rumor that popped up over the last couple of years. Supposed to be a witch's castle deep in the northern woods. Some folks swear they saw wild fires blazing in there, while others went looking and found absolute squat... The cops got a few calls about it over time, but every time we checked out the area, we found nothing."
"If you ask me, it's just a campfire story some bored kid made up that got blown way out of proportion."
Gojo Satoru grew thoughtful at that.
In a world mixed with Magic Kaito, this "witch" was almost certainly tied to the orthodox heir of red magic, Koizumi Akako. Even in the original story, the author didn't give her background all that much page time, and Gojo Satoru didn't know much about her origins either.
Come to think of it, could a "witch" who pulled off all sorts of magic count as an S-class, or maybe even above S-class ability user?
An idea suddenly sparked in his head.
If true magic existed in this world, did that mean he could use this opportunity to crack his current little problem?
The system had mentioned that giving a non-living object genuine "self-awareness" required a core tied to soul energy or similar high-dimensional data carriers...
Call it a hunch, but magic and soul energy felt like they shared some common ground.
"If I can borrow the power of magic... maybe I could actually craft high-level cursed corpses with real self-awareness?"
"Inspector Nakamori, do you happen to know where that castle is located?"
Gojo Satoru asked as casually as he could.
Nakamori shook his head: "Nobody knows the exact spot. They just say it's deep in the woods, but anyone who goes looking either comes back empty-handed or tells some wild fairy tale..."
He suddenly shot a suspicious look at Gojo Satoru: "You aren't actually interested in that stuff, are you, Mr. Gojo? I'd advise against going out of your way to check it out. It's almost certainly a hoax, but just in case..."
"Relax~ I'm not one to go looking for trouble."
That's what he said out loud, but inside his head, Gojo Satoru was already plotting: "Looks like it's time to pay a little visit to the 'witch'."
He smoothly changed the subject: "Dinner time is rolling around. How about I treat everyone to some Chinese food? I know a place nearby with incredible dumplings."
"Yay!" Aoko cheered first.
Nakamori tried to be polite for a second before his stomach rumbled loudly, betraying him: "Well, alright then, Mr. Gojo. I won't turn down a free meal."
"Next time I get the chance, I'll treat you to that joint right next to the precinct!"
"Uh... maybe somewhere a bit further from the police station, if you don't mind."
"Huh? What was that, Mr. Gojo? Didn't catch it."
"Ahem, nothing at all..."