"Ijichi, have you seen my malt candy?"
As if nothing had happened at all, Satoru Gojo suddenly barged into Ijichi's office and shouted.
[Anyone can die, especially Jujutsu Sorcerers. As a Jujutsu Sorcerer, you have to be ready at any moment to let your thinking turn toward madness.]
Satoru Gojo really had always lived that way. More precisely, for a Jujutsu Sorcerer, the fact that none of his friends had died up to this point was honestly a little abnormal...
Besides, Akira Zenin was only asleep. He believed that firmly.
Not only because Akira Zenin's shadow had waved before going to sleep, proving he had found a way to exist without a physical body, but also because Megumi Fushiguro said he had an item that proved Akira Zenin was still alive.
But maybe it was exactly because he stayed so calm that the conservatives let their imaginations run wild and mistakenly concluded that the "Special Grade Jujutsu Sorcerers" had long since split apart...
"Sigh... No, I have not seen it. I am working right now."
Ijichi looked at Satoru Gojo with bloodshot eyes full of exhaustion. Even now, he was still typing on his computer, but when he turned, he bumped into the stack of instant noodle cups piled beside it...
Satoru Gojo abruptly dropped the topic of malt candy and, with his usual leaps in thought, started talking to Ijichi about students instead.
"A real teacher does not go looking for students who are monsters just like himself. A real teacher draws out a student's potential to the fullest... Compared to Akira, I am really not cut out to be a teacher..."
"Mm, I know..."
"Ijichi, just wait till I beat you up!"
"Ah... Could we deal with anything else after I finish what I am doing?"
"So what exactly are you busy with right now?"
As he asked that, Satoru Gojo walked over and looked at the computer.
[Six Eyes] was extraordinarily sensitive to things imbued with Cursed Energy, but for a computer like the one Ijichi was using now, one whose attached Cursed Energy had been specially stripped away to keep Curse Users from obtaining information, and which no ordinary person had ever seen, it was nothing more than an exceptionally precise machine...
Ijichi was processing paperwork related to the Kyoto Sister School Exchange Event, follow up handling and information collation for the joint invasion by Curse Users and Cursed Spirits, as well as organizing petty cash statements, monthly standard benefits for Jujutsu Sorcerers, asset repayments, revised planning for school land use, taxes...
And there was also a document already set up and waiting to be written, "Summary and Explanation Regarding the Damage to the Forest Affiliated with the Kyoto School." It had been jointly submitted by a number of environmental groups... If not for Satoru Gojo, this whole matter should have been handled entirely by Kyoto.
"Uh..."
Satoru Gojo could feel the resentful stare coming from the person beside him...
"Ahem, there is no need to buy malt candy next time."
Ijichi turned back to the screen. Even after hearing that, he did not look the slightest bit pleased.
"To give up on malt candy that easily... If there is something else, then please just say it."
"Oh dear... You really do know me."
"No... please do not say that. I really do not."
"In a bit, set aside an open area. Megumi is going to subdue a Shikigami, so he will need me there to watch over him.
Oh, right, make it somewhere large. The damage radius from the fight might be pretty big, and the follow up negotiations and cleanup will also be on you..."
...
After a short stretch of total stillness, Ijichi stiffly turned his neck toward him. For once, even his typing hand came to a stop.
"Can I go buy malt candy right now?"
"Da-me-da~~"
...
Driven by the thought that this was all for the students, Ijichi ultimately went ahead and arranged Satoru Gojo's plan. The chosen site was deep in a remote forest.
That is right. To guarantee that no one would find out, they were going to destroy another forest... Ijichi could already picture a certain organization seeing the final state of that forest, then after putting the clues together and investigating, blowing up his email and phone!!
Satoru Gojo had already arrived at the designated location carrying Megumi Fushiguro along. Honestly, even though he was "strict" with Ijichi, Ijichi was someone he trusted very, very deeply, second only to Suguru Geto and Akira Zenin.
"Megumi, what do you think of this place?"
Megumi Fushiguro rubbed his forehead, then took a string of white wooden prayer beads off his wrist.
"There is actually no need to be this tense. Akira-sensei already laid everything out for me..."
Satoru Gojo narrowed his eyes behind the black cloth and glanced at the prayer beads. Every bead contained extremely fine, densely packed barriers and talismans... and somehow, the structure of those barriers looked a little familiar.
After shaking his head, Satoru Gojo did not keep probing. This was probably one of Akira's methods and secrets. When you had "X-ray vision," knowing when to stop at a glance was an important quality in dealing with friends...
"Are you sure you do not want to go find Toji?"
Megumi Fushiguro fell silent for a moment.
"I am not sure whether this could get him hurt. Dragging other people into danger because of my own business is not my style, even if that person is not really just some ordinary 'other person.'"
Satoru Gojo pulled out a handkerchief from who knew where and dabbed at the corner of his eye a few times... or more precisely, he wiped the black blindfold just outside the corner of his eye...
"So you can really bring yourself to make me do it?"
"Sigh... You and Akira-sensei are different."
"Mm, Akira already told me about Mahoraga. In a little while, I will go farther away so I do not interfere with your subjugation ritual. If you run into danger, I will come over immediately.
Oh, right. If you use your Domain, then the moment things get dangerous, dispel it right away. I will be there immediately too."
"Mm!"