Does Satoru Gojo Have a Child?

Akesato's school life began.

Calling it school life, it was really not much different from living at home.

Since there were so few people, there was no distinction between boys' and girls' dorms. It was one building, and everyone could pick whichever room they liked. Each had its own bathroom, and those willing to cook could even choose one with a kitchen.

Other than not being able to hire a renovation crew, they could basically do whatever they wanted.

The Akesato family of three directly claimed an entire floor and went wild with it.

What, what about the fourth member, Playful Panda?

It had already become the mascot of the entire Jujutsu High. The whole school was its home.

It couldn't be helped. Gardevoir could only win over Akesato completely, but Panda's charm was on a global level. If not for legal restrictions, who wouldn't want to raise an adorable little panda?

If Akesato's Trainer System did not come with a tracking function, he would have spent at least half of every day unable to find it—uh, Panda.

Playful Panda's daily routine went roughly like this.

It was always the first one up every day.

Yes, the first one.

Although real pandas were capable of sleeping for long periods, Playful Panda was incredibly energetic. Maybe it had been influenced by its "older brother," Panda, who theoretically did not need sleep.

As soon as dawn broke each day, the two pandas would practice punching in the open space before the dormitory, shouting olah olah.

Sometimes, Panda's dad, principal Masamichi Yaga, joined in as well.

Then the olah olah turned into Olamuda, and they all got HIGH together.

Incidentally, Panda's martial arts had been taught by Masamichi Yaga, while Playful Panda happened to be a Fighting type. Fighting and practicing punches were practically instinctive to it.

Thus, one man and two pandas were always highly enthusiastic every day.

Though it had only just started training, Playful Panda could already trade blows with Toge Inumaki, who had begun learning hand-to-hand combat from scratch. The sight made Akesato feel immensely satisfied.

A professional nanny really was different.

As they practiced, the others would gradually get up and join the training.

Maki, Akesato, Toge Inumaki...

Solo practice, sparring—depending on their condition and mood.

There were one-on-one bouts, one-against-many matches, and chaotic free-for-alls.

After breakfast provided by the school, formal classes began.

The previous class schedule had depended entirely on Satoru Gojo's availability. Whatever he said they would study, they studied; if he did not come, they had self-study. Whether they read and learned Jujutsu knowledge or went to the training grounds, they had an extremely high degree of freedom.

After two Assistant Teachers were hired, the schedule became relatively fixed.

Theory classes were held in the morning, practical combat in the afternoon.

Though the students were basically all connected through family ties and each had their own foundation, Jujutsu High's existence naturally meant it had something unique to offer.

It organized Jujutsu knowledge through advanced modern teaching methods, making it broader and easier to understand than the traditional family approach.

Only now did Akesato learn that his mom merely had a low Jujutsu rating. Theoretically, she was absolutely a top student.

In her words, if she was no good at fighting, she would make up for it in other areas.

"When Mom was young, she had dreams too."

Although Akesato was curious how a mom with such dreams had been defeated by reality and fallen into the hands of that cheap old man, thinking about it was enough. He could not bring himself to actually ask.

As long as his mom was happy, Akesato did not think there was anything wrong with it. In any case, she was doing far better than when she had lived in seclusion in the countryside.

The saying that dreams made people beautiful really was not wrong.

It applied not only to his mother, Akemi, but also to Maki.

What could one say about Maki Zenin?

She was good-looking, but her personality really could not be called pleasant. She spoke bluntly and aggressively, and she was always dancing through minefields—Satoru Gojo was asking to be punched, while she was simply oblivious and stepped on landmines without realizing it.

For instance, she had once asked Akesato, "Who is your dad? Is he dead?"

She had also invited Akemi to compete.

It made Akesato deeply understand just how accurate the assessment "heartless devil" was.

Yet even such a "heartless devil" had moments when she shone incomparably brightly.

When she threw herself into battle and training, no one could match that focus or dedication.

Akesato could not, Toge Inumaki could not, and neither could Panda.

Whenever Akesato saw Maki make a move, he wanted to haul over Fairy Tail's sound system and play "I Am the Queen, Confidence Shines."

Because of that purity and confidence, Maki became the third person Gardevoir was willing to get close to.

For Maki's Cursed Spirit sensing training, Gardevoir had been specifically assigned to protect her.

On one hand, Psychic made controlling the field convenient; on the other, once the training was over, the Cursed Spirits could be eliminated on the spot and converted into experience.

Playful Panda participated as well. Mainly because most of the Cursed Spirits captured for training were weak, they were perfect for leveling up a newbie. Its level soon reached the double digits, and its combat ability met the minimum standard for a Jujutsu Sorcerer—a Grade 4 Jujutsu Sorcerer.

After another eight or ten Levels of training, it could enter the battlefield alone like Gardevoir.

Time passed slowly amid those calm daily routines.

Training, classes, missions.

Chatting together, sweating together, laughing together, and roasting Satoru Gojo together.

The world of young people was simpler than that of adults. Faced with such a group of good people, Akesato easily blended in and lived quite comfortably.

Of course, he had an adult's soul, so he still had to do some things a little differently.

Like publishing a book.

Although Satoru Gojo only worked part-time as an editor, he was actually very good at it.

He had already contacted a printing house. Following industry convention, the first print run would be fifty thousand copies, while bookstore promotion across the country and online sales were progressing steadily.

Since the Bunko Edition and the WEB version had to differ—identical versions would hurt sales—he had repeatedly stayed up all night with Akesato discussing the plot. His vast knowledge and grasp of reader preferences made even Akesato, an old 2D fan, see him in a new light.

All Akesato could say was, it was just like Satoru Gojo.

Though in every other respect where he was supposed to be unreliable, he remained unreliable.

One evening, Gojo specifically came by after school. He started shouting from a long way off, "Been a few days. Did you miss Teacher Gojo?"

After being ignored as usual, he suddenly appeared before them. "Don't be so heartless. Busy Teacher Gojo specially made time to have dinner with his adorable students."

"No thanks. I lose my appetite when I see you."

Maki, a master at roasting people, led the charge. With Satoru Gojo around as a target who attracted hatred, Maki's sharp tongue had become a virtue.

"Don't be like that. Teacher brought consolation gifts, ta-da~ Kyoto's specialty, sweets from Kyo no Tori. They're delicious."

Satoru Gojo waved the shopping bag around as though showing off, but the students did not fall for it at all.

Akesato looked disgusted yet helpless as he said, "Go on, then. What do you need us to do this time?"

Ever since he enrolled, Satoru Gojo had gone further and further down the path of being a hands-off teacher. Unless it was a difficult question that only a Special Grade Jujutsu Sorcerer could answer, he did not bother with it.

That alone would have been fine, but Satoru Gojo also kept finding things for them to do, calling it student training. Everyone knew what it really was.

As the most reliable student, the strongest fighter, and the one most willing to handle matters, Akesato naturally suffered the most.

"You saw right through me." Satoru Gojo stuck out his tongue. "This time, it's a personal request. My kid has recently entered a rebellious phase and doesn't really want to talk to me, so could I ask you to help?"

"What? You have a child???"

At that moment, Jujutsu High transformed into the UC editorial department.

PS: When Maki was born, Toji had more or less left home. Given the atmosphere of the Zenin Family, they might not have wanted to discuss someone who had run away from home, so by default Maki did not know much about Toji. Otherwise, Maki should not be at her current level; Toji was the true ceiling of the hand-to-hand combat path.