Random Travels

Kitagawa Marin glared at Chen Tian, puffing her cheeks out around the bun.

But the next second, its rich, savory flavor burst across her tongue, and her eyes instantly narrowed. "Mmm... It's so good~"

Chen Tian looked at the Little Sun in his arms, who had been ready to declare war one moment and was easily won over by food the next. The corners of his mouth curled into an even deeper smile.

The morning light outside the window, the warmth of her body in his arms, the scent of food and violet-scented body wash lingering in the air.

Jujutsu Kaisen? Keep as far away from me as possible!

Satoru Gojo? Stay the hell away from me!

I just want to be a lazy bum. Let me sink into a world full of beautiful women~~~

He tightened his arms around her waist and lowered his head to kiss the tufts of golden hair sticking up on her head.

Kitagawa was lost in the delicious bun. She gave a muffled "Hmm?" and rubbed against him like a cat being petted.

Wisps of steam rose from the bamboo steamer, filling the morning kitchen with a cozy warmth.

Chapter 23: Random Travels

The heart of Japan, an international metropolis.

Now it was battered and scarred, a scene of utter devastation—all in ruins.

Fortunately, Chen Tian didn't want to see his Little Sun become depressed.

The bloody brawl originally set to last twenty days? After he stepped in, it was over in just a few minutes.

Every Cursed Spirit and Curse User that had appeared across Japan during the Culling Game?

Under the Enma Sword, all were equal. In just a few minutes, he'd cleared them all out.

He'd managed to minimize the destruction caused by the game.

Even more unbelievable was how quickly everything was rebuilt.

It was simply mind-boggling!

The destroyed skyscrapers, broken streets, collapsed public facilities...

It was as if someone had hit fast-forward. Everything went "clack, clack, clack" and restored itself on the spot.

All of Japan had transformed into a construction powerhouse.

It was hard to tell whether they'd learned from Tokyo University or if this world had experienced an Ultraman storyline before Chen Tian arrived.

Either way, the world had gained some construction know-how, and within just one week of the Culling Game ending,

Tokyo had already recovered to eighty percent of what it had been before.

Chen Tian and his Little Sun—Kitagawa Marin—were planning to take the Shinkansen back to Tokyo.

It wasn't that he couldn't open a portal. A week ago, Kitagawa had said that since they'd be going back to school soon, they might as well play their way back to Tokyo.

And so their blind-box trip began: buy tickets at random, get off at random, and let the journey take them wherever it might.

"Our next stop is... Hakodate!" Kitagawa stood on tiptoe and tapped the ticket machine screen. Her golden hair brushed Chen Tian's nose. "No peeking at the destination on the tickets!"

Chen Tian smiled and nodded, letting her snatch two random tickets.

Had this silly girl already forgotten that she'd just shouted out the destination?

When the station announcement sounded, the girl was folding a map into a paper airplane. She threw it, and it landed in the trash can in a perfect arc. "From now on, we'll leave everything to fate!"

At five in the morning, at the Mount Hakodate Observatory, Kitagawa wrapped herself in Chen Tian's coat and bit into a cream-covered corn cob. Suddenly, she tugged on his scarf. "Look!"

The morning light broke through the clouds, gilding the outline of the bay. Frost clung to her eyelashes, but she smiled brightly.

Chen Tian pressed the shutter. In the frame, she was a sun brighter than a million night lights.

That afternoon, at the Kanemori Red Brick Warehouse, she tried squid-ink ice cream at twenty different shops. In the end, she stole the only normal vanilla cone from Chen Tian's hand. "Silly boyfriend, you can only eat what I've tried~"

After spending a day in Hakodate, Kitagawa once again dragged Chen Tian to the station.

She randomly bought tickets again, then turned to look at Chen Tian, who was standing behind her with a warm smile. She wrinkled her nose.

With a wave of her hand, she took the lead, her little face beaming with pride.

"Come on, next stop."

The two of them soon arrived at their new destination—Aomori.

As soon as they got off the train, Kitagawa spotted an onsen advertisement on a sign inside the station.

"Apple onsen?" Kitagawa stared at the inn's signature offering on the advertisement, her eyes shining.

That night, in the milky-white hot spring pool dotted with red apples, she suddenly pinned Chen Tian against the edge. "Don't move!"

Her fingertip traced the spot on his collarbone. "This is where I bit you in Sapporo last time... Hmm? Why can't I see it?" The steam above the water blurred the tips of her ears, which had suddenly turned red.

The next morning, she ran around the apple orchard in her yukata, her hem brushing white blossoms to the ground.

The elderly farming couple smiled as they handed them freshly squeezed juice. "It's nice to be young."

Chen Tian looked at the cup rim covered in lipstick marks and silently ordered ten crates of apples to be shipped back to Tokyo.

At the Shinkansen platform, Kitagawa stood on tiptoe to look at the automatic ticket machine. "This time, let's go to Sendai! I heard the beef tongue there is suuuuper delicious!"

Chen Tian popped the strawberry daifuku he'd just bought into her mouth. "Didn't you say yesterday that we were going to Kanazawa?"

"Mmm..." Kitagawa chewed with puffed-out cheeks. Suddenly, her eyes lit up. "Then let's flip a coin!" She dug a five-hundred-yen coin out of her shorts pocket. It gleamed in the sunlight.

The coin arced through the air. Heads for Kanazawa, tails for Sendai.

The coin got stuck in a drain.

"Hahaha—" Kitagawa laughed so hard she hung off Chen Tian's arm. "Then let's go to the next platform a train stops at!"

And so Sendai's beef tongue became Kanazawa's gold-leaf ice cream.

Kitagawa held up her glittering cone for a selfie, while Chen Tian's reflection appeared in the shop window behind her.

On the fourth day in Nagoya, Kitagawa insisted on trying the legendary "chicken wing challenge"—eating ten painfully spicy wings in ten minutes.

The result was tears in her eyes and her throwing herself into Chen Tian's arms to demand a kiss.

At the Kyoto inn on the fifth day, the owner mistook them for newlyweds and insisted they take a pair of matching yukata.

After Kitagawa put hers on, she didn't want to change out of it. As she put it: I'm wearing this to school so all those women who have their eyes on you can see it. Hmph!

Thinking of that made her happily clatter off toward the courtyard in her wooden sandals to feed the koi.

On the evening of the seventh day, when the outline of Tokyo Tower finally appeared on the horizon, Kitagawa suddenly pulled out all the train tickets from their week together and tied them into a little bundle with a rubber band.

"These are going in our memory box!" She slipped the tickets into the pocket over Chen Tian's chest, then poked him over the heart.

Chen Tian smiled at her adorable expression and ruffled the top of her golden head. "Sure. Whatever you say."

Kitagawa adorably scrunched up her little nose at him, then immediately pulled out her phone, fingers flying across the screen.

As it turned out, she'd carefully selected every photo of them together and every sweet moment from the past week—the two of them nestled together to watch the sunrise atop Mount Hakodate, playing around in the Aomori hot spring, their reflections in the Kanazawa shop window... She'd already filled her social media with them.

And here was the kicker: she'd tagged Shinomiya Kaguya in every post, along with a few other names—"Ice-Cold Sharp-Tongued Woman," "Passerby A," and "Doujinshi Sister."

The glow of the phone screen reflected on her smug face.

She opened the post with the most popular comment. There, plain as day, was a reply from "Young Miss," written in the elegant tone unique to the Shiongo Family, though every word dripped with envy: "Have a pleasant trip. It seems certain people have far too much free time."

Another comment, from an account with an anime profile picture and the display name "Doujinshi Sister," was even more direct: "Reference material acquired √"

There was also a string of sarcastic lemon emojis.

"Hehehe~" Kitagawa looked at the comments, but instead of getting mad, she curled up in Chen Tian's arms with her phone, laughing like a cat that had successfully stolen a bite of food. Her shoulders shook.

"Look at how jealous they are!"

Chen Tian glanced down at the screen, then at the Little Sun in his arms, who was clearly staking her claim. He chuckled. "You're such a jealous little thing."

"I am not!" Kitagawa immediately retorted, though the corners of her mouth lifted even higher. Her fingers flew over the screen again, probably liking some sour-grapes comment.

The two of them dragged their suitcases through the Shinkansen gates and into the bustling crowd.

Kitagawa immediately pressed an index finger to her lips, her little face scrunching up as she thought hard. "Hmm~ Where should we stay tonight? That place with the starry ceiling? Or the one with a full view of Tokyo Tower? Oh, this is so hard..."

Chen Tian didn't interrupt her. He just smiled at her conflicted expression and quietly walked alongside her, pushing the luggage.

Chen Tian's phone rang. "Unknown Number" flashed on the screen.

He answered casually. "Hello?"

"Yo~ Nero!" Satoru Gojo's exaggerated, teasing voice came through the receiver. "You're back?"

Chen Tian raised an eyebrow and said nothing.

"Don't play dumb!" Gojo's voice was full of laughter. "Surprise! Come out of the south exit! I'm here to pick you up! And I brought—"

Chen Tian hung up without another word. The screen went dark.

He turned to Kitagawa, who was still counting hotels on her fingers, and softened his voice. "Xiao Meng, have you decided? Which place are we staying at tonight?"

At that, Kitagawa pouted in dismay like a deflated little pufferfish. "Mmm... It's so hard to choose!"

She suddenly turned and hugged Chen Tian's arm, rubbing against it. "I feel like no matter which hotel we pick, it won't be as comfortable as our own little nest~"

She tilted up her little face, her Red Contact Lenses carrying a hint of coquettishness and anticipation. "How about... home?"

At the word "home," a wry smile touched Chen Tian's lips.

Ever since his detached house in Suginami Ward had been completely destroyed in the chaos, he hadn't given it another thought. No one had called about rebuilding it or clearing away the rubble.

The place was probably still a complete mess.

Seeing his wry smile, Kitagawa immediately realized what was wrong—she'd actually forgotten about it!

Her little face fell for a moment, and she stuck out her pink tongue in chagrin. "Oh! That's right..."

But in the next second, she hugged Chen Tian's arm tightly and bounced in place like a fully charged Little Sun. "Never mind! Tian Jun, I've decided! Come on, let's go to the taxi stand!"

She beamed as if that little hiccup had never happened, instantly chasing away the gloom with her characteristic energy. "I'll lead the way!"

Looking at her overflowing energy, Chen Tian felt the helplessness in his heart disappear, leaving only warmth.

He smiled and nodded. "Okay."

They dragged their luggage to the designated taxi waiting area, then stopped in their tracks.

A conspicuous white-haired figure was squatting brazenly atop the metal railing by the waiting area. Even with a black blindfold on, he radiated the smug satisfaction of someone who'd finally caught his target.

It was Satoru Gojo.

On the sidewalk beside him stood his three students:

Yuji Itadori waved energetically. "Nero! Over here!"

Nobara Kugisaki cupped her face in both hands, her eyes sparkling. "It really is Nero! Nero!!"

Fushiguro Megumi was the quietest. He simply nodded slightly to the two of them. "Nero-senpai."

Gojo hopped lightly down from the railing and sauntered over to them in a few long strides, drawing out his words teasingly. "My, my~ I told you I was coming to pick you up. Why'd you hang up on me?"

Ignoring Chen Tian's faintly furrowed brow, he threw an arm around Chen Tian's shoulders. "What, got nowhere to stay?"

His mouth curled into a mischievous grin beneath the blindfold. "I told you, didn't I? Your little house got demolished, right? You can't even find one intact tatami mat there now, can you?"

Chen Tian raised an arm and easily knocked Gojo's hand off his shoulder. "Did Nanami Kento not tell you? Stop bothering me."

"Oh~ no—" Gojo immediately clutched his chest and struck an exaggerated, swooning pose. His voice was so aggrieved it could've wrung water out of someone. "Nero, you're so heartless! My heart—it's broken!"

Chen Tian couldn't be bothered with his over-the-top performance. He looked around, and sure enough, Yuji Itadori's call of "Nero" had rippled through the dense crowd like a pebble tossed into water.

Quite a few passersby had already turned to look, and whispers were starting to drift through the air:

"Eh? Is that Nero?"

"The white-haired one wearing sunglasses and a mask?"

"I think it really is! Look!"

"Where's Nero?"

"Isn't that Kitagawa next to him?"

Feeling the attention gathering around them, and seeing a few bold fans tentatively edging closer, Chen Tian let out an almost imperceptible sigh and looked at Gojo, who was still "heartbroken." "All right, Gojo. What do you want?"

His tone was a little helpless, but mostly conveyed a clear message: hurry up and say it so we can leave.