This Was Dangerous

Just then, the two bowls of ramen arrived, steaming as they were set down in front of them.

Yan Si's signature tonkotsu ramen had a rich, milky-white broth.

It was topped with thick-cut chashu, a soft-boiled egg sliced in half, a few sheets of nori, a handful of chopped scallions, and white sesame seeds.

He snapped his chopsticks apart, picked up a mouthful of noodles, blew on them, and put them in his mouth.

Henshita Tsugina's shio ramen had a thin, clear broth, but it was steaming too.

Yan Si ate quickly, every stroke of his chopsticks efficient.

Lift, blow twice, slurp, chew a few times, then pick up the next mouthful.

There were no unnecessary pauses in the process. In less than ten minutes, he had drunk half the broth and polished off the egg and chashu.

Henshita Tsugina realized his ears were finally getting some peace.

He actually felt a little grateful.

Yan Si didn't talk while eating noodles.

The noodles plugged that mouth capable of spewing bullshit for ten minutes straight, leaving only the sounds of slurping noodles and drinking broth at the counter.

Henshita Tsugina treasured this brief stretch of quiet, lowering his head to eat his shio ramen a little faster than usual.

Henshita Tsugina thought it tasted great.

There was a reason it cost so much.

He could come here occasionally as a treat.

Yan Si set down his chopsticks, picked up the glass of water on the table, and took a sip.

He wiped the corner of his mouth with a finger, stood up, and pulled several bills from his pocket, placing them in the payment tray on the counter.

They covered both bowls, with a few coins to spare.

His movements were brisk and decisive.

"Head back on your own. I'm going to stay out and have some more fun." He compressed his earplugs and slipped them back into his ears, perched his sunglasses on his nose, and pulled up his outdoor jacket's hood, completing the whole process within ten seconds.

At the entrance, he turned back and waved at Henshita Tsugina.

His movements set the wind chime jingling. "You're a pretty good driver, too. See you tomorrow~"

Henshita Tsugina's chopsticks were still suspended in midair.

He hesitated for a few seconds, then nodded, his voice quiet but steady. "...All right."

He didn't ask where Yan Si was going or when he would return to school.

The neon lights outside swallowed the departing figure as he pushed through the door, and the wind chime rang again.

Henshita Tsugina looked down at his nearly empty bowl of shio ramen, then at the bill Yan Si had paid for him, and picked up his chopsticks to finish the last few noodles.

Then he stood up and earnestly told the proprietress, "Thank you for the meal," before leaving.

He seemed far more polite than Yan Si.

The office in Jujutsu High's classroom building.

Masamichi Yaga had just finished his afternoon classes. His lesson plan lay on the desk, open to the last page for the day.

The sky outside had mostly darkened, and the trees in the mountains had faded into overlapping, ink-black silhouettes in the dusk.

He stood at the window with his hands behind his back, looking troubled.

He hadn't finished brushing the chalk dust off his hands, but his brow was furrowed even more deeply than it had been while teaching.

On the first-year attendance sheet spread across the desk, Yan Si's column had been blank since the afternoon began.

Satoru Gojo sat beside a desk, straddling a backward chair with his long legs spread and his elbows resting on its back.

His sunglasses lay on the desk, and his azure eyes were fixed on the ceiling.

He had attended all his afternoon classes. Though he complained throughout that the material was too basic, he had still dutifully stayed seated until the final bell.

Propping up his head, he turned to Suguru Geto. "Meat Bun really just walked out?"

At fifteen, Satoru Gojo was mischievous and felt out of sorts if he went three days without getting on someone's nerves, but deep down, he still followed a basic set of rules.

Even if he complained that class was boring afterward, he still finished it. Even if he complained that a mission was a hassle after accepting it, he still accepted it.

He might not agree, but he would comply.

For a child raised by the Three Great Families, no matter how much he acted out on the surface, certain things were ingrained in his bones.

Part of it was also that, deep down, fifteen-year-old Satoru Gojo was actually a good kid.

Besides, that was simply how things were in Japan.

Students showed some basic respect toward their elders and those above them, even if that respect came with inward grumbling and pulled faces, even if it was hypocritical and sickening.

There was always at least some effort to keep up appearances.

Suguru Geto sat in the chair beside him, organizing his notes from the afternoon's classes.

His fountain pen traced line after line of neat handwriting across the paper.

At Satoru Gojo's question, he stopped writing, raised his hand, and pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger.

He had lost count of how many times he had done that today.

"Yeah. He might be out having fun somewhere right now."

"He's got guts." The corners of Satoru Gojo's mouth lifted, and a spark flashed in his azure eyes.

He had never skipped class. But Yan Si had.

And he had done it openly.

Without trying to hide it.

He hadn't even bothered asking for leave.

To Gojo, it felt like hearing for the first time that someone didn't have to listen to those old fossils drone on.

He found it unbelievable, yet couldn't help wanting to ask for details.

He paused as an idea took shape in his head. He didn't voice it, merely nodding thoughtfully.

He glanced at Masamichi Yaga's thunderous expression outside the door.

Yaga stood in the hallway, speaking quietly with the Assistant Supervisor in charge of attendance. His voice was low and heavy, but judging by how tightly his fingers gripped his lesson-plan book, Yan Si's name had already been bolded on his blacklist.

It was normal for students at Jujutsu High to take on missions to exorcise cursed spirits.

And there was an established procedure for it.

Yan Si had skipped step after step of that procedure, then run off with the Assistant Supervisor.

He had shown very little regard for the rules.

Yaga wasn't angry because Yan Si had gone on a mission without asking for leave. He was angry because Yan Si genuinely had no regard for the rules at all.

That was dangerous.

The higher-ups, the Three Great Families, even Jujutsu High's own leadership-none of them liked unpredictable variables...

In a rare display of tact, Satoru Gojo kept quiet.

Shoko Ieiri sat by the window.

She had attended every minute of the afternoon's classes.

She hadn't arrived late or left early, and she had written a page and a half of notes.

Yan Si's absence wasn't anything she felt the need to make a fuss over.

She had long since realized that this scumbag wasn't the rule-following type.

She had realized it on his very first day in the classroom, when he sprawled over his desk like a puddle of cat.

She had realized it when he rode on Satoru Gojo's head at the training grounds.

She had realized it when he told Mei Mei, "Understood, senpai," with Whatever written all over his face.

People who followed the rules didn't turn out like that.

They didn't become the sort of person who looked like trouble at first glance.

If Yan Si knew what Shoko thought of him, he would have cheerfully asked, "Are you complimenting my looks?"

Shoko Ieiri closed her textbook and put it in her bag. The lollipop stick tilted slightly at the corner of her mouth, her only response to the subject that day.

Then she stood up and headed for the door with her bag. Passing Suguru Geto and Satoru Gojo without slowing down, she left them with just two words. "Class's over."

Suguru Geto packed up his things.

He had written two sets of notes, both brief.

One was his own, and the other was for Yan Si.

Suguru Geto had understood the lessons himself, and he figured Yan Si was smart enough to grasp them with a quick glance too, so he had kept the notes brief.

"Ah..."

Suguru Geto sighed.