Bickering Rivals

Seeing Satoru Gojo looking so gloomy, Utahime Iori walked in with a smug air.

Ever since they had met on the athletic field, she had been completely at odds with him. They were so incompatible that every encounter turned into an exchange of barbs.

"Utahime."

Shoko Ieiri ambled over to greet her, looking utterly unenthusiastic as she sucked on a lollipop, using it in place of a cigarette to pass the time.

"Shoko!"

Having not seen her in ages, Utahime Iori rushed over and hugged Shoko Ieiri, acting coy and cute like a child who had never grown up.

Long accustomed to this, Shoko Ieiri asked lazily, "Aren't you at Kyoto Jujutsu High, Utahime? What brings you to Tokyo?"

"I came to see Miss Mei Mei."

Utahime Iori rubbed her cheek against Shoko Ieiri's smooth face and added sheepishly, "You know my Cursed Technique is... a little weak."

The gloomy Satoru Gojo immediately seized the opening to mock her. "Your Cursed Technique isn't a little weak. It's super weak. Ridiculously weak."

"Satoru Gojo!"

Utahime Iori was hopping mad. Abandoning all concern for her image, she stormed up to Satoru Gojo, and the two launched into another heated shouting match.

Jaw-dropping insults kept spilling from their mouths, as though they were facing an enemy rather than a friend.

Suguru Geto and Shoko Ieiri exchanged helpless looks and pulled them apart. If they let the argument continue, it might turn into a fight.

Given Satoru Gojo's personality, Utahime would come off worse if they kept arguing. After all, the Satoru Gojo of today made no distinction between men and women.

He only distinguished between the weak and the strong.

"Hmph!"

"Hmph!"

With their friends pulling them apart, Satoru Gojo and Utahime Iori settled for a final snort each, wisely choosing not to keep trading insults.

Utahime Iori pursed her lips, then put on a sweet smile and held out the birthday gift box she had prepared to Suguru Geto.

"Happy birthday. Here's a little something from your senior."

"Thank you, Utahime."

Pleasantly surprised, Suguru Geto accepted it and gave Utahime Iori a warm, friendly smile of genuine gratitude, making her blush slightly.

Compared with the refined but cold Satoru Gojo, a handsome, gentle type like Suguru Geto was undoubtedly more appealing to girls their age.

"Everyone's here?"

A familiar, alluring voice suddenly sounded from the doorway. Everyone turned toward it to find a handsome young man and a beautiful woman standing there.

The elegance and nobility they radiated almost made them look like a perfectly matched couple, leaving everyone momentarily spellbound.

Mei Mei tilted her head up and asked in confusion, "Junior, we were only gone for a day. Why do they look like they don't recognize us?"

Tsukasa Hatayama shook his head and walked in carrying local specialties from Kanagawa.

As the pair entered the room, everyone snapped out of their daze, while Suguru Geto and Satoru Gojo eagerly went over to greet them.

"So you finally remembered to come back! You realize you stayed out all night yesterday, right?"

Satoru Gojo gave Tsukasa Hatayama a punch with a laughing scold, as punishment for not coming home the night before.

"Ow..."

Tsukasa Hatayama pretended to grunt in pain, then silently raised his fist with a smile and gave each of his closest friends a light punch on the shoulder.

Not to be outdone, Suguru Geto and Satoru Gojo punched him back in the same way. Once they were finished, they exchanged wordless smiles.

"Tsukasa, did you go to Kanagawa to exorcise a curse yesterday?"

Noticing the place name on the bags, Suguru Geto immediately deduced why he had stayed out overnight.

Tsukasa Hatayama nodded and explained gently, "Mei Mei and I originally planned to come back at midnight, but we ended up missing the last train."

"We had no choice but to spend the night at a hotel unless we wanted to sleep on the street."

As he spoke, he handed Suguru Geto and Satoru Gojo the local specialties he had brought back.

"These are all local specialties I bought in Kanagawa. There are sweets for you, Satoru, and savory snacks for you, Geto."

Their eyes lit up, and they eagerly opened the packages, revealing sweet dorayaki and savory spicy beef.

The sight of those two treats sent warmth flowing through their hearts.

When Tsukasa had left yesterday, they had wondered whether he would ditch his friends for a pretty woman. Instead, he had thoughtfully brought back gifts tailored to their tastes.

To avoid being subjected to their overly affectionate stares, Tsukasa Hatayama handed out the remaining local specialties to everyone else.

Since Shoko Ieiri liked smoking, he had bought her a box of edible sausage cigarettes.

Since Yaga liked fluffy dolls, he had brought him a new Barbie doll.

Even the Panda cursed corpse Yaga had made received a gift: a small, adorable female panda plush.

As for Utahime Iori...

He had not expected her to come from Kyoto to Tokyo, so to spare her any awkwardness, he gave her his favorite instant coffee.

Watching from the side, Mei Mei kept an elegant smile on her lips and said nothing. She had been with him when he bought the coffee, so she naturally knew her junior had intended to drink it himself.

Once he finished handing out the gifts, Tsukasa Hatayama pushed Suguru Geto, the birthday boy, toward the lectern, then quietly stepped behind everyone else.

As everyone sang "Happy Birthday," Suguru Geto made a wish with a radiant smile.

Just as he bent down to blow out the candles, Satoru Gojo swiftly grabbed a handful of cake and unexpectedly smeared it across Suguru Geto's handsome face.

Before Satoru Gojo could laugh, however, Utahime Iori struck back by slapping a piece of cake onto his face, avenging the mockery he had greeted her with.

"Utahime!!!"

Satoru Gojo angrily took off his sunglasses, only for another piece of cake to smack him in the face, coating all his finely sculpted features in cream.

Annoyed, he wiped it away. As soon as he opened his eyes, he saw Masamichi Yaga cheerfully fling another piece at him. Even Panda threw one at his hair.

The father-and-son duo seemed intent on getting revenge for the earlier tossing game.

"Since you're all targeting me, get ready for a cake bombardment!"

Satoru Gojo grabbed a large chunk of cake in each hand and gleefully hurled them at Utahime Iori and Masamichi Yaga, turning them into cream-covered figures.

Seeing the three humans and one panda having so much fun, Suguru Geto and Shoko Ieiri refused to be left out and joined the fray. The cake free-for-all officially began.

Outside the classroom, Tsukasa Hatayama and Mei Mei leaned against the wall in unspoken agreement, quietly enjoying their cake as they listened with smiles to the laughter inside.

That evening.

In the little courtyard outside the dormitory.

"Tsukasa, you bastard who ditches his friends for a pretty woman! You actually shut us in the classroom to fight with cake while you and Miss Mei Mei watched the show outside."

"And Geto!"

"You're a bastard too! A traitorous bastard! Your crime was even worse than Tsukasa's. You actually teamed up with outsiders to smear cake on my face!"

Dressed in Patrick Star pajamas, Satoru Gojo sat on a stone chair and complained indignantly.

He did not mind a cake fight. The problem was that everyone had ganged up on him, as though he had enraged the whole crowd and driven them into a frenzy of revenge.

Wearing Squidward pajamas, Suguru Geto said with a teasing smile, "It's your fault for making everyone mad. Wouldn't helping you mean going against everyone else?"

Satoru Gojo sprang to his feet and thrust his face right up to Suguru Geto's in outrage. "You traitor! You're helping outsiders, and you think you're justified?"

Then he turned a pitiful look toward Tsukasa Hatayama, who was sipping coffee and enjoying the show. "They're all bullying me. What do you have to say for yourself, you friend-ditching womanizer?"

Tsukasa Hatayama choked on his coffee and shot Satoru Gojo a speechless look. Don't you know perfectly well who's bullying whom?

But considering how fragile his feelings were, he patiently reassured him, "On your next birthday, we'll help you get them back."

"Exactly, exactly! We'll help you get revenge on your next birthday!"

Suguru Geto chimed in beside him.

Hearing the gentle reassurance from his two closest friends, Satoru Gojo instantly brightened. He cheerfully sat back down on the stone chair, crossed his legs, and started drinking his sweet milk.

Tsukasa Hatayama and Suguru Geto exchanged a look and shared a secret chuckle behind Satoru Gojo's back.