A buff guaranteed to upgrade missions?

By the time they finished their mission on the third day, both Toge Inumaki and Aikawa Kaze breathed a sigh of relief.

All their missions along the way had gone smoothly, which confirmed something for Aikawa Kaze: as long as the Old Conservatives upstairs weren't stirring up trouble, the mission intel was actually fairly accurate.

They weren't Team 7, saddled with a buff guaranteed to turn low-level missions into high-level ones. In fact, as long as a mission was normal and no one interfered, the intel was pretty reliable.

It made sense. There were already so few jujutsu sorcerers. If mission assessments and assignments kept going wrong, those few people would probably have died out long ago.

Thinking about it that way, perhaps... no, the high death rate among jujutsu sorcerers, especially those without clan ties, was probably mostly the higher-ups' fault.

Fortunately, after he'd given that Old Conservative a warning, things had been fairly quiet lately. And his partner, Toge Inumaki, came from a Cursed Speech clan, which was why this trip had gone smoothly.

Unaware that his companion's thoughts had wandered into outer space, Toge Inumaki had a sparkle in his eyes.

"Tuna Mayonnaise!" (The mission's over! We can go have fun!)

"Doggie: Toge Inumaki expressed his excitement about going out for fun."

Although all the traveling and exorcising cursed spirits had left him exhausted, Toge Inumaki was still eager to go sightseeing.

He's pretty lively, actually.

Aikawa Kaze finally understood why Panda had said Toge was easy to get along with and that they always had fun together. If this kid weren't restricted by his speech, he'd probably be the sunny, outgoing type.

That personality was a striking contrast to his cool, aloof appearance, with his white hair and purple eyes. This must have been what people called gap moe!

"Have you decided where you want to go?"

"Kelp?" (Is there somewhere you want to go, Kaze?)

"Doggie: Toge Inumaki asked for your opinion on where to go."

"There isn't anywhere I particularly want to visit..."

Aikawa Kaze glanced at the promotional flyer in Toge Inumaki's hand, and the corners of his mouth lifted.

"We can go wherever you want, Inumaki!"

"Salmon, salmon!"

Toge Inumaki waved the flyer in his hand. Across it, a huge, colorful headline read: "Passion! Excitement! Seafood barbecue, camping parties, and fireworks festival feasts! Let's go wild at a summer outdoor party!"

This time, Aikawa Kaze understood him without needing the translator.

"Then let's go here!"

Most of Toge Inumaki's favorite rice balls had seafood fillings. He probably really liked seafood.

Although Aikawa Kaze wasn't particularly fond of raw food and couldn't get used to things like sashimi, there would be barbecue too, wouldn't there? He figured it should be fine.

"Thank you both for your hard work. But shouldn't you get some proper rest today? Doesn't it say the event runs for three days?"

Assistant Supervisor Ijichi kept his promise, offering to serve as a reliable driver and handle logistics. Yet the two boys seemed incapable of feeling tired.

More accurately, Toge Inumaki was brimming with enthusiasm, physically tired but mentally energized, while Aikawa Kaze hadn't expended much energy in the first place.

Both Toge Inumaki and Aikawa Kaze turned to Ijichi, their eyes shining.

No matter how tiring work was, it couldn't get in the way of having fun!

"All right, all right, if you insist..."

"Don't put it like that. You like seafood too, don't you, Mr. Ijichi?" Aikawa Kaze said with a smile. "We can all relax today. That includes you."

"You knew?"

Kiyotaka Ijichi was a little surprised. After all, he wasn't particularly close to either boy. Assistant supervisors like him generally didn't form "close friendships" with jujutsu sorcerers, and no one paid attention to their preferences.

"When you eat with us, you usually have seafood rice, seafood fried noodles, things like that. Even when you buy ready-made sushi, you pick salmon rice balls!"

"Haha, most people like seafood. I'm no exception."

Ijichi nodded. He was actually quite interested in the event himself; he'd only been worried about the two young jujutsu sorcerers being tired.

He hadn't expected Aikawa to be so observant and considerate, even taking him into account.

Touched, Ijichi decided that, if possible, he wanted to partner with Aikawa more often in the future. Going on missions with a jujutsu sorcerer like this felt positively healing. It might even extend his lifespan!

A stark contrast to a certain asshole cat who never behaved like a decent human being and spent every day infuriating and terrifying people.

Aikawa Kaze merely smiled politely without saying anything.

For people in Japan, living in an island nation meant they were naturally accustomed to seafood, and most liked it. For him, though, it was just all right-something to eat occasionally for a change.

Still, the other two were excited, so naturally he wouldn't spoil their fun.

With Ijichi's full support, the three soon arrived at the beach and browsed the shopping street formed by small shops and stalls.

Night had already fallen, but for the people partying until dawn, a bonfire gathering after dark had its own special romance.

With a squid skewer in his left hand and a skewer of cuttlefish balls in his right, Toge Inumaki was enjoying himself. His usually high collar had been pulled down, revealing the snake-like curse markings beside his lips.

Under the flickering firelight and nighttime neon lights, he looked especially alluring.

Along the way, three or four groups of girls-and even boys-had already approached the sultry, beautiful white-haired boy to strike up a conversation.

"Bonito flakes!"

"Doggie: Toge Inumaki expressed his rejection of the advances."

"Bonito flakes! Bonito flakes!"

"Doggie: Toge Inumaki expressed his strong rejection of the advances."

"Bonito flakes, bonito flakes..."

"Doggie: Toge Inumaki expressed his aversion to the advances and requested your help."

After dealing with one wave of people hitting on him after another, Toge Inumaki looked over at Aikawa Kaze with a reproachful gaze.

Aikawa Kaze was clearly handsome too-he even called his looks the one thing about himself he was most confident in-yet, for some inexplicable reason, everyone looking to strike up a conversation headed straight for Toge Inumaki.

The equally good-looking Aikawa Kaze, meanwhile, calmly ate grilled skewers with Ijichi and even assessed how overrated a few trendy barbecue shops were and whether they lived up to the hype.

"Poor Inumaki."

"Can't be helped. His looks really hit everyone's sweet spot! Besides... people who don't know him would probably be fooled by his appearance."

"That's certainly true."

Ijichi nodded, popped a piece of fish tofu into his mouth, and stole a glance at Aikawa Kaze.

Unlike Toge Inumaki's sensual allure, Aikawa Kaze, although handsome, looked more like a top student and school heartthrob-an everyday, well-behaved sort. Perhaps that was why everyone approached Inumaki while subconsciously avoiding Aikawa Kaze?

Well, from a certain perspective, the people out partying at this hour might all have been looking for a little excitement.

"The translator you gave him is very useful. In the past, Inumaki couldn't have gotten out of situations like this so neatly on his own."

It was fine when someone was beside him to help, but alone, Toge Inumaki, who only spoke Rice Ball Language, could easily run into misunderstandings.

Ijichi remembered the last time someone had hit on Toge Inumaki. Because they couldn't communicate, Inumaki had tried to take out his phone and type a refusal, only for the other person to mistake it for an invitation to exchange contact details...

Ijichi had ultimately stepped in to clear up the misunderstanding. Even so, it had turned into quite a farce-completely unnecessary trouble.

"Ah, it looks like Inumaki's reaching his limit. Is that look a cry for help?"

"It's about time to head to the shore for the fireworks anyway. We should claim a good spot early."

Aikawa Kaze nodded and, smiling, snapped several photos of Toge Inumaki surrounded by cute girls and boys, then sent them to the first-years' group chat.

They were classmates, after all. Of course he had to generously share such a wonderful sight with them. Otherwise, he'd be far too selfish.

Only after sharing the pictures did Aikawa Kaze stride over, grab Toge Inumaki's arm, and pull him away.

"Sorry, but Toge already promised to watch the fireworks with me. I can't hand him over to you!"

"Huh?"

"Another handsome guy!"

"Handsome guys really do make friends with other handsome guys-"

"Wait, watching fireworks together? Could they be..."

Aikawa Kaze blinked, feeling as though he'd heard something rather strange.

Still, since they were all strangers he'd met by chance, he couldn't be bothered wasting words explaining something that would never be cleared up anyway. He pulled Toge Inumaki out of the crowd and returned to Ijichi.

"Let's go. There's a bonfire party by the shore too! It's almost time for the fireworks."

Toge Inumaki nodded in relief.

Although he felt that, with Doggie's help, he could handle plenty of problems independently, it really was... exhausting!

Completely unused to this, Toge Inumaki quickened his pace and headed toward the shore with Aikawa Kaze and Ijichi.

Out of habit, they instinctively gravitated toward a more secluded corner, partly to avoid anyone else hitting on them and partly because of occupational conditioning.

Whenever they saw a dark, secluded corner, they instinctively suspected there might be cursed spirits or something lurking inside. Then, much like wanting to sweep dust and cockroaches out of the corners at home, they felt the urge to clean it up.

However, perhaps because the area was so crowded, even though they deliberately sought somewhere quieter, there were still plenty of tourists there, along with several makeshift barbecue stalls.

On the griddles, squid tentacles and octopus sizzled as they cooked. Once sprinkled with spices, their enticing aroma wafted through the air, prompting plenty of people who'd only planned to watch the fireworks to buy another couple of skewers.

Even Toge Inumaki and Ijichi, who had already eaten quite a bit, couldn't resist buying several more skewers to hold.

"There's so much squid and octopus here! You can still eat?"

Aikawa Kaze didn't dislike seafood, but he couldn't say he was especially fond of it either. He simply thought it was reasonably tasty once grilled.

Even so, eating all along the way had left him with no appetite for the moment.

"Salmon, salmon!"

"Inumaki's right! They use different spices here than the stalls back there. It has its own flavor."

"The translator isn't even on, and you can understand Inumaki, Mr. Ijichi?"

"Ahaha, somehow I just feel like I understand."

"..."

Aikawa Kaze, who still hadn't mastered that skill, shut his mouth. He badly wanted Inumaki to turn on the translation function.

But even Ijichi could communicate without Doggie, while he, Inumaki's actual partner, couldn't. Wouldn't that look a little bad?

Aikawa Kaze could only turn around and pretend to admire the ocean scenery to hide his embarrassment over his language-learning abilities.

However, as he made a show of gazing out over the sea, he suddenly sensed something.

"Hmm? Mr. Ijichi, Inumaki, is there something under the water?"

His perception still wasn't particularly practiced, and Aikawa Kaze stared beneath the surface with an odd expression.

"This... doesn't seem to be my imagination?"

Could he have a buff guaranteed to upgrade missions too?!