Dad Is Gojo?!

There was certainly something special about him. Transmigrators were rare creatures, after all.

In fact, no one knew better than Aikawa Kaze that everything these people were doing now was pointless.

This world's positive energy system had only just begun developing. There was no existing legacy in this field, so how could they possibly find any clues?

Aikawa Kaze could summon Heroic Spirits and items from other worlds purely because he himself had come from beyond this world, breaking through dimensional barriers to reach it.

It was practically impossible for a native to reach his level.

Of course, once the system he was building was complete, summoning this world's Heroic Spirits would be possible.

As for summoning Heroic Spirits from other worlds like he did... that was pure wishful thinking.

No, he couldn't be quite so absolute.

If this world's system eventually became as complete as the Type-Moon world's, and someone reached the Root-the source of all things and the world's beginning and end-perhaps they could break through the world's boundaries and connect with parallel worlds and other worlds.

Seen that way, being a transmigrator really had let him skip countless prerequisites and reach the top in a single leap.

But he certainly couldn't tell them that.

"How could you possibly find someone with genuine abilities so easily? If there really is a legacy, it might be even older than the Jujutsu Sorcerers' traditions."

Aikawa Kaze thought for a moment, then pulled out the all-purpose excuse.

"My homeland across the sea has a long history of traditions. Unfortunately, you definitely won't be able to investigate them."

If anyone asked, it was mysterious Eastern power, with an ancient history and traditions passed down through countless generations.

Sure enough, that answer worked wonders. After scanning Aikawa Kaze several times with his Six Eyes and still finding nothing, Satoru Gojo accepted the explanation.

"True enough. And plenty of traditions die out somewhere along the way. That's perfectly normal."

Satoru Gojo accepted Aikawa Kaze's explanation. It sounded reasonably plausible, after all.

"By the way, after discussing and researching it, those guys decided to call what you refer to as [positive energy] [spirit power], an energy that corresponds to [cursed energy]."

"Are you about to tell me they've given my Vision a new name too?"

"Exactly! Your Vision has been classified as a [Spirit Tool], meaning an object that contains spirit power, recognizes its owner, and possesses spiritual energy. It corresponds to a [Cursed Tool]."

"Well, aren't they capable!"

Great. Now it really was "I'm in Jujutsu Kaisen, but there's a spiritual energy revival and immortal cultivation."

For a more approachable title, he could probably sum it up as "Building a Spiritual Energy (?) Revival from Scratch in Jujutsu Kaisen."

Aikawa Kaze fought back a laugh.

He'd barely needed to do anything, and these people had already fleshed out much of the system themselves. They really saved him a lot of trouble.

"But I doubt someone as busy as you, Gojo Sensei, specifically asked me out just for something this minor. Has there been progress on those Heroic Spirit stories? Are you here to give me my share of the profits?"

"I'm delighted you have so much faith in your teacher's abilities, Kaze-chan."

Satoru Gojo raised a finger and poked his cheek as though he were embarrassed.

"But even with my superpower of money, I can't get everything done in such a short time!"

At that, Satoru Gojo actually contorted himself into an elongated, breadstick-like creature and began wriggling like kelp as he whined.

"I really, really, really want to read what happens next! Can't you hurry up and write the rest, Kaze-chan? All the writers I found to continue it are ordinary people. They really can't handle being worked that hard!"

"By your standards, I don't think I can either."

Aikawa Kaze coldheartedly rejected the big white cat's wheedling.

Still, he could understand. He'd only written the first three chapters, and even with the outline, the total was under ten thousand characters. Expecting results this quickly really wasn't realistic.

"I'm very busy."

For the sake of his grand undertaking, Aikawa Kaze had been diligent, tireless, and utterly devoted. How could he possibly have time to write something like that?

"Liar! You clearly have time to follow and investigate a little girl!"

"Don't make me sound like a pervert!"

"Hmph, then why did you hire someone to investigate and follow an elementary school girl?"

"...It was only to protect her and prepare for the worst."

This really wasn't easy to explain.

Aikawa Kaze's mouth twitched speechlessly. He'd only just noticed something was wrong, after all.

The last time he'd gone home to retrieve the photograph, he'd run into Sakura returning from school and the couple next door, and they'd exchanged a few casual words.

They hadn't seen each other since the exorcism at Hope Elementary School. Even taking Sakura home had been left to the support staff.

Aikawa Kaze had first handed her over to Yuta Okkotsu, then entrusted the support staff with taking her home. He'd actually been deliberately distancing himself from Sakura.

As a Jujutsu Sorcerer, having too much contact with ordinary people wasn't a good thing. It could easily bring disaster upon them.

Besides, Sakura wanted to become an incredibly powerful, world-famous martial artist like her father. That was a perfectly good dream.

She wasn't a natural-born Jujutsu Sorcerer. Practicing martial arts had merely sharpened her senses a little. Normally, she couldn't see Cursed Spirits without holding her breath and concentrating.

In that case, it was better to let her live an ordinary person's life.

At most, he'd keep an eye on her and tell the system to notify him immediately if Sakura encountered danger.

However, after that brief meeting and conversation, Aikawa Kaze had realized the situation was bad.

The school Sakura was considering was called Hope Elementary School, an extremely commonplace name, so Aikawa Kaze hadn't given it any thought when he'd first heard it.

Except...

"The full name of Sakura's Hope Elementary School is [Hope's Peak Academy (Elementary School Division)]!"

"Hmm? So what?" Satoru Gojo asked, puzzled. "Is there something wrong with that school?"

"..." It mattered a lot!

Wasn't that the whole Academy of Despair thing, Danganronpa?

That anime had come out several years ago, and Aikawa Kaze's memories were a little hazy. Sakura was also an incredibly common name in Japan, so he hadn't realized who his little neighbor actually was.

The anime's boss apparently spread despair to destroy the world, and had even created "the biggest, most atrocious despair-inducing incident in human history," making the students of Hope's Peak High School kill one another...

Leaving aside how the original plot developed, at least in the Jujutsu Kaisen world, if countless people really were driven to despair, it might instantly create countless high-grade Cursed Spirits.

Even if he believed the incident would ultimately be resolved, the casualties would be horrific, and the consequences would certainly be devastating.

Since Sakura was still in elementary school, Aikawa Kaze naturally wanted to start planning as early as possible.

Sakura would originally have died in that conspiratorial game, so the world consciousness had told the boy the future fate of the "little sister" he cared about most.

Ultimately, the world consciousness had obtained his identity in exchange for helping Sakura avoid her "guaranteed-death" calamity.

Of course, the world consciousness couldn't directly interfere and change things, so its solution was simple.

-Have Aikawa Kaze prevent Sakura from entering Hope's Peak's high school division.

This was already giving Aikawa Kaze a headache. The last time they'd met, Sakura had happily told him that she was performing well in her club and might be able to follow in her father's footsteps, advance directly into the Junior High Division and high school division, and become the "Super High School Level Martial Artist."

Taking a sweet girl's dream away like that would be far too cruel.

"Stealing young people's youth is unforgivable, no matter who does it... right?"

"Oh, honestly, do you admire your teacher that much already, Kaze-chan? You're even imitating how I talk?" Satoru Gojo tilted his head and smiled. "Or is there really something wrong with that school?"

"There's nothing wrong with the school itself, but... something very serious might happen in the future."

"Is this a revelation from that 'God'?"

"You can interpret it that way."

Aikawa Kaze considered it and decided that explanation wasn't wrong either. After all, perhaps this really was the will and spoilers of the "almighty author."

"You really can't tell me? Come on, tell me, tell me! Gojo Sensei will definitely keep it secret!"

"A secret makes a man man."

"...Fine, suit yourself."

Realizing Aikawa Kaze didn't want to say more, Satoru Gojo didn't press him. Everyone had their own secrets.

As long as the other person wasn't planning anything bad, Satoru Gojo could occasionally be considerate and refrain from prying.

When Satoru Gojo stopped asking, Aikawa Kaze was rather surprised. Why was Gojo the cat being so "understanding" today?

Something was fishy!

If he suddenly behaved himself for no reason, he was definitely up to something!

Aikawa Kaze immediately raised his guard.

"Oh dear, that expression! And here your teacher came all this way specifically to give you a warning!"

"What?"

"That little sister of yours, Sakura, has some extraordinary physical gifts."

Satoru Gojo rested his chin on his hand and pointed at his eyes.

"These eyes have already seen it. If she keeps going like this, she'll grow into something pretty terrifying!"

"She wants to become the strongest martial artist. That's a good thing, isn't it?"

"Are you sure? She'll be fine during junior high, but once she gets close to adulthood, she might turn into a muscle-bound Barbie! You're okay with that too?"

"!!!"

Right, there was that too!

By the start of Danganronpa's story, Sakura was already a muscle-bound Barbie, but she'd actually been a genuine white-haired beauty in junior high.

That transformation was even more extreme than Byodo-in Phoenix's in that other series about murderous tennis.

Aikawa Kaze, who actually cared quite a bit about this, had no choice but to yield.

"So... there's a way to solve that, right?"

And so, in the end, Aikawa Kaze received a whole pile of recommendations from Satoru Gojo for beauty and skincare establishments he'd personally tried and approved, including places offering posture-correction training and the like.

Whether they worked or not, they had to try to find out, right?

The desserts were almost gone, and the conversation was winding down. Having collected a pile of business cards, Aikawa Kaze was about to say goodbye and leave when a sudden remark reached him.

"So, are you looking for your dad?"

"..."

Aikawa Kaze stopped in his tracks and turned to Satoru Gojo, only to find him holding a very familiar photograph between his fingers.

Yes, it was the photograph he'd made a special trip home to retrieve after returning from his last mission with Toge Inumaki.

The yellowed background showed that it was over a decade old. The image hadn't been particularly clear to begin with, and wear had left tiny white flecks where the surface had peeled away.

Even so, the figures' general outlines were still clear.

"This beautiful lady looks a lot like you, Kaze-chan! She must be your mother, right?"

"So what?"

Aikawa Kaze didn't deny the "fact" that the woman was his mother.

The photograph was something the woman had left behind. It should have vanished along with her untimely death, but the world consciousness had preserved it as a clue for Aikawa Kaze to fulfill her wish.

"I'm looking for this man because he owes me a debt. I'm going to settle accounts with him."

As a man of principle, he could call a dorm mate who fetched his takeout "Dad," but he would never call a scumbag "Dad"! Not even as a formality!

This scumbag had never given him living expenses, never raised him, and never even fetched his takeout. What right did he have to be called Dad?

"I see..."

Satoru Gojo looked thoughtful, as if he'd remembered something, and actually seemed a little more serious than usual.

"So it really is..."

"You know him?"

Aikawa Kaze quickly picked up on the information in his expression.

In fact, he also inexplicably felt that this man looked familiar, but no matter how carefully he searched his memories, he couldn't place him.

Was he some minor character who'd only appeared once or twice, or someone he'd happened to see while browsing online?

As an anime-only fan who couldn't be bothered to read manga, he'd actually only finished the first season. The second season had been about to air when he'd transmigrated, but he hadn't gotten a chance to watch it.

Most of what he knew about how grim Jujutsu Kaisen became later had come from posts, fanfiction, and videos.

For example, Nanami died, Nobara died, the principal died, Megumi's body was taken over, and Maki lost her sister and went mad...

After learning all that, Aikawa Kaze had even considered dropping the series-to avoid enjoying it while suffering, like with that total-party-kill version of Demon Slayer.

Aikawa Kaze studied Satoru Gojo's expression carefully. Why did it seem so peculiar right now?

The system had previously said that, to make it easier for him to build connections, the world consciousness had indeed chosen someone associated with the Three Great Families when arranging his background.

He'd already ruled out the Kamo Clan, which left the Gojo Clan and the Zenin Clan.

Judging by Satoru Gojo's reaction, could this man be from the Gojo Clan?

At that thought, Aikawa Kaze immediately made his position clear.

"Even if this man is your relative, Gojo Sensei, I won't go easy on him when collecting what he owes me!"

"Pfft... hahahaha! Yes, you're not wrong... hahaha!"

Something apparently occurred to Satoru Gojo, and he suddenly burst out laughing. Once he finished, he took advantage of his teleportation to appear directly behind Aikawa Kaze and place a hand on his head.

"Please don't go easy on him, my adorable Kaze-chan!"

Forcibly rubbing the puppy's head.JPG

"Gojo Sensei! Please behave yourself!"

"Don't be like that, Kaze-chan! After all, technically speaking..."

Satoru Gojo deliberately drew out his words, then flashed a radiant smile as Aikawa Kaze's gaze grew increasingly hostile.

"-You ought to call me Dad, Kaze-chan!"

Aikawa Kaze: "???"

Aikawa Kaze: "!!!"