A whole new kind of sweet-talking

"Yo, Megumi-chan! Long time no see!"

Satoru Gojo casually raised a hand and waved, offering the newcomer a rather perfunctory greeting.

Then he rummaged in his pocket, pulled out a pink bow hair clip, and, ignoring Aikawa Kaze's struggles, forcibly clipped it onto the head in front of him.

Aikawa Kaze: "..."

Unable to escape, Aikawa Kaze could only give the newcomer an innocent look to prove that, unlike the asshole beside him, he was absolutely a normal person!

And so, Aikawa Kaze saw the sea-urchin-haired boy's look of unbearable embarrassment.

Damn it! He was so embarrassed he could dig an entire Hogwarts out of the floor with his toes!

Yet the instigator saw nothing wrong with any of this and happily pushed the bow-wearing Aikawa Kaze in front of the boy.

"Megumi~ Come take a look at your present! Don't you love it? Aren't you surprised?!"

Well, that explained the tacky bow. After all that, he was the present!

Aikawa Kaze: "..."

Things had already reached this point. How much more embarrassing could they get?

He had only been tied up with a bow and treated as a gift. Didn't that just prove his worth?

Perhaps his capacity for embarrassment had already exploded. Surprisingly, Aikawa Kaze wasn't particularly bothered by the act itself. His mood could even be described as perfectly calm, and he found it a little funny.

-He had miraculously evolved.

What bothered Aikawa Kaze wasn't appearances, but whether his adorable little brother would form some strange impression of him after witnessing that humiliating scene.

Still, there was nothing left to fear.

He was no longer the Aikawa Kaze he had once been. He was now the upgraded Niu Hulu Aikawa Kaze!

To reiterate, although he had no interest in creatures such as biological fathers or godfathers, a little brother was still welcome-especially one who carried a whole pack of adorable fluffballs around with him.

-Those fluffballs didn't even need their poop scooped, or feeding, or brushing. All he had to do was pet them. What kind of dream pets were these?!

After that momentary detour, Aikawa Kaze tried to steer his thoughts back on track.

His current predicament was that Megumi Fushiguro had clearly heard that ridiculous remixed ringtone and would definitely know it was his voice. So how could he salvage his image?

Various solutions flashed through Aikawa Kaze's mind.

In the end, he chose the one he believed had the best chance of successfully shifting the blame.

He remembered the saying, "It's not that I'm outstanding; the competition just makes me look good." All he had to do was dump every problem onto Satoru Gojo!

Ultimately, Gojo was the one who had made him embarrass himself in the first place. His conscience didn't hurt at all!

With that thought, Aikawa Kaze subtly adjusted his expression, letting a little disappointment and sadness show.

"Gojo Sensei said That Man entrusted me to him before he died, so I... I never thought Sensei would do something like this..."

After speaking, he even forced a smile, gazing sadly up at the sky at a forty-five-degree angle.

"I'm sorry. I guess I really did get carried away, didn't I? Gojo Sensei really was just treating me as a joke..."

"..."

"..."

The air suddenly fell silent, and Aikawa Kaze grew a little nervous.

He had tried all sorts of styles before, but advanced skills like manipulative sweet-talk and radiant sorrow at a forty-five-degree angle were truly a first for him. Had his acting been too fake?

As far as Aikawa Kaze could recall, Jujutsu Kaisen didn't have this sort of sweet-talking aesthetic. These two shouldn't have any experience with this type of character, right?

He appeared to watch the clouds drifting across the sky while frantically thinking of ways to recover. Meanwhile, his peripheral vision casually swept over the two of them-huh? Their expressions looked a little grave?

Had he really fooled them?

The next second, a pair of warm little hands took his hand of their own accord.

He turned to see the black-haired, sea-urchin-headed boy wearing a gentle expression, his face utterly serious.

"Don't worry about that unreliable guy. Come on. We've got dinner ready at home today. My sister's a good cook."

Without waiting for Aikawa Kaze's reply, Megumi Fushiguro glared at Satoru Gojo, took out his key, and opened the door. After pulling Kaze inside, he slammed it shut with a bang.

Although the big white cat left outside later opened the door himself and came in, the message was already perfectly clear.

At least in Megumi Fushiguro's eyes, that strange and bizarre scene just now was entirely Satoru Gojo's fault. It had nothing whatsoever to do with the innocent, guileless Aikawa Kaze!

And so, Aikawa Kaze not only enjoyed a thoroughly satisfying meal, but also formally met Megumi Fushiguro and his sister, Tsumiki Fushiguro. They all got along wonderfully.

It wasn't that Tsumiki's cooking was so outstanding that it surpassed a restaurant's refinement, but her food undoubtedly had the taste of "home."

Discussing cooking with Fushiguro's sister was a pleasure. Aikawa Kaze had no doubt that, by Food Wars! standards, she was the sort who could put her "feelings" into her cooking.

It looked like she hadn't fallen victim yet, but judging by the timeline, it probably wouldn't be long... Was there some way to help her avoid that disaster?

Although this was their first meeting, the gentle, accepting Tsumiki Fushiguro left Aikawa Kaze with a very good impression. If possible, he really wanted to keep her from being marked.

Unfortunately, he didn't know the specifics very well. He only knew that Fushiguro's sister hadn't been chosen by chance; it seemed to be part of some villain's scheme...

For now, Aikawa Kaze couldn't find a lead to work with. He could only make a mental note and decide to find an opportunity to mention it to Satoru Gojo later.

After dinner, Fushiguro's sister declined the boys' help and shooed her two "little brothers" into a room to chat while she cleaned up the kitchen.

Aikawa Kaze quite liked it here. Not only had discussing food with Fushiguro's sister been enjoyable, but talking with Megumi Fushiguro also went remarkably smoothly.

Given Megumi Fushiguro's reserved personality and Aikawa Kaze's habits, their conversations should have been more polite than intimate, gradually growing warmer once they knew each other better.

But perhaps because Kaze had already suffered a bout of social humiliation, and because Satoru Gojo was there as the root of all evil and the perfect scapegoat, their friendship progressed at lightning speed.

In particular, the honest Megumi Fushiguro really seemed to have fallen for his act. Believing Kaze was deeply hurt by Satoru Gojo's "joke," he took the lead in complaining about all the ways Gojo was unreliable.

When people had someone in common to complain about, shared topics multiplied. Those doing the complaining grew familiar without even realizing it, and time flew by.

So by the time their conversation wound down that evening, it was already late at night.

At his hosts' invitation, Aikawa Kaze naturally stayed overnight in the guest room, and Megumi Fushiguro provided him with an unworn change of clothes.

With their age difference, Megumi Fushiguro's clothes were a little big on him now. They were perfectly wearable, but that fact was still a little depressing.

Aikawa Kaze silently added two glasses of milk a day to his diet.

Last time, he'd grown to 180 centimeters without drinking this much. With some extra calcium this time around, maybe he could reach 190 like Satoru Gojo?

"Doesn't this feel like it went a little too smoothly? And pretty naturally, too?"

Lying on the guest room bed, Aikawa Kaze stared blankly at the ceiling, feeling that things had developed rather strangely.

Both the warm Tsumiki Fushiguro and the quiet Megumi Fushiguro seemed to have naturally treated him as... a new member of the household?

And he hadn't felt particularly resistant, either. Perhaps that was because their behavior wasn't deliberate; instead, it radiated a sense of ordinary, everyday inevitability.

Had Gojo Sensei said something beforehand? Or perhaps...

Aikawa Kaze's expression turned peculiar. He had enjoyed talking with Tsumiki because they shared a similar interest in "cooking and food," while his growing familiarity with Megumi Fushiguro had relied on "the many reasons to complain about Satoru Gojo."

Looking back, although Satoru Gojo liked teasing people and persistently tried to make him lose his composure, he had never quite pushed him into exploding like this before-had it been intentional?

Thinking this, Aikawa Kaze couldn't resist speaking up to question the system, which had finally responded.

"System, how's your hacking going?"

[Coming, coming! Honestly, I'm making millions a minute right now, and you actually called me back just to handle something this trivial...]

"..." Was the system getting more and more human?

Aikawa Kaze was speechless for a moment before shaking his head.

"Make a copy of everything about me on his phone... and the others, too."

[Huh? Your stuff is one thing, but the others'... isn't that a violation of personal privacy?]

"Oh, have you been studying criminal law lately?" Aikawa Kaze raised an eyebrow and said flatly, "Is secretly borrowing someone else's server legal, then? And did I give you permission to possess me? Is possessing people whenever you want legal?"

[Of course that's-beep, beep, beep! System error-system maintenance in progress-]

The system silently issued an error report. It had nearly forgotten that this transmigrator had forgotten the "contract" he signed at the very beginning. As far as his current memories were concerned, it really had appeared out of nowhere.

But it couldn't tell him that!

"Don't play dumb."

Listening to the system's beeping gave Aikawa Kaze a headache. His skull was buzzing.

"Give me the files."

[Transfer complete. The transmigrator may check his phone.]

Aikawa Kaze casually browsed through them and, unsurprisingly, found embarrassing moments involving himself and his classmates.

"Panda was so adorable when he was little! Too bad I came too late... Toge's wardrobe is actually this varied?! There are even photos of Maki covered in dirt..."

Aikawa Kaze admired Satoru Gojo's collection.

Panda was adorable. Even the photos of him clumsily falling over had a goofy charm. Maki had quite a few exaggerated expressions, but she looked lively and cute.

The one who surprised Aikawa Kaze most was Toge. Even though he knew the boy was lively and cheerful beneath the surface, he hadn't expected Toge to be so adventurous, with everything from fluorescent outfits to animal-hide styles.

Of course, there were also plenty of Satoru Gojo's ridiculous selfies. He had even carefully preserved images of Yuta Okkottsu when he first enrolled, timidly following everyone around to exorcise cursed spirits.

"It feels like a shame to delete everything. I should make a backup after all!"

Originally, Aikawa Kaze had planned to do everyone a favor by deleting all their embarrassing material, but after a quick look through it, he found himself reluctant.

Although there were plenty of silly and embarrassing moments in there, they undoubtedly captured everyone's youth. Browsing through them was pretty interesting.

So, in the end, Aikawa Kaze chose to delete his own embarrassing material, and also...

"Change Satoru Gojo's ringtone to 'Uneasy.'"

[What is "Uneasy"?]

Aikawa Kaze blinked, realizing that some of the legendary songs he knew didn't exist here. Remembering that he still had to discuss Tsumiki's situation later, he could only reluctantly abandon the idea.

"Forget it. Just find whatever pop song is most popular and change it to that."

[Search complete. The most popular song currently is Takada-chan's new release, "love you." It is already the phone's current ringtone. No change is necessary.]

"???"

Aikawa Kaze paused, his eyes flickering.

"Where did he put that recording of me?"

[In the encrypted folder: "Kaze-chan Losing Control of His Expressions This Week" (Issue Four).]

Aikawa Kaze: That damn thing actually existed!

Still, he hadn't expected Satoru Gojo to have some boundaries after all. He hadn't really used that ridiculous remix as his ringtone, and that actually sent a little ripple of gratitude through Kaze's heart.

"Delete..." Aikawa Kaze hesitated, then said reluctantly, "Delete the remixed version. Leave him the original recording."

[???]

"I'm just accepting the outcome of the bet... no, keeping my word! If he wants to keep it as the price I pay, he can. But not the remixed version!"

[Humans are so complicated.]

The system indicated that it didn't understand, but as a support system, it still decided to obediently comply.

[Search complete. No audio files meeting the transmigrator's criteria were found. The phone contains only the original recording.]

"Are you sure?"

[The phone's recycle bin contained discarded audio files and has been emptied. Is technical recovery by the system required?]

"Of course not!"

[Transmigrator, should the other embarrassing photos still be deleted?]

"..."

Aikawa Kaze fell silent, opened his phone, and carefully inspected Satoru Gojo's collection. He had to admit the system hadn't made a mistake. Gojo really hadn't kept that remixed ringtone.

It seemed that guy had only wanted to make him stomp around in fury.

The gratitude that had just stirred gradually turned to exasperation as he saw the photos of himself losing control of his expressions-especially the animated image of him forcing his anger into a smile. If he hadn't been the person in it, he probably would have given it a like, too.

After looking at the tortured expressions from his later breakdown, Aikawa Kaze closed his eyes.

Perhaps Satoru Gojo really had harbored the tiniest intention of helping him grow closer to Megumi Fushiguro faster, but mostly, he had definitely wanted to mess with him!

After all, even without Satoru Gojo's antics, he and Megumi Fushiguro would have become familiar sooner or later.

Just like with his classmates at Jujutsu High, they would gradually adjust to one another as they spent time together.

But given Satoru Gojo's fondness for teasing people...

Remembering how the original author had personally depicted Satoru Gojo even stealing Nobara's skirt, Aikawa Kaze couldn't help feeling his spirits sink.

If he really deleted these things, would Gojo go even further to fill the gaps in his collection?

But if he didn't delete them, it somehow felt like he was losing out...

Aikawa Kaze agonized over his mixed feelings, while the system completely failed to understand his complicated mood.

[Transmigrator, this system now makes tens of millions a minute. This system is very busy.]

"Just now it was millions, and now it's tens of millions? Your math doesn't add up!"

[This symbolizes the system's evolution. This system has learned your human rhetorical technique of exaggeration, vividly illustrating through the doubling of figures-]

"You're right. You can go back to work. Don't let anything delay you from earning a hundred million."

Aikawa Kaze pressed a hand to his forehead. He was mentally exhausted today and didn't feel like manipulating the system.

[Humans truly are fickle creatures. When you need something, it's "dear system"; when you don't, it's "get lost, system."]

"So should I tell you to get lost?"

[The system is offline. Please leave a message if needed.]

"..."

Aikawa Kaze sighed and rolled over on the bed again.

A little while later, a knock sounded at the door.

"Kaze, are you asleep?"

"Not yet... did I disturb you?"

Aikawa Kaze got off the bed and opened the door.

While communicating with the system, he had unconsciously kept rolling around on the bed to change positions. Maybe he'd made too much noise? It looked like this old house wasn't very soundproof!

Outside, Megumi Fushiguro stood at the door, his head tilted slightly.

"It's nothing. It just sounded like you were having trouble sleeping, so I wanted to ask if you needed anything."

"No, nothing like that. I was just playing on my phone."

"Oh... tomorrow's the weekend. Want to go out for a walk?"

Megumi Fushiguro looked perfectly composed, giving no hint that he had earlier posted a frantic plea for help: "Urgent! What should I do for fun with a little brother I've just met for the first time?"

According to the enthusiastic recommendations of the internet, interactive outdoor activities were the best choice: widely appealing and easy to arrange.

There happened to be a rarely visited Nature Park nearby where he often took the Divine Dogs for walks. Perhaps Aikawa Kaze would like it, too.

Aikawa Kaze didn't know what "homework" the socially awkward boy before him had done, but he felt Megumi Fushiguro's goodwill and awkward attempt to make friends. So he smiled and nodded.

"I'd love to."

Maybe I'd even get a chance to pet some dogs or rabbits!

Aikawa Kaze, who loved fluffy animals, brightened at the thought and began looking forward to tomorrow.

At the same time, Jujutsu Headquarters received a piece of shocking news.

"What?! Satoru Gojo actually volunteered for a mission?! And he's willing to go abroad?!"

"Could he be plotting something?"

"This isn't like him! And why India?"

"Forget it. We couldn't stop him even if we wanted to. Just send some people along to see what he's up to..."

"Agreed!"

While the Old Conservatives bickered, Satoru Gojo had already hastily rearranged his schedule and prepared for a trip abroad.

He had no choice. Apparently, his earlier joke had gone just a tiny bit too far and genuinely angered a certain Little Fox.

Sure, he had wanted to fool around a little so that Megumi and Kaze-chan would find it easier to unite against a common enemy, but that sad expression afterward...

Unfamiliar with the culture of playing innocent to manipulate others, Satoru Gojo wasn't quite sure whether Aikawa Kaze was genuinely upset and sad. After all, he'd never encountered this type before, so it was hard to tell on the spot.

But that was all right. The all-capable Gojo Sensei had a solution.

Satoru Gojo delivered Gilgamesh's Clay Tablet to Aikawa Kaze's Dormitory, then volunteered for the mission in India.

It was only Karna's Holy Relic!

Even if money couldn't buy it, Gojo Sensei could call in a favor! Worst case, he'd go excavate the ruins himself!