On the windowsill at the end of the corridor at Jujutsu High.
Satoru Gojo had one long leg bent.
The other dangled casually outside the window. His phone had just locked, and he was twirling his sunglasses between his fingers.
"...Gojo-sensei?"
A somewhat uncertain voice came from the doorway.
Yuta Okkotsu stood there.
His expression hovered between politeness and nervousness, as though he had hesitated for a long time before speaking.
The dark circles under his eyes made his already quiet face look a little gloomier.
"Oh, Yuta."
Satoru Gojo turned and smiled at him, the sunglasses stopping between his fingers. "Come on in. Why stand in the doorway? I don't bite."
Yuta Okkotsu walked in and gave Satoru Gojo a cautious glance.
"Just now...were you on the phone with someone, sensei?"
"Hm?" Satoru Gojo waved his phone screen toward him. "A very reliable guy."
"His name's Wangchuan."
"Wangchuan..." Yuta Okkotsu repeated the name.
As though he had searched his memory and confirmed he had never heard it, he asked, "Is he a Jujutsu Sorcerer too?"
"More or less."
Satoru Gojo hopped off the windowsill, barely making a sound as he landed.
He was as light as a big cat. "Strictly speaking, I guess he'd count as a freelance Jujutsu Sorcerer? A professional expert at checking out beautiful women?"
Yuta Okkotsu missed the joke and asked hesitantly, "Uh, that description...is he reliable?"
"Very reliable." A little of the humor suddenly left Satoru Gojo's tone.
Yuta Okkotsu noticed that when his teacher said this, the eyes behind his sunglasses seemed to curve slightly.
Not in his usual mischievous way, but in a different sort of curve, with a hint of appreciation.
"Then he must be really strong?" Yuta Okkotsu asked.
Satoru Gojo tilted his head.
He seemed to be considering how to put it accurately, then suddenly laughed.
"Well, how should I put this?"
"If he hadn't turned it down himself, he would've been the fourth Special Grade Sorcerer."
He paused and pointed a finger at Yuta Okkotsu.
"Instead of you, Okkotsu."
Yuta Okkotsu froze.
"...The fourth Special Grade?" He blinked his somewhat dark, somber eyes. "He turned it down?"
"Yep, turned it down." Satoru Gojo walked over to the desk.
He casually flipped through a book lying there, looking unconcerned.
"Jujutsu Headquarters sent him an invitation. He took one look at the pay and called them right then to say he'd be better off washing dishes to buy a villa than taking that money."
"..."
Yuta Okkotsu opened his mouth, clearly digesting this information.
"Washing dishes...?"
"His exact words. I heard about it from someone afterward."
"Hahaha."
"Pretty funny, right?"
Satoru Gojo laughed happily.
"After that, the people at Jujutsu Headquarters decided he was too difficult to deal with and stopped inviting him."
"But a few days ago, they asked me to talk him into it again."
"Ahh, what a pain."
Yuta Okkotsu fell silent for a few seconds.
He couldn't imagine someone turning down the title of Special Grade Sorcerer because the pay was too low.
To him, that status meant responsibility, ability, and...to some extent, proof that he had been accepted.
"Why...does he care so much about money?" Yuta Okkotsu asked very softly, without any judgment, just pure curiosity.
"Who knows?" Satoru Gojo shrugged and tapped the pages with his fingers.
"Everyone has something they care about. What you care about, Yuta, is..."
He suddenly stopped, the corners of his mouth lifting.
"Ah, never mind. Let's skip that topic."
Yuta Okkotsu felt a little uncomfortable under his gaze and lowered his head.
After a while, he asked another question. "Then...Gojo-sensei, who's stronger, you or him?"
The instant the question left his mouth, even he felt it was a little presumptuous.
The tips of his ears reddened slightly. "I'm just...a little curious."
"Since you said he's a Special Grade too..."
Satoru Gojo closed the book.
He leaned against the edge of the desk, folded his arms, and raised his chin slightly.
The pose made him look considerably more serious than usual, but that hint of a smile remained.
"Hmm...ah..."
He drew the sounds out, seemingly giving it serious thought.
"I'm not really sure."
"Huh?"
"Really." Satoru Gojo tilted his head and tapped his temple with a fingertip.
"I fought him once."
"Just once. About half a year ago, when he'd just come to Jujutsu High."
"What happened?" Yuta Okkotsu's voice rose a little without him realizing it.
"What happened..." Satoru Gojo drew it out, then laughed. "We held back and stopped short. Never finished the fight."
"He wasn't in very good shape then, and I wasn't taking it too seriously either. We casually traded a few moves, then went out to eat together."
"He even made me pay. Said that since we'd sparred, the winner should treat."
"I said we hadn't finished fighting. He said, 'I don't care. You look richer anyway.'"
Satoru Gojo laughed aloud at this point.
"So I paid. The most expensive barbecue place. He ordered thirty plates of wagyu."
Yuta Okkotsu didn't know what expression to make, so in the end, all he could say was,
"...Then, neither of you knows how strong the other really is?"
"Nope." Satoru Gojo's tone was light, as though he were talking about something very amusing.
"I can't get a read on his limits, and he can't get a read on mine."
"That's what makes an opponent interesting. How boring would it be if you could see right through them?"
He reached out and ruffled Yuta Okkotsu's hair.
The latter ducked his head slightly but didn't pull away, then settled the sunglasses back on his nose.
"All right, don't overthink it. You'll meet him sooner or later."
Satoru Gojo patted Yuta Okkotsu's shoulder, lightly but with a certainty that was somehow reassuring.
"When that happens, you can get a feel for him yourself, can't you?"
Yuta Okkotsu looked up at him. "...I'll meet him?"
"Of course." Satoru Gojo turned and walked the few steps toward the doorway.
With the back of his head facing Yuta Okkotsu, his voice drifted back over his shoulder.
"You new students are meeting up in a few days. I'm planning to invite him along."
"Huh? He's coming back?"
"Yep."
"I offered him a hundred million yen to come back for a mission. His flight's tonight."
Yuta Okkotsu fell silent again.
A hundred million yen.
He stood in the quiet afternoon classroom, watching Satoru Gojo's back disappear around the corner of the corridor, those few lines of conversation running through his mind over and over.
"Because Jujutsu Headquarters offered too little money..."
He repeated it quietly, then suddenly couldn't help the corners of his mouth lifting.
This man named Wangchuan really did seem rather interesting.
Satoru Gojo's cheerful whistling came from out in the corridor, so far off-key that it was impossible to tell what song it was.
"What a bunch of strange people..."
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