Footsteps thudded against the wooden floor of the training hall that afternoon.
In the shade at the edge of the floor, Qingxiao and Satoru Gojo leaned side by side against the railing, watching Itadori and the others train.
Gojo dangled his legs with a straw between his lips. His gaze swept around the floor before he suddenly said, out of nowhere:
"The cake in my office fridge is gone."
Qingxiao was twisting the cap off a bottle and answered casually:
"The strawberry one, right? I ate it this morning."
But Gojo chuckled and turned to look at him, his voice brimming with the smugness of someone who had caught him red-handed:
"I never said it was strawberry."
Silence hung in the air for two seconds.
Qingxiao's hand slowly stopped twisting the cap, and he turned to look at Gojo.
His eyes plainly said, "Do you seriously have nothing better to do?" He looked at him as though he were an idiot with a screw loose.
"What was perfectly clear has now become shrouded in mystery."
"What?"
Nobara had just driven a nail into the bull's-eye. She glanced back at the two by the railing:
"Those two Special Grade Sorcerers don't have a mental age of ten between them."
Fushiguro recalled his Divine Dogs and wiped the sweat from his temple. Following her gaze, he looked over, his face expressionless and his tone resigned:
"You'll get used to it."
Before Gojo could figure out what Qingxiao meant, the training hall door swung open, and Assistant Supervisor Ijichi hurried inside with an anxious expression.
"Mr. Gojo! Mr. Gu Yue!" Ijichi adjusted his glasses, panic in his voice:
"Something's happened at the Juvenile Detention Center! A special grade cursed womb has been detected!"
The playful grin on Gojo's face faded a little. He