In modern times, there were a small number of things that could things that could be considered “unshakeable truths”. That number was three.
First, Mito Koumon would always be victorious in the end.

Secondly, the animation “Sazae-san” would air on television every Sunday.

The last would be that Kugisaki Nobara would go shopping for a very long time.

Therefore, when Fushiguro heard Kugisaki say that “I want to go have a look around Ameyoko-cho”, he had already made the mental preparation for a drawn-out resistance. Furthermore, this situation was comparable to the one with Gojou earlier. On a certain Sunday morning, Gojou suddenly suggested “Megumi, shall we go to Shima Spain Village together to play?”

However, unexpectedly, Itadori showed little interest.

Afterall, Itadori could be considered someone who liked watching television after all so he had thought that he would be interested in an iconic tourist attraction in Tokyo such as Ameyoko-cho.

“I’ll pass. There’s other places that I want to see.”

“I see. Then let’s meet up at some other place later on.”

In the end, they ended up doing their own activities.

Fushiguro had gradually grown used to being pincered between Itadori and Kugisaki and getting wrapped up in the various spontaneous and crazy antics of those two for no rhyme or reason, so right now he was as surprised as someone learning that Hijiki* had very little iron content.
(T/N A kind of brown sea vegetable)

Of course, Fushiguro was glad to be left alone.

He wanted to go home as soon as he could and continue reading the books that he bought a few days ago. He also wanted to clean up the drawers of his desk and clothes cabinet a bit.

But fundamentally, Fushiguro was a sensible individual.

Could he really allow the vessel of Sukuna, Itadori, to run around on his own? That worry had crossed his mind.

Speaking of the area of Ueno-Okachimachi, it was a street that was full of trendy things and history.

This shopping street managed to persist with its flourish since the end of the war, but behind its prosperous front, there might be strange tales being spread widely, hiding bombs known as curses that had yet to detonate.

Furthermore, Itadori was the kind of person who would run to buy some lame-ass sunglasses once you took his eyes off him and would even say “Tachikawa is part of Shinjuku”. It would not be strange if he accidentally got lost and went to the Chiyoda district, believe that the Shoumenzuka* was a must-visit spot and then take a photo to post on Instagram to show off.
(T/N: It’s the grave of a samurai general by the name of Taira no Masakado. It was built to pacify his ghost.)

Therefore, in the end, Fushiguro decided to go with Itadori….truth to be told, Fushiguro deeply regretted it.

“Fushiguro, didn’t you say you weren’t interested in Akihabara? Why did you follow me then?”

“None of your business. Why are you asking so many questions?”

“Oh. I wanted to take a look around Akihabara since a long time ago.”

“You want to buy something right? They only sell stuff like manga, games and appliances though.”

“I wanted to sight see. Places like Shibuya and Shinjuku are pretty great and all, but the Akihabara I saw on television has some kind of alternate world feeling, like a theme park.”

“There’s that kind of feeling?”

Someone who stayed in Tokyo was not able to empathise, but Akihabara was indeed a very unique place.

The atmosphere in front of the train station was already distinctive. Aside from being obviously influenced by the anime and manga culture, the number of advertisements was so dense that it was breathtaking.

The billboards that were full of smiling game characters that could be seen everywhere truly gave people the impression of a theme park.

Other than that, among the crowds of people, one could occasionally see people cosplaying and there were also maids who were focused on handing out flyers on the streets. Then in one second, one might be able to see a rare import car racing down the amazing streets and the next second, the sight of truck transporting a giant robotic model to some unknown location would cross one’s eyes.

Would Itadori be able to suppress the curiosity he had of this place? Of course not.

“Fushiguro, this place is really wild, the number of arcades is as much as the shops.”

“Because this is Akiharabara.”

“Fushiguro, this place is really wild, the maids keep approaching on their own.”

“Because this is Akihabara.”

“This place is really wild! Fushiguro! That’s a pervy game, right? That’s an advertisement board about a pervy game, right? Is it really alright to display it like that in the open? …..Crap, I’m still underaged. I wonder if I’ll get scolded just for looking at it.”

“You’re too damn noisy!”

Akihabara itself was already a downtown area that was fill of hustle and bustle, but to Fushiguro, Itadori was noisier than his surroundings by about three times.

And it was still a few hours before they would meet up with Kugisaki.

Itadori had already transformed into an ultra-curious child and once Fushiguro thought that he had to stay at Akihabara and accompany such an Itadori by himself, it gave him a massive headache.

Yet Itadori was still self-absorbed and never noticed Fushiguro’s troubles at all.

“It’s lucky that you’re with me, the roads around here are a mess. I’ll probably get lost if I’m on my own.”

“It should be better than someplace like Shinjuku though.”

Don’t use your Tokyoite standard all the time to look at things. I mean in the whole of Japan, only the city of Tokyo would have vending machines that can be paid for using cashless methods everywhere or have Pepper robots outside shops, you know?”

“There aren’t that many stores with Pepper Robots.”

“If it was Sendai, you probably can only see that at “Capsule Hotel TOPOS”.”
“Don’t use some shop name from your hometown as though it’s obvious, would you? What place is that anyway?”

“It’s a public bathhouse compound.”

(T/N: Capsule Hotel TOPOS is a capsule hotel with a bathhouse.)

“A bathhouse actually has a Pepper Robot? That’s actually pretty advanced.

“Yeah, anyway, rather than me walking around by myself, I feel more secure when there’s someone who knows the way around. Even till now, I still don’t get how to take the metro line.”

“Is there anyone in this world who would get lost within the Yamanote Line?”

“Ah, you’re using your Tokyoite vision to look at things again.”

“You wandered around randomly for a few days, but in actual fact, you didn’t really get lost, did you?”

“Right, Fushiguro, let’s go get some kebabs to eat, kebabs.”

“Have a proper conversation, would you?!”

Fushiguro had already gotten a feeling that Itadori and Gojou were extremely similar in terms of personality and the way they talked, but now, having a conversation alone with Itadori made the feeling even more apparent.

However, if one had to use a game of catch as an analogy, speaking with Itadori would at most be like playing catch before the game transformed to dodge ball. Speaking with Gojou would be more like a game in the golf course or the batting center where the ball flew and never came back.

Speaking of Gojou, he had not seen Gojou at all, whether it was in their dormitory or inside their school. Even though it was a day off today and it was Gojou’s freedom to go wherever he wanted, it dawned to Fushiguro once more that Gojou was a man of many mysteries.

At the same time Fushiguro was pondering where Gojou could have gone, he activated his listen-and-forget mode and Itadori’s words went into one ear and out of the other.

After all, when Itadori talked, it was about the same frequency as the hustle and bustle of the pedestrians around them, so as long as he did not try to focus on it, he could handle it like background noise.

It was rather tiring to give a proper reply anyway, so no one would blame Fushiguro for using this method to conserve his brain’s energy.

“……Ah?”

When he came back to his senses, Itadori was gone.

Fushiguro glanced around his surroundings in a panic and after some trouble, he finally noticed a figure with faintly red hair walking into an arcade.

*

“What in the world are you doing?”

“Playing a video game. Ah, or are you asking me the title of this game?””

“I’m not asking you these things, you special grade moron.”

After Fushiguro came up to the fourth floor of the electronic games area which was located in a narrow building, he finally found Itadori.
It was further in from the fighting games sections. After leaving the area which felt like a place where expert players would gather, he came to a place where there were rows of old-fashioned machines that cost fifty yen per round and Itadori was at one of the corners.

And he was in fact, sitting in front of one of the arcade machines that did not seem to have a particularly interesting game.

Itadori pouted, explaining to Fushiguro why he was at this place.

“You’re not? I only thought that since we have a couple of hours to kill, it did not seem practical to just wander around outside so since there were so many arcades nearby, it just nice for passing the time.

“At least tell me before you come here, right?”

“I did.”

“……..”

In the end, the blame laid on himself for not listening to Itadori properly. Feeling awkward about it, Fushiguro quickly changed the topic.

“Besides, what game is this that you’re playing?”

“No matter how you look, you would know it’s “Fighting! Corporate Warriors: Workplace Chaos”, right?”

“No matter how I look, I really can’t tell it’s “Fighting! Corporate Warriors: Workplace Chaos”.”

“Actually, this is also the first time I’ve seen this game so I’m not too sure what it’s about.”

 The game that Itadori chose felt so boring that it could be considered a miracle.

It seemed like this should be considered a fighting game but the characters were almost all uncles who were salarymen and dressed in neatly pressed suits, it was difficult to differentiate them.
Even though each game only cost fifty yen, Fushiguro was still baffled that Itadori was still determined to pay money for this kind of game and at the same time. He thought in jest, no wonder this person still dared to swallow Sukuna’s finger.

Itadori ignored Fushiguro’s reaction and kept with what he was doing.

But it seemed like he was looking for a competitor to go against him.
“I wanna ask instead, aren’t you playing, Fushiguro? This is a competitive kind.”

“I do not wish to spend my money on this kind of game.”

Fushiguro frowned as though it was formed from the disgust from the bottom of his heart.
However, competitive battle games were only fun if you played against someone else.
Furthermore, if the game was one that one could tell was boring from just a look. It was far too empty, so no matter how uninterested Fushiguro was in this kind of game, Itadori still hoped that he could play a few rounds with him.
“Why don’t you just join me for a bit? Or could it be that you suck at video games, Fushiguro? You don’t have to confidence to beat me?”

“It’s not that I have no confidence – I just don’t want to play it.”

“If you don’t play this with me, then I’ll take it as my victory through a walkover, I’m the victor! You’re alright with this?”

“Whatever you like.”

“Just play a round would you, please! I’ll pay for your share! Play already!”

“You’re actually serious about this? ….Sheesh.”

Itadori even used the tactic of paying for other people to play games. Fushiguro was unable to worm his way out of this and he could not bear to let the other party pay for his so he used his own money and sat opposite Itadori.
Anyway, for something like fighting games, of course it was only interesting when two people played.

Itadori showed his sincere gratitude towards Fushiguro who was willing to accompany him and ecstatically chose his player character.
“Then I’ll use “President Yamada”.”

“….I’ll use “Chief Oozaki”.”

“What, you’re actually using the very first character in the character selection list? Ah, but those characters tend to be easier to control so it should be alright for a newbie like you.”

“Didn’t you say this was your first time seeing this game?”

“Actually before you came here, I have already finished the third stage of the one-player mode.”

“So I actually selected a small fry character, huh.”

And like this, the two started their battle within the game.

“Take that! Have a good look of the sure win combo that I came up with in fifteen minutes!”

“Your training time sure is short.”

From the start of the battle, Itadori continuously used the simple move “Name Card Shuriken” to keep on the offense.
The Chief Oozaki that was controlled by Fushiguro jumped to dodge President Yamada’s shuriken that were flying towards him at an equidistance, and at the same time, he kept drawing closer to his opponent. Just when one thought he would use a heavy kick on the President after closing the distance, he actually thew the President a distance away and continued to thrash the other party at the edge of the screen.

“Eh, wait, Fushiguro, are you using the game’s loophole? This is a loophole, right?!”

Fushiguro continuously used a light punch, a light punch and a medium strength kick. Then, once the moderate kick technique landed its low, the overtime gauge became full and he activated his special move “Overtime Fists of Fury” and finished the battle.

It was obvious who won and who lost.

“Are you kidding?! Fushiguro, why do you know how to use those skills? Are you actually good at this game?”
“The button pressing method for the skills are on the screen.”
“You’re cheating!”

“You’re actually bad at games, aren’t you?”

“As if, I won’t lose as long as I know how to activate the skills! One more round! One more!”

“Are you serious, you actually threw a few coins in….”

After Itadori challenged Fushiguro for around an hour, he still had more losses than victories.

*

The two of them went down to the first floor where the claw machines were, and after buying some soda at the vending machines, they felt a strange sense of emptiness that was beyond compare.

The expressions on their faces were that of a feeling of loss after a withdrawal from getting fired up.

“Sigh—why did I spend a thousand yen on such a crappy game….”

Fushiguro looked at the despondent Itadori and felt that the other party was really silly from the bottom of his heart.

“If you had enough fun, let’s get out of here. Sure, arcades are pretty good at passing the time but they also eat up your purse.”

“You’re right about that….Ah!”

“What? Don’t tell me you found another crappy game. I’m not playing along with you this time.”

“No, look over there, look over there, quickly!”

Fushiguro squinted and followed the direction where Itadori was pointing.

After that, his eyes widened in surprise.

“…That’s Gojou-sensei?”

“Right? That’s sensei alright.”

Positioned at the end of their line of sight was truly Gojou Satoru himself.

If they thought about it carefully, Gojou was the only person in this world who would be dressed in all black and enter a dimly lit arcade centre with a black blindfold.

“Um….Hey, Fushiguro, what is Gojou-sensei doing?”

“He’s playing a crane machine game, those kinds with snacks inside.”
“Why would he play that? Don’t tell me Sensei came here by himself to the arcade just because he wanted to eat snacks?”

“How would I know.”
“Ah, he gave up on playing.”

“That’s too fast, isn’t it.”

It looked as though Gojou was pouting in dissatisfaction, and with a swagger, headed for the exit of the arcade.

It could not be figured out what he was planning to do here, but in the first place, he was not someone who was easy to figure out so this should not be that strange—

Fushiguro decided not to dig deeper for a reason in the end.

However, Itadori was not giving up.

“Alright, let’s tail him.”

“Why do we have to tail him.”

Itadori prepared to dash out of the arcade, following Gojou’s tracks. Fushiguro hurriedly finished his soda, discarded the can, and gave chase.

“Because, Gojou-sensei should not be working today, right? I suddenly reaslised that I don’t really know what Sensei does during his free time or on his off days….”

“So?”

“So we’re going to follow him now.”

“Can you not say it like it’s something naturally obvious….”

“But, the truth is I really want to know what he’s up too. I keep getting the feeling that I don’t know Gojou-sensei well. Of course, Fushiguro, if you don’t feel the same way, you could just stay here by yourself and wait for me to come back.”

“…………….”

 There was no need to mention what kind of dilemma Fushiguro had within his heart. In any case, both Fushiguro and Itadori decided to tail Gojou to find out what he was up to.

Gojou was without doubt a teacher who was dependable as well as a Jujutsu Sorcerer worthy of respect.

However, in the eyes of the students, he was a teacher with a flippant attitude, who was busy with his job, who popped out of nowhere and his thoughts and area of activity were all unknown. A person who was full of mystery. Therefore, seeing him strolling around leisurely was an absolutely rare sight.

Simply put, Fushiguro went with his curiousity.

Or one could say that his mental state was weakened from playing that lame game with Itadori, so he came to this result without much thought.

Anyway, the two decided to look for their teacher, Gojou who they had lost track of.

*

And they found him without much trouble.

“Fushiguro, that’s Gojou-sensei right?”

“…It really is.”

When the two noticed Gojou again, he was walking while eating a crepe.

From the packaging, it should be a crepe from that popular store that was across the road.

There was cream, tiramisu and macarons piled on top of it. There was also coloured chocolate rice scattered on it.

There was a tall man with a height of around 190 centimeters holding onto a crepe that looked like something out of children’s dreams and was walking and eating it with relish at the same time.

“Fushiguro, Sensei is amazing. Is that something someone can do just because they thought about it?”

“I wouldn’t not even think of doing such a thing.”

“Could Sensei be doing some sort of cursed sorcery training?”

“If one could get stronger just by walking while eating crepe, then we don’t have to have such harsh training.”

The two kept a fixed distance from Gojou and continued to follow this grown adult gobbling a crepe.

Even in a dream like district such as Akihabara, this scene should still be eye catching.

A short while later, after Gojou finished eating his entire crepe, he stopped in front of a store that seemed pretty old fashioned.

“….Vacuum Tube Specialty Store.”

Fushiguro watched as Itadori read out the store’s name with look of puzzlement.
Gojou pondered for a while and entered the store that had its goods displayed in a haphazard manner.

“He went into a store that few people would go to.”

Fushiguro looked bewildered while Itadori tilted his head.

“I’m just gonna ask, I have heard the term vacuum tube but what is it exactly?”

“It’s a kind of part in electric appliances. It’s mainly used in older kinds of radios or speakers.”

“So he’s an audio maniac?”

“No, he should be considered the kind who would be fine just listening to music on YouTube.”

“Yeah—he does give people that kind of impression.”

During the time the two were talking, Gojou left the store with a paper bag in hand. He probably bought something.

“Oh no, we got to keep up.”

Itadori chased after Gojou who had turned towards a small road and Fushiguro followed closely.

The two were a step too late and Gojou’s figure was no longer within their line of sight. However in less than a minute, they found a tall and black figure within the crowd.

“Fushiguro, I found him. Gojou-sensei is really tall. He really stands out after all.”

“That’s because he’s almost two meters tall.”

“It feels that he’ll be really good at basketball.”

“Though I completely cannot imagine him playing basketball.”

“Me too.”

The two of them gave similar opinions while tracing Gojou’s steps closely.

Yet, it took a rather large amount of effort to keep a certain amount of distance while tailing someone on the complex streets of Akihabara.

Furthermore, being a tall person, Gojou had large strides, so he walked quickly. When they had to follow him while keeping a distance, it felt like they would lose track of him anytime.

Afterwards, Gojou entered a secondhand record shop and started to sift through black vinyl discs that were wrapped in paper.

“Fushiguro, even though you said that Gojou-sensei is not too particular about music, but it looks like he’s a pro audio maniac after all?”

“There’s no way.”

“He was looking at a record from Bach though.”

“Do you think he looks like someone who would like classical pieces?”
“Nope. He feels more like an alternative-rock kind of person.”

“Right? There’s definitely something strange about this.”

After browsing through the floating bin area that was full of vinyl records for a while, he bought a long play record that contained the soundtracks of an old western film and left the shop.

Itadori and Fushiguro continued to follow only to be more baffled the more they followed.

Doubts even started to form in their brains and they thought they only had preconceived misunderstood impressions of Gojou and he was actually extremely interested in classical music. However, they immediately thought “That definitely can’t be possible”.

This time, Gojou who had been walking around, seemingly without a goal, stopped in front of a shop with a yellow signboard.

“Fushiguro, what does that store sell?”

“……capsule toys. It should be store that contains capsule toy machines.”

“What? A capsule toy machine specialty store? Those kinds of stores exist.”

“This is Akihabara, of course they do.”

“I see. Ah, Sensei is getting one.”

“I really do not want to see a teacher I know turning a five hundred per play capsule toy machine…Besides, what kind of capsule toy is that?”

“It should be key rings of various kinds of mushrooms. They look pretty realistic.”

“If they cost five hundred yen per play, wouldn’t it be better to just buy actual mushrooms from the supermarket?”

“Fushiguro, you don’t understand….Capsule toys are only interesting because you don’t know what you’re going to get.”

“I don’t ever want to understand.”

“Ah, Sensei is opening the capsule, who knows which mushroom he got.”

“From the picture on the machine, it should be the poisonous mushroom. He looks super sulky about it.”
“Uwahahahahaha, if it’s a poisonous mushroom then it’s not edible!!”

“No matter what mushroom it is, you better not eat a mushroom that came from a capsule toy machine.”

Gojou stuffed the keychain into his pocket disappointedly and then continued to shop around.

Just when they thought he had enough fun playing with the mice in a computer accessory shop, he actually went to an electronic appliances shop to use their massager to massage his shoulders.

Once they realized he had disappeared from their sight, they turned only to see him standing in a book store reading manga; and when they thought he had just turned a corner to who knows where, he was actually engrossed at looking at second hand video game cartridges in a bargain bin. It seems like Gojou was just moving on a whim and was walking and shopping wherever his mood took him.

“….It looks like he’s not specially aiming for any particular place.”

“Yeah.”

Itadori responded to Fushiguro’s muttering while wearing a pair of toy goggles that could calculate one’s attack powers. Who knows when he got it.

“Where did you buy those goggles?”
“Some secondhand shop. Since Gojou-sensei actually reads manga then he would probably find this get up of mine funny.”

“I think you burnt a large hole in your wallet.”

“Men are living creatures that would spend their money on moments when they shout, “this is it!””

“Then is the garbage game from just now considered one of those moments?”

“Ah, Gojou-sensei entered that building. No, that’s not it, it should be Gojou sensei’s “spirit” has entered that building.
(T/N: Because Itadori was wearing those goggles, he was pretending that he could see people’s fighting spirits or auras.)

“You don’t have to rephrase it.”

“Crap, we’re gonna lose him. We got to catch up!”

“Hold on a minute.”

“Ugh!”

Just as Itadori was going to step into the building, Fushiguro pulled the hood of his jacket and stood still. However, it was actually dangerous to do such a thing so good children should not imitate such an action.

“Are you trying to kill me?! What, we already followed him to this point and now you want to stop? Don’t just give up halfway.”

“You….don’t you see what’s written on the signboard on the building?”

“Eh?……Eh!”

After Fushiguro said that, Itadori looked up.

While looking at the words of the advertisement drawn on the signboard, Fushiguro’s expression grew more and more impatient.

–Angel maid café [SHOW EVIL « Cupid].

On the second floor of this building was a café that seemed to be for otakus.

But it was not any kind of sensual café. There were only going to be maids that came to greet the customers, it was an extremely healthy café.

Even so, it was still under the category of shops that required normal people to summon up large amounts of courage before entering.

Even more so for teenage boys who were going through puberty.

Even someone like Itadori would find it embarrassing to go into such a store.

“….I really can’t go into this store….Gojou-sensei is really unexpectedly……”

“He could have been aiming for this thing.”

Fushiguro pointed at the flyer on the wall and it seemed to be advertising the following – [Authentic French Flavour! Specialty Pancakes that even professional patisseries have high praises for!]

No wonder. Itadori nodded his head, thinking that finally the situation made sense.

“Sensei must have come here for those pancakes, even though he at quite a lot of sweet stuff already.”

Gojou-sensei would eat more sweets the longer he’s busy….”

“Since we already solved the mystery, then let’s call an end to our tailing. It’s way too embarrassing to enter this kind of shop.”

“With your kind of brain, it’s a surprise you managed to come up with such a rational decision.”

“—Masters, welcome back!”

“Eh?”

“Eh?”

A shout that was energetic but yet full of professionalism came from the behind the two of them.

That’s right, it was a maid who had the experience of a seasoned warrior and after feeling that these two had the look of “guests who were hesitating whether they should enter the store”, stealthily got closer and intended to earn large amounts of revenue from them. In the end, whether it was Itadori who was blessed with genius athletics or Fushiguro who developed the ability to detect the aura of curses through immese amounts of training….neither realized that the maid, whose job was to invite guests, had appeared behind them.

*

In a blink of an eye, Fushiguro as well as Itadori were brought into the maid café.

Fushiguro could not help but think if this was karma from doing something terrible in his past life.

Once they entered the store, someone ran over to place halos and wings made of plastic and wire on the two and said this was to let them “Enjoy the feeling of Heaven in the shop”, making the two receive a huge shock, whether in terms of their appearance or on their psychology.

On the other hand.

“For masters who have arrived for the first time, we always recommend this honourable set meal – Emo Emo Set A—”

“Un…I see. Since it’s my first time here, I think it’s right to listen to the staff’s recommendations. Then we’re take two honourable sets and make it full of emo.”

“Got it Reincarnation «.”

“Wah, that word sounds really cool, is it getman?”

“It’s English «.”

“Oh, so it’s English–!”

Itadori had already grown accustomed on how to talk to the maid.
People with a naturally lively personality or those who are party animals, in other words, extroverts, should become accustomed to this place quickly.

As for stoic people like Fushiguro, it was hard for them to blend into such an atmosphere.

Wearing the halo and the wings and sitting while facing Itadori – just acknowledging that this was reality was enough to kill his heart.

“By the way, Fushiguro, I want to tell you something important.”

“What?”

“Sensei’s goal seems to really be eating pancakes.”

“……you’re right……”

Fushiguro had intentionally sat at a window seat that allowed him to look at the wall of the neighbouring building and the important factor of the reason why they were here was elegantly enjoying his pancakes together with tea.

He wore that angel costume in a natural way like he was wearing formal attire and was sipping his cappuccino with sitting pose that was like that of a cold character in a mystery novel, letting out an air that he was “leisurely enjoying” the moment, very much unlike Itadori and Fushiguro who had come here for the first time.

However, even if one did not consider the fact that this was the first time Fushiguro was here, he had already endured to his breaking point and if possible, he did not want to stay in this store a second longer.

“Oi, since we already know Gojou-sensei’s goal, we achieved what we wanted, let’s go.”

“Eh—but we already ordered food.”

“We can leave after we pay up right?”

“It’s a waste of food if we don’t eat what we ordered.”

“….Well, you are right about that.”

Fushiguro had intended to just pay and leave but with his serious personality, his idea of leaving was dismissed by Itadori’s reasoning.

However, his eyes that were as deep as the night that peeped out from the bottom of a deep ditch became even more lifeless.

Fushiguro tried once more to switch off his self-awareness.

Numbness was the safety feature of life. If he did not think of a way to protect his spirit, it would not be strange if a curse was born.

Fushiguro was a sharp contrast from Itadori who was in high spirits and was restlessly excited.

Even so, the maid café’s real baptism was only just about to start.

“Masters, thank you for waiting—these are the honoured set meals that you ordered – Emo Emo set A—”

They were unable to figure out what was in the honoured set based on what was on the menu but it turned out to be just omurice.

There was even an image of a panda drawn on the plate using ketchup—it should just be a coincidence but the image was too much like Panda-senpai, causing Fushiguro to feel apologetic about it.

On the empty space of the plate were the lines “My heart is fatigued…because of honour….!” But the one whose heart was really fatigued was Fushiguro.

However, Fushiguro had completely grown used to this place.

“Now, I would like to invite out guests to add Emotions—”

“How are we going to add Emotions?”

“Dear guests, among the anime that you like, please choose a scene that makes you feel emotional, honoured and tugged at your heart strings! If you can make me feel emo without telling me the title of the work, then you pass—”

“Uh….oh crap, that’s hard to choose….then, I choose the one where the main character is that little boy who idolises heroes.”

“I watched that one, I recommend that one~”

“I remember in that show, there’s this guy who will have low self-esteem in front of his dad. I love the part when this guy remembered the initial reason why he wanted to become a hero and then use the “left hand” which he never used before.”

“Ah~ That’s a really classic scene~ but that scene is too ordinary, choose another one!”

“Ah, then another anime. That scene where the main character was discriminated in the ninja village and then after he grew stronger and was able to stand up for himself, people were tossing him into the air.”

“Ah! It’s so emo~”

“And the part where his teacher who was the only person on his side got teary eyed after seeing the main character being tossed into the air by his companions was really touching too.”

“Ah~~ The most touching line also showed up here~~”

“”Right now, the hero is before me.””

“I get it, I get it~~~~It’s so full of emotions. Since I have received a deep sense of Emo, I’m going to add a side dish.”

“Ah, your store actually operates like this?”

“I’m going to add the “Emo potato” from the potato dishes which costs four hundred yen—”

“Wah, that’s great–! But anyway, this meal is full of carbs already!”

“Then please shout with me, emo emo ~~~~!”

“Emo emo—–!”

The staff placed the additional potato dish onto the plate in a slightly careless manner.

It seemed like it cost four hundred yen for this potato that looked like frozen food. Of course, one would not care about an item’s price if they could feel this happy eating here, but Fushiguro was very concerned about it. In fact, he was extremely concerned about various things in this store.

Unexpectedly, this staff member turned the target of her conversation to Fushiguro.

“Dear guest, please shout with us as well!”

“Quickly, Fushiguro, then you can get the side dish too.”

“Say it with me, Emo emo~~~”

“Emo emo——–”

“……..”

Fushiguro did not make any response but the activity still persisted.

“Since we have the side dish then let’s use an instant camera to take a photo with the dish. Alright, come closer, closer~”

“Eh, so this store actually has photo taking service.”

“Because both of you ordered the honoured meal.
“Oh—I only just ordered without much thought. So it actually includes this!”

“It feels like heaven, doesn’t it?”

“I don’t know, does it? It does feel a bit like that.”

“…….”

“Then I’m going to sit next to you, excuse me.”

“Eh? Aren’t you too close? It’s a bit embarrassing.”

“You must go through such embarrassing feelings so you can become an adult!”

“Is it like that?”

“It is~ Alright, we’re going to go clicky «”

“C, clicky!”

“……………….”

“It’s done, thank you very much~”

“Ah,–so embarrassing, it’s super embarrassing taking a photo like that! Wah, my face is so hot! It feels weird like I just offered up something important! Is it really alright, I’m still underaged!”

“Ara~ You’re really innocent, that’s so cute~ Then, this nii-chan here, let’s take a photo together too.”

“Fushiguro, you have to be careful. This kind of close contact is not like a folk dance*, it’s really super duper embarrassing. Super duper embarrassing without any compare!”

(T/N: You see students dancing around a fire in some Japanese anime. That’s the dance Itadori was referring to.)

“Alright, please prepare to do clicky!”

“Fushiguro, they’re going to clicky.”

“…………………………no.”

A voice that was extremely, extremely soft, like the sound of a duck before its death could be heard.

“…………….I…………don’t need it………”

Fushiguro still had a look like he reached his breaking point.

*

“Ah—I never thought we would eat so much but the flavour is just so-so.”

“….The potato makes my mouth dry.”

After about thirty minutes.

Fushiguro and Itadori managed to safely –the entrance fee was five hundred yen- leave Heaven.

“Fishiguro, I have the instant photos, do you want them?”

“If you make fun of me again like just now, I will shove an entire bell pepper up your nose.”

“That’s because you don’t like that kind of place! Alright, I get it, just now that was the most extreme you could endure!”

“There is a shrine around the Kanda area, let’s burn the photos there.”

“You actually want to specially make a trip to a shrine to burn them?!”

“A cursed photo can only be exorcised by burning it to ashes in a shrine.”

“It’s my fault! I really didn’t know it was that hard for you to stay in that store.”

From Itadori’s point of view, Fushiguro always seems to be in a bad mood no matter the time or place but today, he had truly witnessed a “Really furious Fushiguro”.

Now that things have come to this state, Itadori was unable to grin and laugh off the issue like he always did.

He scratched his face awkwardly, thinking of what to talk about with Fushiguro, but in the end, he decided to pull the topic back to what started it all.

“An, anyway, it seems like we lost Gojou-sensei.”

“Yeah, not like it’s a problem.”

“Ev, even so, I wonder where he went off to….”

“What are you two saying about me?”

“Wahhhhhhhh?!”

Gojou appeared behind them at a completely unexpected time point and roughly dispelled the slightly stiff tension that had originally stirred up between the two.

Furthermore—

“Go, gojou-sensei! When did you appear behind us….wait, that’s weird, why is Kugisaki here as well?”

“It’s not a why question, you bastards.”

Kugisaki used eyes full of displeasure, one might even say it was full of loathing, to glare at Itadori as she appeared from behind Gojou.

To Itadori, another classmate who was in a foul mood had appeared.

“Ah, anyway, Gojou-sensei, are you actually off today?”

“Hey, don’t ignore me!”

Itadori had the feeling that in contrast to Fushiguro, Kugisaki would use more physical actions to lay out his crimes in front of their teacher so he decided to change the topic directly.

But, in the end, it was about the same matter.

“Nope, I’m working as per usually today.”

“Eh? But I saw that you wandering around the streets and eating crepe……”

“If you worked to my position, you would be swarmed with work. If it’s not because of my job, would it even be possible for both of you to see me loitering around the streets. Even though I look like this, I’m actually working seriously.”

“What kind of job are you talking about?”

“I’m looking for a dungeon.”

“….A dungeon?”

“To put it another way, I’m looking for a cursed spot to serve as a training grounds for the first years to gain experience.

“……what?”

The memory of an incident that happened just after he transferred to Jujutsu high crossed Itadori’s mind.

That day, they originally planned to tour around Tokyo but suddenly it became an activity where he was forced to eliminate a cursed spirit in an abandoned building.

Gojou then continued nonchalantly.

“That tall building that was next to the maid café seems to be a commercial building that’s abandoned. And lately, some strange rumours popped up on this supernatural forum over the internet. And since that building had a record shop with a rather long history, it made that rumour about a curse ever more believable.”

“Ah, so that’s why you sat at that window and looked outside even though all you can see was a building.

“And I actually only wanted to handle it after setting a date but who knew all you three first years happened to be here. So rather than choose a date, why not just go with the coincidental timing. You all can challenge it today!”

“Eh….eh?!”

“It’ll be fine. I already activated the tube amplifier that was in the building and followed the contents of the rumours and put a record in to provoke the spirit. You all will be able to face a lively and active spirit.”

“……I see.”

Itadori immediately turned to look at Kugisaki.

Now he knew why Kugisaki had a face of such loathing.

Yet, Fushiguro’s attitude was completely different and he looked like he was ready for action anytime.

“Alright, let’s go.”

“Wait, why are you so enthusiastic about it!”

“Compared to the time at the arcade and maid café, your mood is too good isn’t it?”

“What? You guys went to a maid café? Never mind Itadori, but even Fushiguro went? Even if a man looks prim and proper, his bones still conceal a silent pervert.”

“There were unavoidable factors.”

“What do you mean never mind me?!”

“Alright, you two, let’s go.”

“Like I said, Fushiguro, why are you completely in battle mode already!”

“Because Megumi didn’t get the chance to show off his abilities in the previous abandoned building, he’s all sulky about it.”

“I am not sulky.”

“What do you mean you’re not, aren’t you being all sulky now?”

“You’re really the type to remember grudges.”

“Then, the three of you, be careful on the way. I’m still eating sweet buns so I won’t be seeing you all there.”

“Sensei! You still can eat?!”

“Let’s go already.”

“Stop rushing me! Damn, goodbye, my off day—!”

“Goodbye my Ameyoko-cho—-!”

Fushiguro’s rest day which had a change in tone suddenly returned to a Jujutsu sorcerer’s “Normal day” and coming into contact with a familiar atmosphere, he more or less regained his spirit.

However, Itadori’s fulfilling day off was brutally cut short and Kugisaki did not get to eat the Ameyoko-cho signature product –The cut fruits from Hyakkaen.

Gojou sensei only watched with a faint smile, as per usual, as the three noisily went off to eliminate a cursed spirit.

“Hm?”

Something seemed to have drifted out of Itadori’s pocket.

Gojou tilted his head in puzzlement as he picked it up to check.

And in the next second, he burst out laughing.

“Ahhahahahaha.”

Looking at the contents of the photo through his blindfold, Gojou could not stop laughing.

“Ah, ku ku ku, teenagers are teenagers after all ,how youthful.”

Eighty percent of his laughter came from how comical it looked.

Twenty percent came from the relief he felt.

Gojou held the group photo of Itadori and Fushiguro with angel wings that they took with a maid and laughed on the spot for quite a while.

[T/N: The group photo had the message: Megumi-sama ❤ ❤ , please come back soon!!”