27

In the past, the only gazes he could detect were from behind him—Hippo's eyes. Back then, her gaze wasn't as... blatant, greedy, and urgent as it is now. Eyes were everywhere, and even when he was away on a mission, he could feel that intense, controlling, and uncomfortably intense gaze.

But he adapted well, after all, it was his own request.

Just as she said, she would look at the teacher.

"It really is as good as it says." The man stretched in the morning sun, scratched his hair, and spoke with a hint of annoyance. He wasn't venting his frustrations privately, but rather whispering to someone close. He was like a parent who, on the surface, struggles to cope with their child's mischief, but is actually using complaints as a way to show off.

Look! That's my baby! Isn't he super cute and well-behaved? Even with his little furry flaws, he's still adorable!

The love is beyond words.

"Hipper, your behavior is just like an insecure wife who worries her husband is away from home for a long time due to work, suspects he's cheating, and uses her money to hire a private detective to follow and monitor him."

"Please trust me a little. My schedule is completely transparent to you. What are you worried about?"

The man strolled in the morning light, the light poured down on him. Perhaps the morning dew had not yet evaporated, the air was a little damp and cool, and his white hair was blown by the wind, carrying a cold breath.

He strolled lazily along the path, unlike all the hurried people passing by. He exuded laziness and ease from the inside out, unlike their tense nerves and the urgency of constantly checking the time.

He is different.

Going against the flow of the crowd, the atmosphere around him that made people unconsciously avoid him, and his mouth that kept opening and closing.

It's like having a conversation with someone.

Huh? He didn't call either?

Passersby were unconsciously attracted by curiosity and looked at him a few more times.

So tall... over 1.9 meters, right? Is this really a local? Such an unusual height, and such unusual white hair, isn't it dyed? It's a truly natural color. His skin is so good, and judging by his features, he's definitely a handsome guy. It's a shame she ran out of time.

"Look, just like before, you were distracted and glanced at that woman." The man's mouth curled up and he turned into the dessert shop, feeling very happy. "When you look at me, pay attention. Don't be a half-hearted bad woman."

As if choked by his words, the owner of the sight finally stopped remaining silent.

"Yeah, you're right."

No rebuttal, no response, just perfunctory. If you go along with what he says, you will fall into his trap. You have seen his ability to make unreasonable demands before, so it is better to go along with his twisted logic and perfunctorily deal with it.

"Ten points will be deducted for being perfunctory to the teacher."

『…』

Young Satoru is easier to control. Beating him shuts him up, and keeping him under close surveillance can break his defenses and keep him in line for a while. Unlike Gojo-sensei, beating him comes at a price, which isn't worth it. He thoroughly enjoys it, even accusing you of inattention.

I miss Wu a little bit. Once I recover a little, I will go back to see him and your lovely classmates.

Do they like your gift?

"Teacher, one lemon sea salt cheesecake, and the rest are your choice."

Hipper, who was far away at the Jujutsu High School doing rehabilitation warm-up exercises with Yuji Itadori and the others, gave orders to Mr. Gojo through the surveillance camera.

"Please, teacher, I need some sugar."

She did take Gojo's advice to heart, and at least she asked for help.

He was pleased to see the progress.

"First-year student Hipper, plus 100 points!"

Gojo Satoru leaned over to the food cabinet and, without hesitation, placed his chosen desserts on a tray. The pile quickly formed a small mountain, drawing attention. Whether it was his unusual white hair, his overly tall stature, his strange eye patch, or the way he always picked up a lot of desserts and bread and placed them on the tray wherever he went, he was always impressed.

All of them are particularly eye-catching.

"Um?"

The man tilted his head and hummed softly in his throat, as if he was feeling something and was a little confused.

"strangeness……"

All eyes had a very brief blank period just now. If it weren't for the six eyes and his special attention to Hipper's gaze, he would never have noticed the suspicious point in this moment.

It happened so fast that there was nothing unusual in the eyes that followed.

Are your eyes powered off?

*

【Gift】

A gift from your mysterious, unpredictable, and overly controlling classmate.

"I made them with my own hands, so treat them well."

A handmade gift, this kind of thoughtfulness seems a bit strange even for Hipper.

It wouldn't be something weird, right? He wouldn't be surprised even if the doll she gave him had electronic surveillance eyes. But if he had a choice, could he refuse it?

But she said she made it herself, didn't she? It would be a waste to just reject it. It would be useful to just leave it in the room and use it as a punching bag.

Then go and see what surprises she has left.

I was constantly guessing and doubting in my heart, but in fact I had no resistance at all. I just quickened the pace of opening the gifts by making groundless speculations.

In order not to appear too eager and reveal his inner anticipation, Gojo Satoru pulled Nozomi along.

If Nozomi is a girl, it wouldn't be so strange to follow her into Hipper's room, right?

"Don't tell me it's a trick toy."

Gojo Satoru followed Glass into the room, refraining from looking around. Even though he had been here many times before and knew the layout well enough to navigate blindfolded, he couldn't let Glass notice, so he had to pretend.

There are only four students in the first grade. There's a control freak, a fanatic named Jie, and Nitro's eyesight is broken. Her attitude is ambiguous and she seems to be involved with Hipper. Among these weird classmates, you are the only normal person left.

I must never degenerate into a strange person like them, and even if I do, I must never be discovered.

Is that guy training a dog? The owner is away on a long business trip and is worried the dog will die alone, so he leaves something with his scent to keep them company.

“…”

The young man gritted his teeth at the thought of that awful image. He strode forward, past Glass, toward the conspicuous living room sofa. Considering Hipper's emotional intelligence, the gift wouldn't be placed in her bedroom. Even if she didn't care, she knew others would, so the gift had to be placed in the most conspicuous place, where it could be seen at a glance.

There were three stuffed dolls on the sofa, each of which was just the right size to fit in one's arms. They looked different, but one could tell at a glance that they were the Hipper dolls, bearing the physical features of the three of them.

Hand-sewn red dresses, blue eyes, white simulated wigs, cute smiles, and soft bodies. What's more important is that these three dolls, dressed the same, have the characteristics of the three of them!

The strange bangs representing Jie, the small sunglasses representing Wu, and the side bangs and teardrop mole representing Gaozi.

This... is really, really unexpected.

“…”

Gojo Satoru squatted in front of the sofa and observed all three dolls. He curiously poked the doll on the left that was wearing sunglasses.

“Pah.”

The doll slapped the hand with lightning speed.

After slapping it, it stood up from the sofa, swinging its furry, chubby hands. This action seemed to trigger some command, and the other two dolls also woke up from their off state and moved around on the sofa.

"Huh? Why are you hitting me after giving me a gift?!" Gojo Satoru gritted his teeth and pinched the doll's cheeks, pulling them apart. "Apologize now, you little thing."

The doll couldn't break free from his hand and stopped struggling. Intermittent sounds came from it.

The volume of the sound was sharp, deep and uncertain, as if it was being controlled.

"The wake-up program has been started, and the recipients are confirmed to be Gojo Satoru and Ieiri Nozomi, and are applying for network access..." Hipper Jay, who was huddled in the corner, muttered incomprehensible words.

"Network port access is successful, data transmission is in progress..."

Gojo Satoru flicked the doll's head, and it gave him a nonchalant look. "Satoru-chan, don't interfere with my progress."

Satoru, Satoru-chan? ! !

His eyes widened as he heard Glass's laughter.

"Who are you calling?!"

Hipper Jay closed his eyes and waited for the data upload and download to be completed before opening his eyes and paying attention to him.

"The first generation model of the children's companion doll has been successfully activated. Come and play with it."

The three dolls spoke at the same time and said the advertising lines that Hipper had engraved for them.

"Go-chan, come play with me."

"Little Rose, come play with me."

"Xiao Wu, come play with me."

At first glance, the doll's voice sounded similar to Hipper's, but if you listened carefully, you could tell that the voice was younger.

Cute, sweet, lively and cheerful voice.

Unable to imagine how explosive Hipper's voice would be, Glass fell silent.

Who called Xiao Wu?

Gojo Satoru and Nozomi both fixed their eyes on the cool Hipper Satoru wearing sunglasses.

"What are you looking at? Haven't you seen a beautiful girl before?"

It combines the voice and appearance of Hipper with the characteristics and arrogant and provocative personality of Gojo Satoru.

Who would have thought that this gift could run, move, slap people, and...

"Little Rose, you will take me home, right?" Hipper Glass pulled her sleeve and shook it gently, her voice coquettish and sweet.

She is also very good at acting coquettishly.

Who can withstand this?

*

[Wake up… The program has… has… started. Confirmed recipient is Gojo Satoru, Ieiri Nitro… Nitro, applying for network access…]

Across the cosmic barrier, the access requests from the gift doll were intermittent, and the signal was weak, slowing down the data transmission speed. She didn't know what the hikikomori had been up to, having disappeared in the past few days, leaving her to manually process these messages.

The moment the doll was activated, its eyes briefly lost focus.

[The first generation model of the children's companion doll was successfully activated]

Isn’t 15-year-old Wu just a child?