Chapter 27

113.

The hour hand of the living room clock quietly slipped past ten o'clock.

The students had cleared a space in the middle of the living room, and seven figures sat in a circle around a single candle. The flickering flame made each person's face flicker, and the shadows they cast on the wall also swayed.

Shiori Tadano and Gojo Satoru huddled together on a sofa, playing the latest Monster Hunter game. Gojo Satoru's face was reflected in the blue light of the screen as his Hunter slashed at Sakura Rathalos. Shiori sat next to him, but her gaze couldn't help but drift towards the students. There had been silence for a while, even the loudest of them, Nobara Kugisaki, hadn't uttered a word.

"Is it my turn?" Panda's voice rang out in the silence.

"Yeah!" Yuji Itadori leaned forward, his knees almost touching the candlelight. Junpei Yoshino sat beside him without saying a word.

The sound of the game on the sofa suddenly stopped. Shiori turned around and saw Gojo Satoru put down the game console, nodded his chin towards the students, and pointed his index finger behind them, a smirk on his face.

Shiori immediately understood what he meant and nodded slightly.

"The story I'm going to tell you," Panda said in a very low voice, "took place in Odawara City thirty years ago."

"A couple just moved into an old house. On their first night, they lay on the tatami and couldn't fall asleep. The wooden floor kept creaking, as if someone was walking around in the living room."

"The wife suddenly said to her husband, 'You know what? Ghosts will crawl along the direction of the toes of your shoes.'"

Nobara Kugisaki subconsciously leaned towards Maki Zenin.

"If the toes of your shoes are facing the bed," Panda's voice suddenly stopped, leaving only the muffled sound of waves crashing against the rocks in the living room, "something will crawl up the toes of your shoes in the middle of the night."

"My husband burst out laughing after hearing this, saying, 'You're so old and still believe this,'" Panda imitated the man's gruff voice, then switched back to his original tone. "Then he got up and went to the bathroom."

"The more the wife thought about it, the more dissatisfied she became," Panda paused and continued, "She remembered another saying: if you put the shoes in a different position, the ghost won't be able to find the direction of the bed."

"She kicked her shoes mischievously," Panda suddenly lowered his body, almost touching the ground, "one shoe toe facing east, the other toe facing west."

"Not long after, my husband came back." Panda's voice deepened, "But he didn't go to bed. He just walked back and forth beside the bed, and the creaking sound of the wooden floor became more and more urgent..."

"Where's the bed...where's the bed..." Panda began to imitate a man's voice, which was faint and seemed to come from far away.

Goujuanji quietly hugged the pillow in his arms.

"The wife thought he was joking until her husband suddenly stopped." Panda's shadow paused on the wall, as if nailed there. "He slowly turned his head--"

The candle flames suddenly shot up, illuminating everyone's face with a pale glow.

"He showed a grin that stretched from ear to ear." Panda's voice suddenly rose.

"Found it."

The ending sound was long, as if something was slowly crawling towards us along the ground.

A figure slowly emerged from the shadows behind Panda. There was no sound of footsteps, only the cool feeling of breath sweeping across the back of his neck.

Panda's fur stood up instantly and he pounced behind Goujuanji.

"Wa ...

Yuji Itadori and Nobara Kugisaki screamed at the same time, and frantically squeezed towards the people next to them, almost knocking over the candles.

Megumi Fushiguro subconsciously bent her fingers, and when she looked up, she bumped into Gojo Satoru who was holding a mobile phone to illuminate his face.

Gojo Satoru was standing where Panda had just sat, the light from his phone screen illuminating half of his face, a smug smile on his lips: "Are you scared by me?"

Shiori was holding up her phone on the sofa to record a video, her shoulders were shaking with laughter and the camera was shaking violently.

Kugisaki Nobara clutched onto Zenin Maki's arm, stiffening her neck and shouting, "That's so scary, Gojo-sensei!"

Gojo Satoru tilted his head when he heard this. "You're sorcerers, after all. How could you be so frightened by such a strange story?"

Panda popped his head out from behind Inumaki Saki and complained, "Wu! You scared us!"

114.

Early in the morning, the students pulled the training tires and ran two rounds on the beach. Then they went back to their residence in groups of three or four to wash and change clothes.

Shiori changed into her swimsuit and planned to meet up with Gojo Satoru.

Kugisaki Nobara whistled, "Wow, Tadano-sensei's bikini is great."

Zenin Maki also nodded: "It suits you very well."

Shiori thanked the two with a smile and walked towards the beach. After taking a few steps, her sight was attracted by a familiar figure in front of her and she paused.

"Kashima-san?" She walked forward, a hint of surprise in her tone.

Kashima Yu turned around and said, "It's Ms. Tadono, what a coincidence."

"It's quite a coincidence indeed," Shiori glanced at the boys surrounding Kashima Yu, "but what are you doing?"

"Who knows? They've been following me and won't leave." Kashima Yu shrugged helplessly, and his eyes lit up when he landed on Shiori. "But your swimsuit is very beautiful. It suits you very well."

As soon as she finished speaking, the boys next to her immediately surrounded her and started talking, their eyes fixed on Shiori without any hesitation.

"Wow, this sister is so hot too!"

"Sister, come play with us."

Shiori's forehead was covered with dark lines. She suppressed the urge to kill the three cursed spirits with one punch and took a half step back. "Thank you, Kashima-san. I'll go first..."

Before she could finish her words, a coat suddenly fell from behind, wrapping her tightly.

Gojo Satoru's voice followed closely behind: "Shiori, you're wearing too little, aren't you? Put on your coat quickly."

Shiori hurriedly said goodbye to Kashima Yu, raised her hand to straighten her obviously oversized coat, and turned her head to look at Gojo Satoru beside her: "Satoru, isn't everyone dressed like this?"

Her eyes swept over his white T-shirt. He was already at the beach, but he still wore so much? Damn, there was no trace of the abs I wanted to see!

Gojo Satoru shook his head: "No, I'm just being stingy. I don't want Shiori to be surrounded and stared at by others."

Shiori lowered her head and couldn't help laughing.

The two walked forward side by side on the soft sand. The waves at their feet rolled away the fine sand, leaving behind a series of shallow footprints.

From not far away came Yuji Itadori's energetic shout: "Gojo-sensei! Tadano-sensei! We're playing beach volleyball over here. If you win, you can get a free meal!"

Shiori glanced at Gojo Satoru who was still mumbling beside her, reached out and grabbed his wrist and ran forward: "Let's go and take a look together."

115.

As Shiori dragged Gojo Satoru toward the court, Itadori Yuji had already half-pushed, half-dragged Fushiguro Megumi to the beach volleyball net. Fushiguro's brows were knitted together, and his whole body was filled with reluctance. Yoshino Junpei was cheering them on from the sidelines.

"Hey, Itadori, can you play beach volleyball?" Kugisaki Nobara stood on the sidelines with her arms folded and asked loudly.

Itadori Yuji scratched his head and smiled frankly: "No."

Fushiguro Megumi's forehead seemed to twitch, and he couldn't help but say, "Then why did you pull me up?"

Panda stared at the two figures on the other side of the net and said hesitantly, "Those are junior high school students, right?"

Inujuanji's gaze fell on the little boy in the baseball cap across from him and he nodded: "Salmon."

Zenin Maki crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow, "What is this? Bullying a junior high student?"

"Don't underestimate them." A low voice suddenly came from the side.

Everyone turned to look, only to see a strange-looking old man standing behind them, his face bandaged and wearing sunglasses. He said this, then turned to Shiori and Gojo Satoru, who had just taken their seats in the spectator seats and said, "You need to order something before you can watch the game here."

After ordering, Shiori leaned closer to Gojo Satoru and said, "Gojo, look at that old man. He looks quite similar to you, with the sunglasses and the bandage."

Gojo Satoru reached out and pinched her cheek: "What? I'm obviously more handsome."

Shiori slapped his hand away and was about to speak when there was a sudden muffled "bang" from the other side of the field, as if two heavy objects had collided violently.

On the first ball, Yuji Itadori made a powerful dunk, and the ball hit Fushiguro Megumi on the back of the head.

The second ball finally passed the net, but because he hit it too hard, it flew straight out of bounds.

"Out of bounds!" The uncle immediately raised his arms and cheered, his voice louder than the two teenagers on the field.

Shiori laughed out loud, "Yuhito is all strength, no technique at all."

Seeing this, Gojo Satoru called for a timeout, walked to the center of the court and briefly explained the rules to the two players before the game resumed.

The boy in the baseball cap on the other side was small but had a high jump. His teammate had obviously also received solid training and both of them had good physical strength. After several rounds of fighting, the two sides gradually became evenly matched.

Megumi Fushiguro's eyes gradually became serious. She looked at Yuji Itadori who had fallen on the beach and said in a deep voice, "We must win."

Yuji Itadori immediately got up from the ground, brushed off the sand on his knees, and responded loudly: "Of course!"

In the spectator seats, Shiori was watching intently with her chin in her hand. Suddenly, her shoulders sank. Gojo Satoru came over and rested his head on her shoulder.

"Wu, it's very heavy." She raised her hand and pushed his head.

"No," Gojo Satoru buried his head deeper into her neck and said in a muffled voice, "Watching the game is tiring. Shiori, please lend me your shoulder to lean on."

Shiori glanced back at the court and saw Fushiguro Megumi bend his knees and jump up, then hit a fierce smash. She withdrew her hand from pushing him and adjusted her sitting position to let him lean more comfortably.

Yuji Itadori and Megumi Fushiguro were, after all, sorcerers whose strength, speed, endurance, jumping ability, flexibility, and flexibility far surpassed those of ordinary people. They fought to the cheers of many rounds, and finally ended with a neat smash, winning the match.

Yuji Itadori slumped in a chair in the spectator booth, taking a gulp of his Coke: "I didn't know beach volleyball was so interesting."

Shiori pushed Gojo Satoru's head away and clinked her juice with his: "Great fight, Yuji."

On the other side, Panda looked at Itadori Yuji who was squeezed next to Shiori and Gojo Satoru, with his paw supporting his chin, and whispered: "Yuji is very strong, in all aspects."

Fushiguro Megumi said calmly: "Just an idiot."

Kugisaki Nobara nodded beside her: "He is indeed an idiot."