Chapter 40, Day Six of Intermission

She had light blue, fluffy short hair with wispy bangs framing her forehead. Her hair went past her eyebrows, down to her closed eyes, then her nose, and finally her lips.

It's easy to see that this is a very beautiful face, and it's also easy to recognize that this is Edakawa Kazuo.

He is asleep in Egawa, Tokyo High School of Curses.

As soon as Iori Shoko pushed open the door, she habitually glanced towards the bed and saw that soft, light blue area.

Unsurprisingly, Egawa may still be asleep.

Ieiri Shoko subconsciously recalled the day when Gojo Satoru brought Egawa Kakeru, and then thought about today's date, trying to roughly calculate how many days the latter had been asleep, concluding that it was about ten days.

When Ieiri Shoko saw Edagawa, she was absolutely stunned.

After Edakawa left the vocational high school, she never saw him again. Not to mention her, even Zenin Maki, who was in the same year as him and was therefore closer to him, Inuyama Toshiki, and Panda probably never saw him again, not to mention Otsuko Yuuta.

But Gojo Satoru is different.

Even after dropping out of school and severing the nominal teacher-student relationship, Gojo Satoru would still visit Edagawa from time to time.

His technique does indeed make it very convenient for him to quickly travel between the two cities of Tokyo and Yokohama.

Ieyasu Koko was well aware of this.

After all, she had previously tried to discuss this matter with Gojo Satoru.

She didn't think too much about it when she brought it up. She just thought that it was such a pity that Zhichuan was such a good young man, so she shouldn't keep going in front of him and ruining his mood.

Then, Gojo Satoru's words sealed the deal.

"You can't make me accept that he's completely out of my life."

Shoko Ieiri remembered those words vividly and clearly. She even remembered that when Gojo Satoru said those words, he wasn't wearing a blindfold but rather sunglasses, which were perched on his nose, revealing a pair of beautiful blue eyes. She could still vividly recall the way he looked at her that day.

Because at some subtle or unintentional moment, she sensed a rare vulnerability in the emotions of the sorcerer who was hailed as the strongest.

So she rarely bothered with the relationship between the former teacher and student anymore.

Even though Ieiri Shoko still believed that it would be better for Gojo Satoru to see or avoid Egawa less often, she never explicitly mentioned it again when chatting with Gojo Satoru about this matter later on—it would be pointless to talk to Gojo Satoru about it anyway.

Nevertheless, Ieiri Shoko never imagined that one day she would see Gojo Satoru holding Egawa or appearing in front of her.

The image of that time reappeared in her mind, and she couldn't help but twitch her lips.

“…You’re really getting more and more outrageous.” That was the first thing Shoko Ieiri said when she opened her mouth.

Then, as she spoke, she looked at the sleeping Egawa Aru and realized something: "You have a fever?"

"Um."

She walked over and touched Egawa's forehead; it was frighteningly hot. As she withdrew her hand, she glanced at Gojo Satoru with a nonchalant look: "Then you're not as outrageous as I've thought."

The arrival of this patient, Zhichuan, was sudden.

Although Ieiri Shoko is a doctor, she is the school doctor of Jujutsu High School, so she is definitely different from a normal doctor. Most of her work is done on the dissection table.

Furthermore, sorcerers are often involved in combat, so they generally have better physical constitutions and rarely catch colds or fevers. Therefore, the school doctor rarely encounters patients with simple fevers; she usually sees cases that are more serious than just a fever, including quite a few who have started as disabilities.

The fever in Zhichuan has long since subsided.

After all, he's been lying here for at least ten days; if the fever doesn't subside soon, he'll become mentally impaired.

Ieiri Glass did a quick check and there were still no problems.

"Tsk."

If it were someone else, it would be a good sign if there were no problems, but the fact that there were no problems with Edakawa is the biggest problem.

With a flick of her fingertips, Ieiri Glass gently flipped the paper from the crook of her arm, and with a rustling sound, it was lifted up in the silent room.

Still, it remains an enigmatic, deep sleep.

****

****

Before I even realized it, the answer had already slipped out: "Tokyo?"

Dazai Osamu smiled with satisfaction, then snapped his fingers: "Bingo!"

My first thought was Gojo Satoru.

To be precise, I can only think of five people named Satoru. Even if I had more time, I wouldn't be able to think of anyone else on my second thought.

I used to study at a vocational high school, and my life and everything about me were closely connected to Tokyo, but now my connection to Tokyo is almost entirely through Gojo Satoru.

"So you're a sorcerer, that's quite unexpected." Dazai Osamu's words were light and airy.

I:"……"

This statement basically indicates where my true self is.

—Tokyo Jujutsu High School.

I am even more certain that this matter is related to Gojo Satoru, but at the same time I am speechless at Dazai Osamu's deliberate mention of it.

I'm certain he already knew I used to be a sorcerer.

It wouldn't be difficult to investigate this, and given his status, the methods he possesses, and his seemingly predictable demeanor, I don't believe Dazai Osamu hadn't investigated me.

But I didn't expose him; instead, I went along with the conversation and said, "I'm a level one sorcerer, you know."

He asked, "Is it very impressive?"

"certainly."

Dazai Osamu tapped his chin, genuinely curious, and asked, "By analogy with the Port Mafia, is it harder to become a Port Mafia executive or a first-class sorcerer?"

"hiss--"

I really can't give you an answer to this right away. After thinking about it carefully, I said, "It's hard to say."

"Isn't this equivalent to not answering at all? Or is he quite cunning?"

"I've thought this through carefully, Mr. Dazai, and I didn't just brush you off." Although the result is the same, my intentions are definitely correct.

"What happened in Tokyo?" I asked.

I still can't figure out why Gojo Satoru did this. Although Gojo-sensei always does things very whimsically, this move is strangely unlike his usual style.

There must be other reasons.

But I couldn't have imagined it.

In my position, it would be impossible for me to even think of that.

Dazai Osamu shrugged, looking completely innocent: "I don't know, Mr. Aru. Your question is a bit beyond my understanding. I know more about Yokohama than Tokyo."

I said, "Okay."

He raised his glass to take a sip of wine, glancing at me casually: "But it shouldn't be anything serious."

Because if anything major happens in Tokyo, even though the main forces of the Port Mafia are all in Yokohama, they will still receive some news.

This statement contains hidden logic, which Dazai Osamu did not explicitly state.

“That sounds like a perfunctory consolation, Mr. Dazai,” I said with a smile. “But thank you very much anyway.”

"There was no perfunctory response."

He suddenly said that.

"Um?"

My actions outpaced my thoughts; I subconsciously let out a soft, questioning sound and turned my head to look at him.

Dazai Osamu's gaze met mine in mid-air. He tilted his head and said, "I didn't know how to contact you, so I thought I'd come here to take a look. But the manager said you haven't been scheduled for the last two days, and I was wondering how long it would be before I could see you again."

I don't know if it's just the angle, but I always felt there was a smile in his eyes.

Dazai Osamu continued readily, "I thought that in the RPG game you encountered, every time you transformed into a virtual identity, there was a task to complete, as you mentioned."

"...?"

After thinking about it, I finally understood what he meant, and I also understood what he said when we first met.

Dazai Osamu was very intelligent.

For example, he can determine from what he sees and the information I reveal to him that my virtual identity change is based on the task I am given.

To put it simply, Dazai Osamu believed that having a quest was a prerequisite for me to switch accounts. In other words, I could only switch accounts when I was required to do quests; if I wasn't required to do quests, I couldn't switch accounts casually.

Today, he knew in advance that I was a bartender and wouldn't be coming to work.

He didn't actually know if he would ever see me.

But he probably thought that even if he saw me, I wouldn't be a bartender at Lupin's.

Since there are currently no jobs or tasks that require me to perform as a bartender, based on Dazai Osamu's confidence data regarding my various identities, he believes that I will not, or rather, cannot, appear in my current form.

Therefore, upon first meeting, one might say, "Why do you look like this today?"

"Hmm." I thought to myself that Dazai Osamu really is good at organizing information and deducing things, because that was really the case before, but it just happened to be different today.

I said, "That's certainly true in theory."

He seemed pleased that I picked up on his topic, and asked with a smile, "So what's the reality?"

"Actually, the game system has just been upgraded, Mr. Dazai, so this theory just happens to be outdated."

Osamu Dazai: "..."

His lips froze for a brief moment, but he quickly recovered and smiled again: "That's a pity."

Dazai Osamu continued, "But speaking of which, is it alright for the main body to remain in Tokyo, as you said?"

He said it so naturally that I didn't even notice the change in address at first.

"No problem. I'm safer at the vocational college than at home." I said confidently.

The only problem with leaving the main account at the high school is what if the system still can't detect me when I switch from my alt account to my main account?

But that's a matter for later.

Because of the current situation, I simply cannot stay offline for long; Fyodor and I are practically inseparable.

This is the first time I've ever seen a situation like this.

I can only say that ever since I met Fyodor, everything has been different and abnormal. Even the system is acting up, it just gave me a crash update.

“Mr. Dazai.”

"Um?"

"I have a feeling that we will meet again soon."

Fyodor's plans inevitably involve the Port Mafia.

"What a coincidence, I felt the same way."

I looked at him and smiled: "Back then, I probably looked like you're thinking of me today, not like this anymore."