Chapter 48 The True Body, Day 22

When I went to see Ms. Shoko the day I woke up, she asked me when I was going back to Yokohama, and I answered that I was waiting for Mr. Gojo to come back.

However, to my surprise, I met Toudou before I met Gojo-sensei.

Yes, it's the Dongtang I mentioned when Hui and I tried to spar.

Higashido Aoi.

Third year of Kyoto Jujutsu High School.

Accompanying him was Zhenyi, Zen-in-Zen.

Maki's twin sister.

However, I only saw Toudou, not Mai.

When I met Dongtang, it wasn't a suitable scene for a long-awaited reunion.

Because when I saw Dongtang, he was carrying Hui and beating him haphazardly.

I'm not exaggerating, I really was just randomly hitting people.

They fought so badly that the floor tiles of the college building cracked and the building collapsed.

I only turned around and ran over to see what had happened because I heard a huge roar that was comparable to the explosion of the Port Mafia building.

When I arrived, I saw blood gushing from Hui's forehead, which shocked me.

Then I turned my head to look at the other side, and there was Dongtang.

His shirt was nowhere to be found, revealing his muscular upper body.

"Dongtang!" I quickly called out to stop him.

"Echigawa?" He turned to look at me at the sound of my voice. "Long time no see, but... what are you doing here?"

I said, "Don't worry about how I got here. I'm practically a graduate of Tokyo High School. You should be asking me how I got here."

Hui replied, "Today seems to be a preliminary meeting for an exchange conference."

"Then why did you start fighting?" I frowned. "Shouldn't you have discussed things before resorting to violence?"

“Ask that guy.” Hui gestured with her eyes. “He asked me what kind of woman I liked, and after I answered, I said I was boring, and then we started fighting.”

I:"……"

I looked at Dongtang and thought to myself that this was indeed something Dongtang was capable of doing.

I sighed and said, "Dongtang, the exchange meeting is coming up soon anyway, let's fight them then."

When the topic of the exchange meeting came up, Dongtang suddenly changed the subject: "Would you come to the exchange meeting?"

I:"?"

Me: "You know my situation, how can I come?"

Dongtang lowered his head and wiped away the tears that had welled up in his eyes: "That's a real pity."

I:"……"

benefit:"……"

I glanced to the side and our eyes met. I gestured to him not to be surprised, as Dongtang's tears always fall unexpectedly.

Hui gave me a look, as if to say that he had already seen it.

I turned to Dongtang and asked, "Did you come alone? Is no one with you?"

Before Dongtang could speak, Hui replied again, "And there are the senior monks of the Zen temple."

Huiping usually addresses Maki as Zenin-senpai, which made me pause for half a second when I first heard "Zenin-senpai," but only for half a second. I quickly realized who he was talking about.

"Is the Zen monastery truly reliant on this?"

"Um."

Where is she?

"With Kugizaki by the vending machine."

"Tsk."

I prayed that Kugizaki Nobara wouldn't end up like Megumi, bleeding from her head. But then I thought again, Zenin Mai is different from Toudou. Mai's brute strength is far inferior to Toudou's. Kugizaki's situation should be relatively better than Megumi's.

“Toudou…” I opened my mouth, about to persuade Toudou to go find Zhenyi.

Suddenly, with a "bang," Panda and Thorn made their dazzling entrance.

Panda seemed a little confused by the scene before him. He looked to his left at me and Hui, then to his right at Dongtang: "Oh dear, it seems we're a little late."

“It’s not too late, Panda,” I whispered as I leaned closer. “You can persuade Dongtang to leave.”

Panda turned to look at me, its small, dark eyes radiating a reassuring light, and then nodded firmly: "Mm."

Immediately afterwards, he turned to Dongtang and waved: "Go back quickly, or I'll shout, like 'No!' or something."

I:"……"

Sure, Panda, you're really good at creating funny stories.

"I have to go back now, even without you saying anything." Dongtang touched his neck and muttered to himself, "Where did I leave my shirt?"

He turned around, his gaze sweeping over me with an incredibly sharp look: "Remember to tell Yi Gu for me that he has to make an appearance."

I:"……?"

I turned my head to look at Hui, and we looked at each other.

My eyes seemed to say: You've gone abroad? Didn't he know?

Hui indicated: He should know.

Me: Will Youtai be able to come back for the exchange meeting? Probably not.

Hui: Senior Yigu definitely won't be coming back.

Me: So what is he saying that Yuta is coming too?

Hui: I don't know.

I wrinkled my nose, revealing a deep sense of bewilderment.

Hui and I looked into each other's eyes, and she shrugged helplessly.

On the other hand, Panda shamelessly declared, "I am a panda, and I don't understand human language."

Ji chimed in immediately: "Salmon."

After Toudou left, I immediately said to Panda and Thorn, "Megumi said that Toudou came with Mai, and Kugizaki is with her now."

Panda waved his hand, puffed out his chest, and said confidently, "Don't worry, Maki is over there."

"Oh right, and Maki too." I slapped the back of my head, belatedly realizing that only Tori had arrived, not Maki.

The college has planted many trees, and sunlight shines through the gaps in the dense canopy, leaving a string of light spots on the forest path.

We were under the lush foliage, on our way to meet Maki.

I said, "Speaking of which, is today already the day for our meeting?"

“Yes,” Panda said.

The days of slumber have made me less accurate in judging the passage of time, and my separation from college life has made me insensitive to special dates such as exchange meetings and gatherings.

I remembered what Ms. Shoko had told me about Mr. Gojo returning soon, and asked, "So, Ms. Shoko told me that Mr. Gojo would be back soon... did she mean that the exchange meeting would start soon, and Mr. Gojo would be back then?"

Panda stroked his chin, seemingly thinking, and nodded after two seconds: "That should be it."

"No wonder," I said.

****

As we said, Gojo Satoru did indeed appear on the day the exchange meeting began.

I bumped into him in the hallway.

Upon seeing the familiar figure, I quickly waved and greeted her happily, "Gojo-sensei."

He stopped in front of me, bent down and got a little closer. I stood straight, not flinching, just smiling slightly.

“It can talk or.” Teacher Gojo’s tone was slightly cheerful as she spoke, then suddenly lowered her head and pressed her forehead against my shoulder.

I wasn't very active, so I called out softly again, "Gojo-sensei?"

He didn't speak, but instead shook his head quickly, his soft, short white hair brushing against my neck, ears, and cheeks.

The silky texture made me tilt my head to the other side, but the next second I felt a lightness on my shoulder.

Gojo Satoru straightened up, clapped his hands together lightly with a satisfied look, and said, "I'm so happy that it can talk."

I didn't know what to say, I just felt a mix of laughter and tears.

He asked me, "Have you been awake for a long time?"

I said, "It hasn't been long, just a few days."

"Have you always been in a vocational college?"

“Yeah.” I nodded. “Maki and Megumi have been preparing for the exchange event lately, and I watch them train whenever I have free time.”

Speaking of this, Ms. Gojo seemed a little aggrieved: "Because neither Yuta nor the third-year students can participate. The second-year students, Maki, Panda, and Thorn, are definitely not enough, so we had to bring the first-year students along."

I shrugged: "I know, teacher, but there's nothing we can do about it."

Neither I nor Etotsuyuta could do anything about it.

To be honest, even if you just put me on the field right now, I wouldn't be a hindrance at all, but without the status of a college student, I can't participate even if it's just as an emergency measure.

As for Yuta... to put it dramatically, we might actually be able to make an overseas call to him for help.

But it's unnecessary, because it's really too exaggerated.

Gojo Satoru reached out and patted the top of my head. "Or do we still have to leave?"

"Yes."

He paused, then asked, "When?"

"Let's end the exchange meeting," I said. "When I saw Ms. Shoko the day I woke up, she asked me the same question, and I said I would wait for the teacher to come back. Now the teacher is back, but it just so happens to be the exchange meeting, so let's wait until the exchange meeting ends tomorrow."

"So you were planning to leave after I came back from the beginning?"

“Yes.” I nodded gently and smiled. “Because I really wanted to see my teacher, especially since I woke up in the college and felt it would be a pity to leave without seeing him.”

At that moment, I suddenly really wanted to look at Gojo-sensei's eyes, those beautiful blue eyes that I thought were especially lovely.

But no.

He was still wearing an eye patch today, and because of it, I always had a hard time reading out Teacher Wu's emotions.

He suddenly reached out again. I saw it, but I didn't dodge. Then, Mr. Gojo ruffled my hair and made it all messy.

"Thinking of it that way makes me happy," he said.

I scratched my light blue short hair and said helplessly, "No matter how happy you are, don't ruffle my hair like that, teacher."

After tidying my hair a bit, I asked, "Speaking of which, when I met Miss Shoko, she told me that I had a fever when I arrived. What happened?"

"Hmm, or do you remember? We went to the movies that day, and then you fell asleep on the sofa in the living room."

I quickly recalled that it was indeed the case, so I nodded.

Gojo Satoru continued, "After you fell asleep, I carried you to the bedroom, and when I checked on you the next day, you had a fever."

I remember back then I was listening to Fyodor's pyramid scheme-like speeches and had no idea about this. It wasn't until later, when the system told me that my consciousness couldn't return to my body, that I realized something was wrong.

Now it seems that the system reached that conclusion not because the main body left Yokohama, but simply because it had a fever. When you have a fever, the connection between consciousness and the main body seems to be inherently blurred.

Gojo Satoru added, "Luckily I went to check again, otherwise I might have gone crazy from the fever if I were home alone."

I:"……"

My instinct was to refute it, but after thinking about it carefully, I couldn't seem to find a reason to refute it.

I didn't say anything, and Gojo Satoru continued, finally concluding: "So, it's quite dangerous for you to live alone in Yokohama. Have you ever thought that maybe it would be better to come back?"

His tone and actions reminded me of Oikawa, Oikawa Toru.

I couldn't help but burst out laughing.

Oikawa would often ask me smugly, "Do you think my pass was cool?"

Then I deliberately went against his words and joked, "Archer, don't ask me, I don't understand volleyball."

Gojo Satoru said, "Don't just laugh, or..."

I coughed lightly, composed myself, and replied, "Teacher, I still have friends and work in Yokohama."

In other words, I can't just go back to vocational college now.

“Okay,” said Ms. Gojo.

I think he knew the answer, but after I said that, Mr. Gojo still seemed a little disappointed.

Although I couldn't see his expression clearly, I was thinking that if Gojo-sensei were to be transformed into a cat, then Gojo-chan would probably be looking dejected with his head drooping.

So I added, without feeling sorry for him, "But you'll have a chance to come back sometime, teacher."

He looked at me—I couldn't actually see his eyes, but I could feel him looking at me—and asked, "Is this a promise?"

I nodded: "Okay."

“Okay.” He smiled again, just like he had many times when I saw him, and seemed very happy. “Then that’s your promise to me, and I will always remember it.”