Chapter 56 A Day in the Life of a Sorcerer

Teacher Gojo told me not to tell Maki and the others that I was back yet, saying that I wanted to give them a surprise.

I agreed, but I didn't think too much about it when I did. It was just that Gojo Satoru said it, and I thought it was okay, so I agreed.

But Maki and the others were genuinely surprised when they saw me and heard that I had returned to high school.

"Edakawa? Is everything alright now?" Maki asked this question while Panda and Thorn were holding my arms, one on each side, looking at me like they were playing with a rag doll.

The panda's paws clumsily patted my upper limbs, then moved up step by step and landed on my shoulder.

He said, "You look thinner, or..."

Dog-Curled Thorn replied, "Salmon."

I hadn't paid attention to that before, so I just smiled and said, "Maybe."

Hui found out later.

Because he hadn't returned from Yokohama by the time I came back.

When Teacher Gojo told me that Hui was temporarily not at the vocational college, I asked him out of curiosity where he was.

The answer I got was Yokohama.

It was only then that I belatedly remembered the glimpse I had of him on the streets of Yokohama when we were still wandering together.

However, Fushiguro Megumi soon returned to the vocational high school from Yokohama.

Hishito the Japanese knotweed and Rose Kugizaki accompanied him.

When Kugizaki Nobara saw me, she smiled and waved, "Edaka-senpai, you're here again."

I haven't known her for very long, but we've never felt too distant from each other.

"Yes," I said.

Panda leaned closer and rested his raised elbow on my shoulder, but he only leaned on it lightly and didn't put any weight on me.

He shook his head, looking rather rambling: "First graders, I have some news for you."

Before Hui and the others could react, he excitedly announced: "—You can become a college student again!"

I:"……"

I could only manage an awkward yet polite smile when Megumi Fushiguro, Yuujin Itadori, and Nobara Kugizaki all looked at me at the same time.

Hui's eyelashes trembled slightly, but her expression remained relatively calm: "Really? Senior?"

"Really." I nodded.

Maki, standing nearby, also said, "Really."

Her opening and closing movements were almost synchronized with mine; at least to me, our voices almost overlapped.

Then Hui smiled, a very faint smile, and said, "Congratulations, senior."

Megumi and I have known each other for a long time, and he knows more about me than Hisahito Itadori and Nobara Kugizaki.

That's why he reacted in such a short time.

After the first-year students also received the news, they chose a free evening and all the students from the vocational college got together to hold a welcome party for me.

Aside from the four of us in second grade and the three of them in first grade, there were also five teachers.

We actually called her Miss Shoko, but she declined.

Mr. Nanami and Mr. Ijichi, on the other hand, were never seen at all.

Therefore, the only adult present was Gojo Satoru.

However, Mr. Gojo did not act like an adult. He blended into our group of students and seemed to have aged ten years, without any sense of incongruity.

As Maki and Megumi sat next to each other, complaining about him, I smiled helplessly and said, "Didn't we already know what kind of person the teacher was?"

Maki looked at me, her eyes, hidden in the shadows, deep and unfathomable, as she was backlit: "Only you would spoil him like this, Egawa."

Just as she said this, Gojo Satoru happened to walk over and heard it. He stopped around us, put his arm around my neck from behind, and said with a smile, "Perfect, it's enough that you spoil me."

His lips were almost touching my ear, and the sound was amplified when it reached my eardrums. I could even feel Mr. Gojo exhaling as he spoke.

Maki rolled her eyes slightly, but not at me.

Because she immediately followed up by saying, "You'd better cherish Erikawa; you're really lucky to have such a good student as Erikawa."

The pressure on my back was released, and Gojo Satoru obviously sat up straight. His long, slender arm that had been around my neck also withdrew, and as it separated, it unintentionally brushed against the back of my neck.

Suddenly, I felt Gojo Satoru's gaze behind me. I turned my head and saw his round-framed sunglasses. He wasn't wearing an eye patch today, and his white hair was loose and hanging down.

When our eyes met, he grinned.

He said, "I have always cherished or..."

I was taken aback.

I could feel the increasingly intense, pounding sound of my heart.

****

While Dog-Roll Thorn, Panda, and Yuujin were causing a ruckus, Kugizaki, Maki, Megumi, and I were chatting together.

During that time, Hui asked me how my health had suddenly improved.

I jokingly pointed to the ceiling and said, "Perhaps it's a blessing from heaven."

It's not a proper answer.

But Megumi didn't ask any further questions, nor did Maki.

Perhaps my slumber was strange in the first place, and even if my departure is strange now, they won't investigate further.

Maki said, "That's called God opening his eyes, Edaka. It's just bad luck to run into something like this."

I burst out laughing when I heard that.

Maki and Megumi were talking to me about the college. Megumi (at my request) focused on her encounter with Hisahito Itadori, which amazed me.

When I turned to look at Hisahito Itadori, I thought to myself, "He's a genius too."

I mostly talked to them about my time at the Armed Detective Agency. At first, Hui didn't show any expression, but when I mentioned Edogawa Ranpo, he frowned slightly.

I noticed his expression and stopped to ask, "What's wrong?"

Hui said, "Senior, I think I've met that Mr. Edogawa Ranpo you mentioned."

I subconsciously uttered a questioning syllable, then turned my head and remembered that Hui had been in Yokohama not long ago; perhaps we really had met.

Under the unanimous gaze of Maki and me, Megumi recalled and described Ranpo's appearance: "Black hair, always squinting, wearing a full detective outfit, I don't know his exact age, but he looks quite young."

When I heard him squinting, I was pretty sure, "That really is Mr. Ranpo."

In that instant, something suddenly flashed through Fukuro Megumi's mind.

Fushiguro Megumi turned her head to look at him. In the boy's deep blue eyes, which seemed to hold the waves of the sea, her gaze was blank. Suddenly, she recalled the scene when she met Edogawa Ranpo in Yokohama.

When he met Edogawa Ranpo, he was accompanied by a slender, white-haired boy. When introducing himself, he said his name was Nakajima Atsushi, and then he mentioned that the boy next to him was Edogawa Ranpo.

Fushiguro Megumi then said her name, but when she looked at Edogawa Ranpo, she couldn't see his eyes.

However, even though the other person was squinting, Fushiguro Megumi still felt his gaze on her.

He bowed his head politely and vaguely heard a low murmur: "...What bad luck, you've come at the wrong time."

The voice was so soft that he initially thought it was his imagination.

Furthermore, when he looked up, Edogawa Ranpo and Nakajima Atsushi were already studying the scene as if nothing had happened, so he didn't pay any attention.

But right now, as Edakawa brought up that name again, he immediately thought of that phrase.

What a coincidence.

It didn't come from anywhere else.

Fu Heihui lowered her eyes, her thick, dark eyelashes trembling.

It turns out that at that time, they knew that he and his senior, Edakawa, both came from the High School of Cursed Arts.