Chapter 58, Chapter 7: Brother Gu, take care.

In the end, Jie Ge didn't even get a chance to appear. Panda + Yuki Ayaka was more than enough to deal with a near-level 1 cursed spirit. Not to mention there was Rika on the side. Even if this level 2 spirit had a Sukuna finger inside its belly and mutated into a special level, Yuki Ayaka wouldn't be afraid at all.

Call out "Mom!" and Rika will definitely save her!

The fact that Yi Gu You Tai didn't seem to be of much use made him feel even more useless.

Especially when he was thrown away by the cursed spirit and only managed to avoid a terrible fall thanks to Rika catching him, the elementary school student, Karin Oriyuki, picked up his knife and charged forward, delivering a critical hit to the cursed spirit.

Yigu Youtai: qwq......

Has Kuka Riko really not mistaken her father for someone else?

He did question whether he and the father the child was talking about were the same person.

"What's wrong? Did you suffer a setback?"

A voice suddenly came from behind him, and Yuta turned around, his eyes widening slightly: "Natsuyu-sensei."

Xia Youjie smiled and pointed to the seat next to him: "May I sit here?"

“Of course.” Yi Gu You Tai quickly moved aside to make way for him.

Xia Youjie sat down with a smile and asked, "I heard from Panda that Kuka was very brave when facing the cursed spirits, and it didn't even seem like it was her first time fighting a cursed spirit."

Yuta Otsukoshi also recalled the scene in his mind and nodded: "Yes, Kuka Risa is very powerful. She is excellent in both learning techniques and various theories as well as in combat."

Xia Youjie looked at him with a smile: "Do you feel pressured? You can't even compare to a small child, or even your own daughter."

Yuta Otsuko was immediately embarrassed: "As for pressure... there might be a little, but it's okay. It's just that sometimes I think... Kuuka Ri's dad is amazing."

At this point, he scratched his head and smiled sheepishly, saying, "Does saying this sound a bit narcissistic? But I really think so. Indeed... even the same person can be very different in different worlds."

Xia Youjie immediately guessed his thoughts: "Do you think you and the other person are not the same person?"

"Hmm... a little bit." Yuta Otsuko smiled shyly. "But it's not that I think the other person is very strong and I am weak or anything. It's just that from what I heard from Kūka Risa, I feel that the other person is a person who is both gentle and strong inside, completely different from me."

"Although I chose to become a sorcerer, I wasn't really that determined. The only reason I kept training was because I didn't want to hurt anyone anymore and hoped to free Rika from her current situation. Becoming a strong person to protect the weak... I never really thought about that."

Xia Youjie smiled and said, "Isn't it gentle enough to force yourself to do something you're not good at in order not to hurt others?"

"Huh?" Yuta Otsuko was a little confused. "Is...is that so?"

Xia Youjie nodded: "Of course. As for becoming strong and protecting the weak, that's something we need to consider. You're just students now, so you only need to achieve your own goals. As for the rest, you can think about it when you become strong enough."

Etsuyuu looked at his profile.

In fact, Otsuku Yuta sometimes felt that Natsuyu Jie was more like the father that Kuka Ri described than he was—gentle and patient, and incredibly strong in both ability and spirit.

He couldn't help but ask Xia Youjie, "Is Teacher Xia Youjie like this too?"

Xia Youjie tilted his head slightly: "Hmm?"

"Um... I mean... was Natsuyou-sensei like this when we were her age?"

“Ah… no, that’s not it.” Xia Youjie replied very sincerely, “I was already very strong when I was your age, so my idea at that time was also to become stronger and then protect the weak.”

Yi Gu You Tai: "..."

I feel like I've been taken advantage of.

Seeing his somewhat choked expression, Xia Youjie laughed: "But at the beginning, I just wanted to protect myself and the people around me, so I gradually became stronger. Goals change over time. For example, after I met Wu, I had one more goal than before."

Yi Guyou asked curiously, "What is it?"

Xia Youjie smirked: "We absolutely cannot let that guy be so smug as the strongest."

Yi Gu You Tai: "..."

"As for whether you are similar to your parallel universe self, there is no doubt about that."

Yuta Otsuko: "Hmm?"

Xia Youjie smiled and said, "We've mentioned before that there have been a few cases like Kuka Risa, who traveled from a parallel future, right?"

"Um."

“One of those times happened to me, in a similar situation to yours.” As he said this, Xia Youjie’s face showed a hint of nostalgia for the past. “Xia Youya Karin was a little younger than Kuka Risa, only five years old.”

Yi Guyou was somewhat stunned; he hadn't expected that Xia Youjie had experienced the same thing as him.

Or rather, no one ever told him that those who had traveled through time before were basically so-and-so's daughters or sons.

Xia Youjie continued, "That child always calls non-magicians monkeys and believes that the appearance of cursed spirits is all because of non-magicians, so non-magicians should all die."

Yi Gu You Tai: ? ? ?

His eyes widened.

Is this... something a five-year-old could think of?

Xia Youjie noticed his surprise and laughed, "Surprised? Indeed, it's hard to believe that a five-year-old child would say such things. But actually, these are all things her father taught her, which is... me from a parallel world."

Upon hearing this, Yuta Otsuki found it even more unbelievable.

Although he hadn't known Xia Youjie for very long, he had already gotten to know his homeroom teacher to some extent. With two of Xia Youjie's die-hard fans, Kasaba Nanako and Kasaba Mimiko, in the class, he was even more aware of the latter's more than ten-year-long dedication to the ideal of protecting the weak.

Such a person... in a parallel world would actually be... a villain-like existence?

"Don't you feel that the parallel world is very different from our world?" Xia Youjie raised the corners of his lips.

Yi Guyou nodded hesitantly.

“I thought so at first, and even thought that the world was the opposite of our world.” Xia Youjie said of his thoughts at the time. “But later I found that I was really confused and didn’t know if my persistence was right.”

"It seems incredible, but I found that if I really encountered something when I was confused at the time, and turned to another direction, it would actually be a perfectly reasonable thing."

"That world is not completely different from our world. It's just that at a certain point, due to a certain event or a different choice, they went towards different futures."

"In other words, although you may not have the same Kuuka Risa in the future now that Rika has become a cursed spirit, whether you are in this world or in another world, you are still Otsuku Yuuta. You are fully capable of becoming the kind and strong person you described, which has already been personally confirmed by your parallel world self."

"If you don't have any other goals besides lifting the curse for Rika, why not try making becoming that kind of person your goal?"

His smiling eyes looked at Yuta Etsukotsu.

To aim for that kind of self...?

Yi Guyou lowered his eyes slightly, and after a long while, he finally smiled and nodded, saying, "I understand, thank you, Teacher Xiayou."

Xia Youjie: (Smiles)

Great, if this continues, he'll be able to win over another person who's pursuing the truth with him!

Looking at his smile, Yuta felt, for some reason, as if he were being watched.

Uh... wrong, right? Although she can be a little quirky at times, Natsume-sensei is generally quite reliable.

—Today is also a day for Natsume-sensei and Gojo-sensei to debate about orthodoxy.

——

Although Yuta Otsuko had some doubts about whether he and the father that Rikuka mentioned were the same person, he had no doubt whatsoever about whether the child's mother was Rika.

Sometimes, when he looks at the child's profile, he thinks of Rika from before.

What's perfect is that... the last Rika in his memory was also this age.

Eleven years old.

If... if Rika hadn't died in that car accident, perhaps they really would have had a child like that in the future?

Thinking this, Yuta Otsuki looked at Karin Oriyuki's face and couldn't help but feel a little disappointed.

Karin Origami noticed his gaze, turned her head, and tilted her head: "Dad?"

"Huh?" Yuta Otsukoshi came to his senses.

"What's wrong?" Karin asked, touching her face. "Is there something on my face?"

Yi Guyou quickly shook his head guiltily: "No, it's nothing, I... I was just a little distracted."

Karin blinked, immediately realizing what he was doing.

She understood the saying, "Looking at small things leads to big things," because Fu Heishen had often been staring at her before.

She couldn't resist teasing Etoku Yuta.

There was no way around it; the young and inexperienced Bone Bro just looked too easy to bully.

She asked, "Did Dad think of Mom?"

"Huh?" Yuta Otsukoshi, whose thoughts had been exposed, froze.

Ayaka Shiki smiled faintly and said, "I know. Dad and Mom have known each other since they were little. In the original world, Dad would often look at Kūka Ri and say that Kūka Ri looked a lot like Mom when she was little. Sometimes when he looked at Kūka Ri, he would think of the times he spent with Mom when he was little."

Yuta's face turned completely red from what he was being said, and he waved his hands, trying to explain, "No... I, I just..."

Unfortunately, I didn't have a chance to explain to him; Rika was right next to me.

When Rika heard Karin Otsuki say that Yuuta was thinking about their past, she got excited and hugged him tightly: "Yuuta! I love you! Rika loves Yuuta the most!"

"No, Rika... wait a minute..."

Not far away, several first-generation members saw them hugging again and couldn't help but sigh, "They have such a good relationship..."

Yuta's face turned even redder: "Rika... let me go first..."

The culprit, Karin Oori, was secretly suppressing a laugh.

In reality, Rika simply doesn't react excessively when Otsuko Yuta stares at or interacts with Oriyuki Karin, because in her eyes, Oriyuki Karin is their child.

She even felt that Yuta's care for Yukiko Ayaka and Karin was like a father taking care of his child, a way of cherishing the fruit of their love, which was equivalent to cherishing their love itself.

However, Rika still gets jealous when Yuta Otsukoshi interacts with other women.

Although the three girls in the class all regarded Yuta as a married man and had no other thoughts, as classmates, some normal contact was inevitable.

However, even these ordinary interactions were difficult for Rika, whose emotions were not very stable, to accept.

Despite the fact that Karin and Yuta always try to explain and comfort Rika whenever things seem to be going wrong, there are always unexpected things that happen.

That day was supposed to be a normal training session, and everything was normal. Although Yuta was sparring with Maki Zenin, the physical contact of punches and kicks could hardly be considered ambiguous.

However... Yuta Otsuko was no match for Maki Zenin, and was sent flying by her counter-attack.

By sheer coincidence, the projectile hurtled towards Mimiko Kasaba.

They're all flying towards me at the same time, I can't just watch them crash to the ground, can I?

So Mimiko Kasaba lent a hand.

At that moment, Rika was helping the young and weak Karin Orishita twist the bottle cap. By the time she noticed what was happening and rushed over, it was too late. She could only watch helplessly as Mimiko Kasaba reached out and caught Yuta Otsuko, even catching him in her arms.

Rika's mineral water bottle was crushed in her hand, and Rika was splashed with water all over her face.

Zhixue Yahuali: "..."

She's still waiting to drink...

No, but it seems like drinking water isn't important anymore.

As she watched Rika's sudden surge of magical power, she silently lit a candle in her heart for her adoptive father in this cycle of time.

Brother Gu, take care.

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Author's Note: Rika's jealousy is off the charts! [doge emoji]