Chapter 10

"I've seen this kind of behavior [eating] many times, whether it's cursed objects or cursed spirit orbs..."

From Kazuma Hatori's perspective, Gojo Satoru, wearing a black eye mask, is pinching his chin, seemingly puzzled, and is looking him up and down, his upper body pressed extremely close, almost exceeding normal social distance.

"But I've never seen anything like [Crystals] drop after defeating a cursed spirit before?"

In particular, his drawn-out, soft tone of voice is reminiscent of a light and adorable balloon.

Or... like a plush toy that you can feel with its extremely soft and fluffy texture when you squeeze it.

Kazuma Hatori wasn't quite sure about this, but that didn't stop him from feeling a little tempted by the silvery-white hair swaying in front of him, wanting to reach out and feel if it was really as soft as he imagined.

Whether it's the sunglasses-wearing Satoru I saw at the banquet yesterday, or the eye patch-wearing Satoru I see now, he looks great... No wonder he grew up to be the beautiful Satoru.

At this moment, the beautiful Da Wu is right in front of him. As a player, can't he even touch it? Otherwise, where's the fun in playing virtual games?

Think about it, before he could just control the character to stick to things, now he can actually try sticking to things.

Having easily convinced himself, Kazuma Hatori raised his hand, intending to launch a sneak attack—no, to touch Satoru Gojo's white hair—

Then it was blocked by an invisible barrier. Its fingertips could only stop at a point very close to Gojo Satoru, and it was impossible to go any further, let alone touch the target.

"…………"

Kazuma Hatori slightly widened his dark eyes, then fell silent.

Seriously? This game actually created invisible walls around all the romanceable characters?!

Does that mean he can only look and not touch the whole time? Surely he's not worried about clipping? Is there no logic to this? Where are the players' basic rights to touch?!

"Um?"

Gojo Satoru noticed that Hagoromo Kazuma hadn't answered his question for a while. When he looked up, he saw that Hagoromo was silently withdrawing his hand from his head—although his face was still expressionless, he seemed quite frustrated, and his whole body was surrounded by an aura of exceptional loss.

"What mischief were you planning to do just now?"

Gojo Satoru tilted his head slightly, a teasing, amused smile curving his lips.

It was clearly blocked by his fully automatic [No Limits Technique]. What was that kid up to, sneaking around like that?

"I just wanted to touch your hair."

Kazuma Hatake replied, his tone as calm as if he were simply thirsty and wanted a drink of water.

"Oh dear, that's such a shame it failed."

Gojo Satoru's smile widened. He straightened up, shook his hand, and comforted the other person in a tone that seemed to express genuine sympathy.

"Maybe you'll succeed next time. You still need to work harder—"

Oh? Does that mean your affinity level isn't high enough, which is why you can't meet them?

Kazuma Hagoromo immediately felt relieved. "I will do my best."

Being able to touch it means he has a chance. Sooner or later he'll win the other person's favor and then vigorously move their hair... cough, he just wants to test the feel of it, really.

—On this point, Kazuma Hato completely rejects the sharp comment made by his classmate and friend Mikoshiba: "You're basically a white-haired fetishist."

Meanwhile, Fushiguro Megumi, who had witnessed the entire event, fell into a deeper silence with a completely different mindset than before.

"………………"

These two people suddenly became so dazzling that he couldn't bear to look at them.

Should he reveal that the other party could easily use [Black Flash]...? What if revealing it would actually ruin the Kamo family head's plans?

Megumi Fushiguro, who is fifteen years old and about to start her first year of college, appears to be indifferent and lost in thought, but in reality, she is confused by an emotional dilemma she has never encountered before.

Like a clock whose gears got stuck, making it run extremely slowly—it almost completely broke down.

"Okay, okay, let's get back to the topic. What's the deal with the [crystallization] that Hui mentioned?"

Gojo Satoru clapped his hands, and you could tell from his tone that he was in a very good mood.

"Moreover, compared to what I observed yesterday using [Six Eyes], your curse power has actually increased a little... albeit only a little,"

He pressed his thumb and forefinger together, making it impossible to see any sign of making a gesture.

"But there has definitely been an increase, which is quite a rare phenomenon."

Normally, without the aid of some special external means, it is difficult for a sorcerer to increase the total amount of magical power within their body; but this patriarch can actually increase his magical power by eating a certain object that falls after a magical spirit is exorcised, and even directly calls it a "crystallization"?

Gojo Satoru was very interested.

"Yes, it's one of my upgrade methods."

Kazuma Hagoromo nodded and spoke the truth.

"The reward given after exorcising the cursed spirit (in the game)."

"That explanation is really simple and easy to understand. But logically speaking, fighting cursed spirits isn't like hitting Mario blocks, where you get a reward every time you hit them..."

Gojo Satoru pondered for a while, rubbing his chin, before suddenly asking a question that went off-topic.

"Is that crystallized substance hard to eat?"

Megumi Fushiguro: "…………" Is that the point!?

“It has no taste,” Kazuma Hatori thought for a moment, “basically, it melts in your mouth.”

To be precise, the crystal disappeared as soon as it was put into his mouth. Even swallowing it was just a matter of muscle memory; he didn't actually taste anything.

The only obvious notification was a pop-up message saying, "Your maximum spell power has been slightly increased!"

This action might be similar to performing an interactive behavior like "absorbing crystals" in a regular game, and it might not have any real significance.

This startled Fu Hei Hui, who treated him as if he were some roadside kid who loved to pick up trash to eat, and shook his shoulders wildly, telling him to vomit it up.

"Really? That's good."

Gojo Satoru nodded with a smile, "Wow—it's really unbelievable that there's such a peculiar way to upgrade curse power."

"I'll have to observe from the sidelines for a while afterward."

As soon as he said those words, a pop-up window marked with a commission immediately appeared in front of Kazuma Hatake.

[Current request: Gojo Satoru's request has been fulfilled.]

[Reward: Team-up feature for missions unlocked.]

Kazuma Hatake closed the pop-up and answered decisively.

"no problem."

Then, Gojo Satoru realized that he was being stared at by those dark eyes.

It's like saying, "I've completed your learning requirements, now you can take me on a mission, right?"

Even without removing the blindfold that blocked his vision, he could clearly feel the other person's eagerness—as if the unspoken words had materialized into radio waves constantly being transmitted to him, and with a rather pure and sincere emotion that made him almost feel a little overwhelmed.

Having never been expected to do so before, Gojo Satoru almost reflexively wanted to take a half-step back.

But then, a more smug feeling slowly welled up from the bottom of his heart, like a cat's belly warmed by the sun.

“Eh… um…”

Is this Kamo family head really so eager to go on a mission with him? Oh dear, there's just no way to deal with him.

"Since that's the case, although it's still the New Year holiday, I happen to have a business trip that's not too dangerous, so I'll make an exception and allow you to come along!"

Gojo Satoru clapped his hands and said cheerfully.

"However, it is quite troublesome."

"You exorcised a [Rat] cursed spirit today, right? Have you thought about what to do if there are thousands of [Rat] cursed spirits in the sewers? Ah, according to the information sent back by [Window], it seems that cursed power matching the special grade has been observed, but I think it's unlikely."

"But just to be on the safe side, we still need to go and check it out in person to confirm."

Fushiguro Megumi snapped back to reality in surprise, "Here?!"

"No, no, this is Saitama Prefecture. What was exorcised should have been a normal single [Rat Curse Spirit]."

Gojo Satoru waved his hand, and through the blindfold, his beautiful six eyes fell on Hato Kazuma beside him.

"The [Rat Curse Spirit] I'm talking about is in Yamagata Prefecture. It's a bit far from here, and even further from Kyoto, so..."

“It’s okay, I can go,” Kazuma Hatori replied.

The vegetables planted by the elders also need time to mature, so he doesn't need to stay there indefinitely. He just needs to make sure that they are assigned to work in the game interface.

Moreover, unlike when he stayed obediently at Fushiguro Megumi's house, he had already thoroughly searched the entire Kamo house but found nothing of value.

The "value" here does not refer to monetary price, but rather to the value that triggers the system's judgment—such as equipment that increases attributes, acceptable quests, and the unlocking of other functions.

It's also possible that he hasn't found the right method yet, or that the timing isn't right.

But all in all, it's more important to team up with the beautiful Da Wu to run dungeons right now.

"————"

Gojo Satoru didn't speak immediately. He first showed a very happy expression before slowly opening his mouth.

"Okay, then I'll arrange for you to come along too. There's also a very proper sorcerer I know in the group, I can introduce you to him. If you have any questions about using sorcery, you can ask him."

"Wait a minute," Fushiguro Megumi said quietly.

"Or, Gojo-sensei could personally instruct this, um, head of the Kamo family."

Don't look too stupid, Mr. Gojo.

The guy who can easily use [Black Flash] but pretends to know nothing and sticks to you everywhere, he probably wants you to teach him, right? Don't push him onto these innocent bystanders.

"That would be even better."

Kazuma Hatake would naturally want to trigger more requests from the beautiful Daigo, then unlock more rewards, max out her affection level, and finally successfully trigger the wedding CG.

Fushiguro Megumi: "…………" See? He knew it.

"Hmm... Teaching through real combat, that's definitely my consistent approach,"

Gojo Satoru fell into deep thought.

"Or, we can give it a try then..."

At the same time, new content appeared in the pop-up window in front of Kazuma Hatake.

[Current Task: The Rat Curse Spirit and an Unpleasant Day Off.]

[Rat Exorcism Spell: 0%/100%]