Chapter 214 Original Story Side Story (Part 4) (Thanks to Triton for the deep water): If Daigo raised a little wolfhound in the prison gates, Ichima...

Gojo Satoru had never missed his...money so much.

Damn it! If he could spend money to unlock the outside map, he wouldn't have to wait in the empty bedroom for Ichijin to come back after he goes to school!

This game is annoying; why is it so realistic in simulating going to school?!

How boring. Every time the black-haired little man leaves the bedroom, he's left staring at the empty room until the other person returns. All the other places are locked with small gray locks.

I am bored!

Gojo Satoru lay alone in the prison gate, sulking in front of his phone, his cheeks puffed up—after a moment, he suddenly realized that he was actually being emotionally moved by the characters in the game, and couldn't help but chuckle.

Well, that's part of the fun of playing games, after all.

Gojo Satoru quickly convinced himself and his mood improved.

However, he had a vague feeling that the worldview of this mini-game was rather subtle.

Is it his professional habit acting up? I feel that the Takamura incident that Ichijin described is very similar to the work of a cursed spirit.

The so-called "moving" excuse is often a common cover-up used by vocational high schools when the whole family is cursed and harmed, or when the impact on the surrounding area is too bad.

Out of a kind of conditioned reflex of vigilance, after Gojo Satoru told Ichishin that playing games that tested courage seemed to be popular in his class recently, he warned him not to participate under any circumstances.

No matter where you go to play the so-called "test of courage," the accumulation of negative emotions is always much stronger than in other places, and the probability of generating cursed spirits will also increase significantly—in short, it is easy to encounter life-threatening danger.

Although the college regularly sends people to patrol and places "talismans" in key locations, curses are inherently chaotic and extremely dangerous, and any accident could lead to terrible consequences.

Regardless of whether he's been a sorcerer for too long and is being paranoid, even the game subconsciously feels that Takamura's "moving" might be related to the cursed spirits lurking in the abandoned old house. It's best to avoid going to such places if possible.

Seeing the "Okay" response bubble slowly float out above Kazuma's head, Gojo Satoru felt relieved and patted his head as a compliment for "good boy, good boy".

[Kazuma Hagoromo: Affection +3.]

The subsequent notification about the increased favorability further boosted Gojo Satoru's mood.

Wow, even though the numbers he adds each time are small, the frequency is high! What does that mean? It means he really is a super great teacher who cares about his students! Yay!

With his legs crossed, Gojo Satoru was very proud and smug. He had completely forgotten Ichima's protest. With a flick of his finger, he easily rubbed the person all over the screen, his technique was much more skillful than that of petting a cat.

【…………】

The black-haired little man steadied himself, and one ellipsis bubble after another appeared above his head. However, he no longer put on a stern face as before and tried to express his dissatisfaction and resistance with an emphasized tone.

"Come teach me math problems."

Having finally escaped the clutches of Gojo Satoru's increasingly enthusiastic caresses, Hato Kazuma, whose ears were burning hot, was finally able to sit at his desk and quietly unfold his textbooks and the homework assigned for the day.

Kazuma Hatake's academic performance is not bad, and he can be considered a good student in the eyes of his teachers. The math problem he was given earlier was actually an extra problem that was beyond the scope of the curriculum, so it didn't matter if he couldn't solve it.

But at this moment, Kazuma Hatake seemed to have suddenly become stupid, even expressing confusion about relatively simple calculation problems.

He was enjoying being watched by Mr. Gojo and having his homework tutored by him, like his heart, which had always been suspended in the clouds, suddenly falling into a soft and warm cotton candy that had been warmed by the sun.

This is a little secret of Kazuma Hatori's.

When the draft paper was unfolded again on the lower half of the phone, Gojo Satoru not only tried his best to write the steps clearly with his fingers, but also added a short word in the little blank space left.

--test.

The little black-haired man who received the draft paper indeed saw the sentence, immediately raised his head, and looked around for his whereabouts.

[Mr. Gojo?]

The bubbles rising from above also confirmed Gojo Satoru's idea: the other person could see what he wrote on the draft paper.

However, a phone screen is no bigger than the palm of your hand, and draft paper cannot be scaled, so even if he tries his best to express the content with simple words, he can't write very long sentences.

Looking at his fingers, which were by no means slender, Gojo Satoru sighed and looked up at the sky.

He's over 1.9 meters tall, so how small could his hands be? It's already quite good that what he wrote wasn't a complete mess!

Well, at least it provides another way to communicate, which is good news.

The other party obviously thought so too, because Gojo Satoru then received an even simpler math problem, which allowed him to write at least two-thirds of the content.

From Gojo Satoru's perspective, the black-haired little man is looking up at him, seemingly nervous about something.

Are you afraid he'll make a request, or you think he'll leave?

After pondering for a moment, Gojo Satoru chose to painstakingly draw a picture with his fingers after solving the problem.

When a slightly apprehensive Kazuma Hatori received the draft paper with handwriting visible, his expression immediately froze.

A cat wearing an eye patch, drawn crookedly but with an unusually lively expression, is sticking out its tongue and raising its front paws to give him a peace sign.

Because it was so lively and cute, Kazuma Hatake could no longer associate this unseen "ghost" with a hideous and terrifying monster; his mind was filled with an unseen ghost cat running around in his bedroom.

Mr. Gojo... was he a cat after all?

The thought had barely crossed Hato Kazuma's mind when he immediately denied it.

How is that possible? How could a cat do math problems and even communicate with him?

Wait a minute, isn't the fox spirit in the divination game also a fox, but it can also...

Furthermore, Mr. Gojo said he was locked up, which, if it was by a cat deity, does seem plausible... and his handwriting is indeed terrible...

Kazuma Hatori was caught in a mental storm, struggling with the draft paper.

But his thinking was shown on the screen as him shaking his head back and forth slightly, which made Gojo Satoru cross his legs and happily watch the little black-haired man sitting at his desk swaying back and forth, which was super cute.

Hmph, they must be captivated by his painting skills.

Gojo Satoru was completely unaware that his sudden act of acting cute almost cost him his human status in Hatori Kazuma's heart.

Fortunately, Kazuma Hatori did not point this out directly, but quietly put away the draft paper and tucked it into the book as well.

It doesn't matter.

"Ichima Hatake thought to himself."

He doesn't care whether it's a person, a cat, or any other species.

Anyway, Mr. Gojo promised he would always be by his side.

…………

Time cannot be felt inside the prison gates, but through Hagoromo Kazuma's daily routine in the game, Gojo Satoru can roughly estimate that a month has passed—assuming that the flow of time inside and outside the game is the same.

During this period, they communicated through both psychic paper and draft paper.

Gojo Satoru discovered that Hatori Kazuma preferred to chat with him using draft paper, and didn't mind his wild cursive script at all.

Aside from the math problems he actually asked for help with, Yizhen would even deliberately find some math problems with extremely simple solution steps, just to leave a lot of space for him to write.

Oh my, you really like his paintings but are too shy to say it!

Although he always has a serious face and acts like an adult, he's still just a kid at heart.

With a flick of his finger, Gojo Satoru generously and diligently drew all sorts of adorable chibi cats for Ichima on the small canvas, feeling that his drawing skills had improved considerably during this period.

Aside from that, nothing particularly noteworthy happened. The game may have had a lot of storylines, but the fact that you have to spend money to unlock them all makes all those ideas useless.

Gojo Satoru is like a player locked in the beginner village. No matter how ingenious and exciting the plot is arranged outside, he can only wander around in Ichijin's bedroom. He has to wait for Ichijin as soon as he goes out.

When Kazuma Hatake's affection level reached 20, a system pop-up appeared in the game.

[Room decorations are now unlocked; you can purchase your favorite furniture from the shop to create a private space just for you and your partner.]

[Redirecting to the online store?]

Yes/No.

He was given options, an entrance to the in-game store, and a dazzling array of pay-to-win items, yet he couldn't spend a single penny.

Kazuma Hatori, who had already spoken about his family situation, comforted him after learning that he had tried to get him a luxury bedroom but failed.

It's okay, I don't mind living here. We'll have money once I turn 16 and can start working.

Five Articles - Super Rich Man - Wu: "..."

He felt wronged!

Kazuma Hatake waited for a while but didn't get a response, but he wasn't annoyed.

He had a strange feeling that the other person seemed to be quietly squatting in a corner, sulking, which was especially cute—unfortunately, he couldn't see it.

Now that his communication with Mr. Gojo had come to an end, Kazuma Hatori tidied up his textbooks, draft paper, and homework on the table and planned to wash up and go to bed.

Going to bed early makes you less likely to get hungry.

This morning, my adoptive father, who had been out having fun all night, brought back a discounted bento box that was nearing its expiration date. The taste wasn't great, but the portion was large enough to fill his stomach for dinner.

He's growing a lot lately, so he gets hungry very easily.

Kazuma Hatori pulled the covers up, said goodnight as usual, and drifted off to sleep peacefully amidst a soft, gentle, breeze-like caress.

I slept without any dreams.

The next day, Kazuma Hatake arrived at school and heard another piece of news being spread like wildfire in his class.

Katayama, who was close friends with Takamura, also suddenly moved away.

It's just too weird. In this day and age, there are more convenient ways to communicate than sending letters. How could someone move without calling their friends to let them know?

"I knew it was [disappearance]!"

Have the whole family disappeared?

"That sounds terrible..."

"Could it be that their previous test of courage really angered the gods and spirits...?"

"But didn't that happen almost a month ago?"

"It's hard to say, what if there's some kind of ceremony..."

These kinds of rambling thoughts would always reach Kazuma Hatori's ears.

The teachers on stage were seriously maintaining order and stopping these superstitious and bizarre things from spreading on campus.

Meanwhile, Kazuma Hatori lowered his eyelashes, indifferent to the noise around him, focusing only on taking out the draft paper from the book page by page, carefully binding it with the binder he bought with the money he saved, making sure there wasn't a single crease.

His neighbor at the next table happened to be turning his head this way, and out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of the top page of the draft paper covered with cat doodles and matching cursive writing, and blurted it out subconsciously.

"It's so cute, Hatori. Did you draw this yourself?"

He regretted it as soon as the words left his mouth.

Everyone in the class knew that Yuqu was a cold and aloof guy who always went alone with his backpack. He neither participated in club activities nor was he ever seen getting close to anyone.

If it weren't for the fact that girls generally think highly of him, constantly praising him for being handsome and cool, and that he also has excellent grades in physical education, this guy would have been targeted by delinquents on campus long ago.

No matter what, Kazuma Hatake's impression on them was that he was "difficult to get along with." Even if someone occasionally tried to strike up a conversation to chat about his hobbies or trivial matters of daily life, he rarely paid any attention to them.

Social gatherings and dinners were all refused.

Just as Kazuma Hatake, sitting at the next table, silently withdrew his gaze, not expecting a response from the other person, a low and cold voice came from behind.

"no."

They actually answered...!

When Kazuma Hatake, who was sitting at the next table, looked at him with surprise, the bound draft notebook had already been put away and was no longer visible on the table.

Even if he wanted to ask further questions, the teacher had already started the lesson, so he had to give up.

Despite Katayama and Takamura being "relocated," the school immediately announced two new rules that caused quite a stir: a ban on all games that test courage, and the requirement to report any unusual situations to the teacher as soon as possible.

Speaking of unusual situations, Kazuma Hatori immediately thought of the five cats in his bedroom... Mr. Gojo.

But he didn't tell the teacher about this. Instead, after returning home, he carefully told Gojo Satoru about what happened that day. One bubble after another appeared on the screen, bursting continuously.

When the last new rule was mentioned, Gojo Satoru's expression immediately became much more serious.

This means that the suspected "curse" has not yet been caught, and it will continue to seek out its next victim.

As for Gojo Satoru, even though he's worried about Hagoromo Kazuma, he can only wait in his bedroom, unable to offer any help...

[Triggering a limited-time event and completing it will grant you key story branch choices, character attribute bonuses, and affinity points.]

[Would you like to spend the following amount to unlock this event?]

Yes/No.

Gojo Satoru: "..."

Gojo Satoru: “………………”

If you're so capable, get him connected to the internet!

————————

Reason for not attending social gatherings or meals: Costs will be split equally (AA).

There will be another update later~