Chapter 12
48.
After Christmas Eve, the relationship between Gojo Satoru and Geto Suguru seemed to have returned to what it was before.
When Gojo Satoru learned that Shiori Tadano had given a complete set of "The Complete Works of Marx and Engels" to Takeshi Suguru, he laughed so hard that he couldn't straighten his back.
A typical villain smile appeared on Geto's face: "Sa-to-ru!"
On New Year's Eve, Shiori and her sister returned to Aomori to visit their parents, but they stayed for only two days before returning to Tokyo. Although there weren't many missions during the first month of the year, the world of sorcery was always short of manpower, so she had to return early to be on call.
On the morning of the second day of the New Year, Shiori woke up very early. Today she was going to the New Year's Shrine with Gojo Satoru and the four first-year students.
She wanted to wear the furisode kimono that Gojo Satoru gave her, but the way to wear the kimono was so complicated that she couldn't figure it out after fiddling with it for a long time. She had no choice but to take the kimono and go to Zenin Maki for help.
"Maki, can you help me put on the kimono?" Shiori stood at the door holding the kimono and asked for help.
Zenin Maki glanced at the clothes in her hands and replied calmly, "This kind of clothes is indeed troublesome. Come in, let's try it according to the tutorial."
The two of them spent more than half an hour studying the kimono, installing the front panel and tying the waist belt, and finally managed to put the clothes on properly.
Zenin Maki smoothed the wrinkles on Shiori's collar and said casually, "Okay, that's about it. I didn't expect that guy to pick out such a serious gift."
"But the teacher is the head of the Gojo family, so it doesn't seem strange." Shiori responded softly.
"That's right." Zenin Maki nodded. People from the three great families really like to wear kimonos as daily wear.
Shiori simply tied her hair in front of the mirror, then turned and asked, "Maki, aren't you going to change your clothes?"
Zenin Maki shook her head: "No need."
Shiori looked down at her phone and realized that the agreed time had passed. She grabbed her wrist and said, "Then we have to leave quickly. The teachers must be waiting!"
49.
"Sorry! We kept you waiting!" Shiori Tadano pulled Maki Zenin and ran quickly to the meeting point.
"Wow! So beautiful!" Panda's eyes lit up and he gave Shiori a thumbs up.
"It suits you very well, Shiori-senpai." Otsutsukota agreed gently.
"Salmon." Inujuan Ji nodded in agreement.
"Thank you, this is a birthday present from my teacher!" Shiori spun around happily, showing off the delicate patterns on her furisode.
"As expected of me!" Gojo Satoru pushed his sunglasses proudly.
Because it was the second day of the New Year, the shrine wasn't as crowded as it had been on the first day. The six of us completed the worship ceremony without any problems.
After the ceremony, Panda rubbed his paws and smiled mysteriously: "We first graders are going to have team building, so we will act separately from the teachers' group."
He deliberately winked in the direction of Gojo Satoru and Tadano Shiori, with a strange smile with a cryptic meaning on his lips, and his chubby body swayed slightly as he tried to hold back his laughter.
Shiori was so frightened by his laughter that she subconsciously moved to the side, trying to get away from the panda.
Seeing this, Yuta Otsutsuki quickly pulled Panda's arm and said helplessly, "Panda."
Gojo Satoru clapped his hands excitedly, "That's perfect! I want to go to the snack street in front of the shrine! Shiori, let's go!"
Shiori looked at Panda who was still winking, then looked at Gojo Satoru who looked expectant, and had no choice but to nod: "Okay."
Panda! Eating everything will only harm you! You omnivorous panda!
50.
Shiori Tadano knocked on the door, and when she got a response, she flung open Gojo Satoru's office door and slammed a monthly comic book onto the table. She poked a page with her fingertips, her tone filled with disbelief, "Teacher, look at this!"
In the comics, the heroine Mamiko is being surrounded and chatted up by a group of men, and the hero Suzuki steps forward in time to rescue her from the siege.
The two walked side by side in the warm light cast by the street lamps. Suzuki turned his head and asked with a frown: "Mamiko, you are wearing so little, aren't you cold?"
Mamiko stared down at the ground, only her red ears showing, and shook her head slightly: "I'm not cold."
Suzuki suddenly put his hand on her cheek and said, "But your face is very cold."
As he spoke, he took off his scarf and wrapped it loosely around their necks, tying the furry knitted pattern into a knot in the middle. "I'll give you half of my scarf. Don't try to be so stubborn anymore."
Their eyes met between the tangled scarves, and the air was sweet as if frosting was floating in the air.
The next frame shifts to a cozy dessert shop. Mamiko stirs her hot cocoa and whispers her troubles. Suzuki listens quietly, chin in hand, then suddenly says, "Mamiko, you can rely on me a little more."
Mamiko looked up suddenly, her eyes instantly red.
As snow began to fall outside the window, Suzuki grabbed her hand and rushed into the snow. In the final frame, the two of them stood under a lightly snowed streetlamp, looking up at the falling snowflakes. Simultaneously, they reached out their hands, their fingertips about to touch in mid-air.
"We're being followed, aren't we?" Shiori's voice was filled with embarrassment and anger. "This is exactly what happened to us that day!"
Gojo Satoru supported his chin with one hand while flipping through the comics and chuckled, "That boy turned out to be a shojo cartoonist. You really can't judge a book by its cover~" He thought of the boy who had been following him that day. Not noticing any ill intentions, he let that gaze follow him.
"Huh? Teacher, so you know this!" Shiori was stunned. Yumeno Sakiko, who depicts the girl's thoughts with delicate brushstrokes, is a boy?
"I know, I am the strongest after all." Gojo Satoru raised his chin confidently.
"It's okay that the plot has been changed, but why am I the male lead?" Shiori asked with a confused look on her face.
"Because he's handsome~" Gojo Satoru drawled out his tone, "Shiori did tell me to rely on you."
Shiori let it go. Never mind. As long as she’s not an NPC, it’s fine. She has made it big and is now the male protagonist!
"By the way, can I have this comic book?" Gojo Satoru looked up and asked her.
"I've finished reading it, teacher, take it." Shiori responded readily.
51.
After patiently finishing the girls' comic that Gojo Satoru had forced upon him, Geto Xiayu looked up at him and said, "Satoru, why did you insist on making me read this? What on earth do you want to say?"
Gojo Satoru twirled his pen, his tone filled with unconcealed excitement. "Isn't Suzuki-san in it so handsome? Especially when he tells Mamiko to 'lean on me more.'"
"It's quite attractive." Xia Yujie nodded in response, but then said helplessly, "But what does this have to do with you forcing me to read comics?"
"Hey—" Gojo Satoru drawled and came forward, his voice teasing, "Is Jay jealous?"
Geto Xia Yu paused for half a second, his previous question replaced by confusion. He frowned and said, "I have no idea what you're saying. Also, did you wear perfume?"
"Smells good, right?" Gojo Satoru shook his head proudly, answering the question irrelevantly, which made him look particularly annoying.
Geto Xia Yu stared at him like this, his back teeth almost broken, the comic book in his hand was slightly wrinkled, and he wanted to smash it directly on that smiling face.
52.
"Nanako, Mimiko, let me take you to buy cosmetics."
Shiori Tadano looked at the two little girls who had just finished their physical training class and were lying on the ground exhausted, and tried to coax them.
Ieiri Naoko had given her some cosmetics store vouchers, figuring most girls would appreciate them. Besides, the two sisters had barely left the campus since arriving at the technical school, hanging around Geto all day. It was time for them to get some fresh air.
Nanako and Mimiko Kaba are Takeshi Suguru's adopted daughters. Considering their young age and mediocre abilities, Masamichi Yaga considered sending them on a mission at this time to be akin to sending them to their deaths. However, the sisters refused to attend a technical high school, so Shiori had to compromise and teach them individually.
As for why they were taught individually instead of together with the first graders? Because these two little girls had very bad tempers, they often clashed with Zenin Maki, and they would glare at each other tensely whenever they met.
However, they were quite polite to Shiori, perhaps because Shiori gave a cake to Geto Suguru on Christmas Eve.
Nanako and Mimiko looked at each other, hesitation still on their faces: "Let's ask Master Geto."
Shiori waved them off. She understood the two children's feelings. Their adoptive father was detained at the technical high school and was not allowed to go out. They were afraid that Suguru Takeshi would be lonely, so they stayed by his side.
After a while, the two little girls came back skipping and jumping: "Master Geto said that he was very happy to see us going out with you."
"Then go change into clean clothes and see you at the school gate." Shiori patted their shoulders.
"good--!"
When the three of them walked into the cosmetics store, a deafening "Welcome!!!" suddenly exploded in their ears, and all three of them were stunned.
Shiori blinked and looked at the four people standing in front of her, a little surprised: "Panda, Maki, Yuta, and Ji, what are you doing?"
"It's Shiori." Panda shook his head and rubbed his paws on his apron. "We're working here."
"Salmon." Goumaki Ji echoed.
"Working part-time? Is it a social practice arranged by the school?" Shiori was a little confused.
As she was speaking, she caught a glimpse of Nanako, Mimiko, and Zenin Maki making eye contact again. The air instantly became tense, and it looked like a quarrel was about to break out. Shiori quickly pulled the two girls aside and smiled, smoothing things over: "Just mind your own business. There's no need to bother with us."
Nanako and Mimiko's eyes lit up as they entered the cosmetics section. They wandered between the shelves, occasionally chatting quietly together, and soon they had picked out half a basket of items.
When Shiori took them to the front desk to pay the bill, a familiar voice called out from behind: "Shiori."
She turned around and saw that it was An Geki, so she stuffed the vouchers and wallet into the two girls' pockets and said, "You go and pay first, I want to talk to Senior."
"Senior Diva, why are you here too?" Shiori came forward with a smile.
Angeki waved the voucher in her hand and said, "It's a rare opportunity for me to come to Tokyo, so I can use up the voucher that Glass gave me."
Yuta Otsutsuki, who was tidying the shelves nearby, looked up and asked softly, "Is Diva-sensei coming to Tokyo on a mission?"
Angehime nodded: "That's right."
Yuta Otsukotsu narrowed his eyes and said, "Thank you for your hard work."
"Are you really Gojo's relative? You're too nice." An Utahi sighed and turned to Shiori, "And Shiori, come to Kyoto. Don't stay in Tokyo and be bullied by that Gojo guy."
"Don't worry, Diva." Panda came over at some point and whispered in Diva's ear in a low voice, "Satoru will never bully Shiori, just listen to me..."
The next second, Angehime's exclamation almost blew off the roof: "Huh?! That Gojo guy gave Shiori a kimono?!"
Shiori shrank her neck at the sudden high decibel level and whispered, "Yes, yes."
Gojo Satoru is her teacher after all, and is considered her elder in terms of seniority. Isn't it normal for an elder to give a kimono as a gift on Coming of Age Day?
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