Chapter 25
105.
The fireworks viewing area booked in advance is on an open space by the river, not far from the fireworks launch point. Looking up, you can see the unobstructed night sky.
From a distance, Ye Mo Zheng Dao was sitting in the middle of the mat, Jia Ru Xian Zi was leaning against a tree with a can of beer in his hand, and Yi Di Zhi Jie Gao was sorting out the snacks and drinks he brought.
"Principal, Senior Glass, Senior Ijichi." Shiori stepped forward and greeted them with a smile.
"Hey, here you are." Ieiri Glass waved the beer in his hand at her.
Gojo Satoru plopped down on the mat and asked loudly, "Are we not late, Principal?"
"Just right." Ye Mo Zhengdao nodded, his eyes sweeping over the students who were approaching one after another, "Please sit down."
Everyone found a place to sit. Panda and Goumaki Saki, drawn to the snacks prepared by Ijichi Jiegao, went over to rummage through them. Kugisaki Nobara and Itadori Yuji were chatting about their recent goldfish catching success. Yoshino Junpei sat quietly beside Fushiguro Megumi, occasionally responding to Itadori Yuji's words. Zenin Maki leaned casually against a tree trunk.
Shiori sat down next to Gojo Satoru, who handed her a bottle of juice. "What are you thinking about?"
"I'm thinking about what Mechanical Maru said." Shiori unscrewed the lid and took a sip. The cool sweetness slid down her throat, dispelling the heat of the summer night.
Gojo Satoru came closer, his head almost resting on her shoulder: "Are you scared, Shiori?"
"It's not that I'm scared..." Shiori moved to the side, but he put his arm around her shoulder and pushed her back. She just wondered if the guy behind the scenes was a stalker? He was watching them from the shadows, that was too perverted.
Her words were drowned out by the sudden cheers.
The first firework suddenly bloomed in the night sky. A huge golden firework exploded in the sky, instantly illuminating everyone's face.
The second, the third... countless fireworks rushed into the night sky one after another, some like star showers, some like shooting stars, and exclamations from all around came one after another.
Shiori tilted her head back, watching the fleeting brilliance flowing through her eyes. How beautiful, she thought.
She watched for an unknown amount of time before she subconsciously turned to look at Gojo Satoru beside her. He was also watching the fireworks, his sunglasses sliding down to the tip of his nose, revealing his azure eyes, and the fragments of light flowing in them were brighter than the fireworks in the sky.
My heart felt like it was being gently bumped by something, soft and numb. Words wanted to burst out from the bottom of my heart uncontrollably.
Shiori opened her mouth slightly and uttered two words silently.
like.
As if sensing her gaze, Gojo Satoru turned his head, meeting her gaze. He paused for a moment, then lowered his head slightly and leaned closer. His voice was remarkably clear amid the clamor in the background: "Hmm? Shiori is staring at me. What are you whispering?"
His eyes were so bright, as if they were filled with all the starlight that had just exploded. Shiori's cheeks felt slightly hot. She took a deep breath, leaned close to his ear, and whispered softly in a voice that only the two of them could hear:
"like."
Without waiting for his response, she quickly added:
"...Fireworks, I like it."
The night wind blew, carrying with it the faint smell of gunpowder smoke from the burning fireworks. Gojo Satoru looked at her red ears, suddenly chuckled, and reached out to ruffle her hair:
"Yeah, I like it too."
106.
When I returned to the college, it was already late at night.
Shiori was holding a bundle of handheld fireworks in her arms and walking side by side with Gojo Satoru who was carrying two bags of beer and snacks, while Ieiri Shoko was following slowly behind.
"Jie~ guess who's here?" Gojo Satoru knocked on Geto Suguru's door.
Geto opened the door, his eyes first falling on the colorful packages in Shiori's arms, then sliding to the bulging bag in Gojo Satoru's hands. He instantly understood something and sighed helplessly, "Are you guys planning to set off fireworks at the high school?"
"That's right!" Gojo Satoru brought the bag closer to him, and the beer cans clattered together, making a soft clinking sound. "You haven't had enough of the fireworks display yet."
Ieiri Shoko poked her head out from behind Gojo Satoru, revealing half of her face. "Are you going? If not, we can just play by ourselves."
Xia Yujie raised an eyebrow: "Where are you going? If the principal finds out, he'll start nagging you again."
"Don't worry, I've already picked a good spot." Gojo Satoru patted his chest, "It's definitely hidden."
As soon as they reached the open space downstairs, two small figures emerged from the shadows.
"It's Mimiko and Nanako." Shiori smiled and pulled out two firework sticks from her arms and handed them over, "Do you want to play with us?"
Nanako and Mimiko nodded vigorously.
Shiori helped them unwrap the cigarettes, then pulled a lighter from her pocket and lit the fuse. Tiny sparks climbed up the fuse, and a bright golden light exploded in the darkness.
"Wow--!"
“So beautiful!”
Mimiko and Nanako exclaimed at the same time, and Shiori accompanied them to set off fireworks in the open space.
On the other side of the stairs, Gojo Satoru opened two cans of beer, giving each to Geto Suguru and Naoko Ieiri, while he himself held a can of juice. The three of them were chatting about something, and bursts of laughter drifted over.
"Master Geto, come and play with us!" Nanako ran over holding a firework stick that was still sparking, and Mimiko followed closely behind.
Geto Suguru took the firework stick that still had a small spark on it and reached out to touch their heads.
Gojo Satoru stood up and said, "Hey, now let the strongest Gojo-sama show you around!"
Shiori handed a lit firework stick to Ieiri Naoko: "Noko-senpai looks very happy."
Ieiri Naoko took the firework stick in her right hand and glanced at her: "It feels good. But you——"
Shiori blinked: "What's wrong with me?"
Ieiri Naoko took a sip of the beer in her left hand and said, "That Gojo guy is pretty willful, isn't he?"
Shiori smiled, lowered her head, lit a firework stick, and gently shook it in her hand. She looked at Gojo Satoru, who was playing with two little girls with firework sticks with Geto Suguru not far away, and said softly, "But it's very cute, isn't it?"
The fireworks tonight are really beautiful.
But it seems that there is someone who is more beautiful than fireworks.
107.
Shiori watched helplessly as Itadori Yuji raised his hand and threw Sukuna's finger straight into his mouth and swallowed it. She couldn't help but ask curiously, "Yuji, what does Sukuna's finger taste like?"
Yuji Itadori smacked his lips and said, "Before I could even savor the taste, I swallowed it."
In reality, this wasn't a spur-of-the-moment decision. Long before this, Gojo Satoru had guessed, based on the information provided by Mechanical Maru, that the enemies might be trying to steal the High School's stockpile of Sukuna Fingers and feed them all to Itadori Yuji all at once. In that case, Itadori Yuji wouldn't be able to suppress the power of so many fingers simultaneously and would eventually lose consciousness. Therefore, he decided to have Itadori Yuji consume each one individually, so that he could remain conscious.
Just as he was thinking about it, a mouth belonging to Sukuna suddenly appeared on Yuji Itadori's face, and his voice was full of teasing: "Thank you for the hospitality."
"Don't speak out of the blue!" Yuji Itadori raised his hand and slapped himself in the face with considerable force.
Shiori, watching from the sidelines, was amused and jokingly said, "Are you guys doing stand-up comedy? Sukuna, why don't you change your career? Manzai might be a good fit."
Sukuna's voice immediately appeared with hostility on the back of Itadori Yuji's hand: "Shut up, woman. Sooner or later I will chew you up and swallow you."
"It's really my honor to be remembered by Lord Sukuna." Shiori laughed even more happily and deliberately dragged out the tone to tease him.
Sukuna simply shut up and ignored her. This thousand-year-old antique really couldn't stand being teased and kept repeating the same few harsh words over and over again.
Gojo Satoru patted Itadori Yuji's head and said, "Since Yuji is fine, let's go on the mission."
Yuji Itadori immediately responded, waving his hands and shouting, "Let's go," full of energy.
108.
A group of people in dark uniforms squeezed into the front seats, standing out among the surrounding people, most of whom were families of three with children.
Shiori was on vacation today, so she came to the theater to see her sister perform. Coincidentally, Gojo Satoru was bringing a group of four first-year students to the theater for a mission, so she asked her sister to save a few extra tickets for them to come in together.
The curtain opened, and the performance began. Shiori's eyes met with her sister, who was seated center stage. The seat her sister had given her was truly exceptional, with an unobstructed front-row view, allowing her to discern the figures on stage, down to the strands of hair.
Kugisaki Nobara suddenly spoke up: "Huh? Mr. Tadano, the girl on the stage has the same last name as you."
Yuji Itadori immediately leaned forward and said, "The hair color is exactly the same!"
Yoshino Junpei murmured in agreement: "They look a bit like him."
Shiori withdrew her gaze from her sister and responded, "Yes, this is my sister."
The three of them said in unison: "Hey!"
Fushiguro Megumi added calmly, "Isn't this obvious?"
Gojo Satoru waved his hand and said, "The show has begun. Go and deal with those scumbags. Be careful not to disturb the children's innocent world."
The four nodded in agreement and tiptoed out. Gojo Satoru and Shiori stayed behind to watch the performance. He suddenly said, "This is the first time I've met Shiori's sister."
Shiori looked sideways at him. "My sister is an ordinary person and can't see cursed spirits. And this isn't the first time, Wu, have you forgotten? She was there when we first met."
Gojo Satoru opened his eyes wide in feigned surprise. "Huh? I have no recollection of that at all—I only had eyes for Shiori at the time."
Shiori covered her burning cheeks and turned back without saying a word.
Gojo Satoru leaned over and poked her face: "Are you shy? Shiori, are you shy?"
Shiori was about to slap his hand away when she noticed something was wrong on the stage. She frowned and said, "The cursed spirit has come to the front of the stage."
She subconsciously raised her hand to cast a spell, but Gojo Satoru held her back: "It's okay, just leave it to Hui and the others. Besides, I'm still here."
As soon as he finished speaking, a teddy bear doll and a rabbit doll jumped onto the stage accompanied by lively music.
Shiori stared at the two slightly clumsy figures: "Those movements...are they Xiaohui and Yujin?!"
Gojo Satoru laughed so hard that he couldn't straighten his back. He took out his phone and started recording: "Record it for the second graders to see."
In the center of the stage, Shiori's sister Shino was singing and spinning around. Fushiguro Megumi, wearing a teddy bear costume, and Itadori Yuji, wearing a rabbit costume, followed behind her, jumping to the beat of the music, and their fists hitting the cursed spirits on the stage with precision.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com