First-year students and the beginning
"...You were actually invited to spend the New Year together? Tsurumikawa-kun, you did a great job. Remember to win over the Spirit Master and absolutely do not let him side with Gojo Satoru."
"...I will report this matter to the higher-ups in the director's office. Oh, and this month's subsidy has already been deposited into my account."
Outside the convenience store, Tsurumi Kawaru stood under a streetlamp, holding his phone. He listened absentmindedly to the voice coming from the other end of the phone and gave a few mumbled responses.
After hanging up the phone, Tsurumi Kawaru exhaled a puff of white breath.
In December, the temperature in Tokyo drops significantly, and a light snow fell just two days ago, which was very fitting for Christmas.
"Liu, have you finished your call?" Xia Youjie's gentle voice came from behind.
Hearing Xia Youjie's voice, Tsurumi Kawaru hurriedly stuffed his phone into his pocket, turning his head with a flustered expression. Seeing the convenience store bag in Xia Youjie's hand, he quickly stepped forward, nodded, and, feeling guilty, avoided Xia Youjie's gaze, instead changing the subject and asking, "Did you buy everything?"
Xia Youjie, wearing a black down jacket and a dark gray woolen scarf around his neck, looked at Tsurumi Kawaru, who was looking down and seemed a little nervous, and said with a smile, "Yes, we've bought everything. Let's go back."
Tsurumi Kawaru nodded haphazardly, grunted in response, and silently followed him toward Natsuyou's house.
There are still two days until Chinese New Year, and this trip was to buy things we'll need for the holiday. Xia You's mother had already bought them at the mall, but when she suddenly needed them today, she realized she'd forgotten to buy a few things, so she asked Xia You to come out and buy them.
Since Tsurumi Kawakami had nothing else to do, he came out with her.
The two walked towards the residential area on the slightly damp ground. There weren't many pedestrians on the street, but the air was filled with the festive atmosphere of the Chinese New Year. The shops on both sides were also decorated, with Christmas decorations pasted on the glass doors.
Xia Youjie, carrying a convenience bag in one hand and with the other hand in his pocket, gazed at the road home and casually brought up the phone call he'd just had: "Was it the assistant supervisor the director's department sent you to contact?"
The group already knew about the fact that the higher-ups in the management department had instructed Tsurumi Kawakami to monitor Gojo Satoru. As for the matter of winning over Natsumi Yuuki, although the management department had not given any explicit instructions beforehand, they had guessed it from some of the actions taken by Tsurumi Kawakami.
Tsurumi Kawakami looked up in surprise. He hadn't figured out how to tell Xia Youjie yet, but the other party had guessed it. However, since he had already guessed, there was no need to struggle with how to say it.
So, the black-haired, golden-eyed boy nodded happily and eagerly recounted the entire contents of the phone call he had just received.
“Jay, they seem to be paying a lot of attention to you,” Tsurumi Kawaru said with some distress.
In the recent phone calls from Yamashita Naomoto, he mentioned Xia Youjie more often, and today's call directly indicated his intention to win Xia Youjie over.
Although he didn't know why, Tsurumi Kawakami felt somewhat unhappy. It might be because Yamashita Naomoto's tone when talking about Natsuyuki had annoyed him, or perhaps his keen intuition sensed the malice of these people.
The black-haired, golden-eyed boy looked up at him with a worried expression. Xia Youjie's expression remained unchanged, but seeing the worry in his eyes, he smiled and reached out to pat Tsurumi Kawaru's head: "Don't worry about me, I know how to handle it. Besides, there's Satoru."
Tsurumi blinked seriously, stared at him for a few seconds, then looked away and continued walking forward: "Okay, if they hurt you, I'll go with Satoru to the director's office and beat up Tachibana to avenge you."
Hearing his words, Xia Youjie paused, then said with a wry smile, "Liu, don't be like that guy Wu."
-
After the New Year, time slipped through our fingers like sand, and before we knew it, it was time for school to start again. Saying goodbye to Xia You's parents, Tsurumi Kawaru carried his things and returned to school with Xia Youjie.
The college, which had been quiet for almost two months, became lively again. As soon as he put his things down, Tsurumi Kawaru opened the window to let in some fresh air and prepared to clean the dormitory.
As he passed the restroom, Tsurumi Kawakami suddenly noticed that he seemed to have grown taller, and the black pen marks on the door frame recorded his growth at the vocational high school.
He stood against the wall and gestured, realizing that he had indeed grown taller since returning from the New Year holiday; he was now about 1.75 meters tall.
Upon discovering this change, Tsurumi Kawaru was so happy that he wanted to share it with someone. He put down the rag he was holding and bumped into someone coming down the stairs as soon as he stepped out of the dormitory.
They were two boys I'd never seen before. One had blond hair and striking features, suggesting he was of mixed race; the other had short, black hair and looked very sunny and energetic.
As he saw them, the two who were about to go downstairs also saw Tsurumi Kawakami. After only a second of hesitation, the black-haired girl with the bob haircut waved to him cheerfully, and then the two of them walked over.
"Hello, senior! I'm Haibara Yu, a first-year student." The boy with the bob haircut had a cheerful and energetic voice typical of his age.
The blond-haired boy looked very composed. He nodded and said, "I am Nanami Kento. Nice to meet you!"
Tsurumi Kawakuri looked at them with a sudden realization, understanding that he would be a second-year student after the New Year. He smiled and nodded at them, introducing himself: "My name is Tsurumi Kawakuri."
"Do you live on the third floor?" Tsurumi asked, remembering that they had just come down from upstairs.
Haibara Yu and Nanami Kento exchanged a glance, and Asatsumi Kawaru nodded. He scratched the back of his head and said somewhat embarrassedly, "Nanami and I heard that the seniors live on the second floor, so we chose the third floor."
Tsurumi Kawakami responded with an "oh," and then asked them with great interest, "How many first-year students are there besides the two of you? Are there any girls?"
Haibara Yu shook his head, and Nanami Kento, who was standing next to him, replied: "There are only the two of us first-year students."
Hearing his answer, Tsurumi Kawakami looked a little disappointed; he had thought there would be more people. However, he quickly cheered up, remembering his purpose for leaving the dormitory. He looked at them and smiled, saying, "Ah, I was just about to go find Jie. Do you want to say hello to him?"
Tsurumi Kawakami pointed to the dormitory door diagonally opposite as he spoke.
"Hey, is this a convenient time, senior?"
“It should be convenient for Jay. We just returned to school, and he's in his dorm right now.”
Tsurumi Kawa led them to Xia Youjie's door and introduced him, saying, "Jie, look. This is a first-year student, our junior. It's just a bit of a pity that there are only two new students this year."
He turned to face Haibara Yu and Nanami Kento, who were standing behind him, and spoke to Natsumi Yujie with great interest.
"Hello, senior!" The first-year student greeted Xia Youjie with a very polite attitude.
Xia Youjie, who had taken off his coat and was only wearing a light gray sweater, looked at the two junior students brought over by Tsurumi Kawa and nodded with a smile.
After exchanging greetings and names, the new students had to go to register, so they didn't linger and left the dormitory building.
Tsurumi Kawakami sneaked into Xia Youjie's dormitory. He looked at the things on the floor that hadn't been tidied up yet, rolled up his sleeves, and looked at Xia Youjie with bright eyes: "Jie, let me help you."
Xia Youjie paused for a moment, then nodded and said, "Then I'll trouble you, Liu."
Tsurumi Kawakami is a master at housework. It's strange, considering that someone who doesn't like to use his brain is surprisingly good at it. Not only can he keep his room tidy, but he also doesn't dislike housework at all and even enjoys it.
When Xia Youjie first met him, he was very surprised, especially compared to Gojo Satoru, who liked to throw things around but didn't tidy up much. This led him to give Tsurumi Kawaru a new label.
After helping to clean up the things he brought from home, Tsurumi Kawaru washed his hands and came out of the bathroom. Suddenly, he remembered the purpose of his visit to Natsumi Yujie.
He excitedly ran up to Xia Youjie, gesturing to show the height difference between them, and said excitedly, "Jie, look, I've grown almost four centimeters taller."
Xia Youjie, who had also grown quite a bit taller, looked at it seriously for a few moments and said, "Really? That's great. Keep it up."
Tsurumi Nagaru excitedly spun around after receiving the affirmation.
Just then, the two heard a loud noise coming from the corridor outside, as if someone was moving things up and down.
Tsurumi Kawakami blinked, realizing what he meant. "It should be Satoru."
As he spoke, he ran towards the door, opened it, and poked his head out. He saw that the door to Gojo Satoru's dormitory across the street was wide open, and some members of the Gojo family were carrying things up from downstairs.
Tsurumi Kawakami looked around, then reached out and grabbed someone who was about to get off: "Satoru?"
"Lord Wu is still down there."
"Oh. What are you doing?" Tsurumi Kawakami noticed that they had even moved shelves and some large furniture.
"Master Wu said that the empty room next door needs to be knocked down, and these are the pieces of furniture we need."
"Eh?" Tsurumi Kawaru looked surprised and didn't react for a moment, so the other party slipped away unnoticed.
He closed the door and told Xia Youjie the news, then looked at him with a strange expression: "Why did Wu want to connect to the dormitory next door?"
Xia Youjie was also unsure of Gojo Satoru's thoughts. He shook his head and said, "Let's go ask him later."
After tidying up his dorm room, Tsurumi Kawakami changed his clothes and went downstairs. A large truck was parked downstairs, its cargo bed filled with furniture. He turned his head and looked around, finding Gojo Satoru under a tree not far away.
Tsurumi Kawaru tugged at Xia Youjie's sleeve, gesturing to him with his eyes: "Satoru is over there."
As they approached, Gojo Satoru spotted them, turned around and waved at them. He had a lollipop in his mouth and was playing a game on the new game console.
Hearing Tsurumi Kawa's question, he clicked his tongue in annoyance, bit into the lollipop in his mouth, pulled out the white stick and threw it into the trash can not far away: "I've fallen out with the old man at home, and I'm planning to live at the school from now on."
"Hey—did you two have a fight? Why?"
Gojo Satoru shrugged and said nonchalantly, "It's that. We spend every New Year's at our old house in Kyoto. The old house is quite remote, and the internet isn't very good. I wanted to replace the internet at the old house and install a new one, and also replace some old things, but the old men in the family objected, so we had a fight."
Tsurumi Kawakami blinked, somewhat puzzled: "Is that why?"
Gojo Satoru paused for a moment, then vaguely replied, "Not entirely, but in any case, I don't plan to go back to the old house in Kyoto."
Tsurumi Kawakami nodded and chattered on about the New Year, then turned to the first-year students this year.
"Oh, those two freshmen? I just saw them. They were so-so." Gojo Satoru said absentmindedly, unwrapping another lollipop.
Xia Youjie keenly noticed that Gojo Satoru's mood was a bit off, so he pursed his lips and didn't say anything.
The three chatted for a while, and since it was noon, they went to the cafeteria instead.
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