Fork in the road and choices
Tsurumi looked at the money that had been deducted from his account, and glanced at Fushiguro Jinji with some reluctance. He touched the thin bank card and began to think that he might have to work harder on missions to get the money back.
"Why do you carry a card reader with you?" Tsurumi Kawa was somewhat surprised when he saw Fukushiro take the card reader out of the belly of the cursed spirit coiled on his shoulder.
The tall, dark-haired man whistled, and after confirming the money had been credited to his account, he shoved the card reader back into Ugly Baby's belly: "Heh, just to deal with your current situation."
Tsurumi Kawakami nodded thoughtfully, a look of understanding on his face.
He looked at Kong Shiyu beside him and asked, "How long does it take to get results in a situation like this?"
For Tsurumi Kawakyu, the sooner the Panxing Sect is punished, the better. Moreover, today's battle was too big, and by the time they realize what's happening, things might be much more difficult to handle.
Thinking of Gojo Satoru and Natsuyuki who had left, Tsurumi Kawakami was also a little anxious. They must have left because they were injured and needed to find Shoko for treatment. He was now eager to know their condition.
We also need to inform Riko and Misato, who have been hidden away, as they promised to come back and find them as soon as possible.
Kong Shiyu paused for a moment, then said, "At the fastest, a week."
After all, the Panxing Cult is a behemoth, recruiting a large number of believers and followers every year, including not only ordinary people but also wealthy individuals and people with ties to the government.
However, this also has an advantage: once such a behemoth faces collapse, the media that want to get first-hand reports will be like sharks smelling blood, not only biting hard but also paying close attention.
Those who are wealthy or have ties to the government, in order to avoid suspicion and clear themselves of any involvement, are likely to expedite the investigation into the Panxing Cult.
Tsurumi Kawakami nodded slightly upon hearing Kong Shiyu's words. He glanced around at the Panxing Sect, which was now almost in ruins, asked Kong Shiyu for his contact information, and then quickly left.
After leaving, Tsurumi Kawaru went to find Tennori Riko and the others. Before heading to the Panxing Sect, they had arranged for Tennori Riko to stay at a hotel just in case.
Since it wasn't expected to take long, no one or any spirits were left behind. Tsurumi Kawaru took the elevator to his floor, glanced at the empty corridor, and quickly walked to the door of room 702.
“It’s me, Ms. Kuroi.”
After confirming who was outside the door through the peephole, Kuroi Misato, dressed in a maid outfit, opened the door. She stood behind the door, still looking at the outside with some vigilance.
"Did something happen?" She didn't see Gojo Satoru or Natsuyu Suguru.
Tsurumi Kawakami nodded slightly with pursed lips, and after entering the room, briefly told Tennori Riko what had happened.
"Riko, if Satoru and I can help you, would you like to live a normal life?" The black-haired, golden-eyed boy asked solemnly and earnestly.
Upon hearing Tsurumi Kawaru's words, the girl with braided hair sitting on the sofa opposite him paused, a hint of hesitation and doubt flashing in her eyes. She looked up at Kuroi Misato, who had grown up with her since childhood, and her lips moved slightly.
The atmosphere in the room suddenly froze as the two sat facing each other on the sofa. Kuroi Misato, who was serving tea, was hearing this for the first time. She was shaken, and even her composed expression crumbled, revealing a hint of interest.
She looked at Riko Tennen, and their eyes met.
Misato Kuroi paused, then stepped forward with a cup of freshly brewed flower tea, placing it in front of the two of them. She then sat down next to Riko Tennen, placing her hand over Riko's slightly cool hand resting on her lap.
“Miss, although I came here to serve the Star Essence, the years of companionship have long since changed my mind. To me, you are not only the Star Essence, but also like family.”
Misato Kuroi paused, then smiled and continued, "If I could, I would also like you to have an ordinary, stable, and peaceful life."
After Riko's parents passed away when she was young for some reason, Misato Kuroi was assigned to serve the Star Essence, thus becoming her guardian.
Having been together for ten years, it's no exaggeration to say that there's no affection between us.
As the assimilation time with Tengen approaches, and given the inevitable future of Riko Tengen as a star-plasma body, Misato Kuroi's feelings become complicated. Looking at the girl she has accompanied and raised over the years, she even has some delusions in the quiet of the night.
If only Riko Tennen wasn't a star-like body.
Therefore, when she heard Tsurumi Kawa offer to help, the little fantasy in Kuroi Misato's heart was suddenly magnified, as if it had rebounded after being suppressed for too long.
She made up her mind almost immediately to help Riko Tennen escape her fate as a stellar body.
Riko stood there, stunned. She felt the warmth on the back of her hand and thought about everything that had happened in the past two days. Her idea, which she had blindly persisted in for ten years, suddenly began to waver.
She opened her mouth, but met Kuroi Misato's sincere and concerned gaze. The words she was about to utter suddenly choked in her throat. Tennori Riko took a deep breath to calm herself down, and looked at Tsurumi Kawa with a smile and a firm gaze.
"If possible, I would like to live as an ordinary person."
Upon receiving the answer, Tsurumi Kawaru's tense back relaxed a little. He gave Tenriko a big, bright smile and nodded emphatically: "Yes, I understand."
After talking with Riko Tennen, a weight was finally lifted from his heart. Tsurumi Kawaru felt relieved. He took out his phone and explained the situation in the chat room for second-year students at the vocational high school, while also inquiring about Xia Youjie's situation.
-
On the other side...
Gojo Satoru, who flew back to the high school on a cursed spirit to seek treatment from Ieiri Shoko, brought Natsuyu Sumire to the school clinic after entering the high school. Ieiri Shoko spent all her time in the school clinic except for her regular classes. She even had a separate dissection room there.
When Gojo Satoru teleported to find her, she was conducting experiments on mice.
The dissection room door was slammed open with a loud bang, the doorknob hitting the wall and bouncing back. Gojo Satoru, who had violently opened the door, paid no attention to the door itself. After finding Iori Shoko, he instinctively used teleportation to bring her back to the single bed in the school infirmary.
Gojo Satoru: "Shoko, come and see Jetsu!"
This was the first time Ieiri Shoko had been teleported by him, and the weightlessness and the bumpy ride felt like being put into a washing machine, which wasn't a pleasant experience.
Hearing Gojo Satoru's words, suppressing the churning in her stomach, Ieiri Shoko looked up at the person lying on the single bed who had fainted due to excessive blood loss.
The brown-haired girl's expression changed slightly. She quickly got into focus and went to the bedside to begin treating Xia Youjie. Under her reverse magic treatment, the long wound on Xia Youjie's shoulder began to heal, but while she could heal the injury, she couldn't replenish the blood he had lost.
Shoko Ieiri withdrew her hand, looked up at Satoru Gojo, and asked calmly, "Weren't you supposed to be on a mission to escort the Starspore? What happened, Curse Master?"
Shoko Ieiri was also involved in this mission, but she was responsible for intelligence and treatment. Due to the special nature of her technique, she couldn't leave the High School to stay with them, but she was the one who first noticed and informed them about the bounty on the Dark Web for the Astral Body.
Shoko Ieiri knew about the bounties on the dark web and that many curse masters had accepted them. She also knew about the airport attack that day. However, in her memory, didn't Satoru Gojo and the others take the asteroid to Hakone for hot springs? How did they end up back in Tokyo and with Natsuyuki so badly injured?
Seeing that Natsumi's wound had healed, Gojo Satoru breathed a sigh of relief and resumed his usual carefree demeanor. With one hand in his pocket and the other gesturing towards Ieiri Glass, he casually recounted the rest of their Hakone trip to her.
Shoko Ieiri nodded thoughtfully, crossed her arms, and calmly surveyed her colleagues from head to toe: "Your plan was exposed, and you fought with that 'Heaven and Binding'."
Gojo Satoru nodded indifferently, his gaze falling on Xia Youjie's pale, bloodless face.
Shoko Ieiri raised an eyebrow, a hint of helplessness in her eyes, and asked, "So... what about Ryu?"
Gojo Satoru paused, his six pupils behind his round sunglasses contracting slightly, a rare hint of embarrassment appearing on his face. He blinked, his long, snow-white eyelashes fluttering, and said with a somewhat innocent expression, "Ah, I knew I'd forgotten something, it turns out it's Ryu."
He muttered to himself, then looked at Ieiri Shoko gratefully: "Shoko, thanks to you, otherwise I wouldn't have remembered."
Gojo Satoru wasn't embarrassed at all. After thanking him, he took out his phone, intending to call Tsurumi Kawakami. But as soon as he opened it, he saw messages in the chat room. He read them one by one, and his eyes lit up.
"Truly worthy of being called Ryu." Gojo Satoru exclaimed, then enthusiastically began offering suggestions and sending out messages.
Seeing his mischievous expression, Ieiri Shoko narrowed her eyes and cautiously pulled her phone out of her white coat pocket. After reading the messages flooding the chat room, her expression turned serious.
"Have you considered the consequences of this? The astral body is of great importance. Afterwards, you will definitely be held accountable and punished by the supervisory department."
Gojo Satoru, typing furiously on his phone without even looking up, said, "Tch! Let them ask. Those old bastards won't dare do anything anyway."
Shoko Ieiri suddenly felt a headache coming on. She pinched the bridge of her nose, having already given up hope on her three classmates. After all, the only one who could keep them in check was now lying in a hospital bed, still unconscious, and based on her understanding of Natsumi Yuki, he might even agree and join them.
"Never mind, I hope Teacher Moth will reduce the word count of the self-criticism." The brown-haired girl murmured softly.
-
Upon learning of Gojo Satoru's situation, Tsurumi Kawakami breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing the message in the chat room. He looked up at the somewhat nervous Tennatsu Riko and told her the news with a smile.
"Don't worry, Riko. I'll have someone prepare new identities and a new address, and I'll send you and Ms. Kuroi away from Tokyo tomorrow."
After Tsurumi Kawa finished speaking with a smile, he saw Riko Tenn excitedly hugging Misato Kuroi, who was standing next to him. He smiled and then contacted the agent Kong Shiyu to ask him to help him get his new identity and new address sorted out.
She definitely can't stay in Tokyo anymore. Riko Tengen must get away from places where sorcerers frequent and hide in a remote place until the news about the Tengen assimilation has died down.
Having made all the arrangements, Tsurumi Kawaru rubbed his rumbling stomach and looked at Kuroi Misato with a shy expression: "Ms. Kuroi, what shall we eat for dinner tonight?"
The afternoon passed quickly, and a lot happened, from the car accident that led to the revelation of the Panxing Cult headquarters, to the proposal of a fake curse master to accept the bounty and demand compensation for mental distress, and then the fight, etc.
The afternoon passed just like that. Having digested the Western lunch, Tsurumi Kawaki rubbed his increasingly rumbling stomach and sat on the sofa patiently waiting for dinner to be served.
The hotel service was better than expected. After finishing the food in the dining car, Tsurumi Kawaru wiped his mouth with satisfaction.
He's the only one staying at the hotel tonight. He'll meet up with Gojo Satoru Yuge at nine o'clock tomorrow morning, and then see Tennori Riko off from Tokyo.
With these thoughts swirling in his mind, Tsurumi Kawakami was somewhat absent-minded, and with food filling his stomach, drowsiness began to creep in.
He rubbed his eyes, grabbed the bathrobe provided by the hotel, and went into the bathroom to shower and go to sleep.
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