Chapter 128
"Why didn't you call from the number you gave me before?"
That way he can pretend he didn't hear the phone ring, and then he can conveniently avoid the calls from this devil!
Zenji Naoya complained, but he didn't dare to complain too obviously, which made Gojo Satoru, who heard it, chuckle as expected.
"Oh, this way we can keep in touch more easily. How are you? It's been so long, have you missed us?"
Zenin Naoya's hand holding the phone trembled: "..."
No, he had no desire to connect with those two guys or see either of them again!
Zenji Naoya really wanted to hang up, so he pretended to be on a mission or about to lower the [tent], and that his phone was out of signal range, causing it to hang up automatically. This excuse sounded perfectly reasonable... Yes, that's exactly what he did right away...
"I advise you not to make up excuses like being on a mission to hang up the phone."
Gojo Satoru warned with a smile, "Otherwise, I will pay a visit to the Zenin family tomorrow as the next head of the Gojo clan—you don't want to face me and Kazuma directly, do you? You don't, do you?"
Even if he was too lazy to go to Zenin Naoya's place in person, it didn't stop him from threatening him over the phone for now.
Zenji Naoya's thumb, which was about to quietly move to the end button, suddenly froze.
Faced with the choice between [being verbally threatened by a demon over the phone at most] and [facing the physical threat of two demons], Zenin Naoya wisely chose the former.
He left the side hall where a lively banquet was being held and went to a deserted corner of the courtyard to enjoy the cold wind.
"What do you want from me?"
Zenji Naoya, with one hand tucked into the folded lapel of his robe at his waist, was giving the two a heads-up.
"Let me make this clear first, I'm trying my best to find what you're looking for, but that's the Kamo family, not the Zenin family. I'm already racking my brains just to come up with a reason to go to their library without arousing suspicion."
The implication is that the slow progress is not his fault, since there is no set deadline for [the restraints].
Kazuma Hatake gave a curt "hmm," offering neither reproach nor urging, merely replying to him.
"That would be best."
These words made one's heart pound, and even Zenji Naoya couldn't figure out whether the other party had guessed that he was dawdling or not.
The main reason is that I don't want to get hit by that guy's stick; it's terrifying.
He secretly inquired about the situation and found out that the other party had been promoted from a fourth-level sorcerer to a first-level sorcerer thanks to the arrangements made by the old man and the others.
The highest-level sorcerer is not even within the normal range of sorcerer rankings, which means that the first-level sorcerer is already the highest level.
Both of them are currently at the highest level.
This also means that either Kazuma Hato or Satoru Gojo can beat him up whenever they want.
Zenji Naoya once again regretted why he hadn't thought things through and insisted on attending the exchange meeting between those two lousy schools, only to be targeted by those two devils!
Even on the surface, he had to speak politely and couldn't show his resentment.
Zenin Naoya: "If there's nothing else, I'll hang up now..."
This tactical chant, attempting a retreat, was interrupted by a single sentence from Gojo Satoru.
"Don't rush."
Zenji Naoya choked up, his heart rate doubling again: "..."
"Okay, there's no need to be so nervous. I just came to ask you about someone."
Gojo Satoru pulled the marriage certificate out of his pocket—the four Chinese characters for "Fukugurojinji" were thoughtfully marked with the hiragana pronunciation.
Speaking of which, the pronunciation of those two Chinese characters is とうじ (Toji), which is exactly the same as 冬至 (Toji) (the winter solstice). The parents really were quite casual in choosing the name.
“Fuhe Shen'er. So, do you know anyone with this name? He's probably from the Zen-in family. Hmm, but he's not surnamed Zen-in... You can try tracing back one or two generations.
As Gojo Satoru walked down the street with Hato Kazuma, he put the paper back into his pocket and casually guessed what it meant.
But the voice on the other end of the phone suddenly became louder—and even amidst the surprise, a rather subtle excitement could be detected.
"What is Fuhei? What is it??"
Okay—I'm sure this guy knows this Fuhesh.
With a smile on his lips, Gojo Satoru snapped his fingers triumphantly, indicating that he hadn't asked the wrong person after all!
Kazuma Hatake readily accepted the hand that was being extended to him, as if taking the snap as a reminder that he wanted to hold hands.
Gojo Satoru's smug expression instantly vanished, and even the words he was about to say lingered on his tongue for a while before he could barely recall what he had intended to say.
"...Ahem, that's right. Judging from your reaction, you know him. Tell me more about it."
Zenji Naoya hesitated for a moment, then asked another question: "Why do you call him Fuheishen?"
Gojo Satoru raised an eyebrow: "So his real name is Zenji Shinji? He married into the family?"
If a man chooses to marry into the woman's family, he will naturally change his surname.
But for Zenin Naoya, who was proud of his Zen family background, this news was a bolt from the blue, and he denied it without a second thought.
"How is that possible? Shen'er's strength is..."
"Oh dear, but this is what it says on this marriage certificate."
As a result, Zenji Naoya was silenced by Gojo Satoru's casual remark, and for a long time he just stared wide-eyed without uttering a sound.
Inside the side hall, someone leaned against the door and called out to him, "Why are you still on the phone? Come back and keep playing!" But Zenji Naoya waved his hand and refused, even deliberately walking further away.
These sounds were clearly heard by Kazuma Hato and Satoru Gojo, who had their speakers on.
“Come tell me about this [Zen-in Jinji], he doesn’t seem like the kind of person you can have a normal conversation with.”
Gojo Satoru's azure eyes narrowed slightly, revealing his remarkably sharp insight.
Why should I tell you?
Zenji Naoya was not to be outdone and replied in a low voice.
"Do you think I don't have other ways to investigate? Anyway, everyone knows that the Zen family must have such a person."
Gojo Satoru said nonchalantly, "On the contrary, if you were discovered secretly going to the Kamo family to look for information, wouldn't you..."
Zenji Naoya: "??? That's what you demanded!"
Gojo Satoru: "Oh? Where's the evidence? No way, no way, the 'designated heir' of the prestigious Zenin family, after being discovered to have done something wrong, is actually going to shift the blame onto the next head of the Gojo family?"
At this moment, Gojo Satoru deliberately emphasized the words "the next head of the Gojo family," which infuriated Zenin Naoya, who was only one of the heirs to the head of the family.
But he dared not speak out against his anger.
The [binding] was agreed upon verbally, and there was no contract. He really had no evidence to prove that he was forced to go to Kamo's house to find information. He did dawdle in this matter, but with the [binding] in place, he couldn't completely wash his hands of it.
"...Zen Monastery is my cousin."
After taking several deep breaths, Zenji Naoya spoke with a heavy heart, bearing his humiliation.
"But he is [Heaven and Curse] with zero magical power. You know, in a Zen family where [a non-Zen master is ashamed to be a master, and a non-master is ashamed to be a human], one might suffer a lot of cold looks and abuse."
"Hmph... Only I know how powerful Shen'er is. Those pretentious nobodyes can't even compare to half of Shen'er's abilities, yet they have the nerve to gossip about him behind his back. It's disgusting."
This kid is definitely a fan of Zen-in-no-Kara, probably secretly so his family doesn't know.
However… [Heaven and Curse] with zero curse power, he seemed to have heard of such a person in the Zen family before, but then he disappeared without a trace.
As Zenji Naoya grew increasingly agitated, seemingly ready to belittle all his relatives, Gojo Satoru asked the question that concerned him most.
Do you know where he is now?
“…I don’t know,” Zenji Naoya said calmly. “He left the Zenji family suddenly about five years ago…or even earlier, and has disappeared without a trace.”
He never imagined that he would learn about Zenji's recent situation from Gojo Satoru—that he had married into a woman's family and given up his original surname!
Why are you looking for him?
Putting aside the question of whether or not to see his cousin again, Zenji Naoya was more curious about how he got involved with Gojo Satoru.
However, Gojo Satoru has no obligation to answer his questions.
"You don't know his whereabouts either, so it's useless. Remember to do your best to fulfill the task that Ichijin asked you to do."
After confirming that Zenji Naoya had no idea where Fushiguro Jinji was living the high life, Gojo Satoru promptly hung up the phone, ignoring the protest from the other end: "Hey, what do you take me for, your servant?"
He put his phone back in his pocket and shrugged at Kazuma Hatake.
"Good news! Now that we know Hui's father is from the Zenin family, there is indeed a chance that Hui will awaken [Ten Shadow Arts]."
"Bad news, nobody knows his current whereabouts. The promise we just made to the child may not be fulfilled."
Kazuma Hatori also tried his best to recall the events of the first timeline—aside from Satoru explaining [Heaven and Curse] to him, he had never heard of [Fukuguro Jinji] or [Zenin Jinji].
Megumi Fushiguro had only mentioned that his stepsister was cursed to be in a coma, and he hadn't said a word about his father either.
Finding a specific person in ordinary society is extremely difficult.
Otherwise, those curse masters wouldn't have been able to hide peacefully for so many years, only becoming traceable when they committed crimes and revealed their true colors.
“It’s alright,” Kazuma Hatori thought for a moment and comforted Satoru Gojo, “We didn’t say anything about a deadline anyway.”
Moreover, this was neither his commission nor a task, and there was no reward for it.
Upon hearing this, Gojo Satoru couldn't help but chuckle. He nudged the man with his elbow and winked teasingly.
"You little rascal, you've gotten cunning too."
Kazuma Hatori chuckled to himself—in Satoru's mind, he seemed to have been defined as an incredibly dull black Shiba Inu, and no matter what he did, he couldn't shake it off.
In the desolate, narrow alleyway, chilly with the wind, only the two of them walked side by side toward the station, occasionally exchanging a few intimate jokes.
Is this a compliment?
"Of course I'm praising you. It's better to be a little cunning when you're a sorcerer, after all, many enemies are quite cunning too."
"Hmm... how do we find Fuheshchen?"
"This is indeed a bit difficult. The main problem is that I have no motive to contact him. If I send someone from the Gojo family, I will immediately be suspected."
After pondering for a long time, Gojo realized he was at a deadlock.
Fortunately, the person they called was Zenin Naoya, who had something on them. Although that guy had a bad personality, he wasn't stupid. He knew that he could say whatever he wanted without any problems, but there were things he absolutely couldn't say.
"Forget it, it's not something that can be done overnight. We'll see if we can pay an agency that specializes in finding missing persons in the general public... If that doesn't work, we'll have Hui call the police."
Gojo Satoru could only be thankful that he had asked Yoga-sensei in advance to help conceal Fushiguro Megumi's identity.
When it comes to finding people, Kazuma Hatori didn't have a better solution.
Not to mention that this game doesn't have an auto-pathfinding system, he still doesn't know what the real name of [Xia Youjie (deceased) (?)] from his first playthrough was.
The degree of freedom is too high; you have to figure everything out on your own.
—It's just like the real world.
…………
When winter finally ended and spring arrived in April, Kazuma Hatori and his classmates became second-year students at a vocational high school.
In fact, they were the class with the most first-level sorcerers ever—paired with a sorcerer who could cast reversal spells to heal others, the entire lineup was incredibly luxurious.
There are only two new first-year students, Nanami Kenji and Haibara Yu, both of whom are not from a family of magicians and are not of high level.
Gojo Satoru even went to their classroom to say hello, and when he came back, he whispered to Hato Kazuma that there was a freshman there who was so serious that he could practically wear a suit and enter the adult world!
Xia Youjie and Ieiri Shoko, who were sitting next to each other and had heard everything clearly, silently cast their gazes over.
If the other person hears this, they might say that the second-year senior is super frivolous...
But Kazuma Hato had to chime in, saying, "Satoru would definitely look great in a suit too, even better than him," which made Gojo Satoru brush his bangs aside and say, "Oh dear, I can't do anything with you. I'll order two suits for you to wear later."
Natsumi Yuki and Ieiri Shoko's eyes gradually glazed over: "…………"
Isn't this spoiling him a bit too much, this Ichima-kun...?
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