Chapter 13
Ultimately, Gojo Satoru, who was called to help in the sewers, still failed to collect all the stamps on the first day.
Even the next day, he didn't, because when he excitedly dragged Kazuma Hatake to the cake shop and repeatedly warned him not to reveal what the secret dessert was, he discovered that it was the cake shop's day off.
Kazuma Hatori heard Satoru Gojo, who was standing in front of the cake shop, let out a super dejected whimper. He then dragged him to see a movie, and on the way, they ate a large bucket of honey popcorn as a form of psychological comfort.
On the third day, Gojo Satoru once again came to knock on Hato Kazuma's door right on time.
"today!"
—Walking down the street, he spoke resolutely to Yuqu Yizhen.
"I'm sure I'll get the last stamp today. I've already checked the cake shop's opening hours online, there won't be any problems!"
"There's also a secret dessert, hehe, I'm sure I'll get to eat it!"
"Definitely, definitely."
Kazuma Hatori agreed with him.
Although Gojo Satoru confidently declared that he would definitely succeed in collecting stamps today, the result was that just as he was about to step into the cake shop, he heard an old woman sighing not far away.
"What should we do..."
Even his hunched body trembled from carrying the heavy burden, his temples were gray, his headscarf was soaked with sweat, and his face was full of distress.
"I'm so sorry... buddy over there,"
When she looked at Gojo Satoru, her slightly cloudy eyes were filled with a pleading look, "If you could, could you do me a favor..."
Standing next to Gojo Satoru, Hatori Kazuma quickly opened the pop-up window and glanced at it, only to find that no new requests had appeared.
In other words, this request for help was only directed at Gojo Satoru, and not designed for players?
When asked for help, Gojo Satoru paused for a moment—even with his blindfold covering him, it was clear that he glanced at the cake shop before turning back—and then responded to the old woman in a light tone.
"Hmm, what's wrong, grandma? Wow, that looks like heavy luggage. Can I help you if you don't mind?"
Even in the wording, they used respectful terms for elders.
"That's wonderful..."
After Gojo Satoru took the two heavy luggage bags, the old woman finally breathed a sigh of relief and was able to wipe her sweat with trembling hands.
“I came from Aomori by train. My granddaughter studies in Yamagata, and this is my first time visiting her. I also wanted to bring her some things… but the letter with her school address on it was blown away by the wind. I chased after it for a while but couldn’t find it, and now I’m lost again…”
"Oh dear, that sounds really unlucky, grandma. But it's alright, there aren't many schools in Yamagata. As long as we know your granddaughter's grade, we'll find one soon!"
"Is that so? That's wonderful! Thank you so much, kind young man..."
"Don't worry about it, don't worry about it. The important thing is to find your granddaughter first—is she in junior high or high school now?"
"I remember, it was in the first year of junior high school..."
"Oh my, the old lady has such a good memory! Let me find out how many junior high schools there are in Shanxing..."
Having decided to help, Gojo Satoru patiently communicated with the old woman and searched online for several junior high schools in the mountains, preparing to take her there one by one to confirm their availability.
This doesn't sound like something that can be resolved in a short time.
Just as Kazuma Hato was lost in thought, he heard Satoru Gojo call out to him.
"There's no other way, the stamp collecting activity has to wait. I need to take this old lady to find her granddaughter. You can do whatever you want for now... huh?"
The second half of the sentence remained unspoken. Gojo Satoru noticed that Hagoromo Kazuma walked up to the old woman, turned his back to her, and half-squatted down in front of her.
"Grandma, you must be tired from walking, right? If you don't mind, I'll carry you."
Kazuma Hagoromo said earnestly, "That way, we can find your granddaughter even faster."
"oops……"
Unexpectedly, the cold-faced, black-haired young man offered to help. The old lady was very embarrassed but also very grateful, and bowed to them.
"Thank you so much..."
"You are welcome."
Kazuma Hatori nodded slightly, and when he turned to look at Satoru Gojo, he found that Gojo was smiling at him.
"?" Kazuma Hatori asked him with a question mark.
"Phew, there's nothing there." Gojo Satoru innocently turned his head away.
Because Yamagata Prefecture is not a bustling city, its transportation is far less convenient than that of Kyoto and Tokyo, and the roads between different elevations are connected by a large number of stairs; as a result, when they go to certain places, it is faster to walk than to drive, which takes a longer route.
Fortunately, Kazuma Hatori carried the old woman on his back, which prevented them from wasting too much time on their journey.
At noon, Gojo Satoru paid for a meal for the old lady at the shop.
They finally found the old woman's granddaughter at the second-to-last school when the sun moved from east to west, casting long shadows at their feet.
It was time for school to let out, and when the granddaughter stepped out of the school gate and saw her grandmother, her smile after the initial surprise was exceptionally bright. Even her braids at the back of her head swung happily as she ran towards them.
"Wow... to witness such a beautiful scene, it was worth running halfway through the mountain."
Gojo Satoru stretched and took out his phone to check the time.
"And we still have time to go to the cake shop, yay!"
Kazuma Hagoromo nodded slightly, "That way we can collect all the seals."
This was the first time he had ever offered to help in a game without posting a request, and he even felt good after spending a whole day running around the map to complete it.
Is it because this virtual game is made exceptionally realistic?
Kazuma Hatori's gaze shifted slightly, landing on the enthusiastic Satoru Gojo.
No, perhaps it should be said that it's too real.
…………
Even the cake shop owner didn't expect that, following Kazuma Hatake the day before yesterday, someone else would bring a backing paper covered in stamps to exchange for [Secret Dessert].
And he's a tall, handsome guy who doesn't seem to have anything to do with desserts at all.
Although the other one doesn't seem like the type to like desserts at all.
As the cake shop owner handed the paper bag to the handsome young man, he couldn't help but mutter to himself.
He thought the black-haired youth had come to complain to him after finishing his meal, but it turned out he had brought a friend to redeem something.
Could it be that they're really happy with the spicy curry Mont Blanc? That's strange... the feedback before wasn't very good.
Gojou Gosuke didn't care what the old man was thinking. Having successfully collected all the stamps, he happily thanked everyone and left with the [mystery dessert] and Hato Kazuma.
It's the same park bench in the same old spot.
"I didn't expect it to go so smoothly! [The mystery dessert]! Oh, it's Mont Blanc! It feels so different to finally get it in person after running around to more than a dozen stores!"
Satoru Gojo hummed an off-key melody as he unpacked the package, holding up a small fork to find the right angle to start eating.
Kazuma Hatori sat beside him, intently watching his reaction.
Would you accept a spicy curry-flavored Mont Blanc? Or not?
"I wonder what made it a limited-edition dessert... Oh well, I'll know after one bite. I'm digging in—"
Gojo Satoru shoved the sliced Mont Blanc into his mouth in one gulp.
Gojo Satoru received the Stiffness debuff.
"…………"
"It tastes awful!"
"It's absolutely awful!"
"How can it be so spicy?!"
Once he came to his senses, Gojo Satoru let out a super loud complaint, to the point where he was so angry he was about to explode and jump up and down.
"It's bad enough that it tastes bad, at least make it sweet! What's with the spicy curry flavor? This limited-time event that's leaning towards the bizarre is just too much!!"
Having confirmed that his reaction was the same as his own two days ago, Kazuma Hatake secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
It seems he's not the only one who finds the spicy curry-flavored Mont Blanc strange.
"Ugh, damn it! I should have just told you what the [Secret Dessert] was... I really want to eat regular dessert now, but it's closing time again. I wonder if they'll still be open..."
Satoru Gojo sat on a bench, holding a spicy curry Mont Blanc and muttering complaints. The trailing murmurs reached Kazuma Hatori's side, making him almost imagine a tiny, simple figure angrily punching the air before collapsing to the ground in despair and vomiting his soul.
The white hairs that were pulled up by the blindfold were also twitching.
"Cough, um."
Kazuma Hatori cleared his throat to get Gojo Satoru's attention—then, he handed him the blank backing paper he had prepared.
"Huh?"
Gojo Satoru even pulled down his blindfold with uncertainty, examining the backing paper with his beautiful blue eyes. After confirming with absolute certainty that it was exactly the same as the one he had just collected, he silently raised his gaze to look at Hato Kazuma.
"Isn't this the backing paper we already collected? Did you ask the clerk for a new one? I'm not going to collect it again."
"This is a [heart-pounding dessert stamp collecting event] hosted by the Kamo family head,"
Gojo Satoru listened to the other person's serious introduction.
"Collect all the stamps for a mystery dessert, sir."
"Huh,"
Gojo Satoru blinked his blue eyes, stared at Hagoromo Kazuma for a long time, then lowered his eyes to look at the backing paper, and said uncertainly.
"A stamp collecting event prepared for me?"
He was genuinely surprised this time, so much so that the words he blurted out didn't contain any deliberate attempt to build rapport—instead, they sounded a bit stunned.
Satoru Gojo is widely recognized as being on a completely different level from other sorcerers. In order to reduce the sense of alienation brought about by his overwhelming power, he sometimes deliberately uses a frivolous or playful tone in private conversations to avoid causing people to fear or avoid him.
But in reality, most of the time outside of work, he doesn't have many people he can get close to.
But at this moment, Gojo Satoru discovers that the truth is not so.
The young man, whom he had brought along partly to protect and partly to monitor, suddenly took out a piece of paper and said to him, "This is an activity specially prepared for you."
This slightly euphoric feeling is truly delightful...
"Oh dear, how am I supposed to collect all the seals, patriarch?"
Gojo Satoru couldn't help but laugh, placed Montblanc on the chair, and took the blank sheet of paper with both hands.
"Yes, that's a good question."
Just like when no one knew where Kazuma Hatori had pulled out a live silver pine needle koi last time, this time they simply placed a small, exquisite cardboard box in his hand.
"The first stamp is for finishing this strawberry daifuku."
Gojo Satoru's blue eyes suddenly became bright and sparkling, like the endless blue sky in summer.
"Yay!"
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