Hi guys, author here! Please share your thoughts in the comments and reviews. And if you like it, don't forget to drop some stones — they're a great motivator!
--------------------
After dropping the idea to storm the Jujutsu HQ that day, on Ruriko's advice, who just told them to go tomorrow after doing some proper planning.
After having lunch together with Satoru and Ruriko, Naoya bid them farewell and made plans to meet with Satoru the next day.
After that, he went to the Fushiguro's residence to pick up Maki, Mai, and Zankyo while passing on the souvenirs he brought for them.
Megumi got an octopus onesei, Maki got a shark onesei, and Mai got a dolphin onesei.
Originally, the shark one was for Megumi, but Maki smacked the kid, snatched his and gave him hers.
Megumi looked at his aunt with anger since he would have given her the onesei if she had asked him nicely, and started crying and fighting against Maki.
If not for Naoya stopping them, Megumi would have been beaten brutally by the physical monster girl.
He then had to pamper his nephew for a while to calm the kid down and secretly give him some sweets to make the kid feel better.
From that day, Naoya made a mental note not to buy different things for the kids as souvenirs.
Well, coming to Miyuki, she got a local jewellery piece, while Toji got liquor. The man was happy with that.
Just like that, the day passed.
Right now, Naoya was dropping the kids off at Toji's place and was preparing for the confrontation at the Jujutsu HQ.
Toji, who was leaving for work, said goodbye to Miyuki while the kids were busy with Naoya.
The two Zenin men walked together, and Toji asked.
"Why the serious face?"
"...I am probably going to have a confrontation with the higher-ups at the Jujutsu HQ."
"...Such a massive bomb drop. What did those f*ckers do to earn them such honour?" asked Toji.
"You know Satoru, right?"
"Ah, the highest bounty sorcerer at the moment. Of course."
"...Do you really remember people by their bounties?"
"Only men, women though...."
"I will tell nee-chan."
"You want to die!"
"Well, back tothe issue, the two of us are going to the Jujutsu High this year, but both of us are assigned to different branches. We suspect political pressure and are going to ask them to assign us to the same branch. The issue is, Satoru is probably gonna wreck things up if things go in our favour, which by extension will reel me in as well," said Naoya.
Toji stared at Naoya for a while wondering if the kid was serious or not.
"...Are both of you alright in the head?" asked Toji.
"What do you mean by that?"
"You do realise that what you both are planning to do is absolutely childish. Just because you two are going to different schools, you are going to attack the Jujutsu HQ. See, I don't give a damn about sorcerers or Jujutsu division, but still, this is just insane," said Toji.
"Hey, I am just asking them to reconsider our placement. It's Satoru who will be attacking them."
"Well, if that's what you both are gonna do, then do it. Just make sure it won't bite my family in the butt. It will set a bad image of you to the higher-ups, though, so keep that in mind," said Toji with a shrug.
Naoya fell silent and thought for a while. Toji's point made sense afterall, if they acted based on what Satoru said, then they would be acting just like how Maki and Megumi did in the morning. Like immature little kids.
The two parted ways midway, and Naoya headed to the Kagura Barrier District, the place where the HQ was located.
Outside the district's entrance, Satoru was waiting with his hand in his pocket while various sorcerers and non-sorcerers were checking him out, wondering why the Gojo clan heir was heir.
"Yo!" greeted Satoru, noticing Naoya approaching him.
The crowd looked towards the newcomer and became even more surprised, seeing the Zenin clan's Special Grade sorcerer being there as well and acting friendly with Satoru Gojo.
The two ignored the surprised looks and made their way to the HQ.
"Satoru, promise me you won't escalate things if they don't go your way."
"Naoya....you know I can't promise that."
"Satoru, think for a second, if we attack them, we are gonna make enemies of the Jujutsu division....just because they didn't allot us the same schools. That's not quite the deal to make these many enemies for."
"It is not me making them my enemy. It's they who will make me their enemy," replied Satoru.
Naoya looked at Satoru and wondered where his son got so much confidence from after getting his ass handed to him constantly.
"Naoya...you are acting suspiciously. Do you not want to spend the rest of our (high school) lives together?" asked Satoru.
The nearby people who were eavesdropping on the conversation between the two Special Grades looked at them with shock.
'The two Special Grades were involved in a forbidden relationship!!!!'
"...Why are you making it weird. Of course I do, but.....well, let's just talk it out with them first. Who knows, they might even approve our request."
"Hmph! Avoiding answering.... are you planning to cheat on me!" asked Satoru and got smacked by Naoya.
The two arrived at the HQ and headed to the reception, where the sorcerer working was already sweating from the pressure.
Seeing the big shots from two of the three great clans coming here together, and with the two being Special Grade sorcerers as well, was too much for someone like him.
"W-What can I help you with, Gojo-sama, Zenin-sama?" asked the receptionist hesitantly.
"We want to have a talk with the one who handles Jujutsu High admission and raise a request to them," said Naoya with a smile, while Satoru was standing beside Naoya in the most threatening manner he possibly could, trying to intimidate the people there.
Naoya so wanted to act like he didn't know the idiot beside him, but it was probably too late for that.
"Umm...let me check..." replied the receptionist and went somewhere.
After 10 minutes, the man came back and looked at the two of them with a sheepish gaze.
"I will lead you two to the waiting area."
"Huh? You are going to make us wai-"
"Sure! Lead the way!" replied Naoya and covered Satoru's mouth and dragged him along.
The two got seated and were served tea by the same man who walked out of the room and let the two talk among themselves.
Naoya partially summoned Senzu and used its power to purify the tea of any possible poisons.
The deer shikigami was now very versatile and was capable of purifying things as well.
Satoru and Naoya sipped and drank in silence, neither speaking anything, simply enjoying the tea.
"The tea is nice."
"It really is. Fragrant as well."
"So, my good friend Naoya."
"Yes, my good friend Satoru."
The two boys smiled at each other.
"Why the hell are you stopping me from doing my thing?" asked Satoru with the smile not leaving his face.
"We are here to get things done. Don't wreck them apart. Think rationally for a bit."
"Rationality is for the weak. Strong people are irrational!"
"You are just an idiot."
"How dare you call the greatest mind of the century an idiot!"
"Like this. Idiot!"
The two were about to argue when the door opened, and a serious-looking lady entered the room.
More importantly, the lady had a huge 'personality'.
Both Satoru and Naoya got speechless at her entry, and Satoru immediately looked towards Naoya.
Naoya inturn was looking back at him.
'You saw that?' thought Satoru.
'How could I not?' thought Naoya.
'Are they trying a honey trap on us?' thought Satoru.
'It is working!' thought Naoya.
The two didn't speak any words but were somehow able to understand what the other one was saying.
"Greeting, Gojo-sama, Zenin-sama. I am Yui Nanase from the Jujutsu High department. You wanted to have a meeting?" asked the lady, and gave a curt bow.
*Jiggle*
Naoya and Satoru got mometarily tranced but soon returned to the bow.
"Greeting, Nanase-san. I am Naoya Zenin, and he is Satoru Gojo."
"I am aware. So what is the issue that you two might have? I believe that you two must have got the letters of admission yesterday?" asked the lady as she took a seat.
The two boys took their seats as well, and Satoru spoke up.
"We got them, but the issue is that you allotted us different branches. I want you to put both of us in the same branch. We would like to attend the same school," said Satoru in a slightly authoritative tone.
"I see...." muttered the lady, and looked at the boys for a while.
Satoru was trying to be superior while Naoya was just looking at her neutrally.
"That would be a difficult request to approve...." replied Yui.
"Really, you just have to shift one of the students from one of the branches and put one of us there. That's it," replied Satoru.
"The school hasn't even started yet. I don't see it being a problem," added Naoya.
Yui gave a nod and started rummaging through the documents in the file that she brought.
She then placed some documents on the table and slid them towards Naoya and Satoru.
"What are these?" asked Satoru while Naoya started going through them.
"These here are the reports regarding the cursed spirits-related events happening all around Japan. If you both go through them, you will notice that the incidents involving Semi-Grade 1 and Grade-1 curses are increasing and have spread across the country as well," said Yui.
Naoya went through the documents while Satoru waited for Yui to continue.
"Frankly speaking, we don't have enough capable manpower to handle the number of cases. The number of Grade-1 and Special Grade-1 sorcerers is simply not enough to be spread out to manage the cases. Semi Grade-1 sorcers and below can group up and help deal with the Grade-1 and Semi-Grade-1 spirits, but that will be neglecting the other lower-ranked cursed spirits," explained Yui.
"That's where you two Special Grade sorcerers come in. You two might just be highschoolers but in terms of prowess, you both are cut far above the other sorcerers," said Yui.
Hearing the praise, Gojo smirked, while Naoya narrowed his eyes. It seemed like things were getting more serious than he had initially imagined.
"Placing the two of you in the same location will limit our ability to mobilise you two. If we have a Special Grade sorcerer at the two prime locations, our action speed will be increased quite a lot. You two might be highschoolers but you are also sorcerers. Your first responsibility is to make sure that the threats from the cursed spirit are minimised," said Yui.
The two turned silent. The HQ using logic against them was not something the two were expecting.
Naoya placed the documents on the table and asked.
"You are saying this, but I know for sure that there is another Special Grade sorcerer currently active in Kyoto Jujutsu High."
"You are referring to Yuki Tsukumo-sama. Yes, she is currently in Kyoto Jujutsu High and will be in her final year this year, but she has clearly expressed that after graduation, she will be moving separately and won't take missions from us. It is regretable but we cannot interfere in this," replied Yui.
Naoya looked at Yui for a while, trying to gauge if she was telling the truth or not.
"It will somehow work out. Just because jujutsu work is important, you don't expect to ruin our high school life, right?" asked Satoru.
"Certainly, while you two are sorcerers, you two still have the right to enjoy your high school life....but does that mean that you two can only enjoy it if you two are in the same school? Looking at you two, seeing how the two of you came all this way to ask us to change the allotment, your friendship is certainly strong. I don't think it will change just because you two will be in different schools. Enjoying high school also means making new friends and having fun with them. Not to mention being sorcerers, you two will get many chances to work together during missions. I will personally make sure that you two get assigned on a mission together whenever possible," said Yui with a smile.
Satoru and Naoya turned silent and looked at each other, not knowing what to say to that.
"I hope that you two understand. Protecting the common people of Japan is our foremost priority. If the situation had not been this bad, we wouldn't haggle this much. It's just that we don't have enough capable sorcerers. The number of curses is increasing too rapidly."
.
.
.
"So...that went in a totally opposite direction than what we were expecting..." muttered Naoya.
"Yeah....I didn't think that they would use logic against us. I mean, where was the snot-nosed arrogant dumbass?!" complained Satoru.
"Want me to show you a mirror?" asked Naoya.
"Did you call me a dumbass?" asked Satoru.
Naoya just shrugged in response, making Satoru even angrier.
"Sigh, whatever, looks like we are going to different schools in the end. My plan to cause chaos along with you is foiled."
"Don't be too down. We will do missions together. We will have vacations and holidays to play around. Not to mention, there will be goodwill events as well. Honestly, it would have been too boring if both of us fought from the same side," replied Naoya with a smirk.
"Huh...I didn't think about that....true, apart from you, who can be my rival?" said Satoru in realisation.
"Rival? Are you dreaming, son?" asked Naoya with a mocking smile.
"Oh! Don't you worry daddy, you will be the one who will be sorry at the goodwill event. I will make sure of that. Don't slack off if you don't want to lose too badly....and don't go making new best friends there while I am not looking. That spot is mine," warned Satoru.
"There is no rule that one cannot have multiple best friends, but sure, I will try. You too, though. Don't go cheating on me and make new best friends," said Naoya.
"Heh, I am popular, that might be difficult. I mean, just look at me, how can one resist the temptation to have a taste of me?"
"Not even a second, and already planning to cheat?"
"Let's drop this and get back to the important matter. Nanase-san gave me her number," said Satoru with a smile and showed a paper slip with her number written on it.
"Huh? No fair!!!!" complained Naoya.
"Hehe, bow down in front of the great me!" yelled Satoru and pocketed the slip.
"Damn it!.... Forget it, I already have Ruriko-san for me."
"...Forget goodwill event, I will end you before that!" yelled Satoru and pounced at Naoya.