Because Asou Akiya had no intention of staying up late and left the moment it grew late, Getou Suguru felt too embarrassed to try and make him stay, so he could only turn and seize hold of Gojo Satoru instead.
Recently, Gojo Satoru had been taking far too many supplements, his energy overflowing to the point of excess, and the two hit it off instantly.
Thus, the two of them entered full-on late-night anime-binge mode.
When the protagonist in Yu Yu Hakusho unleashed a finishing move, Gojo raised his index finger, crimson light gathering at the tip, aimed straight at Getou as he shouted provocatively, "Hey—looks like I can use Urameshi Yusuke's 'Spirit Gun' now too!"
Facing the sense of imminent danger that came with taking a "Red" at point-blank range, Getou remained perfectly calm and replied, "You call that a 'Spirit Gun'? That's clearly an unstable, high-energy explosive. Urameshi Yusuke's 'Spirit Gun' retains a defined energy form even after being fired, and his spiritual power is fundamentally different from our cursed energy—it can directly strike the soul."
Getou shot back, "Aren't your 'Six Eyes' supposed to be incredible? Then why can't you see souls?"
The jujutsu world acknowledges the existence of the soul.
Yet to this day, not a single jujutsu sorcerer has ever laid eyes on a human soul.
Gojo formed a frame with his index finger and thumb, pretending it was a magnifying glass, and held it up in front of his eye.
The traces of cursed energy coursing through Getou's entire body were crystal clear.
But the soul?
He truly couldn't see it.
Regarding Getou's question about the soul, Gojo said with a hint of regret, "I honestly don't know. There's no trace of souls in the world as seen through the 'Six Eyes.'" He then brought up records from his family archives. "The Gojo clan's ancient texts mention that when certain infamous special-grade post-curse vengeful spirits were finally laid to rest, some people witnessed scenes resembling a soul ascending to heaven."
Getou had never even heard of such special-grade post-curse vengeful spirits; among the special-grade curses registered in the modern jujutsu world, no such classification existed.
With a glint of morbid curiosity, Getou said, "If I ever run into one, I'd definitely like to capture it and study it."
Gojo Satoru's eyebrows shot up with excitement. "I'm curious too. When the time comes, I'll help you catch one!"
Getou looked at him in surprise. "You're not afraid I'll surpass you?"
Gojo didn't take it seriously at all. "Never been afraid. I was just pissed that you used me as part of your oath. I wanted to see you fail. But honestly, even if I hadn't stopped you from absorbing a special-grade curse, you and Akiya would've become friends sooner or later anyway."
"After all, Akiya helped you—twice…" Gojo stopped short at the most important part, stubbornly refusing to continue.
"Twice how?" Getou's curiosity was instantly hooked. He hurriedly paused the anime.
"The first time was on Boys' Day," Gojo said with a scowl. "Akiya covered my eyes and said you'd be embarrassed, so I wasn't allowed to watch you subdue the cursed spirit orb." His expression darkened further. "The second time was after the team competition ended. After he let you leave, he grabbed my wrist and wouldn't let go, bribing me with food. Does he have any idea how outrageous that kind of behavior is?! What are you laughing at, Getou!"
Getou struggled to keep himself from bursting out laughing, his expression twisting into something almost comically exaggerated.
"He said I'd be embarrassed?" Getou laughed openly now. "And you believed him? Gojo—how could you possibly believe that!"
Gojo fell silent. "..."
Getou said cheerfully, "I'm actually really touched. So why are you angry?"
Someone who saw through how painful it was for him to subdue cursed spirit orbs, yet chose not to expose him—someone who instead protected him at every turn, in front of others.
If Asou Akiya said he would be embarrassed, then Getou decided he would simply accept that version of himself, embarrassed or not.
"All right," Getou said at last, "don't be angry. I'll admit it—I really was embarrassed. I didn't want you to see me subduing cursed spirit orbs."
Seeing the sincerity written all over Getou's face, Gojo believed him again.
Getou, however, wanted to draw out more things he himself did not know. "Did Akiya do anything else?"
Gojo snatched the remote control back and plunged straight into the anime again. "Go ask him yourself."
Hmph. Trying to fish for information, was he?
There was no way Gojo was going to foolishly spill what came after.
Getou watched Gojo's movements, his thoughts winding and looping in quiet circles. He still could not piece together the real reason why, after the group match ended and he had already left, Asou Akiya and Gojo Satoru had clashed. After all, Gojo was not the kind of person who liked to dig into causes and consequences…
Carefully, Getou tested the waters. "Gojo, if you hurt Akiya because of me, I'd feel guilty."
Gojo slammed the pause button in a flash and stared at the other man's bizarre bangs in disbelief.
"Getou, you're not just sporting weird bangs—you're a full-blown narcissist now?"
"I'm not."
"Then why would you think I'm that kind of person?!"
"Ahem…"
"Don't fake-cough at me! I get it—you think I deliberately made things hard for Akiya just to befriend you. Let me tell you—impossible! Even if I had that kind of thought at the beginning, I don't anymore!"
Gojo practically blasted Getou's ears with his words at an ear-splitting volume.
What? You actually did have that thought at the beginning? Getou's head buzzed, and his ears went numb right along with it.
"Stop!" Getou called a timely halt to the damage, clapping a hand over his abused ears. "Let's just watch the anime."
"..." Gojo Satoru abruptly pursed his lips. "Every time, it's Akiya who pisses me off first."
His gaze remained fixed on the television screen as he finally gave Getou the answer he wanted. "Akiya treats you really well—he's always covering for you, helping you write self-reflection reports. Yeah, it annoys me, but I can tell that you two genuinely want to be friends. If friends do things like that for each other, I can understand it. I also like the way Akiya treats the people he considers friends."
Getou fell silent, his eyes flickering, as he recalled Gojo Satoru's understanding of friendship—an understanding that bordered on the absurd.
Perhaps… it wasn't entirely wrong.
Gojo said calmly, "In Yu Yu Hakusho, Urameshi Yusuke's first friend was Kuwabara Kazuma. Kuwabara used to fight him all the time, but after Urameshi died, that pompadour idiot was willing to stand up for him. The two went from bitter rivals at the same middle school to friends who truly understood each other."
Gojo stated it bluntly. "Doesn't it feel kind of similar? Getou, you're that idiot."
Getou's forehead twitched with dark lines. Gojo, give his sense of being moved back already!
"'Kuwabara Kazuma' is supposed to refer to you, right?!" Getou protested vehemently—rejecting pompadours, rejecting the delinquent aesthetic.
"It's you!" Gojo clearly had a fondness for Urameshi Yusuke. "My techniques are similar to Urameshi's, and I also like beating the crap out of those punk brats who won't accept losing. If I died, my family would definitely cry until they couldn't breathe, doing everything they could to drag me back to the world of the living—just like the people in the anime."
Urameshi Yusuke's resurrection required someone close to him to breathe a mouthful of living breath into his corpse.
The whole affair was absurd beyond belief. Urameshi appeared in dreams to those around him, yet very few were willing to do it. Kuwabara Kazuma gave up because of gender issues; Urameshi's mother was perpetually drunk and unwilling to believe it. The only person willing to take action and trust that dream was Urameshi's childhood sweetheart, Yukimura Keiko.
Gojo believed his own situation was several times better than Urameshi Yusuke's—and as for Getou Suguru? Give me a break, his family situation was obviously a mess.
After listening to Gojo's words, Getou's expression went blank with bewilderment.
No way.
Did Asou Akiya really see him as that pompadour-wearing second male lead, and Gojo as that delinquent, small-time punk of a protagonist?
Both of them knew very well that Asou Akiya had a habit of using objects to stand in for people, of pointing at the mulberry tree while cursing the locust tree—never naming names directly, yet always hitting the mark.
Getou Suguru said nothing, but somewhere inside, his psyche cracked open. silent jpg.
...
Three days later, Getou Suguru and Gojo Satoru, both sporting identical dark circles under their eyes, sat in the classroom to receive their new student IDs.
Asou Akiya was the first to be handed his card by Principal Yaga Masamichi.
Yaga Masamichi said with satisfaction, "Akiya, first of all, congratulations. You've been promoted to a Grade Three jujutsu sorcerer."
Asou Akiya replied, "Thank you, sensei."
Not a single person in the classroom applauded. Yaga Masamichi felt a flicker of displeasure. Ieiri Shoko was as she always was—never one for flashy displays or outward enthusiasm—but what about the other two? Those two looked like sleepwalkers, their faces hollowed out by exhaustion from staying up all night.
Yaga Masamichi asked, puzzled, "Gojo, Getou, did you two even sleep last night?"
Ieiri Shoko compared the expressions of the three male students with interest.
Asou looked bright and energetic. Getou looked drowsy and drained. As for Gojo… he was lying face-down on the desk, openly catching up on sleep.
Getou Suguru said, "We've been researching the 'homework' Asou assigned to us."
Sure enough, Yaga Masamichi trusted Asou Akiya completely and let the two who had been thoroughly wrung dry by anime binge-watching off the hook.
Asou Akiya asked curiously, "Yaga-sensei, what rank are their student IDs now?"
"Probationary Special Grade." Yaga Masamichi shoved the student IDs into Gojo and Getou's hands, clearly too lazy to waste another word on the two idiots.
Gojo Satoru stuffed his ID into his pocket and immediately fell back into a deep, wheezing sleep.
Getou Suguru, on the other hand, took out his wallet, neatly swapped in both student IDs, and admired his own photograph with satisfaction. One exchange event, and he had been promoted to a probationary Special Grade jujutsu sorcerer—if every competition were this troublesome, he welcomed a few more of them.
"Asou, I'm still half a rank short," Getou Suguru said to Asou Akiya, steadfastly following through on the promise he had made.
"Mm." Asou Akiya barely reacted; it was exactly what he had expected.
"Did you find the Easter egg?" Asou Akiya asked.
"No," Gojo Satoru blurted out, suddenly springing to life. "But Getou thinks the answer is 'Sakyo.' His reasoning is that they both have black hair and that refined-yet-degenerate vibe. I've never watched Hunter × Hunter, but I looked up Chrollo Lucilfer online—he's a bandit leader. There's no way 'Sakyo' is Chrollo Lucilfer's prototype!"
Gojo Satoru might be hopeless when it came to social tact, but in other areas his instincts were razor-sharp. "A gambler can't become a bandit."
Then Gojo dropped a bomb. "Akiya actually resembles 'Sakyo' more."
Asou Akiya: "..."
He genuinely could not tell whether his character had been insulted or absurdly overestimated, and for a moment he did not know whether to laugh or cry.
{Note: no no, they're completely on the point.}
Getou Suguru clearly disagreed. "Asou would never be 'Sakyo.' That man is nothing but an ordinary human steeped in absolute darkness."
Asou Akiya understood that they had already finished watching the Dark Tournament arc. The final match had been Team Toguro versus Team Urameshi. Sakyo had wagered his life against Koenma on the outcome of the match. When Sakyo lost the bet, he chose death. Kuwabara Kazuma's sister had tried to save him, but Sakyo rejected the only person he had ever felt a spark of affection for. No one forced him—yet he went calmly and willingly to his end.
{Note: Unironically, that's exactly what Akiya would've done. wink wink ;)}
Sakyo's true charisma was distilled into a single principle: once he placed a bet, he accepted the outcome without protest.
Asou Akiya did not wish to learn Sakyo's cruelty, but he was willing to learn how Sakyo gambled with elegance, how he gambled with reckless abandon.
The heights one reaches in life are all the result of daring to let go and place the bet.
"An ordinary human?" Asou Akiya said with a teasing edge. "Geto, keep watching. There's hidden material about 'Sakyo' later on. He isn't merely the sponsor of the Dark Tournament—he's the soul of the entire story."
Getou Suguru fell silent for a moment, then suddenly asked, "You don't object to Gojo saying you resemble 'Sakyo'?"
Asou Akiya smiled faintly. "I don't really know. People have no way of evaluating themselves objectively."
Getou Suguru admired Asou's composure and felt somewhat relieved.
Asou Akiya thought to himself, until the very last moment, no one truly knows what they look like when they lose a bet.
If possible, he hoped he would never learn the answer in his entire lifetime.
He only wanted to keep winning.
Gojo Satoru lay sprawled over his desk, and even after being scolded by Yaga, he refused to sit up properly. Since the Six Eyes could not probe Asou Akiya without the red cord, he instead used his natural, almost absurd three-hundred-and-sixty-degree awareness to observe every single movement Asou Akiya made.
[Wow—his heartbeat is incredibly steady. Even after being promoted to a Grade Three sorcerer, he's completely unfazed.]
Is Asou Akiya drawing?
This time it was… a black fox with an odd, distinctive fringe of bangs???
Gojo Satoru snapped upright in his seat. At a glance, he recognized exactly who that minimalist sketch of a black fox was meant to represent—someone was defecting to the canine faction!
Just as Asou Akiya was about to take a photo to save the drawing—
[Jujutsu High Foodie Duo]
[Gojo Satoru: Akiya, I'm allowing you to draw cats, got it? I'm allowing it!]
[Asou Akiya: I'm in class right now, can't hear you~.]
[Gojo Satoru: Draw a cat wearing sunglasses right now, and I'll change my phone wallpaper to your sketch.]
[Asou Akiya: ............Deal.]
Asou Akiya shot a sideways glance at the completely unaware Geto Suguru and clicked his tongue inwardly. Tsk, Getou—you'd better hurry up and keep pace with Gojo's moral degeneration.
This guy had actually learned how to negotiate like a normal person.