"My Doraemon..."
Gojo Satoru stood in the corridor, clutching a pillow, looking utterly pitiful and aggrieved.
Lights blazed in the other two dormitory rooms as Asou Akiya and Geto Suguru rushed out to investigate the "enemy situation."
Two of Gojo Satoru's luxurious dormitory rooms had been destroyed, with only the bathroom left intact. There were no traces of cursed spirits or enemies at the scene. The lingering residue of cursed energy revealed that Gojo Satoru had single-handedly attacked his own quarters.
Asou Akiya examined the accident site. "With the bed as the epicenter, there's inward-sweeping destructive force—the pulling power generated by the cursed technique 'Blue.'"
Geto Suguru was utterly bewildered. "Where's the enemy he was attacking?"
Asou Akiya replied, "Perhaps... there was no enemy at all."
Amidst the ruins, Asou Akiya searched for remnants of the figurine, barely managing to identify fragments of the blue cartoon cat.
Geto Suguru tried to dissuade him. "It's pointless. It's completely shattered."
Asou Akiya persisted in his conviction. "Gojo will care about this. He treasures the gifts you give him more than anything."
Ten minutes later, when the two encountered the white-haired youth again with his disheveled hair, they simultaneously felt their hearts soften.
Asou Akiya handed over the fragments of Doraemon. Gojo Satoru showed no disgust, obediently accepting them and tucking them into his pocket.
Asou Akiya asked in a gentle voice, "Did you have a nightmare?"
Gojo Satoru nodded.
Looking utterly listless, Gojo Satoru hung his head. "I dreamed about Kawakami Tomie."
Geto Suguru fell silent, no longer wanting to pursue the reason. "What do we do now? Where will Gojo sleep?"
Geto Suguru turned his inquiring gaze toward Asou Akiya. Considering the source of Gojo Satoru's nightmare, Asou Akiya answered without hesitation, "Geto, I'm asking you—please let him sleep in your room."
Geto Suguru's hackles rose immediately. That wasn't what he meant at all!
If Gojo Satoru went to Asou Akiya's dormitory, he would've already scour through the whole room and discover the suicide note. Geto Suguru couldn't bear to imagine Gojo Satoru entering his own room—wouldn't all those little secrets of his, the private matters of a high school boy, be completely exposed?
Growing anxious, Geto Suguru maintained a righteous front. "Gojo is closer to you, Asou."
Hearing Geto's tactful refusal, Asou Akiya fretted over where Gojo should go. "Geto, today is a special circumstance. How about this—I'll let Gojo sleep in my dormitory, and I'll go squeeze into your bed instead?"
Asou Akiya thought to himself: Today won't work. He's already dreamed about Tomie. I can't sleep together with Gojo Satoru.
Geto Suguru: "..."
Geto Suguru realized with growing distress that letting Asou enter his dormitory wouldn't yield much better results.
These were two different models of microscopes plus searchlights!
Being pushed back and forth between the two, Gojo Satoru yawned and made his own decision. "Akiya, no need to trouble Suguru. I'll go to your dormitory and squeeze in with you until my room is rebuilt."
Asou Akiya: "..." Someone save me.
Geto Suguru breathed a sigh of relief. At least there was a resolution now. Poor Asou would have to endure Gojo's sleeping habits.
Geto Suguru lectured, "Gojo, for Asou's safety, you absolutely must not carelessly use 'Blue' again."
Gojo Satoru apologized. "Suguru, that Doraemon you gave me... I'm sorry."
"It doesn't matter. I'll give you a replacement next time." Geto Suguru felt an inexplicable warmth in his heart. Gojo's true nature wasn't bad—in fact, he was remarkably pure and kind. Ordinary people after having nightmares would only seek comfort, but where else would you find someone who remembered gifts others had given them?
Having settled the troublesome matter, Geto Suguru prepared to make his exit.
A hand grabbed the corner of Geto Suguru's clothing, forcibly preventing his departure.
Geto Suguru: "Gojo?"
Gojo Satoru: "It's not me—it's Akiya holding you back."
Geto Suguru forced a stiff smile. Asou Akiya wore a calm expression that said we're in this together. "I've thought of a good solution."
Five minutes later, Asou Akiya's dormitory bedroom became the site of an unprecedented gathering of high school boys.
The isolated Geto Suguru was dragged into the dormitory by Asou Akiya to sleep.
Asou Akiya: "The three of us will sleep together."
Geto Suguru: "...It's too cramped."
Asou Akiya accused him, "Gojo had a nightmare. How can we just abandon him? Where's your sense of camaraderie as classmates?"
Geto Suguru looked up at the ceiling. "Fine, you're absolutely right."
Regarding this outcome of high school boys sharing a bed together, Gojo Satoru was not only surprised but especially delighted. The joint training camp with Kyoto School had let him experience the joy of late-night chats with classmates, and now he could experience the intimate lifestyle between high school boys.
On a standard dormitory bed, three high school boys squeezed together.
Gojo Satoru slept in the middle, hands clutching the blanket, eyes sparkling with light, feeling like he wouldn't have nightmares anymore.
"This is my first time sleeping together with classmates!"
Geto Suguru slept on the side nearest to the door, constantly mindful not to get pushed off the bed by Gojo Satoru.
Hearing this, Geto Suguru retorted, "Gojo, you're really pitiful."
Asou Akiya closed his eyes, lying on his side with his hand pillowed beneath his face, doing his best to make room for Gojo Satoru and Geto Suguru, too lazy to quibble with two high school boys who never had any friends. "Just go to sleep already."
Gojo Satoru, sleeping between them, was like a blazing furnace, radiating heat that warmed his classmates to an uncomfortable degree.
Geto Suguru kicked off his blanket and forced himself to fall asleep.
Asou Akiya fared no better, but Gojo Satoru slept soundly, as if his mind hadn't a single worry in the world.
Half-awake and half-asleep, Asou Akiya wondered: Strange, how can this guy fall asleep?
The white-haired youth, who never slept in front of outsiders, had let down his guard. Without activating his "Infinity" technique, he lay flat between two trustworthy classmates, as if touching upon an ordinary person's life, no longer isolated from the world.
November 1st, 7:00 AM.
The Tuesday alarm didn't go off, and the three who had exhausted themselves playing the day before woke up one after another.
Geto Suguru was the first to jump out of bed, having suffered for several hours, his body stiff from maintaining the same position.
Geto Suguru looked back at the other two and couldn't help but laugh. "You two..."
Gojo Satoru had buried his face in the warm blankets, his expression unclear. He had shifted from lying flat on his back to lying on his side, facing Asou Akiya, his long body curled up, monopolizing most of the bed space.
Asou Akiya's breathing was steady, eyes closed, his uncut long hair making him look like a beautiful young girl.
He was tolerating Gojo Satoru's behavior.
Suddenly, still with eyes closed, Asou Akiya spoke. "Geto, go back and wash up."
Geto Suguru took pleasure in his misfortune. "My condolences on having to take care of him."
While verbally expressing sympathy for his classmate's predicament, Geto Suguru fled at lightning speed, running back to his dormitory with a smile on his face.
Another five minutes passed.
Asou Akiya patted Gojo Satoru's shoulder beneath the covers. "Stop pretending to sleep."
Gojo Satoru said nothing, his back arched. Asou Akiya's hand moved from his shoulder to his neck—the skin was burning hot. Pressing his index and middle fingers together against the carotid artery on the side of the neck, he could feel the slight throb of accelerated blood flow.
Asou Akiya lifted the blanket slightly to give him some air. "Gojo?"
Gojo Satoru's ears were also flushed bright red as he spoke in a voice as quiet as a mosquito's buzz. "You go out first. Leave the room to me."
Hearing this, Asou Akiya deeply felt that fortune truly does turn in cycles—so even you have moments of bashfulness.
The greatest virtue of high school boys was their innocence. There was no contest.
"Alright, I'll go out." Asou Akiya gently embraced him, ruffling his white hair. The fingertips touching what he considered the most precious treasure in his eyes—a fleeting moment, never letting the tender time linger too long.
The instant Asou Akiya loosened his arms, Gojo Satoru hugged him back.
Asou Akiya's calm eyes widened.
"Aren't you going to ask me why I had a nightmare?" Gojo Satoru said in a muffled voice. "Kawakami Tomie is a monster just like a cursed spirit. I don't like cursed spirits—they're not beautiful at all."
Asou Akiya naturally understood the ugliness of cursed spirits. The human heart could never give birth to beautiful curses.
Gojo Satoru: "Akiya, you're not Tomie."
Asou Akiya responded quietly, "I won't be Tomie. I'm Asou Akiya, one of your companions."
Having received such a strong and powerful answer, Gojo Satoru lifted his buried face and gave long-haired Akiya a small, pure smile.
"Me, you and Suguru—we're companions and friends, right?"
"...You think so?"
Asou Akiya was somewhat surprised. After all, Gojo Satoru had previously maintained an attitude of treating life like a game, utterly unreliable.
"Yes." Gojo Satoru acknowledged. "Because I can fall asleep when you two are awake."
"..." Asou Akiya's heart ached. "Couldn't you before?"
Gojo Satoru had grown up in the Gojo family, kept away from the mundane world for safety's sake. Just how long had he lived alone like that? What kind of person must someone be when sleeping to remain so vigilant that they couldn't accept even the slightest gaze from others?
Gojo Satoru nuzzled into the embrace he had claimed, inexplicably feeling very comfortable, his mind going blank.
"I've entrusted my life to you both."
Asou Akiya's chest pounded violently as he tightly hugged him back. "Where did you learn to say that?"
Gojo Satoru answered, "Naruto."
A coming-of-age manga had taught Gojo Satoru to understand friendship.
Though deeply moved, Asou Akiya held even higher expectations and more reverent goals. Smiling, he said, "Next time, remember to say it directly to Suguru's face. Friendship isn't one-sided devotion—it's our mutual acknowledgment."
Everything Asou Akiya had ever said to Gojo Satoru, though Gojo Satoru appeared impatient, he had remembered it all.
Gojo Satoru pushed him away. "You're so annoying."
Asou Akiya let out a light hum, stepped over him, got out of bed and put on his slippers. Taking his toiletries, he left the dormitory.
Two rooms over, Geto Suguru had no choice but to receive Asou Akiya. Fortunately, Asou Akiya didn't stay long. After borrowing the space to wash up, he left the room to go contact the renovation team from the Gojo family stationed at Tokyo Jujutsu High.
Having distanced himself from the two most dangerous people, Geto Suguru sat refreshed on the sofa, enjoying the morning sunlight.
He had spent the most entertaining Halloween and the most cramped night of his life.
"Who would've thought Gojo would be afraid of Tomie."
Geto Suguru laughed aloud, retrieving the Tomie coin purse from the box under his bed and pinching the flaming red lips on it.
Its lips opened and closed, as if Tomie were speaking to him.
Unconsciously, he slipped his finger between the lips.
"Huh."
Empty—there was no tongue.
Geto Suguru quickly withdrew his hand, curled his knuckles, and stroked the red lips, bringing an end to a high school boy's normal flights of fancy.
"If there really were a cursed spirit like Tomie, I'd definitely bring it to show Gojo."
Such wicked thoughts came to him naturally.
"As for that Stench cursed spirit..."
He reclined back on the sofa, talking to himself. "Forget it. Someone like Gojo with a cat's tongue and a dog's nose would absolutely lose it."
Such a classmate was truly quite interesting—even he didn't want to continue bullying him anymore.
From now on, they would all work hard at being friends.