Looking at Chihaya Anon going red over absolutely nothing, Uchiha Ayato felt deeply tired.
He reached up and lightly flicked her on the forehead.
“What are you thinking about?” “I just need you to come grab something.
Didn’t I mention it in Line?” He didn’t spell it out too clearly — the secretary and treasurer were still within earshot, and saying “the souvenir I brought back from Sendai for you” out loud would be awkward.
They didn’t get souvenirs.
He hadn’t even thought of them.
In truth, seeing sumimi had made him immediately think “Anon would love this” — the same way an old man with mild memory loss somehow still remembers to pack dumplings for his kid.
Automatic.
Unthinking.
Which was…
not good, actually.
Wasn’t that just confirming that Little Sister Anon occupied a specific, non-transferable space in his head?
“…Line?” Anon blinked, and then the memory of their chat from yesterday clicked into place.
Ayarin said he’d bring back a souvenir…
So what he actually meant was…
The absolute catastrophe of a fantasy she’d just constructed came crashing down, and Chihaya Anon’s face turned a color that had no business being on a human face.
“I — I obviously knew that’s what Ayarin meant!” She pushed out a perfectly carefree front, while her face refused to cooperate in any way.
“I just — happened to remember something I needed to tell Mom.
That’s all.
You’re reading too much into it.” Uchiha Ayato didn’t call her out.
He just gave a quiet nod, turned, and walked toward the counter to thank Masuzu Riruko.
Chihaya Anon stood in place and took several deep, steadying breaths.
Just picking something up.
Just picking something up.
Just picking something up.
She whispered it to herself a few times.
Got her heartbeat vaguely under control.
The secretary and treasurer materialized at her side, wearing matching expressions of deep significance.
“Anon~…” “Don’t even start.” Anon warned them immediately.
“We’re not starting anything~” The secretary looked the picture of innocence.
“Just suddenly remembered that Mom asked me to pick up some rice.” “Oh right!” The treasurer jumped in.
“And I have a live stream to catch — they’re mining rare earth from the ocean floor.
Historic moment.
Can’t miss it.” “Have fun, you two~ See you Monday~” And the two of them, with impeccable social awareness, dissolved into the distance.
Chihaya Anon watched their backs and felt a weight lift off her chest.
Good.
The nuisances have cleared out.
“Let’s go, Anon.” Ayato was back, just appearing at her side, giving a small wave before heading for the door.
Anon nodded and fell into step with him.
The street outside was its usual busy self.
Ordinary and loud.
Uchiha Ayato walked with both hands in his pockets.
Chihaya Anon walked beside him, doing her best to look like someone who was walking completely naturally and not at all thinking about every single step.
She was not succeeding.
Her arms didn’t know where to go.
Her eyes didn’t know where to look.
In the end she fixed her gaze on the pavement ahead and concentrated very hard on existing normally.
Neither of them said anything.
Half a block of silence went by, and Anon couldn’t take it anymore.
“So, um…” “What did Ayarin get in Sendai?
Was it Kikufuku?” “No.” Ayato shook his head.
“You’ll see in a second.
It’s something you like.” “Oh…” Something I like.
Ayarin actually knows what I like.
Anon raised a hand to smooth the hair back from her ear, failing completely to keep the corners of her mouth under control.
As promised, the distance to Ayato’s building turned out to be short.
They were at the door before the conversation had time to fill itself.
He stopped at the entrance, fished out his keys.
Anon quietly memorized the unit number.
Chihaya Anon: Unit logged.
Uchiha Ayato had no idea this decision would give him headaches for a long time to come.
Right now, he simply opened the door and stepped aside.
“Come in.” Meanwhile, Chihaya Anon was coaching herself through the threshold.
Once she crossed this door, she’d be in Ayarin’s private space.
Did that count as some kind of relationship milestone?
Was she the first person he’d ever invited here?
She had to be, right?
Anon breathed in, stepped through the door.
The apartment was spacious.
Tidier than she’d expected — no takeout bags in corners, no clothes draped over the sofa, everything on the solid-wood display cabinet arranged with obvious care.
The air carried the faint, clean smell of wood.
Anon’s eyes made a thorough sweep of the room.
Twice.
This is where Ayarin lives…
Then her gaze snagged on the display cabinet.
Stacked case files, varying thicknesses, handwritten labels on the spines — she couldn’t quite read the writing.
And beside the files, several small black objects, about the size of shirt buttons, catching the light faintly.
“What are those?” She couldn’t stop herself from asking.
Uchiha Ayato glanced over from where he was crouching by the shoe cabinet.
“Work stuff.” “What kind of work?” “Detective.” Chihaya Anon blinked.
“…Detective?” “Private detective.” Uchiha Ayato, completely unbothered.
“Commissions, surveillance, photography, reports…” “That’s how I pay for things.
A person’s got to eat~” Chihaya Anon’s mind immediately produced an image of Kudō Shinichi.
That’s a cool job.
She stared at the display cabinet for a while, a whole cascade of questions welling up — and then swallowed all of them.
Because Uchiha Ayato had already turned around and crossed into the living room, picking something up from the coffee table.
It was a clear plastic bag.
Inside — a CD.
“Here.
From Sendai.” He held it out, eyes already drifting to the window.
“sumimi happened to have an event there.
I happened to get into the CD signing lottery.
And then I happened to be at the venue and remembered you’re a fan…” “So I picked it up.
On the way.” Chihaya Anon took the bag and looked at what was inside.
The CD cover was a photo of sumimi’s two members.
Left and right, each with a signature.
Mana’s — round and cheerful-looking.
Uika’s — clean, confident strokes.
She flipped it over.
There, on the back, in letters much larger than either signature — 「May Chihaya Anon always be happy」 — Uika & Mana Anon’s breathing went ragged.
Her heart did something completely undignified.
She was already spinning the scenario — Ayarin standing at that table, very seriously asking Uika to write this out, please.
The boy who in front of her always deflected and dodged, in that moment, surrounded by strangers, quietly admitting something he couldn’t quite say out loud— Just imagining that scene alone was going to make Chihaya Anon do something embarrassing.
Anon looked up slowly.
He was still facing the window, looking at nothing in particular with the dedication of someone studying the air outside for the first incoming bird.
Saying things with actions instead of words.
That’s so like him.
Chihaya Anon felt something warm and sweet fill her chest until it could barely hold anymore.
She called his name, soft.
“Ayato-kun~” “Hm?” “Thank you!
I love it so much!” I love you.
The most.
et had even fully settled, the space ahead warped again.
A few jumps later, the noise of Ikebukuro was far behind him.
But while performing this seemingly miraculous displacement, Uchiha Ayato was not exactly thrilled about it.
Blue’s principle was compressing spatial distance — but that didn’t mean the path between two points was a clear vacuum.
If there were buildings or people along the movement path, the body getting yanked at high speed would slam straight into them.
Moving through a city with this was absolutely miserable.
Man.
Seemed like the Limitless had its limits.
He really needed to get around to that social mission — befriend Yuji Itadori, grab the Flying Thunder God Technique as the reward.
That was genuine space-jumping.
Compared to Blue’s “make sure you don’t smack into a wall” pseudo-teleportation, it was infinitely more convenient.
Once he had that, Uncle Ayato could fly freely across all of Japan.
They cleared a few mountain ridges.
The view opened up — a vast stretch of uninhabited forest.
In a clearing within the trees, Gojo was already standing there.
He watched Uchiha Ayato’s figure drop precisely to the spot in front of him, eyes settling on those active Sharingan pupils, and smiled with satisfaction.
“On when needed, off when not — no concern about absorbing unnecessary information from everyday life…” “What a convenient set of eyes, Ayato-kun.” “Looks like you’ve got the basics of Blue down already.” “But keeping the Limitless running is costing you a lot right now, isn’t it?” Gojo raised a hand and removed his blindfold — those sky-blue eyes fully exposed.
“Is it because you’ve never seen me use Reversal on the Limitless, so you couldn’t analyze and copy it?” “In that case, let Sensei fill in that gap.” He settled into a stance facing Ayato, expression shifting into something genuinely excited.
“The fastest way to accumulate real experience is live combat.” “Come to the table, Ayato-kun.” [Combat Mission: Complete Kakashi Hatake’s surprise exam.
Reward: Purple Lightning (Pass) | Sharingan Base Enhancement +20% (Good) | Mangekyō Sharingan Progress +10% (Excellent)] To be continued…