“Oh, and Ryuichi.”
Gojo Satoru’s eyes, hidden behind his sunglasses, locked onto Ryuichi in the passenger seat.
“Are all the new students this motivated these days? Challenging this level of incident right after enrollment?”
“You guys being so reckless makes things very difficult for a teacher like me.”
Though he said that, there was a smile on Gojo’s lips, clearly not intending to criticize Ryuichi severely.
“Sigh, this reminds me of the old days.”
“Hey, Nanami, why don’t you praise me more to the students occasionally? Talk about how cool I was when I was young or something.”
“When you were young?” Nanami remained expressionless.
“Frivolous, arrogant, selfish, cocky…”
Gojo Satoru’s expression didn’t change; he seemed to be waiting for Nanami to continue.
Seeing him like this, Nanami could only say helplessly: “…But very strong.”
“BINGO!” Gojo Satoru made a celebratory gesture.
“Look, Ryuichi, when I was young, I was already ‘the strongest’.”
“If you want to strive in that direction, you still have a long way to go, hahahaha…”
Watching Gojo Satoru, who was laughing wildly with his hands on his hips, Ryuichi felt a touch of emotion.
He used a cheerful, goofy persona to package himself, eliminating the sense of distance between him and his students, and his peers.
Deep down, he was the Six Eyes, the lonely strongest of the modern era, a monster who could soberly weigh the value of ordinary people’s lives.
And Gojo Satoru’s true core was that of a sincere, kind person.
He exorcised Cursed Spirits, kept the Higher-Ups in check, and cultivated students; he was selfless his whole life, truly giving his all.
But after Geto Suguru died, no one truly understood him anymore, perhaps Shoko counted for half.
What he carried was far more than what he possessed, which was the key reason for his several major defeats.
If Gojo Satoru could be as self-willed as Sukuna, not caring about the life and death of the mortals around him, perhaps the result would be very different.
But if that were the case, he wouldn’t be Gojo Satoru.
“In my opinion.”
Nanami put his glasses back on, returning to his calm demeanor.
“We should now clear out the remaining Cursed Spirits and investigate the cause of the anomaly here.”
“Oh, right.” Gojo Satoru slapped his forehead.
“Nanami, I would have forgotten if you hadn’t mentioned it; we’re still on a mission.”
Nanami helplessly held his forehead: “It’s exactly because of this attitude of yours that the potential mastermind has had plenty of time to escape…”
Gojo waved his hand: “That kind of thing doesn’t really matter.”
“If they dare to show their heads, we’ll just crush them head-on.”
“Let’s go, let’s finish off the remaining Cursed Spirits.”
Watching Gojo Satoru’s leisurely back, Nanami and Ryuichi exchanged a glance, both seeing helplessness in each other’s eyes.
Swish—
The flaming long sword slashed past, cutting down the showerhead-like Cursed Spirit in front of Ryuichi.
[Exterminated Grade 3 Cursed Spirit, Points +1]
“Tokiwa-kun, is your condition alright?”
Behind Ryuichi, Nanami asked.
Ryuichi replied casually: “It’s fine, dealing with these low-level Cursed Spirits doesn’t take much effort.”
Of course, he couldn’t rest as a wounded soldier at this time.
Even killing these lowest-level Cursed Spirits yielded a point.
And Gojo Satoru was currently using “Blue” to clear Cursed Spirits on a large scale, the speed was roughly 100 points every 10 seconds.
‘These are all points, all points!!’
Ryuichi saw it in his eyes, and felt the pain in his heart.
Even a mosquito’s leg is meat; by grabbing them before Gojo, he could kill one more.
In Nanami’s eyes, this became an image of someone who eradicates evil completely and hates evil.
Nanami nodded slightly: “After two missions, Teacher Gojo and I have roughly figured out your strength.”
“When we return to Jujutsu High, I will apply for the position of Grade 2 Sorcerer for you.”
‘Ah, does this mean I’m on equal footing with Fushiguro Megumi…’
Ryuichi wielded the shigurekiri while eliminating the scattering Cursed Spirits, and asked casually:
“Is there any difference? Before and after the application.”
Nanami was stumped by this question.
Is there…
any difference?
The sorcerer ranking of Jujutsu High is the authority of the Jujutsu World, demonstrating a sorcerer’s personal ability and status.
A Grade 2 Sorcerer is just one head higher than a Grade 3 Sorcerer.
But if you really had to say, apart from these empty titles, it seems there really is no difference.
“Uh… better treatment? And more intense missions?”
Nanami spoke hesitantly.
He had recommended some students for grade promotion, but had never been asked such a question.
Thinking about it carefully, it seems that apart from treatment, there really isn’t any tangible benefit to a sorcerer’s rank promotion.
In fact, one has to accept the arrangements of Jujutsu High and carry out more difficult missions.
Ryuichi was overjoyed: “Ah, as long as there are missions, that’s fine!”
Missions meant points, and treatment meant extra meals and big feasts after missions.
Double happiness, naturally worth celebrating.
Seeing Ryuichi like this, Nanami was a bit at a loss.
“As long as you’re happy…”
The three of them spent over an hour clearing out all the Cursed Spirits around the Inunaki Barrier.
But to the surprise of Ryuichi and Nanami, among these Cursed Spirits, there weren’t even many that were above Grade 1.
Although in terms of scale, the number of these Cursed Spirits did indeed match the Cursed Spirit town in the “third layer barrier” that the two had seen.
But having witnessed high-end combat power like the Pterosaur Cursed Spirit and the Laughing Specter, the two did not believe that this was the full depth of the Inunaki Barrier.
However, there wasn’t a shadow of a person around, nor was there any clear residual energy to capture, so the three had to head back.
Gojo hitched a ride, got off halfway, and returned to the Gojo Family.
In the Jujutsu High car, only Nanami and Ryuichi were left.
Even though it was the evening rush hour, the outskirts of Tokyo were sparsely populated.
On the highway, there weren’t even many cars.
Nanami kept the speed at 80 kilometers per hour, and the scenery on the side of the road flew backward rapidly.
In the center of the road, straight ahead, the sunset, the size of an egg yolk, was slowly falling into the clouds, dropping toward the distant horizon.
“Mr. Nanami.” Ryuichi suddenly spoke.
“Do you mind if I play a song?”
Nanami nodded: “Go ahead.”
After days of exhausting travel, Nanami was physically and mentally drained.
Listening to music to relax was actually not bad.
As long as it wasn’t heavy metal rock.
Ryuichi fiddled with the car’s music radio and found a Chinese song.
“Always dreaming above the clouds, flying across the meridian.”
“Can’t tell if it’s night or day…”
The male voice sang quietly, and Ryuichi hummed along softly.
Nanami rolled down the window, and the cool evening breeze blew in, making one feel refreshed.
“…We run in the middle of this road.”
“We are lost at both ends of this road.”
“Whenever the sunset sunlight renders everything.”
“Look at how dazzling that golden color is…”
Although he couldn’t understand the lyrics, the mood was the same.
Nanami felt a bit of joy, and a bit of melancholy.
He remembered walking along the endless beach in Los Angeles during a business trip.
The sunset back then was somewhat similar to today’s.
“Malaysia…” Nanami’s lips moved, saying silently.
“Next vacation, I’ll go there…”