Chapter 1. 1: Wandering Around During A Day Off

In modern times, there were a small number of things that could things that could be considered “unshakeable truths”. That number was three.

First, Mito Koumon would always be victorious in the end.

Secondly, the animation “Sazae-san” would air on television every Sunday.

The last would be that Kugisaki Nobara would go shopping for a very long time.

Therefore, when Fushiguro heard Kugisaki say that “I want to go have a look around Ameyoko-cho”, he had already made the mental preparation for a drawn-out resistance. Furthermore, this situation was comparable to the one with Gojou earlier. On a certain Sunday morning, Gojou suddenly suggested “Megumi, shall we go to Shima Spain Village together to play?”

However, unexpectedly, Itadori showed little interest.

Afterall, Itadori could be considered someone who liked watching television after all so he had thought that he would be interested in an iconic tourist attraction in Tokyo such as Ameyoko-cho.

“I’ll pass. There’s other places that I want to see.”

“I see. Then let’s meet up at some other place later on.”

In the end, they ended up doing their own activities.

Fushiguro had gradually grown used to being pincered between Itadori and Kugisaki and getting wrapped up in the various spontaneous and crazy antics of those two for no rhyme or reason, so right now he was as surprised as someone learning that Hijiki* had very little iron content.

(T/N A kind of brown sea vegetable)

Of course, Fushiguro was glad to be left alone.

...ΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩ...

He wanted to go home as soon as he could and continue reading the books that he bought a few days ago. He also wanted to clean up the drawers of his desk and clothes cabinet a bit.

But fundamentally, Fushiguro was a sensible individual.

Could he really allow the vessel of Sukuna, Itadori, to run around on his own? That worry had crossed his mind.

Speaking of the area of Ueno-Okachimachi, it was a street that was full of trendy things and history.

This shopping street managed to persist with its flourish since the end of the war, but behind its prosperous front, there might be strange tales being spread widely, hiding bombs known as curses that had yet to detonate.

Furthermore, Itadori was the kind of person who would run to buy some lame-ass sunglasses once you took his eyes off him and would even say “Tachikawa is part of Shinjuku”. It would not be strange if he accidentally got lost and went to the Chiyoda district, believe that the Shoumenzuka* was a must-visit spot and then take a photo to post on Instagram to show off.

(T/N: It’s the grave of a samurai general by the name of Taira no Masakado. It was built to pacify his ghost.)

Therefore, in the end, Fushiguro decided to go with Itadori….truth to be told, Fushiguro deeply regretted it.

“Fushiguro, didn’t you say you weren’t interested in Akihabara? Why did you follow me then?”

“None of your business. Why are you asking so many questions?”

“Oh. I wanted to take a look around Akihabara since a long time ago.”

“You want to buy something right? They only sell stuff like manga, games and appliances though.”

“I wanted to sight see. Places like Shibuya and Shinjuku are pretty great and all, but the Akihabara I saw on television has some kind of alternate world feeling, like a theme park.”

“There’s that kind of feeling?”

Someone who stayed in Tokyo was not able to empathise, but Akihabara was indeed a very unique place.

The atmosphere in front of the train station was already distinctive. Aside from being obviously influenced by the anime and manga culture, the number of advertisements was so dense that it was breathtaking.

The billboards that were full of smiling game characters that could be seen everywhere truly gave people the impression of a theme park.

Other than that, among the crowds of people, one could occasionally see people cosplaying and there were also maids who were focused on handing out flyers on the streets. Then in one second, one might be able to see a rare import car racing down the amazing streets and the next second, the sight of truck transporting a giant robotic model to some unknown location would cross one’s eyes.

Would Itadori be able to suppress the curiosity he had of this place? Of course not.

“Fushiguro, this place is really wild, the number of arcades is as much as the shop.

“Because this is Akiharabara.”

“Fushiguro, this place is really wild, the maids keep approaching on their own.”

“Because this is Akihabara.”

“This place is really wild! Fushiguro! That’s a pervy game, right? That’s an advertisement board about a pervy game, right? Is it really alright to display it like that in the open? …..Crap, I’m still underaged. I wonder if I’ll get scolded just for looking at it.”

“You’re too damn noisy!”

Akihabara itself was already a downtown area that was fill of hustle and bustle, but to Fushiguro, Itadori was noisier than his surroundings by about three times.

And it was still a few hours before they would meet up with Kugisaki.

Itadori had already transformed into an ultra-curious child and once Fushiguro thought that he had to stay at Akihabara and accompany such an Itadori by himself, it gave him a massive headache.

Yet Itadori was still self-absorbed and never noticed Fushiguro’s troubles at all.

“It’s lucky that you’re with me, the roads around here are a mess. I’ll probably get lost if I’m on my own.”

“It should be better than someplace like Shinjuku though.”

Don’t use your Tokyoite standard all the time to look at things. I mean in the whole of Japan, only the city of Tokyo would have vending machines that can be paid for using cashless methods everywhere or have Pepper robots outside shops, you know?”

“There aren’t that many stores with Pepper Robots.”

“If it was Sendai, you probably can only see that at “Capsule Hotel TOPOS”.”

“Don’t use some shop name from your hometown as though it’s obvious, would you? What place is that anyway?”

It’s a public bathhouse compound.”

(T/N: Capsule Hotel TOPOS is a capsule hotel with a bathhouse.)

“A bathhouse actually has a Pepper Robot? That’s actually pretty advanced.

“Yeah, anyway, rather than me walking around by myself, I feel more secure when there’s someone who knows the way around. Even till now, I still don’t get how to take the metro line.”

“Is there anyone in this world who would get lost within the Yamanote Line?”

“Ah, you’re using your Tokyoite vision to look at things again.”

“You wandered around randomly for a few days, but in actual fact, you didn’t really get lost, did you?”

“Right, Fushiguro, let’s go get some kebabs to eat, kebabs.”

“Have a proper conversation, would you?!”

Fushiguro had already gotten a feeling that Itadori and Gojou were extremely similar in terms of personality and the way they talked, but now, having a conversation alone with Itadori made the feeling even more apparent.

However, if one had to use a game of catch as an analogy, speaking with Itadori would at most be like playing catch before the game transformed to dodge ball. Speaking with Gojou would be more like a game in the golf course or the batting center where the ball flew and never came back.

Speaking of Gojou, he had not seen Gojou at all, whether it was in their dormitory or inside their school. Even though it was a day off today and it was Gojou’s freedom to go wherever he wanted, it dawned to Fushiguro once more that Gojou was a man of many mysteries.

At the same time Fushiguro was pondering where Gojou could have gone, he activated his listen-and-forget mode and Itadori’s words went into one ear and out of the other.

After all, when Itadori talked, it was about the same frequency as the hustle and bustle of the pedestrians around them, so as long as he did not try to focus on it, he could handle it like background noise.

It was rather tiring to give a proper reply anyway, so no one would blame Fushiguro for using this method to conserve his brain’s energy.

“……Ah?”

When he came back to his senses, Itadori was gone.

Fushiguro glanced around his surroundings in a panic and after some trouble, he finally noticed a figure with faintly red hair walking into an arcade.

*

“What in the world are you doing?”

“Playing a video game. Ah, or are you asking me the title of this game?””

“I’m not asking you these things, you special grade moron.”

After Fushiguro came up to the fourth floor of the electronic games area which was located in a narrow building, he finally found Itadori.

It was further in from the fighting games sections. After leaving the area which felt like a place where expert players would gather, he came to a place where there were rows of old-fashioned machines that cost fifty yen per round and Itadori was at one of the corners.

And he was in fact, sitting in front of one of the arcade machines that did not seem to have a particularly interesting game.

Itadori pouted, explaining to Fushiguro why he was at this place.

“You’re not? I only thought that since we have a couple of hours to kill, it did not seem practical to just wander around outside so since there were so many arcades nearby, it just nice for passing the time.

“At least tell me before you come here, right?”

“I did.”

“……..”

In the end, the blame laid on himself for not listening to Itadori properly. Feeling awkward about it, Fushiguro quickly changed the topic.

“Besides, what game is this that you’re playing?”

“No matter how you look, you would know it’s “Fighting! Corporate Warriors: Workplace Chaos”, right?”

“No matter how I look, I really can’t tell it’s “Fighting! Corporate Warriors: Workplace Chaos”.”

“Actually, this is also the first time I’ve seen this game so I’m not too sure what it’s about.”

The game that Itadori chose felt so boring that it could be considered a miracle.

It seemed like this should be considered a fighting game but the characters were almost all uncles who were salarymen and dressed in neatly pressed suits, it was difficult to differentiate them.

Even though each game only cost fifty yen, Fushiguro was still baffled that Itadori was still determined to pay money for this kind of game and at the same time. He thought in jest, no wonder this person still dared to swallow Sukuna’s finger.

Itadori ignored Fushiguro’s reaction and kept with what he was doing.

But it seemed like he was looking for a competitor to go against him.

“I wanna ask instead, aren’t you playing, Fushiguro? This is a competitive kind.”

“I do not wish to spend my money on this kind of game.”

Fushiguro frowned as though it was formed from the disgust from the bottom of his heart.

However, competitive battle games were only fun if you played against someone else.

Furthermore, if the game was one that one could tell was boring from just a look. It was far too empty, so no matter how uninterested Fushiguro was in this kind of game, Itadori still hoped that he could play a few rounds with him.

“Why don’t you just join me for a bit? Or could it be that you suck at video games, Fushiguro? You don’t have to confidence to beat me?”

“It’s not that I have no confidence – I just don’t want to play it.”

“If you don’t play this with me, then I’ll take it as my victory through a walkover, I’m the victor! You’re alright with this?”

“Whatever you like.”

“Just play a round would you, please! I’ll pay for your share! Play already!”

“You’re actually serious about this? ….Sheesh.”

Itadori even used the tactic of paying for other people to play games. Fushiguro was unable to worm his way out of this and he could not bear to let the other party pay for his so he used his own money and sat opposite Itadori.

Anyway, for something like fighting games, of course it was only interesting when two people played.

Itadori showed his sincere gratitude towards Fushiguro who was willing to accompany him and ecstatically chose his player character.

“Then I’ll use “President Yamada”.”

“….I’ll use “Chief Oozaki”.”

“What, you’re actually using the very first character in the character selection list? Ah, but those characters tend to be easier to control so it should be alright for a newbie like you.”

“Didn’t you say this was your first time seeing this game?”

“Actually before you came here, I have already finished the third stage of the one-player mode.”

“So I actually selected a small fry character, huh.”

And like this, the two started their battle within the game.

“Take that! Have a good look of the sure win combo that I came up with in fifteen minutes!”

“Your training time sure is short.”

From the start of the battle, Itadori continuously used the simple move “Name Card Shuriken” to keep on the offense.

The Chief Oozaki that was controlled by Fushiguro jumped to dodge President Yamada’s shuriken that were flying towards him at an equidistance, and at the same time, he kept drawing closer to his opponent. Just when one thought he would use a heavy kick on the President after closing the distance, he actually thew the President a distance away and continued to thrash the other party at the edge of the screen.

“Eh, wait, Fushiguro, are you using the game’s loophole? This is a loophole, right?!”

Fushiguro continuously used a light punch, a light punch and a medium strength kick. Then, once the moderate kick technique landed its low, the overtime gauge became full and he activated his special move “Overtime Fists of Fury” and finished the battle.

It was obvious who won and who lost.

“Are you kidding?! Fushiguro, why do you know how to use those skills? Are you actually good at this game?”

“The button pressing method for the skills are on the screen.”

“You’re cheating!”

“You’re actually bad at games, aren’t you?”

“As if, I won’t lose as long as I know how to activate the skills! One more round! One more!”

“Are you serious, you actually threw a few coins in….”

After Itadori challenged Fushiguro for around an hour, he still had more losses than victories.

*

The two of them went down to the first floor where the claw machines were, and after buying some soda at the vending machines, they felt a strange sense of emptiness that was beyond compare.

The expressions on their faces were that of a feeling of loss after a withdrawal from getting fired up.

“Sigh—why did I spend a thousand yen on such a crappy game….”

Fushiguro looked at the despondent Itadori and felt that the other party was really silly from the bottom of his heart.

“If you had enough fun, let’s get out of here. Sure, arcades are pretty good at passing the time but they also eat up your purse.”

“You’re right about that….Ah!”

“What? Don’t tell me you found another crappy game. I’m not playing along with you this time.”

“No, look over there, look over there, quickly!”

Fushiguro squinted and followed the direction where Itadori was pointing.

After that, his eyes widened in surprise.

“…That’s Gojou-sensei?”

“Right? That’s sensei alright.”

Positioned at the end of their line of sight was truly Gojou Satoru himself.

If they thought about it carefully, Gojou was the only person in this world who would be dressed in all black and enter a dimly lit arcade centre with a black blindfold.

“Um….Hey, Fushiguro, what is Gojou-sensei doing?”

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