Chapter 1. 2: Wandering Around During a Day Off

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?”

“He’s playing a crane machine game, those kinds with snacks inside.”

“Why would he play that? Don’t tell me Sensei came here by himself to the arcade just because he wanted to eat snacks?”

“How would I know.”

“Ah, he gave up on playing.”

“That’s too fast, isn’t it.”

It looked as though Gojou was pouting in dissatisfaction, and with a swagger, headed for the exit of the arcade.

It could not be figured out what he was planning to do here, but in the first place, he was not someone who was easy to figure out so this should not be that strange—

Fushiguro decided not to dig deeper for a reason in the end.

However, Itadori was not giving up.

“Alright, let’s tail him.”

“Why do we have to tail him.”

Itadori prepared to dash out of the arcade, following Gojou’s tracks. Fushiguro hurriedly finished his soda, discarded the can, and gave chase.

“Because, Gojou-sensei should not be working today, right? I suddenly reaslised that I don’t really know what Sensei does during his free time or on his off days….”

“So?”

“So we’re going to follow him now.”

“Can you not say it like it’s something naturally obvious….”

“But, the truth is I really want to know what he’s up too. I keep getting the feeling that I don’t know Gojou-sensei well. Of course, Fushiguro, if you don’t feel the same way, you could just stay here by yourself and wait for me to come back.”

“…………….”

There was no need to mention what kind of dilemma Fushiguro had within his heart. In any case, both Fushiguro and Itadori decided to tail Gojou to find out what he was up to.

Gojou was without doubt a teacher who was dependable as well as a Jujutsu Sorcerer worthy of respect.

However, in the eyes of the students, he was a teacher with a flippant attitude, who was busy with his job, who popped out of nowhere and his thoughts and area of activity were all unknown. A person who was full of mystery. Therefore, seeing him strolling around leisurely was an absolutely rare sight.

Simply put, Fushiguro went with his curiousity.

Or one could say that his mental state was weakened from playing that lame game with Itadori, so he came to this result without much thought.

Anyway, the two decided to look for their teacher, Gojou who they had lost track of.

And they found him without much trouble.

“Fushiguro, that’s Gojou-sensei right?”

“…It really is.”

When the two noticed Gojou again, he was walking while eating a crepe.

From the packaging, it should be a crepe from that popular store that was across the road.

There was cream, tiramisu and macarons piled on top of it. There was also coloured chocolate rice scattered on it.

There was a tall man with a height of around 190 centimeters holding onto a crepe that looked like something out of children’s dreams and was walking and eating it with relish at the same time.

“Fushiguro, Sensei is amazing. Is that something someone can do just because they thought about it?”

“I wouldn’t not even think of doing such a thing.”

“Could Sensei be doing some sort of cursed sorcery training?”

“If one could get stronger just by walking while eating crepe, then we don’t have to have such harsh training.”

The two kept a fixed distance from Gojou and continued to follow this grown adult gobbling a crepe.

Even in a dream like district such as Akihabara, this scene should still be eye catching.

A short while later, after Gojou finished eating his entire crepe, he stopped in front of a store that seemed pretty old fashioned.

“….Vacuum Tube Specialty Store.”

Fushiguro watched as Itadori read out the store’s name with look of puzzlement.

Gojou pondered for a while and entered the store that had its goods displayed in a haphazard manner.

“He went into a store that few people would go to.”

Fushiguro looked bewildered while Itadori tilted his head.

“I’m just gonna ask, I have heard the term vacuum tube but what is it exactly?”

“It’s a kind of part in electric appliances. It’s mainly used in older kinds of radios or speakers.”

“So he’s an audio maniac?”

“No, he should be considered the kind who would be fine just listening to music on YouTube.”

“Yeah—he does give people that kind of impression.”

During the time the two were talking, Gojou left the store with a paper bag in hand. He probably bought something.

“Oh no, we got to keep up.”

Itadori chased after Gojou who had turned towards a small road and Fushiguro followed closely.

The two were a step too late and Gojou’s figure was no longer within their line of sight. However in less than a minute, they found a tall and black figure within the crowd.

“Fushiguro, I found him. Gojou-sensei is really tall. He really stands out after all.”

“That’s because he’s almost two meters tall.”

“It feels that he’ll be really good at basketball.”

“Though I completely cannot imagine him playing basketball.”

“Me too.”

The two of them gave similar opinions while tracing Gojou’s steps closely.

Yet, it took a rather large amount of effort to keep a certain amount of distance while tailing someone on the complex streets of Akihabara.

Furthermore, being a tall person, Gojou had large strides, so he walked quickly. When they had to follow him while keeping a distance, it felt like they would lose track of him anytime.

Afterwards, Gojou entered a secondhand record shop and started to sift through black vinyl discs that were wrapped in paper.

“Fushiguro, even though you said that Gojou-sensei is not too particular about music, but it looks like he’s a pro audio maniac after all?”

“There’s no way.”

“He was looking at a record from Bach though.”

“Do you think he looks like someone who would like classical pieces?”

“Nope. He feels more like an alternative-rock kind of person.”

“Right? There’s definitely something strange about this.”

After browsing through the floating bin area that was full of vinyl records for a while, he bought a long play record that contained the soundtracks of an old western film and left the shop.

Itadori and Fushiguro continued to follow only to be more baffled the more they followed.

Doubts even started to form in their brains and they thought they only had preconceived misunderstood impressions of Gojou and he was actually extremely interested in classical music. However, they immediately thought “That definitely can’t be possible”.

This time, Gojou who had been walking around, seemingly without a goal, stopped in front of a shop with a yellow signboard.

“Fushiguro, what does that store sell?”

“……capsule toys. It should be store that contains capsule toy machines.”

“What? A capsule toy machine specialty store? Those kinds of stores exist.”

“This is Akihabara, of course they do.”

“I see. Ah, Sensei is getting one.”

“I really do not want to see a teacher I know turning a five hundred per play capsule toy machine…Besides, what kind of capsule toy is that?”

“It should be key rings of various kinds of mushrooms. They look pretty realistic.”

“If they cost five hundred yen per play, wouldn’t it be better to just buy actual mushrooms from the supermarket?!"

“Fushiguro, you don’t understand….Capsule toys are only interesting because you don’t know what you’re going to get.”

“I don’t ever want to understand.”

“Ah, Sensei is opening the capsule, who knows which mushroom he got.”

“From the picture on the machine, it should be the poisonous mushroom. He looks super sulky about it.”

“Uwahahahahaha, if it’s a poisonous mushroom then it’s not edible!!”

“No matter what mushroom it is, you better not eat a mushroom that came from a capsule toy machine.”

Gojou stuffed the keychain into his pocket disappointedly and then continued to shop around.

Just when they thought he had enough fun playing with the mice in a computer accessory shop, he actually went to an electronic appliances shop to use their massager to massage his shoulders.

Once they realized he had disappeared from their sight, they turned only to see him standing in a book store reading manga; and when they thought he had just turned a corner to who knows where, he was actually engrossed at looking at second hand video game cartridges in a bargain bin. It seems like Gojou was just moving on a whim and was walking and shopping wherever his mood took him.

“….It looks like he’s not specially aiming for any particular place.”

“Yeah.”

Itadori responded to Fushiguro’s muttering while wearing a pair of toy goggles that could calculate one’s attack powers. Who knows when he got it.

“Where did you buy those goggles?”

“Some secondhand shop. Since Gojou-sensei actually reads manga then he would probably find this get up of mine funny.”

“I think you burnt a large hole in your wallet.”

“Men are living creatures that would spend their money on moments when they shout, “this is it!””

“Then is the garbage game from just now considered one of those moments?”

“Ah, Gojou-sensei entered that building. No, that’s not it, it should be Gojou sensei’s “spirit” has entered that building.

(T/N: Because Itadori was wearing those goggles, he was pretending that he could see people’s fighting spirits or auras.)

“You don’t have to rephrase it.”

“Crap, we’re gonna lose him. We got to catch up!”

“Hold on a minute.”

“Ugh!”

Just as Itadori was going to step into the building, Fushiguro pulled the hood of his jacket and stood still. However, it was actually dangerous to do such a thing so good children should not imitate such an action.

“Are you trying to kill me?! What, we already followed him to this point and now you want to stop? Don’t just give up halfway.”

“You….don’t you see what’s written on the signboard on the building?”

“Eh?……Eh!”

After Fushiguro said that, Itadori looked up.

While looking at the words of the advertisement drawn on the signboard, Fushiguro’s expression grew more and more impatient.

–Angel maid café [SHOW EVIL « Cupid].

On the second floor of this building was a café that seemed to be for otakus.

But it was not any kind of sensual café. There were only going to be maids that came to greet the customers, it was an extremely healthy café.

Even so, it was still under the category of shops that required normal people to summon up large amounts of courage before entering.

Even more so for teenage boys who were going through puberty.

Even someone like Itadori would find it embarrassing to go into such a store.

“….I really can’t go into this store….Gojou-sensei is really unexpectedly……”

“He could have been aiming for this thing.”

Fushiguro pointed at the flyer on the wall and it seemed to be advertising the following – [Authentic French Flavour! Specialty Pancakes that even professional patisseries have high praises for!]

No wonder. Itadori nodded his head, thinking that finally the situation made sense.

“Sensei must have come here for those pancakes, even though he at quite a lot of sweet stuff already.”

Gojou-sensei would eat more sweets the longer he’s busy….”

“Since we already solved the mystery, then let’s call an end to our tailing. It’s way too embarrassing to enter this kind of shop.”

“With your kind of brain, it’s a surprise you managed to come up with such a rational decision.”

“—Masters, welcome back!”

“Eh?”

A shout that was energetic but yet full of professionalism came from the behind the two of them.

That’s right, it was a maid who had the experience of a seasoned warrior and after feeling that these two had the look of “guests who were hesitating whether they should enter the store”, stealthily got closer and intended to earn large amounts of revenue from them. In the end, whether it was Itadori who was blessed with genius athletics or Fushiguro who developed the ability to detect the aura of curses through immese amounts of training….neither realized that the maid, whose job was to invite guests, had appeared behind them.

In a blink of an eye, Fushiguro as well as Itadori were brought into the maid café.

Fushiguro could not help but think if this was karma from doing something terrible in his past life.

Once they entered the store, someone ran over to place halos and wings made of plastic and wire on the two and said this was to let them “Enjoy the feeling of Heaven in the shop”, making the two receive a huge shock, whether in terms of their appearance or on their psychology.

On the other hand.

“For masters who have arrived for the first time, we always recommend this honourable set meal – Emo Emo Set A—”

“Un…I see. Since it’s my first time here, I think it’s right to listen to the staff’s recommendations. Then we’re take two honourable sets and make it full of emo.”

“Got it Reincarnation «.”

“Wah, that word sounds really cool, is it getman?”

“It’s English «.”

“Oh, so it’s English–!”

Itadori had already grown accustomed on how to talk to the maid.

People with a naturally lively personality or those who are party animals, in other words, extroverts, should become accustomed to this place quickly.

As for stoic people like Fushiguro, it was hard for them to blend into such an atmosphere.

Wearing the halo and the wings and sitting while facing Itadori – just acknowledging that this was reality was enough to kill his heart.

“By the way, Fushiguro, I want to tell you something important.”

“What?”

“Sensei’s goal seems to really be eating pancakes.”

“……you’re right……”

Fushiguro had intentionally sat at a window seat that allowed him to look at the wall of the neighbouring building and the important factor of the reason why they were here was elegantly enjoying his pancakes together with tea.

He wore that angel costume in a natural way like he was wearing formal attire and was sipping his cappuccino with sitting pose that was like that of a cold character in a mystery novel, letting out an air that he was “leisurely enjoying” the moment, very much unlike Itadori and Fushiguro who had come here for the first time.

However, even if one did not consider the fact that this was the first time Fushiguro was here, he had already endured to his breaking point and if possible, he did not want to stay in this store a second longer.

“Oi, since we already know Gojou-sensei’s goal, we achieved what we wanted, let’s go.”

“Eh—but we already ordered food.”

“We can leave after we pay up right?”

“It’s a waste of food if we don’t eat what we ordered.”

“….Well, you are right about that.”

Fushiguro had intended to just pay and leave but with his serious personality, his idea of leaving was dismissed by Itadori’s reasoning.

However, his eyes that were as deep as the night that peeped out from the bottom of a deep ditch became even more lifeless.

Fushiguro tried once more to switch off his self-awareness.

Numbness was the safety feature of life. If he did not think of a way to protect his spirit, it would not be strange if a curse was born.

Fushiguro was a sharp contrast from Itadori who was in high spirits and was restlessly excited.

Even so, the maid café’s real baptism was only just about to start.

“Masters, thank you for waiting—these are the honoured set meals that you ordered – Emo Emo set A—”