Okay, this seriously makes no sense.How did she complete my mission for me?
I frowned.
Wait… Great Sage, earlier you said something about an action needing narrative impact or long-term significance to my life. Does that have something to do with it?
[{Affirmative}.]
…Then what exactly does that mean?
I paused.
Do you know something about my future?
[$!%^^#]
I blinked.
…What?
[Information restricted.]
What the fuck was that?
[Attempt to access restricted information detected.]
…Great Sage, what just happened?
[$!%^^$ Information restricted &$^##&#]
What the…
I stared at the notification.
Is ROB doing this or something? What's going on? I just asked if you knew my future. Is information about the future really that restricted?
[{Negative.}]
[Only information directly pertaining to your future is restricted.]
…Why?
[Information restricted.]
I stared at the screen for several seconds.
"…That's incredibly suspicious."
"Rudra, sweetie?" Mom's voice pulled me out of my thoughts. "Go take Ayaka and show her around, okay?"
"…Sure, I guess."
"Thank you, sweetie. Ayaka, do you mind going with him?"
"Not at all, ma'am," Ayaka replied, giving a small bow.
"Aww, just look at you two. Alright, you two have fun." Mom smiled slyly before turning back to Hanako.
What's with that smile?
I looked over at Ayaka.
"Well then… if you don't mind."
I held out my hand, and after a moment, she took it.
"Let's go."
And with that, we walked away.
...
After walking around and showing her the house, I had to admit… this was a little awkward.
Aside from the occasional small talk, I had no idea what to talk about. I'm not exactly good at talking to people, and Ayaka didn't seem particularly interested in starting a conversation either.
I glanced at her as we walked.
Man, what do I even say?
My eyes drifted toward her hair.
Now that I thought about it, with the white hair and blue eyes, she actually did look like she could be related to Gojo. The only difference was the blue streaks in her hair.
I don't remember anyone like her from Jujutsu Kaisen, though.
Then again, Gege never really expanded much on the Gojo clan.
Probably just an extra character or something.
I glanced at her again before finally breaking the silence.
"Hey, this might be a little out of nowhere, but I heard your family are Jujutsu sorcerers. Are you related to Satoru Gojo or something?"
I gestured vaguely toward her hair.
"You know, with the white hair and blue eyes. You don't exactly see that combination every day."
Ayaka stayed quiet for a few seconds before answering.
"You know of Satoru Gojo?"
"I've heard of him a little. Mom mentioned something about him being a prodigy or whatever, but I didn't really get the details. I wasn't that interested." I shrugged. "I was just asking because you look like you could be related."
Mom talking about Gojo was a complete lie. I'm only finding out Jujutsu Kaisen exists in this world now.
Still, she really does look like she could be related to him.
"…He's a cousin of mine," she said simply.
"Oh. Well, that explains the hair and eyes." I thought for a moment. "But if he's your cousin, shouldn't you be a Gojo too?"
Or maybe she's like Yuta and they're distant cousins or something. I don't really know how these family branches work.
Ayaka stopped walking.
"He's a distant cousin," she said.
Her expression remained calm, but from the way she avoided my gaze, it was pretty obvious she didn't want to talk about him.
"Do you two not have a good relationship or something?"
"Hey, I know this might not be my place to ask, but… do you not get along with him? You don't have to answer if you don't want to." I scratched the back of my head.
Ayaka stayed quiet for a moment before answering.
"It's fine. Just…" She paused, her expression becoming more serious. "He's someone I need to surpass."
There was a cold determination in her eyes as she said it.
Before I could respond, she turned and continued walking ahead.
Ah, crap. Did I just ask something I shouldn't have?
Man, I really need to get better at talking to people.
Sigh.
I still had a little time before I caught up to her.
Great Sage, can you pull up the shop?
-------------------------------
[Shop]
[Abilities]
[Skills]
[Items]
[Sales]
--------------------
There's a sales section?
I selected it.
A few items appeared on the screen.
[Dragon Balls] — 10,000 ←20,000 SP
[Death Note] — 20,000 ← 30,000 SP
[Viltrumite Bloodline] — 5,000 ←10,000 SP
…
What the hell? Why are they so expensive? Hey, Great Sage, are there other ways of getting SP?
[{Affirmative. You can acquire SP through missions or killing.]
By killing, do you mean monsters and stuff like that, or just in general?
[{In general.}]
Oh. Well, good thing I'm not a psychopath.
Are there any cheaper sales for newbies or something?
[{Affirmative.}]
Good. I'll look at those later.
I closed the shop and looked up.
Ayaka wasn't too far ahead anymore. I guess I'd caught up without realizing it.
I quickened my pace until I was walking beside her again.
…
Well, this is still awkward.
I glanced at her.
"So…"
Great. What do I even say now?
"…Sorry if I said something I shouldn't have."
"…"
Great. I butchered that apology too.
Uhh… what do I say now?
Just as I was about to start overthinking it—
"…It's fine."
"Oh. Okay, if you say so."
I scratched the back of my head.
Great. Now it's awkward again.
Sigh.
I looked over at Ayaka, but I couldn't think of anything else to say.
So we continued walking.
I showed her the rest of the house, pointing out whatever seemed worth mentioning. She listened and occasionally asked a question, but neither of us said much beyond that.
Before I knew it, we'd finished the tour and made our way toward the living room, where Mom and Hanako were still talking.
"Oh, look who's back. Did you two have fun?" Mom asked. "Rudra, you showed her around, right? You didn't slack off, did you?"
"Yes, Mom. I showed her around, and we got along fine." I made my way over to a chair while Ayaka took a seat near her mother.
Well… mostly.
Things got pretty awkward toward the end because I got nosey and opened my big mouth. Sigh. I really need to get better at talking to people.
But she did say she needs to surpass Satoru. Is it one of those branch-family things where they want to surpass the main family? Or is it just because he's Gojo and ridiculously overconfident?
Sigh.
Man, I don't know. I barely know her, so I can't exactly say.
I was pulled from my thoughts when I overheard Mom talking to Ayaka.
"Ayaka, he wasn't rude, was he? Rudra has a bad habit of speaking before he thinks and accidentally coming across as rude. He's gotten himself in trouble quite a few times because of it."
I looked at Mom, slightly offended, and opened my mouth to protest.
Then I stopped.
…She literally just described what I did.
I quietly sank back into my chair.
"It's alright, ma'am. He wasn't too rude," Ayaka said simply.
Mom looked at me, like she already suspected something.
"Rudra, did you say something…"
Before she could finish, Hanako suddenly spoke up.
"Uh, Yurin, I just had a good idea. Why don't Rudra and Ayaka have a quick sparring match?"
Mom looked at her curiously.
"You told me you've been trying to get Rudra to train more, right? And Ayaka spends most of her time training these days. Why not let them spar and help each other out?"
Mom thought about it for a moment before her expression brightened.
"That's actually a good idea. I was planning on doing something like that later, but I suppose now is as good a time as any."
She turned toward Ayaka.
"Would that be alright with you?"
"It's fine. I don't mind," Ayaka replied.
Mom smiled and immediately took Ayaka and Hanako toward the training area, leaving me sitting there.
I stared after them.
"…Don't I get a say in this?"
Sigh.