Swimsuit Shop, Men's Swimwear Section.
Asou Akiya's expression darkened when he saw Gojo Satoru emerge from the fitting room empty-handed.
Oblivious to the change in Asou Akiya's expression, Gojo Satoru continued admiring himself in the mirror. He twisted his hips from side to side, only to find that the elastic-waisted pants concealed the cartoon pattern on his swim trunks. This left him a little disappointed.
Gojo lifted his legs a few times to make sure the pants wouldn't restrict his movements, then called out for Akiya to pay.
But then he noticed Asou Akiya lifting the fitting room curtain and stepping inside.
A few seconds later, Akiya emerged, unable to find the missing underwear. He stared suspiciously at Gojo, his gaze slowly drifting downward until it settled on the area below the man's hips.
Surely Gojo wasn't stupid enough to be wearing three layers of pants, right?
Gojo Satoru: "?"
Unable to contain his curiosity any longer, Asou Akiya said, "Pardon me."
He reached out and caught hold of the waistband of Gojo Satoru's elastic-waisted pants. The gesture immediately triggered a psychological trauma in Gojo, who blurted out, "Don't pull them up!"
"No, I'm just checking something." Akiya hooked his fingertips around the edge of the pants and carefully counted the layers, making sure not to expose anything in the process.
"Who pulled your pants up for you? Suguru?" Asou Akiya fished for information, and Gojo Satoru nodded. Akiya followed up with another question. "Did you wash your underwear this morning?"
"Are you doing a dorm inspection or something? What does it have to do with you?!" Gojo Satoru still had at least a little sense of shame.
Afterward, drawing on his familiarity with the man, Asou Akiya arrived at an undeniable truth: this guy isn't stupid, but his shamelessness grew worse by the day!
In a cool, even tone, Akiya warned him, "If you ever dare leave the house commando again, I'll burn every single one of your undershirts and pairs of underwear. Then you can go to school wearing nothing but your uniform."
Gojo Satoru managed to shatter Akiya's impression of him all over again. Baring his teeth in a fierce grin, he retorted, "If you dare do that, I'll drag you and Suguru down with me!"
Asou Akiya: "..."
Gojo Satoru glared right back at him, refusing to back down.
Asou Akiya: "..."
After a moment of contemplation, Akiya posed a question that struck at the very heart of the matter. "What does Suguru have to do with any of this?"
Gojo sulked. "We share each other's burdens! Isn't that what friends are for? What gives you the right to interfere with my freedom to dress however I want?!"
Asou Akiya sighed and decided to stop bothering with him. Picking up a pair of swim trunks at random, he headed out to pay, without the slightest intention of covering Gojo Satoru's expenses.
Only then did Gojo remember that his bank card had been returned to him. Unfortunately, he had forgotten to bring it along when he left the house.
"Akiya, pay for me, would you?"
"No."
At the shop entrance, the attendant awkwardly watched the two high school students bickering. Gojo Satoru tried to fish around in Asou Akiya's pockets, but Akiya refused to let him, brushing him off with a curt excuse.
"I don't have any money."
Gojo's Six Eyes could see Akiya's wallet perfectly clearly. There was more than enough cash inside, so the words slipped out of his mouth before he could stop himself.
"Your money is my money, isn't it?!"
Asou Akiya shot Gojo Satoru a withering glare. "Are you trying to imitate Gian, the bully from Doraemon?"
Gian had a notoriously famous line associated with bullying that had spread far and wide: "What's mine is mine, and what's yours is mine, too."
During the Six Eyes' childhood, the Gojo family had carefully selected a collection of child-friendly anime for him to watch. Among them, Doraemon was Gojo Satoru's absolute favorite. Naturally, he knew exactly which line Akiya was referring to.
Gojo Satoru: "Bullying? No way!"
Gojo Satoru: "I treat your stuff as if it were my own. I won't just do whatever I want with it, and if anything gets lost or damaged, I'll make it up to you twice over!"
Gojo Satoru: "If you refuse to accept compensation, that's your problem, not mine!"
Gojo was convinced that Akiya had completely misunderstood both Gian's original intentions and what he himself meant. Money was something he could obtain at the drop of a hat. The only reason he didn't want to call someone from the Gojo family was that he already had someone beside him who spoiled him even more than the Gojo family ever could.
Asou Akiya turned directly to the shop assistant and asked, "Miss, do you think what he's saying is completely unreasonable?"
The shop assistant was a local woman from Chiba Prefecture in her early twenties. She gave them her honest opinion.
"If you want a friendship to last, you need to keep your finances straight."
Gojo Satoru immediately objected. "Akiya and I aren't ordinary friends!"
The shop assistant maintained her professional, eight-teeth smile, while inwardly picturing an overly stingy relative who was always trying to get something for nothing.
"I'm sorry, but even relatives shouldn't behave that way."
Gojo Satoru took a stunned step backward. "Seriously?! Is this how people outside the Gojo family keep score with each other?"
Asou Akiya replied coldly, "That's right."
Gojo Satoru let out a profound sigh. "I knew it. I really have no family."
Asou Akiya: "..."
The shop assistant: "..."
Before Gojo Satoru could come up with anything even more outrageous, Asou Akiya hurriedly paid for him, then dragged him off to Tokyo DisneySea. As Gojo was hauled away by the arm, he looked back over his shoulder and flashed the shop assistant a smug grin, as if to say that he certainly wasn't one of those ordinary friends or some ridiculous relative.
Akiya and I have an amazing relationship! Once I become the strongest in the jujutsu world, we'll be sworn brothers!
What belongs to Akiya belongs to me!
I'll protect Akiya for the rest of my life, just as I protect myself!
More than thirty kilometers away, at the neighboring Tokyo Disneyland, Zen'in Naoya stalked toward the Lost Children Service Center in a foul mood, preparing to pick up Fushiguro Megumi.
But the worst was yet to come.
Tokyo Disneyland asked him for his name, insisting that he provide his full name and present either his admission ticket or personal health insurance information.
The word health insurance simply did not exist in Zen'in Naoya's life. He was completely at a loss.
What is health insurance?
Had the Zen'in family even arranged something like that for him?
Naoya did, however, know the consequences of sneaking into the park without paying. Desperately trying to talk his way out of trouble, he said, "My name is Asou Akiya. You can check my admission records."
As it turned out, Tokyo Disneyland really did find Asou Akiya's records. They even found a record showing that Asou Akiya had exited the park at 10:50 that morning.
The staff member wearily turned to look at Zen'in Naoya. "Sir, please don't lie. We can't possibly let someone whose identity we can't verify take a three-year-old child away."
Naoya took out his frustration on Fushiguro Megumi. "Didn't you tell them who I am? I'm your biological uncle!"
"I did. I told them my uncle's name is Zen'in Naoya." Sitting on the chair, Megumi lowered his head dejectedly.
"See? He already told you!" Naoya openly admitted his real name.
The staff member could only give a dry laugh. Despite checking repeatedly, they still couldn't find any admission record under the name Zen'in Naoya.
In the end, Naoya's admission-dodging scheme was exposed. A group of ordinary people sternly demanded that he pay for a ticket, but Naoya didn't have the money on hand to do so. He was both shocked and furious.
As the pampered young master of the Zen'in family, all he had to do was call home, and this paltry sum would be taken care of in no time. But he'd used his abilities as a jujutsu sorcerer to get into the park, hadn't ridden any of the attractions, and had even paid for his meals. Why the hell should he have to meekly obey a bunch of ordinary people and pay for a ticket now?
After a heated argument, Zen'in Naoya snapped furiously, "Believe it or not, I'll buy this entire amusement park and put every last one of you out of a job!"
The staff member replied, "Sir, if you refuse to pay for your ticket, we'll call the police. You'll also end up with a bad mark on your personal credit record."
Naoya couldn't care less about something as trivial as a personal credit record, but he understood the threat behind the ordinary person's words.
"You think I'm afraid of the police? Go ahead and call them! I want to see which officer dares to show any disrespect to the Zen'in name! Apart from a handful of people in all of Tokyo, there's no one who has the right to order me around!"
With his striking blond hair, contemptuous gaze, and arrogant demeanor, he made everyone present uncomfortable.
Some people really could say the most disgusting things with a beautiful face.
Fushiguro Megumi silently hopped down from the chair and walked over to the service counter. He turned to a woman working there and asked for help.
"I can pay for the ticket. I brought money with me…"
The woman looked at him sympathetically. "Is that man really your uncle?"
Fushiguro Megumi admitted, "I wish he weren't either, but it seems he really is my biological uncle."
A first-rate scumbag, with the family traits passed down through the generations.
Half an hour later, Zen'in Naoya was unceremoniously kicked out of the Lost Children Service Center. The uncle and nephew were finally reduced to ordinary visitors, with nothing worse awaiting them than a diminished bank balance.
Naoya's green eyes glared viciously at Fushiguro Megumi.
Megumi felt a chill run down his spine. With a mixture of nervousness and stubborn defiance, he said, "I'll tell Akiya-ojichan."
Naoya sneered. "Go ahead, I dare you to say a word!"
Megumi retorted, "You weren't afraid of embarrassing yourself in front of everyone just now, so why are you afraid of Akiya-ojichan finding out?"
Naoya snapped irritably, "Those are two completely different things!"
Megumi grabbed hold of Naoya, who was trying to walk away. "I want to go play over there. You can't get lost again."
Then Megumi made him a promise. "If you take me on the rides, I won't tell on you."
Naoya withdrew his hostile gaze, picked up the short-legged little brat, and carried him toward Toontown, where the queues weren't too crowded yet.
During his time wandering around Tokyo Disneyland, Zen'in Naoya hadn't been entirely idle. He had confirmed that there was probably a high-grade cursed object somewhere in the park, one capable of repelling cursed spirits. Its grade was at least Grade 1, with Special Grade being the upper limit. The jujutsu world clearly attached considerable importance to this amusement park.
A malicious glint appeared in Naoya's eyes. He wanted to make those ordinary people who had dared to disrespect him suffer for it.
What if he stole the cursed object and let a series of fatal, supposedly haunted incidents break out here…?
No, Akiya-kun would see right through me.
Zen'in Naoya managed to put a stop to his dangerous thoughts just in time. When it came to doing something, the worst part wasn't the severity of the consequences. It was getting found out as the culprit before he had even gotten started.
If Akiya-kun reports me, the higher-ups at Jujutsu Headquarters will summon me for questioning, and then Dad will hang me up and beat the crap out of me.
Zen'in Naoya secretly bit his lip. Giving up on revenge was out of the question. He was absolutely seething.
Damn it! This is all Megumi's fault! If I hadn't gone to pick him up, I never would've ended up in this mess, unable to pay for an admission ticket!
Naoya had found his target.
He was dealing with a three-year-old kid. How hard could it be to scare the little brat?
Megumi, I haven't seen what you're capable of yet.
An interesting idea began to take shape in Naoya's mind.
He could simply catch a low-grade cursed spirit from outside the park and toss it next to Fushiguro Megumi. Everyone would see nothing but Megumi screaming and running away in terror.
Naoya was a high-speed jujutsu sorcerer. His technique would ensure that nobody got hurt, and after Megumi used his own technique, Naoya could even clean up any traces of his cursed energy.
Just imagining the scene put Naoya in a wonderful mood. After all, this was the Ten Shadows! The very same Ten Shadows that stood on equal footing with Satoru-kun!
The best way to cover up your own embarrassing history was to create an even more embarrassing one for someone else!