With only ten days of vacation remaining, Vermouth finally made good on her promise to return and teach Gojo Satoru the art of disguise.
Considering the short timeframe, she assumed Satoru wouldn't be able to pick up much. Thinking back, it felt a bit unfair to him given how hard he had worked to complete the mission... so, as a bonus, Vermouth threw in a training course on vocal mimicry. After all, judging by the loli voice he'd faked during his earlier performance, didn't he have a natural talent for changing his voice?
However, she didn't expect that Satoru wasn't just "talented"—he was a god-tier prodigy.
In just a few days, he managed to strip her of nearly eighty percent of her skills. Watching the exquisite, eye-catching boy transform in the blink of an eye into a "Salaryman A" who would vanish in a crowd, even the world-weary Thousand-Faced Witch couldn't help but marvel at his extraordinary genius.
If she were familiar with the internet slang of another world, she probably would have blurted out: "Holy crap, that's broken!"
Back in the day, when she studied under Toichi Kuroba, she had been praised as a "natural master of disguise," and even then, it had taken her a full year. And Gojo Satoru?
Relying on his illogical learning speed, Satoru successfully fleeced a significant amount of "wool" from Vermouth over nine days, racking up a solid 1,000 impression points. He remained utterly nonchalant about everyone's amazement.
Standard procedure. Nothing to see here.
After all, Gojo Satoru was the man designated by the author as "someone who can do anything." Even if there was something he didn't know, he could master it quickly with a little practice. This was a buff from another dimension; its effects were naturally extraordinary.
In his opinion, were there few illogical things in the world of Detective Conan? Conan hides behind a chair and literally no one notices; Kogoro Mouri's neck has been kissed by countless anesthetic needles and he's still kicking; Kaito Kid can instantly disguise himself as anyone and mimic any voice perfectly without tools. If one were to look into it deeply, the "cheat" Satoru was using wasn't that excessive, was it?
Due to limitations like body type and age, he couldn't achieve "instant" disguise and voice changing just yet, but the core skills were his. With more practice, reaching Kid's level would be a piece of cake.
Once he had learned enough, Satoru reverted to his state of idleness.
The weather was sweltering, so everyone preferred staying in the villa. Occasionally, when the mood struck, he would drag his colleagues to the commercial district to appreciate the local culture or eat freshly baked desserts in a café. However, after being constantly bothered by scouts appearing out of nowhere, he lost interest in going out.
The pages of the calendar fell one by one until the final day before departure—July 10th.
Tomorrow, everyone would set off in different directions to officially begin their careers at the "Vinery." As for Satoru himself, he not only had to produce results at the branch office but also begin his work as a "cleaner" for the underworld. He wouldn't have this much leisure time then.
He hadn't learned the Reversed Cursed Technique yet. If he had to survive on only three to four hours of sleep like the original Satoru, it would be quite demanding. It looked like he needed to set up a daily schedule.
"I bet a bunch of annoying crap is coming my way soon." Satoru leaned his cheek on his hand, crunching on potato chips. "As expected~ eating, drinking, and playing is the best."
Sake was reading manga beside him, while Calvados sat on the sofa looking dejected, hugging his legs. Apparently, he had planned to use "golden lines" from a Book of Love to win Vermouth's favor, but when his dream girl actually appeared, he couldn't stammer out a single word. Satoru patted his shoulder and offered some casual "chicken soup for the soul," which cheered him up a bit.
Gin returned from the underground training ground and saw them huddled together with zero discipline. He ignored the mess but habitually nitpicked: "We leave tomorrow. Are none of you doing anything productive?"
"Gin-chan." Ever since Satoru discovered that calling him this lowered the atmospheric pressure around Gin, he had never tired of it. "If you spend every day grinding like this, you're going to age really fast, you know?"
Gin sneered. "Has no one told you that eating too much sugar makes you age faster?"
As Satoru bickered with him, a realization suddenly struck him like a bolt of lightning.
Today was July 10th...
He remembered... wasn't it Gin's birthday?
Besides the inventory, abilities, and shop, the system actually had a search bar that could be used to look up information on original characters and plots from Detective Conan. Since the plot hadn't started yet, he hadn't used it much, but he vaguely remembered curiously searching for Gin once, and the results had included this detail.
That was close. It happened to be the last day of vacation. Well... wouldn't it be a waste not to do something to celebrate?
Satoru thought for a moment and whispered to Gin, asking if today was a special day.
The blonde youth's expression turned strange. He denied it at first, but couldn't withstand Satoru's persistent pestering. Finally, he came clean: "...July 10th is the day I was born. How do you know that?"
Satoru played it off. "I heard you talking in your sleep last time. Come to think of it, we've known each other for three years and I've never celebrated your birthday~ How about we celebrate today?"
Ha, like he would ever talk in his sleep about that.
Gin didn't believe a word of it, but years of experience had taught him not to look too deeply into anything Satoru said; it was a waste of effort.
"Such a pointless thing is entirely unnecessary."
"No, no! We're doing it!"
Satoru ignored Gin completely and demanded a show of hands from the other two. Sake, who viewed Satoru as a deity, naturally didn't object. Calvados was on better terms with him and sided with him as well.
Seeing Satoru so full of enthusiasm, Gin realized protesting was futile. Looking into those sparkling blue eyes, the rejection stuck in his throat. He could only manage one word: "...Boring."
Fine, he'd let him have his way.
Satoru threw an arm around his shoulder, teasing, "It's obviously very fun~"
In reality, Jiang Wu from his previous life was an orphan and rarely had a birthday. These past few years in the training camp went without saying; the brutal atmosphere made people forget such things existed.
If he compared it to the young Master Gojo, who was born into a prestigious family and treated like the center of the universe... the standards would be too high. Every year, the Gojo family would throw a massive banquet, occasionally inviting guests from other clans. The venue would be ridiculously large. Buffets, balloon banners, high-end fireworks—nothing could be missing.
But it was almost evening and time was tight; he couldn't be that thorough. What would have a sense of ceremony but be easy to prepare?
Of course... a birthday cake!
Satoru jumped into action, calling a five-star delivery service and ordering cream, powdered sugar, fruit jam, and a series of baking supplies. He sounded quite professional.
Yes, the original Satoru could cook, and his skills were high. From home-style cooking to bread and cakes, he could do it all. It was just that he liked to be lazy and was used to being waited on hand and foot, so he wouldn't lift a finger easily. But for the sake of a good brother... it wasn't out of the question.
Satoru grinned. "Today, I'll let you guys taste my skills."