Gojo shot Betty an annoyed look and reached out to pinch her cheek. He barely used any force. He was obviously just messing around with her.
Betty wrinkled her nose and swatted his hand away, but she didn't look angry at all. If anything, she was smiling a little.
"Okay, okay."
"Forget about that. Let's head back first."
Gojo dropped the playful act and got a bit more serious. They'd been gone from this world for a while.
But compared to last time, when he'd suddenly disappeared without a word to anyone, this time he'd at least sent Seitenshi and the others goodbye messages. The people at Jujutsu High shouldn't be too worried.
The two of them walked side by side toward Jujutsu High, chatting and joking the whole way. A lot of the tiredness from the other world faded.
"Yo, Yaga-sensei, I'm back."
As soon as he got to Jujutsu High, Gojo spotted Masamichi Yaga sitting in his office. He grinned and waved, greeting him cheerfully without any of the awkwardness of a long time apart.
Ever since Gojo had wiped out the rotten higher-ups, Yaga had become the one in charge of the Jujutsu Society.
But Yaga hadn't chosen to act like the old higher-ups, hiding in some dark corner and enjoying the perks of power. He'd stayed at Jujutsu High, quietly protecting the place that trained jujutsu sorcerers.
Still, before, he'd only had to focus on teaching students and handling small matters inside the school. Now he was clearly a lot busier, and he didn't have much time left for the school's day-to-day business.
His desk was piled high with thick stacks of documents. Yaga looked tired, and there were faint dark circles under his eyes. He'd obviously been overworking himself lately.
"This trip seems to have been shorter."
Yaga looked up at Gojo and spoke flatly. A hint of relief flickered in his eyes, but it was quickly buried under exhaustion.
He'd long since gotten used to Gojo disappearing for a while to go "sightseeing" in different worlds. This time really had been a lot shorter than the last.
"Yep. I missed you, so I came back."
Gojo laughed it off and walked straight over to sit next to Yaga. He grabbed the teapot from the desk, poured himself a cup without asking, and took a sip, grinning the whole time.
Yaga watched him goofing around, and the corner of his mouth twitched. He looked even more tired.
Gojo had always been like this. No matter the situation, he liked to joke around instead of being serious.
"So when are you planning to make up all the missions you missed?"
Yaga put down his pen, crossed his arms, and looked at Gojo sternly. His tone didn't leave room for argument.
Gojo had missed way too many missions. Since he'd been off in other worlds, Yaga had had no choice but to assign other jujutsu sorcerers to handle them.
But now that Gojo was back, those missions were his to make up.
"Huh?"
Gojo spat out the tea he'd just sipped. Luckily, Betty reacted fast and dodged to the side, so her clothes didn't get soaked.
He stared at Yaga wide-eyed, like he'd just heard something unbelievable.
"Sensei, that's way too harsh. I literally just got back. I haven't even caught my breath, and you already want to send me on missions?"
Gojo complained with a wounded look, like he'd been terribly wronged.
"I mean, I did help you become head of the Jujutsu Society and got rid of those annoying higher-ups. Shouldn't you cut me some slack?"
While he complained, he didn't forget to take credit either. He looked a little smug, like he was saying, I did you a huge favor, so the least you can do is let me rest.
Before he said that, Yaga had just been exasperated. But the moment Gojo brought it up, a few veins popped on Yaga's forehead, and his face darkened.
"You've got the nerve to bring that up?!"
Yaga slammed his hand on the desk and stood up, glaring at Gojo, furious.
"If it weren't for you, do you think I'd be stuck doing all this annoying work?!"
"Do you have any idea how much stuff I have to deal with every single day?"
"Mountains of paperwork, cursed spirit incidents that never stop, and coordinating every branch of the Jujutsu Society. I can barely breathe."
"You killed off every one of the higher-ups, and now I don't even have anyone to help me!"
"I'm so busy I don't have time to drink water, and you've got the nerve to tell me what a big favor you did me?"
The more Yaga talked, the angrier and more worked up he got. He walked right up to Gojo, grabbed his collar, and looked ready to give him a proper beating and let off some steam.
Gojo could tell things were going south and that Yaga was actually angry. He quickly jumped back, pulled free of Yaga's grip, brushed off his pants, and ran for the door.
"Betty, you're not leaving? Planning to stay and get yelled at?"
Even while running, Gojo didn't forget to turn back and call to Betty, who was still standing there. He sounded a little urgent.
"It's not like it's my fault. What's it got to do with me?"
Betty grumbled, sounding reluctant, but her body was honest. She hurried after Gojo and ran out with him.
She definitely didn't want to stay behind and get caught up in Yaga's anger. That would be a total loss.
Yaga watched the two of them flee like their lives depended on it. He stood there shaking with anger, but he didn't go after them.
He knew perfectly well that Gojo was just messing with him on purpose and wasn't really trying to dodge the missions. And he'd only lost his temper for a moment because he needed to let off some stress.
"Hmph."
Yaga grunted and shook his head helplessly. His anger slowly faded, replaced by deep exhaustion.
He sat back down, picked up the documents on his desk, sighed, and buried himself in his heavy workload again.
"That was close. Way too close."
Only after they'd run far from the office did Gojo stop. He leaned against the wall and made a show of wiping nonexistent sweat off his forehead, talking to Betty like he was still shaken.
"If Yaga-sensei had caught me, I'd have been done for. He'd have given me a real beating."
"Oh, please."
Betty rolled her eyes at him, unimpressed, and teased, "Nothing was going to happen. You just wanted to see how your teacher was doing. You were worried he couldn't handle all that work by himself."
"And if things really weren't going well for him, you wouldn't be able to help yourself. You'd go take care of his problems for him."
Betty had been with Gojo long enough to figure out what he was like. He acted carefree and never took anything seriously, but he was actually very attentive and cared a lot about the people around him.
Especially Yaga. As his teacher, Yaga had always looked out for him. Gojo was always joking around and messing with him, but deep down, he respected and cared about him a lot.
"Tch. Don't make me sound so violent, okay? I'm high school age. I can't even drink yet. Why would I just go around attacking people?"
Gojo wrinkled his nose like he was annoyed and flatly denied it. But a tiny flash of panic showed on his face. Betty had obviously hit the nail on the head.
Just then, Gojo's phone rang in his pocket, cutting off their bickering.
"Looks like Sensei still cares about me after all. He already told Suguru and the others I'm back?"
Gojo took out his phone and glanced at the caller ID. He smiled, looking forward to it, and spoke cheerfully.
"Wonder if it's Suguru or Shoko. Maybe they heard I'm back and want to go out for dessert."
Gojo muttered to himself as he eagerly hit the answer button, still guessing who was on the other end.
But before he could say a word, Suguru Geto's voice came through first. He sounded teasing and a little exasperated.
"Is this Satoru? If it is, you can shut up."
"Yaga-sensei already told me. When you got back, he was going to dump a pile of missions on you. He said to ignore you and not let you drag me in as backup."
"I have zero interest in being your backup. I'm swamped right now too. I've still got a bunch of missions I haven't finished."
"So the missions are all on you. Don't even think about asking me for help."
"Once you've finished all of them and you're free, we'll talk. Bye~"
Geto rattled all of that off in one go, short and to the point, without giving Gojo a single chance to speak. Then he hung up.
The phone beeped with a dial tone. Gojo stood frozen, holding it up. His hopeful smile stiffened, then slowly fell apart, until his face scrunched up like he'd bitten into something bitter.
"Hahahahaha!"
Betty stood beside him, watching Gojo get shut down like that. She couldn't hold it in anymore and burst out laughing, doubling over until she almost cried.
It wasn't often you got to see Gojo lose, and seeing Geto turn him down that bluntly was even rarer.
"That's your teacher, all right. He really knows you. He warned everyone ahead of time."
Betty kept laughing and teasing him, clearly enjoying his misery.
"Sigh. Looks like we'll just have to do it ourselves."
Gojo sighed helplessly and put his phone away. Before that, he'd stared resentfully at the message Yaga had sent him. He was miserable.
He'd just gotten back from another world. He'd been planning to get some good rest, eat some tasty desserts, unwind, and enjoy a relaxing vacation.
Well, that was over. No vacation, no time for dessert, and a pile of missions weighing him down. It was just tragic.
The relaxing vacation and the delicious desserts had all gone up in smoke.
"Let's go."
Gojo took a deep breath and pulled himself together, looking like a man marching to his death. "As long as we clear the missions fast enough, we can still rest early and go get dessert early!"
"Hopefully. But I think your Yaga-sensei will probably just give you more missions once you finish these."
Betty still wasn't done teasing him. She was smiling, but there wasn't the slightest hint in her eyes that she planned to help.
"Shut up! Stop saying that!"
Gojo yelled, completely broken, looking hopeless. That was the last thing he wanted to hear right now.
And so, on his first day back in his own world, Gojo didn't even go home or get a hot meal. He took Betty and started running all over town, handling the mountain of missions.
He didn't have a choice. Yaga had given him too many missions on too tight a schedule, and he had no time to rest.
Normally, if the two of them split up, they'd be more efficient, finish faster, and get to rest sooner.
But Betty didn't have the slightest desire to lift a finger. The whole time, she was basically just a keychain hanging off Gojo. She either played with her drone or sat off to the side watching the show.
Everything was left to Gojo alone.
"Number eighteen."
Three hours after they set out, Gojo raised his hand and destroyed the cursed spirit in front of him with a burst of cursed energy. He announced the count flatly.
In just three hours, he'd taken out eighteen cursed spirits. That was a really fast pace.
The cursed spirits Yaga had set aside specifically for him weren't trash. None of them were weak. They were all at least grade 2 or higher.
They couldn't pose any threat to someone as strong as Gojo, and he handled them easily, without breaking a sweat.
But if other jujutsu sorcerers ran into them, it'd be a different story. They might pay a heavy price, or even lose their lives.
"Where's the next one?"
Gojo pulled back his cursed energy and asked Betty, sounding a little worn out.
After clearing eighteen cursed spirits in a row, he wasn't actually tired. But doing the same thing over and over was bound to get boring and draining.