“The key is to create the feeling that you’re going around together.”
Megumi wanted to leave right now, if he could.
“Why?”
“Think about it. There’s no way Junpei and Kugisaki would just start hanging out together, right? Junpei might like Kugisaki, but who knows how Kugisaki feels. And as far as I can tell, their hobbies don’t overlap either.”
“No matter how I look at it, this seems impossible.”
“That’s exactly why we have to step in!”
He felt like smacking Itadori’s head for relentlessly pushing this matchmaking plan forward.
But what he hated even more was himself for being interested in that ridiculous idea.
The ending was obvious. As always, he’d get dragged around by Itadori.
“Damn it, on my day off, why am I...”
“What are you two talking about?”
“Ah, Gojo-sensei!”
Gojo, who had been listening from a distance, cut in between them.
Itadori lit up, while Megumi’s face only darkened further.
“If this guy gets involved, there’s no way this ends easily.”
“You looked like you were plotting something incredibly fun. Tell me too.”
“Well, it’s like Junpei seems to like Kugisaki, so we thought we’d use this chance to properly set them up.”
“What?! You were making such a cool plan without me?”
“You came at the perfect time, Gojo-sensei. You’re popular with women, right? Tell us what we should do in situations like this!”
“At last, my time has come. The Shibuya moonlit phantom thief, the ceiling above the ceiling, I, Gojo Satoru, will teach you the ways of romantic comedy!”
“Shouldn’t we catch that guy first? He’s been gone for a while already.”
“Ah, no time! I’ll explain the plan as we go!”
Gojo shot to his feet and sprinted off at the speed of light, and Yuji chased after him.
“They’re really idiots.....”
Megumi, failing to realize he was no different from those idiots, muttered under his breath and followed them.
--------------------------
Junpei had burst out with confidence, but once he actually stepped into the bustling district, he had no idea what to do.
“I should’ve just stayed with them....”
This was his first day off, so he wasn’t familiar with the area.
He wouldn’t get lost, but he didn’t know where the game centers, movie theaters, or other entertainment spots were, so it wasn’t easy to enjoy himself.
And since he’d moved to a new school anyway, he wanted to get closer to his new friends.
“Come to think of it, has it only been a little over a week since I enrolled...?”
His self-introduction on the first day of the exchange event had been spectacularly ruined by Gojo’s over-the-top surprise event.
Then a special-grade vengeful spirit barged in. The baseball game had been thoroughly wrecked by his pathetic stamina.
He’d thought there might be some time to get to know each other after the exchange event, but even that had been swallowed up by a week of hellish training.
He’d gotten a little closer to Megumi while training together, but things were still awkward with Nobara.
“And that incident last time makes it even more awkward....”
Junpei had always felt small in front of her, but after Todo’s forced confession of his tastes, it had gotten even worse.
He didn’t really know what she thought of him, since he never struck up conversations, but she was definitely looking down on him.
Even now, she was right beside him and not giving him a shred of attention.
“What are you staring at?”
“Nothing.”
“Boring.”
Well, it would be a relief if she didn’t start insulting him for no reason.
With that in mind, Junpei decided to wait for Yuji and Megumi.
He’d just heard that Worm Man 6 was opening soon, so he could watch it with them.
“Hey, Junpei. Why’d you go off on your own?”
“Haha, sorry.”
“What are you going to do now?”
“If you’re okay with it, I was thinking we could go see Worm Man 6 together. The reviews are pretty good.”
Before Junpei even finished speaking, Megumi, who had been standing behind him, tapped Yuji on the shoulder.
Yuji, who had reflexively been about to nod, seemed to come to his senses and politely refused with an apologetic face.
“Ah, sorry. I’ve got something to do in Akihabara with Fushiguro today.”
“I see..... Then I guess I’ll just go alone,”
“If you don’t mind, go with Kugisaki! It’s your first time in Harajuku, right? You can ask her to show you around!”
“.....?”
“Well, see you!”
With that, Yuji and Megumi took off running.
Junpei, suddenly abandoned like a duckling left behind in the Nakdong River, looked around with a pitiful expression.
The only person left nearby was Nobara, humming to herself while looking at her phone.
“Should I just go by myself?”
Junpei’s loner instincts, honed since his first year of high school, tried to rise up, but he suppressed them.
We’re changing, remember?
These were the people he’d be crossing life-and-death lines with from now on. What was he going to do if he kept being awkward?
“Um, Kugisaki?”
“Huh? What.”
“If you’re okay with it, want to hang out together...? I don’t know the area since it’s my first time here.”
Junpei had to squeeze out an enormous amount of courage just to say something that simple.
Surprisingly, Nobara accepted the offer without a fuss.
“Well, I don’t mind. You good with that?”
“Huh? Y-yeah.”
“Then let’s go. For today only, you’re my personal pack mule.”
“Huh, a pack mule?”
“What, you don’t like it? Then go wander around by yourself.”
“N-no, that’s not it...”
The moment he felt something was off, Nobara started walking without even looking back.
Junpei hurried after her, flustered, and three pairs of eyes locked onto his back.
“Yes! Mission complete!”
“Yoshino, you’ve got more guts than I expected. You don’t look like someone who could even talk to a girl.”
“Fushiguro, isn’t that a little harsh to Junpei...?”
“Boo, trash~ sea urchin~ Furube wrapper~”
“I’d like to withdraw that last one.”
“So what now, Gojo-sensei?”
“Obviously we follow them. Watching to see whether Junpei does this properly is part of our mission too!”
---------------------------
The place Nobara dragged Junpei to was a department store mall.
Without the slightest hesitation, she pulled him straight to the luxury section on the fourth floor.
Junpei was a little taken aback, but then he remembered that being a jujutsushi was a pretty high-paying job.
Just from the job he’d done with Nanami, ten million yen had already landed in his bank account as the upfront fee.
“Kugisaki, this is...?”
“Gucci’s new stuff came out, apparently. I came to look at tracksuits and shoes.”
“Ah.....”
“We’re going to check out the whole place today, so stay sharp, okay?”
Nobara dragged Junpei into the store and held up clothes from all over, pressing them against her body.
“What do you think?”
“Huh?”
“Seriously, are your ears blocked? Give me an evaluation from a guy’s point of view! That’s why I brought you!”
“Why are you yelling....”
Rubbing his stinging ear, Junpei looked over the options a few times and then began offering his fairly serious opinion.
“First, the one on the right is a pass. The color doesn’t suit you. The fit is also too boxy, so it’d make you look bulky.”
“Oh.”
“The one on the left is... decent. I like that it’s clean but still has embroidery as an accent. How much is it?”
“Let’s see... 120,000 yen.”
“Try it on in there. I think I’ll know for sure once you do.”
Nobara looked mildly impressed.
Junpei’s explanation had been surprisingly professional and smooth.
It was obvious he’d studied fashion a bit.
“I didn’t expect much, but you’re pretty familiar with this. Have you done this a lot?”
“I used to come to department stores with my mom a lot. I got forced to tag along every time, so I ended up learning.”
“Heh, reliable.”
“Ow, why’d you hit me!”
Nobara patted Junpei on the back and took the clothes he’d picked out into the fitting room.
Not long after, Nobara came out in the new outfit and did a spin in front of Junpei with a coquettish expression.
“Well?”
“It looks good, but do you really need to buy it? That kind of feeling?”
“Hmm. Kinda vague. Let’s check somewhere else too. No need to buy it here.”
“Fair enough. Where to next?”
“Balenciaga.”
“You only pick expensive places. Luxury is nice and all, Kugisaki.”
“What do you know! This is the only kind of place jujutsushi have to spend money on!”
After that, Junpei and Nobara kept shopping, stopping at store after store.
Most of it ended with, “I’ll just look around,” but they still managed to find a few good items.
“This is it! I have to buy this!”
“Agreed. It suits you well. The texture’s luxurious too, so it’ll last a long time.”
“Kyaa~ I’m glad I came.”
“Sometimes I think that when you start shopping thinking, ‘I’m here to spend money,’ you actually don’t find much. More often, the real treasures are hidden in the end-of-season sales. It’s kind of like going to see a movie and finding a gem among a bunch of total duds.”
“Thanks for the tip. Heh. Aren’t you going to buy anything?”
“Should I? Since I’m here, maybe I’ll try...”
Neither Junpei nor Nobara realized it, but some kind of date-like atmosphere had already begun to bloom between them.
From a distance, Gojo, Yuji, and Megumi, who were on their second parfait, were also spying on them with great interest.
“Ten points.”
“Ten points indeed.”
“An otaku who can keep up with a gyaru’s shopping? That’s rare.”
“I was a little worried, but at this rate there shouldn’t be any problem. It’s been so long since I’ve seen such a peaceful scene....”
“But Gojo-sensei, aren’t you dating anyone? You’re in your late twenties, so isn’t it about time you worried about an heir?”
“The old fossils in my family are making a fuss about it, sure. But I still haven’t found a woman who catches my eye.”
“You’re not secretly gay, are you?”
“Yuji, how can you say something so horrifying......”
While they were chattering away, Nobara and Junpei, having finished shopping, approached the café where they were sitting.
Junpei was lagging behind with shopping bags in both hands, but at this rate it was only a matter of time before they were caught.
“Emergency! Super emergency!!”
“Oh no! This café’s parfait was so good I let my guard down!”
“What do we do? What do we do now?”
The place they chose in their panic was inside the counter.
After checking that no other customers were looking, they shoved themselves underneath and took up positions together.
“Customers aren’t allowed in here.”
“Could you maybe let us stay just for a moment? We have a reason.”
“J-just for a little while might be okay.....”
The female part-timer tried to stop them with a troubled expression, but once Gojo took off his sunglasses and looked at her with bright, sparkling eyes, she was quickly conquered.
“Wow, that was seriously like a kept man just now.”
“What are you saying! That kind of thing is more like your dad.....”
“Pardon?”
“Hahaha!! Nothing at all!”
“Please be quiet!! We’ll get caught like this!!”
While they were secretly bickering, Junpei, having set down his shopping bags, approached the counter.
“He’s coming..!”
“Kugisaki, what do you want to drink?”
“Strawberry latte. With a looot of whipped cream. Don’t forget to add honey bread too!”
“Then... one iced matcha tapioca, one strawberry latte with double whipped cream, and one honey bread, please.”
“Yes, your order has been received. That’ll be 3,400 yen.”
“Should I pay?”
“No. I dragged you around, so I should at least pay this much. Think of it as a labor fee.”
“And yet the strawberry latte and honey bread are things you ordered because you wanted them, and the tapioca is only 600 yen...”
“You got a problem with that? Huh?”
“I’ll gratefully accept it.”
Junpei, having taken the order, trudged back to his spot with the receipt in hand.
Just as they were about to breathe a sigh of relief and peek out, Junpei returned with the vibration pager, and they hurriedly ducked back down.
“Huh?”
“Is something wrong, sir?”
“I thought I just saw a familiar face inside the counter...”
“W-what are you talking about? This area is off-limits to customers!”
“Nice, big sis!”
“Off-limits to customers... glow sticks... cars.... ugh... my head...”
Fortunately, Junpei remembered the PTSD from his first mission and obediently returned to his seat, so they weren’t exposed.
After exchanging a quick high five with the clerk who’d saved the situation through pure reflexes, they could finally watch the two of them comfortably.
Nobara, eyes sparkling as she chugged honey bread like crazy.
Junpei, sucking on his matcha drink with a disgusted expression.
They were completely different types, but maybe that was exactly why they seemed to be trying to match each other.
“After using your brain, you’ve gotta eat something sweet.”
“A sweet-on-sweet combo sounds like it’d sting my tongue just thinking about it.”
“Men are different from women.”
“I don’t get that subtle difference.”
“Want a bite?”
At that, the spying group erupted.
“Indirect kiss! Indirect kiss!”
“If they do an indirect kiss like this, then once the mood gets ripe he’ll pin her against the wall, confess right there, and tomorrow they’ll both show up wearing matching rings on their left ring fingers...!”
“There’s no way that’s happening....”
But Junpei, betraying their expectations, came back with a new straw and shattered their fantasy to pieces.
“Ugh, it’s sweet.”
“Hahaha! I knew it!”
“Damn it, what an oblivious bastard..”
“What did you just say?”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“Weird. I keep feeling like someone’s staring at me.”
“You’re being paranoid. Go outside and meet some people once in a while.”
Junpei felt a little put off by that.
What does she think I am, anyway?
“The only people I ever meet are you guys, Gojo-sensei, and the upperclassmen. And what kind of image do you even have of me that you keep treating me like some gloomy otaku shut-in?”
“Then how do you see me?”
“A yankee.”
“That’s the same thing, you idiot!”
As usual, they kept subtly insulting each other, and Nobara ended up getting angry at the end of it.
But Junpei found that reaction strangely welcome.
Fooling around like ordinary students, then fighting, laughing, and talking trash.
For the first time in a while, his heart was softening in the middle of an ordinary day.
“Haha.......”
“Why are you smiling so creepily all of a sudden?”
“I’m just....happy.”
Nobara thought for a moment too, then snorted a laugh.
“Weirdo.”
“Maybe.”
“Whatever, whatever.”
The two of them chuckled quietly, looked at each other, and spoke at the same time.
““Where do you want to go next?””
“Huh?”
“Huh?”
The moment their words overlapped, his mind went blank.
Maybe he was embarrassed because they’d actually been on the same wavelength, or maybe he was just flustered by the situation, but Junpei’s face turned red.
They’d probably have split up by now, but before he knew it, he was already assuming he’d be going around with Nobara.
“We’ve only gone where I wanted to go so far, so this time you pick.”
“Really...?”
“As long as it’s not somewhere weird, I’m good with anywhere. Take it easy.”
That probably wasn’t meant literally, but Junpei’s brain, now functioning at one-fifth its usual intelligence because of his panic, only caught the last words.
Take it easy. Take it easy. Take it easy.
The place he’d originally meant to suggest slipped out of his mouth as his brain’s filtering system broke down.
“Then... the movie theater.”
“......”
Gojo’s group, watching from afar, shouted a fierce “Nice!” in their heads, and Nobara’s ears turned bright red.
Junpei, still not fully grasping what was happening, asked blankly, “Why?”
“N-no! Let’s go! To the movie theater!”
Trying to hide her embarrassment, Nobara hurried ahead on purpose.
Junpei followed after her with a dazed expression, shopping bags slung over his shoulders.
They were headed to the same destination, but each of them was thinking something different.
“A movie theater, just the two of us? That’s basically a date, right...? No way, could she really be...?”
“Is Worm Man not her type?”
They still didn’t know how this outing would end, but one thing was certain: they would never go back to being the same pair of natural enemies they’d been before.
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