Chapter 49

'And there's another thing.'

Toji had something else to tell Zoro, about the Zenin clan that Gojo had mentioned earlier.

He couldn't just let it pass as if nothing had happened. Zoro had already heard about the Zenin clan from Gojo. Of course, it seemed like Zoro hadn't paid much attention to even half of what Gojo explained, but still.

"About the Zenin clan that guy mentioned earlier..."

As he spoke, Toji wet his dry lips with his tongue, unsure of how to explain. The things they had done to him, and the things he had done to them.

However, Zoro had the right to know. It was a surname Toji had arbitrarily given him, after all. So, despite his hesitation, Toji continued.

"The Zenin are—"

"If you don't want to talk about it, you don't have to."

Zoro interrupted with a nonchalant tone. Toji quickly looked up.

"Really?"

"Yeah. I'm not interested."

In his previous life, Zoro was a pirate who had spread fear and infamy across the world. In such a position, he wasn't one to pry into someone else's past. He wasn't interested.

He found it odd to use the Zenin name while disliking the Zenin clan... but there must be a reason. He didn't plan to dig deeper.

However, there was one thing he needed to know.

"Is the Zenin clan, like, your enemy?"

"Ha! They're not even worth it."

Then that settled it. With that answer, Zoro dropped all interest in the Zenin clan.

They had decided neither of them would go to Jujutsu High, and the Zenin weren't worth their attention. Zoro neatly sorted out the situation in his mind, let go of Toji's arm, and got off the sofa. Then he reached out his hand.

"Let's go pick up Megumi. We need to go now if we want to have dinner together."

"...Alright."

Not being able to enter the world of sorcerers was fine. That alone was more than enough for Toji.

Leaving behind his faded dreams, Toji took his eldest son's hand. The lukewarm warmth was ticklish.

That day, to appease Megumi, who was pouting after being left with the babysitter, they bought his favorite pork ginger fry. With a sulky expression, Megumi stuffed his cheeks full of ginger.

It was an ordinary, peaceful evening, just like any other.

...

Three days later, Gojo Satoru went to Toji's house, humming to himself, only to be struck by a bolt from the blue.

"...You're not going to the academy? Both of you?"

"That's right."

"Why!"

"It's our choice."

"If you're a sorcerer, you should come to the academy!"

"Well, too bad, we're not sorcerers."

Toji responded indifferently. Toji is a zero-cursed energy physical prodigy, and Zoro is a non-sorcerer. Neither had any obligation to enroll in the academy.

Gojo Satoru clenched his teeth. His eyes ominously gleamed, and then he flopped down on the floor.

"I'm not going. If you two aren't going, neither am I!"

"...Really a madman..."

"I don't care, I won't go!"

I won't go! Gojo Satoru flailed his limbs. Toji looked at Gojo Satoru with a look of disdain.

It was no different from a child he once saw in a supermarket, mopping the floor with his back, begging his mother to buy him a Digimon coloring book. No, it was worse. Because of the Limitless, he wasn't even touching the floor, so he couldn't even mop the floor with his clothes.

It was fortunate they had left Megumi with the babysitter ahead of time. This kind of behavior should not be learned.

"I won't go! Until you say you'll go, I won't! I won't go!"

Looking at Gojo Satoru throwing a tantrum in the middle of the living room, Zoro and Toji's expressions simultaneously crumpled.

Toji seriously considered.

'Is it now?'

Is this the moment to kill the one who would become the next strongest in the sorcerer world?

Today, unlike three days ago, the sorcerer specialized in spirit manipulation wasn't there. If Zoro hadn't been watching, Toji might have already killed him.

Just as Toji was about to extract a heavenly moth from the spirit's mouth, Gojo suddenly sat up.

"Why! Why exactly won't you come?"

"I have to take care of a kid."

"I don't like taking orders from others."

Gojo let out a hollow laugh at the two responses that came almost simultaneously.

"Wow, really... I don't like doing missions either, you know?"

"Then don't do them."

"Who are you trying to make hesitate here..."

Feeling like talking to Zoro was getting nowhere, Gojo turned to Toji.

"Hey, Gorilla. Are you really not coming?"

"I've got a kid to take care of."

"Not even if we don't assign you any missions?"

"...You mean no missions?"

"It's not just sorcerers who do missions at the academy. It also shelters young sorcerers with nowhere to go or those with physical sorcerous anomalies until they grow up a bit. Then, when they're of age, they enroll."

Gojo's fifth-year senior was precisely such a case. Abandoned by his parents at the age of 8 for talking about strange things, he was taken in by Tokyo's sorcery academy. He grew up within the academy and naturally enrolled when he reached the age of 15.

Toji sighed.

"The kid is only 5 years old. That's ten years younger than the typical age for enrolling in the academy. He's not even old enough for elementary school. Mission or not, it's unreasonable."

"5 years old? Really?"

"Yes. Even you, born with Limitless and the Six Eyes, didn't start playing sorcerer at that age."

"…Hmph. But I did train in sorcery techniques."

Gojo Satoru grumbled a bit but seemed a bit taken aback by the mention of 5 years old, his attitude softening. Seeing Zoro beginning to nod off, Gojo spoke seriously.

"It'd be better to enter the sorcery world sooner rather than later, both for you and that kid. Even if you don't take on missions."

"Are you threatening me?"

"It's advice. Excessive superiority creates enemies."

Gojo Satoru had a bounty worth hundreds of millions even before becoming an adult. Being a sorcerer promised to be the strongest in the future with the Six Eyes and Limitless, many sought to nip his potential in the bud.

'This kid won't be any different.'

In that case, rather than constantly worrying about those around him getting caught up in endless assassinations and attacks among non-sorcerers, it might be better to come to the academy early and receive protection within Tengen's barrier. At least, that was what Satoru thought.

"You might think you can raise that kid as a non-sorcerer, but it won't be easy."

Gojo Satoru attended a regular school for non-sorcerers during elementary and middle school, though it was the result of persistently defying the elders of his family.

Although he was quite popular in school due to his doll-like appearance, he was ultimately an outsider there.

What he knew and could do was different. What's natural for non-sorcerers isn't for sorcerers, and vice versa.

Non-sorcerers can't understand the actions of sorcerers because they don't know, and sorcerers can't talk about it. Not only because of the sorcery regulations but primarily because even if non-sorcerers knew, they couldn't do anything about it. Knowing about curses or sorcerers would only make non-sorcerers anxious and potentially create curses.

The Six Eyes meticulously scanned Zoro's body. All that was visible was a young non-sorcerer. Yet, there was a sense of an unfamiliar aura.

Given that Toji, physically gifted due to the Heavenly Restriction, must feel it too, Gojo seriously asked him.

"Do you think a child you even feel is different can adapt among non-sorcerers?"

Toji looked solemnly at Gojo Satoru for a moment before pointing towards the door with his finger.

"Don't meddle and leave."

"Yeah, yeah. I was about to go anyway."

"If you need to call, contact me here." Gojo Satoru threw a note with his phone number on it. Toji contemplated throwing the paper back at that pretty face but managed to hold back and picked it up instead. Gojo then left, closing the door behind him.

And for a while, there were no meetings between Gojo Satoru, Zoro, and Toji.

For a while, that is.