Calling it campus life was not quite right, because it was not much different from living at home. There were so few people that there was no separation between male and female dorms, just one building where everyone picked a room they liked, each with a private bathroom, and some even had kitchens. Aside from not being allowed to hire a renovation crew, people could arrange things almost however they wanted.
The three members of Ake Clan directly took over an entire floor and made full use of it. As for the fourth member, Pancham, it had already become the campus pet of Tokyo Jujutsu High. The whole school counted as its home.
There was no helping it, since Gardevoir only doted on Akira, while Panda’s charm was on a global level. If not for legal restrictions, who would not want to raise a cute and fluffy Panda? If it were not for Akira’s trainer System having a built in positioning function, he would fail to see, well, Panda, for at least half the day.
Pancham’s daily routine went something like this.
It woke up first every day. Yes, first. Although a normal Panda loved sleeping in, Pancham was always full of energy, likely influenced by its older “brother” Panda, who theoretically did not need sleep.
At dawn, the two Panda would practice boxing in the open space in front of the dormitory, shouting “ora ora” as they punched. Sometimes, Panda’s creator and father, Principal Masamichi Yaga, would join them. At that point, the shouts would turn into everyone getting hyped together.
By the way, Panda’s boxing was taught by Masamichi Yaga, and Pancham happened to be a fighting type, so sparring and boxing came naturally to it. As a result, the one human and two Panda were always in high spirits every morning. Even though it was still new to training, Pancham could already trade moves with Toge Inumaki, who was learning close combat from scratch, which made Akira feel very satisfied.
Sure enough, a professional caretaker really was different.
As boxing practice went on, others would gradually wake up and join the training. Maki Zenin, Akira, Toge Inumaki, and others each trained on their own or sparred, depending on their condition and mood. There were one on one bouts, one against many, and messy free for alls.
After eating the breakfast provided by the school, formal classes began.
In the past, the schedule depended entirely on Satoru Gojo’s mood. Whatever he said to teach got taught, and if he did not show up, everyone studied on their own, whether reading books or training in the field, with a very high degree of freedom. After two teaching assistants were newly hired, the schedule finally became more fixed.
Mornings were for theory, afternoons for practical combat. Although most students had backgrounds and connections, the fact that Tokyo Jujutsu High could exist meant it had its own strengths. Using modern teaching methods to organize Jujutsu knowledge made it broader and easier to understand than traditional clan education.
Akira only realized now that his mother’s low rating in Jujutsu was about combat ability, while her theoretical knowledge was top tier. In her own words, if she was not good at fighting, she would make up for it in other ways. “When I was young, I also had dreams,” she once said.
Akira was curious how such a dreamy mother had been beaten down by reality and ended up with that cheap father, but he could not bring himself to ask. As long as his mother was happy, he felt there was nothing wrong, especially since she was far better off than when she lived in seclusion in the countryside. It turned out that the saying that dreams make people beautiful was not wrong.
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This was true not only for his mother Akemi Aki, but also for Maki Zenin.
What kind of person was Maki Zenin? She looked good, but her personality was honestly not great. She spoke bluntly and harshly, and often danced through minefields, with Satoru Gojo doing it on purpose and her doing it out of pure dullness.
For example, she once asked Akira, “Who’s your dad? Is he dead?” She had also invited Akemi Aki to a spar. These experiences made Akira deeply understand how accurate the description “a heartless devil” could be.
Yet even such a “heartless devil” had moments that shone brilliantly. When she threw herself into battle or training, her focus and commitment were unmatched. Akira could not compare, Toge Inumaki could not compare, and Panda could not either.
Every time Maki Zenin made a move, Akira felt like hauling over a sound system and blasting a song about confidence and dominance. Because of this purity and confidence, Maki Zenin became the third person Gardevoir was willing to get close to. Her Cursed Spirit perception training was personally assigned to have Gardevoir escort and support her.
On one hand, Psychic Power made controlling the situation convenient. On the other hand, after training, they could eliminate the targets on the spot and convert them into experience. Pancham also participated, mainly because most of the Cursed Spirit captured for training were very weak, perfect for a beginner to level up.
Before long, its level reached double digits, and its combat power met the minimum standard of a Jujutsu Sorcerer, a Grade Four Jujutsu Sorcerer. With another eight or ten levels of training, it could head into battle on its own like Gardevoir.
Time passed slowly in this steady daily routine.
Training, classes, missions. Chatting together, sweating together, laughing together, and ganging up on Satoru Gojo. Compared to adults, the world of youths was simpler, and surrounded by such good people, Akira blended in easily and lived quite comfortably.
Of course, with an adult soul inside, he still did some different things.
Publishing books.
Satoru Gojo worked as a part time editor, but he did a genuinely good job. The printing house was already contacted, with an initial run of fifty thousand copies by industry standards, and local bookstore promotion and online sales were steadily progressing. Because the library edition and the web version had to differ to avoid hurting sales, he and Akira spent many nights discussing the plot.
His rich knowledge and grasp of reader tastes impressed even Akira, an old otaku. All one could say was, as expected of you, Satoru Gojo. Even so, his unreliability in other areas remained unchanged.
One evening, he deliberately showed up after school, shouting from far away, “It’s been days, did you miss Teacher Gojo at all?” After being ignored as usual, he suddenly appeared in front of everyone. “Don’t be so cold, the very busy Teacher Gojo made time to have dinner with his cute students.”
“No thanks, seeing you kills my appetite.”
The expert at trash talk, Maki Zenin, led the charge. With Satoru Gojo drawing all the aggro, her sharp tongue even became an advantage.
“Come on, I even broughtCare Package,” he said cheerfully. “Look, a specialty from Kyoto, sweets from Kyo no Tori, they’re really good.” He shook the shopping bag proudly, but the students did not fall for it at all.
Akira looked disgusted but resigned as he asked, “Just say it. What do you want us to do this time?” Ever since he enrolled, Satoru Gojo had gone further and further down the path of being a hands off teacher, only stepping in for problems that required a Special Grade Jujutsu Sorcerer to solve.
That alone would have been fine, but Satoru Gojo also liked to create extra tasks now and then, calling it student training when everyone knew better. As the most reliable, strongest, and most willing to handle things among the students, Akira naturally got dragged in the most.
“You saw right through me,” Satoru Gojo said, sticking out his tongue. “This time it’s a personal request. My kid has recently entered a rebellious phase and doesn’t really want to talk to me, so could I ask you all to help out?”
“What? You have a kid already???”
Tokyo Jujutsu High instantly turned into a gossip editorial office.
Author: Third Magus
“I am at least a reliable adult of twenty seven. Why can’t I have a kid?”
