“Smack!” Itadori Yūji gave himself a forehead flick.

He was already quite skilled at this; after all, the annoying guy inside him would pop out to cause trouble every now and then.

But, as usual, it was useless. That mouth emerged once more from the back of his hand, its tone dripping with malice and sarcasm.

“I’m doing you a rare favor, can’t you tell? Look at him—he’s practically drooling over you.”

Then, as if sighing with profound realization, it added, “Times sure have changed. Even Hungry Ghosts can cosplay as humans now.”

Lin Ge: “…”

Are you kidding me?!

He immediately denied it. “I’m not!”

Slander! This is outright slander!

Lin Ge wasn’t guilty of a single thing.

He’d already tasted the most top-tier strawberry shortcake.

Maybe, if he hadn’t eaten it before, he’d feel a slight craving. But now, his self-control had skyrocketed to a whole new level.

Right now, he was Lin Ge. Plus Version!

“Smack!”

Once again, Itadori Yūji gave his hand another flick.

“Man, you sure talk a lot.”

Feeling awkward, he apologized, “Sorry about that. He always says weird things.”

Lin Ge waved it off. “It’s fine, it’s fine.”

Outside the window, the scenery zoomed past in a blur. Lin Ge, having politely declined Itadori Yūji’s offer to share half of his meal, now sat next to Gojo Satoru, while the two younger boys were seated in the back.

Taking advantage of the car ride, Gojo Satoru gave Lin Ge a brief explanation about the origins of the mouth on Itadori Yūji’s hand.

Ryomen Sukuna, the King of Curses from a thousand years ago.

Itadori Yūji, the one-in-a-millennium vessel of the King of Curses.

The two were now in a symbiotic relationship.

Lin Ge got the gist of it.

Ah, a textbook Japanese protagonist.

So passionate, so fiery.

Just hearing about it made him feel pumped up.

After a moment of silence, he turned to Gojo Satoru, whose hair was styled particularly flamboyantly again. Hesitating for a few seconds, he asked sincerely:

“Why are you telling me all this?”

Could it be that we’ve truly become long-lost brothers?

Though, admittedly, that hairstyle did seem to be his favorite. Understandable—it did look more handsome with the bangs swept up.

Chewing on a red bean mochi for breakfast, Gojo Satoru replied without a second thought, “You looked like you wanted to know.”

This guy… He’s someone who could casually treat “Mugen” as food.

And, there was what Ryomen Sukuna had just said—that Lin Ge was “a Hungry Ghost cosplaying as a human”?

Hmm.

A Hungry Ghost, huh…

From any angle, he couldn’t just let Lin Ge wander freely outside.

Compared to that, sharing some intel with him seemed like a trivial matter.

Lin Ge couldn’t read what Gojo Satoru was thinking, but he was genuinely touched.

He even started considering in his head: Strawberry shortcake is so good to me.

It lets me eavesdrop on gossip, it feeds me… How should I repay it?

Should I bring him some watermelon when my colleagues pick me up later?

But then again, this guy is the type of rich young master who could casually throw around 20,000 yen.

If he wanted watermelon, he could probably buy an entire truckload, right?

For the first time, Lin Ge felt a rare sense of distress.

He decided to pretend to rest his eyes while secretly pulling up the Mall interface in his mind, scrolling through for something suitable to give as a gift.

Clothing? Pass.

Let’s look for something with a bit of Honmaru’s high-tech charm.

He searched for a few seconds and, to his surprise, actually found some good stuff.

“Big Bite Dango: Significantly restores stamina (recently updated with four additional flavors due to requests from Sages).”

Oh, so it’s like a little red potion, huh?

“Omamori: Nullifies one fatal injury.”

Got it—legendary-grade weapon!

“Omamori. Extreme: Nullifies one fatal injury and fully restores vitality.”

Legendary weapon + resurrection armor! Now we’re talking.

Lin Ge glanced at the price.

Expensive.

The Big Bite Dango wasn’t too bad at 60 koban apiece.

But the Omamori and Omamori. Extreme were on a whole different level—2,000 koban for the regular one, and 3,000 koban for the extreme version.

Feeling a twinge of pain in his wallet, he bought six pieces of each flavor of Big Bite Dango and three pieces each of Omamori and Omamori. Extreme. Once he paid, they were automatically stored in his personal inventory.

Lin Ge planned to gift a set to his new, genuine “good brother” at the right time.

The other two sets were gifts for Yamanbagiri Kunihiro and Hakusan Yoshimitsu.

As for the rest of his colleagues back at Honmaru…

Hehe.

He was out of money…

He’d figure it out once they met. This stuff wasn’t exactly cheap.

When Lin Ge didn’t respond and just closed his eyes like he’d fallen asleep, Gojo Satoru was left staring.

Gojo Satoru: “…”

A little displeased.

Just last night, he’d been as lively as a little puppy. Chattering away.

Wait a minute.

Why do I even care about this?

Swallowing the last bite of his red bean mochi, Gojo Satoru suppressed the strange feeling in his heart.

The train moved steadily forward. Itadori Yūji rubbed his eyes and leaned against the train window, feeling drowsy.

He hadn’t slept well last night.

Taking advantage of the moment, Ryomen Sukuna once again forced a mouth to appear on Itadori Yūji’s cheek.

And right out of that mouth came the ultimate troll line: “Hey, are all you Jujutsu Sorcerers a bunch of morons with eggs dangling under your eyebrows?”

Why was he, the mighty Sukuna, stuck sealed in some brat’s body, staring at air all day, while this guy got to swagger around eating and taking stuff like it was nothing?

Seeing him emerge again, Itadori Yūji’s sleepiness evaporated. “You’re so bored, huh.”

Would a hamburger shut you up?

Fushiguro Megumi lifted his lashes slightly, staying silent as if he was already used to Sukuna’s outrageous comments.

But when Sukuna called everyone present a moron, Lin Ge turned his head, poking out to shoot a single line:

“A parasite stuck in someone else’s body shouldn’t act tough. If you were so smart, how’d you end up like this?”

He was just spitting facts.

Little did Lin Ge know that his one-liner had hit every nerve Sukuna had.

No sooner had the words left his mouth than black markings began spreading across Itadori Yūji’s body. His eyes darkened, and his aura turned oppressive and terrifying.

Sukuna was taking over.

With a cold laugh, he sneered, “I’m killing you today.”

As he moved to stand, the black markings suddenly vanished, and the ominous aura dissipated without a trace. The pink-haired boy frowned, visibly annoyed.

“You’ve got a real temper today, huh.” Regaining control of his body, Itadori Yūji sighed.

Guess sitting around staring at nothing for a thousand years would make anyone sensitive.

If it were him, he’d probably get depressed.

Sukuna: “…”

Damn brat. When I get out of here, the first one I’ll kill is you.

Lin Ge, on the other hand, smirked lazily. “Yeah, yeah.”

“I’ll be waiting.”

“Do your best, King of Curses.”

Sukuna: “…”

Did this dog just bark at me?

He changed his mind.

When he got out, the first one he’d kill would be this ugly freak named Lin Ge.

And it would be in the most painful, miserable way possible!

Lin Ge had already prepared himself for Jujutsu High School to be a bit remote. When he realized that after the Shinkansen ride, there was still a 20-minute car ride to get there, he was surprisingly fine with it.

After all, he wasn’t here to study. He was just here to observe the diverse styles of Jujutsu Sorcerers.

Besides, who knew? Maybe his colleagues would show up any moment now, riding on colorful clouds to pick him up.

He’d be back to work soon, and who knew when he’d get to visit again. Paid leave was a precious commodity, slipping away one day at a time.

Once they reached the school, Fushiguro Megumi headed off to get his injuries treated by a Jujutsu Sorcerer. Gojo Satoru, meanwhile, took Itadori Yūji to undergo an “entrance exam.” That left Lin Ge as the odd man out.

For the time being, Gojo Satoru assigned him to a dorm.

“I’ve got a place off-campus, but I mostly stay in the dorms,” Gojo Satoru explained as they walked, opening the door to his room.

The room was spotless, its furnishings eerily similar to how Lin Ge’s room at Honmaru had been when he first arrived: barren, with not a single unnecessary item. There was a fridge and a dining table, but hardly any sign that a human lived there. It was scarily minimalistic.

Lin Ge guessed this must be that trendy minimalist aesthetic?

After all, Gojo Satoru didn’t seem like someone who lacked a sense of style.

“Wait here for a bit. Once I’m done, I’ll take you to meet the other Jujutsu Sorcerers.” He pointed to the fridge.

“There’s soda and cake in there. If you’re hungry, help yourself.”

Gojo Satoru was so thoughtful that Lin Ge could only nod like a robot, a string of “Mm, mm”s escaping his lips.

As Gojo Satoru’s figure disappeared down the corridor, Lin Ge closed the door, grabbed a bottle of soda from the fridge, and plopped down into a chair.

The chair was probably custom-made, its backrest and cushion so soft that once you sat down, you didn’t want to get up.

Maybe Gojo Satoru often sat here, because the chair and even the table seemed to carry a pleasant, lingering fragrance.

In fact, now that the owner of the most fragrant scent had left the room, all the furniture and decor seemed to emit an intoxicating aroma.

Lin Ge couldn’t help but take a deep breath.

Realizing what he was doing, he slapped himself with a crisp “Smack!”

What the heck was that? Acting like some creep?

Had his race changed? His quality degraded?

Not that he was ever a paragon of virtue to begin with.

To cover up his embarrassment, he took a huge swig of soda. The fizzy drink rushed down his throat, the carbonation almost choking him with its intensity.

A violent cough escaped him.

The label? Pepsi.

Famously fizzy.

“….”

How embarrassing, hahaha.

Once he calmed down, Lin Ge tried to distract himself by scrolling through short videos on his phone.

But he hadn’t scrolled far when he couldn’t take it anymore. The enticing scent assaulted his senses like a thief breaking into his house, so potent that even breathing through his mouth let him taste its sweetness.

Frustrated, Lin Ge ruffled his hair in irritation.

This is unfair!

Still so fragrant!

This was no different than locking a mouse in a rice warehouse!

Was this some kind of leadership test?

With a start, Lin Ge leaped up from the chair, gnawing on his nails in frustration, his face a mask of misery.

He felt like he was about to commit a mistake.

Would secretly nibbling on a corner of the table get noticed?

Would passionately embracing the chair and staging an over-the-top, dramatic love scene make him seem like a maniac?

His eyes darted around, searching for any signs that Gojo Satoru might have installed cameras in the room.

If there weren’t any…

Heh heh heh.

At that moment.

“What are you doing?” A voice, its tone curious and slightly teasing, drifted into the room.

Lin Ge: “!”

Little Cake?!

Ahhh!

When did he show up?

How come I didn’t even hear the door open?!