This Is Your Dream Partner?

How’s it going?

It’s gotta be super awesome, right?!!

Four first-class merits!

If you drag and combine ‘em, maybe they’ll turn into a special-class merit.

All of ‘em are just stepping stones for him to chase after Strawberry Shortcake!

Every single one!!

But one special-class is enough to give him a run for his money. Four Special Grade Cursed Spirits ganging up on him? They’d probably turn him into ash and scatter him to the wind.

Weighing the gap in strength between both sides, Lin Ge wisely flashed a humble fake smile: “Pretty good, huh.”

He gave an answer so flawless you couldn’t pick a fault with it.

At that, Jogo: “!”

Pretty good…

He said they’re pretty good…!

His eyes widened, a flush of excitement creeping onto his face. Since his skin’s green, it created a weirdly magical chemical effect that made Lin Ge kinda unable to look straight at him.

Jogo placed a hand over his chest.

…He’d never felt like this before.

Acknowledged…

He was acknowledged!

His mood suddenly surged with passion.

For a moment, he felt like he could punch through the Jujutsu world and kick those Special Grade Sorcerers to the curb in no time.

Why not just go tomorrow and blast that—what was it—some lousy Jujutsu Sorcerer headquarters to bits?

While Jogo was lost in his sweet daydreams, a bouquet of flowers was suddenly thrust in front of Lin Ge.

The flowers appeared out of nowhere, startling Lin Ge so bad that if it weren’t for his mountain-like willpower holding this body together, he’d have ripped a teleport scroll and hightailed it outta there.

Looking up, he saw the tall and imposing Hanami.

…Can flower biscuits teleport too?

Is this some kinda must-have skill?

One for everybody.

The bouquet was huge, bursting with every color, the fragrance so strong it hit Lin Ge like a wave, making his head all dizzy.

Flower biscuits…

Smell so nice.

Sniffing away, Lin Ge suddenly realized the bouquet smelled exactly like Hanami.

Because this was Hanami’s technique?

Just like Strawberry Shortcake’s Ao.

He came to a conclusion: Edible!

Seeing Lin Ge not taking it, Hanami stubbornly shoved it into his arms: “%&%&…”

Please accept it, this is proof of us becoming comrades.

Lin Ge: “…”

Lin Ge couldn’t hold it together.

This skill was straight-up OP.

Even if he covered his ears, Hanami’s voice would still echo in his heart.

What kinda divine concept was that?

“Take it. Hanami gave us the same thing the first time she met us,” Mahito drawled from the side, lazily twirling a strand of hair by his ear.

Lin Ge: “…”

He locked eyes with Hanami… if you could call those two branches eyes.

Lin Ge accepted the token of friendship from Special Grade Cursed Spirit Hanami.

Talk about ceremonial.

Was this some kinda foreign version of the Peach Garden Oath?

Oh, wait.

Add in the octopus takoyaki and blueberry yam, and it’s more like a Peach Garden Five Oath.

Lin Ge smoothly tossed out some pleasantries: “Thanks, Hanami, I’ll treasure it.”

As if.

The second the Cursed Spirits weren’t looking, he’d gobble up the mini flower biscuit version.

Hanami covered her face: “%…”

As long as you like it.

—

Except for Dagon, who was soaking in seawater, the three Cursed Spirits and one Lin Ge sat around each other.

The table had been temporarily fixed by Hanami’s technique. The lacquered wood now sprouted a few blue-and-white flowers at the four corners, swaying gently in the breeze, super aesthetic and fresh.

Three pairs of eyes locked onto Lin Ge. Nobody said a word, just staring hard.

Even the most unhinged Mahito shut his trap, propping his precious book under his arm, head resting on it, his mismatched eyes flickering with unreadable emotions.

Lin Ge felt a subtle kind of awkward.

So tiring.

His exhaustion meter was really low.

But the thought that this intel could help Strawberry Shortcake perked him right back up.

Lin Ge secretly gave himself a pep talk.

“Jogo… on the way here, I heard Mahito say you’ve been meeting with some Curse User lately?” Sipping the flower tea Jogo and Hanami hyped up, Lin Ge broke the silence first, sneakily probing for info.

Since he was here…

Might as well ask a ton!

By the way, this tea was really sweet!

He didn’t even see them add sugar.

Snapping back, Jogo chugged his tea to cover up, nodding without a guard up: “Yeah.”

Mahito, that blabbermouth! He hadn’t even decided if he wanted to team up with that guy yet!

If it fell through, wouldn’t it make him look super unreliable to the new Special Grade?

Lin Ge pounced: “What kinda guy is he?”

Write it down, write it all down!

“…A former Special Grade Sorcerer,” Jogo said.

“Last year, he pulled off a pretty decent ‘Hundred Demons Night Parade’ against the Jujutsu world. Only half worked out—big thunder, small rain—but I think… he’s at least a solid potential partner.”

As he spoke, a glint of approval flickered in Jogo’s eyes.

Then, he sneakily added: “He came to me first.”

Talk about good taste!

Like flipping a switch, Jogo rambled on: “One hour from now, we’re having our second meeting. I told him to bring something to convince me.”

In human terms, he’s the big shot client!

Lin Ge let out an “oh,” downing the rest of his flower tea in one gulp.

Thinking to himself, Jogo’s pretty cool!

He just tossed out a basic attack, and Jogo spilled all his skills.

After a short pause, Lin Ge asked: “So where are you guys meeting?”

Jogo opened his mouth, “At…”

Barely getting a syllable out, Mahito, bored out of his mind, shot his hand up to steal the answer, voice pitching up: “I know, I know!”

—“Right outside Dagon’s domain.”

With that, he sat up straight, stretched lazily, twisting at a freaky angle with insane flexibility.

“Nidie, Nidie~” Mahito curled his lips into a sweet smile.

He ripped pages from his once-favorite philosophy book, crumpling them into balls and tossing them aside. “Let’s not talk about this, it’s so boring. Let’s read books! The ones you were talking about!”

He was always like this—interests came fast and left faster.

The second something better popped up, he’d ditch his old favorites like trash.

Lin Ge: “…”

So annoying, I wanna list Mahito on Xianyu and sell him off.

—

Gotta figure out a way to stop him from bugging me.

Meeting Mahito’s eager gaze, Lin Ge’s eyes darkened, his tone tinged with disappointment: “Sure, but before that, Mahito, don’t you think you should reflect on yourself a bit?”

Mahito’s smile froze: “?”

Huh?

“Reflect on what?”

His voice carried a hint of irritation.

He genuinely couldn’t think of anything.

Since the day he was born, “reflect” wasn’t even in Mahito’s dictionary.

Seeing him take the bait, Lin Ge pointed at his empty teacup, going full dad-mode CCTV on him: “Do I really have to spell it out? A polite Cursed Spirit would jump up to refill someone’s empty cup. But you? Not only are you clueless, while everyone’s working together for a better tomorrow, you’re just thinking about your own stuff.”

“Mahito.” Lin Ge’s voice grew heavy.

“You gonna keep being like this? You’re already kinda dim, and if you keep this up, who’s gonna like you?”

Glancing at the stunned Jogo and Hanami, Lin Ge went on: “Jogo and Hanami think so too, right? Mahito’s always wrecking stuff you guys like. Such a big Cursed Spirit, and you can’t even pour tea.”

Suddenly dragged into it.

Jogo: “…”

Hanami: “…”

Something feels… off.

But… Nidie’s not wrong.

They didn’t like Mahito casually trashing their stuff.

Yup.

…Nidie’s so strong, he’s gotta be right.

With that thought, Jogo and Hanami didn’t argue, nodding in agreement.

Seeing them nod, plus Lin Ge’s rapid-fire lecture, with their sky-high goodwill toward him, Mahito didn’t flip the table and storm off. Instead, his eyes started spinning, totally bamboozled.

But he clung to a shred of logic, muttering: “I don’t even like tea, and I’m not interested in Jogo’s Curse User stuff… Whether it’s pouring tea or whatever, I don’t need to do any of it…”

“And Jogo and Hanami never poured me tea either.”

Seeing his chance, Lin Ge turned it around, doubling down: “Of course I know.”

Mahito choked.

You know?

You know again?

The next second, the new Special Grade continued:

“Because I know…”

He switched gears: “You said you don’t like tea—can they force you to drink it?”

“Jogo and Hanami are considerate of you, so you gotta be considerate of them, right?”

Jogo, Hanami: “?”

Huh?

We’re that nice?

We’re just finding this out today too.

This feeling… it’s kinda… not bad!

Mahito went quiet: “…”

He snuck a glance at his two comrades and saw agreement on their faces.

Sensing Mahito waver, Lin Ge patted his back: “I don’t usually do this, but since we’re comrades, I’m teaching you.”

“Mahito, I’m doing this for your own good. Don’t you trust me?”

Mahito hesitated for a few seconds before mumbling awkwardly: “…I trust you.”

He gave a reluctant nod.

Under Lin Ge’s encouraging look, Mahito half-understandingly picked up the teapot, pouring tea for Lin Ge, Jogo, and Hanami one by one.

The more he poured, the smoother it got.

It wasn’t as hard as he thought.

A little uncomfortable, sure, but barely noticeable.

Jogo, Hanami: “…”

Their fingers trembled slightly.

Tch, Mahito pouring tea!

Hanami held the cup with both hands, torn over where to start drinking.

Dagon was backstroking in the sea, hyped up.

—

As time ticked by, Jogo accidentally spilled a ton of “top-secret” info.

Couldn’t help it.

Every time he dropped a piece of intel, Lin Ge would hit him with a “Wow, you’re awesome” or “You’re so cool” look, making Jogo float on cloud nine, his goodwill skyrocketing.

Until he’d spilled everything he knew, this sweet interrogation finally wrapped up.

“Ding ding ding ding~”

A phone rang.

Lin Ge’s heart skipped half a beat.

Looking closely, he realized the sound was coming from Jogo.

Right, his own phone was tossed into his portable storage back in the forest with no signal—how could it ring?

Jogo pulled a square thing from his pocket.

Same model as Lin Ge’s.

Obsidian black, triple camera.

Super trendy.

Narrowing his eyes slightly, Lin Ge sipped his tea.

Why’s Jogo got signal?

Jogo didn’t rush to answer.

Noticing Lin Ge seemed curious about the phone, he handed the still-vibrating device over: “Want it?”

Lin Ge didn’t take it, playing dumb: “What’s that?”

Jogo explained: “It’s a phone. That Curse User gave it to me, said it’s for easy contact.”

Then added: “There’s no signal in Dagon’s domain, so to make calls work, I had Dagon carve out a fixed zone where we’re sitting to get reception.”

Lin Ge nodded slowly, a spark of thought flickering. Spiritual energy flared in his left palm.

The next second, under a golden glow, a phone from his portable storage appeared in his hand.

Facing the Cursed Spirits’ amazed stares, Lin Ge casually said: “This is my technique. If I want, I can materialize anything money can buy.”

Heh, he’s such a clever little gremlin!

“Ding ding ding ding!”

Jogo’s phone started ringing again.

Nobody but the Curse User would call him. Jogo pouted, swallowing his urge to gush about how cool Nidie’s technique was, and hit the answer button, grumbling: “What.”

You better have something good!

The other end paused, probably not expecting his tone, then said after a couple seconds:

“Jogo, why so cranky…”

Jogo snorted: “Got something to say?”

He still had to shower Nidie with rainbow praises!

“…I’ve been waiting outside the domain for ten minutes.”

Jogo: “…”

Jogo froze.

He glanced at the time on the screen and, sure enough, they’d passed the agreed time.

—

Outside the domain, like a one-way mirror, the Curse User who’d arranged to meet Jogo was already there, cool as a cucumber.

The Cursed Spirits could see him from inside, but without the domain owner’s permission, he couldn’t see the scenery within.

Lin Ge thought Dagon’s domain was literally super useful.

Wonder if it tastes as good as it works.

The Curse User was pretty good-looking.

Black hair loosely tied back with a band, wearing a fitted coffee-colored turtleneck, sucking on a milk tea straw, slurping up the last pearls.

A jarring stitch line ran across his forehead.

Whoever did the stitching wasn’t great—sloppy work, with the surgical thread blatantly sticking out, looking painful.

For some reason, despite the handsome face, Lin Ge, a total face-con, couldn’t muster any real liking for him.

Like a pot and lid that didn’t quite fit but were forced together.

A weird kind of mismatch.

Lin Ge pulled out his phone, using the privacy screen’s cover to snap a pic of the Curse User and sent it to Strawberry Shortcake, pinned at the top of his chat.

Then he whispered to Jogo: “This is your dream partner?”

His expression was icy, clearly unimpressed.

Jogo hesitated, his brain spinning fast, his inner scales tipping.

The next second, he declared firmly: “No way!”