Who Doesn’t Go a Little Nuts at Work?

Borrowing the rearview mirror, Ijichi Kiyotaka swallowed hard with difficulty.

No matter how he looked—sideways, up, or down…

But just now, under the pretense of taking a selfie, he’d sneakily aimed his phone at this guy for a quick scan. The camera caught him clear as day…

If he showed up on camera, he definitely wasn’t a curse spirit.

Maybe his technique was just… special?

…Man, this guy’s presence was seriously intense.

It felt like sharing a car with a Special Grade Cursed Spirit.

Ijichi pressed his lips tight.

This guy’s last name… Lin?

Gojo-sensei had hopped into a colleague’s car with the “cursed object” all sorted out, but before he left, he told Ijichi to take Lin-sensei to a convenience store to grab some daily necessities.

And—get this—somehow, the moment Gojo-sensei was gone, Ijichi’s phone pinged with orders from the Supervisory Department. They’d gotten wind of something, no clue how.

First, they wanted him to write up a report on today’s events. Second, they told him to keep a close eye on this Lin-sensei guy and, if possible, dig up some “useful intel” from him.

Useful intel…

Who even knows what kind of info the higher-ups think is “useful”?

Ijichi Kiyotaka was freaking out.

He felt like a double agent or something.

Every day, stuck between the higher-ups and Gojo-sensei, like a cream-filled cookie just waiting to get squashed.

This job? It was basically prison.

Even if he did get some intel to report to the Supervisory Department, the second Gojo-sensei found out…

Hearing the faint sound of media playing from the back seat, Ijichi let out a barely audible sigh.

Being human was hard.

This vibe was terrifying.

They weren’t seriously gonna ride all the way to the drop-off without saying a single word, were they?

—

“So… Lin-sensei, you watching a livestream or something?” Ijichi psyched himself up, scrambling for a conversation starter.

He could hear someone chattering away on the phone, but since it wasn’t in Japanese, he couldn’t make heads or tails of it.

…Some kind of encrypted call?

Lin Ge looked up and said, “Yup!”

This guy seemed like one of those polished white-collar types. Was Lin Ge’s livestream bothering him?

“Am I being too loud? I can turn it down,” Lin Ge offered, sounding genuinely apologetic.

Seeing him actually willing to chat, Ijichi breathed a sigh of relief and quickly waved it off. “No, no, it’s fine!”

Then, testing the waters, he added, “So… what kind of livestream is it?”

“Relationship stuff,” Lin Ge said, his eyes crinkling with a smile. “Like, how to get closer to someone, that kinda thing.”

Gotta cram for this, you know?

No clue what Strawberry Shortcake was gonna talk about tonight.

He wanted to be prepared.

Lin Ge was ready to tackle this with the same energy he’d brought to last life’s college entrance exams.

Exams, love—both were huge deals that could shape his whole life!

“Oh, you stressing over a partner or something?” Ijichi asked casually.

They hit a red light just then, so he stopped the car and turned around, flashing Lin Ge a friendly grin.

When Lin Ge saw him smiling, he politely returned a smile of his own, looking a bit surprised. “Do I look like I’m in a relationship?”

Could it be… the stinky-sweet vibe of love is already oozing off me so much that other people can smell it?!

Oh man, how embarrassing!

It’s gonna make me all floaty and dreamy!

Ijichi Kiyotaka: “…”

He pushed up his glasses.

Normally, single folks don’t watch those kinds of livestreams, right?

Leaning back a bit, remembering the mission the higher-ups had dumped on him, Ijichi went along with it. “Kinda…”

Last life, he was slaughtering pigs; this life, he’s stuck as an assistant supervisor.

Turning off his phone screen, Lin Ge’s expression softened. “Nah, not really,” he said.

“But I’ve got someone I like right now, and I’m stressing over how to win them over.”

Ijichi mentally jotted down this tidbit.

Guess he’d use that to report back.

He figured.

—

At the supermarket closest to Tokyo Jujutsu High School, they grabbed some everyday essentials. Ijichi glanced at his wristwatch and said, “Did Gojo-sensei mention where you’re staying for now, Lin-sensei?”

Back then, he’d been too busy fighting nausea alongside his colleague, shoveling up that talking brain-flower mess, so he hadn’t caught everything Gojo-sensei said.

Carrying the shopping bags, Lin Ge fished a key out of his pocket, trying hard to keep his tone from sounding too braggy. “…He said to wait for him in his room for now.”

He’d even gotten the key! Rounding up, wasn’t that basically the same as being married?

He was over the moon.

Ijichi: “.”

His face went blank.

It suddenly hit him that something felt… off.

Didn’t Tokyo Jujutsu High School have a ton of empty dorms?

The government shelled out plenty of funding every year, so even if those rooms sat empty, professional cleaners kept them spotless. You could move in with just a bag.

If even he knew that, there’s no way Gojo-sensei didn’t.

Thinking back to how Lin Ge was watching relationship livestreams the second he got in the car, plus admitting he was chasing someone, and combining that with Gojo Satoru’s attitude and actions… Ijichi’s mind started piecing together a wild guess.

…No way, right?

He shook his head quickly, feeling like he’d probably just gone loopy from work.

If you’re working every day, going a little nuts is normal, right?

Hahaha!

“…I’ll drop you off then!”

But for some reason, he failed to start the car twice in a row.

Ijichi: “…”

One of these days, he was gonna ditch this junky manual transmission car!

—

After dropping Lin Ge off, Ijichi peeled out in his manual-transmission clunker.

It stalled twice and he even swerved into an S-shape.

Watching him drive off, Lin Ge stayed quiet.

How’d this guy even get a driver’s license with those skills?

He didn’t dwell on it—after all, he and Ijichi weren’t exactly close. With a spring in his step, he headed upstairs.

Click.

The key turned in the lock.

Gojo Satoru’s room looked about the same as last time—just a few pieces of furniture, the floor so clean and shiny you couldn’t spot a single footprint.

Like he was scoping out his future territory, Lin Ge’s gaze carefully, greedily took in every inch of the place.

Actually, there were some changes.

There was a new chair. A full-length mirror had been hung on the wall by the door.

The table was covered with a light-colored tablecloth now, and in the center sat a vase with a small, elegant bunch of flowers.

Lin Ge didn’t know much about flowers and couldn’t name these.

They were pretty, though.

Strawberry Shortcake sure had taste.

In his head, he gave his usual blind praise.

Maybe it was a shift in mindset, but Lin Ge stood at the doorway, hesitating for a few seconds, unable to lift his foot.

—He was worried about dirtying the spotless floor.

It wasn’t until he bought a pair of indoor slippers from the shop Summoning, picked them up from the mail, and changed into them outside that he finally stepped cautiously inside.

The room still carried the same scent as Gojo Satoru—sweet and fragrant, like taking one whiff was enough to hook you, like chewing Xuánmài gum. You just couldn’t stop.

Thinking back to last time when he’d nearly gnawed on the table and got caught red-handed, Lin Ge covered his face. Even now, he could still feel the awkwardness and panic from that moment.

He tiptoed over to the new chair and sat down.

Curiously squeezing the armrests, that sweet, tempting scent kept sneaking into his nose, whispering wordless allure, making him fidget like he was sitting on pins and needles.

So… just wait around?

Good thing he wasn’t hungry.

Opening his phone, he saw the relationship streamer he’d been watching in the car had gone offline. Bored, Lin Ge scrolled through a few love-advice vloggers’ videos, but they all seemed to say the same stuff.

Be loyal, stay committed, have perseverance…

Lin Ge nodded to himself, totally confident.

That’s me to a T!

Create romance, make surprises, learn to give…

That part was a bit unfamiliar, but he could learn!

The vloggers’ captions were all pretty much the same.

Like they’d been churned out by the same content farm.

Ten minutes later, Lin Ge was tearing it up in the gaming canyon.

—

Nine p.m.

Standing at the door, Gojo Satoru let his shoulders slump for a moment before straightening up again.

He’d reburied that person’s body.

Someone who should’ve been resting peacefully underground had been dug up and used. No way this wasn’t tied to the inner workings of the Jujutsu world.

Middle management, higher-ups, whatever.

Anyone involved in this mess—he’d make every single one of those power-drunk idiots regret it.

That disgusting blob had called itself Kensuo.

Funny thing is, the Supervisory Department actually demanded he hand Kensuo over.

Their reasoning? Kensuo was “precious.”

Gojo Satoru thought they were seriously losing the plot, acting like they were hot stuff.

Treating a feather like a royal decree, thinking they’re the main course.

He’d gone straight to the Supervisory Department and had a “friendly” chat with those self-important old mandarins.

During it, he stared at their wrinkled, aging faces, watching panic and fear creep into their eyes because of him.

In the end, all he felt was boredom and amusement.

They were actually scared.

On his way back to Tokyo Jujutsu High School, thinking about Lin Ge waiting for him in the dorm, Gojo Satoru swung by a random barbecue joint and packed up two big bags of skewers.

After hesitating for a couple of seconds, he grabbed a few bottles of chilled drinks and beer too.

He pushed open the door.

Seeing Lin Ge sitting in the new chair he’d bought, their eyes locked, and Lin Ge broke into a dazzling smile.

“You’re back!”

Gojo Satoru froze for a second.

Catching his reflection in the wall mirror out of the corner of his eye, he realized he was smiling too.

“…Yeah.”

His voice softened without him realizing.

“I’m back.”

—

“All taken care of?” Lin Ge asked.

The shop had thrown in some tinfoil. Lin Ge spread it out on the table, and together with Gojo Satoru, they started unpacking the skewers from the takeout boxes.

They were still steaming hot, clearly just grilled and teleported back in a flash.

When he got to the bag of chilled beer and drinks, Lin Ge got a little excited.

Whoa, barley juice!

Did this mean he could use “can’t handle his liquor” as an excuse later to fake a drunken frenzy and get all clingy with Strawberry Shortcake?

As for whether he’d get called out…

Hey, alcohol tolerance can change!

Just ‘cause it hasn’t happened doesn’t mean it can’t!

“Still a bit left to do,” Gojo Satoru said.

Noticing Lin Ge hogging all the ice-cold beers, Gojo Satoru reached over with a grin and snagged a can. “You claiming territory, Lin Ge?”

Lin Ge gave him a skeptical look.

Didn’t he say he didn’t like it?

“You can drink this stuff?” he asked.

Grabbing two glass cups from the cabinet, Gojo Satoru first filled them with iced cola, then popped open the beer can, carefully pouring just a tiny bit in.

The golden liquid mixed with the cola, fizzing and bubbling up.

Gojo Satoru: “Yup.”

He sounded kinda proud of it.

Lin Ge: “…”

If this was anyone else, he’d tell them not to fake it and go sit at the kids’ table.

But this was Strawberry Shortcake!

“Impressive,” Lin Ge said, giving him a thumbs-up.

Praise and done.

“…So half-hearted,” Gojo Satoru muttered.

Then, glancing up at him, he swirled the glass, took a small sip.

The next second, he stuck out his tongue in disgust.

So gross.

It ruined the cola’s sweetness—tasted like herbal medicine.

Seeing his reaction, Lin Ge wanted to laugh but also found it adorable. It took everything to hold it in. “If you don’t like it, don’t drink it.”

He! Actually! Stuck! Out! His! Tongue!

At that, Gojo Satoru seemed to take it as a challenge, chugging a big gulp from the glass.

The cup was empty in a flash.

Licking the “herbal medicine” off his lips, Gojo Satoru frowned and said, “It’s whatever.”

Lin Ge played along, clapping with genuine enthusiasm. “Wow!”