Chapter 126
The exchange meeting had ended. Although the final match was a bit anticlimactic, it was still Zoro's victory.
Naoya, blushing, sparkled his eyes in front of Toji.
"Toji-kun, Zoro-kun. See you again soon."
"No need, get lost."
Despite Toji's growling demeanor, Naoya bid them farewell with an expression dripping with reluctance. Zoro looked at Naoya with a skeptical gaze.
"Why is he like that?"
"Don't mind him."
Toji hugged Zoro briefly and turned around. It's just fatherly support, support.
While looking around to get the other two kids on the bus, Toji noticed Megumi, Tsumiki, and Gojo playing together.
Megumi, trying to look dignified, reached out his hand and muttered.
"Maximum Cursed— Energy Output…!"
With a hop, Tsumiki appeared from behind Megumi.
"Blue!"
"...."
Already imitating the techniques, it seems they have the makings of sorcerers. Kids. Toji contorted his face in a mix of pleasure and headache.
Gojo was next to them, laughing heartily.
"Hahahaha! Hey, Megumi. When did I ever chant 'Blue' like that? If you say it that way, no technique will come out. Well, even if you say it correctly, you couldn't use Limitless~"
Seeing Gojo sincerely teasing children not even six years old, Toji sighed involuntarily. He rubbed his forehead thinking.
'When will he ever grow up?'
By the looks of it, he might never.
Thump.
Gakuganji placed a hand on Zoro's shoulder as he boarded the bus. Zoro looked back indifferently and said,
"Something to say?"
"You'll be assigned a rank soon."
Zoro made a nonchalant sound in response.
"They hadn't given one until now?"
"We didn't know what kind of person you were."
"And now you do?"
"To some extent."
At the exchange meeting, Zoro openly showed his liking for fighting, but he did not act like a battle maniac who is so absorbed in the desire to win that he fails to recognize his own comrades.
And above all, having seen Zoro fight firsthand.
Seeing the unwavering gray eyes of Zoro, even when facing a much more experienced sorcerer, Gakuganji had no choice but to realize.
'This kid isn't someone who will leave the world of sorcery just because you block or ignore him.'
Over the years, he had met a few sorcerers with eyes similar to Zoro's. As long as they breathed, they never bent their resolve. They were the kind who would rather die than give up and leave.
'If he can't be expelled, then we must clearly define what we can do with him on our side.'
Some staff from the Kyoto Jujutsu High expressed opposition and concern, but Gakuganji thought it couldn't be postponed any longer.
Zoro shrugged.
"Do as you like. So, am I going to get solo missions now?"
"...That depends on the rank you receive."
Low-ranking sorcerers usually need to team up with at least one other person for missions. Of course, due to the chronic manpower shortage characteristic of the sorcery world, this rule isn't always followed.
"Alright, I got it."
Zoro responded calmly. It wasn't particularly surprising. Receiving a rank was inevitable, whether as a sorcerer or a curse users.
As Zoro boarded the bus, the others also took their seats.
Seeing Gojo floating slightly above the seat due to the Limitless, as if sitting on an invisible chair, Geto asked with a wry expression.
"...Satoru, aren't you going to release the Limitless?"
"If I do, I feel like the teachers might kill me."
Having felt a threat to his life after being hit by Yaga, Gojo had been maintaining the Limitless. Toji had also been eyeing the moment to pummel Gojo ever since he used Domain Expansion on Zoro.
Shoko spoke indifferently yet with concern.
"If you keep using Limitless like that, your brain might burn out."
"I'm healing it with a reverse spell, so it's fine. Besides, this way, I can avoid getting hit by Yaga or Teacher Toji for days or even months!"
Yaga glared menacingly at Gojo. Gojo quickly shrank back.
"It's always me getting scolded. Wahh."
"Doesn't it hurt your head to calculate each attack to use Limitless?"
"It's fine. Lately, I've been practicing to select the targets for my spells automatically instead of manually."
His achievements had grown from blocking Yaga's indiscriminate attacks. There were still some mistakes, though.
"At this rate, I might be able to select the targets for Limitless automatically by tomorrow."
Watching the self-assured Gojo, Shoko said to Geto,
"Geto, want to bet? I bet that Satoru won't be able to do it tomorrow."
"Ah?!"
"That's unfair, Shoko. I want to bet that he can't do it too."
"Suguru, you too...! Fine. Let's bet, bet! If I manage to do it tomorrow, you guys owe me a parfait!"
"Deal."
"Deal."
The day after the exchange meeting, Satoru Gojo indeed automated the target selection for the Limitless technique. While Shoko and Geto glowered at him, Gojo happily ate the parfait they bought with their money.
"Sho... ko..."
"I... e... i... ri..."
"...Everyone lie down. One per bed."
Afterward, due to Toji's hellish training, Geto and the first-year students were carried into the infirmary looking like zombies, providing Shoko with a valuable experience in performing the reversal spell on three people at once.
Ultimately, it was an exchange meeting where everyone grew.
...
"Open wide."
"Ah."
As Zoro lay back and opened his mouth wide, the dentist thoroughly examined the inside of his mouth.
This morning, Zoro had brushed his teeth and realized that all his permanent teeth had come in. Toji immediately took him to the dentist upon learning this.
After several examinations, the dentist said in a bewildered voice,
"There's no problem. The size of the permanent teeth is appropriate, and they are well-aligned."
Even as he spoke, his voice betrayed his disbelief. After all, Zoro is only six years old, and normally all permanent teeth come in around the ages of 12 to 13.
Zoro got up from the chair and rinsed his mouth with water from a cup.
'Finally, I can use the three-sword style.'
He had been feeling so frustrated all this time.
Seeing Zoro smile, Toji felt like slapping his own forehead. He knew exactly what that ball of fluff was thinking. He must be planning to hold a sword in his mouth.
'I thought there would be a few more years until all his teeth came in.'
Zoro's growth was much faster than Toji had anticipated.
'I promised, so I can't break it.'
Toji had backstabbed and broken promises countless times in his life, but now the back he had to hit was his own kid's, which was impossible. And Zoro wouldn't just stay quiet about it.
It was a real dilemma. There was nothing Toji could do.
Leaving the dentist and standing alone in a secluded alley with Zoro, Toji knelt down to look him in the eye. Gently stroking his tousled green hair, Toji spoke,
"Do you really have to hold the sword in your mouth?"
"Yeah."
"Sigh... Then, unless it's absolutely necessary, try not to use it."
"It's up to me."
"Hmph."
Where did this little rebel get the nerve? Toji frowned threateningly, but Zoro just laughed.
"Oh, you're laughing?"
"Yeah."
"Why?"
"Your face is funny."
Zoro gently rubbed Toji's forehead with his finger, smoothing out the wrinkles.
"Don't worry, Dad."
I'm going to be the strongest. Zoro declared confidently, without a hint of hesitation.
Toji gazed down at Zoro intently.
'Really?'
Are you going to 'become' the strongest?
...Or have you already 'become' it?
Zoro tilted his head, puzzled by Toji's expression. But before Zoro could fully grasp the emotion that appeared on Toji's face, Toji pulled him into a hug.
His large hand patted Zoro's small back.
"Take care of yourself, son."
"...I'll try."
"That's good."
Toji's voice was oddly deep as he called his little "marimo."
A person who has been in darkness for a long time has no choice but to move towards the only light they see.
...Even if that light is merely bait, shaking to lure in prey.
Even if beyond that light lies a sheer abyss.
Toji recalled a conversation he had overheard a few days ago at the exchange meeting between Gakuganji and a teacher from Kyoto Jujutsu High. They spoke in a building far from others, likely so no one else would hear, but Toji, who was focused, heard everything clearly.
"Principal Gakuganji, are you really planning to recognize that child as a formal sorcerer?"
"He's too powerful to just let roam free. He's not someone who will leave the sorcery world if left alone. Better to teach him from a young age what he should and shouldn't do."
"...I understand your point, sir. But I am scared. Is that child really a sorcerer, no... is he even human like us?"
Toji wanted to rush over and smack that person's head, but he couldn't.
Because he couldn't definitively answer that question himself.
Trying to define or understand Zoro's existence through reason or logic was like trying to fit a wrong part into a machine during assembly; something always felt off. No matter what hypothesis was formed, there would inevitably be contradictions or gaps.
"..."
The only person who might know the contradiction-free answer was none other than Zoro himself.
If Toji had asked, Zoro would probably have answered.
'He's not one to openly talk about it, but he doesn't actively hide it either.'
Especially from his family.
However, Toji couldn't bring himself to ask Zoro.
Because he was afraid.
Not of Zoro, but of himself.
Afraid of what he might do if Zoro turned out to be a different being than he had hoped, that he might casually cast aside a child born of his beloved wife.
...Just like the previous head of the Zenin family.
On the first day of 1985, the day when any faint hope that Toji Zenin could become a sorcerer had vanished, Toji's biological father, the previous head of the Zenin family, threw him into the curses warehouse.
And then he laughed.
It was the first time the previous head had ever laughed while looking at Toji.
Bleeding from his lip, which he had busted on the corner of a stair, Toji looked up at the previous head in a daze as he coldly told him,
"Die here, Toji."
For your sake. And for mine.
Strength entered the arms that held Zoro. The youthful voice of the marimo complaining of suffocation was still delightful to him. It brought Toji relief.
He couldn't let such things happen to him. Never. In Toji's life, filled with all sorts of experiences, this remained one of the most disgusting and degrading memories.
So, Toji chose rather to close his eyes.
As long as he chose not to know about Zoro, such things wouldn't happen.
When he set Zoro down and looked him in the eye, Zoro's gray pupils calmly examined Toji. Behind his impassive face, concern and affection for Toji were evident.
That was enough.
Toji grinned and playfully tapped on Zoro's head with his palm.
"If you ever lose a fight, come to me to ask for revenge. I can at least do that for you as your dad."
"What?!"
Who says I'll lose! Toji vigorously ruffled Zoro's hair as Zoro reacted with indignation. Toji fervently hoped that the days ahead would be just like today.
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