The words hit Akira hard. Since transmigrating, he had lived in a kind of isolation, unable to speak freely about many things and forced to plan everything alone. Over time, he grew used to thinking through everything by himself and trying to cover all angles.

  That brought praise for being reliable from Satoru Gojo and Kento Nanami, trust from his peers, and even jokes from Masamichi Yaga about having more time to drink tea and make dolls. But it also meant constant strain and the habit of taking on too much, a serious flaw in any workplace.

  “I am sorry, Nanami-san,” Akira said. “I was overthinking it. I will not do that again. If I slip up, please point it out.”

  “I will,” Kento Nanami replied flatly. “Think as much as you like, just do not drag me into it. I will only do what is in my job description. Anything else has nothing to do with me, and the people above will not pay me a single extra yen.”

  A worker like Kento Nanami only wanted a peaceful life. When he added, “To be honest, what you do does not matter to me,” Akira pretended not to hear and translated it in his head into a sharp tsundere complaint.

  “Nanami-san, what should we do next?” Akira asked.

  “Wait,” Kento Nanami said. “Wait for the professionals to clean up, wait for them to investigate. Until we get further instructions, focus on practicing ‘Black Flash’. Remember, no matter how strong we become, we are still human, not supermen.”

  The cohabitation of two men began.

  It should be explained that after transmigrating, Akira had mostly lived with women. Back in the Kamo Clan, there were maids to take care of everything, and they did it properly. Just for that alone, his attitude toward the Kamo Clan could never be too hostile, since in his previous twenty-six years he had never enjoyed such Benefits.

  After leaving home, Akemi Aki was female, and Gardevoir was female as well. Thanks to the System clearly showing gender tags, otherwise someone’s mood would have been very awkward, especially at the thought of a Gardevoir with a thick root-like part. Just thinking about it made him click his tongue.

  When he arrived at Tokyo Jujutsu High to live a group life, it turned out not much different from home. The people he was closest to were still not men, since among the first-year students besides Akira, Yuta Okkotsu arrived late, Toge Inumaki could not speak, Panda was not human, and Maki Zenin was female.

  Because of that, Akira had not truly lived with a male Makoto for a long time.

  This long-lost feeling was actually pretty great.

  Do not misunderstand, he was a straight man through and through and had not changed in that regard. Still, talking man to man came with fewer restraints, especially since Akira and Kento Nanami shared a lot of common ground.

  For example, both were working adults, both favored close combat, both were disciplined, and both belonged to the type who knew a bit of everything and made life more interesting that way.

  Every morning without exception, they got up at six.

  After that came an intense bout of physical sparring, blades clashing with enthusiasm. To be clear, Akira’s Cursed Tools was a sword, while Kento Nanami’s Cursed Tools was a chopper several dozen centimeters long. In Japan, blades and swords were not strictly distinguished, so calling it fencing was perfectly fine.

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  After morning training, Kento Nanami would brew coffee and make breakfast. Akira would go out to buy newspapers, then turn on the TV and switch it to NHK.

  During breakfast, the two would browse the news while chatting about whatever came to mind. Astronomy, geography, international affairs, and philosophy all came up. It did not matter if they understood much, since chatting only required something to say.

  Of course, what they talked about most was economics and how to make money.

  After realizing that being a Jujutsu Sorcerer was miserable, Kento Nanami set himself a small goal. He wanted financial freedom, to drop all burdens and properly enjoy life. Even though he later found that working as a Jujutsu Sorcerer still paid better, that goal never changed.

  By coincidence, this was also Akira’s goal.

  Both of them were the type willing to study and willing to act. It was like a meeting of equals, each finding the other a worthy match.

  Kento Nanami taught Akira about venture capital, futures, and securities. In return, Akira talked about cryptocurrency, real estate, and where the next golden age would be, pointing toward the big direction in the Flower-Planting Nation.

  This was not ordinary speculation.

  Although they never said it out loud, both had already decided that even after their cohabitation ended, they would keep in close contact. Making a bit of money together sounded great to both of them.

  That was true even though neither of them urgently craved financial freedom, and neither planned to retire anytime soon.

  Within Japan, the Jujutsu World was quite separated from ordinary society. People like Akira and Kento Nanami who paid attention to the mundane world were actually a minority.

  The simplest example was how extremely dangerous and indestructible Special Grade cursed objects were handled. The Jujutsu World traditionally sealed them in the most heavily guarded place, Lord Tengen’s Tomb of the Star Corridor.

  Akira thought this method was foolish. To him, it looked like setting up a perfect target.

  Makoto wanted to solve the problem once and for all by tying the objects to one of Musk’s rockets and launching them into outer space. If anyone had the ability, they could go to space and look for cursed objects themselves, preferably standing shoulder to shoulder with Kars-sama.

  When it came to differences in viewpoint, both men were able to stay restrained and accept disagreement.

  Just as Akira had noticed before, he had been lonely for a long time. The presence of Kento Nanami filled that emptiness quite well.

  They had only lived together for a few days, yet it felt like they had known each other for years.

  If Japan did not strictly forbid drinking before the age of twenty, the two of them would have already shared drinks together.

  This was the friendship of working adults.

  Interestingly enough, on the fifth day of two working adults living together, a third working adult arrived.

  He was from Tokyo Jujutsu High, an Assistant Supervisor named Kiyotaka Ijichi.

  When Akira saw him, Kiyotaka Ijichi was standing at the door of Kento Nanami’s residence, holding a stack of documents. He looked like he wanted to ring the doorbell but did not quite dare, his whole posture timid and unsure.

  “Ijichi-san.”

  “Eek!” Kiyotaka Ijichi shuddered violently, nearly dropping the documents in his arms. It took him a while to recover. “S-so it’s Akira. Don’t scare me like that…”

  “Sorry about that,” Akira said. “I just came back from training and didn’t notice.”

  Practicing Black Flash could not be done at home. There was a professional training ground near Nanami’s place, and Akira had been practicing there recently.

  Every day he threw thousands of punches, seeking that moment of perfect synchronization that would produce a flash.

  “Are you here to see Nanami-san?” Akira asked. “He went out to do a sweep and should be back around five.”

  A sweep was a term the two working adults used for scheduled patrols to clear out Cursed Spirit. Aside from students of Tokyo Jujutsu High, almost all Jujutsu Sorcerer had assigned districts like this.

  This was also the most routine work of a Jujutsu Sorcerer.

  If it were classmates like Maki Zenin or Panda, Akira would go along and let Gardevoir or Pancham gain experience. With Kento Nanami, however, things were different. He took his assigned duties very seriously, so Akira could only give up and focus on practicing Black Flash.

  At most, he prepared lunch and dinner, treating it as rent and tuition.

  When Kiyotaka Ijichi heard Kento Nanami mentioned, he shuddered again, his head shaking so much it was unclear whether he was nodding or shaking his head.

  Seeing this, Akira sighed. To push the gentlest and most honest supervisor like Kiyotaka Ijichi into this state, there could only be one culprit.

  “Did Gojo-sensei make you do something difficult again?”