Tokyo, Shinjuku.
Toji was walking with gumi and Tsumiki, heading toward the comrcial district.
He hadn't had any classes in the past few days, and Satoru, now tagging along with Choso, no longer ca to pick fights with him. As a result, he had been quite idle lately.
Originally, Toji had planned to pass the ti by watching TV at ho.
However, Minako had announced she was doing a thorough cleaning today and that his presence would only get in the way.
So, she entrusted the two kids to him, asking him to take them out to play.
As they walked, gumi glanced at a park by the roadside.
More precisely, he was looking at the swings in the park.
They had been walking for a long ti with Toji. gumi was still fine, but Tsumiki was clearly getting a bit tired.
"Want to play on the swing?"
Toji noticed gumi had stopped and turned to ask.
"No need, just sitting down for a bit is fine."
gumi recalled a scene from last year.
Back then, Toji had also taken him out to play.
gumi had been a bit down when he saw that all the swings were occupied.
But Toji had taken out the Chain of a Thousand Miles and tied a makeshift swing to a nearby tree.
Then, gumi had flown up, down, up, down in Toji's hands.
The surrounding kids, seeing him constantly flying into the sky, all ran to their fathers enviously.
"Dad, I want to play that."
"No, it's too dangerous."
"Is that kid okay? Should we call the police?"
The children's requests were t with firm rejections, and their parents imdiately took them and left.
"Huh?"
Toji looked around, confused at the suddenly empty park.
"The swings are free. Let's go play on those."
Toji didn't think too deeply about why everyone had suddenly left.
He just saw that the swings were now available and casually untied gumi, then walked over with him to play on a regular swing.
"No, I'm good."
gumi now wore a blank expression, trying to suppress his wildly beating heart.
'Swings are terrifying.'
gumi thought to himself, trembling slightly.
The mory ended, and his body involuntarily shivered.
"Tired?"
Toji looked at him, then at Tsumiki.
He squatted down and picked up both kids, one in each arm.
They instinctively wrapped their arms around his neck.
"We're almost at the restaurant. You can rest once we get there."
Toji's strength was impressive, and his arms were thick with muscle.
The two children sat securely as he carried them.
Soon after, at the entrance of a children's amusent park.
Toji spotted soone he hadn't seen in a long ti.
"Long ti no see, Toji."
Suguru, holding a young girl in each hand, nodded slightly in greeting.
"Oh, it's you. You're that... guy with the weird bangs?"
Toji tilted his head, eyes narrowing to dots.
Suguru kept a smile on his face, but his brow twitched slightly.
'I haven't been back to Jujutsu High for PE class in a while. I guess I'll make up for it this ti.'
"I'm Suguru. Are those your kids? They're pretty cute."
He smiled as he spoke.
"Hmm, but didn't you not have kids last year? They've grown this much in just one year?"
Suguru couldn't tell if Toji was ssing with him or just not thinking at all.
"They're my adopted daughters, Nanako and Mimiko. Let's talk inside."
Once they were inside, they ordered four kids' als and two adult als.
The children dug in happily.
"Eat slowly. Don't choke. Mimiko, don't spill food."
Suguru tended to the two girls sitting on either side of him, patiently guiding them.
On the other hand, Toji was completely relaxed.
He casually forked a takoyaki and popped it into his mouth, showing no sign of managing the children.
He didn't need to, either. gumi and Tsumiki were quietly focused on their als, eating bite by bite.
Tsumiki even helped wipe food from the corner of Toji's mouth from ti to ti.
It was clear they were well-behaved and mature.
After the four kids finished eating, they went to the nearby amusent park to play.
Suguru let out a small sigh of relief.
"I didn't expect your kids to be this well-behaved. How do you usually teach them?"
He leaned on one hand and chatted with Toji, occasionally glancing toward the children playing.
"I don't really manage them. They just do whatever they want."
Toji replied indifferently.
"Huh? If you don't manage them, aren't you afraid they'll get hurt?"
Suguru looked at him in surprise.
"Not long ago, Nanako and Mimiko were jumping around on the bed and fell off. They cried for ages. Ever since then, I've had to tell them bedti stories and wait for them to fall asleep before I can leave."
"Oh, that."
Toji thought back to gumi crawling around on the bed and falling off.
After that happened a few tis, Toji started using the Chain of a Thousand Miles to tie gumi to the bed.
The next day, a new rule was added to the Fushiguro family household—children must not be tied up with chains.
On the third day, Minako added another rule: sticking children to the wall with tape is also forbidden.
"Just take safety precautions. That's enough."
Toji said flatly.
"I see. We've been moving around a lot for charity events, so things aren't exactly stable."
In recent months, Suguru had been traveling around the world with his team for charitable causes.
Those genuine acts of kindness, along with the team's occasional spiritual and practical lessons, had changed him quite a bit.
"By the way, how old is gumi now?"
"Age?"
Toji thought for a mont.
"Probably five or six, I guess."
'Probably…'
Suguru had t people who didn't know their own age before, but this was his first ti eting soone who didn't know their child's age.
"So he's already that age? Has he awakened his Technique yet?"
Nanako and Mimiko had just awakened their Techniques recently.
If gumi was five or six, he should be nearing that stage too.
Normally, sorcerers awaken their Techniques between ages four and six.
"Oh, this year. It's the Ten Shadows Technique."
Toji stirred the drink in his cup with a spoon, looking bored.
"Huh?"
Had he awakened it or not?
Fortunately, Toji followed up with an explanation.
"That guy said gumi will awaken the Ten Shadows Technique this year, and then he'll take him in and guide him."
Draining his drink, Toji glanced at the nu, bored, wondering whether to order sothing else.
"What about you? Why are you back this ti?"
"For the graduation ceremony."
Suguru seed to rember sothing pleasant. A smile appeared on his face.
"Graduation ceremony? Jujutsu High has sothing like that?"
Toji looked up in surprise.
He'd been at Jujutsu High for two years, but this was the first he'd heard of it.
There had been an entrance ceremony where so of the seniors spontaneously held a welco event for the newcors.
"Eichi said he wanted to hold one, to celebrate all of us graduating together, not a single one missing."
(To be continued.)
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