Naoya Zenin walked into the cafeteria.
Under normal circumstances, he would never eat at Jujutsu High's cafeteria. For the original owner of this body, a pampered young noble, competing with students and teachers for food was obviously beneath him.
But there was nothing he could do about today.
He had gotten up at four-thirty in the morning for high-intensity training. Right after finishing, Yuki Tsukumo had blocked him at his door. He had only just managed to get rid of that blonde bombshell, then rushed to school in a hurry, only to find Momo Nishimiya and chamaru reenacting Classroom of the Elite with a full-blown freak showdown, nearly sending Kasumi Miwa to the ICU with his own hands.
Now everything had finally settled down.
Even an iron man like Naoya Zenin was starting to find hunger hard to endure.
He wanted to eat.
For a Special Grade 1 Sorcerer, admitting sothing that straightforward was a little undignified.
But he really was hungry.
And besides, during that eting in the detention room, Naoya Zenin had realized that the original body's reputation in Kyoto was truly awful. A lot of the school's more influential teachers had grudges against him.
Not that he planned to flatter any of them.
Still, they were colleagues he would be working with from now on, so maintaining decent relations mattered.
At the very least, he needed to stay in the loop when it ca to the jujutsu world's latest turmoil.
Compared to the old-fashioned, feudal Zenin clan, information circulated much more efficiently at the younger, more open Jujutsu High. The gossip pipeline was faster too.
And it was not even difficult.
As long as Naoya Zenin sat there quietly and ate, the other teachers would find their own topics and start talking among themselves.
Even if ninety percent of it was useless, the remaining ten percent would always include sothing worth hearing.
"...I'm full. I'll be going now."
"Huh? You barely touched your food."
"Uh, Utahi-sensei, sorry, I have to go too. I just rembered I haven't finished preparing my lesson plan, so I need to get back to work."
"But you don't have any classes this afternoon, do you?!"
"What?! You're saying my mom got in a car accident and is in the hospital?! I'm coming right now!!!"
"Hey! Are you okay?!"
But the mont Naoya Zenin sat down with his tray, the teachers at the next table suddenly broke out in cold sweats as if they were facing so deadly enemy. One by one, they each pulled their own escape act and fled on the spot.
Only the shrine maiden teacher was left sitting there alone, staring at the table full of food in fatal silence.
"Um, Zenin-sensei, you don't mind if I join you, do you?"
So Utahi Iori turned toward Naoya Zenin, who was quietly eating, and awkwardly invited herself over.
"As you like."
Naoya Zenin was already thinking about Cursed Technique Reversal, so it did not matter much to him that the other teachers had all left today. The peace and quiet was welco enough.
As for whether Utahi Iori would annoy him, honestly, Naoya Zenin did not find her irritating at all.
If anything, she was the kind of person who naturally livened up a room.
At heart, she was just a good woman who genuinely cared about her students. That optimistic warmth and positive energy of hers made her one of the jujutsu world's few actual normal people.
But it was exactly because Utahi Iori was too normal that her strength was lousy and she could only play support.
It could not be helped.
In this insane world, if you wanted to beco strong, you had to beco a little insane yourself.
"Zenin-sensei, first of all, I owe you a sincere apology. I've had a very bad stereotype of you this whole ti, which is why I went all the way to your office that day and said those strange things to you."
Unexpectedly, the first thing Utahi Iori did after sitting down was bow deeply and apologize with utmost seriousness.
"I never thought you'd speak up to protect chamaru today, especially with so many teachers objecting. I always thought you were that arrogant, cold-blooded, an-spirited young master from the Zenin clan people talk about, but today I realized I was completely wrong. You're actually such a caring teacher who really looks out for his students!!!"
The shrine maiden kept her head lowered, her bangs partly hiding her expression, her voice full of guilt and embarrassnt.
Naoya Zenin's hand paused for half a second on his chopsticks. His gaze stayed fixed on the tempura in his tray, and he could not even be bothered to look up at her. His tone was as flat as if he were comnting on the weather.
"Stereotype?"
He gave a light, lazy scoff.
"There are barely any decent people in the Zenin clan to begin with. Thinking that way is only natural."
"But you're different, Zenin-sensei! You're nothing like those old fossils in the Zenin clan! I think you're actually a really good man! Back then, you definitely noticed the look I was giving you—!"
"Idiot."
Naoya Zenin finally turned his eyes toward her, giving her a cold glance that cut off the shrine maiden's stream of praise.
His features were sharp, his arrogance inborn.
"I have no interest in playing so reford saint. I did not do it for you, and even less for those students. If chamaru really got expelled, the one who would end up inconvenienced would be . I only chose to keep him because that brat still has so use left in him."
The nobleman's words were blunt and ruthless, leaving no room for sentint.
"As for opposing all those teachers? Since when have I ever cared about the opinions of trash?"
"Uh..."
Utahi Iori's sincere smile froze.
No, seriously, what kind of monster was Naoya Zenin?
Last ti, he had gone on about how Zenin Mai was half his life and acted like a few threatening words from her would make him unleash the dark side of the Zenin clan.
And this ti she was clearly praising him, so why had it ended exactly the sa way as last ti?
Was this man really impervious to both kindness and hostility?
Was this what a deranged siscon freak looked like?
"E-even so, I still have to thank you. You protected my student. chamaru is a good kid. He's absolutely not the kind of person Gojo said he was, soone who looks down on his comrades. I'd stake my whole career on that!"
...So the good kid from your school is spying inside Jujutsu High and leaking all your intel?
Naoya Zenin watched Utahi Iori thump her chest proudly and thought she was just like those teachers who would endure every humiliation for their students' futures, accept so evil deal from the principal, co staggering back to the classroom with both legs shaking, only to find that all their students had been gossiping behind their backs about how they were an old hag who would never get married.
Did she get the picture?
Naoya Zenin could not be bothered to argue with Utahi Iori.
He lowered his head, picked up a piece of sushi, and absentmindedly tasted the fresh flavor on his tongue, while his mind rapidly replayed that strange sensation from earlier.
If Projection Sorcery really had a Cursed Technique Reversal, then what exactly would that effect be?
Judging from how the explosion had been blocked earlier, the key did not seem to be the reversal of acceleration, but the reversal of freezing.
In other words, had that one-second freeze produced the Cursed Technique Reversal?
...He still could not picture the exact effect of the technique.
After all, in the original story, Naoya Zenin had never co into contact with the concept of Cursed Technique Reversal. This was completely outside his knowledge.
Utahi Iori simply ate quietly beside him, sneaking a glance at the cold-faced man eating in silence. Looking at his handso face, the corners of her mouth slowly curled upward.
Maybe eating with Naoya Zenin was not as terrifying as the rumors made it sound.
And this guy really was good-looking. She even had more of an appetite now.
Could he actually be the type who was all bark and secretly soft-hearted?
Had he only called her ugly in front of other people because he was secretly shy?
If that were really the case...
A bold thought suddenly popped into Utahi Iori's mind.
Then maybe marrying Naoya Zenin would not be such a bad option after all?
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