"In that case, I'll leave the rest to Seele-chan."
Gojo Satoru smiled, then glanced at the time: "9:42 PM, huh. Looks like we still have plenty of time."
Yuji caught on to the situation too. Though still a bit dazed after the big fight, his eyes widened sharply.
"It's already this late!? We need to move quickly, Sensei! There's still a bunch of cursed spirits outside that need exorcising!"
"Do you have something urgent going on?" Amber was confused by their reactions.
The Herrscher of Sentience couldn't be bothered to guess and just read the answer directly, stating bluntly, "I've got other amusements to find, so I won't play with you lot anymore!"
Finished speaking, she didn't even look at their expressions before leaving the spot.
"It's a very big, very urgent matter!" Yuji Itadori's face was anxious. "Darn it, why did things have to go wrong today of all days! Those guys really know how to pick their timing!"
"Don't rush, don't rush. We still have lots of time~" Gojo Satoru flashed his phone screen, showing a pre-booked luxury private room.
"I booked it for the whole night, so no need to worry~"
"But we have to finish before tomorrow arrives!" Yuji, however, didn't want to waste any time.
He clenched his fists together, his expression brimming with fighting spirit once more. "Exorcising the curses, plus travel time, we need to get it all done within two hours!"
Watching the two of them run off into the distance in perfect sync to hunt curses, Amber, though still puzzled, didn't get a chance to ask.
Since she originally intended to deal with the cursed spirits anyway, she joined the curse extermination battle.
The Night Parade of a Hundred Demons in Shibuya didn't cause massive casualties.
This wasn't just because Jogo, Hanami, and the self-aware special grades were sealed within the barriers, losing their control over the lesser curses and their curse energy supply, but also because a powerful sorcerer like Gojo and herself were present.
The power of the Stigmata was fully revealed in this battle.
As long as they had cursed energy, they could maintain their stamina, turning the Jujutsu High members into veritable fighting machines.
This was especially true for Maki, who, with her Heavenly Restriction, had a natural advantage in close combat.
With a literal 'fountain' of energy on her back, her fighting never stopped. She even managed to hold back one special grade and three first grades simultaneously.
Inumaki's performance was also remarkable. The biggest flaw of Cursed Speech wasn't a lack of curse energy, but the strain on his throat and the backlash.
But with the Stigmata acting as a mobile recovery spring, he could use all the curse energy he normally couldn't expend to heal his throat, effectively becoming a mobile artillery tower—whoever he looked at died.
With so many new combatants, plus the sorcerers who had already been stationed and ready outside the barriers, it was only natural the crisis was resolved quickly.
After all, Jogo never expected these cursed spirits to accomplish much anyway; he just used them as a diversion for his own agenda.
After dealing with these curses, everyone knew something major was about to happen in the jujutsu world.
After all, everyone knew the higher-ups' orders this time were to send only two people into the barrier, fully aware it was a trap for Gojo Satoru and Seele Vollerei.
Their intention was far too obvious. Gojo Satoru wouldn't let this matter just slide.
However, the students of Tokyo Jujutsu High didn't really have the leisure to ponder this.
By the time they all arrived by car at the room Gojo had booked in advance, the clock showed 11:55 PM.
Nobara, who was keeping a close eye on the time, wore a frantic expression as she rummaged wildly through Fushiguro's shadow, loudly scolding him for stuffing everything and anything in there.
Fushiguro, on the other hand, was a bit speechless, thinking Nobara was being too impatient.
His attitude only earned him more intense scolding from Nobara: "If I'm not the first one, doesn't that mean I'm falling behind everyone else!?"
He immediately abandoned his original thought of helping her retrieve the item directly and just quietly watched her performance.
Yuji and Gojo, after ushering everyone into the room, immediately went back out. The only ones left who could properly talk with Amber were the three second-years.
"Why is everyone suddenly in such a rush?" Sensing there was something she was unaware of, Amber asked puzzledly, "We can have sukiyaki later, can't we?"
"While that's true, this sukiyaki... no, it's not just the meal, this occasion is special." Maki, however, didn't seem inclined to clear up the mystery.
She just smiled at Amber, deepening her confusion, before turning to Fushiguro. "How long are you two going to play around?"
Hearing the senior's urging, Fushiguro finally commanded his Divine Dog to fetch a large bag. It was stuffed full, but its contents weren't visible.
"You used such a tacky, lame bag for my present... my stuff!?" Nobara yelled angrily.
"..." Fushiguro knew he had no common ground with her on this topic and simply remained silent.
"The dashingly handsome Gojo-sensei has arrived~" Just then, the sound of the door opening came from the entrance. Gojo Satoru pushed a small cart directly into the room. On it stood a massive, ten-tiered cake tower, covered all over with candles.
Yuji followed closely behind, pulling the string on a party popper that burst forth with a shower of colorful confetti.
"This is...?" Amber was stunned. A cake with candles? Was it someone's birthday today? But birthday cake with sukiyaki... was that combination really okay?
"Happy birthday, Seele-chan!" Seeing Amber's dumbfounded look, Yuji's smile widened. "Haha, I never thought Seele-chan wouldn't have noticed at all."
"Hey! You! Who said you could go first!?" Nobara, finally having managed to fish out the gift from the bag, glared fiercely at Yuji before quickly stepping up to Amber.
"This is a face mask I picked out specially! Seele-chan, you're already super cute, but using this will definitely captivate thousands, men and women alike!"
"Huh...?" Amber numbly accepted the gift box from Nobara.
My birthday... Ah, if it's past midnight, then it really is October 18th... But...
Although in various stories, Amber had seen good friends gathering together, exchanging birthday wishes and gifts, this was her first time truly experiencing it...
It wasn't that she'd never received gifts before, but they were always things like property she could never live in, or jewelry she could never wear.
To be honest, she didn't really have a concrete feeling that birthdays were supposed to be happy, nor did she think a birthday was particularly worth remembering.
"For a jujutsu sorcerer, that's a pretty ordinary gift," Panda commented.
"What's wrong with that? Besides, Seele-chan is so strong, giving her jujutsu-related stuff would be useless anyway!" Nobara didn't see any problem with it.
"My gift is this." Fushiguro brought out the gift box he had prepared.
He originally intended to let Amber open it herself, but since Nobara had been so direct, he followed suit. "It's a fountain pen. You've been studying hard lately."
Compared to Nobara's gift chosen based on personal preference, Fushiguro's was clearly chosen based on the girl's recent activities.
"Mine is a video player and some DVDs." Yuji rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, feeling a bit like he was corrupting a good kid, but he said it anyway.
"You've been studying and training non-stop lately, Seele-chan. I thought it might be nice to relax and watch some movies sometimes."
As he spoke, he held the items out to the girl, but his expression changed when he saw her face.
"Seele-chan!?" Yuji exclaimed in shock, nearly dropping the gift.
"Hey!? What did you do to make Seele cry!?" Nobara promptly kicked him.
None of them actually thought it was Yuji's fault; they weren't idiots. Tears weren't only for sadness—they happened when one was happy too.
But that didn't mean they could just do nothing. Nobara's quick-witted, on-the-spot reaction made Yuji snap back to reality.
He put on an expression of shock and grievance, like a wronged young maiden who'd been abandoned. "Eh... It's my fault...?"
Seeing this, Amber, thinking Nobara had misunderstood, quickly pulled herself out of her emotions and tried to explain, "It's not Yuji-senpai's fault. It's me... I just didn't process it..."
Everyone was a bit surprised, yet found it normal, that the girl adjusted her emotions so quickly.
Yuji dropped his playful act. He didn't know why the girl's emotions would fluctuate so violently over birthday gifts, but that didn't stop him, or the others, from comforting her.
"It's normal not to have processed it. It was a surprise we sprung on you, after all. If anything, Seele-chan's reaction is the best possible one! It makes us feel accomplished!"
Yuji reassured her with a smile. "Besides, the chance to see a Seele-chan like this might only come once."
"After all, we'll do this every year from now on. Seele-chan will definitely be used to it by then."
Every year...
That word left Amber at a loss for words. The complicated emotions made her brain struggle to process things for a moment, but... she truly felt a surge of anticipation well up inside her, a yearning for the life to come.
Happy birthday.
--+--
Everyone was waiting for Gojo Satoru's counterattack against the higher-ups. But to everyone's surprise, the matter really was just let go that easily.
Not only did Gojo Satoru not throw a fit, he instead brought gifts and, together with Seele Vollerei, paid personal visits to each of the jujutsu society elders.
Those who didn't understand the power of a special grade thought Gojo had finally realized the elders were untouchable and had capitulated.
But those familiar with Gojo, and those who understood the weight of a special grade, knew that with his personality and strength, compromise with these elders was impossible.
Had they reached some kind of cooperation? Or had they cleared up their misunderstandings?
After several days of speculation, everyone collectively decided this was just a surface calm, and undercurrents were surely swirling beneath.
This belief lasted a week... two weeks... a month... three months.
Everyone was full of confusion about why these 'undercurrents' remained under for so long, but they could also see the elders tilt more benefits towards Jujutsu High and becoming more generous with the distribution of jujutsu world resources.
Just why had things turned out like this?
No one could understand what had happened. The only thing clear was that the current jujutsu world seemed... a little less heartless than before.
--+--
T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.