"You guys get worked up way too easily."
By the bar, Akira Zenin sat on a stool, holding a glass as he sipped at the canned coffee poured inside.
"Not everyone has your kind of strength, where you can stay relaxed even in the middle of a fight. For ordinary sorcerers like us, facing Cursed Spirits means total focus. We can't afford to miss even the slightest opening, so it's only natural that we forget everything outside the battle."
Kento Nanami sat upright at the bar, posture rigid. He was a rule-abiding person. While he was allowed to enter a bar, minors were strictly forbidden from drinking. If Akira Zenin hadn't dragged them here himself, Nanami wouldn't have stepped inside a place like this before adulthood, or outside of mission requirements.
Even the usually easygoing Yu Haibara looked worse off than Nanami. His entire body was stiff, not daring to move an inch. For a kid who had never done anything remotely wrong, this was a serious mental shock.
Seeing his reaction, Akira Zenin narrowed his eyes slightly. The corners of his mouth lifted on their own, as if some idea had just occurred to him.
Leaning back in his chair, Akira Zenin said, "Relax. This is a place Satoru Gojo once brought me and Suguru Geto to. I thought it was decent, so I just bought it outright. It's private now. There's no one else here."
He slid a glass filled with orange liquid toward Yu Haibara.
"This is called 'Florida.' It's a cocktail invented during America's Prohibition era in the 1930s. No alcohol. You can try it."
"Huh!"
Yu Haibara accepted the glass, hands trembling, and took a cautious sip.
"It really… doesn't taste weird at all."
After that, Yu Haibara remained stiff as before, the only difference being the glass now clutched in his hands.
Kento Nanami seemed to be slowly easing out of the lingering tension from fighting Cursed Spirits. Or perhaps he simply wanted to help Yu Haibara out of the awkward situation.
"I'm a bit curious, Zenin-senpai. Did you come here just to drink coffee too?"
"It's just a habit. I once tried 'Galianu.' The ingredient list was packed with coffee beans, but the taste was bizarre. Not only did it barely taste like coffee, the texture was oddly astringent, like licking a sheet of metal."
"Honestly, I don't think you'd ever come to a place like this on your own. It must have been Satoru Gojo who led you astray."
"Well, that guy's alcohol tolerance is unbelievably, ridiculously bad, and yet he loves hanging around places like this. Who knows what he's thinking. Has he recovered yet?"
"So it really was his influence. Still, you seem a bit more talkative than usual today, senpai. And kind of… high-spirited."
"Is that so?"
...
Akira Zenin straightened up and rubbed his forehead.
"Maybe it's because I've completed a phase of my journey. I saved some people, and from here on, whatever comes next will gradually fade into memory. Life's future is filled with uncertainty and randomness—and to me, that feeling is what it truly means to be born into this world."
Faced with Akira Zenin's somewhat illogical rambling, Kento Nanami looked puzzled.
"Looks like coffee can get people drunk too. Still, getting this excited over saving people… I didn't expect you to be that type, senpai."
"Just take it as me talking nonsense. Nanami, do you have any plans?"
Kento Nanami subconsciously picked up the glass of water beside him and took a sip, only to realize it was actually sake. He calmly set the glass back down, his expression unchanged, as if alcohol suited him quite well.
Catching the look of satisfaction in Akira Zenin's eyes, Kento Nanami immediately felt a headache coming on. These Special Grades really were all troublesome in their own ways. Suguru Geto was about the only one who was easy to deal with.
"My plan?
Work properly. Take on tasks within my abilities, keep going until retirement, save some money, then settle down somewhere with nice scenery. Finally get around to reading all those books I never had time for."
Akira Zenin nodded. The vague surge of excitement he'd been riding finally faded, and fatigue washed back over his mind.
At some point, Yu Haibara had already finished his "juice" and leaned in close.
"I think any Jujutsu Sorcerer who's still out there exorcising Cursed Spirits is amazing. Strong people have their own kind of greatness, and ordinary people have theirs too. Nanami's plan is great as well!"
Akira Zenin handed Yu Haibara a rice ball, which he took instinctively.
"There's food here too?"
"I told you, it's a private place.
Looks like you've calmed down too, Haibara. What about you? What's your plan?"
Seemingly used to the atmosphere by now, Yu Haibara slipped back into his usual carefree self. He finished the rice ball in a few bites before answering.
"My plan is… uh… no plan!"
"No plan?"
"Whatever task comes up, I do it. I'm not the type to think too deeply about things, and I don't plan that far ahead. As long as I'm doing what I can, it feels great!"
"Is that so?
Then I have a task I want to give you."
"Huh? A request from Akira-senpai? I'll definitely give it everything I've got!"
"Curses are born from people. Sooner or later, we students will have to face the malice created by humans who have no empathy at all, people who behave like baboons."
"That was… a really long sentence."
"That's why we sorcerers need to constantly purge the toxins in our hearts. But some people are too sensitive. They don't get a second chance. Once they're poisoned, they break."
"That's scary."
"Haibara."
"Yes!"
"What if the one who breaks is a Special Grade Sorcerer?"
"Seniors turning into Special Grade Curse Users? Uh… isn't that a bit extreme?"
"My request to you is this. No matter what, stay alive. When carrying out missions, make your own survival the top priority. Use your way of thinking to guide those who are trapped deep in the mire."
"Guide them… I'm not really sure how I'm supposed to do that."
"You don't need to do anything special. Just stay alive and don't lose sight of why you started."
"I don't completely understand, but I won't let you down, senpai!"
Kento Nanami frowned slightly when he heard Akira Zenin tell Yu Haibara to "stay alive." From another perspective, in certain situations, those words could become a curse, especially coming from a Special Grade Sorcerer.
'But if I think about it more carefully… Is senpai framing this as a request without adding conditions, to avoid forming a Binding Vow? If that's the case, it's not so bad.'