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II: Lily of the Valley
Chapter 103: A Drop of Dew
The sunglasses on his nose were cracked.

＊＊＊

Satoru was sleeping soundly in bed when he heard the phone ringing.

Satoru stretched out his hand and rubbed it a few times in the quilt, but couldn't find it. The phone stopped ringing at this time, and the room returned to silence and tranquility. Only the chirping birds were left outside the window, and the light spots filtered by the rich shade of trees hit the smooth floor.

Satoru turned over,

In the past, as long as he was woken up, his sleep was already over.

But now he could still sleep.

Without Six Eyes, naturally he didn’t have to process unnecessary information.

Yayoi's hearing was so good that she was like some sensitive small animals. She could easily hear most sounds that humans could not hear. During her breaks, she wore anti-noise earmuffs.

Before leaving, Yayoi put anti-noise earmuffs on his ears, blocking out most of the noisy sounds.

Tokyo Jujutsu Tech was located in the suburbs. There were no noisy crowds of people or noisy car horns. What could be heard in her daze were the chirping of birds reverberating in the mountains and the whistling of the wind in the trees. A little further away, she could also hear the soft calls of cats on the mountain slopes.

Satoru moved his eyelids, and it suddenly occurred to him that the teacher's dormitory was quite close to the hillside where cats often appeared.

Tiredness pressed down on his eyelids, and sleepiness seemed to be welling up. At this time, the phone rang again, a series of life-threatening calls frantically calling him to get up quickly.

The person trapped in the soft white quilt slowly opened his eyes, the amber eyes tinged with the coldness of frost and snow. After reaching out from the quilt and caressing it a few times, he finally touched the phone next to the pillow.

The caller ID read 'Ijichi'.

Eyebrows twitching impatiently, Satoru slid open the phone screen irritably and took off the noise-proof earmuffs, "Moshi moshi, Ijichi, explain the reason why you woke me up within three seconds, or prepare to be slapped."

"...Yayoi-san?" Ijichi on the other side of the phone was dumbfounded.

This voice sounds like Satoru's red-haired assistant teacher that had not run away. The impression of Yayoi was that she had a gentle and peaceful temperament. As long as her explosive point was not touched, she was like a docile house cat, except that her brain sometimes lacked a string. Overall, she was a good child. When he first came into contact with her, he was always worried that Satoru would bully her.

Why did Yayoi sound like... Satoru when she talked today?

"Okay, let's start the countdown now... one! Okay, a slap!" The voice on the other side was decisive, with no intention of trying to reason with him.

"Wait a minute, where are two and three?" Ijichi was so frightened by the voice on the phone that he almost dropped the phone from his hand.

"Ijichi, are you a man who needs two and three to survive?" The other person's tone darkened, and his words were frivolous and casual.

Ijichi was sweating profusely and felt that the other person looked like Satoru today.

"Speak, Ijichi?" The voice on the phone was low. It was originally a voice as warm as a mountain spring. After being deliberately lowered, it had a rather sinister feel.

Ijichi: !!!

"S-sumimasen!!!" The honest assistant director bowed and apologized crazily through his mobile phone. For a person who had lived to this age, he felt like crying on the spot. Tears almost flew out of his eyes. Ijichi was about to cry.

Yayoi-san, what's wrong with you?

After bullying the honest man, Satoru slowly sat up from the bed and leaned his back on the head of the bed, "What do you want from me?"

Ijichi was stunned for a while, and then looked at the contact name on the screen. It was indeed Satoru, "Ano, is Gojo-san here?"

"I'm here, I'm here, I'm always here." Satoru spoke in a voice that belonged to Yayoi, habitually holding on to the long ending, and casually talked to Ijichi while laughing, "Tell me if you have something to say~ Or do you want to get slapped right now?"

It's rare to get a good night's sleep. After being forced to answer the phone, of course he couldn't avoid waking up with a strong feeling of irritation.

Ijichi: "..."
Why did this get involved in the slap again?

Ijichi felt bitter, "It's like this. The people from the Soma family have already sent the cursed object."

"Then what?"

The name of the special-grade mantra "Three Ages of Buddhism" originates from the Buddhist concept of "Three Ages of the Dharma". "Three Ages of Buddhism" referred to the time that existed in an individual's life in the Buddhist concept of continuous reincarnation of cause and effect. The three Buddha statues could also refer to the past, present, and future.

The mantra was divided into three parts, standing in the shape of a triangle. The Buddha in the middle was the "Present Buddha", which also referred to the Shakyamuni familiar to Buddhist believers. There was a legend that before Shakyamuni became a Buddha, the "Future Buddha" Dipankara gave him a prophecy, predicting his future Buddhahood, the "Diamond Sutra" said: "Kulaputra, in some future life I would attain buddhahood under the name Shakyamuni". [1][2]

On the right side is the "Future Buddha", that is, "Maitreya Buddha". In the Mahayana Buddhist scriptures, he was often called Ajita. He was considered the successor of the World Honored Shakyamuni Buddha. He would be in Saha world in the future. He was reborn in the world to practice Taoism and became the next Buddha in the Saha world, that was the fifth Buddha among the Thousand Buddhas of the Wise Kalpa, often called "Buddha Maitreya in the next rebirth".

In the Buddhist concept, the 'Saha World' referred to the human world. Changing the concept, the 'Three Ages of Buddhism' could also be said to run through the three parts of a person's life.

The lost Buddha was the "Future Buddha" among the three Buddhas.

Satoru paused, tapped his fingers on his knees, and fell into temporary silence.

Opposite him, Ijichi waited tremblingly for him to say his next words. It was clearly Yayoi-san's voice on the other side, so why did he think it was Gojo-san who was speaking now?

It must be that he had been under too much pressure at work recently.

Ijichi thought.

"Ijichi." Satoru said coldly.

"Hai!" Ijichi stood up straight reflexively. Tears welled up in his heart. He really felt that Yayoi-san today looked like Gojo-san.

"What else did the Soma family say?" Satoru said in a calm voice.
Since he would take the initiative to contact him through Ijichi, it meant that there was another purpose.

Satoru rubbed his chin a few times, but found that the touch was not familiar to him, and then he realized that the body belonged to Yayoi. The woman's skin was soft and smooth, her chin was small and delicate, and she felt a bit like a cat.

Satoru paused and simply touched it a few more times.

"Hai..." Ijichi almost knelt down for him, "The Soma family said they want to have a face-to-face meeting with... Gojo-san."

"Oh?" Face-to-face meeting with him?

Satoru was interested. It seemed that he was quite polite last time and didn't make him angry, but he still wanted to meet him directly?

"I am indeed too polite." Satoru murmured.

Ijichi on the other side of the phone had questions all over his face, asking did he have any misunderstanding about the word politeness?

No.

Ijichi, who was holding the phone, froze in place. This was Yayo-sani, not Gojo-san. Yayoi-san, what's wrong with you?!!

"Please inform Gojo-san. The Soma family members have already gone to the high school." Ijichi said cautiously, "By the way, is Gojo-san still in the high school?"

Satoru: "..."

Satoru stretched his head and looked left and right. There was no one in the bedroom or the bathroom. No one was found. He kicked off the quilt angrily and said, "Not there."

"Huh?" Ijichi panicked.

"I said, he's gone!" Satoru gritted his teeth, and his tone matched his current dignified appearance, which sounded a bit like an angry female high school student. "When I woke up, there was no one around. Chikuso... Did you go outside behind my back to sneak a cat?"

The cat that sneaked referred to the cat on the back hillside. Yayoi often went to the back hillside to pet the cat at a time and place that he could not see. Chikuso! Wasn't it enough to have him as a cat? Why go to the back hillside to find those sneaky cats? Wasn't his fur pretty enough? Or was his flesh pad not soft enough?

Ah, no, he had no pads and fur now.

Satoru sighed, feeling a little discouraged. If he still had soft pads and fluffy fur, he would be able to get rid of those rogue cats.

Ijichi: ???

Ijichi: !!!

The phone opposite clicked and hung up. Ijichi turned around and his eyes fell vaguely on the old man and young woman sitting on the sofa in the conference room, as well as the principal sitting behind the coffee table with a sideways face, sweating crazily on his forehead.

Gojo-san, where have you been?!!

•

Utahime returned to the high school with Yayoi who was wearing Satoru's shell. Utahime, who had been tortured by Satoru's bad mouth for more than ten years, secretly looked at Yayoi in broad daylight.

This was not Satoru Gojo.

Satoru was not a serious person, Satoru was not a person who could speak honorifics with a serious expression, Satoru was not a person who could talk well, and Satoru was not a person who would honestly let her go to the high school to find Shoko.

Utahime's eyes were distracted, and she was in a trance along the way. Her thinking was messed up. After her thinking was straightened out again, it was time to return to the high school.

The stone layers were stacked upward, and sunlight like gold foil leaks from the torii.

The vermilion torii gates were neatly arranged forward, like a boundary between this world and the next. The long years have left mottled traces on the stone steps, and the long years of wind and rain have rounded the sharp edges of the stone steps.

The young man walking in front had his hair like frost and snow under the spring sun, his blue eyes were as calm as the lake reflecting the sky of the snow-capped mountains, and his back was as straight as a cypress.

Like an elk strolling in an ancient forest after a heavy snowfall, golden rays of sunlight stream down from his shoulders.

The fox on his shoulder twitched his ears. When she looked into those deep purple eyes, Utahime felt inexplicably familiar, as if she had seen a pair of similar eyes a long time ago, or maybe they were the same pair.

Utahime inexplicably saw deep sympathy in those eyes.

Utahime, who had seen countless big scenes but had never seen this kind of scene, was dumbfounded. Who could tell her that this was not Satoru Gojo!

Who was this handsome guy? !

Utahime was so shocked that she squatted down with her head in her hands, and her black hair was messed up by her scratches.

Yayoi took two more steps, and when she noticed the footsteps behind her stopped, she turned around and saw Utahime who was shocked to the point of going crazy.

"Utahime-san?" Yayoi took a step forward, "Are you okay?"

"I'm sorry, don't come here!" Utahime looked like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. She jumped up from the stone steps with goosebumps all over her body, and took three steps back at the speed of light, wishing she could stay away from her.

This woman, who had always been at odds with Satoru, stared at the person. After looking at the person up and down, her trembling pupils could not conceal her shock and panic.

Over the years, Satoru's miserable performance had made him synonymous with scum in Utahime's heart.

"You are not Satoru Gojo, I don't admit it!!" I will never admit that this is that scumbag! This is obviously a good boy!! How could it be that scumbag Satoru!!!

Yayoi watched helplessly as the adult woman over thirty years old let out an almost wailing cry, then ran wildly and disappeared from sight.

Yayoi looked at the direction she ran towards. It seemed to be the school's infirmary, and she seemed to be looking for Shoko.

Yayoi continued walking forward with shopping bags in hand, and met Ijichi, who was looking for someone in a hurry.

"Good afternoon, Ijichi-san." Yayoi greeted politely.

Ijichi almost fell down the steps.

"Go, Gojo-san? Did I do something wrong? Is this another test for me?" Ijichi's legs were shaking like crazy.

"You did nothing wrong." Yayoi said calmly.

"Stop testing me! Just give me a slap!" Ijichi was so dry that he had to kneel down for her.

Ijichi, who almost knelt down for her, said that the Soma family had been waiting in the reception room for a long time. His slow reflexes told her that the person the Soma family was waiting for was Satoru, not Yayoi who was wearing Satoru's shell.

Yayoi put the shopping bag in Ijichi's hand, "I'll go right away. I'll leave you with the shopping bag, Ijichi-san."

Ijichi, who was stuffed with a shopping bag, suddenly felt that the shopping bag was very hot. Then he saw "Satoru" take out his mobile phone and make a call.

"Moshi moshi, I've already gone to the reception room~"

A voice belonging to Yayoi came from the phone. Yayoi, who was wearing a Satoru shell, put the Geto the Fox on Ijichi's shoulder.

Ijichi: "..."

He really felt that something was wrong with today's red-haired assistant teacher.

"Ijichi-san, I'll leave the fox to you. He's very good," Yayoi put Suguru into Ijichi's hands, solemnly like an old mother taking care of an orphan.

"Okay, wait for me, I'll be there soon." "Satoru" picked up his steps and left.

Ijichi looked at the tall figure walking away, standing on the steps like a statue for a long time. The uneven light spots were intertwined with the deep green moss, and the ancient stone lantern was solemn and tall.

Ijichi turned around mechanically and lowered his head to look at the shopping bag. Ingredients and daily necessities were divided into two parts and put into different shopping bags. In the shopping bag where the daily necessities were placed, he could clearly see the contents.

The honest man thought of Yayoi who was particularly grumpy today.

Ijichi: "...kitsune-chan... Gojo-san, turned out to be an unexpectedly good man?"

Geto the Fox: "..."
What's on your mind? He's just an unexpected scumbag.

•

Yayoi didn't know if she had caught up or not.

When she arrived in a hurry, there was already a tripartite situation. An unknown old man and an unknown woman were sitting on the sofa with their legs crossed. Satoru was idly looking, even in his bones, he exuded frivolity and looseness. Oh, to be precise, it was Satoru who was pushing against her body, and Yaga who had a sideways face but was actually a mess inside.

Yayoi knocked on the door, "Sorry, I'm late."

Yaga's expression looked familiar to Yayoi. She paused, then raised her steps and walked in.

Yaga looked at Yayoi and then at Satoru. The knife flew directly towards Yayoi who was wearing Satoru's shell. Yayoi received a look that said, 'I'll take care of you later'.

Yayoi felt aggrieved. She didn't demolish the house or beat anyone, so she secretly carried Satoru to the hillside of the back mountain to pet the cat for a while. Why was she being punished?

"So, everyone is here, is there anything we can talk about? Time is very precious, don't you think? My time is running out, old man?" Satoru held his chin and smiled, not hiding his laxity in his words. Unruly.

Yaga: "..."
What happened to this girl today? Why it's so... Satoru?

Yaga touched and turned his attention to Yayoi, who was wearing Satoru's shell, and his eyes full of condemnation almost turned into reality.

Satoru, who was reproached by Yaga's gaze, tilted his head, his expression innocent and weak.

The middle-aged teacher looked at "Satoru" who was as docile as a deer, and then looked at "Yayoi" who was dangling with her legs crossed, with a confused look on her face.

Why did he think the red-haired girl here was Satoru?

Yaga felt that his brain must be filled with water, otherwise how could he have such thoughts?

The experienced high school principal shook his head, trying to shake the water out of his brain.

While he was trying to shake the water out of his mind, a war of words had begun silently in the reception room. The old man in the room said with a straight face, "Young people nowadays don't even know how to respect the elderly."

On the other side of the room, the redhead smile was still frivolous and said, "The old man who is half-stepped into the coffin should not waste his remaining energy to come out and cause trouble."

Sparks flew everywhere, and the thick smell of gunpowder smoke filled the small reception room.

The old man on the side was so angry that his eyebrows flew away. The redhead on the side started shouting 'wow, that's scary' with an exaggerated expression, and threw herself into "Satoru"'s arms.

The little bird was so cute and pitiful, with dew-like tears still in her eyes, and her head kept pushing into "Satoru"'s arms.

Yaga: "..."
Why, he still thought that the little red-haired girl looked like now, no, she was Satoru Gojo!

Yaga felt that this world was a bit strange.

"Patriarch Gojo, are you sure you want to keep such a woman by your side?" The old man was furious and looked at the young Gojo Patriarch with wide eyes.

Different from the unruly behavior shown last time, this time "Satoru" had a gentle expression and his attitude could be said to be gentle. The old man guessed that he was not disgusted with the current situation.

"Why can't stay? Go- she is very good." Yayoi's expression was super serious.
Cats were good at everything.

Yaga: "..."
It turned out what Shoko said was true.

Yaga's eyes were complicated. He remembered that the first time he saw the little red-haired girl, she was not as tall as Satoru's chest, and she looked like a naive girl who was not fully developed.

The conscientious and experienced middle-aged man looked at the unscrupulous student as if he was looking at an animal. The little redhead was so young at that time and you actually had that kind of thoughts towards others. How shameless you were.

Thinking of this, as Satoru's teacher, he couldn't help but sigh in his heart. Twenty-eight-year-old Satoru was already an adult. He had known Satoru since he was a little kid who liked to put on a bad face. During the high school years when he was so troublesome, time could erase a lot and time could change a lot. Satoru who had someone he liked was an adult after all.

Arguing with Satoru, the old man was addicted to arguing with each other. The old man was sent out of the reception room in a daze before he could say his purpose. After leaving the reception room, the old man suddenly remembered his purpose today, and finally recalled his own purpose. What were you here for?

The old man gave the young woman a cryptic look, and then Yayoi noticed that the woman next to the old man was looking at her. She tilted her head in confusion.

It was a woman of similar age to her, wearing a simple and elegant kimono in the color of Yamabuki, with her black hair tied up into a bun with a hairpin.

Satoru: !!!
Stealing cat! How dare you seduce the little redhead in front of him!!!

The old man's brow relaxed a little.

A flash of red flashed across Yaga's face quickly.

The middle-aged old man watched helplessly as the redhead pinched the chin of his 190+ cm student, grabbed the other person's neck with one hand, and forced the other person to bend down and press down the other person's head.

Satoru went up to his own mouth and took a bite.

Yaga: !!!

Yaga heard the sound of something breaking, and the sunglasses on his nose cracked.

F*cking hell, what were you doing?! If you want to do something like this, go back to the dormitory and do it there! This was so public!

There was a dull pain on the lips. After rubbing the soft lips on the lips for a few times, the guy who bit the person licked his own lips, the corners of his mouth raised, as happy as a well-fed cat.

"Sweet." Satoru smiled with crooked eyebrows, "What did you eat for lunch?"

"Matcha cake." Yayoi answered him stupidly.

Yaga: "..."

Yaga looked at Yayoi who was wearing Satoru's shell, and then looked at Satoru who was wearing Yayoi's shell. The middle-aged man, who had gone through ups and downs in his life, found that his heart had been so turbulent that he was as stable as an old dog.

He realized.

Was this why you've been single for so many years? It turned out you like this tone.

Yaga accidentally saw the shrine under his feet, and his eyes followed the shrine. The shrine extended from the door. The two women who witnessed everything under the torii gate were dumbfounded.

His other student, Shoko, her expression was as steady as an old dog, but the lollipop in her mouth fell directly and was smashed into pieces on the hard stone. Utahime, a theacher from Kyoto School weathered into plaster in the air, cracking inch by inch.

＊＊＊

· Genuine translation can be found only in OchatimesBlogspotCom, FanFictionNet, and Wattpad

• Omake •

Utahime: I don’t believe it, I don’t believe it!!!
Principal: I was a fool, really.
Shoko: Hah. [shocked to the point of numbness.jpg]

•

[0] I'm not Buddhist, so excuse me if there are wrong explanation about "Three Ages of Buddhism". Any corrections will be accepted. According to the author, the information about 'Three Ages of Buddhism' were taken from Baidu Encyclopedia.

[1] 'Kulaputra' refers to the 'son of a good family' or 'a son of a noble family'
[2] Those Buddhas' name have their own names in Japanese, but for the convenience, I use the Sanskrit ones


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