[Spell Retaliation] Tunnel

I always think of that summer.

We finished our lunch and walked back to class along the path.There is one of the few vending machines on campus in the backyard of the teaching building, and cars don’t come in until Monday morning to restock.Every time they passed by that vending machine, Gojo Satoru and Xia Youjie would play their favorite game recently: put a [-] yen coin into it, and then press the buttons of several drinks at the same time to see the last one that fell out. which one.Nitro also leaned beside them, raising his hand to help the boys out: "This is quite delicious."

I didn't follow. I just stood in the shade of a tree and watched them press a row of buttons aggressively.beep.Then there was the sound of clanging and rolling, and the boys stood still, waiting for the verdict to be pronounced by Nizi, who was leaning over to grab a drink.

"Ah," Nitro held up a small brown pot, "it's my coffee."

"whispering sound--!!!"

Xia You comforted Gojo Satoru, who was in a bad mood, and stretched out his hand to indicate my direction, "Okay, you can see that Huajing has an expression of 'this group of people is hopeless'."

No.I wanted to defend myself, but I laughed first.

The gravel road under his feet was scorching hot.The old school building is not equipped with air-conditioning, and wherever you go, you will be greeted by warm summer winds—that is the summer of the High School of Conjuration.

After that spring, no one came to see me.

I forgot how long I had rested, and my almost festering spirit seemed to be gradually stretched out, soaked in the silence like white water, sucked enough, and finally regained its fluffy and soft posture little by little.

Another dreamless morning, after I finished my examination and returned to the ward, I found that it was raining lightly outside the window.The rainy season is coming.The female anchor on TV said with a smile.

I was on my lunch break that day, and it was raining outside the window, so it was really suitable for a nap.It was the knock on the door that woke me up, and the guest followed the nurse into the ward.I rubbed my eyes and sat up, before I could see who it was, the visitor had already started to laugh: "Did it bother you?"

"...No." I woke up, put on my slippers, and found a chair for Xia Youjie, "Long time no see."

"Long time no see. You seem to be in good spirits."

"Is that sarcasm..." I laughed, "Wujo isn't with you yet?"

"Hmm....No way," he paused, "We basically do tasks by ourselves now."

I opened the refrigerator and found that there was no drink, so I just got him a glass of water. "If you gather all of you who come to see me at different times, you can have a tea party in this ward."

"...Yeah." Xia You smiled and cast her eyes behind me.I turned my head following his gaze, and thousands of raindrops were falling silently from the window.

"Looking at it this way, it looks pretty good here."

I looked at the window blurred by mist and said softly.

Then I turned my head and looked at the beautiful Danfeng eyes of the black-haired boy - unlike Gojo Satoru who always wears glasses, I could easily catch his eyes: "Did something happen between you and Gojo?"

"what?"

"My stunt." I put down the glass, "You can understand a lot by reading the air."

The boy seemed to be amused by me, subconsciously denied: "No." After a while, he suddenly said, "...I can't tell what happened. It happened a long time ago."

I observed his face and realized that something might be serious: "Have you talked about it?"

He shook his head: "Wu probably didn't care about it long ago."

"Ah—I understand that." I understood very well, as if thinking of Gojo Satoru with his eyes downcast in the gray shadow last summer. "What he said has passed, it has really passed with him. I'm so envious."

"...Yes." The boy smiled wryly.

The rain outside the window is not small.After a fleeting white flash, thunder came from the sky above the distant city.

"Huajing." When the water in the cup was about to bottom out, Xia Youjie said solemnly, "Actually, Teacher Ye Moth asked me to talk to you about your going back to school."

"Oh..." I could probably guess, and asked casually, "What did the teacher say?"

"He said, if you don't mind, you can go back and have a look at any time."

I didn't answer, just held the plastic cup in my hand, "What about Xiayou's opinion?"

"Me?" The boy thought thoughtfully, "I think it's okay if you don't want to go back."

"Um……"

"Speaking of which, Huajing, do you still remember? When you were in the first grade——you asked why Wu and I went to the Conjuration College." Xia You put down the cup in his hand, and the ever-changing rain shadow outside the window fell on him A cool gray was cast on his face, "Now, do you still think that is a very important thing?"

"...I don't know either," I answered truthfully after a short silence, "It's just that no matter what I do in the future, I will definitely find some clear reason for myself. After all, I am this kind of person." Said When I got here, I suddenly froze for a moment.The long-term hospital life has not taught me anything, but I do seem to have gradually mastered the method of reconciliation with myself.

"Really." Xia You closed her eyes and seemed to be smiling.

The boy declined my invitation to sit down for a while, saying that he had other tasks.Once the rainy season is over, the conjurer is the busiest period. I think I may not be able to see him again for a long time.Before leaving, Xia You joked with me: "Actually, I was always worried about whether the cursed spirits around me would scare you. After all, Huajing, you are very afraid of curses." I suddenly thought of the nightmare of being thrown into the tunnel, but I can't recall it anymore. From the initial fear.So I just smiled and shook my head.

"However, seeing that you are more energetic, I am relieved." Xia You smiled and picked up the umbrella, "You have to take care."

"it is good."

Looking at the boy's slightly tired expression, for a moment, I wanted to say something to him.Even if I am self-indulgent, I always feel that I can more or less understand Xia You. I want to say to him "don't think too deeply", or "do your best", but past experience makes me cautious As far as speaking out about other people's lives, I ended up saying nothing.

I just waved to him, and gray rain shadows slid across the illuminated floor between us. "It seems to be raining heavily outside, be careful on the road."

Looking at the silent and stern back of the boy, I suddenly felt a little unbelievable.

The rapidly growing Gojo Satoru seems to be within my reach.But Xia Youjie seems to have gotten farther and farther away from us.

After Xia You left, I opened the calendar and for the first time began to think seriously about the timing of discharge.

During the busiest summer season for conjurers, curses are rampant, and the world is full of gloomy malice, but I finally got better in that summer.The sunlight seemed to have evaporated the last trace of resentment filled with moisture in my body, and I became a light white paper again.Wake up, do checkups, watch TV.Listening to the host talking and laughing with other people, I suddenly thought that it would be nice to learn something new.

In September, I finally started talking to the doctor about being discharged from the hospital.

Then I got a call from Nitro.You know, she said, Xia You killed someone and ran away.

I hung up the phone in a daze, and there was a long hum of cicadas outside the window.

I met Gojo Satoru in front of the vending machine.

He didn't wear a school uniform, but put on a light jacket, put his hands in his pockets, and called me from behind: "Why did you come here, I just went up first."

"...Anyway, I will be discharged from the hospital tomorrow, no one cares."

"Ah——yes. Congratulations." The boy said congratulations very casually, and walked to the vending machine, "What do you want to buy?"

"have not decided yet."

I look up at him.Gojo Satoru just stared at the drink holder in front of him without moving, and his sunglasses slid to the position close to the tip of his nose.

"...are you crying?"

"I didn't cry!!"

Ha ha.I smiled, took out a five hundred yen coin, stuffed it into the coin slot, and then pointed to the bottom row of buttons: "Which one do you think will fall out?"

Gojo Satoru was stunned, and turned his head to look at me——his appearance was really pitiful.Then the boy wrinkled his pretty face, "...I want to drink Qilin's milk tea." "Are you a little girl?" I resisted very much, "Press what you want to drink, I will press here."

Clang, clang.I squatted down and took out a cold soda can from the exit, which was my coffee with milk.Seeing that the boy looked disappointed, I used the remaining coins to treat him to a bottle of milk tea.

Instead of going back to the ward, we sat on the bench downstairs for a while.

It's autumn in Tokyo, the sky is blue and cloudless, and there are one or two dead white cicadas falling under the trees not far away.

"Will you return to the high school after you leave the hospital?"

"I won't go back." I carefully opened the coffee can in my hand, "...Although I haven't figured out what to do yet."

"so."

"Have you seen Xia You?"

"...I see." The boy narrowed his eyes, "That bastard. Let me meet him next time and definitely kill him."

I didn't answer. "Glass told me that Mr. Huiyuan passed away because of a mission."

"……Um."

"Is it because of--that incident? Or..." I can more or less recall some clues.

"...don't know. How could I know."

Gojo Satoru swallowed a big gulp of his drink, tightened the bottle cap, and didn't speak for a while.After a while, he suddenly kicked the ground hard again as if venting his anger. "Damn it." Out of the corner of my eye, I glanced at the boy's hand holding the plastic bottle, the pale knuckles were flushed, "...you're so stupid. How could there be such a stupid person."

I didn't answer for a while, and then spoke in a low voice after a while.

"...I, I seem to understand."

"what?"

"Because Mr. Xia You is different from me." I said word by word, "A person like me, even if he doesn't become a magician, he will still end up in the hospital... But if he is not Conjurer, you will definitely have a good time."

"..."

I don't know what kind of expression Gojo Satoru has at the moment, but I just silently accepted the gaze from the boy's side.After a long time, I heard him snort with some bluff: "Ghost knows.... I can't understand it at all."

I didn't answer, just bowed my head.

"What are you going to say, Teacher Ye Moth?"

"...I can only tell the truth." I curled my lips, "Anyway, I definitely won't go back."

Hearing this, Wujo Gou turned his head and glanced at me, he seemed to smile a little: "You seem to be much more energetic."

"is it?"

"Yeah. . . . compared to when you were in school."

I look at my hands.My nails have been kept very long, but due to the long-term hospitalization, the gaps between my fingers are clean, and there are some transparent off-white. "It's strange." I smiled, "When my friends are in such a difficult situation, I am more and more energetic."

"These have nothing to do with you." He interrupted in a flat tone, "Don't think so much."

I knew he was comforting me, so I just opened my mouth: "...um."

clatter.In the distance, other visitors pressed the button in front of the vending machine.

"...Speaking of which, Hanai, do you hate school?" After a while, Gojo Satoru, who was leaning on the back of the chair, suddenly sat up.

"? I don't hate it."

"Then do you hate me? Or a few of us?"

"...? Of course I don't hate it anymore."

"Oh, you hate cursing," the boy raised his hand and recalled, "but when I came to see you before, you still said that you dare not have a good relationship with your family. Why?"

"?" The topic was too long ago, and I tried to recall it in a daze. "Ah..." I remembered, I did say that, "Maybe because Nitro is very beautiful." I explained slowly.

"what?"

"Because she is very beautiful, very smart, and can use the reversal technique..." I counted carefully, "In short, she is very powerful. And she is a girl like me."

"?" Gojo Satoru frowned, "So what?"

"do not you get it?"

"I can understand a fart. You girls are so troublesome." The boy wrinkled his ugly face, and the cold afternoon wind blew his white hair. "Did your time in the college make you so unhappy?"

"Yeah. It's like asking you to join the old men's drinking party every night and pour wine for them."

"..." He rolled his eyes and imagined, "Then you actually stayed for a year and a half before leaving."

"Really. I don't know why."

"...tsk." Hearing my incomprehensible answer, Gojo Satoru raised his head, just kept looking at the cloudless blue sky through the sunglasses on the bridge of his nose, "..." The unbearable silence surrounded us spread gradually.I heard the boy's heavy breathing, turned my head, and saw Gojo Gojo's tightly pursed mouth tremble slightly, then he wrinkled his nose severely, and uttered a few sounds with difficulty and in a low voice. "baffling."

"..." I turned my face to the side, trying to hide the tears welling up in my eyes, "Maybe it's because everyone is stupid."

I knew what Gojo Satoru wanted to say, he wasn't asking about me.

He is right.It's really inexplicable.Blunt, bizarre, unreasonable, messy.Whether it is a magician, or some wonderful laws on which human society is based.How can a person be able to open their hearts and keep a distance at all times?Why do friends who talk about everything never ask for help when they encounter difficulties?Why did things that were once regarded as treasures and carefully maintained suddenly let go because of some trivial things?

I have no idea.Xia You probably won't know either.And Gojo Satoru is not unable to understand these.I think.With the boy's intelligence, he just never thought about it.

I also looked up.Above us is the endless sky.

"...I want to eat cake." I said suddenly without thinking.

"..." Gojo Satoru turned his head and glanced at me, his voice was muffled, "You don't want to eat strawberry cake this season again, do you?"

"No, anything is fine. As long as it's cake."

"I really wanted to ask before, Hanai, do you like cakes very much?"

"? No. I just think desserts look good and make people feel good." I looked at the boy with doubts, "You don't understand, this is a good medicine to heal the heart."

"..."

"It is recommended for people who have just cried to add a little energy."

"I didn't cry."

I looked at him with a straight face: "Then do you still eat?"

"……eat."

I know, I really should get out of here.