Gojo Satoru: The Strongest Sorcerer Among Exorcists

Staring at the LINE notification on her phone confirming a new friend added, Nino Nakano smiled to herself.

But her expression quickly shifted as she frowned.

"What am I supposed to do about looking this messy? If Ichika and the others see me like this, what am I going to say?"

A dilemma formed in her mind.

Maybe she could claim she fell into a ditch?

But then again… where would a ditch even be around here?

With a sigh, Nino gave up on finding a better excuse. She resigned herself to the "ditch story" even though it sounded ridiculous. She couldn't exactly say she had fallen into another world, been chased by monsters, and then rescued by a powerful sorcerer.

If she told them that, they'd probably think she was crazy.

Glancing at her cracked and battered phone, Nino made a mental note.

"Tomorrow, I need to buy a new phone."

Earlier, just trying to tap the screen and open the LINE app had taken ages, making her face burn with embarrassment.

Reality Time: 12:30 AM

By the time Satoru Gojo arrived home, he found Umaru sitting in the living room, engrossed in a game.

Seeing how focused she was, he didn't bother interrupting her much.

"I'm back," he said casually before heading straight for the bathroom to take a bath.

When he returned to the living room, Umaru was already gone.

Knocking on her bedroom door, Gojo reminded her to go to bed soon and not to stay up all night playing games. With that done, he retreated to his own room, spent a bit of time on his own hobbies, and then drifted off to sleep.

The night passed in silence.

....

Hello, everyone! My name is Tadakuni Shihara, and I'm just your average high school student.

Tadakuni was a second-year student at Sobu High.

Unfortunately, he had stayed up late last night reading a manga about beautiful girls and ended up going to bed at 5 AM.

"King of Hell himself must have passed by my door, shaking his head," he thought to himself.

Waking up at 7:40 AM with just twenty minutes to spare before the first bell, Tadakuni panicked.

If the security guards caught him sneaking in late, they'd make him stand at the school gates as punishment—a spectacle for the other students to gawk at.

He still vividly remembered the humiliation from last semester when the same thing happened.

Face grim with determination, Tadakuni grabbed a slice of bread from the table, clenched it between his teeth, and shouted:

"I'm off, Mom!"

He dashed out the door, running at full speed down the street.

Just as he turned a corner, a familiar figure came up alongside him, matching his pace.

"Yo, running late too, Tadakuni?"

Recognizing the voice, Tadakuni glanced over and immediately grimaced.

"Oi, oi, why are you holding a cup of instant noodles!?"

The boy running beside him was none other than his friend Hideyuki Tabata, and yes, he was holding a steaming cup of noodles—specifically, the sour pickled flavor.

Slurping up some noodles, Tabata replied through a full mouth:

"Didn't have time for breakfast, so I made this to keep me going."

But why noodles!? And how was he running while holding them without spilling a drop of soup?

Deciding it was best not to question his eccentric friend, Tadakuni focused on getting to school on time.

Barely a few dozen meters later, another familiar figure emerged from a side alley and quickly caught up with them.

"Yo, my two best pals! Running late too, huh?"

It was their third friend, Yoshitake Tanaka.

Tadakuni glanced at Yoshitake and almost tripped.

"Wait—why are you carrying a pot of sukiyaki!?"

Yoshitake, holding the pot in one hand, gave a calm reply:

"Didn't have breakfast. Making sukiyaki seemed reasonable."

As if to prove his point, he casually picked up a piece of tofu with his chopsticks and popped it into his mouth.

Tabata nodded approvingly.

"Totally reasonable!"

Tadakuni snapped.

"Reasonable my ass!"

What kind of friends were these!?

The three boys ran together, racing against the clock as the minutes ticked closer to 8 AM.

Just as they rounded the last bend, a white-haired figure riding an electric scooter appeared out of nowhere.

"Yo, looking lively there, fellas!"

All three of them turned to look—and froze.

"Holy crap!?"

The man had white hair and wore a blindfold. Even more bizarrely, he was eating a dessert with both hands while letting the scooter steer itself.

As if reading their minds, the man grinned and called out:

"Relax, I've got this under control—"

Before he could finish, the scooter hit a puddle.

Dirty water splashed up and soaked all three of them—clothes, hair, faces, everything.

The man stopped talking, silently put away his dessert, and sped up, disappearing down the street.

"Uh, sorry about that!"

Staring at the receding scooter, the three boys stood in stunned silence, drenched and dumbfounded.

Finally, Tadakuni broke the silence.

"So… what do we do now?"

Tabata and Yoshitake exchanged glances.

"Gimme a sip of your noodles," Tabata said.

"And I'll take some of your sukiyaki," Yoshitake replied.

Tadakuni stared at the two of them in disbelief, he silently raised his head and shed tears of grievance, but he didn't stay. He immediately got over and shouted.

"Save a piece for me!"