Ms. Gojo thought she was dating an ordinary person's boyfriend.

At 10 p.m., the two finally returned to their residence.

As soon as the entryway door closed, Gojo Satoru released Kikkawa Sumi's hand, carrying the heavy paper bag straight to the living room.

Kikawa Sumi stood in the entryway, watching his impatient back, sighed helplessly, and still reminded him, "It's already very late."

"It's only ten o'clock," Gojo Satoru said without turning his head. "The nightlife is just beginning."

"I have plans with Sakura and the others tomorrow."

"Don't worry, I'll keep track of the time."

Sumire Kawakawa fell silent.

Ever since Touya casually mentioned the "failed cake video" at the Kinomoto house, he had given up all hope of stopping Gojo Satoru.

Gojo Satoru placed the paper bag on the coffee table, casually took off his coat and draped it over the sofa armrest, then squatted directly on the carpet and began taking out videotapes one by one.

Tomoyo is indeed meticulous in her work. Each plate has a label on its outer shell, with the date marked in chronological order, and a brief note below in delicate small handwriting.

Gojo Satoru looked down at each dish, his eyes growing brighter and brighter.

"Tomoyo is so reliable." He muttered to himself as he carefully laid out the videotapes on the coffee table, making sure they were in the right order.

"These... all show glimpses of the old Cheng?"

"I'm not always here." Sumi walked over and stopped beside him. "Tomoyo mainly films Sakura, and only occasionally includes me."

"Occasionally is fine too," Gojo Satoru raised an eyebrow nonchalantly. "Anyway, I've never seen the old you before."

He picked up the plate on the far side, turned it over, and glanced at the date.

"At this point, we didn't know each other, did we?"

"Hmm." Sumi Kikawa glanced at the time on the screen. "There's still a long time to go."

"Then I definitely need to watch it." Gojo Satoru grinned and held the videotape up in front of him. "Sumi, tell me quickly, where's the player?"

When Sumire met his expectant eyes, the words of refusal circled on her lips, but she swallowed them back.

He had no choice but to resign himself to his fate and go to the locker to find the video recorder that had been gathering dust for a long time.

This equipment is an old item he kept from when he lived in Tomoeda Town. Later, many things were replaced with more convenient storage methods, and this machine gradually became idle.

Fortunately, it is regularly cleaned and maintained, and it can still function normally when plugged in.

Gojo Satoru sat cross-legged on the carpet, watching with great interest as Kikkawa Sumi bent down to connect the wires.

He seemed to find it very novel. When Kikawa Sumi held the wire end and compared it with the connector, his eyes followed it, and he would occasionally reach out and fiddle with the red and yellow plugs.

Kikawa Sumi looked up at him helplessly.

Gojo Satoru, however, showed no awareness of "causing trouble," and instead took the opportunity to grasp his hand, gently shaking it twice, and urging in a drawn-out voice, "Sumi, hurry up~".

"You keep causing trouble, I can't speed things up."

Only then did Gojo Satoru reluctantly calm down.

A few minutes later, the familiar blue screen lit up on the television, and the machine began to hum softly.

Gojo Satoru immediately picked up the earliest videotape.

Seeing his impatient manner, Kikawa Sumi suddenly felt an urge to stop him.

There wasn't anything in the tape that was inappropriate to see, but the thought of revealing his past self to Gojo Satoru without reservation still made him feel inexplicably awkward.

Those memories from the past were not something he could repeatedly savor.

He remembered every detail of the mission clearly, so he didn't need to record it to review it; and after staying in this world, he rarely looked at these records.

He doesn't reject it, he's just not used to looking at his past self.

What's more, the person sitting next to me watching is Gojo Satoru.

The videotape has been pushed to the machine entrance.

Seemingly noticing the silence beside him, Gojo Satoru paused and turned to look at him.

"You don't want me to see?" His tone remained relaxed, but his hands stopped moving completely.

If Sumire Kichikawa were to say she didn't want to, he would immediately pull the tape out.

Kikawa Sumi naturally understood the thoughtfulness hidden beneath his casualness.

He watched Gojo Satoru quietly for a while, and finally sat down next to him.

"no."

"real?"

"Hmm." Sumi Kikawa reached out and brushed aside the white hair hanging in front of his eyes. "Look if you want to."

Gojo stared at him for two seconds, and after confirming that he wasn't forcing himself, a smile quickly returned to his lips.

"Then I won't be polite."

He pushed the videotape all the way into the machine.

As the snowflakes fell briefly, the scene gradually came into focus. The first thing to appear in the shot was a spring hillside covered in wildflowers. The sun was shining brightly, and the wind blew across the grass, causing the tiny blossoms to sway gently.

Sakura was squatting in front of a picnic mat, carefully unpacking the bento box that Fujitaka had prepared. Tomoyo sat beside her, softly praising the bunny rice ball in the bento box.

A little further away, Touya said something that made Sakura stand up angrily to argue. Yukito tried to smooth things over with a smile, but this only made Sakura more embarrassed, and she sat back down with a red face.

Through the old videotape, cheerful laughter echoed in the living room.

Gojo Satoru stared at the screen for a long time, but couldn't find Sumi Kichikawa. He couldn't help but move closer and ask, "Where's Sumi?"

"I've said it before, Tomoyo isn't filming me."

"But your name is clearly on the label."

"Maybe later."

Gojo Satoru patiently continued watching.

In the scene, Tomoyo is holding a camera and following Sakura to pick flowers. The camera shakes slightly with each step, and as they pass under a tree, it inadvertently catches a glimpse of a figure sitting in the distance.

Gojo Satoru's smile faltered slightly.

That person wasn't in the very center of the picture, and if Gojo Satoru hadn't been so focused on finding him, he would have been easily overlooked.

Back then, Sumi Kichikawa looked even more youthful than she does now, wearing a simple light-colored jacket and sitting alone at the very edge of the picnic mat.

That was a very delicate position.

They weren't exactly detached from the crowd, but they certainly didn't integrate into it either.

A gentle breeze carried Touya and the others' laughter. Sakura cheered for finding a beautiful flower, Tomoyo smiled and praised her, and Yukito picked up a rice ball from his bento box and turned to ask Sumi Kikawa if she wanted to come and eat with them.

The young man in the video simply looked up, politely shook his head, and said, "Thank you, I have some here."

After saying that, he lowered his head again and quietly ate the sandwich in his hand.

His expression was neither gloomy nor displeased, but rather indifferent.

He didn't get impatient when the people around him laughed, but he also didn't smile along.

When Touya and Sakura were bickering, he didn't even look up; when Tomoyo suggested taking a photo together, he just sat in his original spot and cooperated without showing any intention of getting closer.

Even though he was in the warm spring sunshine, surrounded by a group of lively and friendly people, he felt as if he were encased in an invisible glass dome.

Everything around him seemed irrelevant. Whether the people around him were laughing or all of them disappeared the next second, it seemed that nothing would leave even the slightest trace on him.

Gojo Satoru stared quietly at the screen.

That face was no different from now, but the deep-seated sense of alienation made him speechless for a moment.

He had never seen Sumi Kichikawa like this before.

The Dr. Kosuke he knew was always gentle.

Even when facing strangers, he always has a faint smile on his lips; he responds seriously to every word others say, and he always takes care of everyone's feelings without making a sound; even if he says something boring or pointless, he always listens patiently to the end.

Gojo Satoru turned his head and looked at the person sitting next to him.

Sumi Kichikawa was also watching TV, her expression so calm that it was as if the lonely person on the screen wasn't herself at all.

"Was it like this every day back then, for Sumi?" Gojo Satoru said softly.

Sumi Kichikawa thought about it carefully: "Probably."

"What does 'approximately' mean?"

"Because I didn't think anything was unusual at the time, I don't remember very clearly," Sumi Kichikawa answered truthfully.

At that time, he had just completed his mission and was temporarily placed in this world by the system.

No more risking your life, no more pretending to be anyone.

He finally had the peace he had always dreamed of, but he didn't know what to do with it.

Being with Sakura and the others wasn't annoying, and attending parties occasionally was fine too. But whether he went or not, it really didn't make any difference to him.

On TV, the camera followed Tomoyo's movements and turned back to Sakura, with Sumi Kawakawa sliding off the screen from under the tree.

Gojo Satoru didn't say anything, but silently reached out and grabbed the hand that Kikkawa Sumi had placed at her side.

Sumire Kichikawa was taken aback: "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing." Gojo Satoru squeezed his fingers, his voice a little muffled, "It's just that seeing the old Sumi sitting there alone makes me a little annoyed."

"I wasn't ostracized," Sumi Kichikawa explained softly. "I chose that position myself."

"I know."

Satoru Gojo, of course, noticed. Sakura and the others had been actively trying to reach him, but he insisted on staying outside that boundary line, which was neither too close nor too far.

But the more he knew, the more uncomfortable he felt.

If they had known each other back then, he would never have let Sumi Kichikawa sit alone on the edge of the mat. No matter how much this person didn't want to talk to him, he would have shamelessly squeezed over, snatched half of his sandwich, and stuffed the sweetest cake into his hand.

Gojo Satoru simply pulled Kisakawa Sumi's hand onto his lap, forcefully squeezing his fingers between Kisakawa's, and holding it tightly.

"Not anymore," Sumire Kichikawa suddenly said.

Gojo Satoru turned his head to look at him.

"Now you'll sit next to me." Following his lead, Sumire gently closed her fingers, intertwining them tightly. "You won't leave me there alone."

Gojo stared at him for two seconds, and finally the corners of his mouth turned up again.

"Of course," he replied matter-of-factly. "From now on, Xiao Cheng can only sit next to me."

The first recording was coming to an end quickly.

As the scene was about to end, Sakura ran up to Sumireki with a piece of strawberry cake and asked him if he wanted to try a bite.

Kikawa Sumi instinctively wanted to refuse, but when he met the little girl's bright, expectant eyes, he hesitated for a moment and finally reached out to take it.

"Thanks."

He lowered his head and took a bite.

Sakura asked eagerly, "Is it delicious?"

The young man in the video paused for two seconds, then nodded slightly: "It's delicious."

Sakura was overjoyed, like a little bird, and happily ran back to Tomoyo's side with the plate in her hand.

Kikawa Sumi quietly watched her back. Although her expression remained indifferent, the light in her eyes had softened slightly compared to the beginning.