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

By the time the second videotape was switched to, several months had already passed.

In the footage, Sumi Kichikawa is still not in the exact center of the frame, but he seems less detached.

Sakura and Tomoyo were sitting cross-legged in the living room, fiddling with handmade ornaments, while Sumi Kikawa sat beside them, helping them straighten the ribbons that were tangled together on the table.

When Sakura encounters a step she doesn't understand, she habitually holds up the half-finished product in front of him for help.

Kikawa Sumire had clearly never touched such delicate little gadgets before, but he still took the instruction manual, lowered his head, and patiently accompanied the little girl as she studied them little by little.

The finished ornaments were crooked and twisted.

Sakura was a little embarrassed and asked him softly if it looked bad. Sumi Kikawa looked him over for a while and said gently, "It's already very good for your first time."

Upon seeing this, Gojo Satoru couldn't help but chuckle.

"Xiao Cheng has been very good at taking care of children since that time."

"I was just telling the truth," Sumi Kichikawa replied softly.

In the following tapes, Sumi Kichikawa appeared more frequently.

He gradually moved from the edge of the frame into the center of the crowd.

It was as if a crack had finally appeared in the hard frozen soil, and a fine stream of water seeped in, allowing the dormant seeds to grow along the moist soil and finally sprout silently.

Gojo Satoru then proceeded to watch the games one by one in chronological order.

He witnessed firsthand how this person, who was originally out of step with the world, gradually transformed into the familiar Sumi Kichikawa he knew.

He looked at it very carefully.

This person usually hates being bored, but this time he didn't skip a single second.

Even if the scene only consists of a few minutes of long shots of Sumi Kikawa sitting in a corner in a daze, Satoru Gojo will watch it intently, afraid of missing even the slightest change.

Feeling the focused gaze of the person beside her, the subtle embarrassment in Kikawa Sumi's heart unconsciously dissipated.

He turned his head to look at Gojo Satoru's face, illuminated by the television screen. Suddenly, he felt that these recorded, somewhat clumsy memories of the past weren't so difficult to face after all.

After all, this man genuinely wanted to understand him.

He was earnestly accepting that cold and unfamiliar version of himself from the past, a version that even Sumi Kichikawa herself was unwilling to look back on.

"Next game, next game."

Gojo Satoru deftly removed the tape, his fingers rummaging on the coffee table for the next date.

When he saw the words "First time making a cake" on the label, his eyes lit up instantly.

Kikawa Sumi's back, which had just relaxed, immediately straightened up again.

"...Let's skip this one."

"Why don't you look?" Gojo Satoru quickly grabbed the tape and held it tightly to his chest. "This was specially recommended by Touya."

Seeing the expectant look on this person's face, Sumi Kichikawa tried to make a final struggle.

"It's really getting late."

Gojo Satoru picked up the remote and pointed to the corner of the screen: "It's not even one o'clock yet."

I have to go out tomorrow.

"I won't be late."

"..."

They couldn't stop them.

The tape had been sucked into the machine. The screen lit up, and sure enough, it was the Kinomoto family's kitchen.

Tomoyo probably set up the machine on the counter next to her, so the whole kitchen was in sight.

On the table were neatly arranged cake flour, eggs, sugar, and butter. Sakura, wearing an apron, stood in the center, holding a dessert recipe book in her hand.

Sumi Kichikawa was standing next to her.

He was also wearing an apron, his sleeves rolled up meticulously to his elbows, his face taut, staring intently at the materials on the table as if facing a formidable enemy.

Sakura picked up an egg, tapped it on the rim of the bowl, and skillfully cracked it into the bowl.

Sumi Kichikawa picked up the eggs, but didn't act immediately; instead, she paused for a moment.

In the video, Sakura patiently teaches him, "Kikawa-nii, just tap it lightly."

"lightly?"

"Yes, otherwise the eggshell will fall in."

Kikawa Sumi nodded thoughtfully and tentatively tapped the rim of the bowl.

The eggshell wasn't broken.

He put in a little more effort.

It's still not broken.

The third time, he finally went all out—with a "crack," the egg cracked, but because he used too much force, the egg liquid mixed with the broken eggshell splashed into the bowl, and his fingers were covered in egg liquid.

The kitchen was deathly silent.

Kikawa Sumi looked down at the bowl of mangled eggshells, her expression grave.

Sakura quickly reassured her, "It's okay! Just pick the eggshell out!"

Tomoyo also offered gentle encouragement from behind the camera: "Mr. Kikawa, you've done very well for your first attempt."

Without saying a word, Sumire Kichikawa silently picked up her chopsticks and began picking out the eggshells.

Gojo Satoru finally couldn't hold it in any longer and collapsed onto the sofa armrest, laughing so hard he couldn't straighten up.

"Hahaha... So even Cheng has moments like this!"

Kikawa Sumi sat next to him, her ear tips already bright red.

"...That was an accident."

"Hahahaha—" Gojo Satoru laughed so hard his shoulders twitched.

The recording is still ongoing.

After finally cleaning the eggshells, he became engrossed in the recipe's instructions for whipping the cream, particularly the "60% whipped" and "70% whipped" steps.

Even though he was just making a cake, he remained on high alert the entire time.

Sakura told him to relax, and he readily agreed, but the next second he ran off to stare intently at the oven temperature.

Gojo Satoru watched as Sumi Kikawa frantically struggled with a cake on the screen, and the smile on his lips never faded.

"Xiao Cheng was so much fun back then."

"I had only been learning to cook for a short time back then," Sumi Kichikawa said softly, trying to save face. "I wasn't very good at many things."

Gojo Satoru, having finished laughing, turned his head to look at him.

The current Sumi Kichikawa is completely different from the person in the video who was worrying about eggs.

Now he's completely at ease in the kitchen, seasoning with pure intuition and controlling the heat flawlessly. Even if Gojo Satoru sometimes doesn't know how to cook something, he can perfectly recreate it once he's in the kitchen.

Gojo Satoru used to think that Sumire Kichikawa was amazing, as if this person could do anything with ease.

But now it seems that this is not the case.

It turns out he can also crush eggs, can't distinguish the state of cream, and can get so nervous looking at a thin recipe that he frowns.

The smile in Gojo Satoru's eyes softened little by little.

"Our Xiao Cheng is really amazing now."

Sumire Kikkawa finally looked up at him.

Gojo Satoru is always straightforward and has never known what restraint is.

"She cooks well, bakes cakes amazingly, and even remembers exactly what flavors I like. She used to not even know how to crack an egg properly, but now she can do everything."

He reached out and gently pinched the tips of Kikawa Sumi's still-red earlobe with his fingertips.

"Tell me quickly, how did our Xiaocheng become so amazing?"

Kikawa Sumi was initially embarrassed by that "dark history," but after being rubbed and praised by him, that unease vanished instantly.

He really falls for that.

Especially when these words came from Gojo Satoru's mouth, even though he knew that this person was deliberately teasing him, he couldn't suppress the warm joy in his heart.

"Later... I practiced many times," he said softly.

"I knew it." Gojo Satoru seized the opportunity. "Sumiko, who works so hard, is also super cute."

Kikawa Sumi pursed her lips, and finally couldn't help but reach out and grab the hand that was still messing around on her ear.

"...Don't always say things like that."

"Why? Isn't it natural to praise your boyfriend?"

"..."

"Or is it that Xiaocheng actually hopes I'll praise her more often?"

Kikawa Sumi didn't speak, but silently pulled Gojo Satoru's hand down and held it tightly in her own palm.

Gojo Satoru caught a glimpse of the corners of his mouth subtly turning up, but didn't press the matter further. Instead, he comfortably leaned against his shoulder.

On TV, the cake that had gone through so many twists and turns was finally finished, and it didn't completely turn out badly.

The cake base collapsed a bit on one side after baking, and the cream was too soft and couldn't stand up because the kitchen temperature was too high.

Sakura stared at the lump of food for a moment, then looked up at Sumireki, adding plenty of emotional support: "It looks delicious!"

Sumi Kichikawa's expression was complicated; clearly, even he didn't believe it.

Until Touya and Yukito returned.

Without a word, Yukito cut off a large piece and praised it as delicious with a beaming smile. Touya didn't say a word, but he silently ate his portion cleanly.

Seeing their reaction, a slightly shy smile finally appeared on Sumi Kichikawa's face.

He has really changed a lot compared to the initial recording.

He no longer simply responded politely to others' kindness.

He began to feel satisfied because people liked what he made, and he was happy to be needed.

After watching the video, Gojo Satoru did not immediately take out the videotape.

He leaned on Sumi Kichikawa's shoulder, watching the image frozen on the screen.

"Is it because of Sakura and the others?"

Sumire Kawakawa knew what he was asking.

"Hmm," he said softly, "At first, I only occasionally spent time with them doing things. Later, as I spent more and more time with them, I wanted to do more and more things."

It was just the little moments spent with Sakura and the others, those subtle responses, that gradually made something that was originally meaningless something worth looking forward to.

It was during that time that he gradually learned how to continue living as an ordinary person after the mission was over.

Gojo Satoru didn't say anything, but turned his face and gently nuzzled against Sumi Kichikawa's shoulder.

They watched a few more rounds.

By the time only one unplayed videotape remained on the table, it was past midnight.

The date on that video is relatively recent.

The label only had a few words on it—"Choose your candy."