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

Once they reached a crowded street, Junpei visibly relaxed. Gojo Satoru didn't press him about school, only casually pointing to the posters outside the movie theater they had just passed.

Do you like watching movies?

Shunping paused, then replied, "Hmm."

"A horror movie?"

"……Um."

Gojo Satoru laughed and said, "Sumiko just said he doesn't watch horror movies much."

Shunpei looked at Sumireki.

Sumi Kichikawa said, "Watching horror movies after working the night shift isn't a good experience."

Shunping seemed to want to laugh, but he pursed his lips and suppressed it.

Gojo Satoru continued, "I can watch, but Sumi might be seriously analyzing the inconsistencies in the wound."

Sumi Kikawa looked at him and said, "I can't."

"real?"

"Unless it's too unreasonable."

Shunping finally gave a slight smile, and the gloomy aura around him loosened a little.

When they reached the main intersection ahead, Shunping stopped.

"I'll go this way. Thank you for earlier..."

Gojo Satoru waved his hand and said with a smile, "Next time we go to the movies, we can choose a more cheerful comedy."

Once the boy's figure had completely disappeared into the crowd, Gojo Satoru turned to look at Sumi Kichikawa, his eyes behind his sunglasses curving into a smile: "Sumi, you were really cool just now."

Sumi Kichikawa touched her nose somewhat embarrassedly, and Satoru Gojo said, "However, you were much stricter with those kids than usual. This is the first time I've seen Sumi who isn't so gentle."

"Gentleness also has its limits." Kikawa Sumi looked at the traffic light ahead, her voice calming down. "Gentleness is of no use to those who maliciously cross the line, except to condone their harm."

With his hands in his pockets and his expression hidden behind his sunglasses, Gojo Satoru said, "Well, that's true, but not everyone would do what Sumi does. There are always people who will say things like, 'Why are adults arguing with children?'"

Sumi Kikawa replied calmly, "I don't think being weak is an excuse to hurt others, just as being strong is not a reason to back down."

Upon hearing the last half of the sentence, Gojo Satoru raised an eyebrow slightly.

As the green light turned on, people weaved past them, creating gusts of wind.

"But in reality, the stronger person should naturally shoulder more responsibility, right? That's normal," Gojo Satoru said calmly.

"It's like the relationship between a gardener and a flower. You water it and protect it as it grows, but you don't need to expect a flower to understand the gardener. As long as the flower blooms well, what the gardener thinks doesn't really matter. Protecting them is the gardener's job."

As Kikawa Sumi listened to his argument, she slowed her pace slightly.

"As a one-way guardian, this is indeed a very responsible approach." Kikawa Sumi didn't refute his choice, but simply offered her own opinion along the lines of the conversation.

"But I don't like this default rule. If protection becomes a one-way sacrifice that is taken for granted, then it is a kind of implicit coercion for the party giving."

Gojo Satoru paused very slightly for half a second.

Sumi Kikawa didn't look at him; her steady voice carried clearly on the street breeze:

"So I still hold the same view: strength is never a resource that can be consumed indefinitely. No matter how powerful a person is, they have the right to refuse, and there's no need to back down every time for the sake of so-called 'should'."

"I don't like it when people use the excuse that they can do it themselves to ask others to make sacrifices."

This was the first time Gojo Satoru had ever heard such words.

The last time someone talked to him about this topic was a long time ago.

That person had also stood beside him, questioning the obligations that the world imposed on the strong.

Why should we exhaust ourselves to protect those people?

His answer ultimately pointed to a rejection of the weak.

The malice of the reversal led him to distort his questioning of injustice into a screening of life itself, and then he turned his back and embarked on another path.

But the person in front of me said something different.

Kikawa Sumi neither denied the significance of protection itself, nor did she show any condescending pity or correction towards his "flower planter" rhetoric.

He simply drew a line with utmost calmness and unwavering certainty—

Strength is not a license for unlimited overdraft. Protection can be a choice, but it should not be a shackle.

A strange, subtle itch brushed against my heart.

Gojo Satoru suddenly chuckled softly, "Sumiko's thinking is really realistic. But... I don't dislike it."

He turned his head to look at the convenience store sign in front of him and naturally changed the subject: "I'm thirsty, I want to drink strawberry milk."

"That drink had too much sugar."

"The milk comes in small bottles!" Gojo Satoru said matter-of-factly.

Kikawa Sumi looked at him for a while, a helpless smile appearing in her eyes: "Okay, buy the small bottle."

The convenience store was brightly lit, and the automatic doors made a crisp beeping sound as they opened and closed. Kikawa Sumi picked out a small bottle of strawberry milk and grabbed herself a bottle of room-temperature mineral water.

After leaving the convenience store, Gojo Satoru inserted a straw and took a big gulp.

Kikawa Sumi turned her head and saw a little white milk stain on the corner of his lips.

Sumi Kichikawa stopped in her tracks.

"What's wrong?" Gojo Satoru stopped as well.

Kikawa Sumi didn't speak, but simply raised her hand very naturally, placed her fingertips on Gojo Satoru's lips, and gently wiped away the milk stain.

The warm touch of his fingertips brushed against her soft lips, but didn't leave immediately. Instead, it lingered on Gojo Satoru's lips for half a second, his fingertips gently caressing her, before he withdrew his hand.

Although "no limits" is always in a dormant state in front of Sumi Kikawa, Gojo Satoru was completely unprepared for the other party to suddenly make such a move.

It took the most powerful sorcerer a long time to barely find his voice again.

Gojo Satoru stared into his eyes: "...Sumi, you just now...you..."

He suddenly didn't know what to ask him.

Two grown men stood on the road, asking why it was strange for you to touch me, and why it was strange for you to suddenly touch the corner of my mouth.

Sumi Kichikawa chuckled softly, "I've just been holding back for a while."

Gojo Satoru froze, his Adam's apple bobbing involuntarily: "...What do you mean, 'endured for a long time'?"

Sumi Kichikawa took a small step forward, and their breaths almost mingled in the warm air.

"I'll refrain from touching you first."

His voice was low and slow, yet exceptionally clear.

"Wu, I've told you before, every time you come close to me without warning, it distracts me, especially when you're eating with food all over your face like this—I have pretty good self-control, but I just can't help it with you."

Gojo Satoru was completely speechless.

Her beautiful face froze slightly beneath her white hair, even her lips, which were still holding a straw, tightened. A delicate blush crept up her neck and up to her ears, before she completely lost control.

Knowing he had the upper hand, Sumire Kawakawa turned and walked towards the station.

Gojo Satoru, clutching the bottle of milk, paused for a moment before awkwardly moving his feet to catch up.

On the way home, a non-motorized vehicle suddenly honked its horn and sped past from behind.

Kikawa Sumi reacted quickly, grabbing Gojo Satoru's wrist and pulling him toward the inside of the street.

The car sped away.

The crisis was over, but Sumi Kichikawa's fingers did not loosen.

His palm slid down the wrist bone that was being grasped a little, and he held the wrist like that, leading him forward.

Gojo Satoru lowered his head, looking at his wrist that was being held, and then at Sumirei Kawakawa, who was crossing the street with a calm expression.

He moved his fingertips somewhat awkwardly, but did not pull away, letting the other person pull him along, while the corners of his mouth involuntarily turned up high.