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

The first workday after returning from Hachihara was a rare sunny day.

The morning sunlight streamed through the blinds of the clinic and fell onto the floor.

Kikawa Sumi changed into a crisp white coat, neatly categorized the medical records on the table, and then picked up the warm water beside her and took a sip.

Everything seemed no different from any other Monday in the past few years.

But for some reason, everything that Sumi Kawakawa saw today seemed pleasing to the eye.

The sky seemed bluer than usual today, the green belts around the hospital suddenly looked vibrant, and even the hospital floors were sparkling clean. Everything made me feel happy.

Sumi Kichikawa walked out of the clinic in a good mood.

In the corridor, Sumiichi Kigawa turned his head and saw a detailed guide on how to brush a child's teeth posted on the hospital wall. He suddenly remembered that morning when he was making rice balls in the kitchen with the ingredients Aunt Touko had given him. Gojo Satoru, with his messy white hair, swayed over like a big cat that hadn't woken up yet and hung on him from behind.

The man rested his chin on his shoulder and complained in a drawn-out tone that he didn't want to go to work, then naturally turned his head and asked for a good morning kiss on the side of his neck that smelled of toothpaste and mint.

A very slight curve appeared on the corner of Kikawa Sumi's lips without her noticing.

Chinatsu Miyazawa was leaning against the nurses' station checking the shift schedule when she looked up and saw him. She was about to raise her hand to greet him, but stopped halfway through.

She stared at Sumire Kichikawa for a few seconds.

Kikawa Sumi paused slightly: "What's wrong?"

"Dr. Kikawa," Chinatsu Miyazawa's eyes swept across his face, "you look...very healthy today."

She had never seen Sumi Kichikawa like this when she came to work on a Monday.

Sumire Kawakawa was puzzled.

Just then, the sound of hurried footsteps came from the other end of the corridor.

Makoto Fujii turned from the direction of the elevator; it was his turn to volunteer at the hospital today.

He carried his black crossbody bag, which was always covered in stickers, over one shoulder, and as soon as he entered the nurses' station, he raised his coffee cup to Sumi Kichikawa.

"Kichikawa, good morning—oh?"

He stopped too.

Then, just like Miyazawa Chinatsu, his gaze swept back and forth across Kisakawa Sumi's face twice.

"What kind of magic potion did you take?" Fujii Makoto asked bluntly.

"...Did you two make a plan?" Sumire Kichikawa said helplessly.

"That's because you're really acting really strange." Fujii Makoto put the coffee on the counter and leaned closer to examine him.

This person didn't look bitter and resentful at all today; in fact, there was a hint of joy in his eyes, which seemed very strange.

Then his gaze fell on the ID card holder that Sumi Kikawa was wearing on her chest—

More precisely, it was the originally blank photo slot in the ID holder.

That spot had always been empty, but today, a sticker was tucked into that little photo slot.

It's a round, white sticker with a cat design.

The white ragdoll cat wearing sunglasses is arrogantly flashing a "V" sign at everyone who sees him.

Fujii Makoto slowly raised his head and stared at Sumi Kikawa's face.

"Qichuan, where did you go this weekend?"

Chinatsu Miyazawa also spotted the sticker, and her expression immediately became excited.

Sumi Kichikawa's fingers unconsciously touched the document holder.

The white cat sticker fell out of my suitcase last night when I was packing. It was a backup sticker I had prepared for Gojo Satoru.

He casually slipped it into the ID holder that morning without thinking much of it, but now, with two people staring at him like that, for some reason, his ears started to feel hot.

"I went to the countryside over the weekend," Sumire Kichikawa replied.

"With whom?" Chinatsu Miyazawa pressed.

"Wago."

The two people in front of them exchanged a knowing glance.

Looking at the two pairs of eyes in front of her, which were sparkling with gossip but meant no harm, Sumire Kikkawa found it somewhat amusing.

He is actually a person who pays great attention to boundaries and rarely talks about personal matters in the workplace.

But at this moment, looking at his two friends who had been with him the longest and cared about him the most, he suddenly felt that there was nothing to hide.

He wanted to introduce that person to his friends in this world in a proper and respectable way.

Kikawa Sumi put down her water glass and met their gaze.

"I took Wu to the countryside over the weekend."

He paused for a second, then bluntly added the second half of the sentence:

"We're officially together now, he's my boyfriend."

The consultation room fell into a deathly silence.

Two seconds later.

"Ah—I knew it!" Miyazawa Chinatsu suddenly covered her mouth, suppressing a scream that nearly lifted the roof off, and stomped her feet excitedly on the spot.

"I knew you two would get together soon!"

Fujii Makoto slapped Sumi Kikawa on the back.

"Finally, you little brat!" Fujii Makoto laughed, his voice trembling. "I bet you'd finish it before the New Year, and I won!"

"...How much did you bet?" Sumire Kichikawa was both amused and exasperated.

"A meal of roasted meat." Fujii Makoto announced the bet, then gestured to Miyazawa Chinatsu as if to say "you're welcome."

"Alright, alright, it's my treat." Miyazawa Chinatsu waved her hand, then turned to look at Kikawa Sumi, suddenly reached into her pocket, pulled out her phone, scrolled through it a few times, and then tapped the screen.

"Oh, by the way, I have something for you."

The phone vibrated, and Sumi Kichikawa took it out and looked down at the screen.

Chinatsu Miyazawa sent a photo.

Judging from the background, this photo was probably taken on the day of the event.

In the photo, he and Gojo Satoru are standing under the lights at the main entrance of the hospital.

The two people stood facing each other, with a small distance between them.

Kikawa Sumimasa turned his head slightly to look at the person in front of him. If he hadn't seen the photo, he wouldn't have known that he had that expression back then.

In the photo, he has a gentle smile on his lips, and the warmth in his eyes seems to be felt even through the lens. Across from him, Gojo Satoru is also looking at him, his white hair outlined with a soft edge by the side light.

There were family members and nurses coming and going around the two of them, but they seemed completely oblivious to everyone else.

The lamplight cast long, overlapping shadows of the two people.

Sumi Kichikawa looked at the photo, her Adam's apple bobbing.

"I just thought the scene looked good, so I snapped a picture," Chinatsu Miyazawa said with a smile. "But the atmosphere between you guys was obviously off, wasn't it?"

Sumi Kichikawa didn't speak, but just looked down at the photos for a while.

He then set the photo as his chat background.

"Oh—" Miyazawa Chinatsu noticed his movement and immediately broke into a big smile, "Dr. Kikawa! You—"

"The outpatient clinic is about to start." Kikawa Sumi calmly put her phone back in her pocket, but her ears were burning red.

"I'm going now."

He turned and walked quickly toward the examination room.

Behind them came the sounds of Miyazawa Chinatsu and Fujii Makoto's playful laughter, and Miyazawa Chinatsu's shout, "I'll treat you to dinner later! And don't forget to bring Mr. Gojo!"

Sumi Kichikawa quickened her pace.

After entering the consultation room and closing the door, he glanced down at his phone.

The chat background has been changed.

The photo was framed by the phone screen, with his and Gojo Satoru's figures occupying the center of the image.

He turned off his phone screen, put it back in his pocket, and walked towards the examination room.

Higher vocational college.

Gojo Satoru pushed open the door to the infirmary, holding a bag of strawberry milk he had bought from a vending machine.

"Glass—" he dragged his feet as he walked in, plopped down on the examination chair, and crossed his legs.

"Do you know what I had with my toast for breakfast this morning?"

Glass looked at the report without raising her head: "Poison?"

"It's homemade jam," Gojo Satoru said, ignoring her words with undisguised boasting.

"It's all-natural, and comes in plum and strawberry flavors. It tastes amazing!"

Shoko looked up at him.

She knows Gojo Satoru very well.

If he just wanted to say the jam was delicious, he wouldn't have come all the way to find her, so there must be more to his story.

She asked playfully, "Where did you get the homemade jam?"

Gojo Satoru's lips curled up slightly more.

"Didn't I mention before that I have a doctor friend?" He stirred his strawberry milk with a straw, his tone still casual, but his expression was very happy.

"He took me to stay at his friend's house for a few days. The auntie there really liked me and gave me a lot of things."

Shoko raised an eyebrow.

An elder to take to meet friends?

And my elders stuffed a bunch of local specialties into my hands?

"Oh, he's quite hospitable," Shoko replied listlessly, preparing to continue reading the report.

"Not only that."

Suddenly, as if by magic, Gojo Satoru picked up an exquisite double-layered bento box wrapped in a dark blue cloth from the side and waved it in front of Shoko.

"This lunchbox for me today was also made by him himself this morning using ingredients that my aunt gave me."

Gojo Satoru rested his chin on his hand, feeling his smugness about to overflow, and pretended to be troubled.

"Oh dear, sometimes you just can't help being too charming~"

An indescribable expression suddenly appeared in Shoko's eyes.

"You said he took you to stay at a friend's house?" Shoko asked.

"Yeah, I stayed there for several days." Gojo Satoru sipped his strawberry milk. "It's a very remote rural area, and he knows people there. The auntie there was very kind; she said I was pretty and gave me several bowls of rice."

"..."

Shoko paused for a moment, then probed from a different angle: "Does his friend... know who you are?"

"I don't know," Gojo Satoru replied. "They only know I'm his friend."

friend.

Shoko pondered those two words in her mind, only realizing what was happening belatedly.

Not right.

Something is very wrong.

Even the closest of friends, would two grown men do things like "taking someone back to the countryside to meet elders on the weekend," "helping spread jam on someone's fruit in the morning," or "making a bento box by hand and wrapping it so delicately in a cloth"?

Shoko silently made a horizontal comparison in her mind.

Without a doubt, Gojo Satoru's closest male friend in his life was Natsuyu Kei.

However, even Xia Youjie back then would never have done something like "getting up early in the morning to make a love-filled bento for Wutiao Wu".

She suddenly remembered the last time Gojo Satoru came to see her, saying, "Dr. Kosumi doesn't let me eat too many sweets," but with that smug and slightly boastful expression on his face.

Looking back now, that expression didn't seem like it was directed at a friend.

"Gojo." Shoko remained silent for a long while before speaking softly, "Tell me honestly, is your 'doctor friend' a man or a woman?"

"He's a guy. Didn't I tell you that already?" Gojo Satoru replied confidently.

"..."

Shoko took a deep breath and felt a slight headache.

"So, a man takes you to meet his friends, his elders, and even gives you local specialties, and then gets up this morning to make you a bento box."

Shoko calmly summarized the events, then looked into Gojo Satoru's eyes and asked,

"Are you misunderstanding the term 'ordinary male friend'?"

Gojo Satoru blinked, and the smile on his lips not only didn't fade, but actually grew wider.

He tilted his head slightly, his eyes crinkling into a smile, his tone cheerful:

"I never said we were just ordinary friends."

Ieiri Glass: "..."

Shoko dropped the ballpoint pen from her hand onto the table.

Looking at Gojo Satoru's smug expression, which was so open and undisguised, and even carried a hint of "you finally figured it out," she silently cursed in her heart.

This guy actually found himself a man right under everyone's noses without saying a word!?!

Who exactly is that doctor?!