Chapter 13 Apology

　　The resentment in Kei Kojima's chest had been slowly accumulating since the moment he came to this school and met Geto Suguru, and it had never dissipated.

　　Day after day.

　　Every time he met him, he would recall everything again, recall the good times they had spent together, and recall all the pain he had suffered when he was dying.

　　There is also anger, sadness and grief.

　　The accumulation of emotions in his heart made him feel uncomfortable every moment.

　　He is a man who has died once.

　　Before he died, he only had deep love for this person, but his neck was ruthlessly broken.

　　After death, all that love turned into hatred.

　　Even after being reborn, the hatred from the depths of his soul continues to accumulate until the day when it can no longer be suppressed.

　　Kei Kojima knew that the Geto Suguru in front of him knew nothing at all. He didn't even recognize him, and had no memory of their time together.

　　Before he enrolled in Jujutsu High School, they were just strangers. They didn't live in the same community, nor were they neighbors. With so many people in this city, they would never have any intersection.

　　Even now... I'm just not familiar with the seniors and juniors.

　　But if he didn't resent him, Kei Kojima didn't know where to direct this resentment and anger.

　　…They are all obviously——“Jay”.

　　"I told you, don't call me Kei."

　　Kojima Kei looked at Geto Suguru with indifference, his tone unprecedentedly cold. His eyes reflected a strong hatred that overflowed from the bottle called "hatred" and could no longer be concealed:

　　"Grandpa, we're not familiar with each other, so please don't call my name too intimately."

　　The tone was completely different from when he faced Gojo Satoru.

　　He spoke with a venting tone. Just being called by his name made him so angry and even resentful.

　　Almost everyone present looked at him in unison.

　　There was a moment of silence.

　　Gojo Satoru stood silently aside, looking at the cold-faced boy, his eyes moving slightly.

　　The neighbor, Glass, whispered to him:

　　"Hey...what's going on? Gojo, when did Geto make him angry? Do you know something?"

　　Gojo Satoru curled his lips but said nothing.

　　Huiyuan Xiong pulled Kojima Kei and said hurriedly:

　　"Hey, Kojima, what did you say to Geto-sama? That's a bit too much. Apologize quickly." He then explained to Geto-sama, "Geto-sama, I'm sorry. He hasn't been in a good mood during training these days. He didn't mean it."

　　Geto Summer Oil said nothing.

　　"I'm leaving first."

　　Kojima Kei turned around and left.

　　It's impossible to ask him to apologize to this person.

　　Don't talk to me like that anymore!

　　Stop looking at me like that!

　　It's all fake! It's all fake!

　　Kei Kojima walked quickly, biting his lips hard to hold back the tears that were about to burst out of his eyes.

　　Don’t cry, don’t cry!

　　So what if I shed tears? It won't change anything.

　　The only one who remembers those things is... him.

　　Nanami Kento stood aside, looking at Kei Kojima's departing back, then turned to look at Geto Suguru. The man who always had a smile on his face finally took off the mask, revealing his vulnerable side. His expression was blank, his hands were clenched tightly, his knuckles were stretched white, and he just stared in the direction Kei Kojima left, staring for a long time.

　　This was the first time he had seen Senior Getsuyu express his emotions so openly.

　　Huiyuan Xiong was a little flustered. He looked left and right and bowed to everyone:

　　"Sorry, Kojima seems a little off. I'm going to check on him! Mr. Yaga, I'm leaving too!"

　　Ye Moth Zhengdao responded, "Go ahead."

　　“…What?”

　　Ieiri Naoko muttered softly.

　　"Satoru, continue training with Nanami."

　　Ye Moth Zhengdao sighed:

　　"Jie, come with me, I have something to tell you."

　　"……good."

　　Geto Suguru followed behind him.

　　The originally bustling training ground was suddenly filled with only three people.

　　The other side.

　　Yega Zhengdao took Xia Yujie to a secluded corner.

　　"Well...don't take what happened just now to heart. He probably didn't mean it."

　　Ye Moth Zhengdao considered his words carefully and spoke cautiously:

　　"It was during this conversation with his mother that I learned that Kojima Kei had been seriously injured. He...had a brother whom he trusted very much, but he had been hurt by that brother. His mother didn't know the details, and by the time she realized it, it was too late.

　　For a long time, Kojima was often awakened by nightmares in the middle of the night, crying non-stop. The worst incident involved him wrapping a rope around his neck and hanging upside down from a beam. If he hadn't been discovered in time, he would have died long ago."

　　There is such a deep psychological shadow...

　　Xia Yujie's face turned pale: "...What happened next?"

　　"Later, he was accidentally swallowed by a cursed spirit when he went out. After waking up, he returned to normal and regained most of his consciousness. That's why his mother allowed him to come to the technical college."

　　Ye Moth Zhengdao sighed slightly:

　　"I've met many children with psychological problems before. Sorcerers are easily oppressed in their childhood, but Kojima Kei's situation is different. I called you here alone because I have something else to tell you.

　　Kojima Kei has this psychological shadow and is not good at communicating with the seniors. You should have noticed that among them, he is the most resistant to you, right?"

　　Geto Summer Oil was silent: "That's right."

　　"I heard from his mother that the brother who hurt him before, I don't know his surname, I only know that person, with a single name - Jie."

　　Ye Moth Zhengdao said this.

　　The sun slowly sets in the west.

　　Geto Suguru walked slowly on the campus. The setting sun cast a ray of afterglow on the horizon. His shadow stretched very long down the street, almost covering the entire ground.

　　[He would desperately shout in his dreams, "Jie, don't kill me, don't kill me."]

　　Could such a coincidence be possible? If it was just a similarity in name, why did Kei Kojima pinpoint him so accurately when they first met?

　　Before that, he probably didn't know his name.

　　Geto Summer stopped.

　　Kei Kojima locked himself in his room for three days and refused to come out.

　　Once again, he chose to be a coward, hiding himself under the quilt, unwilling to face the ups and downs outside.

　　What is he doing?

　　He actually lost his temper at someone who knew nothing about him.

　　Kojima Kei hammered his pillow.

　　His conscience urged him to go out quickly and apologize to Geto Suguru who had suffered an unexpected disaster. He should not treat the senior who was completely unaware of the situation and, at least for now, seemed very friendly to him, with that attitude.

　　But Kei Kojima didn't want to apologize, and the situation remained deadlocked.

　　Every day, Haibara Yu would knock on the door and ask about his situation through the door. When he got no response, he would go to the cafeteria before training and put dinner and lunch on the windowsill of Kojima Kei's room.

　　When he came back from training, Haibara Yu found that the food had been taken in.

　　At least even if I’m in a bad mood, I won’t skip meals.

　　Huiyuan Xiong was relieved.

　　On the third day, Huihara Yu was still knocking on the door through the panel.

　　"Kojima, it's time to get up~ Are you going to practice today? The exams are going to start in three days!"

　　Nanami Kento stood beside him, yawning and saying:

　　"Habara, that's enough, right? Why are you so persistent every day?"

　　Why are you always meddling in other people's business? ... You have so much energy.

　　Just as he finished speaking, the door of the room slowly opened, and out walked Kei Kojima, who was already dressed neatly.

　　"Sorry to have kept you waiting so long."

　　Kei Kojima walked out slowly with an unnatural expression.

　　He couldn't continue to be so decadent, he couldn't put the cart before the horse, and he almost forgot the purpose of coming here.

　　Kei Kojima gathered himself together and mustered up the courage to come out in the morning.

　　Sooner or later you have to face it.

　　Huiyuan Xiong was stunned for a moment, his eyes lit up, and he said happily:

　　"Kojima! You finally came out!"

　　He smiled and waved at Kojima Kei, without mentioning what happened before:

　　"Let's go! Let's go have breakfast first!"

　　"good."

　　Kojima Kei followed behind Haibara Yu silently, listening to him happily talking about what had happened in the past few days. Haibara Yu did not mention Geto Suguru's name at all, which made him feel a little guilty:

　　"...I'm sorry, Haibara, Nanami. I made you worry."

　　Nanami Kento said coldly:

　　"I didn't do anything. Go thank Huibara. He makes you meals every day."

　　"Thank you, Huiyuan..."

　　Kojima Kei said gratefully.

　　Huiyuan Xiong put his arm around his shoulders:

　　"What's the big deal? We're all from the same class, so shouldn't we help each other?"

　　Good person!

　　I shouldn't have said he was noisy before!

　　When we arrived at the training ground, Gojo Satoru and Geto Suguru were already waiting there.

　　Gojo Satoru lifted his sunglasses and said in surprise:

　　"Hey~ Isn't this Kojima-san? You finally decided to go out?"

　　Kei Kojima heard a hint of sarcasm.

　　Yes, how could he be so disrespectful to his best friend?

　　Kei Kojima chose to remain silent, but he couldn't ignore the strong gaze directed at him.

　　Huiyuan Xiong was speechless for a moment:

　　"Gojo-senpai! Stop joking around!"

　　Kei Kojima walked silently among the crowd and bowed to everyone:

　　"...Sorry, I haven't been feeling well these past few days and haven't been able to come to training..."

　　"Okay, stop talking nonsense."

　　Ye Moth Zhengdao glanced at them and said, "You've been lying down for three days, your body must be rusty. Go run fifty laps first to stretch your body."

　　Kojima Kei responded obediently:

　　"yes."

　　After saying that, he went directly to the outer runway.

　　No one mentioned what happened that day anymore, as if it had never happened. Everyone still called out Kojima Kei's name gently:

　　"Kojima, it's the last ten laps!"

　　“Come on!”

　　This was an atmosphere he had never experienced in his previous school. No one isolated themselves because of something, and everything was the same as before.

　　Kei Kojima felt that he was too ignorant.

　　He must also respond to restore the atmosphere that he had ruined before.

　　Geto Suguru discovered that when Kei Kojima was training, he would always sneak glances at him from time to time, and when he looked over, he would immediately turn his head away and pretend nothing had happened.

　　This young man, whose every move always inexplicably attracts his attention, must have something to say to him.

　　He guessed that it might be because of what happened a few days ago, and he wanted to find a chance to apologize to him.

　　But I couldn't bring myself to do that, and I couldn't take the initiative to do that, and I felt anxious inside.

　　Geto Suguru decided to give him a push.

　　So, after all the training was over, he called out to Kei Kojima:

　　"Kojima."

　　The boy who was called out visibly shuddered, his toes moving restlessly as if he was suppressing a strong instinct to escape. He turned around and responded to the words coming from him for the first time, his voice softly:

　　"...Getu-senpai."

　　This was the second time that Geto Suguru heard him say this name.

　　Getsu...senior.

　　It seemed as if this name, spoken from his mouth, had a special charm, which suddenly made Xia Yujie feel an indescribable feeling in his heart.

　　He suppressed this strange feeling and smiled at Kojima Kei:

　　"Do you have time? I want to talk to you."