Hi guys, author here! Please share your thoughts in the comments and reviews. And if you like it, don't forget to drop some stones — they're a great motivator!
--------------------
The three generation of Zenin continued their walk towards Naoya's school.
The nearby people looked at Naobito and Kagenori with wariness since the two of them were looking way too authoritative for their liking.
None of them was talking; they just walked in silence.
Soon, the trio arrived at their destination, and Naoya bid farewell to the two of them.
Kagenori looked at his grandson for a while before turning towards Naobito.
"Arrange more guards around him. Many people have placed a bounty on his head," muttered Kagenori.
Naobito widened his eyes in surprise and looked at his son carefreely talking with the kids.
"How certain are you?" asked Naobito as the father and son started their journey back to the Zenin compound.
--------------------
Meanwhile, back at school, Naoya was once again surrounded by Miyamura and Misaki, who were once again worried for him since another scary man came with him, though this time they minded their words.
"What does your family do? Everyone in there looks....so serious," said Misaki, controlling her words.
"Oh! Nice save, Misaki!!!" exclaimed Izumi.
Naoya fell silent at the question. What should he say now? My family kills invisible curses to protect others? His friends might start to think that he had a screw loose.
"Hm? We have a few businesses and many members in the family work for the government," said Naoya after thinking for a while.
It was not technically wrong. Jujutsu sorcerers were mostly paid by the government, and the jujutsu sorcerers came under a government department as well. Apart from that, the Zenin family indeed had multiple businesses set up both in and outside Japan. They were not a prestigious family just for show. They indeed had funds and authority to back them up as well.
Izumi and Misaki looked at Naoya with amazement. No wonder he brought such luxurious lunches every day. He was loaded.
"Just so you know. It is my family that is rich. I don't get much pocket money," said Naoya.
"...Doesn't matter, you are still treating us after school today!!!" declared Misaki.
"I want ramen today," said Miyamura shamelessly.
"...Okay, fine," replied Naoya with a sigh.
"Such a good friend!!!" cheered Miyamura.
"As expected of my future brother-in-law," said Misaki with pride and patted Naoya's shoulder.
"You are still on about that....Fine, I will tell Suzuna-chan that you are a bad girl and you bully me," said Naoya.
"Don't you dare lie to my sweet sister about me!!!" said Misaki and started shaking Naoya.
"See, this is bullying," said Naoya and lifted Misaki in the air, stopping her from shaking him anymore.
"Put me down!!!" flailed Misakias Naoya, placing her on the ground.
"Don't treat me like a kid!!!"
"Huh? What happened to the sweet Misaki-chan that smiled blissfully when I patted her?" asked Naoya with a hurt look on his face.
"Hmph! She grew up!!!" replied Misaki.
"Oh my~ Such a good girl~ You grew up nicely Misaki-chan~" said Naoya and patted her head.
"Ehehe.....wait no!!!!" yelled Misaki and smacked Naoya's hand away.
Naoya looked at his hand that was smacked away and looked back at Misaki with a sad look on his face.
Misaki's anger faded seeing the hurt look, and she wanted to say something, but Miyamura beat her to it.
"Naoya-kun! You can pat mine!!!" said Miyamura with a troubled expression and showed his head to Naoya.
Naoya blinked at the boy's words and soon started laughing before he started ruffling Izumi's hair.
"Hehe," laughed Miyamura helplessly, seeing Naoya enjoy.
Misaki looked at the scene and puffed her cheeks before she looked away from them.
Soon a hand landed on her head, much to her surprise, though this time she didn't swat it away. It felt nice after all.
Naoya may have been their classmate, but being bigger and more mature than them made them think of him as an older brother instead.
--------------------
Later that day, once school was over, the trio of friends headed towards a ramen place on Miyamura's recommendation.
Strangely, the boy knew a lot of the niche shops around the town and was their go-to guide for any food-related advice.
"That's the shop!!!" declared Miyamura.
The shop didn't seem to have much foot traffic, which was understandable since it was situated in an alley and not on a main street.
Naoya and Misaki were now used to such kinds of setups. The places that Miyamura recommends might seem shady, but the quality of food was always good.
Naoya, however, looked surprised, not because of the shop, though. He was surprised by the person standing in front of the shop.
"Nii-san?" called Naoya with uncertainty.
"Huh?... Brat," replied Toji, hearing a familiar voice.
The two of them blinked in surprise and checked each other from top to bottom.
Toji was wearing nice clothes and had a clean haircut, something Naoya never saw him with back at the Zenin clan.
Naoya, dressed in a school uniform, was also a strange sight for Toji.
"Toji nii-san!!!" exclaimed Naoya enthusiastically and ran towards Toji.
Toji, however, stepped aside, dodging Naoya, who ran past him.
Still, Naoya, being Naoya, easily changed his direction and jumped on Toji once again.
Toji's eyes widened in mild surprise as he simply caught Naoya's head with ease.
"You have improved, huh?" asked Toji with a smirk.
"Is that how you treat your adorable cousin at our reunion?" whined Naoya.
"Adorable? Where is the adorable one? I can't see him."
Seeing Toji acting like that, Naoya snorted and smacked Toji's arm with a palm strike.
Toji winced and let go of Naoya.
"Oi!!! How come you became this strong?" asked Toji with an annoyed tone.
"Hmph, not telling you," said Naoya and looked away.
"Hmph, I don't want to know anyway," said Toji and kicked Naoya on the shin.
Naoya got on his knees and winced from the strike.
"Naoya-kun!!!"
"Naoya!!!"
The two kids ran towards Naoya, trying to protect him from the man.
"Huh? More brats? Your friends?" asked Toji as he glanced at the other two kids.
"Stay away from us, you jerk!!!" said Misaki and stood in front of Naoya to protect him.
"You okay, Naoya-kun?" asked Miyamura in a worried tone.
"It's alright. Calm down, you two. He's my cousin," said Naoya as he got up and held Misaki back before she launched an attack and died from an accidental slap.
"Toji nii-san? What are you doing here?" asked Naoya as he pulled his two friends behind him.
"I am waiting for.....a friend. What are you brats doing at such a shady place?" asked Toji back.
"We came to eat ramen."
"Go eat somewhere else. There are other shops in the town."
"Why?"
"Just because I said so."
"So unreasonable. You go somewhere else."
"Huh? You're talking back to me. Want me to use the art of ass whooping on you just like the old days?"
"Try it. It will be different this time."
"You got cocky in the time I was away. Looks like it is time to freshe-"
"TOJI!!!!!!" came a yell from behind them.
Toji flinched at the voice and looked back.
"Miyuki..." muttered Toji.
"What are you doing? Are you harassing the kids?" asked the woman whom Toji called Miyuki as he started approaching them.
"Huh? Me? Harass kids? How can you blame me for such a huge offence? I am very hurt, Miyuki," said Toji, pretending to be offended.
"He was harassing us," said Naoya.
"Totally Harassing us," said Misaki.
"He kicked Naoya-kun," said Miyamura.
Toji blinked and looked at the three kids who ratted him out.
Miyuki fumed with anger and smacked Toji's head.
"Do you have something to say about that?" asked Miyuki.
"....The brats are lying," said Toji with a straight face.
"Lying so easily, Toji nii-san. I thought you were better than that," said Naoya with a disappointed look on his face.
"Oi! Don't make it worse," said Toji and glared at Naoya.
"Don't scare the kids!!!" said Miyuki and pulled Toji's ear.
"Ow Ow Ow. Do it harder," said Toji in a dry tone.
Miyuki glared at Toji but sighed.
She looked at the kids with a helpless look on her face.
"Sorry about my boyfriend. He could be a bit childish from time to time," said Miyuki.
Naoya blinked in surprise and looked at Toji.
"Heh," said Toji with a smirk while still having his ear pulled by Miyuki.
"You are Toji nii-san's 'girlfriend' girlfriend? Not some girl who is a friend, right?" asked Naoya just to make sure.
"Yeah. And nii-san? Are you his brother or something?" asked Miyuki curiously.
"Cousin, to be precise. And why him? You could do better than him?" asked Naoya, genuinely confused.
"Oi! Whose side are you on?!" complained Toji and glared at Naoya.
"I know, right? But what can I do? This idiot will be hopeless without me," said Miyuki with a smile and glanced at Toji.
"Be grateful that I am your girlfriend."
"Yes, ma'am. Let's go get a room so that I can show you my 'gratitude'," replied Toji with a serious look on his face.
Miyuki blushed at his words, pulled his ear harder, making the older Zenin feel the tiniest bit of pain.
After bickering for a bit longer, the three kids, along with the couple, entered the ramen place and sat together.
"You brats really interrupted our date," said Toji in an annoyed tone.
"I am treating you. Be grateful," said Naoya and snorted.
The two of them glared at each other, but soon decided to order.
"Do you do any challenge bowls?" asked Naoya.
The man behind the counter blinked and smirked. He then took out a pamphlet from below the counter and showed it to Naoya.
"A jumbo bowl of ramen and 40 pieces of gyoza for 1 person in 30 minutes. All for 500 yen if I complete the challenge....This has my name written all over it. Boss!!! One challenge bowl!!!" declared Naoya enthusiastically.
The shop owner smirked, seeing the arrogant kid.
Miyamura and Misaki smirked back at the shop owner who just courted death.
Toji and Miyuki looked at the kids with amused expressions.
"Naoya-kun. It's bad manners to waste food," said Miyuki.
"Don't worry, Miyuki-san. I don't waste food," replied Naoya with a confident smile.
She wanted to stop him, but seeing the adorable smile on his face made her stop.
"Your cousin brother is so cute. Is he the one you talked about?" asked Miyuki while looking at Toji.
"Toji nii-san talks about me?" asked Naoya with a surprised tone.
"Hmph! No! That's some other brat," replied Toji with a firm tone.
"Hmm? You told me that there was a kid back home who was sad to see you leave and that he was the first person you cared slightly-," started Miyuki and Toji immediately covered her face with his hand.
"That's enough. Definitely some other brat," said Toji and looked at Naoya.
"Tsundere," said Naoya with a smirk.
"You little..." said Toji with a frown and looked towards his girlfriend, who was looking at him with a mischievous expression on her face.
Toji's brows twitched. He was being toyed with by the two of them. Yet, he couldn't do anything to them.
"*Sigh* Whose unlucky face did I see this morning?" muttered Toji.
"It was mine," said Miyuki with a 'smile'.
Toji blinked in surprise and looked towards the kid asking for help.
Miyamura stared hard at the chopsticks, refusing eye contact. For some reason the chopsticks were looking very interesting to him.
Misaki simply shook her head disapprovingly at Toji's rash comment.
Naoya simply offered a silent prayer for the man's well-being.
'These f*cking brats,' thought Toji as a vein popped up on his forehead.