I Was Kidnapped by a Book and Ended Up Saving the World - Chapter 21

Satoru Gojo clearly hadn’t expected this either. He looked at the smile on Yuki’s face and finally decided that it wasn’t a bad thing.

After all, when Yuki first arrived, he looked like a frail little stray puppy. But now, those pink eyes shone like stars, radiant and dazzling.

The table wasn’t very high, but with Yuki’s current height, even when he sat down, his feet still couldn’t reach the ground. He could freely swing his legs back and forth.

Gojo asked softly, “Did you see him?”

Almost immediately, Yuki knew who he was talking about. He lowered his eyes and replied in an equally soft tone, “Yes. In the past, I saw many people… but in the end, only the two of them remained.”

“I see…” Gojo’s tone softened even more, as if afraid of disturbing the spirits of the departed.

Yuki swung his legs. He was now wearing a well-fitted school uniform, and the aura of destitution that had once clung to him was finally gone.

They sat together in silence for a long time, neither speaking, only the faint sound of their breathing.

“He probably just returned from visiting the grave,” Suguru Geto said after Gojo and Yuki parted. He propped his face with his hand and watched Gojo’s broad back.

Yuki’s ears immediately perked up. Suguru, who had spoken casually, turned to see Yuki’s sparkling pink eyes. He chuckled and asked, “Why are you so interested in this?”

Suguru continued, resting his elbows on his knees, his bony hands half supporting his face. His entire demeanor was relaxed yet careless, his voice carrying a faintly nostalgic tone. “When I first woke up, I was right in front of him. Gojo had a bag of sweets, claiming he wanted to offer them at a grave, but he ate every single one himself, leaving only an empty paper bag at my grave.”

Yuki could almost imagine the scene: Gojo standing at the grave, casually talking while eating the sweets. He might have thought he was the only one paying respects, unaware that Suguru was possibly sitting atop the tombstone, watching him with the same smile as now.

At that moment, an electronic sound, which hadn’t appeared for a long time, sounded again in Yuki’s ears.

**[The fox’s fur is warm and smooth to the touch, more pleasant than anything Gojo has ever felt. In a cozy room, he solemnly held the fox’s front paws and asked, “Are there many foxes like you?”

The fox smiled, the corners of its eyes curling. Its violet gemstone-like eyes gazed at the young Gojo and softly said, “There are many foxes in the world, but only one like me.”

After saying this, it jumped out of Gojo’s arms, suddenly sitting seriously on the floor and saying to the young boy, “Gojo, I will only have one human, so I hope you also make a vow that I am your only fox.” Its fluffy black tail swayed gently, and its gaze was solemn.

Gojo stood in front of it, slightly bending down. His vast blue eyes, like an endless sky, looked into the black fox’s eyes. Gojo extended his hand and said, “I promise that from now on, you are my only fox.” Blue and violet eyes met, and at that moment, they pledged their most faithful vow to each other.]**

A faint smile tugged at the corners of Yuki’s lips. His tastes were simple, pure love. He hadn’t been mistaken—the book’s title already reflected its essence.

The strange thing was how randomly the book appeared. Even though one of the protagonists, Gojo, had appeared many times over the past week, only now did a new chapter unfold.

As evening fell, Yuki jumped down from the wooden table and brushed the dust from his clothes. It was the perfect time; the cafeteria must have just finished preparing dinner.

Since Yuki had no money to buy anything else, he enthusiastically went to the cafeteria on time every day. The staff would even specially flatten the rice and serve him extra when they saw him.

As dusk approached, the wind seemed to carry a sharper chill.

Suguru, who had been walking with Yuki, suddenly stopped. He lifted his hand into the air; the cold wind stirred his hair, and the edge of his robe fluttered slightly.

Yuki’s pink pupils constricted sharply. The scene before him was shocking. Suguru arranged his scattered hair, his hand reaching tentatively toward Yuki’s head—but, as before, it passed straight through.

In absolute silence, Yuki whispered, “Teacher… it’s like you’re gradually coming back to life.”

Suguru looked at his own hand and denied Yuki’s observation, “No, I still don’t have a physical form.” His brow furrowed slightly, clearly surprised by what was happening.

But it was undeniable that he had changed subtly compared to before. The cold wind of the living world stirred the ghostly robes around him.

Yuki’s mind was also full of questions. A thought gradually emerged: Suguru had been dead for over a month. Even in cold weather, a body would decompose, albeit slowly. If Suguru continued to show more changes like today, could he one day be resurrected in his original body?

Along with this thought came a mysterious sense of connection. Almost simultaneously, Yuki and Suguru looked at each other.

The feeling was strange. Yuki couldn’t describe it, only sensing an invisible rope binding him and Suguru together, though they were both free. He vaguely felt that this bond flowed through his cursed energy.

Suguru furrowed his brows even more. His purple eyes trembled slightly, and his voice deepened, “A binding?”

Yuki’s questioning gaze fell on him. Suguru tapped Yuki’s head from a distance and explained, “It’s a kind of mutual restriction, usually established when two people each need something from the other. If one side breaks it, the other suffers severe punishment.”

Even with the explanation, the situation remained confusing. Suguru was certain this was the first time he had seen this child on the mountain. If it were a vow from before his death, it was even more impossible. If they had really met, he would have taken Yuki with him instead of leaving him to suffer under the monkey’s control.

Yuki, completely confused about the binding, looked up at Suguru, who appeared even more perplexed. He rarely displayed such open emotions; it seemed that he truly didn’t know what was happening.

Yuki quietly rubbed his fingertip. He was sure he hadn’t made a binding with Suguru. Although he didn’t fully understand such things, he knew that in Suguru’s near-ghostly state, he definitely couldn’t have done it.

If he could have established a binding in this state, he wouldn’t have been circling around Yuki all this time—he would have been pursuing his own ambitions.

Suguru also pondered for a long time but could not find a corresponding situation in his mind. He rubbed his brow, feeling a rare sense of unease.

For the first time, his face was so serious that it seemed his narrow purple eyes were filled with determination. “Yuki, go see Gojo and find out what’s going on with your body.”

He was worried that this unknown binding might threaten Yuki’s life.

Gojo hadn’t been on a mission for the past two days, so Yuki quickly found him in the first-year classroom. The tall man stood at the podium, speaking passionately. Yuki and Suguru waited quietly at the doorway.

Before long, Gojo pushed open the door. He looked down at the student standing there, his tone casual and amused: “What’s wrong? Have you surrendered to your poverty, Yuki?”

Yuki looked up at Gojo, his pink eyes full of confusion. He said, “Teacher… my cursed energy is acting strange.”

Gojo tilted his head slightly and scanned Yuki’s body from top to bottom. His cursed energy flowed smoothly, with no signs of disruption. “What kind of problem do you feel?”

Yuki spoke softly, “It feels like it’s tangled with something… it’s a little weird.”

Gojo didn’t ignore the problem. He lifted his blindfold and carefully examined every part of Yuki’s body. Finally, his gaze stopped at Yuki’s heart. There, the cursed energy was indeed mixed with someone else’s energy. It was very subtle, carefully hidden beneath the other cursed energy, almost undetectable.

What was even stranger was that this faint cursed energy was all too familiar to Gojo—it belonged to Suguru Geto.