CHAPTER 77: CHAPTER 76 CAT DETECTIVE AOZAWA (PLEASE FOLLOW) _1

This is definitely Hojo Tetsuji’s own little sister.

Phoenix Academy Maggie, who had been doubtful a moment ago about whether they were really siblings, had no doubts after hearing Hojo Shouko’s words.

Siblings differ in their appearances, temperaments, and voices due to their gender. But they always have something in common: their single-mindedness and being slow to catch on in certain areas. They don’t listen to others... or rather, it’s not that they don’t listen. Instead, the siblings’ unique brain structures and their overly divergent thinking mean that explaining something to them takes an amount of time that exceeds most people’s patience.

Curious, Phoenix Academy Maggie asked, "Aozawa, with Tetsuji’s personality, how do you plan to persuade him not to become a monk?"

"It takes the person who tied the bell to untie it," replied Aozawa truthfully.

The root cause of Hojo Tetsuji’s disillusionment with the secular world lay in his hopeless pursuit of Yoshikawa Sayuri. He believed that if Yoshikawa Sayuri would personally persuade him, everything would turn out fine. The problem was how to get Yoshikawa Sayuri to persuade Hojo Tetsuji not to become a monk.

Aozawa remembered encountering Yoshikawa Sayuri napping in the manga club the day before when he was running around the club building. He planned to continue using the excuse of a nap to transform into a Persian cat and sneak in there to gather intelligence. Only by understanding Yoshikawa Sayuri’s personality could he devise a plan to have her persuade Hojo Tetsuji not to become a monk. As the saying goes, know yourself and your enemy, and you will never be defeated in a hundred battles. Sun Tzu’s The Art of War isn’t only for military strategy; once fully comprehended, it also applies to dealing with everyday troubles.

With the plan set in his mind, Aozawa lowered his head and began to eat his noodles.

「The club building.」

Warm sunlight streamed through the window, landing on the frame and casting a golden sheen over Yoshikawa Sayuri’s glossy black hair. She lay there, gazing out the window at the playground, sighing, "It’s so nice, everyone’s celebrating youth."

THUD. The latest issue of Weekly Shonen Jump landed on her head, and a crisp voice followed, "Expressing such sentiments at noon, do you fancy yourself the heroine of a school manga?"

Yoshikawa Sayuri turned her head. Behind her stood a girl with straight black hair, one hundred sixty-five centimeters tall, and possessing delicate features. The same uniform looked ordinary on Yoshikawa Sayuri, but on this girl, it was spectacular; she excelled in academics and sports.

"If we’re talking about the heroine of a school manga, that’s got to be Makoto," Yoshikawa Sayuri said.

"Absolutely not!" Nomura True Wave crossed her hands to make an X and smiled. "I’m more into matchmaking for others. If this were a manga, I’d definitely be a mentor-like character."

"Makoto, you clearly have the makings of a heroine."

"Hehe, Little Sayuri, you don’t understand." Nomura True Wave placed the Weekly Shonen Jump on the desk and continued enthusiastically, "A life mentor to the main character—these kinds of roles usually have great appeal. Standing in front of the protagonist, guiding them when they’re lost, there’s a kind of strategic coolness to it. Unlike the protagonist, who usually needs to get beaten up before shouting a slogan and unleashing their true power. Mentor characters are always full of confidence. Their only failure is when they make their exit."

As she spoke, she clenched her fists and said, "I’ve already helped pair up two couples this year, and my goal is to match five couples by vacation time!"

Nomura True Wave’s interest in love was limited to providing romantic guidance to others. For those troubled teens in the midst of youth, she lit a beacon of hope. This unusual interest earned her admiration from a portion of the student body, who respectfully called her the "Great Teacher." The manga club’s nickname was thus the "Love Consultation Club."

"Makoto, Gojo Satoru has been cut in half," Yoshikawa Sayuri said, leisurely tossing out a comment as sharp as a sword piercing a shield, which instantly broke through Nomura True Wave’s defenses.

"Don’t remind me of such a sad thing!" Nomura True Wave immediately slumped onto the desk, her expression one of someone who had suffered a heavy blow.

It wasn’t that she couldn’t accept the protagonist’s mentor departing the story. A mentor, after all, isn’t the protagonist. When their time comes, they should conclude their glorious life with dignity. But Gojo Satoru’s exit was purely clownish. He could die, he could lose. But praising Sukuna right before dying? What kind of baffling move was that? With his personality, he should have been concerned about the juniors he was leaving behind, right? Suddenly, he jumped from being a life mentor to a battle fanatic. To use an exit from Pirate King as an analogy, it would be like Whitebeard, on his deathbed, not thinking of his sons but instead apologizing to the members of the Blackbeard Pirate Group before him—apologizing because his poor health prevented him from showing them the full extent of his strength. His character was utterly ruined.

Nomura True Wave could no longer reconcile the image of Gojo Satoru with that of a protagonist’s mentor. The more she thought about it, the more her heart ached.

MEOW, MEOW. A cute cat’s meow came from the doorway. Nomura True Wave turned her head to see a snow-white Persian cat squeezing through the slightly ajar door.

Nomura True Wave’s heart was instantly healed. She smiled and said, "White Dragon Maru, you’re here again! I’ve prepared a packet of delicious dried fish just for you."

Yoshikawa Sayuri also stopped lying down and quickly stood up, rolling up her sleeves. "Hehe, today you’ll witness the charm of a cat teaser."

Yesterday, she had wanted to pet the cat but was rejected. Today, she aimed to redeem that failure. She took out a cat teaser and began to entice Aozawa, wanting to give the cat a good petting. Still, she was ignored.

A friend’s wife is not to be coveted. Yoshikawa Sayuri was one of the few girls in class whom he hadn’t ’completely ogled’ or taken advantage of.

He jumped onto a stool and then quickly leaped onto Nomura True Wave’s chest, settling down there and ignoring the dried fish.

"What a strange cat!" Nomura True Wave muttered, supporting Aozawa on her chest with one hand while holding a piece of dried fish near his mouth with the other. "White Dragon Maru, this is your favorite dried fish~"

Aozawa swatted the dried fish away from his mouth with one paw, displaying the Persian cat’s aloofness.

"Haha, so cute~" Nomura True Wave wasn’t angry at all; she chuckled and petted Aozawa’s head.

Yoshikawa Sayuri said with a surprised face, "There are actually cats in this world that ignore a cat teaser? With such a strong will, White Dragon Maru must be the Uchiha Madara of the cat world!"

"It’s probably played with better toys before," Nomura True Wave said. She felt a bit curious: who was this cat’s owner?

Yoshikawa Sayuri tossed the cat teaser onto the table and pouted, "Makoto, you really must be the main character. Even cats like you."

While stroking Aozawa’s head, Nomura True Wave comforted her with a laugh, "Yoshikawa, don’t be so hard on yourself. Plenty of boys in our class like you; you just haven’t noticed."

"Haha." Yoshikawa Sayuri laughed, not taking those words seriously, and plopped down on the table. "Speaking of being liked, ever since I was young, only one person has confessed to me."

Nomura True Wave chimed in, "Speaking of which, Hojo Tetsuji hasn’t been to school for a while now."

Aozawa’s spirits lifted. He hadn’t expected such a windfall. He pricked up his ears, quietly listening to their conversation.