𝙄𝙉𝙁𝙄𝙉𝙄𝙏𝙔 (𝙏𝙤𝙟𝙞 𝙁𝙪𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙜𝙪𝙧𝙤 𝙭 𝙊𝘾)

°●•◇•●° Chapter 21: Calm Before the Storm °●•◇•●°

"Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday dear Megumi! Happy Birthday to you! Oooh!" The family celebrated Megumi's fifth birthday with a small cake.
"My dear Megumi, I will always love you, my baby boy!" Yukiko tried hard not bursting into tears, as she hugged the small child. They were paying off their debt and couldn't afford to invite all his friends and make a big feast like every other family. It tugged at the mother's heart.
Toji patted her back, sensing a slight despair in her voice.
"Grow up happy and healthy, happy birthday, son." Toji messed with his hair.
"Okaa-san, Oto-san, I love you both a lot too!" He declared, happy at the fact that both of his parent and his sister were there to at least celebrate his birthday. It was the first time he saw them all gathered together in weeks.
"Otouto, I wish you happy birthday too!" Tsumiki hugged him tightly too, before giving him a small present of her own.
A little handmade Omamori Charm.
"What's this?" He looked at the small piece of cloth.
"This is a good luck charm. I made it for you at school!" She cutely smiled, pinching the boy's cheeks.
"Stop it!" They started to play fight.
"I will gift one to Okaa-san and Oto-san on your birthdays too!" She said while fighting off her brother on the floor.
"Dummy! You should keep that as a surprise!" Megumi found an opening and flicked her forehead.
"Oh, wait! You're right! Forget what I said!" Tsumiki shouted playfully at their parents, meanwhile they just sat at the table and started their food.
"Wait for me! I want some of that cake!" Megumi rushed to the table.
"First eat your food, then you get a dessert." Tsumiki said with an authoritative voice, making him comply silently. It made Yukiko a bit ashamed. She usually just got a nanny for a couple of days for the kids, but for some reason they said that they were too grown up for that. Yukiko and Toji realised that Tsumiki probably already grasped the situation and was trying to help in her own way.
After they finished their food, Toji and Yukiko gave their small gifts to the little boy. He opened up Toji's first, since it was bigger than the other.
It had two plushy dogs he wanted. Toji remembered that he looked so happy seeing them from a toy ad on TV three months ago.
"Thank you, Oto-san!" He rushed at him with a hug, before opening her mother's present.
There was a book and on top of it, a pendant. The one her mother passed down to her. It signified that the person was from the main family of the Gojo Clan.
"This is the pendant from your Obaa-san. Now I am passing this down to you. Take good care of it." She said and messed her son's hair up, making him scrunch up his nose in an adorable way.
"This book... that is it about? It looks more like a diary..." Toji questioned, a bit suspicious. After all, Megumi didn't even learn to read yet.
"Keep this book safe, Megumi and never show it to anyone. This book should motivate you to learn to read." She said.
The couple actually noticed that their son could see curses a long time ago, so naturally they tried teaching him all about it, in case of an emergency.
"It contains all the knowledge from the previous user about Ten Shadow Technique." She quietly whispered to Toji, making him tense up.
"That should have been in the possession of the old man. How did you get that book?" Toji suddenly grabbed the woman by her shoulders, his grasp unknowingly tightening in worry.
"I hired mercenaries." She responded calmly.
"They might have connected you to them, or worse, found out about Megumi." Toji said.
"As long as we are beside him, he shouldn't be harmed by Zennins. However, I am a bit alarmed about the Gojos. I heard that there have been some inner disputes between the Head and my father." She informed Toji. "Can you stay beside Megumi and Tsumiki for a week? I got assigned a mission in Fukuoka." She asked him. Toji just sighed and kept eating. In the meantime Megumi was looking at the pictures drawin in the diary.
"Okaa-san! Look! Doggy!" He pointed at the picture of a shikigami.
"Yes, darling." She patted his head once more before finishing her food and going to sleep. She had to depart to Fukuoka tomorrow.

"What do you mean attacked?" The woman was currently beyond furious.
Instead of taking too long and fight the annoying special grade, she decided to quickly finish him off with her domain expansion and run to catch the first flight back to Tokyo.
"Is he fine? Is Tsumiki fine? Check up on her at school please." She was worried beyond belief.
"Which one was it?" Yukiko asked, who the perpetrator was from Toji.
"I believe it was your father. They spilled that someone named Yamato hired them." Toji's soft voice calmed her down a bit.
"I will be there in three hours. Wait for me." She informed him and quickly got her things and called the airport to ask about the time for the next flight.

"Gumi, my love, are you alright? Did those men scare you?" Her mind was in a complete disarray.
"Yes, Okaa-san. Oto-san was like woosh and bam and they all fell so fast!" He eagerly hugged her.
"Is Miki okay?" She asked the man standing beside them.
"She wasn't harmed, nor did I see anyone following her, so it's all good." He reassured her once more.
"Good, wait for me, Gumi. Okaa-san will come back soon." Her eyes were full of anger and Toji noticed it.
He already knew what was going to happen.
Blood will be spilt tonight.
He somewhat felt sorry for him, Yamato angered the wrong person and he was going to pay for it.

A/N: Leave votes and comments ples♡