The sound of heavy breathing was then followed by a hand placed on the dewy mirror in front of him. The owner of the hand had been keeping his head down ever since, lowered to the ground where he wasn't look either.
Both his eyes were tightly closed, and the wrinkles on his forehead were deep, his breathing was getting louder and louder.
His free hand moved to cover his eyes with his palm while whispering to himself softly, it's okay.
It's alright.
The snowy-white haired man tried to convince himself with that one repeatedly cheap spell.
Everything is going to be alright.
Everything is going to be alright…
Everything is going to be alright.
As if promising himself that everything is going to be alright, he kept repeating the same cheap spell on the inside of his head. The spell of which an old friend had taught him whenever things turned this way.
Everything will be fine.
He just need another year to be fine.
It will be fine one day, or he hoped so.
His hand went to open the nightstand in the cabinet hanging above the mirror and took out a small white tube and took out a few pills then swallowed them at once. While trying to calm down, repeated another spell inside his head.
It's okay, it'll be fine.
I'll be fine.
Even though it wasn't as bad as it had been a few seconds before, his breathing was still labored and quivered. and on the other hand, his heartbeat had not calmed down either.
But the question was: will he really be okay?
Right, she's not here.
———
Four Years Ago, Jujutsu High
What's so good about being a member of one of the great clans of those jujutsu sorcerers?
Kamo Umeko was always aware that people would say that her life would be very interesting because of how she was those of the lucky ones born under the roof of the Kamo clan—one of the top three clans to produce the best jujutsu sorcerer of all time—except that, the truth is her life was no better than a real form of the worst hell the world could have.
It doesn't matter…
Even though in her life she lived in an iron prison above the flames, or even though she didn't know what it was like to breathe fresh air, even though freedom was just a shadow that would never become a reality in her world, or even though happiness was just an illusion, it was okay.
Onee-san.
She can get through it all. Or at least, she'd try to believe that she could get through it all, just she always did. She will be fine.
You've got this from now on, Umeko nee-san.
She got this.
Umeko opened her eyes as her hand closed her locker.
Kamo Umeko, 20 years old, Jujutsu High School Third year, Grade 2 sorcerer—more than that, she was a young sorcerer from the Kamo clan, an acute loner, doesn't like crowds or anything related to gatherings, simply hate the idea of communicating, she hated it ever since loss filled up all over her sense.
When her father threw her into another hell which was none other than Jujutsu High School in a mountainous area of Tokyo, Umeko was only seventeen, and her days began to be filled with training with a grade 1 Jujutsu sorcerer assigned as her mentor. At that time she was just a heartbroken child, trying to survive in a place that was very foreign to her.
She started taking missions with her classmates like Dai or Katashi—well, there were only three of them.
Ever since she was being promoted to a grade 2 Jujutsu sorcerer, Umeko often got a chance to be alone because she chose to carry out her missions alone rather than bothering one of her two other friends—after all, Dai and Katashi will always stick together.
Her first and second years went well. Though exorcizing a bunch of cursed spirits—especially about the part where she had to face creatures that had these appearances she couldn't describe with her raw logic—was a pain, Umeko endured.
At least, this new prison was better than her real home.
In her third year at Jujutsu High School, her loner spirit had completely won her over. Umeko only knew how she carried out the mission of exorcizing cursed spirits alone, alone, and always alone, just like today.
And like she always did, after exorcizing the cursed spirits, she would stay for a while just staring at the blue open space. After that, as usual, there was her routine that was always repeated obviously: she went to the coffee shop to order a cup of black coffee, sat there for exactly five minutes, threw away the coffee that she had never finished, walked to a nearby bus stop, sat there for it was some time until a dark sedan stopped by and she knew she had to get into the backseat to get back to the academy.
In the car, on the way to the academy, Umeko was mostly silent. Even though it was Nitta who would always try to talk her out of it, she preferred silence over anything.
"How was today's mission, Kamo-chan?" Nitta asked, glancing at Umeko through the mirror.
"Just normal."
"I heard that the cursed spirit you fought was a Grade 2?"
"It was."
"Shouldn't be too much trouble for a Grade 2 sorcerer, right?"
Umeko didn't answer with words. Instead, it was a barely audible hum if Nitta hadn't convinced herself that Umeko was trying to answer her with a cheap hum.
And just like that their conversation was cutted off. Nitta would always only get a dead end from a conversation with Umeko who genuinely doesn't like the idea of talking and simply… really loves the loudness of silence.
Umeko's gaze, then fell on the fresh blue sky and white clouds that always look soft like cotton candy.
Umeko had always wondered what was so good about looking up at the sky.
What can the sky give to her who was born under the roof of a respected family that was actually a raw hell behind a wall full of deception?
What can the sky give to her and her little brother brother who have never known what it's like to breathe fresh air?
She wondered if looking up at the sky would calm her down even though until now she had been aware that her name was Kamo Umeko.
Is it that when she looks at the sky, everything will be fine for her? Is it?
Umeko has never had reason enough to like the idea of staring at the sky because the only thing she listens to was how he once loved the sky.
Kamo Eiji always said that he liked staring at the sky, to simply wander there through what his core could capture. Even though his face was battered, he would still smile happily like a fool as he looked up at the sky. And whenever Umeko asked him why he was always smiling, all she heard was about how he loved the sky—a simple answer that always made Umeko's heart ripped into two.
When she started doing that on his behalf, Umeko had thought that staring at the sky was too much and her neck could just snap at any moment—but before she realized, she was crying.
She realized that Eiji loved the sky because there is freedom that they will never have up there. Up there in the sky, as high as they could wander, there's a freedom that Eiji will never reach even until he dies.
Now that't enough.
Umeko loves staring at the sky because Eiji loves to do it, because her brother loved it.
And after that when they arrived at the Academy, Umeko would return to her room in the dormitory without greeting anyone—but she would answer if they greeted her first.
Her night would end peacefully by watching the same movie she had watched about twenty-seven times this month, curled up not paying attention to what happened to the movie she already knew so much of even though her gaze was there, until she finally fell asleep and then would get up after two to three hours. Unless that tonight, it wouldn't end like that because a mission call came for her.
Umeko didn't protest even though her break time was interrupted, she came casually to receive the details of the mission.
And since then, her life changed.
From the moment she met a certain person with a conspicuous snowy-white hair, eyes closed his eyes with a blindfold made of white bandages—a person who never walked to care about his surroundings, but stopped when he passed her. A very guy who has been on a talk ever since his birth.
The world knew why he closed his eyes.
The possessor of the very Six Eyes, Gojo Satoru.
Everyone knows that very guy: the strongest Jujutsu Sorcerer alive.
It was not just a blind rumor because he has the look that deserve to put up with being the strongest sorcerer or because he is Gojo, he is indeed the strongest jujutsu sorcerer alive.
Those were all things Umeko knew about Gojo Satoru. She didn't know anything other than that before this.
If she hadn't realized that Gojo Satoru had stopped only to stare at her after they passed each other, maybe she wouldn't have known that he was a strange man. And maybe, her life will stay the same until the end.
Umeko stopped walking, "Sitsure," there was a pause, "you stopped just to stare at me like that... is there something you want to say to me?"
"Hmm?" Just a short subtle hum.
Umeko turned her head back to look at Gojo Satoru who was now looking at her while pointing at himself cluelessly. He was wearing a blindfold. A very white blindfold that contrasted the black attire that he wore.
Umeko's brow furrowed, demanding an answer.
"Ah, Gomen. Gomen. I didn't know that you would become that bothered just by me staring at you." Gojo Satoru answered in a relaxed tone—too relaxed, this man was joking. His smile widened at Umeko who was staring back at him. "I just love your hair. It shines like a black diamond."
Umeko frowned, "Did you just make fun of me?"
Gojo Satoru seriously thought as he hummed, two fingers under his chin. "I guess so."
Even though she genuinely disliked Gojo Satoru's impertinence that it left a bad impression on their first face-to-face meeting, Umeko had no desire to express her displeasure. But perhaps her expression was enough to describe it.
Then after that, Gojo Satoru laughed lightly. "I mean, in other words, it should be none other than about how beautiful it is. Your hair."
After that, silence leapt through.
The wind suddenly blew itself between Umeko and Gojo Satoru who still stood there for a few moments. Then without any signs, Gojo Satoru turned and walked away, leaving Umeko who still had time to see how his back was moving away before she also turned around and continued on her way to receive the details of the mission.
"Excuse me."
"Kamo, you are late."
"My apology. There's something going on outside."
"What something?"
"Just something insignificant."
Insignificant.
Supposedly, Gojo Satoru had remained insignificant to Umeko until now had that day not existed. Supposedly enough, he would be insignificant to her had the whole thing about staring at her and the 'black diamond' thing never happened.
Had that night she had not bothered to stop, everything would be fine, or so she guessed.