On the other side…
The three first years of Jujutsu High were reclining in the class. Geto and Gojo were bickering at each other like usual while Shoko was enjoying the sweet aroma from the cigarette she just bought this morning.
"Geto~ do you know why we are here?" Gojo was making a ridiculous expression while bothering Geto with his antics.
"The principal asked us to stay without much explanation so I don't know either." Geto gave him a half-ass answer while supporting his chin with his hand and playing with his long side bang.
"How about we snuck out?" Gojo smiled brightly as he suggested this stupid idea.
"No!" Without even looking back, Geto cut him off, making a tick form on Gojo's forehead. As for revenge, Gojo began to pester him nonstop.
"Ge~ to~"
"Can you for the love of god shut the hell up?" It was obvious for anyone to see that Geto was not in the mood today. He was not ready to deal with this damn white-haired brat.
A smile tugged on Shoko's lips as she watched the two interact with each other as a bystander. It wasn't that she didn't feel close to them given that they were her only classmates but rather she was the type who liked to sit back and watch the world burn just for fun.
She still couldn't believe that they were the same age. One was very mature despite his age and the other was a childish brat.
Puffing out the smoke, Shoko leaned her back against the chair with her legs putting on the table like a delinquent.
"And Shoko, you should start considering quitting." Geto turned his head and noticed her demeanor, all the while pushing Gojo's face out.
"I mean I could heal the damage done by smoking with RCT. Perhaps if you try one, you will become my smoking friend?" Shoko playfully reached out her hand with her half-burned cigarette stuck between her fingers.
-Creak-
Suddenly, the door slid open and the three stopped to look over. It appeared that what appeared behind was a gorgeous lady with a usual business suit wrapped outside the white turtle neck sweater. Her long red hair was tied into a braid leaving two side bangs that enchanted her beauty even more.
However, the eerie feeling when one stared at her ringed eyes started finding its way to the three.
She gave them a nod and walked over to the lecture. Her stride was neither wide nor small but it had some mysterious effect that made the trio keep gazing at her.
The moment Makima entered the room, the atmosphere was grasped by her. From her small gestures to the way she walked, everything about her gave off a strange eerie yet made the three couldn't move their eyes away from her.
Everything she did had meaning.
She had asserted her dominance of the room through this small manipulation. They just didn't know it yet.
Seeing that they still didn't notice that, a corner of her mouth curled upwards, revealing a satisfied smile.
Even Gojo with his Six Eyes couldn't notice this so-called subtle manipulation.
"We have met before but just to be sure, let me introduce myself. My name is Makima and I'm a new teacher here. I will be in charge of the three of you for the next year." Makima's expression didn't even change when she greeted them.
She just stared at them with her unusual irises, but that alone was enough. The shadow casted down her face enchanted her eerie yellow eyes. It gave off a rather… unusual feeling that the trio couldn't quite grasp it.
"Please feel free to ask me. I will answer you if it's in my authority." A beaming smile splashed across her face as if the cold and unnerving expression earlier was but a facade. Her demeanor changed 180 degrees and they were baffled about this.
It seemed like their teacher was another lunatic with eccentric behavior.
Noticing the silence of the three, Makima tilted her head slightly.
"Teacher! Teacher!" Gojo being Gojo raised his hand with a frantic smile. He couldn't care less about her demeanor.
"Yes?" Makima replied and turned her gaze on him.
"You are quite strong, aren't you?" He lowered his sunglasses and revealed his charming blue eyes. However, those were filled with eagerness to compare with the strong.
Geto and Shoko looked at him with their brows raised in surprise. No doubt that Gojo in their mind would be slammed as a lunatic.
Thinking of this, Geto sighed in resignation while Shoko patted his shoulders to express her condolences.
Pondering a little, Makima supported her chin with her hand as she looked out of the window.
"I suppose?"
"So can we fight now?" His enthusiasm was simply like a child who found his new toy.
"No." However, Makima cut him off shortly as she ignored his whining.
"But why?" Gojo was still unable to accept this and still pleading.
"I have read your records and found that I only have a few ways to bypass that Infinity." Makima's analytic tone calmly resounded in the classroom. Which surprised the three but the most affected was Gojo.
He had never encountered anything that could bypass his cheat technique 'Infinity'. His fighting spirit ignited even more as he tried to gauge the red-haired lady in front of him.
"Albeit, it was a little wasteful to do so." A corner of her mouth curled up a bit through the gap of her finger to appear as a somewhat smug expression. Her mesmerizing eyes scanned the white-haired boy and finally landed on the boy with his black hair sitting beside him.
This sent a chill down Geto's spine as if he was being stared at by a monster. That feeling was soon washed away as soon as Makima's gaze didn't fixate on him. Geto dismissed this unease sensation and continued to listen to their conversation for the time being.
She glanced back at Gojo before continuing. "On the other hand, you don't have what it takes to kill me either so just let this topic slide for now. As it could result in some… unwanted outcome for the two of us."
Her cryptic way of speaking made Gojo gradually dissatisfied and he wanted to say some more but his effort proved to be futile as Makima blatantly ignored him.
Makima rummaged through her pocket but it seemed like she couldn't find what she needed.
She left her desk and walked toward Shoko, who was vibing in the background, took out her cigarette from her pocket, and put it in her mouth.
Shoko tilted her head in confusion but didn't say anything.
Makima leaned onto Shoko with her cigarette still in her mouth, which made Shoko a little startled, and let her cigarette's tip touch Shoko's to catch some light before retreating to her desk.
This ultimately made Shoko blush slightly as she turned her head away.
"Well then, we will meet each other more often from now on so let's get along with each other. You are dismissed." She clapped her hand and a beaming smile splashed across her face, giving off a friendly atmosphere. She casually walked out of the room.
However, as soon as Makima closed the door, her smile faded away. No matter how well she acted, she couldn't wrap her head around these feelings. They were just like puppies with some Cursed Technique.
In short, she didn't know why she felt different when she was with Veilhem though, just that she sensed a little attachment toward him and that was all, nothing more, nothing less.
Thinking about this made her smile a little but it didn't seem she noticed it yet as she walked along the corridor toward the principal office.
Knocking on the door a few times, she waited silently with her hands behind her back, fidgeting her fingers as if she didn't have anything to do at the moment.
Soon, a voice was heard from behind the door.
"Come in."
It was Yaga's; his low and strong tone sure made him fit as the principal. It seemed that he took this job seriously. Makima noted this mentally.
She opened the door, but it wasn't only Yaga who was in the room. Another wrinkled old man dressed in baggy clothes with a guitar strapped to his back was there. He was sipping the tea brewed by Yaga.
Upon noticing her gaze, he turned his eyes to fixate on her, resulting in a staring contest between the two.
Makima knew who this wrinkled old man was. It was none other than Gakuganji. He was there when she first met with the Higher Ups.
She began to report her work to Yaga as in the procedure, which included the recent Cursed Spirits and the progress on exterminating them. After that lengthy report, Makima proposed some missions to the three students and she needed approval from Yaga, who was the principal of Jujutsu High.
"I can give you the approval, but isn't this too low compared to the recent influx of Cursed Spirit?" Yaga spoke and expressed his concern. He didn't want to admit it, but Makima was damn good at her job.
Although reluctant, he could see the logic behind her arrangement, but at the same time, he felt something was off about this.
"They're students, yes, but they're one of the strongest if not the strongest sorcerers out there. So this kind of workload is understandable, no?" Her charming aura swept away his doubts, but he still found his gut telling him otherwise. This instinct of his was what kept him in this line of work for so long.
Missing his thoughts, he stamped the paper and gave it back to Makima. She smirked a little but forced herself to return to her usual expression as soon as it came up.
"Now if you excuse me, I will go back." Makima bowed respectfully; her stoic look remained, but a voice interrupted her when she was about to leave the door.
"You might want to check that knight; who knows if there is an accident during his mission?" It was Gakuganji; his tone was filled with hidden malice.
Hearing this, Makima flinched and stopped in her tracks. She turned her head back to gaze at this old man with an expressionless stare. The amber eyes that seemed to shine brighter given the dimness of the room fixated on him.
No more the professional and friendly attitude; what was left was only an unreadable meaning behind those eyes. A devilish feeling seemed to grasp at his heart, but Gakuganji remained unfazed.
It was as if he was mocking her attempt to threaten him.
Those soulless, amber-ringed eyes stared at him silently, but soon, a soft voice came along.
"It's not good to touch other's properties, especially if it was mine. Do you understand?" Her subtle threat was heard by both of the men in the room. Her message was clear and explicit.
"Masamichi-san, could you leave us some space to discuss some matters?" Makima asked him, but it felt like she was demanding him to leave. However, he didn't seem to mind that much as he closed the door before he left. He didn't want to get involved with Makima or the Higher Ups.
Seeing that he had left, she walked over to the old man and looked down. Her posture slightly lowered as her mouth moved closer to make sure that his senile ears could hear the sound and clear. With a cold voice, she continued.
"Just so that we're clear, I'm only doing this for the contract. Let me remind you that I only want puppies who are obedient and loyal, not the disobedient ones."
Gakuganji's mouth twitched vehemently as he tried to suppress his anger from rising and sliced Makima into bits. Anyone could see that a vein was popping on his face.
However, he was also there when she first met with the Higher Ups. Her ability to change cognition and overdrive the normal sense made him wary. He knew that if she had used that odd ability now, he would just become her lap dog, and the worst part was that he didn't even know what was wrong until it happened.
"Don't forget the contract and tone down your tongue." He forced his words out with a great venomous underlying beneath it. It was outrageous that her tone was demanding and arrogant like that.
However, his words were just some cheap provocations in front of Makima, who was the Devil herself. When it came to playing with words, she was the best, and she knew how to utilize them in her favor.
"If there is another 'accident' happening again, who knows what consequences this country will have to suffer? What you have painstakingly built for your whole life can be... 'Poff'." She deliberately shrugged her shoulders at the end as a subtle threat yet an impactful one escaped her supple lips.
"Just easy like that." She backed off from him and put up her usual cheerful smile.
"Tch. It's not my ideal anyway; I'm only here to deliver the message." Gakuganji decided to be a bystander for the time being. He intended to probe Makima a little to see her reaction, and he got what he wanted.
It seemed to him that Veilhem, the knight cladded in black armor, was her only weakness, a leash he could put on her. This could help him in the long run if he navigated it through this muddy water.
"Then should I be thankful for that information?" Makima tilted her head slightly as she put her index finger on her lip, revealing a dangerous yet alluring charm that hardly anyone could resist.
In return, Gakuganji just glared at her with a dagger gaze as she left the room.
—
"Get me there." Makima's authoritative voice echoed in a desolate hallway.
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A/N: Psst, psst... Miss me yet?
Here's your chapter, don't tell anyone that I finally updated one in millennia.