- Maki -
"You know... That's kinda bullshit."
Even with the sounds of me and Megumi's exchanging blows, I can still hear Mai commenting on the sidelines while sighing.
I can understand her sentiment, after all... We're fighting in the air!
I also didn't know that this was humanly possible before Megumi came up with the idea. The trick was to kick the air fast and strong enough(and as many times as you can), but the secret is being physically strong enough to do that.
After a particularly strong blow, Megumi and I stabilize ourselves before continuing, but I'm a tad bit faster. Already upon him, I raise my foot and put my leg on his shin, to stop his movement, and with the other leg, I deliver a powerful kick on his head...
*Boom*
Hm~ That was a good feeling and sound~ My kick hit his neck perfectly.
I heard him groan and then he was suddenly spinning in the air uncontrollably. destroying some trees in his path before crashing into the ground loudly, making a crater and raising Dust, pebbles, and tree splinters.
Kicking the air two more times, I go to land on top of him.
I was worried for a second, but after seeing him simply staring at the sky with a frustrated expression I remembered who I was thinking about.
I let gravity do its work and I drop down on him, landing on his torso, ass first, sitting on him.
"Ugh... At least aim at my face." He comments in a deadpan, his hand going to caress my butt, he never misses an opportunity.
See? Perfectly fine. "I did... With my kick."
He rolls his eyes "What a violent woman, maybe some correction is needed."
"And who would do that?" I smirk down at him "You? With these weights?"
The only reason I beat him is because he is still using the Cursed Weights. He uses them all the time, never taking them off, not even to sleep. This guy is a maniac.
Does he think he is an anime Character or something?
"You've grown too big for your pants, Maki. Do I really need to humble you?" He gives me a stare
"You can try~" I tease, but deep down I know that he is much stronger.
In this spar, for example, he was not using cursed energy
'Would not be physical training if I use it.' He said
But that doesn't mean I can't enjoy being above him for once... And I'm really enjoying his frustrated face... When I sit on him... Dominating him... Hmm~~
"Your face is giving me a boner." He deadpans at me "And you're starting to blush and pant... I'm down for it now, if you want."
"Stop projecting! I'm not a horndog like you!" I stand up and move away from him.
He thinks everyone is a pervert like him.
"Whatever lets you sleep at night, dear." He says with a tone that insinuates that I'm lying.
"Are you guys okay?" Mai's voice stopped a heated argument from starting.
Megumi raises a hand to give her a thumbs up while he stands up slowly like an old man with back problems.
"You two are crazy! One day you will kill each other." Mai huffs and shakes her head in worry.
Megumi opens his mouth to answer but...
"If you are gonna say something about me killing you with my thighs it would be for the better that you stay silent."
"..."
"..."
"Already reading my mind? We're like an old married couple." He finally says, changing the subject with an innocent smile
"As if it is hard to read your mind." I scoff before starting walking toward Mai, ignoring his offended "Hey!"
Time to go back home and take a bath before going to the shopping district to buy some things necessary for the start of my High School Dormitory Life.
We didn't buy it on the Internet because it is a good excuse for a date, after all, we can't leave Mai alone for now.
That's the reason she came to watch us beat each other, even though it isn't her choice of fun. At this moment, she can't use Cursed Energy because she is charging towards her biggest creation till now. Another preparation before going to High School.
"Mai, help me..." Megumi groans exaggeratedly while reaching for Mai with his hand "Maki is a brute woman without any delicacy."
"..."
"Oh~, my poor baby~ Did this macho woman hit you too hard?" Mai enters his game and coos at him, caressing his head.
"..."
Megumi nods like a kid at her while hugging her.
"It's okay, it's okay~ Let me kiss it to make the boo-boo go away~"
"Ugh... You too sicken me. I think I have diabetes now." Seriously, my stomach is churning.
"Scary woman..." Megumi continues his innocent child act and hides behind Mai
"Don't worry, she is not that bad... She is only obnoxious and her love language is violence." Mai 'tries' to defend me
"I will show how much I love you two."
....
"Well, well... If isn't an honest-to-god Special Grade tool?" Gojo Satooru analyzes Mai's most recent creation. A plain black wakizashi. There's no other effect beyond being incredibly sharp
It can even cut Megumi without much effort.
We are now at home and Gojo came here to deliver us some of the Papers and documents necessary to start High School.
"Right? Incredible, huh?" Megumi says making Mai preen at the praise.
"Well, it's the lowest level Special Grade that I ever saw..." Gojo says making Mai deflate. I was ready to tear her down before she continued "But it is a Special Grade cursed tool nonetheless. That's freaking impressive! And you made it in only a month? Not even half a year after you had your awakening? Yeah, very impressive..." She continues to appraise the thing, passing the edge on her thumb "It can even cut my cursed energy, even though it can't cut Infinity."
"It can cut your cursed energy?" Even Mai is surprised by that "I only made it with the thought to 'cut things really well'."
"Hm, so you put a vague effect on it." Megumi says while appearing to think hard
"Maybe that's why it can cut cursed energy. If you try to create with a more specific effect in mind, it would cut the thing even more efficiently." Gojo comments
"Yeah, but it would lose the edge on other things. The vague effect worked well this time." Megumi adds
The two are in their own world, they are always like this when talking about jujutsu-related things. Maybe only a genius can understand another?
"But like... cut what?" Mai asks
"I don't know... Exoteric things. The vague effect allowed this wakizashi to be very good at cutting material things and even a little effective against raw cursed energy... But maybe you can add the effect of cutting esoteric things on the price of not cutting other things really well. Like, souls, elements, a specific cursed technique..." Megumi gives ideas
"Like Infinity?" Gojo turns to him with a big smile
Megumi answers in kind "Don't worry, I don't plan on relying on Mai's power for that."
That? What is that?
"Hoh~ I don't care, it's not like it would make any difference."
"..."
What the heck? Why am I seeing sparks flying between the two? Just a moment ago they were merrily talking about jujutsu.
"Anyway, you guys know that no one should know of her abilities, right?" Gojo changes the subject and looks at us more seriously
"You don't even need to say."
"Maybe, but I think you guys need to understand how grave it is..." Gojo pauses before raising the wakizashi to show us "Even if it is the weakest, it is still very valuable because there are more or less 20 Special grade cursed tools in all of Japan."
"Only Twenty?"
"Yep. Super rare, and most of them are with the clans and the Imperial family."
"The Imperial family?" Megumi asks suddenly curious
"They have jujutsu sorcerers too, after all, they're rich and powerful, so it's not that difficult to have some powerful people to marry into the Imperial family in the past." Gojo shrugs
"And even so, the Three Great Sorcerer Families had the most say in jujutsu matters?"
"No matter how rich you are, jujutsu sorcerers are a prideful bunch, even more so the ones from the great clans." She shrugs again, making us nod.
We know very well how prideful they are. I can't see anyone of the Zen'in clan willingly marrying off.
"And I bet they want to keep their Inherited Technique close to their chests too." Megumi makes another point while rolling his eyes
"Yep, but even so the Imperial family can still get some vagabond sorcerers to marry their daughters or something. A life of Luxury for your genes, not that bad, right?" She laughs "Whatever, back to the topic... Special Grade tools are rare and valuable. Even this one could easily be sold for billions of yen, and this is only an estimate because rarely do these things exchange hands this way. It's essentially priceless. Even Mei can't get her hands on one, she even confessed once to me that a Special Grade cursed tool would be one of the few things where she wouldn't mind spending a good chunk of her hard-earned money."
She turns to Megumi while talking "Funny enough, your bum of a Father had three of them, and a lot of other high-grade ones."
"Oh..." Megumi acts disinterestedly
"A lone guy had that many? I don't think I ever saw one in the clan. Not even my Father's sword is a Special Grade Cursed Tool." Things related to Megumi's dad interest me a little
"The guy was a mercenary known by the moniker of 'Sorcerer Killer'... You can guess how he got those tools. It's probably how he spends most of his money too... Hence why he was a bum."
"Or betting... The guy literally lived each day at a time without a thought about the future. Fucking bastard" Megumi rolls his eyes
Oh, maybe that's why Megumi is the type of guy that thinks forward a lot.
"By the way, where are these cursed tools? Aren't they my inheritance?" He suddenly turns to Gojo with a shameless face. Wasn't he despising his Father just now?
"Well, I destroyed the chain one, a friend of mine acquired the triple nunchaku one later, and the other..." She looks at the ceiling while thinking before stopping and looking back at Megumi and smiling innocently "Don't forget about not letting other people know about Mai-chan, in the best scenario maybe the Zen'in clan will make trouble to get her back.
"..."
She is changing the subject shamelessly! She and Megumi are the fucking same!
"..." Even Megumi is glaring at her, and damn,,, She is good at ignoring him. Look at her checking her nails while whistling
"..."
"Okay, Mai is super valuable. We get that. We just need to keep it a secret and downplay her technique, or even don't talk about it at all." I finally say something to change the mood. I think Megumi was ready to summon Mahoraga.
Megumi butts in "That's why she made this Special Grade tool now. During her school year, it will be hard for her to go through without cursed energy." He says while giving Gojo a look
"Okay, okay... I know what you want me to do." She raises her hands in the air "Relax, I can give her special treatment. Free time to study cursed tools, no spars, always going on missions with Maki-chan..."
"Thank you."
"By the way, good idea with the Binding Vow. Especially the thing about the 'price' being paid before. This prevents mishaps." Gojo praises before standing up and saying her goodbyes.
The wakizashi eventually lands in my hands.
"You're the best option to have it for now." They say to me
"Don't you need a weapon too?" I ask Megumi, I admit that I'm a little bashful to accept it.
" 'Need' is a strong word." He replies cheekily "And I have a weapon, it came with the technique. It happens with a lot of people, you know?" he smiles mysteriously
"More or less, but I didn't know the Ten Shadows has one?"
"Zehehe~ It will be a surprise." His mysterious smile grows
"You always say that." I roll my eyes. When he is not trying to show off, he keeps the mysterious act.
......
It's finally here... The day that we will move into the dorms.
The three of us walk to the staircase to Tokyo Jujutsu tech, Megumi is with us because all of our things are in his Shadow Inventory.
Finally, we reach the top and meet Gojo, our future teacher, but she looks different from the last time we saw her a week ago.
"Pfft. Zehahahahaaha!" The first to react is Megumi, laughing in that weird way of his. "What's with the bandages? And I am the chuuni one? Zehaha"
For some reason, the strongest sorcerer is covering her eyes in bandages.
"There's a reason for that..." She starts
"Pfffftt Zehahahaha. I bet! You're holding too much power in your eyes, right? You need to seal them!" He continues to laugh, even holding his stomach before going serious for an instant "I will live in darkness, so that others don't need to do..." He says striking a pose, with a hand over his face, an eye between his fingers.
My sharp senses can hear Gojo's blood pressure rising.
"Listen here you little..." Sudenly Megumi is lying facing down on the ground, with Gojo sitting on his back while pulling his legs backward in an unnatural position.
"Your anger only confirms the truth!" Megumi doesn't throw the towel, and continues to berate her even when his back makes a "C".
Is this really my teacher and boyfriend? Maybe I should reconsider my life?
....
After Megumi finally taps the ground in surrender, I swear I heard a crack, Gojo guides us to the dorms.
"This side of the Building is the female dorm, you two are literally the only female students at the moment." Then suddenly she whispers to herself "Even though one of the second years is kinda going on this path..."
She stops at the end of the corridor and points to the two rooms side by side.
"Mai-chan room is the one in the end, for protection purposes." She says, making me mentally agree with her "Now Mover Boy go to work! I have things to do, so see you tomorrow~ Class starts at 8, girls!" She walks away after giving us our identifications and some papers with our schedule.
Grade 4, huh? I expected that, but it still annoys me a little.
"Must be another complication from the higher-ups." Megumi guessed, he was the one who knew her better "If I had to bet, maybe some new student with special circumstances or something." He shrugs before entering Mai's room
We follow him to evaluate our new place, after all this web is our new home and maybe some changes will be necessary.
"Not bad, not bad... It's big enough, an individual bathroom, a small fridge, a closet, a study table... everything a young student needs." Megumi says while unceremoniously opening everything
I have to agree, it's bad... My own after some months. Not that I will shit on the Fushiguro's hospitality because I'm really grateful, but everyone wants to have some privacy.
Then Megumi starts taking Mai's things out of his shadow, putting the bags on the bed.
"I'm not helping organize it, by the way." He says apologetically before moving to my room to do the same.
In my room, I sit on my bed and watch him "So... It will be hard to see each other now, huh?"
"Yeah... But you guys can come stay with us on the weekends, and I am a text away." He says evenly while taking out my things this time. Taking a little extra care with my weapons and putting them close to the wall.
I hum in agreement while feeling the mattress beneath me, doing little jumps while sitting "Wanna debut this bed?"
Hu turns to me fast and smirks "Well, it needs to start to get used, right? Endurance test too..." He says while approaching.
"Yeah... I will stay days far from you, so we need to create some enjoyment while we can." I lay down while watching him walk predatorily in my direction. I love this~
"And without Mai?"
"I don't mind sharing..." I grab his sleeve and pull him on top of me "...but I want some time just the two of us. Just a quickie~"
He probably understands because he doesn't give any more chance to explain.
....
First day of High School finally!
Another step on my path!
That I am still not sure about... What do I want to do again?
In the past, I always wanted to one day get back into the Zen'in clan, but that desire diminished recently. Maybe it is because I have more important things in my life than revenge?
'The best revenge is a happy life' I saw it in a movie.
Yeah, maybe I just need to continue this way and do the things I want. Jujutsu High School is just a tool to learn and to protect this lifestyle.
"We're here." Mai says at my side when we finally reach the classroom.
"Let's go." Without hesitation, I take the front and open the sliding door with a bang
"..."
Everyone inside turns to look at us. Well, "everyone" is a strong word... Two people... Well, "people" is also a strong word! Is that a panda?
"There's a panda?" Mai asks no one in particular
"Is he the pet of someone?" I tilt my head while looking at the Panda
"No, I'm a panda." The panda in question raises his hand to wave at us
"What? It talks?"
"..." Even I am shocked. This is new.
Then the two of us turn to the other student, a boy with spiky white hair.
"Salmon."
"..."
"..."
Okay, Megumi was right. Sorcerers are weirdos.
....
"Whassup, students of Tokyo-Metropolitan-Curse-Technical-College!" Gojo, sensei now, blasts through the door and shouts.
Yep, no one is normal here. At least, she will save us from this awkward silence.
"You're late."
"It's almost 9 o'clock."
"Okaka."
We deadpan at her. In the past, I admired her, as the strongest sorcerer, a woman, and all that.
Now I know she is a dumbass. Never meet your heroes.
"Sorry, sorry~ I was saving the world for the third time before breakfast, as usual, Jujutsu Society can't work without me after all."
"..."
"..."
Everyone stays silent, ignoring her jokes.
But that doesn't deter this woman, she claps her hands and continues "Well, to start let's begin with the introductions..."
Ugh, I hate these things...
"Starting with the twins..."
We prepare ourselves to start talking... I'm gonna say the minimum possible...
"Maki-chan and Mai-chan are twins of the Zen'in clan, thanks to some circumstances they will be studying here." Gojo continues
You're the one doing the introductions?!
"Inumaki Toge-kun is obviously from the Inumaki clan..." She continues undeterred, she really goes at her own pace, huh? And the Inumaki clan? "...don't mind his strange words, he has the Inherited Technique: Cursed Speech. So he talks nonsense to not hurt others."
"Bonito Flakes."
Oh, so he is like Megumi... I turn to look at him... Hm, nah. Not like Megumi. I feel that I can snap his neck before he can open his mouth. Does his Cursed Speech even work on me? Megumi said that I have resistance to Hax or something...
"And Panda..." Now this one I'm curious "...is Panda."
"Yo." The said panda greets us
"..."
"..."
"..."
I wait for her to continue but she remains unfazed. Smiling gently and serenely to us. She knows exactly what she is doing!!
"Oy!" I start saying, ready to ask more. She needs to say more! It's a talking panda godammit!
But I am stopped by Mai, she puts a hand on my arm and shakes her head.
"*Huuf* However..." Everyone has their circumstances. She also didn't say that we were more like the trash of the Zen'in clan, if you put it nicely, and if you want to be mean you can say that we are given as broodmares to Megumi.
Now that Gojo had her little gag moment, she took her phone out to look through something before addressing us.
"This year is special~ It holds the record of most students in more than Twenty years! Yaay~~" She says animatedly but no one reacts "Funny enough this doesn't have any normies that suddenly fell on the Jujutsu World, normally they constitute most of the students here, you know? The two second years are like that."
That's normal, normally people from the clans learn in the clan.
I side glance the Inumaki guy... He must have his circumstances too.
"And thanks to everyone here already knowing about Jujutsu Society in general, we can speak the talk about the basics..." Wait, even the panda? "...and start with BATTLE!"
"..." Once again her enthusiasm falls on deaf ears.
Only Panda, the Panda, clapped slowly. But it is possible to feel the pity emanating from his motions.
"And here I thought you guys would question my decision." Our teacher shakes her head with her hands on her hips "I even had a good answer... Whatever, I will say it nonetheless... A battle is the best way to know each other, because you guys will be partners in the future!" She points at us
"..."
"So with the exception of Mai-chan, everyone will fight a little today, between yourselves and then we will go hunt some curses."
At her words, the other two turn to Mai, who tries to keep a stony face.
"Mai-chan is a non-combatant, so she will receive self-defense training from me separately. The rest are all Fighters, so Mai-chan will have lower standards for battle training and will be allowed to progress a little slowly, but I will be training her in extra time to not hinder the rest of the class."
Mai groans at my side, but I can't disagree with Gojo-sensei's methods. It's important that Mai be able to survive dangerous situations, she doesn't need to win, she only needs to hold back the enemy till we rescue her.
"Now to the Training Fields! Most of the classes are self-study or missions, but you can all come to me to ask anything! The small number of students allows flexibility in the school program! And we are always in shortage of Manpower, so maybe you will go days without seeing me. Tee~Hee~"
Now it's time to trash my classmates.
Heh~ It's a good start to my school life.
...
These two months of school life were not that bad.
I mean, I feel that I didn't progress as fast as when I was simply training with Megumi, but there are some boons.
We ended up becoming friends with our two classmates. I can even understand what Inumaki was talking about. And Panda told us that he is a cursed doll, it's not like it is a touchy subject, he simply doesn't care that much about his origin.
We went on some missions together, but I kinda stayed on the sidelines while giving them a chance to Shine.
The level is simply too different! Megumi raises the bar too high. Even though their grades are higher than mine, I'm much stronger than the two.
Mai also continues to produce cursed tools, but she is kinda creating "disposables". Prioritizing quantity over quality to train, she said that she can do it more efficiently.
I check my bank account on the phone... Hmm, I still have a lot of money... I receive money from the missions and Megumi always deposits too.
"I will order fast food." I decide without guilt.
When I was about to open the app the door of my room was open suddenly and with a bang.
"Hey!" I raise to a sitting position from my bed to look at Mai.
"Tsumiki collapsed!!" She shouts out of breath
"What? Collapsed?" My brain can't fully comprehend what she means
"Gojo-san just told me! Tsumiki suddenly collapsed! She is in the hospital! It appears that it is some sort of curse! It's serious!!" She explains in rapid fashion
"!" Now I'm worried! "What are we waiting for? Let's go!"
"Gojo-san will take us there!"
....
We walk through the corridors of the hospital in a hurry.
I am a cynical person, but even I can't say anything bad about Tsumiki.
She is a rare genuine good person. There's nothing more to say, no buts, no ifs... She is simply a good person.
In the beginning, I couldn't believe it and thought that she liked to put on the good girl act to score some points with people, but I was wrong.
Even Megumi, with his bad personality, is obedient to her.
And Megumi... How is he feeling right now? Ugh
I open the door of the room, ready to ask for the details and to console him, saying that everything is going to be alright.
*Gulp*
But I pause in my tracks...
My body instinctively freezes, saying to me that this is the safest course of action. Like I'm in some sort of Danger.
The scene is nothing out of the ordinary. Tsumiki is on the bed, some medical devices glued on her, and Megumi is sitting by her side in a chair.
But the mood is heavy, suffocating even.
Megumi is sitting with his legs crossed calmly, a phone in his hand, his face stony cold.
Megumi normally has four expressions: exaggerated fakeness, smirking, annoyed, and deadpan. But now it's going even further, for an instant I felt like it would be better if he was bawling his eyes out.
His face slowly turned to us and only after our eyes met that I notice that I was holding my breath.
"Hey..." He says flatly, deep dark eyes staring at us for a moment before going back to look at the unconscious Tsumiki.
"Hey." We answer weakly
We approach the bed, finally noticing the strange markings on her forehead.
"She..." I start...
"She will be alright." Megumi interrupts my words, his voice resolute.
It doesn't look like he is saying to cheer us up, or himself.
"It appears that this curse is forcing her into an unconscious state for unknown reasons." He continues in an even voice, without a hint of emotion.
I don't like seeing him like this.
I also find it strange that he is not doing the usual stuff people do in this situation... He is not worried, he is not holding Tsumiki's hand. He looks pissed, but I can understand... Someone or something attacked Tsumiki, maybe on purpose
He continues to stay completely still, his only movements coming from his index finger tapping the smartphone in his hand.
"I am going back... I need some time alone." He slowly stands up without taking his eyes off Tsumiki.
"We will stay with her here." Mai spokes, making him nod.
He walks to the door before stopping and turning his head slightly to us
"Girls, get ready... We're taming Mahoraga this weekend." He says, his voice without any of his joking tone or words
.....
- Third Person P.O.V. -
Megumi leaves the hospital and after moving through the shadows he finally emerges beneath a tree in a nearby forest.
"It's only the expected... No reason to get angry." He says to himself while sitting in a thick root
Tsumiki entering a coma was on his plan, or staying in a better... He knew it was coming and he made plans.
Truth be told, he kept an open eye, but he couldn't be with Tsumiki 24/7 and she suddenly collapsed in school, Megumi by her side, so it's not like Kenjaku attacked her directly.
"A ticking time bomb..." He concludes.
At some point in the past, maybe even when they were little kids, Kenjaku put that seal on Tsumiki and made her part of the whole scheme.
Maybe because she is compatible.
Maybe because of him...
He checks his Company Device again. The defenses are up, so Yorozu is essentially trapped inside of Tsumiki.
He doesn't know why she is in a coma, he can only guess that her brain is being reformed in some way to accommodate Yorozu's Innate Technique.
But he can only guess... It's not like he can solve this issue now. He is a fighter, even if was studying from day one he would still be behind the 1,000-year-old Kenjaku in those things, and that's why he doesn't even try.
It's like trying to surpass Kisuke or Aizen in this timeframe.
He really can't do anything beyond waiting... And it's pissing him off a little. It's irrational, but he can't help himself.
"Kenjaku, for your own good, pray that everything goes well for me." In his mind, he will still blame Kenjaku. He is now wallowing in guilt or self-blame. He is not this type of guy.
He simply had the expectation that the Defenses would keep Tsumiki awake, only to be proved wrong.
Once again, he can only make guesses... And he guessed that it's because it was a beneficial change, keeping herself awake and functioning would probably overheat her brain or something.
"I was not taking it easy, but this was like a stab on my ass. Let's speed up things a little..." He checks his phone again.
There he sees that his Blackbeard Template is already Tier 6.
He raises his hand and a semi-transparent sphere covers his first.
*Crash* *Crack*
He suddenly side-punches the air, the space around him cracks and deforms in a radius of a meter. The shockwaves spread through the air and the Earth. Trees behind him explode and the ground sinks into a hole before moving like waves in the ocean.
"Mahoraga will be a good punching bag to vent..." He says, his eyes are incomparably dark.