BOUND; jujutsu kaisen

ch. three

CHAPTER THREE . . .
. . . TRAINING & RICE BALLS !

"You want to train me?" Miran questioned, pointing at herself. She shortly woke up from their journey from the Zen'in estate to home. Miran sat on the couch with a dark red blanket draped on her legs.

Still exhausted, she rubbed her eyes and yawned, stretching her arm muscles. Toji continued what he was saying, "It's the best way for you to control the emotions you feel around you."

Miran's eyes showed an understanding to his, and she looked at her fingers, flexing them, "How long would it take for me to master it?" Toji's brow arched, he felt a little astonishment that she would quickly accept this. He shook off his emotion and continued once again, leaning his body against the couch, "A while, depending on how fast you can learn."

"When do we start?" Miran was determined for an unknown reason, even to her. She had no goals nor a future she could see. However, at the bottom of her soul, she knew this was what she wanted to do. She was ready.

Toji shrugged his shoulders, "Probably tomorrow if you're ready." Miran nodded and looked at him straight in his eyes, "I'm ready."

"Then tomorrow," he finished. A knock on the door paused their conversation. Toji and Miran both went up to the door, knowing who it was. Opening the door, Emi stood in front of it with a smile, holding out a bag, "Hey! take out! It's rice balls."

Miran jumped happily as she grabbed the bag and put it on the table. Spending time with the ten-year-old, he learned her likes in things with her dislikes. Miran loved the rice balls that were created in a specific place downtown, and she loved spicy noodles with anything spicy. She dislikes harsh sweets and pickles, she hates pickles.

Toji looked at his girlfriend with concern, she seemed just as exhausted as her sister, "You alright."

Emi nodded and gave a soft smile, kissing Toji's cheek, "I'm fine, just exhausted." That was one thing Toji loved about this woman, she was honest and loyal to those who she loved. He admired her for that.

Emi put her bag down and looked back at him, "what about you?" Toji sighed and sat back on the couch, looking at Miran as she ate a rice ball happily.

He could hear Emi's giggle from behind him, her hand placed on his shoulder, "What? Did Miran make you role-play with her?" Toji let out a breathless laugh and the two joined the girl at the table.

Midnight soon came and the Fushiguro's were long in a deep sleep. Something Toji learned from both of the Fushiguro siblings, they're deep sleepers.

Toji slowly slipped out of bed, not disturbing Emi in her rest. Once out of bed, he left the room and made sure to shut the door lightly.

A few tiles made a creek sound, but it wasn't too old to take notice. Toji entered the living room in search of the scrolls he hid. He grabbed them from the side of the counter and opened the first one, emptying it on the kitchen table.

There were several names, all retaining names and dates of both missing and outcasted sorcerers. It was a long list, Toji groaned.

It'll be a long night.

:･ﾟ✧:･.☽˚｡･ﾟ✧:･.:

It was November, and the cold air hit Miran's face as she heaved back up into her fighting position. Toji was fast but slowly, she was learning his techniques.

Toji mentioned to her before their training that he had no curse energy. He said she last had it since she could see and describe the curse they encountered a while back, a year ago to be exact. She couldn't believe all that time already passed, it felt like only a few weeks ago.

She grew closer to Toji over the years too, and she learned things about him too. Especially how to read him based on his body and facial gestures, it wasn't that hard. Currently, he was testing her own physical strength and building it every weekday.

They only trained on weekdays because Emi still doesn't know the entire truth. She was happy they were spending lots of time together, but she dormant knew the reason behind it.

"Straighten your stance," Toji ordered, holding his wooden blade in front of him. Only a few times Miran was able to hit him but now, she was sweating and out of breath, Toji was extremely fast to keep up with.

It was already sunset and Miran huffed, a little, "Can we go eat, please?" Toji sighed and put down the wooden staff from his fighting stance, "Not yet, I need to teach you something, come."

For the course of the months they've been training, Toji notices many things about the now eleven-year-old girl. Although he was fast, she could keep up with him to an extent. It was impressive, to say the least. She was also an intelligent combat person and picked up things easily from her opponent, enabling her to strike him a couple of times.

By where he sees her now with her physical and mental power, she would be a great sorcerer amongst the Jujutsu Society. Might even seem like a 2nd-grade sorcerer.

In the months that passed, Toji was also studying different family lineages within the scrolls he obtained. He also was able to find more information about Miran, their father from Emi who kept a photo book. He seemed like a normal man, with dark black hair with hazel eyes.

Toji finally started to tie loose ends, searching through only cure user houses for a dark-haired clan such as the Zen'in Clan. The Gojo Clan was out of bounds already, knowing many of their ancestors had white hair there was no possible way Miran could be related to them. All that was left was the Kamo Clan, this intrigued him.

Back to training, Toji wanted to see if she could rely on her instincts. That was something the Kamo clan could do, able to fight without even looking at the opponent.

Toji went behind Miran and tied a blindfold over her green eyes, preventing her from seeing.

"I want you to sense me," Toji said. Miran splayed her arms out as she walked around, making sure she wouldn't crash into anything, "Sense you?"

"Yes, to build up your own five senses, you must first have to practice. Hear the footsteps, smell the air, feel the wind," he paused for a moment before finishing, "Find me without your eyes."

Miran nodded and got back into her fighting stance, she was quiet. She could feel everything and hear everything around her, not just of the world but emotions too. Miran could feel Toji, he moved from the left side to the right at speed. He swung the wooden blade, but it was blocked.

Toji's hunch was right, neither only from the Zen'in nor Gojo Clan who had just been practicing for a few months could ever pull a stunt like that.

She was from the Kamo Clan.

They continued to fight until Toji realized it was already an hour past their regular time to go. As a reward for herself, Miran bought her favorite rice balls for her preferred place. Toji was grateful it wasn't that expensive.

Miran was happy, and she didn't exactly know why. She feels like she finally has a grip on her reality after everyone claimed it was fiction, what she was weird about. She was grateful for Toji, grateful that she could finally see a small future with these abilities. A future of peace and acceptance in humanity.

Miran just hoped it could stay like this forever, her, Emi, and Toji. However, she knew deep down...

It wasn't going to last.

:･ﾟ✧:･.☽˚｡･ﾟ✧:･.: