Old Beats | Gojo Satoru x Reader

XVI

As you rounded the next corner of the inner street, you felt something cutting off your breath. The man's arm was tightly wrapped around your neck, and looking down, you saw his other hand gripping a knife firmly lodged in your abdomen.

Oh. That hurt. A lot.

Now that you paid attention, the man emitted a weak and slow flow of cursed energy. It wasn't much, but you should have noticed it. You surely would have if your mind hadn't been elsewhere, you scolded yourself.

"Who are you?" you asked, gasping, and as you did, you tasted the metallic flavor in your mouth.

"Nobody you should care about," he murmured against your ear. "I just want the reward, so hold on a bit," he moved his hand from your belly, without removing the knife from the wound. "They want you alive."

So he was a bounty hunter, and someone had put a price on your head. That wasn't good.

You took a second to breathe deeply, trying to ignore the sharp pain in your abdomen, and exhale calmly. You didn't have much time before passing out from a wound like that; you had to act quickly.

First, your elbow hit the bounty hunter's face, and you heard a satisfying "crack," indicating that you had broken his nose. He brought both hands to his face, blinded by pain, and released the grip he had on your neck. Good, now you could move freely.

You bit your tongue hard to endure the pain that the next move would cause, raised your leg, and drove it forcefully towards his groin, landing a powerful knee strike. You felt the muscles in your lower torso tense, contracting around the knife that was still lodged inside, and you bit your tongue until it bled to avoid screaming.

The man, in turn, fell to his knees on the ground, surprised by the second source of pain, so you took the opportunity to put enough distance between him and you. Before he could get up again, if he did at all, you released one of the hairpins holding your hair.

"Who put a bounty on me?" you asked, breathless.

"Shut up, woman," he replied, his face swollen and bloody, and pointed to the knife still stuck in you. "You won't last much longer with that."

You had dealt with enough people in your life to know who talks and who doesn't, and this one belonged to the latter type. So he was no use to you.

"Idiot," you muttered in annoyance.

With a flick of your hand, you threw the hairpin directly at his head, and it pierced his forehead like a bullet. In an instant, he collapsed to the ground, the expression of surprise on his face frozen forever.

The sight of your abdomen was chilling. The weapon, though not very large, was embedded up to the hilt, and blood had spread to stain most of the fabric a crimson color. Suddenly, you found it difficult to breathe, and your vision blurred, fearing that you were about to pass out.

You resisted the urge to yank the knife out of your body, which would only have sped up your blood loss, and crawled to your purse, abandoned a few meters away. You had to alert the school so they could find you in time, or else you would bleed to death in that alley.

At last, you found your cell phone, but when you opened the contact list, you realized you were unable to read the letters on the screen. You were worse off than you thought. You touched any part of the screen and let out a sigh of relief when you heard someone pick up the call.

"Help," you whispered with your lips pressed against the microphone.

And everything went dark.

The air you breathed smelled like home, allowing you to relax a little. With a faint smile, you nestled between the cushions and the sheet, letting out a grunt of satisfaction. You felt like you were in paradise. It was much more comfortable than before when you were bleeding out in an alley. You opened your eyes and sat up suddenly; the fluorescent light blinded you.