𝐂𝐲𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐜 ʲᵘʲᵘˢᵗᵘ ᵏᵃⁱˢᵉⁿ

eleven.

note: turning 21 in two days. crazy. have these two chapters in the mean time.

"And then you like, passed out?"

You grit your teeth at the question.

Your reaction tells Gojo everything he needs to know, and the man grins gleefully. "Oh, that's hilarious."

A miserable groan leaves your lips. "Shut up."

Waking up after the whole Rika slapping fiasco was... less than accommodating. Not only did your head hurt like it was being stabbed by a million needles everywhere at once, you have also been forced to rest for two whole days to regain some of your cursed energy back.

Before joining jujutsu tech, you'd be overjoyed at the thought of having any sort of off day, but now it just feels like you're lagging behind your colleagues, who, not to mention, are younger and more skilled than you.

Gojo had come not too long after you regained consciousness, which is how you ended up in this situation.

"Ya know," Your teacher muses, "it probably wouldn't have been that bad if you didn't heal the two earlier-they were super minor injuries, weren't they? You could've just bandaged them up."

Before you can retort, Ieiri steps in. "You're thinking of this the wrong way, Satoru. They need to be a little more careful than the average sorcerer whenever they spend cursed energy. My guess is they had it under control until Rika showed up."

You nod along to her words. "Yeah. I was able to maintain a steady output prior to that." It's kind of hard to stay calm and collected when you're face to face with a special grade cursed spirit with no preparation whatsoever.

The only thing in your mind back then was to not let get mauled by her, and, despite the repercussions, you accomplished just that.

In your defense, it didn't feel like a lot when you hit her-then again, it's near impossible to know the exact numbers. That, and Rika is, essentially, overpowered, so it's safe to assume that one would need to put more force into their attacks to really get to her.

Maybe the adrenaline masked it well enough, and the exhaustion hadn't hit you until the very last second.

"I see..." Gojo trails off. He goes silent for a while after that, seemingly deep in thought.

"By the way, [Name]." Shoko says. You hum, turning to face her. "There's a gift for you."

You stare at her blankly.

"What."

Shoko walks over to her desk, reaching for something. You couldn't make it out from where you currently are, the object covered by a stack of files. The doctor makes her way back to you, revealing a small, white box in hand. It had some sort of strap on top, the one you'd often find on dessert packages.

"Is that...?"

"A cake." She finishes for you, handing the item over.

"A cake?" You grab it with careful movements, not wanting to ruin whatever's inside. "From who?" You ask, gingerly opening the top of the container. Your eyes light up at the reveal: inside lies a single serving of [favorite cake], garnish and all.

Ieiri observes your reaction, a small smile gracing her face. "Inumaki and Okkotsu. They felt bad after the incident, and I reckon they wanted to make it up to you."

Her words strike guilt into your heart. Judging from the presentation, they probably got this at some artisanal bakery, and the prices of the items there are more expensive than usual.