"Hup!"
Suoh's fist tapped Toge on the chin, and the boy broke out into a grin.
"Fufu~, you're out, Toge!"
The silence deafened participant and onlooker alike, no more than Inumaki himself, who, after the curse wore off, slapped himself in the cheek where Suoh had hit him, and looked up with his eyebrows furrowed towards the taller boy.
".....e-eh...?"
Suoh only beamed back, and gave the Cursed Speech user a pat on the shoulder.
"Well, I wasn't gonna hurt my buddy real bad, was I~?"
Suoh turned his attention over to a gobsmacked Masamichi Yaga with his jaw on the floor, and said, "Hey, I don't wanna do too much damage to my friends, so how about we call Toge out here?!"
"....I-I-....." With everyone in complete disarray and astonishment, and with Suoh grinning once again, Toge trudged his way over to the sidelines, and plopped himself down onto the grass, eyes still wide over the situation just transpired.
With Suoh taking the time it took for Toge to sit down to stretch a bit and hum to himself, both Maki and Panda barely managed to collect themselves.
They glanced at each other, and back at Suoh, and back again.
"...what did he just.." Panda muttered.
"....I-..." Maki sputtered, then turned back to Suoh. "O-OI!"
"Mh? Yeah, what's up, Maki-chan~?" Suoh said, cocking his head.
"W-W-...."
"WHAT THE HECK DID YOU JUST DO?!"
Suoh's smirk was wiped from his face after Maki sputtered out her demands, and the seaweed boy stopped stretching, dropping his hands down to his sides.
With Yaga listening intently, Ijichi's teeth chattering from the nerves, Toge still bewildered over having his Technique thrown back at him, and Panda staring off into the distance, Suoh said matter-of-factly,
"Ah. That was my First Poison, Delusion. It lets me deconstruct any technique basically instantly."
...ah. I see.
A pit swallowed Maki's stomach whole, and a lump formed in her throat, stripping the breath from her lungs.
With Yaga in a similar state, the Jujutsu High Principal flinched, and the stern gaze perpetually stamped on his face was replaced by a wide-eyes and colour flushed from his skin.
Suoh's expression switched again in reaction to the cold silence overcoming the field, and he nervously sputtered, "A-Ah! Wait, I hope that wasn't too blunt, I can explain a bit better!"
"S-So, think of my First Poison as a device that shreds my enemy's technique like a paper shredder. It causes the technique to completely deconstruct and become useless, but the remnants of cursed energy used to use that technique are still up in the air, a-and stuff. I deconstructed Toge's Cursed Speech just now!"
"A-And then I used the reversal of my Poison, and took the remnants of cursed energy and put the technique back together, and fired it back in his face!"
Suoh paused from his ramblings and clasped his hands together with an anxious smile, sweat beads on his brow. "Get it?! G-Get it, you guys?!"
It took a moment for Maki and Panda to take in Suoh's nerve-fueled ramblings, to fully ingest his words and his instructions on how his technique functions, and the subsequent reversal of said technique as well; it took a moment further to realize that, in the span of a few seconds, Suoh Yuuya managed to send Panda into a daze with a perfectly-timed uppercut, react to Maki's surprise attack from a near-indefensible position and grip her halberd's staff with the blade centimetres from his nape, and then both dissolve and redirect Toge's Cursed Speech technique back at him,
All the while stopping his blow just before decommissioning the Semi-Grade-1 sorcerer, as if it were a simple game.
The corpse snarled and its fangs slipped through his lips at the very thought of being taken so lightly, and Maki nearly snapped her second weapon of the morning.
Once the nature of Suoh Yuuya had set in, everyone in attendance came to agree;
This guy......he's crazy strong!
"Panda, follow my lead, and go Gorilla Mode when the opportunity to bash Yuuya out of the boundary comes up...!" Maki spat, aiming her halberd tip Suoh's way.
"Umu....!!"
Maki , while not in any immediate threat herself with Heavenly Restriction, was instantly aware how devastating a Cursed Technique like Suoh's would be on someone like Panda; just as Toge was completely helpless once Suoh activated Delusion, it was imperative Panda not meet the same fate if they had any chance of taking Suoh down.
"Go!"
Maki took a straight dash into Suoh's range, to his delight, and engaged in a full-contact, close-range frenzy of halberd slashes and intricate, aggressive blows;
Blocking Maki's cut aimed at his head with his left wrist, getting his follow-up body shot parried away with a spin of her staff to his right, blocking the ensuing counter of two jabs with the blunt butt of the Cursed Tool with his palms, Suoh's eyes flickered in the face of the hotly-contested rush of strikes from either martial artists, chuckling when Maki pulled her halberd back and nicked his cheek with a laser-focused thrust of her blade, before leaping back, returning to a relaxed stance, slouched over with a sturdy, grounded lower body.
I-, With a bead of sweat rolling down her brow, and her eyes beginning to water, Maki muttered to herself in disbelief, I...couldn't even blink there...
Nonetheless, she grit her teeth.
So what?! Just do it again!
Clashing her halberd blade with Suoh's forearm, Maki kept up, if only by the slimmest of margins; Suoh threw an elbow down the left of her collarbone and nicked the fabric of her top, though, with minor bleeding and negligible fracturing, Maki pushed through with a further mix of thrusts and cuts, clashing heavily with the rapid switching of blows from a near-miniscule distance, to unforgiving kicks from range.
Suoh leapt back from the assault and gave a few metres of space between them, only for Maki to close the space right up, the ensuing strain in her chest from the inability to breathe in the space between the non-stop attacks barely registering in her mind,
all of her focus was placed into-
Beating you into the dirt, for the sake of sending you right out of the field!
Launching a full-bodied thrust of her spear into Suoh's midsection and knocking him back, the Zenin girl couldn't mask the frustration on her face when the opposing boy, hunched over from the blow, stood back up straight, and shook his hand out in front of him and gave his fingers a few flexes, as though he had been blown back by a simple blow.
"Mh. I think I've got a welt on my palm now, aw, man." Suoh pouted, picking at his hand.
The boy turned his attention back to Maki after a moment, though, and the smirk returned to his lips just as quickly. "Say, say, Maki-chan~, I'm really glad that you're as strong as I hoped you'd be, we can do this again, and again, and again once this test is over~!"
"H-Hah...!?" Through her heavy breaths she remembered only now to take, Maki let her frustrations run wild, raising her finger Suoh's way. "You....kelp-headed asshat! Stop treating this like a game and come at me for real, damnit!"
"Eh? But it is a game! Yaga over there told me to show off what I can do, I'm not gonna try and snuff you guys out on the second day, y'know!" Suoh replied.
Visibly stumped, Maki flinched, and shouted, "Y-.....You're being patronizing!"
"HEH?! Howzat make sense, huh?!"
"YOU JUST ARE!"
As the two sorcerers persisted with bickering, Panda, yet again on the sidelines, scratched his aching jaw, before glancing over at Toge on the grass, blankly observing the arguments.
Their eyes met, and they shrugged.
You think he's doing this on purpose?
Shake.
Think I should intervene?
Tuna.
Hm? You think I'd get wrecked that easily?
Tuna, Tuna.
Wha- you only got knocked out because you fight from range, I've got power and speed on my side!
Watch this!
Panda cupped his hands over his mouth.
"OOOOOOOOOOI! MAAAAAAKI!"
Abruptly cutting through the mix of rage-induced expletives and unintentionally-aggravating teasing, Maki jerked her head around.
"WHAT-"
"Oh~? What's that, hm~?"
Rushing down both students with jagged teeth curled into a smile, the hulking frame of a two-toned beast on all fours came into view, alerting them both with the sudden emergence of a powerful cursed energy signature.
The beast leapt into the air, and, aimed at where Suoh stood, brought their hammer-like fists down onto the grass, smashing through the ground and caving it in with a virulent roar.
"W-Waw, haha~! What the heck is that, Panda?!" Suoh exclaimed, eyes going wide,
"GORILLA MODE, BUDDY!"
After he battered his fists against his chest and slammed them back into the ground, the upgraded cursed corpse turned his head back towards Maki at his rear, and said to her,
"Change of plans. I'll be the one to draw Suoh's attention and pull him towards the edge of the field, and you'll finish the job and knock him out of the boundary."
"No way, Panda," Maki said, shaking her head, "You saw what he did to Toge, throwing his technique back at his face, my polearm and I are immune to that with our lack of technique-"
"Maki."
Panda flashed the Zenin girl a thumbs-up, cutting her off.
"He still doesn't know everything about Gorilla Mode's speciality, so have a little faith, will you?"
....Tch, he won't give up on this easily, will he... With a sigh, Maki started stalking off to Suoh's left flank, motioning with her eye movement for Panda to rush in.
I'll follow your lead, Panda. Any time you use your technique, I'll come in and keep the pressure on him!
Giving her a brief nod and turning back to a statue-like Suoh patiently waiting for the conversation to be over, Panda began his rush.
In a flash, Panda rushed forward, the ground kicked up beneath his feet; with Suoh's only reaction a flicker in his eyes and an instinctive raising of his arms in defense, Panda abruptly jetted to the right, and slammed his palm into the Yuuya boy's midsection.
A violet rush of cursed energy butted heads with Suoh's raised aura, and smashed right through.
"...ah! not good...!"
With a bellow in his voice, Panda roared, "Unblockable Drumming Beat!"
Suoh flew through the sky like a kite, eyes gone wide. "WOAH!"
"Maki, go!" Panda signaled the Zenin girl onwards, who didn't waste a moment; making a break for the defenseless sorcerer with her polearm at the ready, Maki smashed the blunt end of her weapon across Suoh's chest the moment he landed on his feet, throwing him through the air once more another dozen metres, another dozen meters closer to the northern end of the track-and-field boundary.
Haha, it's actually working...! A smirk etching itself onto her face, Maki slipped back as Suoh tried to find his balance with an awkward grunt, only for Panda to close in on him and whack him with another Drumming Beat.
"Oomph....!" Quickly losing distance between the fight at hand and the edge of the boundary, Suoh's guard surely began to be weathered down against Panda's powerful blows.
Panda himself took notice, feeling confident in his planning.
GOD, I'M SO GOOD!
"HOU-RAH!" Panda took another shift to the side and smashed his fist into Suoh's left, knocking him closer to the north-east of the field, and leapt into the air with both fists raised over his head.
The dangerous thing about your technique, Suoh, is the fear it can put into the minds of Jujutsu sorcerers after seeing it in action, Panda said to himself. The gorilla corpse cratered the ground beneath him as Suoh leapt out of the way, only to face another onslaught of Drumming Beats from close-range, inching him closer and closer to the corner of the field.
If you see your technique be completely dissolved in front of you, you might think that you're outmatched, but after thinking over what you did with Toge, I've figured you out!
You can't use your technique forever, it's got a cooldown!
Panda pulled both arms back, keeping his palms open for a two-handed clap over Suoh's head.
So I'll stun you here, before you can nullify Gorilla Mode!
You're strong, Suoh, but unfortunately, I'm-
"...Ah. That it?"
The subtle whisper of disapproval forced a grunt from Panda.
As his palms inched closer to Suoh's smaller frame, they were slammed down by the Yuuya boy's elbows, followed by a precision counter to Panda's jaw joints by the knuckles on his thumbs.
Despite feeling his jaw disc slip and his mouth suddenly go slack, Panda was left with little options in terms of recovery.
Quickly putting on an apologetic smile, Suoh gripped the back of Panda's neck as he moved into his space. "Aha~, sorry, Panda," the boy chuckled, "I was just waiting for something else cool to happen~."
"Oh, and I can do more than simply dissolve your techniques~."
An unnaturally heavy blow to his chin sent Panda skyward, tens of meters into the air, nearly doubling the height Suoh was sent through the Drumming Beat.
"Panda!"
"Mentaiko!"
Maki and Toge cried out for the corpse after witnessing the blow, whereas Yaga only kept a tight-lipped scowl on his face, only somewhat shaking his head.
....well, this sucks.
Hurtling through the air, Panda could only mutter to himself in disappointment.
Yup. You blew it. You pulled a 'Maki', and look where it got you. Slack jaw, shattered chin, and a bruised ego.
You're spinning through the air, looking like a goof in front of your friends.
It's been now, what, a solid eight seconds of airtime? Suoh knocked you pretty good, you know.
...well, at least it was one of your friends doing the goof-iffying. I can give 'im a slobbery finger in the ear as revenge tonight, or something.
As he soared through the sky, though, Panda caught glimpses of those in witness;
They weren't in fear, in despair, or even in anger at his crushing defeat.
Everyone, from Toge to Yaga, were suddenly visibly astonished, confused looking at him.
Oh? What's that about...?
O-OI! Panda's shock quickly caught up to his own confusion, and he shrieked.
WHY AM I STILL IN THE AIR?!
"Heh~, you finally noticed, huh, Panda~? I can tell from down here~!!"
"HUH?!"
With one hand cupped to his mouth and the air waving out to him, Panda did his best to scream Suoh's way, despite spinning in mid-air.
"WA-....HAF....YU....DUH....TO....MEEEE?!?!?!"
Though the corpse himself had a hard time hearing him clearly, the rest of the sorcerers on the ground could understand Suoh Yuuya perfectly well;
As he pulled his hair out of the way of his left eye to reveal two golden irises, side-by-side, and said,
"The unconditional paralyzing of my target in place, no matter what outside force may be put onto them, that is my Second Poison: Greed!"
Another Technique?!
Maki's jaw went as limp as Panda's for a moment, glaring at the eager grin on Suoh's face, and the sudden appearance of two separate irises in Suoh's left eye-
No, not sudden.
She recovered with a slap to her face, and shifted her feet.
I've got it, that uneasy, cold curse swarming around....
That energy has always been his technique, without a doubt!
"Oi, Yuuya!"
The boy in question responded to Maki's call with an "oh? What's up, Maki-chan?"
"You're lying, aren't you?!"
"Hm? 'Bout wot?"
Maki, ever so reliant on her instincts and remaining headstrong in a fight, found her footing once again, in this revelation, in understanding what she was up against. In her discovery, she felt a rush of blood.
"You're lying! Your technique isn't like that at all!"
For a moment, Suoh seemed to flinch, only for a coy smile to curve his lips. "Oh~? Dunno what you mean, Maki-cha-"
"Your technique isn't so simple, so spill!" Maki cut him off, and brought her polearm back in front of her, assured in herself, a stark contrast from the temper and hesitation she entered the bout with. "If it was as easy as that, then Panda wouldn't keep spinning, he'd be locked in place in the air!"
"....welp, ya got me~!"
As easily as he lied, Suoh suddenly conceded with his hands up, and his tongue stuck out. "It ain't as simple, I just wanted to scare ya~."
"...YOU ASSHOLE!" AAAnd as quickly as she composed herself and patted herself on the back for the small victory, Maki lost it.
"Greed does lock my target in place, but does so almost like sticking a paper figure to a wall with a thumb tack~," Suoh said, twirling his finger around in a circle, "It's technically stuck in place, but you can spin it around in place, like you're being put in a vacuum and suspended in mid-air- Ah! Like you are, Panda!"
"SSHUH UF!"
"However, one of the little quirks of this technique is that, no matter what, things like the loss of momentum, gravity, force, and velocity don't apply! So, you can get afflicted while you're up in the air, but you'll still feel like you're falling!"
He turned back to Maki. "Ya get it~?"
...that's...really not good....
Right away, Maki found herself painfully aware of the danger of that technique, especially to her;
Yuuya can keep me in place, and end this any time he pleases!
Planning immediately became more difficult, Suoh now showcased a means of dispatching Gorilla Mode through Technique Nullification, and handling her physical strength through his Forcible Fixation; if she were to be struck with the latter, any means of escape would prove practically pointless, given that the only viable option of reinforcement of the body through cursed energy was impossible for her, if that was even an option; if not, Panda became susceptible as well.
Suoh Yuuya suddenly felt much more powerful.
Pft....this SUCKS!
"Ah! I really should drop you now, sorry for leaving you up there for so long, Panda~!" Suoh exclaimed. The split in his iris suddenly re-merged into one another, and, crying out all the way down, Panda landed on his back with a thud, arms outstretched to his sides.
Suoh slouched forward and let his hands go limp again, smiling with a confidence opposite to the uncertain frustration on Maki's face.
"Say, say, Maki-chan~," He said, "Why don't we try and end things soon, hm~?"
"I've got one last trick up my sleeve to show off to the big guy over there," Suoh motioned over to Yaga with a nod, "and I've got a good feeling that you and Panda still have some juice in the tank to make me show it off~!"
"Tch...!" The adrenaline and vigor from being pummeled by Suoh throughout the match had begun to wear off, and the pain in her vitals was slowly beginning to sneak up on Maki; while the pain was not sufficient so as to put her out of commission, the welt on her stomach from Suoh's kick was certainly no afterthought any longer. Coming at the seaweedhead with the full intent to maim with her blade was not possible, either, dealing any sort of critical blow, even with Yaga's direct consent to do so, seemed out of the realms of possibility entirely now that Suoh had showcased his superior abilities.
Glancing over at Panda to see the cursed corpse snapping his jaw back in place with a grunt and a whimper, Maki gathered herself together with a deep breath.
So...Yuuya now understands how Panda's Drumming Beat works, and is durable enough to tank Gorilla Mode's blows, even outclassing him in speed and precision completely....his senses are inhumanely refined, to the point where he can outpace and outstrike me in close quarters....add on his ability to dissolve Cursed Techniques and forcibly lock someone in place, and Yuuya's got an out for both of our strengths.....
Damnit...! I get this is nothing but a stupid spar, but knowing that bumbling idiot's got a leg up on me in so many ways is more than infuriating!
Noting Panda's recovery and Suoh's relaxed composure, Maki saw only one option;
"Oi. Panda."
"Mh?" The corpse looked towards the Zenin girl, getting up to their feet.
Maki continued with a low tone, "We can't force him out, and we can't follow your lead now that the surprise aspect of your technique is no longer going to catch Yuuya off-guard."
"Hm. Then, I'll follow your lead."
"What should we do, Maki?"
Small, golden eyes hidden behind eyeglass frames flared open.
...Oh....
For someone who assured of herself and her resolve to achieve whatever she sets before her; for someone who isn't afraid to take the leadership role among her peers, who seldom considers seeking guidance from superiors in an effort to grow stronger; for someone anyone would consider unquestionably powerful, despite possessing such minimal amounts of cursed energy,
it could not be understated how out-of-place such self-doubt was.
Maki scoffed at Panda's words. The smirk that she wore as she formed the plan that revealed Suoh's very first Poison Technique returned to her, and the fire within burned yet again.
Pft.
Who the hell am I to shrivel up like this?!
That unfamiliar hesitation, that nagging fear of harming Suoh and facing the consequences, the foreign discomfort that came with the boy's presence; Maki cast it all aside, in favour of remembering who she was.
"Oi!" She brandished her weapon and pointed the bladed tip Suoh's way, standing tall.
"You think you can keep up if I try for once, Yuuya?!"
Her words visibly invigorated the seaweed boy, and his eye split into two, cursed energy circulating over his body at a rapid pace. "Fufu~...!!"
"Panda!" Maki shouted.
"Mhm?"
In a tone Panda found reminiscent of the Maki Zenin he had known for what felt like ages; headstrong, unshakeable in resolve, impossible to replicate, Maki said,
"Let's bash 'im to bits, got that?!"
In an instant, the shame of being dealt with so comfortably dissipated, and the corpse slammed his fists together with a bellowing roar. "Hell yeah, you got it!!"
Maki bedded her feet further into the ground and shifted her stance forward, offensive movements evidently in mind.
Forget everything, just for this moment, Maki, She told herself,
Forget about the hesitation to kill,
Forget about surrender,
Forget about mindless anger,
and lead by example! Simply act, react, and execute!
With all three on the field galvanized and ready to clash for the last time, Ijichi looked towards Yaga, who remained as stone-faced as ever. "Excuse me, Yaga-sensei, there's...something that's been on my mind for a while now."
With a slight nod of the head, Yaga replied with a grunt. "Mh?"
"W-Well, it's that I was wondering about last night, when we went to speak with Yuuya-kun, and how you kept me out in the hall while you did the speaking."
"Umu. What of it?" The principal bluntly replied.
"Well, I have to say, that despite my lackluster sorcery skills," Ijichi said, cautious in his approach of the topic in mind, "I am not so inept as to... erm, recognize one's ability at a glance. I do carpool the Satoru Gojo on a regular basis- ahem, after all."
"Mh? And?"
"W-Well, Yuuya-kun's cursed energy flow seemed quite grounded in comparison with the likes of you, and the other Grade-1 sorcerers when I first encountered him. I would have placed him within the Grade-3 range, yet, it was always fluid, compact, without any spikes or dips when invigorated by emotions, like what usually occurs with cursed energy."
"Y-Yaga-sensei," Ijichi's eyebrows furrowed as he firmly said,
"Without question....you knew Yuuya-kun was powerful enough to conceal his cursed energy to this degree."
"Why pit a boy like Yuuya-kun against the second-years, if you knew that Yuuya-kun was strong?"
The Jujutsu principal seemed unfazed at his manager's accusations, only firmly looking on as the trio of teenagers continued to stare one another down, waiting for the moment to strike.
His eyes honed in on Maki behind his sunglasses.
Maki Zenin....unquestionably powerful, deserving of Semi-Grade-1 status, the same as Toge.....I hope you learn something from him, because Suoh Yuuya,
Is a boy you should aspire to become.....
"Panda, follow my lead!"
"You got it!"
Maki discarded the failures of dispatching Suoh; foregoing using Inumaki as the wild card with his Cursed Speech, mowing him down with blind slashes in a fit of rage, relying on Panda to force him out of the boundary, Maki focused exclusively on the senses as she moved into Suoh's range.
She brought her polearm close to her, gripping it just below the blade, and cut down across Suoh's chest twice, flicking out a full-powered thrust of her weapon directly into his stomach, a rush of pride flowing through her when she brought her weapon down to Suoh's immediate right, clashing with his arms up in defense, as she predicted.
Hah! I'm getting a grasp on his moves!
Maki pressed further, cutting off Suoh's attempts at backing away, keeping the distance between them as close as she could, barely so much as blinking as she followed his shifting attack patterns;
She blocked off an uppercut to her midsection and immediately flew into a flurry of quick jabs of her polearm, tossing it briefly into the air and catching it and flowing into a two-handed swing, whacking Suoh in his left, knocking the breath from his lungs.
I did it...!
Panda seized the chance and rushed in with a palm strike to Suoh's right with a roar, breaking through Suoh's improvised guard.
Hah, HAH! That connection felt amazing!
With a triumphant tone, Panda bellowed, "Back to you, Maki-
"Hup...!" Just as Panda believed his Drumming Beat had pushed right through Suoh's defense, he caught a glimpse of Suoh's flashing irises, and felt his technique reverb straight back to him.
"Huh?!" His palm was knocked away in the blink of an eye, and a variety of close-range strikes knocked him back on the defensive, digging his feet into the dirt, grimacing under the weight of Suoh's blows.
Tch.! He can send Panda's technique back, as well?! Maki barked to herself, damned idiot...!
Maki threw her polearm in between Suoh and Panda's fight and cut it off, jumping back into the fray, only to be countered with a front kick to her bruised abdomen, knocking the wind from her sails, nearly causing her to capitulate and fall over.
Shit, that might've cracked a rib...!
"Fufu~, got you back for that nasty hit to my side, didn't I, Maki-chan~?"
"Oh, shut it, moron!" Before Suoh could pull his foot back, Maki snatched a hold of it into her armpit, clinging onto it with all she could muster.
"Mh? Well, that's new~!" Suoh leapt off of his free leg and spun out of the Zenin girl's grasp, knocking her in the jaw with a roundhouse kick, spinning back into his stance.
"Tch! Oi! Are you trying to shut us up for good, what's with the head kicks?!" Maki barked, holding her mouth and spitting out a spritz of blood.
"Ehehe, my bad, my bad!"
"Kgh, I'll return the favour, then!"
Panda and Maki continued regardless of injury, leaping back in and trading blows with Suoh, pulling back out of each other's way in between breaths, never once giving Suoh a means to regain composure; for every combination of slashes and thrusts Suoh had to parry, there was a sudden hammer fist ready to rattle him to his very core with an Innate Technique.
This endless assault resulted in Panda throwing a heavy uppercut into Suoh's guard, only to be met with another punch, halting the blow in its tracks. With a grin, Suoh's iris split again, and a wave of cursed energy shot through Panda's arm, and shrunk, reverting into the arm of the Panda Core.
"HUH?! YOU CAN DO THAT TOO?!"
Suoh didn't reply with anything but mirthful laughter to Panda's shriek, shoving him off with both hands, locking himself back into a one-on-one with Maki with a left elbow to her jaw, to be parried off and countered with a low sweeping blow to his opposing knee that forced him down.
"...eh?"
Maki brought her polearm down over Suoh's head without hesitation, forcing him to bring both hands up and catch the blade, visibly struggling to keep it from digging into him, leaning further and further back.
Both sorcerers pushed back against the other, with Maki gritting her teeth and shifting her grip on her staff, pushing more and more weight down on Suoh's guard.
"Tch! Come on, give in, damnit...!" Maki spat, to which the Yuuya boy shot her down with a smile.
"Fufu, no way, I'm having way too much fun~!"
"Humph! Try this!" Panda cut in with a swing from his arm reverted to its Panda Core state, thinking to himself, If I keep getting my Drumming Beat shot down, I'll just knock you down the tried-and-true way;
A straight-up beatdown!
Just as Panda was to connect with Suoh's face, his fist suddenly grew in size,
Eh?
And the familiar sensation of his Drumming Beat shot Suoh right out from under Maki's weight, knocking her polearm's blade into the ground.
"AH! I SCREWED UP!"
"Oh- damnit, Panda!"
Spinning through the air and with a bloody nose, Suoh let out a triumphant laugh. "Gotcha, Panda~! Thanks for the lift~!"
For real?! He's good enough to time his Technique Reversal to the smallest gap between Panda's fist and his face, Maki said in disbelief, and he's durable enough to tank the blow like it's nothing at all!?
The Zenin girl dashed after Suoh and swung her halberd just as he hit the ground, only to miss him completely, halted in her tracks.
"Hah?!"
Did he hit me with Greed just now?!
Grinning with his irises flashing, Suoh leaned into Maki's ear, and with a gleeful tone, whispered, "Having fun yet, Maki-chan~?"
If she wasn't utterly blindsided by Suoh's battle sense and technique proficiency, Maki was sure she would have turned red from the seaweedhead's breath on her neck, but watching Suoh tank another Drumming Beat and get knocked right off of his feet almost immediately afterwards was a welcome sight to cool her nerves.
Rolling on the ground and hopping back to his feet with the momentum, Suoh pat the dust off of his sweatshirt, and slipped back into his stance, now only a few metres from the north-east boundary, facing the Jujutsu principal and Auxiliary manager.
Both Panda and Maki did the same.
With his attention focused on the dwindling time frame he had to use Gorilla Mode before his cursed energy reserves ran dry, Panda took an offensive stance, planting his hands in front of him and crouching low, an improvised rendition of a sprinter's stance, readying himself to ram through Suoh's technique; Maki took a similar route, holding her halberd over her right shoulder and leaning forward, taking an all-offensive stance and placing her will into a single strike.
Their breathing syncing up and even the shifts of their feet in the ground in-line with one another, both sorcerers attacked Suoh simultaneously, to the shock of Kiyotaka Ijichi,
and the chagrin of Masamichi Yaga, who broke out into a sneer.
You two.....have much to learn....
Panda's fist and Maki's halberd sent Suoh hurtling through the air, right out of the boundary.
"T-They did it!" Ijichi beamed in unison with Toge, who exclaimed, "Tuna!"
Whereas Panda seemed to revel in a hard-fought victory over his friend, letting out another roar as he watched Suoh get launched through the sky, Maki's eyebrows furrowed.
....that....didn't feel right....
A violent burst of Cursed Energy silenced the three in their blind celebration, and sent shivers down their spines.
The Yuuya spun through the air, and all in witness caught the split of his iris and the huge spike of energy enveloping him.
An energy signature Panda surmised to be more potent than anything he could muster, with Yaga and Toge already having reached a similar conclusion on the sidelines.
Suoh pulled his right hand out and stuck up his index and ring fingers, and, almost instantly, the rush of cursed energy was sucked into those two points on his body, condensing and swirling around to form two sharp, thrashing, rose-gold points.
Maki felt her stomach sink to her feet, as Suoh said,
Three Poisons Technique, Third Poison; Hatred.
He swiped at the air, and unleashed two immense slashes of cursed energy, kicking up the dirt, forcing every onlooker to shield themselves from the ensuing blast of wind and endure the deafening boom that could rival an earthquake.
Gritting her teeth at the epicenter of the point of contact, Maki bit her lip until it bled, weathering through the rocks and debris.
For what seemed like several seconds, the dust remained in the air, until the initial damage had settled, leaving all in attendance to look on at the aftermath.
Maki's eyes shot open behind her glasses, looking at the deep, crude gashes in the field just beyond her, that scarred the ground up to where Yaga and Ijichi stood, carving through nearly the width of the track.
She didn't know whether to laugh at the ridiculous nature of the damage done, or collapse, knowing she could have been at the brunt of that if she so much as shifted her feet a couple centimeters.
O-Oi...you can't be serious....
She looked ahead just in time to watch Suoh fall back to earth, shouting all the way, smacking the grass on the other side of the running track with a thud.
"Oof..!" The boy rolled onto his back, visibly exhausted, huffing and gasping for air with a smile on his face.
"Ha...ha....ha....that was....so much fun.....~!!"
If she could've moved, she would've raced over and dealt the finishing blow herself;
instead, she merely glared at Suoh from afar, watching him break out into a fit of laughter.
"Oi. Maki."
"Mh?"
"I, uh....I think we dodged a bullet, there."
*Author's Note*
Welp
You've reached the end of the first 'arc' of this story, basically used to introduce the main characters of the story and establish key components of Suoh Yuuya, Maki's new buddy/adopted animal she needs to babysit
So, as you saw, he's pretty strong.
He's not going to be so utterly out of everyone's league that he just becomes another Gojo (Because I absolutely HATE that "Overpowered MC" trope that pops up from time to time [Except for One Punch Man, that's okay because he's bald]), but he won't be a slouch, he can't be for the sake of this story
So uh
I don't really know what to add at the end of this one
Yaga mentions that Suoh is someone Maki should want to become, but that'll explain itself later
I also have no real reason to explain Suoh's Technique either, it'll be explained further on anyways too
So uh
Yeah
I guess I'll mention some extra Suoh facts!
- His enrollment method into Jujutsu High: Ijichi thinking he can get away with passing the problem onto Gojo, only to be instantly smitten by Yaga's wrath
- Favourite Food: Squid, in any way, shape, or form
- Least Favourite Food: Anything sour
- Cause of Stress: Toge showed him a mukbang YouTuber that cried alot in their videos, and wants to know if they're unwell.
- Preferred Size (Panda asked him this the night they met): He didn't understand why an animal was asking him that question, so he didn't say.
- Specialty: He has an oddly prolific fashion sense.
That is all for now, and uh
Next Chapter!*
Whenever it comes out*