Laying in bed with her sleepwear on and her hair down after a late-night shower, Maki kept her eyes on her phone, rolling over onto her side to get more comfortable.
She hadn't seen Suoh since he inexplicably ran off, holding his phone in his hand and making a break in the opposite direction they had just come from. Her brain had fizzled out completely by that point, so she never managed to figure out what he left to do; she wasn't about to go running around looking for him, either, that would've been difficult to explain in a way that would suffice for Panda or Toge, who would absolutely revel in the chance to tease her again.
Scrolling through socials had grown boring, yet again.
Maki tossed her phone across to the other side of her bed with a huff, rolling onto her back to stare at the ceiling for the nth time that night.
She couldn't rid herself of the day gone by, no thanks to him.
His everlasting grin, nigh-incessant laughter, contrasting the strength of his cursed energy signature she felt when they first met. What a rollercoaster of emotions he put her through, ending a god-awful twisting in her gut over how poorly she thought of him when they first encountered him in the abandoned apartments way back when.
She furrowed her eyebrows just thinking about it again.
Ugh....I know he doesn't care anymore, but....
It was bad enough she acted that way to one person she's incredibly close with now, but doing it a second time, with a guy she had the wrong idea about entirely put a filthy taste in her mouth.
Maki let out a groan into her hands, wincing under her covers.
"Aw, man....I really have to quit being an ass....."
Her phone buzzed from the other side of her bed, dragging her out of her wallowing.
"Mh?" Maki rolled back over and picked it up, answering the call.
"Ah. What is it, Panda?" She said.
"Eh, not much, Suoh had only just finished his meeting with Yaga-sensei over his acceptance to Jujutsu High around an hour ago, and Toge and I figured we'd talk everything over with you."
Maki's eyes widened in her realization.
Ah...! So that's why he took off.
"Oh, right. So?" She replied.
"Well, for starters," Panda said with a sigh, "Bad news is that Suoh doesn't seem to be eligible for a role as a student."
Maki took a critical blow to the heart just then,
"But, good news is he's being hired as a full-time sorcerer under the facility's payroll."
Which was followed by a wave of relief washing over her.
....wait.
Maki thought about the Yuuya boy's situation for a moment once the smirk on her lips wore off.
"Why the hell is Yuuya being hired as a sorcerer instead of being enrolled as a student?" Maki asked Panda, "He's our age, there shouldn't be any reason for him to be unable to be a student instead."
Panda answered bluntly.
".......Yaga-sensei doesn't want Gojo involved in Suoh's development whatsoever."
"....ah."
The image of Gojo indoctrinating Suoh into a life of doing whatever he pleases for shits and giggles, angering the higher-ups, and meddling with everyone to frustrate them beyond belief popped into Maki's mind, and she immediately came to a similar conclusion as Principal Yaga.
"Umu. Anyways," Panda continued, "Suoh will be graded from 4 to semi-grade-1 on spars with us, and then, if he does well there, he gets to have a match-up with Nanami-sensei to see if he's eligible for Grade-1 status, somehow."
Hmph, like that'll happen, Maki dismissed that possibility immediately.
"Then, he'll go on a mission with Kusakabe-sensei to determine whether or not he should be hired full-time, or simply have his name in the registry for odd jobs here and there, like Mei-Mei. Capisce?"
"Mh. Makes sense, I guess."
Not sure why he needs a spar with Nanami-sensei, given how no student bar that idiot Hakari could so much as touch him....
Well...then there's him, too...
Maki thought back to the day he departed overseas with Miguel not long ago, and how much it sucked watching him go after getting to know him so quickly.
The parallels were uncanny, she realized after thinking about it for a moment; both boys suddenly sprouted out of nowhere, displayed their resolve and kind nature, both were afflicted with curses from a young age, and the circumstances they've grown up with shaped their personal character- it seemed far too similar to her.
She could practically hear the plane fly off as Suoh sat in the pilot seat waving down at her with the goofiest grin on his face.
"Oiiiii, Maki!"
Eh?
Panda's shouts through the phone roped her out of her thoughts, as she sputtered, "W-What were we talking about, sorry?"
"Toge and I were saying that we should decide what order to face Suoh in."
A familiar "Shake, Shake!" chimed in through her phone in agreement.
"A-Ah, I see."
I mean, does it really matter? He just needs to go well enough against any of us to be graded, and the higher-ups will place him at grade-4 at the very least, based solely on the mission report details....
Maki only shrugged off the problem. "I mean, it's fine with me, however it goes."
"Umu, thought you'd say that. Toge and I suggested it be based on grade levels, with you going first, but everyone knows you're tougher than us, so we thought you'd put in your two cents anyways."
"Eh? Then, why not just do it based on what kind of fighter he is?" Maki thought out loud, her mind wandering a bit.
"Yuuya is a close-range kind of sorcerer, so maybe you should go, Panda...."
".....Maki, how did you know he was a hand-to-hand sorcerer....?"
Maki didn't so much as pause, answering casually, "He told me he learned hand-to-hand as a kid, and basically centered himself around his skills."
"....that so?" Panda said.
"Yeah, when we went to eat dinner today, he talked about his childhood and the way he likes to eat his food, it all seemed like he grew up on nothing but close-range-
"GEH!"
Maki instantly clamped shut when she came to the realization of what she was saying out loud, but she could hear the snickers coming from the other side of her phone call, and knew she was too late.
"Ohhhh~? Maki-chan went out on a date with Suoh, and the day they met, no less~?" Panda said with a smile evident in his tone.
Toge kept up the chaff remarks, exclaiming, "Tuna, Tuna Mayo~."
"Shut up, it wasn't a date, I just went to the mess hall with him because Yuuya needed directions on how to get there!" Maki barked into her phone, more annoyed than flustered from her friends' words.
Cheap remarks wouldn't be enough to crack her- maybe.
"Tsk, tsk, Young Maki," Panda replied, clicking his tongue as he smirked, "You know that it's not the venue that makes a date complete, but the person you're with, no~?"
"It wasn't a date!"
"Besides that, just what would Yuta think of you moving on so quickly, hm, hm~?"
At that point, Maki hung up, leaving Panda and Toge sitting on their hands, feeling a bit dumb.
Maki put her phone on silent on her nightstand and rolled back into bed with a huff. She could feel uneasy twists in her gut and her heartrate spiking just from the name alone, a feeling she despised more than any other.
Yuta Okkutsu, her first ever semblance of a....crush, so to speak.
Until he left overseas, of course. Then those feelings dwindled like a little flame that got stomped out by the muddy combat boot of long distance communication, and then she got over the butterflies and desire to speak to him so often.
He hadn't left long ago, in fact. It's been about five months by her own estimates that he was sent off with one of the sorcerers Gojo and the rest of Jujutsu Tech had faced off against on the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons Incident last Christmas, to go on and hone his training further and progress in his sorcery, while the rest of the Second-Years were stuck on their own back home.
She still gets flickers of the events in her dreams, sometimes, mostly of Geto leaving her for dead on the clearing just out on campus grounds, and how bitter and helpless she felt as she slowly bled out. Then, Yuta came to her rescue, almost as expected of such a prodigy. He's the only reason she's still alive and kicking these days, what with the aid of Rika and his access to positive cursed energy healing her on the edge of death.
She remembers that aspect of him the most; his perseverance in the worst of times, his desire to push on and keep living, if not for himself, then for the sake of those around him.
Pushing to the side Maki's 'type' being narrowed down to anyone who's at least stronger than her, Yuta is a good guy; he's sweet, caring, tries to do his best, and knows when to stand up for himself. Admirable qualities, and, in the looks department, he's not half bad.
Squeaky voice and fuzzball haircut aside, of course.
Regardless, five months down the line, and she still considers him a dear friend. It's more that the idea of having 'crushes' and 'relationships' when you're a Jujutsu sorcerer is hard to digest- for any sorcerer, she'd be willing to bet (barring Mr. Freak-of-Nature Satoru Gojo, of course). The thought of having someone that close, holding someone so dear to you, in one of the most volatile, dangerous and downright deadly professions in the world almost seems cruel to want; not only are you putting a massive conflict of interest in your way, jeopardizing missions and leading to an overly-cautious approach to many aspects of Jujutsu sorcery, but you're equally to blame for any risks your partner gets into because of their own attachment to you. It's a double-edged sword, having close bonds like that.
So, once Maki put off that idea when Yuta left for Africa, from then on, a sense of guilt began to pool in her gut anytime his name came up. Even if the feelings weren't reciprocated, just the thought of her own selfish desires placing Yuta at risk made a nasty feeling sweep over her. She couldn't let something happen to him because of her.
She regrets telling Panda and Toge about it over the spring. Very, very much. She's lucky they didn't go bonkers with the text messages about it towards Yuta, though she doubts that he doesn't know by now, those two idiots go through spicy details like a paper shredder goes through scrap documents; it gets swallowed up once, and then nothing's left but bits and pieces for them to pick their way through, often getting things wrong.
But, that's why she loved 'em. Mindless, good people.
Maki let out a sigh and turned in her bed, hugging her pillow, going off to sleep.
"Hey, Maki-chan, lookit! I got a new uniform!"
Maki only shrugged and bluntly said, "Ah. Sick. Looks pretty neat, Yuuya."
"Ehhhh....?" He sulked almost instantly, his arms going slack against his sides.
Standing outside the women's dorms with the Zenin girl, Suoh seemed delighted to flaunt his new clothes that morning, though as to why he waited outside like a lost puppy, eagerly awaiting her to come out despite not knowing if she had left already was anyone's guess.
Suoh only shrugged when Maki asked him what he was doing outside, leaving her more than a bit perplexed.
To be fair to Suoh, there really was quite a bit of difference in his attire that day; his clothes did seem more fresh in comparison to the dirty, patchy clothes he showed up in. His pants were simple, black baggy sweats cuffed at the ankles with diamond-stitched patterns running down the sides and built-in pads on the knees, while his skin-tight long-sleeve had been replaced by a much thicker black sweatshirt matching his pants, with a diamond stitch pattern sewn into the arms and chest of the top. His combat boots had been replaced by sleek pair of martial arts slippers, and all in all, maybe it was the fact that he managed to have a good night's sleep and a shower, but he seemed much less disheveled and like someone who had been on the run.
She wouldn't dare let him have the satisfaction of hearing that from her, though, lest she wish to open a can of worms (or in this case, endless joyful ramblings) that she would not be able to close.
"Welp, anyways," Maki stepped past Suoh on the steps and waved him her way. "Come on, Yuuya. You're hungry, no?"
"Mhm."
"Then? Let's get breakfast."
He perked up at the prospect of food. "Ah! Sure, sure~!"
The Yuuya boy hummed to himself with his hands in his pockets alongside Maki, while she kept herself quiet, enjoying the morning air.
It was just as light and refreshing to be out in the open as yesterday, the last signs of morning dew on the grass going up in a whisp as the sun began to rise. Birds sang through the forest surrounding the campus grounds, and the leaves brushing against one another with the passing breeze melded together into a pleasant sound occupying her as she walked with Suoh.
She glanced his way, waiting for him to say something to her. But, strangely enough, he seemed just as content as she was to keep the peace, instead of ramble incessantly.
"Hm..." She furrowed her eyebrows and kept her eyes on the Yuuya boy, waiting for him to make an unnecessary remark or blurt something out to her, though, nothing came. He merely kept walking down the winding stone pathways with her, under the vibrant green leaves casting shadows over the paths, under the bright red Buddhist gates scattered across their own path, humming his own tunes with a soft smile on his face.
No bright, goofy grin, no deafening laughter, no unending joy. Just....peace.
Maki didn't like it, so she poked him.
"Oi."
"Mh?" Pulled out of his reverie, Suoh turned towards Maki, mildly surprised. "What's up, Maki-chan?"
"You seem different today, Yuuya." She said.
"Oh? Different how?" Suoh replied, cocking his head to the side.
She shrugged again, feeling a bit sheepish for not adding much of anything yet. "Uh....I dunno,"
Maki scratched her jaw, awkwardly trying to piece a sentence together. "You're like....less loud."
"...loud?"
"Y-Yeah... like, less smiling, less screaming, less everything."
Suoh let out a nervous laugh, the first one Maki ever heard come out of him.
"Eh....hehe, I see."
Silence endured on as Maki winced internally, watching the content smile on Suoh's lips vanish into thin air.
.....I MESSED UP!
Why the hell did I think he would always be like that...!? No one can stay that happy all the time, damnit! Think before you say things, Maki!
"I guess...I'm feeling a bit self-aware, today...."
Maki almost drowned out Suoh's mutterings with her own self-deprecation and missed what he said, but she caught him with an interesting look on his face.
His cheeks were pink, and he was no longer keeping eye contact anytime he spoke. His eyes were off to the side, and his lips were curved in a frown with his eyebrows furrowed.
He looked...
Flustered?
Maki's eyes sparkled at his expression and she took a step into him, adjusting her glasses to ensure that what she was seeing was real.
Yuuya....the Suoh Yuuya.....is looking flustered about something?!
"Everything...okay, Yuuya?" Maki said, hoping to push an answer out of him.
"H-How would I know...?!" He sputtered with a pout, gripping his chest. "I-I just feel like my heart is beating out of my chest right now, Maki-chan!"
"As in...?" Maki inched closer, pushing further with intrigue written across her face.
"Ugh, stop that! You're making it worse!" Suoh awkwardly held his hands up and pressed Maki away from him a meter or so, and rushed off down the pathway, whimpering as he did so, ears as red as can be. Leaving Maki on her own, the Zenin girl couldn't help but frown.
"Jeez...the hell was that all about?" Dismissing his behaviour and shoving her hands in her pockets, Maki carried on towards the mess hall with a ticked-off look on her face.
Yeesh...talk about a change of pace...all of a sudden, Yuuya goes from being all loud and in-your-face, and now he's running away from me and getting all red-faced when I-
Maki froze like a statue, her eyes nearly bulging out through her glass frames.
.....OH MY GOD-
Did-.....Did I cause him to go crazy?!
Mortified, Maki feared the worst.
His flustered appearance, his sudden self-aware nature and inability to act the same way around her, could it be-
I-.....Is it like that with you, Yuuya?!
"Hey! Maki-chan! Turns out I was just anxious about being graded today! Who'd've thought, hm~?"
....ah.
Yes.
Nerves....because of your grading.
After a lightning-quick ten minutes of stress-eating everything she could get from the mess hall cooks that morning, sprinting back to and sitting in her room planning out situations in her head on how to respond to Suoh in the event he confesses, splashing her face with cold water several times in her bathroom, among the occasional screech into her pillow, Panda sent a text.
Panda
- Meet us at the Training Field
-You might need your halberd, so bring it along
And so, after collecting her bearings to the best of her abilities and splashing more water on her face, Maki set off to the training field with her weapon hanging on her back in its case, trying not to freak out.
Then, the moment they met once again, Suoh tells her that he was only jittery about the grading process, making each and every second of her meltdown utterly on her.
'Embarrassed' didn't even begin to describe how she felt at that moment.
"Right!" Panda clapped his hands and put his hand on Suoh's shoulder, "Are you ready for your grading process, Suoh?"
"Phew, ready as I'll ever be, Panda!" Suoh replied with a chuckle, wiping his hands on his sweats.
"Great! Let's go meet Yaga-sensei over by the weapons locker!"
With Toge in tow and Maki dragging her feet behind them, Suoh and Panda headed over towards the small shack that held a vast array of standard tools and weapons for both training and practical use in the field. While they were far from the quality stored within the Cursed Warehouse up the path, they sufficed, or so Maki thought.
In the locker was Masamichi Yaga and Ijichi together, with the much larger of the faculty sporting a stern look on his face and his arms crossed over his chest, with Ijichi holding a tablet in both hands, scrolling through documents.
"Osu, Yaga-sensei," Panda called out, stepping in alongside Suoh.
"Morning, Panda," Yaga nodded firmly to his student, turning his attention to the boy with his eyes wandering all over the weapons locker and his mouth hanging slack on his face in awe.
"....waah....shiny...."
"Oi. Suoh." Yaga said.
"Mh?" Suoh raised his eyebrow, and beamed when he locked onto the school principal.
"Ah! Mornin', Yaga~!"
"Umu. You sleep okay?"
"Yup!" The Yuuya boy nodded with his hands on his waist, "All set to do your little grading thing!"
Maki slipped through the sliding doors of the locker and shut them behind her, taking her place next to Toge and Panda after catching up. She still felt a bit off over the whole situation in the morning, though just how much of what was the embarrassment over her misinterpretation of Suoh's behaviour, and how much was just the chance to face him finally dawning on her, she had no clue.
She had no doubt in her mind that Suoh Yuuya was someone strong; someone capable of paralyzing Toge with fear, and bisecting Panda without so much as a scratch on him, both sorcerers on the edge of Grade-1 status. She knew what she felt, she knew that the seaweed-haired boy had substantial reserves of cursed energy, not to mention a technique capable of 'reconstructing' things with a cursed energy signature, as shown when he put Panda back together.
Peering at his head from her spot in the back of the locker with her back pressed against the wall and her hands shoved in her pockets, she reminded herself to keep an open mind and be ready for anything if she were to face him first, and to observe him closely if the other two go before her.
"So, onto the first matter of the day for you, Suoh Yuuya-kun." Ijichi said, clearing his throat and stepping forward. He pressed on the screen of his tablet a few more times and began reading off of it, in a monotone, orderly fashion.
"Your first grading process will begin shortly. Before we begin, I must reiterate several key details of standard procedure that follows the process of grading, and registering a new sorcerer under the organization Tokyo Metropolitan Curse Technical College;"
"1) Grading and Registry may only proceed under the consent of two separate parties, the former of which being a registered sorcerer retaining Grade-1 status prior to and up to the date of the grading procedure, the latter of which being the sorcerer under contention for registry."
Ijichi looked up from his screen at Suoh. "Do you understand?"
Suoh nodded firmly, his lips pursed tightly as Ijichi continued on.
"2) Grading procedures must be under the direct supervision of said sorcerer retaining Grade-1 status prior to and up to the procedure."
"Understand?"
Suoh nodded, albeit slower and with drooping eyelids. "Mh...mhm."
"3) Grading by non-lethal combat must be observed by and directly managed by a sorcerer retaining Grade-1 status prior to and up to the date of the procedure. In the event of notable harm being caused to either combatant, said sorcerer retaining Grade-1 status is liable and may be subject to legislative punishment, and in accordance with Section 12.2 of Jujutsu Law, may be subject to the relief of their Grade-1 status entire-
"Oh, my god, this is boring!"
Ijichi flinched as Suoh cut him off with a groan, scratching the back of his head with a pout on his face.
"Can't we just get on with it? I don't need to hear all that pointless junk, do I?!"
"E-Eh...." Ijichi glanced over at Yaga, eyes full of 'Back-Me-Up-Here' energy, only for the older man to shrug.
"I never liked reading that thing out to every newcomer, anyways."
"I-I see...."
"Right!" It was Yaga's turn to speak as he clapped his hands and approached Suoh, "You are aware of how things are going to go down, yeah?"
"Yup! I fight Panda, Toge and Maki-chan, and if I beat them, I get hired!" Suoh replied with a smirk.
"Umu. That's the plan." Yaga motioned over at Panda beside the Yuuya boy with his chin, and the cursed corpse patted Suoh on the shoulder. "Since none of us could figure out an order to spar you, we figured we'd let you decide who you want to square up against yourself, Suoh." Panda said.
"Tuna, tuna," Toge added with a thumbs-up.
....I didn't agree to that! Maki fired daggers at both second-years with a sneer, but let it go with a huff, shoving her back against the wall again and looking the other way with her arms crossed.
Agh, well, it doesn't matter anyways...I'll be ready for whatever Yuuya can throw at me.
Suoh cocked his head, though, "Mh?"
And, in the most innocent of tones, he said,
"Order? I'm fighting them all at once, three-on-one."
Silence cleaved through the locker, as Maki, Toge, Panda and the faculty collectively flared their eyes wide open.
Ijichi's jaw nearly hit the floor, and Yaga couldn't help but smirk and let out an amused snort as tempers began to rise.
More specifically, Maki's.
Three stomps on the wooden floorboards and the sound of her spear being unleashed from its bag, and Maki Zenin had her blade already at Suoh's throat with a snarl on her lips.
However, to her dismay, Suoh hadn't so much as wavered as Maki's weapon pressed up against his carotid, only looking down on her with unfazed, round eyes.
"....OI. SAY THAT AGAIN, SHITHEAD."
"M-Maki, quit it!" Panda tried to step in, but was halted almost instantly with a hand to his chest.
"No, no. It's all good, Panda." Suoh's tone had waned slightly in volume, but he stood firm, maintaining a calm composure.
"Maki-chan, I said what I said. I'm taking you all on at once. If it was one-on-one, you'd get ran through, it wouldn't even be close."
"Tch, bastard...!" The Zenin girl detected not an ounce of hesitation in his tone; he truly believed he could come out a victor in a three-on-one against her, Panda and Toge. Despite being the only one fueled by anger over the nonchalant nature of his words, both other second-years seemed just as bewildered as she was, albeit without the temper.
Perhaps - no, it was most likely because of him.
She locked eyes with Suoh, burning rage at being looked down on so casually meeting a blank, composed pressure. Bit by bit, she found it harder and harder to remain angry, and the blade of her polearm slowly relinquished itself from his throat.
God....god damnit....
Maki clicked her tongue and jerked her head off to the floor, and her polearm fell to her side with a huff.
This guy...he's not even trying to insult any of us, much less me....I can't be mad at that...
Glancing back up, she caught sight of Suoh grinning from ear to ear, and, with a lighthearted chuckle, held his fist up.
"I'm still a bit anxious, I'm not gonna lie, hehe," Suoh said sheepishly, "But, I'll do my best against you guys, yeah~?"
Maki let out a long, bitter sigh, and the sneer on her face melted away.
He's a total airhead....that is just so full of confidence....
Her fist halfheartedly bumped his, and everyone exited the weapons locker.
"Right! Into position!" Yaga called out, clapping his hands once to signal the student's attention.
Panda donned his sky blue knuckle dusters, Toge unzipped his uniform collar from covering his mouth, and Maki relaxed herself, finding her feet with her spear's blade aimed Suoh's way.
The three second-years, all standing in the middle of the flat green field in the middle of a running track, surrounded the Yuuya boy in a triangle formation, with Yaga and Ijichi standing firm, behind the boundaries of the running track.
Maki sharpened her gaze behind her violet glasses, staring down the boy in the center, watching him hop in place, loosening himself up with soft, fluid stretching of his joints.
Letting her breath go slowly and steadily, she looked back on what little she knew of him already, devising a plan;
Pheww......Yuuya's a close-range combat kind of sorcerer, presumedly with enough skill to be wary of....he's able to reconstruct things with his cursed technique, and thrashed Panda to bits without difficulty....even if you managed to take him off guard, Panda is way too tough to take out in one swoop, unless Yuuya's a freak of nature, which may just be the case....
Maki glanced over to her right, towards Toge.
We're going to need to keep Toge out of harm's way, he's crucial for support....can't lose him, not at all...
Her eyes then searched for Panda, who stood metres behind Suoh at the final corner of the triangle.
Panda and I have to keep Yuuya occupied. Worst case scenario is he's way too tough for us to take down, and Toge will have to finish him off on his own, or I go all-out with my blade....
Using her blade on her weapon was an absolute last resort to her. The less bloodshed, on either side, the better. There was no doubt in her mind that Principal Yaga would step in if things got too ugly, but causing too much harm to Suoh in the event that he secretly sucks at sorcery would make her look bad as well.
That being said, she clutched her gut with her free hand, and thought to herself,
I think I'm feeling the nerves too....
"Yuuya!" Yaga called for Suoh, who looked his way in the middle of stretching his arms across his body. "Wot?"
"Your objective is to showcase your abilities to their fullest, against three various Jujutsu sorcerers of differing abilities and sorcery styles! Focus exclusively on showing everything you can do, and don't hold back!"
Suoh shrugged. "M'kay."
"You three!" Yaga then called out, addressing the remaining students, "Attack Yuuya with the intent to kill!"
....eh?
As Panda and Toge crouched forward with steeled resolve written on their faces, Maki only shuddered at Yaga's words.
....n-no way he just said-
"Panda! Toge! Maki! Ready?!"
"Yes, sir!"
"Tuna Mayo!"
"Hah?!"
How the hell do you expect me to try and butcher someone I barely know?! Maki spat to herself. The fear of causing serious damage to Suoh was still fresh on her mind; she could hold off and grab a wooden staff from the weapons locker instead, there was still time to switch, right? There was no need for her to use a dangerous weapon against someone she considered a frie-
"Phewww......."
The sound of a long-winded sigh coming from the center of the field and an overwhelming chill crashing over her cut her thoughts off in an instant.
"....let's just....slow things down a bit....."
From the center of the field, Suoh's posture had relaxed completely; his arms and wrists went limp by his sides as he leaned forward, and his feet shifted in the grass as he crouched lower and lower, almost rooting himself further down into the ground, embedding his shoes into the soil..
Maki watched, frozen, as did Toge and Panda, their collective resolve shaken by the unnatural movement of Suoh's body.
It wasn't for another few seconds that he had reached a state of near-comfort, his expression of sheer calm unnerving the trio of sorcerers.
Ijichi shuddered from Yaga's side, clutching his tablet. "Y-Y-Yaga-sensei, what's Yuuya-kun doing?"
The Jujutsu High principal only scratched his chin with a smirk on his face, looking on at Suoh's relaxed posture, the boy's martial arts slippers embedding themselves into the soil as he crouched lower and lower.
From observing the refinement of his cursed energy signature, how it retains form and composure no matter how potent, Yaga chuckled.
That right there....is a boy who knows why he's a sorcerer! It's got me fired up, and I'm only on the sidelines!
Yaga raised his hand, his three second-years stiffening up on instinct, and swiftly brought it down.
"BEGIN!"
Maki moved first, with Panda following close behind.
The Zenin girl swung her weapon across her body the moment Suoh fell into range, but the Yuuya boy blocked the blow with both his arm and opposite palm, maintaining a firm stance in the ground with a grin.
"Fuwa~, that'd've stung if it've hit me, Maki-chan~!" Suoh exclaimed, struggling against her weapon.
"Kgh, quit it with the patronizing...!" Retaliating with another cross swing, Suoh shifted back and evaded her blade with a chuckle, leaping back from the follow-up blow.
"Fast, fast, fast....~! So coo-
"ah!"
Taking a deep breath before his punch, Panda entered the fray with a right haymaker aimed as Suoh's left, which was checked by the Yuuya boy's forearm. "Haha~! Glad you could join, Panda~!"
Panda smirked in response, pushing back against Suoh's block, "Heh, saw your flank open, thought I'd try my luck."
"Mh, luck's ran out quick!" Suoh let out a quick breath and pulled back, countering with a right straight that Panda took the brunt of with his arms up in a block.
The two sorcerers exchanged blow after blow in the span of seconds; Suoh's follow-up left leg kick was checked by Panda's knee as the cursed corpse threw a left hook that Suoh ducked under and kept his rush, throwing a flurry of strikes that Panda barely caught up with, Suoh clipping him with the blows that slipped through.
Maki leapt back in with an overhead swing of her polearm at Suoh's rear as he occupied himself with Panda, only to be met then with a two-handed clasp on her halberd's staff when Suoh threw a front kick to Panda's gut and sent him flying, giving him the space to turn back and counter.
Yaga watched from the sidelines with his smile only growing in size, as Suoh handled the assault on both sides from Panda and Maki effortlessly. The Yuuya boy would be met with a flurry of slashes and thrusts from Maki's blade, and would retaliate by instantly shrinking the distance between them, throwing quick strikes from up-close, forcing Maki on the backpedal due to her longer range; Panda would rush in with a combination of punches and kicks, and Suoh would immediately respond by forcing Maki off with a kick to her side, knocking her off-balance so he could retaliate with heavy strikes paired with sturdy blocks and parries from up-close.
The Jujutsu Tech Principal's hands trembled in excitement at the sight.
That boy....he's going in close with fast strikes to take advantage of his shorter range, while putting Maki and Panda's reach to the sword and punishing them in the process!
As Maki lashed out another swing across Suoh's chest, he checked it with his knee and stopped it before she could pull it off, and shoved with his opposite hand, knocking Maki off-kilter.
Suoh's already gotten ahold of Maki's weaknesses - her habit of long, heavy swings with her blade, rushing in blindly when her temper gets the better of her-
Just as her left foot was raised off the ground, Suoh sent a low right kick and knocked Maki completely off the ground with a yelp, landing on her side.
Oh, shit, not good! The Zenin girl quickly moved to get back to her feet,
But Suoh fired a soccer kick into her stomach, sending her tumbling across the grass with a handful of thumps and grunts.
-and her hesitation to harm him!
Watching Maki stumble back to her feet with her hand on her stomach almost caused Yaga to burst out laughing.
"Fufu, what gnarly Jujutsu, Suoh Yuuya~...."
Maki herself winced from the pain shooting through her body, propping up her halberd and leaning on it for support, keeping her eyes on Suoh as he stood before her.
"Hah....hah....hah..." What the hell...why can't I bring myself to cut him down.....
I can't even use my lack of knowledge on how dangerous it might be to hit him with all I've got as an excuse anymore, he's shown enough for me to know that I can let loose....
So why, why can't I do it....?!
Her temper flared moreso towards herself, than anything else; more than her aimless swings that failed to connect, more than being struck so many times by Suoh's swift, aggressive attacks, more than the fact that her terrible performance was being monitored by the school principal, of all people.
"Say, say, Maki-chan," Suoh piped up. He cocked his head to the side and put his hands on his waist, and said, "What's up? You're holding out on me, and it ain't helping either of us, y'know."
Such blunt words coming from him only frustrated her, and Maki lashed out, "Agh, I know! No need to lay it on me any further, moron!"
"Seems I do, since you can't concentrate to save your life right now."
"Hah?!"
Suoh stood firm, crossing his arms over his chest with a huff, whereas Maki only glared with a dumbstruck look and tick marks on her face.
"You afraid to hurt me, Maki-chan?" Suoh said, "Because I'm not stupid enough to say I'll take on all three of you at the same time without having some decent strength to back up what I say."
"AFRAID TO HURT YOU?!"
With the bruising pain running through her stomach almost instantly becoming nothing but a afterthought, Maki swung her halberd out in front of her, gripping it tight enough to strain the staff beneath her fingers.
"I'VE GOT NO ISSUE WITH WHACKING YOU UNTIL YOU'RE A HEAP IN THE DIRT, ASSHOLE!"
"Eh, you sure?" Suoh said, cocking his head, "I had a Fortune Cookie Cursed Spirit come after me a month back, and so far, I've had an easier time cracking you ope-"
"THAT DOES IT!" In a single movement, Maki flicked her halberd across her chest and brought it down over her knee, snapping it in two. Throwing the bottom half aside, she held the bladed end in front of her, eyes wide with rage.
"YOU'RE DEAD, YUUYA!!"
Suoh showed no sign of concern, golden eyes lighting up at the sight of Maki's new makeshift blade.
"...Waah~...so cool...."
"Y-Yaga-sensei, shouldn't we call this off?" Ijichi shakily advised to the man on his right, "M-Maki-san looks real eager to do some harm to Yuuya-kun, regardless of the purpose of this exercise...!"
"Nope."
"E-Eh?" Ignoring Ijichi's words of caution, Yaga watched with approval in his expression as the two sorcerers clashed once more, with Maki lashing out in heavy, wide swings of her blade, and Suoh expertly escaping the slashes and knocking them off-course with careful blows to the blade's edge.
"Take a look at Suoh one more time, Ijichi-kun."
"Oh?"
Ijichi looked the boy's way, and his eyes shot open. "...Ah," he murmured in disbelief,
"He's....smiling."
"Mmmmmhm."
Yaga kept his eyes on the jovial Suoh, ducking and parrying aside the faster, more relentless strikes from Maki's closer range, chuckling as strands of hair were clipped by a fast cut across his face.
"Wah~, you got way faster, Maki-chan~!"
"SHUT IT, MORON!"
Hm, Yaga spoke to himself, taking notes on Suoh's movements, He switched his game up....did he rile Maki up as a means to show off his defensive skills....?
His cursed energy has kept an impressively tight form around him this entire time, shielding his limbs from Maki's blade whenever he blocks them, but at the same time, that doesn't mean much when Maki loses her head and throws her skillset to the wall in the hope that something sticks....
The observant eyes of the Jujutsu Tech Principal caught something of interest.
Oh?
Taking his attention off of the fluidity of the Yuuya boy's cursed energy, Yaga watched his lower half; the twists of his torso and legs as he turned an awkward position into a graceful duck underneath Maki's slash, his inhuman balance in flipping backwards from an array of quick attacks, landing square on one hand with a grin on his lips, the rapid switching of stances without paying any mind to the movement, Yaga saw perfect scores across the board.
The smile only got larger watching Suoh seem to dance across the grass as though it were a game.
He's got it all, that Suoh Yuuya.....balance, movement, the fundamentals of a brilliant battle sense are there....
Pft! He's yet to relinquish control of the right in the slightest! I couldn't have been more wrong about you going on the defensive, Suoh!
"Hm....God-Damn...!"
Ijichi took a look back over at Yaga's smirk, gawking at how much the principal was enjoying watching Suoh make a fool out of one of his students.
Meanwhile, watching from a distance, Panda and Toge glanced over at one another, and both shrugged.
Think he got a rise out of her on purpose?
Tuna. Tuna, tuna.
They took a glance over at Maki and Suoh's fight, and watched Maki cut down across the Yuuya boy's body, only for him to collapse his knees and deliver a low kick to her ankles, causing her to fall over.
They looked back at each other.
What do you think we should do? Just wait for her to tucker herself out, then go and whack Suoh around a bit?
Okaka....!
Yeah, you're right, that'd just make her mopey for the rest of the day.
Panda scratched his chin, squinting his eyes in thought.
"mmmmm....Ah!"
Snapping Toge's way, Panda gave him the look.
You're good to use one of your strong cursed words, right Toge?!
Toge flashed a thumbs-up.
PERFECT!
Wait for my signal! I'll jump in with Maki, and I'll get Suoh into position for a big attack!
Confident in his fool-proof planning, Panda made a beeline for the two sorcerers, grinning all the way.
Coming at Suoh's rear, Panda readied another haymaker punch, pride coursing through his stuffed body.
Heehee~! I'm gonna steal the spotlight with my master-
His declaration of victory was cut short when Maki flew into his stomach,
"PFF-HWAUGH!"
and toppled them both over with the sound of thuds and thumps as they rolled through the grass.
"....-plan."
"DAMNIT!" Maki leapt up from Panda's stomach and brought her blade up in front of her with both hands, as enraged as ever. Her eyes were glued to Suoh, who only gave her a sheepish chuckle.
Covered in dirt with smudges of grass staining her clothes, seeing the orderly appearance of her opponent without a speck of sweat on his brow only made her feel more shameful about her performance so far;
I can't even touch him, as I am now....!
"Oi, Maki," Panda touched her shoulder, getting back to his feet alongside her, "Toge's awaiting your signal. Give the word, and he'll jump in and help us."
"Eh?! Why should I?!" She barked back.
"....You're getting made to look like a chump here, you know." Panda muttered, with a look of disbelief.
Maki could only let out another "geh!" and sigh in response. "Okay, fine."
Turning her eyes off of a gleaming Yuuya and over to Panda, the flare in her eyes had died down substantially.
I can't keep hesitating to do some damage, but I also can't go crazy and leave myself open,
I gotta use my head!
"We using the same signal as always, Panda?"
"Yup," The corpse nodded, bringing his fists up, "We've got your back."
Maki smiled herself. "Good."
In one movement, she flipped up her weapon, caught it by the blade, and whipped it Yaga and Ijichi's way, whizzing by the auxiliary manager's head and lodging itself into the wall of the weapons locker.
"EEK!"
"Hey!" Maki pointed towards both superiors, and barked, "I need a new weapon! Grab another halberd, for me, will ya?!"
"E-EH?!" Ijichi squealed from behind his tablet, jerking his head over to Yaga.
The older man simply shrugged back.
"I'm not getting it."
The Jujutsu manager wobbled miserably towards the weapons locker and found another halberd, which Yaga promptly threw Maki's way.
Catching it and twirling it for a moment to feel the balance of the weapon in her hands, she smirked in approval, and pointed it towards Suoh's way with confidence.
The eyes of the boy in her sights seemed to glow in response.
"Flank him, Panda," Maki instructed, "I'll go for his legs to keep him on his toes, you topple him over with a punch."
"What do you need Toge to do?"
"If Yuuya bounces back to his feet before I've got my blade to his neck to force a surrender, he'll freeze him in place and put an end to this!"
Panda seemed to delight in Maki's plan, and slammed his fist into his palm, cracking his knuckles. "Got it!"
"Go!"
For another time, Panda and Maki rushed Suoh and broke off from each other; Maki drifted to the right, Panda over to the left.
"Ah! You guys are teaming up again!" The Yuuya boy exclaimed with a snap of his fingers, "I thought Maki-chan was gonna be the one to- wOAGH!"
Evading an upwards slash of Maki's blade aimed at his throat, Suoh slipped back from a follow-up spinning cut aimed at his feet, scraping up the dirt with a rapid slice.
"Ehhh~, you're even better when you're not threatening to kill me, Maki-chan~!" Suoh repeated his praise, checking another low strike with his right leg, "You're as proficient as I expected you to be~!"
"Don't forget about ol' me, Suoh~!" Panda rushed in with another blow, nailing Suoh in the arm, knocking him off of his feet and flying several metres back. However, Suoh jammed his heels into the dirt, keeping him upright, albeit with an awkward reeling-back from the force of Panda's punch.
"Don't let up, Panda!" Maki led the charge with another flurry of thrusts towards Suoh's legs, ramming her halberd into the ground with every jab at the boy's feet. In seconds, Panda dove back into the fray with several strikes of his own, keeping up the pressure as Maki backed off, doing his best to tank the flurry of precise hits returned to him by his fellow sorcerer.
With one heavy swing, and a bellowing "ORA!", Panda took a step into Suoh's range and threw a fist aimed straight for his head, a blow Suoh slipped past with a smirk.
"Not enough, Panda...!" Throwing a close-range left uppercut into Panda's chin, the cursed corpse's head was knocked up to the sky with a snap, consciousness slipping away from him rapidly.
Not before Panda managed to clutch Suoh's wrist with his right hand, however.
"..Eh?"
Relishing the look of shock on Suoh's face through blurry vision, Panda broke out into a grin, ignoring the cut on his lip. With a shaken voice and ache in his jaw, however, he took the moment to tease his friend.
"Heh....I-I'm...not the danger here...Suoh~! Do it, Maki!"
"Hah?!" Instinctively jerking his head to his rear, sharp eyes shot open when Maki appeared only a handful of metres away, halberd brought across her chest, with his nape in her sights.
Hm, you did good, Panda! I've got it from here!
Maki fully intended on stopping the instant Suoh surrendered, or right before her blade was to cut straight through him; death was definitely not on her list of chores that day, especially not that of the boy she had only met 24 hours ago. She knew Yaga would stop her, anyways, calling the spar off if things became far too dangerous, even in spite of the amused smirk on the principal's lips.
Nevertheless, with force, precision and as quick as she could, she brought the blade of her weapon down over her right shoulder, aimed at Suoh's neck, with the assurance that, at the very least, he'd bring an arm up as a flimsy defense to soften the strike and prevent any serious bloodshed.
She hadn't accounted for the shock in his eyes to evaporate almost instantly, and for him to grab her halberd with his right hand, forcibly stopping her attack in its tracks.
"...HAH!?"
Struggling against both Panda and Maki fighting against him, Suoh only let out a demoralizing laugh. "Haha~! Wah~, you're real strong, Maki-chan~! Smart too~! Should've expected something like this, the way Panda didn't bother trying to slip through my strikes~!"
"Kgh...! You think you've got us figured out, Yuuya...?!" Maki replied through her teeth.
"...mhm, yeah, I think so~."
Meeting Suoh's smug expression with a smirk of her own, Maki glanced over at Inumaki waiting in the rear pulling his collar away from his mouth, and gave him a nod.
"Ah, yeah? We're not done, yet!" Maki shouted,
"TOGE!"
Before Suoh could react, Toge Inumaki stepped forward, and said,
"Don't Move!"
For a moment, everyone felt their emotions crawl through their spine: Maki prayed for Suoh's complete immobilization and subsequent victory; Panda awaited the effects to take hold, as did Inumaki; Yaga, fully invested in the scenes unfolding in the spar he oversaw, felt his breath catch in his throat, while Ijichi gripped his tablet enough to nearly shatter the screen.
Though, as the ones closest to Suoh Yuuya, both Maki and Panda felt a sinking feeling in their gut, when a familiar aura swept over them and froze them in their tracks.
The Zenin took the brunt of the pressure on her shoulders, knowing the presence of a sorcerer killer already.
...Ah. There it is again.
The flashing glow of three golden irises had shone her way through matted, seaweed hair, and a dreadful curse was uttered afterwards;
First Poison; Delusion.
Suoh vanished. Panda's hand was empty, and the grip on Maki's staff was gone, and everyone in attendance heard the same thing; the sound of Inumaki's curse in reverse, crashing through them.
"!ɘvom ƚ'ᴎoᗡ"
It was only for a fraction of a second, but when she ripped herself out of her daze, Maki's eyes shot straight for Toge.
"A-Ah!"
Her heart sank; even from a dozen metres away, she could see it in her friend's bewildered eyes, that he was caught in his own technique, unable to move, with Suoh gunning straight for him, closing their distance in no time at all.
Pulling back his fist, Maki could only watch from a distance as Suoh unleashed his attack.
Toge, no!
*Author's Note*
So
In this chapter
You saw
Suoh throwing hands.
Maki mentioned that he's a close-range fighter, and that's exactly right. He's got an impressive battle sense and skills at his disposal, with an excellent gauging of distance and was smart enough to not let the 2 metre-tall Panda keep him at a distance with his greater power and reach, and close in on Maki to prevent her from using her halberd to its fullest extent. He also has a habit of 'relaxing' before a fight, letting himself slump over and relax his upper body; it's his way of keeping himself fluid in a fight, really.
Yaga comments that he's a guy who 'knows why he's a sorcerer' - that's a call-back to when he and Yuji first met, and he asked himself the same thing in regards to his conviction and reason to keep going, I only added that in for fun it doesn't mean a whole lot lol
But Yaga also mentions Suoh's cursed energy and his refinement with it; Suoh's got a handle on how to both reinforce his defenses with his cursed energy (Meaning he can block Maki's blade edge and not, y'know, lose an arm) as well as keep it fluid enough so as to not let it hinder his movement speed. It's another showing of his battle sense and combat intelligence, which *spoilers* becomes one of his main traits as the story progresses.
That, and his smooth-brained antics and inability to keep his mouth shut around Maki, one of the few characters explicitly depicted as having a hot temper.
He's going to lose a limb to her one day.
NEXT. CHAPTER.