2007
"Are you sure this bar is actually good? That last one you took us to was in the middle of nowhere and I swear I saw a rat king" You grimaced fixing your dress in the mirror while Yuki decided wether or not to leave her hair down or up, Choso seated on your bed playing with his phone chain as he waited for you two to finish
"Done" You smile turning to Choso, you wore a black strapless dress paired with black and gold apple bottoms shoes. On your right arm, you wore one of chosos spiked bracelets that he'd given you while he wore the other
"You look really beautiful" Choso muttered "what did you say??" You cheesed pretending not to hear
"You heard me" Choso sighed standing up and taking your hand as the two of you watched yuki take some photos in her mirror
"Come on you two!!" She said grabbing you both
"Choso whys your middle finger up??" You giggled yuki telling Choso his emoness was ruining the photos causing the two to bicker on whether or not he was punk, emo or goth
"Big nineteen and you're still arguing" you said kissing your teeth as you got into the drivers seat only for Choso to grab your hand and gently pull you out
"Hey" you frowned
"I'll drive" he stated
"We're not in jujutsu high anymore, I can drive now" you sighed
"That's true, but still" Choso shrugged giving you a small smile, you couldn't stay mad at him especially when his hair was down reaching past his shoulders now
"How're satoru, shoko and Nanamin doing? After, you know" Yuki questioned having been the last out of the three to talk to the positive Haibara who died over a month ago, their other underclassman, suguru geto now being sentenced to the death sentence due to killing 112 non sorcerers
"I don't know how satoru or shoko are, they refuse to talk about it. But I went out with Kento and he's not doing too good, he's planning to leave jujutsu tech" You sighed
"I think that's the right move to be honest" Choso said "the higher ups really don't value the lives of sorcerers, if it wasn't for their neglect yu would still be alive, it's no wonder kento wouldn't want to be apart of that type of society" Choso stated
"That's true, our systems a joke" you muttered "it is," Yuko added, solemnly
"That's why you two have already distanced yourselves from it, and we haven't even been graduates for a year" Choso said with an amused hum "can you blame us?" Yuki huffed
"How about you? You're not exactly on good terms with the higher ups" You smirked
"Were any of us ever?" Choso snorted
"I'll go into teaching soon, I just need a break" The noirette sighed while you placed a hand on his shoulder
"Let's take a break together" you smirked Choso still finding himself flustered by your smile even nearly a year into your relationship, still astonished that he managed to pull you
"I hate being single" Yuki groaned from the backseat
❜ ─ ─ ❛
"This place has a casino" you hummed taking a sip of your drink while looking over at the hordes of men gathered around a table, yet your attention moved towards a child, around nine maybe ten who was focused on whatever he was playing yet at the same time trying to shoo away a curse that was in the corner
"I'll be back" you stated walking over to the kid
"Hey" Your voice bellowed as you peered down on the child who turned his attention from the curse towards you
"What do you want?" The kid said with a bored expression
"Is that thing bothering you?" You questioned motioning to the curse which was growing more aggravated upon the knowledge it was being watched and by more than one person
"You can see that?" The kid scoffed "shit I thought I was going crazy" he hummed scratching his hair, the kid looked pretty rough, not too bad but enough to be concerned, he wore a baggy white top and light blue dirty shorts along with scruffy Nikes and a fluffy trooper hat
"Nah your not" you yawned "so, you like to gamble?" You smiled "hell yeah, everything else is pretty boring" he sighed "and my parents haven't been home in months meaning I got taken by social workers so I need to find ways to have fun" the kid shrugged
"Nah this guys young, no ten year old would tell a stranger this" you though staring at the kid
"What is she doing" Choso said out loud as him and yuki watched you
"she found a kid with a substantial amount of cursed energy, I don't know what she's gonna do from now" Yuki shrugged
"D'you think she'll hand him to the higher ups to raise?" Yuki sugested
"Nah she's not like that, but I don't know what she's planning" Choso stated
"Damn kid how old are you?" You questioned "I'm seven" the young boy shrugged "but I'm turning eight in three moments"
"You look older than seven, who's feeding you if your parents left?" You asked worried for the boy
"My orphanage doesn't give me enough food, so I come here and gamble, I always win though, I'm super lucky" the young boy smiled
"Oh alright" you shrugged, the curse next to you attempting to punch you only for you to stomp on its face and take out a pencil sealing the curse in it with one swift movement
"Woah!!" The young boy gasped "how'd you do that?? That things been bothering me for a week and it doesn't stop no matter how much I punched it" the boy grumbled
"Oh for real? There called curses, they're super annoying"You shrugged
"Well what's your name?" You asked
"Kinji, kinji hakari" the young boy stated
"Alright kinji, you said your parents haven't been around in months?" You asked, the child giving you a nod, "I live in that orphanage there" he stated pointing to the one opposite the road
"And you like how I killed that curse?" You asked "hell yeah, teach me how! I can tell you're strong" Kinji grinned
"Yeah I am" you giggled "alright, so how'd you feel about coming to train with me? I'll make sure you never have to gamble for food again, then if you want you can kill these curses aswell" You smiled
"Seriously??" Kinji gasped "You sure??"
"Yeah, curses don't react well to people who can see them, I wouldn't want you dying for no reason, not gonna force you to become a jujutsu sorcerer or none of that, just learn how to defend yourself" you shrugged
"What's a jujutsu sorcerer?" Kinji questioned "they're the people that get rid of this things" you smiled pointing to where the curse was
"Are you one?" Kinji questioned
"Yeah"
"So are they all strong like you?" Kinji asked "more or less, you can be strong" you grinned
"Alright, I wanna be one" Kinji grinned
"Okay!" You smiled "I'll go to your orphanage and fill in your adoption papers," you stated taking the boys hand
"My friends are over there, they can see curses aswell" you grinned walking towards the table
"[Name] who's the kid? Is he like Aoi?" Yuki asked "yeah his names Kinji" you smiled
"What are you gonna do with him?" Choso asked confused on his girlfriend's plans
"He's got deadbeat parents, I'll train him and all that" you shrugged
"Your even more nonchalant about this than I was with Aoi" Yuki sighed
"You only train Aoi, he has a family, kids shouldn't have to have their childhood stripped away and leaving him to encounter curses on his own is dangerous" you sighed kinji holding onto your hand tighter
"I like your face" the kid said to Choso pointing to his nose "thanks" Choso hummed
"Alright, when are you adopting him?"Choso asked
"itll take a while, but as soon as possible" you smiled pointing to the orphanage across the street
"Okay" Choso shrugged trusting your decisions fully
If yuki and satoru could be trusted to raise children with cursed techniques, you definitely could
"So are you like my mom or something now? Cus you don't look that older than me" Kinji spoke
"Nah, just think of me as an older cousin or sibling," you smiled
"Slow down kinji! You'll choke" Yuki said as Kinji scoffed down the large burger and chips you'd ordered for him "yo when was the last time you ate a full meal?" Choso questioned
"Dunno, Two days ago?" Kinji shrugged as all three of you gave him sympathetic looks
The adoption had been quite quick, all they had to do was run background check on you, make sure you were financially stable and bam, they were pretty eager to get him out claiming he was crazy and saw thing the other kids weren't
"Don't worry kid, you'll eat three meals a day now" Yuki grinned "you can even have four" You smiled, Kinji giving you a toothy grin
"Sounds like heaven" he cheered, Choso admiring the way you spoke to the kid
"What's up with this surge of children with cursed techniques?" Choso sighed "yeah, there's toji zenins child, Aoi and now kinji" Yuki hummed
"What about yuji? Can he see them?" You asked, Choso shaking his head
"Not that I know of, I'm glad he can't though" Choso hummed
"So, like, do you guys live together?" Kinji asked "Nah, but we're always around each-others apartments" You answered "especially those two, he'll be at your place a lot" Yuki whispered to kinji pointing at Choso who was watching you with a smile on his face
"Are you two together?" Kinji asked out loud
"Yeah" you grinned, resting your head on the palm of your hand