sorry for the lack of updates. if you want something slightly less delayed, check out the story on quotev! readers over there get updates first (a month or two earlier)! also have more stories going on there that I haven't crossposted on wattpad (but updates are also kinda wonky, too...!)
Maki was always shockingly faster, no matter how often you were pitted against her. The first time you saw her, you always processed her moves, even seconds after she landed a hit. To a martial artist, reaction time was everything. Analyzing your opponent's next defense, offense, and tactics...was all vital to the fight. You had learned early to adapt to this, but when it came to Maki, she was a whole other beast.
You couldn't help but be so damn awed and impressed by her.
Though after a few months, you think you'd grown to adapt to your spar sessions with her.
"That was good. Now spar with Kugisaki."
"Eh? What? No way!"
You ignored the girl's protests, quirking a brow toward Maki.
"That's new, but sure..."
You flip one of the wooden swords in your hands, noting how ambidextrous you've become. That lack of trait had been a problem before in your martial arts training. You subconsciously tended to favor your dominant side, which left you more vulnerable to openings on the other.
"You won't need those," she brushed past you, plucking the short wooden swords from your hands.
"What?" You asked in genuine confusion.
She gave you a pointed look, placing a sword to rest on her shoulder. "You're doing hand-to-hand combat today."
You squinted at her incredulously.
"Did Yuta finally send you mail? There's no way you—"
There wasn't even time for you to finish, as you narrowly avoided the sword vaulted at Mach speed toward you-a vein pulsing practically on the corner of her brow at your suggestion.
"Cut the crap, or else I'll quit being nice and personally see to more of your training myself!"
Right. Keep your lips sealed tight and count your blessings.
While the verbal warning wasn't needed, even before being nearly impaled by a wooden stick, that was more than enough motivation to behave for the rest of training today.
"She showed you," Kugisaki said with a cheeky grin.
You grumbled under your breath, walking to place yourself directly across from your female counterpart. With only a meter of distance between the two of you, either could reach out arm width's length and grab hold of the other. This was the more favored length for close combat sparring among the second years. It made the matches quicker and to the point.
At first, it was difficult not to be mindful of your space when doing these spar sessions, as in most matches in your martial arts classes, you engraved boundaries into the back of your mind. In these sparring matches, it was more about open space and tossed aside the notion of such rules.
"I've never seen you actually fight without your dummy swords," Kugisaki pointed out, stretching out an arm. "I had already forgotten that you don't like using them."
You grunted, "It's not that I hate using them...I just don't like sucking at using them."
"Same thing!"
"No, it ain't."
"Enough. How about some movement in the sparing circle?"
Figuring that Maki might decide to spar with you again if you didn't hurry, you took a simple stance, assessing Kugisaki's posture. She was taught the bare-bone basics, but she wasn't a brawler of any kind. Her cursed technique focused on long to mid-range attacks, so she didn't really need to learn much physical combat. However, Maki and Panda ensured that she could at least defend herself if it ever came down to it.
"Are you going to attack?"
That's not how that went, Kugisaki.
But fine, since it didn't look like she would take the initiative, you'd give in and attack first.
You started first by closing the distance, executing a swift cross. While hoping this would catch her off guard, Kugisaki was fast enough to block.
Not fast enough. And she left herself open.
"Hey...! Hey...wait—!"
After an uppercut, a cross, and a low kick later, Kugisaki came tumbling down onto the grass with a muffled cry and then a wince.
"Nice, [Name]!" Panda praised from the outskirts of your circle.
This only ticked Kugisaki off, who gritted her teeth and scrambled up off the ground.
"Again!" She demanded.
You looked to Maki, who watched with arms crossed and a bemused expression. She jutted her chin out silently, and you took it as a blessing to engage Kugisaki once more.
"Alright," you mumbled, reaching down and pulling the ends of your laces undone.
"What are you doing?" Kugisaki asked, dumbfounded.
"Taking off my shoes," you told her.
You could practically feel her eyebrow twitch despite looking down at the ground, "I can see that. What I mean is, why the hell are you taking off your shoes?"
You slipped off one shoe with your other shoe, tossing it close by for later retrieval. "So it doesn't hurt more when I kick you. Or do you want to fight on hard mode?"
"How sweet of you to consider my feelings. And they say chivalry is dead."
You'd pretend that didn't sound sarcastic.
"I wish I could say the same," you peeled off your last shoe and tossed it away, thanking yourself for wearing dark socks today. Grass stains would be a pain to get out of white socks. "I can tone it down if you'd like."
"Hmm..."
Kugisaki pondered for a few seconds before heaving a sigh.
"There's no point in that if the goal is so I can get better at it," spoken like someone who Maki had brainwashed, "so it's fine if you don't hold back."
You wouldn't hold back out of respect for her wishes and pride. Although you weren't going to pummel her, just secure the win.
You found your footing on the grass now that your traction was gone. You never realized how well cared-for the grass was here on the field.
"Alright," you replied, readying your stance.
This time, you'd go for a slightly different approach. Kugisaki wasn't a close combater, but that didn't mean she wasn't observant. The same thing wouldn't work twice on her, as she'd be ready to try and counter your move.
You immediately launched yourself at Kugisaki once you saw that she was ready. While anticipating your initiative, she hadn't been expecting the sudden switch. You went for a grapple rather than throwing out a jab, punch, or kick.
Kugisaki tried to grab hold of you as well in an attempt to pull you off her, but it was too late. Using the momentum and your difference in stature and weight, you flipped yourself and Kugisaki over, trying your best not to burden her with all your weight but enough to pin her down.
"Agk! What the hell...?"
She craned her head to try and meet your gaze, but given the position you were both in, she could not. "You...said..."
"Oh, yeah," you replied, grinning impishly. "I changed my mind."
Kugisaki tried to buck you off, and you only maneuvered yourself so you could sit on her back, using your arms to shoulder most of the weight.
"You make for a terrible chair," you told her.
She hammered her fist down on your thigh, gritting out. "Oh, is that right...?! Then let me make it even worse!"
After a few seconds of banter and Maki's watchful gaze, you got off of your companion's back, only to have her try and knock you down by grappling your leg.
"That's not how you do it-the round is over, anyway! Hey, don't try to bite my leg!"
"I'm not going to, muscle-head! And this isn't about sparring anymore! That trickery from earlier makes this personal!" She rebutted, refusing to let go.
You tried to shake and peel her off, but that just ended in your dragging her around the field. Fushirguro wasn't of any help, and neither were the second years who found amusement in your struggle.
Somehow, you were able to pry Kugisaki off, hand pressing against her cheek as you tried to keep her from getting close for her arms or legs to circle around you again.
"Hey! [Name]!"
You glanced over to Maki to see her holding up your phone.
"You've got a call," she said.
Noticing Kugisaki's distraction, you gave a firm push and sent her stumbling back onto the grass.
"Jackass!" She shouted at you as you jogged to the stairs, taking your phone from Maki with a muttered thanks.
An unknown number...
"You're not gonna pick up?" Panda asked, noticing your hesitation.
You grimaced, reluctant to answer, but bit the bullet and swiped the answer button.
"Hello?"
"Hey. Long time no...talk."
You couldn't believe your ears.
You hung up.
"...Who was that?"
"No o—"
Cue your ringtone and stare.
"Tuna."
"Yeah...I know...I know..."
Guess he wasn't about to leave you alone.
"....Yeah?"
"I'll pretend you didn't just hang up on me."
"How did you get my number?" You practically hissed. "You have to actually be a stalker. A total creep."
"Woah, woah, woah. Hit the breaks there, McQueen. I can explain...later," you squeezed your eyes shut, inhaling deeply and sighing, "Wait...actually, nah. Gojo gave me your number."
"Willingly?"
"What do you mean 'willingly?' Course it was—"
"—I don't know about that-"
"—but that doesn't matter right now. Anyway—"
The second years, Fushiguro, and Kugisaki were giving you curious looks now, probably wondering who the caller was to have you agitated.
"I'm gonna need you to meet me for something important."
"What do you mean 'important'?" You deadpanned.
"It's important."
Why did you always end up stuck with the annoying, persistent guys?
Rubbing between your eyes, annoyed by the lack of clarity, you answered. "I have training to do for something coming up."
"Yeah, I know."
"Look—what do you want me for-"
"Great. I'll meet you at this location I'll send you. Meet me two days from now. Be punctual, alright? Take care."
The call ended. Or you should say, he hung up on you.
"Are you going out again?"
You squinted at the number on your phone, recognizing some of them from the card you had been given weeks ago.
"That a stalker?" Kugisaki asked, "You'd never talk to Ellena like that."
With a dubious stare, you muttered, "You've never even seen how I talk to her."
At least, you hoped so. You've only been able to call her four times before, and one was last week...maybe she eavesdropped on your conversation.
"So that was her?" Panda asked incredulously.
You deadpanned after a small pause, "No."
Maki shifted her weight and crossed her arms, "Then why are you making a fuss?"
You dragged both hands down your face, slightly exasperated. "Because—this guy from Hokkaido is everywhere no matter where I go, and no one seems to care if I get harassed."
"Salmon."
"...Thank you, Inumaki-senpai."
"You don't have any friends other than Ellena, right?" Kugisaki placed a hand on her hip. "You should be glad that guy is inviting you to hang out."
Was there no one other than Inumaki who cared about your woe?
With an eye twitch, you tossed your phone behind you, not really caring if it fell to the grass or if one of the upperclassmen caught it.
"Okay, that's enough. Let's go back to the ring, Kugisaki," you began to walk toward her, intent on dragging her back deeper into the field.
"Eh? No way—wait! Wait! Fushiguro, stop moving! Look at him! He's feral!"
"Let go! I don't want to deal with this...!"
"Oh, no. This is between you and me. Hey—don't run, you...! Get back here...! Kugisaki!"
You ran after her. Her head start would be nothing.
"I hate youuuu!"
"Oh, wow. He caught up to her fast."
"Salmon."
"I'll give it to him. He's persistent when he has the right motivation."
"This is the right motivation...?"
"Lighten up, Fushiguro."
====
Training had ramped up in the two days before you met with Katsumi. Maki had you sparing both Kugisaki and Fushiguro in martial arts and weaponry and also had you sparing with her and the other two second years in the short time.
It was while waiting for Katsumi outside the nearby train station you had exited minutes ago that you couldn't help but once again pity your classmates at the treacherous hands of Maki. Sometimes, you wondered if Panda and Inumaki had any backbone to suggest a rest day or lighter training, but then again, they seemed the type to defer to her to watch you flounder about.
More often than not, you were the one to oppose her, but that ended up in nothing more than nagging between the two of you and then bruises after training.
You hoped all that training paid off in the end, given that the exchange was only a little over a week away. Aside from being called on the occasional mission or two, you hadn't been focusing on your cursed technique. You had even been reprimanded and barred from summoning Famine inside the school's barrier. Once was fine, given Yaga had let you off the hook when you explained Operation: Hair Gel, but a second time was not permissible.
Sighing, you rubbed your wrist, annoyed that Maki's tight grip on it yesterday was still present. While silently grumbling, you failed to notice the dark car that had pulled up before you.
"Yo."
Seeing that familiar four-eyes inside the driver's seat was almost no surprise. What surprised you was the car, a black, sleek Toyota whose model name was lost to you.
Katsumi seemed mildly amused by your silent gawking and reached over to open the passenger door.
"C'mon," he said, jutting his head to the side, "we gotta head to the track."
You furrowed your brows in confusion. "The track...?"
He nodded, "Yeah, the track."
When he saw you still standing confused, he honked his horn, jolting you into scolding him for doing so.
"Stop! I'll get in...!" You hissed, trying to ignore the stares his spurring brought on. "You're stupidly shameless, aren't you?" You grunted under your breath.
"Yep," he replied, waiting for you to grab the seatbelt. "All settled in? Okay, let's go."
He put the car into drive and pulled away from the station. You couldn't help but silently leer at him, muttering but doing nothing else to instigate an argument.
He'd tell you what this was all about. Eventually, you hoped. You don't think Gojo would have sequestered your number to him otherwise.
Most of the drive was silent as you got drawn to the sights you passed. Your other thoughts were focused on the car seats and the sound and glimpses you got of Katsumi switching gears. It was a manual and it had you remembering your grandfather's pick-up in Peru.
If you could put two and two together, you would gander that you might be heading for a racetrack.
Given the manual transmission, it most likely wasn't drag racing, but that didn't entirely rule out the possibility. You weren't familiar with the model car you were in, but maybe it could do manual and automatic transmissions.
"Your teacher, Gojo," Katsumi cut through the silence as your thoughts divulged more into what kind of racer he was, "he was the one to reach out to me."
"Gojo?"
Katsumi gave an affirmative hum as he switched gears. "Yeah, and it was surprising to me, too. It's not like I don't get along with him, but we don't talk much. Last month was the first time I spoke to him in...months? When was December?"
He quickly waved off his question, "Well, he asked me to help you out and train you a bit while he was away."
You blinked slightly in disbelief, "Train me?"
"Mhm."
You skipped a beat before asking, "Did Gojo tell you about my technique?"
"Yeah, if you could technically call it that anyway," he spared you a glance, seeing as the freeway was relatively empty, and you made sure he saw your dead stare at his last comment. Despite this, he wasn't deterred. "I'll admit it piqued my interest."
"Don't antagonize me," you grumbled.
Katsumi poked your shoulder with two fingers, a dopey smile on his face. "Hey, hey, don't take it like that. It's not every day you meet someone in your situation. Though I have to admit, Tokyo seems inclined to collect students with...certain predispositions."
He might be implying something about Yuji and Yuta. Still, you didn't ask him to elaborate on that. "Don't discredit yourself, Poyo. It's impressive what you did with your limited knowledge."
You would have appropriately responded if you hadn't been confused by the sudden name drop.
"What?"
"I said—"
"No," you quickly interrupted, meeting his eyes briefly, "what did you just call me?"
The young man sniffed apathetically, "Poyo."
You crossed your arms, "Yeah, why are you calling me that?"
Katsumi rocked his head side-to-side quickly.
"You know," you didn't, "because it's your nickname." He gave a small, teasing smile. "You must like Kirby, huh? It's cute.
You paused for a moment, processing the information.
"I'm not named after him."
"Hm? Really?"
"Look at my face and see how serious I am."
"What? You don't like it?" Katsumi fiddled with his phone's navigator for a quick second. Hopefully, this guy knew the place where you were going. You'd rather not go through too much hassle because of it. "I can stick to calling you Bracelets."
You tried not to roll your eyes at another pushy man giving you a ridiculous nickname. Was your actual name just too boring to use?
Katsumi cleared his throat before speaking to his phone. "Siri, flip a coin."
A female-coded generative voice responded to him, and you saw the map on his display cut to a virtual coin flipping.
You entertained this for just a moment, hearing Siri announce the coin landing on heads.
"It's Poyo, then," the dark-haired man told you, thanking the AI assistant before returning the phone display to the map.
The more you begrudgingly hung around this guy, the more you were both impressed and baffled by his audacity. You think you understood how he managed to get your number from Gojo. The two practically could get along just well.
"You can't just call me that... We've only met twice..."
"Whaa? Reaally now?"
He must be fucking with you. There's no way this guy was actually surprised by your responses. His lack of care in most of his own responses irritated you.
"Fine, call me whatever...I just end up losing with types like you..." you muttered to yourself.
Feeling a pinch from your cheek, a sure sign of annoyance by Katsumi's played-up airheadedness, you sighed and rubbed your cheek. "Back to what we discussed earlier...I don't know how much Gojo told you, but I don't think a lot can be done about my situation."
"That I know already," he waved you off, "but that's not really why you're here. You're here because your teacher asked me for a favor."
Gojo asked for a favor, huh...
You already had some suspicion about what it pertained to, "A favor to do what exactly?" But you still asked anyway.
"That is TBD," he said. Katsumi scoffed amusingly and then, with a wry grin, tacked on, "I have to ascertain you a little more...he asked me to teach you a little more about veils on the side, though, as I said before, it's not really my expertise. He should've gotten someone else, but..."
He trailed off after that, suddenly growing quiet, which caused you to raise a silent brow. "But...?"
Katsumi stared ahead before dismissing you with an impassive shrug, "Mm...all that matters is that I get paid back for this favor."
Paid back for this favor...
He fussed around some more with his phone, and you saw that the destination was still some minutes away—twenty or so, to be exact.
Following that, Katsumi probed about other things-small talk.
What's your favorite food? When did you get to Japan? Why Tokyo and not Kyoto? What did your lineage look like? Are there any other sorcerers in your family?
Sometimes, when you could reciprocate the questions, he would answer. His favorite food was Tangyuan, which you weren't sure what that was—maybe you'd google it later. Apparently, he was born in Iwate but spent only some of his childhood there before moving to Hokkaido.
"Your cousin...left quite an impression on a lot of people." His eyes slid over to you, and you felt slightly nervous about how long they remained there. This guy should watch the road... You couldn't believe you had more sound driving sense than he did...
After a small beat of silence, you answered. "Probably unintentionally. He doesn't necessarily like attention from strangers...but must've done all he did for various reasons."
"What about you? Do you like attention?"
"I'm indifferent about it, but I won't go out of my way to be at the center of it."
Well, that was half-true, but you wouldn't bear your plights and woes to a guy you only talked to and hung around for a total of two days. Three if you counted today, you suppose.
"It's a double-sided sword," Katsumi drawled, reaching for a packet of gum sitting in one of his cup holders. "It can raise your status and credibility, but it's also a pain not being able to return to being a commoner, ain't it?"
With a frown, you turned away. That was the last time you let anyone give you a nickname.
You wondered what the others were doing at the school...maybe you should have ignored this guy and stayed to train.
==
"Remember not to go easy on him, Maki!"
"Panda-can you—! Stop egging her on—!"
Fushiguro barely had time to dodge the swipe of the wooden stick going for his head. Kugisaki watched on the sidelines, a hand on her hip as she watched with the two other second years as Maki spared with her companion.
She turned to the oversized creature, "You're such an instigator."
Panda feigned ignorance, "I have no idea what you're talking about."
Irked at this, Kugisaki frowned and felt her brow twitch. She was about to turn back to the practice match with annoyance until a clever idea sparked in her head.
She cupped a hand over his mouth to amplify her voice, "Hey, Maki-san!"
This briefly caught the eyes of the green-haired upperclassman, and Kugisaki pointed over to the giant next to her.
"Panda says he wants to be the next challenger after Fushiguro's done!"
His eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets.
"Wha...! Wait...! That's not at all what I said! Maki, don't believe her...!"
==
Katsumi had brought the car to a very unassuming location near Tokyo's outskirts. You couldn't see what was beyond the giant erected walls of the location, but hearing and smelling it was different. You could pin it to some of the strips of mechanic shops in Lima of old and shaved-down rubber.
"Let's check in first," he said before exiting the car.
You followed his lead, unfamiliar with the process of racing. Guess it made sense to meet with someone about bringing a car to the actual track foremost.
Kastumi must have sensed your apprehension because he took the lead to the front desk.
The man behind the desk seemed to recognize him immediately before he even reached the desk.
"Jikihara-san," the young man greeted. "Good to see you again."
Katsumi gave a polite head-bow, "Uh, yeah, good to see you too..."
Eventually, after sorting something out with the worker, Katsumi called your attention back to him with a clipboard in hand.
"Stamp this," he said.
"Let me read it first," you told him.
You couldn't understand half of what you read-jumbling too much of the kanji with other meanings that didn't seem correct for the context. Why did you always suck at formal papers and forms?
So, after a few minutes of staring, squinting, and scratching your head, you looked at Katsumi blank-faced and admitted your shortcomings.
"I can't read all this."
"Hm?"
"I need help."
And although you understood only roughly half of what the papers said, you skeptically ended up stamping the papers with your family after Katsumi gave a vague explanation of what it was. Formality showed up three times in a single sentence of his.
After taking the papers from you, he explained that you would be heading back out again. You were mildly annoyed by the back and forth. You could have stayed in the car after all if it would only take a moment but followed after him.
He shooed you out of the building first, saying he had to talk a bit more with the worker, and alerted you to the unlocked car. He eventually showed up a few minutes later, humming an unfamiliar tune. Once the two of you were inside his vehicle, he drove it around the building down a dirt path that eventually turned paved. You were glancing around your surroundings in the car until you saw a gate being opened.
Leading for this big open track space.
"Katsumi," his name came off like a bark from your lips.
He adjusted his rear mirror, "Yeah?"
"What are you doing?"
He hummed in question, and you pressed him with a sharp stare, "Oh, I'm going to show you the area. There's not a lot of opportunities where there's no people here-when it's empty."
You could feel a pit form in your stomach. Instincts telling you of forthcoming terror.
"Okay, I can look outside," you told him, "walking."
His dark eyes slid over to you, a hint of a whine in his response. "What? That's boring."
He took the car to a spot near some cones at the center, and you instinctively tensed.
"What did you make me stamp?" You pressed, hand reaching for the interior door rest.
"A waiver."
"...Let me out of this car...!"
You could hear the mechanics of the car work when he double-locked the car doors.
Katsumi shifted gears, "Don't unbuckle your seatbelt unless you want to die."
Before you could shout anything else at him, the car suddenly throttled forward, and you were thrown back into your seat. Your hand clutched tightly onto the seat while the other clenched on the overhead grab handle.
Katsumi had the car to go a good few meters before suddenly switching gears. You nearly bit your tongue off when he suddenly began to turn the wheel. The wail and tire screeching were irritatingly painful, but you were more upset with the stirring in your gut over this setup.
You believed the car rounded over a set of cones put out in the area, but it was nearly impossible to confirm with the amount of smoke that blocked your vision.
"You're gonna kill us!"
"Ehhh—"
"—Stop it! Stop it, you—!"
==
You rested your face in the sanctity of your arms, pressed up against your thighs.
"Good fucking grief..."
Katsumi sat nonchalantly beside you, trying to complete some sudoku challenge of the day on his phone.
The man chuffed slightly. "What kind of sorcerer are you if you can't handle a little adrenaline rush?"
You mumbled into your legs, "I'd rather fight a hoard of curses than do that again with you."
There was a slight beat of silence, which you appreciated as you let the remnants of nausea leave your body. You hadn't thrown up, but your equilibrium had been thrown off, and your stomach felt like tumbling clothes in a dryer.
"Hey, Poyo, I've noticed..." Katsumi began, probably still glued to his game. "You have...very good control of your cursed energy..."
You finally pulled away from your body and rested your back and head against the door frame of Katsumi's car, waiting to hear what he had to say.
"I'm a sorcerer. It should be a given," you muttered, rubbing your face.
"Not what you think I'm saying," Katsumi reached inside his jacket to pull out a box of mints, apparently done with his daily math challenge. "I mean in a broader sense. Everything and everyone has a trace of cursed energy. It's how you and I can tell apart a frog, a glass cup, and a person from one another."
He opened the tin box and offered you the box to take your pick of mints, which you plucked out two to toss in your mouth. Maybe that would help ease the nausea.
"The same applies to residual cursed energy. Equivalent to footprints left behind, something carrying cursed energy. Regarding sorcerers, activating and using a cursed technique leaves behind a bigger print. For non-sorcerers, they release more cursed energy when they get scared, channel negative emotions, all that spiel."
You thought over his words, rolling the cooling tablets in your mouth with the tip of your tongue. "I get that, but what does that have to do with that crazy joyride?"
Katsumi took a bit to reply.
"None at all. I just had to show up and use the track to keep my annual membership. Otherwise, I would've had to pay a fee and possibly lose my card."
Yeah, you had a feeling he was just fucking with you. Most of these damn bastards with an even centimeter-over of inflated ego always messed with you.
"But that's beside the point. I didn't realize it the first time we met, but the second time, you barely had any residual on you I could pick up on. It also made finding you at the hospital more challenging than I had expected."
"I couldn't sense you either the first time," you noted quietly.
Katsumi quickly followed up on your observation, "There's an explanation for that. Back in Aomori, that finger was leeching off cursed energy everywhere. I'm sure you can remember that." Now that he brought it up, you did recall it being a nuisance.
He crossed his arms and continued his explanation, "When there's such overwhelming cursed energy like that, just from an appendage, like a finger from the King of Curses, you'd immediately forget there's anyone else around you."
The man sighed, "I hope those mainland geezers know what they're inviting by gathering all those fingers. There's a reason why they were scattered to begin with."
You think this was the first time you saw him look remotely worried.
It made you a little unsettled, to be honest. Not to mention remembering that Yuji had eaten at least two of those fingers. You wondered what they did with his body...given that it housed some connection with Sukuna after ingesting those cursed objects.
The intruding thought of Yuji's dismembered body flashed in your mind, and you quickly pushed it away, upset that you would even conjure such an image.
It was best to remember him as he was. That goofy, earnest, good-natured guy everyone liked.
"Mm... You okay there?"
You glanced at Katsumi, who had returned his features to looking virtually impassive save for the thoughtful concern on his face.
"Made quite a face there for a moment."
There was a slight pause on your part.
"Just had an unpleasant thought."
You wanted to believe that nothing morbid like that would happen to his corpse.
"You and Gojo are right..." mumbling, you pressed the back of your knuckles against your lips. "Things need to change..."
Katsumi stared at you for a few seconds before looking at the small overview of the local town in the distance. It was just far enough out of range not to be subjected to tire screeching and noisy engines.
He rolled the rough texture of the rock in his palm a few times, focusing on it now before he drew back his arm and launched it into the mountainside.
"It sucks...the way things are the way they are now... But even before now, there's never been such a thing as an easy life or a happy ending for a jujutsu sorcerer."
Something about his honesty was appreciated but simultaneously challenging to stomach.
You were a jujutsu sorcerer now, weren't you? So what did that mean for you?
With some bitterness, you accepted his words and locked them away, unwilling to reflect nor revisit them soon.
Katsumi turned back to you, a wry, tiny smile on his face.
"I scare you there?"
"If I say a little, what then?"
He coughed out a bit of an amused chuckle. "Maybe a consolation prize...? But only after we do a short training session. I think I got an idea on how to make you cool," that was really unnecessary, "and stand out. After that, I'll take you back to the heart of Tokyo, and we can have lunch. The meal will be on me."
He walked past you, patting your shoulder with a bit of heft, and returned to his car.
Looking out at the overview from the mountainside, you admired the seemingly tranquil location, snapping a quick photo for memorabilia. At the very least, you'd try to get something out of this.
You picked yourself up from the rock you had planted yourself on and dusted off any loose dirt you might've picked up.
After one last look at the mountainside, you followed Katsumi's lead back to the car.
====
The small training session was productive, with the two of you dissecting the limitations of your technique and ways to supplement them with other things. It was always helpful to get an outside perspective on these sorts of things, and most of the time, you didn't mind constructive criticism. Although, sometimes Katsumi's dry comments got to you.
He wasn't very impressed with your two summonings: Famine and Conquest. He asked to see the other two, but you explained briefly your reservations about summoning the other two.
"Whattttt? C'mon you aren't a pussy, right?"
"A what?"
Even though he tried to egg you on a bit, you insisted on keeping the other two unsummoned. Although it seemed he was satisfied with your in-depth explanation of why.
After a while, though, he seemed to notice you becoming deflated by his comments and cushioned his words. You appreciated the accommodation, even if you thought he should try to consider others' feelings a little more before he spoke.
Following your session, Katsumi drove you back to the heart of Tokyo and picked out a café you had seen a few times before but never patronized.
Even after grilling you about your technique, he offered advice and follow-up tips to help you improve overall during your meal. He counseled on how to shrink your cursed energy shroud further, thinking it possible for you to be able to get it smaller. He seemed fairly fascinated that you could contract it, but you told him you didn't think you could get it any smaller.
"It's like sucking in your stomach. I can only go so far."
"Oh, it's like that? Someone told me girls do that often-the stomach thing."
"We're getting off-topic again."
Gojo seemed to be able to do the same now that you thought about it out loud, but Katsumi said that your teacher was a once-in-a-century prodigy. He was impressed that you could pull it off.
The praise made you slightly self-conscious due to his blunt honesty. You didn't know what to make of his comments or his opinions a lot of the time. He seemed very upfront now that you've been around him long enough, but he also had this distancing level of reservation. He was feeding you just enough information and leaving small openings in his speech here and there.
You could ask him about it if you were bold enough, but you also didn't like to pry. You knew when you were overstepping your boundaries.
Katsumi was probably aware of this pattern of his, anyway. He seemed the type to be keenly self-aware. Knowing him only for a while, you already picked him out to be very good at analyzing things-observant. Then, in that case, maybe you should hold his words with a little more weight and consideration...
"I'm a man of my word," Katsumi looked up at the sign that loomed over the business before you, "so as promised, I brought you to a bookstore."
After your meal, Katsumi had egged you on about your 'consolation prize.' Part of you thought he might've actually felt bad about subjecting you to the torture that was his presence, but another part of you said he was trying to butter you up for future bugging.
It could be either, at this point, but you weren't complaining too much, especially when he did take you to where you wanted to go.
You let a few people pass out of your path before you pressed forward. Kinokuniya, a Japanese bookstore chain, had been your request, specifically that he could take you there after lunch.
Katsumi didn't say much as he followed you inside the store. He would occasionally get interested in something and stop to satiate his curiosity, but he mostly followed you around like a resigned parent shopping with their child.
"Manga?" He watched you sort through the wrapped volumes of a series you started collecting in Japan. "Huh, I didn't think you'd be the guy into that."
"What do you mean?" You asked with mild disinterest, too focused on your thoughts and plan after this.
Katsumi looked down at the One Piece volume in your hand, "Mm, I guess you could say I took you for more of a bore."
A bore? Huh, that was a new one. At the very least, hearing it out loud.
"I don't know. I didn't think a stick-in-the-mud like you would be into this stuff," he finished.
You looked down at the volume yourself. Most of your collection back home was in Spanish, but you had a few in Japanese when you were impatient to wait for a particular series to get localized.
You remember letting Cisco borrow some of your Japanese volumes so he could attempt to learn the language, but he gave up after a few months. You thought you would still send some his way while you were in Japan as souvenirs. It would be a pain to bring to Peru in your luggage whenever you made the trip back.
"Back home..."
"Oh, I see. You have some of these back home," he picked up a volume to inspect. "You're trying to collect One Piece?"
You hadn't even realized, you muttered to yourself.
"They're not for me," you answered. "They're for a family member."
You already had your dad's old collection as a hand-me-down. You just needed to keep up with the new volumes.
Katsumi seemed to stare at you for a moment, and you gave him a weary look as he hummed to himself.
"Hey, been meaning to ask," he set the volume in his hand down, "but are you from Southeast Asia?"
That was oddly specific.
Since he was being civil, it wouldn't hurt to answer.
"I'm from Peru," you informed him. "My mom's indigenous Peruvian. Dad's Japanese."
While it wasn't much, you think he seemed slightly disappointed.
"Interesting," his voice gave away no sign of let-down, though, "guess that's why you looked kinda foreign."
You glanced at him, "And you? What's your background?"
Katsumi shrugged, "Full-blooded Japanese, as far as I know. I'm not one to look that deep into my family tree."
There it was again. That shut down. Though, like you did most times, you didn't pry with him. You would have probed deeper questions if you had been a little more nosey and brash. For now, though, you were content with the tier of acquaintance you had with Katsumi. If you had to label it, your relationship with this bothersome man was two-and-half out of five-maybe, possibly three.
It shouldn't be bad if Gojo were okay with you hanging around him. He was the one who apparently asked Katsumi to do him the favor of teaching you about domains, after all.
"Oh, it's a Hatsune Miku mini-figure phone charm. Hey, they even got Meiko! Would you look at that?"
"Hm...?"
"I'm taking this one. Do you want any of these?"
Katsumi was a weird guy. Hard to read sometimes, and a bit of a bully in some ways. But he also seemed like he enjoyed your company enough to accept Gojo's favor. You wanted to think that, at least.
"...Then...I'll take this one."
You think you were a masochist because this guy was slowly growing on you.
====
After a hefty haul, which Katsumi didn't look fazed by what the total racked up, you shipped some books, manga, and cookbooks to your address. You were fully expecting to pay out of your pocket with the stipend you received, but Katsumi stepped in to do so when payment was due.
He then drove you back to the school, and the drive there was silent. Or you suspected it was because you had accidentally nodded off on the ride there.
Finding that out after Katsumi woke you when you reached your destination was slightly mortifying.
"Figures he'd be here passed out here again."
"We should let him rest..."
"No way. Not here, at least. Better to send him off to his room."
Their voices were first to stir you awake, and then you felt the proking and probing of fingers on your shoulder.
"Wake up, [Name]," Kugisaki mumbled. "This is becoming way too common of an occurrence. You have a bed, you know?"
You opened your eyes bleakly, squinting when the room's lights were too bright upon your awakening.
"Mhm, wha..."
Fushiguro joined in, "It's better to take a bath and go to sleep."
"We really shouldn't baby him," Kugisaki sighed before she caught a whiff of something and lowered a brow in question. "Why do you smell like...tire? Were you at a mechanic shop?"
She knew what a car shop smelled like? Sometimes, it was easy to forget she wasn't raised as a pampered princess in the city. You draped an arm over your eyes, even inhaling some of the earlier scent, "My bad..."
There was a beat of silence before you heard Kugisaki sigh quietly.
"Well, wherever and whatever you did today...you need to wash up and go to bed. We have training tomorrow, and Maki wants to make sure we're ready for next week."
You gave a nod. "Yeah...you're right..."
You felt around to your side, nearly knocking down the bags you had left set aside on the small table beside you.
"Brought back..." you felt around for the closest bag, "some gifts..."
Kugisaki raised a brow at this. "What? Gifts? For what reason?"
You grunted and sat upright, feeling a knot forming due to your sleeping position. "Just 'cause," you reached into the bag.
If you were honest, you weren't too much of a gift person, but somehow, that's how it was turning out to be. You almost always brought back something from an outing or trip to share with the others, whether it be food, a knick-knack souvenir, or whatnot.
You brought out a few magazines and handed it to Kugisaki.
"Saw you eyein' this the other day at the konbini," you gestured to the magazine at the top, "I also threw in some others...don't know if you'll like 'em though."
Kugisaki's eyes widened in what you hoped was a pleasant surprise, and as she mumbled a thank you while looking over the zines, you turned to Fushiguro.
"Got you some books," you grabbed the stack that sat at the bottom along with some of your new personal collection, giving them over to the spiky-haired teen. "I went off what I saw you readin' last time, but I haven't read any of these to know if they're good. I checked some reviews for them, though."
"You didn't spend all your money on us, did you?" Kugisaki probed.
You scoffed light-heartedly and gave a wry grin. "Course not," you half-joked, moving and fixing some of your things in the bag. "Katsumi paid."
Fushiguro seemed to quickly pin down who you were talking about, "That man from two months ago, right? Was that who you met up with today?"
You bobbed your head in confirmation. "He said he'd pay, and after the torture that he put me through today, I was more than willin' to bleed him dry."
"I can tell," your female counterpart said, glancing inside the paper bag. "Shonen Jump...and more manga. Why are you such an otaku?"
You promptly closed your bag, saying, "I'm too tired to fight with you, Kugi."
They always got you right after you were put through the wringer. You were beginning to suspect some kind of conspiracy here.
But you could also have become more complacent in these few months. And while you mulled it over, you just realized the sweets you had brought back. You knew your mother would hound you about all the sugar you put in your body. It wasn't your fault, technically... The sweet tooth you were developing was because of Gojo...
"Kugi..." she muttered to herself, seemingly inquisitive of the shortening of her name, before she sighed and tucked the magazines under her arm, reaching over to push your back in an attempt to get you off your seat.
"I can already see that you're about to blow a gasket. Fushiguro, you take care of him."
The face Fushiguro made seemed to be wearier at the fact that Kugisaki had turned this into a problem for him to solve, as opposed to your other thought that perhaps Fushiguro was finding you a nuisance. Hopefully, it was the former.
"You don't really need help, right...?" He asked once Kugisaki left the room.
You stood up and rubbed your eyes to show him.
"I'm sleepy, not drunk," you mumbled without any venom. "I'm fine. Kugisaki is just playing this up to be bigger than it is..."
You gathered your things, including your jacket, and slung it over your shoulder. When you turned your head to ensure your fingers looped through the paper-string handles of your bags, you finally caught a good whiff of your clothes.
"Huh..." you took another good sniff. "Forgot to wash the smell out of this..."
Fushiguro gave you a questioning look, and you gestured with your eyes and chin to your jacket.
"This thing," you mumbled, "I lit a cigarette the last time I wore it. I must've put it back on a hanger and forgotten to wash it. Ah...wait, I swear it's not gross... It just smelled like herbs and stuff."
And the small hint of burnt rubber from today...but that was to be expected.
You offered the jacket up for inspection with partial awkwardness and hesitance. Luckily, you didn't embarrass yourself with the action as Fushiguro humored you and grabbed hold of the outerwear. He took a small sniff at first before blinking and bringing it a little closer to inhale again.
He was quiet but had a puzzled look on his face.
His silence had you worried that the combination of scents might be off-putting.
"It's...I don't know..." he mumbled, still with that confused expression.
Just as he shifted the thick fabric in his hands, you swiftly reached out and took back your jacket.
No way. You changed your mind. You were too self-conscious and insecure for this now-nothing like the fear of criticism to sober you up.
"In any case," you said, hoping you didn't give away the nervousness in your voice, "I'm just going to do some late-night laundry after I shower."
You hoped he didn't mind skipping out on bathing this time. It had been a few days since you last took one. Yuji had convinced you and Fushiguro to share one with him in the large bath.
It was also the only time you had been in the same bath as the dark-haired teen. Before Yuji, despite your two-month familiarity with Fushiguro, you had no courage to invite him to join you in a joint bath session.
Those weren't really your thing, anyhow... You were too Westernized, you supposed. On top of that, you think you would fall asleep while in the bath if you took one...
Ah, what a day. At least it was over with...
Extended Ending:
Fushiguro stared grimly as you nodded off in the bath, slowly sinking across from him. He had gently probed you the past few times, jolting you awake with an apology falling from your lips.
Usually, Yuji would be between you to bring livelier energy while you bathed, making an entertaining conversation that the two of you could engage in.
However, this was another reminder of his absence-of his death.
People died, he told himself. It was expected in this profession. And besides, it would have been inevitable. He was still marked for execution, even if it was delayed. He couldn't fight the Elders' decision if he wanted to. This was just a matter of Jujutsu law.
But that didn't mean it was fair his life had been cut so short, another voice argued. Yuji was just a teenage boy like he was. His life hadn't been entwined with sorcery and curses like his had.
He was your friend, even if for a short while.
He looked down at the water, seeing the steam rise off of it, obscuring his pale flesh underneath it.
"S'not hard....to...do.."
He lifted his gaze from the water, seeing your head craned back to where it sat close to the ledge of the bath pit.
Your face twitched, and your lips tightened into a slight grimace.
"....Jus....new..."
You sunk a few centimeters deeper into the water, head slipping off the ledge. Startled, he reached out to grab hold of you before you could fully submerge into the water but was equally shocked when you jolted awake once more and shot back into a seated position.
"...Sh...Sorry," you quickly apologized, shifting yourself slightly. Fushiguro watched with the thin line of his lips as you combed back your wet hair from drenching your face. "I need to...stop doing that."
"Maybe you should have taken that shower instead," he hadn't meant it to sound condensing. It was just the truth. He would have rather you had done a quick shower and slept your fatigue off rather than choked on bath water.
Though, despite the opening of reading too deep into his words, you took it with a good stride, even cracking a small, wry smile at it.
"Yeah, should have...."
Fushiguro thought that was the end of that, shifting his eyes to look down as he was about to sink a little deeper into the warm water.
"But then it wouldn't feel right to leave you all alone."
His eyes darted back up, surprised.
Though you didn't notice this, as you rubbed at your eyes with a slight hiss.
"Unless you want me out of here—"
"No, it's fine."
He swiftly cut in, much to his chagrin.
He hoped the embarrassment of the action didn't show up on his face as much as it did internally.
"...It's fine like this."
Initially shocked by his fast response, you had fallen silent but stayed quiet to let his words sink in for a few seconds.
Fushiguro thought he had ruined the atmosphere but was quickly alerted otherwise by your staccato chuckle and tired grin.
"Alright. As long as you tolerate me here..."
Tolerate... As if he hated having you around...
"I..."
Before he could respond to you, the bath door slid open, drawing both your attention to the figures at the doorway.
"Oh, hey!" Panda greeted. "So, how did it go?"
And thus was the private conversation between the two of you. And while, for a moment, he was relieved that he didn't give you his honest thoughts, feeling slightly embarrassed at what he would have admitted. Though, as he saw you disgruntledly splash water at Inumaki when he initiated the playful behavior, he couldn't help but wonder...
When had he grown so comfortable with it just being the two of you...and why did it make him strangely feel...
Splash!
"Ha-ha! Got you, Fushiguro!"
"You guys are gonna piss him off."
Splash!
"Do you want me to drown you two? I'm trying to relax after a long day-"
"Abort, Inumaki! Abort! He's going to—ack!"
"Come back here, Inumaki! Don't think I'm letting this go!"
"Run....Toge! ACK!"
Well, at least he knew one reason why he had come around to you so quickly. You got rid of his headaches.