Chapter Text
Shit.
You thought as you ran towards the bathroom locker room stalls, breathing heavily due to the lack of oxygen circulating through your system. Was it a result of the limited oxygen currently being distributed throughout your lungs and your organs, or the realization and fear you just now noticed?
This was not what your so-called parents would have expected, much less wanted to happen, but who even cares about their opinion at this point? They never even bothered to check up on you to make sure you were okay and adjusting well to the new move into your new apartment. So if anything, it’s their fault for not accepting you and your antics. It's not your fault you learned and grew up like this. No, it is not. You can be quite the emotional person with a heavily flawed personality and while yes, you were a very smart person, incredibly so that you found it funny as to how smart you were compared to others. This caused you to feel quite a bit bored and lonely. Very lonely. So insanely bored and lonely that there wasn’t someone else to have fun with. However, this wasn’t much of an issue of you being too smart for others; rather, it was others not wanting to be associated with you and you with others. It was an equally mutual relationship, even though you still craved attention, you never admitted it of course.
That was when you began to mess with others, specifically the bullies of your school. While it wouldn’t matter who exactly became a target of your games, it felt a lot less guilty to do it towards someone who wasn’t a decent human being. At least until that became boring itself; same reactions, same responses, same consequences. So boring. So you became careless and got caught. Though, could it even be considered that since you simply let yourself be caught? Hence, why you made sure to plead guilty on every account the school brought you up on, thus expelling you. Either you would end up dying from boredom, or you would just get it over with already and do it yourself. You wanted something new, a new change of pace, even with a small part of you that already knew where you were going, you still hoped your parents would surprise you.
And a new change of pace you got in the shape of an all-girls missionary school. ‘I wonder what my parents have in store for me. Let’s hope it’s not something basic' was what you found yourself often thinking before they gave you the most basic answer any parent would give to those who didn't want to deal with their child’s problems. Everything was quite similar to your previous school: same social status, same number of friends, same reactions everyone gave to you, etc. Well, that's a complete lie. There were about three different things from this school that were vastly different than those of your previous school. Firstly, it’s an all-girls school so there would be no boys harassing you; secondly, because of how small the school was, the grades are broader, including middle school and high school graders in one school. Third and the most contrasting thing is that compared to your previous school, you had no friends; while yes, there were students who would see you all alone and try to spark up a conversation, they never lasted as soon as they found out you were a very boring person.
Amanai Riko.
That's the name of your underclassman and the name of the first person out of everyone in this school to talk to you and stay. She didn’t leave, didn’t abandon you, even after you never spoke to her only in thumbs up or hums in signs of approval or disapproval. You didn’t realize it at first because the descent to your new emotions was a slow endeavor. It started off with you becoming more and more comfortable when she was around, feeling less numb towards things, giving small smiles here and there at her jokes. Thus resulting in your now predicament, running and giving your all in physical education to run away from the reality that you have gotten yourself tied to someone yet again, who is destined to die and fall to ruin. Even when you were done running your mile, even when the teacher told you to stop and drink water, even when you realized you ran the mile in less than 5 minutes, you kept running towards the bathroom locker stalls after quickly mumbling a quick and short 'bathroom' to her.
Why is that? Well, it’s quite simple. Riko held your hand. It may have been for one second during your run but in that second, it made your body feel relaxed. It felt lovingly kind and familiar. You didn't even come to the realization of this until after you were halfway through your physical education class. That was when it hit you how your emotions were during that given state. You immediately recognized the shift in your emotional balance. Why now, though? Why did I just realize now? Was my guard really that low around her? Opening the locker room door, you sped towards the bathrooms, leaning on the wall, sweating and flopping towards the floor like a fish out of water.
Shit.
You were now aware of your exact emotions. You wanted to be close to her because you saw her as a friend. No…I can’t…please dont ever consider me that…if you do…if this leads to you telling me you see me as a sister… This frightened you to your core. The sheer fact that she saw you as human and not the monster that you are left you shaking in fear, even more so gasping for air from the lack of oxygen and your current dehydration.
This is dangerous for me.
You promised yourself this time not to grow close to someone. This time, you won't expect anything from anyone as a way to shield your emotions. You won't grow any sort of attachment towards anyone, especially to someone who is destined to die.
She is Tengen’s new merger, so why…would I yet again grow attached to someone who is doomed and destined to die? Why would I allow myself to be in such misery again?
But the biggest and loudest question that constantly rang in her head like a church bell was not passing any sort of judgment towards Riko, rather…
Why did it have to be you who was born as Tengen’s star plasma vessel and not someone else?
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
A few weeks later
It was a good day to be out. After all, you had already finished all your "upperclass” standardized tests, so now there's nothing for you to do but laze around outside on the benches, doodling whatever crossed your mind. It's always a good day when I get to just laze around. If only I could live a happy, unemployed, bedrotting life forever.
“Hey Kuma! What are you doing here?!” A recognizable voice was heard from behind you as the boredom that had begun to creep up on you diminished as soon as that voice was heard. Riko ran towards you as a small smile invited itself onto your lips, soon turning into laughter once Riko tried to talk, only to fail in desperate inhales and exhales as her breathlessness caught up to her. “I heard all the - inhale exhale - the upperclassmen were - inhale exhale - taking standardized tests - inhale exhale - right now, but you’re - inhale exhale- here. Why’s that? Aw man, I need a breather.”
Riko said, collapsing onto the grass in deep and heavy breaths, splayed out as if she were attempting to do a snow angel on the floor but failing miserably. You chuckled at her as you gave her a look of slight disgust with a tad bit of humor. “Hey are you dead? Don't die on the grass, it's full of bugs and microscopic parasites. Very unsanitary ew.” Riko jumped to her feet with the blood drained from her face as he patted away at her uniform that was covered in dirt and possibly crawling bugs. “Anyways Riko, to answer your question well you see I'm incredibly smart so I ended up finishing them way before everyone else because I am just better.”
“HUH?!” Riko astonishedly stood up straight, walking over to the other side of the bench across from you with little grass particles sitting on her hair. Ew? “But it’s only been 45 minutes since they started?! No way you finished every section that fast! They take the entire day! You must have cheated! Are you really that smart?!”
“Hehe, yeah. Thank you for the compliment.”
Riko’s face contorted into a questionable look as if she was wondering why she was your friend. “You know I shouldn’t even be surprised by your intelligence, even with all your absences you still manage to find a way to pass all your exams and quizzes and still be the number one in every subject.” She began to pout as she rested her cheek on the wooden bench, which you used as a reason to reach out and pick out the grass particles from her hair before she began speaking again. “Anyway, you will be here for school next week on Monday right?”
“Yeah, I should.” I'm a fat liar. You were lying, but she didn’t need to know that. “Why do you ask?” You knew exactly why she was asking. Riko wanted to see you before she left to merge with Tengen. But for her survival, you must take care of them before they could even get the opportunity to kill her.
“Because I want to see you before I move out and leave the school; my uncle, who just found out I was alive, decided to take me in but he lives all the way in Kyoto so I want to say goodbye to my only friend here.”
You don't have to worry about that, Riko. I’ll make sure I eliminate them before they hurt you. Most importantly though…
“Well, what if I told you that I found a solution to your problem so you wouldn’t leave?” You spoke in a voice that you werent even sure what kind of emotion you were emitting.
“I’d say thank you but…this is something I must do.”
…what if I found a way so that you wouldn’t have to merge with Tengen? So that you wouldn’t have to sacrifice yourself?
Sighing deeply, you look at her, noticing Riko had a look of surprise due to a small unknown emotion floating in your eyes for a brief moment. “Just make sure you say goodbye to me before you go.”
You don’t have to say goodbye when you will be back here after a few days.
“Of course, I will! You’re my best friend and I love you so much that you're among my top two most favorite people in this world, so why wouldn’t I?”
Suddenly, keeping your hand on her hair, you leaned right up close to Riko so much so that if you moved just 10 cm, you would be able to feel her breath on your cheek. “So I take it it's me and Kuroi the two people you love the most. Does this mean you love me so much you would stay?” You told her in a shaky voice with a hint of desperation and a sense of pleading in your tone.
“Hu-huh?” Riko suddenly said, startled and taken aback as she stuttered a little due to the sudden surprise of the question.
Please. Don’t go.
You gently lifted your dominant hand, gently stroking her cheek with your thumb, whispering with a soft beseeching tone. "Would me telling you how much I love you and how much I will miss you change that at all?” She began to look at you with a look of realization and a taste of bittersweetness lingering along with it.
Hm, with that reaction, she’s probably gonna start questioning her choice for Tengens merging now that I told her. I hope the emotions in my words were enough to get her to at least linger on in her head. Unconsciously at first, she may begin to question it, but she will begin to do it regardless. Yeah…she will…right? Yeah. That's good…now the seed of doubt to carry with this plan has been sewn into her mind.
“Never mind.” You sat back down with a smile and relief painted on your face. “How about we go get something to eat before the rest of the girls come back, then I can draw you for a bit.”
“HUH?! How can you be so casual about saying how you would draw me? Do you even know how that would send the wrong signals to someone?” Riko said with a light blush, definitely flustered and embarrassed at being someone's art material.
“How is that sending wrong signals? I draw things I like and you're one of them.”
“Okay, stop this madness, or I will fall in love with you.”
If it gets you to stay, then so be it.
Just like always, once you had finished your lunch with Riko it was time for her to go back to her classes and school would continue to go agonizingly slow for you. With your knowledge, you were already aware of most of the material taught by your teachers so you often skipped class just to hang out in the frozen yogurt and ice cream shop; mainly because of the free wifi that surprisingly wasn't as slow and ass as the McDonald’s or Starbucks wifi down the street.
Looking through the window, you kept your gaze on the mandarin duck that floated above the city swamp, making sure to capture its vibrant beautiful and unique colors, patterns, and shapes onto your sketchbook. But as the shop door opened, the sudden sensation of drowning suffocated you so much that you halted your hand movements for a brief second. It felt like you were stuck underwater, unable to breathe, like you physically could not do anything but take in the water that was forcefully drowning you, invading your lungs as it tried to force itself to be pumped into your bloodstream. Your gaze immediately fell upon two teenage boys and after giving them a quick glance, you averted your gaze returning to your nearly finished drawing, focusing intently on finishing not only the drawing but your yogurt too.
Why the fuck is the six-eyes limitless user here? What the hell?
Was it due to his boundless, cursed energy that you sensed, his jujutsu tech uniform you spotted, or his beautifully unnatural, unrealistically charming eyes and hair color, which were prominent features in the Gojo clan. It could be any one of these three options, but since you've always been highly perceptive to the unique power system of this world, you're more likely to believe that it was the first resort. Just as you were about to devour your yogurt to immediately escape from this predicament, you gave up on that as soon as the realization dawned on you that they would become suspicious of you, and as of now, they have no reason to be suspicious of you. After all, neither of them even knows who you are.
That’s another jujutsu sorcerer next to him. Most likely a classmate or a friend. He is already strong on his own, so he won't need backup much. Reverse Cursed Technique, maybe? No, it would be better for them to stay under protection, as RCT users who can heal others are rare. In that case, it's most definitely someone who is in equal standing in strength as him. Then the six-eyes limitless user is probably either being overestimated, he has yet to unlock his full potential to completely overpower anyone, or both. But if I think the six eyes and limitless cursed technique user is unbeatable, that would be my downfall as that could be turned into a weakness. Then that would mean it could just be neither of them, lowering my guard making it easier to use it against me.
…I hate overthinking…I need more information.
You heard them order their frozen desserts, finding yourself horrified at the amount of sugar the six-eyed limitless user ordered, yet making sure to never falter from your stoic expressionless face. Everything was going smoothly until you realized they had gone to sit at the table directly behind you.
Are you fucking shitting me right now? I’m just trying to live my life. Why is it so complicated not to get involved with any of these people who directly affect the world itself?
Immediately, you felt his gaze. A long, cold, hard gaze belonging to the six-eyed, limitless user.
Did he realize my gaze? It was only .25 seconds longer than a normal person. Is he that good that he would notice that detail? Does he already know I'm aware of who he is? Or is there perhaps a different factor to it? Yeah, I remember. Gojo Satoru was his name.
As you calmly added the finishing touches to your sketch, your brain went into overdrive, running through all the possibilities. Calm down. If he noticed my lingering gaze that was just a tad bit longer than any other person, thinking it would be because I knew who he was would be quite a reach. After all, I'm a non-sorcerer, so my knowledge of cursed energy is nonexistent to those involved in the jujutsu world. So those two options are off the table.
You still felt it. His gaze. Even now, after 15 seconds had passed, it was still there. If it's not because of those two options then-
Oh. Now his friend's gaze is on me too.
Their very badly hidden whispers were a clear tell that they were talking about you. Maybe they also wanted you to hear, to know that they were talking about you as you hear the words girl, unknown, aura, and non-sorcerer.
What are they even yapping about-
In an instant, you put everything together like a puzzle. It's no wonder the six-eyed wielder is so strong and powerful. The ability to see cursed energy to its finest detail is an incredible ability that can easily overpower anyone, allowing the user to analyze any cursed technique. Although your cursed energy is on the low side, given that you do not have even enough cursed energy to even become an assistant manager, much less see them, that doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Which means that he could see the uniqueness of your cursed energy and what sets you apart from the entire population.
Now that you were certain they were aware of you, you had to get out of here quickly without raising any red flags, especially from Satoru Gojo. There's always the option, of course, to just stay seated and wait for them to come up to you in an effort to get to know you better, only to be met with misinformation. Although it was a humorous thought of sending them into circles of misinformation, that would most certainly have you laughing looking back at it, just the thought of keeping up a conversation with others had you wanting to lie in bed from exhaustion and never get up again.
This is the reasoning behind your current actions, which involve taking your time to carefully place your sketchbook and utensils inside your backpack before swinging it over your shoulder. Shifting your attention towards your frozen yogurt with gummy bears and sprinkles on the top, you made sure to give off the impression that you were going to remain seated; consuming your yogurt calmly and patiently. So that when you would grab your frozen snack and stand up at the same time, they would be fooled into thinking that all you were going to do was refill your yogurt. As soon as the two teenage sorcerers realized you were heading for the exit, they began to quickly follow you without grabbing their frozen treats.
Idiots, you paid almost 10 thousand yen for those.
However, you were quick on your feet which is why by the time they were out, you were already lost in the crowd. If of course, you were dealing with normal sorcerers, this would be all you needed to do; however, Gojo Satoru is not normal, so he found you relatively easy. As expected, you stuck out like a sore thumb in his eyes. Guess your only option is to not only lose them but make both teens completely unaware of their surroundings. Thank god, they didn’t notice you had nicked the leash off one of the random dogs that was tied to a bike rack.
You headed towards the food stalls that were being held, which thankfully were happening during a spring festival going on at this time. Walking with your yogurt in hand, taking a few spoonfuls here and there as if you had absolutely no care in the world. Going towards a hotdog stand, you buy a ready-made hot dog, leaving with both hands now occupied.
Their presence sure is strong. I can still feel their cursed energy even at this distance. Jesus, are they trying to be male peacocks or what.
Setting down the hot dog, dumping out the yogurt in the middle of the street, you began to make your way towards the subway underneath the street. Just as you began to descend the stairs, you ran towards the bullet train that was about to depart, in a hurry to catch it.
“Wait! This is my train!” You shouted as a sudden commotion was heard above. A dog barking, a crash, food falling, and people screaming, gathering around like busy ants. Well, you did make sure to free that dog for a reason.
If those boys aren’t the stupid kind, then they may have caught on to me already and noticed the hot dog on the floor caused all this, but by the time they do, I’d already be long gone.
✦ . ⁺ . ✦ . ⁺ . ✦
“YOU LOST HER?! How do you lose track of a non-sorcerer?! I even told you where she was!” Satoru said as he held a small brown dog in his arms, feeding it a hot dog that was on the floor. “I told you I should've given chase instead.”
Suguru loudly grumbled at him as annoyance laced his words. “Are you trying to get her to file a restraining order against us? You scare everyone when you run after them. Besides, weren’t you the one who told me not that long ago that she might not even be a non-sorcerer because of her aura or whatever? Lay off, man. I didn’t expect that dog to jump into the street as a car was about to hit it. I mean, what the hell? Not my fault that the car swiveled immediately, hitting the food stalls scattering everything everywhere. And you were no help either inciting all those people too! ”
Satoru gasped in shock as he was now being thrown under the bus for being caught up inciting a crowd of angry people for the dog, mad at the driver for nearly hitting the resident stray dog. “Hey, dogs are an absolute off-limits to death.”
Suguru sighed as he ran his left hand through his undone hair, leaving their unanswered questions unanswered. “Now what are we going to do?”
“Nothing.” Looking up, he saw his blue-eyed friend grinning as if he had an enlightenment. “Tell me, don’t you think everything went out too perfectly? Like in movies where someone tries to run away and succeeds in a perfect getaway escape? That is exactly what she just did.”
“What do you mean? It's a perfect getaway in movie terms, yes, I guess, but only when-” Suguru stopped in his tracks as he now understood his white-haired friend as he levitated the empty yogurt cup that belonged to you just a foot below eye level. “That was her hot dog, right? The one she bought was ready-made. Haha, she was onto us right from the start, wasn’t she?”
“Yes. The entire time, she was already aware we were onto her. The yogurt, the hot dog, hell, I didn’t even realize it until I noticed how this was the same hot dog she bought. It all feels so perfectly aligned. Like a well-made stage play where she was reading the acts in advance and making decisions based on those acts.” Satoru said it like it was a matter of fact while petting the dog before setting him free.
“I thought you said she didn’t have any cursed energy to even see curses though?” His black haired friend said, bringing up that fact.
“Yeah, she shouldn't have enough cursed energy to even see them, but now I'm not so sure. One thing I know is certain is that we answered our main question. She is not a normal person. Now let's get going. I don't want to be yelled at for this mess.”