The next day
Standing in front of the entrance, Tsumiki and Megumi were about to leave to go to school.
Tsumiki turned around with a questioning gaze.
"Noroi, aren't you coming?" Tsumiki said, looking at Noroi sitting on the couch.
"Gojo needed my help with something, so I will skip school today," I said, watching the news on the TV.
"Okay, be careful," she said before opening the door to leave.
A smile posed on Noroi's lips as she looked at her leaving the apartment with Megumi.
"Now. Gojo said he was coming to pick me up," I muttered while grabbing my phone to call Gojo.
"Noroi, are you ready?" Gojo said with an excited tone.
"Yeah, I'm waiting for you," I said, smiling slightly at his excitement.
"Okay, get down here, I'm waiting for you," he replied.
"Okay," I say before hanging up. As I walk down the building, I find Gojo in a car waving at me with a goofy grin on his mouth.
I approached the car and entered.
"Good morning, Noroi," he said, looking at me with a smile.
"Gojo, what are you doing with bandages in your eyes? People will think you are some kind of otaku," I said, looking at him strangely.
"Hey, no good morning for me?" he said with a fake hurt voice. "The bandages are cool, what are you saying?" Gojo said, touching the bandages that covered his eyes.
"Yeah, sure," I said, looking outside the window.
Gojo huffed in annoyance before turning to me with a goofy smile. "Hey, do you want to know why they call Yuuta cursed child?" he asks, knowing I would be interested.
I look at him curiously. "Why?" I asked.
"Well, you see, he was cursed and now a special grade curse protects him," he said with a slight laugh.
"A curse protecting someone?" I ask curiously.
"Well, you see, when he was little, a friend of him died in front of him and they promised marriage with a ring," he said, gesturing with his hands.
"So he was cursed by this friend of him?" I said, looking at him curiously.
"Yeah, the curse is known as Rika Orimoto. Yesterday he summoned her during a mission and it was very interesting to see," he said, looking at me. "Love manifests the most distorted curses, you know," he said, laughing slightly.
"So he can control this curse?" I looked outside, seeing the path that indicated we were approaching Jujutsu High.
"Nah, but he will get the hang of it," Gojo said dismissively.
As we arrived, Gojo exited the car followed by me.
"C'mon, Noroi, maybe you can teach him some martial arts or some skills with cursed tools," Gojo said, looking at me with a smile.
"Only if I find him interesting," I say, looking forward to know this cursed child.
"You say that, but I know you are a big softie inside and you are going to teach him anyway," he said, laughing slightly.
"Shut up," I say, slightly annoyed by his words.
Gojo laughed slightly as we arrived at the training grounds to see a guy and a girl sparring with cursed tools and Panda and another guy watching from the sidelines.
"My dear students! I have someone I want you to meet!" Gojo exclaimed, catching the attention of the four students.
"Meet the super cool and super strong Noroi!" he said with a goofy tone.
The faces of the three students changed from serious to shocked, but one didn't show any surprise.
"Yo, Noroi, long time no see," Panda said, waving at me.
"Yo, Panda," I said, looking at the creation of Yaga.
"Huh? Panda, you know him?" the girl asked, looking at Panda.
"Salmon?" the other student with white hair asked.
"Yeah, I met him when I was a toddler. Yaga called him one time to drink tea and I met him that time," Panda said with his arms crossed.
"He looks kinda scary," the black-haired guy said, looking at me with a bit of fear.
"Yuuta, don't be scared. After all, he is going to show you how to fight," Gojo said cheerfully.
"What?!" Yuuta squealed with fear. "But I was going to spar with Maki-San," Yuuta said, looking at his classmates.
"You think I'm weaker?!" the girl yelled angrily, looking at Yuuta.
"Haah? No, Maki-San!" he said with fear.
"So you are Yuuta, no?" I ask, looking at the teen, a shadow of a curse behind him. "You look kinda weak, but that curse is definitely strong," I said, crossing my arms.
Yuuta looked down, deflated.
"Well, let's see if you have potential. Let's spar," I said, approaching Yuuta.
He looked a bit scared but, with determination, decided to grab a wooden sword.
"Hey, get a real sword. You have to handle the real weight of a weapon to wield it," I said, looking at the boy.
"What?! But I can hurt you!" he said with worry.
"Don't worry, just grab your weapon," I said with my arms crossed.
"Okay…" he said with hesitation, going to grab his katana.
"Is he crazy, Gojo-sensei?" Maki asked Gojo. "He wants to fight with his bare hands against a real weapon?" she asked, looking at me like I was crazy.
"Bonito flakes," Inumaki said.
"Don't worry, you two. I already said he was strong, didn't I?" Gojo said dismissively.
"What's his rank, Gojo-sensei?" Panda asked, looking at his teacher.
"Well, he isn't an official sorcerer, but if I had to grade him, I would say he is grade one," Gojo said with a hand on his chin.
"Grade one?!" Maki said, looking at her teacher with shock.
"Yeah, that's what I said. No need to shout," he said, smiling.
I looked at Yuuta getting in a messy stance.
"Your stance is all wrong," I said, looking at the nervous guy.
I explained the stance to him for five minutes before putting a stance myself.
"C'mon, come at me," I said, looking at the teen.
Yuuta nodded and started running towards me, his steps full of hesitation, and his sword was aiming only at one of my arms.
As he approached me, he threw a swing full of hesitation without real intent at my arm.
I decided to show him a little trick so he could swing without hesitation.
Instead of dodging, I put my palm in front of the blade, blocking it.
Yuuta's face changed from hesitation to full horror as he looked at the sword approaching my hand.
But his face changed to one full of surprise as the sword stopped in front of my palm, a sound like a chainsaw cut through the air.
"Okkotsu, swing your sword at me without hesitation. Put killing intent in it," I said, looking at him seriously.
"But…" Yuuta hesitated again.
"Hesitation means death," I said harshly. "Now come like you are trying to kill me," I said, pulling back from his sword and signaling at him to come at me.
Yuuta looked at me with determination and put the stance I showed him.
"Okay!" he said before swinging at me with full force.
His swings were clumsy and didn't have technique behind them, but as I dodged the swings, I gave him advice.
"Use your hips when swinging."
"Measure your strikes."
"Try catching your opponent off guard."
"After the first swing, prepare a follow up to the second."
As I gave him advice, he improved his stance. His swings had a little bit more technique now. 'This guy has potential,' I thought while dodging another swing.
"That guy knows how to fight," Maki said, looking at Yuuta's improvement when I gave him advice.
"Yeah, he knows martial arts since he was four," Gojo said with a smile, looking at us.
"Yaga said that he was obsessed with martial arts," Panda said, looking at Gojo.
"Yeah, he is obsessed with martial arts, but something that he is obsessed with even more is jujutsu," Gojo said with a smile.
"Salmon, bonito flakes?" Inumaki replied.
"Yeah, how did he catch the sword with his naked hand?" Maki said, agreeing with Inumaki.
"Well, you have to ask him. I can't say anything," Gojo said with a goofy smile.
Maki frowned but looked back at the fight.
I looked at the tired teen who was panting on the ground.
"I didn't land a single hit on you," he said tiredly.
"Don't worry, you have potential. One day you will beat me," I said, looking at him with a smile.
"Thank you, Noroi-San," Yuuta said, looking at me with a smile.
"Yuuta, Noroi, come here," Gojo said with a smile.
"Let's go," I say while helping him to stand up.
"Okay," he said, smiling while following me.
"Yuuta, you have a mission with Inumaki, and you, Noroi, will accompany them," Gojo said with a smile.
"I'm not an official sorcerer, Gojo," I said, looking at him.
"Don't worry, you have my permission. That's what matters," Gojo said cheerfully.
"Sigh… okay," I said before following Gojo.
"Good luck, guys!" Panda shouted cheerfully while waving at us.
We waved at him and then followed Gojo to a car. The car had a lot of space inside and we could all be inside without being awkward.
"Let's go," he said to the driver.
"Salmon," Inumaki said suddenly.
"…." What the fuck.
I looked at Gojo and he laughed slightly.
"Inumaki's cursed technique is cursed speech, so he communicates with rice ball ingredients to not curse anyone," he said with a smile.
"Cursed speech…" I said, looking at the guy curiously. "So interesting," I said, looking at his scarf covering his mouth.
"Kelp," he said, looking at me.
"I still don't understand you," I said, laughing slightly.
"Fish flakes," he said, looking outside the window.
"I don't understand you either," Yuuta said, a little nervous.
As we arrived at the place, Gojo stopped and signaled us to get down.
"Well, I'll be going now. Yuuta, don't let Rika out," he said with a smile. "If she manifests again…. You and I will be disposed of!" he said with a goofy tone.
"What?!" he said with horror.
"Good luck," he said before getting in the car to leave.
A man in a suit approached us and started explaining some things.
"My name is Ijichi and I'm the assistant manager from Jujutsu High," he said seriously. "I will now explain the mission. This is Japan Shopping Center. It's now abandoned and they were going to demolish it, but an inspection revealed a large number of low grade curses, so it's your work to eliminate them, sorcerer Inumaki," he said seriously, looking at a tablet, but as he looked up he didn't see Inumaki.
I looked at him buying throat medicine. 'So it has its drawbacks, huh,' I thought, looking curiously at the guy walking towards us.
When he saw Inumaki, he relaxed. "Now I will cast a curtain," he said before muttering chants to cast it.
"Well, let's go," I said, looking at the two teens.
They nodded and followed me inside.
We walked for a bit before I spotted a group of curses that looked like fishes gathering in front of us. There were at least fifty of them.
"Salmon," Inumaki said, approaching the curses.
"Okay." I understood what he meant, so I replied to him before stepping back a few steps.
"What?" Yuuta said, confused.
Inumaki lowered his scarf. The corners of his mouth and his tongue had tattoos on them. "Explode," he said, looking at the curses.
A loud boom sounded through the building as the curses made a big explosion.
"Hooh," I said with a smile, looking with interest at the explosion.
"Tuna, mayo," he said, his voice hoarse from the use of his cursed technique as he looked at us.
"Well done. My presence here was not necessary," I said, looking at him.
"Bonito flakes," he said, nodding.
"Impressive," Yuuta said, looking at Inumaki.
As I turned around to leave the building, I noticed that the curtain was still up.
"What?" I said, confused, but suddenly a curse appeared behind us.
"Zomba," the curse said as he did a hand signal.
My senses screamed danger at me, so I shoved Yuuta aside and moved from where I was standing.
A light attack landed where I was standing.
Inumaki looked at us with concern before looking at the curse. "Get twisted," he exclaimed.
The arm of the curse twisted grotesquely and Inumaki started coughing frenetically.
The curse did another hand signal.
As the curse was about to launch an attack at Inumaki, I grabbed him by the uniform and shoved him aside.
"That curse is stronger than those Inumaki defeated before," I muttered, interested.
"Well, Okkotsu, it's your turn to shine," I said, looking at him.
"Haaaah?!" he said with horror. "But…"
"C'mon," I said as I pushed him towards the curse.
With hesitation, he drew his sword and with the ring imbued cursed energy in it and started running towards the curse.
The curse shouted angrily.
"Hesitation means death!" I shouted at him.
He grabbed his sword with more determination and while running he started dodging the light attacks the curse threw at him. When he approached, he swung his sword towards the curse, leaving a cut in his stomach.
The curse countered with a light attack that hit Yuuta in the head.
The curse did another hand signal intending to finish Yuuta off, but before the light hit his body I grabbed him by the uniform and pulled back.
"So fast…" Yuuta muttered.
"You did well, Okkotsu," I said, looking at him.
"Zomb—" before the curse could chant, his body was cut in cubes of flesh that fell to the ground with a splash.
"Huh?" Yuuta muttered, looking at the violet blood that seeped from the bits of the dead curse.
"Hehehe," I said, laughing at his impressed face.
"Salmon," Inumaki said, with his voice recovered after taking the throat medication.
"Yeah, let's go," I replied, noticing the veil disappeared.
As Yuuta stood up, I started walking towards the exit.
"What did you do, Noroi-San?" Yuuta asked with confusion.
"Well, that's my cursed technique," I said, laughing slightly.
"What is it?" he asked, looking at me.
"Kelp," Inumaki said.
"I will tell you when we arrive at Jujutsu High. I can't reveal my technique in an open space, it's dangerous, someone could be hearing," I said, looking at him.
"Huh? It's that so?" he asked, looking at me confused.
"Bonito flakes," Inumaki replied.
As we left the building, I didn't notice a guy with monk robes looking at us with a nostalgic gaze.
"I expected to see the special grade curse, but seeing you, brother, that exceeded my expectations," he said with a nostalgic smile.
Gojo's POV
"Well, I sentNoroi in case Yuuta summoned Rika, but it seems it wasn't necessary," i said with a serious face.
"But… Ijichi, if what you are saying is true, then I should be worried about other things," I said, looking at Ijichi.
"I don't know why another veil was deployed, but it seems the group sent to the mission encountered a curse that was semi grade one," he said nervously. "I'm sorry, Gojo."
"Don't be sorry, Ijichi. This was the act of a third party and I think I know who did it," I said, thinking of a certain curse manipulation user.
"I'll get this sorted out, don't worry, and go back to work," I said, looking at him seriously.
"Understood," he said before leaving.
"Well. I don't know if I should tell Noroi," I said, pondering.
"Well. I'll tell him later," I muttered before leaving the room