"You know, if you wanted, I could give you a couple of piercings. I have a kit with everything we need," Kirara offered as she brushed aside the hair over Kiniro's ear, "You could definitely pull off a full set."
"Yes! What about any facial piercings? I always wanted a hoop!" Kiniro grinned as he tapped the side of his nose.
"How long have they been going now?" Hakari muttered beneath his breath as he watched Kiniro and Kirara fawn over each other on the couch, having completely wandered off into a world of their own.
"Long enough," Saturo replied before he raised his hands and let out a loud clap that drowned out all other noise and captured Kiniro and Kirara's attention, "While I'm glad my students are hitting it off so well, I didn't bring the three of you together just to idly chat."
Kiniro frowned disapprovingly but said nothing, even turning to face Saturo to show he was listening.
"Kiniro, how has your first week as Jujutsu high been?" Saturo suddenly asked, making his student pause for a moment before replying, "Besides training with Maki…boring."
Saturo smirked as if he had been expecting such a question, "Good, because this just came in the mail today."
Saturo reached into his pocket and pulled out a slim plastic card, which he tossed Kiniro's way; Kiniro caught it between his fingers.
"What is this?" Kiniro muttered as he turned the card over and found his own portrait staring back at him, along with several lines of information, "Name, Kiniro. Height 5'8. Grade, Special…."
Hakari and Kirara stiffened as they stared at Kiniro, who was scratching his cheek with a confused expression, "Sensei, I think there's been a mistake. This says I'm a special grade."
"Yes, it does," Saturo confirmed with the same smirk on his face, "It took a while for the higher-ups to figure out what to do with you, but considering the living cheat code you are, I can't say I'm surprised."
"Hold on," Hakari suddenly interjected as he pointed a finger at Kiniro, "You're telling me this brat is a special grade, the same special grade that only four sorcerers belong to, including yourself and the King of Curses?"
"Hey, is that really so hard to believe?!" Kiniro cried out in mock outrage before pausing, "Whose the King of Curses?"
"You know, normally I would spit on the headquarters just for fun, but this has me seriously questioning whether any one of those old bags has a working brain," Hakari muttered while he stared at Kiniro intensely, as if trying to figure out what made him such a threat in the eyes of the higher-ups.
"Maybe they saw how cute he was and decided it was a national-level threat," Kirara cooed as she reached over the pinched Kiniro's cheek with a grin, "I mean, just look at him!"
"Yeah, I'm not buying it," Hakari muttered before glancing over at Saturo, who was watching the whole exchange with a humorous expression, "This better not be some kind of practical joke."
"No joke, Kiniro is the fifth registered special grade, of course, not in terms of actual combat capabilities." Saturo explained, "Just on the premise that one day he might pose the single biggest threat to jujutsu society as we know it."
Kirara froze on the spot as she turned her head to stare at Saturo while still pinching Kiniro's cheek, "Him, a threat?"
"Why is that so hard to believe?" Kiniro muttered, offended, "I have skills."
Ignoring Kiniro Hakari continued to address Saturo, "Alright, get to the point already. Why are you involving us with this?"
"Simple, the higher-ups want to kill Kiniro, and I obviously can't allow that to happen while I'm away," Saturo answered while raising a finger.
"Going away?" Kiniro suddenly perked up as he stared at his sensei, "What for?"
Saturo smiled, though it wasn't a kind expression, "There was an incident at a high school, four boys were found dead and shoved into a locker with their bodies mangled beyond recognition. A preliminary investigation was conducted, and discovered that jujutsu sorcery was used, and judging by the residuals, the curse involved was very likely a special grade."
"Don't tell me special grades are growing on trees nowadays," Hakari muttered with a conflicted look across his face, "I may be lucky, but I'm not strong enough where I want to test it going against a special grade, maybe next year."
"Which is why I'm the one being deployed," Saturo replied before his smile slipped away. "However, it's no coincidence that this is when the higher-ups decided to register Kiniro as a special grade sorcerer."
"Grade 2 sorcerers and above can be sent on solo missions," Kirara spoke up solemnly, "You don't think…"
"That they're going to send Kiniro out on a suicide mission," Saturo interrupted with a dreadful cherry tone, "I wouldn't put it past them, and what I would do if I didn't have any morals, so it's better to be proactive than reactive."
"So you want us to be babysitters," Hakari summarized with an unimpressed look in his eyes, "Why would we ever agree to that?"
"Because business Hakari," Reaching into his pocket, Saturo pulled out a thick envelope that he offered to Hakari, "This is 45% up front."
Hakari's eyebrow rose as he wordlessly took the envelope and opened it with his thumb before peering inside. Then, still without saying a word, Hakari slid the envelope into his jacket pocket. "Alright, we'll do it. But just to be clear, if he comes down to him or us. I'm choosing us."
"I wouldn't expect you to," Saturo agreed, "Though I imagine that unless they can find another special grade lying around, Kiniro should be able to handle himself. I just need you two to be an assurance that there's no outside influence."
"I think we can handle that," Hakari grinned, already imagining how much he could flip his sudden windfall of money into at the pachinko slots, 'Just gotta keep the kid alive for a couple of days, how hard can that be?'
---
A droplet of Kiniro's blood splattered onto the ground as the metal skewered through his flesh and out the other side, leaving behind a hole that Kirara quickly filled with the stud she had prepared beforehand. "And there we go, that was the last one. Here, take a look."
Kiniro turned his head to the side and looked in the mirror at the piercings that now adorned his left ear, matching the set on his right. "They're perfect, and you were right about going for gold over silver."
"I get you wanted them to match your hair, but the contrast between the gold and your skin tone is to die for," Kirara grinned with a sparkle in her eyes as she looked over her handiwork, "Can't believe you were able to do all of them in one sitting, barely even flinched."
"Pain doesn't really get to me," Kiniro grinned, "Which is a good thing, I wouldn't get nearly as much use out of my healing factor otherwise."
"Healing factor?" Hakari sat up in Kirara's bed, speaking up for the first time since they had all entered her room, "You can heal yourself with your technique."
"Yeah, but it's a bit of a process. Much easier to heal others, though I haven't fought alongside someone yet, so I'm just guessing that my technique will register the actions of others even if I'm not their target." Kiniro rambled quickly, losing Kirara and Hakari in the jumble of words.
Kirara scratched her head, "So just how exactly does your technique work?"
Kiniro looked between Kirara and Hakari and found the same look of confusion, "Alright, I guess I should start with the basics. Are either of you familiar with the seven deadly sins?"
---
"That's a stupid, cursed technique," Hakari muttered as he lay back out on the bed.
"Hakari," Kirara chastised.
"I don't mean that as an insult, my technique is stupid as well," Hakari muttered before he slowly grinned, "It's not even guaranteed to work a vast majority of the time."
"That's why it's so powerful," Kiniro stated, making Hakari look over, "One of the core tenets of sorcery. Revealing one's hand, binding vows. All allow the invoker to display a greater degree of power by opening themselves to greater risk or putting them at a situational disadvantage. Do you ever wonder why that is?"
Hakari held Kiniro's gaze for a moment before looking up at the ceiling, "Not really, it makes total sense to me. It's just like going all in on green; you know you're probably not going to win. But those few seconds when that ball is going round and round…you feel damn near invincible."