As I opened my eyes I noticed I wasn't in my room.
"Ugh…" I grunted with pain as a white light blinded me. I closed my eyes and put an arm in front of my eyes.
"You're awake," a feminine voice I recognized said calmly. "You've been unconscious for eight hours."
I opened my eyes with my arm still covering them from the light. I looked at the room searching for Shoko. It was the medical room of Jujutsu High. The faint smell of disinfectant and smoke from a cigarette hit me in the nose. Shoko was standing there, at her side an ashtray, her pack of cigarettes and lighter on a table. She was smoking a cigarette looking at me with a smile.
"You know you are lucky as hell, no?" She said, taking a drag of her cigarette. "If you arrived just a minute later the venom would have reached your brain and you would be dead."
Without saying a word I sat up with a little struggle. I looked at the arm I lost in the battle, now regenerated.
"It was difficult to regenerate your arm. You almost lost it because of the venom," she said, flicking her cigarette on the ashtray.
"I see…" I said before standing up with difficulty.
"Be careful," she said, putting the butt of the cigarette on the ashtray before approaching to help me.
"I'm okay," I said, putting a hand up stopping her.
"Okay, I will go get some painkillers for you. Stay there," she said, leaving the room.
"Well, that ended up better than I expected," I said, moving the freshly regenerated arm. "But in the next days I need to be careful of the higher ups' movements," I muttered, a little anxious. I looked around the room and my gaze settled on the box of cigarettes resting on the table. I stared for a while before Shoko returned with little boxes of painkillers.
"Take this," she said, handing them to me.
"Thanks," I said, taking them and pocketing them.
"I'm glad you survived," she said with a smile looking at me. "When you came here so hurt I thought you were going to die." Her voice started cracking up a bit.
"Shoko…" I said softly looking at her.
"I thought I lost you in that room," she said, little tears coming from her eyes.
I hugged her tightly. "I'm okay now." I started rubbing her back, comforting her.
"Noroi… you are like a little brother to me. If I lost you…." She said softly, hugging me tightly.
"I'm here Shoko, don't worry," I said with a comforting tone.
We stood there hugging for a while before the door opened. Four students came inside looking at us.
I turned to see Yuuta, Panda, Maki and Inumaki looking at us with surprise.
Shoko pulled back, wiped her eyes and looked at them.
"Noroi, if we are interrupting something we'll leave," Panda said with an apologetic smile.
"Don't worry, you didn't interrupt anything. Come inside," I said with a smile looking at them.
"Noroi are you okay? We came a few hours ago to see you and you were still unconscious," Yuuta said nervously.
"Yeah, I'm pretty strong you know. I wouldn't die so easily," I said with a little laugh.
"Yaga said you were on the brink of death and had an arm cut off," Maki said seriously.
"But I'm still alive, am I not?" I said with a grin.
"It's pretty impressive that you killed a special grade curse. That alone shows how strong you are," Panda said with awe.
"Salmon," Inumaki said nodding.
I laughed proudly. "Of course," I said looking at them.
"Noroi," Shoko said, catching my attention. "Yaga gave me this for you. He forgot to give it to you," she said pulling out a sorcerer ID.
"Thank you," I said grabbing it and looking at it.
Grade one. It is exactly what I expected, after all they deployed me to deal with a special grade.
"Well, I'm going back to my house. I'm so tired right now I just want to sleep," I said waving goodbye to Shoko.
"Okay, sleep well and don't forget your painkillers every eight hours," she said with a smile. "Noroi, rest well," she said softly, crossing her arms.
"Okay," I said before turning to the students.
"Well I will catch up later with you guys," I said approaching the door while waving at them.
"Okay," Panda said with a thumbs up.
"Rest well Noroi," Yuuta said with a smile.
"Bye," Maki said with a little smile.
"Bonito flakes," Inumaki said waving at me.
I left the room and started going towards the entrance of Jujutsu High.
In the room Shoko looked at where Noroi stood and sighed. She reached for her box of cigarettes but found nothing.
"Huh? I swear I left it here," she said with confusion. The lighter wasn't there either.
"Well I must have forgot where I put it. Regenerating an arm tired me up good," she said shrugging.
As I strolled through the halls of Jujutsu High I took out my phone to call Kenji. As I called him I left the building I was in and approached the exit of Jujutsu High.
Kenji was already there waiting for me. Sometimes he surprised me with his speed.
"Noroi-sama are you okay? I heard you were injured badly in a mission," Kenji asked worried.
"It's okay Kenji-san, I healed up," I said with a smile. "Could you please give me a ride home?"
"Of course Noroi-sama," he said with a smile as I entered the car.
As he started driving I touched the little box in my pocket.
'Sigh… I don't know if I should try it,' I thought conflicted.
After a while driving I looked at a park that was near my house.
"Kenji could you stop here?" I asked him looking at one of the empty benches.
"At once," he said with a smile before stopping at the side of the sidewalk.
"Thanks," I said before getting out of the car.
As he left I looked around. The people gave me the usual stares but I ignored them and walked towards the empty bench. The people who were running and took a break wanted to sit down in the bench but seeing me approaching they ran away in fear.
I ignored them and sat down on the bench. I looked around. The gazes of the people who were maintaining a certain distance from me and the bench looked at me with fear and disgust.
I ignored them and decided to take out the box of cigarettes I took from Shoko. I opened it and took one. I put it in my mouth and grabbed the lighter from my pocket, lighting the cigarette up.
Taking a drag, an awful taste entered my mouth and I coughed lightly because of the smoke entering my lungs.
"This tastes like shit," I said coughing slightly. It had a bitter taste and I felt a little dizzy.
I was about to throw it but with hesitation I took another drag expecting its taste to be better.
"No, it still tastes like shit," I said coughing a bit.
"Well, well what do we have here," a mocking voice said smugly in front of me.
I looked up to see Gojo with a little smile and a frown.
"I decided to go search for you for a talk and I find you smoking like a hooligan," he said mockingly.
I stared at him and sighed before taking another drag.
"I had a horrible day you know," I said coughing slightly.
"I heard about that and paid a visit to the old fossils." His tone changed to a serious one and his face turned serious. "Those damn fools. I almost killed them all right there," he said while sitting besides me.
I took a drag and looked at him. "It's a pity you didn't kill them," I said while laying on the bench relaxed. "It was pretty difficult to deal with that damned snake."
"I heard about that," he said looking at me. "I'm glad you are safe."
I smiled looking at him. "Well I'm pretty strong you know," I said proudly.
"What? You are weak as hell," he said mockingly. "I could defeat that snake without sweating."
I looked at him deadpan. "You know how gross it was!" I said irritated. "The snake had laid eggs and little snakes tried crawling on to me."
He laughed amused and I looked at him irritated.
Jujutsu Headquarters
"How did he survive!" Saburo shouted angrily. "That snake was a damned special grade!"
"We truly have a powerful dog," the arrogant voice said, laughing at Saburo's anger.
"It was a good decision to make him a sorcerer early," the calm voice said with a little laugh.
"It truly was," the cold voice replied.
"Yes, but the mission Saburo gave him angered the six eyes user. We need to change the person assigning him missions," the commanding voice added.
"What?!" Saburo shouted angrily. "Are you going to yield to the six eyes user?!"
"I felt real killing intent coming from him. If we are not careful he may try attacking us," a deep voice said seriously.
"It's decided now. Takeshi, you will now assign him his missions," the commanding voice said calmly.
"Very well," the calm voice now known as Takeshi replied.
Saburo grunted but didn't say anything.
Noroi's POV
As Gojo and I walked towards the building we talked and laughed.
"When I said that Utahime threw a cup of tea at me, would you believe it?" Gojo said, laughing slightly.
"I would do the same if you teased me like you do with Utahime," I said giggling.
He laughed as we stopped in front of the entrance.
"I have to go Noroi," he said with a smile, but as I was about to say goodbye he put a hand on my shoulder. "Hey, I'm proud of you. You grew to become a powerful sorcerer and a beautiful person. I'm glad I accepted that binding vow back in the day," he said proudly.
I looked at him surprised. "Thank you Gojo," I said smiling at him. "See you later," I said looking at him a last time as I entered the building.
He smiled before turning to leave. "Goodbye Otōto," he muttered softly.
As I walked towards the entrance I entered and Tsumiki, who was sleeping on the couch, stirred awake from the sound of the door.
"Welcome back," she said with a smile rubbing her eyes.
She was so cute I blushed slightly looking at her.
As she stood up and walked towards me her smile changed to a frown.
"You smell awful," she said covering her nose, "and you smell like you've been smoking," she said with an angry voice.
"Huh? I don't know what you are talking about," I said staring at her blankly.
"You lie awfully bad you know," she said with a frown. "Have you eaten?" she asked a little worried.
"Actually I didn't have anything to eat for all day," I said, my stomach rumbling in protest.
"Go shower and I'll make you something to eat," she said with a soft smile.
I smiled at her. "Okay," I said walking towards the bathroom.
As I entered the bathroom I took off my clothes and entered the shower.
I turned the water and cold water started falling on my skin. I shivered slightly and adjusted the water to be a little warmer.
I grabbed the soap and started cleaning myself up.
As I finished I left the shower and stared at my ripped hakama.
With a sigh I grabbed a towel and after drying up I wrapped it around my waist. I grabbed the broken pants and left the bath.
"Noroi have you fini—" Tsumiki, already putting my food on the dining table, turned to look at me and blushed furiously. "W-what are you doing?" she asked softly looking away from me.
"My pants broke so I'm going to my room to put some new ones on," I said looking at her with confusion.
"O-okay. F-food's ready," she said nervously.
"Okay," I said before entering my room.
As I entered my room and closed the door behind me I dropped the towel and grabbed black hakama pants from my drawer. My haori was absolutely destroyed by that snake so I grabbed a white one and left the room.
I looked to see Tsumiki now relaxed sitting at the table waiting for me.
I approached and sat down looking at the food. I saw a bowl of rice and a steak sitting there. I stared at them with hunger. "Thanks for the food Tsumiki," I said before digging into the food.
"Is it good?" Tsumiki asked with a smile looking at me enjoying the food.
"Delicious," I said after swallowing the food I had in my mouth.
"I'm glad," she said smiling while supporting her head with her hand.
I stopped eating and stared at her for a while. 'I almost died today without telling Tsumiki about how I feel,' I thought while staring at her.
"Noroi? Something happened?" she said with a little blush.
"Tsumiki," I said seriously putting my chopsticks down. "Do you want to go out for dinner tomorrow with me?" I asked seriously.
She seemed a little surprised by the question. "Of course," she replied looking at me with a smile.
I smiled at her, taking into my mind her beautiful face that combined with her gentle personality made her so charming that I could only stare at her for a while.
She smiled and returned my gaze with affection.
Suddenly a sound interrupted our stare contest.
We turned to see Megumi in front of his bedroom door.
He looked at me seriously but I noticed his gaze softened slightly. He nodded at me and started heading towards the entrance.
"Megumi, where are you going?" Tsumiki asked softly looking at him.
"To the library," he said shortly before leaving the apartment.
Tsumiki sighed but didn't say anything.
I stared at the door where he left for a while before continuing eating my food.
Geto's POV
My blood boiled with rage as Manami notified me of the mission they sent my little brother to.
"Those old fools dared to try to kill my brother without lifting a finger." My cursed energy flared around me in response to my emotions. "They are worse than the monkeys that come here every day. I'll kill them when I take Rika from Okkotsu Yuuta."
"It seems I'll have to visit Jujutsu High sooner. I'll try to convince him to come to his family so I could protect him." Thanks to the binding vow placed on Satoru I would only protect my brother so he wouldn't fight any sorcerer. I don't want Satoru killing him.
I looked at Manami who was a little tense feeling my cursed energy leaking from my body.
"Manami, notify the family. We are visiting Jujutsu High tomorrow morning," I instructed her while walking towards my usual seat.
"Yes, at once," she said before turning to leave.
"Wait for me otōto, I'm coming for you," I muttered with determination.