An unknown energy signature on campus immediately sets off the school's security. It's Yoshi, who's never stepped foot on campus before, but Gojo's presence beside her quickly stops any staff members from defending the school.

Still, it means Yoshi and Gojo get an audience when they arrive on school grounds, and they all get to see Yoshi struggle to not pass out from Gojo's ridiculous speed. She's doubled over, shaking and trying to breathe normally while Gojo hovers over her like an overly curious child at the zoo.

"Oh. Must be the g-forces," Gojo hypothesizes, watching her with shameless interest. "I use my technique to shield people from it, but I guess it doesn't work so well on you." Though if she'd completely negated his technique, she'd be grievously injured, not winded. "I know I said I wasn't mad about Germany, but this does make us even for that gut punch."

"Shut up already," Yoshi wheezes back, shuddering and pallid.

"Gojo," Yaga grits his teeth. "What the hell is going on?"

"Nothing to see here, carry on!" Gojo exclaims, flapping his hands. "I'm giving a tour to a prospective teacher!"

Yaga shifts his gaze to the young woman at Gojo's side. She's still panting, but meets his gaze as calmly as she can.

The rest of the security begins to disperse, but Yaga stays back to deal with Gojo. "Is that true?" the principal asks warily. The woman next to Gojo seems pretty young to be teaching.

"Absolutely not," Yoshi answers crisply, pushing back her bangs. "I'm not looking for a position here."

"But I think we should hire her anyway," Gojo tacks on, just to be contrary. "She needs protection from assassins and creepy old men that wanna pump babies into her."

Yoshi visibly balks, for the first time, at hearing Gojo say that with a straight face. "What?"

"What?" He parrots back innocently. "It's the truth, Yoshi, I know how these people work," Gojo notices the disgust written plainly on her face. "They're a bunch of old misogynists. 'If you don't pass on your technique to a male offspring, what use are you alive?' That's their school of thought."

Yoshi looks away from him, ignoring the sickening roil in her guts. "Just get on with the tour, Gojo-san. Please."

"Look at that, she's polite," Gojo eagerly points out, flashing a hopeful grin at Yaga. "She reminds me of Nanami!"

"Right…" Yaga continues to frown. "But who are you? I've never seen you before, and your curse signature is completely foreign to the campus."

Yoshi doesn't bow, but she does incline her head—it's not exactly polite in the way Gojo claimed, but it's the most respectful thing she's done all day.

"My name is Yoshi. I'm from New York. Nice to meet you."

"Yoshi…?" Yaga trails off leadingly, expecting a full name.

"Yo. Shi. That's it," she shrugs, as if there's nothing odd about it at all.

"I see. And… how do you and Gojo know each other?" Yaga asks them skeptically.

She doesn't answer, but looks at the tall white-haired sorcerer beside her. Gojo points his thumb back at Yoshi and grins with too many teeth. "We met in Germany."

Recognize flashes in Yaga's eyes, and then it gives way to intrigue. "Is that so? Well… try not to drive her off too quickly, Gojo."

"Huh?! What's that supposed to mean?" Gojo demands, feigning shock. "Yaga-sensei, you're too cruel…"

—/—/—/—

"—And that's the track and the soccer field, because we're actually like a real school and kids still need exercise! And there's the freshmen dorms, yes it's just a little building, that's because we… have only two freshmen right now… Oh! There's my favorite shady spot, you see the vending machines? It's perfect, it has the best drinks, when I was a student I would just lay on top of the machines and drink soda—"

The campus is peaceful, despite what it is. At first glance, it seems like an idyllic temple, home to priests with quiet lives of prayer and meditation. There's a track and field, as Gojo mentioned, and a few other facilities that support the outward appearance of a small religious school.

As Gojo prattles on about everything in sight, Yoshi wonders what it would've been like if she'd grown up in a place like this; if she'd been trained like this. With a whole community that told her how evil the world is, with a hierarchy of power and authority rooted in the bedrock beneath her feet.

Yoshi doesn't think she'd hate it, if she were born into it. She can't fault those born into this world for not hating it.

But even if she were born into this cult, they'd hate her, wouldn't they?

She pushes down those thoughts. "You're a horrible tour guide," Yoshi interrupts Gojo, rubbing at her eyes. How long has it been since she slept?

"Hush, I was getting to the best part! Now, that tree over there—"

"Gojo-sensei!" A teenaged boy approaches at a jog, waving them down. A student, most likely.

"Sensei?" Yoshi peers at the student and then Gojo, her skepticism stronger than her growing exhaustion. "You teach here?"

"Oya oya," Gojo protests. "Why do you sound so shocked? Of course I teach here, haven't you been listening?!"

"You talk a lot," Yoshi shrugs. "I can only pay attention for so long."

"Unfortunately, he does teach here," the student confirms, slowing down as he takes note of Yoshi. "Who are you?"

Yoshi mirrors his hesitant frown. "Nice to meet you," she says, almost chidingly, "My name is Yoshi."

"Oh," the boy blinks, somehow looking even more uncomfortable than before as he gives a short bow. "Nice to meet you too. I'm Fushiguro Megumi."

Yoshi jerks her head towards the white-haired teacher. "If you need Gojo, go ahead. I'll be leaving soon anyway."

"Oh," Megumi says again, straightening up a little. "Well, uh—"

"Yoshiiiii, you wanna get rid of me that badly?!" Gojo wails, slumping against a low stone wall. "Just sprinkle salt on my wounds, why don't you?"

Yoshi recalls her attempt to jump off a building to avoid Gojo and Zenin, but decides against bringing it up. "If you're actually a teacher, then your student is your priority," Yoshi says instead, nodding towards the tall and skinny teenager in front of them.

"See?!" Gojo exclaims suddenly, lifting himself up alertly. "Megumi, are you hearing this? Wouldn't she make a great teacher?! She already thinks like one!"

"Um," Megumi grunts, looking exasperated. "I think… I'd need more information before deciding that."

"I'm not looking for a position here," Yoshi clarifies for the boy, arms crossed. "I already have a job, and I'm not a—"

"Don't say it again!" Gojo groans.

Yoshi pauses to shoot Gojo an unamused look, and then enunciates herself clearly and slowly, "I am not a jujutsu sorcerer."

Gojo throws up his hands in frustration. "You're killing me with the riddles, mystery girl!"

Yoshi frowns and turns her attention back to Megumi. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" Megumi asks, curious.

"I've only spent an hour with him and I already miss Zenin. I feel sorry that Gojo's your teacher."

Megumi's face twitches, almost betraying a smile as Gojo gives an inarticulate gasp of horror. "Ah. Well, Zenin-senpai's company has always been better than Gojo's."

Yoshi nods, but Gojo suddenly makes a noise of extreme frustration, "Megumi, no! She's not talking about Maki!" Gojo hollers, devastated. "She means Zenin Naoya! Yoshi, an hour ago he was trying to kill you!"

She meets Gojo's face with fathomless eyes. "That's the point, Gojo-san."

He gasps again, "You're breaking my heart!"

"Wait," Megumi looks at her worriedly, "What does that mean? Why would Zenin Naoya try to kill you? When?"

Yoshi pushes her sleeve back to check her watch. "An hour ago," she confirms.

"But why?" Megumi continues to frown.

She arches an eyebrow at the student. "It must've slipped my mind," Yoshi says dryly, and Megumi backs off. "Next time he attacks me I'll make sure to ask."

"Sorry," he says, flustered. "I didn't mean to sound insensitive."

"It wasn't insensitive," Yoshi assures him. "It was just a dumb thing to say." Gojo barks out a laugh and Megumi grimaces. "By the way, who's Maki?"

"She's a second-year student," Megumi answers. "She's a Zenin, but since Maki doesn't have cursed energy, she's not recognized as a sorcerer by the clan…" He hesitates, but then asks, "Is that what you meant by saying you're not a sorcerer either, Yoshi-san? Because of clan politics?"

Just when Gojo thinks she's going to respond with another sarcastic deflection, Yoshi throws him off once again.

"Clan politics is part of the reason," she shrugs. "Sorcerers are extremely conservative, even in America. I'd rather stay away."

"Oh?" Megumi's eyebrows begin to creep upward. "You're American?"

"Yeah." She says nothing more, but glances at Gojo like he's annoying her.

"What?" Gojo whines immediately. "What did I do?"

"We were supposed to spar once Gojo returned from overseas," Megumi says flatly. "Clearly, he forgot about that."

"I did not!" Gojo lies through his teeth. "But since Yoshi's here and raring to go—"

"Raring to go?" Yoshi repeats disdainfully.

"—why don't you spar with her today, Megumi-kun?" Gojo takes a graceful step back, flourishing his hand between them. "Yoshi is a special-grade sorcerer, so—"

"What the hell is a special-grade?" Yoshi snaps. "I'm not any kind of sorcerer. Would you stop lying about that?"

"But you defeated a special-grade on your own," Gojo answers swiftly, "And I think you've been doing it for years, right under our noses. Which means I can nominate you for a promotion to special-grade." He just needs a second high-grade sorcerer to back up his nomination, and well, Gojo has the perfect person in mind for that…

"You can't nominate me if I'm not a—"

"I'm also petitioning you to be recognized by the jujutsu order, so why don't I kill two birds with one stone?" Gojo grins. "C'mon, Yoshi. We need more sorcerers like you, you know that."

Yoshi looks away from the two of them. Her face twists in fury before the emotion is quelled and replaced by deep and wholehearted disdain. It's strange to watch it all play out so openly. Sorcerers were a stoic bunch, quick to snuff out any wayward feelings. Yoshi was careful too, and always in control of herself, but she never tried to hide her emotions either.

Finally, she meets their gazes. "I'm not opposed to sparring as long as it doesn't take too long," she says curtly to Megumi. "But seeing that I'm a stranger and not a sorcerer and Gojo is your actual teacher, I don't recommend it."

Megumi stares at her for a long moment. "…How did you exorcise a special-grade curse without knowing what it was?" he asks bluntly. "Frankly, I don't understand what you're even doing here if you're not a sorcerer."

She frowns up at Megumi and Gojo, brushing her bangs away from her forehead. Yoshi has already explained this twice today, but she can't blame this kid for asking. "I know what curses are. I've always been able to see them. I don't work within the jujutsu world, so I don't know your… terminology."

Megumi's eyebrows shoot up in surprise at her admission. And… they're nothing alike, but Yoshi's ignorance strongly reminds him of Itadori…

"'Special-grade' means it's one of the strongest curses around, and takes a lot of power to exorcise," Gojo pipes up, beginning to realize that there's a vast discrepancy in their knowledge of curses and the jujutsu world, one that might explain Yoshi's reticence. "It's a big deal that you handled it, ahem, without me."

Still, Yoshi seems dubious. "If you say so," she murmurs.

"I do say so!" This is such a strange feeling for Gojo. Usually he's the one making people want to tear their hair out, not the other way around. "Do you know what it means to get a special-grade nomination from me? I can't believe I'm the one to say it, but you should be taking this seriously!"

Yoshi stares. "I'm being serious."

"No, you're really not!"

She rolls her eyes. "That's your opinion."

"And somehow I'm the one that's nuts—!"

"If you don't mind," the student cuts in before Gojo can get in one last snipe. "Yoshi-san, I think it could be useful for me to spar against someone other than Gojo-sensei."

He even bows his head a little as he asks, and Yoshi can't bring herself to shoot him down. She appreciates a little deference, especially after meeting Zenin and Gojo. "What sort of sparring do you want? Fists, weapons, cursed energy? Everything at once?"

Megumi bows politely again. "Whatever you'd like."

Gojo's jaw drops. "Megumi is never this nice to me!"

They both ignore him.

Yoshi sizes up the taller teenager, arms still crossed. "What do you need to work on?" she asks, curt and business-like.

Megumi squares his shoulders, sensing the shift in her tone. "I need to be faster, and more efficient with my Shikigami."

She nods, letting her gaze drift away from the sorcerers as she thinks. Then she glances at Gojo, and there's a brightness to her eyes that wasn't there before.

"Gojo-sensei," she says in that same dour tone, but Gojo is 99% sure she's mocking him, "Do you think your student is better at dodging than you?"

A/N: aaand there's chapter 5. what do you think?