To Megumi's great regret, he assumed Gojo was sort of just hyping up this lady so much because he wanted to date her. It wouldn't be the first time Gojo cranked up the charm to an obnoxious level just to get a girl to look twice at him.

Thwack!

A third baseball bashes Megumi in the ribcage. "Fuck!" Megumi yelps, stumbling to his knees. He dismisses his remaining Shikigami and falls flat on his back.

"I told you not to block," Yoshi calls over to him. He had summoned his rabbits at the last second, but it hadn't been enough to stop her stupid baseballs.

"It wasn't just to block," Megumi says, unconvincingly. "It was also to—keep you from aiming."

"Ah. You wanna know how long you lasted?" she asks, pressing a button on her watch to stop the timer.

"Not really," he mutters.

"Five minutes."

Megumi groans, startling himself by how loud and defeated he sounds. "How do you keep hitting me?" Megumi asks, but it comes out sort of whiney and he hates that. He slowly lifts up his torso so he's not splayed out like a starfish on the grass. He doesn't try to get to his feet. "Every time I think I've dodged, I miscalculate."

Yoshi hums, rubbing the spot on her arm where his divine dog tried and failed to bite her. "I think you took my advice too seriously," she sighs, crouching next to him. "I told you to dodge instead of block, so that's all you did."

"What did you expect me to do, then?" Megumi grumbles, looking down. Yoshi's shoes are scuffed up and falling apart, and Megumi feels a sad sense of kinship with them right now.

She shrugs. "Accept that you're too slow to dodge, and come up with a better plan."

Megumi freezes, stricken by how obvious her answer seems. "I… I didn't think of that."

"You did, actually," she corrects him quietly. "The rabbits were a good idea to hide yourself, but you made the decision too late," Yoshi says, trying to sound charitable and falling short. "Gave me too much space to wind up, too."

"Why carry the bat?" Megumi wonders aloud, stretching out his legs. "You just pitched baseballs at me." Not that he's complaining. He was bruised, but he'd probably have broken bones if she'd attacked with the bat.

She raises the bat lazily with one hand, letting it swing. "I like it."

"It's not even a curse tool," Megumi mutters resentfully. She may not have hit him with the bat, but she certainly whacked around his Shikigami.

"I'm cheap," Yoshi explains curtly. She opens her palm again and touches her finger to one end of the bat. "Curse tools are expensive. Plus, there are strict weapon laws in New York, but nothing against carrying sports equipment."

Megumi watches the baseball bat sink into that indiscernible space between her skin and the empty air. "That looks a lot like my technique," he says, staring at the blurred line of skin on her palm. It's hard to describe what's happening to the bat, like his eyes can't quite focus on the right spot.

"The shadows, you mean?" Yoshi looks at him, expectant. "You can use it for storage too, not just the creatures?"

"Yes," Megumi tries to look closer, but Yoshi's bat has already disappeared. He's not sure where the baseballs are. "I don't have anything stored in it right now, but I plan to use it with Maki so we can carry more tools."

Yoshi nods approvingly. "Well, I don't summon, and the medium isn't a shadow. It's actually in my hand."

She raises her hand and spreads out her fingers so he can read the black lettering on her skin.

OPEN CLOSE

Megumi frowns suspiciously. "It's in the ink?" His eyes dart up to her shoulders, where her other tattoos are. "You said the tattoos were just for fun."

"No, I said they were a personal choice," Yoshi says vaguely. Then she stands, and holds out a hand to him. "Another round?"

He considers the bruises forming on his torso. Then he remembers that he lasted only three minutes against Sukuna, before Itadori died. Megumi reaches for her, letting Yoshi pull him to his feet. "Yes, if you don't mind—"

"FUSHIGUROO! YOU STARTED TRAINING WITHOUT ME?!"

Yoshi turns, and sees that they've gathered an audience. Again.

"Another student?" she guesses, noticing the chagrined look on Megumi's face. Then she turns away to retrieve her windbreaker, zipping it all the way up to her throat.

"That's Kugisaki Nobara, the other first-year," he says, indicating the short girl storming towards them in a crisp blue tracksuit.

"Fushiguro, you ass!" Nobara yells, pointing a furious finger at him. "Getting private lessons from a first-grade sorcerer?! One that looks like that?"

Yoshi pauses, her eyes flickering from Nobara to Gojo. "Excuse me?" she asks sharply.

Nobara squawks, looking panicked. "I mean you're super hot and young! It was a compliment!" she blurts out. Then she turns bright pink.

Yoshi stares at the girl, impassive. "No. Gojo told you I was some kind of sorcerer, but I'm not."

Nobara cocks her head to the side. "O-Oh, you mean the ranking? Are you still under review?"

"No," she says again, "I mean I'm not—"

"Wrong!" Gojo chirps, balancing his phone impossibly on the tip of his index finger. "You're a brand-spanking-new first grade sorcerer! You're welcome, Yoshi-chan!"

Yoshi stares back at Gojo, not moving a muscle. If they were alone, she would have snapped by now, but Megumi and Nobara are watching her like a couple of curious toddlers. Of course Gojo had to announce it in front of an audience of teenagers.

She eyes Gojo again. "I need to speak with you privately," Yoshi keeps her voice slow and measured.

"Well, I'm sure we can work out a ti—"

"Right now, Gojo."

Gojo hesitates, his grin wavering. "So demanding, Yoshi! During school hours? You'll wear me out at this rate," he giggles, covering his mouth coyly. The students roll their eyes and groan, already inching away from the white-haired teacher.

"Oh, gross," Nobara complains, losing interest. "You're with Gojo?"

"Hey!" Gojo protests. "I'm a catch. Right, Yoshi?"

Yoshi just stares down Gojo expectantly, no longer willing to continue this conversation until they're alone. He should know by now that if he flakes on her, she'll go straight back to New York, assassins be damned.

Gojo pouts, seeing her reticence. "Fine, fine. We'll talk now. Children, begone!"

Megumi and Nobara throw him matching mutinous looks.

"I said begone! Don't you need to train for the exchange event?! Shoo!" He tries ushering the students away, and after a moment of stubborn back-and-forth, the two teens give in and stomp off to the vending machines.

—/—/—/—

"It hasn't even been ten minutes," Yoshi hisses to him, keeping the anger off her face and out of her voice. "What the hell, Gojo?"

"I know! I work fast, huh? I may have insinuated that our mutual friend would verify your abilities, but don't worry about the details," he flaps a hand carelessly at her. "Ta-da! You're a sorcerer now!"

Yoshi takes a slow, calming breath. "You know I didn't want that," she says in a low voice.

"But you know I'm right," the blindfolded man sing-songs back to Yoshi, a lopsided smile on his face. "Because we need more funny ones like you, and you need Jujutsu Tech's backing if you don't wanna end up in a ditch!"

Yoshi's eyebrows begin to creep up towards her forehead. "So either join your school or die?"

"Now, now, don't be a worrywart," Gojo laughs brightly. "I'll get that bounty sorted out for you too, that just takes longer."

She shakes her head for the nth time today. "I need to go back now. Today."

A flicker of annoyance passes over Gojo's face. Her obstinance runs far deeper than he expected. Ever since his first-year students were assigned to that special-grade mission, which (briefly) killed Itadori, Gojo's been fighting with the higher-ups. He has enough on his plate as is, but he still went out of his way to vouch for Yoshi.

Gojo thinks of the special-grades that attacked him, just hours before he found Yoshi in New York. It was an intelligent curse that someone sent to attack Gojo.

There was something big brewing in Japan, and his students weren't ready for it all. Yoshi, on the other hand...

"You want to go back to New York," he repeats flatly. "Right, of course, because playing babysitter to a dozen rugrats was such an important and fulfilling job," Gojo jokes, but the derision begins to bleed into his words unthinkingly. "You'll just waste all that power of yours? See not, hear not, speak not? A wise way for a non-sorcerer to live."

The words escaped his mouth before he could think about what they really meant, and Gojo regretted it at once. He was referring to the proverbial three wise monkeys, but his brain immediately made the association of monkeys to non-sorcerers, just like…

Yoshi stares up at Gojo, stunned.

"You really think you're hot shit, don't you?" she mutters sharply in English, too quick for Gojo to process the whole sentence. She switches back to Japanese and says, "You can think whatever you'd like of me. I can't control your judgement."

Gojo holds his tongue, noting the edge of genuine vitriol in her voice.

Yoshi folds her hands back into the pockets of her jacket, hiding how her fingers have curled into tight fists. "But don't you dare think you can control me," she warns. "You're so generous, using your connections to help me out, huh? Because you know what's best for me," she says bitterly.

"No," Gojo interrupts abruptly. "I just do what's best for my own agenda, actually. I won't lie and call it benevolence. You're more useful to me alive and in my sight—is that what you needed to hear?"

She gives no reply, but he can see the quiet resolve in her gaze.

On a whim, he leans down towards her, bringing his face level with hers. Gojo is careful not to get too close, like he's trying to approach a feral animal without making it feel trapped. He doesn't blame Yoshi for keeping her guard up—last time he checked his phone, Naoya had already set a bounty of 10 million yen on her head. She was right to be suspicious of sorcerers, especially since this all started after she met Gojo.

He has his blindfold on, so Yoshi's gaze hovers over his brow, estimating his eye-line with a cool sort of detachment. Even with the Six Eyes covered, Satoru can see every twitch of muscle, every micro-expression over her face. She hates his nearness, and wants to run away. What he says upsets her, but she's not afraid of him either.

"But you're strong, Yoshi," Gojo states, certain of himself after watching her spar with Megumi. Her technique had to do with targeting, but it was her overwhelming supply of cursed energy that made her so formidable. "No matter what you say, I keep circling back to it. Why are you so against being a sorcerer?"

She doesn't answer at first, which is no surprise to Gojo. Try to get even a morsel of personal information from her, and this woman acts like he's trying to pry out her molars.

But it's been a long day for Yoshi too. And it seems that Gojo's constant questions and needling have begun to wear her down.

Her shoulders slump. "You've got it all backwards," she says dully, eyes half-lidded. "Why should I be a sorcerer in your jujutsu order when I'm strong enough to do whatever I want?"

A/N: please read & review, i'd love to hear your thoughts :)