Three days after meeting the clan guy, Yoshi meets him again.
"This is a joke, right?" she asks out loud, staring directly at the same asshole that put a bounty on her head. He's at the entrance of the school, looking smug as shit next to a silent man (A servant? Chauffeur?) and Ijichi, who might just be the only reasonable sorcerer in all of Japan.
(Gojo, of course, she never assumed was reasonable in the first place.)
"What's wrong, girl?" he taunts, "You need two sorcerers to verify your rank, and I haven't been convinced of your competence just yet."
Yoshi stares at him for a moment, reflecting on what she knows of clans, of Maki and Megumi, of everything he said to her on the rooftop in Queens, and everything he's done since then. Thanks to Gojo and the school, the bounty had been lifted. But then Yoshi got the wifi password, opened up her messaging app, and found out her apartment was burned down.
no one was hurt, Wendy texted her yesterday. but there's nothing left! rip my wardrobe. lucky I had that crappy date with sam, huh?
Clearly, burning down her home hadn't been enough to soothe his ego. Making the trip to Tokyo's campus, forcing his way onto Yoshi's mission—he had a score to settle now.
Behind Yoshi and Ijichi, poorly hidden by a short dividing wall, Nobara is whispering furiously to the other students. If they weren't here to spy on her, Yoshi would call out the clan guy for being such a petty piece of shit at this point. It wouldn't be a good example for the students.
"I'm concerned… that there may be a conflict of interest here," Yoshi says, choosing her words with care. "This was supposed to be a solo mission." The clan guy deserves far less politeness, but openly defying a prissy rich heir is much the same as taking a toy from a spoiled four year old. Both will throw tantrums.
Yoshi looks at his smug face, and finds herself missing her little team of baseball brats more than ever. Even Cindy, that little shit, who played in the outfield so she could pick dandelions.
"I'm sorry, Yoshi-san. But the decision was beyond my control, and the sooner you get to Nagano, the better," Ijichi bows several times to her as he says this. The man looks so stressed, Yoshi almost feels bad for him. The incidents in Nagano did seem very serious, and it's why Yoshi agreed to check it out.
"And I've been trying to contact Gojo-san all morning," Ijichi continues, "But I'm afraid he's still abroad, and he did not say when he'd be back—"
"Did you really think you could hide behind that man?" Ijichi shuts up as the clan guy laughs mockingly. "I wonder what he promised you? Gojo might be strong, but he's no savior."
Ah. Now the clan guy is interrupting her because she won't pay him any attention. Yoshi exhales sharply. "No need to state the obvious," she grumbles, looking pointedly at the ginkgo tree above them instead of at the clan guy. "Are you driving, Ijichi-san?"
"We'll take my personal car," the clan guy answers first, signaling to his servant with a flick of his hand.
The silent man bows respectfully, and Yoshi really, truly, wants to not be here. He starts walking towards a slick black sedan, one that looks exactly like the fancy car he used to stalk her in New York.
Yoshi stays put, staring at clan guy's ridiculous traditional clothes.
He looks back at her, suspicious. "Having second thoughts?"
"No. I just need a minute," she calls to him, turning away from the clan guy before he has a chance to look annoyed. Yoshi jogs back through the torii gates, towards the brick wall where her students are hiding.
Nobara curses Megumi out for being too obvious, and the glasses girl smacks them both as Yoshi stops in front of the kids. The onigiri kid is there too, which Yoshi hadn't noticed at first. "We were totally not spying!" Nobara declares with aggressive sincerity. "I just wanted to know who the asshole was!"
"Shake," the shorter boy adds solemnly.
"You can't be serious about this, Yoshi," The older girl's eyes are fixed on her, her jaw clenched in anger. She's part of the same clan, and probably grew up alongside the heir before leaving. "At least take one of us with you. No woman should be alone with that guy."
Megumi and the onigiri boy flinch ever so slightly, not quite looking at glasses girl or her uncle. Nobara doesn't react at all, except to lean her shoulder against the other girl's.
There's a lot that glasses girl could be implying with that statement, and Yoshi, unfortunately, can't ask her about it right now. But it's alright, because the students won't be on this mission.
Yoshi stares at the four of them with cool black eyes. She didn't actually think about what to say before walking over here. She only did it to waste the clan guy's time, but the kids looked invested in what she had to say. "First of all… it won't happen, but if I die because of that guy, tell Gojo I'm taking him down with me."
"Tch." Glasses girl scowls, but she only does it to cover up her smile and Yoshi isn't fooled. "Do you mean my uncle or Gojo?"
"Good question," Yoshi acknowledges, and proceeds to not answer. "Second of all, take this and leave it in the break room or Shoko's office." She unstraps one of her slap bracelets and flicks it at Megumi.
"Why?" He grumbles, catching the bracelet before it hits his face. "What is this? Are these—sutras?" he realizes, squinting at the markings. They weren't sutras he recognized, but most sorcerers don't rely on talismans these days.
"It's how I sent Todo to Kyoto," Yoshi tells him shortly. "The school is hidden, so I—" Yoshi hesitates when she sees the instant curiosity in the four students.
"How do you make them?! Can anyone make them?" Nobara demands. "Do they have to look this ugly?"
"Later," she says quickly, holding up her hands to stop them from asking anything more. "Thirdly, thirdly!" Yoshi speaks up over their protests, "Third of all, I don't have much time here, so listen—I left some stir-fry in the fridge."
The students gawk at her. Man, the look on their faces is hilarious.
"Are you joking? Is this some American thing I don't understand?!" Nobara demands shrilly.
"I was going to wish you luck," Megumi mutters. "Nevermind."
"Okaka men-tai-ko," the onigiri boy snaps, looking shocked into annoyance.
"That was so anticlimactic," Nobara moans. "Why did you save that for last? Wait! Are you gonna kill Gojo-sensei if he eats your leftovers? Let me know, I wanna see you fight him."
"No, I want someone to eat it," Yoshi explains, delighted by their continued exasperation. Nobara collapses on Megumi's shoulder dramatically. Glasses girl pinches the bridge of her nose. "I'll be gone for at least a day or two, and I don't want to be wasteful." She steps back, waving at them. "I'll see you later. Don't be idiots, okay?"
"You get less cool every day, Sensei!" Nobara shouts back. "Go kick some ass!"
Yoshi almost breaks character to laugh. When did she ever say she was cool?
When she reaches the campus gates again, the clan guy looks ready to kill her. "What were you doing?"
"I'm a teacher," Yoshi answers, slow as molasses and duller than dust. "Those are my students, I needed to tell them I'd be gone for a while."
"Fucking women," he rolls his eyes, marching off to his car. "You're wasting time. They know you have a mission." The driver opens the backseat of the limo and the two of them shuffle inside.
"Well they know now," she points out, keeping a straight face as she looks around the car. "Because I told them."
Yoshi's never been in a limousine before. It's not one of those stretch limos with room for ten, but she hadn't expected the interior of the car to be laid out with seats that faced each other.
"You're doin' it on purpose," he scoffs, sitting diagonally across from her. At least it'll be easier to not look at him this way. "Don't provoke me, girl. You won't like what you find."
Yoshi watches as the campus gateway grows smaller and smaller in the rearview window. "Or what, boy? You'll burn down my house?" she asks baldly.
His face spasms spectacularly at being called a boy, he has no chance to taunt her about her apartment. "You're not goin' to come back from this mission," he says wrathfully.
"Mm, that seems to be the consensus—"
"—But if you keep openin' yer mouth, I swear I'll bring ya back in pieces."
It's a chilling promise. Or it would be, if Yoshi were the one saying it. But normal people—be it sorcerers or civilians or ancient evil curses—toss around promises like dollar store candy. They're lazy, worthless words. Stale before they're even handed out. Never meant to be consumed.
Oh, he'll definitely try to kill her on this trip. She has no doubt about that. The threat is real, technically.
Yoshi scratches her ear, bored. The threat is real, but she's heard better threats from the homeless guys in Washington Square Park. He expects to take her off-guard while she's busy fighting some powerful curse, and that's just idiotic. "You can try," she muses. "But I might take a piece out of you, too."
"You'll die," he says, so self-assured in this that he doesn't even look annoyed anymore.
"Or I'll win," Yoshi replies. She turns, finally giving him her full attention, only to glance up and down at him and say, "I like my odds."
The clan guy glowers at her, but doesn't deign to reply. Her luck is good today: he says nothing to her for the remainder of the car ride.
—/—/—/—
Halfway into the driest car ride of the century, Yoshi takes out her phone. After searching through her contacts for a few minutes, she finally comes across the name 'Maki - glasses' and texts her.
Yoshi: it's 'xenon' or something
Yoshi: right?
Maki - glasses: what
Yoshi: your family name?
Maki - glasses: oh my god you idiot
Maki - glasses: how has he not killed you yet?
Yoshi: …so it's not xenon
A/N: i've noticed there's a lot of followers for this story, so thanks for reading!