The chirping of cicadas is the only sound between them.

Interesting, Sukuna muses in Yuji's head.

"You—know about Sukuna?" he chokes out. "How?"

Wendy looks surprised. "Sukuna?"

"The curse? In me?" he asks, a little frantic.

Her mouth falls open. "The curse in you is Ryoumen Sukuna?!" she whisper-yells, pointing at his cheeks urgently.

"Um," Yuji winces, realizing he's making things worse, "Yes?"

Wendy puts a hand over her mouth, aghast. "That's horrible! That's not okay!"

"Y-yeah," Yuji agrees, growing worried now. "That's. You're not—um, could you not say that so loudly?" It's supposed to be a secret, but would it be better or worse for Yuji if he told a stranger that he was hiding from the jujutsu council? Maybe he should just keep his mouth shut…

"I'm sorry," she immediately quiets down, but continues to stare at Yuji like she's watching a horror film. "I could feel two auras from you, but I didn't think…"

"Auras?" Yuji repeats blankly. "What's an aura?"

Wendy pauses. "Uh… it's like… the floaty cursed energy…?" She makes a sweeping, bizarre hand gesture, pointing to all of him, and Yuji is completely lost. "Or, maybe it's not just cursed energy!" she exclaims suddenly. "You'd feel the same way when—when you walk down a dark alley!"

Yuji feels like he's been kicked in the gut. "You feel like that around me?" he asks, devastated. "Do I feel like bad juju?"

"Not at all!" Wendy gasps, reaching out and holding his shoulders suddenly. "You're really nice! It's just the extra aura that's a little creepy!"

"Oh," Yuji squeaks, unsure of how to react. The hot lady is touching him. He's close enough to count the freckles on her nose. "Thanks?"

Wendy seems to register his discomfort, because she releases him and leans back a little to give him room to breathe. She throws him a sheepish smile. "I'm serious, though, Yuji. You're just a kid. And I bet it wasn't your choice to be a vessel. It never is." Wendy lifts a delicate finger to her face, touching the space just below her eyes as she looks at him. "And those marks below your eyes, they're not… normal. I hope Sukuna doesn't hurt you," she says, her voice impossibly tender.

Startled, Yuji sucks in a sharp breath. He's the sort of guy that likes to think the best of people, even those he's just met, but Wendy—Wendy seems truly kind in a way that goes far beyond his expectations. Fushiguro and Kugisaki have sympathy for him, and Gojo continues to look out for Yuji.

They're all compassionate in their own way, but never so openly and gently.

He's not used to anyone talking to him like this. Even Gramps was more of a tough-love kind of guy.

"I'm okay. I'm not hurt," Yuji manages to speak without letting his voice waver. He doesn't even want to know how red his own cheeks must be at this point. "Thank you for your concern, Wendy-san."

Folding her hands neatly behind her back, Wendy smiles. "You can just call me Wendy without the -san. I prefer it that way."

"Wendy," he corrects himself shyly. "But… If you're not a sorcerer, then how can you see the school? And sense, uh, him?" Yuji wonders, not daring to believe his luck. She's too sweet, Yuji still isn't sure she's real. "And how do you know so much about curses?"

Seeming to anticipate these questions, Wendy doesn't look concerned. "I grew up with Yoshi, my friend that works here. She taught me everything—including how to speak Japanese, but I also took some college courses for that!" She grins, and pushes a lock of glossy hair behind her ears. "Do you know what talismans are?" she asks, tapping her dainty golden earrings. "I can't sense anything on my own, so I have these to help."

Yuji inches closer, taking a careful look. Her earrings look pretty normal to his eyes, but there's tiny engravings all along the round disk hanging from a hook. "Like the paper tags," he says suddenly, remembering the spooky locked room that Gojo tied him up in. There had been countless tags plastered over every surface, all covered in tiny scribbles like the markings on Wendy's earrings. "But I thought those were for sealing curses?"

Wendy lets her hair fall back into place. "Talismans seal cursed energy," she explains happily, "But they can do a lot more than that. Yoshi knows all about it!"

Yuji gives her a contemplative look. Paper tags, sealing powers…. "Wait, does Yoshi do fuinjutsu? Like in Naruto? Is she like a real-life sealmaster?!"

"Ooh," Wendy is wide-eyed with enthusiasm at the thought of this. "I've never called it that before, fuinjutsu expert…" She purses her lip, pensively tapping her chin. "She is! Kind of!"

"That's so cool," Yuji exclaims. Once he made his 'return' to the school, he'd like to meet this Yoshi…

Then Yuji remembers what they were talking about earlier. "Wait, wait, wait, what were you saying about the school and your friend?"

"Hm?"

"You said the school wasn't safe for your friend," he points out. "Why? Is she also—?" Yuji gestures to himself, unintentionally mimicking the flailing hand movement that Wendy did. "Is that why it's not safe here?"

"Oh. Oh! No, you've got it wrong," Wendy says hastily, eyes wide with alarm. "Sorry, sorry! She's not like you. My point was about the sorcerers, you know? They don't really agree with Yoshi's… style."

"Why would—?"

"Is that so?" A deep voice interrupts, right next to Yuji.

"Ahh!" Wendy shrieks in terror, which startles Yuji into screaming too.

"Oh!" Yuji gasps, recognizing his teacher. "Sensei, you're back?!" he wails, clutching his chest, "Don't sneak up like that!"

"Yo," Gojo greets the two of them with a huge smirk. "You must be Wendy. I'm—"

"Gojo Satoru!" Wendy blurts out, eyes rounded with shock. "You're one of the jujutsu guys that Yoshi beat up!"

"Pfft," Yuji slaps a hand over his mouth. "You're joking, right Wendy?"

Gojo slumps forward, throwing an arm over Yuji. "Of course she's joking. Did Yoshi tell you that? After all the grief she's given me over that bounty…. What a hypocrite!" he bemoans, practically laying on Yuji's shoulders. Suddenly, Gojo's muttering in his ear, "Stop talking."

"Eh?" Yuji immediately jerks his head up to look at Gojo, and then quickly falls silent.

Wendy doesn't seem to notice. She's staring at Gojo with open curiosity, fascinated by what she sees. "Where's Yoshi?" she asks, smiling.

"Still on a mission," he replies merrily, letting his arm slide off of Yuji. "You shouldn't be here, Wendy. How did you find the school?"

Her eyebrows shoot up in surprise. Yuji's surprised too, because Gojo sounds kind of… almost… serious.

"Oh!" Wendy laughs unexpectedly. "When I asked, 'Where's Yoshi?' I didn't mean literally… I meant that I wanted to see Yoshi," she says flatly.

"Of course," Gojo hums, "Buuut like I said, Yoshi's on a mission. And for the record, when I asked 'How did you find the school?' I meant, tell me how you found my school."

Feeling like he's about to get caught in a crossfire, Yuji's gaze flickers between Gojo and Wendy. It's almost comical, from an outsider's perspective. Gojo, the strongest sorcerer, unfairly tall and looming over them in all black clothes like a spooky ghost—and Wendy, tiny and dressed in lemon-yellow, setting her hands on her hips like she's about to send Gojo to his room. Yuji sort of wants to intervene, because the look on Wendy's face is getting kind of scary, but Gojo told him not to talk.

"I found it because Yoshi's here, at the school," Wendy says at last. She touches her earrings again. "Please don't lie to me over something so obvious."

"So those talisman earrings were made by Yoshi," Gojo says, ignoring Wendy's words. "I see her signature on them. And you can track her to an untraceable school, huh? Tell me, what else can Yoshi do with talismans?"

Wendy giggles. "Aren't you a sorcerer, Gojo? You should know more about it than me!"

"I should, shouldn't I?" Gojo muses, "Except talismans are tricky things. The more powerful, the more risk you take on. They fell out of style a few hundred years ago."

Sorcerers don't agree with Yoshi's style, Wendy has said. Were talismans banned or something?

Wendy inhales deeply, and then breathes out a great big exasperated sigh. "Either let me see Yoshi, or bring Yoshi out here."

"Can't do that," Gojo quips back. "You're right, she's in the school. No need to fret over her. Why don't I escort you to the airport, hm?"

"That's sweet of you," Wendy coos, and all the warmth is gone from her eyes. "You're really cute, Gojo. I can see why Yoshi likes you."

Gojo lets out a puzzled laugh. "You think so? She hasn't been very kind to me lately."

Yuji is burning with questions at this point. Who is this Yoshi person? What's going on?

"Yoshi is the kindest person in the world," Wendy tells him, playful and wistful at the same time. "I wish I was more like her, but it's just not my nature!" She leans away, taking two steps back from Yuji and Gojo.

"You seem like a nice girl to me," Gojo argues, shifting his weight off of Yuji to stand upright. Alert. Like he's ready for a fight.

Wendy gives the tall sorcerer a long, pensive look. "I'm not." Her voice is gentle, but ironclad. Silk over steel. She moves her hand and before Yuji can blink, Gojo is standing over her, grabbing her wrist and holding it away from her body. She yelps at his speed, flinching backwards unsuccessfully.

"Ah, ah, ah," Gojo tsks, pulling firmly on her arm, "I've already seen that trick, no slap-backs for you, Missy!"

"Sensei," Yuji can't help but protest, watching Wendy squirm uneasily. "Isn't this kind of—?"

"Oh, don't worry about me, Yuji!" Wendy says suddenly, throwing him a dazzling smile before winking at Gojo, leaning in suggestively. "I kinda like it rough!"

Yuji's brain misfires at that statement. Gojo gives a bright laugh. "Well aren't you a cheeky—"

Wendy vanishes.

Gojo is left standing alone, mouth agape. "Eh?" He looks at his hand, flexing his fingers experimentally.

"Ah!" Yuji shrieks. "Sensei, what did you do?!"

"Hm," Gojo shakes out his hand, pulling his blindfold up to peer at the school with one crystalline eye. "That wasn't very nice."

"Did she get into the school?" Yuji gasps, squinting at the spot where Wendy last stood. "Is that bad? How did she do that?"

"No," Gojo replies, pursing his lips in thought. Then he turns to Yuji and explains, "She activated another one of Yoshi's talismans to teleport. An anklet."

"Oh, shit," Yuji blurts out. "That's possible? Hang on, does that mean Yoshi really beat you up?"

"That's a gross exaggeration," Gojo pouts. "It was a minor disagreement. We're over it."

"Is Wendy—uh, bad?" he asks awkwardly. Even as he says it, Yuji feels like he's wrong. "She just wanted to see her friend…"

Gojo is quiet for a moment.

"No, she's not bad," he says calmly. "Neither of them are bad."

"Then… Why didn't you let her in to see Yoshi?" Yuji asks, almost afraid to know the answer. He's only known about Wendy and Yoshi for ten minutes, but he's sort of worried for them now. For some reason, all the talk of bad juju made sense, in a weird way. "Is Yoshi okay?"

"No one's supposed to know you're alive, not even cute girls from New York," his teacher reminds him. "And as for Yoshi… she'll be fine."

Something is off about the way Gojo says it. "Sensei… you mean she is fine, right?"

A tendon in his jaw flexes ominously. "...She'll be fine."