CW: blood mention, violence, Gojo Satoru being a dick
"So after that, she started scribbling on the floor like a maniac until her blood was too dried up to write with?"
"And then Shoko patched her up," Nanami concludes. "Gojo, who is she?"
Ignoring Nanami's question, Gojo hunches over, leaning his elbows on his knees. Yoshi is still unconscious, resting on an infirmary bed on the other side of the room, and it's past midnight. According to Shoko, Naoya hadn't used any cursed tool to attack, and the wound was a lateral, abdominal wound below the belly button: it lacerated her intestines, but luckily didn't puncture any major organs.
"Did she give you any idea of what the talisman was for?" Gojo asks, turning over the small coin in his hands. The talisman Yoshi created this time was different from her bracelets, baseballs, and finger tattoos. It was about the width of a 100 ¥ coin, but a little thicker. One side was pearly white, and the other was onyx black. On the black side, written in silver hiragana, was ダメ. On the pearly side, in golden hiragana, she'd written どうぞ.
ダメ. Dame. No good.
どうぞ. Dōzo. Go ahead.
"She was incoherent by the end of it," Nanami admits. "She drew the final marks, and the whole thing… all her blood seeped into the piece of flesh she brought back from Nagano. I'm pretty sure it was a piece of Naoya. And then it became that coin."
Gojo is pretty sure he knows what this talisman does. "Has anyone seen or spoken to Naoya since the mission?"
"That's a question for Ijichi, not me," Nanami points out, arms crossed. "Gojo. There's been rumors about something happening in Germany…"
"Oh my!" Throwing himself backwards in his chair, Gojo splays out like a wanton, ravished woman. "You've been gossiping about me, Nanami?! My own kouhai?!"
"I'll slap you if you keep that up," the ex-salaryman threatens. "From what I can tell, even you don't know what this woman is capable of. Why hire her?"
Why indeed? "Would you believe me if I told you I just had a good feeling about her?" Gojo muses, gazing at the coin.
"No," Nanami remarks bluntly. "I don't think you're a reliable judge of character."
"Ouch, Nanamin," he simpers.
"You stick your neck out for plenty of sorcerers already, Gojo," Nanami continues. "But we know nothing about this woman. Is it worth the risk?"
I'm not sure yet. Gojo leans back in his chair, stretching. "Let me handle Yoshi. You, Nanami Kento, I've got a different job for you!" Gojo exclaims, throwing his underclassman a grin.
Nanami stares back, impassive. "What is it?"
"You're going to train with a special student of mine. It's time for him to go out and get some field experience so he's prepared for the exchange event…"
—/—/—/—
Yoshi wakes up to someone poking her cheek, and she swats at their hand wildly.
"Finally," a familiar voice says. "How do you feel?"
"Es…stoy cruda," Yoshi groans, rubbing at her eyes.
"Ooh, was that in Spanish? Or did you like, have a stroke?"
"'I feel raw'," she says, blinking her eyes open. "That's what it means."
"Sounds about right," Gojo replies, sitting backwards in his chair with his legs stretched out. "What does peen-chay cabu-ron mean?"
She arches an eyebrow at his horrendous pronunciation of pinche cabrón. "It's Spanish for Zenin Naoya."
Gojo giggles to himself as Yoshi shuffles herself up on the bed. The stab wound has left her with an ache in her abdomen, but it's not bleeding and that's all Yoshi could have hoped for. When she looks at Gojo again, he's rolling a small coin between his knuckles.
Yoshi's breath catches in her throat. "Gojo—"
"What does it do?" he asks bluntly, holding up the coin, its black side facing her. "Tell me, Yoshi, because things aren't looking good for you."
Damn it, Yoshi thinks, I need more time. But she's been stalling for so long already. She can't think of a way out anymore. And it's not just Gojo now, but Wendy…
"No good," Gojo reads out loud. He turns it over. "Go ahead." He rolls the coin over his knuckles again. "I've never seen a talisman like this one. I've never heard of using one's blood as a writing medium. I'm learning a lot of new things today, and I don't like it."
There's no accusation in his tone, but he does look impatient.
It might be time to cut her losses and tell him.
She may not like Gojo, and he may be too similar to Zenin Naoya for her to ever like him, but—well, Yoshi can't actually think of something positive about Gojo. He's smug and pushy and insensitive.
I appreciate his dedication to educating the next generation. He's a weird guy, but that's something.
"I have a deal for you," Yoshi says carefully. "Will you hear me out?"
"…You mean a contract." He tilts head. Then he holds up the coin, white-side facing her. "Go ahead, Yoshi."
Yoshi breathes out, relieved that he's willing to listen. "I will explain everything you want to know about the talismans I have and make," she promises seriously, "But only if you go to the entrance of the school, and make sure Wendy doesn't step foot on this campus."
"Eh?"
His face scrunches up beneath his blindfold. Yoshi raises her eyebrows. "I mean now, Gojo."
"Wait. Really?" He straightens up. "The girl in your Instagram posts is here?"
"You can't miss her," Yoshi affirms. "She has slap-back bracelets, so—"
"I knew that name would catch on—"
"Yes," Yoshi says testily. "Stop her now."
Gojo leans in suddenly, chair creaking ominously, until he's nose to nose with her. "And if I don't?" he murmurs gently, breathing over her face.
"Read the black side of that coin again," Yoshi replies. "Do we have a deal or not, Gojo?"
He sighs loudly, blowing hot air in her face as he sits back. "Yes! Ugh, you're impossible," Gojo whines, "You've got a deal, Yoshi."
—/—/—/—
When Gojo finds her again, Yoshi's not even in the infirmary, but hunched over the countertop of the break room, absently staring down a cup of green tea like it might answer all the mysteries of life if she looks at it long enough.
"Wendy's a real cutie," he comments, plucking the cup of tea from the counter. "And she's gone, so it's your turn now."
Yoshi nods, a tight, uncomfortable look on her face. There's no way she's healed yet, or that Shoko gave her permission to leave the bed.
If he were a more considerate man, maybe he would suggest Yoshi go back to the infirmary to recover. It's four in the morning, and neither of them should be awake in the first place. Yoshi looks wrung out, with dark circles under her eyes and her hair loose and damp over her face. Shoko helped her clean up a bit and gave her new clothes, but Yoshi still looks awful. At the very least, Gojo could tell her to sit down at the table.
"Tell me what the coin does," he says instead, lifting the tea to his lips.
Yoshi turns around, leaning back on the counter next to Gojo. "The coin dictates Zenin Naoya's cursed energy."
Oh no, Gojo thinks, already apprehensive.
"It can be flipped, honestly and without obstruction, once a day to determine whether or not he can use Projection." Then Yoshi raises her eyes to look at Gojo, and there is a new, vicious edge to her gaze. "But I used my own blood to seal it. So once a day, I can use Nudge to alter its outcome. If it's destroyed by anyone but me, he loses access to his technique."
He thinks it over for a moment.
"That's what I thought," Gojo nods to himself, "The execs are going to kill you for that one, Yoshi."
"Yeah," Yoshi nods too, and says no more.
The break room is silent, except for Gojo taking loud slurps of hot green tea. There's only the faintest hint of daylight streaming in through the windows, and a single lightbulb lit above the stovetop. It's too early for anyone else to be up. Yuji might be awake, but he's back in the basement, cloistered away for the month.
"How did Wendy know you were in trouble?"
"Behind my ear," Yoshi replies at once, surprising Gojo with her promptness, "Is a mirror of the sutra on Wendy. It links us."
"Why would you link yourself to a civilian?"
She shakes her head. "That's not a question about talismans. Next."
Gojo continues to drink Yoshi's tea, slurping obnoxiously, and she doesn't even bat an eye. He wonders if it's good or bad fortune that he only ever gets to ask the big questions while Yoshi's sleep-deprived.
"You have talismans, and you have tattooed sutras. What's the difference?"
"Longevity," she answers quietly. "And purpose. They all seal cursed energy. The tattoos are permanent for me, and the physical objects are temporary, meant for others."
Gojo chugs the rest of the green tea, and flings the cup carelessly at the sink.
The crunch of ceramic against metal makes Yoshi lift her head. "Gojo," she complains, "You definitely broke that."
"Could you fix it with a talisman?"
She slides a little further down the counter before sitting back up, breathing unevenly. "Yes. It'd be faster to fix a cup with super glue, though."
"Faster?"
"You didn't see how much I had to write just to make that fucking coin. Shit takes time," Yoshi grumbles.
"Fair enough," Gojo agrees, a smile creeping onto his lips again. "What's your most dangerous seal?"
She clicks her tongue. "Too vague. I don't know."
"Which one of those seals lets you disrupt Infinity?" he asks instead.
Yoshi groans unexpectedly, dropping her head backwards to glare at the wooden ceiling panels. "I was hoping to avoid that one."
"You can't avoid it now," Gojo pushes off from the counter and swings around to face her. "Enough stalling."
"It's on my foot," she says tonelessly, still looking away. "It nullifies cursed energy."
Gojo freezes.
Nullifies. Like—?
He straightens up and slaps a grin on his face before Yoshi notices. "Show me?"
Baffled, Yoshi tries to clarify, "It's on the bottom of my foot."
Gojo reaches for a chair, letting it scrape noisily along the ground before he sets it up next to Yoshi. He gestures to it theatrically. "Your throne awaits."
She stares at him for a long time, reluctant. "…Can't I just draw it or something?"
"But Yoshi!" Gojo explodes dramatically, "I wanna see it!"
"I'm not lying," she tries again, jaw clenching. "I can't lie about talismans right now, that was the point of making it a contract—so you'd believe me."
He knows that already. Yoshi could have contacted Wendy herself to keep her away, he's sure she knew a way for that, but instead she formulated a vow with Gojo for mutual benefit. Contracts between sorcerers were serious, even when the content was insignificant—her promise to tell him about talismans was made valuable by the nature of presenting it as a transaction of service and knowledge.
So yes, Gojo knows she isn't lying. But he has to see it. Has to know for sure. He drops down into a second chair, and points to the empty one for her.
"Sit," he insists.
Groaning, dragging her feet, and muttering swear words, Yoshi sits. She uses her left foot to kick off her right shoe and sock instead of bending over to untie it properly.
"Remember how I got stabbed yesterday?" she grouses, hands over her stomach as she slumps backwards. "I can't raise my le—fucking stop, ow, shit," she gasps the rest of her sentence in English when Gojo pulls her up by the ankle.
He ignores her, keeping Infinity active since he's not really keen on touching or smelling her bare feet. This time, he has no problem maintaining the infinity between them, holding but not touching her skin.
The tattoo on the bottom of Yoshi's foot doesn't resemble any sutra he knows. It's more like a big, jagged symbol, scrawled like a calligraphy character. But it resembles something he's seen before, a weapon he got rid of long ago. Unlike most of Yoshi's tattoos (that he's seen) this one isn't colored in the same jet-black ink.
"It's faded," Gojo notes, almost pressing his thumb over the ink before deciding that's a little too weird. "How old were you when you got this one?"
"You're—te patearé, don't be weird about this," Yoshi says reflexively, and personally, he thinks she looks delightfully frazzled right now.
Gojo's face splits into a grin despite himself. "I've unlocked Spanish Yoshi, huh?"
Her eyes stay glued to his hand over her ankle, brow furrowed. "You better not have a foot fetish, Gojo."
"Ha!" He cackles. "You've been holding back, haven't you? I didn't think you had a sense of humor!" Then he releases Infinity on a whim and presses his thumb on her foot anyway, because he's curious about the thrum of energy behind the ink. The situation's already weird, so he may as well make it weirder. "Your big toe looks wonky, Yoshi, how many times have you broken it?"
"Shut up," she snaps, her toes curling in response. "I got that tattoo when I was ten."
"2006, right?" Gojo asks lightly. That was the same year the jujutsu order recorded a curse in New York, after a decade of absence. The same year that the Star Plasma Vessel died... "What went wrong?"
Yoshi jerks in his hold, but Gojo doesn't let her go yet. He wonders if she's ticklish. "Faulty seal," she says curtly. "It's imperfect, that's why it looks faded."
"Oh, so not every talisman you make is infallible," he muses. Then his grip tightens on her foot, and he asks seriously, "So... What would happen if I cut off this foot?"
"Uh." She looks perplexed. "I'd die, I guess."
Gojo cocks his head. "Losing a limb isn't fatal."
"Losing this one would fuck up my other tattoos." Yoshi pants, losing the color in her face. She's braced both hands against the seat of her chair now, teeth gritted. "Like losing an important line of—computer code."
He lifts her ankle a little higher.
"I'm gonna kick you in the face," she gasps. "Are you done yet?"
"I'm still looking," Gojo lies. "If I copied this, would it work for me?"
"No," she shakes her head. "Nothing I do can be copied."
Gojo hums. "Good..." He lowers her leg enough for it to stop aggravating her gut wound. "I had a feeling you were one of a kind, Yoshi."
Yoshi lets out a harsh exhale, wiping her damp neck. "I'm sorry you had to find out this way," she says suddenly, looking contrite. Gojo stares at her, suddenly apprehensive again.
"Takana…?" says a young voice from the doorway.
"Gojo-sensei has a foot fetish," Yoshi explains to Toge apologetically.
"LIES!" Gojo screeches, yanking on her leg and kicking her chair backwards in one move. Yoshi yelps as she crashes to the floor, landing in a sprawl on her back. "WE WERE HAVING A MOMENT!"
A/N: Spanish translations!
pinche cabrón - fucking bastard
te patearé - I'll kick you