When you roll over onto your side in the early morning, still groggy with sleep, a stinging sensation jolts you awake.
"Ow! What the?" There's a very fresh injury to the inside of your right forearm. Your skin is bright red, tinged with pink around the oddly straight edges
"Ryomen? What happened?" You cradle your arm gingerly, padding to the bathroom sink to wash the injury with water.
"Apologies, there was a bit of a confrontation last night while you slept. I failed to keep you perfectly unharmed..." he sounded genuine, and very full of remorse.
"It seems Fushiguro is harboring some resentment for our actions yesterday."
"Do you mean your actions?" you correct him, knowing full well Fushiguro only retaliated because Ryomen made you steal his finger. That was going to make for an awfully tense breakfast.
You get ready slowly, inhibited already by your arm. Before stepping out, you open your dresser drawer and deposit the four peaches you had picked from Mrs. Hama's tree, only taking one for now. Ryomen will just have to ration the rest out to make them last. It seems like one a day is what he needs.
There's nobody in the dining room when you arrive. There isn't even any coffee made yet.
"Weird...I wonder where everybody is?"
It strikes you as irresponsible for any learning establishment to be so flippant with their organization. It's now day three with barely any teacher interactions. Wasn't there still more for you to learn?
Fushiguro clearly thought so. He had said you were of no help at all. After bestowing the gift of a peaceful passing to Lee's cursed spirit, who definitely didn't deserve that sort of an ending.
"Some sorcerers are too soft when it comes to human curse victims. Their empathy controls them. But only with other humans," Ryomen touches your injured arm absently with your opposite hand.
"He has alot of hatred for me clearly."
"Yeah, I'm probably not helping matters either," you start the coffee maker and sit patiently waiting for the drip. Covertly, you pull the peach from your pocket and inspect it.
Fushiguro had called it cursed fruit. You remember what it did to Lee's spirit, regenerating his strength and shape until he became stronger than he'd been in life. What was it doing to you?
"Ryomen...Why do you need these?"
"Believe me, you don't want to see what happens if I'm unable to feed off cursed life force. It's the only thing that sustains me."
"Cursed life force," you echo.
You recall Itadori's words by the pear tree, "...the only thing Sukuna likes is blood."
The image of Ryomen in his domain, up to his chest in dark red blood comes to mind. "Does this put you off? I can wait until later."
You've been foolish trusting him.
"You knew the tree was cursed, didn't you? That's the only reason why you wanted these, isn't it?"
Silence is your only response. You sigh heavily, bringing the fruit up to your lips. Your teeth pierce the flesh. It's so sweet and juicy, but you can't fully enjoy it now. Finishing, you set the pit aside and get up for your coffee that's finally done brewing.
Cup in hand, you face a window with a view of the rose garden. There's nobody outside either. Starting to feel unnerved, you decide to take a walk with your coffee and view more of the dormitory hall. You recall passing a ledger in the main hallway entrance that looked like it had a map on it. Maybe that could be of interest.
Retracing steps, you locate the printout of the building posted behind a pane of glass. There isn't alot listed, just the dormitory wing, dining hall and kitchen, and... a library.
Huh. Okay, that interests you. It's not too far from where you are, just a couple halls down at a dead end.
The idea of finding a nice book to pass the time was lightening your spirits. Who cares if nobody else is around, you can entertain yourself and stay out of trouble. Following the directions, you turn down what should be the correct hallway. Weird. There's no door at all here. Just a hallway of... nothing. No pictures on the walls, no doors, just three blank walls.
"Huh?"
You backtrack, double and then triple checking the ledger map again. Then walking back, one hallway, two halls...third hallway with nothing in it. What is this the world's laziest labyrinth?
"Am I losing it?" you ask outloud.
"I have a theory...What this looks like is a visual barrier," Ryomen responds.
"Designed to keep out prying eyes."
You huff and take another sip from your cup. Sitting down with your back sliding down against the wall, you sulk quietly.
"Hey...You know who I bet has good eyesight?" you ask with new inspiration.
"Who?" Ryomen asks.
You smirk and set your mug down,
"Thanks for playing along."
Arranging your hands for the sign of Stolas, you chant his name, sending a signal of your cursed energy that you hoped would reach him. Your shadow elongates promptly, stretching and growing. Three golden eyes blink sleepily open. You discover that the giant owl sleeps with his head upside down, and also twisted backwards.
"Uhh... Good morning?" you offer.
"Sorry to wake you."
"You mean good night. I do not do my business in the daylight." he corrects you grouchily. He stretches, unwinding his neck and spreading his wings.
"Why have you summoned me?"
"We're looking for a library. But Ryomen thinks its hidden with a visual barrier. I was wondering if you may be able to help us see it?"
"A library? Well, this is acceptable for me to assist with. Anything for the love of knowledge." He perks a bit and swivels his head around the room.
"Hmmm...You're right, there is a doorway. It's in the middle of the wall there." he gestures with a wing.
"How do we get in?"
"How you get in any room, of course." He stretches his beak open in a yawn.
"Now please, let me go back to sleep. This is a wretched hour."
"I'm sorry to have disturbed you. Again. Thank you for your help," you sign your hands again, withdrawing Stolas back into the shadow realm.
"That wasn't exactly help," Ryomen grumbles.
"Well, he said where the door was at least." You approach the third wall where he had indicated. Right in the middle he said. And you could enter the same way you enter any room.
"Here goes nothing," you reach out, feeling foolish pretending to twist open a doorknob that wasn't there. But you do hear a clicking sound of a latch releasing.
"Oh!" Pulling your arm, you completely swing open a section of the air itself. You peek around nervously to make sure no one is around to see you disappear into thin air. No one. You step through, closing the invisible door behind.
It's dark. You grope around on the wall for anything like a light switch. Smooth nothingness is all your hands sense along the wall.
"Allow me," Ryomen takes one of your hands, holding up a single finger. A small red flame of cursed energy flickers from the tip.
"Oh, wow." There were towering shelves crammed with books lining every wall. But strangely, no electric lights in the ceiling.
"How odd. Maybe this was walled up before electricity was a thing?"
"Let's illuminate things a bit more," A rising glow of crimson light signals the expansion of Ryomen's domain. His demonic energy bathes the room in a soft red glow. Gradually your eyes adjust enough that you can observe the room in its entirety.
"Wonderful. Let's see what they've got." Pawing through the first shelves within reach, you find there isn't much organization. There are books on hypnosis, gardening, painting, woodwork, and endless other how-to's. So, no fiction. That's to be expected from a school though. There's still plenty of other things to learn from though. Surely some of this had to be useful for jujutsu, why else would it be here?
Checking out the next shelf over, you find it's loaded with aged and cracking folders, all the same vintage shade of green. What were these? You pluck one up and begin reading. It looks like old mission dociers. Like what Fushiguro had with him the day before. These must be all the past cases of Jujutsu Tech missions...There could be alot here to learn from.
.
.
.
The sudden heaviness of your own head snaps you from your reading trance. You had really gotten into your zone. Who knows how many hours have passed since you had stumbled into the library. You stretch your arms and back, closing the astrology manuscript you had gotten through finally, cover to cover. Actually, you had metaphorically devoured a few books and several dozen mission summaries. There's plenty of new information about paranormal entities you've picked up. And also you thumbed through a gardening almanac, several astrology references, and even a random find on Italian witchcraft. You're feeling accomplished at having exercised your brain. Now when you run into another curse, you hopefully won't stumble so much with what to do.
"Finally ready for a break? You study hard." Ryomen comments. He had been politely quiet the entire time. You assume because he was reading everything along with you. Even if he found something boring he didn't voice any complaints, which was nice. Your old partner hated it when you read.
You wonder briefly about taking a few books with you, but think better of having to carry them all back to your room, risking being caught. Another time. You twist the door handle, visable from the inside, and step through into the empty hallway.
Empty except for the white haired boy who is questioningly staring at you walking through the wall. Shit.
"Kelp?" he asks in confusion.
"Hi there! Uh...just...looking for...my coffee cup. I set it down here somewhere around here. Haha" you laugh nervously.
You brace yourself for the third degree to start. Surprisingly though, all he does is wordlessly point to your cup on the floor where you had left it earlier.
"Right! Thank you!" You grab it and take a sip trying to be casual.
It's still warm. That's weird, you've been gone a while for sure. Hours at least.. Looking up, you see the student is still staring hard at you. You awkwardly introduce yourself,
"What's your name?" you ask, trying desperately to have a normal interaction with someone here. He tilts his head to one side, then unzips the top portion of his uniform that forms a high collar, obscuring the lower part of his face. Seeing two black circles at the corners of his mouth makes you remember him finally. The cursed speech user that had come into the restaurant where you had worked. He holds open his collar on one side, pointing with his index finger to what looks like a name sewn into the dark fabric in white thread.
Inumaki, Toge
Second Year
"I think that's all the introduction we're getting," you sigh inwardly. Outloud you say, "It's nice to meet you, Inumaki-senpai."
He notices your face wilt visibly with disappointment, despite your polite honorific.
"Bonito flakes..."
"It figures the first person I've seen all day can't talk back to me," you mumble.
"Salmon.." he says obscurely. What was that supposed to mean?
His facial expressions are difficult to read, he's quite stoic. His eyes are a startlingly deep shade of violet. They stand out boldly beneath the silver curtain of his pale hair.
"Well, would you be able to show me where anyone else is? This place is a ghost town today."
"Salmon," he gestures for you to follow him.
"Thank God," you think.
Not that you thought Inumaki was bad company or anything. He seemed neutral about you so far. You could work with that. The residual sting in your right arm is all the reminder you need to try and keep a low profile today.
.
.
.
Inumaki leads you to yet another training hall on campus. This one a more traditional style dojo with a reflection pond in the front. The sound of people sparring inside reaches your ears and you nervously practice your introduction in your head. Ryomen interrupts your thoughts gently.
"You are much too self conscious, you know that? Worrying about what people think of you is a tiresome way to live."
"I know," you agree subconsciously.
"But I've never lived in close quarters with so many other people. It would make things better if I had a few friends."
As you enter the dojo, you remove your shoes after Inumaki does the same. Looking around, you're surprised to find the source of the sound to be a television set playing a martial arts movie. By the look of the formatting, it's an old one. You try not to look disappointed that no one else is around and turn to Inumaki again, who is stretching vigorously.
"I guess we're going to spar?"
"Tuna!" he pipes, unzipping his outer jacket, revealing a plain white t-shirt underneath. He motions for you to join him on the mat, so you oblige. There's a mirror along the wall you're both facing. He spreads his feet and throws one phantom punch slowly, looking at you afterwards. Did he want you to mimic him? You do so, looking back with uncertainty.
This seems to satisfy him, so he throws another, this time a left. He also motions with his hand up his chest, making sure to audibly inhale, then exhale upon his strike, reminding you of your breath as you strike. Right, your sensei had always had to remind you to breathe during your strikes because of your bad habit of holding your breath when you're nervous.
"Yeah, sorry. I do that alot," you make sure to audibly release your air as your hand extends.
"Tuna and mayo," Inumaki points at his first two knuckles on his fist. You recall this is the connection point of the fist.
"Right, only hit with the first two. I learned that the hard way..." you extend your hand for him to observe how your fourth and fifth knuckle laid flat on your hand.
"Bonito flakes..." he whispers, touching your hand lightly where the bones had broken. Then he points again to your first two knuckles again, tapping with emphasis.
"Salmon, salmon."
"Yeah, only these two for a hit. Thanks."
You were beginning to decipher some of his speech. Bonito flakes was for something bad, and salmon was for something good. The rest was still a mystery to you.
"Tuna!" He sprints across the room to what looks like a series of wooden ladders attached to the wall. He jumps up, grabbing a rung and resting his back against the rest of the wooden slats. He raises his legs up and down slowly.
It's been forever since you did the scale wall with your sensei. You remember the all over aches that always came afterwards, but it was a great exercise that used nearly every muscle in your body. You join him and take a rung in your hands, slightly lower than Toge's as he was taller than you.
"How many are we doing?" You ask between strained gasps.
"Salmon..." his voice strains, but he continues. You keep his pace, pull-up for pull-up. You're surprised when your muscles don't tire as quickly as they used to. It's several minutes of huffing and straining before Inumaki releases his hold, crumpling to his knees with exhaustion.
"Salmon roe!" he smiles up at you, still breezily pulling your weight. You let go and stare at your hands with new respect. They're not even worn out or red. And your core doesn't feel like you've been gutted like a trout. Or a salmon.
"Wow," you remark.
"I'm getting alot stronger..."
"Of course you are," Ryomen hums with satisfaction.
"Your body is acclimating to my spirit."
"Does that mean I'm becoming like you?" you wonder.
"Not quite. Our essences are combining." he continues.
"As my power grows, your body will have to adjust to house it."
"Oh..." you hadn't thought about that. Though it wouldn't make sense for you to stay exactly the same with such a big change in your life. You feel more than a little foolish for not having noticed before. Even sparring with Yuji, your body had been responding much differently than it normally did. So it wasn't all Ryomen's energy that did that. And now that you have a second finger of Sukuna inside you, it's going to increase even more.
"Kelp?" Inumaki waves his hand in front of yours to get your attention. You had zoned out for a few seconds.
"Sorry...I guess I didn't think I could go that long." You brush your hair back out of your face. Inumaki is staring hard at you.
"I'm not used to being physically strong yet."
"Tuna..."
"Do you know why I was left alone today, Toge?" you ask him, studying his face for any sign. There's a slight tug at the corner of his mouth before he responds.
"You must know where everyone else is..."
"Bonito flakes." So that meant no, right? Or not.
"Let me try..." Ryomen extends your hand and touches his shoulder. He startles but does not recoil. An image flashes through your mind, the same way when he had touched Lee.
Fushiguro appears before you, standing in the hallway of the dormitory.
"There's something from yesterday's mission that still needs to be wrapped up. We'll be done in a few hours. Just keep them busy when you see them. And don't let them out of your sight."
The vision passes, and anger boils deeply in your gut.
Keep you busy? Like a babysitter? Don't let you out of sight? And Nobara and Itadori probably both went too. So much for any modicum of team spirit you were attempting to build with them.
You're still clutching Inumaki's shoulder, though much harder now. He shifts uncomfortably in your grip.
"M-mustard leaf," his concern is showing now, brows knitting together. He gives your hand a gentle pat.
So Fushiguro didn't want you getting into trouble. And Toge wasn't going to leave your side until they returned. How long would that be, you wondered...
.
.
.
You stalk back to your dorm, Inumaki following at your heels, every now and again offering a word or two that seem to question your actions. You ignore him.
"Hoohoo, you're really angry aren't you?" Ryomen sounds amused.
"The nerve of that fucking guy. Treating me like I'm a nuisance, like I'm some kid who needs supervision. I bet I'm older than he is! And breaking into my room last night!" Your heartbeat is in your ears.
Inumaki's voice pants behind you,
"Tuna, tuna!"
"Yeah, I got your tuna alright," you whisper, twisting open your door and leaving it open for him. As he enters, you swing it closed behind him promptly. He pauses, realizing the possibilities of your intention.
"Are you actually going to do it?" Ryomen asks you with his tone goading you on.
"We're here aren't we?" You respond, speaking outloud now.
Inumaki makes only a tiny sound of resistance when you pull down his collar to kiss him, and oddly offers no resistance to avoid it either. His lips are soft and warm. It takes a second for him to register what's happening, but you feel his hands around your lower back cradling you closer. He groans lightly and his eyes flutter.
"Well now, that wasn't very hard," Ryomen comments inside your head.
"He's an easy one..."
Inumaki's hand cups your cheek and he kisses you back now with surprising vigor. You breathe in his scent deeply, wrapping your arms around his neck and allowing him to explore your mouth with his smooth tongue.
When you roll your hips suggestively into his, he strays one of his hands down to stroke the inside of your thigh beneath your skirt. He pauses your kiss, panting against your lips, he searches your eyes. Finding only your enthusiasm, this satisfies him enough to slip your panties to the side and insert his longest finger. You muffle your whimpers of pleasure against his neck. Your sounds encourage him to add a second finger inside you. You bite your lip to keep from moaning any louder, but he takes your chin between the fingers of his free hand, forcing you to meet his gaze. His eyes are heavy but study your reactions with purpose, learning what you love by the sounds you make. He kisses you again, moaning into your open mouth. The rare treat of hearing his deep voice gives you chills. You're certain he must be able to feel your heart pounding against his chest being pressed so tightly to you.
He removes his fingers from you slowly. Extending his hand to the bed, he invites you to lie down.
Hm...or.
His jaw drops as you bend over, climbing on your hands and knees, and arching your back to force your skirt up. He steps behind you, reinserting his fingers. This time your cries are much louder, so you stifle them into the soft sheets. He plunges in and out of you slowly, making sure you take them completely. When he withdraws next, the sound of his pants unzipping gets your attention.
"Take your panties off," he says. It's the first full sentence he's said to you. Your hands work to complete his orders before you can tell them to, pulling them down to your knees. So that's cursed speech? It felt just like Ryomen manipulating your body.
With you still propped on your knees, he leans in between your open thighs and drags his tongue across your warm skin. This time when he moans into you, you feel it to your core. He pumps his fingers inside again, then adds his tongue. The sensation of being stretched and licked at the same time has you babbling incoherently into the mattress. You here him utter another command,
"Cum..."
An electric rolling wave spasms through you and your vision goes white.
"Oh, God!"
Falling forward, you pull him down on top of you. He rolls you over to face him.
"Cum!" He chants again, pulling himself upright so he can look into your eyes. His chin is dripping wet.
Again that sweet tension releases inside you, making you clench so tightly around his fingers. It's hard to stifle your sounds a second time.
When he finally positions himself to press the tip of his cock inside, you can't resist throwing your legs around his waist and pulling him in. He groans his satisfaction, palms sliding up your back to grip your shoulders passionately. The warmth of his chest pressed flush against you gives you even more motivation to bounce on his cock, sliding yourself nearly all the way off, just to shove back down onto him. He kisses your neck, sucking low on your collarbone, starting to thrust into you with his own rhythm. His hands slide back down to your hips, holding you steady so he can pound into you faster. As his length shoves in, you whine audibly, pulling him down for more. You feel his breath against your ear as he whispers,
"Cum...HARDER."
Your orgasm throws you head back, and he captures your scream in his mouth. Both of his hands slip around your neck, holding you in place. He inhales deeply, pulling air from your lungs into his. Your vision clouds, all you can hear is the pulse in your ears. A sharp slap on your cheek revives you. Toge's face reappears, arching his eyebrow inquisitively. Almost as if he was asking 'did you like that?'
You shake your head to steady your swimming vision, dimly aware of the warm stickiness between your thighs. He rises up shakily, giving you a wide eyed look of amazement before stumbling to the bathroom. You hear the faucet. When he returns to your bed, he has a towel in hand. He sheepishly wipes up his mess from your body, blushing intensely. Then he sits down on the edge, facing away. You can feel his body still trembling through the mattress.
There's a distant sound of a door opening and closing shut. Sounds like someone's back finally.
"Tuna!"
Inumaki dresses himself hurriedly, tripping to the door with shoes in hand. The door slams as he leaves, but it re-opens a second later. He sticks his head through and bows politely, still out of breath, then shuts it behind him. You hear his feet thumping away down the hall.
"Well now, that was an excellent exhibition..I must say I'm quite proud of you. I especially loved seeing how scared he got at nearly being caught." You hear Ryomen purr from your subconscious mind.
You sigh, and re-dress yourself as well. Why did you feel disappointed right now? Were you wanting to get caught? That was shockingly self destructive behavior for you. Besides, why would Fushiguro care who you slept with anyway? You were probably just acting out of frustration.
Exiting your room, you follow the sounds of voices coming from the kitchen. Fushiguro and Nobara are going through the pantry. You glare at the back of his spikey head. Jerk.
A tap on your shoulder makes you whirl with surprise. Itadori! He snuck up on you.
"Oh, hey! There you are! Sorry we ended up leaving so early this morning. We thought it would be best to let you get some rest after your first mission yesterday."
You blink at him dumbly.
You had absolutely forgotten about him. Sweet Itadori, your first friend at the school. Who kissed you. Guilt gnaws at your gut now.
"You alright? I bet you had a super boring day today. I thought maybe we could do something together tonight at the bonfire."
"Bonfire?" you repeat his words, trying to make sense of them.
"Yep. That's what we were up to all morning, getting the wood." He points out the window.
Following his gaze, your heart clenches tightly in your chest. Ryomen's anger stirs and you feel pinpricks as the tips of your nails push into your palm.
"Fucking bastard..." he spits. You don't have to ask who he means.
Strapped to the back of a pickup lies the uprooted remains of Mrs. Hama's peach tree. All of its fruit had either been shaken loose in the transport or removed intentionally. Ryomen's food source. Gone.
"Why...did that have to happen?" you ask carefully, trying to sound more curious than outraged.
"Fushiguro had a hunch that ended up being right about that tree and its curse. We had to call the city to have it wenched from the property. Turns out there were human remains buried beneath it. Police are thinking...it's Mr. Hama."
"But why did the tree have to die too?" You repeat.
Itadori's brow furrows,
"Are...you upset about that?"
Ignoring the question you turn back to the window.
Ryomen is silent, but your palms are now sticky with blood.
.
.
.