Yoshi, looking astonishingly murderous, lets both Gojo and Nanami into the room. It's very cramped, and it's also two in the morning, so they have sneak into the little old inn like naughty teenagers. Gojo voices this thought to Yoshi, and she, disappointingly, does not even bat an eye at him. She scribbles something in chalk on the front and back of the hotel room door, shuts it very gently, and proceeds to ignore the two sorcerers to glare at Wendy like she's demonspawn.

"Wow, if looks could kill," Wendy teases, which Gojo thinks is a terribly reckless thing to do as a tiny non-sorcerer, given the present company.

"Hay días tontos y tontos todos los días," Yoshi mutters solemnly, running a hand through her hair. She's looking especially ragged today, and Gojo wonders if it has anything to do with the miniature glowing jellyfish following her around.

Wendy takes offense. "Why did you make it sound like a proverb? Sheesh. Fuck you too."

Yoshi doesn't answer her, but gestures back at the hotel door lazily, and tells them in English, "You can speak normally, that symbol should keep the sound from traveling."

"You could've done that earlier," Wendy snipes.

"I preferred the silence," Yoshi bites back, turning away from her. Wendy sticks her tongue out when Yoshi can't see it.

Gojo rocks back and forth on his heels, looking between the two young women. "Well, this is awkward to watch," he remarks. "Can we switch to Japanese now?"

"No. Why are you here?" Yoshi asks, her voice low and dark and still in English. "I'm busy."

Yikes, okay, so it wasn't just Wendy she was pissed at…

But, well, he can speak English too, so whatever. Gojo whistles lowly, looking at the bare wall and the mess of padlocks in random-looking piles on the floor. "Nice place you got here. Very cozy. Are you making a conspiracy board?"

"Not now, Gojo," Nanami interrupts him before he can go off on a (fun) tangent trying to provoke Yoshi. "We need to ask you some questions, Yoshi-san. It can't wait any longer. Please cooperate."

Gojo doesn't need the Six Eyes to see how the atmosphere changes with Nanami's terse words. Yoshi's body language shifts as she sits against a low dresser, hands shoved into the front pocket of her sweatshirt and her gaze frigid. It reminds Gojo of the way she looked in Queens, after beating up Naoya.

Wendy draws back too, her brow wrinkled with thought and her pink lips pressed into a slight frown. She sits on the windowsill, slightly behind and to the left of her sorcerer friend. But unlike Yoshi, Wendy still looks painfully hopeful, blue eyes wide and alert as she watches the sorcerers.

Drifting around Yoshi, the shikigami remains idle in the air, casting stark shadows and highlighting them all in an eerie, unflattering shade of green.

"Right, right," Gojo slides over the to rickety nightstand and sits against it, resting his weight forward and lacing his fingers together idly. "That's true, we should clear some things up before we go any further."

"Then make it quick," Yoshi stares down Nanami with cool disinterest. "Like I said, I'm busy."

"We looked at the list of marked people," Nanami begins, wasting no time. "Why didn't you mention there was a victim in Germany after you fought Gojo? Andrea Hansen, the vessel for a special-grade cursed object."

"I didn't fight Gojo, I knocked him out," Yoshi corrects him, bland to the bone. Her gaze cuts to Gojo. "I never said anything because you never asked."

"I was looking for the cursed object, but the curse had manifested by the time I arrived," Gojo points out calmly. "Vessels die when curses are exorcised, and the curse was exorcised… Right?"

"I destroyed the curse," Yoshi confirms, watching him carefully. "But it never fully manifested. The cursed object was a locket. Most cursed objects need to be consumed by the vessel. I haven't been able to ask her yet, but I think Andrea wore it around her neck, and… it didn't completely overpower her. She held on."

Okay, well. That's a lot more than Gojo actually anticipated…

"Is that why you knocked me out?" Gojo asks, keeping the astonishment out of his voice. "Because you thought I was going to kill her?" He likes to think he would've noticed the whole partial-vessel thing if he'd been given the chance…

Yoshi stares at him like he's an idiot. "I wasn't about to stop and explain the nuances of a partially-manifested vessel while you were tossing me into a black hole or whatever."

Even though he did in fact try to toss her into Unlimited Void, he still complains. "Don't call it that, my domain has a way cooler name than black hole."

Yoshi rolls her eyes and Nanami clears his throat in a not-so-subtle signal to shut the hell up, Gojo.

"Fine. You didn't trust Gojo at the time, I can accept that," Nanami says, impassively, "I understand that, but you still agreed to come to the school as a teacher and help train young sorcerers. From what I've been told, you get along with the students and enjoy working with them…"

Yoshi's mouth twitches. "I mean, it's only been a week, but yeah," she huffs. "What's your point?"

Gojo bites the inside of his mouth, fiercely telling himself not to chime in. But damn, people called Gojo dramatic but Nanami? That man was really going for a big theatrical climax, wasn't he?

Nanami's face is carefully blank as he asks, "Yoshi-san, the list… Fushiguro Tsumiki is on that list too. Why didn't you say anything about her?"

And Yoshi doesn't react to the name at all.

She blinks slowly, searching Nanami's gaze for some hidden meaning. "Is there something important about her?" she asks, eyebrows raised. "Why would I need to mention her?"

Nanami remains unmoved as he replies, "Because she's the older sister of Fushiguro Megumi, one of your current students."

It's fascinating to watch. Yoshi tries to reign it in, like any sorcerer would, but she's a softie. Gojo knows that she likes working with Megumi. She cares about her students, even after only knowing them for a short while, and to completely miss the connection between Megumi and Tsumiki is incredibly out of character.

Yoshi looks gutted. The truth of it hits her like a truck, and the sudden surge of remorse is written all over her face, bold as the ink on her skin. "Megumi's sister?" Yoshi's voice wavers, and she doesn't take her eyes off of Nanami. "I-I didn't know he had a sister. He's never mentioned it."

"You never considered that there could be a relation between two people with the same surname?" he asks, inflectionless. "That's a serious oversight to make."

"I didn't know Megumi's surname," Yoshi argues back, a bit of her stubbornness returning. "And there's dozens of names on that list. I don't remember them all."

He can tell by the look on Nanami's face, stoic as he is, that the blonde sorcerer isn't convinced by her excuse.

"Megumi introduced himself with his full name on the first day," Gojo corrects Yoshi, an amused smile on his lips. "I was there with you."

Yoshi frowns, but hesitates to contradict him. "I still didn't know they were related," she repeats to Nanami, looking straight at him. "I didn't notice it. I'm sorry. Do you think we should—?"

"Wait, wait, it's my turn," Gojo cuts her off, raising his hand like a student in class. "I just thought of it, I wanna check: What's my first name?"

"What?" Yoshi scoffs. "Gojo, wh—"

"AH! No, that's my family name," he exclaims, making a big 'X' with his arms. "Try again."

She stares at him, trying to figure out if he's being serious. "Gojo, I don't have ti—"

"No, no, no, you're deflecting," he points out, twiddling his thumbs and carefully hiding his absolute astonishment. He had his suspicions, but wow. "We have plenty of time. Just say my first name." Wendy is standing behind Yoshi, so only Gojo and Nanami can see the faint look of pity on her face.

Clicking her tongue, Yoshi rolls her eyes. "I don't remember it," she says, and then adds, sarcastically, "Sorry."

I bet she does it all the time, Gojo thinks. How many times has she brushed off people like that, so they don't realize the problem? Still, I need to be sure.

"What a cruel thing to say!" He wails. "You really know how to cut a guy down! But really, just say my name. You must know it, right?"

Yoshi glares at him. "Why the hell are you asking me this?"

"What do you mean?" he simpers. "You have my full permission. I think we should be on a first-name basis anyway."

"I just said I don't remember it," she grits her teeth. "Really."

"See, that's even harder to believe than the Fushiguro thing," Gojo tsks, leaning towards her. "Because everyone knows my name! Wendy knows my full name, she blurted it out as soon as she met me." Yoshi instinctively begins to turn towards her friend— "No, no, Yoshi, you can't phone a friend for this. I'm asking you," Gojo tells her sternly.

His tone seems to finally get to her, because Yoshi goes rigid, setting her gaze back on Gojo like he's a threat. He responds with a mild grin, but it doesn't fool her.

"I don't remember it," she repeats slowly.

Gojo cocks his head to the side. "You sure you're not just messing with me?"

He lifts his hand and points a finger gun at her, carefully drawing up his cursed energy at the tip of his index finger. Just enough for it to glow red, brighter than her jellyfish shikigami and strong enough to make them all uncomfortable in the tiny hotel room.

"Seriously. Like, gun to your head, guess wrong and you die—just say my given name."

"I don't remember it," she says for the final time. She still has her hands tucked away in the pockets of her jacket, posture unchanged, but her expression is severe. "And if you keep threatening me over something so stupid, for whatever reason, I'm going to beat the shit out of you."

She looks wonderfully menacing, her face outlined in harsh green and red light. He wants to take a picture.

Bursting into laughter, Gojo withdraws his hand and sits back. "Okay, okay! I get it, I believe you," he grins, the red light of Aka dispersing instantly. He swings his gaze over to the other sorcerer. "See what I mean, Nanamin?"

Yoshi leans back, her attention snapping to the blond sorcerer.

Nanami sighs, pulling the green glasses off his face. "Yoshi-san, to what degree does your knowledge of talismans affect your memory?"

Honestly, Gojo doesn't see the point in asking at this point, because the answer is written, if not in Yoshi's blatant look of discomfort, then in the defeated slump of Wendy's shoulders.

"From what I know of your kind, it ought to be a bigger problem," Gojo muses loudly. "I mean, that's why people stopped practicing it. The price was too high for knowledge. It should fry your brain a lot more. There's one other living sorcerer like you in Japan, some crusty old serial killer that's been in an asylum since the 60s. But you, Yoshi—man, it took me a while to figure it out—you just forget a few names, but you get to learn every sutra of all the practitioners before you all at once? That's unfair! Where's the balance in that?"

Yoshi, looking like she's tasted something vile, answers, "Why do you get to judge what's fair and balanced, Gojo?"

"Well, am I wrong?" He laughs, unable to help himself. "Like, what the fuck, y'know? You should be brain-dead." He pokes at his own temple harshly and sticks out his tongue.

"Maybe," she deadpans.

"That's enough," Nanami says at last, stopping Gojo from poking any further. "We're only doing this because your behavior was becoming suspicious, but I don't think it's necessary to look any deeper into the morality of your practice. And despite Gojo's antics, he's already chosen to advocate for you as a sorcerer and has no intention of withdrawing his recommendation."

Without missing a beat, without even a flicker of gratitude or relief, Yoshi replies, "Great. Then get out of here. I'll see you on Monday."

Gojo squawks, "That's all you have to say?! You don't even wanna know my first name?"

She stares at him stubbornly. "I'll see you on Monday, Gojo."

Oh, this goddamn woman…

"Aren't you about to ask Andrea about the curse-user?" he points out.

Yoshi folds her arms. "If she has anything useful to say, I'll share it."

"Okay, but will you remember it all?" Gojo needles.

Yoshi doesn't flinch. "I don't know, but maybe Andrea will remember your face as a guy that tried to kill her—"

"Tell them about the jellyfish," Wendy suggests, speaking up for the first time. Gojo's surprised it didn't happen sooner. The redhead didn't seem like the type to sit still and shut up for very long.

Yoshi half-turns towards her friend, looking annoyed but a little confused too. "What?"

Wendy just leans over, making eye-contact with Nanami. "Why do you think I told you where we'd be? Yoshi's not a threat to you, you're not a threat to us, I'm glad you know that now, but—you need to know about the jellyfish."

"Oh?" Gojo hums, curious. To be perfectly frank, he didn't really think about why Wendy had led them right back to Germany. He'd seen it as some overly idealistic attempt to get Gojo and Nanami to trust them about the curse-user they were tracking, and nothing more.

"That's right," Nanami says slowly. "You never told me why the boy gave up his shikigami."

Yoshi looks baffled. "Gave it up? No, the jellyfish is part of our binding vow." She looks up at the tiny jellyfish that's been illuminating the room for them, perfectly at ease. "If I don't help destroy Mahito, Orizuki will kill me."


A/N: hey Yoshi are you sure that's a vow? it sounds like the dead kid cursed you
Translations:
Hay días tontos y tontos todos los días - There are stupid days and people who are stupid every day
Aka - Red (referring to Gojo's cursed technique reversal)
Orizuki - (It's called Moon Dregs in the English dub, I forgot to mention this)

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