oh"I see…" Gojo tilts his head up at the jellyfish. "So you're just crazy, huh Yoshi?"
"Agreeing to a deal like that is extremely reckless," Nanami adds, skeptical. "What was the purpose behind it?"
Yoshi could explain. She could. She should, because it seems to mean an awful lot to Wendy, and maybe there was a good point tucked away between all the sharp words and frustrated hisses that she and Wendy exchanged before the sorcerers arrived.
"I think you need more time to grieve Junpei before you throw all your effort into saving another stranger," Wendy had told her at one point, too soft and too sweet for Yoshi to deal with. And then, not two minutes later, she jeered, "What's the game plan once you get Andrea killed too? Atlantic or Pacific?"
In hindsight, it's possible that Wendy was trying to provoke her into actually talking things out instead of moving on to finding the curse-user right away. And that would mean Wendy didn't actually bring the sorcerers here to stop her or dissuade her from her search—but to slow her down.
Yoshi doesn't want to slow down. She doesn't want to explain. She doesn't want to listen to anything Wendy might tell her.
Outside, thunder rumbles in the sky. It'll probably rain.
Yoshi gives the bare hotel room wall one last rueful look. She meant to map out the aura tags before she left, but once the morning shift starts at the clinic, it'll be impossible to get enough time alone with Andrea.
"I'm not explaining this right now. Wendy, put on a jacket," Yoshi says unceremoniously, darting towards the door. "And all of you, zip it. You'll wake up poor Petra."
"Oh, for fuck's sake—" Wendy hisses, scrambling to her feet and snagging her jacket. Yoshi unlocks the door, and a brief, tingling sensation runs down her spine as her silencing sutra breaks. All of them fall silent, unwilling to interrupt the stillness of the inn.
Yoshi starts down the narrow hallway, followed by Nanami.
But then Gojo begins to murmur something and Wendy, still pissed off, shushes him so loudly she sounds like a pressure cooker. A minute later Gojo is hovering right over Yoshi's shoulder as she's climbing downstairs.
"She's so mean," he whines, though he's quiet enough that Yoshi doesn't have a reason to shush him again. "Junpei gave you more than just this jellyfish, didn't he?"
Yoshi ignores the tight feeling in her chest. "Yes."
Instead of prying any further, though, Gojo asks, "Are we going to see Andrea?"
"Yes," Yoshi answers very softly, stepping carefully to avoid the creaking spots on the wooden stairs. Junpei's shikigami has been surprisingly useful this evening, simply because she glows in the dark, but Yoshi wants to recall her as soon as she can.
Gojo, so silent behind her that she suspects he's just floating again, slowly lays his hand on Yoshi's sleeve. "Slap us there?" he suggests hopefully.
"No." It was hard to go unnoticed in such a small clinic, and Yoshi's slap-back bracelets were abrupt. The sudden surge of cursed energy combined with an instantaneous presence was not subtle unless it occurred in a crowded place with enough human activity to muddle the senses. It works during the day, but at night, in a sleepy little town like Osterby, it's likely to startle a non-sorcerer out of their slumber.
Yoshi opens the front door slowly, lifting it so the hinges don't squeak too much, and waits on the porch for Nanami and Wendy. They're lagging behind and it's definitely Wendy's fault. Nanami doesn't really seem like Wendy's type, but Yoshi isn't going to think too deeply about it. He's quiet and hasn't tried to kill Yoshi yet, so there isn't much for her to disapprove of besides his career and fashion choices.
The air feels heavy and damp as a storm brews overhead. Gojo continues to cling to her sleeve as Yoshi steps over a puddle on the sagging wood floor. He's mumbling under his breath—no, wait, he's trying to hum a song. It's upbeat and seems ill-suited for their situation, but she could say that about every Gojo does.
"Is that the Digimon song?" Yoshi mutters, shaking off his hand. "God, you're old."
"It's nostalgic," Gojo insists, hopping off the porch to face her. "And you recognized it, so you can't call me old!" he exclaims, beaming for a moment before his expression shifts. "Hey…"
Yoshi scoffs. "Keep your voice down," she warns, absently recalling Orizuki back to her arm.
"Wait," Gojo darts forward, and then several things happen in the same moment:
Yoshi steps past the house and onto the cobblestone walkway.
A boundary is broken, setting off a sharp, tingling burst of unknown cursed energy.
Gojo yanks her away from the inn.
Yoshi activates her slap-bracelet.
And then the porch explodes into a million shards of wood, metal, and ice.
—/—/—/—
Stupid Yoshi and her stupid nullification seal, Gojo thinks sourly, feeling splinters poking all over his back. At least this time he anticipated that she would disrupt his cursed energy and turned them around. Some shrapnel got through, but nothing seems to be stabbing him very deeply, and he's already healing the scrapes without issue.
Gojo lifts his head—and momentarily freaks out because he's in the middle of a street, not at the end of the walkway—and feels Yoshi squirm under his arms. He straightens up to inspect her. "Still in one piece?"
"M'fine," Yoshi groans, trying to catch her breath and pull a sliver of wood out of her leg at the same time. No serious injuries he can see. Gojo looks around some more, and figures out that Yoshi teleported them down the street from Petra's inn. Or what remains of it, at least.
There's a large iceberg in its place now, rising out of nowhere.
"I don't see them," Gojo murmurs, pulling down his blindfold to seek out the familiar energy signature. Anxiety coils in his throat. The iceberg continues to grow, crushing the inn completely. There were two other civilians in that building, but he can't sense anyone now. "Yoshi? I-I don't see them."
Yoshi straightens up too. "Wendy's at the hospital."
She says nothing about Nanami. Gojo tries to weigh the odds but—but he really doesn't know at all— "Do you think she got him out in time?" Gojo asks.
"Yes." Yoshi's voice is flat and emotionless, but she doesn't hesitate.
Feeling like he's balancing on the edge of a cliff, Gojo nods. Damn it. Now is not the time to reflect on Nanami Kento's very mortal life, but it can't happen here, right? He can't die in a puny German village, that'd be so lame.
He saves those thoughts for later. "You should go to Andrea," Gojo says. "This is probably a distraction."
Yoshi gives a sharp shake of her head. "I don't think so," she says. "The carvings…"
Gojo blinks, following her gaze. And he can see it now, markings emerging in the ice as if drawn by an invisible hand. The first drops of rain fall, sinking against Infinity and splashing against Yoshi's hair as he pulls his blindfold back in place.
"It's hideous," Gojo agrees, drawing up Aka and aiming a reasonable amount of energy to shatter it without blowing up the residential street behind it.
With a roaring crack that rivals the thunder above them, the iceberg fractures into two enormous pieces. Further down the street, another iceberg juts up into the air, clearly visible over the tree line. As Gojo exhales, his breath condenses into a fine, opaque mist in the air.
"I think you made it worse." Yoshi says, rather unnecessarily.
Almost reflexively, he grumbles back, "Shut up, Yoshi."
Another burst of cursed energy has both of them turning due west as a third ice pillar crystallizes in the distance. "What're they compensating for, huh?!" he grouses.
"Get in the air and look for the culprit," Yoshi decides, her breath coming out in a puff of pale vapor. "Okay? Let me figure out the sutras."
"Okay…" Gojo agrees, since Yoshi is the sutra expert here, but it feels weird to just follow her lead and go. He can't pinpoint why. Maybe he just needs to get the last word in, because the conversation feels unfinished.
"Gojo?" Yoshi waits, sensing his dissent. Her eyebrows begin to lower into a glare the longer he lingers.
He looks down at her, ruffled and damp from the rain. Gojo lets his shield drop a little more, feeling water droplets sink into his hair, and thinks of how mad she'll get if he—
"Gojo."
"It's Satoru," he tells her suddenly. "My given name is Satoru." He examines her face carefully as he says it. She's annoyed at first, but then she just looks uneasy, so he assures her, "Don't worry. I'll keep reminding you."
Thunder roars overhead, and the rain comes down harder. Yoshi blinks against the water in her eyes. "Satoru," she repeats tersely, and lightning flashes above them.
"Yoshi," he croons back, as if he's completing her sentence. Then he takes off into the air.
—/—/—/—
Nanami Kento has great instincts. Honed from years of a very dangerous career, he's very confident in his ability to react quickly. He can react in time, but if there's nowhere to go, there's only so much he can do.
So when the front porch erupts in a burst of jagged ice and freezing air, he's quick enough to get himself in front of her to block the splinters and hunks of wood, but the inn is caving in around them and—
Well. It's not Nanami Kento that saves their necks.
It's Wendy, who was idling on the staircase instead of following Yoshi out the door (because the artwork along the wall was pretty). It's Wendy, who was already touching Nanami when the attack started (because she has a thing for muscular arms and was shamelessly handsy).
Any closer to the door and there wouldn't have been time to react. And physical contact is all that's needed to teleport a passenger.
The two of them tumble backwards, out of the inn but still falling through dark and dry air. Wendy shrieks—in surprise or pain he can't tell. Something plastic smacks Nanami's head and grazes his ribcage as he catches himself against a wall—no, his hand just broke through drywall, actually—and he lands hard on a tiled floor, bumping against Wendy's legs.
Nanami breathes shallowly, noticing the sharp tang of chemicals in the air, and the cursed energy swirling around them. His left hand is pinned under Wendy's back. He can hear his own breathing, and a metallic jangle from something falling over, and another person panting.
"Wendy?" he asks tensely.
"I-I'm alright," she answers, shrill and breathless. "Ow. What's—how—?" she shifts, lifting her torso up so he can slip his hand away. "We're s-supposed to be in room 105, but…this…"
"…This is a closet, I think," Nanami confirms, carefully finding his footing and not thinking about her legs tangled over his. He reaches upward, barely able to see the pull switch dangling overhead.
He finds the chain and tugs it, illuminating them suddenly.
They are, in fact, in a janitorial closet.
"Did you break the wall?" Wendy goggles at the diagonal-shaped hole next to her as Nanami carefully retracts his hand from the drywall. She's still sitting down, and ends up with snow-like plaster sprinkled in her red hair. "Are you okay?" she asks next, coughing. Her jacket's torn up from splinters, her left calf is bleeding, but she looks more concerned about their location than any injuries.
(Nanami's pretty concerned about the huge reddened mark on her leg, where his knee collided with her bare thigh.)
"We sh-shouldn't be here," Wendy continues, pushing aside a mop bucket. "I can only go to places that Yoshi or I have visited, so this is wrong."
Nanami hums, thinking back to the… glacier, of all things, that destroyed the inn. Either Wendy was too disoriented by the attack to teleport them to the proper location, or there was something stopping them from going directly to Andrea Hansen…
"Are you okay?" she asks again, drawing him out of his thoughts.
"I'm fine." Nanami extends his hand to help her up. "We need to move. Andrea is probably in danger."
"R-Right," Wendy stands, using his forearm for support. "The closets are on either ends of the building, next to the north and south stairwells," she says steadily. "Room 105 is near the south end, facing the front of the clinic… or it was, at least."
Nanami unhooks his cleaver from its harness on his back. Wendy presses herself against the wall so he can reach the door, but before he opens it, he looks at her pointedly.
"I'll go with Andrea," Wendy insists, knowing he's about to tell her to leave. "Get me to her, and then I'll get out of here."
"She might be dead already, and you'll be risking yourself for nothing."
Wendy squeezes his arm. "If that's true, then I should make sure you get out of here."
"Wendy…"
You'd think she was the grade 1 sorcerer with how confident she sounds. Nanami is beginning to understand why Yoshi wants this woman to stay far, far away from sorcery. What sort of messed-up logic was she following? How could she be more worried about him than herself?
"Nanami." She holds his gaze for a moment, her blue-green eyes more intense than before. "We're not going to die today. Got it?"
"Yes," Nanami agrees, bizarrely enough. What sort of messed-up logic is he following?
He opens the door, placing himself in front of her. Beyond the closet is a hallway… that branches off in several different directions, pulsing with cursed energy.
"A barrier technique?" Nanami murmurs, blinking. He can't even count how many hallways there are, his eyes keep losing track. The flow of cursed energy is too dizzying to follow.
"So the rooms did move," Wendy whispers behind him, gripping the shoulder of his blazer. "Go right," she urges, pushing on his shoulder blade weakly.
Nanami pauses. "Why?"
"I don't know, but I wasn't kidding about the vibes!" she whisper-shouts at his back. "Do you have a better idea?!"
He goes right.