"Sensei you are late!" A boy she recognize as Itadori shouted and bounded to them, followed closely by his two classmates, Fushiguro and Kugisaki.
"Are you still surprised? He is always late!" Kugisaki shot back at him. Fushiguro just ignored his classmate and looked on between Gojo and Emiko several times
"Sorry sorry, got caught up in something" Gojo said unapologetically
"Or someone.." Kugisaki said, loud enough to be heard by everyone, causing Fushiguro to cough several times while Itadori just looked on confusedly
"That's not–" Emiko began but was cut off by Gojo
"I for one is not the type to kiss and tell~" He winked at Emiko for good measure, causing Fushiguro to turn a few shades darker and massaged his temple
"..Sensei please stop."
"You should listen to your students more often Gojo." Emiko chimed in, her face just a tad bit red
Itadori, who is still a bit confused with the situation but not willing to talk about it more spoke up "Uh.. so, not that I'm not glad to meet you again Emiko-san, but what are we doing here exactly?"
"Oh yeah! well, I know that you guys have met each other yesterday. But I figured a proper introduction is appropriate." Gojo, seemingly full of energy again grabbed all three of his students by the shoulder, initiating a weird half group hug with them "Meet my first-year students. Itadori Yuuji, Kugisaki Nobara, and Fushiguro Megumi."
The three students let Gojo hold them with only minor grumbling from Kugisaki as she warns him not to touch her hair. She got a feeling that they were used to Gojo's antics by now.
"Yamazaki Emiko, it's nice seeing all of you again so soon," Emiko said and bowed a little in greetings
"It's nice to see you too Yamazaki-san, are you recovering alright?" Fushiguro said after he shook Gojo's hold on him and addressed her
Emiko nodded "Yeah, I feel quite alright. Your school doctor really managed to heal me perfectly. Although I don't know how"
"It's called reversed cursed technique, it basically allows Shoko-san to reverse the damage taken by cursed energy" Itadori chimed in, excited to share a piece of information with her.
"Oi, you a teacher now or something?" Kugisaki snorted at him
Emiko chuckled from their banter "Thank you for the info Itadori"
Having observed their interaction for quite a while, Gojo cleared his throat to get their attention "Aside from the introduction, since you guys might team up for missions in the future, I would also like to make this opportunity a bonding time for all of you"
"Here we go again.." Fushiguro's quiet mumbling was only heard by Emiko because he was suddenly interrupted by Kugisaki and Itadori's loud screech
"Are we going shopping?!" Kugisaki clasped her hands in front of him and gave her best puppy eyes at Gojo
Itadori shove her off and pleaded his case to a grinning Gojo "Sensei! Let's go to the amusement park instead! We can bond through a roller coaster ride!"
"HA? There is no better way to bond than shopping you idiot!"
"What kind of people bond by browsing tons of clothes and not buying anything!"
"Why you little! You are lucky I don't have my hammer with me right now or I will—"
Gojo stepped between them and brought his hands behind his back "Now now settle down, I already decided what we will do today. And that is…."
He paused for dramatics with both Itadori and Kugisaki looking up at him with so much hope on their faces. Beside her, Fushiguro let out a tired exhale and gave her a wooden tanto.
She cast a questioning look at him which he only responded with a roll of his eyes and a quick jerk of his head in the direction of the trio.
Gojo then produced an identical piece of wooden tanto from behind his back and tossed it toward his two students.
"IT'S TRAINING TIME!"
"..."
"..."
"..."
"WHATTTTT?"
Emiko winced at their volume, besides her, Fushiguro just looked on at his classmate's protest with boredom, as if this is an everyday occurrence for him. She thought it probably is.
"But sensei! It's our day off!" Itadori protested
Kugisaki nodded along, for once agreeing with Itadori "Yeah! We should spend this day relaxing and doing stuff we wanted!"
"And what better way to spend your day off but with training?" Gojo casually said and ignored the rest of their protest in favour to looked at Emiko "You will spar with Megumi there. Don't use any cursed energy, just try to refine your combat skill instead." he then addressed the boy beside her
"Since that's everything, I have to attend to other matters now. Megumi, you are in charge until I came back." He nodded at Fushiguro, who gave no indication that he heard him then gave a two-finger salute before vanishing in front of their eyes. Leaving three flabbergasted people behind.
"...What just happened?" Emiko asked out loud, glancing at Fushiguro and the other two in front of them with confusion
"That's Gojo-sensei being a menace" Fushiguro sighed and began walking back to the training area "Let's go, the sooner we finish this the sooner we can take a break"
Kugisaki looked like she was about to say something else, but then she glanced at Emiko and resorted to quietly grumbling under her breath and followed Fushiguro to the training ground once again.
The remaining two glanced at each other before following suit to where Fushiguro and Kugisaki are heading.
Fushiguro led them to a dojo that's located just on the edge of the training ground they were in. once they are inside, he immediately head off to one of the tatami areas and stared expectantly at Emiko
"So.. the usual training then?" Itadori asked
Fushiguro shrugged "Sure"
"I guess training wasn't so bad if I get to kick your ass" Kugisaki smirked and headed off to the other tatami areas a little farther from Fushiguro's
Itadori scoffed at her, but after throwing a 'Good luck' and a quick wave to Emiko, he jogged after her anyway.
An amused smile tugged at her lips at their antics, but she shook her head and faced the black-haired boy.
"So.. what is the usual training?"
"It's pretty simple, whoever gets disarmed first loses. We can do as many rounds as we like to"
She nodded and got into a stance "Before we begin, can I ask you a favour?"
Fushiguro raised his brows, but he nodded nonetheless
She made sure to hold his gaze first before speaking again "Don't hold back. I need to get stronger, and I can't do that if I don't push myself."
Fushiguro looked taken aback for a moment before he smirked a little "If that's what you wish, it's all the better for me."
Emiko smirked back "Don't get cocky on me now, I might not have a refined technique but I'm not afraid to fight dirty"
"Well then, shall we?"
Then they launched at each other.
Stacks of open books and old documents surrounded Gojo as he use one hand to leaf through the pages, scanning the information there for the briefest seconds before moving on to the next page.
"If only you were as studious as you are now when you were still my students, maybe I don't have to scold you so much," Yaga said as he sat on the opposite chair from Gojo.
Gojo snorted but then he put down the old documents he have been reading aside "Come on, you know I'm your favourite~"
"You were a menace. Even now."
Gojo waved him off "Did you know that old man Kyoto gave Class-A Zenin artefacts to Emiko?" He then pointed to an exact image of the bracelet Emiko now wore on the old documents he just read, then he continued
"And you know what is even more interesting? The old man actually went out and gave it to her himself this morning."
Yaga read the brief description on the page and crossed his arms "So they really do know something about her then."
"Most likely."
Yaga went quiet for a few moments "You know, the result of her background check only arrived by morning when you are supposed to bring her to meet me. I thought it was strange at the time since they usually only need a few hours to do a background check on someone, so I had someone cross-check the document just in case. And this morning he told me that he went to her old elementary school only to find that Yamazaki actually started the school at eight years old. But according to the documents, she started at seven."
"Do you think it's deliberate or an honest mistake?"
"I think it's more likely the former. The document also mentioned that she didn't attend any kindergarten or pre-school. Although this might be possible, her family seemed to be quite well off, and her late brother did go to a kindergarten prior to primary school. I find it unlikely she has just skipped it really."
".. so presumably something happened to her during childhood then. She did seem pretty cagey when I asked her about her past." Gojo mused
The two of them, then Gojo let out a huge sigh and slumped on the desk "You know, we won't be wondering so much like this if only she would be honest with us and tell us everything from the start. But then again, even if she did tell us, there is no guarantee that Emiko herself is aware of the impact of her experience on her abilities right now."
"What do you mean by that? How could she not be aware?"
"I assume it happened during her childhood, whatever it was. So she might not have the mental capacity to understand what's going on yet, or maybe she did understand, she just didn't want to tell us. I mean, She doesn't seem shaken when she told me about the bracelet earlier. So she must've at least known something. Nevertheless, I just have to coax it out of her then."
"You think you can coax it out of her?" Yaga looked a bit sceptical
Gojo nodded optimistically "Yeah, she is aware that I'm her sponsor. If I asked her about her past and make it seems like it's related to her education here, which is not a lie by the way. She wouldn't have any reason to refuse. Especially if she truly is not aware of what's going on behind the scene"
After some careful consideration, Yaga finally nodded "Fine, but do use some tact when you asked her"
"I am always tactful" He teased
Yaga didn't even acknowledge his former students and rose from his seat "I will look deeper into her records just in case, especially the report of the incidents nine years ago."
Gojo nodded "I will see what I can coax out of her. Oh, and I plan to take her on a mission with me in the near future, I will inform you of the details later"
"Alright, make sure you keep an eye on her."
"Yeah yeah, you don't have to keep reminding me of that you know"
However, his only response is silence as Yaga already left the room, leaving a bemused Gojo behind.
Meanwhile…
*THUD*
Her eyes squeezed shut as the impact from the ground knocked her breathe out of her lungs in a sudden exhale. She could already imagine how sore her body would be tomorrow. Hell, it was already sore even now.
"Are you alright?" Fushiguro's face came into view as he offered his hand to her
"Yeah.." She took the hand offered to her with a huff and tried not to wince as her bad leg started to throb under her weight. "Let's continue"
Fushiguro stared at her for a moment before shaking his head, claiming that he was starving and needed to take a break instead. Although he said it casually, Emiko had a feeling that Fushiguro probably noticed her sluggish movement but was too polite to mention it.
Nevertheless, she took the welcomed break and sat back on the floor while lightly massaging her throbbing leg in silence. However, not even a few minutes passed until Itadori came bounding towards her and informed her that he would be running to get some snacks from the cafeteria and if she wanted anything specific for her.
"Oh.. not really. A small sandwich will do just fine, thank you" She was about to reach for her bag for some money when Itadori stopped her
"It's okay Emiko-san, the food is free for students. So does a small sandwich and an apple juice okay?"
"Yes, that's fine. Thank you Itadori"
"No problem! I'll be right back!"
Emiko watched in amusement as Itadori wasted no time sprinting out of the dojo. He is definitely a personified golden retriever if there is ever one.
"I don't know what he ate as a child but he just never seemed to run out of energy" Kugisaki sighed as she and Fushiguro already made their way over to her and sat on either side of her.
Fushiguro lifted his shoulder in a shrug "Probably some weird shit like worm or something"
Kugisaki grimaced and made disgusted gagging sounds "Ew, that's just disgusting. Not to mention unsanitary!"
Emiko chuckled at their easy banter and decided to join the conversation "I was just thinking that maybe Itadori was supposed to be born as a golden retriever instead"
"Ha? No way! Golden retrievers are cute!"
"They can be annoying though" Fushiguro quipped
"Are we talking about dogs?!" Itadori chimed from behind them, carrying a pile of snacks in his arms
"..."
"..."
"..."
The three of them stared at Itadori who had just come back from his errand so quickly that neither of them was able to process it at once until Kugisaki yelped.
"You—!"
"Me?"
"How the hell did you come back so fast?!"
"Uhh.. I ran?"
"No shit. You still shouldn't be here this quickly!"
"I can run very fast..?"
Emiko blinked, "Was the cafeteria nearby..?"
Having been shaken out of his stupor, Fushiguro sighed "Nevermind that. Oi Itadori, bring the food here"
As Itadori cheerfully seated himself between them, he brought the snacks onto the floor and handed everyone their orders
"Anyway, what are you guys talking about?"
Never one to mince her words, Kugisaki answered "We were discussing what kind of weird shit you ate as a child"
"Why would you discuss that? And I ate the same thing as you guys! Except for that one time when I ate a worm on a dare though.." Itadori frowned
Fushiguro chokes on his drinks while Emiko and Kugisaki stared wide-eyed at him. However, sensing another yelling match was about to begin, Emiko quickly shift the topic
"W-well, unusual appetite aside.. Besides you three, is there any other first year with us?"
Seemingly thankful for the shift, Fushiguro answered her "No. there are only three of us. However, there are four other second years students and a few third years"
"I figured that sorcerers are rare, but to think there are only three students in the first year is just.." Emiko trailed off
"Yeah well, it just makes us special isn't?" Kugisaki said
"I suppose.." She trailed off and Itadori picked up the conversation about dogs again, which promptly caused a lighthearted banter between the three of them.
Emiko silently watched their interactions, Kugisaki's words replaying in her mind, because for all her life, never once did she consider herself to be special. If anything, she thought she may have been cursed instead. Her ability to see curses has always brought her grief for as long as she remembered.
However, as she watches the three of them interact with each other, her eyes softened a little. Maybe… maybe for once, this could bring her peace instead.
"Ne Emiko-san?"
At the sound of her name, Emiko looked up to see Itadori's smiling face "..Yes?"
Itadori grinned "Since you are going to study here with us, how about a tour of the school?"
Surprise flashed briefly on her face, but then she chuckled "A tour sounds good, Itadori"
Fushiguro stood up while picking up his trash "If we are going to have a tour, then the classroom building will be a great start. It's pretty close from here and we use it often enough"
Kugisaki followed suit "I have no problem here"
Itadori then grab the remaining trash and offered his hand to her "Let's go then Emiko-san!"
Emiko took the hand offered to her with a smile, barely paying any attention to the ache on her leg and stood up "Thank you, everyone, let's go!"
The sun was already making its way down the sky as Emiko and the first years finally made their way back to the training ground. Although she thoroughly enjoyed their tour, all the walking and staircases made her already uncomfortable leg throbbing. However, instead of the pain, she was more bothered by the shakiness of her steps. The kids also started to notice her condition after the second time she stumbled and immediately cut the tour short and took an easier route with fewer stairs. Itadori even offered to carry her on his back, but she refused him, and the other two kept giving her concerned glances which she pretended not to notice.
"I'm sorry Yamazaki-san, I shouldn't have gone too hard on you during our spar," Fushiguro said but averted his gaze to the ground instead
"Honestly I am fine. I'm the one who asked you to not go easy on me after all." Emiko said, trying to sound comforting to the boy beside her "Besides, I like to think that I have quite a high pain tolerance myself. So I'm not too bothered by it really"
Fushiguro's reply got cut by Gojo's cheery voice from the main entrance of the Dojo
"Oh! Aren't you guys looking chummier already?" Gojo said, entering the Dojo followed by a woman with a long white coat. Emiko stiffened out of reflexes from the sight of the coat but managed to remind herself that the woman beside Gojo is not the same as her.
"What does Shoko-san doing here?"
Kugisaki's question made Emiko throw a questioning gaze at her, which she must have sensed because she continued "She is our school doctor. The one that treated your injuries yesterday"
"Ah.. I see.."
When Gojo finally reached them, he wasted no time to bent down and got his face up close to Emiko's ignoring his student's shocked gasp.
"So, did you learn anything useful?"
Having been in this situation with him before, Emiko only rolled her eyes. "Yes. Fushiguro is a good teacher. Have you learned anything about personal space yet?"
Gojo grinned widely, all sharp teeth and back off from her. Meanwhile, Shoko laughed and came forward to her, lifting her hand in greeting
"I'm Shoko and I like you for giving shit to this man child."
Although she was a bit taken aback by her blunt words for Gojo, Emiko only gave her a wry smile and lifted her shoulder in a shrug "Thanks, My name is Emiko Yamazaki. But you can just call me Emiko. And I like you too for healing my injuries."
Shoko waved her off "Speaking of injuries, I was actually there to check on you again. And it seems like you have to go back to the infirmary with me this time"
Aware of the frown the kids shot her, Emiko tried to brush her off "I'm just sore mostly. I think I just need to rest a bit and I will be fine"
Shoko lifted her brows at that. "Just sore? I'm pretty sure your leg is throbbing by now. Even with my cursed technique, a shattered femur needs at least a couple of resting days to properly heal. And now I can sense it's already fractured at least"
Fushiguro stiffened and shot her a concerned look "Yamazaki-san, I believe it is best that you followed Shoko-san immediately. I'm sorry, I didn't realise your injuries were heavier than I thought and went too hard on you" he finished with a stiff bow in her direction
Emiko groaned softly "I appreciate your concern, Fushiguro-kun. But I will say this again. I was the one who asked you not to go easy on me."
Fushiguro still looked unconvinced so she continued "Look, I appreciate your concern, but your guilt is unnecessary. I know what I'm getting myself into. And I will get myself checked out, so don't sweat it okay?" She gave him a reassuring smile
"You heard the lady, she is tough. Besides Shoko will take a look at her now." Gojo said and gestured to Both Emiko and Shoko to go on ahead towards the infirmary.
Shoko shrugged and gestured with her head to Emiko "Shall we? You still can walk right?"
"Yeah, I can. Just a bit shaky is all" Emiko said, then nodded to Gojo and the first years "Thank you for the tour, I hope we will be able to work well from now on"
"Sure Emiko-san, Get well soon!" Itadori said and Kugisaki gave her a nod. Emiko looked at Fushiguro and gave him another smile before turning to follow Shoko out of the Dojo.
As soon as Emiko and Shoko were out of the Dojo, Fushiguro turned to face Gojo and glared at him "If you are aware of her injuries, why the hell did you ask me to spar with her?"
"I have my reasons. But I paired you up because I knew she will be alright" Gojo patted his shoulder once and shifted the topic to their upcoming mission tomorrow.
"Now, any question?"
"Not really, basically, it's just another stakeout mission. We just have to do it in a slightly more populated area is all" Kugisaki said
"Yep. that's correct. And because it's more populated than the locations we were used to, you guys have to be more discreet in exorcising them."
"We got it sensei, we will get the place curse-less in a flash!" Itadori said giving his teacher a thumb up.
"I know you will, you are my students after all~!" Gojo patted Itadori's head "Now, run along and enjoy your day off~"
"Tch, you are the one who ruined it in the first place" Kugisaki harrumphed and marched straight outside, Itadori glances back at Fushiguro who still hasn't said anything and gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder "I will wait outside"
Fushiguro just gave him a nod and turned towards Gojo "I won't ask what your reason is, but can you at least make sure she arrived home safely today? And please get her to rest until she is fully healed too. It's not good to just force her body like that, despite her insistence that she is fine."
Gojo observed his charge with a slight smile on his face. "Alright. I will personally ensure she arrived safely at her house and will be fully healed by the time she had to go on missions with you guys."
Fushiguro held his gaze for several more moments until he finally sighed and left the Dojo without another word.
"They certainly get along much better than I anticipated" Gojo mused to himself as he stared at the spot his students just vacated with a quiet chuckle.
"Alright, it's done" Shoko exclaimed as she withdrew her hands from Emiko's thigh. "Do you still feel any pain?"
Emiko stared wide-eyed at her legs and put a little pressure on her previously throbbing leg in disbelief "Wow.. I think you really healed it.."
"You realise that I healed you yesterday right?"
"I knew that, but since I was unconscious, I guess it hasn't fully sunk in yet. I mean, I'm still trying to grasp the concept of flying kappas and teleportation even before I get to your angel breathe-ability"
"Angel breathe?"
"It's from Hunterx— Ah.. nothing, it was something I used to watch is all"
Shoko snorted, but before she could reply, someone knocked on the door "Is everyone decent?"
When neither Shoko nor Emiko answered, the door opened to reveal a grinning Gojo "So, how was it? You all healed up?"
Emiko nodded and tried to stand on her own, shifting her weight for a bit and moving her arm a bit to test her previously broken arm as well. "Yeah. I am.."
Gojo nodded then turned his attention to Shoko. "You don't face any complications right?"
"Nah, everything is normal."
Since Emiko was still preoccupied to check her leg, she missed a slight shift from their exchange that spoke of a deeper meaning than what they actually said.
Gojo gave her a thoughtful nod and turned his attention back to Emiko "You ready to go back? Ijichi is already waiting at the gate"
"Yeah, I'm good. Thank you again for healing me today and yesterday as well" She gave a short bow to the doctor.
Shoko gave her a slight smile in return. "No problem. My advice is to think carefully before you get along with whatever this man said"
Gojo doesn't even offer any commentary for their exchange. Seemingly used to being implied as a bad influence. Emiko doesn't comment on it either and just gave Shoko a wry smile and followed Gojo out of the door.
The ride home was pretty quiet with Gojo busy on his phone and Emiko almost nodding off in the back seat. Once they get to her apartment, after a two hours ride, Emiko thanked Ijichi and climbed out of the car only to be followed by Gojo.
Emiko raised her brows questioningly at him, but the man just remained silent with a smile on his face. As if he knows he was purposely annoying her.
"What?"
"Nothing. I will escort you to your room"
"Excuse me..?"
Gojo held up his hands "Don't look at me like that. It's a request from my concerned student. How could I refuse him?"
As soon as he said 'student' Emiko knew he was talking about Fushiguro. Thus with a tired sigh, she mentioned him to follow her inside the apartment building.
They climbed up to her floor and just as they turned from the last corner towards her room, Emiko halted on her steps and the previous exhaustion faded completely from her.
"What the—!"
Her door was ajar and stuff was already scattered in front of her door, a few utensils, books, and her only other pair of shoes, among other things. Emiko then hurriedly made her way to her room only to discover her landlord in the middle of dumping the entire content of her drawers into her open suitcase in one go.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"
The burly man merely lifted his head and looked at her for a moment, "Kicking you out. What else?" he said nonchalantly and carelessly closed her suitcase and kick it towards the door, stopping a few inches from her feet.
Emiko stared at her unzipped suitcase in disbelief. "I still have until the end of this week to pay my rent. You are the one who told me that this morning!"
He flicked his cigarettes from his finger and let out the smoke with a noisy exhale. "Things change. There is someone who is willing to pay double your rent money as long as he could move in tomorrow. See? I'm doing you a favour by packing your stuff out."
"But you can't just kick me out like this! We had an agreement!"
The landlord smirked. "Ah yes.. The agreement eh?" He stepped closer to her and Emiko instinctually stepped back.
"Since I'm pretty sure you don't have your rent money now, let alone doubles that. Are you talking about our other agreement?" He rove his eyes over her body and leered at her.
Emiko was too caught up in the sight in front of her to remember Gojo's presence that she jumped a little when he put his hand on her shoulder and pulled her back against his chest with his other hand roughly shoved her landlord back until he stumbled a couple of steps behind.
"I did really appreciate it if you don't look at her like that."
The burly man regained his balance, looked up at Gojo from head to toe, and sneered at him. Gojo might be really tall for an average Japanese man. But he was more on the lean side, top it off with his blindfold and spiked up white hair, most people who see him at first glance would've thought of him as an eccentric instead of a threat.
"You her other boyfriend then? Never thought that this chick here could be really naughty."
Emiko was about to interject him, but Gojo beat her to it "Sorry, but I'm her only boyfriend you see. And If you are done here, can you leave so I and my girlfriend could pick her stuff up?"
The landlord throw his cigarettes to the floor and crushed them with his foot "Tch. you do so. And don't forget, you still owe me this month's rent." He locked her room but pauses before he walked away and smirked at her "Or, you could just follow me and settle it tonight?"
Emiko felt Gojo move behind her, but before he could do anything, she straightened up and face him with a glare "No need. I will pay you later this week somehow."
Her landlord let out a loud guffaw and gave her one last sneer before disappearing on the corner.
As soon as he was out of sight, her shoulder sagged. She let out a long exhale before crouching down to carefully tucked her clothes inside her suitcase. "Thanks for back then, and I'm sorry you had to see that.." She said warily.
Gojo said nothing but he crouched down and helped her pick up a few of her stuff and put them inside her storage box anyway. "You should place a harassment report"
Emiko shakes her head and zipped up her suitcase. "Not worth the hassle. Nothing will be done anyway." she said then helped Gojo pick up her stuff.
Gojo remained silent again, worldlessly agreeing with her. He then picked up a photo frame of a high school Emiko with her arms around a teenage boy with the same shade of eyes as her, both of them smiling widely at the camera.
"That's my brother.."
Gojo looked up at her and handed her the frame, although her voice still sounded tired, there is a hint of bittersweetness to it that you only found in remembering those loved ones you lost. He understood the feeling really well. "He looked like you"
Emiko gave him a thin smile and put the frame carefully inside the box. "Many said so. But he is different from me." She paused to lightly caressed the frame. "...He is better."
Gojo does not comment on that, and she is grateful for it. They both continued to pack up her stuff in silence, which doesn't take very long seeing as she only have a couple of belongings and mostly just the essentials.
Once they were done, Gojo took out his phone to text someone and addressed her. "I'm telling Ijichi to help you bring your stuff down. He should be here shortly"
Too worn out to argue, Emiko nodded and waited in silence with him. Thankfully, they didn't have to wait long, as Ijichi hurriedly came from around the corner and Immidietly lifted the storage box into his arm and gave her a smile. "Shall I put this in the car?"
Gojo nodded. "Ijichi, you and Emiko go on ahead to the car, there is a curse I need to exorcise first."
Emiko cast a questioning gaze at him, but Gojo just wordlessly pushed her suitcase towards her. "Go on, I won't take long."
Faced with his insistence, Emiko sighed and followed Ijichi out to the car.
Once he felt that they both had already downstairs, Gojo turned around and climbed the staircase where her landlord had disappeared to. His steps were slow and measured as he walked past the empty corridor of the upper floor.
His feet stopped at the furthest door in the corridor, and Gojo raised his hand to knock on the door twice. He doesn't have to wait very long before the door opened and Emiko's landlord came into view.
CRACK
No sooner than he opened the door, Gojo punched him straight on the face, throwing the larger man down on a heap on the floor with blood smeared across his face.
The man wheezes as he now looked up in fear toward the blindfolded man and scrambled backwards on his knees. "F-fwait, no pwease, I-I'm sorry!"
Gojo ignored his plea and crouched down to his level. Even with his blindfold on, the man could feel the weight of his stare. "Does that hurt?"
Her landlord could only nod his head repeatedly, his whimpers getting louder the longer Gojo just stared at him silently at point-blank range.
"Listen well, I will only say this once. Don't ever show your filthy face to her ever again. Understood?"
Once again, he could only nod jerkily at him. Once Gojo saw that the man was on the verge of tears, he finally stood up and throw a couple of ten thousand yen bills at him and left without another word.
Ijichi fidgeted awkwardly with his sleeve beside her as they stood side by side in front of her apartment building, with her belongings still sitting on the ground. Emiko insisted they waited for Gojo outside before making their way to the car.
"Emiko-san, it's getting really late, are you sure you will be able to find a place to stay tonight?"
Emiko was about to answer him when Gojo came out of the building and immediately spotted them, and made his way to them before promptly turned to Ijichi and told him to load Emiko's belongings into the car and wait inside.
Once she saw that Ijichi was inside the car, Emiko turned to Gojo and bowed her head. "Thank you for your help, but I can take care of myself from here."
"Have you got a place to stay tonight?"
A bit startled by the sudden question, Emiko averted her eyes. "I do have a place in mind. It's not like this is the first time I've been kicked out either"
Gojo nodded as if confirming something then grabbed her suitcase from beside her. "Alright, you can stay with me then"
"I– what?! And hey! That's my suitcase!" Emiko shouted as she saw Gojo already hauled her suitcase to the trunk, completely ignoring her protest, then he turned to her.
"What?"
"What? What do you mean what?! I can't stay with you for free! I might be broke, but I'm not about to leech off of you."
"Who said it's free?"
Emiko blinked "It's not…?"
Gojo snorted "I'm touched that you think of me that generous, but I'm not really. I just have a whole estate to myself and too many unused rooms."
Emiko considered him for a bit before hesitantly asked. "... What's the payment then?"
"You any good at writing reports?"
"I suppose..? I often write reports for the kitchen logs back when I was a baker."
He smirked "Then, you have to write my report mission and bake me the fluffiest creamiest and sweetest cake you can as your payment."
"...what? That's it?"
"Yeah, what else do I want?"
"I dont know! What about money?!"
Gojo tilted his head. "You think I need money?"
Emiko shut up at that, then she let out a resigned sigh and nodded. "Fine.. I will write your reports and bake you the fluffiest, creamiest, and sweetest cake I can as payment."
Gojo grinned then offered her his hand "We have a deal then?"
She stared at his outstretched hand for a beat before finally surrendering to her pride and shook it. "Deal."
Emiko : "Child graced with beauty; smiling child"
Word count: 6,197
