Oh my god, oh my god, oh my GOD. I can't believe my rotten luck! Qian was smacking her head against the metal surface of her lab bench. She pulled her hair out of its bun, running both hands through her locks vigorously in frustration at her stupidity.

What were the odds that she ran into him?! Of course it happened, why wouldn't it? And of course she just stood there, babbling like a bumbling idiot. Way to go. He definitely hates you now.

She groaned once more and folded her arms on the table, resting her forehead against her knuckles. She took in a deep breath before raising her head, tucking her chin onto her forearms.

Honestly, I need to grow up and get over myself. She squeezed her eyes shut. I can't keep acting like this and avoiding him forever.

Besides… she released another defeated sigh. She thought back to the conversation she had with the other students regarding her parents' anniversary party. If she didn't just ask him now and get it over with, she may never will, which would be incredibly rude and her palms on the benchtop, she pushed herself to her feet in determination.

Time to face the music.

—-

Satoru was back in his own office, typing up a mission report to send to Masamichi. He pulled his mask down, massaging his temples in exhaustion.

His mind traveled back to the dark-haired girl. While he wasn't expecting to see her so soon, he couldn't say he was displeased. His lips twitched in amusement upon recalling her stupefied gaze: her pink cheeks, owlishly large eyes… She always had the most comical expressions. The only issue was- well, suffice to say, she was terrified of him is an understatement- which was frustrating.

He paused, staring at the screen in front of him. Wait, why was it frustrating? It shouldn't matter, right? It's not like he cares about how she behaves around him now. What's done is done; move on.

He thought back to her bloodied body in his arms. Guilt. He definitely felt that discernable sensation in his gut, having practically a child throw herself in front of him in an attempt to save him. Well, not a child, but someone who was old enough to be his student. He never got a chance to thank her… or apologize really. It wasn't his fault, yet, he still felt responsible for not protecting her when he should have been able to-

But wait a moment. He blinked at the screen in momentary realization. Why did he feel responsible? It's not like she was actually his student, he had no reason to protect her whatsoever.

But there was something else gnawing inside of him. His last conversation with Shoko unnerved him, and he took on various back-to-back missions to take his mind off of the entire situation. It helped for the most part, until he came back.

Him? Caring about someone? Especially one who benefited him in no way whatsoever?

He cared for his students- that was obvious. Not only were they powerful, but one day, they will help him fulfill his goal and overturn the Jujutsu world for the better.

But this girl… she was just… some random person. But she was so… pure. He growled under his breath as he raked a hand through his hair, thinking of her soft smile. She was the epitome of kindness and selflessness, and to be honest, it unnerved him. How did she get under his skin? He was THE Gojo Satoru. Supposedly undefeatable, impenetrable.

No. He shook his head vigorously. It's his job after all: to protect innocent people. He just felt bad for her, that's it. It was guilt and pity, that's all there was to it.

A soft knock shook him out of his reverie and he peered at the door. He sighed, pulling his mask back over his vision. "Come in."

The door slowly opened and he raised his brows at the unexpected visitor, ignoring how his heart leapt in his chest. Speak of the Devil.

Qian sucked in a breath, folding her trembling hands together as she bowed politely in greeting. "S-Sorry to bother you, Gojo-sensei. Do you have a minute?"

She's so nervous. He crossed his legs and turned his chair to fully face her. "Yeah, sure, what is it?"

"U-Um…" She raised her head slowly, mustering what little bit of courage she had to meet the man's gaze. "I-I…" She swallowed thickly. She clenched her hands so tightly that her knuckles turned white. A sensation of deja vu fell over her, recalling several months ago when they were in a similar position and he was glaring at her with cold, disapproving eyes.

However, this time, he merely regarded her curiously. Nonetheless, she bit her lip nervously, a motion that did not go unnoticed by the man before her.

"I-I wanted to apologize." His eyes snapped away from her lips towards her shining irises. "I-It was rude of me to not greet you properly, especially after you returned from an arduous mission. I deeply apologize for being so unprofessional."

Satoru internally released a breath he didn't realize he had been holding. Like I said. He rubbed the back of his neck as leaned back in his chair. "It's fine, don't worry about it." Too pure.

They fell into an awkward silence. He coughed and looked out towards the window, trying to figure out something to say. How have you been? How's research? How are you feeling… He turned his head towards her and opened his mouth.

"U-Um, there's one other thing I wanted to ask you." He clamped his jaw shut. "I-I know this is quite sudden and… odd but, u-um… my parents are back in town and they're hosting a gathering to celebrate their 20th anniversary. T-They would like me to invite my friends."

She gulped as she took a deep breath. "I-I was wondering if you'd like to attend." She blurted out all at once. "I-I already invited Miwa-san, Yuji-san, Megumi-san, Nobara-san, Maki-san, Toge-san, and Panda-san."

She continued to ramble, peering down at her feet and fidgeting in her stance. "I-I just spoke to Ieiri-sensei and plan to invite Principal Yaga as well. I-I understand this is not related to any missions whatsoever, and I do not want to hinder or cause any problems for you, so I completely understand if you wouldn't like to come but at the very least, y-you've been very kind to me and I-"

"Sure. I'll come." She snapped her head up so fast that her neck cracked, searching the man incredulously for any indication of sarcasm.

"R-Really?" She stammered in surprise upon finding none and he quirked a brow in confusion. "I-I mean, I wasn't sure if… you'd be interested in this sort of thing. Also, I thought you'd have to ask Principal Yaga first-"

"Nah, he'll be down for it. We'll probably need to be on-call if anything happens that night but he likes these sorts of things." He smirked, looking off to the side as he thought of his old teacher's personality. "Team-building and all that."

Qian's shoulders sagged in relief. "O-Oh, is that so? W-Well, that's good to know." She smiled nervously. "W-Well, that's all I have for now. U-Um, it's going to be on September 3rd. I-I'll let everyone know about the details as the date comes closer."

Satoru rested his elbow on his desk, placing his chin in his palm. "Sure, sounds good."

"G-Great." She played with the hem of her hoodie.

He straightened his back, tapping his knuckles on the wooden surface absentmindedly. "...so, how are y-"

"W-Well, I-I'll be off then." She dipped her head and his mouth snapped shut once more.

She turned her heel before he could reply. Suddenly, she stopped in her tracks, peering up at him gratefully. "U-Um, thank you for being willing to attend. I-I know that my presence and… emotions… are a hindrance and have caused you trouble. I-I hope this party will be a great team building activity and I'll do my best to stay out of your way from now on."

The man frowned and opened his mouth to argue, but she had already headed out the door, closing it behind her with a soft click. He rolled his fingers into a fist and clenched his jaw as the unfamiliar feeling came back.

Guilt and pity. Just guilt and pity.

—-

"Qian! Are you down here?"

Qian snapped her gaze up from the microscope to look towards the stairs. "Y-Yes!"

She plucked out her earbuds, taking a moment to stretch her arms above her head as her mentor came down the steps.

"Need some fuel?" Shoko grinned, holding up a box of donuts.

"O-Oh yes please! Thank you so much!" The girl gasped, gleefully hopping up from her seat as the doctor placed the box down at the end of the table. She peeled off her gloves and strolled to the sink to wash her hands.

Shoko opened the lid and plucked a strawberry cream-covered one for herself. "So, how've you been these past few weeks?"

"I-I'm doing fine! Made a tiny bit of progress with the research, I think." Qian dried her hands and approached the box, biting hungrily into a chocolate-glazed pastry.

"Good, and otherwise?" Shoko inquired in concern, taking a bite of her pastry. "Have there been any…other problems?"

Qian chewed the sweet dough thoughtfully. For the past couple of weeks, she honestly felt much lighter. After her conversation with the sorcerer two weeks ago, and his willingness to attend her parents' party, she felt like they were… almost back to normal? At the very least, she no longer felt like she had to go out of her way to avoid the man. Whenever she did run into him, she continued to be polite and greet him properly, but she made sure not to linger or drag him into any conversations. Almost back to normal. She inadvertently sighed to herself.

"So… not great, huh?" Shoko suggested, leaning back against the benchtop. "What's been going on?"

"O-Oh! No, actually things have been okay!" Qian clarified, choosing to change the subject. "I-I made some interesting discoveries, thanks to the… um… large tissue sample from the cursed user." She bit her lip, curiosity gnawing at her as she was unable to stop her next inquiry. "H-How were you able to get it?"

Shoko shrugged. "That was Satoru. He honestly didn't say, and frankly, I didn't want to ask. At the very least, it seems that the owner of the- well, I'll just say it- the arm got away, so you don't need to have that weighing on your conscience."

Qian inwardly cringed at the thought of that woman missing her whole limb. "I-I suppose that's good… she still has answers that we need so it's a relief that she's still alive."

"Agreed." Shoko nodded, swallowing the last bite of her donut. "So? What sort of stuff have you found?"

"R-Right! So, um-" She grabbed her notebook from beside the microscope and flipped through the pages. "S-So, the first thing I noticed is that the cursed user's cells were actually completely human."

Shoko pretended to look shocked. "Really? I can't believe it- the human cursed user's cells were human!"

Qian giggled, reaching back into the glove box to pull out a pair of latex gloves. "L-Let me explain. Remember last week, when I asked for a sample of your blood? I-I wanted to compare." She opened a box and took out a particular slide, with a drop of sample carefully preserved on the glass. "So your cells are also, yes, human…however, they emit a certain glow about them. I presumed from the cursed energy that is interlaced in them. Because you have enough to perform jujutsu techniques, your cell morphology reflects ample cursed energy. But these cells, however, had nothing. They were simply plain, unglowing, human cells."

"Wait, how is that possible?" Shoko furrowed her brow as her assistant placed it onto the stand of the microscope. "I thought you guys said she was able to use cursed techniques, so she has to have enough cursed energy to perform them."

"Y-Yes, she definitely was. Which is why I was super confused, because her cells should be glowing at least somewhat." Qian replied, peering back into her microscope. "S-So then I had an idea and placed her cells in the same culture with cells taken from the plant spirits. And then the weirdest thing happened: her cells changed their morphology and became similar to the plant cells'."

She then leaned back, adjusting her glasses with the back of her hands. "L-Let me backtrack: the media that I have been using to grow the user's cells contains nutrients that only promote human cell growth. Plant cells cannot survive in the same environment. So over time, when I placed the plant spirit's cells in the same culture with the cursed user's cells, the former died off while the latter continued growing WITH the plant cell's characteristics."

"T-Therefore," the girl gestured for Shoko to come towards the microscope. When the doctor peered into the lens, Qian turned a page in her notebook. "I-I'm hypothesizing that as the plant cells die, cursed energy is released. And somehow, her cells must have been using the cursed energy to transform, which makes sense, given she was able to manipulate her limbs in battle to become plant-like."

Shoko leaned back and watched the girl carefully. Qian blushed in embarrassment. "S-Sorry, this is probably not making any sense-"

"No, no. Continue." The doctor urged, tapping her chin pensively. "I'm just thinking, go on."

Qian hesitated before nodding. "R-Right. So then what I tried to do next was inject the user's cells into a culture with my cells, just to see what would happen. Because if our original theory was correct, which was where she was using her cursed technique to transform humans into these plant spirits, then her cells mixed with mine should cause my cells to be affected right? But, when I added hers to mine… nothing happened."

Shoko raised a brow. "No transformation? Nothing?"

"T-That's exactly it: there was no transformation, the cells didn't change at all. I thought that my cells in the culture would transform in the presence of the cursed user's cells. But no reaction." Qian explained with a sigh. "B-But several months ago, when I injected myself with the plant cells I extracted: most of my body transformed into a plant spirit. So if she was truly responsible for transforming people into cursed spirits, why weren't my cells affected when mixed with hers?"

"F-Furthermore, my transformation was only temporary." She continued, flipping to the last page of her notes. "I-I think it's because I possessed absolutely no cursed energy, nor am I susceptible to it, so injecting myself with the cells simply created an uncontrollable burst of cursed energy resonating from the plant spirit's cells that caused my body to go berserk. But I turned back to normal pretty quickly- I speculate it must be due to first, the volume I injected was enough to only affect part of my body; second, my immune system naturally kills any foreign material; and lastly third: I didn't possess any innate cursed energy like that woman to keep those cells alive. So eventually, the cells themselves died out and my body was able to turn back to normal."

Qian shook her head. "S-Sorry, that's an unrelated tangent. All in all, I think I hit a dead end. If adding a plain human's cells to the cursed user's cells caused no change, but adding plant cells to hers did… then my best guess is that the woman isn't a true cursed user. She is obtaining cursed energy from some other source that is not her own, and that's what's giving her power and the ability to use cursed techniques."

Shoko released a breath, her brows knitted in frustration. "So in other words… maybe the cursed user isn't behind creating these plant cursed spirits after all?"

Qian nodded solemnly. "B-But if not her, then who? Are they sourcing her power? And how do they play into the picture, how is she related to them?"

"Ugh, gotcha… okay. Even more questions." Shoko rubbed her temples. "This is giving me a headache."

Qian smiled apologetically. "I-I'm sorry."

"No, this is good." Shoko replied. "Honestly, the more we know about her and this overall…bizarre… situation, the better."

"I-I understand. I'll keep working on it." The girl massaged her sore neck. She had been overstretching it from using the microscope for the past few hours with her research. "F-For now, I'll keep experimenting with what's left of her cells- hopefully, even if she's not the creator of these plants, I can develop some way to help the victims."

"... if they're still alive." Shoko muttered grimly. "Honestly, if what you speculated before is true… It's hard to imagine they could survive an entire cursed spirit growing out of them."

Qian's shoulders slumped at the thought. "Y-You have a point. But we have to try!"

Shoko shook her head sadly. "I mean, I hear you, Qian. And you know I'd support whatever it is you'd want to do, but we have to be realistic."

"I-I know. You're right." Qian sighed once more, feeling the pressure weighing on her shoulders. "I-I think I'm going to take a bit of a breather, if that's okay."

"Of course! Come on, let's get out of this dungeon." Her mentor chuckled. Qian smiled gratefully as they both made their way back up the steps.

Once they made it out the door, Shoko's phone buzzed in her pocket and she cursed before plucking it out of her pocket to look at the notification.

"Sorry, Qian. Duty calls." She apologized as she held the screen up, showing the girl that the message was from the principal. Qian shook her head.

"N-No worries whatsoever! I just need a quick five minute break, I'll be back to work very quickly!" She reassured.

The doctor smiled sympathetically. "That's not what I'm worried about- honestly, take as much time as you want. Walk around! You've been working 12 hour shifts this whole week… you could use a break!"

She shook her head once more. "I-I'll be fine, thank you though!" She dipped her head once more as Shoko waved in farewell, she herself heading towards the principal's office.

The girl took a deep breath as she looked up at the sky. Though it was now near the end of August, the day was as hot as ever. But there was a light breeze that swirled through the campus grounds, providing a cool relief from the heat.

She decided to check the training grounds to see if her friends were sparring once again. Seeing their matches always helped distract her thoughts. Once she made it to the field, she noted that it was actually empty.

She peered around curiously. Perhaps they were in class?

She glanced at her phone, ultimately deciding to follow her mentor's advice, and heading towards the classrooms.