Mai double checked that she was at the right street, right building, and right door before taking a hard knock. She heard footsteps approaching as well as little ones following suit. The door knob clicked, and her blue haired friend pops her head out.
"Mai!" Kasumi greeted her friend. "I like the hair!"
Energetic little blue haired boys came out of the door.
"Big sis! Is this the friend you told us about?"
They tried to pull Mai's arm, excited for their guest to play with them. As promised, she got to know each of their names. But their sister soon had to push Mai into her bedroom before her little siblings kept her anchored to them forever.
"Woah, such bundles of life you have," said Mai. Cute innocent ones they are.
"Oh yeah, they are a HANDFUL though," replied Kasumi. She continued to explain how her mom was out to work at a factory, and Mai could probably meet her tomorrow.
Her friend continued to inspect the room. It was less flattering than her dorm room at Kyoto. The popcorn ceiling was flaking and the window was broken. Kasumi wasn't really kidding when she said they are quite poor.
Mai plopped herself on her bed, but she swore that her back probably cracked a bone or two as it hit the cement bed surface. She groaned and shot her hand on her back to caress it.
"Yikes, Mai! you okay there?" said Kasumi. "Told you it's a bad idea to stay for the night here."
"You know I'm the expert of bad ideas."
Kasumi smiled. "I'm shopping for stuff at home tomorrow. You can come with me."
"And I almost thought we're gonna shop for clothes."
"Not without Momo is not around."
The older friend Momo had always been the mastermind for their shopping. But she wasn't able to go to Tokyo as she had to deal with "adulting" stuff as she called it. Bless Utahime-sensei for being lenient to even let them have an emergency break.
Fast forward to the next day. It was totally difficult to get themselves out of the house when Kasumi had clingy brothers. Thankfully, her mom was there to barricade them. Kasumi's mom was just as sweet as her daughter but with a more aggressive spunk in her.
"Soooo…what really happened at Tokyo Tech?" asked Kasumi. She knew all the mission details, like the Bo Shuriken, but it took a while for Mai to give up ALL the emotional details. Mai pushed the shopping cart piled with buckets of paint and paint rollers. "No sister drama this time?"
"Unfortunately, no," answered Mai, "had a 'kinda' normal conversation with her this time and it was…interesting."
Kasumi knew how Mai got her ass kicked in the Goodwill event plus thought she did win in the arcade game. The sister might have lulled down a bit with their insults. "Then whose drama?"
"Kugisaki."
"Ohhhhh…." Kasumi did remember how that girl went during the entirety of the Goodwill event.
"Gets nosy with my sister business. It's fun riling her up though."
"You sound like you are on better terms, unlike before."
Mai halted on her steps, processing her thoughts for a moment. "I guess…."
—
"Do you know the next thing she did?!" Nobara slammed her fist on the table, rattling the bowls but not toppling them. "She just stood there!"
"Gee whiz, Kugisaki, don't you think it's too early in the morning for this?" Yuuji rubbed his eyes and yawned. The first years had gathered at their kitchen for breakfast.
"You've been talking about her nonstop since last night," Megumi called her out.
That took back Nobara, settling down her bowl of rice on the table. "I am RANTING about her, like, as in I hate her. Know the difference."
"Eh, still same thing," said Yuuji.
Nobara huffed. She had been thinking about how Maki and Mai's conversation went on last night. Then she realized not only is she talking about Mai but also thinking about her!
She shook her head. But at the same time, she was also looking out for Maki. Last night, she was planning to check up on Maki in the bathroom, where she mostly caught the older girl brushing her teeth at the same time as Nobara. When she got there, Maki looked like she was…..at peace? Contented?
Nobara wasn't sure what if maybe she was just overthinking this? Maybe Maki held an actual neutral face? Or maybe because Maki's hard to read sometimes?
She tried opening up a conversation with Maki at the sink and pry about what happened. But the words of Mai repeatedly echoed through every corner of her brain chambers:
'It's NONE of your business'
And she did end up not saying anything and only had a normal tooth brushing session with Maki.
Goddammit. She didn't usually care about this stuff but now it's eating up her brain. She slapped herself. No, no, no, this can't be it!
The dormitory clicked open, entering Maki who just finished her jogging session around the campus. God knows where Panda and Inumaki are at. The first years turned their heads to greet Maki.
"I'm taking a quick break, be ready once I'm done," she ordered.
"Yes, ma'am!" The first years said in unison.
Nobara totally needed that right now since she needed to take things off her mind.
Once they were all changed up, they meet at the track field where everyone's there: Maki doing her stretches while Inumaki and panda are doing their own sparring session.
Yuuji started to run up to Maki, wanting to be the first guinea pig of the day in one on one training. Nobara ended up grabbing into his hood, pulling him down, as they raced towards Maki.
"Maki-san!" Nobara managed to outrun Yuuji. "Do me first!"
"Alright, you know the drill: do warm up stretches first."
"So," opened up Nobara, halfway to her stretches, "do you think Gojo's really serious with the joint mission thing? With Mai?"
"Fifty-fifty," answered Maki. "He's crazy to even bring it up. I'm sure you'll be doing most of the work." After kicking those Kyoto kids asses, she could safely say that.
—
"He said that?" Kasumi raised her brow. It was their turn for the cashier and their cart was filled with housing maintenance stuff.
"Shit, I can't tell if he's kidding or not." Mai helped out in placing the stuff on the cashier table.
"This is Gojo Satoru we're talking about! Of course, he IS serious."
"Gee, Kasumi, your Gojo simping is showing. He's a total clown if you haven't noticed yet. Even Utahime-sensei hates him."
Kasumi pouted and prepared her wallet out; she double checked everything was within her budget. "Still, he has a responsibility, so there's a good chance the joint mission will happen."
Everything was all packed with their own reusable bags. And they exited the store. As they cross the parking lot, Mai looked up the blue sky and she started really thinking. If the joint mission does happen, she wasn't so sure if she could be of any help. But she started caring about it, maybe a little bit, when she usually doesn't put loads of effort into being a sorcerer. But whatever, she'll let Kugisaki handle all the work.
"Maiii." Kasumi pulled onto her friend's sleeves. "You're zoning out. Don't tell me you're getting worked up by that joint mission?"
"What? No! I'm just thinking about what to eat for lunch."
That really didn't satisfy Kasumi as Mai still had that scrunched look on her face. "Think about it this way," said Kasumi, "it's just another goodwill event but without having to fight each other. It's good for sister schools' teamwork, and I think Utahime- sensei would love that."
Mai's face softened. Ever since Tokyo tech was taken over by Gojo's wing, she noticed how the sister schools rarely operated with each other, especially within the students. There was this different power balance between them, distancing the schools from each other…
"If it does happen, I guess I could learn a thing or two from it," said Mai, "then maybe we could get to kick their asses for the next goodwill event." A grin spread across her face.
—
Utahime was sipping some green tea in her office and rifling through some paperwork. She heard all about the Takada-chan incident where her kids are involved, and she was glad that Mai was trying to expand her options with the new weapon she had.
Loud footsteps interrupted her now ruined day right from behind her. Those annoying unwelcomed visits he does that always come out of nowhere, she would always brace herself for them.
"Utahime!" He quickly grabbed a chair and spun it around then sat on its wrong side, with his legs spread apart.
She broke out a big sigh.
"I'm proposing a joint mission between our students," he said.
"That's rare for you to say." Utahime kept her eyes on her papers.
"It kinda was a joke at first but being the Great Teacher Gojo I am, my students believe it so I kinda have to deal with it now."
"Which students?" She sighed and said as she signed the paper.
" Nobara and yours, Mai. You've seen their reports."
"Well, Mai..she's," Utahime paused for better words to choose, "quite the tricky case, not too invested in jujutsu."
"Nobara's an aggressive one is all I can say."
"They're quite the opposite, but yes, like from the reports, they could work out. But there's one thing to note," argued Utahime, "I don't want Mai losing here. It's a joint mission, both parties should at least have a contribution. Judging your student and you as their teacher, Nobara will likely take all the credit."
"Oh, so you finally agreed I'm the better teacher." He taunted.
"Don't flatter yourself." Utahime squinted her eyes. "I'm simply saying I want my student to have an equal opportunity to prove herself. It's a mission that benefits them."
"You've said it yourself, she's a tricky case, it's all her fault if everything got owned by my student."
"It's our job as teachers to have them work together despite the differences."
Well, shit. That's quite a hard concept to understand for Gojo. Gojo blinked then for a while he looked at Utahime with him in this room.
The door abruptly slid open, ear shattering loudness as the spectacled assistant manager unveiled his presence.
"Gojo-san?!" Ijichi exclaimed, "You're..here." He calmed himself down, pushing up his glasses and standing straight. "I've received reports from the Morioka area, they said they needed some back-up." Originally, he only had the tension to report this to Iori since he was around Kyoto prefecture, doing support work. It made it even better that Gojo was here.
"Back up?" Said Utahime, "it's a low population area, cursed spirits can't be that worse."
"Morioka in Iwate prefecture.." mumbled Gojo while Ijichi continued to explain the details. The Tokyo Teacher remembered buying manju shaped bean jam buns for souvenirs the last time he was there. But aside from that, he knew that Nobara's hometown was….
"The brats can deal with it," he said, then looked at Utahime. "Nobara, she hates that town more than anything, and there's Mai who hates putting up with work. Boom! Equal opportunity right there!"
Fine, Gojo did have a point, but Utahime thought about it for a second, imagining how those girls got sent to a mission they genuinely don't wanna be on. "And if they refused?"
Gojo held a mischievous grin on his face.
"Gojo, I swear to god if you do anything to harm-"
"I got it all under control." He tried to assure Utahime. "What can I say," he stood up from his chair with his arms up, "I'm a genius! And we got a joint mission!"
"Ha?!" Mai widened her eyes. "No way, there's no way!" She laughed, shaking her head. "I thought I could put up with her, but being sent with her in the middle of nowhere? I'd rather die, thanks."
"I understand how this is different from what you're used to," said Utahime, "but it's already been decided you'll be working together."
—
"Out of all places, it's back to that hellhole that I have to do!"
Yep, exactly. That's the reaction Gojo wanted.
"And to make it that the joint mission with Mai," groaned Nobara. "It's torture!"
"Hey!" Gojo yelped as Nobara tried to storm off, turning her back at him. Quickly, he placed his hand on her shoulder and before Nobara could pull a move on him, they both vanished into thin air. The office was left empty.
—
Both girls fell on the ground, knees first. Gojo, never in his teaching career, had to deal with such bratty kids. It rivaled his whole Tokyo kids, and he's confident to say that Megumi got lowered in his tier list of despicable brats.
"This is against our will!"
"Well, guess what? You two see this coming!"
Mai crossed her arms, and Nobara tightened her fist on her sides, muttering curses.
"So, shoo! Work's waiting for you," said Gojo. God, he was so ready to throw them away like …stinky socks.
The girls turned around, and they were greeted by an old lady.
"Baba!" Nobara remembered the day well when she had a huge fight with her.
"You damn brat," The old lady greeted back. Despite being shorter than Nobara, she went to put an arm around her shoulder and pull her aggressively so she could knock over her head.
Mai stood there, quite amused.
"Ow!" exclaimed Nobara which made Mai even more surprised.
"Thanks for the back-ups, Gojo-san," said the old lady. He only nodded as he gladly teleported out of the village that he has been dying to do.
"You must be her friend?" asked the old lady, but Nobara violently shook her so as to also escape from her grandma's grasp.
"Nope," denied Nobara, standing up right, "Mai's just a colleague."
Mai scoffed. "And you are?"
"Nobara's grandma, people usually call me Baba Yagi."
Mai raised an eyebrow. "Like Baba Yaga?"
"Yeah, but the rip off version of her," said Nobara. Her grandma immediately nudged Nobara, and she scowled in pain, massaging her ribs. Mai couldn't help but chuckle.
"Baba Yaga from the slavic folklore. She's an old witch who lives in a hut," said Baba Yagi. "Famous for her witchcraft which is quite similar to our Straw Doll Technique but more in the voodoo side."
Mai was all ears honestly; she saw Nobara's in action a few times and for teasing sake, this information from Baba Yagi could add more nicknames for Nobara.
"Enough about us," interrupted Nobara. "What's the situation here?"
The mission consisted of exorcizing cursed spirits from the woods. They needed some back up because the Iwate prefecture had been lacking man-power (which is the whole state of the jujutsu world itself). The jujutsu locals were still trying to figure out where the cursed spirit stemmed from.
The jujutsu sorcerers were hiking up the mountain where the cursed spirit had been sighted. They were on their way there and decided to camp out. Nobara and Mai are stationed together behind a tree, waiting for the appearance of their target.
"There's no way this cursed spirit can't be this complicated," groaned Nobara. She so badly wanted to get this over with. It's been hours now or maybe that's just her, that they've been standing around that tree.
Out of boredom, Mai had been throwing her Bo Shuriken at a nearby tree while Nobara was on her guard ready to attack anytime.
"Maybe its one of those unregistered fuckers," Mai said. "A hideout here or whatever."
Nobara caught on to what she said, and it is possible.
A rustling of leaves came out of the trees. They were towering ones up above them, and when they tilted their heads up to look for the source, a bag got thrown over their heads.
"What the-?!"
They felt rough hands, tying together with a prickly.
"Let go of me!" Nobara and Mai tried to swing their heads back to knock some of their prepatorors. None of them budge as they worked quickly. With all that shouting and groaning, the young sorcerers breathe in an unknown herb spread all over the insides of the bag. Their eyelids slowly closed itself to sleep.
—
Upon waking up, Mai and Nobara were tied together. Nobara shot back into action already being so aggressive in tugging the ropes out of their wrist. It made Mai fully awake.
She looked around, it was so dark and they were in a cave. The jagged groves of the ceiling and moist air dripped into water running down the walls. From what she remembered, an unregistered cursed spirit can't do this alone. There were maybe more than one pair of hands that grabbed them when they were there.
When Nobara couldn't seem to tug off the ropes, she began screaming. Mai flinched so hard.
"Hell, Kugisaki!" complained Mai. "This place is already bad enough, why make it worse with your squealing?!"
"At least, I'm doing something here!" Nobara calmed down for a moment. "Any ideas who could these fuckers be?"
"Some isolated jungle community who lose their fucking minds? I don't know."
"A cult probably," said Nobara. It could be, and from what she remembered when those guys jumped on them, they had these red paint smeared all over their eyes like it was acting as a mask. "Can you stand?" She asked Mai. Nobara knew their arms were tied together and backs pressed together. "I'll try to get on my feet, so you better make sure you're not gonna drag me down."
Nobara started getting on her feet, but the ground was too slippery so she end up being down on her ass.
"Not gonna work," said Mai. "Try pressing your weight on my back when we try to stand up together."
Minutes later of trying and some arguing on the way they finally did. They realized how they don't feel their weapons on them. Mai's Bo Shuriken could have worked perfectly for this situation.
"Now what?" asked Mai.
Nobara abruptly moved her feet forward.
But Mai stood tacked on her ground. "We can't see shit, genius! Who knows if they set up traps around here."
Nobara squinted her eyes, biting her lips. "We can't stand around and do jackshit!" She barked back.
"Fine, you want something to do? Let's play 20 questions! I'll start. Would you-"
Nobara swung her head forward, slightly bending her knees, and banged her head against Mai's backhead. "Not like that! Something productive!"
"You fucking animal!" Winced Mai, the pulsing hard on her skull, who retaliated back by kicking Nobara's leg.
They took a while to calm down with Mai being the first one to give up. "So, was that your idea of being productive?" She said.
Nobara swore she felt sweat all over her body and pulsing pain everywhere. It was a workout, she thought.
"Now that you had your turn," Mai calmed her breaths. "20 questions. Would you rather…"
"I never agreed to this."
"Just answer the damn question."
"Would you rather have a sugar daddy or be a sugar mommy?"
"I wouldn't stoop that low. I never had the normal ones to begin with."
"Eh? what the hell do you mean?" Mai rosed brow
"My turn!"
"Oh yeah," Mai kept on pushing on, "if grandma did teach you that technique, how about the rest of the family? Like your dad maybe?"
"Shut up, Mai. None of your business."
"You say that when you're always up my ass about Maki and me. And you're so defensive about it."
She was winning, and Nobara hated to admit that. "Let's just say they're people I can't stand."
"How about this? Share your family drama then I'll tell mine."
"You really are tryna bribe me with Maki-san? Don't even try, I know how trash the Zenins are."
"Well, I'm sure you didn't even get to hear the full, juicy details from Maki."
Nobara paused, thinking. How should she say this? Even if she gets along with Maki, there was still the looming invisible brick around her like there's a shade of her that she rather keeps it locked up.
"I never really met that prick," started Nobara. There was dead silence. She breathed in then cringed, just thinking about it.
"That's it!" Said Baba. A five year old Nobara peeping through the sliding doors of the other room. "That's why he left you 'cause of damn mouth of yours."
"You old hag!" Nobara's mom fired. Her daughter shivered from how her voice rattled the whole room that Baba was even taken back. "You know nothing about us!"
"How about him disappearing out of nowhere right after that madness you pulled on him? That SAYS something."
The bedroom slid open with a loud bang on its wooden frames. Nobara faced wide-eyed at her livid mother, fuming. "Let's go, Nobara," she announced. "We're leaving." Then she clutched onto her wrist.
"Ma, where are we going?" Nobara was too confused as she just let her mother drag her to her room. "What's going on?" she asked..
Fuck. Whatever.
"It's not much of a sob story," said Nobara. "She's alive somewhere, I'm sure of that."
"C'mon tell the full story!"
"That was long ago, anyway. Why would I remember?"
"So you forgot?"
"Guess so.."
Silence.
"Did you ever have those moments when you thought of your childhood, there's just a big blank space?"
Well, fuck. Nobara guessed it would be those times when her mom was around, she didn't really had any grasp what happened that period, and she reasoned she was still a naive little kid so her memories were hazy. Not until Saori came that her memories quite more detail from there.
"Sometimes I think we choose to forget them on purpose."
"I don't think I'd be dumb enough to do that."
"Well Me and Maki…..we only had each other in that madhouse, we were treated like doormats, but when I have Maki with me. I forgot about it, forgot how we are less than garbage there, and thought that maybe this is normal. But when I went back to that house without Maki, I realized they shamed us just 'cause we were different."
"I think…I kinda get what you're saying." Nobara held her breath for a second there. She usually doesn't tell this to so many people in her life; the Tokyo tech was even yet to find it out. "I had a friend when I was little, and she moved from the city to here. People hated her 'cause she was different. I liked being with her, but this town drove her crazy then…she had to move out."
"Is that why you hate this town so much?"
"Yup, way too ignorant people."
"Not gonna lie, but you sometimes act like it."
"Ha?!"
A rumbling erupted at the cave. They felt its vibration on the ground, halting their argument. Soon, a faint light spilled inside the cave, and they squint their eyes to find out the cave's entrance was being pushed open. A giant stone acted as its "door."
Their perpetrators revealed themselves, wearing these white robes with tied ropes dangling around their neck. Three of these people went to carry Nobara and Mai who were haphazardly thrown on their shoulders. They started catching glimpses of what their captures were, and they admitted they looked a lot like a cult, the very typical one. They wear white robes like stolen bedsheets from a hospital. And then there's a rope wrapped on them to hold it all together.
Mai thought that there must be some back-up coming over for them, and they better get here before Nobara gets knee deep in REALLY losing her shit that they're undeniably helpless right now. Mai stayed pretty calm right now, just letting the cult freaks take them to whatever weird rituals they have.
Meanwhile, Nobara surveyed the area once she felt the cold wind outside smacking her face. It was night time, making it harder to see a damn thing. Blow torches were also the only source of light plus there's the moonlight.
She started her lungs out, making these cult fuckers get stiffened for a second, and finally, decided to gag the loudmouth Nobara.
"We must begin," a voice said. "And end our suffering."
—
"Is it really a good idea to let this wait out?" A jujutsu sorcerer asked, holding a pair of binoculars in their eyes.
"Those girls might have something in their sleeves," answered Baba, squinting her eyes. "We don't want to ruin their plan."
Using her Straw Doll technique, Baba Yagi was able to possess a bird and use it as their "eyes" to look out for the two girls. They were on the wooden scaffolding with their hands tied together and their face roughly pressed against the scaffoldings' prickly planks.
"But we'll interfere soon," added Baba. "They just need to pull them to a better angle so we can attack."
Baba Yagi and the sorcerer along with her continue to observe. They have seen how the cult's hub looks like. There were wooden scaffoldings where their supposed leader was supposed to stand. A huge white jug of container was with their leader, and Baba didn't have a single clue on what could be on there. Maybe their 'communal wine'? Who knows.
"Their leader seems like a special grade cursed spirit. Made sense the crowd could be feeding him cursed energy," said the fellow sorcerers.
"They are squished there like sardines in a can. It could work." Baba admits that seeing the cult size, it reminded her of when she went to Tokyo once and got to look at the famous crossing streets of the city. Small cursed spirits latched to almost every human.
—
"Poor jujutsu sorcerers," Nobara heard their leader speak; the rest of the cult was dead quiet. "Having to be so young to get shoved into this mess. But soon you don't have to think about it anymore. Through the pretty noose you'll achieve freedom."
Mai seemed not bothered at all when she's right next to Nobara. She wanted to say a lot as she's gagging in her mouth and her spits dripping off her chin. The cult leader noticed her squirming and motioned their minions to take the gag off.
For a second there, Nobara thought she wouldn't have that much freedom of speech in this situation. "I'm forced to do this!" yelped Nobara. "For a cult to work, I should have consented to this first."
"You are too far gone to take that route. That damned jujutsu school had brainwashed you enough."
"What if I wanted this, what if I actually like being there!" Nobara had no idea what to do but what she believed is she's buying herself time. She looked at Mai; she wasn't moving an inch from her spot, letting Nobara do the work as always. The cult fuckers tried to shut her up again as they tried to threw gag on her mouth, but Nobara thrashed her body around. "What if this is the reason I want to live, the reason I can actually get the fuck out of this hell town!"
That caught Mai's attention, and unfreezed herself in her spot when she tilted her head to look at Nobara's. "Not everyone's like you," she argued. "Not everyone can put up with the fucked up world of jujutsu, and at some point, people would want to escape from it, and want a normal life." Mai had said it through gritted teeth. Nobara eyed her, taking deep breaths, and out of excuses.
"Everyone!" interfered the cult leader. "This is a prime example of why we must escape through the Pretty Noose. There's too much suffering in this world, and we can end it right in our hands!"
The situation continued to escalate even further as the whole cult filled their shot glasses with red drink colored drink. Meanwhile, Nobara and Mai were back to being pushed around and they almost stepped on each other's foot.
"Take this as our ultimate sacrifice! The blood of jujutsu sorcerers!" The cult howled as they raised their glasses to Nobara and Mai.
"Hey Nobara."
Nobara heard Mai mutter even through the howling crowd around them. She felt a cold small metal being pressed against her palms.
"You better fucking make this work," she added.
Nobara felt for the thing that Mai passed on her tied hands, and when she realized what it was, Nobara quickly turned her head to Mai, blood dripping down her nose. It reminded Nobara of that one time when Mai fought with Maki back in the Goodwill event.
With the entire cult distracted, Nobara's enough strength and thanks to Mai's 'help,' Nobara slashed through the ropes around her hands.
The ride was quiet going back to town, and they weren't traveling straight to Tokyo yet. Maybe just a few nights of stay at the Kugisaki residence to finalize all the mission details.
As Baba concluded from it, she said, "It wasn't technically a cult more like a planned group suicide that spiraled into different level especially when it's lead by special grade cursed spirit."
If during that time Nobara wasn't standing close to the special grade spirit and Mai wasn't there, this mission would have collapsed and Baba wouldn't have provided a back up. Right after Nobara finished off the cursed spirit, it was easier to handle the rest of the cult. A whole ass ambulance and police cars came to rescue them as they were still planning a group suicude.
Night fell when the car stopped right at a small gate, and Nobara got out of the front seat.
Mai was still leaning her head against the window, taking a nap, that she almost fell face flat on the ground when Nobara opened the backseat door.
"Dick." Mai scrunched her face, rubbing her eyes.
"We're here," said Nobara.
They got into the house. It was the usual traditional Japanese house but not as grand as the Zenin's, it was more simple.
Baba Yagi showed Mai her room for the night and the bathroom; Baba had ordered her only grandkid to fix up some futon, a light bulb for their room, and pajamas for their guest. The whole process Nobara gritted her teeth and stomped her feet on the ground.
"Do you have any light in here?" asked Mai when Nobara met her at the room's entrance. Mai was only wearing a towel wrapped around her. Nobara almost dropped the folded futon she carried.
"You scared of the dark?" Nobara sassed, quickly turning to the open door and went inside. Their shadows traced on the floorboards on the opened dark room.
As she tiptoed to screw on the ceiling bulb, the image of Mai still burned in Nobara's mind; that damped towel clung to her waist and that skimpy towel revealed her thighs. Shit, Nobara felt hot.
"Just give me a damn light please." Mai scoffed. "Be friendly to the guest like your Baba said," she whispered. She had gotten closer to Nobara, blowing warm breaths on her nape.
Nobara's skin jumped out of her. She immediately moved away from Mai that pushed Nobara's reflexes to screw on the lightbulb quickly. She pulled on the chain, and the light flickered on.
"So are you getting out or what?" asked Mai, stripping off the towel and changing to the given pajamas.
"I'm sleeping here," said Nobara.
"I'd expected you have your own room."
"The thing is, this is supposed to be my room."
Her old hag had forced her to give away her room since it was "more maintained." As for her mom's dusted room, Nobara always felt uneasy in there, and it also became a storage for Straw Doll technique equipment.
"If you're thinking of kicking me out…" Mai pulled up the futon, "good-fucking-night," she said before stuffing herself to the futon's warmth. At this point, she doesn't care what Nobara wants from her; she was tired as shit from today's crazy mission.
Nobara didn't complain about anything, it seemed like she was also exhausted. When she tried to sleep, there was still one thing that can't get out of her head ever since she had that talk with Mai at the cave. It bothered her that out of all people in the world, it was Mai who was racking up her mind
'Hey, Mai." Nobara built up the courage to speak.
"What now?"
Goddammit. Nobara couldn't do it. She hated Mai; it was simple, but it's bothering her so much how she might be lying to herself the whole time. "Nevermind," she ended up saying.
The next morning, the girls were awoken by a harsh sound of the slide doors being opened. Baba had asked them to get groceries. The girls got into the bike which took a while for them with Mai always toppling over, and Nobara complaining how she got no "sense of balance."
As they arrived at the grocery store, Mai had her hands full with tons of chips, and Nobara recognized some of its brands.
"What are you looking at?" asked Mai, raising a brow.
"Maki-san likes those.."
"She probably didn't tell ya, but I'm the one who introduced it to her."
"She always has a stash with her every time."
In the corner of Nobara's eye, she saw Mai had a giddy smile on her face. "By the way," said Nobara, squinting her eyes on the grocery lists, "can you get me a… pickled jar?" right, she said it and she's glad she didn't throw up.
"It's literally right behind you."
There was a shelf dedicated to it, and Nobara swore that looking at its green color will spell the end of her. Damn that old hag of even adding it to the list. Nobara knew her grandma was about to make a big dish for Mai because of her whatever-hospitality-policy. What an ass kisser if Nobara's being honest.
"You're not doing anything," reasoned Nobara.
"Of course, I'm the guest here."
"Quit throwing that 'guest' card bullshit. Baba wouldn't have sent you out with me if she really meant it."
"Pfft." Mai hastily grabbed that jar and put it close to Nobara's head, next to her cheek. It instantly freaked her out that Mai would have let go of the jar and let it shatter on the ground.
"Jesus!" Nobara jumped at least six feet away from Mai. "Put it in the damn basket like a normal fucking person!"
Mai bursted out laughing. "You got a pickled jar phobia or something?"
"They look disgusting!" Screw Baba! She obviously could make her own pickled jar with the green backyard she has and not make Nobara go through all this shit.
"I mean I hate vegetarian food but not that bad." Well, there was one time Mai ate Kasumi's edamame, which is an exception because Momo was with her.
"Nobara, is that you?"
Mai looked up to see who that voice belonged to. The girl had her dark hair tied to a ponytail, and wore the store's blue uniform. Right, Mai forgot that other customers at the aisle were staring at them from all their loud commotion.
"Fumi!" greeted Nobara. A huge smile plastered on her face. Her deamenor changed like she wasn't fighting with Mai about a pickled jar seconds ago. It was pretty odd when all Mai saw so far was mostly the crinkled frowns of Nobara.
Mai's existence was pushed aside as she watched the other two girls talk, probably catching up. She must have zone out when Nobara had repeatedly called out Mai's name. Finally, it was the moment Mai had been waiting to be introduced.
At first impression, Fumi seemed like a nice girl and Mai couldn't believe Nobara would get along with her like, as in, even being childhood friends. It appeared that Fumi worked part time at the store for months. The rest of the grocery tip as Mai and Nobara finished their list, and Fumi walked them to the cashier.
"Baba has been spamming me with calls and messages, how annoying," said Nobara as she looked through her phone as they got their groceries checked out. "Welp, gotta call her. Mai, don't do any dumbshit," she said, smacking money on Mai's hands before heading outside.
"I'm glad," suddenly spoke Fumi to Mai while packing the groceries in bags, "that Nobara made a friend in Tokyo."
"Oh yeah," answered Mai,scoffing. "Has she always been like that?"
Fumi raised her eyebrows, quite surprised. "I never mean this in the wrong way. But ever since we're kids, she's pretty the odd one out and scares people away. Hates it here so I'm surprised she visited."
"I can see it, even fights with her grandma-" Mai stopped. "Oops, uh, I think I shouldn't be saying that."
"I get what you're saying. Raised in a tricky home, so she's feisty like that. But, Mai-san, it's nice that you two get along."
Crap, this poor girl must have mistaken their fighting as friendly batter when, from what Mai knows, they still hate each other's guts. "No, I think you've misunder-"
"Ok, I'm back!" announced Nobara, interrupting Mai. "We gotta leave right now. I'll see you around, Fumi!" She quickly grabbed the groceries bags, not leaving any second for Fumi to say goodbye. Mai got dragged along by Nobara's grip.
"What's up?" said Mai once they got out and to the bike racks.
"Jujutsu stuff. Some updates Baba wants to tell us asap."
They hopped on the bike and pedaled at the speed of light back to the Kugisaki residence. The girls settled on the living room and sat cross legged on the tatami mats. There was tea already served on the short table.
"I got a call from Gojo," started Baba.
"This better be us getting the hell out of here," said Nobara.
"No, it's an extension of the mission."
Mai choked on the tea she was drinking, almost coughing her lungs out.
"What?!" exclaimed Nobara.
"It's supposed to be Gojo's but he said you two can handle it."
Baba stared at Nobara. Surprisingly, she wasn't going all crazy about this. She didn't stand up or slammed the tea cups, she was really thinking. Her arms are crossed, and her mouth shut.
Mai recovered from her coughing, and said, "So now he's just throwing his work at us." After being forced against her will to go here, Mai wasn't sure if she would ride along another one. But in general, she thought it's basically the same thing for her just by being pushed to the position of a jujutsu sorcerer.
"No," argued Nobara, "this is Gojo. He doesn't easily just pass along HIS missions."
"It's in Sapporo," Baba said. "He proposed it since you two are close by and are pretty….capable."
Nobara was not gonna lie, but that did fuel her ego. Besides, it's an opportunity for grade level promotion. But that thing is.."Sapporo?" Her voice changed. Such a small detail almost tripped her out to pull away from the mission. "That's where mom at.."
"You'll probably see her there since you'll be providing support for the sorcerers."
Mai's ear perked up then she looked at Nobara. She was clenching her fist.
"Whatever. Then I guess I have to see her." She turned around and departed to her room. In her mind, she thought about how these missions lately have required her to test the absolute control of not blowing up like a volcano.
Mai followed suit, fastening her footsteps. "So you're mom, huh?" She asked. "You kinda avoided the subject back at the cave."
Nobara sighed. "Why do you care?"
"Well….I don't really have the bestest mother myself."
"It's the Zenins, of fucking course."
"Just thinking about it, mom, Maki, and me, we're all on the same boat. It was a shitty home with shitty men. And we were all just tryna get by."
"Just like I said before, mine's not a sob story like yours," said Nobara. "And my mom, she had priorities. That's why she left. Simple. No clan bullshit or anything."
"Jeeez, no need to attack me like that."
"I'm not the right person to be talking about this. My honest opinion: why don't you talk about Maki? Since you're 'on the same boat'?"
"She's the one who left. She'd be stubborn enough to not listen."
"You go around bullying her then whining at the same time. It does get annoying for her part."
Mai recognized that mistake of herself of communication with her. But with Nobara pointing it out, it felt like Mai's being smacked on her face harder. "Haha," Mai dryly laughed.
"What? What am I supposed to say?"
That thing how she easily does it like that. Mai found out that Nobara's level of bluntness holds a different effect. "Thanks for being the bestest therapist out there," Mai replied, rolling her eyes.
Noon is hours away from at its peak, and Mai was nowhere to be seen inside the house. Not in her room nor living room. Nobara was quite relieved because who knows? Maybe she decided to chicken out. A part of her brain feeling not quite right with her brain.
She opened the backyard sliding door and saw Mai practicing her tosses on her bo shuriken. Before Mai could turn around, she threw her shuriken where it hit right at the center of the tree. It was feets away from her.
"Hey," said Mai.
Nobara just nodded at her. She noticed how there's a hefty duffel bag next to Mai's feet.
"Your grandma told me there's a near shooting range that you can show me to," added Mai.
"Mind you that we're still gonna leave for Hokkaido. we don't wanna miss our ride"
"C'mon, Nobara, it's still early! Besides, I wanna see how I can kick your ass in training."
Nobara huffed. Since when were they first name basis? This girl does really know to tick up her senses. She agreed to Mai's invitation, and quickly put on her training clothes. Both girls went out of the gate and walked until they reached the bottom uphill.
"Here," said Nobara, "is where it starts, our training." They looked up at the sloping cemented uphill. "We must run up and whoever gets on the top first wins."
Mai shifted her gaze. "Unfair," she folded ber arms. "I have my heavy equipment with me." The duffel bag with her was full of allsorts of gun: her revolver, her pistol, her shotgun and her rifle.
"Fine, I'll carry some of it."
"Never knew you had a heart." Mai smirked.
Nobara rolled her eyes. "I'm just trying to be fair here."
Mai helped out in wrapping her handguns around Nobara's leg while she also wore the strapped rifle. Her opponent proceeded to wear the duffle bag as a backpack.
Nobara counted them down and soon they began running up the hill. She thought how Mai couldn't possibly beat her on this since Nobara had been running up this hill since she was wee little.
The wind blew her hair and in her peripheral vision, the green haired girl wasn't even that close on catching up with her.
"You're not even trying!" Exclaimed Nobara as soon as she got to the top, panting and watching as Mai merely jogged up the hill.
"Pfft, I'm not tryna overdo myself. It's just a warm up," shrugged Mai. "The real training happens when I use these babies." She motioned to her duffel bag.
Nobara just wanted to get this over with and hoped she could learn some skills from their training. They walked through the plain grounds of the forests and Mai couldn't help but run around the area.
"This is perfect!" She exclaimed. "There's some spots I can set up!" Like a little kid, she blabbered on.
Okay, Nobara has to admit but this is a different kind of Mai. The less bitter one, the more genuine smiles on her, and the one she finds slightly…cute. Nobara shook her head and God, what a thought it was that she shouldn't have in the first place.
While Mai set up cans for her shooting practice, Nobara also pulled out her straw dolls, hammer, and nails. Watching her gun skills, nobara can't help but stare okay fine she might be a bit interested.
"Can't keep your eyes to yourself?" Suddenly, Mai blurted out, making nobara flinch. "I must be impressing you then."
"It's-"
"If you want, I can teach you some tricks."
With a pride like Nobara's, it certainly was a challenge to even accept it.
"Expand your options, you know, then maybe you can teach me yours," added Mai.
Exactly.
She was right, if Nobara needs to badly get stronger then that's it. So she sighed and nodded, setting down her hammer.
"I assume you got no gun experience at all," said Mai as she recalibrated her handgun. The clicking sound made it cool. "A glock's always a good start." She hands the glock to her, and with its small size, Nobara still felt its weight that she's not used to on her hands
"It's..cute," is all what Nobara could say as she stared at the gun.
Mai chuckled as she readied her own glock and demonstrated the posture. She proceeded to instruct Nobara how to do it but had some problems with verbal instructions, so she get close to her, startling Nobara.
"Hey-!"
"Can't seem to follow simple steps when you're a semi-grader."
"It's different when you have a lousy teacher," retorted Nobara.
"You'll eat your words soon." Mai got closer to her and again wrapped her hands around Nobara's then pressed her chest on her back and helped support her outstretched arms.
"Try holding your breath, but don't be too tense like you aren't always are. Be relaxed. Slowly, let go of your breath once you're good."
Nobara tried doing so, but the thing was Mai's voice downright tingling her neck, distracting her very badly.
"Now aim and get your finger ready on the trigger."
Her heart was beating so fast. Nobara wasn't sure if it was the closeness they have or maybe it was just the tension.
"And fire!"
The bullet went flying out the barrel and straight past the can, mere inches away.
"I….missed," breathed out Nobara, yet she was calm.
"First time isn't always that it." Mai proceeded to aim her gun and perfectly shoot the can, the can rattling on the ground. "But you're not bad, almost there, it's just uneven breaths that can ruin the aim, makes your form shaky."
Honestly speaking, Nobara's pretty new into this whole…breathing thing, when all her technique was all the opposite, the feeling of adrenaline pumping and excitement clawing out of her. That's all she needed.
Nobara continued to do more attempts on the gun with Mai having to poke her to straighten her posture. The younger girl gritted her teeth; it made her even more anticipate on having Mai learn her ass kicking tricks. After more missed shoots, Nobara finally had a can toppling onto the ground.
She jumped in joy, pumping a fist in the air. "So not bad for a first time, huh?" Looking over at Mai, she tried to nudge her who's trying hard to not a smile take over her face.
"You did alright, Kugisaki Nobara,'' Mai replied, a backhanded tone to it. "Is that what you wanted to hear?"
"C'mon! Seriously though, I didn't do just alright, I did great!"
"I can't risk helping you fuel your ego."
"Fine, how about this: Mai, you were right, you weren't a lousy teacher."
Mai thought for a moment and narrowed her eyes. "Sooo we're fueling each other's ego then?"
"Whatever," groaned Nobara, and it earned a laugh from Mai. This girl was always just driving her brain cells to crash on a wall! "Just wait tillI I kick your ass with my tricks," she added.
"Boohoo, make me cry, Kugisaki." Mai jokingly motioned a crying hand on her face.
Nobara stretched her body first, memorizing by heart the routine Maki taught to her. "Let's start with a sparring session, and land a blow on each other" she waved her fist and cracked her knuckles. The sparring had started as Nobara lunged forward and easily dodged Mai's punches.
"Too slow," said Nobara as she continued to swing a leg to Mai's that she almost fell to the ground. "This is what happens if you depend too much on your guns." She watched as propped Mai herself up to get back on her feet. "You can run out of bullets, and the enemy can get close."
Catching her breath, Mai only stared at her, already feeling ill; it's like fighting with Maki at the goodwill event all over again.
"But it's not always have to be a pure fistfight." Nobara brought out her nails, putting them in between her fingers. "Tools are free to be used."
Mai was well aware of that especially when she has Maki as a sister who's alway swinging around a curses tool. She grabbed the Bo Shuriken from her pocket, holding it like a dagger. It can't be a cursed tool when her cursed energy's always low as fuck. Start small, Utahime-sensei would always say, but how would she even start when constructing a tiny bullet is already too much for her. Then meanwhile, there's Nobara, her nails were flaring with cursed energy.
Pitter patters interrupted the stiff stances of the girls. One by one, droplets of water fell on them and eventually, it came crashing down into their bodies.
Nobara quickly took cover under the nearest tree, the thickest and tallest one in the area. The weird thing is Mai just stood there, holding her arms out for the rain.
"Dumbass!" Yelled Nobara. "We don't have time for this!"
Mai pretended not to notice as her clothes stuck on to her skin from the damp rain. It was shivering cold. Sometimes, she felt like staying under the rain forever where she'll eventually shrivel. One time at Kyoto tech, she hated her first training ever and being insanely exhausted after the training, rain fell down from the sky. She stayed there with the rain just like this, and later on, pulled the other Kyoto girls to join. That day Mai forgot how tiring that training was, and remembered the smiling faces of Kasumi and Momo.
"C'mon!" Nobara's voice pulled Mai out of her thoughts and the warmth of her hands wrapped around Mai's wrist. "We're still not over with this yet!" They can't stay too long here or else their path back home will get muddy and harder to go back.
So Mai lets herself be pulled away with Nobara fighting their way out. Mai wasn't paying attention at all to how the rain crashed down hard on their party; she merely stared at Nobara's rough hands on her wrist, not pulling her too much. Just maybe, both of them realized, after all that training, that they weren't that too bad being with each other.
Back at the Kugisaki estate, Nobara got an earful from Baba Yagi about not picking up her phone and also leaving trails of wet footsteps on the floor boards.
"I'm telling you, we were at the forest, so there's not much phone signal there," reasoned Nobara, while Mai was trying to dry her hair with a towel.
"Just get yourself changed before I'll make you clean the whole house," Baba ordered.
After finally getting a satisfying shower, both girls changed at Nobara's room. With her, having to lend some clothes to Mai. They also got their bags prepared for the Hokkaido trip. Baba served them tea once they went back to the living room.
"Thank you," said Mai, sipping the green tea that brought a warm hug to her whole body. Nobara proceeded to drink as well and let out a sigh of relief. She admits that she missed her grandma's homemade tea, nothing like any served fancy tea at Tokyo, but those words won't roll off her tongue easily.
The pattering of rain on the roof had died down for now.
A ring let out from Nobara's phone. "Our ride is here." Nobara looked at Mai. With her bag of ammo, Mai went ahead to pack her stuff first at the car.
"Good luck," spoke her Baba. Nobara nodded and finally took off. No arguments and no fights this time, unlike the last time when she wanted to leave for Tokyo Tech. Hearing from Gojo's reports at Tokyo Tech, her grandma knew that she'd be alright. The only variable was how Nobara would come to be with her mom over there.
If their auxiliary manager wasn't Ijichi himself, the girls don't think they could get away from the numerous stops they would take just to take pictures of the tourist area they'd passed by.
'Off to Hokkaido!' Nobara sent the message on their Tokyo Tech's group chat and a picture of the long bridge crossing the oceans that lead to the Hokkaido islands.
'You serious?!' Yuuji responded.
'Seen by Megumi'
'Panda Loved the Image'
'Okaka!'
'Wait, You can't be on vacation right now?" Minutes later, Maki replied as well.
Nobara proceeded to update the whole group chat, and while she's busy doing that, Mai sneaked up her phone and angled it like she would take a selfie.
"Hey, Nobara!" Mai said, the smile of Nobara turned into an annoyed frown as she got off her phone. "Smile!" Then Mai took a picture, a huge smile on her face while Nobara acted as her opposite. With Nobara to annoy, Mai was pretty sure that the next five hours of crossing the bridge to get to Hokkaido's island would be totally fun for her.
But with Ijichi, it was a different case. He almost ran over someone when he was trying to calm down the girls while fighting over for the aux cord for the music. When he thought they would never stop fighting, they finally did shut up, probably exhausted.
"Hey, Ijichi," suddenly asked Mai. "You've graduated from Tokyo Tech, right?"
"Why, yes." He didn't hesitate to answer, and he thought it was very sudden that she asked.
"So, tell me, do you have any tea to spill about our teachers?"
Tea? TEA?! What did she mean by tea?! Ijichi panicked slightly.
"I'm not quite sure what you're talking about," he chuckled nervously.
"Tea, like as in gossip," answered Mai.
"Leave him alone, Mai," butted in Nobara who had the backseat all the way down and was laying down.
"What? I'm trying to make a fun conservation here, unlike you who just can't help but chew my head off when I'm trying to be nice."
"Uh, I guess I do have some," quickly replied Ijichi. He just wanted to keep them talking to at least stop these two from clawing off his back seat. "Nanami-san, he actually - " he wasn't sure if he even should drop this information but please, just anything will do to shut them up, - "quit being sorcerer when he graduated from Tokyo Tech."
Mai almost jumped off her seat. "Wait, for real?!"
Nobara twitched from her seat, trying to act like she wasn't interested. She actually listened to Ijichi's spiel of their uptight older sorcerer being a salaryman. Imagining it in her head, all she can think about is the grumpy Nanami aggressively signing some paperwork and then quitting by raising a big middle finger to his boss.
"Do you know where he is right now?" asked Mai.
"I don't really know. Most higher graded sorcerers finish their missions independently."
It made Nobara wonder why Mai would be all of sudden interested in one of their Tokyo teachers.