• notes •
*A shinai is a Japanese bamboo sword used in kendo.
To yo-yo: Thank you for such a sweet review :)
I will become stronger.
That was what Rin had resolved anyway upon witnessing the high-level Jujutsu battle yesterday. Yet that goal only appeared further and further away as she initiated her first practice battle with Satoru.
Upon him saying "Start," she immediately released a battle cry and striked with her shinai*. It wasn't surprising to see him leap back to dodge her blow with such ease and grace. Without a hint of discouragement, Rin swiftly stepped forward to close the distance and thrust her sword, aiming at his throat. Satoru merely tilted his head to the side to evade the attack.
Good, her moves are not limited by kendo practices, the teacher observed, Rin's polished swordsmanship can be comparable to Maki's. He once again jumped backwards to avoid a vertical swing of the shinai. Well, Rin's strength and speed are inferior to Maki's. But that can change with Cursed Energy and Technique.
"I forgot to mention that you can use Cursed Energy or Technique as you wish," Satoru added while dodging another thrust to his throat.
Rin heeded his words and unleashed her Cursed Technique. Named Accelerando, this Cursed Technique increases the speed of her brain processing (for faster reflexes) and physical movement. Her discovery of this ability was accidental yet serendipitous, allowing Rin her first victory against her long-time rival at the national kendo tournament several years ago. Ever since, she learned to wield precise mastery over Accelerando and became the unrivaled national champion in kendo. Looking back, Rin realized that her execution of Accelerando was as immoral as doping, though it would be unfair to pin the blame on her for she was oblivious to the existence of Cursed Energy.
The teacher evaded with more urgency than before. Rin was already nimble compared to the average, but Accelerando allowed her to move two times as fast, comparable to Yuji's superhuman speed.
Rin cursed as her teacher dodged her attack easily. Without a break in movement, she once again swung her sword, only for him to evade it again.
"Surely that's not your limit, Rin."
She did not even know if that was her limit; she has only ever tried two times speed. But in response to the almost derogatory remark, Rin upped Accelerando to move twice as fast. Even though she has Yuji beat in terms of speed and reflexes, the teacher merely sidestepped her thrust.
Rin cursed at herself and willed to become faster, using even more Cursed Energy. Satoru took notice of this, noting that they should end the fight soon. She attempted another thrust that he still avoided, and while he did observe the output of her Cursed Energy, he was caught by surprise at her sudden exponential increase in speed. Her limit is three, no, four times speed.
In anger, Rin subconsciously channeled her Cursed Energy to her last vertical strike. Even with her newfound power, her teacher casually stopped her shinai with his bare hand.
"Let's call it a day, Rin. You must be exhausted." It wasn't that she depleted her Cursed Energy—she was a natural when it came to efficient usage of energy—but applying her Cursed Technique on herself was not something her body was used to. It was expected; it would be strange if moving four times her normal speed didn't put a strain on her body.
Rin was still in her adrenaline rush, yet to realize the repercussions, thus adamantly opposing his advice. "I can still continue." She tried wrenching her sword from his hand, but even the strength of her two arms were not enough against Satoru. "I'm not tired at all, and I'm still getting used to my Cursed Technique!" she argued, still trying to free her shinai.
"Nope," he merely said, feeling the girl's strength dwindle, which was when he finally let go of the sword. Much to Rin's surprise, her shinai fell onto the ground with a clatter; she found that she no longer had the strength to even hold it.
"Huh? That's weird. I wasn't tired a second ago," Rin grumbled. Now even the act of standing was too much for her, and she laid down on the cool wooden floor. The fight—more like a series of dodged attacks—lasted for a duration of around ten seconds, yet this intense ache throughout her whole body felt like she ran nonstop for a day. She already knew that the soreness would be unbearable tomorrow.
Suddenly, Yuji burst into the room. "Gojo-sensei! When can I fight you?!"
"Did you finish watching the movies?"
"Yes!"
"Hm, I still think you need a few more days."
"What?!"
As the other two had their own conversation, Rin closed her eyes for a brief moment. Despite the hardness of the wooden floor and the loud Yuji in the background, she unknowingly entered a deep sleep.
A barrage of knocks woke Rin from her slumber. She slowly opened her eyes to her new dorm room at Jujutsu High.
"Rin~ Get up! Rise and shine!"
Rin groaned at Satoru's sing-song voice. Then she grabbed her phone and checked the time in horror. 10:04 am. It was only her second official day of school, and she overslept two hours. With speed comparable to her Accelerando, she jumped out of bed and ran to the bathroom. She grimaced as she felt a faint stickiness from all the sweat from yesterday's battle with Satoru. Speaking of which, who carried her to her bed? That was the least of her concerns though. I'll shower in one minute thirty, brush my teeth for two minutes, wash my face in thirty seconds, change in thirty, she determined. "I'm coming out in five!" she yelled across the walls.
Approximately five minutes after, she opened the door and felt dread upon seeing Yuji, despite his good-natured smile and greeting.
Rin forgot to meet Sukuna yesterday.
Satoru instructed Rin to warm-up prior to their practice battle with the Movie Appreciation Training with Yuji, giving her an opportunity to meet Sukuna, though she did spend half of the movie debating whether or not she should visit him. Then she arbitrarily determined that she was overthinking for no reason again; surely he wouldn't remember such plans someone like her made one-sidedly. Allowing herself no moment to think over her hastily-made argument, she activated her defective Domain Expansion.
Rin appeared at the usual place, the perfect spot where Sukuna could look down at her leisurely.
"To break a promise with me… You've got some nerve, woman."
She looked up at his words and saw a scary scowl on his face.
Oh, how she wished to act with just a little more thought.
Out of nervousness, she began rambling, "It's not my fault Gojo-sensei pushed me so far past my limit yesterday. I spent way too long using my Cursed Technique that I don't even think I had any Cursed Energy left—"
"Did I ask for excuses?"
His cold interjection immediately silenced Rin.
Sukuna wanted to snicker at her fearful expression but for some reason couldn't bring himself to. He sighed instead and asked, "So you trained your Cursed Technique yesterday?"
Caught by surprise, Rin stammered, "O-Oh. Yeah." She was expecting some bullying from Sukuna, not this passive reaction.
He leapt down onto the floor of blood. "Come at me," he ordered.
She expected for him to take a combat stance, but he merely stood casually with his hands buried in his kimono sleeves. She lightly jogged towards a femur that could substitute for a sword and picked it up, taking her stance. Yet Sukuna did not move, standing oh-so leisurely. This cocky bastard, underestimating me!
Rin quickly learned that his cockiness was not without basis. Immediately unleashing Accelerando at her utmost limit, she jumped towards him, striking her substitute sword downwards at his face. Even with the forces of her developed muscles, gravity, and Cursed Energy, he fully stopped her attack with one hand.
"Not bad," he remarked with a conceited smirk and crushed the bone into powder. "But what can you do now, disarmed?" he taunted.
Regrettably, Rin had no prior experience with hand-to-hand combat. Suddenly, an idea popped into her mind, which involved staring intensely at the crumbling bone in her hands.
Sukuna scoffed, "Staring at a now-useless weapon isn't going to make it useful again—"
He faltered when he realized what the girl was trying to accomplish. He watched in rare astonishment as Rin manipulated her Cursed Energy to perform a new Cursed Technique: Restore. He grinned in twisted glee at the girl who innocently marveled at the restored femur. "What a brilliant Cursed Technique!"
Sukuna was initially interested in Rin only for her unique and powerful Innate Technique: Time Manipulation, but this sight stimulated his interest in her even more; she was the perfect possessor of Time Manipulation, exhibiting the genius necessary for bringing out the full potential of her ability. Rin's progress would not disappoint Sukuna.
"I know, right?!" she squealed. "This is such a useful technique! I can fix my cracked phone screen without paying for it! And my T-shirts that shrunk in the dryer!"
Sukuna deadpanned.
Rin continued excitedly, "I can heal myself too by restoring my uninjured self." Then a playful giggle escaped her lips.
Sukuna raised a brow questioningly, and before he could process what was happening, he felt a throbbing sensation on his head. At first, the unknown attack angered him, but more than that, he was overwhelmed by the inexplicable phenomenon he saw. She didn't move—if she did, he would definitely have noticed. Did she just teleport?
Indeed Rin teleported. But her new Cursed Technique: Rewind needed more explanation than a simple teleportation ability. What she just did was rewind back in time to a precise moment. In this case, she rewound to the instant she attempted to strike Sukuna, hence a "teleportation" ability. This Cursed Technique focuses more on the position of the person or object at a specific point in time, while Restore prioritizes proper repair.
He glared at Rin who attempted to stifle her laugh. She really should have been cowering at his scary face, but she couldn't stop laughing for some reason.
"Sorry," she began, out of breath from laughing. "It was just a random idea that shouldn't have even worked—" A snigger escaped her lips. "—but before I knew it, I just hit you. It went—" By now, she was wiping away tears of laughter. "—thump." Now she was crouched down, not because of fear, but because she laughed so hard that she could barely stand. Just when she thought that she had calmed down, she subconsciously replayed the scene in her head: the teleportation, the thump of the femur hitting the top of his head, his dumbfounded expression.
Sukuna was angry. Did she go mad from happiness after she successfully landed a blow on him? If that were the case, he would have sarcastically praised her—after all, being able to pull off an attack on Sukuna was a praiseworthy feat. But it seemed as if Rin was laughing at something funny—at him. He roughly grabbed her collar. "What is so funny?" he growled, yanking her toward his face.
If Rin wasn't so delirious, she would have shut up and apologized. Instead, she giggled at his scowl. "Your face," Rin replied breathlessly. Realizing the dangerous words she just uttered, she hastily stammered, "N-not like that! Well, I mean, sort of? It's just, you always have a scowl or an arrogant smirk on your face. It's just rare to see such an expression on you."
Sukuna let go of her shirt as if satisfied with her answer. But in truth, he was far from satisfied; he was even more confused about Rin. "What a strange woman you are," he said.
Rin couldn't argue with him. "You're right," she agreed. What did she get out of talking to Sukuna like this? He was a frightening man, unafraid to use his power to obtain what he desires. He was also a conceited jerk, believing himself to stand above others. A normal person would steer clear of such an arrogant, selfish hedonist, but Sukuna intrigued Rin, and no words could explain why she was drawn to him.