I felt much better after crying. The sobs were subsiding, and my nose didn't feel as stuffy as before. I inhaled deeply, closing my eyes for a brief second, trying to regain my composure. I couldn't bring myself to look up. Yaga's hand had left my head when I stopped crying, and I was starting to feel the shame of breaking in front of someone else. Only the weak cry, I could hear my father screaming inside of my head.
Yaga cleared his throat. "There are some things we should discuss." I could hear how controlled his voice sounded and when I took a peek at his face, I could see the embarrassed all over it.
I wanted to die. I wanted to die, and I wanted to be run over by a train afterwards, so I wouldn't feel this tremendous amount of shame. I let out an awkward grunt, nodding my head slightly, to let him know I was listening.
"You will start your first year in Jujutsu High in April. There's plenty of time for you to adjust, but most importantly, for us to make sure what happened a week ago doesn't repeat itself." I almost broke my neck, looking up so fast I could feel it twisting.
"But... my execution..." I whispered in confusion, and I could hear him cursing under his breath.
"God damn... I wouldn't be saying this if the higher ups still wanted your head. Better yet, do you think you would be here if they didn't allow it?" His arms were crossed, and his eyes were closed, a frustration crinkle deepening between his eyebrows.
"Why would I study here?"
"Would you rather going back to the house where you slaughtered your whole family?" He snapped, sounding even more ticked off.
Ouch. He looked at me, and sighed, rubbing one of his hands over his face. I opened my mouth, ready to be just as rude, but I silenced myself. He was right. Being here was better than to be alone in that hell hole. I'd grow crazy from living there by myself, if that was even allowed. The most likely outcome would be me going to foster care.
"Listen. I need to know exactly what happened that day. Every minute detail, so I can know how to help you. You're our only witness." His hand laid on top of my shoulder, and he gave me a serious look.
"I- I don't know where to start..." I stuttered, my heart starting to race with panic.
"When did you first interacted with the curse?"
"That day. I kept hearing it laugh. I mean, I've always heard its laugh." I felt my hands starting to shake as I started to ramble.
"What do you mean, you've always heard it?" Yaga's body visibly tensed up.
"Ever since I was young." I mumbled. "I was the only one, and everyone called me crazy so I never... I didn't think it was real."
"Well... before you started hearing it, did you ingest anything weird? Any sketchy objects?"
"No? I don't think so. My diet has been pretty much the same since I was very young, I don't recall eating anything out of the ordinary." Yaga's face twisted with discomfort after I said that.
"I see... You tried to kill yourself after, didn't you?" He inquired, bluntly.
"I... no, it's best to say it tried to kill me."
"Oh? Interesting... I guess that indicates you're not a vessel." He stroked his beard, absently.
"Why is that?" I was genuinely confused on how he was so sure.
"Because a vessel can always be killed by the curse." He sighed, his body slowly sliding down the chair. "This is going to be a pain."
I didn't know if I should be relieved by knowing that I wasn't a vessel. But if that was not it, then what was happening to me? Why was the curse suddenly quiet after killing my whole family? Why was I unable to feel its energy or, better yet, why the delay in manifesting itself? Was it only a one-time occurrence?
"Anything else you think would be important for me to know?" Yaga's jaw ticked when he saw my hands fidgeting. "What is it?"
"Something happened... that day..." I gave him a short glance, and I could see how impatient he was. "A domain expansion was... conjured."
"You created a domain expansion?" He sounded surprised.
"Not exactly. The curse did. While it was controlling my body." I admitted, my voice shaking with uncertainty.
There was a long silence after that. My eyes never left my hands, and I was feeling that all too familiar stomach drop from anxiety.
"Yui." Yaga started to speak, his voice low and cautious. "We won't speak about this with anyone else."
I was even more confused. "Why not?"
"Because! The higher ups had two theories: a) you were a vessel of an unknown special grade that wasn't in our possession, or b) you were some sort of cursed corpse being manipulated. That's why I was asked to come and see you myself. So I could analyze your cursed energy and understand if something was tempering with you." He got up from his chair, starting to walk in circles while he kept talking. "If the higher ups know that the curse used your body to create a domain expansion, you might be in even more trouble than before, if that's even possible."
"But aren't special grade curses able to have their own domain expansion? Why is it so bad that it happened?" I was starting to feel dizzy from watching him.
"Think about this for a second; why would a special grade need an unexperienced girl's body to conjure a domain expansion? No, no! Think about this first; what would happen if, somehow, the curse linked your cursed energy with their cursed energy?" I gasped after I heard the latter.
"It amplified my cursed technique..." I whispered, looking at the floor.
"What?" I heard him ask.
"The domain expansion... it felt oddly familiar... like part of me had made it." I felt like I was having an out-of-body experience.
I could see that Yaga was talking, but it sounded muffled. The main thing I could hear was my heavy breathing and the thunderous sound of my heartbeat in my ears. The curse was able to link our cursed techniques. What did that mean? How was it able to do so, if I wasn't its vessel? I had so many questions, my brain felt like it was going to explode from it, I felt so overwhelmed I was forgetting how to breathe properly.
"Yui!" His hand grabbed my shoulder with force, bringing me back to reality. "Breathe."
"I'm scared." I wanted to cry again, god damn it...
"I'm going to help you. I'll do my research, I'll try to find an explanation, something that will help us fix whatever is going on. But in the meantime, I need you to give your best. I need you to be a good student and try to improve your cursed technique as fast as possible." He gripped both of my shoulders, looking me in the eyes. "I know it's a lot of pressure, but I need you to be the best."
I should have felt that growing anger that I used to feel when my father would force me to just excel at everything. But I could see the honesty in him. He wanted to help me. He wanted to understand what was happening to me. This wasn't an order; it was a request. I nodded my head, taking a deep breath.
"Thank you." I whispered, receiving a soft, reassuring squeeze on my left shoulder after that.

Months of intensive training made me feel as if April had sneaked up on me. Did time always pass by this fast? The train sessions were... lighthearted, I should say. Not that they weren't helping me improve or anything, but I could definitely tell that the lack of beatings made me more motivated to carry on and give my all and beyond every day.
I watched my reflection in the mirror while I slowly buttoned up my school uniform. If people couldn't tell by my shaking hands, I was nervous. Really nervous. Not only was this the first time I'd make my presence known to the students at this school, but it was also my first day in a school as well.
What if they don't like me? I never hated being homeschooled as much as I did now. I looked at my reflection again. My long, dark hair was shorter, barely bellow my shoulders. I should have kept it long. I combed my fingers through it, grimacing after. My face was pale, like sickly pale, not just normal complexion pale; my cheekbones were really pronounced, only being overshadowed by the bags under my eyes. They weren't as deep as before, which was good, and I didn't have that dead look anymore. There was this small sparkle that gave them life again.
I heard a loud knock on my door, and I tripped along the way to go open it.
"You look like you're sick." Yaga said, scowling at me.
"Gee, thanks, that's definitely going to make me feel better." I sighed, moving away from the door. "This uniform sucks, by the way."
Yaga's lips quirked up for a moment, doing a bad job to cover how badly he wanted to laugh at me. "I brought you something to cheer you up."
He handed me a small plushy toy. Was it a cat? No. A dog. A ferret? "Thanks for the... animal."
"It's a bunny." Of course. "Nevermind, I won't make you another one, you ungrateful brat." He tsk'ed, trying to take the plushy away from me.
"No! It's mine now, thank you for the deformed rodent." I pulled the bunny away from his grasp, stealing it back with ease.
I heard him curse under his breath, and I suppressed the cackle that wanted to leave my lips. "There's this too." He said, handing me a small card, warily.
I grabbed it, reading it carefully. Tokyo Jujutsu High School Student ID; Name: Fujiwara, Yui; Date of birth: 15/06/1991; Grade 4. Grade 4?
"Is this some kind of joke?" I gritted my teeth, looking at him.
"It's a decoy." He answered quickly, knowing exactly what I was talking about.
"It's embarrassing! Every sorcerer in my family were mostly grade 1!" I screamed, feeling frustrated.
"It's only on your student ID!" He explained.
"What's my actual rank?" I asked, gripping the card in my hand.
"Special grade."
"Are you..." I was speechless. "You told me to be the best! How can I be the best when I'm going to have to play this dumb charade?"
"Yui, it's for your safety. You will be treated like a special grade when the time comes, no one is taking away your potential."
"What is that even supposed to mean? 'When the time comes', how am I supposed to be improving when I won't even be able to be autonomous?" I felt my eyes starting to burn from the unshed tears.
I knew it was dumb to cry about this, but I felt so demotivated. I felt like someone punched me in the gut and called me weak, over and over again, flushing down the toilet every improvement I had made these past months. It was incredibly humiliating.
"No one can know about the curse. No one will know." He sounded... unsure. "This is the safest option."
Fuck this. I threw my hands in the air, surrendering. I was fed up with this conversation. I threw the plushy onto the bed and I grabbed my bag, not sparing another glance to Yaga. I left my room, storming down the hall. It felt different seeing it during the day. With me starting my school year, there was no need to sneak around at night to train on the school grounds. No more silent screams (so I wouldn't attract attention) whenever Yaga's cursed corpses would particularly hit me harder than they should.
I could feel my mouth going dry when I left the dormitory zone. This was it. My mind was racing while I tried to concentrate to find where the classrooms were. It didn't take me long to find them, but I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw students. Oh, no. I have to pee. I didn't really have to pee, but I was so nervous I could only compare that lower tummy anxiety with the need to pee. I felt my body heating up, and my palms started to sweat. Not good. This was a bad idea.
Wanting to go back to my room, I turned around quickly, grunting when I hit someone. I almost started crying when I realized it was actually a person. Can this be more embarrassing?
"Whoa, there. Are you okay?" This melodic voice asked, concerned.
I looked up, having to tilt my head way up to be able to look at the face of the person I just ran into. I gulped when I noticed how tall he was. He had dark, long hair, in a ponytail, with a little strand of his bangs falling over his face. He was tall, have I mentioned that?
"Who's this lost lamb?" Another voice asked, and I saw this white-haired guy with sunglasses poking his face behind the dark-haired guy to get a better look at me. "Hmmm, are you mute?"
These guys were tall. Like, what-are-they-feeding-you-at-home kind of tall. I didn't like that. I felt as if I were a piece of meat being looked down upon, and even though I couldn't see the white-haired guy's eyes, I could still feel his piercing gaze on me. I wanted to throw up, I hate this.
"Satoru, don't be rude." The other guy said, still looking at me. "You're new, aren't you?"
I tried to reply, stuttering and stammering. I could feel my face growing warm, and I just knew I had the deepest red of shame adorning my face.
"Okay, you brutes, you're scaring the poor girl." I saw a girl pushing them away from me, giving me a soft smile. "Are you lost?"
I immediately felt less nervous. "Trying to find... my classroom." I mumbled, my tongue starting to feel numb. Well, it's more like trying to find the courage to enter said classroom.
"I see, you're a freshman." The girl continued smiling and grabbed my wrist gently. "I'll take you there."
I nodded, unable to have much of a reaction. I could smell her perfume, laced with the distinctive smell of cigarettes trailing after her. I could hear those two guys walking behind us. I noticed the same students from before, talking in front of a classroom. My legs started to feel heavier and heavier with each step, and if I weren't so nervous, I would have laughed at the sight of the girl almost pulling a muscle trying to pull me behind her.
"Oi, oi, are you scared, little lamb?" Satoru (was it?) asked in a mocking tone.
"You're not helping, moron." The girl snapped at him, through gritted teeth.
"This is my first day at a school." I blurted out, the tips of my fingers growing cold.
"Oooh, a sheltered kid, exciting." I wanted to scoff at Satoru's remark.
"It's okay, days like these are always nerve wrecking." The girl gave me another small smile, and I wanted to cry because she was so sweet, I felt so lucky. She is an angel, I'm sure of that.
"I'm Fujiwara, Yui, nice to make your acquaintance." I introduced myself respectfully, grabbing her hand between my own, bowing slightly.
"Ieiri, Shōko. No need to be so formal, it's nice to meet you." She squeezed my hands, gently.
"Uh, yes, it is! See, we are your senpais, you need to be respectful. Specially to me; Gojo, Satoru." Gojo? From the Gojo clan? No wonder he was so cocky! I didn't like him. He was obnoxious and extremely unfunny. And freakishly tall, which was intimidating enough already. I hate tall people.
"Satoru..." The dark-haired guy sighed. He rolled his eyes and then extended his hand my way. "Getō Suguru, nice to meet you, Yui."
He was looking at me in a weird way. I couldn't detect any hostility or ill intent, so I took his hand, shaking it briefly. He kept gazing at me even after I took my hand away, which made me a little bit uncomfortable.
"Okayyy, you weirdos, let's introduce her to the first years, yeah?" Ieiri pulled me closer to her, glaring at them.
I felt my heart leap into my throat, my eyes widening when I noticed the two guys stopped talking and started looking at us. Gosh, I really want to pee. I winced when I felt Gojo's foot stepping on me, making me trip and almost fall face first on Ieiri's back. I turned around briefly, and I wish I could kill him with my eyes, and I could tell he understood that because he gave me a huge apologetic smile, rubbing the back of his head.
 This was going terribly! The tallest guy was looking at me as if I had toilet paper stuck at the bottom of my foot, and it was so intense I actually looked at the sole of my boots to make sure nothing was trailing after me. They had opposite energies. The brown-haired guy was looking at me enthusiastically while the blond intimidating one, almost looked bored. It was hard to fully read his face since half of it was hidden under his side bang. Bold, very bold.
 When Ieiri said they would introduce me to my classmates, I didn't know that she was including herself and the other two weirdos that she was with. I wanted to jump out of my skin with how awkward it was, standing still, hearing them introducing themselves, the blond guy (which I learned was named Nanami, Kento) still looking at me as if I had three eyes or something.
"Yui-san~ daydreaming already?" Gojo's voice sounded way too close to my ear and I couldn't hide my disgusted face.
"Don't." It was all I said, flinching when I felt him release a breathy chuckle against my hair.
"But Yui-san~" he cried out, being, somehow, more annoying. "You can't treat your senpai like that."
I wanted to hide myself into a hole. I could feel myself blushing, bothered by him. I guess this was too much socialization for someone who only talked to herself and (sometimes) her abusive father for the majority of her life. I caught the judgmental look Nanami was sending Gojo, and I couldn't hide my chuckle. At least I wasn't the only one fed up with him.
"It's really nice to meet you, Yui. Let's do our best!" Haibara, the brown-haired guy next to Nanami said, with the most dazzling smile I have ever seen.
He gave off puppy vibes (I read that in a book and thought it was fitting, but since I had zero experience with puppies, I couldn't really understand that comparison).
"What grade are you, Yui?" I jumped with the sudden question, looking at Getō.
"Grade 4." I patted myself in the back for saying it so confidently.
He looked at me for a while, awkwardly. "No, you're not."
My eyes widen when he said that and before I could reply, Gojo cut me off. "Yeah, you're definitely not a grade 4. Let me see your ID."
I couldn't even move before I felt the card slipping from my pocket, levitating to Gojo's hand slowly. He whistled with astonishment when he looked at the information, and my heart started to race. Getō leaned closer to Gojo, taking a peek at my card and then he looked at me.
"Interesting." Was the only thing he said.
They know! They definitely know! I was starting to freak out internally, unable to move. What should I do? They kept exchanging glances with one another, even flipping the card and looking at it closer to the light. Are they checking if it's fake? I was flabbergasted, the audacity!
 "Okay, that's enough, stop teasing her!" Ieiri grabbed the card from Gojo's hand, giving it back to me.
I silently thanked Ieiri once more, and I closed my eyes, releasing the breath I was holding until now, without noticing. My relaxation didn't last long, when I saw Yaga walking towards us.
"Good morning." He greeted, dryly, walking inside a classroom.
Everyone greeted him back, except for me. I don't think I'll last until the end of the first semester, I feel like I'll have a heart attack every 2 minutes. Gojo and Getō groaned, waving us goodbye and entering the classroom after Yaga. Ieiri gave me a thumbs up and followed suit, leaving me alone with Haibara and Nanami, who without even sparing us a second glance, entered our classroom.
"Are we the only students?" I asked, confused.
"Jujutsu High has very small classes." Haibara informed me. "But that just means it's easier for us to get closer, right?"
My eyes had to be shining with admiration, he was so cute and wholesome I just wanted to squeeze him until his eyes popped. Too much? I might have nodded a little bit too enthusiastically because he started laughing afterwards.
We entered the class not long after, and I regretted siting on the first table near the door, leaving Haibara, Nanami and me, respectively seated. The first class was... boring, truly boring. Not because of the theme, but because I knew this already. After all, I should have been in the second year, not repeating the first one all over. The first class went by slowly, and I didn't even notice we had switched teachers. My mind was drifting away from the classroom, and I started to think about this day as a whole. Best thing of the day? Ieiri and Haibara. Worst thing? Definitely everyone else.
 "Fujiwara!" I was brought back to the class with that scream.
"Y-yes, sir?" I mumbled, my body straightening itself almost instantly.
"Am I boring you?" Yaga asked, sarcastically.
"W-well..." He cut me off by dropping his book on his desk.
"Class, since Ms. Fujiwara is so bored, we should take this class outside."
Yaga was the first one to leave the classroom. Haibara was looking at me, confused, but quickly got up and left as well. Nanami, however... I guess if looks could kill, I'd be 6 feet under, rotting for years already. He sighed, closed his book and left the classroom. I laid my head on my arms, grunting softly. Could this day get worse?
"Fujiwara!" Yaga screamed louder, from outside the classroom, and my body jumped out of the chair, and I left almost running after them.
It felt like they had teleported outside. I was breathless when I caught up to them, looking at Yaga with anger dripping from my eyes.
"Since we still have..." Yaga checked his watch for a moment "around one hour left for our class to be over, I'd like to let our only girl choose two of the three activities I have planned."
"What? Why me?" I was still breathless, and as a consequence my voice came out in a shriek.
"I wouldn't like to bore you again."
I felt my eye twitch. He is trying to upset you, calm down. I inhaled and exhaled deeply, unsure if I wanted to calm my breathing or the rage pumping through my blood.
"Fine." I agreed, my voice low.
"Fantastic. Let me know which word doesn't interest you." He extended his pointer finger first, "Mirror" then his middle finger "Show-off" and then his ring finger "Lecture".
This... asshole! He knew I wouldn't pick the last one, he knew it! He was baiting me. But gosh damn it was I curious about the first two.
"Lecture." I mumbled, biting the inside of my cheek when I saw him smirking, victoriously.
"Great!" He clapped his hands together once, happy with his little scheme. "The first activity will be Technique Show-off. Show me what you got."
I froze in place. Was he talking to me? Why was I the first one? I looked at Nanami. He was looking at me with curiosity, and I was even graced to see all of his face when he tucked his bangs behind his ear. I'm glad I was running because I could feel my face heating up when I saw it. Yaga cleared his throat, tapping his foot on the grass, waiting for me to do something. I was confident on my ability to use my cursed technique, but did it had to be on the first day? I gulped, my throat dry, almost feeling like it was filled with sand.
"I need a volunteer..." I said, my jaw clenching.
"Haibara, do you mind?" Yaga pointed with his head towards me, egging him on to step up.
Haibara made his way slowly towards me, his right hand stroking his arm for comfort.
"Don't hurt me, Yui." Haibara begged, his voice trembling.
He was scared. Good. "Cursed technique: Fear Stalkers*."

* Jujutsushiki: Sutōkā no kyōfu

Obs: Hello again! Once again, just wanted to thank everyone who is reading! I apologize if this chapter had a lot of dialogue, I hope it's not boring.