Satoru didn't know what to think of the girl standing not two feet away from him.

When Yaga-sensei had tasked him to take care of the semi-grade 1 curse near a restaurant that had been closed down due to said curse engulfing two people inside itself and all the unsavory rumors it had spread, Satoru hadn't been expecting much. Normally Suguru and Shoko would accompany him on missions like this, but the dark-haired male had gotten himself injured during training and now he was busy being Shoko's lab experiment, so Satoru had come alone. But arriving at the scene and finding someone else dealing with his curse was not something he was prepared to see.

The girl stood tall. She was deathly pale; the color didn't seem healthy at all. Her long dark hair the color of midnight, neatly braided, exuded an air of sophistication. She was dressed in a black turtleneck and matching baggy pants that were… bandaged at the end. (What's up with that?) On the back of her coat, he noticed a redness that he suspected was a growing bloodstain.

She has a weird fashion sense, but hey, he's not judging.

Her coat reached to her knees hiding her many, many weapons. There were knives under her sleeves, two guns at her waist, a katana slung over her back, and two bullet ammo chains crisscrossed over her front disappearing behind her shoulders. All weapons were brimming with cursed energy. If he didn't have his six eyes, Satoru wouldn't even be able to see them all except the katana. And the katana was purposely placed in an obvious place to give her opponent a false sense of security that this is the only weapon she has.

Good grief. Is she going to war or what? She looks like a walking armory.

The way she handled a semi-grade 1 curse like it was nothing spoke volumes of her strength and her prowess as a sorcerer. One doesn't simply gain such unbridled control over one's body like it was just another tool to master overnight, it takes years of training to build the fortitude necessary to face the dangers of the jujutsu society, a feat she displayed so easily, so effortlessly. She didn't even look any older than himself, and Satoru whose birth alone had altered the balance of the world, had yet to master his techniques with such finesse. It irritated him to no end.

His legs moved before his mind could comprehend, and Satoru approached her. Upon closer inspection, he noted that the red stain on her back wasn't a bloodstain but embroidery . A half-red and half-white uchiwa fan was embroidered on the back of her coat. The same symbol was stitched on her katana as well.

Hmm, interesting. A clan emblem? Though he had never heard of any clan using that—

She turned around and in the moment her eyes interlocked with his, Satoru swore his breath had left him.

Her face was covered in a mask, but that didn't deter him. Satoru's eyes see everything, he sees through everything. He can see the outlines of her face and those hypnotic red eyes. Those cold, calculating eyes. He has never seen eyes this intimidating unless he was looking in the mirror.

She wasn't just pretty. She looked like death personified.

He did not like the chills that thought invoked on his skin.

"I can't say I've seen you around before," Satoru teased, leaning his body against a wall.

As her gaze drifted to his uniform, the girl suddenly seemed wary of him, no doubt recognizing him. Her eyes danced across the space around him searching for something he didn't understand. Reinforcements, Satoru realized, a heartbeat later. When she was certain there weren't any, the cold indifference in her gaze returned but this time it seemed forced.

Good, he thought, I'm not the only one feeling unnerved.

"Assuming that you've met every single person who walks this land," she responds drily.

He laughs taken aback by her response. "Fair enough," he pauses for a bit. Then continued, "What's the deal with your cursed energy? It's totally nuts." Looking beyond the surface of her skin and at her cursed energy literally hurt so much. He had to avert his gaze because of how unbearable it was to look at her and Satoru resisted the urge to pull out his sunglasses from his pockets, he refused to show any weakness. Her energy seemed to be at war with herself, one side calm and collected, and the other volatile and disruptive. It just didn't make sense! How can she have such control over energy this ever-changing?

"You can see the flow of my ch… cursed energy?" She asked. His eyes narrowed at the slip-up in her speech, but he was far too focused on her eyes to question it. They weren't completely red, he observed, there was a black ring in the center, and the three tomoe-shaped symbols orbited around her pupil.

Satoru's eyes widened; he was paralyzed by the sudden revelation. He couldn't believe it.

"What the hell?" he whispered in disbelief. It can't be… an ocular jujutsu technique undiscovered for almost two decades? Impossible.

She raised her eyebrow at him. "Are you done ogling me?"

"Ogle?" Satoru exclaimed indignantly, "I was not ogling you."

"Yeah, right." She scoffed and muttered something inaudible, "…freaky eyes," was all he could catch.

"Freaky eyes? You're the one with freaky eyes— Do you not know who I am?" Satoru couldn't believe the sheer audacity of this woman; his eyes were perfectly fine!

Her teeth clicked in agitation; eyes seemed to be a sensitive topic for her.

"Am I supposed to?" she feigned indifference and crossed her arms.

Duh. Everyone knows Gojo Satoru and Gojo Satoru knows everyone. Then who the hell is this girl?

"Look carefully at these baby blues," he motioned at his eyes with both his pointer fingers. "Ring a bell?"

The girl tilted her head, her thumb cradling her chin seemingly deep in thought. "No," she said flatly.

Satoru clenched his jaw. "You're kidding, right?"

She stared blankly at him.

"Right!?"

"You're losing my interest. And that," she says, her hand stroking the strap supporting her katana, "is a very dangerous thing." Her gaze swept over him, head to toe rooting him in place, paralyzing him.

Woah. Okay. First, she didn't know who he was, and now she threatens him with bodily harm. Ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous. Satoru scoffed, turning his head away and exhaling deeply, he ran a hand through his hair.

"Listen—" He looks back only to see an empty street. She's already disappeared, not a trace left behind at the place she once stood. He blinks once. Twice. And a third time just to be sure that this really happened.

For the first time in his life, Gojo Satoru was blown off.

Satoru was pissed. He was utterly and irrevocably pissed. At himself, at that stupid girl, and at his stupid friends who were losing their shit over the fact that he'd flunked his first solo mission.

"You lost her?" Shoko doubled over her seat. Clearly, she had selective hearing if that's her takeaway from all that he explained.

"That's not at all what I said."

"You lost her!?" Suguru pitched in his two cents.

"For fuck's sake! How many times will you guys repeat that?"

"So, you couldn't handle one girl?" Suguru laughs, as he wiped a non-existent tear from his eye.

Shoko side-eyed him.

"No offense," he added a beat later, turning to her.

Satoru decided right then that he needed new friends.

"That's enough, you three." Yaga-sensei interrupted them, and he turned toward Satoru. "Describe this girl to me."

"Let's see…" Satoru crossed his arms and titled his chair backward, a frown pulling at his features. "She looked about my age, could be younger. She was tall, taller than Shoko at least. Dark hair, pale skin. She's very ugly and has a questionable fashion sense. Extremely rude, and— what's with all the staring?"

Suguru and Shoko exchanged looks. Yaga-sensei nurses his head in his hand.

"You've barely told us anything useful," Suguru said.

"This is important. She ditched me! Gojo Satoru," he pointed at himself. "How dare she?"

He was met with three blank stares.

"Do you even know her name?" Yaga-sensei asked, exasperated.

Satoru blinks, trying to recall a point in their conversation where she said her name. "Nope."

"Oh well, that was a waste of time," Shoko remarks.

The three of them stand and begin to leave the classroom.

"Aha! I've got it." He stands up abruptly. "She might be a part of a clan."

Yaga-sensei turns very slowly. "What makes you say that?"

Satoru grins. "She was wearing an emblem on the back of her clothes. I think it was an uchiwa fan, except it was half red and half white."

Yaga-sensei's eyes widened.

"How does that prove she belongs to a clan?" Shoko asks no one in particular.

"It's an old tradition that few clans follow anymore," Yaga-sensei answers.

"Also… she has an ocular jujutsu technique?" Satoru voiced it as more of a question than a statement. "And since I exist, it can't be the Six Eyes."

"What?"

"Huh."

"You're only telling me this now!?"

Suguru, Shoko, and Yaga-sensei exclaimed simultaneously with dumbfounded expressions on their faces.

"Did I not mention that?" Satoru asked cheekily, fully aware that he had purposefully left it out.

"Nevermind that." Sensei shook his head and grabbed him by his shoulders, "Satoru, you must bring her here. It is of utmost importance."

Satoru stared at him; a bit weirded out. "Uh, gotcha sensei."

"Haa… this could be troublesome," he muttered as he walked out of the classroom.

"What was that about?" Suguru asked, placing his legs on the table.

"Talk about an overreaction," Shoko mumbled, resting her head on her desk.

The next day Satoru is pacing inside his dorm room. Across the room, Suguru is sitting backward on a chair, using the back of the chair as an armrest. His eyes follow Satoru as he paces back and forth muttering god knows what under his breath. Suguru rolls his eyes, increasingly irritated with his friend as time passes.

"I'm tellin' you Suguru, this was why the higher-ups have been so quiet. They were building that to replace me! Their little, red-eyed demon. They must've been trying to replicate the Six Eyes and it backfired. Now that their pet project has failed, they're using me! The original prototype! To fix their mess! Can you believe it!?" He turns to the dark-haired male.

Suguru throws his hands up, exasperated as if to say; what do you want me to do about it?

"She has eyes like mine! I mean not like mine— mine are better but the point is her eyes. There hasn't been another ocular jujutsu technique other than the Six Eyes in centuries! CENTURIES, Suguru, centuries! Why would it manifest just now? They were trying to replace me, that's why!"

Suguru pinches his nose. "Can we stop with the conspiracy theories, Satoru?"

"Conspiracy— THEORIES!? They are not theories! Sensei's reaction proves they're hiding something."

Suguru buries his face into his hands, mumbling something that sounds suspiciously like; oh god, why me?

"What did you say?" Satoru narrows his eyes at him.

"Nothing." the dark-haired male shakes his head. "So, what will you do now?"

"I don't know! First, I need to find her," he grumbles in frustration.

Without missing a beat, Shoko, who had been busy raiding Satoru's fridge, interjects, "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go find her." Her hand hovers over an ice cream tub, spoon in hand.

Satoru turns to her, perplexed. "Since when were you here—? Hey! Put that down, I was saving it for later!"

"Too bad, I finished it," she retorts, licking the spoon provocatively.

Satoru makes a face.

"We'll get you more on the way," Suguru assures him, patting him on his back.

"Fine," Satoru reluctantly agrees.

"I call dibs on the front seat!" Shoko calls out.

"Then I'll drive," Satoru declares, holding up the car keys.

"Absolutely not!" Shoko and Suguru exclaim simultaneously.

Suguru swiftly snatches the keys from Satoru's hand. "Now, let's go."

Satoru pouts, "Rude."

"Can you drive any slower?" Satoru complains, his impatience evident in his voice.

"I'm following traffic laws, Satoru," Suguru replies calmly, maintaining a steady pace behind the wheel.

"It's an empty street!" Satoru says, frustrated.

Shoko, sitting in the passenger seat, interjects with a mocking smile. "The last time you said that, we almost crashed."

That shut him up. Satoru remembers it all too well. Just a few months ago on his last birthday, he'd bought a car on a whim. He'd never driven a car before, so he didn't have a license either. As an heir of a prominent clan, he had always relied on chauffeurs to take him wherever he wanted. Shoko and Suguru both claimed it was a fruitless purchase. But his overconfidence had caused him to boast that 'I am the strongest' and 'I am good at everything' and 'how hard can it be?'

"Famous last words," Suguru had muttered, foreseeing the chaos that awaited them.

Somehow, he coerced the other two to get in the car with him. The minute he got behind the wheel and started the car, both Suguru and Shoko questioned their life choices. The engine roared as Satoru stepped on the accelerator, and soon he was driving at full speed. He had a huge grin on his face as he drove, breaking every signal, and over-speeding on a school street (granted it was empty). As far as he was concerned the brake pedal didn't even exist.

It had ended horribly. Thankfully Shoko was there to save the day.

"Don't even bother to deny it." Suguru snapped him out of his reverie, looking sternly at him through the rearview mirror.

"Yeah, yeah," Satoru grumbled. He looked out of the window, zoning out. He leaned his cheek in his palm and glanced at the scenery as it flew by. His eyes zeroed in on one particular shop.

"Stop the car," he commanded, his voice filled with excitement.

"Why?" Suguru asked, perplexed by his sudden urgency.

"I haven't been here in ages, so stop the car!" Satoru nearly yelled, his anticipation growing.

Suguru sighed but complied, parking the car at the side of the road. Satoru wasted no time and immediately jumped out, making a beeline for the nearby bakery. Shoko and Suguru followed reluctantly, their curiosity piqued by Satoru's enthusiasm.

As they entered the bakery, Satoru's white hair stood out, attracting a few curious glances from other customers. He couldn't help but whistle, unable to contain his excitement. Glancing back at his friends, he wore a mischievous grin, well aware of their mixed reactions.

"We promised you ice cream, not confections," Suguru pointed out, a hint of annoyance in his voice.

"Correction, you promised him ice creams. I did no such thing," Shoko quipped, crossing her arms playfully.

Satoru chuckled, knowing he had gotten the upper hand. "Oh, shush, you guys. It's not like you're going to pay for it anyway," he teased, earning death glares from both of them. He strides inside, with a gait dripping with arrogance. He looks around the shop, his gaze lingering on the few women around but passes by them to the counter displaying the goods. He walks to the reception to place his order, he looks up and about, at a dark-haired woman behind the counter, slipping past her and immediately doing a double take.

The black eyes threw him off but it's her, it's really her. It's that girl.

He poked both his friends in the shoulders and whisper-yelled, "It's her! The red-eyed demon," pointing in her direction.

"Who?" Shoko furrowed her eyebrows.

"The girl he's been raving about for the past three days." Suguru rolled his eyes. "Haven't you been listening?"

"Oh," she drawled, a hint of indifference in her voice. "I tuned most of it out, it was getting repetitive."

"Excuse me ." Satoru glared at them.

They clear their throats.

"She looks very un-demon-like to me," Suguru added, unhelpfully.

Shoko nodded in agreement. "And she doesn't have red eyes."

"But it is her, her cursed energy is the same. All wonky." Satoru insisted.

"Weird. I can't sense any curses emanating from her," Suguru said, frowning.

Just then, the girl suddenly whipped her head in their direction, her gaze locking with Satoru's. Blinking twice, she quickly hid behind the cake display, attempting to conceal herself.

It's cute that she thinks she can hide from him.

"See! She recognized me," Satoru exclaimed.

"You never mentioned she was this beautiful," Suguru remarked, his tone teasing.

Satoru choked on his saliva, caught off guard by Suguru's comment. "You need to get your eyes checked," he managed to reply.

The girl's hair cascaded down her back in loose, curly strands, no longer in the braid she had sported during their previous encounter. Satoru couldn't help but notice the change in her appearance, she looked like a completely different person in the light of the day.

As they observed from a distance, another employee approached the girl, engaging in a hushed conversation that Satoru couldn't overhear. The other girl's eyes dance around the room and sharpen on him. Satoru raises a brow at her. She quickly looks away and down at the red-eyed demon (whose red eyes are nowhere to be seen) and starts whispering things in quick succession. He moves closer to them.

"—I'm telling you he's not my ex, I don't even know him—" he caught a snippet of her voice.

"—it's okay I'll handle it for you! I'm an expert in these situations. Why'd you break up with him though? He's drop-dead gorgeous- oh shit, okay um, don't panic! He's coming!" the other girl, Misa if the tag on her lapel is to be believed, rambled.

"Misa, you're the only one panicking."

Satoru couldn't help but find the situation both amusing and perplexing. He approached them, his curiosity getting the better of him.

"Hello, pretty stranger-who's-totally-not-Kazumi's-ex!" she straightened up.

So, her name is Kazumi.

"Oh god, what is this situation?" Kazumi said as she facepalmed.

If it were physically possible, Satoru's eyebrows would have reached the sky with how high he raised them.

"Baby," He sang, drawing out the word. He leaned over the counter to look down at her as she was still sitting on the floor. She tilted her head up at him. "When did we break up?

"So cute," Misa awed. "How did you two meet? Kazumi never talks about her love life."

Kazumi smiles threateningly at her co-worker. "I think someone's calling you at the back. "

"But I didn't hear…" Misa trailed off turning to her.

Kazumi's smile only widened, taking on a more sinister quality.

"Y-yeah I think I should go," Misa stammered, a terrified expression on her face as she hurriedly retreated back inside.

Kazumi stood up and waved at her before she spun toward him, glaring at him. "How did you find me?" she demanded, her tone sharp.

Pure luck, Satoru thought, but he didn't need to reveal that.

"A magician never reveals his secrets, Kazumi," he said, with a mischievous grin playing on his lips.

Kazumi crossed her arms, unamused. "You mean a sorcerer."

"Semantics." He waved a hand. Then continued, "So since when were we in a relationship again?"

Kazumi groaned, "She assumed on her own." As she studied Satoru, she asked, "And what are you doing here?"

"It's a bakery, darling, what do you think people do in a bakery?" He taunted with a teasing smile. "Hmm?"

"What. Do. You. Want?"

Satoru simply grinned as he listed a long variety of desserts with atrocious amounts of sugar that'd give a diabetes patient a heart attack.

Kazumi sighed before she handed him his receipt and told him to wait until his order arrived.

He took the paper from her hands. "Also, I want to talk."

She stared at him for a moment. "You'll have to wait, my shift will be over soon." and she tended to other customers.

Nodding, he sauntered over to the table where Shoko and Suguru were watching them closely.

"So what happened?" Shoko asked as he took his seat.

"We're going to talk," Satoru said.

She sure is taking her time, Satoru thought as he watched her move about around the place. She didn't seem so intimidating now, smiling and working with the other employees. Though she'd throw occasional glares his way probably wishing for him to disappear and he'd only wave at her with a wide smile. Her reactions were amusing.

"Finally, she's coming over," Suguru exhaled.

And indeed she was, wiping her hands and taking her apron off, she made her way through the crowd and toward them.

Satoru straightened up in his seat, dying to ask the questions weighing on his mind.

Kazumi took her seat beside Shoko. "Who are these two?" she motioned to them.

"My friends," Satoru said.

"Getou Suguru," he introduced himself with a polite smile.

"Ieiri Shoko." She did a small wave.

"Gojo Satoru, though I never imagined I'd need an introduction," he mumbled.

Kazumi fiddled with her hands and said, "Uchiha Kazumi."

"Uchiha?" Satoru frowned. "That's not a clan name."

She flinched. "No, it's not."

"What does that emblem on your back mean, then?" he asked, bewildered.

She swallowed, hard. "Nothing, it means nothing." She's looking out the window, not meeting any of their eyes.

The trio exchanged glances at each other. It was an obvious lie, though a harmless one, so they didn't prod further.

Suguru leaned forward. "Okay… what about your red eyes? Satoru believes you have an ocular cursed technique."

"It is called the Sharingan, my cursed technique," she said. Turning to Satoru, she seemed a bit interested. "What about yours?"

"The Six Eyes," Satoru answered. "Why are your eyes black now?"

"Because I have it turned off?" Kazumi tilted her head, confused. "Why is your technique activated? Doesn't it drain you?"

Shoko looks back and forth between them. "I'm so confused."

"So am I," Suguru echoed.

Satoru furrowed his eyebrows. "Turn it off— what do you mean? Weren't you born with those eyes?" How could one just switch between normal eyes and cursed eyes? It's a physical impossibility.

"Not exactly," Kazumi closed her eyes, and when she opens them; they flash red, and in a moment they turned black once again. "I was only born with the ability to awaken it. I didn't always have these eyes."

All three of them were awestruck. The look in their eyes was one of wonderment. Kazumi's lips curled up in amusement at their expressions.

Satoru could not wrap his head around this revelation. Since his birth, he'd had his Six Eyes and the ability to use them. Not once could he stop the onslaught of unnecessary information in his head. The sensory overload he experienced if he stared at the same spot for a moment too long. The headaches and soreness in his eyes were all too much to bear at such a young age. How many nights had he spent wishing for blindness when the pain got so severe he was barely conscious? What he wouldn't give to just turn it all off. A small part of him couldn't help but resent her for making him aware of this option unavailable to him. Ignorance is bliss, they say. He wasn't ignorant anymore.

It was so unfair because he could've been born with the ability to turn it off just like her, but he wasn't. As if it was a punishment, to be reminded again and again just who he was.

But it further cements his hypothesis of her being an experiment, she wasn't born with her Sharingan. She only 'awakened' it at some point in her life. The higher-ups must have a hand in this.

"What do you think about joining Jujutsu High?" Shoko asked, turning to Kazumi.

All the warmth from her face disappeared.

"If you're here to recruit me," she says, painstakingly slow. "You can fuck right off." She stands up, dragging the chair behind her. She steps out, putting the chair back in its place. Turning her back to them without a single glance back, she strolled out of the establishment.

And all Satoru could think was, what did the higher-ups do to make her hate them so much?

"That went well," Suguru proclaimed.

"Shut up, Suguru."