Sick Of You
by Lapiz Sagana
The special ringtone Utahime chose for him was the sound of a heart flatlining. Nothing seemed more appropriate than this, given how she did feel like dying whenever she so much as heard Gojo's voice.
The evening she set out to exorcise a curse in an abandoned office in the outskirts of Kyoto, she received a text notification from Gojo and decided to ignore it. She needed to focus, and the last thing she wanted was to go head-to-head with a curse distracted because of him.
Exorcising the curse had been relatively easy. She didn't even need the manager to put down a veil. She only wanted someone to be on the lookout in case she needed assistance due to an ambush. Abandoned places like this always housed more curses than managers could initially scout, mainly because some of the curses were either too weak to detect or too strong that they could hide their presence well.
After around ten minutes of searching the place, a group of wasp-like creatures emerged by the hundreds. She exorcised them with one attack, and it was only as the curse dispersed that she saw the streaks of red climbing up her hands. Her throat tightened, and as she collapsed on her knees scratching at her neck in an attempt to breathe, the manager found her.
Utahime came to in Jujutsu High's infirmary, groggy and fatigued, but otherwise fine. Their resident doctor told her that she had been poisoned. Fortunately, it was not as potent as they feared it was.
"You just absorbed too much, hence the effect it had on you," he said as he helped her to a sitting position. "Currently, there's no way to extract it from your system. We can simply manage the effects and let you ride it out."
Great, Utahime thought. She had a mental picture of her week's calendar of activities, and there was no way she could go through them efficiently while 'riding out' this poison. Not with how weak and helpless she felt.
Nevertheless, she took the painkillers and insisted on recovering in her apartment. She had a report to write and lesson plans to make. The doctor was still chasing after her when she swung the infirmary's doors apart and saw Momo and Nitta outside.
Momo looked like she had just woken up, what with her disheveled hair and wrinkled dress. She took in the sight of her teacher and sighed. "Utahime-sensei, you made us worry!"
"Is there anything I can do to help?" Nitta asked, his hands already in mid-air. He, too, was still in his pajamas.
Utahime stood there clutching the doorknob. It was tempting to let Nitta use his cursed technique on her. Now that she was on her feet, she could feel how sore her joints were, and each breath felt like a stab to her gut. Still, she was their instructor. What would Gojo say if she couldn't even face them with dignity after being poisoned by such a weak curse?
She rolled her shoulders back and summoned a smile. "I'm fine. Thanks for coming all the way here to see me."
"Are you sure?"
"Of course. The doctor said I could go home." She stared him down from over her shoulder so he would concede to her lie. After a pause, the doctor motioned for her to leave, and she walked down the corridor with her two students.
She was sure they conversed, but about what and for how long, she wasn't quite sure anymore. The next she was fully aware, she was already splayed on her bed, basking in the silence of her apartment. She wanted beer and seafood ramen, and for once, maybe a dessert that wasn't too sweet, but she didn't have the energy to either make them or even order them.
From the corner of her eye, she saw her phone screen light up. Oh, right. She had put her phone on silent before the mission.
With much effort, she rolled over to her side and tapped the screen. There were notifications from the Google alert she set up for the Saitama Seibu Lions and the Hiroshima Sanfrecce. After scrolling through some interesting updates, she responded to texts from her students (those who had no idea she had recently been injured), some from her superiors, and left Gojo's for last.
She stared at his text for several moments.
Well, if you hurt yourself, don't come crying to me. ;(
Scrolling up, she saw that she had rejected an offer to have dinner with him, Shoko, and Nanami tonight at Tokyo because she had a mission.
Her phone vibrated, startling her, and then a new message appeared in her chat with Gojo.
You hurt?
Utahime wanted to tell him that she was sore from the poison, more for the sake of telling someone than to get any sympathy from him, because she was surely not getting any. If she wanted someone to care for her, she'd tell Shoko. Mei Mei would only sell her an expensive (but probably effective) cure, and Nanami would only recommend training some more.
In the end, Utahime decided to just text him back to prevent him from calling at an ungodly hour. She needed the rest, not his voice in her head telling her that she wouldn't have been poisoned if she had only been stronger.
Night, Gojo.
She hit send, turned her phone over, and fell asleep.