After the encounter with the Kyoto students, the first-year students seemed to become concretely resolute and buckled down in their training for the next month.
Megumi and Nobara no longer genuinely argued, but simply bickered like anyone who knew them expected them to.
Maki had shared her cursed tools with Megumi and devoted herself to making him proficient in every tool he tried out. He really excelled with swords and blades, but already didn't like two handed weapons like polearms because they were especially harder to work around his hand signs for his shikigami. Panda was often used to practice Megumi's training on as a larger target and Maki was used as a more skilled target to challenge him. Toge fought evasively and ran from Megumi while he tried to land any hit on him. Shohei fought Megumi with his gravity field on to restrain him and with less proficiency with Iguana Talon.
Panda improved Nobara's hand to hand skills and muscular build so much that she was sure to be able to handle any other physical combatant in her rank and maybe lesser physical combatants in higher grades, with her ranged jujutsu coupled with her new strengths. Nobara trained with Maki when she wanted to better her how she fought up close with her hammer, and she made much progress, being able to land hits on all of them except Maki and Shohei unrestrained. Toge did conditioning training with her, running laps around the track or doing calisthenics in the nearby forest, deeply improving her overall health and dexterity.
The second-years made as much simple progress as they could while coaching the first-years, but they ultimately did better themselves in minute ways when both Megumi and Nobara neered their own level as Sorcerers. Of the second-years, Shohei was the one who really made the most progress.
He was always good with Shooting Star, but he got really good at using it fluidly and smoothly in all types of scenarios when training with both Maki and Megumi. Iguana Talon even became fully familiar with Shohei and he was able to fight proficiently with it after many matches with both Megumi and Maki with their own favored weapons. With how Iguana Talon was made to where Shohei could even throw a punch with it in hand, he often trained in close combat with it too, making the combination of him without his gravity field and Iguana Talon a lethal physical combination.
Shohei enjoyed training with all his classmates, but when training by himself to improve Stygian Void, Shohei was often very frustrated.
There was very little he could do to train the technique except to surround himself by firing machines and in the split second they were going to be absorbed by Stygian Void, attempting to lessen the time it remained appeared or the size of the black mass to lower the cursed energy it consumed. Shohei didn't want to ask for help training the technique as it was dangerous for physical contact, possibly drawing in someone's limb or entire body and getting pulled apart to its smallest components of matter.
Shohei wanted to advance Stygian Void to some degree before the Kyoto event, in case some extreme scenario called for him to use it or to simply have a better trick up his sleeve as a new first-grade Sorcerer. He also thought maybe he just wanted to impress the Kyoto students and Aoi.
The day after Shohei spent a entire night and morning with no sleep of fruitlessly training his innate technique in the same definite way he always did, it was Toge's day to plan training and he had them all running a mile at their own pace.
They all had begun their run on the track in their typical training clothes like shorts, track suits, t-shirts, and tennis shoes.
Naturally, with unnatural and superhuman capabilities, Maki and Shohei were racing ahead, about two hundred meters or half the track ahead of Panda, who was capable of running up to thirty miles per hour as he had a similar body to a real Panda. Toge was in fourth place, as he was naturally very athletic, even without reinforcing his body with cursed energy, and was used to long or short distance running as a part of his training. Megumi was next in the line of young Sorcerers, jogging at a consistent pace, with Nobara dogging his heels, refusing to be in last place.
"Why so competitive today, Sho?" Maki asked, sprinting down the straight of the track, side by side with Shohei. She looked actually shocked the boy was bothering to race her instead of hanging back with a lazy jog. "You never put forth any effort during conditioning."
"Because I want to feel a little productive today," Shohei huffed, his voice bouncing as he bounded down the track, completing his first lap out of four. "I've been training extra on my own time and haven't been making any progress with Stygian Void, like you guessed when we fought."
"Now you want to open up about it now that we only have like a week and a half of training left?!" Maki grilled the boy, calling him out on his not so smart decision.
"Sure," Shohei puffed. "I'm open to suggestions. I'm just trying to get it to use less cursed energy by either shrinking its size from about a baseball to anything small, because, you know, any sized black hole will get the job of defending me done. Also, I can't really control how long my enemy's attack lasts, but getting the black holes to appear later and disappear sooner would be helpful."
"Well, I'd be down to help you train it, but you never let any of us. That still pisses me off," Maki huffed through her breathing pattern as she began to get winded as she and Shohei began to lap Megumi and Nobara.
"On your right Megumi," Shohei huffed, passing the boy and approaching Toge. "What should I do, Maki?"
"Huh?" both Megumi and Nobara questioned as they were passed.
"You're asking the wrong girl. I don't have a lick of experience with cursed techniques obviously. But why not make a self imposed vow with it?" Maki said, taking a deep breath while attempting to pull ahead of Shohei on the bend of the track. "It seemed to work well enough for Limitless to where you could gain Gravity Conductor out of it."
"How am I supposed to put restraints on literal black holes to make them better?" Shohei asked Maki, looking at her like she suggested the impossible.
"You put restraints on literal Limitlessness with a self imposed vow," Maki said plainly. "I'm sure you can figure something out for this. Watch some of your National Geographic films on space to see if anything sparks some inspiration. You've got plenty of magazines that probably mentioned black holes too."
"On your right. Hey Toge," Shohei puffed. Shohei jogged his brain for possible films and magazines mentioning black holes while spiriting, slightly ahead of Maki and speeding past Toge.
"Hey, Panda," Maki yelled, gasping in another breath after. "Do you have any plans tonight?"
Panda looked back, slowing down slightly, letting Shohei and Maki easily catch up and flank him. They slowled their pace and looked down to meet his eyes, as he was running on all four to reach his maximum speed.
"No, I don't think so," Panda said, not sounding winded as he spoke. "Why?"
"Us and whoever else doesn't have plans is going to help Shohei look through his big ass library of National Geographic stuff for inspiration. He's hit a roadblock in training and needs help, but only now is admitting it," Maki explained, taking deep breaths.
"Whatever Maki," Shohei scoffed, recovering his breath as he and the other two completed another lap.
"Yea, I'm down to help," Panda said. "What time?"
"We can head to my room after dinner," Shohei said. "See you then," he huffed, taking off sprinting, and gaining a lead against Maki.
"Get back here you cheater!" Maki yelled, kicking out a burst of speed to catch up.
"I'm just hurrying to ask Megumi and Nobara," Shohei yelled with a snicker in between breaths.
Maki caught up to Shohei's heels as he neared Megumi and Nobara, breathing relatively heavily and keeping a good speed.
"Hey, you two," Shohei huffed. "Do you have any plans tonight? I need help with something."
Megumi swallowed a large gulp of air to respond and said, "No, what do you need help with?"
"I need some extra hand to help go through my magazines and documentaries and inspire me. It's just a part of my training," Shohei explained.
"I actually was hoping to go into town and have a nice dinner," Nobara choked.
"Well, you can bring us back a doggy bag, because I might not show up since Shohei cheated in our race," Maki said, catching up parallel and slowing down to talk.
"So it's an official race now?" Shohei asked, grinning an arrogant grin at Maki.
"It always was. It went without saying when you started to try and pass me," Maki growled. "Just head to Sho's dorm around dinner time, Nobara. That's when the rest of us will be there. It'll be good bonding when we make fun of Sho's room."
Maki kicked up some dust and took off towards Toge, who was several yards ahead, completing his second lap.
Shohei chased after her and sandwiched Toge between himself and Maki.
"Do you have any plans for tonight, Toge?" Maki asked, almost choking on her drying mouth.
"I need help going through my Nat Geo stuff for training," Shohei explained one final time. Maki, Toge, and him crossed the finish line and started their next lap.
"Bonito flakes," Toge said smoothly, shaking his head.
"Great," Shohei cheered, stuttering as he choked on his own spit. He went into a small coughing fit and lagged behind slightly.
"Us and the other's are heading to Shohei's room after dinner, except for Nobara who's going into town, but showing up later," Maki said, her own throat clear and mouth dampened again.
"Kelp," Toge responded, giving a thumbs up that both Maki and Shohei could see.
"Cool," Maki huffed. "See you when we're done with this lap."
Maki sprinted off again, and before Shohei could finish his coughing and chase after her, she had gained almost a hundred meter lead.
"Salmon caviar," Toge told Shohei.
"Yea, I know she's fast," Shohei heaved, catching his breath. "I'm still gonna catch her though."
"Salmon," Toge said, not even huffing or wheezing.
"Thanks, Toge," Shohei said, sprinting hard after Maki who was now at the end of the far bend.
Shohei couldn't remember a time where he ran as hard as he was, but with all his training under the enhanced gravity around him, his explosive legs launched him down the rest of the straight of the track and let him hook around the bend fast enough that he was nearing Maki with about fifty meters left of their final lap to go.
Maki didn't dare look back, in fear of losing her momentum, but she heard Shohei's rapid approach and attempted to pour any of her remaining speed into her legs.
Shohei didn't want to let his loss add to Maki's competitive nature, so when he caught up to Maki, side by side with the wind burning his eyes, he couldn't help but grin an offensive smirk and hope that she saw it.
The two superhumans were neck and neck, striding along like cheetah compared to the other student's speed resembling meandering rhinoceroses.
The two's long, bounding legs crossed the finishing line one final time in a blur, but neither had been staring at their feet to identify who won, but directly ahead of them, as if their hard set gazes would pull them along faster.
The two took so long to slow their pace that they were well past half of the opposite straight, finally slowing to a halt.
"How does it feel to put all that effort into catching up only to lose," Maki jeered, hands on top of her head, trying to steal oxygen for her lungs.
"You're bugging as usual, Maki," Shohei huffed, holding both his arms overhead, trying to gain more oxygen like his race competitor. "All that work was not in vain."
"Sure you were close, but not close enough to win," Maki dismissed the boy's claims.
"And I'm supposed to take your word for it?" Shohei asked.
"Whose are you gonna take? Your own?" Maki scrutinized, looking at Shohei as if he sprouted antlers from his head.
"Well I'm clear as day less competitive than you, so therefore less biased when it comes to competitions like this," Shohei explained, as if his reasoning was obvious.
"I'm getting one of the other's take on that finish," Maki informed, turning her head away from Shohei, ceasing the debate.
"They aren't gonna know any better," Shohei chuckled. "They were leagues behind us both and focused on their own pace. Isn't that right Toge?" Shohei asked the passing boy.
"Kelp," Toge answered pointlessly. He held up his hands defensively as he passed by, not wanting to get into the two's squabble.
"Fine then," Maki growled after the boy. "I hope your shoelace comes untied."
"That's okay," Shohei muttered. "Here comes Megumi and Nobara."
The two were making their way down the straight, looking at each other, anxious of the oncoming interrogation.
"Hey," Maki yelled at the approaching two. "You guys were able to see us as we passed the finishing line. Who do you think won?"
"I think Maki won," Nobara said, in between pants. "She had a massive lead."
"I thought Shohei won," Megumi muttered, slowly. "He put on a faster burst of speed than either of them did to catch up."
"Thanks, Megumi-kun," Shohei chirped, patting the boy's back as he passed to show his appreciation.
"Way to pick a winner, Nobara-san," Maki grinned as the girl passed.
"We'll just ask Panda to break the tie," Shohei said, turning around and patiently waiting for the black and white Sorcerer to pass by.
"Yeah, Panda," Maki said, looking at him as he neared. "Who won?"
"I don't know," Panda admitted. "I was coming around the bend and saw you two already slowing down."
"No!" Maki groaned, throwing her head back at the indecisive answer.
"Dammit Panda!" Shohei cursed, frowning a deep frown.
"I'm sorry," Panda whimpered as he put on some speed to get away from the two.
"Well that was pointless," grunted Maki.
"Not really," Shohei offered up. "It proves that my current force of my field gravity is helping my speed so much that I catch and keep up with you and your Heavenly Restriction when I drop it."
"I guess," said Maki, shrugging and crossing the track to the stands with water. "Let's go wait for Toge to finish and explain the rest of the practice."
Shohei followed along and went to sip a water bottle in the stands while waiting for the others with Maki.
"Do you know what the cafeteria has for dinner tonight?" Shohei asked Maki, making a simple conversation.
"I don't know, but I think I smelled sweet corn porridge soup cooking when I walked by last," Maki said.
"I don't really like that stuff, especially if it's the main course," Shohei complained, rolling his head back and forth. "Do you just want to make a junkton of different cup ramen in our dorms?"
"That sounds really good, but let's see if anyone wants to cook before we jump to the cup of ramen," proposed Maki.
"Smart," Shohei admitted shortly, falling away from the conversation and watching Nobara determinedly sprint her last lap, striding past Megumi.
Megumi crossed the finish line, marking everyone's finish of the mile warm up.
"Mustard leaf," Toge called, waving for Maki and Shohei to join the rest of them on the track.
They joined the group and watched as Toge took several folded papers from the back pocket of his pants and handed them to everyone. They were workout routines, drawn up individually for each student training.
Shohei looked over the other's shoulders to see what they were doing and to compare his workout.
Megumi and Nobara had a lot of training to do with gaining muscle and becoming more coordinated with their preferred weapons by fighting each other in quick sets between other workouts.
Panda had agility training. His paper asked him to repeatedly run up and down the stands for a set time, have someone time him as he sprinted through the forest and back until accomplishing a set time by Toge, and more sprints on the track.
Toge himself had made his routine heavy on the calisthenics, for the sake of him building some strength through his best trait, his dexterity and mobility. He also had some simple more endurance training in there like running the mile and striving to beat his best time.
Maki and Shohei were partnered up, and had a rather odd workout routine. Shohei was instructed to create a set area of extreme gravity for him and Maki to train their reflexes, strength, and muscular endurance with Gravity Conductor.
"You want Shohei and me to train under increased gravity?" asked Maki, tapping Toge on the shoulder.
"Salmon," Toge confirmed. Toge motioned a circle surrounding him and pointed at Shohei, then flexed his bicep.
"You want us to train under it like how I train under my gravity field?" Shohei interpreted.
"Salmon," Toge confirmed, nodding his head yes.
"Okay. It kind of sounds fun," Maki said, shrugging.
"This isn't fun," Maki grunted, having beads of sweat fall from her forehead and zip to the ground.
She and Shohei were about halfway through their workout and were attempting a three minute plank under a fifteen foot wide circle of increased gravity that was more intense than the gravitational pull of Jupiter.
"Come on. It's only three times stronger than Earth's gravity," Shohei wheezed, shaking in his planking position. "You're more than three times stronger than the average Sorcerer."
"I know I am, but having the space around you to just resist every movement makes me feel like I'm a lightweight," said Maki through gritted teeth.
"Come on dude, we've got about forty seconds left," said Shohei, looking at his phone timer by his head.
"How do you keep this around you twenty four seven?" Maki asked, slowly looking up at Shohei. "It's like non-stop calisthenics for every motion you make."
"Well, learning to utilize it costs years of training. I started training under my gravity field twenty four seven when I was around ten, and it initially really had some negative backlash for my body, so I had to also heavily reinforce my body with cursed energy so I wouldn't permanently damage myself," Shohei explained. "It was some good coupled training. I got really good at reinforcing myself when the gravity field was still too weak and needed protection. After a little more than a year, I got down basic living under it without reinforcing my body and could start training under it. Training under the field, even with reinforcement, was leaps and bounds more difficult, but after two years I made a passive progressive step. I could wield it as a shield in combat since I had raised my basic strength under it to an adequate amount to combat curses. I had been steadily increasing its weight without requiring reinforcement all the way up to my enrollment in Jujutsu High. That's time," Shohei queued his alarm.
"Woof," Maki groaned, breaking her plank and breathing heavily. "What do you think are some of our physical differences, from my Heavenly Restriction and your gravity field training?"
"I think you straight up have more raw strength than me and it's even more exemplified by your better battle skill and intelligence. I have more explosive and reactionary muscles that are strong and all, but are just more jolting and quick in every movement. Our strength is like a contradiction to Newton's second law of force equals mass times acceleration. You rival the force I can put out with just your strength, but I can move faster to produce the force you can. Does that make sense?"
"Kind of," Maki said, standing up and looking at her workout routine sheet. "I imagine it as if I've got strength like a bodybuilder or weightlifter and and you've got strength like a crossfitter or a person who does purely calisthenics."
"That's a way better way of explaining it," chuckled Shohei, admitting to Maki. He looked down at his own paper and said, "I've got squats next."
"I've got pushups," Maki huffed.
"How was everyone's training?" Panda asked, hands above his head, trying to catch his breath as they all reconvened at the top of the stands.
All the students except Toge had slowly scaled the stares with wobbly and shaking legs.
"Salmon," Toge said, giving a genuine thumbs up.
"Hell," the rest muttered in unison.
Megumi lightly pushed Shohei's shoulder and muttered, "I thought you said Inumaki's practices would always be reasonable. I've had a bigger challenge with my routine than I did with Panda's training sessions this month. Maki's weapon training is more forgiving than this."
"You said you wanted a challenge for training," Shohei shrugged, finally clearing the stairs and massaging his legs. "I've got to go and get a shower. I've got to wash away some of this pain before I can eat lunch. See you guys for dinner."
"Wait Shohei," Maki said, halting the boy mid shuffle. "Are we trying to cook in our dorms or just going to the cafeteria?"
"Sure, let's go ahead and cook in the dorms. Who here can cook?" Shohei winced, turning around on the spot.
"We can have dinner in my dorm tonight. I can cook something up after we help Shohei go through his magazines and stuff," Megumi of all people said, already walking off to the cafeteria for lunch.
"See you guys then," Shohei bid, quitting walking and falling forward, catching himself with Gravity Conductor and floating himself to his dorms.
Shohei had lessened the soreness from his workout under the enhanced gravity, but the hour he spent under the hot water had made him tired, jelly legged, and ready for a good meal and nap.
Shohei couldn't pursue his meal and nap, but needed to stay awake because he had plans to receive help from the other students.
Speaking of the devil, someone knocked on Shohei's dorm and when he answered, he saw Panda and Toge.
"We're here to pick you up and make sure you eat something," Panda said, dragging Shohei from his dorm, still in his house clothes, and over several doors to his room.
"Salmon caviar," Toge mentioned, taking a jab at Shohei's occasional lack of a good diet as they entered Panda's dorm.
All the dorms were laid out the same, but Panda's seemed more spacious despite it having a relatively large mini fridge in one corner with a basket of snacks on top. The only other features the room had were a rolled up futon and a small dresser where Panda kept almost all of his possessions since he had no clothes to put in there.
"I was going to snack on some junk I had. It's only around three o'clock," Shohei protested, but still took a seat in the middle of the floor. "It's such an awkward time to eat when we're about to have dinner at Megumi's in a few hours."
"We'll it won't hurt to put some extra fuel in your tank," said Panda, digging through his fridge and passing Toge dorayaki, manju, dango, and other chilled snacks. "Take your pick you toothpick."
Shohei opened a container of dango and began nibbling on the rice dumplings. Shohei rolled over on the floor and stared out Panda's widow as Panda and Toge dove into some Pocky.
Shohei got lost in thought on how he was going to advance Stygian Void any further.
He turned over Maki's recommendation of him making a Binding Vow with technique in his mind for a long while, but not coming to any realizations or conclusions.
Shohei rolled back over to face his two classmates and watched them try to stack pocky into a tower, hoping that the new site would miraculously spark any ideas.
Shohei grew tired of not making any progress once more as the pocky tower grew in size, so Shohei directly asked his classmates, "Can you two help me work up some ideas really quick?"
"Salmon," Toge agreed, not looking away from his tower.
"What kinda roadblock is plaguing you Shohei?" Panda asked, also not taking his eyes off the chocolate tower.
"So you two know my Innate Technique, Stygian Void, right?" Shohei asked quickly, sitting up.
The two nodded, stacking more snacks.
"So I've been training it on my free time, and making almost no progress, and I want to have made some advancements with it before the Kyoto event in a few days as a nice obvious nod to me deserving the rank of first-grade, right," Shohei continued, earning a simple nod from both the concentrated second-years.
"And that's why we were all heading to your dorm to look through your space magazines and documentaries, right? Because Stygian Void is basically an automatic black hole?" asked Panda.
"Yeah. I was hoping to spark some inspiration with the help of everyone else. Maki also recommended I make a Binding Vow with it to either progress its strength or improve its potential in training," explained Shohei. "I just want it to consume less of my cursed energy by either making the black holes smaller without impacting their usefulness or shorten the time they appear. Does that make sense?" Shohei asked, hoping his small tangent was still connecting with them.
"Kelp," Toge responded, wagging his finger at Shohei and looking up, like what Shohei said was the right route to take.
"You think I should make a vow with it?" Shohei repeated. "The problem with that is I don't have a clue what to exchange for Stygian Void to improve."
"That is kind of a challenge isn't it," Panda muttered, scratching his own chin and pondering the task. "How do you improve your arguably strongest technique?"
"Not arguably. It straight up is," Shohei chuckled. "Gravity Conductor is great and all, don't get me wrong, and it has such a practical and versatile use compared to Stygian Void. Stygian Void is just what I fall back on when I'm in a crisis fight though. It's just my ultimate defense that happens to be kinda lethal as all hell."
"Tuna!" Toge almost shouted, a glint in his amethyst eyes. Toge stood up, almost knocking down the pocky power in the wind and began to charade.
Toge was swiping his arms in an x across his body and then making a stabbing motion with his hand.
"What?" Shohei muttered, excited by Toge's seeming breakthrough. Shohei was hoping Toge would cook up something in his mind, as he had to be selective but reactive with his cursed speech in combat, but was anxious if he would be able to communicate the idea with him.
"No stabbing?" Panda guessed. Toge pointed at him, gesturing in a way that told them he was half way there.
"No attacking?" Shohei guessed, having Toge point at him and nod. He was correct.
Toge proceeded to mimic the motion of taking something from one spot and moving it towards another place. Toge then held up his arms together, like blocking a punch.
"Trading off? Trading for something else?" Shohei asked, remembering he said he didn't know what he wanted to sacrifice to advance his technique. Toge pointed and nodded yes.
"Trade off something for blocking or defense," Panda also said, excited at the progress of the three. Toge nodded to confirm.
Toge made the stabbing motion for attacking, the moving something from place to place to signal trading, and then the blocking motion for defense.
"Trading off attacking for blocking!" Shohei and Panda said in unison, increasing in volume and excitement as they looked between themselves and Toge who was nodding his head in a blur to confirm their final answer.
"That's a great idea, Toge," Shohei admitted, standing up and smacking the boy's hand with a high five. "Stygian Void is my ultimate defense and final and ultimate solution to any issue with defending. I rarely use it as an offensive weapon, especially alongside teammates and other Sorcerers, because it's so dangerous," Shohei spat, feeling himself have a wave of inspiration come flooding in.
Shohei began to rant, "If I can make a Vow that limits it to only activating and absorbing attacks that are directed at me or if I'm defending against rather than anything and everything that is about to touch me, I could make it safe for friendlies and not worry about fighting around it. It's a massive trade off and could open up so many doors and offer so much potential in training that I can't imagine how much less cursed energy it would use up!"
Toge had a large smile behind his mask that could be seen in his eyes and Panda was showing his whole maw of teeth in a smile at Shohei's revelation.
"I think we can text the group chat that we don't need to join up in Sho's for a study session of documentaries anymore," Panda eagerly muttered.
The second and first-years had gathered together in Megumi's dorm room after all being informed that they wouldn't be needed in Shohei's room beforehand.
Panda, Toge, and Shohei were the first to greet Megumi and enter, taking their places around a short table with a lidded pot on a portable stove top.
Panda dove under the low hanging table very effortlessly and without knocking the table around to lay there. Toge and Shohei simply sat around the table as normal.
Maki soon entered when the four were amongst conversations about what kind of cursed tools they would make to counterbalance a combative weakness of theirs.
"Looks like I've entered the perfect discussion," Maki grinned, having heard the context of the talk.
"Panda says he'd rather have even better knuckle dusters or gloves with a simple cursed technique to make his hand to hand more deadly, but everyone knows he needs some amount of long or medium range equipment," Megumi said to Maki as she took a seat next to him.
"But why try to make myself branch out into something else instead of sticking with something I'm used to?" Panda lazily questioned from under the table.
"Because when you get into a pickle that calls for some range in your arsenal you might be screwed over," Maki simply answered. "Being able to close the distance between you and an enemy might not be enough or what's even called for"
They all began to debate cursed tools and their possible curses for a short time thereafter, and then Nobara joined them, cementing their group and allowing them to eat.
Nobara sat down and chatted for a while, talking about how she enjoyed lunch and shopping in the city as Megumi got up and passed around utensils and bowls to everyone. Nobara's stomach grumbled and that caused a sudden silence, as everyone listened to their own.
Megumi removed the lid from the pot to check how the chicken meatballs and vegetables were coming along.
"Is it ready yet?" asked Nobara politely, eyeing the steaming pot on the stove top.
"Salmon, salmon," Toge also inquired, commenting on the food's nice aroma.
Their dinner was sitting in a nice, light brown ginger scented broth, steaming its sliced mushrooms, carrots, green unions, shallots, scallions, cabbage, and bokchoy. The chicken meatballs were slightly browned and well seasoned, looking absolutely delectable to the surrounding teens.
Megumi dished out servings of the meatballs and vegetables into everyone's bowls and when his final bowl had been filled, he nodded for everyone to eat.
Shohei pinched together a large bite with his chopsticks of carrot, mushroom and cabbage and chowed down on the steaming serving.
Megumi had started experimenting with foods in his makeshift kitchen due to Itadori's recommendation. They often invited Shohei to try out some of the dishes, and when Itadori had first made the ginger chicken meatballs, Shohei had gone weak in the knees from his first bite.
Megumi had replicated the recipe seamlessly and Shohei felt memories of Itadori in the kitchen and on trips into town come flooding back.
Maki had taken her first bite of the meatball and observed the bite carefully with her eyes closed.
Maki stuttered in minor astonishment and turned to Megumi to say, "These meatballs are great. You said you made them?"
"Oh, I did," Megumi replied, looking up from his own bowl. "They're easy to make."
Panda had fallen asleep and Toge picked up a meatball and waved it in front of his nose.
"Bonito flakes," Toge scolded, dropping the meatball into Panda's open mouth as we woke up.
"You can cook for yourself?" Maki said, sounding surprised and slightly impressed. Maki changed her expression, like she gave opinion a second thought and said, "Not really surprising, actually."
"Megumi is a bit of a loner. I see how you can understand him wanting to cook for himself," Shohei commented, quickly finishing his bowl.
"Not really. Itadori taught me how to make this," Megumi muttered, looking back at his bowl. "I only started cooking more because of him."
There was a slight stutter in the conversation and talk of the room, halting everyone's eating at the mention of Itadori.
"Itadori's legacy," Nobara muttered, picking up and examining her own meatballs.
The students proceeded to eat and finished off the whole bowl before it had gotten late into the night. They bid each other goodnight and goodbye, briefly confirming that tomorrow was their last day of training so they could all rest for a few days before the Kyoto event.
Shohei entered his room and changed into his pajamas, but didn't go to bed.
He sat down on his bed with pen and notebook in hand, staring intensely at the paper.
"How do I want to word this?" Shohei asked himself, pondering how he wanted to write his Binding Vow for Stygian Void.
Hello. Thanks for reading. I enjoyed adding a Jujutsu Stroll short into the story and I hope you did too. This will be the last chapter of training for the group of students before the Kyoto Event next chapter. I hope you follow or favorite the story to know when that comes. Goodbye.
