On Thursday at two p.m., Gojo was nowhere to be found.

Kagome lingered in the classroom, using the time to make small talk with her students while they were waiting for the next teacher to arrive, stealing glances outside the window every now and then. She couldn't say she was all that surprised. It would make little sense if she tried to explain it, but he just… hadn't struck her as the type to be on time. It wasn't a bad thing per se — some of her favorite students were never on time if they could help it, and she didn't see that as a reason to think any less of them. It was, however, annoying, especially since he hadn't given her any way to get in touch with him, or even an address for that Jujutsu High— place— where he wanted to take her.

She stayed in the school hall a while longer, and when the janitor asked her if there was anything she needed help with, a polite way of telling her she was in the way, she decided she'd done enough entertaining him for the day. It took her only a moment to bundle herself under a scarf, gloves, and a beanie before she headed out at last. She retrieved her bike by the school gates, where she had kept it ever since she'd started working here. She rode it to school and back every day, whether it was raining, windy, snowing, or, like today, freezing cold.

Behind her, her backpack swung from side to side, and she fastened it tighter with practiced ease. The yellow one had not survived long past the Feudal era, and she had since bought a bright green one. To it, she'd attached her bow and arrows.

Not that she carried them everywhere, of course not. She had just taken on training the archery club every now and then.

With one last glance at the school, she took off at a gentle pace, humming to herself as she rode through the familiar streets of Tokyo.

She hadn't made it very far when a big black car came to a screeching halt in front of her. She braked as quick as her reflexes allowed, letting out a very undignified yelp in the process, and steadied herself with one foot. The other one, she kept on the pedal in case she needed it to book it. You never knew.

A white-haired head popped out of a window, and its owner waved his hand erratically in her direction.

"Kagome!" The shout, both familiar and yet foreign, said with that voice, made her wince and shake her head. "Over here!"

Yes. She had eyes.

"You're late," she said, riding her bike closer to where he was.

"Fashionably so, right?" Gojo asked with a wide grin. He was wearing the blindfold again.

"No, just late."

With that, she rode straight past him and the car without speeding up her pace, still going towards her house. He let out a string of offended noises from behind her, and she couldn't help the smile that bloomed on her face. That… brought her far more satisfaction than it should have. A few seconds later, the car was starting again, catching up with her. By that time, she had managed to school her features back to a more neutral expression, one that didn't let on just how pleased with herself she was. A window was rolled down, and there he was, in the backseat, popping his head out again.

"Come on, just get in! It'll be a lot faster and— why would you even be on a bike in that weather? It's November."

"I like this bike," she said, which was true. She'd had the same one since she was fifteen.

"Well I'm cold, so get in the car!"

This felt childish, and she had enough self-awareness to recognize that this was behavior that she would see in her students, but also—

"Can't you at least apologize?" she asked, stopping her bike abruptly once more and glaring at him with as much aggressivity as she could muster.

A few meters further, once the driver had pulled over once more, Gojo left the car at last, long limbs unfolding as he did. Cars couldn't be comfortable for him, she thought without lingering on the idea too much. She wasn't a fan either, to be honest. After such a long time on the open roads — and maybe, just maybe, after three days in a space she couldn't leave — she tended to find they made her quite… claustrophobic.

"I'm sorry," he said as he reached her, burying his hands in his pocket in a casual gesture. "Also, I can just have someone grade your papers, if you'd like. Or prepare your classes, or whatever it is you want."

He accompanied the comment with an easy shrug, smug smile letting her know how inconsequential this all was to him.

Kagome sighed. None of this was serious to him, she could tell, and she knew it was mundane but— her students mattered to her. The ones that sat in the front row with an anxious look on their faces, the ones in the back of the class that struggled to get a passing grade, the ones that came to her after class in hope she'd help them improve, and the ones that laughed as they stuffed the papers in their bags, not planning on looking at it ever again. Sure, curses or whatever were life threatening, but to her kids, so were these grades, in their own, twisted way. They could change whether or not they'd get in the university of their choice and get to have the life they wanted. Even to the ones who acted like they didn't care were paving the path ahead of them, whether they liked it or not.

"It's fine, I'll just do that later. Where were we going again?"

"Jujutsu Tech," he hummed, reaching his hand towards her bike. "Give me that, I'll get it in the trunk."

"Be careful with it," she warned, letting him grab her prized possession and lifting it from the ground as though it weighed nothing. "I haven't heard of any school named that in Tokyo…"

He popped open the trunk, and the bike fit without trouble in the large car.

"You should get a new one, this one's falling apart," he noted as he slammed the trunk shut. "And yeah, we don't advertise to non-sorcerers, no offense. So this will have to be a surprise!"

She eyed him cautiously. In reply, he gave her a toothy smile that failed to be reassuring at all. Around him, there was still this discreet aura of what she was starting to identify as cursed energy, buzzing lightly. Would that be true of every sorcerer she would meet? That would definitely end up giving her a headache if it was the case.

"Alright, then," she caved in the end. "Let's get going."

"Don't worry, Kagome," he said, his voice bright and cheerful, while opening the door for her. "This will be fun!"

She had serious doubts about that.

The car came to a halt at the bottom of a hill she didn't remember ever lying eyes on. The sensation caught her off guard, disorienting her more than she would have expected. She'd lived in Tokyo her entire life, and she had no idea where she even was. Not that she knew every corner of the capital by heart, but this felt— odd.

"Thank you, Ijichi," she took the time to call out to the driver, her tone sweet, as she stepped out.

"It was my pleasure, Miss Higurashi," Ijichi replied, and Gojo snorted when he noticed his cheeks were dusted pink.

"And it will also be his pleasure to drop your bike to your place, isn't that right, Ijichi?"

The short man cleared his throat, averting his eyes and clearing his throat before replying whicha much more professional voice.

"Certainly. I will do this right away."

"That's very kind of you," Kagome chirped, "thank you again."

As the car was driving away, she rolled her eyes at Gojo, who was still chuckling to himself.

"You didn't need to make fun of him."

"But he makes it so easy…" he protested with a pout.

She shook her head, then turned to look up at the hill. Never-ending stairs climbed up its sides, disappearing in the forest. For a fleeting second, she thought she was looking up towards Mount Azusa, and her heart tightened in her chest. She had fond memories of most of her time in the Feudal Era. Some, however, remained painful, even a decade after she'd left it behind, never to return again.

"Shall we?" Gojo asked, already halfway up the first flight of stairs, and she jumped when his voice brought her back to the present.

"I don't suppose there is another way up there, is it?"

"Nope!"

From the way he was staring at her and his grin, she wondered if he was testing her. She struggled to get a read on him, had the feeling that he was always a step ahead of her. She could imagine glimmering blue eyes behind the blindfold, but knew she would have been unable to figure out just what was behind them, even if she'd been looking into them. She needed more information about him — but then again, so did he.

So, with a sigh, she started up the mountain.

She wished there was someone to carry her on their backs, but she couldn't see herself asking Gojo, and…

She glanced back, spotting the familiar, small dot of youki in the forest, and grinned.

She'd wait a little longer before she called on Kirara.

It felt like an eternity of thankless climbing, accompanied only by Gojo's uninterrupted whistling. He didn't seem to struggle a bit, always ahead of her, though never going fast enough to widen the gap between them. Finally, they reached a torii. On the other side, she could see what she assumed were the buildings to the school, hidden away from the world. Gojo crossed it without hesitation, then turned to look at her, and the whistling stopped. There was a tension in his shoulders now, and he looked focused, alert.

Kagome was breathing faster upon reaching the top of the stairs, and her cheeks were a healthy pink, but she had been able to hold her own on the way up. Her eyes were on Gojo as she approached, but she let the surroundings wash over her while walking closer, her pace more leisurely than his. She liked nature, always had, and she made sure to take time away from the city whenever she could. Such places were the ones where yokai still lived in relative abundance, though she hadn't perceived any in the woods here — apart from the little one watching over her, of course.

Still, there was a definite presence here, one she had felt growing stronger as she'd climbed the hill. She couldn't quite put a word on it. It felt like a benevolent divinity, but there was no reiki here, as far as she could tell. It wasn't aggressive, though, and so she stepped in what she thought was its sphere of influence without hesitating.

Gojo's grin widened.

"What is it?" she asked, brow furrowing.

"Nothing," he hummed, sounding very pleased with himself.

It obviously wasn't nothing, but Kagome refused to push again to get only vague answers. Behind her, the dot of Kirara's youki vanished. She had to assume the presence was the reason for it, though she didn't know for sure what was causing it. She supposed she'd get to figure out later on — in the best case scenario, once Gojo had given her at least some answers.

She followed him in the courtyard of a building that she had to assume dated back centuries, based on its appearance. Gojo strolled through them, whistling, without paying any attention to them. Kagome, on the other hand, felt like she had gone back in time once more, and nostalgia caught her at the throat. She swallowed painfully around it. Had Gojo not been here, ahead of her, the illusion would have been complete. But he had no care, walked with his hands in his pockets, and she kept her eyes on his back to keep herself in this world.

Then another man appeared, sliding a door open. He also looked very 21st century, with sunglasses — what was up with all the sunglasses? —, a goatee, and black sportswear that looked somewhat like Gojo's. He stared at her for about half a second before pinching the bridge of his nose, accompanying the gesture with an exhausted sigh.

"Satoru," he groaned, "you know you're not supposed to bring civilians here."

"My bad!" Gojo said, an easy smile forming on his lips. "You know, I've been thinking we need to up our teaching techniques, so I figured an actual teacher would be the way to go."

The man stared at him, clearly trying to figure out what was going on in Gojo's mind, while Kagome did the same, at least as confused as him. Gojo was a teacher? She knew he was lying, but she did agree that he needed her help. There was no way he was doing this right.

"The students are doing fine," the man said after a while. "They have excellent potential. I see no need to—"

"Kagome, this is Yaga," Gojo interrupted him, voice light, but Kagome noticed his shoulders straightening. "The Principal for this school." Then, dropping his voice to a loud whisper, "He doesn't do much but we still keep him around."

"I can hear you, punk!" Yaga snapped. "There's no reason for her to be here, so you can take her back—"

"There are threats unknown all around the city," Gojo said, and his tone was as sweet as ever, but his gritted jaw betrayed him. "All I want is for the kids to be ready, and they aren't yet."

Tension crackled in the air in the seconds that followed. Many things unsaid that Kagome had no way of catching, but even she knew that whatever was going on here had long been brewing. Unfortunately, she had no idea what it was exactly, and frustration was starting to bubble inside her.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," she said, stepping in front of Gojo and standing between him and Yaga. "We'll make it quick, of course. It's better for me if I see the kids in their usual teaching premises. I'll be gone really soon."

There was a surprised silence, but Kagome kept herself still and steady, her smile directed as Yaga. Gojo didn't growl like Inuyasha used to, but it wasn't the first time she'd done something like that.

"Well, I suppose since you've come all this way, the least I can do is let you do your job," Yaga said reluctantly. "But we'll talk about this again, Satoru," he added, more a threat than a promise, while Gojo waved him off.

"Always nice talking to you!" he shouted at the man's retreating form.

Kagome looked up at him blankly.

"You didn't tell anyone I was coming?"

Gojo looked at her, lips pressing together into a thoughtful expression.

"Everyone around here has been looking for you since Shibuya," he said. Even his tone had lost its usual warmth.

"They have?"

"And now that you're here…" A corner of his lips lifted up into a cold, cynical smirk. "Because they can't imagine that anyone without cursed energy would be capable of anything, they don't even stop for a second thinking it could you."

His shoulders were slumped, his tone bitter. Kagome looked at him, a lump in her throat. The red gate they'd crossed earlier stood far behind him, framing him where he stood in the middle of the courtyard. All alone. She felt the need to reach out to him, but nothing came to her. She had no idea where to start.

After a few seconds, the smile appeared again.

"Alright, shall we? You'll see, you're going to love the kids."

To be fair, Kagome had never met a kid she hadn't loved. Even her worst students, even the ones that had given her the most trouble, she'd had love for. She never let outside biases cloud her judgment, just saw them for what they were: children with their whole lives ahead of them.

Walking into the Jujutsu Tech Gym, where the whooping six students in first and second year were waiting for her, she worried she would not be able to do that.

It wasn't anything the kid did. In fact, he looked up at her with wide eyes and a bright smile. It wasn't even his pink hair, because Kagome would never judge anyone on that. No, it was the fact that he felt deeply, deeply… wrong.

There was no miasma in the room, of that she was certain, and yet the air felt corrupt, so much so the mere act of inhaling was painful. One glance, and she knew no one else was feeling that way. But there were eyes on her, a malevolent entity surveying her every move. Even as Gojo started going around the room and names filled her mind, she could never quite shake it off. She allowed a light burst of reiki to run over her skin, and it did help, letting her breathe at last, but the entity didn't go away, waiting, just waiting, and watching.

"…and this is Kagome!" Gojo concluded before adding, for good measure, "She's a history teacher."

"Um," the brown-haired girl chewing on a lollipop stick interjected immediately, "we're not going to have history lessons, right? I didn't sign up for that."

"No, that would be completely useless," Gojo confirmed, ignoring the nasty glance Kagome gave him. "She's here because she has very interesting abilities."

The pink-haired boy lifted a hand, and despite herself, Kagome tensed.

"Correct me if I'm wrong," he said, voice deep but kind, once more so ordinary compared to what she felt around him, "but she doesn't have any cursed energy, does she?"

Based on the lack of reaction from others, they were all aware of that information — apart from one girl, ponytail, glasses, and a scowl on her face, who narrowed her eyes at Kagome. Maki, no last name, she remembered from the introductions.

"That's correct, Yuuji. Actually, up until recently, she didn't even know what curses were!"

Kami, he was using her for theatrics. She could understand wanting to keep a teenage audience engaged, but she didn't much appreciate being a prop for it.

It did get the kids' interest, though, and she noticed them throwing each other glances.

"Can she even see curses?" Megumi, the one with jet black hair, asked, sounding very skeptical.

"I can," Kagome answered before Gojo could do it for her, "but—"

"How?" Maki asked, pushing her glasses higher on her nose.

"I just can," Kagome said, blinking at her, "I'm—"

"That doesn't make sense," Megumi commented.

"Tuna," one boy who'd been silent so far — Inumaki, if she wasn't mistaken — added.

"What are you doing?" Megumi asked Gojo, staring at him like he was trying to burn a hole through him. "Is this some sort of test?"

"Well," Gojo said, "yes. For her, though, not for any of you."

There were scoffs and more glances exchanged in the room, and Kagome watched in interest. No one seemed all that fond of Gojo. Yaga had seemed annoyed by his antics, outside, not taking him seriously for a second. As for these kids, well, it did not look as if any of them respected him. Maki, Nobara and Megumi were exchanging mocking quips about him. Inumaki didn't speak, but it did not look as if he spoke, as a general rule. The Panda, she wasn't too sure of, to be honest. She hadn't figured out what was going on with him either — or with the three bright lights that she could see shining inside his large body. Yuuji was a notable exception here, though Kagome still had no idea what to make of him.

Standing next to her, Gojo was grinning from ear to ear watching the kids' antics, and she watched the obvious care in his expression and attitude with interest. Huh. Maybe… maybe there was something of a teacher in him, after all. Well-hidden, and that needed lots and lots of polishing, but it was a start.

She took a step to get closer to him, hands held behind her back as she tilted her head in his direction.

"It looks like maybe I could actually help you be a better teacher…"

He gasped in fake outrage.

"I'll have you know I'm a stellar professor, the best these ungrateful brats could dream of!"

Kagome sighed, shaking her head in amusement. The hyperbolic statements, the refusal to take anything seriously, she didn't mind it all that much. It did intrigue her that she sensed something genuine under the fake outrage. She was pretty sure that he did believe he was as good of a teacher as the kids could get. Whether that spoke to his character or that of other people around him, she couldn't say just yet.

"Just let me know if you want any advice," she said, smiling at him with nothing but sincerity.

For a couple seconds, Gojo just looked at her, lips parted, brows furrowing, though it was barely visible under the mask.

Then he clapped his hands, and she held herself back from jumping at the last second, her eyes going wide.

"Alright class, let's get started!" he called, as if the conversation had never happened. "Maki, could we get one of your cursed weapons for the lady?"

The girl groaned, her eyes going back and forth between him and Kagome with obvious distrust.

"Fine," she caved in the end. "But I want it back, alright? And you'll have to take good care of it."

"We'll be standing right here, Maki," Gojo answered, voice booming and bouncing against the wall of the gym. "You can just come beat her up if you think she's doing a bad job!"

Kagome winced.

"Hey now—"

"Maki's a really good fighter," Gojo added with far too much cheer. Kagome could appreciate how proud he was of his student, and any other time, she would be thrilled by that. Right now, it just made her grimace.

"Here," Maki sighed, walking over to Kagome, holding what looked to her like a broad and short sword. She had no idea what it was called, but she could tell there was some type of energy running around it. It didn't feel like Gojo's, though.

With ease, Maki threw it in the air, catching it by the blade without cutting herself, and offering the pommel to Kagome. She considered it for a second, but she had no reason to think this was a trap of any sort, so she just reached out to take it.

Her spiritual energy reacted without her wishing it to. She did not command it, barely even felt it moving. The second she took hold of the pommel, she felt the energy around it — cursed energy, she assumed, though she could not recognize the 'signature' for it yet, just somewhat detect that it was there — twisting, trying to fight against the energy she produced naturally.

Her reiki lashed out, wrapping itself around the sword as if it was an extension of her, hungrily swallowing all the energy that was there, extinguishing it whole, then retracting back into her, satiated.

"Um," she said.

There were confused looks among the students, though none of them seemed clear on what had happened exactly.

Gojo appeared by her side, lifting one side of his blindfold to reveal the bluest, most piercing eye. Then he directed that eye towards her, and Kagome swallowed. She hadn't gotten used to that yet. She— She thought she had, but it felt like he was looking right into her soul now, and she could only hope she wasn't blushing.

Gojo's laugh escaped his lips, light and surprised, seeming to catch even him off-guard.

"I didn't know you could do that," he commented, the eye she could see wide with what she read as fascination.

"Neither did I," she admitted with a grimace, glancing down at the sword in her hand. "It's all gone now, right?"

"What?" Maki asked, a threatening edge in her tone.

"Completely useless," Gojo laughed, setting the blindfold back in place. "I mean, you could still cut someone's head with that, but it wouldn't do you any good against actual curses."

The notion seemed to delight him and, thoughtful, Kagome kept looking down at the weapon. If that energy was what curses were made of, she was starting to suspect she wouldn't need weapons all that much. Then again, she would much rather not be close enough to touch them. Looked like her bow and arrows would come in handy once more…

"What happened," Maki growled.

"I'm afraid I purified it," Kagome said, apologetic. "I'm truly sorry, Maki. This— cursed energy doesn't seem to react too well to mine."

"What?" Maki snarled, pivoting to tear out Gojo's throat, with Panda grabbing her and ensuring he stayed out of her reach at the very last second possible, pulling her back as she kicked and protested.

"How's that even possible?" Megumi's voice came from the bleachers, his expression clearly confused. "I've never heard of something like— that." Cogs were turning in his head, but, well, Kagome didn't have anything to offer to him at this point. She didn't know either, though she was starting to figure out that she was just, purely and simply, incompatible with cursed energy.

"Let's find out," Gojo said with a wide grin. "Megumi, call one of your shikigamis."

Kagome frowned. Huh. Now that was something she was familiar with — in theory anyway. Like most things she'd seen so far though, she doubted that it had much in common with what she knew.

Megumi blinked.

"No."

"Say what now?"

"I said no. If you don't know how her power works, I don't see any need to endanger her. Or them. Find some curses to throw at her — whatever you want. I'm not doing it."

Then he folded his arms over his chest, looking every bit the moody teenager he was.

Gojo stared at him, mouth open, and Kagome bit her tongue to stop herself from laughing. She turned to him, wondering how he was going to respond.

"Aww," he said, "you're standing up for yourself! Good for you, Megumi."

Huh. She hadn't expected that, and yet, she couldn't say she was surprised. You could tell a lot about a person by how they reacted when their authority was challenged. Seeing Gojo so unbothered by it — and willing to let his student act according to his own beliefs as opposed to following him blindly — was a point in his favor in her book.

What an odd man. It seemed like he would take her by surprise every time he was given the chance.

So far, she hadn't minded too much.

"Alright, Kagome, how would you feel about a little showdown then?" he asked, turning towards her with his eternal smile.

"I'm sorry?"

"Try to hit me."

She blinked, slowly.

"What?"

Behind him, Megumi scoffed. She could see other students rolling their eyes, exchanging annoyed glances among themselves. There was a catch, clearly.

She just couldn't figure out what it was.

"Go for it," Gojo egged her on. He slid his thumb under his blindfold, pushing it over his head, revealing his eyes, and she felt the energy in the room shift.

"Wait, is he serious?" Nobara muttered, glancing at Megumi.

The boy shrugged, but he kept staring at his teacher's back, frowning.

"C'mon, Kagome, don't be afraid," Gojo smiled, turning his head to present his cheek. "Just really land one on me, alright?"

"But I don't want to hit you," she said, voice slow and filled with confusion.

"Not yet, but you'll regret it if you pass on the opportunity, trust me," he said lightly, amusement twinkling in his blue eyes.

"He's probably right about that," Maki mumbled under her breath, still holding the now common weapon in her hand.

Kagome stared at him, glancing at the students behind him. This didn't look like a good idea. She had never been in favor of violence, not outside of desperate situations, which was not the case here. She didn't enjoy inflicting it on other people, and she was of the belief that it should be as sparsely as possible.

However, she also didn't see Gojo dropping this conversation. If it was a test of her abilities, she was about to be a big disappointment for him. Still, she didn't want to offer to shoot him with an arrow. She was worried he wouldn't refuse the offer, and considering the cursed energy that was buzzing around him at all times, she wasn't sure how the contact between their energies would go.

"Alright," she relented. "Fine."

"Don't worry about hurting me," Gojo instructed as she set her bag down. "Hit as hard as you'd like."

"I'd like not to hit you," Kagome sighed as she stood in front of him, awkwardly lifting her hand. She kept her hand open. Inuyasha had taught her how to punch someone, a lifetime ago, with the thumb outside the fist, as he'd been very insistent about, but she had to assume that would hurt more, and the last thing she wanted was to cause more pain than necessary.

"Aw, don't make me beg, Kagome," Gojo teased. His smile was still plastered on his face, but there was something unnerving about it, now that his eyes were visible, because under the surface amusement, there was something else. Something cold, running all sorts of calculations, and just waiting for her to let him add one more variable to them.

She could have walked away right then, the moment she spotted it, but, just as had happened back in her classroom, and back on that rooftop, she chose not to. She had seen him doing everything in his power to save people's lives, she had seen him caring for his students the best way he could. She took a gamble, and she chose to bet on him. Again.

The sound of her open palm colliding with his cheek echoed loudly in the room. Gojo's head turned, and there was, briefly, the red trace of hand on his cheek, subsiding in a matter of seconds. Despite herself, Kagome felt herself flush with embarrassment. In the bleachers, Megumi let out a short laugh before catching himself, looking very contrived.

For a moment, Gojo stood there, completely motionless, in this exact position. Then, like nothing had happened, he snapped back in place.

"Okay!" he said. "Who wants to go out for some extracurricular activities?"

Wait, that was it? She'd just hit him for nothing?

"I'm so sorry," she squeaked, "Kami, you should— you should have dodged—"

"Must be his kink or something," Nobara commented, making Maki chuckle.

"At least she didn't hurt her hand on his Infinity," Megumi said with an eyeroll. For a second there, he hadn't been sure Gojo had dropped it.

"Inumaki!" Gojo called. "You're coming with us! The rest of you can… practice or something, I guess." He waved their hand in their direction, but stopped when Kagome turned to glare at him, her pretty eyes — he wondered if she knew there were specks of dark blue in them — now stormy. "Maki, you can work on hand-to-hand combat with Yuuji. Panda, work with Megumi and Nobara on their cursed techniques." Then, as he was walking over, he rose an eyebrow at Kagome's intention. "Happy now?"

She studied his expression for a second and, looking pleased with what she saw, smiled, her eyes creasing.

"You know, I could almost start to believe you're a good teacher."

It looked like it came easy to her. Talking to him, that was. It made something in his throat tighten — but not for long. He didn't need to be reminded that she was an outsider. She didn't know this world yet, didn't know its rules, and most importantly, she didn't know what role he played in it. Who he was, what he was. As long as that was true, it didn't matter that her smile and her eyes were warm, or that she talked to him like he wasn't the strongest. All that mattered was that she stayed close enough for him to figure out what her deal was.

Waiting by the door, Inumaki let out a brief laugh, and Kagome's attention switched to him.

"Salmon," he commented, shaking his head.

Gojo watched as Kagome walked over to him, doing that head tilt of hers as she spoke to him, voice gentle, trying to understand him. He followed behind them as they exited Jujutsu Tech, eyes laser focused on the girl. There was an energy around her, one he'd felt flaring when her hand had hit his skin, but it hadn't been long enough for him to be able to read it fully, or even to recognize it easily. Still, the exercise had answered one question he'd had.

Because at no point had he dropped his Infinity.

581: Eheh, Gojo's starting to figure out, but most people haven't realized it yet... Hope you'll enjoy the buildup for that! Thank you for your kind comment!

kitty2142: So thrilled you found this and you're enjoying it! I do love the pairing, it's niche for sure but I also love how much community there is around it.

MoEmiLuna: Oh I'm SO happy you feel that way! I love writing these two interacting, and i'm thrilled you're enjoying them watching them as much as me.

Clara Bow: I knooow, I was really surprised to get a couple of comments by people who clocked the title, especially since the song wasn't a single or anything. But yeah absolutely, Kagome fundamentally sees Gojo as a person. And he hasn't had that in a long, long time.

Frere: Mais mdr, un.e français.e dans mes commentaires sur une rarepair crossover? Très heureuse de te croiser, et j'espère que la suite te plaira tout autant ^-^

jujutsumiko: I really hesitated to put in that line because it feels very "modern" but I found it too funny not to add it in, glad to see it was worth it. Thank you so much for your kind words 3

Tinas86Roses: Thank you so much!

GiggleboxGirlie: I'm glad you liked that line eheh. I do think there is something tragic to Mahito, especially considering how 'young' of a curse he was, and his fate in the manga. It's not enough to make me actually sad, but it is, well, tragic, in my opinion. I'm happy you enjoyed it 3

Seia9175: It is definitely a rarepair, but I love that there are so many people who see the appeal to them! Makes for a lovely little community. There is more to come for the two of them for sure, and I hope you'll enjoy seeing it develop 3

Citopal: I'm so happy you found yourself here and enjoying it, thank you for the sweet comment!

AliceLawrenBlack72: Thank youuuu, I do think they're super complementary as well!

weortuh93: They're definitely super different and yet in some odd ways they have a lot in common, which is what I find super interesting about them. I hope you'll like where this is going!

A/N: Hi all! Gosh, this chapter took me much longer to write than I'd intended. It is longer than I'd planned, for one, because I really wanted to have the slapping scene in it. On top of that, I was finishing and turning in my Master's thesis, and then my country decided now was a good time to try out fascism, so, yeah, that's sucked and it's made it very hard for me to... create basically. So yeah, if you're French, please please please go vote against the fascists tomorrow and next Sunday!

I know I haven't replied to Guest comments without a username, and that is because that would make it too messy and confusing, so if you would like an answer, consider putting in a username! I'll try to reply as long as it's manageable for me (potentially in the future, I might reply to comments that ask questions/where I can give more insight if I can't get around to replying to everyone), but do know that I read and appreciate every single comment SO much. The love for this story has been super motivating and inspiring and I'm truly so thankful for it.

I hope you've enjoyed this chapter, as always all feedback is welcome. I hope I will be seeing you soon, but like I've mentioned, the political situation in my country really takes its toll on me and I don't know if I'll be able to create anything in the near future. Love you all, and I'll see you in the next one!