'For a Buddhist temple, they sure have modern bathrooms.' Adam leans against the porcelain walls that make up the outer edge of the dormitory showers. The hot water running down his back aggravates the rash he received from sliding across the grass, eliciting a groan of pain and annoyance from the boy. 'I can't believe I'm going to have to deal with 3 whole years of him.' His gaze flickers to the side, where that blue window taunts him. Without an inch of hesitation, his fist goes through it and into the wall, small spurts of blood flying from the new wounds on his knuckles.
"No flames? Another failure then." Another punch collides with the wall, pain receptors begging him to stop.
"What a waste of space." It isn't only the water from the shower head hitting the tiles now.
"He can't be one of Raymond's brats! That whore must've cheated on him!" He's a failure; he can't even protect his mother's honor.
"Are you sure he has to keep our name?" Why would he care about that? He didn't want it anyway!
"My precious boy." Mother isn't around anymore, he doesn't even know where she went.
"You're not my son."
"Fuck you!" Oh, he was bleeding.
Adam quickly turns off the shower and steps outside, wrapping a towel around his waist as he does so; the fabric being stained red whenever his hands take grasp of it. A cupboard in the corner of the bathroom contains a first aid kit, which he uses to wrap up his hands before drying his body off. He ignores the blue screen on the corner of his vision; it's been taunting him since he first 'leveled up', whatever that meant.
While making his way back to his room, he passes by Fushigoro, who scowls at him. "Fuck you too, I guess." Adam murmurs in English, ignoring the shocked look on the boy's face as he walks away.
By the time he gets back to his room and is dressed, the evening sun is radiating orange light through his windows. They remind him of his family's flames, and he glances at the bright screen laying in the corner of his vision. He doesn't even bother being annoyed, instead flopping backwards onto his new bed. "I'm so tired of you." He wishes the screen would respond so he'd have something animated to yell at.
"Rise and shine!" Adam is awoken by a loud, extremely annoying voice; the only person it can possibly belong to is his new teacher. When his door is swiped open, the boy rolls onto his side to try and fake being asleep. "I saw you moving!" Gojo chirps, poking the boy's back with his finger continuously. Adam desperately tries to ignore the pale haired man before he feels his cheek being poked dozens of times a second. The boy swings a wild fist at his new teacher, only for the man to avoid it with a laugh. "Good! You're awake!"
"Yes…I am." Adam growls, wiping his eyes while throwing the covers off of himself, revealing a set of black silk pajamas with bear designs on them. He looks down at himself, then back at his teacher. "We will never speak of this."
"Too late, already sent it to Fushigoro." Adam's face drops in horror as he hears a snort of laughter coming from down the hall. "Anyway, we have a mission to go on! Just you and me bud… and Ijichi in the car." The boy groans before pushing his teacher out of the room.
"Get out, I'm getting changed." He quickly slaps the door closed and walks over to the lone dresser in the room, where he had several pairs of the same outfit as the day before folded. He remembers how he didn't know what else to put on his request sheet except for more clothes, and is mildly annoyed at his past self. 'And now, I have to deal with their 'preset' pajamas every night.' The boy throws his shirt and pants to the side before slipping on a black shirt with silver trimmings and buttons, his usual maroon coat fitting over the top perfectly. While sliding on his black chinos and belt, he sees his ruined outfit from the prior day. Adam groans and picks the outfit up in a heap before sliding the door open with his feet.
Gojo stands in the same spot he left him on his phone. His teacher glances up before grinning, "you ready to go?"
A spike of anger infiltrates Adam's mind as he throws his torn up outfit at the man. "Do you not know what privacy is!?" He doesn't even realize the clothes floating midair in front of his teacher's face as he stomps off towards the entrance to put on his shoes.
It's around 11 am when they make it to Ijichi's car; a black SUV with tinted windows and shining rims. "Is this a company car or something?" Adam asks, wandering around it while inspecting the details; he can't find a speck of dirt.
"Haha, of course not." Ijichi laughs tiredly. "I clean her myself; once a week." He takes care not to scratch the keyhole as he sticks the key into the driver's side door.
"Meticulously, as well!" Gojo laughs, hopping into the front seat like a child on crack. Adam, out of respect for Ijichi, takes a more careful approach to entering the vehicle. The man seems to appreciate it since he flashes a smile at the rearview mirror with tired eyes.
The driver tilts his mirrors slightly while beginning to talk, ignoring Gojo looking around the car for details to harass him about. "I'll be explaining the mission parameters while we drive, but for now, just sit back and enjoy the ride."
"Hey Ijichi, are you sure you cleaned this thing properly? I found a whole dust bunny on the window guide." Gojo holds up his finger, showing off the dirty particle while Ijichi sighs like a disappointed parent.
"Can you please throw it outside then?" He asks tiredly.
"Oh, sorry, I already dropped it…" Ijichi groans in annoyance while shifting up into second gear. "Anyway, the job. A kindergarten out on the edges of Saitama prefecture has been infiltrated by a cursed spirit. It should only be third grade, but watch out for a second or first to suddenly appear; Curses like to huddle in groups, as you know; especially the weaker ones. Right, I hope you don't mind, Adam, but I put your weapons in the trunk while you were sleeping. Preparation like that is normal for us sorcerers, but I can stop intruding into your private space if you'd prefer." Surprised by the politeness, Adam slowly nods.
"Thanks for bringing them; it would've been bad if I had to fight a curse bare handed." The boy laughs. Ijichi nods while Gojo hums in thought.
"First, do you have heated seats here?" The pale haired man looks to Ijichi, who narrows his eyes in annoyance.
"No. After you burnt them out last time, I decided to not have them replaced."
"Haha! I forgot about that. Second, have you ever fought a curse before, Adam?" He glances back at the boy, or Adam assumes he does since the stupid blindfold he wears is covering his eyes.
"No, I haven't even seen one outside of drawings." The boy concedes, crossing his arms.
Gojo snickers, waving his hand around. "Don't worry, you'll be fine. This is like a baby curse! You can kill a baby, right?"
"We're here." Ijichi interrupts, pulling the handbrake and turning off the ignition. "I'll set up the veil; can you please grab Adam's weapons, Gojo?"
"Sure thing Ji!"
"Don't call me that." Gojo ignores the man while walking to the back of the car, flicking the trunk open with a finger. He roughly grabs the golf bag and slings it over his shoulder, closing the trunk with his empty hand; Meanwhile, Ijichi is showing Adam how a veil works. "We use veils to lure out cursed spirits and to hide our actions from the public." The man explains, holding up a finger for each reason. "I usually use the standard one, but you can create more complex ones with restrictions on things like who can enter, who can leave, etc. Of course, the tighter the restriction, the more powerful the veil becomes; but there is an extra cursed energy cost because of the binding vow. That can be circumvented by using talismans instead though." Adam nods along with the explanation while Gojo plays a game on his phone, uninterested by the conversation. "Of course, setting up a veil is one of the most basic skills a sorcerer needs to learn; so I'll be teaching you now." Ijichi looks at the school on top of the hill, the worn dirt path acting as a gateway to the curse's hunting grounds. "Let's get a bit closer, so I don't have to expend so much cursed energy due to the size of it." With Gojo following behind, Adam and Ijichi slowly make their way up the track; Adam is more grateful than ever to have boots with a good amount of tread on them.
"You know, Ijichi is a way better teacher than you, Blindfold." Adam looks back at the white haired man, who merely sticks his tongue out with a grin.
When they arrive at the front of the kindergarten, Adam is surprised that anybody could have ever worked there, let alone learned. Rusted roofs made of sheet metal, dirty walls with moss and mold growing over the sides of them; an overgrown plant bed sticking through a shattered window.
"Are you sure this is an active school?" Before Ijichi can respond to Adam's question, Gojo pipes up.
"Yep! Some cursed spirits are able to deploy barriers of their own, which allows them to affect their surroundings. This ones only visual though, so I'm sure we're still dealing with a grade 3 or lower. Grade 2 curses can actually project a real barrier, one that affects the surroundings." Adam looks to Ijichi for approval, and the man nods.
"Yes, that's correct. You two may step inside now, I'll begin deploying the veil." Gojo drags Adam a few meters further towards the school before stopping to allow the boy to watch. Ijichi is holding up one hand, middle and pointer fingers raised to the sky. "Emerge from darkness, blacker than darkness." Adam narrows his eyes as he suddenly hears the sound of a waterfall behind him. Gojo tilts his head to the sky, and the boy follows suit, staring at the black, fluid like substance slowly coating the sky. "Purify that which is impure." Ijichi finishes his incantation as the veil encompasses the entire area in a dome of cursed energy; turning the sky dark.
Outside the veil, Ijichi gives the pair a wave before beginning to walk back to his car. Adam has a hunch he's going to deep clean it again after Gojo's comments. "Righty-o, let's a go!" Gojo chirps, walking towards the kindergarten without a care in the world. Adam quickly runs to follow him, trying his best to ignore the sinking feeling wrapping around his heart; and the cracking of glass beneath his feet, of course.
As soon as Adam enters the hall, that feeling inside of his body spikes to the eleventh degree; that feeling of a pair of eyes on him sends shivers down his spine. He watches Gojo turn into the first classroom on the right; Adam decides to stick close and explore the one right next to it. He finds torn up books, and drawings of what looks to be a crying child scrawled on the whiteboard at the front of the room; said stationary being scattered across the many flipped over desks and broken floorboards littering the ground.
"Not to burst your bubble here, but I already know where the curse is." The boy's head snaps to the door to see Gojo leaning on the doorframe. "Low grade curses like these don't have the intellectual prowess to hide their tracks, so they can be easily traced to their hideout." The man explains, ushering Adam to follow him. "It's sitting on the track; probably thinks we're some more food." Gojo swings open the door to the back of the school, pointing Adam in the direction of the spirit.
Adam tilts his head towards said location, seeing a young girl in a pink and white sundress crying on the floor. Her body seems to be glowing, despite her dirt caked skin and bloodied knees. Adam looks back to see his new teacher gone, with his weapons. Without much else of a choice, he slowly creeps forward while keeping an eye out for a curse. 'This girl is probably a window, somebody who can see curses.' As he inches closer, he hears the girl sniffing and sobbing inaudibly. "Hey, are you okay?" He puts a hand…through? Her shoulder.
In an instant, Adam realizes his mistake; the girl flashing into yellow light and illuminating the navy green appendage attached to where her head was; its barbed end almost looking like a light globe with tacks stuck into it. The boy quickly turns around, just barely fast enough to put his hands up and block a cement breaking punch launched at him from the cursed spirit. He feels his bones creak as he rolls backwards across the dirt, rolling to his feet over a dozen meters away.
Now at an optimal range, he finally gets a good look at the spirit; it's dark turquoise skin wrapping around the grotesque form of what looked to be a humanoid figure with a bloated upper body and the head of a angler fish; sharp fangs and sunken eyes to go along with it. From its forehead sprouts the tool it uses to catch its prey, a barbed tail-like appendage with the ability to cast light based illusions. The boy's eyes drift around the battlefield, slowly drifting towards the school until he notices Gojo recording the fight on his phone; with his fucking weapons sitting next to him. "Hey! Give me those!" Adam shouts, only for Gojo to glance at him before pointing at the cursed spirit. The boy looks back to it rushing towards him, swinging it's head downwards in an attempt to crush the boy under its barbed tendril.
Adam barely rolls to the side, coughing as the newly cracked ground flings dust into the air. He's forced to jump backwards immediately because of the barbed appendage once again being used to swipe towards him, this time cutting through the air like a spiked bat. "Please Gojo-sensei! I'll die if I can't use them!"
Gojo looks at the boy quizzically before cupping a hand to his ear. "No hablo inglés." Adam shouts in annoyance while jumping backwards again to dodge the angler curse's weapon.
"I'm speaking Japanese you asshole! Give me my spear!" Gojo sighs before standing up, leaving the golf bag on the sheet metal roof next to him.
"Use your cursed energy! It'll be fine! It's a baby curse, remember!?" Adam stares, gobsmacked at the audacity of who is supposed to be his new instructor. The distraction is enough for the curse to finally land a hit with its weapon, which throws Adam to the side with 6 new grooves dug into his ribs.
'If those barbs were any longer…my lungs would've been swiss cheese.' The boy shivers before running towards the school, determined to grab his weapons himself if his instructor wouldn't throw them to him. Just as he's about to make it to the wall so he can climb up, he feels the Angler curse's barbed rod wrap around his leg, tripping him to the ground before dragging him towards the curse. Adam looks up to the man who was supposed to be his instructor with fury in his eyes. "Fucking help me you bastard!"
Gojo frowns and stops the recording on his phone. "No, this is a learning experience. If you were fighting a real curse, a strong one, you would've been dead after the first hit. I know about your cursed technique, I know about the potential of it; so use it. Or, you can choose to die here at the hands of a grade 3 curse."
The boy's eyes flicker to the blue screen on the corner of his vision; the borders of it shaking visibly as he is dragged along the ground. The boy shuts his eyes, a few stray tears being flicked out as he does so before he inputs 30 points into cursed energy, which he assumes is enough to fight a curse.
*TSCHHHHH*
Like a shower being turned on, sparkling blue energy leaks from every pore on Adam's body. The curse freezes, and Gojo whips his phone back out as Adam plants his hands onto the ground and handsprings himself forward with enough force to rip the barbed appendage off of the curse's head. The boy scowls, wiping his dirtied face with the back of his hand and spitting out a glob of blood. He shoots a glare back at the camera Gojo's holding, "I hope you know I'm going to kill you after this."
Gojo barks out an obnoxious laugh, "you can certainly try! But maybe you should kill the baby curse that was just whooping your ass." Adam scowls before turning back to the curse, which was trying to stop the bleeding coming from its head.
"Oi." The creature's head snaps up to look at the boy talking to him. "You had fun during your turn, right?" The boy cracks his knuckles, his amber eyes sending fear through the curse's entire body. "You better have, because you won't be getting another." Adam crouches down into a runner's pose, and the curse turns to run; it barely gets a meter away before Adam has rushed forth and grabbed the back of its head. He follows through by leaping forward and slamming its face into the ground while he flips mid-air to land on the other side of it. The curse can barely lift its head before Adam smashes the top of his foot into its head, caving it in as it's sent flying towards the school.
Adam had never felt this good in his life! The hum of cursed energy flowing throughout his body like a river unblocked. He looks down at his hand with a smirk, mentally calling his past self stupid for not gaining this power sooner. The blue hue surrounding his body quickly tightens at his command, the excess energy being absorbed into his muscles for an unintentional boost of strength. "Haha." The boy looks up to the worst teacher he's ever had and he glares, "don't think I won't be going for you next."
Gojo merely shrugs, gesturing down to the curse with his empty hand. Adam looks to where he's pointing and sees the curses cowering up against the edge of the school building, holding its hands far in front of itself while its head bleeds profusely. "What? You want mercy?" Adam takes a few steps forward, massaging his shoulder and tallying the scratches across his body mentally. "Would you have given me mercy if the situation was reversed?" The curse looks up, a pleading look in its sunken, hollow eyes. Adam scowls and lifts up his foot, the cursed energy around his body pooling to the one appendage. "Didn't think so." He slams it forward, completely crushing the thing's skull with a sickening squelch and breaking the wall behind it.
Adam retrieves his foot and wipes off the violet colored blood that's now caked it before turning around to face Gojo, who he'd heard leap from the roof moments earlier. Gojo smiles and takes a few photos of the boy, the curse turning into ash in the background. "Curse. Exorcized. Asshole." Adam's eyes roll up into the back of his head as he collapses from exhaustion. Gojo immediately catches him by the collar before he falls, giving the unconscious boy a genuine smile before chucking him over his shoulder and sending a message to Ijichi.
Satoru - Grade 2 curse, vanquished!
A string of unintelligible emojis follows the message, which Ijichi probably ignores while typing back.
Kiyotaka - I was informed it was a grade 3! Is Adam alright?
Gojo sends the photo of a bloodied Adam standing in front of the disintegrating curse with a smile.
Kiyotaka - How did he exorcize it without cursed energy? Are his weapons cursed tools?
Gojo - they are, but he did it with his fists.
Kiyotaka - What?
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