Several months later, Satoru Gojo stands in the middle of a room ignoring the words of the elders. He groans audibly. 'They really like the sound of their voices. I guess once you're up there in age. What else can you reasonably do?' He glances up at the ceiling. 'Still… I wish they would just shut up…'
"Sorry, Gojo but are we bothering you?" A woman asks.
"Sure are." He answers immediately.
"Such insolence!" An old man's voice is heard.
"Oh, you're here too. Damn, I thought you would've passed away by now." Gojo smirks looking in the direction of the voice. "They made sure to give you your pills, yeah?"
Principal Gakuganji scowls but leans on his cane, refusing to be provoked by the Gojo Heir.
"You higher-ups.." He makes a barf gesture. "All these pointless meetings. Don't you have anything else in your lives? Ah.. What am I saying? Of course, you don't... But you know what really bugs me?"
None of them answer, waiting for him to continue despite their growing frustration. Gojo snaps his finger. "I'll just go ahead and tell you. You summoned me here to get an update on the two new sorcerers. Rika Orimoto and Yuta Okkotsu. It got me thinking. Why do you have such an interest in them?"
"That's none of your concern." The woman says firmly.
"Like hell, it isn't.." Gojo's eyes glow as the glasses on his face drop slightly. "They're my students. Don't you forget that." He waves his hand dismissively. "As I was saying before. I got the report on both of them. And some things just aren't adding up."
"We haven't the slightest what you could mean.." A man's voice answers quickly.
"Is that so? Yuta's lineage is full of holes and what you gave me on Rika doesn't make any sense. These two have cursed energy reserves that make me look weak like the rest of you."
"You have no respect fo-" Principal Gakuganji starts.
"Careful there. You don't wanna get that blood pressure up." Gojo interrupts him, causing a growl from the older man. "Yuta, despite his potential, has progressed slowly. However... Rika is growing quickly. And her technique is something else. Not something we would find from someone with no sorcerers in their family.."
"What are you implying Gojo?.." The woman asks.
"Don't play dumb with me. Unless you really are this useless. Finding someone like them let alone two of them is like hitting the mega jackpot. Yet... You kept us from getting them as long as you possibly could. Now why's that?"
"We had our reasons.." The man says though without any real conviction.
"Yeah, and I'm sure they're shit." He sticks one of his hands in his pockets. "You know I guess I can't be too harsh on you old timers.." He starts walking towards the exit. "We've found sorcerers that became special grade from nonsorcerer families. Like Suguru.. You haven't forgotten him have you?" He looks back for a reaction. Satisfied he teleports away.
He reappears just outside the Jujutsu High barrier. Looking up to the sky. He pulls out his phone. He brings the phone up to his ear as it rings. 'One… two..'
"Yes? How. Can I help you Gojo?" Ijichi asks.
"That was two rings. Expect a forehead flick for both"
"S-sir?!"
Gojo smiles at the worry in his voice. "Got a job for you. I need you to look into two individuals. Yuta Okkotsu and Rika Orimoto. I want whatever you can find. Get Mei Mei to help if needed. Just send me the bill for her, got it?"
"U-understood! I'll get started right away." He answers, his nerves calming down.
"Good. Let me know as soon as you get them. And make sure the council of coots don't get wind of this. Or else." He steps onto the school grounds.
"Wait! Or else wha-" Ijichi words are cut off as Gojo hangs up. Looking at his phone contacts. About to make another call. He pauses. 'No.. I'll leave them alone for now.' He walks up the steps. 'Besides school's in session. I should be a responsible teacher!' His stomach growls. 'After a snack!' He teleports again.
In the training field, the first years are all practicing together except for Inumaki who's sitting on the grass watching. Yuta and Maki are sparing using their tools. It's not even remotely close as she knocks him down and hits him with the staff. Meanwhile, Rika and Panda are boxing each other. Her cursed reinforcement already made her durable enough to take his blows.
Panda crashes down his feet barely missing Rika as she dodges. While he's getting up she kicks towards his head. Panda blocks the blow grabbing her leg with a smile. "Don't be so direct!" He throws her in the air across the field.
Rika backflips in the air landing on her feet sliding as her feet dig into the dirt. She glances over seeing Maki and Yuta still training. A surge of jealousy goes through her. 'Why does she get to spend time with him? It's not fair! It's not fair! It should be me!' Her cursed energy flares up as her emotions run rampant.
'Yikes.. She's getting serious' Panda jumps back a few feet getting into a defensive posture. Rika dashes at him leaving a dust trail from her speed, throwing a punch at his face.
Panda changes his cores at the moment before she attacks him. His body grows as the brother's core takes effect. He defects the blow in time. 'She's gotten faster. Her reinforcement is already stronger than mine. The cursed energy gap between us is too great to compete long term. Not to mention she's still learning.'
Rika spins with Panda's parry catching him across the face with a backfist. 'It should be me! Not her!' Her pupils shrinking as she gets more jealous.
Panda's head reels back as he brings his fist up hitting her in the gut launching her back. 'She has explosive power. But she's wasting a lot of energy. Her emotions are too scattered for her to channel it effectively. Meaning I still have the advantage!'
Yuta pauses looking over at them. "Rika?"
Maki hits his head with her staff. "Don't get distracted, rookie!"
"Ow?! S-sorry! You're right! Let's go again! He readies his sword charging at her. Maki parries his attack as they continue sparring.
A shadow falls over Rika's face as her cursed energy spikes even more. Panda sweat drops taking a step back. 'I can't help but feel she's not mad at me..'
"You're in the way.." Rika says coldly.
Panda barely has time to think before he feels the impact of Rika's fist as she sends him flying. He hits the ground rolling to reduce the damage. "Okay.." He says annoyed as he wipes his mouth.
Maki leans on her staff, smirking at him amused. "You okay there?" She asks. With a growl, he rushes at Rika. "Guess not."
Rika meets him halfway as their fists collide, sending a small shockwave. This was followed up by a barrage of blows from both fighters. Maki watches this, curious to see who'll win.
'There's my opening!' Yuta swings his sword at her head. Maki blocks the attack, her gaze not leaving Panda and Rika. 'Seriously?!"
Rika brings her hands together slamming them down at Panda's head, her cursed energy visible in her hands. Panda blocks the attack, the ground sinking around him from the impact. 'That blow was different from before? Is her cursed energy still rising?'
Panda's eyes widen as he sees his body switching back and forth between the brother and Panda core confused. 'What?!' Rika doesn't let up on her assault, kicking him hard in the gut forcing him back.
Panda grunts in pain attempting to change back to the brother core with no success. 'Why can't I switch back? The core wasn't low. I can't even switch to my sister either.'
Rika punches Panda's face crashing him into the ground leaving a small crater before looking up at Maki. 'It's you... You're the reason we're separated. It's your fault!'
Rika kicks off the ground leaving a still dazed Panda in the crater. Maki raises her staff, blocking a kick from Rika in time. Yuta looks frantic before getting pushed away by Maki who jumps back getting into a defensive stance with her stance. "The hell's your problem?"
"Did you push Yuta?.. First, you take him from me... Now you went and pushed him?..." Rika clenches her fist getting into her fighting stance. "I won't ever forgive you!"
Maki sweat drops. 'What is she talking about?.. Steal him? Is she insane?' As Rika charges Maki her cursed energy is visible even through Maki's glasses. 'She definitely is!'
As the girls start their fight. Yuta walks over to Panda who has sat up and is rubbing his nose. "Thaaaat hurt.." pats his head looking over at Yuta. "Yuta! Is my snout crooked?"
"Huh? I don't think so! Are you okay, Panda?" Yuta asks, worried.
"Yeah. I'm okay!" Panda yawns getting up. "So she's fighting Maki now huh?"
"Salmon." Inumaki confirms patting Panda's back.
"Figures. I knew she wasn't really mad at me." He scratches the back of his head before sitting down on the grass watching them.
"S-should.. Should we stop them?" Yuta asks, looking back and forth between his classmates and the still-fighting girls.
"Kelp" Inumaki sits down next to Panda.
"Uhh.. I don't know what that means.." Yuta looks apologetically at Inumaki.
"Well. Yuta if you think we should stop them. You're more than welcome to go get between them yourself. Me. I'm gonna stay where it's safe. Right, Inumaki?" Panda says leaning on his paws.
"Salmon, Salmon" He answers, nodding in agreement.
Yuta sits by them clutching his training sword watching the girls still fight nervously.
Above them floating in the air looking down at the group is Gojo with his glasses pulled down. 'So that's how it works huh? I wonder if that's unique to Panda. His cursed energy is flowing irregularly. Especially around his cores. She seems to have disrupted his cursed energy preventing him from choosing between his three cores. If I had to guess If she did it to a normal sorcerer.. They'd probably be unable to use curse techniques and domain expansions.'
Gojo sits in the air putting his hand to his chin. 'Panda was still able to enhance his body with curse energy though. Otherwise, he probably would've lost his head when Rika hit him earlier. Oh well. I won't get any more answers with her fighting Maki… Still, it's pretty entertaining. I'll let them enjoy themselves a bit longer.' He smirks adjusting his glasses.
Back down on the ground, the girls are still fighting. Maki hits Rika across the face with her staff. Rika keeps her momentum grabbing Maki's face before headbutting her, breaking her glasses. Maki recoils kicking up as she falls back hitting Rika's chin making her head snap up.
Rika backflips landing on her feet rubbing her chin. 'She's so annoying. Why won't she just go down?!'
Maki spins her staff, gritting her teeth as she glances down and sees her broken glasses. 'I'm going to murder this damn brat!'
Rika's eyes narrow as she and Maki stare each other down. 'If I break her face... She won't be able to seduce my Yuta..' Rika goes and attacks Maki again. The girls start screaming as they do their best to pummel the other.
Back with the boys who are still watching this onslaught. Panda's eyes widen in realization. "HEY!" He roars startling the other two.
"W-what is it?!" Yuta asks.
"Mustard Leaf?" Inumaki questions.
"Yuta! We have got to have a serious talk!" Panda puts his arm around Yuta pulling him close.
"Huh? What about?.."
"Okay! I noticed while looking at Maki and Rika. They're pretty similar in the chest right?" Panda says, causing a sweatdrop from Inumaki.
"W-what?!" His face gets red. "I d-dont know what you're talking about.." He looks away embarrassed.
"Tuna Mayo" Inumaki says gesturing around his chest.
"Inumaki's right! No point pretending. So clearly you like them kinda big right?" Panda nods a smile on his face.
"I-I never really thought about it. But.. I g-guess so.." He admits still embarrassed. "Also, can you really understand him?" He points at Inumaki who is still holding his hands over his chest.
"So anyways!" Panda continues.
'Just gonna skip over that..' Yuta sighs.
"If you like big boobs, what about butts?" Panda asks as he looks back over at the girls.
"I.." Yuta looks over his eyes, going towards Rika as she catches one of Maki's fists. "I just do like Rika's.." He blushes.
"Uh huh.. A safe choice, I get it." Panda says, giving him an understanding nod.
"What.. I.." Yuta stammers.
Panda laughs rolling back and forth as Inumaki smiles under his scarf. Yuta meanwhile is trying to defend himself from their teasing. Above them, Gojo is still floating in the air but is no longer really watching as he talks on the phone. "Really? She did that? Uh-huh.. Are you for real? Tell me you got it on video!"
"Uhh.." The voice responds.
" YOU DIDN'T?" He groans loudly. "I'm never going to forgive this." He glances down right as Maki and Rika clash a final time as Maki hits Rika in the gut and Rika punches Maki across the face as both students fall barely conscious. "Oh. You distracted me.."
"You called me!" The voice yells at him.
"Not the point." He answers calmly.
"Satoru!"
"Man, those girls really beat the crap outta each other. Okay, I gotta deal with this byeeee" He teleports down in the middle of the girls.
"Hey wait! Sato-" Gojo hangs up.
"They're gonna complain about that later.." He sighs. "Okay! So are you two still alive?"
The girls groan in response as Maki sits up first with a bruise on her face. Rika sits up slower, her body aching and trembling. Despite this, she keeps a scowl on her face looking at the teacher and then Maki. There's the sound as the boys have started coming over. Gojo holds up his hand stopping them. "So did we get it out of our system you two?" Gojo asks.
"Tch.. Ask her, not me." Maki grumbles picking up her glasses. 'I'll have to buy new ones..'
"Yeah... Whatever.." Rika mumbles.
"Good enough for me." Gojo claps his hands together, his eyes staying on Rika. 'Her body is trembling because she overexerted herself. If she didn't have so much cursed energy she'd probably be passed out from exhaustion. I'll have to explain it to her in more detail later. Actually. I'll just let Nanami do it.'
Rika gets up stumbling a bit before starting to walk away. Yuta goes to follow her but his collar is grabbed by Gojo. "Hey!" Yuta almost falls as Gojo holds him off the ground.
"Not so fast there, Yuta. I got a mission for you and Inumaki." He says putting Yuta back on the ground.
"Tuna?" Inumaki asks.
"Yep, they specifically asked for you." Gojo answers.
Rika looks back seeing all the others grouped up around Gojo. She continues walking away from the back to her room. 'Yuta is over with them..' She bites her lip frustrated.
Inside her room, she doesn't even bother turning the lights on. She slams her door before crashing into her bed hugging the pillow. 'He's getting closer to everyone else... Like before. Others are drawn to him..'
She squeezes the pillow more. 'Was coming here a mistake?.. What if... What if he leaves me all alone again?..' Tears start falling down Rika's face. 'But.. Yuta he's supposed to be mine. Isn't he?..' She buried her face into her pillow slowly drifting off into restless sleep.