So then, how are you liking it so far?
"What is wrong with you four?" Our Sensei Yaga looked at the four of us with a confused look on his face. His arms were crossed over his chest and his sunglasses were poised on his nose.
"Shh, you're too loud sensei." I groaned as I rubbed my forehead.
"Since you four don't want to sit in here and learn…maybe we should all go outside!" He happily suggested. A unanimous groan came from the four of us and we all put our heads on the desk in front of us.
Afterward, he dragged us outside and made us start running around the track and completing drills. The day at school felt like eternity and I didn't want to be there. When the day was finally done, I went back into my room and crawled into my bed. My eyes began to close, and I was about to go into a nice, peaceful sleep, but it was rudely interrupted when my cellphone began to buzz on my desk. I waited for it to finish and tried to go back to sleep, but it began vibrating a second time. With a groan, I got out of bed and grabbed my phone to answer it.
"Hello?"
"Hello? Why do you sound so exhausted?" The sound of my little sister came through my phone.
"Because I'm at school." I answered.
"Yea, I don't believe you. You know, I've heard about how teenagers that go away for school end up partying all the time, kissing boys, and just not studying." I lied down on my bed while my sister was speaking to me.
"Why have you called me today? I'm coming home tomorrow for the weekend, you couldn't wait that long?"
"Actually, about that…can you come tonight?"
"Why?" I asked.
"Grandma is just missing you loads at the moment." She answered.
"Well, I am out here trying to bring some honour to our family name once again, Yura." I stated.
"Come on, you were going to come anyways. Just come a bit earlier…please!" After letting the thought simmer with me for a minute, a sigh escaped my lips before I answered,
"Fine." Yura screamed with happiness on the phone and thanked me for coming tonight. We got off the phone, so I could add a couple of extra things to my overnight bag and leave my dorm room. Distraction settled in as I typed away on my phone while walking down the hallway, but I was brought back to my surroundings when I collided with someone's back.
I looked up from my phone and saw Satoru standing in front of me. He looked behind himself and spotted me standing there.
"Oh, sorry. I was just heading out." I apologized as I side stepped and began to walk past him.
"Are you too hungover to even notice me standing in front of you?" He teased me as he walked next to me.
"No, I was just on my phone. Why are you walking this way?" I questioned.
"I'm heading home for the weekend. Why are you walking this way?"
"I'm headed home for the weekend." I answered. We walked outside and towards the exit of the school grounds while talking.
"That's exciting! Are you looking forward to going home?" He asked me.
"Yea, I guess. It'll be nice to see Yu and everyone else. It's just always a lot of effort to get there and back, when I could just be in one place training." I answered.
"You're always training, Tsu! It's okay to take a break." He said.
"That's easy for you to say." I muttered. We arrived at the edge of the drive and stood on the side of the road. There were cars passing us by, people walking on the sidewalk headed to their destination, and the sun was beginning to set which turned the sky into a mixture of pinks and oranges.
"You know, people think it's really easy for me because I have a really strong technique, but it's hard to control. No one can really give me advice on how to manage it, so I'm just figuring it out on my own." I looked up at Satoru who was standing to my left. His gaze was set ahead of us, with his circular sunglasses on his face. The sunlight hit the side of his face just right and it casted a gold glow around him. In that moment, he looked mesmerizing.
"I never thought about it that way." I quietly said. Then, a black car arrived in front of us and stopped. The driver got out of his seat, walked to our side and opened the door.
"Mr. Gojo." He stated.
"Well, I guess I'll see you Monday." I waved at him before turning away to begin walking to the train station.
"Wait, Tsu." I turned around to look at Satoru again. "Do you want a lift to your place?"
"Huh?" I was taken aback by the white-haired teen's request. In the past couple of years I've known him, he's never once offered me a ride home.
"Yea, I don't mind, and I don't think Kenzo here minds, right?"
"Correct, Mr. Gojo." The driver agreed with Satoru.
"It's okay. Honestly, I can just take the train – I've done it for years." I put my hands in front of me and smiled at him as I declined his generous offer.
"Nope, I've decided that we're taking you home." He reached forward, wrapped his fingers around my wrist, and pulled me towards the car door. Reluctantly, I got into the car and scooted to the other side, so I could put my seatbelt on. Satoru slid into the car and put his belt on.
The seats were made of high-quality leather and the inside of the car smelled of freshly cleaned linen. I deduced that his family must keep all of their cars clean and that the drivers must do this themselves between their shifts. All the windows were tinted, so no one could see inside. Also, there was a divider screen between us and the driver, Kenzo.
"Miss, what is your address?" I heard Kenzo's voice but couldn't figure out how I could. Satoru tapped my shoulder and pointed me towards a button in-between us on the center console that had a little microphone on it. I pressed it down and stated my address to the car. Kenzo thanked me before driving the car back into the traffic.
"It's a bit weird for everyone at the beginning, but it's really nice to not have to think and to relax." Satoru commented about my first experience being chauffeured.
"Yea, I definitely didn't think this was going to happen today. Have you always had someone else drive you around?" I asked.
"Pretty much. Obviously, I have taken the train and bus, but when I'm going home, it's nicer to be taken there directly. Then, I just relax the whole way there before I meet any drama or family duties." He answered as he relaxed in his seat. I looked at him and began to think about how his life is drastically different compared to mine. While he sat next to me, relaxed, I felt like I couldn't allow my body to loosen because this was so foreign. Instead, I turned away from Satoru and looked out the window to my right and watched as we continued to pass by people and other cars.
"Say, why did you become a sorcerer?" I heard Satoru ask me. We came to a red light, and I was watching two little girls walking with their grandmother. Both were holding her hands while they talked away. The grandmother had a gentle smile on her face as she responded to what they were saying.
"To try and help my family as much as I can." I answered.
"I did hear about what happened." I read between the lines from what Satoru said to me.
"Yea, well, I think everyone has heard about it." The light turned green, and we began moving again, leaving the grandmother and two girls behind.
"For what it's worth, I think you're really amazing, Tsu." My breath caught in my throat, and I felt the hair on my body stand to attention. I didn't dare look back at Satoru, in fear of him seeing how red my cheeks had gotten.
"Thanks." I managed to say one word. God damn it, one word was all I could say? God, you're so pathetic.
"I mean, not as amazing as me, obviously-" My left hand immediately swung out to hit him in the chest, but it stopped just short of his shirt. I kissed my teeth in annoyance and brought my hand back.
"Stupid technique." I muttered. The white-haired teenager next to me began laughing aloud at my comment.
"It's pretty useful though. I mean, no one can touch me without me allowing it."
"Doesn't it get exhausting having it on all the time?" I asked.
"Kind of, but I've been practicing, as you know. I'm trying to get to the point where I don't have to even think about it, and it will be on no matter what."
"You'll be pretty strong if you can manage that." I said.
"I'm already pretty strong, but I will be the strongest sorcerer in the jujutsu world!"
"Don't worry, Satoru. I think we all know that. But know, that I'm coming for you." I stated my ultimate goal, which was to be as strong as Satoru Gojo one day. My phone began to ring in my pocket, so I quickly fished it out and answered it.
"Where are you?" Yura's question was the first thing I heard when I answered my phone.
"I'm almost there. I'm around 10 minutes away now." I could guess the time because of the surroundings outside the car.
"Okay. How are you getting here? You answered your phone pretty fast." She began to dig for information.
"Um…I got a lift." I answered.
"From who?" She asked.
"Just someone from school-"
"Is it a boy?" She practically yelled down the phone. I could hear Satoru giggle next to me.
"I'll see you when I get home."
"Come on, who is it? Is it the one with the glasses? Please tell me-"
"Goodbye, Yu." With that, I closed my flip phone and put it back into my pocket. "Sorry about that."
"Your sister knows about me, huh?" Satoru teased me. At that moment, I was ready to jump out the car and walk the rest of the way. My heart began to pick up its pace in my chest as I thought about what he had just said. I couldn't understand why I was feeling this way because I was never romantically inclined towards Satoru.
"I've sent her a picture of all four of us, so she's seen everyone." I tried to downplay it as much as I could, so his ego wouldn't grow any larger than it already has.
"It's okay if you told her that I'm your favourite." He teased me again. Instinctively, my eyes rolled as I said,
"Okay, because the possibility of that is clearly so high."
"How could I not be? I'm handsome, strong, and the smartest person in our class." Satoru said.
"Is there any point in us even having this conversation when we both know that you won't come off your delusional pedestal?" I queried.
"I'm not delusional." He stated.
"It sounds like it." I teased me. A small smirk played on my lips, knowing that I now had something that bothered him.
"You're breaking my heart here, Tsu!" Satoru jokingly exclaimed. I laughed to myself as we pulled up outside of my house.
"Well, thank you, Satoru. I'll see you in school." I went to open my door, but Kenzo beat me to it. He already had the door open for me and bowed his head respectfully. This action took me by surprise, and I paused for a second.
"Don't worry, you'll get used to it one day." Satoru said behind me. I got out the car, turned around and looked at him,
"What does that mean?" I asked.
"Oh nothing! I can see everything, remember?" Satoru brought his glasses down slightly and winked at me. My eyebrows scrunched together as I glared at him.
"See you Monday." Were my final words before I turned around and began to walk up my drive. I gazed at the trees that lined the driveway, that always made it feel like I was walking into a different world. My mother always loved having a garden, so she made sure that both the front and back were beautifully looked after. When I made it to the front door, I slid it aside, took off my shoes and announced my arrival. The sounds of shoes began hitting the floor before I looked up from taking off my shoes. Yu wrapped her arms around my neck, and I stumbled backwards, leaning against the wall, so then we didn't fall over.
"You took forever to get here!" She excitedly said. I laughed and hugged her back.
"You know, I'm happy that you're still so excited to see your big sister." Yu let go of me and looked up at me. Her long black hair was braided back into one big braid and her soft brown eyes looked back at me. The 11-year-old bounced on her feet as she grabbed my hand and pulled me deeper into our home. When we entered the kitchen, my grandmother was cooking at the stove.
"Hi Grandma." I greeted. She turned around, saw me, and walked over to give me a hug.
"Oh, it's so nice to have you home, sweetheart." I hugged her back before she let go and turned back around to point at the table. "Look at all the food I made for you!" All of my favourite homemade foods were placed on the table. I walked over and reveled at the food that was there. With an onigiri in my hand, I took a bite out of it and walked out of the room,
"I'm going to go say hello to Mom!" Yu followed me out of the kitchen, so we could make our way to the backyard. This minka that I called home carried so many memories of my childhood. Thoughts of how I used to carry Yu around the house, my grandmother would sit with me on the back porch to look at the stars, and my mother would walk me around the garden to teach me about the plants that she planted.
Just like always, my mother was in the backyard, tending to one of her many bushes. "She's been better knowing that you were coming home." Yu explained to me. I nodded my head as I looked at my mother trimming the bush in front of her. I put on my sandals and walked off the porch.
"Hi Mom." I greeted her. She looked over her shoulder and made eye contact with me. She got up from her knees and hugged me. Before she pulled me in to her arms, I noticed that she had bags under her eyes – indicating that she had been crying the night before, but that she hasn't today.
"How long are you staying?" She asked me.
"The weekend." She let go of me and looked at me again. My mother cupped my right cheek in her hand. I touched her hand and smiled at her. "School is going well. I'm doing well in all my classes and I've even been sent on a couple of missions already." I hoped that if I told her some good news, then this would alleviate some of the pain she was left with after my father caused it.
"That's good. You were always very talented." With that, she looked at me with sad eyes, turned around, and began to trim her bush again. After making my way back into the house, I sat down with Yu and my grandmother to talk and eat.
My weekend past with me laughing with my family and telling them more stories about school. Also, I was interrogated by Yu about Satoru, but I continued to explain that I was just his classmate. During the day I was happy and helpful around the house, fixing things that needed to be looked at because there wasn't anyone else around to do it. However, no one knew that during the evenings, I would silently cry in my room as I felt the negative energy in my home begin to consume me again.
Oooooo Gojo has taken Tsu home! How sweet!
