Yeah, we're back.

Just finished a bitch of an exam, so this is me finally breathing at long last.

The way the first few months after their mission to Genjiro village pass over Percy and his friends is almost deceptively simple - By Jujutsu standards, at least.

There were still missions aplenty to go around, and the fallout of the last one had been a headache and a half in its own right, what with a previously thought-to-be-sealed special grade slipping the coop and Shoko pulling off her incomplete Domain Expansion in what had to be the most impressively unexpected stunt of the decade - but none of it was anything more than mildly irritating to deal with at it's worst.

After all, between the four of them, missions are downright easy, and there's only so much that truly happens - or at least reaches them -within Jujutsu tech's walls, and so they end up simmering down as the weeks pass and experiencing something vaguely resembling a normal high school experience.

Really, it was almost eerie at first how... mundane things were, sorcery practice and regularly scheduled exorcisms notwithstanding.

Percy honestly wouldn't have been surprised to wake up one morning and find out that some flavor of armageddon had come calling, because that was just his luck given his track record and things had gotten way too quiet for comfort, but nope.

Nothing had happened. Absolutely nada.

Maybe hell had frozen over?

Still, he was never one to look a gift horse in the mouth.

He'd take what he could get, and he did, so for a while, it was bog-standard missions, lectures and homework on a schedule.

The first week of August eventually creeps up on them out of the blue, and it starts off interesting when Shoji-sensei tracks him and Satoru down to one of the training grounds near their dorm.

"Good morning-" He pauses and blinks as he takes them in. "What are you doing?"

Percy grins and waves, one hand still reaching for the shopping cart filled to the brim with water balloons.

Across the room, Satoru scowls, arms crossed - and absolutely soaking wet from head to toe.

"Hey, sensei. You want in on this?"

"And this is...?"

He trails off leadingly, and it's Satoru who shrugs and answers.

"We're training my Infinity. Working on turning it on and off in split-second breaks, dialing the intensity up and down - working out the kinks and all that."

Shoji-sensei nods - that makes sense. The students were particularly motivated after the encounter with Tamamo-no-mae incarnate.

Satoru himself had come out of the experience with even more drive for self-improvement than he'd had in his life, and it wasn't just because of Shoko's exceptional achievement.

He had been wounded in the mission, and even if it was barely more than a graze that had healed without so much as a scar not five minutes after the fact, it was still likely the only time a curse had successfully managed to hurt him - even superficially - in years, and that wasn't something the Gojo heir was going to take lying down.

Ever.

That said, however-

"Why this particular method?"

Satoru's brows furrow.

"My infinity isn't... perfect."

It sounds like it's physically painful for him to admit as much out loud - but the fact that he does, and in front of Shoji-sensei at that speaks volumes of just how much - if subtly - things had changed after Genjiro village.

It's... not quite a show of trust, but acknowledgment, and coming from Satoru - who couldn't have cared less that the man responsible for teaching them even existed a few months ago - that in itself was nearly a miracle.

Percy's grin grows a little bigger, and his friend catches sight of it and flips him off in the same breath.

"Yet. It isn't perfect yet. When I bring it up and pull it down again, there's..." Satoru slows down, considering his words. "Something like a recoil. Once it's down, my cursed energy fluctuates, and I can't whip up Infinity back up instantly - Don't get me wrong, it's fast, but not nearly as fast as I'd like, and when I do force it, I end up paying for it with a hell of migraine. I need to work on my tolerance so I can compensate for it until I perfect it, and not lose awareness of attacks from curses quick enough to be annoying until then."

Their sensei nods.

"Hence the water balloons?"

"Yeah." Satoru nods, and then scowls again. "That, and Percy's a dick."

"Hey! You asked for my help!"

"Yeah, so you could at least pretend not to be enjoying it."

"Hell no! This is payback for last week!" He points at Satoru accusingly. "I asked you to help me figure out Simple Domain, and you started ripping trees out of the ground and throwing them at me!"

"It was to help you multitask! It's good training!" Satoru protests. "...Also, it was funny!"

Percy squawks in disbelief "And this isn't?!"

"It's only funny when it happens to other people!"

"Dumbass!"

"Bastard!"

"Spoiled rich boy!"

"Wannabe Seadramon!"

"Whoever or whatever that is wishes they were as cool as me!"

"Students, please-" Shoji-sensei freezes as something seems to occur to him. "Wait, what do you mean he ripped out trees and threw them at you? When did this happen? Where did this happen?"

There's a quiet, suspicious pause, and Satoru and Percy both fall silent and exchange a pointed look.

"Did I say trees? They really were more shrubs than anything else."

Oh no.

"Please tell me you didn't cause more property damage?"

The boys were suspiciously quiet.

"Oh gods help me."

"Don't worry, sensei, we were careful. But if you feel like it-" Percy lies breezily and then offers him a balloon. "Want to get Satoru? I promise you it's downright cathartic."

"Oi!"

Shoji-sensei sighs tiredly.

"While I'm sure it is-"

"Oi!"

His lips carefully don't twitch.

"-I came down here to inform you to meet me in later for a mission brief - and to tell Ieri-san and Geto-san to do the same when they're done with their mission."

"Oh, they're not on a mission."

Shoji-sensei blinks. "They're not?"

Percy and Satoru exchange another look, and this time they both snort.

"Really, sensei? Shoko has her bullshit domain-"

Percu grins. "Jealous."

"-Go drown in a toilet," Satoru says without missing a beat, before turning back to Shoji-sensei and ignoring Percy's retort. "And Suguru has a special grade stacked onto his technique now. They were done two hours ago."

"Then where-?"

"Arcade down in the city."

"Aah." Their sensei says dryly "Naturally."

Well, they were permitted the day off after missions, so he could hardly complain-

It's as he's acknowledging that fact to himself that Percy raises a hand.

"I got this."

He whips out his phone and flips it open. A quick scroll and click later, and it starts ringing.

"There's no urgent need at the moment-"

Percy shook his head.

"Give it a sec - bingo."

"Yo, Percy."

"Suguru, sensei wants to talk. Grab Shoko and get back over here."

"What-?"

"Dunno yet. Hurry up."

"Percy, we're busy. Can't it wait?"

"You can blow your money at crane games you're never going to win later."

"Hey, I almost had it that time! If Satoru hadn't distracted me-!"

"Just get over here already!"

"No, I'm so close to winning, there's no way-!"

"If you get back soon, I'll let you help me clock Satoru in the face with water balloons until we're done training."

"..."

Shoji-sensei raises an eyebrow. Percy smirks.

Give it a minute, aaaannnndddd...

"We'll be there in fifteen minutes."

Score.

Percy disconnects the call and grins again in victory.

"Told you I got this."

Satoru stares flatly.

"I hate you both."

"Shoko's going to get in on it too, probably."

"I hate you all."

"You deserve it."

"Lies and slander!"

"Trees, Satoru!"

"That was funny!"

Shoji-sensei's brow twitches.

"Will either of you please tell me what happened with these trees?"

...

There is a perfectly good response to use here...

"What trees?"

Nailed it.

Shoji-sense opens his mouth, closes it, opens it again, and then sighs once more, mentally admitting defeat.

"In any case, thank you for your help. Please be punctual - this mission brief is important."

Percy frowns at the abrupt serious lilt to his tone.

"Everything good, sensei?"

"As good as can be. However, that doesn't detract from the importance of our upcoming task. Tell me, what do you know of Obon?"

He raises a brow. "The festival?"

He'd been to a couple of outings for it over the years at the orphanage, but he could tell there was more here.

"Essentially," Their sensei nods. "To most civilians, Obon is primarily a celebration of family - a time for reunion and respectful communion. It's a time to come together and honor the deceased, paying due respect to the ones who came before while embracing the living, with some variations. But in the world of Jujutsu, there is significantly more to it. Paying respect to the deceased and exalting honored ancestors becomes a significantly more... grave and delicate duty when those ancestors are sorcerors."

And Percy understands quickly, because the pieces are right there in front of him.

What set sorcerors apart from ordinary people was their cursed energy - the relative boatloads of it they had compared to non-sorcerors.

A festival specifically focused on spirits with that cursed energy - the very power that can spawn curses left, right and center - bieng invoked on such a scale...

Yeah, that could be a big deal.

"So what's the mission, sensei?"

"Essentially? Guard duty."

Percy blinks.

"What?"

"To keep it short - Every year, great Obon festivals are hosted by the greater clans for jujutsu society as a whole to participate in. It is an opportunity of great importance and prestige, allowing clans to demonstrate their power, capability, wealth and a host of other influencing factors. A failed Obon festival reflects as disastrously on a great clan as a successful one elevates them, and this year it is the Gojo clan that will take charge of the preparations and lead the Kyoto festival in two weeks time. We will be on site to ensure that nothing goes wrong - be it from cursed spirits or anything else."

Shoji-sensei half-smiles at Percy's surprised recognition before turning to Satoru, who had been oddly silent throughout his explanation.

"We will be traveling to your clan estate soon - likely with a few of the older students, if necessary. I hear that your return and participation in the festival is being eagerly anticipated."

...

"Yeah. Riiiiiggght. That's going to be fun." He smiles, and the expression mild and flatter than paper. "Percy?"

His friend looks at him strangely - there's something odd to his words now, and after all this time he can pick out that strangeness at once.

"Yeah?"

"I'm done with Infinity. We're sparring now."

"Huh? What-" Percy doesn't manage to get a word in edge-wise before Satoru suddenly blurs into motion and leaps for him full-tilt, and they're abruptly off, hand to hand amidst a burst of crackling cursed energy, one confused and one unnaturally focused in a way that's flat out concerning "Woah!"

Shoji-sensei watches them go, lips pursing in concern of his own.

That interaction had been strange - but for the moment, he chooses not to comment.

Instead, he turns around and walks away, already trying to map out the logistics of this next mission in his head.

It was likely to be complicated -very complicated, considering the inevitable involvement of politics in the matters to come.

His students alone will be drawing many eyes to them, and that's without the games sure to come into play between the clans on their lonesome.

To say nothing of the increased threat of cursed spirit activity during this time.

Still, he doesn't let the thoughts daunt him.

After all, it's hardly as if things can get any more problematic in the long run than they did on their last mission, right?

...

Shoji's dormant self-preservation instincts as he blatantly tempts fate:

View: /zf34nWW

Shoko and Suguru on their way to mess with Satoru:

View: /QmpOXKO

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