"I'd like to proceed with the casualties then..." Ijichi went forward in this emergency briefing, the battle was a still fresh memory, however, for the sorcerers, there was nothing left to do but count the amount of damage the incursion had caused.
Gojou sat there, together with all the seniors of both the Jujutsu schools as the victims were being listed: three second-grade sorcerers, one semi-first-grade, five assistant supervisors, and two cursed storehouse guards, all of them had died. "The report from Ieiri-san isn't here yet, although according to Esposito-kun's testimony, we can affirm, with utmost certainty, that it was the work of the cursed spirit that Nanami encountered before." Ijichi concluded, Gojou audibly grimaced at the curse's mention while the room whole fell in an aura of melancholy that overwhelmed the presents.
"Do you think we should share this information with the students and the other sorcerers?" Utahime spoke to the principals who quickly rejected the idea after some thought.
"It's probably better to keep this among the higher-ups. We don't want to give curse users the certainty that special-grade objects were stolen." Masamichi said, "Satoru has also agreed with the exorcist to not disclose this information to either the students or the Church." He gave a nod of approval to Gojou, oblivious of the terms such a deal was based on, which he'd rather keep for himself.
"Has the curse user we captured spilled anything?" the principal asked Ijichi.
"Ehm... it's not hard to make him talk, but most of what he says is irrelevant nonsense." the man in suit and tie explained, "However, he claims that he only participated in the attack because he was ordered to as a part of a deal ." He then proceeded to read a direct quote from the prisoner himself:
"I wanted to make a coat rack. That monk promised me that." The curse user told them somewhat uninterested, his arms and neck were tied with thick ropes in the execution room. "I don't know their name, Hell, I couldn't even tell if they were a man or a woman. Just a brat with white hair in a bob cut."
"An androgynous monk kid with a bob cut?" Mei Mei turned to look at the blindfolded teacher sitting next to her, "That rings any bells?" She asked.
"Nope." He shrugged, "We sure he's not spouting bullshit? Is there any sorcerer skilled at getting confessions?"
"How did two cursed spirits and outsiders get through Tengen-sama's barrier in the first place?" Gojou unfortunately knew the answer to that question. He then explained to the room how the special-grade cursed spirit the students fought was probably the culprit due to its uniqueness, being incredibly close to a natural spirit. Besides, as Aoi later told him, it was able to hide among plants, thus bypassing Tengen-sama's defense system.
"Tengen-sama's barrier puts all its power into hiding, not protecting. Once you get in, it's kind of weak." As he finished speaking, the room fell into a deathly silence, remorse for what could have been done more to better keep the students and others out of harm. Gojou was left to ponder on what use Sukuna's fingers will be for the attackers. Were they worried about Yuuji being enhanced by them? Or they wanted to enhance themselves? Only time will time, but sure as Hell, something wasn't sitting right about this whole situation.
"For now let's be glad our students are safe."
Gabriele glared attentively at the dangling slice of pizza Itadori and Nobara had ordered from them to eat together. They decided to group in Megumi's room (the only one of the four still confined in bed) and basically took him out of his room just a few hours after being dismissed from Ieiri's clinic. Now he was sitting there, with this pizza slice of which oily grease was lightly staining the bandages in his hands, just by looking at it he felt full and heavy.
"When did you start getting along with that gorilla?" His attention shifted onto Kugisaki questioning Itadori about the Kyoto berserker. Turns out he and Toudou had formed quite a strong bond while fighting in the forest, to the point he'd allegedly prevented Itadori's assassination plot. Who'd have thought?
"Well, we get along, but like... I remember what happened but I wasn't exactly myself then..."
"What, were you drunk?"
"You believe I could've been drinking liquor in that situation? I'm shocked." Itadori said, acting as if the thing offended him deeply, act that he instantly dropped as soon as he turned towards the other two guys in the room. "But I'm glad both of you weren't seriously hurt, you're able to eat pizza now, too." He then munched down his own slice.
"Come on, bring me something easier to digest." Megumi groaned, just to be shut down by Nobara telling him not to complain.
"Aren't you hungry, Gabri? You're barely looking at it." Nobara asked the exorcist.
"Mmh? Oh no, I've just zoned out a bit..." the young man quickly blurted out. Despite his low appetite, he made the effort to take a bite, careful to not stain his gray hoodie. It was a mouthful of cheese, too loaded and soggy for his tastes and most of the warmth was gone by now, though it was alright, he guessed... he sorely missed the crispier and much lighter pizza of his hometown.
"And please, do not call me Gabri or whatever that man with selective idiocy comes up with. Gabriele is just fine."
Itadori snickered, "Sorry man, but when you do that it feels like you're tickling my brain." He got a small laugh out of everyone. They then stood in quietness enjoying the moment, only the sound of chewing and nothing more accompanying them. It was rewarding, after all they'd passed.
"Apparently I got off easier because my cursed energy was all dried up." Megumi broke the silence, "Ieiri-san was still able to fix me up as soon as the roots were removed."
"You two fought against them, didn't you?"
He peeked under the hem of his black shirt, his stomach was wrapped in what could have been miles and miles of bends, rivaling the amount the exorcist sported on himself. His gaze landed upon said person who was sitting on his right side, his wounds... He felt his injuries had more value in a messed up kind of way, having taken the special-grade cursed spirit on his own twice for their sake. How could he possibly compare, he who got taken out because of a distraction that nearly cost them everything? What if Itadori didn't show up in time? Oh yes, Itadori...
"You've grown stronger," Megumi told the pink-haired teenager, memories of the day he died in front of him replaying in his head. "Back then, we both said our convictions were proper ones. I still think that's true, or, put another way, we're both wrong."
"Don't stagnate yourself over thoughts you have yet to fully comprehend, or you end up losing your mind in the process." Gabriele jumped into the conversation, Nobara nodded in agreement. "Yeah, some questions don't have answers, you know. You're thinking too hard, you'll go bald." the girl said, adding up more confusion to an already lost Yuuji.
"That's right, there's no answer. It's just whether or not you can accept it. But there's no accepting anything if you can't have it your way. Weak sorcerers can't do that." he looked at both Gabriele and Itadori, those two who were already so far ahead in terms of strength he couldn't help but be inspired to be a better sorcerer.
"So I'm going to become strong, too." he said while staring the two guys in the eyes, "I'll surpass you in no time."
Itadori chuckled in response, Gabriele instead gave him a small smile, either way, both of them accepted his challenge, annoying the only girl in the room. "Don't just move the conversation forward without me." she said.
"That's my brother's friends to you!" said the happy Toudou, seemingly appearing out of nowhere sitting at the feet of Megumi's bed. It seemed as if time froze up inside the small room, with everyone watching the stranger oblivious he had all the eyes on him until, without warning, Itadori dashed out of there through the windows as fast as he could manage.
"Where are you going, BROTHEEEEER!?" Yelled the big man, chasing after him. Soon enough, all the screams and shouts died out in the background, leaving the three teens speechless.
"That was... something."
"You tell me..." Nobara spoke with animosity as she turned slowly toward the foreigner. The young man, albeit confused by the sudden change in atmosphere, kept on a perfect poker face once his gaze locked with hers. He and Megumi didn't have the slightest idea of what was going on, but experience automatically triggered all the alarms whenever she got that kind of stare.
"What's wro-" "What does Mai mean when she says: 'she got you in her bag'?"
Gabriele could swear his body temperature dropped by two degrees Celsius, although he somehow managed to keep it together. Nobara waited patiently for the young man to answer, even though it doesn't really matter because she's gonna punch him through his skull, with her hammer. See, when he and Maki left her behind to fight the special-grade curse, she was forced to wander in the scary forest, and, in an ironic twist of fate, she had to meet Mai of all people. From there until they ran into Utahime, she did nothing but brag about how she had the exorcist at her feet, bet she held a grudge since the first time they had the misfortune to cross roads, that bitch. What's even worse is that this idiot fell for it hook, line, and sinker.
Back to Gabriele who, in the meantime, had elaborated on any possible answer that will result in him not going back to Ieiri, soon realizing none of them will save him. So he did the only thing he could do, he got up slowly and with confidence walked to the door, opened it, and slammed it shut before running down the corridor as if his life depended on it.
"COME BACK HERE AND FACE JUDGMENT, YOU COWARD!"
Gojou laughed his ass off, elbowing the extremely pissed exorcist walking alongside him. "Aren't you a real Casanova? Going around breaking people's hearts like you're not bound to celibacy." He slapped his back repeatedly right over some still aching bruises he got while unsuccessfully trying to run away from Kugisaki.
"Would you shut up?! I've already told you it wasn't like that... and stop hitting me!" Gabriele swatted the man's arm away.
He took a look around, they were walking down a path in the dreaded forest where just a day earlier he had risked drowning in a 30-centimeter-deep body of water and fallen from a considerable height while fighting a sadistic freak of nature. He promised himself to not come back to this godforsaken woodland for some time, but for unexplained reasons, he was dragged here by the local clown phenomenon.
"Could you at least tell me where we're going, for fuck's sake?"
"Have a little patience, my potty-mouthed assistant. I can't ruin the surprise just minutes away now, can I?" The reply made Gabriele roll his eyes in annoyance. It seemed to him that everyone couldn't give him a straight answer today, if he could find anyone at all, actually. The school was almost deserted when he got out of his room this morning, the only one he found was Gojou in civilian clothes, looking like a normal person for once. He told him the students were on a team-bonding outing which he found strange, in fact, he learned pretty early to take whatever the man says with a grain of salt.
The two continued to stroll down the path, the sounds of the surrounding nature ushering them along the road to an unknown destination.
"How are your injuries? Ieiri told me she used the reverse technique on you." Gojou asked him, after all, they had found him covered in blood (later found it wasn't his), expression blank moments before passing out.
"Yes... I'm thankful she did, although she couldn't patch me up completely." Gabriele admitted, gaze locked on his bandages. He initially refused to be healed by cursed technique, opting for a more conservative recovery instead; conflict of interest, the heavy imprint of the Church's indoctrination, was the decisive factor in that choice, and also the reason why he still had to fully recover. "Apparently, even a small quantity of essence can disrupt the technique. She healed me just enough to stay out of bed, though she instructed me one to three weeks of no action." He said.
The exorcist turned to look at the teacher, his turquoise eyes full of sorrow but determined at the same time, "I'll use this time to better understand cursed energy. Like we agreed on?"
"Like we agreed on, kid." Gojou couldn't help but smile as he put a hand on the foreigner's shoulder. A large wooden fence appeared not too far ahead, as the man happily pointed out. Gabriele observed it with an eyebrow cocked upwards, what could possibly be concealed behind a fence in an already secluded school complex? Perhaps it was a training ground of some sort, it also had some of those tall lights stadiums have. Then it all clicked, this must be the beginning of his training. Yes, it made all sense, everyone else was someplace out of the school, what better time to start than now?
He followed Gojou through the entrance of the railing, the first thing his eyes landed on? The two principals of Tokyo and Kyoto Jujutsu schools, Masamichi and Gakuganji, slumped over a bench in quite a depressive state. Not even the time to question the reason why such moody expressions that the answer was overenthusiastically introduced by, with a 100% probability, the one behind all.
"Welcome to our 1st annual Jujutsu interscholastic baseball derby match!"
"A baseball pitch?" The exorcist simply stood there petrified, in the background he could see the Tokyo students in full baseball gear running laps in a pregame warm-up session. Itadori was even waving at him from the distance, which he replicated with a timid wave. "Would you please explain to me what's going on?" He went back to the adult, his tone barely trying to mask his immense irritation for the white-haired man as the lying bastard giggled.
"Oi, Sensei! Is Gabri-kun going to play with us?" Itadori rushed to their side.
"No, Itadori. Gabri-kun here still has to recover. Besides that, you have one more player than the Kyoto team, remember?"
"Oh, that's a bummer." Gabriele saw the teenager's face switch off in disappointment like a lightbulb and go back to his cheerful self just as quickly. "Will you cheer for us then?" he begged, if he had a tail it'd be waggling left and right like crazy. Talk about matching the energy of a golden retriever.
"I don't know if I-"
"Fret not, boys! For I, your favorite mentor of the entire universe, have you covered."
Gojou then pulled out of his ass a baseball cap, a white jersey, a whistle, and a small flag with 'let's go Tokyo' written on it. All of which fitted the exorcist to perfection, how long did he have this planned? "Here we are, our very first supporter, I'm almost moved." The adult said with a voice full of pride, wiping a nonexistent tear of joy. Needless to say, Gabriele doesn't even know why he was mad, in the end, Gojou didn't do anything wrong. It's just... His nature pisses him off in some obscure way he doesn't comprehend. His gaze inadvertently crossed Utahime's, whose face conveyed compassion and understanding in just one glance.
"Itadori, go tell the team we're starting on defense and get in position. Gabri-kun, please take a seat."
Lacking the stands any other pitch would normally have, Gabriele had to sit on the Tokyo team's bench. He was glad about that because otherwise, he wouldn't have a clue of what the fuck was going on. They were still in the first round? Inning? Whatever you wanna call it, and judging by how much Utahime was screaming at her players, they weren't doing that good. Just now, Noritoshi let two fastballs pass without even attempting to swing the damn bat, he had his head wrapped in bandages but he doubted he could not see through th-
"Strike! Batter out! Change up!" Nevermind, he's fucking blind.
"Kamo! You won't get a hit if you don't swing." He heard the Kyoto team's coach shout, saying she was fuming was an understatement, didn't think she'd be this competitive over a baseball match.
The exorcist simply blew his whistle, waving the little flag with a poor effort as the white team was coming off the field, soon enough all the players were sitting on the bench with him. "So, how's your first baseball match going for ya, Gabri-kun?" Panda asked him. Gabriele shrugged, sure he had a couple of chuckles listening to Kyoto's exchanges, but so far the game hasn't picked up yet.
"It's because you're watching it wrong." Nobara said as she swung the metallic bat to get familiar with its weight.
"How can you watch something wrong?"
"How about a bet?" the girl proposed, "If I can make a lap, you'll take me shopping around the new mall.'' Without knowing any better, much to Itadori and Fushiguro's horror, the exorcist gullibly accepted the challenge. Nobara then confidently walked to the home plate: " You made a huge mistake. After all, they call me the Mah-kun of Tohoku." she proudly declared.
"No, Mah-kun is the Mah-kun of Tohoku."
"Mah-kun's a pitcher, you know."
"Bonito flakes." Her classmates called her out on her poor knowledge, and a scowl naturally arose on her face. That didn't matter though, all she had to do was knock this ball out of the park and then she'll make Gabri-kun pay for some new Balenciagas, she could almost see herself in them. A loud noise caught her attention, a pitching machine was being placed in front of her, by Mai nonetheless.
"Hold on!" She yelled, throwing her helmet to the ground as she paced menacingly towards the older girl in a dark blue uniform, causing everyone, including Gabriele, to rush in to stop her. "That's obviously a pitching machine!" she snapped, fortunately, Panda caught her just in time.
"What are you talking about? It's a spare. A spare Mechamaru." Mai played dumb, pointing at the clearly painted robot's face, "We don't have a choice since your panda broke him the other day." she chuckled a bit.
"You seem to know a lot about machines. You know otakus aren't attractive at all, do you?" She glanced at Gabriele, giving him a sly wink.
"It's just one thing after another with you. Yet somehow you're still a Jujutsu high student!" retorted Nobara.
Minutes went by, and after Fushiguro sacrificed himself for the team with a punt, two out of the three bases were occupied by Tokyo's players, Nobara and Panda respectively in the third and first base. With Maki in the batter's box, easily one of the best players in the team, Tokyo was looking forward to potentially scoring three points in one play. Gabriele had to admit it, he was getting pretty invested in the game.
The machine shot the ball at great speed, Maki reacted instantly and sent it to the stratosphere, for the team's joy. Everyone watched the ball fly high into the sky while Nobara slowly jogged toward the home plate, her bet was already settled. "Ok, that's three." The rogue Zen'in said as she nonchalantly flipped the bat out of her way. What everyone failed to see, however, was the third-year Momo Nishimiya on her flying broom catching the ball in mid-air. Chaos and shock ensued.
Itadori and Inumaki screamed. Gabriele blew the whistle in protest while pointing at the dirty deed. Fushiguro advised Kugisaki to get back, but both she and the Panda were too stunned to react and got forced out consequently. End of the first inning, score 0-0.
Time seems to fly when you're having fun, and after assisting everyone (excluding Itadori), in an unusual sense of unity, collectively congratulated Maki who intentionally pitched a fastball right on Toudou's jaw (nice pitch by the way), the Tokyo team won the match 2-0 thanks to the pink-haired teenager who hit an impressive home run. The sun left her throne up in the celestial mantle five hours ago, the Kyoto school had already left Tokyo by a while now, probably back home letting the fatigue of the last three days take over their bodies.
Gabriele was still awake in his room, working on the report he had to send back to Rome, currently struggling to come up with the right words as the time between yawns became shorter and shorter. He wasn't entirely comfortable with leaving out some major events that occurred during this brief period, wondering every now and then if he was doing the right thing by omitting such information. Dread took hold of his mind as he wrote the missive by hand, 'everyone could pass as someone else with an email, much harder it was to copy one's handwriting.' his mentor would always say.
It's been so long since the last time I saw you like this
'Like this, how exactly?' the exorcist asked.
Genuinely happy... surrounded by people your age
The exorcist quietly "laughed" as he rested the pen on the desk, leaning back against the chair. He found himself reminiscing an awfully lot lately, perhaps the Entity was interfering with his thoughts as if he needed to recall old childhood memories prior to this life of curses and demons, prior to that rush to the hospital. His hand unconsciously traveled to his neck, they called him a miracle child, surviving that kind of freak accident was nothing short of a blessing from the Father up above, they would keep telling him back at the monastery. He hated that, you tell me what kind of plan God almighty had for him to JUSTIFY HAVING YOUR THROAT FUCKING SLASHED OPEN BY YOUR *redacted*.
He got up abruptly, chair hitting the floor and hands on the document, threatening to tear it in half in a fit of rage. Just as the paper was about to come apart, a smaller yellow piece captured his gaze. A sequence of numbers was hastily written on it with a pencil, Gabriele couldn't help but feel the blood rushing to his cheeks:
"I wanted to thank you. Your words have been of great help these days." Mai spoke with a rather shy tone, far from the cocky and flirtatious persona she usually displayed. She avoided looking him in the eyes as she handed him the tiny note.
"I'd love to hear from you soon."
God, he was so busy with the report that he completely forgot about the phone number. Gabriele mentally slapped himself and he immediately grabbed the device charging next to him. After adding the new contact to his list, he looked at the clock, 23:17, not too late. The exorcist quickly texted her a small apology and turned off the screen as soon as the message was sent, feeling a strange wave of nervousness. Breathing the anxiety out of his body, Gabriele went back to work on his report, not knowing that 450 kilometers away from Tokyo, a very sleepy Mai smiled in the darkness of her room as a warm sensation started spreading in her chest.
~ Mai sent a new message