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A year had passed since I left Jujutsu High. I returned because Gojo and our lower class man needed help vanquishing the most powerful curse of all time. I wasn’t scared though. I lived everyday with no regrets ever since I left with Kin. I loved waking up next to Kin. I loved doing my hair and makeup in the mirror every morning. I love picking out what clothes to wear(my go to is flared jeans, a lacy top and wedges.) I even loved when Shoko sneaked out to give me my shots for hormone replacement therapy.

Because of that my once scrawny frame had filled out to become a curvier, more feminine figure. While I’m sure my womanly body is still blooming, I still love every inch of myself, inside and out.

“Kirara.” A familiar voice rang through the old halls for the last time. It was Mr. Satoru Gojo. He waved at me with his long arms except now his proportions weren’t hidden under his pure black uniform. He was muscular like a professional MMA fighter and his muscles bulged from under a short sleeved compression shirt. His lower half was much more modest though, seeing as he wore baggy pants like that of a monk with matching martial arts slippers to boot.

“Glad you could make it,” Gojo said, fighting back his exhaustion from preparing for the fight to come.

“The honors all mine,” I playfully teased, “Surprised you’d want to be seen with a couple of drop outs.”

“Please I would’ve been a drop out too if it weren’t for you kids,” Gojo said exasperated, pulling a chocolate bar out of his pocket, “Where’s Kinji?”

“He’s off playing with Yuta. I told him I wanted a moment alone with you.”

“What an honor,” Gojo said sarcastically, pulling out another chocolate bar after eating the first one in two bites.

“You’re going to die an early death,” I said, watching him scarf down the second chocolate.

“Who are you, my mother?”

“Don’t come for me. I don’t see any other women keeping you in line.”

“Hardy har har…”

“But I’m glad you wanted to talk alone…,” Gojo said ending our light hearted banter. I looked at him intently while he looked at the ground in shame.

“What’s going on, Mr. Gojo?”

“I’m not sure if I’m making it out of this fight alive, Kirara. I need to ensure there’s a future where you kids can have a shot of happiness without having to fight for it,” Gojo’s hypnotic blue eyes stared into mine. In the sea of blue where Gojo displayed true remorse to me for the first time.

“I want to kill the higher ups. Your father included.”

I cutely tilted my neck and flashed Mr. Gojo a smile.

“Need a hand?”

“You don’t care?”

I wistfully stared off into the distance, “That man isn’t my family anymore. My family are the people who love me for me. I love the person I am now and I love the people who helped me realize that and help me keep being me. You, Kin, Maki, Shoko… if I didn’t have you guys, you’d probably have to kill me too.”

“That’s the future I want Kirara. I’m sick of the current Jujutsu World. A future where you kids can lean on each other. Don’t worry though. I was gonna save you from those idiots no matter what.”

“No more selfish sorcerers, huh?,” I said, bringing back the teasing tone to the conversation.

“Yeah, but only after I’m gone.”

“I don’t know if I ever got to thank you, Mr. Gojo.”

“Why do you call me that? I’d be fine with just Satoru, honestly.”

“Nah! You’re such a crappy teacher no one else is gonna call you that.”

“Thanks, Kirara.” He walked off smiling with his hands in his pockets.

“See ya later, Mr. Gojo!,” I said enthusiastically waving.

That was the last time Mr. Gojo and I talked. He died in that fight with the king of curses, but his students were able to finish the job for him.

“I don’t get it? Like he’s still a boy, right?,” Panda said, ignorant to a particular facet of humanity.

“Tuna mayo,” Inumaki said.

“Love is a complicated thing,” Yuta nervously giggled.

“I’m so pissed I wasn’t there! I should’ve been the one to do that!,” Maki growled. She shook off her angst and smiled, “this must be what it feels like to be a bridesmaid.”

Ijichi parked his car at Jujutsu High. He was exhausted because Hakari woke him up to form the veil as soon as he sensed my cursed energy fading into Usoai’s bloated domain.

Kin helped me out of the car. He wanted to rush me to the school medic with only one obstacle in his path.

“(redacted)!,” my father shouted as soon as we left the car.

He was a short lanky man, that was a head shorter than Kin. His scalp was bald but his hair from the side and back of his head was grown out to his mid-back and tied off near the bottom in a paint brush like tuft.

His robes and haori were perfectly ironed and tailored to his meager frame.

“Out of the way she needs medical attention,” Kin groaned, looking past my father.

“Kinji Hakari, how dare you dismiss my authority! Watch your tongue or else…”

Kin wound his fist back and punched my father in the same method he punched Usoai. My father fell on his ass grasping his bloody nose.

“KINJI HAKARI,” my father squawked, “I’LL HAVE YOU EXECUTED FOR THAT!”

Neither Kin nor I cared what he had to say. He held me in his arms as my father flailed on the ground. I passively heard him yell about my lipstick and my weakness but I couldn’t bring myself to care about what he said.

He was such a small man that only became smaller as Kin whisked me away to the medic. In this peace my eyes serenely shut so I could rest.

When I woke up, Kin was gone. The school medic, Shoko Ieri was using her reverse cursed technique to miraculously heal my wounds.

“Welcome to the world of the living,” said the gorgeous woman, whose tired eyes told the story of an overworked woman doing her best to keep a strong facade for her allies' sake.

“Where’s Kin?…,” I groaned.

“Gojo had to escort him off the premises. It was quite the show. All your classmates about burned the school down.”

“This is all my fault, I need to fix this…” I said stumbling my way off the shabby hospital bed.

“Hoshi, wait!,” Ms. Ieri said with uncharacteristic panic.

“Don’t try to stop me!”

“Don’t get me wrong,” Shoko said, leaning back in her chair. “All I wanted to say is I heard what Hakari said about you. If you ever need a prescription for hormone therapy, no matter where you go I’m still your doctor and I want what’s best for you.”

I smiled at Ms. Ieri to thank her for her kindness before rushing off to find Kin.

I rushed down the archaic, suffocating halls off Jujutsu High.

A familiar voice echoed through the hall’s ancient lacquered wood, “Where do you think you’re going!?”

It was Satoru Gojo. He appeared out of nowhere as if he silently teleported behind me.

“Gojo…,” I stared him down. He was standing sternly and tall. The exact opposite of his loose body language he had when he chastised me the last time I saw him.

“Where do you think you’re going?” I had never seen him this consistently stern. His goofy facade was fully gone and in its place was a powerful figure that demanded my attention.

“I’m going to Kin! I need him and he needs me!”

“Do you have any idea what you’re giving up?”

“I don’t care!,” I petulantly shouted. “I’m sick of doing what’s expected of me! I’m taking a gamble on myself!”

I brought myself back to earth realizing for the first time since I was an emotionally neglected toddler, I had thrown a tantrum. I looked at Gojo’s face embarrassed at my behavior but to my surprise he was smiling but it wasn’t his sarcastic mischievous grin. It was a pure smile that exuded a warm kindness.

“You remind me of a girl I knew when I was young,” he sincerely confessed.

“Wuh?,” I was dumbfounded by his sudden wave of empathy.

“I was too self centered to keep her safe. I didn’t want any help from my friends and that led to her dying on my watch. Despite her death I’m still just another selfish sorcerer that’ll die alone. Be better than me.”

“Gojo, I…” I never knew Gojo was really a human with weaknesses and regrets.

I returned his gesture in kind, “Thanks for seeing me off.”

Gojo took off his blindfold, “I don’t care what the higher ups say. As long as the stars in your eyes shine, you’ll always be welcome here as my students.”

“I’ll see you around, Mr. Gojo.”

He reapplied his blindfold as I ran off.

I eventually found Kin walking in a quiet part of the city far away from Jujutsu High.

“How’d you find me?,” Kin said, shocked.

I revealed the ‘Imai’ star tattoo on my neck. You’re still marked with my technique. Kin embarrassedly checked his abdomen and sure enough the ‘Acrux’ tattoo remained from the fight.

“Damn, I wanted to at least surprise you with a luxury apartment for us to live in before you got out of the hospital,” he said humbly rubbing his neck and looking at the ground.

“You 100% sure you want to give up a cushy life as a higher up.”

“Seriously? I think we’re a little past that.”

“Sorry, sorry, I’m not gonna bring it up ever again.”

We shared a laugh before Kin asked me, “What do you want to do now?”

“Let’s risk it all!”

“That’s my girl!”

Kin and I were the only students in our grade. The two of us kept a respectful distance. We never knew how to approach each other because we were so different. But we were also similar enough to want to know what secrets the other hid. The school enabled our alienation because I was a future legislator and he was an expendable grunt.

I used to ask my lower classman and staff who went on missions with him ‘Who is Kinji Hakari?’

‘He’s a wildcard,’ Panda said.

‘Mustard leaf,” Inumaki said.

‘A really cool guy! I wanna be more like him,’ Yuta said

‘An arrogant pig headed ass, but I can’t diss his work ethic,’ Maki said

‘He gives me gray hairs,’ Ijichi said

‘Ask him yourself, dummy!,’ Gojo said

Despite him being rough around the edges, the only adult in charge that saw us for who we are was Satoru Gojo, who insisted that I go on a dangerous mission with Kin despite my standing.

There we were on that very mission. I sat broken and battered on the battlefield and Kin while falling from a shattered mural was opening his domain in order to fight a newly emerged special grade curse.

“KIN!”

“KIRARA!”

We screamed out to each other as Kin’s barrier shattered Usoai’s hellish domain.

“I’LL RIP YOUR ORGANS OUT OF YOUR BODY, YOU CHEATER!,” Usoai screamed from their neck mouth. It fell on deaf ears as Kin jumped over the curse’s head landing right in front of me.

He knelt down to cradle me. “I’m so sorry I couldn’t come sooner.”

“Why… did… you save… me…” I muttered through thick breaths.

He brushed a stray hair behind my ear and rested his hand on my face. “Cuz, I love you.”

I pulled myself into his shoulder and sobbed doing my best to hold back tears, “I’m so sorry Kin. I take it all back. I love you. I want you. I want to be me with you.”

Kin pulled me away from his shoulder to look me in the eyes.

“Then let’s waste this fucker!”

A wide smile stretched across my face and a competitive fire lit in my eyes.

“Right!”

“I’LL CHOKE YOU! I’LL GOUGE OUT YOUR ORGANS.”

Usoai appeared behind Kin. They were frantically waving their fingers that they had transformed into ornate cake knives.

“AND I’LL SLIT THAT BITCHES THROAT!”

Hakari reared his fist back and sent the curse rolling back with a single strike. With that strike he released two marble sized green spheres from thin air. The spheres circled a disoriented Usoai before becoming green doors that levitated closely to their sides.

I took a minute to examine Kin’s domain. It was a normal subway station but it had a strange quality. Like it was in a dream or…

“I need to catch her before she gets on that train!,” said Yuki Yamaguchi, the bland protagonist from a mediocre romance manga.

“You’ve got to be kidding me…,” the sheer absurdity of Kin’s domain distracted me from my pain.

“Richi, 2, 2, 5…,” Hakari said, striking a flamboyant pose with one hand on his hip, the other one pointing at Usoai.

Hakari pounced at his opponent. Before Hakari made impact Usoai’s eye was hastily sucked into their neck mouth, revealing the still born face.

“BY THE POWER VESTED IN M…” Hakari gave them no chance to finish. The curse was pelted in a barrage of blows courtesy of Hakari.

“You know for someone who can apparently manipulate binding vows, you’re pretty damn sluggish!,” Hakari said between strikes. Hakari landed his hardest hit directly on the area where Usoai was missing a mouth.

They went flying, crash landing next to the unassuming manga character trying to catch a train.

Usoai rested their pained body on the ticket checker they crashed next to.

“I love you…,” Usoai said staggered.

“To DEATH!”

They lifted their head to reveal Hakari had cracked their skull in a deep gash resembling a wide, crooked smile and their eye was conspicuously missing.

“Eyugh…,” Kin groaned, not realizing how much danger he was in.

A mouth grew on Kin’s neck identical to the one Usoai summoned on their own body earlier in the fight.

“Oooohhhh, shit,” Kin nonchalantly groaned.

I shouted from my soul, “KIN!”

His neck mouth opened revealing Usoai’s missing eye. The eye turned over and the still born spoke its curse,

“BY THE POWER VESTED IN ME,” it shouted in Kin’s voice, “I KINJI HAKARI, OF MY OWN VOLITION, WILL WATCH KIRARA HOSHI DIE OR ALLOW MYSELF TO TAKE A LETHAL HIT!”

“How the hell is that a bonding vow?,” Kin said again, not responding to the seriousness of the situation.

Usoai didn’t give him time to contemplate. The curse sped past Kin directly toward me.

‘Damn it, I don’t have time to…’ I thought as Usoai sped towards me. They readied their knife hands and aimed them for my throat yet again.

Just as before, before their knives could reach me, Kin used his superior speed to intercept the hit. The five knives pierced the center of his chest all at once.

I had no chance to grieve. I pushed my cursed energy to the limit and smacked Usoai while grabbing Kin’s limp body.

Usoai shrugged off my attack but before they could strike a second attack, two gold subway doors shut on his arm, severing it from their body.

“Kin!,” I frantically shouted, “Just hold on a little longer! We’ll have Ijichi get Gojo and…”

“Hold on, babe…,” Kin said, coughing out blood.

“I’m feeling the fever…”

A loud jingle echoed through the domain.

The uninteresting manga character, Yuki Yamaguchi gave a starry gaze to his bland love interest, Yume Asagiri.

“I missed… the last train,” Yume had said lovingly.

“JACKPOT!,” Kin shouted, accidentally spraying spit in my face.

Usoai went for a strike with his remaining hand, “I’VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOUR NONSENSE!,” Usoai shrieked.

Like the horns of cherubs, a song rang out from the pores of Kin’s body. His domain dissipated revealing the demolished chapel.

It was the theme of Private Pure Love Train that lasted four minutes and eleven seconds, and for that time Kin had infinite cursed energy.

His wounds closed as his body surged with power. Despite not knowing how to use reverse cursed technique, having infinite cursed energy meant Kin’s body used it automatically.

For the next four minutes and eleven seconds, Kinji Hakari was effectively immortal.

“WHAT THE HELL!?,” Usoai screeched. “I can’t go through with this! It’s not you it’s me,” the curse sobbed as it tried to crawl away.

“By the power vested in me,

I can be fast enough to escape Kinji Hakari and then I’ll never move again!,” the stillborn head proclaimed.

While in their panicked crawl Usoai noticed a suspicious mark on their arm. It was a simple purple star and the word ‘Imai.’

“I can make binding vows too, you scumbag,” I said determinedly.

Hakari proudly revealed a similar star that had the word ‘Acrux’ tastelessly plastered to the right of his abs, near his crotch.

I formed a binding vow of my own, permanently affecting my technique. I sacrificed my technique's ability to cause my target to float and move on its own so that now I could use my technique on several targets at once that could attract each other in a sequence, and the sequence drew Usoai to Hakari.

I roared my new technique name,

“Maximum Output!

Love Rendezvous!”

Usoai had no choice. The only options Usoai had were to stop or rush straight to Kin.

“Are you married to Lady Luck?,” Usoai whimpered.

“Lady Luck? Who needs her?,” Kin chuckled. “I already have the best lady in the world.” Kin said, winding up the coup de grace.

The whole world turned white for a fraction of a second. I could only see Kin and Usoai in the newly blank canvas that was the world. A shock of black energy surrounded Kin’s fist.

It finally happened. I finally let the tears fall from my eyes.

“KIN!,” I shouted as his fist made contact with the curse. The jolt of black energy spread throughout Usoai’s body and released from their back.

“BLACK FLASH!,” Kin roared.

The exorcism of the curse known as Usoai concluded with their body erupting into thousands of wet chunks that quickly burned away in small ash clouds.

After seeing the curse died I let tears over take me. I mourned the fact my father would never understand this joy. I mourned my wasted years of being someone I wasn’t. I mourned the victims of the curse.

Kin had thawed my heart. I couldn’t even see him coming to sit in front of me beyond the decade and a half’s worth of held back tears. Kin held me in a tender embrace. I felt his tears fall on my shoulder.

I readied myself in a battle stance. Usoai remained in their pretentious wide armed pose. If I could land one hit on him. Exhaust even a little of their cursed energy then my death won’t have been a waste. It was my parting gift to Kin.

I rushed the curse with my blade. I sprinted down the aisle prepared to strike. Before I could reach them, a mouth sprouted from their neck stretching diagonally from their ear to their clavicle. Usoai’s eye was sucked from its socket to the center of the mouth somehow becoming the size of a tennis ball. The eye rolled up revealing what looked like the face of a still born infant on the other side of the eyeball. The mouth wickedly grinned as the infant spoke it’s curse,

“By the power vested in me:

I will give up all my cursed energy reserves for one powerful strike.”

Suddenly the cursed energy in their right arm increased at a comparable rate to a black flash. I jumped back from their strike. The floor collapsed under the curse’s fist, splitting and shaking the worn pews.

Before the cursed energy could dissipate the curse’s mouth swiftly shut, chomping down on the infant head causing a grotesque blood spray.

‘Its cursed energy didn’t go away!,’ I thought midair. ‘That must be their technique!’

I shakily landed on the splintered wood floor.

“Binding vows…,” I said between heavy pants. “Your technique allows you to break them…”

“Very good…” it looked at me with its hollow eye sockets. The right eye socket then began to illuminate with cursed energy. A new bloodshot, milky eye slowly reformed in their skull.

Usoai repeated the process revealing the stillborn face from their mouth again,

“By the power vested in me:

I will sacrifice my life force to fire a high powered laser blast.”

The curse’s hands began to pet the air with their long skeletal fingers forming a glowing pink orb that illuminated the chapel as if they were the fires of hell. I ducked behind a pew and weaved my way under them in an attempt to escape the blast but anticipating this the curse aimed the laser for the already crumbling roof of the chapel.

In my panic I threw Maki’s blade at the curse’s entrails causing it to slice right through their exposed organs and spine.

Usoai’s upper half remained unphased as its bottom fell to the ground and disintegrated into black smoke.

“Child’s play…,” they whispered. At last the pure cursed energy fired up into the air in a deafening blast and a blinding flash. Despite the devastating blast I could still make out the squishy crunch on the still born’s head.

I came too seconds later. I couldn’t hear anything over the ringing in my ears but Usoai’s words invaded my mind once more.

‘You’re the first sorcerer I’ve ever fought. Are they all this weak?’

I felt my leg trapped under some rubble and thankfully due to shock couldn’t feel my snapped rib. I was able to will my head far enough to see Usoai slowly floating toward me. With their reversed curse technique the curse restored their lower half and their missing eye.

I responded to the curse’s taunts with jabs of my own, “Give me a break,” I said from my swollen jaw, “you got lucky fighting me. If I was anyone else you’d be dead in seconds.”

I coughed out a spiteful laugh, “You didn’t have to tell me this is your first fight, I could tell.” I could feel my star-shaped pupil’s dilate out of pure hate, “The way you use cursed energy is amateurish! If a real curse could manipulate binding vows like you I would’ve been dead the second you even considered striking me! You’re nothing! If I can force you to use reverse curse technique three times, then Kin will kill you before you hit the ground!”

‘Are those your final words?,’ the whisper asked my brain.

The curse picked me up by my neck and opened their large mouth.

My face was smeared with Satoru Gojo’s trademark evil grin, “I’m not dead yet…” I lifted up my hand and activated my technique.

I imprinted my ability on Maki’s blade, sending it flying from the pulpit back to me. As it swiftly flew to me, the blade had no patience for the curse blocking it from my hand so it cleaved cleanly from its ribs into my palm.

The curse shouted in pain from its strange mouth and despite my injuries I conjured enough strength to cleanly cut the curse’s arm in two.

This cut was sadly the blade's last. After dismantling Usoai’s arm the blade finally gave in and snapped. I had no time to grieve over it though as I immediately moved back into action. I grabbed Usoai by the neck and stabbed out his eye with my broken blade.

Usoai slashed my chest with their sharp bony fingers before I could inflict any more damage. They sent me flying with enough force that only the chapel’s door could stop me. Finally my body caught up with me. I was too broken to fight him anymore.

Usoai’s cursed energy flared out of pure rage. It approached me knowing I was finally unable to struggle.

My body was limp. I clutched the flayed skin that covered my heart. My breaths were deep and shallow and my body was cold.

I looked up at the sky from the decimated roof. It was a swirling vortex of clouds that showed a dull orange light from their cracks. The sinister light dyed the battlefield. Neither the cursed spirit or the cursed domain were anything I would’ve picked to be the last thing I ever saw. Instead I focused on a stained glass mural that had miraculously survived over the years and over our battle. A beautiful multicolored piece that graced itself over the chapel’s pulpit. The lights dancing in the glass wasn’t a bad sight.

Usoai was now floating on top of me, readying their claws for the killing strike. Its eye still making for a nice sheath for my blade caused the fledgling curse to cry blood.

They aimed their claws at my throat but just before they could paint my throat on the chapel’s doors, Usoai turned their head to see what smashed the final intact mural.

It was Kinji Hakari soaring in the air like a guardian angel. My concussed brain couldn’t even comprehend the sight of him.

‘How do you counter a domain?,’ I remembered my younger self saying.

Hakari provided the answer. Before he could land he raised his hands to his chest. His right hand on top forming a circle with his thumb and index finger and his left hand lying flat below it.

I continued my march to certain death. I used Maki’s blade to slice low grade curses as I made my way to the chapel. I encountered a small curse that was an eyeball with legs. I knew a sorcerer that could kill a curse by only raising a single arm. I dramatically waved my arm the same way he did to no result.

“Damn, guess I’ll never get to do that,” I sighed as I raised my dulled blade, chopping the curse in two. When a curse dies it dissipates in a cloud of black smoke. I wondered how the domain’s master was going to kill me.

The barrier only became more obviously twisted as I went deeper and deeper into the center although it was hard to tell because of a fog slowly setting in and getting thicker. I then heard disembodied voices whispering in my ear. It was two voices, a man and a woman talking in unison. The male voice was deep and scratchy while the female voice sounded like a mother sweetly reading her child a bedtime story.

‘Why are you marching to the chapel? Don’t you know a strong curse is in there?’

“It’s my only option. You’ll manipulate the area to take me there anyway so why should I run away like a punk.”

‘So gallant…,’ the voice said, mocking my weakness.

Suddenly the fog was lifted, revealing the chapel.

I stood staunch and tall. I could feel the bags under my eyes dragging my face down with them. I had many thoughts as I was standing before the chapel where I was sure I’d die. I wondered if my mom was still asleep and what she had for dinner. I thought about how I haven’t texted her in a while.

I looked at the chapel. A very unassuming building. A small staircase with velvety red steps caked in dirt led to the chapel covered in chipped white paint and graffiti, complimented by unpainted wood trimmings. The stained glass windows were busted and the remains of what was once a mural of a dove lingered at my feet.

‘I hope Ichiji is getting rest. I hope Gojo lets him have a vacation soon. Will Maki be mad I broke her blade? What’s Maki gonna say when she finds out I died? Inumaki will probably say ‘bonito flakes’ or something. I wonder if Kin has gone to bed yet.’

‘Did Kin mean everything he said. It doesn’t matter now. There was no more time for final thoughts. My actions are all I have left.’

I was at the top of the stairs and entered the chapel through the door. I wasn’t scared. I wasn’t anything. I felt Kin’s lipstick press against my leg from my pocket.

“I love you, Kin,” I whispered to myself, “I hope my memory is your curse.”

“Talking to yourself is a bad habit,” the curse murmured.

I had no response.

I stood facing the curse. My resolve showed in my straight spin. My fearlessness in my no longer hunched neck.

There was a row of desecrated pews covered in wood rot and mold on their fabric seats. The ceiling was high and held up by cracked walls being slowly being retaken by the earth’s moss. At the end of the chapel there were three carpeted steps that led to the pulpit where the murdered bride and groom were supposed to be married. There stood the curse.

It was garbed in a tattered and dirty costume. It was a black robe made of the same material as a tuxedo. The robe was shabbily tied off by a red sash that only tightened around the waist and let everything else drape off his body, revealing scarred ribs identical to the groom murdered in the chapel. A pronounced white lacy collar stiffly stood behind the curses neck. The inside of its robe was made of the same material and it was visible from the flared bottom that folded together near the curse’s groin. It opened its arms to show off its long flowy sleeves that were baggy like a monk's robe.

It was a skeletal monster covered in ripped blood vessels and scattered patches of muscle. Its face, if you can even call it that, was a visible skull covered in small, infected skin patches. While it’s left eye socket was empty it had an eye to the right that was blood shot with a milky iris. It sloshed around his head floating imperfectly in its enlarged socket. The curse had no mouth or jaw making its skull one solid chunk of bone. The most intriguing part of this curse’s head was a gold ring missing a chunk from the center making them look like lob-sided horns.

“Such a scary look in your starry eyes,” the curse hummed, “My name is Usoai, what is yours sorcerer?”

“Kirara Hoshi,” I said from my gut.

“What a beautiful boy. I’ll enjoy ripping those pretty eyes out of your head.”

I reached into my pocket to grab Kin’s lipstick. While maintaining eye contact with Usoai, I steadily applied the jet black wax to my lips.

I flicked the lipstick tube to the ground and held Maki’s blade tight.

Despite my grief, I remembered a lecture from my teacher, Satoru Gojo.

‘At the pinnacle of jujutsu there are five techniques that make the strongest the strongest!,’ Gojo had said those words to me in a lesson he taught around the time I enrolled.

He had a generic pair of swirly eyed glasses he wore over his blindfold. Odds are Gojo had bought them from a joke shop earlier that day.

‘These five powerful techniques are such.’ He had written them on a chalkboard and was hitting each point as he explained them obnoxiously with a ruler.

‘Number 1: Binding Vows!’

‘A binding vow is a limitation you place on yourself in order to increase the potency of your ability. Breaking the vow can lead to at worst the user's death.’

‘Number 2: Black Flash!’

‘When a sorcerer has perfect synchronization with their cursed energy while striking a rare phenomenon occurs where black sparks erupt from the user resulting in the hit's power doing an immense amount of damage. Don’t count on it though you never know when it’ll happen!’

‘Number 3: Maximum Output!’

‘That’s when a user perfects their technique and can use it’s peak power.’

‘Number 4: Reverse Curse Technique!’

‘Cursed energy is negative energy meant for harm. When a negative is multiplied by a negative it results in positive energy you can use for healing yourself.’

‘Lastly number 5. The most difficult to learn and the deadliest technique you can perform.

Domain Expansion,

a barrier that the user imbues their technique in resulting in a lethal sure hit attack. It’s like walking through someone’s very soul’

I raised my hand and asked ‘How do you counter a domain?’

Gojo smiled his trademark wicked grin. ‘The best way to counter a domain is with a better domain.’

‘How do sorcerers obtain these powers?,’ I asked not expecting to hear anything reasonable.

‘You expand your interpretation of your technique and yourself. Never hesitate. Broaden your horizons and do whatever it takes to come out the absolute victor.’

In the present day I trudged through the woods. With each step my body felt heavier and heavier. Even with the landscape bending sinisterly just enough to make the domain’s victim notice a difference but not notice the change.

All I could think of was Kin kneeling before me, devastated.

The only thing that could disrupt my self pity was a skeletal hand emerging from the ground and grabbing my ankle.

I instantly sliced the hand off my adversary and leaped away to gain distance and observe my opponent. Dozens more skeletons emerged from the ground. I used cursed energy to increase the potency of my strikes allowing me to incapacitate the skeletons in one hit.

‘Are they a manifestation of the curses technique,’ I thought between sword swings. I marked a skeleton with my technique before kicking it away. ‘No, I’m sensing they’re individual curses allowed in the domain. The main curse is using them to wear me out.’

Several skeletons ambushed me by jumping from the surrounding trees. I activated my technique resulting in the skeleton I kicked swiftly flying toward my head to block their blows. Using as much power as I could I sliced several airborne skeletons in half while they struck their ally.

“If you guys aren’t shikigami that means there’s a limit to how many of you there are here!,” I growled as I cut more and more skeletons with Maki’s blade.

Immediately after that slash a skeleton had scratched my back leaving a gash from my shoulder to my waist.

“Damn it!,” I erupted before attacking the skeleton in retaliation.

‘If I were Inumaki or Yuta these curses would’ve been dead in a second,’ I thought as I smashed two skeleton’s skulls together.

I couldn’t tell if it was minutes or seconds or hours worth of assaults but eventually all the skeletons were shattered at my feet and I stood gasping for air.

Between huffs I stared up at the trees that unnaturally twisted into circular spirals at their tips and a purple sky speckled with orange and white marks. The bizarrely colored sky had the same appearance and texture of a pastel painting.

“Damn, I fell for it hook line and sinker. The domain was spread so thin that by the time I realized I was in one it was already too late. The barrier was bloated to the point where I could walk right through it without realizing. “The user is probably manipulating the landscape so I can’t make my way out.”

I wiped the blood off my brow from where a skeleton nicked my head and looked down at Maki’s blade. I had chipped it while fighting and failed to realize that until I had already exhausted myself fighting the fodder.

“While the domain’s thinning negates the sure hit effect that doesn’t mean it can’t solidify the barrier and regain its instant kill, it also means I can’t get Ichiji or Kin’s help.”

I thought about Kin. I prayed he hated me now. That he would never want to see me again because with a sorcerer of my low caliber facing off against such a strong curse there was only one logical outcome.

There I was with my knees pressed against the shabby dirt that neighbored the motel concrete where I had my first kiss. Hakari sat down on a small upturned crate. His face was contemplative. I think he was reevaluating his life as much as I was.

“I’m so sorry… I,” I stammered trying to amend the situation.

“No… no… nothing to be sorry for it was… it was nice.”

“For real?..,” I said turning my head toward him, doing everything in my power not to cry

“Yeah, that was… really nice,” Hakari stuck his hands in his pockets and smiled at the ground. He paused for a second and said, “Have you ever done anything like that before?,” I sat up in the dirt.

“No… never… have you,” I responded.

“Yeah, I’ve had girlfriends… we had sex and stuff, but…” he paused to find the words. “but it was never like that…”

“Like different how?,” I timidly asked, holding my limp fist in front of my heart.

“Well with them I was doing it because that’s what you’re supposed to do. You get with a girl, you fuck her and the passion burns out. One girl maxed out my credit card and that was hot but only because of the risk of losing money and not because I liked her, but with you. I’m glad you did that. It felt real with you.”

“Are you gay or bi or something?,” I asked.

“Well, I don’t like guys. I just like you.”

“I don’t get it…”

“Yeah me neither… how are you doing?...”

I couldn’t respond. My throat couldn’t will itself to speak. I was overwhelmed with brand new emotions.

I was finally able to whimper something out, “I feel like I’m… I feel like…”

“Wait,” Hakari interrupted me. “I want to say something real quick,” His words snapped me back to reality.

“You’ve always had a magnetism to you,” Hakari said, coming closer to me. He knelt in front of me and held my hands in his, “I’d see you in class and I’d never know what to say,” his eyes darted down in embarrassment. “I just wanted to root around your head and see how you tick, but I never got why I couldn’t just ask.”

“Hakari…”

“No. Kinji. My name is Kinji. You can call me Kin. What should I call you?”

My first name was, (redacted) a strong masculine name my father had selected before I was even conceived. I couldn’t bring myself to say it. I didn’t want that name. I wanted a name that glittered. A fabulous, flamboyant name. A name that made me feel the fever every time I heard it.

“Kirara,” I told Kin. I coughed the name out like I was spitting water out of my lungs.

“Kirara…,” Kin said as he smiled. “It’s beautiful, what do you want to be, Kirara.” His grip on my hands became subtly tighter. I could feel the warmth of his hands spread through my whole body.

“I want to be a gorgeous wife to a man I love.”

Kin smiled trying his best to keep composure. I could see the tears welling up in his eyes.

I remembered my father. His voice that had burrowed its way in my brain like a parasite, ’(Redacted), you are an extension of me. That is your only reason for being. Never forget that,’ I finally was able to speak. I gagged on my words as they came out.

“And in another life I’d want to be your wife.”

His face dropped to be as emotionless as a corpse.

“I’m a traditionalist by birthright, Kin.”

He was kneeling in the same position unflinching. I removed my hands from his and they fell limp at his side. I stood up to look down on him as I was the higher up and he was my subordinate.

“I’ll always be in love with you, Kin. But I can’t love you.”

Without passion. Without heat. Without the fever… I politely bowed to him and took my leave. I was stoic and harsh. Just as a good higher up should be.

I walked away at an appropriate pace. Leaving Kin kneeling. The once happy tears of passion that had weld up in his eyes, coldly fell down his face.

I entered our room. Next to the beds where we conspired to sneak out. I grabbed Maki’s cursed blade. ‘Not out of respect for Maki,’ I thought but only because I couldn’t leave a cursed weapon unattended.

That was the right thing to do.

On my way out I stepped on a tube of lipstick Kin had accidentally dropped. I picked it up ‘not because I loved him and wanted a memento,’ I thought. Only to confiscate it. Males shouldn’t wear such things.

That was the right thing to do.

With that I walked away. Away from the mission. Away from the town. Away from Ijichi. Away from the fever. Away from Kinji Hakari. I wanted to die, but I always wanted to die whenever I embraced my destiny as a higher up so I was used to it. I walked. I walked. I walked. I walked. I walked. I walked. I walked. I walked. I didn’t care where I went. I just wanted to be away from the happiness that would betray my birthright.

’(Redacted), you are an extension of me. That is your only reason for being. Never forget that.’

The words echoed from a deep pit in my soul.

Little did I know my death wish might have been closer than it seemed. I couldn’t notice beyond my grief. A healthy person would’ve become nauseous and their vision would’ve blurred, but I was already feeling that.

I made my way to the back of the motel. I stared hollowly at my phone. A call from my father. I eventually collected myself and answered.

“Hello, father.”

“What’s this I hear about Satoru Gojo sending you on a mission with that ruffian?”

“Yes, father, it’s true.”

“Foolish boy, what disrespect. You knew you should’ve gotten my permission first,” my father hissed with his high pitched, scratchy voice.

“I apologize, father. I acted rashly,” I said coldly. “I let your assistant know I took this mission purely as a learning opportunity.”

“Enough!,” he shouted at me. It was a familiar tone that shook me just as much now as when I was a child. “I worked for decades to have a suitable heir! I will not have you throw your life away with that rapscallion, Kinji Hakari!”

My father wasn’t wrong. He’d never admit it but he had fertility issues and it took him and my mother years of treatments to have me. From then on my father has treated me as nothing less than a disgrace. I wasn’t worth all the effort he had put in to bring me into the world…

“I only plan to observe, I assure you father there will be no danger.”

“Foolish boy! How dare you assure me of anything you lying whelp! Such a dishonesty, you make me sick! Tell that fool, Ijichi, to drive you back immediately!”

“Father, we need a team to sense any cursed energy…”

“What do I care if any non sorcerers are eaten! Return home at onc…”

Suddenly the phone was snatched from my hands. It was Hakari.

“That’s enough of that,” Hakari said matter of factly. He threw the phone to the ground and smashed it under his foot.

“WHAT DID YOU DO!?,” I gasped with my head in my hands. The tips of my fingers gripped my scalp so tight I almost broke the skin.

“Hearing you get all mopey with your dad was throwing off my good mood.”

“You oaf. You brute! Do you know what you just did?” I knelt in the wreckage of my phone. “You have no idea how angry father will get!”

“Not angry enough to come down. We can hash this out with your dad after we’re done. Those higher ups are too sissy to actually see some action.”

“This isn’t how I deal with things, Hakari! You can’t just hang up on Father like that!”

I was flailing my hands as I talked. My face was beet red. I haven’t yelled like this since I was very small and sent to a dark room to quiet me up.

“Well,” Hakari said, lifting the makeup bag. “I bet you would be happy I’d shut your dad up for ya. Guess I lost. You can do whatever you want to me now.”

I looked up at him. My eyes were squinting, holding back the tears I refused to let fall. The blood vessels in my neck felt like they were about to burst. I reached back my hand and smacked Hakari square in the jaw. His cheek turned to a rosey shade of pink.

“Not what I expected but that’s the makeover I get for losing,” said Hakari who was visibly upset.

“Can you take anything seriously!” I shouted with my shoulders tense and my fists tightly wound at the end of my stiff arms.

“I’m sorry I upset you. I’ll take whatever punishment you want me to receive but be honest,” Hakari brushed a hand on the side of my face, instantly disarming me. “Are you afraid of what your dad will do… or what you’ll do?”

I was hyperventilating. My heart was beating so quickly I felt like I was going to die. I blinked back more tears as I asked, “what are you talking about, you… you rapscallion!”

“What do you want to do? What’s your gamble.” He said with his hand still softly holding my face.

“I…” I gasped between breaths

Hakari looked at me so patiently… so beautifully… so peacefully…

“I…” I gasped a second time.

“I… I… I…,” my body took control. I grabbed his face the same way he grabbed mine. My thumb brushed his bottom lip.

My technique. I can mark my cursed energy on a single target and attract it toward me. My technique activated as quickly and as inadvertently as a heart skipping a beat. Hakari’s lips were forced toward mine. Our hands were still on each other’s cheek. The rustling of the rural wind was the only sound I could hear over my pounding pulse. Hakari had closed his eyes fully embracing me. Mine were wide open in fear. I had deactivated my ability and fell to the floor on my hands and knees on the dirt.

“What did I just do…” I whimpered to the dirt.

We exited the drug store. Hakari took his time looking despite the fact we made it five minutes to close. We walked down the quiet road with a similar lack of urgency.

“Why did you waste your money on all that mess?,” I chastised him for buying makeup and nail polish.

“Fine if you don’t like it I’ll wear it.”

“You can’t wear that you’re a boy!”

“Style doesn’t know gender! It’s not what you wear, it's how you wear it.”

“Huh, I’ve never thought of it like that before…”

“Besides I got a fun game for us!”

“You know we’re supposed to be in bed right now.”

“Well nothing gets me stoked for a mission more than some games.”

“Games?”

“Yeah, I have a game for you! We’ll compete and the winner gets to style the loser.”

“You cannot be serious…”

“Dead serious! A little gamble before a big gamble like a mission is the perfect warm up.”

I began to pout and point my nose up, “Gamble, gamble, gamble. Is that all you talk about?”

“Yeah I got a bit of a one track mind but I can’t help it. I’m a total adrenaline junkie! My parents were straight laced blue collar non sorcerers. We didn’t have a lot while I was growing up but we made just enough to get by.”

My expression softened as I listened to him.

“I love my parents and all but I hated all the mundanity day in and day out so I was always picking fights and getting in trouble just to heat things up a bit. As I got older I started seeing curses clearer and clearer and I picked fights with them too. Wasn’t long before Jujutsu High had me figured out and I was personally scouted by Gojo. Why someone let that jerk be in charge of kids is beyond me,” Hakari shrugged and a nostalgic look washed over his face, “but I’d be lying if I said the guy wasn’t always there for me. Even if I didn’t always like what he had to say.”

“I had no idea you two were close. Every time you two are in a room together you’re yelling at him.”

Hakari let out a hearty laugh. “Yeah it’s the same way with my folks! I can’t help myself. I always gotta butt heads with authority figures. I can’t stand it when people think they know everything.”

“I think I know what you mean. Although I’d never have the courage to speak up about it.”

“You’ll find your voice, I'm sure of it, Hoshi. You might not see it but there’s a spark in you just waiting to heat up.”

“How do you know?”

“Because I’m the same way. I just needed Gojo’s help to see it.”

I smiled softly. His words were kind and while I appreciated them I didn’t quite believe them yet.

“H-Hey! What are you two doing out!?,” Ijichi called out. We were so wrapped up in the conversation we didn’t remember to hide from him.

“Sorry, Ijichi! We had trouble sleeping so we thought we’d take a walk.”

“I understand but why didn’t you run that by me first!”

“Sorry I figured Goodie-Goodie wouldn’t go out if he thought you might say no.”

“You’re unbelievable,” I muttered.

Ijichi pinched between his eyebrows. He was in much the same position as me in that we both couldn’t reign in Hakari.

Ijichi collected himself and asked “Are you two going to be alright staying up for your shift?”

“Sure,” Hakari said. “I got plenty of sleep on the car ride over.”

“I’ll keep an eye out for him and keep him on task,” I said extra respectfully to make up for mine and Hakari’s unruly behavior.

“Thank you, Hoshi. You two just keep a reading out for any unusual influxes of cursed energy and wake me up if you feel anything. If that doesn’t happen I’ll be ready before dawn and then we’ll investigate the chapel.”

“Yes, sir,” I said bowing.

“Sure whatever,” Hakari said curtly.

I was in the fetal position under my covers in the lumpy motel mattress. As far as I knew Hakari was in a dead sleep meanwhile my mind raced. My mind returned to that beautiful woman in a wedding dress. What was she thinking when she killed her groom? What was she thinking when she killed herself? To those privy to the case it’s mostly agreed upon that she caught him cheating with a bridesmaid. But why react so strongly? Was it love? Passion? Regret?

Was it the fever…

“Can you not ever chill out?,” Hakari snapped at me. He could sense my anxiety despite my quietness.

“What do you mean?,” I instantly responded knowing exactly what he meant.

“If you’re worried about the curses I should be able to handle them.” He grumbled with his back still turned at me.

“I’m well aware. I appreciate you taking the reins on this mission,” I said as I moved to lay flat on my back.

He shuffled to his other side looking at me intensely, “Then what are you freaking out about?” I winced at the question but didn’t respond. “You’re always freaking out, come to think of it. Even when you’ve done well on a mission or had a fun day you always look… what’s the word… distant,” Hakari sat up on the bed, with his feet on the ground, facing me. “There’s something digging at you and it’s bugging me,” I had no thoughts. The icy shields I had built on my heart couldn’t be that easily pierced.

Hakari thought for a second with his lips pressed and his brow knitted. His eyes got wide and he hit his fist on his palm. “I got it! We’ll put it to a gamble.”

I turned my head. This childish disposition was foreign for him. He reminded me almost of Gojo for that brief second.

“Excuse me?,” I said indignantly.

Hakari didn’t seem phased by my impudence. “A gamble!,” he dug in his pocket and pulled out a fifty yen coin and he pointed it towards me with his arm fully extended. His childish exuberance was still on full display.

“If it lands on the 50 I’ll leave you be and let you be all sullen and lame!” Hakari grinned devilishly, “and if it lands on the flower you gotta tell me all your baggage!”

My mouth was slightly agape. Despite knowing Hakari for a year or so we had never really had the chance to connect like this. Given how nervous he made me, it never bothered me much.

I could’ve said no but instead I hesitated for a second and responded “Okay…”

His grin widened showing all his teeth. “Now we’re talkin’!” He eagerly flipped the coin to his eye level and snatched it mid air. Then he made the coin collide with the back of his hand with a loud smack. He looked down at the coin, his impossible wide smile widening more and his eyes narrowed.

“Flowerssssssss,” he sang.

I gave him a look like an exhausted mother looking at her hyperactive child. Breathing in and out I gave a sigh and my lips pursed before going limp, “You win fair and square…” I sighed.

“HAHA, YES!” He hit his fist in the air and lightly jumped once while still sitting on the bed. I knew he loved gambling but over such low stakes he still relished a victory…

“Do you ever get the feeling you should be someone else?,” I asked

“No. Never,” he instantly responded

“Must be nice… I feel it all the time.”

“Who do you want to be?”

I sat up in the bed and started to hug my legs to my chest while looking out the window.

“I don’t know… At first I thought I wanted to want to be a bureaucrat like dad wants… but I could never fool myself convincingly…”

Hakari’s smile turned into an inquisitive look.

“Then I thought ‘maybe I want to be strong like Gojo or Yuta…‘ but I didn’t care about that either…”

“Did you ever figure it out…,” Hakari asked

I smiled slightly “I think so but you’re gonna think it’s stupid…”

“Try me,” his smile returned but this time soft and compassionate.

I chuckled softly, “I wanna be a star…”

“Like in movies?”

“No, no. Like someone that shines… someone that’s flashy, someone that’s beautiful… I used to go to meetings with my father when I was a lot younger… but I never really paid attention… my favorite thing was seeing their wives in the other room. They were all wearing these tasteful kimonos… and their hair was so beautiful and intricate… same for their makeup…”

“Is that what you want to be?”

“I think so… wouldn’t that be incredible. Being so beautiful and graceful…”

“Do you want to be a wife?”

“Don’t say it like that, it makes me feel silly.”

“What’s silly about it? I think it’s cool.”

I turned my head toward him, shocked to hear his words. His face was so kind.

“I can see you for the first time.”

‘I can see you for the first time,’ what did Hakari mean by that? I felt something I had never felt before at that moment. It was just a second but felt so much longer. Like my heart was locked in place. Like time itself paused just so I can process my new unknown feeling. Was it fear? Was it relief? Was it emptiness? Was it… warmth…

Inelegantly, Hakari broke the silence, “So you need a makeover!”

“Ummm,” I had no words I could string together at the moment. Hakari had completely overtaken the situation.

“There’s a drug store, down the road! We can sneak past, Ijichi! It’s super easy. I do it all the time!”

“Are you seriously going just because that dumbass told you to!,” Maki barked at me as I loaded my bag in the back of the assistant's car. “Your dad’s a higher up!? Is this even legal!?”

“It’s not like I’ll be in any real danger. I’m probably just going to be watching Hakari fight while I take notes.”

“Ugh. You’re such a doormat!” She growled, stomping her foot. She collected herself, “If you get into any trouble just use this.” Maki pulled a curved blade from her bag, approximately the size of my forearm. “This is a pretty decent cursed blade, it should be able to cut a curse easily but leave the fatal hits to that moron.”

I worked up a small smile to chide her as she handed me the weapon, “He has a name you know.”

“Oh, it’s not moron? What is it dumbass, dip-shit, idiot, shit for brains, shall I go on?” I faintly chuckled at her.

“Is spitting poison all that mouth can do?,” asked Hakari as he casually strolled to the assistant's car with a duffle bag thrown over his shoulder.

“No, it can also bite out your jugular.” Maki spat.

“You’re never gonna get a husband acting like that,” he said half heartedly entering the car.

“That’s okay I’d much rather take you as a wife, Hoshi.”

“Maki please I told you not to joke like that.”

“Sorry, girlfriend.” She said, patting my back, knocking the air out of me.

“Maki, why do you make jokes like that?”

“HA! Now that’s funny,” she shot me a smile. “You sure you’re not the one that needs glasses. Can’t see the truth right in front of your face.”

“Whatever,” I rolled my eyes, shrugging off Maki’s teasing. “Thank you, Maki.”

“Anytime,” her eyes softened and her smile was gentle. “Us girls gotta stick together,” she said walking off as I grimaced. I sighed and smiled getting into the car.

The car started up and we drove through Tokyo. We were exiting the bustling city bound toward an unassuming rural area.

“There’s been reports of a haunted wedding chapel.” Ijichi, the assistant, said passing us a Manila envelope with information pertaining to our mission. It was filled with grizzly pictures of a crime scene.

“Is this the murder suicide chapel from way back when,” I asked. Hakari raised an eyebrow at my quick recollection.

“You like some kind of true crime junkie?,” Hakari asked.

“No of course not!,” I blustered. “I just need to keep up with things like this for when I’m a higher up,” I meagerly grumbled. He seemed disappointed in my answer.

“Anyway,” Ichiji said nervously, sensing tension. “There’s been stories about disappearances there the past three months.”

I looked at the photos of the bride and groom. The groom had small lacerations on his neck probably from his bride violently choking him. His face was covered in tears, snot and blood. His eyes were bloodshot and wide and his mouth was agape. It was like he screamed until the very end. More than likely because his chest had been carved open exposing his ribs and organs.

The bride was much more stoic in death. She had sat facing away from a lovely vintage vanity mirror. She had cut the right side of her neck from her ear to her clavicle in one cut. She sat daintily with her hands gingerly resting on her lap. Her dress looked like it was in fashion in the 1980’s. She had long, elegant sleeves, and a large, poofy skirt that hid her feet. It was a beautiful shade of white and looked brand new despite its age. It must have been her mother’s dress she had painstakingly maintained for her daughter’s wedding day. But I had to search for the white amongst a sea of red. It was unclear where her blood began and her groom to be’s ended.

Her hair was so intricately tied and pinned into the back of her head and I assumed it must have been a beautiful spiral pattern. And her face was tastefully painted with makeup. It was a shame that face looked so tired and disappointed.

I had heard from my research on the incident that a rumor had been spread that the bride had committed the deed using the knife that was being saved for the wedding cake. While she did use a knife to kill the groom and herself, I had my suspicions about something that ironic happening in real life.

“Quit hogging the gore, Hoshi. Lemme take a look,” Hakari yawned while grabbing the photo. “Damn, quite a looker. She’d look a lot better with rosy cheeks like yours, Hoshi.”

“That’s enough from you,” I said pouting. I snatched the paper from his hands. He faintly smiled, glancing at me from his peripheral vision.

Ichiji, quick to change the subject, spoke up, “There’s no cursed energy residue at the chapel but it’s obvious a cursed spirit is behind the disappearances. This curse has a calling card though. People are mysteriously drawn to this chapel the 15th of every month. We think that’s the only time it shows itself so it can lure people in and feed.”

“The 15th is tomorrow,” I replied forbodingly.

“HA!,” boomed Hakari. “And we’re the bait.”

Ichiji gulped and confirmed our suspicions, “For lack of a better term, yes. We’re going to arrive at the chapel at dawn tomorrow. I’m going to be maintaining the veil for the whole day, giving you two time to investigate.”

“A whole day? Is that healthy, Ijichi?,” I asked softly. I came up from my seat close to Ijichi to show my concern.

“It’ll be hard,” He said nervously, “but Gojo insisted I was up for the job,” the words fell from his mouth with thinly veiled fear. Hakari and I exchanged an identical glance, both our lips pursed and our shoulders tense. We imagined what horrors Gojo gleefully inflicted on this poor assistant.

Ijichi stopped at a cheap strip motel in the rural town. “The chapel’s only a few kilometers on the outskirts of this town,” Ijichi said pointing in its direction. “We’re gonna keep an eye out for potential victims. We’ll sleep here tonight in shifts. Here’s the key to your room.”

He handed a key card to Hakari. “Where’s mine, Ijichi?,” I naively asked.

“Oh you’ll be sharing one,” Ijichi said matter of factly.

My heart sank to the bottom of my chest.

I stood alone with my teacher, Satoru Gojo. My hands were politely held together in front of my waist. My posture was perfect except for a slight droop in my neck.

Gojo on the other hand stood slouching and leaning his lanky body on the chalkboard. Believe it or not, his standing in Jujutsu Society was higher than even my father’s. That didn’t stop my father and his contemporaries from futilely scolding Gojo for not heeding their pompous orders.

I always harbored a hidden fondness toward Gojo for this. His power and confidence was a reminder that out there change was possible. What this change could be I was never sure but he looked at all his students with such fondness. I thought we were all a part of his dubious plans.

Gojo tilted his head back to expose his neck. “What was with that sad sack shit?” He asked coyly. “I know your dad’s one of those uptight losers but I have higher hopes for you.”

I wasn’t surprised or hurt at his words. I kept my composure as I spoke. “I apologize for disappointing you. I will attempt to do better.”

“Blah blah blah” Gojo mocked me, sticking out his tongue and clapping his thumb to his other fingers to imitate a yapping mouth. “Aren’t you sick and tired of acting like a lil’ goodie goodie all the time.”

“I’m sorry, sir. I don’t know what you mean.”

“C’mon, Hoshi! I can see something in you begging… CRYING to get out. You’ve been skating by so far. But trust me…”Gojo lifted his blind fold revealing his eyes that reflected what seemed like hundreds of intricately connected shades of blue. It was an intense mosaic, steadily and almost dreadfully peering at my soul. His grin returned. “You’re destined to be something beautiful and true. After all… we both have special eyes… and one day they’ll meet on equal ground.”

I stood dumbfounded. My eyes were wide and my face was pale. Gojo might act like a fool but all the students were aware that it was just a mask to bring our guards down. Sometimes I couldn’t tell if it was to nurture us… or to one day devour us.

Suddenly my panic was interrupted. There was a familiar kick at the door. “This better be good, shithead!” A voice erupted. “I’ve got a hell of a headache and no patience for your…” his voice softened when he saw me. “Oh. Hey, Hoshi.”

He greeted me with a stiff wave. I apprehensively waved back. The blood Gojo had drained from my face rushed back to my cheeks. Gojo smugly chuckled.

“Hakari, so happy to see your shining, happy mug!” Gojo teased. His more methodical side returned and his sunny grin curled into a devious smirk once more, “I want you two to team up for a mission.”

“WHAT!?” I screamed jolting up right.

“Seriously..?,” Hakari sighed, “you could’ve texted that…”

“WHAT HAPPENED TO SORCERERS BEING SELFISH, WHY MAKE US TEAM UP!?” I sputtered the words out instinctively waving my hands wildly just to fail at convincing anyone… including myself…

“Exactly and I’m selfish enough to send you two on a mission cuz I think it’d be fun to see how you work together.”

I was stuttering trying to think of excuses while Hakari was slack jawed, dumbfounded by Gojo’s audacity.

Later that day every student at the school was assembled to debrief after a competition with our sister school in Kyoto.

“OKAY, EVERYONE!” Said our overzealous teacher who was supposed to be leading a lecture. He twirled on his tip toes with his unusually long arms pointing straight out. In spite of the room being filled with dour teenagers he was loud and chipper. My head throbbed with every word he shouted.

Every proportion on this man seemed to be stretched to a ridiculous degree and his fitted pure black suit only accentuated these bizarre features. The visible half of his face was alabaster white, with delicate pink lips that were habitually curled into a mischievous smile. His eyes were obscured by a pitch black blindfold that wrapped evenly around his head. The blindfold was so tight it somehow kept his snow white hair sticking up as far as it could.

His name was Satoru Gojo. A man of 27 years behaving childishly in an attempt to either pester his students or make them smile. If he was attempting the latter it was failing miserably.

“Can you cut to the chase, Gojo!?” A young woman rudely exclaimed. She was Maki Zenin. A girl that was as beautiful as she was brutish. Her hand to hand fighting skills were the most refined in the whole school. She wore a pair of tattered, taped up glasses underneath her neatly trimmed bangs. Her ponytail was high and mighty like her attitude.

“What’s even the point of debriefing,” a deep, sluggish voice chimed in. The voice came from a student named Panda. His name was self explanatory. He was a large burly beast perfectly resembling a panda bear with the exception of his gift of speech. Despite this gift he rarely had anything of note to say. “Yuta and Rika manhandled everyone in Kyoto.”

“Salmon” his friend wisely proclaimed. Toge Inumaki was an impish young man with well maintained, gel spiked hair. His cursed technique required him to talk in rice ball ingredients. Though sometimes it was hard to hear what he was saying seeing as his mouth was covered by his collar.

“Guys, please I was more of a liability than anything!” Yuta Okkotsu sheepishly argued. His dark messy hair stood up on end and the dark rings that painted his face from countless sleepless nights were contrasted by his wide doe eyes. He was quick to down play his incredible powers as to not feel alienated from his peers. “It took everything I had to contain Rika!”

“No they’re 100% right Mr. Okkotsu! You even had Aoi on the back foot and that’s no simple feat!,” Gojo interjected.

Excluding Hakari who was sleeping off a hangover, this was the entire student body of Jujutsu High.

“You’re being awfully quiet Mr. Hoshi! Any thoughts on yesterday’s performance?” Gojo exuberantly shouted at me.

If Okkotsu was the strongest of the class, I was the bottom of the barrel. Any plan I was involved in came up humiliatingly short. At best I could use my cursed technique as a mild nuisance. Maki and Panda were blessed with over whelming physical strength. Inumaki when he wasn’t talking in rice ball ingredients could command peoples minds. Yuta had a devastatingly powerful spirit haunting him. Combining that with his massive pools of cursed energy and his elite talent at manipulating it he was comparable to even the strongest veteran sorcerers.

Me on the other hand. My power was to draw anyone or anything I touch with my cursed energy levitate towards me, but I could only mark one target at a time. I was studying at Jujutsu High as a technicality. My father was part of the upper rung of decision makers in Jujutsu society known to the layman’s as the ‘Higher Ups’. So despite my lack luster abilities I was to train amongst the extraordinary so that I may one day take on his position so I can do nothing but nitpick and belittle actual sorcerers.

“It’s as the others said.” I said coldly and matter of factly just as father commanded. “Yuta dominated the competition. The other first years provided whatever support they could and did so efficiently.” I hesitated to complete my report for a second. I took a shallow breath and admitted my shame.

“Us second years were a disgrace. Hakari was absent and I was of no use.” I returned to my seat with my eyes humbly facing toward the ground.

“OOH! So harsh! But so true too!” Gojo inappropriately declared. “Regardless of Yuta being a glory hog, I know you each could have handled it if you really applied yourself! Jujutsu Sorcerers are selfish beings! Fighting alone is when you’re at your peak!”

“Are you sure that doesn’t just apply to you?” Yuta shyly countered.

“Who cares?! Like I said we’re selfish! I only care about what I think!”

The class groaned, cringing at his over bearing, joyful facade. “And what I think is you are all winners! Here’s your reward!” He grabbed several hard candies from his pocket and in one impossibly precise motion he had flicked a candy at each of his students.

Inumaki seamlessly caught his piece. Maki dodged hers letting it land on the floor. Panda’s landed directly on his outstretched tongue. Meanwhile, Yuta nervously fumbled his in his hands. Mine landed sadly in my hair, slowly sliding off and landing on my desk. I felt compelled to stare at the dejected confection.

I woke up before the alarm today. I could see in the crack between my curtains the dawn was slowly rising above the cityscape horizon outside my window. In my daze I wasn’t focused on anything except the resilient stars still shining in the peeking sunlight. I never considered how beautiful this time of day was before that moment. In a perfect world every minute of every day would be like this.

Reality had crept its ugly head though because my stargazing was interrupted by the urge to pee.

I lifted my scrawny frame from under my unassuming blue comforter set I had half heartedly selected from the bargain store. I passed by the mirror on top of my equally plain dresser. Just like every morning before I started the day by being saddened by my reflection.

There I was. Highschool second year, (first name redacted) Hoshi. My frame was thin despite the strict athletic regiment required at my school. My hair was cut almost as if I passed through an assembly line. A neat trim. Not short or long enough to draw any attention and equally spread along my head. My face was soft and round in the same way as a child’s. The only remarkable thing about me were my eyes. My iris’ were a perplexing deep purple with peculiar star shaped pupils.

I despised those eyes. They betrayed my mediocrity. The almost supernatural way they caught the light gave a celestial aura. I felt like I was looking into someone else’s face when I looked at the reflection of my eyes. What a cruel joke of god to gift me with something so other worldly when I would rather blend in with the crowd.

But these eyes were proof that I stood amongst the extraordinary. I had been born with the rare abundance of the power of humanity’s negativity. This is known as cursed energy.

Cursed energy normally manifests from the fears and sorrows of the human heart. These feelings manifest into the vestiges of hellish monsters that consume human’s and their life force known as cursed spirits. While imperceivable to most these monsters were not without opposition. Humans born with an abundance of cursed energy residing in them harness bespoke techniques to combat these cursed spirits. But some stars shine brighter than others. A rudimentary harnessing of cursed energy was nothing compared to those with techniques and power to combat the entire world. I stood at the foot of these Goliaths. My powers were like a dim light as compared to their sun.

I suppressed enough of my angst to walk by the mirror as I do every morning. Exiting my dorm room I found my self surrounded by an ominous hallway made from ancient woods from a far gone era. Dorms containing my monstrous male classmates. They slept soundly as I shuffled next to their doors. Such is the luxury of the strong.

Thankfully, the bathroom was more contemporary. I made my way past the unruly urinals to the cleanest toilet I could spot. The brief moment of respite I found while relieving myself was interrupted by the ungraceful stumbling of one of my classmates entering the bathroom.

My body had taken great extents to wake me up early as to avoid sharing the restroom with my classmates. Despite our shared right to use this area at our leisure I still felt as if his presence was an intrusion. This however didn’t stop my fellow second year from instantly dominating the room with his mere presence.

I knew who it was based off the smell of alcohol filling the room. He let out a loud, obnoxious moan as he relived himself. His name was Kinji Hakari.

I hid in the stall hoping he wouldn’t notice me. My chest got tight whenever he looked at me. It was like looking into the face of a Greek Demi-God of legend. He too was a sorcerer and a talented one at that. His cursed energy was thick, course and suffocating. By its sheer abundance his powers could not be suppressed. It’s as if just by his existing he was challenging the world to a fight.

My heart was pounding as I sat clutched on the toilet. My thighs were pressed tightly to my chest. I couldn’t even bring myself to breathe.

‘Leave… just leave, I desperately thought.

He hocked phlegm into the urinal and then mumbled something I couldn’t make out. His steps echoed as they closed in on me. I could see his once valuable sneakers now besmirched by mud stomping from underneath the stalls. I could the feel frantic pumping of my heart beat throughout my entire body. The time between each step was torture. Why was I so afraid of him? It was driving me nuts. Just as soon as it started the stomping stopped. He raised his leg and kicked the stall in.

I was still as a statue as the sound of the flimsy lock breaking under the weight of his ruined sneakers. Despite my stillness I couldn’t stop my face from turning beat red and my eyes winding as far as possible.

We met each other’s gaze. His lips were pursed pushed to the side of his face and his eyes equally wide as mine contrasted the mighty image of him in my mind.

The silence was eventually broken by his attempt at an apology.

“Oh hey, Hoshi,” he said inelegantly. “Sorry, man didn’t know you were in there”

My throat was dry. I suddenly remembered why he was so revered despite the innocent embarrassment painted on his face. He stood tall, broad and muscular. The might of his toned legs were hidden within an overly baggy pair of cargo khakis that were just as scuffed up as his shoes. Moving up his body I saw his chest squeezed into a shabby wife beater. His proportions were comparable to Grecian statues. You could see a muscle bulge with every movement he made. Above his wide shoulders stood a long, thick neck that had the luxury of holding his noble head.

His face was rugged and beyond his years. Underneath his stubble was a chiseled chin and above that was his long pointed nose. His narrow eyes shot through me like arrows. And then there was the center piece of his head. His curly, textured mane was like that of a lions. Dark black and beautifully wild, it fit around his head like a halo.

“Why are you all scratched up” I asked.

“I had to teach some geezers at the parlor a thing or two.” He smiled, grabbing his shoulder and rotated his arm in a subconscious attempt at defusing tension.

I felt a small rush of adrenaline at his comment, less reluctantly I asked “Did they try to scam you!?”

“Nah, I just kept gambling myself into a hole and when one of the bouncers tried to cool me down I knocked him out.”

“Oh!” I said slightly jerking my head back in surprise

“Yeah, I hate it when people try to cool me down when I’m burning hot. It’s like a gambling fever that heats up my whole soul.”

My eyes were widened. My anxieties were gone in that moment. His smile, his scuffs, his scars. It told a story of unabashed passion. For the first time in my life the stars didn’t feel so cold and distant. Because I was staring at a sun.

“Well, anyway, we’ll chit chat later” He turned around while looking back at me, still smiling. “See ya round, Hoshi.”

“See ya… “ I muttered back, my body tightening back up. I think he was saving face to get out quick forgetting why he kicked down my stall in the first place (I think he had to go number 2)

‘What was the fever…?’ ‘What kind of person likes fights and gambling like that…?’ Despite us engaging the only two second years at Jujutsu High, I knew next to nothing about him. ‘Who are you Hakari…?’ these questions were burning at my soul.