Promise

It was late in the afternoon when I made my way to the track across from the dormitories. Gojo encouraged me to explore around the campus by myself, so today, I decided to take his advice. There weren't many staff members nor students on school grounds, so it was a peaceful stroll across the traditional Japanese-themed school.

I had yet to see a student of Tokyo Jujutsu High when I spotted three figures on the field. Intrigued, I went down the stairs to get a closer look. A young woman with glasses, a boy with platinum blonde hair wearing a high collar that covered his mouth, and a panda were exchanging blows on the grass.

Judging from their age, they should be students here.

As Rey approached the trio, they immediately felt the boy's presence. The woman glanced at the boy and the panda and raised her spear. The boy reached up and gripped the zipper of his collar tightly. The panda took a defensive position.

I was about to raise my hand in greeting when a spear head surged towards me. I pivoted to the side instinctively and grabbed the rod of the spear. Twisting my arm at an impossible angle, I caught the woman by surprise and tugged the spear away from her hands. Then, I used the butt of the spear to push her back and the front end to block the panda's paw.

The panda's eyes widened in surprise as I matched his raw strength. He broke off the stalemate and retreated to his peers. I twisted my arm back with a grunt and held the spear out in front of me.

This isn't exactly what I expected for a first meeting.

"Inumaki, get ready," the woman commanded. "Panda and I will coordinate with you."

"Shake," the boy replied. The panda nodded and repositioned himself behind me.

The boy pulled down the zipper.

Snake and Fang seals! Move!

"Blast away!"

I felt a strong force push my body backwards, and I flew through the air. The woman and panda split up, one coming from behind and one in front. I hurled the spear in the woman's path and twisted my body to block the panda's blow with my leg. The Snake and Fang seal user opened his mouth for his second attack.

"Aiya, what are you guys doing?" Gojo's voice came from behind. Panda and I skidded to a halt and turned towards the man.

"Gojo-sensei," Panda greeted as he returned to stand next to the woman. I remained where I was, still slightly wary about the three who attacked me for no reason.

"I was planning on letting you guys meet later, but this is fine too!" Gojo said. He gestured at me. "This is Rey-kun, the one I told you about who saved Megumi."

"Is this a test or something?" the woman spat. "That thing is a curse."

"Oi, be nice, Maki," Gojo chided. "Rey-kun was only coming by to say hi. That's no way to treat our new resident."

Maki didn't reply as she picked up her spear and gazed at me suspiciously. "You think news doesn't travel around, Gojo? All of us know that you took in a special-grade curse under your wing. We are jujutsu sorcerers. We exorcise curses, not make friends with them!"

Gojo put a hand on my head. "Rey is a curse, but he's a friendly one. Just look at him! Isn't he adorable? He's not like the ugly curses you guys exorcise, so be nice, okay?"

"Takana," the boy answered.

What's with his word choice?

"This is Inumaki Toge, a Cursed Speech user. He only speaks in the ingredients of rice balls so that he doesn't accidentally use his power," Gojo introduced. "And this is Panda."

A second grade sorcerer so young and a mutated Cursed Corpse huh? Interesting.

"This is Zenin Maki. She's a cursed tool user," Gojo finished. "They are all second years at Tokyo Jujutsu High."

I raised my hand. "I'm Rey. Nice to meet you."

"I don't make friends with a curse," Maki muttered. "Especially one that tries to look innocent with the body of a boy."

I glanced at the woman. Someone from the Zenin family? But she doesn't have any cursed energy. I'm surprised she found the opportunity to become a sorcerer.

"How about a friendly competition then?" Gojo suggested, sensing the tension between Maki and I. "You guys can compete over anything."

"Fine with me," I said.

"Hmmph, if we're going to have a competition, then it should be in something we're both familiar with," Maki declared. "You, you're good with weapons right?"

I shrugged. I was only agreeing to this because the young woman was strong. She would definitely grow to be a worthy sorcerer in the future.

"He was able to disarm Maki's spear, so he must be good," Panda commented.

"Panda, give me my bow!" Maki ordered. Panda handed the woman a long yew bow. "We'll compete in archery." She pointed at the archery range. "Five shots, one per target. That's fine with you?"

There were five colored rings, yellow at the center and a tiny black dot to mark the bull's-eye. Each target got smaller the farther back it was, evenly spaced along the track. "Yes."

"I'll go first," Maki said.

She stepped up to the shooting line and drew her bow. She fired. Then four more times, each thud accentuating her shot. When the final arrow landed, Gojo whistled in admiration.

This girl. Her natural affinity with cursed tools is inhumane.

"All at the cener. Nice shot, Maki," Gojo praised.

Thankfully, none of them were on the black dot, though a couple did come close.

"Your turn, Rey!" Gojo handed me the bow, and I weighed it in my hands. It was a little big, but it was fine. It was like Maki said, my strength was far more than a little boy's.

"Will you be alright, Rey-kun? No pressure to win," Gojo whispered discretely.

"I won't lose," I said and walked to the white line. I studied the vast expanse of the range before me and reached for an arrow. I nocked it into my bow.

I pulled back the bow as far as it would go. I shut out all the noise, movement, everything other than the sound of my breathing. I took a steady breath as my focus narrowed on the first target. As I exhaled, the arrow flew.

Yellow center.

I head Gojo sigh in relief.

It's not a bull's-eye, but I hadn't been aiming for it anyway.

Maki let out a sound of surprise, but I ignored her as I fired at the second target. I aimed for the edge of the innermost ring which I hit with deadly precision. If I had wanted, I could have made an entire ring of circles.

For the third arrow, I had been aiming for the edge, and it landed within the border. I mirrored the spot for the fourth target, and the arrows delivered.

As I reached for my last arrow, I heard Maki whisper quietly to her classmates. I clenched the bow tightly enough for the wood to groan and pulled back for my final shot.

Even with my cursed energy amplifying my vision, I couldn't see the little dot clearly at its center. My arm trembled with effort as I pulled the string back a bit farther and fired.

The arrow hit the absolute center, obliterating the black dot. Everyone stood in silence. It was clear who the winner was.

Haven't lost my touch just yet. I touched the upper limb of the bow. It's a well-crafted weapon.

I held the weapon out to Maki. "Your bow."

Maki took the bow grudgingly. "You're good. I'll tolerate you being here, curse."

"Thank you." I acknowledged that her words were probably the closest I would get as a compliment from the young woman. "You're pretty good yourself."

"Yay!" Gojo clapped. "And the winner is Rey-kun!" He came over and danced around me. "You looked so cool, Rey-kun, when you were shooting. I made sure to take a lot of pictures."

I cringed as I remembered the hassle we went through the last time he took pictures of me. Changing the subject, I poked Gojo's leg and looked at him. "What are you doing here? It's not class time."

"I was looking for you, Rey," Gojo answered. "I wanted to discuss something with you."

He waved at his students to carry on without him and led me to a nearby patch of shade on the grass. I spread myself out on the grassy slope, put my hands behind my head, and yawned.

"What do you think about the second years, Rey-kun?"

As I stretched out my arms, I took the time to ponder the question.

"Panda-san and Inumaki-san will become powerful sorcerers in the future. I can tell that they've been through life and death together, and they've found their paths."

Gojo nodded in agreement. "And what about Maki?"

"Her?" I tilted my head a little before laughing. "It's the Zenin family's loss for letting her go."

"You think so, too?" Gojo tilted his head back and let out a laugh. "Damn, I can't imagine what that old geezer's face will look like once she becomes a first grade sorcerer."

"Not just first grade," I murmured. "She may even reach higher."

"You really think so?"

I shrugged. "Just a hunch."

"So, what's on your mind, Gojo-sensei?" I prompted. "Something I can help you with?"

"It's almost three weeks, isn't it?" Gojo said.

I stiffened, immediately understanding what he was referring to. "Yes."

Gojo took my hand and pulled up my sleeve. He examined the veins running down my arm and frowned. "Can your body take any more of this? Tell me if you can't, I'll find a way to force Tatsuya to remove them."

I rolled over to my side and gave the man a grin. "You're concerned that old man is going to snatch away your precious little chess piece?"

"You better know I am!" Gojo released my arm and stuck his face in front of me. He poked me in the forehead. "The one time I missed my dessert raid was because of you! I'm not letting you get away that easily."

"Oww." I rubbed my forehead. "That hurt."

"I don't know how much I'll have to give up in order to get that old geezer to do it though." Gojo sighed. "Mah! I hate having to ask those old men for help."

"Do you really hate it that much?" I asked.

Gojo nodded.

"Well..." I rolled back onto my back and held my right hand up to the sun. The jewel in my ring glittered in the afternoon sunlight. "You might not have to."

"Huh?" Gojo looked at me. "Hurry up and tell me why."

"Come to think of it." I counted the number on my fingers and nodded to myself. "His Cursed Technique with the Crest Worms isn't that old. I would say I probably knew its creator."

"Damn you're ancient, little curse!" Gojo exclaimed. "That's almost 700 years. How are you not bored from living that long?"

"Sleep is a good past time." I shrugged. "Anyways, what I'm saying is that I can remove the Crest Worms from my body if I really wanted to. I don't need Tatsuya's help."

"Then why didn't you do that in the first place?" Gojo asked.

"Removing the worms take a lot of cursed energy, and without a contract, it was too risky to do so," I explained. "After forming a contract with you, I gained a lot of my power back. That opened a lot of options that I didn't have before. So you don't need to worry about owing Tatsuya a favor."

"Is that so?" Gojo rubbed his chin, deep in thought. I waited silently for him to speak his mind.

After too long of a moment, Gojo sighed. Then, he looked at me with such a sharp aura, I instinctively sat up straight. I shifted my body so that I was looking directly at the man and shook the sleepiness from my body. "What is it?"

"The Blood Crest Worms in your body," Gojo said, "I need you to keep them in your body."

A short silence followed as Gojo looked at me, and I stared back.

"And," I asked as calmly as I could, "why is that?"

"Despite having the Binding Vow, I can't guarantee that the higher-ups won't try anything in the dark." Gojo spoke softly so as not to disturb the monster in my soul. "The benefits of your blood gives me some leverage. I can make sure they won't dare do anything too extreme."

I took a deep breath and unclenched my hands. My fingernails lefts behind deep indents in my palm as I ran my hands through my hair. I pushed down the reflexive anger that had risen from deep inside of me and exhaled, "Do you think I'm afraid of them? They can do their worse."

"I know, I know," Gojo agreed. "I know you're not afraid of them, but you've got let the fish take the bait before you can reel in the catch. And your blood is the perfect bait for those greedy bastards."

"You're going to have to give me a better reason that that, Gojo-sensei," I informed. "I really, really don't like worms crawling around in my body."

"Don't worry, Rey. I have a plan," Gojo asserted.

"Is it a good plan?" I asked. It better not be a half-baked one he thought of on the spot.

"I have a plan!" Gojo repeated.

I rolled my eyes at him though my anger had been dampened slightly by his reassurance. But I still wasn't convinced.

"Do you trust me, Rey?" Gojo asked.

"Of course," I nodded.

"Then you know enough, little curse." The monster in me fell silent as Gojo put his hand on my head. "I won't let you suffer from nothing."

"You can remove the regular Blood Crest Worms from your body, but I'll need you to leave the special ones alone. Is that okay?" Gojo offered.

I rubbed my temples roughly and closed my eyes. Thinking about how much trust my Master had given me, I agreed. Even though there were many things I couldn't tell him, this was something I could do. "Fine, I'll do it."

"Yay!" Gojo exclaimed and offered me a high-five. "You're the best, Rey-kun!"

I returned his high-five half-heartedly and looked at the man. Gojo settled down and returned my gaze. "You'll get your revenge, Rey. I'll make sure you do. I'll tell you my reason when everything is ready, but timing is key."

"Says the person who's always late," I retorted. "But alright, I'll follow through with your plan."

"Thanks, Rey."

After a second of silence, I got onto my knees and scooted up in front of Gojo. I raised my hand slowly and pointed at Gojo's blindfold.

"May I see them?"

Gojo was surprised for a brief moment before he nodded. He pulled down his blindfold and laid his crystal clear blue eyes on me. I glanced at the three second-years sparring out in the distance before I turned back at Gojo and fixed my red eyes on his.

I chuckled softly. "My dear Master, let me tell you something."

"I don't mind if I have to suffer if it means I'll be of use to you." I gave my Master a deadly, ruthless smile. "After all, I want nothing but to be the deadliest piece on your chessboard."