Calm Before the Storm

[A/N: Here's a thank you to those who have given a review.

Now, let me say this. The last week, I was utterly burnt out. Or more like, I felt very satiated with the last chapter. I lost my desire to write more. (I know it wasn't that great to feel satisfied but...)

If I persisted even then, I felt like I would be forcing myself. So, I took a week of break. Now that I feel the hunger again, I'm starting again.

For all those who have waited patiently, I apologize for not posting quickly and also a thank you for waiting till now.

I also got to know that forcing and pressuring myself doesn't end well. Here's the new chapter.]

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"Yuta, do you accept defeat?" Gojo asked Yuta who was still in a daze from the punch to the chin.

"Y-yes," he answered while slowly using the Reverse Cursed Technique to heal the wound on his torso.

Even as the match seemed like it ended, Mai's passive senses caught on to Rika attacking him from behind.

Mai ducked Rika's attack and gave a roundhouse kick infused with Black Flash.

"Y-you hurt Yuta. I will kill you!!"

'Darn this thing. My reserves are almost depleted. And this idiot Gojo...' Mai thought.

Without wasting a second, he ran away and hid behind Gojo.

'No way I'm fighting it again and again.' He enjoyed the fight but he wasn't some maniac.

"Gojo, go deal with her," he shouted while pointing at Rika.

"Huh." Unsurprisingly, she stopped attacking. Gojo must've given her a beating before.

"R-Rika! Stop! What are you doing?" Yuta shouted at her while still on the ground.

"B-but Yuta. He hurt me. He hurt you. It was painful!" she was complaining but Mai shouted back that she also hurt him a while ago.

It started a banter between Mai and Rika as it was a natural thing.

'Haah. Kids. Still, this should be the first time Rika ever responded properly to anyone other than Yuta.' Gojo thought as he wondered how could Mai do it.

The answer to that is rooted in the fact Rika, being an extremely negative entity, could passively feel such emotions towards her.

Anyone she ever met till now had felt threatened by her presence. The amount of raw Cursed Energy emitting from her would make even Maki, someone who couldn't even see Curses, shiver in fear.

But Rika never felt any of those from Mai or Gojo both for almost the same reasons. They could care less!

They were someone who were at the top of the food chain.

In the end, Rika backed off after Yuta stood up and pacified her.

"Alright, now that it's settled, let's go have a nice dinner. Mai. You get to choose the place."

"Dinner? But it's morning. We should have breakfast." Mai asked.

"But I didn't get any dinner last night." Gojo replied as it was the obvious answer.

'True. He can teleport to other side of the world just to have his 'dinner'.'

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"So, your Technique can create anything? That's amazing, Mai!" Yuta shouted.

But then he realized that they were at a 2-star Michelin Restaurant for their dinner and sat down embarrassingly when everyone else turned to look at him.

"It's not that easy. For example, ask him how he was able to crash on top of Rika's head." Gojo spoke while pointing to the waiter to bring him extra sugar.

Yuta looked at Mai with an expression that said 'how?'

[A/N: Here's the explanation for how Mai was able to fly.]

"Well, the whole thing is complex. First of all, my Technique has an Extension called Conjuration..." and then he explained about it.

"Now, this Conjuration has a lot of advantages compared to the main ability. You could even say that this is much more useful than the first one [Construction] when it comes to spontaneous use," Mai said. Then he continued.

"Now. that is because with Conjuration, I can create meta-matter. Meaning something that exists physically yet does not exist. It is in between. Whatever I conjured, can have properties that aren't practically possible.

You asked me how I could fly. What I did was conjure a semi-physical balloon that had far less pressure than that of air. But because the balloon didn't deflate, the temperature increased drastically expanding the gas inside it making it lighter.

I pretty much created a hot helium balloon.

But there were winds in that mountainous area that were moving in an upward direction. It hastened my ascent." he explained while sipping on the sweet mango lassi.

"B-but, you were invisible."

"Ohh that. I also conjured a suit of gas that refracted all the light around me making me blurry and invisible in daylight."

Yuta was amazed at the complex thinking behind the actions.

But then again, another question came forward.

"How were you able to fall exactly on top of her head? It shouldn't be possible unless you can maneuver yourself while falling down. Even then, it should be very hard."

"That's true. It's not possible to fall precisely on Rika's head with that much height. But I'm not going to explain how I did that." he shrugged.

Yuta understood and didn't ask for more. Even that much explanation was considerate of him.

'I can't exactly brag about my quirk [Homing].'

The quirk [Homing] allowed the user to lock on to a certain target and any projectiles released by the user would no matter what hit that target. Well, except for certain absurd exceptions.

Here, Mai himself was the projectile. And the target was Rika. As he fell down, [Homing] automatically adjusted his descent to fall on Rika. And the rest is history.

Obviously, Gojo noticed that it was some other anime power. His Six Eyes noticed the abnormal trajectories of bullets, the expert usage of Cursed Energy, and the complex way Mai conjured his balloon.

'I should take a look at his status before leaving.'

'Observe'

[Name: Okkotsu Yuta

Strength: Low 10-A(Street Level)

Speed: Low 10-A(Street Level)

Endurance: Low 10-A(Athlete Level)

C.E Capacity: Low 7-C(Small Town Level)

Energy Output: High 8-C(Large Building Level)

Traits:

[High Instinct] [Strong Will] [Cursed Talent] [Curse Bound]

Skills/Abilities:

[Rika] - Master

[Copy] - Adept

[C.E Control] - Expert

[Reverse Cursed Technique] - Advanced

[C.E Enhancement] - Adept

[C.E Reinforcement] - Adept

[Acting] - Intermediate

[Hand-to-Hand Combat] - Advanced

[Weapons Combat] - Adept

[Barrier Techniques] - Intermediate

[Shikigami Techniques] - Intermediate

[Domain Expansion] - Advanced]

__________________________

'Copy? That's a...handy ability. Fit for a protagonist.'[a/n: Yuuji crying in the corner.]

'Should I let him try my ability? Nah. School starts in a few minutes. I'll ask him next time. Our clan has a variety of techniques. Taking Yuta's talent into account, he'll be able to use the copied techniques pretty easily.'

After dinner, Mai was dropped off by Gojo at the Kyoto school and they departed.

Gojo also said that he would speak to Megumi about his sister, Tsumiki's issue.

-----

"Ne sensei, for some reason, I don't feel much sad even after losing. As if, after listening to his explanation, it was inevitable." Yuta spoke.

"Hmm. You're right. Mai's technique is definitely versatile. But the main problem when facing him was Mai himself. Mai wasn't strong because of his techniques. The technique was strong because it was in Mai's hands." Gojo said as if explaining something vague.

Yuta pondered on it. The amount of complex thinking behind Mai's technique usage was certainly difficult to comprehend.

It would be even more hard to use in the middle of combat. The fact that Mai defeated him, a Special Grade sorcerer, someone with more than 15 times his own reserves meant that Mai himself was not normal.

"You're right, sensei. Mai-san is even more abnormal than us. But...I will win next time, Sensei."

'Sorry, Yuta. But that's not possible. He is even more of a cheat than I am.'

"That's the spirit. So, did you copy his technique?" he asked Yuta.

"Ah! I forgot to ask him."

[A/N: If you can think of some conditions for Yuta's copy technique, do post them here. There isn't actually an actual explanation for how that technique works.]

"Well, he also forgot to show his new technique. He said that it could bypass my Infinity. We can ask him next time." Gojo said.

Unfortunately, none of them knew that the 'next time' will not be for a long time.

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While Mai went on a trip to the moon, someone visited the Yasohachi Bridge to retrieve Sukuna's finger.

"What do you mean by it's not there, Choso?"

"Like I said, there's no finger. No Curse. Not even a single residue of Cursed Energy nor any physical evidence. As if every trace of Cursed Energy has been erased."

"Looks like I'll have to come there in person. Keep looking for any other leftover traces."

"*sigh* Alright."

On the other side of the call, Kenjaku pondered over the issue he faced. There was no possibility of someone looking for it and exorcising it.

After all, the Finger Bearer itself was inside the Domain of another Curse. It was practically impossible to detect.

Unless...it was those damned Six Eyes.

'That also matches with what Choso said.' No residuals left over means that someone was proficient enough to do such things. It isn't much hard but when you also remove physical evidence along with Cursed Energy residuals, it becomes much harder.

"But how did he find it?" Kenjaku thought. It would not be impossible to find out via the other Curse that was masking the Finger Bearer. But it was at most a Semi-Grade 1.

Kenjaku didn't know what it was but his instincts honed from 1000 years of plotting and planning screamed at him that his plans would fail.

That only meant he could improvise and adapt.

First, he needed to know the cause of this fear. He was almost sure that it was one of the students who would topple all his plans.

'The most suspicious ones are the ones that have been promoted to semi-grade 1. Among them, the Zenin twins are even more suspicious.'

Second, take care of Kokichi Muta, the mole, as soon as possible.

And third, gather some more allies, just in case. He wanted to leave them be till the Culling Game began but now, he was leaning towards resurrecting some of them for temporary help.

He decided to wait for a few days to get more information and then decided to act later. If no new info is found within a week or so, he'll take care of the mole then.

'So, who should I recruit? With this new body, all the binding vows have gone null. Hmm...' Someone who likes to fight. Someone with a lot of hatred towards sorcerers, and...

'That old man should also be helpful. I'll give him some of my shikigami as a payment.'

[A/N: Manga readers should know whom I'm talking about. Even if you don't remember, it's not a big deal.]

Luckily for him, all three of them were in the same place. He'll need to take Mahito to reshape their hosts' brains and wake them up.

'Still, me going there is now a problem. Someone could be monitoring the place.'

That was the best decision as Mai was indeed monitoring the place 24/7.

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*chills* Mai's body suddenly tensed up. His [Danger Sense] flared and became normal again.

"Someone is onto me. Or they are suspicious of me." Mai knew that his name would sooner or later come up.

At that time, he'd have to be prepared for what's to come.

As Gojo said, even with all the allies, you'll end up dying alone.

'Such thoughts are repelling. But as of now, I'm in Rome and I'll have to do as Romans say.'

That was only until he became so strong that he'd change that Rome into his desired place.

Mai's goals were somewhat aligned with Tsukumo Yuki's. But the means he has are different to that of hers.

He has the omnipotent system while she doesn't. Either way, he too can only change the current world when he gets something appropriate.

'Just Idle Transfiguration should be enough.' His main goal, as of now, was to get the Idle Transfiguration from Mahito. Or Cursed Spirit Manipulation from the pseudo-Geto and use it to control Mahito.

They themselves should've realized its importance but using it on masses would be very inefficient. And Mahito was also very young compared to others.

His mastery in Jujutsu was not the best but he was certainly a genius.

'Whatever. I'll think deeply when I face them.' Right now, he actually cleared a quest after defeating Yuta.

[Homing has leveled from Intermediate to Advanced]

[C.E Reinforcement has leveled from Advanced to Adept]

[Quest 'Defeat a Special Grade Sorcerer' has been completed]

[You have received 1 Gacha as a reward.]

[Telekinesis has leveled from Beginner to Amateur]

Mai was using Telekinesis as much as possible. He was using it to reinforce his internal organs almost all day.

This advanced the technique by two levels in two days. He could easily control three times his body weight with ease.

"Yo Mai. Where were you? You disappeared the whole day." Todo asked.

"I went on a trip to the moon," he said pointing his finger upwards.

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