Unexpected confession

The enormous rocky curse that has mottled reddish-yellow lava in between the cracks slammed its fist on the gym floor causing it to crack all over.

Gabi turned around to face the terrified Shoko and went to her side, " Remember what I said earlier?"

Shoko was in a frantic state that she didn't understand what Gabi was talking about so she repeatedly shook her head at his question. Gabi grabbed both her shoulders and looked her deep in the eyes. " I fight and you heal me," He reminded the girl and she nodded her head to tell him that she knew what to do. Gabi left the girl by the wall far from the curse, " I will get you out of here Shoko." He faced the girl one last time and went head-on to the curse.

( I can't keep making the same mistakes since Shoko's life is on the line. I have to make sure she is safe even if it means to show her my secret. I believe she wouldn't say anything about it and I hope my guts are right to trust Shoko. Come out Oni.)

From Gabi's shadow, a large built demon whose shape was like a demonic knight came out of the darkness with its terrifying aura. The Oni brought out two swords and passed one to Gabi.

(I need you to make sure nothing happens to Shoko. Got it?)

The oni nodded its head informing Gabi that he was going to follow his orders. Gabimaru didn't want to look back because he knew Shoko was watching the whole thing and might be wondering why he was hiding his abilities. The curse punched the ground violently and felt like an earthquake rumble attempting to bring the whole school in shambles. The rocky beast grabbed a big chunk off the ground and threw it with full strength towards Gabi trying to snipe his head off his tiny body. The boy counters it by slashing it in the middle to split it in half. The remaining ground that was heading towards Shoko the oni stood in front of her with its menacing presence and sliced the ground into pieces making sure nothing would pierce the girl's body.

Gabi touches the tip of the blade and slides his hand down to the guard of the sword as he points his sword diagonal while his left foot is pointed in the same direction as the blade and his right foot is slightly bent away from his left foot.

( Oni is not as powerful as Raijin when it comes to storms and disasters but he has to do it for now since I can bring my special grade curses out.)

It was a mini showdown with the hot-headed curse and the human boy. Gabi was trying to circle around the curse eyeing its movements but it was hopeless because the curse was just standing there hunchback waiting for the boy to make a move. As time passed by the temperature was rising and Gabi had to do something before he passed out.

( Fuck it.)

Gabi charged at the curse and leaped at the curse to meet eye level with it and swung his sword vertically.

"[ kōri jigoku no gyakusatsu] ice hell massacre."

Where Gabi was at his sword glowed a bright white light that lit up the dim gym. Soon a massive ice attack came from his sword blasting the curse headed on. The giant curse crashed into the wall, having some of its rocky back armor break from the impact.

As Gabi was in the air he turned around and looked at the Oni. " Do it now. Let it rain."

The Oni listened to its master's orders and let the area flood with heavy rain. When the curse was getting up from the ground Gabi used this moment and waved his sword at the curse.

"[ kōtta jigoku] frozen hell."

The heavy rain that was falling on the curse turned into a life-size ice glacier piercing through the rocky curse causing it to shriek in pain. As the curse emotionally exploded the whole building was shaking, feeling the curse's pain. When that happened Shoko thought it was safe and she ran to Gabi's side, " Gabi, ARE YOU OKAY!" She grabbed his wrist to examine his body.

" Gabi…" Before Shoko could finish the shattered curse was running up toward the duo but the Oni used all of its brute strength to tackle the curse to make distance from his master. When the curse got up from the floor again it started to beat on its chest again and again to have its rocky armor crumble away and as it was falling apart the mottled lava that's within the curse burst out covering the gym floor.

" DIE HUMANS," The curse said its final words making his last attack to kill the humans who were in his presence.

( Come out chimera.)

A multi-species creature came out and sprinted towards Shoko, making the girl flinch because she probably thought the creature was after her. " Shoko hop on now !" Gabi told the girl and she quickly got on and the chimera went in the air away from the vast amount of lava that was headed towards them.

" Gabi! What are you doing?! Come here with me !" The girl screams, being afraid that he might get injured really badly.

Gabi didn't say anything to her because he didn't want to waste any more time. He stood in front of the reddish lava that was charging right in front of his eyes. As it was coming in close the more Gabi's body became moist due to the hefty amount of sweat seeping out of his body because the temperature was up to 1,300 Fahrenheit. Gabi placed his right and left legs apart from each other slightly bent them together and raised the sword above his head.

( Hopefully, this can make this lava slow down until we get help.)

Gabi swung his sword in that direction while infusing most of his curse energy in it where the lava was coming.

"[ shi no kōri no mori] ice forest of death."

While the reddish blazing hot lava was coming towards the young boy, Gabi's sword lit up to a beautiful sky blue color with white highlights, and soon after a tremendous amount of ice came out charging towards the lava to push it away from him. Without his knowledge, he didn't realize that he wasn't in the gym anymore it was back in the classroom and his attack was so powerful that it destroyed half of the building. Where Gabi aimed the attack, the walls and windows burst out and that side of the building was falling apart. Outside of the school building, you can see how the whole area is covered in ice from the sidewalk to the trees and even the benches. It was a beautiful sight for such a dangerous attack.

( Oh shit. I think I overdid it.)

The chimera disappeared along with the Oni as soon as it put Shoko down and she ran to Gabi with a cheerful smile on her face, " You did it!" She hugged him tight, " I thought you were going to die just trying to protect me," Then she proceeded to hit him on his arm, " Don't ever do that again," she scolded him.

(Was' she just happy just a second ago? THEN WHY AM I GETTING BEAT UP?)

Gabi rubbed the part where Shoko hit him," You mean," 

When Shoko was about to say anything a figure came from the damaged hallways to greet the duo who were in the torn-down classroom thanks to Gabi.

" I see you two look relaxed even though we have more curses to exercise," the red-haired girl spoke out, making the two jump in their place. The duo faces the girl.

" Makima, where were you?" Gabi asked the girl, " We were looking for you and you just disappeared. " He walked up to her.

Makima scoffed at him, " Sure you were looking for me, " She sarcastically said and tried to walk off but he grabbed her wrist to make the girl stay in place, " What's going on with you? Why are you suddenly giving me the cold shoulder? Did I do something wrong?" Gabi was curious why she was acting differently.

Makima glared at him, "You're my problem. That's why." She was blunt with him and yanked her wrist from his hold.

( What did I ever do to her?)

" Makim…"

" It's not the time to solve ya differences. Let's find the others and the survivors first," Shoko interjects between the two.

"I left the survivors downstairs" Makima informs them.

" You didn't get them out of the building first before you left them?" Gabi interrogate the girl.

Makima shrugged her shoulders, " I did my job and killed the three curses. Saving useless people is not on my to-do list." She nonchalantly said with a plain expression on her face.

( What?!)

Gabi's face turned into anger upon hearing that from Makima, " It's our job to protect those who can't protect themselves. Taking care of the survivors is part of your ' to-do list'" He used his hands to air a quote.

Makima walked away from them, " Useless humans are nothing more but tools for me to use."

Gabi didn't want to argue with the girl anymore so he just followed her along with Shoko. They were going through the damaged hallways trying to find a way downstairs to reach the others. As they were walking a sudden attack was aimed towards Makima. For some reason, Makima didn't sense it at all and Gabi grabbed her waist and moved her out of the way. She was leaning on the wall stunned by what just happened. She still didn't know an attack was made just for her; all she knew was that Gabi had taken her body and slammed her against the wall. Gabi removed his hands from her body and grabbed a metal rod he found off the floor and infused it with his curse energy and threw it to the curse head to exercise it.

( That was close.)

Down the hallway, you can hear chaos and the three already knew it was Yu and Gojo because their voices were as loud as they were in the barricade in a concert screaming for their favorite artist's attention.

" I don't sense any more curse spirits so I'm going to go head to the others and heal the survivors who are injured," Shoko informed the two.

Gabi gave her a small smile, " Be careful Shoko, and don't overdo yourself." He patted her shoulders and Shoko returned a smile to him, " Thank you for saving me, " She hurried to rush to the chaotic duo leaving Makima and Gabi there alone.

Gabi faced the quiet girl, " What happened there? You could have easily dodged that attack but you didn't…"

" It's because of you!" she yelled at him while looking at the ground scared to face his eyes causing the boy to stop talking.

( Me?)

Gabi didn't want to say anything to the girl he wanted her to explain in more detail and she did. "It's all your fault! Your little chats with me and the way you show me you care for me and everything else! I was perfectly fine with life and not caring for such worthless shit like friendships and whatever until you came into my life!" she raised her head fighting her tears to make sure they didn't fall from her eyes, " Why did you have to break down the walls that I built for years? Why do you have to make me care for irrelevant things like what is my favorite color or what are my hobbies etc? Why do you have to make me weak? Because ever since I met you that's all I've been. WEAK! I can't be the strongest sorcerer if I'm around you Gabi."

Gabi couldn't say anything else besides why. Makima places her hands on her forehead trying to rub the headache that's coming her way, "Because that's not how my abilities work. I have to feel superior for it to work and I can't do that when you are here with me. I can't do anything besides fight with my bare hands, " She frustratedly explained, " You make me weak." she quietly whispered.

Gabi couldn't really grasp why he made her weak. He wanted the full answer, " How's it only me though? I don't understand, Makima."

She looked at him for a brief second and averted her eyes, "I guess it's… because… I….like you.." she mumbled the last part but he still heard her quiet voice.

( Huh? Did I hear that right?)

Gabi just stood there not knowing what to say or do.

( Out of all people why me?)

She looked back at him with her poker face, " I'm leaving. I did my job." She hurried to walk away from him leaving him standing there alone with his thoughts as his mouth and eyes were wide open watching her figure soon disappear from his sight.

( Is this a dream? Or is this real life? ....Makima….likes me?)