Exposed

I didn't know how long I slept for, but it was definitely late in the morning when I woke up. After getting home with Gojo at around 5 am in the morning, I had collapsed onto the bed and completely passed out. Sleep had finally become an option.

"Good morning, Rey-kun!" Gojo let himself into the room unannounced though technically it was his room. I dipped my head at the man in greeting and watched the white-haired man pull back the curtains. Yes, definitely late in the morning. I wasn't even sure if it was appropriate to say good morning anymore.

"I saw that you were sleeping soundly, so I didn't wake you up for breakfast." Gojo showed me his phone. "Look! Aren't you so cute?"

I narrowed my eyes. Someone had messed with my hair in the selfie. I reached up with my hand and found that my hair was still all over the place. I turned to stare down the culprit.

"Ah! I forgot to fix your hair back!" Gojo cried in fake horror. He didn't seem even a little bit sorry but rather proud of his masterpiece. "Let me fix it right now!"

I sighed internally, forgiving the man for his antics because I didn't want to go through the trouble of fixing it. "It's fine."

"Eh?" Gojo halted with a comb in one hand. "Are you sure?"

I nodded firmly. "Yes."

"That's my boy!" Gojo cried happily. "We can have matching hairstyles!"

I rolled my eyes at the man, but he was too busy celebrating to notice. While I put on my slippers, I noticed that Gojo wasn't in his work clothes. I tugged at his sleeve and pointed at his shirt.

"Oh, you mean why I'm wearing this?" Gojo said. "I went out to run some errands in the morning. Even if you are too cute in my shirt, I can't let you go out in that."

"Wait here!" Gojo returned shortly with two bags in hand. He handed me one of them. "I had them fix your old clothes. They're good as new now!"

I peered into the bag to find my white t-shirt, jacket, and pants folded neatly inside. I didn't know Gojo had kept them for me. I thought he would have thrown them away with the blood, sweat, and tears on them.

"Andddd this one!" Gojo happily presented the second bag to me. "I bought you an outfit! Aren't I the best to you, Rey?"

"Sure?"

"I'll help you put your clothes on," Gojo insisted. "Which one do you want to wear?"

I looked down at the two bags, not too sure which one to pick. I preferred my old ones because they were more familiar to me, but I caught Gojo's face falling slightly when I reached for the bag. Clearly, he wanted me to pick the one he bought for me, but he was too proud to make it too obvious. So childish.

"This one." I pointed at the bag to the left., and Gojo's face brightened immediately. He was about to hug me but caught himself before his arms could wrap around me.

"Right, I forgot," Gojo apologized. "You're not a fan of physical contact."

I murmured a reply, not bothering to confirm nor deny his statement.

"It's okay! I'm sure you'll open up someday!" Gojo exclaimed, pulling out the clothes from his bag and directing me to sit on the bed. He was careful not to touch me too much as his slender fingers pulled the white hoodie over my head and straightened out the collar. He handed me a pair of light blue cotton shorts for me to put on. I caught a glimpse of the price tag as I took it from him. I didn't know being a jujutsu sorcerer paid so much.

"Socks next," Gojo hummed, reaching for the ankle high socks he bought.

I hesitated for a moment, considering whether or not I should put them on myself, but after seeing Gojo's eager expression, I relented and allowed him to do it. He lightly lifted my left foot to slide on the sock and did the same with the right. Then, he gently slipped off my slippers and put on a new pair of black running shoes. The shoes were comfortable and just the right size. Standing up, I made my way to the mirror and looked out my new outfit.

"Rey-kun, you look so adorable!" Gojo got up from his kneeling position and came over to me. "Don't forget this! The hoodie was super expensive, but I bought it just because of this!"

He pulled up the hood and put it over my head. My lips curled up faintly as I saw white cat ears peeking out from on top of the hood. They look like Kira's ears.

"Do you like it?" Gojo asked.

I nodded. "Thank you, Gojo-sama."

"Ah!" Gojo put a finger to my lips. At his action, I stepped quickly away from him, still uncomfortable with how close Gojo tended to be. "No need to be so formal. Call me Gojo-sensei or just Gojo if you want. If you want, Onii-san works, too~"

I stared at the man. Onii-san? Not in a million years. There's no way I would call this man-child my big brother. I guess I'll stick to Gojo-sensei in the future.

"Hey, Rey," Gojo said, his blindfold very close to my face. "Your dark circles aren't getting any better. Have you been sleeping well?"

I turned and looked at myself in the mirror. He was right, my dark circles haven't gotten better. But I was used to it already. No amount of sleep will make them go away. Not when my sleep is plagued by nightmares every night. Though, I should thank Kira for making just a part of my sleep a peaceful one.

"Had some nightmares," I muttered, not wanting to explain further.

Gojo's lips pursed, his concern clear. "Nightmares? About what?"

I left the room and entered the living room without waiting for Gojo. "Getting murdered by a knife." Not one of the worst ones I had but not pleasant either.

"Curses don't dream, do they?" Gojo asked from the bedroom door.

I didn't answer immediately as I took a cup and filled it with water. Gojo was right. Curses don't sleep, so there was no way for them to get nightmares. Nightmares were just a simpler way to describe it.

"Are they really nightmares?" Gojo questioned. His tone had grown sharper. I took a sip of water and glanced at him.

"They're not nightmares," I answered with finality in my voice. I didn't want to talk about this topic anymore.

Gojo sensed the shift in the boy's tone, and he stopped asking questions. There were still many things he didn't understand about the boy, and this was just one of them. Gojo reminded himself that they still had a lot of time together, so there was no hurry to push for answers now. After all, everyone had their own secrets.

"Oh yeah!" Gojo suddenly exclaimed. "I have an appointment with the principal at noon! Let's go, Rey-kun!"

The man took my hand, and we teleported away. Luckily, I had the sense to put my cup down on the counter before we went. I opened my eyes and found myself outside a traditional-style tea house in the outskirts of Tokyo. There was no one else around. The wind blew gently, and the sun shone brightly above our heads. It was a beautiful summer day.

"Here, you've got to wear this for now." Gojo handed me a black face mask. I put it on, the fabric covering the bottom half of my face. I figured that he didn't want the principal to recognize me, and I was fine with that.

"Hmm." Gojo rubbed his chin while he inspected me. "Can you hide your cursed energy? He might think I'm here to revolt against him and the school if I bring in another special grade along with me."

I glanced at Gojo to see if he was serious. He was. I gave the man a shrug and obeyed his instructions. After sending my cursed energy into a dormant state, I looked at Gojo for approval.

"Mhm, that's good," Gojo nodded. "He won't be able to tell." He cracked a smile. "Hehe, I can't wait to see the surprise on his face once he sees how strong you are!" With that thought, Gojo grabbed my hand and walked into the tea house.

Inside, we were greeted by a man with short black hair shaved at the side of his head wearing a long-sleeved black jacket. His cursed energy was powerful, though not as high as Gojo's. A grade 1 sorcerer, I think. I still wasn't too sure on how the ranking system worked.

"You're late, Gojo. Forty-five minutes late." The man offered us a seat on the zabutons.

"My alarm didn't go off." Gojo sat down cross-legged, and I copied him. There was something about the man that made me feel vigilant about him. My instincts were telling me that he dabbled in the soul, and people who knew about the soul was always ones I was wary about.

"Maybe it's time to get a new alarm clock."

"Nah, it's fine." Gojo smiled. "I just didn't set it."

I stifled a small laugh behind my mask. Gojo was always amusing as long as you're not the one he's talking to. For a fleeting second, I pitied the black-haired man.

"Who's the kid?" The man turned in my direction. I met his gaze evenly, not intimidated by his serious demeanor. The man's eyes flickered for a moment as if he was surprised I didn't flinch from his stare. After a brief moment, he turned back to Gojo. "Well?"

"Yaga, this is Rey," Gojo introduced. "Rey, this is the principal of Tokyo Jujutsu High, Yaga Masamichi."

I nodded at the man. So he's the principal of the school Gojo works at. No wonder why he's strong. I wondered what kind of relationship Gojo had with Yaga. Gojo held more respect for him, much more than Gakuganji.

"Nice to meet you, Rey," Yaga said. "I hope Satoru isn't troubling you."

"Who me? Troubling Rey-kun?" Gojo exclaimed in indignation. "Rey would never think me as that, would you, Rey?"

I shook my head. No, Gojo currently was not troubling me, though it remained to be seen in the future.

"See? Not everyone is like you, Yaga, with such horrible taste. All you do is sit in your room and make dolls everyday," Gojo scolded. "You're so boring."

"So what's he doing here? He doesn't even have a single thread of cursed energy." Yaga ignored Gojo's attempt to make fun of him. "Is it wise to have him by your side?"

"So is that what you see?" Gojo leaned forward. "Is there anything else you see?"

Yaga frowned and glanced back at me. "He's just an ordinary kid. More on the quiet side, but nothing else. What are you trying to get at, Gojo?"

"Nothing!" Gojo put his hands in the air to portray his innocence. "I just wanted to make sure."

Yaga's eyes narrowed behind his sunglasses, but he said nothing as he poured both of us a cup of tea. Gojo reached for his cup when he was suddenly reminded of something.

"Ah!" Gojo cried. "I forgot to buy Rey breakfast!" He turned to me. "I'm so sorry, Rey-kun! Are you hungry? Do you want to eat something? You're not going to faint from hunger, right?"

I gave the man a flat stare. Curse don't need to eat, so I shouldn't either. But he seemed to have forgotten that fact as he anxiously shook my shoulders.

"It's okay. I'm not hungry."

Gojo didn't take that my response as an answer. Out of nowhere, Gojo produced a box of Pocky and gave them to me. "Here! Eat this!"

Yaga's face twitched as he saw Gojo hand the boy a box of Pocky for breakfast. Did this man even know how to take care of children? Pocky for breakfast? What was he thinking?

I took the box and opened it up. Strawberry-flavored. Nice. Pulling down my mask, I chomped down on one and offered one to Gojo out of politeness. The man was delighted, and he didn't forget to show it off to Yaga before eating it in one bite.

"Ahem," Yaga cleared his throat. "I heard that you got into some conflict with Principal Gakuganji a while ago. What happened?"

"With that old man?" Gojo said dismissively. "What conflict could I have with him? Other than him being a stupid, stubborn geezer who gets on my nerves every time we meet?"

Yaga sighed. "If it's just that, then that's good. The higher-ups have been very jumpy recently after they lost the special grade curse right under their noses. It's not a good idea to provoke them right now."

"They should be the ones afraid of provoking me," Gojo boasted.

"Tch, I knew you would say that, Satoru," Yaga said. "But didn't the higher-ups assign you to bring back that special grade curse? Has it even managed to escape from your Six Eyes?"

I crunched down on another strawberry-coated Pocky stick and stifled a yawn.

"Ehh, it's quite a slippery one, I'll give it that," Gojo replied. "I only see some traces of it here and there, but I'm not worried. It hasn't caused any problems, so I'm not in a rush."

I was impressed on how Gojo could lie so well with such a straight face. If I wasn't the curse he was talking about, I would have believed every word he said.

"It hasn't caused any problems yet. You never know when it might go berserk," Yaga warned. "You and I both know how dangerous it is if a special grade curse goes on a rampage."

Gojo yawned loudly in Yaga's face. "Yeah, yeah, I got it. Stop lecturing me like I'm still your student."

I looked up from my snack. Oh? This man was Gojo's teacher? Interesting. I couldn't imagine what it was like to have someone like Gojo as a student. Must have been a nightmare.

Yaga downed the rest of his tea and poured himself a new cup. I felt a faint sense of vexation coming from him. But it wasn't from Gojo, or at least most of it wasn't because of him. I wondered if had anything to do with why he called Gojo here.

"Recently, there's been more cases on higher grade curses appearing all across Japan. We jujutsu sorcerers have to spread out thin in order to deal with all of them." Yaga swirled around his tea cup. "I originally wanted to deal with this by myself, but-"

"If you want help from the great sorcerer alive, all you need to do is ask, Yaga! Don't be shy!" Gojo cried. "I wouldn't mind doing my old teacher a favor."

"Fine." Yaga sighed. "I could use your help with this one."

"Okay!" Gojo stood up. "Let's go, Rey! Time to go exorcise a curse!" Carefully storing away my Pocky box, I put my mask back on and padded after him. Finally, some action. Yaga also followed us out of the tea house.

"Lead the way, Yaga," Gojo ordered. Shooting him one final glare, Yaga motioned us to follow him to his car.

Gojo and I sat into the back of the car while Yaga drove us to the location. Looking out of the car window with my good eye, I admired the evergreens passing by. The two adults were chatting about something, though I wasn't paying to close attention to what they were saying. After Yaga confirmed that I didn't have any cursed energy, he didn't show any interest in me. Which was fine with me, of course. Gojo had specified that I should try not to draw too much attention.

"Rey."

I blinked. Oh, I had spaced out again. I gave Gojo a murmur to tell him that I was listening as I rubbed the tiredness out of my eyes.

"Do you think this one or this one looks tastier?" From the corner of my right eye, I made out the faint outline of a smartphone. Well, the bright light from the screen was the one that gave it away, but at least I could see the shape of the phone.

I turned in my seat to see the contents of the screen clearly. A raspberry cream sakura mochi or a chocolate butter ice cream. Seriously, I didn't understand how Gojo didn't have any problems exorcising special grade curses but couldn't decide between two sweets.

"Get both of them," I said blandly, not bothering to choose. It's not like he doesn't have the money to buy both of them.

"That's a great idea!" Gojo exclaimed. "You're right, Rey-kun. I'm getting both! And you're paying, Yaga!"

"W-what?" Yaga sputtered. "Why am I paying for you?"

"Because I'm helping you exorcise that curse for you. You wouldn't be so petty, would you?"

Yaga snorted, "Fine. Only because you're doing me a favor."

Gojo let out a triumphant laugh and ordered the two sweets with his phone, not forgetting to send Yaga the bill. He hummed happily as if he could already taste the sweets.

Speaking of sweets… I patted my pockets and found my box of Pocky that I had yet to finish. Fishing it out of my pocket, I opened it up and continued to eat the little sticks of tastiness.

Gojo observed the boy quietly munching on the snack. It was the second time he's noticed that Rey always turned a complete 180 degrees when shown something on his left side. The boy never mentioned it to him, but the milky haze that clouded Rey's left eye bothered him.

Gojo typed something on his phone and held it up. "Can you read this for me, Rey?"

The boy turned, 180 degrees once again, and squinted. "Yaga is a big idiot."

"Good job!" Gojo praised though he frowned internally. He was right. There was definitely something Rey wasn't tell him.

"Rey, look at me," Gojo ordered. The boy turned his head to face him. Gojo leaned in close, and his brow furrowed behind his blindfold. "Your left eye, what's wrong with it?"

I was startled for a moment but quickly realized that Gojo's previous actions had been a test. I pressed my lips together. I didn't like showing Gojo or anyone a sign of weakness.

"It's nothing," I said.

Gojo frowned. "Tell me the truth, Rey. Don't hide it from me."

After careful deliberation between whether or not it was worth keeping this a secret from my Master, I decided against keeping him in the dark.

"I can't see out of my left eye," I whispered.

"Why?" Gojo pressed further.

I scrutinized the man to find true concern on his face. "Something happened a long time ago."

"From what? Was it him?"

He's referring to Tatsuya. I shook my head quickly. "No, not him."

"Can it be healed?" Gojo asked.

I gave him a bitter smile. The cells connecting to my left eye had been completely severed, so no amount of cursed energy could repair it. The only thing I could do was actively pour cursed energy to create new cells to temporarily replace the old ones, but creation took a lot of cursed energy, too much to maintain for long periods of time. "No."

"Are you sure?" Gojo asked again. I glanced at Yaga in the driver's seat and leaned in closer to Gojo.

"Use your Six Eyes," I whispered.

Gojo obeyed Rey's suggestion and focused his Six Eyes on the boy's left eye. While there was a colorful hue surrounding Rey's body, his left eye was a colorless dead clump of mass. There wasn't even a single particle of cursed energy in it. Like Rey said, the eye was a lost cause. No amount of healing could help something that was already dead.

"I see," Gojo said finally after a long minute. "It's my fault for noticing sooner. I'll be more mindful in the future."

I shrugged and crunched down on my Pocky. "It's okay. I don't mind." Seeing how Gojo was still disturbed by his discovery, I pulled out my last Pocky from the box and offered it to him.

Realizing that this was the boy's way of saying thank you for his concern, Gojo laughed heartily as he bit down on the pink stick. "You're so nice to me, Rey-kun! I could die from your cuteness right now~!"

Twenty minutes into the drive, the car came to a stop next to a hiking trail in the mountains. I got off the car only to be hit with the foul stench of old blood. I pulled up my face mask, and the smell lessened a little bit. It was still very distinguishable.

"Are you sure you want to bring the kid along?" Yaga asked one more time. "It'll be safer to leave him in the car."

I looked up at Gojo for his reply. If I wanted to play the part of being a regular kid, it was probably a better idea for me to stay in the car, but it was up to Gojo. It's not like the curse stood a chance with him here anyways.

"No, it's fine." Gojo looked down at me. "You want to come along, too, right?"

I nodded. Yes, some action would be nice. It would give me some ideas on how strong the top-ranked jujutsu sorcerers were.

"Don't worry so much, Yaga. I'll make sure nothing happens to him," Gojo assured the principal. He took my hand and started to climb the hiking trail. I glanced back at Yaga and saw him sigh. What was this now? The third time he's sighed since meeting Gojo? My Master had the talent of doing that to people.

We trekked on the trail for around fifteen minutes before the blood trail broke off into the forest. Judging from the blood, there were multiple people in the party aside from the curse. It looked like the curse's victims had been running away when they were forced off the path.

Yaga went first, and we followed. The smell of blood grew stronger. Some trees had been knocked down, twigs snapped, and brushes torn apart. As we went deeper, there were splotches of blood on the tree trunks, on the ground, on the leaves. It was eerily silent, devoid of birds or any wildlife.

"Shit!" Gojo and I looked ahead to see Yaga raising his boot in disgust. Blood ran down the bottom of his shoe. Looks like we were getting close.

Not wanting to get my new shoes dirty, I picked my way carefully through the path. The scent of blood was nearly suffocating.

As we went up the sloping path, something tumbled past me, and I stopped it with my foot. It was a severed human head with its eyes still bulging open. I stared down at it with disgust. Never was fond of curses who made their kills messy. What's wrong with a clean kill to the heart? All the blood makes everything so much more work.

"Looks like we found the bodies."

Oh? They found the humans already? I hurried to rejoin the two up ahead.

Gojo heard Rey coming from the woods and glanced around at the gore the curse had left behind. He quickly raised his arm to block Rey's line of sight. It wasn't the bloodiest scenes he's seen, but it was definitely up there.

"Mmm?" The boy made a noise of confusion.

"You shouldn't see this. Adults only, Rey-kun," Gojo explained.

Despite Gojo's warning, I stood on my tippy-toes and peeked over his arm. Well, he definitely wasn't wrong to say that only adults should see this. Four mauled corpses laid scattered across the shoreline, barely recognizable as human beings. Two of them had their heads bitten off, one of them had their organs hanging out of their chest, and the other was missing the entire bottom half of their body and parts of their face. And the worst part about it was that their skin was all shriveled up, their blood sucked dry. They've been left out in the sun for a while now, parts of their flesh starting to rot away, and countless flies feasting on their exposed flesh.

"I told you not to lo-" Gojo broke off as he saw the usual sleepy expression on the boy's face. Gradually, a smile emerged on Gojo's face. Looks like he had worried for nothing. He had forgotten that Rey was no ordinary boy. No matter how cute he was, it was a undeniable fact that Rey was a curse. A curse had no misgivings about how bloody something like this would be. Perhaps, if someone truly angered Rey, their fate would be even worse than the people in front of him. The more Gojo thought about it, the more intrigued he felt. He wanted to see how strong the little curse would be if sent on a rampage.

"I don't kill like that," Rey said quietly, pointing at the corpses. "Too messy."

Eh? Gojo blinked. Had his thoughts been too obvious? He shook himself and laughed, "Of course not! No one said that, Rey-kun."

I inspected the man closely before deciding to let Gojo off the hook. Who knows what strange thoughts goes through that man's mind? As long as he didn't classify me with a curse like this, I don't really care.

"We're missing one more. There should be five people, not four," Yaga called from the right. "The blood here is still fresh. The curse shouldn't be too far away."

"I'll set down a curtain," Yaga offered. He raised his right hand and chanted the verse, "Emerge from the darkness, blacker than darkness. Purify that which is impure."

The protection from the curtain enveloped the surrounding area. I watched in fascination as the black force field blocked out the sunlight to create an artificial night.

"A curtain is used by jujutsu sorcerers to maintain secrecy while exorcising cursed spirits," Gojo explained. "The curtain is impercievable to outside observers."

I nodded. This was the first time I've seen a curtain being used. It definitely made things more convenient. I wondered who was the one who created the technique. The incantation sounded familiar.

Suddenly, Yaga, Gojo, and I turned to face the lake. All of us had felt it. A large origin of cursed energy had appeared.

"Heh, looks like we don't have to play hide-and-seek with this one," Gojo chuckled. "You want to take care of it?"

"It's mine." Yaga eyed the massive loch ness monster that emerged from the water. He took out a eagle puppet and a shark puppet from his pocket.

I tugged Gojo's sleeve and pointed at the puppets. "What's he doing, Gojo-sensei?"

"His cursed technique is called Cursed Corpse. He can put his cursed energy into a doll, which gives it life and allows him to control it."

"Oh, that's interesting." I observed the two puppets growing in size as the cursed energy inside of them started to circulate. With their master's command, they engaged the curse in the water, one from the water and one from the air. The loch ness was surprisingly nimble, using its territorial advantage to fend off the eagle while protecting its weak underbelly from the crocodile.

The curse roared in anger and shot a concentrated beam of cursed energy at the crocodile. The puppet narrowly avoided getting obliterated, giving up the lower half of its body to dodge the blow. The eagle, taking the opportunity, struck out with its talons, blinding the loch ness' eyes. The two sides were evenly skilled, making it a battle of attrition to see who would fall first.

"Rey-kun," Gojo turned to face the forest, "stand behind me."

So he's finally going to make a move on our observer in the shadows. I had noticed his presence the moment we stepped off the forest trail, and I'm sure Gojo noticed, too. But since Gojo said nothing, I didn't let it bother me either. I moved next to Gojo and stuck my hands into my pockets. If Gojo was going to make a move, I wouldn't need to worry.

"Are you going to come out yourself, or do I need to blast you out of your hiding spot?" Gojo called to the shadows. The leaves rustled, and a lean, pale-faced man walked out of the trees, dragging along something large and heavy behind him.

"Well, we found the fifth victim," Gojo commented, "That would save us the trouble on finding the corpse after."

"You there, aren't you too conceited to bring a kid to a fight?" the man asked. He dumped the body next to him and placed a foot on it. "Though I don't mind that you brought another sacrifice along."

"I don't think you will last even 20 blows from Rey," Gojo laughed. "I thought the person behind this would be stronger."

"I'm a first grade curse user," the man snarled. "You're delusional if you think I can't beat a kid."

"Oh no," Gojo replied, "I was being generous actually. When I was his age, I could beat you in 3 blows without trying."

"Bold words, sorcerer. I'll wipe that smile off your face!" The man stomped down on the body and flattened the man's head. Fresh blood splattered onto the ground.

Ugh. What's with all the blood today?

The man made up an upward motion with his finger, and the blood floated into the air.

"Cursed Technique: Blood Explosion!" The blood droplets flew through the air and formed into tiny hardened fragments. I frowned as I saw them hurtling towards me and stepped behind Gojo's figure. The fragments exploded and enveloped the area in red mist.

"How did you like the taste of that? I've got more in store for you!"

"Rey-kun, did you really have to use me like that?" The mist parted to reveal Gojo completely unscathed.

I stepped out from behind him and dusted my clothes. "Blood is dirty."

"I see." Gojo laughed. "Then you can use me as a shield all you want!" Gojo was delighted to learn that the little boy treasured the clothes he bought for him. It made the couple hundred thousand dollars he spent worth it.

"That-that's impossible!" The man stammered. "That technique! It can't be. What are you doing here?"

The man tripped over the headless body in his attempt to retreat backwards. "That's not what they told me! They said it was only a grade one sorcerer. Why are you here?"

"They?" Gojo stalked forward. "Who's they?"

"Shut up! Shut up!" The man was spiraling into his own terror. Spittle flew out of his mouth as I saw desperation seep into his eyes. "It's all your fault! You made me this way! I didn't want to resort to this!"

"You shouldn't slander good people, you know, especially when we didn't do anything." Gojo said. "You only have yourself to blame for your actions."

"I said shut up!" the man screamed. He raised his right hand, and the back of his hand started to glow red. "Cursed Technique: Blood Siphon!"

The loch ness monster cried in agony. Yaga let out a gasp of surprise as purple blood erupted from the curse and streamed toward the man on the ground. Gojo pulled me back as the man's cursed energy started to explode exponentially.

"Hahahahaha!" Maniacal laughter filled the air as blood flowed down the man's mouth. He fixed his bloodshot eyes on us and showed us a blood-stained smile.

"Maximum: Bloody Eyes!"

A flash of purple light illuminated the forest. His gaze met mine for a brief moment, and my soul instinctively retaliated. Oh crap.

How dare a mere human soul intrude on my territory? It must die!

Relax. Where's the fun in killing it so fast? Think of all the things we could do with it.

No fair! You got to play with it last time. Why do you always get to go first?

So loud... let me sleep...

No! I don't like sharing! It's all mine!

I want to eat it! Give it to me!

Hmmph, look at you all fighting over a human soul, how boring.

It's mine!

No mine!

Mine!

I felt their primitive auras leak out of my soul, and I knew this was going to be a hassle. My guard had been lowered from putting my cursed energy to the lowest, and out of all of the techniques that man could have used, he had to use a soul one. The loch ness curse exploded into pieces the moment its soul came into contact with the wisp of their auras. Annoying.

Silence! Stop bickering!

The voices went quiet. Thankfully, they hadn't gotten too excited.

No one is doing anything with the soul!

But-

Do I need to repeat myself? Release the soul now!

Very well.

Awww.

Fine.

Zzzz.

It's mine next time.

Hungry...

How boring.

They released the man's soul from their grips, and I immediately expelled it from my soul. I let out a sigh of relief. It was a good thing that the soul wasn't powerful enough to pique too much of their interest. I opened my eyes after the small crisis was averted.

"Goddamn!" Yaga pulled down his sunglasses and gaped. "Where did you find this kid, Satoru? His cursed energy levels are nearly as high as yours!"

The principal walked over, disbelief written all over his face. "What happened here? First this curse user appears, then that bright light, and then the kid starts emitting a scary pressure, and the curse just explodes in my face for no reason. Satoru, what the hell is going on here?"

"Haha," Gojo scratched his head, "about that, I actually have no idea."

Yaga held up his hand. "You know what, I don't even want to know how you found this kid. I'm just warning you that he's your responsibility."

"Gojo-sensei," I tugged at his sleeve. I pointed at the man who was blubbering some nonsense under his breath. His eyes were unfocused and bleeding.

"Don't worry about it." Gojo assured. "Yaga will take care of him."

"It was an accident," I explained. I knew that it would have been best if they could have gotten information from the man. But, he was already lucky that his soul didn't completely obliterated the moment they spoke, or else he would have been just an empty shell now.

"It's fine, Rey-kun," Gojo said. "Things would have been much more troublesome if you didn't stop him. You and I can withstand his ocular attack, but Yaga can't. The principal would have lost a lot of face if he had to be beaten up by his former student."

"Satoru," Yaga growled. "I heard that."

"Anyways," Gojo deliberately changed the subject. "You can handle the clean up work, right? I have some business with Rey-kun."

"Yeah, you do." Yaga agreed. He cast me a wary look. "I trust your ability to get things done, Satoru, but don't get sloppy."

"I know what I'm doing." Gojo took my hand. "I trust my eye for people."

"You also owe me a new pair of sunglasses. Mine broke in the explosion, and I'm blaming it on you," Yaga said.

"Just send me the bill." Gojo waved his hand, and our surroundings blurred.