31 Nobara continues to struggle with dolls

"Alright, kiddos," Gojo drawled, somehow, in the most annoyingly giddy way possible, as we strolled down the hallway, his hands tucked nonchalantly in his pockets. "Time for a crash course in Jujutsu Tech 101."

He paused dramatically, glancing at each of us with a mischievous glint in his eyes. "First things first, grades. Yeah, we have those. Mostly just to keep the normies happy and pretend we're a real school and stuff."

He waved a dismissive hand. "Don't sweat it too much though. As long as you can exorcise a curse without, you know, dying or causing a city-wide catastrophe, you'll definitely pass."

Yuji's face lit up. "So it's all about fighting curses and stuff?"

Gojo chuckled while taking his hands out of his pockets and giving him finger guns. "Pretty much. Although, there's also a bunch of boring paperwork and regulations you gotta deal with. But hey, that's what assistants are for, right?"

He winked at Megumi, who merely rolled his eyes in response.

"Speaking of assistants," Gojo continued, his tone turning slightly more serious, "teamwork is kinda important in this line of work. Curses can be nasty buggers, and sometimes you need a helping hand... or ten, to take them down."

He grinned and nodded to himself "Unless you're me of course!"

He somehow speed-blitzed an arm around Yuji's shoulders, pulling him close with a playful ruffle of his hair. "That's why you gotta learn to play nice with your fellow sorcerers, even the broody ones who talk to shadows." he directed a faux glare towards Megumi who scowled and didn't respond.

Gojo's gaze shifted to Miu and me. "And for you two lovebirds," he said with a knowing smirk, "try not to let your, uh, extracurricular activities interfere with your duties. We wouldn't want any distractions during a mission, would we?"

I gave him a what the fuck type of look with my arms spread and before I could berate him, Miu, with cheeks slightly flushed, waved me off and responded with a defiant glare. "Don't worry about us, Gojo. We know how to prioritize."

Gojo chuckled, raising his hands in mock surrender. "Alright, alright, just a friendly reminder. Don't jump down my throat."

Nobara trailed behind us, still muttering curses under her breath, her frustration with the straw doll evident in her tense posture and furrowed brow. The cursed energy construct hovered beside her, its form flickering in and out of existence as she struggled to maintain all four limbs.

"Motherfucker! If you don't stop having 3 limbs instead of four-"

One leg disappeared as the one arm she was working on finished.

She started making the sound of a relatively miffed hissing teakettle.

"Right." Gojo said, "Not everyone can be as talented in cursed energy manipulation as me!"

Wow, this guy is a genuine grade-a asshole gremlin. 

It was funny in the anime but he's seriously just pissing me off.

We arrived at the lecture hall, and sat as a group.

Miu sat next to me of course, but what surprised me was Nobara sitting next to me as well.

I shrugged as Nobara after giving me a smile, continued to struggle at making her straw doll actually have the right aspects for her technique to work.

Gojo then started explaining more about cursed energy as Yuji kept asking stupid questions.

Nobara started again, "Damn it," she hissed, her voice barely above a whisper. "Why won't you just stay put?!"

I glanced at her, offering a sympathetic smile. "It takes time and practice to master cursed techniques," I reassured her. "Don't get discouraged."

Miu nodded in agreement. "Your progress is impressive, Nobara. I'm sure you'll have it mastered in no time."

Nobara's lips twitched into a hint of a smile, her frustration momentarily abating. "Thanks, guys," she muttered, her focus returning to the stubborn straw doll.

A few hours later, just as Gojo was wrapping up explaining the common weakness points of several categories of cursed spirits, in the most sassy, 'you could probably figure this out if you even tried' voice ever.

Nobara shotued, "YES! FUCK YOU! RAPIDFIRE RESONANCE HERE I COME!"

She snatched the floating straw doll out of the air with an excitedly happy expression.

But then she froze.

"Why is the texture cardboard-like?"

Her left eye started twitching.

"Why does it look like a straw doll-" she grit her teeth.

"But it's clearly a fucking cardboard doll that looks like straw!"

She tried throwing the straw doll at Yuji who had his dead down and was snorlng, when he really should be paying attention.

It hit him and a nail immediately formed inside the doll but not entering his skin on purpose.

"Resonance technique! Cursed taser!"

Nothing happened, and Yuji kept snoring.

We all kept darting our eyes between her and the complete, yet defective, 'straw' doll.

"MOTHERFU-"