Mei Mei

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After allowing Ginko to positively annihilate the cafeteria's stock for at least ten minutes straight, Yaga had successfully managed to get him to sit down next to himself and Mei Mei without too much of a fuss. 

Then again, this was the man who had to deal with Gojo on a daily basis. To get him to have to exert any effort at all was an achievement in and of itself. 

"So, you're my new Kouhai?" His silver-haired upperclassmen questioned softly, placing both her hands under her chin as she examined him carefully. Trying to get a read on Ginko as best she could. 

"I think?" Having never gone to school officially, the term was pretty much foreign to him. He could only assume it was correct by the certainty in her voice. 

'Gojo-kun is eccentric in his own right, but this guy seems to just be plain weird. Oh well, I'll just have to charge them extra in exchange for all the trouble.' Even though Yaga hadn't laid out the exact details of the mission just yet, it wasn't hard for her to take an educated guess as to its contents. 

"You look awfully confused." She commented, earning a signature head tilt from Ginko. 

"Notwithstanding, I suppose it would be best for me to introduce myself. Like Yaga just said my name is Mei Mei, I'm a second year. Nice to meet you." 

She neglected to extend her hand, noticing the excessive amount of chicken grease on Ginko's fingers. 

"I'm Ginko." 

Yaga dipped his head followed by a sigh, realizing that he'd probably need to tutor Ginko on how to properly hold a conversation with someone somewhere down the line. 

"Now that you've got your greetings out of the way, allow me to present the details of the trial mission you'll be undertaking as of today." 

Yaga reached into his jacket and pulled out a beige folder, unsheathing a file from within it and sliding it onto the table. Preferably away from the mess Ginko had made. 

"What's that?" Ginko leaned over, looking at what seemed to be the picture of a school of some sort on the file. Which of course was just another building to him. 

"This is a report I received from one of our Window's a few days back." 

"Window?" He repeated. 

"Window's are people who are capable of perceiving curses, but are not sorcerer's, instead they act as scouts and feed us information on whatever findings they may come across. You can think of them as mobile cameras for us if you like." 

"What's a camera?" He shot another question. 

"Nevermind that for now, currently all that you need to focus on are the details I'm about to tell you." Ginko nodded, fully prepared to listen along. "The school you're seeing here is called Fukuda High School which is located near Asakusa, lately there's been incidents where both students and staff alike have been falling ill out of nowhere with some sort of disease that leaves them both completely bedridden and unconscious, the illness itself takes the form of odd purple hives that span across one's skin, and has been deemed both incurable and unidentifiable by doctors." 

Noticing that Ginko actually seemed to be paying attention for once, Yaga's lips broke into a faint smile as he continued his explanation. 

"But that's not all, the report has also stated that there's an odd miasma that has spread throughout the entire school, however only the Window's were capable of perceiving it." 

"So it's a curse." Mei Mei continued, earning a stiff nod from her teacher. "And I imagine you're going to have me and Ginko-kun deal with it correct?" 

"Correct." 

She brooded momentarily, furrowing her brows as she contemplated over the assignment. 

"Assuming that this miasma is responsible for this disease you speak of, do we know what caliber of sorcerer it's capable of affecting? I for one do not possess any techniques suited to dealing with such a predicament should push come to shove." 

"We do not, the Window's naturally didn't attempt to go in on their own, and respective of the reports recency we have yet to send any sorcerers there beforehand. You two will be the first." 

The corners of her mouth dipped into a frown, noticeably displeased in some way. 

"Isn't that a tad bit irresponsible? What happens if we end up being infected ourselves by the miasma?" 

"Then we'll have Shoko heal you obviously, there has yet to be a single casualty from the disease so even if you are afflicted you'll be able to be brought back here for treatment in time." 

Her frown deepened, finding the level of risk being thrust upon her somewhat uncharacteristic of the doll enthusiast. 

"You seem to have some concerns with the assignment, Mei Mei." He stated plainly. 

"This assignment seems a bit much for a trial mission, especially considering the fact that I'd have to ensure he returns safely in case anything goes wrong, which by the looks of the things seems relatively likely." 

Yaga gripped his nose bridge as he shook his head in apparent chagrin. 

"Normally when it comes to you I'd retort by saying you'd be compensated appropriately, but I can tell that isn't the case right now." He lifted his head, looking at her dead in the eyes. "Up until now, you haven't ever come across a mission with such uncertainty, am I right?" 

He didn't even need a response, just by looking at her face the answer was clear as day. 

"I suppose I am partially at fault here." He groaned. "Since you were so insistent on not wanting to touch your cursed technique, I inevitably gave up on trying to force you. However, now I am starting to see that I made a massive error on my part." 

"Are you calling me weak? Yaga?" 

As their conversation started to heat up, Ginko meekly continued to nibble on a red bean bun whilst looking at the two with nothing but cluelessness on his face. 

"Weak? If you're talking about your physical strength then you'd only be half right, as of now I'm more concerned about your mentality. Being a sorcerer is all about taking risks, you know this much. But I failed to actually make you practice that mindset on the field." 

Though her angst had heightened, she still patiently waited for him to finish. 

"Your primary motivation is wealth, correct?" 

"Mhm." 

"In that case you should be aiming to amass as much strength as you possibly can, the higher your grade is the higher your payments become per mission. I'm sure you of all people are aware of how high the pay bumps are, right?" 

"Naturally, but a sorcerer's strength is 80% innate talent. Which means there's a limit to how far I can reach, just because the possibility exists doesn't mean I should risk everything for one mission." 

"That's how losers think." Ginko butted in, surprising both Yaga and Mei Mei. 

"Excuse me?" She glared at him, understandably not happy about her underclassmens rudeness. 

"You talk about limits, but according to Sensei you haven't even begun to explore your own. Innate talent does in fact play a big role in one's strength, but so does mentality. Without the right mentality, talent amounts to nothing. Or so my gramps says." 

Ginko abruptly got up from his seat. 

"Honestly whether you want to live as a loser or a sorcerer doesn't matter to me, but I've got a mission to do so I'd prefer you make your decision soon." He waved the two of them off as he left the cafeteria, having little interest in debating the intricacies or philosophies of being a sorcerer. 

He came here to fight and attain more strength. 

Everything else was naught but a distraction. 

Mei Mei scowled, having not expected such forwardness from the seemingly airheaded newcomer. 

"Setting his rather blunt manner of speaking aside, he does have a point." Yaga affirmed. "You chose to become a sorcerer, and you understood the risks that came with it. I thought this would be a good chance for you to amend some of your shortcomings. Then again, time is a precious commodity, if you don't want to do this then just say so. I'm not so dense as to not realize sending my students on a mission they are unwilling to take, is practically signing their death warrant." 

Yaga had lost all interest in continued discourse, all he could do now was lean into his chair as he awaited her answer. 

"You say that, but obviously if I don't go he won't have anyone to supervise his mission. Aren't you pretty much forcing me into a corner here?" 

"No, if you don't go I'll simply go with him in your stead." Yaga paused, wondering how much he should tell his student. "I'll say this much, for him this is merely a test of might. But for you this is a crossroads, and how you approach it will determine a good chunk of your future." 

She fell silent, a conflicted look appearing on her face as her deliberation reached its peak. 

"Well?" 

"I really hate that tongue of yours you know?" 

"That's unfortunate." He replied bluntly. 

"But if you're going to be this insistent, then it's exceedingly hard for me to say no." She sighed as Yaga smiled. "I better see a good amount of zeros in my account by the time I return understood?"

"Of course, now get going already. There's a car set up at the front entrance for you already." 

She finished her drink, heading outside the cafeteria only to see Ginko staring at her with a "Nah, I'd win" face. 

"Good choice." 

"You were listening?" 

"Nope, I can tell by the fact that you look like less of a loser now." He grinned. 

"What a foul mouth you have, didn't it occur to you to treat your seniors with respect?" Having settled her plight, Mei Mei's confidence had practically returned in full swing. "Or will I have to instill it into you forcefully?" 

Ginko breathed a hearty chuckle in response, almost tempted to slap his knee if it weren't for his habit of keeping his arms tucked within his sleeves. 

Something he had more likely than not inherited from his grandfather. 

"That's the spirit!" His laughter continued as he followed after his supervisor. To which the latter had simply given up on entertaining his antics any longer, deeming it best for her mental wellbeing. 

Eventually they were stood at the roadside next to one of the entrances of Jujutsu High, waiting in front of a dark SUV with tinted windows. 

"What are we waiting for?" Ginko asked impatiently. 

"Our manager." 

"Manager?" 

"SORRY I'M LATE!" A voice called out from a distance, revealing a man running towards them whilst sweating profusely. He wore a pretty standard looking suit and sported black slicked back hair, alongside a stubble and profound eyebags that made him appear like an overworked salaryman. 

"What's that in his hands?" 

"You'll know when we get there." 

He carried what looked to be an extremely oversized guitar case, and whatever was held inside it was causing his knees to tremble immensely with each step he took. 

"Uh, just give me a second. This darned thing weighs more than this car." He begrudgingly struggled to stuff it into the back of the car, only succeeding after a solid few moments of consistent trembling. "Ah, there we go." He turned to the two sorcerers and bowed politely. "My name is Tanabe, I'll be your manager for today." 

"Ginko." He said in his usual fashion. 

"Uhm, yes I was already briefed beforehand." He motioned towards the passenger seat door as he held it open. "If you would." Following Mei Mei's lead, Ginko entered inside as he marveled at the vehicle's interior. 

"Something wrong?" She queried. 

"No, it's just the first time I've been in one of these. People use these quite often right?" 

Mei Mei deadpanned for a good second, astounded by the fact that it didn't seem like Ginko was joking. 

"You really haven't ever been in a car before?" 

"A car? Is that what this is called? Interesting." He scratched his chin inquisitively, watching intently at all the strange contraptions Tanabe was using to drive the car like a kid in a museum. "These don't run on cursed energy by the looks of things." 

He "smartly" surmised. 

"Of course not." She pulled out her phone, scrolling through it absentmindedly as they continued their trip. 

"What's that?" 

"Have you been living under a rock all this time or what?" She sighed. 

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Trying my best to develop the characters during this time period as well as I can, let me know your thoughts if possible. 

Don't really have a lot to put in this section this time, so I'm just going to cut it short. Make sure to join the discord though, could use some activity there and also suggestions on how to make it better. 

Oh, and if you're reading this on Webnovel, some reviews would be nice so this story can get an official rating.