Two-Way Counseling

I'm back With The Milk Kids!

.

.

.

She was bored.

For the first time in months she was bored, and she knew exactly why. That boy, Yuta Okutsu, interested her… greatly.

A person who can control curses like her, although apparently it wasn't exactly that rare. Apparently a former friend of Saturo Gojo, Suguru Geto, was a master at forcing curses to do his bidding. Maybe they should chat one day, but for now gathering information took priority.

So far over the month he's been doing basic training with some of the other first year students such as using weapons properly and teaching him multiple martial arts. At first, she blew off the other three as sideshows, but the more she observes the more they would enhance her skill set.

First would have to be the curse speech user know as Toge Inumaki. When she found out what the curse speech user could do, she had her sights on him almost as much as Yuta despite the power disparity. The ability to speak and make ANY animal, human, or curse do your bidding was so tantalizing to the embodiment of control. When she would be released, she would keep this one close, very close.

Second was the Panda known as Panda. According to her research, he was once a doll made by the principal now given life, but that was about it. He's strong and able to shift his form to an extent, but now someone who would amplify her, only an addition to a list sadly.

Last but not least was the runt of this litter, Maki Zenin. She had heard of much of the Zenin clan, more than enough to realize that she was a complete and utter failure in the way of not being able to use cursed technique, something that was the family's pride and joy. She believed so too, however those glasses of her's were valuable. If she were to possess them, she wouldn't need to look through another creature to see for her, she could just see with her very own eyes.

"Interesting, interesting," she mused to herself on the bed, eyes closed in concentration. She could only focus her sight through about 10-20 creatures at a time, but gifting her hearing to flocks upon flocks of birds was finally paying off. Now she has extended her hearing throughout the entire Greater Tokyo Area, along with others here and there.

Then something caught her eye, a meeting between just Maki,Yuta, and Gojo. One that was seemingly meant to be somewhat private, which means somewhat valuable. She watched, and listened…

"Alright Yuta, I feel like your ready for your first mission!" said an excited Gojo.

"Really Sensei. I haven't been training that long."

"Nonsense, I have full confidence in you. And just in case you do get in trouble, Maki will tag along with you to help ya," gleamed the blindfolded sorcerer.

"Ugh, why do I have to babysit this cry baby Sensei. Can't you send Panda or Toge instead," groaned the lackluster Zenin.

"Heeey, don't be like that. It'll be a quick mission just in an out, plus I already have a ride ready for us," he said, presenting a car and driver ready for them.

She eye rolled, but ultimately complied. "Fine."

"But,um, Sensei were are we going?"

"It's a surprise. Sometimes when you have a mission you don't know where youll go until you get there!"

"That makes no sense," they both groaned.

"I don't care! Just get in already!" Gojo comically ordered, as the two students complied with their teacher, getting in the black car and driving off campus.

"Ah yes, finally. I've been waiting to see this curse activate," smiled the redhead, as she made the crow fly behind the car. Keeping a close eye as to not lose track of it.

----------

After about half an hour of flying, the car finally stopped in front of a school, it's three occupants stepping out of the vehicle. She perched her proxy on a rooftop overlooking the school. Keeping her hearing sharp, she began to keep track of the conversation the three of them were having...

"This is just an elementary school where some of the students were reported to have disappeared," grinned Gojo.

"Disappeared!?"

"Well, this happens a lot in a place like this, anyways now that I think about it a bit more, this is likely due to a naturally formed curse."

"So you're saying there's a curse targeting a child?" Asked the frightened Yuta.

"Yup, so far we have two missing children."

"Usually, curses also tend to form in places like this," the bespectacled girl spoke. "Schools, hospitals, or places that usually have a negative outlook. Those are the places that have the potential to form a curse. But at this point, I think at this point even if we exercise the curse they might still be dead."

"D-dead? Woah it's turning night?!" shouted Yuta in surprise. Makima grew a look of surprise as details from some of the school buildings began to blur and simplify. "Another thing I can't see,ugh."

"It's a veil," said Gojo, already walking away from this thing called a veil before it closed. "It's a barrier that will smoke any curse inside, and stop any bystanders from looking at your fight. It's easy to undo inside once the curse is gone, hmph, just don't die in the meantime, alright," remarked Gojo, saluting them like a commander to his grunts.

"Die!? Wait sen-" Yuta's voice was completely cut off as the veil completely closed around the school, making them seemingly vanish like spectors. She cursed this veil, so much possible information was lost because of it. Which sadly was the point and at least it did it's job correctly. If it was simple to cast, she could make use of it for her own. Satisfied with the newfound information, she planned to release her focused control on the creature until a later point, unfortunately...

"Yo!"

SQaUcK!

"Easy there didn't mean to scare you, little guy, or should I say... little girl." Unbeknownst to her, Gojo went from the ground to the roof in a matter of seconds. Lazily sitting next to her while keeping an eye on the concealed school he began with, "You never mentioned this to be a part of your powers, although I could assume as much. What are yo-" Glancing at her, he began to stare as she, (as a crow mind you), began to peck at the ground like any ol bird. "That's not convincing in the slightest! Quit messing around, the jig is up!" he shouted, pointing accusingly at her.

The crow looked at him with its dull blue eyes as its iris color and form changed to match Makima's golden triple ringed eyes. "Ahem, fine," she flew slightly as to perch on Gojo's right shoulder, "I've been keeping track of Yuta since yesterday. He greatly intrigues me with that curse of his."

"Well you have quite the eye for talent, I enrolled Yuta as fast as I could because I think if he could harness Rika's power he'd make an excellent sorcerer."

"I could potentially help him control his curse if you would like?"

Turning his head slowly to face her she felt grateful that the blindfold was intact as he seemed to stare laser beams at her. "N O, I'm starting to trust you a lot more, but I've seen the way you control things Makima," he says while putting the crow in his hand. "You seem to forcibly take over an individual's free will without regard to whether or not they truly want to. Rika is more than just a curse to him or some sort of weapon to fight with, Rika is Yuta's soulmate, someone who always looked out for him when he was younger. Controlling those you hold most dear to your heart is never a good thing to me, it will make thier love and adoration for you shrivel up and die faster than you can blink."

"So, do you now understand where I'm coming from, Makima." He looked inquisitively at the crows eyes. They seemed to widen for a second, as if discovering some sort of epiphany, before shifting back and then responding with, "Understood. If he comes to me of his own will, I'll let him know what you said." She gracefully bowed, bending her beak down making it look like the bird was giving a curt nod.

Rifling through his school uniform pockets he pulled out an American honey bun and unwrapped it and began to dig into it. "Would you like some?" he asked, motioning the sweet towards her.

"No thank you, I won't actually be eating, the bird will."

"Man! So you're not even paying this bird in yummy foods for being your personal surveillance drone? What a slave driver. I'd hate to see any business you run." lamented Gojo jokingly receiving feathery slaps to his arm.

"I can run a business perfectly fine thank you, and this bird can eat and drink on its lunch break."

Gojo spat out his food at that. "Pffft! Hahahaha!You give birds lunch breaks! What's next, are these birds going to start working 9 to 5? Do they have health insurance? Retirement fund? God forbid those birds make a union with you as their boss," cackled Gojo thinking of all the bird rights that were being violated.

"Caw!, I'm done with this conversation," she 'crow sighed' hoping off his hand and onto the roof to stretch her wings.

"Oh come on, I can do this all day."

He imagined her sweat dropping on her end as the crow said, "That's exactly why I'm leaving. Plus, I have faith the Yuta will be out any minute now, and I don't want to make you seem even more eccentric than you already are. At least I hope you didn't send them off on a suicide mission on his first real day?"

"Nah, it's dangerous and all, but with Maki's experience and Yuta's special grade status, this is a complete cake walk for them. You sure you don't wanna stay and finish watching?"

"I'll have to decline," she said, flying off leaving his hearing range, "I already know how it's going to end," she flew off as she heard the sound of a large amount of blood being splattered against a wall.

----------

Later That Night

----------

Another thing she liked about her vacation here was the fact that she could sleep whenever she pleased. Back in her old life, she was so focused on her work and hearing everything in all parts of the globe, she hardly got any good sleep. After experiencing a goodnights sleep for the first time in centuries, she looked forward to it every night with subdued glee.

Just when she was about to nod off, a knock came to her door. Wondering who it could be, she opened the door ajar just enough to see who it was. "Ah Yuta," she mumbled sleepily, opening the door fully. "What are you doing here so late?" she questioned peering around him to see it was pitch black outside.

"I didn't mean to disturb you this late, but I was wondering if I could talk to you for a bit?" he asked bashfully.

Makima mimicked the action of thinking for a moment before saying, "Sure, come and have a seat," she said, letting him inside her makeshift abode. Yuta walked in and took a seat on one of the few chairs in the room, with Makima sitting on her bed. "So what is it that you want to speak about?"

Yuta looked down to the ground, thinking back to what happened earlier that day, the mission. "Well, today I had my first mission with Maki today. We went to an elementary school to exercise a curse, but," Yuta paused, eyes starting to water up. "But, the curse caught us off guard and ate us, hurting Maki. Not only that, but inside the curse, their were children alive in that thing, being smothered alive by the curse energy. In the heat of the moment, I put on Rika's ring and summoned her myself for the first time, and she tore the curse to shreds."

"But I couldn't control her, if I had messed up, Rika would've killed Maki and those kids," he clenched his fist and gritted his teeth. "I-i want to break Rika's curse, but I also need to control her to protect my friends. So, is it possible that you could show me how to control Rika like how you did the day we met… please," pleaded Yuta, a small dribble of tears leaking from his eyes. Those eyes containing an inner battle inside his mind.

"I won't help you like that," she said simply, resting her hand on her palm.

Yuta looked a bit taken aback. "Wuh, why not?"

She peered up at the ceiling, genuinely giving it some thought. It was an uncommon occurrence, instead of thinking about bettering her, she was putting in effort to someone else's thoughts and feelings. "Gojo told me not to help you, but I have my own reasons," she looked back at him.

"In terms of control, mine is strong while yours is lacking. However, I take away the essence of their humanity in order to do so. That essence is the freedom of choice. What you said about Rika, wanting to free her, if you do it my way, you'll be leashing her to you forever, erasing whatever is left of her."

Yuta looked frightened at the prospect. "I… okay. I can't have you do it your way. But how can I do it my own way? One that makes her free."

"Sigh, to be honest I never considered such a path, it would never work out for myself. Fortunately, I have the belief that you will succeed in the end."

"How do you know?" He asked curiously.

"Because you have the potential for the most powerful aspect of control, Love. Pure natural love and admiration is the key," she spoke in an enlightened tone.

"With that, even the strongest and most wild of monsters can be brought to your side," she leaned over and put her hand on Yuta's chest. "You just have to look inside yourself to find how to do that," she smiled to him, a genuine smile fueled by buried memories of a long forgotten past.

Yuta blinked his eyes, sifting through his pool of feelings. He then smiled in understanding, giving her a thankful nod. "Thank you, thank you Miss Makima. I feel like I understand what to do from now on."

"Just call me Makima, and I'm thankful you understand. It seems as if a weight has been lifted off your shoulders."

Yuta stood up. "I have. Um, Is it okay that I come back again to tell you how it's going?"

"Of course, but do try and come in more appropriate hours. Yawn, I quite like my beauty sleep," she yawned, stretching her arms above her head.

"Yeah I will, goodnight Miss," he smiled as he walked over to the door and closed it behind him.

With him gone, she laid back down, finding the best sleeping position. "Yuta's come a long way already. I can't wait to see what becomes of him," she softly smiled, drifting off to sleep. Dreaming of the better days she used to have with her sisters, all those years ago.