Noroi's Pov
I looked at Yaga as we stood in the training grounds, at his side multiple cursed dolls that were preparing to fight me, my cursed energy flaring with anticipation. This time I had a serious expression, the memories of Haibara still fresh on my mind, tormenting me at night, but I decided to stop being sad and live my life like he would want me to do.
"Noroi? You ready?" Yaga asked, looking at me.
"Yeah," I said, taking a martial arts stance.
Over these two years, I trained in martial arts like a madman, dedicating my entire time to training and mastering all disciplines.
It was my passion. My favorite thing to do in a day was to practice martial arts. I practiced for hours, losing track of time while doing it.
"Remember, use your cursed technique in a way you see fit, and I will evaluate you," he said seriously, starting to pour cursed energy into the cursed dolls.
The dolls straightened and charged against me.
I looked at the dolls and noticed all their movements, postures, and the intent behind their moves.
Three dolls approached me from the front, trying to hit me with two right hooks to the face and one kick to the abdomen. Two other dolls tried sneaking up on me, charging from my blind spots.
With my two shoulder arms, I grabbed the two hooks that were directed at my face, and with one of my abdomen arms, I blocked the kick. Looking behind me with two eyes, I saw two dolls intending to sneak attack me.
"Kai (Dismantle)," I said as I swung my free arm in a horizontal motion, my hand open and my palm facing up.
The two dolls were halved at the abdomen and fell to the ground harmlessly.
My other two eyes noticed movement from the three dolls I was blocking. The two that I had in my grip were trying to break free, and the one who failed to kick me intended to counterattack with another kick to the face, using my arm as a way to propel himself so he could reach my face.
I acted instantly, grabbing the kick with the arm I had just used to chant Dismantle. With the hand I used to block his first kick, I grabbed him by the face.
"Hachi (Cleave)," I chanted. The head of the doll was pulverized by multiple slashes, leaving nothing behind.
The other two dolls, being incapable of escaping my grip, tried attacking me, but as soon as they moved a little, I rammed them into the ground together, and with a motion from my hand and a chant from my abdomen mouth, the heads of the two dolls were severed, and the ground had a deep slash mark on it.
Applause sounded from the other side of the training grounds.
"That was incredible, Noroi. You just unlocked your cursed technique, yet you use it like it's second nature to you," he said, clapping his hands with a proud expression.
"Thank you, Yaga-sensei," I said, a small smile starting to appear on my face. "It's just that last night I didn't sleep well and started thinking of ways to use my technique."
Truth be told, last night I didn't sleep well. The memories of Haibara didn't let me, so I started thinking of ways to use my cursed technique in combat while trying to distract myself from those thoughts.
Yaga's expression turned serious but at the same time soft.
"Was it because of Haibara?" he asked with worry.
"Yeah…" I said, my smile vanishing, turning into a serious expression. I walked towards one of the stairs in the training grounds and sat down.
He looked at me with concern and approached me. He sat down to my right.
"You know… Haibara was one of the students I cared about the most. His cheerful demeanor always brightened those who were around him," he said with a sad tone.
I looked at him, intrigued by what he was going to say.
"Sorcerers are so gloomy and depressed, working with negative emotions all the time, that when that kid appeared in my class shouting excitedly and being happy all the time, I was left dumbfounded," he said with a little laugh. "But… being a sorcerer is one of the most dangerous things in this world," he added, a little gloomy.
"Thousands of sorcerers die daily," he said, looking at me. "And you were forced into sorcery at a young age, Noroi," he said, looking at me sadly. "This path is full of pain and suffering, so I want you to remember: live your life fully, protect those who are dear to you, and if you want, form a family one day. Don't let regrets or sadness disturb your life," he said, finishing his speech with a kind smile.
I looked at him with a surprised expression, and after a while, I decided to hug him.
"Thank you," I muttered silently, engraving his words into my brain.
He looked surprised but decided to hug me back with a smile on his face.
We pulled back, and I decided to go back to training.
Geto's Pov
"Curses…"
After Haibara's death, I thought about the conversation I had with Tsukumo. It was plausible, but I didn't want to harm innocent people in the process, so what should I do? I have to do more research. I can't leave this like this.
With my desperate thoughts, I went towards Jujutsu High to ask for the blonde woman so she could explain to me an alternative way of getting rid of cursed spirits.
"I have to find an answer…" I said with seriousness.
Tsumiki's Pov
I looked at the fridge and noticed it was empty. The only things that remained were a few bottles of water and two lonely eggs.
"I should go buy food," I said, pondering. "But right now I don't have money, and I don't know Gojo's number," I said, pondering what to do. "Well, I'll wait for Noroi." I left the kitchen and turned on the TV.
As time passed, at eleven o'clock Noroi returned home.
I stood up and looked at him. "Good morning, Noroi."
"Good morning, Tsumiki," he said, a little smile on his lips. He seemed less sad.
"Where did you go?" I asked him, confused. Gojo said he was going to train something, but I still was confused.
"I went to my martial arts school to train," he said with the little smile on his face.
"Oh, okay," I said, looking at him with a smile. "Noroi, I took a look at the fridge this morning and it was empty."
"Oh, okay. You want to come shopping with me?" he said, looking at me.
"Okay," I said, my smile widening as he asked for my opinion.
Normally, I would go shopping for food, and when I asked Megumi, he didn't want to accompany me.
"Well, let's go," he said, his tone brightening and his smile widening a bit.
As we left the apartment and strolled through the streets, people started staring at Noroi with gazes filled with fear and disgust. I noticed his frown deepening slightly and his lips curving downward. I approached him.
"Noroi, ignore them," I said soothingly, trying to cheer him up.
"I know," he said, looking at me with a smile.
As we strolled through the streets, we found a supermarket. We entered and grabbed a shopping cart. As we started picking the things we wanted for the week, people avoided us and avoided touching the things we touched.
When we were going to pay, the employee looked at Noroi with disgust.
Noroi's face was serious the whole time we strolled through the supermarket.
He occasionally smiled when he talked to me, but he was serious the whole time.
As Noroi grabbed the four bags himself, I tried helping him, but he refused, saying he could carry the bags without issues.
As we returned home with light steps, I noticed a woman with black hair cut in a bob, her hair covering her forehead, looking at Noroi with a different emotion compared to the passersby that looked at him with disgust and fear. This woman looked at him with curiosity. I blinked for a moment, and the woman disappeared like she was never there.
'Who was that?' I thought, pondering about the woman's look. 'Maybe it was just my imagination,' I said and continued my path without thinking about what I just saw.
We arrived home to see Megumi standing in front of the entrance with his arms crossed and a brow raised.
"Where were you two?" he asked with suspicion.
"Megumi, we went shopping," I said, a little happy at my brother asking about me.
He looked at Noroi for a while and then approached me and grabbed my arm, guiding me towards the couch.
"Huh? You want to play?" I asked excitedly, seeing my brother with such initiative to interact with me. Normally, it was the other way around.
"Noroi, please put the groceries in the fridge. I'm going to play with Megumi," I said, looking at him.
"Okay, don't worry," he said while walking towards the kitchen.
Noroi's Pov
As I walked into the kitchen, I glanced at the two siblings playing, Tsumiki smiling and Megumi smiling slightly.
'Tomorrow is my first day in class,' I thought, leaving the groceries on the table.
'What will my classmates think about me?' I thought with anxiety.
But I looked over at Tsumiki and Megumi and smiled with confidence.
'It's going to be okay.'