"Having fun while being protected by a vengeful spirit? Don't make me laugh." Maki spat.
Before Yuta could retort, Panda grabbed him by the shoulders.
"That's enough, Maki. Leave him alone," Panda said.
"Salmon." Toge chimed in.
"Fine, whatever. Get off my back." Maki waved them off.
"You know, Maki, you don't have to put up a facade around me. I can tell you're just acting tough." Yuta said softly.
A small blush crept up her face and vanished just as quickly.
"M-Moron, you know nothing about me," Maki stuttered.
Gojo watched them go back and forth, a smirk firmly in place.
'Something's definitely up with Yuta. Not long ago, he wanted to die alone, yet now he wants to live a fulfilling life. Things just got more interesting.'
He clapped his hands, cutting them off.
"Yuta, Maki - you've been assigned a mission. Elementary school kids have gone missing, and two were attacked by a curse. Exorcise it and bring back the kids. Any dead too."
They nodded and headed off campus with Gojo. The three of them piled into a black car. Neither Yuta nor Maki spoke the entire ride. Maki stared ahead, lost in thought about what she thought about Yuta while he watched the city pass through the window.
'I can't let go of Cursed Spirit Rika. Unconditional copy and boundless cursed energy are too valuable to give up, even if full manifestation is still out of reach. Partial should be more than enough for most opponents, and that's not even counting my own output. I really hit the jackpot.'
'Geto might be trouble, but he's killable, and I need to copy his cursed technique too. The butterfly effect could mess things up, but none of that matters if I'm the strongest by then, but it's easier said than done.'
The car stopped at the elementary school, and as they walked in, Gojo raised a finger and recited the incantation for Curtain.
"Emerge from the darkness, blacker than darkness. Purify that which is impure."
A dark, nearly liquid substance poured down from the sky and hardened into a half-sphere barrier around the grounds.
"That's what we call a Curtain, Yuta. It smokes out the curse and keeps you hidden from the outside." Gojo walked off the premises, tapping Yuta's shoulder on his way out. He glanced back with a grin. "Now that I'm outside - try not to die, okay?"
Neither of them answered. Three cursed spirits had materialized in front of them - pale grey, stitched seams running down their torsos, one eye each.
Maki raised her naginata. Yuta was already moving, cutting past her at unnatural speed. The nearest spirit swung at him, but then Rika appeared.
"Don't touch my Yuta!!!"
Two massive hands appeared at his flanks and carved through all three spirits at once, skewering them clean.
'A gamble, but worth it. As long as a curse attacks me directly, Rika spawns. Good to know.'
"Thank you, Rika-chan." Yuta held out a fist. The arms bumped it and disappeared.
Better to stay on her good side. Maybe it would earn him more control over her full manifestation eventually. At the edge of his vision, Maki walked up beside him.
"I was wrong about you, Yuta. Thought you were passive." A small smirk pulled at the corner of her mouth. "You've got some backbone."
"You just gotta trust me. I always keep my word," Yuta said.
"We'll see. Let's head inside."
The hallway stretched long ahead of them. Minor curses skittered along the walls and ceiling. Maki glanced at Yuta, eyes narrowed.
"Okkotsu, what grade are you?"
"Special grade." He replied, casually.
Maki stopped walking. She stared at him like he'd grown a second head. The Zenin clan's voice rang through the back of her head - held back, again, she could have been Grade Two by now, and now this transfer student walked in on day one already leagues past her.
'I swear I'm going to kill those old farts one day.'
"Just how are you a special grade?"
"You'll see."
"Hu-"
Shatter.
A massive blob-like curse burst through the wall in an eruption of glass and concrete, sending them both airborne. Its mouth split open - rows of teeth arranged in a wide circle, grinding. Maki drove her naginata into them and got flung sideways, grazed on the way in. Yuta tumbled in after her, arms wrapped tight around himself.
"Thank, thank, thank you for the meal!" The curse swallowed.
As soon as Yuta landed in the cursed spirit stomach, he pulled his chain, breaking it, and slowly started putting on his ring.
"Rika Chan."
"Yes?"
"Give me your strength."
The cursed spirit's body billowed up as Rika burst through its body, into a pool of purple blood. She screamed, grabbing its head and popping it like a watermelon. She then continued to rip out its body, sending parts around the school.
Gojo leaned on his car, looking at the curtain that was covered in blood from the inside with a smirk.
"So this is the full power of the Queen of Curses, my, my so scary." He said, chuckling.
While Rika was still tearing up the cursed body, Maki and Yuta were walking with the kids, and Yuta was carrying an injured one.
"Wow, she's really having fun over there," Maki said, looking back at Rika, worriedly.
"Don't worry, she doesn't bite people I care about," Yuta replied.
"I hope n-wait people you care about?" She stammered, realizing what Yuta just insinuated.
'It's fun teasing her.' Yuta thought, struggling to hold back his laughter.
"We are friends, right? And I care for my friends deeply." Yuta replied, smiling brightly.
"Idiot, we barely know each other," She huffed.
"Then let's get to know each other, Maki."