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CHAPTER START---
---March 6th, 2015…
Stepping out of his newly renovated dorm room's shower, Taiyo uses Immolation to dry himself off before getting dressed in some casual clothes.
He checks his phone, reads a message that surprises him, then steps outside and makes his way to the mess hall.
His mind finally relaxes after spending all day studying with Shoko, gazing at the moon rising into the sky, and enjoying the fresh air of their mountain campus.
He navigates the maze of buildings with practiced ease and arrives at the mess hall within minutes.
Stopping at the door, he looks around, seeing many of the Manager Program students and teachers at various tables, idly chatting while having dinner. Then he sees Ino and Panda sitting alone at the end of a far table, waving at him.
He walks over to them as Ino gestures to the third tray at the empty seat opposite them.
"I thought you weren't going to be on campus tonight. What happened?" Taiyo asks as he takes his seat and begins eating.
"Ugh, I don't want to talk about it…"
"He got dumped," Panda whispers.
"I didn't get dumped!" Ino's words draw all eyes onto him for an awkward moment before he drops back into his seat. "I just couldn't afford the tickets."
"Which is even worse." Taiyo says.
"How?"
"Trust me, it is. Women would rather have no man than a poor one."
"That's not true. And I'm not poor."
Taiyo shrugs. "Tickets to what?"
Ino sighs and picks at his food. "There was a rock concert tonight. But scalpers want an arm and a leg for a ticket. It's brutal man."
"Who will be performing? Can you show me the lineup?"
"Yeah, whatever," Ino takes out his phone and searches for the event page while Taiyo speaks to Panda.
"I wanted to go too," Panda says. "But Ino is scared I'd steal his girlfriend."
"No, I'm not."
"Yes, you are. You know women can't resist how soft and huggable I am. Pandas are far cuter than humans, and women love cute things."
Taiyo nods. "Panda has a point."
"Ugh. Don't encourage his crap. I didn't want a third wheel on my date. Besides, how the hell do we explain a giant panda walking about at the concert?"
"It's a costume?" Panda asks.
"With no zippers or person inside for them to ID?"
"It's…a really good costume?" Panda looks to Taiyo for help.
"Nah, I've got nothing for this one."
"Aw," Panda goes back to eating his dinner. "Being human must be so convenient…"
"Do you wish you were human?"
"Ew…"
"Well, fuck you too then," Taiyo rolls his eyes.
Ino slides his phone over to Taiyo, and while he's reading the event page, Satoru Gojo enters the mess hall and makes his way over to them.
Panda and Ino smile and wave at him, and Gojo returns the gesture before stopping beside Taiyo.
"Need something?" Taiyo asks.
"I'd like to have a chat with you, privately."
Taiyo sighs and slides the phone back over to Ino. "Call your girlfriend and tell her to get dressed. I'm familiar with one of the girls performing, I'll get you guys backstage."
"Wow, seriously?!"
"Yeah, but we don't have time to waste," Taiyo turns to Gojo. "I doubt Gojo would mind warping us into Tokyo, and your girl lives close to the concert anyway."
Gojo shrugs. "It's no problem. Come meet us in the first-year Courtyard when you're ready."
Ino shoves the remainder of his food into his mouth and quickly apologizes to Panda before rushing to his dorm room.
"Sorry, Panda, you're solo tonight," Taiyo says as he and Gojo leave the mess hall.
And Panda finishes his dinner in solitude.
Minutes later, Taiyo is already dressed in a simple pair of red jeans, a jacket from his fashion lineup, and a t-shirt from the same set.
"Always red and white with you," Gojo says as Taiyo steps into the courtyard, standing near the small pond.
"I have an image to maintain, plus…sponsors. We can't all inherit vast clan wealth."
"The universe just loves me more than you," Gojo says before raising his fingers and forming a small Curtain around them, transparent so they can see outside, but nobody can hear them.
And he notices that Taiyo doesn't respond.
"You don't seem intrigued by this variation of Curtain."
"I've been studying up on Barriers a lot. Manipulating the basic Curtain is the first step to learning advanced things."
"Fun, but not what I want to talk about."
"What's going on?"
"Suguru Geto—"
"Of course. Because it always goes back to him."
"You've been investigating some of what people think are his actions, right?"
"You mean the missing Cursed Spirits and the increased illegal activity of his cult."
"Those people could have been operating on their own."
"Sure, because a Grade 3 Curse User would go break out a Special Grade Cursed Spirit solo, right?"
Gojo runs a hand through his white hair and sighs. "There must be more to it than we're seeing."
"Even with your Six Eyes?"
"Something just feels off about this entire situation, and I'd like to know what that is before anything concrete is decided."
Taiyo frowns. "What are we missing?"
"That Cursed Spirit in Suicide Forest. It was weak enough for him to subdue and capture. Why would he allow that thing to simply go free? Besides, I went there. I could clearly see traces of you, Ijichi, Kusakabe, and the body we recovered, but no Geto."
"The higher-ups think it was a distraction of some kind."
"For what?"
"They don't tell me anything, only where to go and what I'm looking for."
"What could be worth sacrificing one of his trusted people and wasting a Special Grade Cursed Spirit as a distraction?"
Taiyo crosses his arms and relaxes. "I spoke to Geto in London."
"What?" Gojo's brows furrow below the blindfold. "What do you mean?"
"Keep this between us, understood?"
"Yeah, just… what happened?"
"I wanted to inspect the souls of those girls who follow him around, and he wanted to talk, so we agreed to meet outside of Japan. When I was over at my last tournament, we had dinner."
"What did he want?"
"He asked me to join him. Told me he plans to kill every human in Japan, which would eliminate Cursed Energy entirely, for us, and Cursed Spirits."
"So, his plan hasn't changed."
"You knew about this?"
"Yes, he mentioned it years ago when he defected, but I didn't confirm it for the higher-ups. They have their suspicions thanks to Yuki, but confirmation would be different."
"Yeah, well, I didn't tell them anything because of the Binding Vow. But obviously I refused him, so I don't think we're on great speaking terms anymore."
"Did you say you'd stand against him?"
"Pointless. He made it clear that while you exist, he won't do anything. He's all talk. And I figure even if he were strong enough to kill you, he wouldn't, because he still sees you as his friend."
Gojo frowns.
"And I'm assuming that goes both ways, since he's still alive."
"Yes. But things are getting more intense now. A new Special Grade is here, and unlike all of us, you don't care much for the secrecy part of our secret society."
"Old rules."
"Yeah, well. The higher-ups don't do well when they have more than one problem to deal with. But they'd obviously rather kill Suguru than you, so that's the route they'll take."
"I assumed as much."
"There is more to his recent activity," Gojo says.
"What do you mean?"
"Only Yaga and I are aware of it, but some of Geto's people have been stealing from weaker clans. They don't have enough pull to get the higher-ups to do anything, but some of those clans operate under the Zen'In and Kamo."
"No Gojo Clan connections?"
"Suguru is avoiding any personal involvement with me. But if he keeps pushing like this, the higher-ups will present a case for his execution again."
"And?"
"And I do have a duty to the Jujutsu World. As much as I'd love to protect my friend, some things threaten too much for me to allow one life to risk all of us."
"You think the higher-ups will use this to send you after him. Can they pressure you into acting?"
"Being powerful helps a lot, but it's not the only thing that matters. I'm not enough to change the Jujutsu Society on my own, no matter how strong I am. That's why I'm always looking for more allies.
But…I also can't build a better Jujutsu Society with Surugu running around threatening it. People won't take me seriously as the leader if I don't have to heart to make hard choices like this. And I have a feeling I'll have to make this decision sooner than I'd like, which is never."
"What do you want from me?"
"A peaceful solution," Gojo says. "Can you help arrange a meeting with Suguru? I'd like to find a peaceful conclusion to all of this. Maybe even convince him that in my Jujutsu Society, we can find a better method of achieving whatever his goal is."
Taiyo frowns. "That's very hopeful, but fine. I'll make the call and arrange a meeting. But if you go to the negotiating table, you have to prepare for every possible outcome of having this discussion. Can you handle that?"
Gojo turns and looks at the moon's reflection in the pond for a moment, composing his thoughts.
"I don't know. So I hope it doesn't come to that, but if it does…" he turns to Taiyo, allowing the silence to envelop them.
"I see…" Taiyo responds with a somber nod.
They fall into a still silence before Gojo sees Ino approaching the Curtain, fully dressed and ready for his concert…
END CHAPTER---
Discord: discord .gg /eHuxNeZfyS [Come chat with me]
pat.reon: Keanu_Eugene [Read ahead & support me]
You.tube: @KeanuEugene [Giving away all my writing knowledge]