(Pov Satoshi)
After the debacle of the class panicking from Yuta's uncontrolled cursed energy and then being smacked down by an angry Rika, things were mellowing out. With the less-than-stellar introduction of the new student out of the way, it was time to let Yuta know his future classmates.
"All right, well, now that they all know you and your creepy friend lets go over who your classmates will be," I said before pointing out the students.
"The big guy is Panda; he was created by the principal. Next to him is Inumaki Toge, who has the cursed speech technique, so he only speaks in rice ball ingredients to avoid issues," I said.
"Good to meet ya, Yuta." "Mustard leaf."
"Over there are Zenin Maki and Mai, they're twins. Maki has a Heavenly Restriction, so she's got no cursed energy, but she's super strong." I said, "Meanwhile, Mai does have both energy and a technique that lets her make just about anything from her cursed energy."
Yuta looked a little overwhelmed in front of so many people, but he still found a seat. With that, class could begin, although it was just homeroom, and similar to when I attended, they would also have classes going over regular topics alongside specialized classes bout their roles as sorcerers.
Yuta wasn't much of a fighter. It made sense until now; he hadn't been trained at all, and any actual threats were taken care of by Rika. He also didn't have much motivation yet. In the original story, on his first mission with Maki, they would both be caught and almost killed by a curse, and upon seeing his friend in danger, Yuta would manifest Rika intentionally, and afterwards, he would begin full combat training to become stronger.
This time, though, Maki was working with her full restriction, so she wasn't likely to be caught like that unless they went up against an especially powerful curse. There were other ways, the most obvious being to send him with someone who wasn't a walking tank, though the others weren't slouches by any standard, either, and there's no guarantee they have the same thoughts resulting from near death. Though that did give me an idea about how to get him into gear.
The plan was simple: I'd give them some time and let Yuta and the others become friends before sending him and one of them on a mission. Given his lack of experience, Yuta won't be much help, leaving the other to do the work, and while they might not be in danger, seeing his new friends shouldering all the work, he'll feel invigorated to get stronger to help them. It was genius.
"Hey, Satoshi, what's with the weird look on your face?" Maki asked.
"Oh, don't worry, just plans being formed," I replied, giving her hair a ruffle. It was the best part of having grown taller, being able to reach down and mess with people's hair. Though despite everything, Satoru was still taller than me, somehow that lanky weirdo. Either way, things would have to wait a little for friendships to develop between the students.
(Pov Maki)
The new kid was kind of weird; he had a ton of cursed energy to the point that even I could feel the pressure from it. Mai had also mentioned that it looked like he was surrounded by a storm all the time, and not to mention that weird curse that follows him around. Though I do feel kind of bad for him, I can't imagine what it would feel like to have the soul of your best friend follow you forever.
That's why he stuck around, from what he said, anyway, that he is trying to break the curse. I wasn't so sure about that, though he had more to him than that, I was sure. I suppose I would get to find out how well he would do, though, as Satoshi told me that I would be sent on a mission with Yuta. I knew he was planning something; he always got this look when he was planning or scheming.
We had both been sent to a school where children had gone missing, and our job was to determine if it was a curse and if we could locate the children. I wasn't sure why Satoshi insisted I bring Yuta along. I could definitely handle this myself; maybe he was just worried. He liked to act all cool and unbothered by things, but inside, he was a big old worrier constantly thinking about the future.
"So, Maki-San, you and Mai-San seem to know Gojo-Sensei pretty well. Is he an uncle?" Yuta suddenly asked, breaking me out of my thoughts. I wasn't sure hw to answer the question. Satoshi wasn't really our dad, but our actual dad gave us up, and he's been the closest thing since then. He has also done everything he can to help us grow, but he never pushed for it to be official.
"He helped me and my sister get out of a bad place when we were little, and he's taken care of us ever since." I gave my answer, trying to remain neutral in my response.
"Oh, I see so he's like your new dad, right?" Yuta asked in an oddly genuine tone.
I was about to respond when a curse suddenly landed in front of us. It wasn't anything special, just a few Grade 3s. I had come prepared with my Feathered Staff, a spear-style cursed tool with feathers near where the blade met the handle. Bringing up the spear, I used it to cut the curses down before they could get close. As I fought, I could sense the presence of a larger curse hanging somewhere nearby.
As I finished with the small guys, the bigger curse appeared from behind, and it went right for Yuta. I only barely managed to get there in time to push him out of the way before the curse got there and tried to eat me. I could hear Yuta yelling as I went in the curse deciding to try and kill it from inside now that I was here. I was shocked, though, when I found the children who had gone missing. The curse had gotten them, but at least they weren't dead yet.
I was about to start slicing when I heard a massive screech outside, and before I knew it, the curse was being ripped apart by a much larger version of the thing that knocked us down when Yuta first got here.
"Maki-San! Are you okay?" Yuta yelled as he ran over to where I had fallen from the curse.
"Yeah, I'm fine, but how did you do that? I thought you couldn't control it." I couldn't help but ask, seeing as the massive curse was still eating the first one.
"Well, I just saw that curse eat you, and I was worried you're my friend, and I didn't want to see you get hurt. I don't want anyone to get hurt, not if I can help it." He said his answer was more confident than I had seen him act since I got to know him. Maybe he did have what it took to be a sorcerer after all; he just needed a reason to want it.