𝗔𝗦 𝗙𝗟𝗜𝗘𝗦 𝗧𝗢 𝗪𝗔𝗡𝗧𝗢𝗡 𝗕𝗢𝗬𝗦 𝗔𝗥𝗘 𝗪𝗘 𝗧𝗢 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗚𝗢𝗗𝗦; 𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗬 𝗞𝗜𝗟𝗟 𝗨𝗦 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗜𝗥 𝗦𝗣𝗢𝗥𝗧.
color my sorrow a shade of wine
dress my wounds in gold leaves
and give me a taste of yo...
huge manga spoilers ahead ! read at your own risk ━━━━━━━━━━━━━
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━━━━━━━━━━━━━ There is no beauty in weakness, only ugliness. Those who try to find beauty in the fragility of the weak are blissfully blind to their own superficiality, believing in a lie which humanity has told itself for far too long. Equality is a lie, a concept of today's society which has become widely acknowledged and accepted by a vast majority consisting of the naive and ignorant. Natural Selection may have lost its impact, but its meaning stays the same; in a world of competition only the strong survive in the very end — a truth which is neither tragic nor cruel. Beauty can only be found in those superior, for it is only them who judge by what they see, not feel, knowing the answer to all things is a simple one. They observe, their minds are clear, their eyes sharp and perceptive to things hidden in plain sight, unrecognizable to those who try to find meaning in idle existence. True beauty, therefore, lies not in the invisible, but the visible the weak cannot see.
Chiyo cannot help but agree when Satoru points out that looking out for the weak is a pain. It's painful, because it's useless. Mankind's hatred and resentment; the entirety of negative emotions born from their souls is a vicious circle they can't escape from. Like a serpent swallows its own tale, humanity commits the same sins and mistakes all over again, destroying themselves again and again and again with every passing generation. Unlike Ouroboros, this cycle does not symbolize eternal renewal, but eternal death the majority of mankind is so unaware of.
Suguru replies with the most sane, the most humanely reasonable argument which comes to mind. Arguing Jujutsu only exists in order to protect the weak may sound cliché, but as simple and plain as this statement appears to be, it is valid and morally challenging. It is not like Satoru is incapable of comprehending the meaning behind the other sorcerer's words, he's just less prone to finding joy in looking at things from a different perspective. Whereas Suguru's level-headedness is his rationality's source, the white-haired prodigy's complacency is the root of his frivolity. Their ideologies differ, and they don't always see eye to eye, but their mutual respect for one another is what binds them to the other, even if they still need to admit this simple fact to themselves.
However, Chiyo knows what they don't, and she's proud to walk, work and fight alongside them as not only a classmate but an ally, whose mediation skills are not to be underrated whenever their thick skulls get the better of them. Even right now as the air is heavy with tension between them, and Shoko has already gone on the run, she is ready to settle things if necessary.
"Let's take this outside, Satoru!"
To her surprise it's Suguru who means business this time, but before the raven-haired girl is even able to phrase an encouraging 'ah, c'mon guys' the classroom's door slides open, revealing Yaga in all his stern-looking glory.
A frown mars his features upon entering, scanning the room with narrowed eyes. "Where's Shoko?"
Shoulders shrug in innocent uncertainty while casual suggestions spill from lips spread into goofy grins. Their sensei's dark eyes meet Chiyo's and hold, lingering as if she alone knows the real answer to his question. Smiling sheepishly, she tells him 'girl problems'.
His facial expression turns into a confused frown, and he mutters something akin to 'too much information' underneath his breath before facing his three students sitting in their desks. "Doesn't matter. For this mission I have the three of you go together."
Expectedly so, Suguru and Satoru exchange disgusted glances, but Chiyo is too overwhelmed by joy of being allowed to work alongside these two to even care, clapping her hands in excitement.
"What's with the faces and most of all that smile?"
Three voices chime together in a perfect 'nothing' before Yaga shakes his head once more, focusing on telling them what he has actually come here for.
As Master Tengen's name is mentioned they snap to attention, forgetting about their little feud altogether; even the ravenette's smile vanishes from her face in an instant. According to what they are told, Chiyo can only assume the difficulty of this mission lies in moral choice, since killing an innocent girl is not something one tends to enjoy on a daily basis, but then again, as Tengen's new vessel the possibility of her being targeted by dubious individuals who like to earn a living by adopting the profession of hitmen is not too slim, either.
She listens attentively while Yaga explains in further detail, and her assumptions are halfway confirmed. As the star plasma vessel, this young girl is targeted by a group of curse and non-curse users, who both aim to overthrow the system by killing a suitable vessel which — if merging with him — limits Tengen's powers to those of a human gifted with immortality, meant to keep the world's balance of power in check. However, as he proceeds, Chiyo's mind starts wandering off, listening more to what Suguru and Satoru have to say about this mission than to her sensei.
Mentions of suppressing evolution are brought up by Suguru confirmed by outlandish comparisons to Digimon uttered by Satoru in deep thought. Confused, perplexed yet in awe of their superiority, Chiyo feels herself evaporate, drowning in the splendour of their greatness. She can never compare to them; not in a thousand years will she ever be close, let alone be on par with either of these two exceptional individuals. But she doesn't care as long as she's allowed to walk in their shadows, be the ghost who reconciles their stupid feuds and carries burdens which lie heavy on their hearts.
"Hey, Chiyo are you even listening?" Yaga's voice startles her.
"Yessir!"
A large hand pats her head in mocking pity. "Don't be too hard on her, sensei. Chiyo hasn't got a lot of sleep lately, since she's been practising, trying to catch up." His blue eyes are like mirrors, reflecting her own misery back at her. And he is right — she has been desperately trying to catch up to the point fatigue overwhelms her on a regular basis, but what he doesn't understand is as to why she's been pushing herself to her limit. She doesn't expect Satoru to, because he doesn't think the way she does.
Suguru's hand hits the back of the snow-haired boy's head harder than expected. "Leave her be, Satoru." His dark eyes glint with perilous intent, aimed at the other whose ethereal eyes stare him down over a pair of dark shades.
"Alright, alright." He raises his arms in mock defiance. "I was only teasing her, is all."
Seemingly undisturbed, nor shaken by his students' display of crude interruption, Yaga clears his throat, resuming his speech. "Master Tengen and the star plasma vessel will merge in two days when the moon is full." He announces with a certain kind of theatrical emphasis, Chiyo finds more funny than she's supposed to. "Escort the girl, and bring her to Master Tengen."
Words of encouragement laced with a note of threat are uttered by Yaga, but again she isn't listening. When he said 'erase her' earlier, he actually meant what Chiyo expected; it's a merger, and yet the girl will die.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━
a/n; arc I will be loosely based on the events in the hidden inventory arc.
