Forget Me Not (Discontinued)

Chapter Sixteen: the Joker and the Thief

As soon as we pass through the black screen, we hear a man call out to us, "Hey, hey, hey, hey!" He stops in front of us, "Where is Satoru Gojo?" I study him; he's a curse user but he's not the source of the foreboding energy that my shikigami have been feeling. Despite that, he is obviously powerful. "That stinky baldy, he tricked me."

Gakuganji looks to Utahime, "You and the Kubo head and second in command go on ahead. The student's safety is our top priority. Avoid fighting anyone if you can."

I may not like the old man, but I can put my distaste in him aside if it means saving the students.

The curse user becomes displeased with hearing this, "Wait, wait! At least let me have the youngsters! I can't make anything out of wrinkly skin and frail bones!"

Gakuganji removes the top half of his nagajuban to reveal a Jimi Hendrix t-shirt; he opens his case and in one swift motion takes out a guitar, "Whether they're frail or not...you can check after you kill me."

The curse user raises his axe towards the Kyoto principal, "Come back after you drink some milk, ya old fart."

I let my brother and Utahime go on ahead; Chiko stops, "Aren't you coming with us?"

I shake my head and sign, You go ahead. Me and the old man have some things to clear up.

"Ok, but come join up once you're done." He says before running off.

As I'm putting on my nekode, the old man asks me, "So is this where you're gonna finish up what you started in the monitor room?"

I don't respond; mainly because I left my white board behind and I highly doubt he understands sign language, but also because I believe that actions speak much louder than words. I quickly move in on the curse user and cut his arm.

He laughs, clearly not understanding that one cut will spell his doom. "Is that all? A little paper cut?!"

He swings his axe at me but I jump back in time and summon my larger snake shikigami. Gakuganji shouts to me, "Get out of the way!"

I jump back and watch as he shoots out cursed energy from the riffs he's playing on his guitar. The curse stands back for a moment; as though he is assessing his next move. He smirks before saying, "Ya know what? I might just use your wrinkly ass skin to turn into a wallet. It'll have that old man smell."

He tries to attack again but I grab him by the wrist and throw him against a nearby wall. I use my shikigami to hold him down before I give Gakuganji the thumbs up. He nods his head and plays more riffs that hit the curse user. I summon my snakes out of harms way as the man gets hit with the principal's attack. He stumbles to his feet and sways a bit; he tries to make a fist but his fingers won't cooperate...my initial attack worked. All this time I have been carefully controlling my cursed energy within his body. I only made it strong enough to slowly paralyze him; I'm not gonna kill him just yet, since we need to know who he's working for.

"What the fuck is happening?" He tries to move his fingers again. Suddenly the screen around us falls down; we all look up to see Satoru floating above it. He smirks, "Hey, hey, hey, I can see that cool clothes hanger now."

"You." Satoru suddenly appears behind our opponent.

"Hanger! Hanger!" The curse user screeches.

Satoru smirks and Gakuganji shouts, "Don't kill him!"

Suddenly the curse user's limbs twist in unnatural directions and he collapses to the ground. Satoru looks to the principal, "We have a lot of questions to ask him, so don't let him die." Satoru turns towards a specific area of trees. I watch his hands motions in awe. "I'll get a little violent." Suddenly something like purple lightning erupts from his finger tips and destroys all that is in its path. He gives a thumbs up, "Problem solved!"

But the shift in his eyes tell me otherwise.

⛩⛩⛩🎐⛩⛩⛩

All of us are sat around inside of an empty training room. Kyotaka Ijichi (whom Satoru introduced to me as the Tokyo High School's gofer) stands before us to read off the official report of the incident, "The human casualties are as follows: three grade two sorcerers, one semi-grade one sorcerer, five auxiliary managers, and two storage attendants. Sorcerers waiting at the school and those who were moving separately from Gojo and principal Yaga. We're waiting for word from Ieri, but the fact that the curse Nanami fought is involved is basically confirmed." 

Satoru clicks his tongue in annoyance; Utahime is next to speak up, "Should we share this information with the students and other sorcerers?"

Gakuganji immediately answers with a quick, "No."

Yaga continues to explain, "It should be kept secret amongst us and the higher ups. We don't want curse users knowing that a special grade cursed object was stolen. By the way, have we gotten anything out of the curse user?" 

Ijiichi furrows his brow, "It's not that he's stubborn. He's just spewing incoherent nonsense. According to him, he was involved with the attack because he made a deal with someone and was simply following orders. He kept mentioning some androgynous monk kid and turning Gojo into a clothes hanger." 

I write on my white board, Is he high?

"Nope, maybe he's just babbling nonsense. Any sorcerers good at interrogation?" Satoru asks.

Utahime follows up with, "Why were the Jurei cursed spirits and non-staff members able to escape Tengen's barrier?"

"I think it may have to do with the special grade that Itadori and Todo fought against. It has a strange presence. It's definitely a cursed spirit but something about it is also a regular spirit. According to Todo, it can control plants. Tengen's barrier wouldn't be effective against plants, right? His barrier hides rather than protects. So in the end it's useless once infiltrated." Satoru explains to us.

"For now, let's be happy that the students are safe." Utahime says. 

"It goes without saying that the Goodwill Event is over." Yaga chimes in.

I feel a little upset at this news since I was looking forward to seeing what this event actually was; but I understood that the kid's safety came first.

Satoru suddenly pipes up with, "Hey, that's not for us to decide."

Everyone in the room looks to Satoru; some with confusion painted on their features and others with annoyance in their gaze.