Scarlet Eyes (Gojo Satoru x OC)

❦ XLVI. golden hours

"Was the ride here suitable senpai?" Okkotsu asked her as he approached the older girl. Although her anxiety for airplanes and transportation had dialed down since her high school days, there was still a bit of it there. It wasn't even the airplane that was the problem, more so the enclosed space. 

"As good as a 20 hour plane ride can get," she sighed. "I haven't had time to rest in so long." I didn't get to sleep at all. She lowered her medical mask, taking in the African air, raising her hand a bit because of the heat. She turned to the right looking behind Okkotsu to see the cursed user Miguel. He took one glance at her, but upon realizing that she was staring at him, he adamantly turned and walked away. 

"He does know that I'm not Satoru right?" She gestured at him. 

"Well I do think that you look very different from sensei. Maybe a foot shorter too," Okkotsu raised a hand to rest under his chin. 

Kumori stared at her student whom she hasn't seen in so long. "Satoru was right. You did get funnier."

"I'm gonna pretend that was a compliment senpai," Okkotsu said. He took her suitcase as the both walked and talked. "Did you really come all the way here to say hi?"

"I actually came to solidify some treaties with the African shamans. Maybe learn a few things as well," she explained. She subconsciously placed her left hand at her side, feeling bare without her katana. Then again there would've been a scuffle if she had gone through security with it. Instead she had it shipped here before hand to her hotel, passing through the shadow world would get her the weapon that she desired. Besides she had her needles to keep her company. 

"Any luck with finding more rope?" she asked the boy. That was the entire point of his going to study abroad. 

"Ah hahaha...sadly no," he sighed sheepishly. Kumori nodded. It's not like she could do anything about it. 

"I knew I should've stayed with Satoru that day..." Kumori huffed. But then who would've healed the students? It couldn't be helped and she couldn't change the past. 

It did amuse her that Gojo was pissed enough to go over board like that. And then he acted like everything was fine. Kumori felt a slight shiver. She's seen Gojo at his worst but even she hasn't seen him truly snap. Not like he's seen her in that state either. 

"About Itadori Yuuji...Satoru's told you about him right?" She glanced at Okkotsu. His hair had gotten longer, enough for him to push his front bangs back. There was another thing that stood out behind the boy's dark blue eyes, experience. 

"Yeah. Sensei speaks fondly of him," Okkotsu looked ahead of him. 

"That he does," Kumori glanced down to the boy's hand. His left hand was vacant of the vintage ring from last spring. The two stopped at the ledge of some cliff, overlooking the river. "Can you feel it?"

"Feel what?"

"A shift in power," she whispered. Her grip on the railing was enough to crush it. "What would you know? Satoru's birth was the last shift in power that we had. 'The shift in power'," Kumori scoffed. "I wasn't born yet so I wouldn't feel it either, but,"

She blinked once, letting her scarlet eyes turn on to better survey the land. "The world's been holding upon itself five special grades for so long."

"I thought there were only four currently?" Okkotsu raised a brow. 

"Yeah. Four that are recognized by the college," Kumori said, her eyes unfocused. "Then why does the balance feel so suffocated?"

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