Gold Foil

Chapter Fourteen: The Devil Sitting Upon My Shoulder

"Is this how the infamous Gojou Satoru fights these days?" Toji laughs, easily stepping out of the way from another blast of cursed energy. "How pathetic." His deep voice lilts with each rumble of laughter. A flash of blue explodes past Satoru and envelopes Toji in its blinding light. On instinct, his lips curl back from the aftershock of his attack as a wave of blustering cold air hits him with a full ferocity. He feels the breath being sucked out of his lungs and each stuttering intake of air sears Satoru's throat as raw panic begins to settle in his bones.

On a superficial level, Gojou is angrily cursing himself for not making sure Toji was dead after their first fight. A bitter taste spreads over his tongue and he grimaces, wanting to spit on the ground and to tell Toji all the ways he's going to thoroughly kill the man. Anger claws its way through his insides until his hands are left shaking with rage from the very sight of the tall man.

In a much more intramural part of his subconscious, terror takes root. Bile rises up, threatening to choke him and his earlier rage gives way to a primal fear. Satoru gasps for breath as a hand instinctively rises to the ugly scar hidden underneath the loose collar of his uniform. Even through the fabric, his scar feels as if it's on fire and he's instantly reliving the phantom pains of being stabbed through his neck and choking on his own blood.

His gaze doesn't stray from the spot where Toji had stood just moments ago. He doesn't so much dare to move a muscle as the smoke and debris settles.

"How valiant." A voice purrs in his ear. "It's almost impressive how stupid you are. Almost. Didn't you hear me the first time, though? You can't kill me."

Satoru relives a flashback of being stabbed through the torso. Just like last time, Toji easily moves around the battlefield with liquid and deadly grace. Satoru feels sick to his stomach, knowing that even after all of his improvements, Toji can still sneak past his defenses without even breaking a sweat.

Inhaling sharply, Satoru jumps away from Toji and as he lands a few feet away, he bares his teeth. With a snarl, Satoru slicks back the sweat laden hair that's sticking to his forehead and prepares another attack as Toji just begins to laugh, shaking his head.

"As funny as this is, stop trying to blast the damn roof off. It's pointless. I know you have a blindfold on but do you have your ears plugged too? Or are you really just that dense? You can't kill me because I'm not even alive. No one else besides you can even see me." He strolls in a slow circle around Satoru, his footsteps silently padding over cracked pavement from Satoru's earlier attacks. Satoru takes in a breath and steels himself, letting his mind's eye map out Toji's meandering. It's not until Toji is standing directly in front of him that Satoru exhales.

"Then what the hell are you?" Satoru hisses. Toji pauses and casts a curious glance at Satoru as if he had expected him to know the answer to his own question. After a heart beat, Toji simply shrugs and gives a crooked grin with the tip of his tongue sticking out as if to mock Satoru.

"I'm nothing but a ghost to haunt you. Think of me as your own personal curse to ke- whoa." Toji ducks out of the way from another attack, giving Satoru a less than impressed look. "Maybe your Reverse Cursed Technique didn't fully heal your head because you're being really idiotic right now. I said think of me as a curse because I ain't a curse either. I'm just here to keep you company, you must be so lonely, being here by yourself with no friends in your corner."

Satoru balks from the idea of having Fushiguro Toji in his corner to root him on or whatever; already dealing with higher ups breathing down his neck is enough to deal with and now this makes him feel sick. Either way, he wants absolutely nothing to do with Toji. There must've been a change in his expression because Toji chuckles again before facing away from Satoru and looking up to study a flock of birds flying overhead.