The first Student

Smoke from the Past

"Are you kidding?", uncertainly y/n eyed the wooden stick that Gojo handed her from the small hut. He didn't turn to look at her. "If Madam doesn't like these, we might as well start with real weapons."

"Real weapons...", but when Gojo stepped aside, she went silent. She got a view of a fully equipped armory. Y/n shook her head as she eyed the flashing blades. "No thanks."

"I thought so," Gojo laughed before he closed the door of the hut again. He then led y/n onto a large lawn that resembled a school sports field. He then instructed her to stand in the middle before standing opposite her. "Let's go."

"What's wrong?" Y/n stood there and stared at him without moving. Gojo sighed, then waved the stick in his hand >the same model that y/n was holding<. "Attack me."

"But I've never done anything like that before. Can't you show me something first?", she complained like a little child. But Gojo didn't want to discuss his methods. "No. Just come on now. I promise you I'll be gentle."

"Oh great," y/n hummed sarcastically. Then she straightened her shoulders anyway. She took a deep breath. Then she did as he asked, swung her stick and hit him. But suddenly he was gone. She paused, taken aback. The next thing she felt was a semi-strong blow to the back of her head. "Ouch!"

"Too slow," he laughed at her as she turned to him. "Oh really? I told you I've never done this before."

"That's why you're learning it now. Come on again! Attack me." He really was merciless. On the one hand, he didn't let her get away with any excuse, and on the other hand, his strokes with the stick didn't get any gentler. He scored again and again. Against the shin, on the fingers, on the cheek.

"Stop! Stop!", she shouted in frustration. At least he did what she asked. "How am I supposed to do that without cursed energy, I can't even keep an eye on you."

"What?", he asked now. Then a light seemed to dawn on him. "When you got here, you didn't really draw any power from me, you only touched my hand for a few seconds. How long has it been since you absorbed cursed energy?"

"I don't know exactly... but a few years," she replied. He tilted his head. "Well then you don't have to be surprised about your pathetic performance."

"Pathetic performance? That's not exactly motivating," she said indignantly and raised her stick only to poke him in the shoulder with it.

"Hey!", exaggeratedly stunned, he slapped her staff away, which made y/n laugh. Then he came towards her and held out his hand. "All right, take some. Otherwise there's no point of doing this."

So she took his hand. This time a little firmer than the day she had arrived. He had a pleasant handshake, warm and firm. Again y/n immediately felt his strength. And the more of it came into her, the stronger she felt. "I don't remember touching someone with such powers ever."

"I don't remember having a feeling as strange as this ever," Gojo replied before pulling his hand away. "Was that enough?"

"We will see." Again they faced each other aggressively. And now it was strange. Y/n didn't know if it was just because of the cursed energy or because it was his in particular. Because when he attacked this time, she was able to fend him off at least the first blow.

"Well, look at you", Gojo muttered, even though he ended up defeating her.

"I don't want to do this anymore, stupid Bullshit. You have to teach me something before we can fight against each other!", y/n whined after countless more humiliating defeats.

"Yeah, yeah, don't cry right away. We're done for the today anyway. The other students will need the space soon, then we should be gone," he led her back to the hut to tidy up the sticks. "Tell me, do the other students actually know about me? Or have you teachers simply decided that silent coexistence is the best procedure here?"