𝑚 𝑒 𝑡 𝑎 𝑛 𝑜 𝑖 𝑎 // JJK x reader

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟓𝟏

The heavy feeling in your heart was evident for the whole rest of the day since you accompanied Nanami to the airport and bid him farewell for his vacation. You were still sorry for the words you had to hit him with on his birthday, but he needed to know some day – and that it was his birthday made it even worse.

With a bittersweet smile, he waved you goodbye and you, Gojo and Shoko travelled back to the school to finally get ready to make your way to Kyoto.

Ijichi, who drove you there and who you have never met before, was silent the whole ride. He seemed intimidated by Gojo in some way. And annoyed.

"You think we'll find Naoya there?" – "Least we can do is try."

You mumbled to each other in the backseat as a faint melody played on the radio, interrupted by the screeching of the wheels as Ijichi got the car to a hold. Gojo's hand snapped abruptly in front of you, pushing you back, so your face didn't hit the back of the driver's seat.

"Uh, sorry – B-but," Ijichi stammered, his finger raised and pointing out the front window, "I think we n-need to stop here." His voice was brittle as Gojo sighed loudly, his eyes glancing to yours and you both leaned to the middle to see what was up.

"Seems like this mission started earlier than expected, huh?" Gojo's brows raised underneath his blindfold as he spoke and a smug grin adorned his face. "Let me finish it up real quick, will you?" you commented as you stepped out of the car with confidence.

The last months and the training with Gojo made you even stronger than you had anticipated, and with every step that you took towards the thing that was lurking on the side of the road, you felt the energy flow through you.

Every ounce of cursed energy that resided within you was pulled to the surface and thanks to Gojo, you could now concentrate it on a single hit. Your cursed technique 'Timeshift' was enhanced in a way that could easily destroy low grade curses like this.

You focused, the adrenaline that was pumped through your veins was directly turned into cursed energy that you could use. There was no need to go hard on this weak, low grade curse – but you wanted to try out what you could do. You wanted to see what you were capable of if there was no holding back, like in the training sessions.

Closing your eyes, concentrating on your breath and lowering your body into a fighting stance.

The curse's stench filled the air around you, making you scrunch your nose in discomfort. The sounds of it were the source of nightmares for people that didn't have to see them on a regular basis – but to you it was just another noise that fueled your ability to fight.

All these things were just preparation for what came next.

Timeshift.

In a matter of a second, you rushed forward and the world spun around you as your feet hit the ground behind the curse. It launched a spike right towards your left shoulder – which you could swiftly dodge and throw him off with a kick to its body.

It didn't do much, but it distracted the thing enough to make it topple for a short moment.

Just enough time to focus on the strength of your fist.

His loud screech was thrown off the walls beside the highway, echoing off them.

Your hand reached out – the fingers spread and ready to try out what you learned in these last months.

"Endless rift."

A blue orb took form in the palm of your hand, getting bigger and bigger until it was the size of a ball.

The edges were rough, framing the dark blue mass in front you with a mix of light hues and a flaming azure color.

Your eyes widened at the sight, and you almost had to bite back the astonishment at your own success. The surprised look on your face soon passed and was replaced by a winning smirk.

"How do you like that, huh?" you mused as you balled your hand into a fist.

Numerous blue orbs appeared all around the curses body – spreading like a wildfire of blue and white flames.

You could do it. It was time to give the curse a taste of his own medicine.

Your fist shot through all the emerged portals and hit every part of his body. Every one of the fists that popped up pierced the curses purple skin with immense precision and pulled the matter apart bit by bit.

As the curse dissipated into flakes of its existence, the hiss that escaped its lips was one that would surely stay in the back of your mind for a bit. There was no doubt, that all of your friends had seen things that you wouldn't wish upon anyone. Things, that were not only gruesome because you had to exorcise curses – but because the lifes of humans were on the line. And there had to be sacrifices made.

You pulled back your hand, shaking it to get rid of the sensation and the little amount of pain that was caused from the impact.

Panting, you turned around again and spotted Gojo, leaning against the car – casually waiting for you to get back and continue your ride to Kyoto.

"I'm a little impressed, I have to say," he complimented as you walked back – your brows raised. "Only a little?" you chuckled and opened the car door.

"You had a good teacher, so it's not as impressive." His confidence was almost fascinating to you sometimes, but you couldn't help but shake your head at yourself because you he really made you laugh. With a dumb comment like that.

Gojo was holding back his amazement at your learning curve – he hadn't seen anyone mastering a technique before, that was this advanced and never even practiced. Even though he didn't let it show too much, he was mesmerized.

You both slid into the backseat again, as if there had never been any inconvenience. Ijichi started the engine and the loud roaring indicated that the journey would continue from now on.

"That was the first time you did that, right?"

Gojo's voice was quiet but curious, his eyes set on the scenery that rushed by the car window on his side. Your head rested on your knuckles, and you admired the flowing greens and pinks and blues that passed by. A short silence settled between you and you could feel your eyelids getting heavier by the second – the exhaustion of your cursed energy finally making itself known.

"Mhm," you hummed, weariness pressing down on you with full force now.

"You did well." – "And you did nothing, Satoru," you mumbled into your fist as your head slid down further. A playfully shocked expression was plastered on his face as he responded, "You told me that you'd handle it – and so I let you do just that!"

"Yeah yeah..."

With your eyes closed, the white noise of the engine and the slight bouncing of the car made your senses slip away from you earlier than expected and you dozed off for a short while. The ride took almost six hours and for more than half of them, your head rested on Gojo's shoulder.

He didn't do anything about it, other than securing you – pushing your body down slightly – whenever Ijichi went too hard on the brakes. The sun already set when your eyes fluttered open, taking in your surroundings and noticing the warm sensation on the side of your face. The soft fabric that pressed itself into your cheek was a familiar feeling for you.

Turning your head slightly, you realized that the warm embrace you found yourself in was none other than Gojo. His arm was tucked behind your back, his hand loosely holding onto your arm.

As much as you tried to deny it, fight it and get off him – it was too comfortable and you were too tired to move. Gojo must have fallen asleep too, which was uncommon to begin with and in a car too with his infinity turned off it was just as rare as seeing a black diamond.

His shallow breathing mixed with the low rumbling of the engine and the faint music of the radio was like a lullaby and put you to sleep again in no time.