Virtue and Sin; Cursed and Curses- JJK X Tensura

Vol 1. Ch. 5: Blooming Blossoms, Flowering Feelings

Ciel POV
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Today I'm going to meet with Rimuru at the Tokyo Center. We agreed to watch a movie together so we could escape our respective hindrances.
Hold on. Two people. One boy. One girl. Alone... Isn't this a date? Rimuru is taking me on a date?
My mind wandered, flashing images of indecency I wasn't aware I was capable of. "Gah! What am I thinking? A date is only possible when two parties have an affection for one another. This is just a friendly outing. That's all."
I looked around my room, realizing that my only nice clothes were destroyed during the fight with the curse the other day. The only clothes that aren't pajamas or lounge wear are...
I arrived at the Tokyo Center 10 minutes earlier than scheduled. And ran into Rimuru who had coincidentally planned to arrive early as well.
He scanned my outfit for a good while and came to a conclusion. "A t-shirt of a cat and a pair of jeans. It fits you."
Although I am happy he complimented me, I am a bit embarrassed that this is all I had to wear.
Looking at Rimuru, he...he looks like he's going to a modeling shoot. Button up dress shirt, dress pants, a tie, belt, and is that cologne?
Laughing, I responded as best I could. "Why are you dressing up so much? It's not like I'm introducing you to my parents or something."
Lo and behold, my luck couldn't have gotten any worse. Satoru, with my parents in tow, stepped into my view and began walking towards me. Not only that but I could see Todo hiding in the corner clapping to sneak closer.
I could tell Rimuru noticed them too, solely based on the forced smile he wore. Not only that it felt like the veins in his forehead were popping.
Before we could run, Satoru seemingly teleported behind me and grabbed both me and Rimuru before speeding back to my worst nightmare.
My parents stood in front of me, my mom Rafeala Gojo and Loroain Gojo. My mom's questionable stare bored a hole in my confidence. "So. Ciel Raphael Gojo. What do you think you're doing?" she asked, using my full name, which made me scared for some reason.
I opened my mouth but no noise came out. Thankfully I was saved by the one I thought was an annoyance. *Clap*
There goes Satoru. And in his place Todo. Aoi Todo.
"Hello sir, ma'am. I am this boy's- Rimuru's brother. I was keeping an eye on their outing together but lost them in the crowd. I, however, am unknowledgeable of what events will be taking place today."
Rimuru glared at Todo, seemingly for ruining the perfect explanation he was speaking.
Sighing, he bowed a perfect 90 degree angle bow and stated with absolute confidence. "Greetings Madam Rafeala, Sir Loroain. I am Rimuru. I happened to make friends with your daughter the other day when we defeated a grade-one curse together. I hoped to get closer by watching a movie together. Mr. Satoru is very protective of your daughter so I had hoped to do this without his knowledge..."
Rimuru spoke on and on explaining the situation to my parents. But how did he know their names?
At the mention of Satoru being a hindrance at times, my mother nodded her head and my dad chuckled.
After the explanation, my parents seemed to have accepted the situation and began to leave. My mother however, looked back at me and whispered. "I approve of this young man."
My cheeks flushed as she smiled and walked away with my father. Satoru was still nowhere to be found.
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Rimuru POV
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I have no idea how I managed to do that, but I managed to get through it by recapping yesterday.
Ciel Raphael Gojo, huh? That's her full name? It's a nice name.
I hadn't realized until a few hours after I asked Ciel to see her the next day that quite a number of complications may come about.
The main ones were as follows: My apparel being too casual on the off chance she dressed nice, the risk of Satoru Gojo creating mischief and bothering us, and the worst of all was the possibility of coincidentally being in a situation where I am stuck between a rock and a hard place.
So with the help of Nyoka and Miss Yuki, who wore a confused but soft expression as she answered my questions. I asked quite an innumerable number of questions and looked to the memories I had from my past life for assistance in how I would carry myself the next day.
I wanted to make this a memorable and enjoyable day- for both of us, well mainly for Ciel. So I simply took to learning all I could, mainly about the Gojo clan.
The idea of Satoru Gojo interfering was effectively a guarantee at this point, the level at which he would interfere however was the question. So I pondered how far he could go.
The tamest thing he could do would be something like 'Coincidentally' meeting us both at our destination, and the worst that I feared would come could be him following Ciel to our meeting spot and bringing her parents conveniently.
As soon as I had the realization that he could go that far I decided that was a situation that would befall us. So I prepared the best I could.
I freshly ironed an outfit, one I knew was far FAR too formal for a simple meetup. I acquired a new cologne; I got a fragrance that I knew was supposedly popular with older women from my past life. And to tie it all together, I did something that made me feel like a stalker.
I memorized the names of EVERY single Gojo clan member, branch family and main family. I did come across interesting discoveries in my research after getting the information I needed from Miss Yuki and Nyoka. Apparently one of my classmates, he was a member; a branch family member of the Gojo clan. But it was a connection dating back hundreds of years, so very minute.
It did make some of my odd feelings about him clearer and explain some of his many oddities, but that information was of little to no importance compared to a singular piece of information.
Rafelea and Loroain Gojo, the names of Ciel's parents. Two names and faces I had imprinted deep into my memory and took to knowing so well I could paint their faces with my eyes closed.
But in all honesty even as I walked early to our meeting place I still felt anxious about possibilities I hadn't thought of. It also didn't help that Todo was following me, but I decided to let him be in the case that he could make himself useful. But I knew without a shadow of a doubt that as useful as he could be at any moment, he would equally make himself my greatest hindrance; accidentally.
He has a good heart and head but is clueless to a few keen details.
Not leaving anything to chance I ran through simulations in my head, over and over again. Replaying possibilities hundreds of times over. I refused to make a mistake or fail miserably from being unable to find the words I needed to say.
Then it happened, I sensed Satoru Gojo. The annoyance didn't bother hiding his presence and let it loose as if taunting me; saying that he had won. I took a deep breath as I felt the cursed energy around me shift when Satoru came and swooped me and Ciel away from our meeting spot, right to infront of her parents.
I could tell from the look on her parents' faces that they were not happy with me. While they looked towards Ciel I knew that they only looked towards her to press an answer. I could only imagine what that idiot said about me to her parents. But I had a single chance to make an impression.
Then just as I went to open my mouth Todo acted, his action did throw me off a bit though at the same time it gave me a moment to plan my words and actions accordingly.
It was a chance, the chance of a lifetime. I would be able to make an impression on Ciel's parents without Satoru interfering since Todo took an action worthy of his self proclaimed 530,000 IQ.
No one heard it but I felt it. Todo had clapped twice. The first was him clapping to swap places with a stone that was imbued with his cursed energy. He threw that stone god knows how far, and just as he swapped with the stone he clapped once more to change places with Satoru Gojo.
Truly a perfect plan, I won't question how he teleported and swapped places with things likely out of his range but it means little to me how he did it, just that he did it.
Not wasting a moment I introduced myself to Ciel's parents. I took my introduction as if this was an interview. I pushed stakes onto myself to calm my nerves and make the situation feel more important and dire than it was.
I acted as if this was life and death, since with Satoru Gojo and his antics a bad impression would be equal to death and make anything he says right with no room to doubt.
I felt my heart stop after I introduced myself when the small moment of silence filled the air, for but a moment I hoped and prayed that I had done good; that I hadn't screwed up my introduction in their eyes somehow.
"I approve of this young man.", those words quelled my anxious heart and I felt my nerves ease. It was as if I had asked for her parents permission to marry her when all I did was introduce myself as her friend.
I remained respectful and calm until they both walked away seemingly pleased with my actions or how I treated them. Whatever I did that appeased them worked flawlessly and I felt a weight lift of my shoulders.
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Ciel POV
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A successful explanation from Rimuru allowed our outing to continue without any further hindrance. Todo left almost immediately afterward, saying he must go to Takada-chan's meet-and-greet.
Without anyone else around, Rimuru turned around and began walking to the theater. I followed him, wondering what movie he decided to watch.
'He wouldn't be thinking of watching anything with horror, would he?' I muttered under my breath, hoping that would not be the case. I cannot stand horror. Even a small jumpscare from Satoru would have me hiding behind the closest obstruction.
As we got closer to the theater, I looked at the list of showings. At this time, there were five movies. Four of them are horror, since when did horror become so popular?
The last movie wasn't horror. But it was something much worse...he wouldn't, right? He wouldn't take me out to watch that, would he? An...an ero eiga?
"Two for The Reckoning: Abaddon's Return." I heard him say. Great...he went with horror. The movie that is said to be the scariest ever.
Gulping, I walked with Rimuru to the showing and began counting prime numbers in my head to calm down.
The lights went out and the movie began to play. Instantly, the screen cut to a graveyard, slowly panning over thousands of graves, before slowing down and focusing on one that read Abaddon.
Knowing something was going to happen, I braced myself for the scare. "Hieee!" I squealed at the moment a hand burst out of the ground and a mangled face quickly jumped at the screen.
I closed my eyes and gripped the armrests so hard, my knuckles turned white.
I'm not sure if Rimuru noticed as he seemed to be enjoying the movie, but I was freaking out in the seat beside him.
Halfway through, after tens of jumpscares and horrific scenes, Rimuru noticed my fear and placed his hand over mine. "Yuki did this for me when I was scared before, so I don't know if it will help, but I would hope it does." he said, with a serious face.
Surprisingly, it actually did calm me down, and I was able to watch the movie without, for the most part, getting my heart thumping out of my chest from fear.
After the movie ended, I sighed with relief and together with Rimuru walked out the theater towards a nearby diner.
I'm not sure if he chose it on purpose, but the diner was having a special event where if you spend over 2000 yen, you could get a special cat plush. Does he know of my fondness for domestic felines?
We took our order, I got the specialty omurice and a ramune, and Rimuru ordered...two orders of omurice and three ramune.
The food was brought out and we began to eat. Surprisingly, Rimuru managed to finish both orders before I was even halfway through. And for some reason, there was a golden symbol on one of his plates. Does that read... Sh...Shosha?
A waitress walking by saw the plate and called over someone who seemed to be the manager. They exchanged a few quiet words before the waitress ran into the back room and came out with a small cart covered with a tarp.
"Congratulations!" the waitress said. "You have won the lucky lottery! There are only three plates with a special mark on them and those who get it earn...this gigantic calico plush!"
The waitress explained the terms for winning the reward and asked for the address of the plush to be sent to as it was the size of both of us.
Rimuru looked at me and told the waitress that the plush was going to me and told her to ask for my address instead.
After finishing the form, Rimuru paid the bill and we left, Rimuru giving me his cat plush. Now I have three.
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Rimuru POV
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Ciel seems really happy that she has so many cat plushies. She seems like she's trying to hide it, but I can see the glimmer in her eyes. It's so bright, they might as well be stars fallen from the heavens.
Next up on the plan is to go to a cat cafe. This as well is also a decision influenced by Ciel's preferences. Her love for cats is so obvious, anyone could tell from a first glance.
She is so engrossed in the two plushies she now has in her hands that she doesn't realize where we're going.
By the time we arrive, she finally clears her head and realizes where we are. "Is this a cat cafe?" she asked, clearly excited but attempting to hold it in.
"No, this is a tiger den. Of course it's a cat cafe. It's on the sign." I responded sarcastically.
We walk in and I reserve one hour for Ciel to have fun with the cats. Her response to this was enough to make my bruning wallet worth it.
I spent the whole time observing her from the side. Her ecstaticity when plenty of cats cuddled up to her to the joy she had when feeding them. These reactions were angelic, enough to make any pain disappear.
After the hour was up, Ciel left the cafe with me, satisfied with the time she had with the cats.
As we walked to the exit, I sensed a strong presence flying toward us at high speeds. Before I could react, I was pushed out of the way. In horror I watched a monster crash through the roof and rubble covered Ciel entirely.
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Unknown POV—-------------------------"Is this really the best course of action?" Looking towards my companions I nodded, remaining silent. This action would get me extremely important information. I needed to know more about what I was getting myself into. Unknown variables are always pains'This should be a good thing; well for me. Them not so much, after all Qiongqi is quite the pain to deal with. The assistance I needed to orchestrate this was not small.' I let out a sigh as I rested my chin on my hand prepared to watch the chaos and events unfold.Deaths were bound to happen, but that was a price I was willing to pay. A price needed to achieve my goals.

2755 Words

This project has been a lot of fun for me. It reignited my passion for writing, and was a nice stress relief for me since oddly enough writing this felt more casual than rewriting my other stories.
No none of them are cancelled or dropped. I've just been swamped with college and exams that I couldn't put as much work into writing as I normally would.
Writing the full Volume took me less time overall than a single chapter does for my normal stories.
We don't mention the fact that Volume one is the length of 2 of my average chapters. We don't talk about it.
Jokes aside this was a great time working on this story with my good friend

He and I spent quite a number of nights working (mainly due to getting into shenanigans and both of us having a habit of planning way ahead and making a complex yet compelling and attractive story)
I hope you all enjoyed, thank you for reading and your continued support. Please be sure to support Bloom while you're at it.