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CHAPTER 5 - HEALING ──────────────────
"HER VOICE HADN'T HEALED YET?" Shoko repeated as she typed on her computer, before swiveling in her stool to face the man that sat in the corner of her office. She rolled up the sleeves of her lab coat as she took a pack of cigarettes out of her pockets. The tired-eyed woman smoothly placed the end of the stick between her lips and lit the butt of the cigarette.
Gojo watched the gray smoke dance towards the ceiling. "Yeah. She said that, after that bastard Toji shot her in the throat, she wasn't able to talk."
"...Did she explain how she healed her voice?"
"I didn't ask...I sort of ended the conversation there. But," He leaned back in his chair, crossing his right leg over his left and throwing his hands behind his head as he sighed. "She resided in the old dorm quarters, with that old library. I often saw she'd have a book with her, usually in her lap. But, it never occurred to me that she was reading them."
"What kind of books were they? Did you see the titles?"
"Hmmm...Nope!"
"You're useless. Why did you come to me?"
"Because you can heal too! I thought you'd know something." He whined.
"...Do you recall the color of the spines?"
"What?"
"The books she read. What color were the spines?"
Gojo sat up straighter, firmly planting the bottoms of his feet into the tile as he scratched his chin. "Mmmm...I think they were usually black?"
Shoko's eyes went wide. She quickly smashed the butt of her cigarette into her ashtray, spinning in her chair and frantically typing into the Jujutsu High database.
"Uh...Shoko?--"
"She was learning."
"...Learning?"
"The old library used to categorize its books using different colored spines. Remember how Principal Yaga used to give you green-spined books because you sucked at history?"
"Okay, in my defense, history is boring." He threw up his hands playfully.
"Anyway, black-spined books are about cursed techniques." Shoko turned in her chair again to face Gojo. He noticed her mouth slightly grinning, like she was impressed. "...Y/n was re-learning how to use cursed energy."
Gojo froze. "...What?"
"Most likely reversed cursed technique, much like me. Took her nearly a decade, but I bet learning cursed energy as a curse is much more difficult than as a sorcerer. Especially reversed cursed technique...But she did it. Satoru,
she was learning how to heal...to talk to you again."
୨୧
Itadori walked through his dorm later that afternoon, when he heard commotion coming from his friend's room. Thudding and yelling could be heard in a muffle from behind Megumi's door, causing Itadori to halt in his steps.
"Fushiguro?" He muttered to himself. After much contemplation, he decided to investigate the ruckus for himself.
Slowly, he opened his friends' door to see Maki holding Megumi down to his bed while Panda was force feeding him a bowl of soup. Nobara was in the corner recording, unsuccessfully muting her laughs through her hand.
"LET ME GO!" Megumi growled. Itadori noticed his face appeared paler than usual, with a fever patch stuck to his forehead.
"EAT THE SOUP AND WE WILL!!" Maki demanded.
"IT TASTES LIKE ASS!!"
"How do you know what ass tastes like?" Panda questioned.
"I DON'T--" As soon as Megumi opened his mouth, Panda shoved a spoonful of the soup into the sick boy's mouth.
"If you don't get better by tomorrow, you won't be able to go on your mission and Nanami will send one of us to go instead!! And I don't feel like going!" Maki hissed, forcing Megumi's jaw shut so he'd swallow.
"It's literally your job, Maki!!" Megumi yelled after forcefully getting the salty soup down.
Itadori watched from the doorway, frozen. "I...I don't know if I should get help or join in...You only get to tease Megumi every so often..." He thought aloud, tapping his chin.
Suddenly, Itadori felt a presence behind him, making him whip over his shoulder to see y/n quietly standing and watching the chaos ensue from the hallway. "Holy shit!!--" He threw his hands over his mouth, before bowing. "Good afternoon, Miss y/n. Sorry, I didn't see you."
The curse grinned and slightly bowed her head. Itadori shivered. She's so beautiful, but without pupils, I can't tell where she's looking!
"Why...is Megumi screaming?"
"Huh? Oh, uh, he's sick, but I guess he hates the taste of the soup they're forcing him to eat." Itadori explained kindly, turning back to the commotion.
Y/n entered the room slowly, the kids still shouting at each other. It isn't until y/n is at the end of the bed that they fall silent. "Oh, hi y/n." Megumi muttered with lightly pink cheeks, embarrassed.
Maki jumped down from the bed, joining Nobara and Panda on the sidelines.
"Good afternoon." "Hi, y/n." "Afternoon."
The curse and the sick boy stared at each other blankly in silence. The other 4 students watched curiously as y/n lifted her hand, gently placing it on his forehead. "Uh...Y/n?" Megumi whispered.
A moment passed by. Then, Megumi's eyes shot wide open as he quickly sat up in his bed. "What the...I'm not sick anymore."
"Liar! You just don't wanna eat the damn soup!" Maki growled, Panda preparing another spoonful of broth to shove in his friends' mouth.
"N-No, I'm serious...My nose is cleared up and my throat doesn't hurt anymore."
"Wait, deadass?" Nobara questioned, her and Itadori running up to Megumi's bed as y/n quietly left the room. "That's not possible!"
"Well, I'm not lying!!" "Check his temperature!" "How did you suddenly get better?"
