Chapter 12: Designation
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Ginko and Mei Mei calmly took their time exiting the area as the veil started to unravel itself.
"Hey, Ginko-kun. Have you met one?" She asked out of the blue. "A Special-grade?"
He smiled, massaging his back as a faint sense of phantom pain hovered over him. "Yeah, I have. I was with my gramps when it appeared." He closed his eyes momentarily, reminiscing on the moment. "Quite something."
Her eyes widened with curiosity.
"Your grandfather's a sorcerer?"
"He is."
"Interesting." She mused. "Would you mind telling me more about this encounter with a Special-grade?"
"There's not really much for me to say as he was the one to exorcize it."
She paused, quickly realizing what Ginko had just said.
"Wait he actually killed it? I expected the two of you to have escaped." She looked directly at his face, confident that what he had just said wasn't a lie. "What grade is he?"
"Grade 1."
"And his name?"
"Yamada, though I doubt you'd recognize him."
"Actually I'm pretty sure I've heard that name somewhere before." She looked closely at Ginko, paying close attention to his eyes and hair for some reason. "Hold on, is his last name Kyofu?"
Ginko hummed approvingly.
"So that's what it was… " She withheld the urge to facepalm. "That just answered so many of my questions about you. Why didn't you say anything sooner?"
"I didn't see the need to."
She huffed as they finally reached the entrance of the school.
"Ah! You're back!" Naturally Tanabe was the first to rush towards them. "Are you alright? Any injuries?" He frantically inspected them, showing his clear concern for their wellbeing.
"No, we're fine." She reassured.
"I see, that's good. It looks like all the miasma has been taken care of. Were there any complications along the way?"
"None." He heaved a sigh of relief. "You can go ahead Tanabe-san, me and Ginko-kun still have some errands we need to run."
"We do?" He asked.
"Mhm."
"B-but what about the report?" Tanabe worried.
"It'll be submitted by the end of the day, don't worry."
"Understood. In that case have a good rest of your day, and don't hesitate to call me if anything comes up." He bowed to the two of them, doing his best to avoid Ginko's creepy bug-eyed stare
"He seems nice." Ginko commented. "But I don't think he likes me very much."
"Maybe if you didn't stare into his soul every time he was around you he'd like you better." She started to walk off, gesturing for Ginko to follow suit. "Managers are crucial in order for sorcerers to carry out their missions unbothered. Once you're assigned your own, make sure you get along with them alright?"
"Okey-dokey." He replied jovially. "So, what are we doing now?"
"Now, I'm going to start integrating you into modern human society for a change."
He shrugged, not having the faintest clue as to what that meant.
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"Where are we?" Ginko wondered, having been brought into an odd store filled with all sorts of bright screens and people bustling about.
"We're buying you a phone." She said, fully intent on writing it off as a business expense. "Even Yaga-sensei has one and he's more than double your age."
"Is a phone that important? My gramps has been killing curses his entire life and he never had one."
"First of all, when your gramps was still active, phones hadn't even been invented yet. And secondly, there is more to life than killing curses alright?"
Her words left him astounded.
"There is?" He asked, not believing a word she said.
"Obviously. Now just stay put and behave whilst I make the purchase."
Ginko obliged with a frown on his face, looking at the other customers around him with a conflicted expression.
'Non-sorcerers can't perceive curses because they're not meant to do anything about them. Sorcerers perceive curses because they are meant to do something about them. There are no lines to be blurred.'
His attention continued to hop from person to person.
'I kill curses to perfect my Jujutsu, I perfect my Jujutsu to kill curses. Why complicate things? Anything beyond that is just an excuse to avert one's eyes from the truth.'
He watched them talk to each other about things he had never heard about. He observed the cursed energy aimlessly leaking out of their bodies without any sense of control. He stared at their weak frames which he could eviscerate with nothing more than a breath.
'I can understand why someone who cannot perceive curses would live like this. But for someone who can do so? I do not understand. What is the point?'
He breathed a deep sigh.
'No, it goes both ways doesn't it? I cannot understand them, but if I were to explain what I was they wouldn't understand me either. There is a fine line between us, and I have no reason to even want to cross it. Just forget it Ginko, you're not one to deliberate on things.'
He retracted his gaze, freeing the masses from being subjected to his extremely unnerving stares.
"Here." Mei Mei approached, handing him one of the so-called phones. "I've already set it up so you have my contact in it, alongside the group chat for all the Tokyo students."
He tilted his head.
"Gro-up ch-at?"
Her face contorted, coming to the realization that she'd have to explain a plethora of concepts such as the internet and messaging to the bonafide dunderhead in front her.
"I'll teach you as much as I can whilst we're walking." She motioned for them to leave the shop.
"Where are we going this time?" He asked with evident impatience, eager to get back to the school grounds.
"To eat obviously, I can't haggle Yaga to give me a better paycheck on an empty stomach after all." Ginko could only dip his head and reluctantly oblige.
…
Mei Mei brought them to what seemed to be an awfully lavish restaurant, the likes of which would drain one's wallet in the span of a single meal. "A few more expenses won't hurt anyone." She smiled.
"What do they even serve here?"
"No clue, I just thought it looked good." Which was codeword for pricey.
"I guess it doesn't matter as long as it's not spicy. Last time I had a stomach ache I almost fired my technique into a crowd of civilians." Mei Mei shuddered whilst pretending not to have heard anything.
'Is that something you should really be admitting openly?'
"Table for two?" A waiter approached them.
"Yes please." She replied politely.
"Right this way ma'am." As it was a slow day for the establishment, the two were seated promptly. "Enjoy your date." The waiter handed them their menus before bowing politely and leaving them be.
"What's a date?" Ginko wondered as he scratched his scalp.
"Don't worry about it." She reassured with a coy smile. "Decided on what you're going to order?"
"I don't have a clue what any of this stuff is." He sighed whilst flipping through the pages. "I'll just order whatever you're having."
"Alright then." She signaled for the waiter, ordering a stake for the both of them. "So, tell me why you decided to join Jujutsu High." She asked out of the blue, causing Ginko to raise his brow.
"Why do you want to know?"
"No reason in particular. But Yaga did say this would be a good chance for you to get to know one of your upperclassmen better, so why not humor me a little?"
Ginko shrugged internally, not expressing any blatant discontent.
"Gramps told me to, so I joined." He stated plainly.
"Surely that isn't all there is to it?" She pressed with mild disbelief.
"Well, he said I'll get stronger here. So I suppose that's also a reason." Ginko slouched as he rested his cheek on his palm, gradually becoming disinterested in the conversation. "I'm just noticing this now, but you all really like to overthink things don't you?"
"Oh? Do elaborate." She asked with kindling interest.
"You all insist that there has to be some reason to being a sorcerer beyond practicing Jujutsu itself." He paused. "Don't get me wrong, I'm not criticizing you all for it. I just think you would all be better off by —" He stopped himself. "Actually nevermind."
"No, I'm actually interested in hearing what you have to say." She leaned forward with her hand under her chin.
"And I've lost interest in saying what I was going to say." Ginko's attention was grabbed by the lingering smell of meat approaching him. "Oya, it has a nice aroma to it." He commented as the waiter set down the food for the two of them.
"Suit yourself." She resigned with blatant disappointment, which Ginko seemed set on ignoring.
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"Seriously, how many more background checks do they need to run before they're satisfied?" The grizzly Tokyo Jujutsu High teacher groaned. Shuffling through what could only be described as a never-ending hoard of paperwork with a grimace on his face. "Truly the only people capable of making a promotion the most miserable experience known to man."
He massaged his temple and took a sip from his glass in order to ease some of the stress. Shifting through dozens of mission requests and assigning him to whomever he deemed could manage them.
"Someone remind me why I even took this job to begin with in the first place?" He set aside the river of files momentarily, leaning back in his chair with the intent to take a nap.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
"Of course, something always has to come up whenever I try to get a bit of rest." He groaned.
"Yaga-sensei, I'm here to report." A feminine voice spoke from the other side of his office door.
"Come in." He instructed as a woman with light-silvery hair tied up in a ponytail entered the room. "So, how was he?"
"I don't think that's something I can convey in just a few words." She chuckled. "But if I had to, I think the word odd is quite fitting."
"He is Yamada's grandson, I don't find it all that surprising." Mei Mei noticed the look of nostalgia on her teacher's face.
"Were you close with Yamada Kyofu?" She questioned out of curiosity.
"Not necessarily. We only interacted with one another a handful of times, but somehow he managed to make each meeting extremely, memorable, shall we say." An expected result of the elderly man's eccentric personality, which seemed to have been passed on to Ginko. "Let's just say I found his advice comforting during the early stages of my life." Mei Mei could've sworn a smile was about to appear on his face.
"I'd love to hear more about him, but I imagine you aren't interested in discussing the older Kyofu as of now?" Yaga nodded. "In that case, allow me to deliver my report."
…
"He grabbed the curse? With his bare hands?" Yaga seeked confirmation, in a less surprised manner than Mei Mei had expected.
"Indeed. If I may, you don't seem all too shocked by the fact?"
"I could already tell that he was anything but weak when I first met him by the flow of his cursed energy alone. The fact that he has enough physical strength to accomplish that doesn't surprise me, rather the fact that he was willing to do it does."
Before Ginko had been enrolled into the college, Yamada had cautioned him that his grandson would be even more explosive than himself which Yaga doubted greatly. However the report he had just received seemed to suggest otherwise.
"Moreover the fact that he managed to come up with such a plan on the spot, crude as it was, speaks to his decisiveness." A quality that was more likely than not the product of him already having fought countless curses before his enrollment. "Anything else you wish to add?"
"I have no doubts regarding his Jujutsu proficiency. But I believe he could use some serious integration into modern society, I mean he didn't even know what a phone was until today for crying out loud. It was like having a caveman for a teammate."
Yaga shared her sentiment, unsure of whether the way Ginko had been raised was a good or bad thing.
"Agreed. Having nothing but Jujutsu on his mind won't do any favors for his mental health as time goes on."
"Mhm. Now with that out of the way, what grade do you plan on assigning him?"
"Honestly, I think he's already Semi Grade 1 caliber, if not beyond that. But I won't be able to give him that designation until I've convinced the geezers so I'll assign him as Grade 2 for now. His designation will probably update after a few solo missions anyways."
"I see." For a brief moment her expression grew complicated before returning to normal. "I imagine you'll make sure I'm rewarded appropriately for my labor?"
"Of course." She smiled approvingly. "If there's nothing else you're dismissed."
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Shorter chapter this time as it's really just an interlude. Hope you enjoyed it though nonetheless.
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