章 15: Atsuya Kusakabe
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"Something's off." Ginko muttered to himself, waking up in what looked to be a hospital bed. He removed his blanket, noticing that his wounds had become naught more than faded scars save for the one on his calf. "What is this feeling?" He wondered as he wearily hauled himself to his feet, finding his clothes neatly folded on the nightstand next to him.
"No, I've experienced this before. I definitely have." He slipped on his kimono, favoring his right-side as he left the infirmary. Continuing to head outside until he ended up at the open field track outside the building he had rested in.
The potent sunrays forced him to cover his eyes with his hand as he looked upwards. "Ah, now I remember." He stretched his neck from side to side as a faint smile appeared on his face.
"I got stronger. Didn't I?" The smoothness of his cursed energy control had become even more refined, the fierceness of his output strengthened. Though the improvement wasn't as drastic as when he first tasted the sparks of black, the pressure of death from being trapped in a domain with no direct counter had done wonders for him.
"All that's left now is to conquer the real thing." Then again, even the memory of having been caught in an incomplete domain for a few seconds during his escapades with his grandfather, completely eclipsed the meek imitation the slit-mouthed cursed spirit had offered.
"But that can wait for now." His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of his abdomen grumbling. "I have my priorities straight."
After ravaging the canteen as per usual, Ginko located the presences of his classmates in their homeroom. "It's still that early? Eh, might as well go see what they're up to." Taking his time so as not to increase the strain on his injured leg, he leisurely made his way over to the classroom.
"Oh, looks like sleeping beauty's finally up." Gojo snided as he Ginko entered the room.
"You feeling alright Ginko?" Geto asked with genuine concern, causing Gojo's mood to take an immediate hit.
"Yeah I'm good." He reassured nonchalantly. "More importantly, did you make sure to absorb it?" If it turned out that his efforts had gone to waste, the chances of Geto leaving the classroom in one piece would drop drastically.
"Mhm. But I feel kinda bad just reaping the rewards of all your efforts like that." He scratched the side of his cheek.
"It's domain isolated me, unless you were holding out on a domain expansion or something then there's nothing you could do." Ginko on the other hand didn't seem to mind, the fact that Geto profited of him exorcizing the spirit was naught more than a coincidence to him.
"Still, it doesn't sit well with me." The wind-user sighed at his insistence on guilt.
"Then you can make it up to me by showing off your technique for the next mission." Admittedly, he was still interested in getting to see how someone with Geto's technique approached combat.
"Heh, too bad. You already had your chance." Gojo smirked as he leaned backwards.
"No, I don't see a reason why they shouldn't take more missions together." Yaga interrupted.
"Huh!? Have you gone senile or something?"
"You're the one acting like you're never going to see him again. It's not like I'm splitting you guys up or anything, but now that you have a new classmate it's important that the three of you are familiarized. Speaking of which, you'll also be going on missions with Ginko at some point."
"Hmph, as if." He folded his arms together and huffed. Earning a deep groan from his teacher.
"Anyways. Ginko, are you sure you should be walking around already? I don't know how effective Shoko's treatment was, but if you need to take the day then feel free." He expressed genuine concern for his student, to which Geto nodded approvingly.
"It would take a lot more than that to put mine amazin' self outta commission." He grinned. "So, what's the next mission?"
"Settle down. Sorcerer's don't take missions daily, and I don't have anything for you at the moment anyways." Yaga's attention turned to the sound of knocking on the door. "However, there is someone I believe you ought to meet." He smiled faintly. "Come in."
The door slid open, revealing a tall man with spiky brown hair and sharp dark eyes. He wore a standard dress shirt accompanied by a set of black pants and shoes, and for some unbeknownst reason had a lollipop in his mouth.
He donned a distinct frown on his face as he entered the room, doing his utmost best to distance himself from the Gojo heir. "Uh, hello." He greeted without an ounce of enthusiasm. Looking at the students with nothing but the desire to be anywhere else but here.
'Alright let's see. We've got monster one, monster two, and this one has apparently already exorcized a Grade 1 on his third day here so that's monster three. Yeah, mhm, I'm outta here. I really shouldn't have even come here to begin with.'
"Where do you think you're going? Atsuya." Yaga grabbed the man by the collar, using his gorilla strength to hold him in place whilst he squirmed in his grasp.
"Away from here, obviously." He retorted vehemently.
"Atsuya. Either you start acting your rank for once, or submit to the mercy of my fist of guidance. Your pick." The scruffy looking sorcerer immediately stilled, sweat running down his face as he recalled rather unsavory memories. "Good." Yaga cleared his throat. "With that out of the way. This is Atsuya Kusakabe. Despite his looks he's a Grade 1 sorcerer as well as a friend of mine."
"It's… good to meet you all." The man in question said with a distinct queasiness in his stomach as he rubbed the back of his neck. "So, which one did you want me to handle?" He looked to his friend.
"That one." Yaga's finger landed on Ginko, causing his expression to inflate with interest.
"Already tossing me out? I'm hurt." He said in a feigned tone of sadness.
"Ginko. Do you know what the first requirement of becoming a Grade 1 sorcerer is?" The student shook his head. "It's to receive a recommendation from an active Grade 1 sorcerer."
"Then why don't you just do it?"
"Because the letter of recommendation cannot come from the person's teacher. Which is why I want you to start working with Atsuya from now onwards, until he decides that you're fit to be recommended, that is."
"Wait, that's what this is about?" Kusakabe interrupted. "Yaga, if you want me to recommend him just say that. If you think he's good enough then I don't have any reason to decline."
"When did I say that he was good enough?" He replied firmly. "Moreover, this isn't about what I think of him anymore, it's about what you end up thinking of Ginko that counts now. I expect you to train and test him however you please, and for however long until you believe him ready."
"Sensei." Ginko lifted his head. "I'm appreciative n' all, but what exactly is the reason for all this? I'm well aware of how brilliant, handsome, and strong I am. But I haven't been here very long, what's with the rush?" Everyone in the room felt the need to recoil at the unrivaled shamelessness he had just demonstrated.
"Are you really asking me that?" Even Yaga had to muster up great strength to pretend as if he didn't hear anything. "You exorcized a Grade 1 curse on your own, whilst being trapped in a Simple Domain no less." Kusakabe's ears couldn't help but perk up. "There's no point in me holding back your Grade."
When Ginko had first met with Yaga, the grizzled teacher already had his suspicions about his strength. And those suspicions turned into beliefs after his mission with Mei Mei, and beliefs into facts on his mission with Geto Suguru.
Having such a person tackle missions below Grade 1 at any point in time, would be nothing more than blatant misguidance, and poor education. Something he would absolutely not stand for.
'I wonder if I'll ever see a first-year class of this caliber ever again.' He couldn't help but wonder to himself.
"Simple Domain? What's that?" The term had certainly caught his interest.
Yaga's lips curled upwards. "I think your new mentor could offer the best explanation. Wouldn't you agree?" He shot a wry grin at his friend.
Kusakabe could only groan in defeat, having realized that Yaga had already sealed his fate before he had even stepped foot into the classroom. "I guess…" He turned his attention to his newfound student. "Ginko-kun was it?"
"That's me." He smiled.
"Follow me." He ordered, to which Ginko happily obliged. Pretending not to notice the sight of Gojo sticking his tongue out towards him as he left the room. "I believe it would be safe for me to assume you're clueless when it comes to Simple Domains?"
"Mhm."
Kusakabe began his explanation as they walked together. "I won't give you all the details right now since it would take too long, but I can explain the basics to you." Ginko nodded. "Firstly, the point of a Simple Domain is not to act as a domain in of itself, but rather a counter to the guaranteed-hit ability of a domain."
His student's expression grew puzzled. "Really? When I was fighting the cursed spirit yesterday it felt like it was trying to mimic an actual domain."
"That's a special case, I can tell you with full certainty that whatever that cursed spirit did is not something a human can replicate. Moreover, I'm pretty sure you noticed how flawed its application was when you were fighting it, right?"
He thought back to the battle. "Yeah, now that I think about it, the main purpose of the domain seemed to be to isolate me from Suguru. But even that feat alone is pretty impressive to me."
"Maybe, but at the end of the day it's not something we humans can do with a Simple Domain so forget about it." Kusakabe placed a finger on his chin as he seemed to recall something he had been told earlier. "By the way, Yaga told me that you had an interest in barriers or something."
"I do indeed have an interest." He confirmed.
"Let me guess, you wanna achieve Domain Expansion." Everyone dreamed of it at some point in their lives, it just couldn't be helped.
"There is that." He replied strangely. "But before that I need to up my proficiency in barriers in order to master an aspect of my cursed technique."
"Go on." The veteran's curiosity had been piqued.
"It would be easier to demonstrate." Once they were outside, Ginko picked up a stray pebble on the ground and handed it to him. "Throw it at me." He said as he took a few steps away from him.
"How fast?"
"Doesn't matter."
"...I mean if you say so." Kusakabe shrugged, catapulting the pebble towards him with pitcher-like intensity. "Woah." He blinked his eyes repeatedly at the spectacle unfolding before him.
Before it had reached Ginko, some sort of invisible force had managed to suspend in mid-air. Making it hover a few inches in front of his face. "Look." He pointed to it. "My technique is wind manipulation by the way, and this application can't even be considered half complete." The disappointment he held for himself was made clear. "Not only is it missing a major piece, but right now it can only cover 8% of my body at a time. Which is why I'm studying barriers in order to perfect it."
"I see." Kusakabe swallowed his surprise. "Wind manipulation, huh?" He murmured. "I don't know if I'll be able to help you achieve anything concrete, but if it's barriers you're interested in then I might be of some help."
"Hmm?"
"Simple Domain. Would you like me to teach it to you?"
The corners of Ginko's mouth curled upwards.
"Do you even need to ask?"
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100% vote for Kusakabe in the discord, gah damn. Well a promise is a promise so here you go.
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