19. Mission (1)

(A/N: Let's update when they least expected, shall we?)

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Back in Tokyo's Jujutsu High

Veilhem was currently briefed on his first mission by a staff member of this school. 

Suddenly, a presence entered the room and he turned his gaze toward it. There, he saw Makima was leaning on the wall as she silently waited for him. Seeing him looking at her, she waved back.

Perhaps she needed something from him so he quickly absorbed the information from the staff and walked to Makima.

"What's up? You seem not to be in your right mind all of a sudden." He said this as he leaned to the wall next to her. Perhaps he was the only one to notice such subtle change in her expression.

"I… don't know. It has taken a toll since our first arrival in this world. There are so many variables that need to be checked that it's starting to get out of hand." Makima replied, it was just her usual day. Taking in endless paperwork, planning for the future, etc.—all of the groundwork. However, it had been hard for her lately because she needed to familiarize herself and navigate in this world.

A portion of it stemmed from the potential variety of Cursed Techniques, raising the possibility that there were undiscovered techniques that could completely eliminate her existence.

It bothered her that she was not in charge yet.

(A/N: Takaba I'm looking at you)

She just needed a little more time to properly arrange everything, so it was okay.

Suddenly, she noticed Veilhem stretching his arms. His hand cascaded a shadow over her head as she looked at him. 

"What are yo-"

Before she could finish speaking, his hand was on her head, stroking her perfectly styled hair into a tangle. Every time he did this, she always needed to comb her hair once again. In the end, she did not detest it, even though it was a hassle.

"You're doing a great job. If you ever feel down or something, come to me." Veilhem jokingly said as he gave her a thumb up.

"You're stupid, you know that?" Makima puffed a laugh, although she was surprised that she could feel that way.

"Ouch." His shoulders slumped down, and he gripped his chest tightly in a dramatic way.

His cape was suddenly grabbed, and he was dragged toward her face until their faces were mere centimeters apart. Then her soft red lips gave way to a monotone yet sweet voice.

"But I quite like dumb people." Makima hushed a whisper in his ears. She evaluated her dominance over Veilhem. Any person would eventually fall madly in love with Makima if she were to do this to them.

But not this one, not today.

From her constant teasing in the past, he had grown immune to it. He would not fall for her little trick. Makima felt Veilhem's hand suddenly tighten around hers. After all, these insignificant taunts could not affect an undead who had survived for such a long time.

"Oh my, you are so cute when you try doing that." Makima was pressed into the wall by Veilhem, wrapping his sturdy arms around her waist. She gave him a preemptive hug back and delighted in his comforting aroma.

(A/N: Well, maybe he is not that immune lol.)

He lifted her up by the armpits to showcase what the world had to offer. 

"Behold, the cutest fucking thing in the world." 

"Please put me down, Veilhem-san." Makima tried to wriggle her way out, but her effort was futile. She could escape if she tried hard enough, but she enjoyed it nonetheless, so she let his little antic play out. 

"Damn lovebirds, I swear!" They heard someone mutter that, but Veilhem didn't care enough to give them his attention. On the contrary, Makima did, and unsurprisingly, it was Gojo Satoru. She glared at him with a helpless expression, asking for help. 

"Just let them be." A lazy voice of a young teen sounded, and Makima turned her gaze to them. It was a female teen with a black school uniform who was just entering, and on her hands were the popcorn as she wore the glasses for the movie. 

She is Shoko Ieiri, one of the new students this year.

After her was the person Makima took an interest in, Geto Suguru.

Makima saw the trio from this year watching them on the sidelines. As they watched this antic unfold in front of them, Shoko shared the popcorn with the two.

"You're just jealous because you don't have one." Geto's reason brought a tick mark to Gojo's forehead.

"As if I ever need one." With a straight face, Gojo refuted the claim, acting like the little brat he was. Geto looked at Gojo in shock and confusion, and a dangerous thought flashed through his eyes.

"Are you gay!?" He took slow, deliberate steps backward, the pretend terror filling his being.

"..."

Gojo was dumbfounded as to how it had come to this, but he soon became furious.

"These hands are rated S; you know why? Cause it stands for 'Straight to your face'." Geto ducked under a punch from Gojo that was aimed directly at his face.

A fight quickly broke out, and chaos reigned throughout the entire scene.

"Shouldn't you guys help me?" Makima inquired, receiving a scornful glance from each of them as Shoko calmly observed the mayhem take place with a delighted expression. She had a smirk on her face, but she felt a danger sense tingling, so she bailed out of there first.

It came to pass that Yaga had come inside. Geto and Gojo pretended there had never been a fight between them as soon as they realized that.

Naturally, Veilhem was courteous to Yaga, since the man was the principal of the organization he currently worked for.

Setting Makima down, Veilhem crossed his arms over his chest and waited for Yaga to begin speaking. This allowed her time to brush her hair halfway decently and straighten her clothes, which were all wrinkled.

"This is the first mission you receive, and it came directly from the Higher Ups. Although I don't trust you, I still think that you should be vigilant, as something is amiss here. The last report of this curse was 4 months ago, so in that time, it could become a Grade 1 cure." His eyes were fixated on Veilhem and Makima. 

With that done, Yaga waved and left.

He still couldn't comprehend why the Higher Ups would directly appoint this unknown origin knight to take on the Curse; their instruction stated that he must do it alone. 

"So what are you going to do now?" Veilhem asked, trying not to glance at the adorable devil standing next to him.

"I have an important meeting with a possibly dangerous individual." She replied, and this made him wary a bit. But before he could start, Makima had already turned and left.

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In some random cafe in Tokyo's metropolis. 

A woman with black hair that was swept to the side and stitches running horizontally on her forehead could be seen reading the newspaper as she sipped her drink every so often. Suddenly, she slightly lifted her gaze up to meet the eyes of the person who was sitting across the table.

"So what do I own you, Ms. Makima?" She stated, the woman in front of her was definitely neither a human nor a curse, but rather a different life form that she hadn't seen in those thousand years.

"Please be more relaxed around me, Itadori-san. Are you fine with that, or should I call you Noritoshi-san?" Makima said as she received her order, a cup of black coffee.

"Just call me Kaori for now." The woman on the other side of the table said, placing down her newspaper and giving Makima a spoon.

She tore a pack of sugar and put it in her coffee. Makima used the spoon she was given and stirred it ever so slightly. 

"And how do you know about that?" Kaori's tone was relaxed, completely devoid of nervousness or any kind of reaction. She adapted to the situation pretty quickly. 

"I have a keen scent." Makima replied as she pointed her index finger at her nose. The person in front of her had the scent of a normal human and a foul odor mixing together when she passed by her. 

This piqued Makima's interest, as she had seen this person walking freely in Tokyo's High before. After that, she tried to gather information about this particular person, but then she noticed a big gap between the last missing report and the time she appeared back. The blanks in her records intrigued her a lot.

She monitored this person for a while, and that was when she found a funny fact. Kaori Itadori was found dead, but the record had been deleted ever since the appearance of her back. Even the person reporting this was unfounded and probably dead, but who knows?

When she appeared back, huge stitches were found on her forehead, but then she compared them with the records of the sorcerers in the intel she had gathered so far, and boom, only one matched the description of Kaori.

The evilest sorcerer known in history, Kamo Noritoshi!

It would not be strange to claim that Kamo Norioshi was just another alias he had used in the past if he could have lived for so long.

Makima lifted the cup to her lips, allowing the sweet aroma of her coffee to linger before she took a sip.

"Well, let's not go into the details, shall we? As a chess player, one must've got some tricks, right?" Kaori smiled slightly. She enjoyed the scenery of the people walking outside the cafe through the big glass window.

"Indeed, information about you was limited, but I have my own way of getting it in my hand." Makima implied her unique way of possessing the vision of those she controlled, mostly small animals and birds.

The two of them did not say anything for a while and enjoyed their peaceful moment. It was clear that they did not like the other party, even though no one knew what was going through their minds. It was evident from their cryptic speech patterns.

"Why are you here, by the way?" Kaori said, her eyes darting back to the redhead, who was savoring her coffee without turning her head.

"I'm here to do business, of course." Makima replied without eyeing Kaori; she picked up the snack she had ordered earlier and put it in her mouth. The flavor was not that great, but it was still edible, in her opinion.

"So what do you have to offer?" Kaori's interest was piqued due to this odd business. 

"As long as you don't touch me and Veilhem-san, I won't ruin your… hundred years of planning. Consider it a warning, Noritoshi-san." Makima addressed Kaori as Noritoshi with a little warning hidden in her monotone voice. This brought a smile on Kaori's face but the latter didn't say anything after that. Her mind was weighing the pros and cons of this 'warning'. 

While Kaori was still thinking, Makima had finished her snack and drink, so she got up from her seat. She picked up her trench coat on the hanger at the door and put it on. 

Makima turned her head slightly to look at Kaori over her shoulder and spoke quietly. It was not audible, but from what Kaori could read from her mouth's movement, it stated:

'Don't meddle with what you don't understand, especially with being out of your reach. Do that and I will make sure that is the last thing you could do. A warning from a fellow behind the scene.' 

This caused Kaori's smile to widen even more. Two variables had entered the play and this time, it created some interesting possibilities.

"Now how should I do it? Oh, that could work." Kaori muttered alone as she devised a different plan in her head. The plasma vessel would emerge in under one year and she still had some time before that happened. She could use some help from Veilhem and Makima in order to progress her plan.

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(A/N: Idk what to put here so I gonna sleep. See yall when I find motivation in writing again.).