46

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"Ah, I was wondering if I'd be seeing you anytime soon. Already done with classes for the day, are we?"

"It's good to see you again, Shoko-san," Shiki greets politely.

The response that she receives is a small huff of laughter. "You say that like we didn't see each other when you tagged along with Kiyohira-san's checkup last time."

Shiki shrugs. Kiyohira-sensei's last checkup had taken place sometime last month, so she supposes that it hasn't been that long since she's last seen Ieiri Shoko.

The older woman waves her inside. "So. Are you just here to say hello? Or are there any school-related troubles that you've run into already?"

There's a knowing tone to Shoko-san's lazy drawl that's almost expectant.

"Am I that predictable?" Shiki asks.

Shoko-san laughs. "Only sometimes. I'm a little surprised that you're already here on the first day, though. Did Takagi make that bad of an impression?"

… In all honesty, it was probably the other way around. So far, Shiki thinks that her new teacher seems to be a decent person, even though it's quite clear that he doesn't know what to do with a student like her. But on Takagi-sensei's end… Shiki is perceptive enough to pick up on the man's discomfort, even if she can't quite discern the reason why.

Yuzuki-san would know, undoubtedly. Unfortunately, it's not as if Shiki could seek her friend for advice at the moment.

"I think Takagi-sensei is under the impression that I like breaking things," Shiki pauses almost as soon as the words leave her mouth. Because that's not quite right, was it? If anything, the caution that Takagi Hajime regarded her with and the carefulness in his attitude towards her, it seemed a bit more like… "Do I seem like the type of person who would kill for no apparent reason?"

Who did he take her for, Geto Suguru?

"… Takagi really needs to pull himself together," Shoko-san sighs, rubbing at her forehead. "So, I suspect that there are probably misunderstandings on both ends here. I know that you have trouble reading other people, Shiki, but try to keep in mind that it's also very easy for others to misread you –especially if neither of you are familiar with each other."

Shiki doesn't think that she's particularly difficult to read. But then again, the same is probably true for most others, and… it's an undeniable fact that both Shiki and her cousin are people who have trouble understanding how others think, and why they react in the manner that they do. It's a little baffling sometimes, even though Shiki has mostly learned to take things in stride by now. Satoru-niichan says to act like you always know what's going on, even if you don't actually know –it's good advice for dealing with the clan elders, at the very least.

"First impressions are… well, I won't say that they're unimportant, but first impressions don't account for everything," Shoko-san tells her. "Things should be a bit better once you've gotten a better grasp on each other's personalities, I think. Takagi is a decent sort for a sorcerer, even though he's been going through a bit of a rough patch recently."

Shiki tilts her head questioningly.

"He lost a kid last year," Shoko-san elaborates. "There was a mission that went sideways, unfortunately. Not that it's an excuse for anything, but…"

The woman shrugs, making a vague gesture with her hands that hints at an obvious message –one that Shiki doesn't really understand.

But what?

'But Takagi-sensei is still a good teacher, so there's no need for concern?' … Something along those lines would be Shiki's best guess. Shoko-san had called Takagi-sensei a 'decent sort' just moments earlier, which definitely sounded like a vouch of confidence to her ears.

Admittedly, Shiki was a little skeptical regarding Takagi-sensei's teaching abilities. He had basically admitted to her face that he didn't know what to teach her, back in the classroom. Even though it surely wasn't a surprise that Shiki was attending the Tokyo school as a first year student; he should've had time to think on the matter himself…

… But maybe he didn't, if he'd been preoccupied with recovering from the grief of losing a student, whom he presumably cared for. Shiki recalls the days following the immediate aftermath of Jihei-san's death, when she'd observed how Kiyohira-sensei had been unusually withdrawn and prone to drinking on his own in the dead of the night. Most people don't tend to be anywhere near as productive or clear-thinking as their usual selves, when they're grieving the loss of a loved one.

Ah. This was what Shoko-san had been trying to say by bringing up the fact that one of Takagi-sensei's students had died last year, right? Takagi-sensei is still recovering. Mentally and emotionally, if not physically.

Shiki hadn't noticed her teacher grieving at all earlier in the classroom today. In retrospect, that might explain the careful attention and patient instruction for Hoshi-san on the very first day of classes, if Takagi-sensei still had the death of a previous student weighing down heavily upon his mind.

Even though all three of them are equally unfamiliar with each other, Takagi-sensei and Hoshi-san certainly seem to be getting along with each other far better than either of them do Shiki. Shiki isn't jealous over this. Jealousy on her part would require that she cares about or is emotionally attached to at least one of them as a bare minimum. It just causes her to notice that she's… really not as good at communicating with others as she thought she was.

Hmm. Maybe she should pay closer attention to Hoshi-san's behavior next time? For future reference. But then again, her previous experiences with attempting to mimic some of Tsumiki's reactions hadn't proven particularly successful in the past, either…

… something to think about later.

"Thank you for your advice, Shoko-san," Shiki sketches a polite bow to the older woman, who seems to be a bit bemused.

"Glad to be helpful," Shoko-san says. Then, "For what it's worth, I'd say that you're off to a better start than that cousin of yours. He and Geto ended up getting into a fight with each other on their very first day."

"Really?" Shiki leans forward, interested. Satoru-niichan hadn't mentioned this! It was also a little strange to imagine him clashing with Geto-san as students –in Shiki's memories, they were always friends. Before Geto-san cut loose and went on his murder spree, that is.

"Mhm," Shoko-san smiles, clearly more than happy to share what she knows. "They were punished with cleaning the classroom. And then they ended up destroying the classroom, too, so clearly that didn't work out very well."

For all that Satoru-niichan looks back fondly upon his days as a student, he doesn't actually talk about it himself very much. It hasn't really come up much as a topic of conversation between them, either. Back when Shiki had spoken with her cousin on the topic of attending Tokyo Jujutsu High, Satoru-niichan had more or less given her an overview of what she could expect, instead of regaling her with his own experiences.

So it's quite interesting, hearing stories from Shoko-san like this. Who would've thought that Satoru-niichan had such a rough start with his best friend?

Shiki wonders what stories Satoru-niichan might tell her, if she asked him about Geto-san. Something to think about at a later point in the future, perhaps.

She ends up staying in Shoko-san's office longer than she expects. But it's time well spent, in her opinion… even though she realizes that she'd forgotten to ask Shoko-san about the morgue. Which is something that she only remembers once she's already standing on the front steps of the student dormitories.

… She'll ask about the morgue another time. Maybe along with Hoshi-san, so they can see it together? This should be good for getting to know her classmate better, right?

Shiki nods to herself.

That's a plan, then.

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Unfortunately, Shiki doesn't get a chance to ask Hoshi-san if he would like to visit Shoko-san's morgue with her, because she ends up getting called for a mission bright and early the next morning.

… Or rather, 'dark and early' would probably be more accurate. Shiki finds herself yawning a few times during the car ride, but she's disciplined enough to stay awake and alert despite the early hour. It would be dangerous to sleep like this, after all. A mission starts the moment a sorcerer sets out on their assignment and doesn't end until they've fulfilled their objective and safely returned.

It also helps that Choki makes some small conversation while he's driving. "Kamo Noritoshi has officially made his appearance in the jujutsu world again."

"Kamo Noritoshi?" That was… the previous heir to the Kamo Clan, the one who possessed Blood Manipulation as his cursed technique. The unfortunate boy who'd been forced into hiding when the Kamo Clan's infighting had taken a vicious turn, from what Shiki last recalled on that particular matter.

"Yes," Choki confirms. "He announced himself as a student of Kyoto Jujutsu High yesterday, and his attendance was confirmed by multiple sources."

Hm. Entering the Kyoto school, where the Kamo's influence was strong… for someone who'd been driven out during the messy battle for succession, it was a brave move. Brave, or foolhardy. Only time would tell which one it was, exactly.

Part of Shiki recognizes that it would potentially be a destabilizing influence to the jujutsu world at large if the Kamo Clan were to fall into internal turmoil again. Another part of her really couldn't care less, and is even faintly amused by the prospect of the Kamo Clan tearing itself into pieces again. If Kamo Noritoshi decided to use his time at the Kyoto school to build up his own base of supporters and eventually challenge his current clan head for the position…

That would be something for the Kamo clan head to worry about, if such an event ever came to pass.

"Is there anything notable about the other Kyoto students?" Why did Kamo Noritoshi choose the Kyoto school? If he intended to make a play for power in the future, Shiki is mildly surprised that the boy didn't choose to attend the Tokyo school with her in an attempt to try and build good relations with the Gojo Clan or something.

Then again, it's not particularly difficult to deduce why he, a Kamo, would deliberately try to avoid her. For all the irrefutable power that the Gojo Clan currently holds in jujutsu society, it's also equally irrefutable that relations between the Gojo and Kamo clans have been a little… delicate, following the kidnapping incident that Shiki had been the target of.

"There are two other students who enrolled in the Kyoto school this year," Choki answers easily, clearly having familiarized himself with this information beforehand. "Nishimiya Momo, a third-generation sorcerer. Her father is an American sorcerer. And Todo Aoi, civilian background, but…"

A brief hesitation. Choki's fingers tighten slightly upon the steering wheel, while Shiki patiently waits for him to gather his words.

"But the one who scouted him, it's… Tsukumo Yuki," he finally says.

Huh. The Special Grade sorcerer? More specifically, the one who made it a point to act independently of the jujutsu administration?

"Todo is her student, apparently."

"I see." Interesting. Now, why would someone who operated separately from the administration take initiative to send their own student to one of the jujutsu schools? And directly into the heart of the conservative faction, at that?

… But it's none of Shiki's business what Tsukumo is thinking. Todo Aoi is the Kyoto school's problem now, not hers.

She admits to some idle curiosity about Todo's skills as a sorcerer, though. As far as Shiki is aware, she and Megumi are the only others to receive direct instruction from a Special Grade sorcerer. It's not quite a teacher-student relationship, however, not as Choki implies the arrangement between Tsukumo and Todo is. Satoru-niichan drops in and checks on their training quite often, but he doesn't act in the role of a dedicated mentor to either Shiki or Megumi.

"Would you like me to look into more information regarding the Kyoto students?"

"No, that's alright. There's no need to do so." It's enough for Shiki to just have a general idea of who the Kyoto first year students are, so that she's informed on the situation. She's a Tokyo student, not a Kyoto one, and she has no desire to involve herself with the Kyoto scene. "Thank you for your efforts, Choki."

"Of course, ojou-sama," the man responds, ever reliable. "If you ever have any other requests, you need only to ask."

"I'll keep that in mind." Shiki stares out the window for a moment, taking in the rosy color of the slowly-brightening sky before another sudden thought occurs to her. "Ah. I met Hoshi-san yesterday."

Choki nods, a small smile flitting across his lips. "And how did that go?"

Shiki thinks about Hoshi-san's nervous demeanor, and Takagi-sensei's wariness. "… I'm not really sure."

"You're not sure?" Choki repeats after her, evidently not having expected that response. At the same time, though, he doesn't seem altogether surprised by it.

"Shoko-san says that things will be better once we're more familiar with each other." Shiki most certainly hopes that will prove to be true –it's going to be a long four years if both her classmate and her teacher remain uncomfortable around her like this. She didn't even really do anything yesterday…

Is the problem her face or something? Does Shiki just look scary? Is that part of the issue here?

Choki ends up with a sudden, suspicious coughing fit when she asks him this, then hurriedly reassures her that there's no need for her to worry about her physical appearance on this front. Shiki still has her doubts, though. Tsumiki had also been rather nervous around her in the beginning…

…

The mission itself goes smoothly. A Grade One cursed spirit –one that takes on the form of a two-headed turtle with snapping jaws, and prides itself in the defense provided by its armored shell. But its armor means nothing to Shiki, not when it's merely a construct covered in dozens of red lines, each shining with an eerie glow.

Shiki raises her blade, and cuts.

It's not hard.

The hardest part about this entire mission was probably herding the cursed spirit into a safe area for her to take down. There had been a child caught beneath the collapsed floorboards, and adding a collapsed cursed spirit on top of that would've been quite dangerous. It's a sorcerer's duty to exorcise curses and protect non-sorcerers, to the best of their ability. Shiki only acts in accordance with that directive.

The child doesn't stop crying until Shiki hands them off to Choki, who is thankfully able to take things from there. Shiki… doesn't know how to deal with children.

By the time they return to the Tokyo school, it's already the afternoon. The sun shines brightly overhead, and there are birds chirping in the trees. Choki ends up dropping her off at the foot of the winding stairway leading up into the mountains and the school proper, bidding her a polite farewell before he leaves.

And then it's just Shiki standing there by herself, with nothing but warm sunlight and trilling bird calls surrounding her.

… Time to start climbing. She wonders if she's still in time for any afternoon lessons, or if Takagi-sensei is perhaps–

"C'mon, move it! Pick up the pace, you're burning daylight!"

Shiki startles at the sudden shout; around her, a flock of birds are also equally startled and promptly take to the air. For a moment, Shiki wonders if the words are directed at her –and then she notices the figure of a distinctly familiar person jogging down the mountain stairway.

Hoshi-san?

He definitely wasn't the one who'd shouted, though. That had been a distinctly feminine voice, and sounded like it came from somewhere higher up–

"Gojo… san…!" Hoshi-san is clearly quite breathless by the time he reaches her at the bottom of the stone stairs. His breaths are drawn in sharp heaves, and sweat drips down from his chin. From the looks of it, he's been at this for quite awhile already.

"Hello, Hoshi-san." Things finally click together in Shiki's mind. "You've been assigned some physical exercises?"

Hoshi-san nods firmly, stumbling a few last steps before leaning over heavily, hands landing on his knees in order to keep himself vaguely upright as he struggles to catch his breath. It might have something to do with the fact that he's tired, but there's no longer any trace of a nervous air that Shiki notices being directed towards her, unlike how things had been yesterday. Maybe that's a good sign?

She'll take it as a good sign.

"Move those legs! Remember, this is your last set!" The same feminine voice calls from somewhere up the mountain again. Those are… a very healthy set of lungs, from what Shiki is hearing.

"Who is that?" Shiki asks Hoshi-san. Another classmate, maybe? Or another teacher? Certainly not Takagi-sensei, that was for sure.

"That's… Ai–"

"Hurry it up, Hoshi!"

Shiki doesn't exactly receive an answer to her question, but she supposes that doesn't matter very much. She needs to head up with Hoshi-san anyways, so she expects that she'll meet them face to face in short order.

Considering the careful attention that Takagi-sensei had given to Hoshi-san yesterday… Shiki would've thought that the man would manage Hoshi-san's training himself, personally. Or maybe that was too far of an assumption to make? Although, it wasn't as if–

"C'mon, Hoshi, you're almost there! You've got–"

The mysterious voice breaks off with a slightly choked sound. It's a dark-haired girl standing there on the stone steps, dressed in a uniform styled as a sailor fuku, complete with a long skirt that falls over her knees. She stares at Shiki with an expression of vague disbelief as her voice trails off into silence.

Which is fairly understandable, Shiki supposes. It was only Hoshi who'd been running down the staircase, and now there are suddenly two people coming back up the stairs together–

"…It's you. What are you doing here?"

Hoshi-san looks between them with a confused expression as he struggles to even out his breathing. Shiki can only offer her classmate a clueless shrug, because just like him, she's also confused by the other girl's words.

"I'm a student," Shiki responds slowly, because it's a little odd. If this girl recognizes her on sight, then why would she ask what Shiki was doing here?

"You're… what?" This time, it's the other girl's turn to wear an expression of confusion. "No, but you're supposed to be… aren't you the princess of the Gojo Clan? What are you doing here in Tokyo Jujutsu High?"

"… Because I'm a student?" Did she not hear what Shiki said the first time?

"Are you actually being serious? You, a student?" A skeptical light enters the girl's eyes. But what was there to doubt about this? "But why in the world would someone like you need to attend a jujutsu school?"

Shiki tilts her head, "Why wouldn't I?"

The reasons for her attendance were obvious, weren't they? And it wasn't as if it was a secret, the identities of students enrolling in the jujutsu schools–

The other girl makes a frustrated sound, "Stop dodging my questions! You know what I mean."

"No, I don't."

Shiki's candid honesty backfires on her in this instance; the dark-haired girl scowls at her.

"Fine, then. Keep your secrets; I don't care what you're playing at. If you want to be difficult, then go ahead," the girl mutters snippily.

Frankly, in Shiki's opinion… out of the two of them, it's not Shiki who's the one being difficult here. She gets the feeling that this probably wouldn't be very well-received by the other girl if she chose to point it out, though. Shiki isn't particularly interested in pointless arguments, so… this is a time when it would be better to be 'tactful,' right?

"The… the two of you already know each other?" Hoshi-san interjects, which is probably for the best. "Um, Aikawa-senpai, I'm not really sure what happened between you two, but–"

"You don't have to say anything, Hoshi," the girl shakes her head. Aikawa-senpai, Hoshi had called her. So she was an upperclassman? "It's fine. I… I don't know what I was expecting, really. Ha, what right do I have to expect anything in the first place?"

Hoshi-san frowns pensively. "What do you mean by that?"

The girl clicks her tongue, "Absolutely nothing. You'll get it, eventually, if you're really determined to be a sorcerer. All of us non-clan sorcerers do."

It might just be her imagination, but Shiki thinks that she catches a faint hint of something bitter in the upperclassman's voice. Which is a little odd, because Shiki doesn't recall having ever interacted with this student in any meaningful manner before… although she belatedly recognizes this girl as the same one that she'd encountered on one of her missions before. At the time, Shiki had nearly mistaken her for a Window.

Oh, wait. Was this the reason why she was acting rather confrontational right now? Because she was offended that Shiki hadn't immediately placed her as a sorcerer that time? … But it wasn't as if she'd put up much of a fight against the cursed spirit, and given the way that she'd reacted… she certainly hadn't seemed like someone who was experienced with combat. Although, considering that she's apparently still a student, maybe that would explain the relative inexperience.

"Are you upset?" Shiki asks the girl, deciding to be straightforward about things. But Aikawa-san doesn't appear to appreciate it, not if the angry flush of color in her cheeks is anything to go by. "Ah, I see. Then, may I ask why?"

"I'm not upset!" the girl denies with a low hiss, eyes narrowing. She folds her arms defensively across her chest, huffing, "You don't even really care, so why are you asking?"

She's not wrong. Shiki truly doesn't. But all the same, "I'd prefer to have a cordial working relationship, seeing as we'll be students in the same school."

Aikawa-san mouths 'working relationship' with a strange twist to her lips. "… You want cordial? Fine. I can do that. I'll be just as cordial to you as you are to me."

That's good, then. Shiki is glad to finally be on the same page as the other girl.

"I would appreciate that very much, Aikawa-san." There's a long stretch of following silence that Shiki doesn't even really notice at first –not until she realizes that her upperclassman is still staring at her with a faintly angry expression of sorts, despite Shiki's response. Why is she still–?

Oh.

"… Senpai," Shiki corrects herself belatedly, recalling the countless instances of verbal sparring that had occurred between Iori-sensei and Satoru-niichan over proper terms of address between seniors and juniors. And is then left to stare, mystified, as Aikawa-san's expression twitches and somehow gets even angrier, and her face is so red–

Then, without another word, the dark-haired girl spins on her heel and leaves.

Shiki continues staring a moment longer, before turning towards Hoshi-san, who'd witnessed the entire thing next to her. "She's still upset, isn't she?"

"Absolutely," Hoshi-san confirms. "Geez, what happened between you and Aikawa-senpai? She definitely wasn't so confrontational when Takagi-sensei introduced us earlier…"

"We've encountered each other briefly on a mission once before," Shiki answers, and shrugs. "I don't think she likes me very much."

"Uh, yeah, that seems kind of obvious. Yikes. I think she went a little overboard just now, but… Aikawa-senpai didn't seem like she's a bad person," Hoshi-san pauses. "U-um, it might also help if you were a little less… y'know, next time you run into each other."

"A little less what?" Shiki asks, confused by the nonsensical hand gestures that Hoshi-san is making.

The boy colors faintly, eyes flickering briefly to the ground, and he bites his lip. Slowly, he lifts his gaze to meet her eyes again. "Less… I dunno. Mocking? I mean, it's not really mocking, but it kind of sounded like you were also giving Aikawa-senpai a hard time, with the way that you were responding to her questions."

Shiki frowns. Was there something wrong with how she'd responded?

"A-Anyways, it's just a suggestion!" Hoshi-san straightens. "You don't really have to listen to me or anything, but, um. Yeah. I just thought… maybe…"

"I appreciate it, Hoshi-san." Clearly, Shiki's conversational skills needed more work, if this was how Hoshi-san had interpreted things.

She resists the urge to sigh.

Her classmate offers her a tentative smile. "So, uh… should we get back to Takagi-sensei now, then? You were out for the entire morning –Takagi-sensei mentioned that you had a mission?"

"I did, yes." Shiki falls into step behind the taller boy as he begins climbing the stairs again, both of them following the direction that Aikawa-san –Aikawa-senpai– had disappeared in earlier.

"… How was it?"

"The mission?" Shiki shrugs, "It was fairly straightforward this time. There were no additional casualties, and property damage was minimal."

"That's… good, then," Hoshi-san smiles again, although the expression is a touch awkward this time. Then, in an abrupt change of topic, "I hope we're still going in the right direction here, I'm not really familiar with where everything is in the school yet."

They are. Hoshi-san might not be very familiar with the layout of the Tokyo school, but Shiki is. This stairway that they're currently walking along leads directly into the jujutsu school. Or in the case of rare non-sorcerers who accidentally made it past the outer barriers, it re-routes and directs them back towards the foot of the mountain after a scenic hike.

Speaking of directions and not knowing where things were, though–

"That's right," Shiki claps her hands together. "Hoshi-san, would you like to visit the morgue later with me?"

Her clumsy classmate squawks and promptly loses his footing, tripping and falling face-first on the stairs.

… So he was that eager to see the morgue, was he? Shiki knew this was a good idea.

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