Discord: discord .gg /eHuxNeZfyS [Come chat with me]
pat.reon: Keanu_Eugene [Read ahead & support me]
You.tube: @KeanuEugene [Giving away all my writing knowledge]
CHAPTER START---
"Aoi isn't acting out," Yuki says while taking a seat opposite Principal Gakuganji, much to his annoyance. "Your school is just stifling him."
"If he can't complete proper training, the chances of his being hurt or killed on missions are far greater. You should teach him to respect his elders, and to stop being so rude. It's improper to ask people 'What's your type' so casually."
"He's my apprentice, what else did you expect?"
He sighs. "Exactly this, but I was hoping to be wrong."
"That's the one thing most people can't deny about you. You're rarely ever wrong," Yuki takes one of his rice cakes and leans on the table while eating, looking out at the students sparring below.
"Why are you here?"
"You're supposed to offer a lady tea."
"You're supposed to wait for an invitation before sitting, and eating."
Yuki frowns, casting her gaze back to Principal Gakuganji. "Taiyo Daburu," she says in a disgusted tone.
"Be specific."
"Is he working for the conservative faction? For Jujutsu Headquarters and the higher-ups, or is he with Satoru Gojo's group?"
A long silence permeates the air between them before he sips his tea. "How is this any of your concern? As I recall, you don't care about Jujutsu Society. Or did you run out of places to run off to for the sake of avoiding responsibilities in Japan?"
"Tch, that boy is bad news, he's dangerous."
"He's Special Grade, the risk is understood."
"Worse," she lowers her voice. "We may have another situation like Sug—"
Gakuganji raises a hand to cut her off, then flares up his Cursed Energy. Utahime understands the signals and erects a Curtain around herself and the students to give them some privacy and allow the children to train in a standard mission setting.
"Start from the beginning," Principal Gakuganji says.
"When I met him, those Souls of his. They're brimming with some kind of twisted sense of love. The kind that truly believes itself to be right, and won't allow anyone or anything stop it from achieving its goals. Part of me knew then and there that I should have killed him, but…I hesitated. Then, before I could reconsider, Gojo arrived."
"Gojo is using Taiyo as some kind of blockade against Suguru. We are unsure of how deep the connection flows, but I know they have an agreement that seems amicable, for now. When we sent Taiyo against Suguru, Gojo payed the higher-ups a visit and mentioned he made a Binding Vow with Taiyo to prevent another attempt."
Yuki raises a brow at this. "I'm surprised he didn't threaten them."
"I assumed that part was understood," he says. "But from what we understand, Taiyo is still truly neutral."
"No, he's on his own team, and something tells me there is more to it than just him."
"What are you saying?"
"I don't know, not yet. But I know he's planning something. I can feel it, my instincts demand he dies, as if it's my duty to end this threat. So that's exactly what I tried to do."
"Tried?"
"I had Mei Mei lure him out to Iceland, a nice secluded place for me to kill him, but he crushed me. I was too rusty, and now even if I got back into top form, he's already seen my tricks and won't be as amused. The only reason I even lasted that long because he was enjoying fighting a Special Grade. But that boy, he's strong…"
"I shall overlook your confession of not only attacking a Jujutsu Tech student but using Jujutsu outside of Japan and approved mission parameters, but only if your reasoning makes sense."
"It does, because he said some things in that fight. He all but confirmed he's planning something, but I don't know what, and I can't figure it out alone. Not to mention the strange Binding Vow I had to make to survive him."
"Binding Vow?"
"One part was giving him a copy of my Soul research, I assume he wants to understand himself better to close to gap between him and Gojo. But there was a second part…and I can't remember what it was."
"He must have made one of the conditions that you forget something regarded him or that Binding Vow. We shouldn't focus on that at the moment. If he is a threat then more investigations can be justified. The most important information is what you recovered from battling him."
"Nothing much, but I assumed we won't be hurting for combat information on the kid, after all, he's fighting Gojo in a few weeks."
"True, but we are unsure of the nature of their deal and relationship. If it is anything like that of Gojo and Geto, we won't be allowed to touch him. And if we wait too long, that boy won't need anyone to protect him. And if he is as bad as you say, then we may be the ones asking Gojo to protect us. For now, collection information is our best course of action."
"Have you or the higher-ups been looking into him so far?"
"Constantly, but he's vigilant and quite simple, really. He has a tendency to enjoy larger battles, regardless of collateral damage or the risk of exposing Cursed Energy to the world. He enjoys learning of Jujutsu, so any missions he is tasked with are rewarded with Jujutsu knowledge as often as money.
Or at least they were, but recently he's stopped accepting missions from the higher-ups. Although that is of no surprise. He claimed to be taking this time to train for his battle against Gojo. But we have a fair idea of his capabilities. He is…troublesome."
Yuki massages her neck. "I'm aware of that. And I'd bet he's gotten a lot stronger since I fought him. I don't think we can kill him, even if everyone here was involved," she gestures to the Curtain nearby.
"Then we must find proof. Irrefutable proof that even Satoru Gojo cannot ignore, that Taiyo Daburu is a threat to Jujutsu Society."
"The best method would be to have Taiyo attack Geto," Yuki says. "But the Binding Vow makes that difficult, if not impossible. If only we knew the specifics of thei—"
"Don't get ahead of yourself," he says. "We only know that the boy is powerful and reckless, not that he is a threat to Jujutsu Society. Allow the investigations to happen, then we shall proceed with the new informations. However, politically, I believe we should also makes moves to limit him before he settles on an ally."
"What do you mean?"
"Taiyo requested a specific item from Jujutsu Headquarters to be entrusted to him. It would supposedly allow him to further his research into Barrier Techniques. However, this item is shared by the Big 3 Jujutsu Clans. The Gojo Clan has no clear connection to him, but it seems the Kamo and Zen'In Clans both are trying to win over the new Special Grade."
"What did they do, offer him some women to play with?"
"And they both voted for the item to be given to him. It was delivered recently and he's likely researching it as we speak."
"How many people know of this?"
"Only the higher-ups, the clan heads, and both of us. And so it shall remain."
"Of course. But this really does raise a major issue. If Taiyo settles on either of those clans, leaning on him will be almost impossible without Gojo on our side, and considering how he feels about us…"
"My thoughts exactly. However, we can at least maintain the balance, if the conservative faction had a Special Grade of our own."
"You can't possibly be serious. You expect me to join you?"
"You wouldn't be any more than a safeguard against the other factions. We won't get in the way of your research, and would only use your presence to deter any other faction from believing themselves powerful enough to take over."
"That would mean Geto, Gojo, Taiyo, and the conservatives, each have a Special Grade, a complete deadlock."
"Precisely. Unless we can guarantee the future shall flow in our favor, we must stall it as best we can. Satoru Gojo has begun teaching at Tokyo Campus to protect a new student, Kinji Hakari. He was to be executed for his modern and technological Innate Technique, and Gojo stepped in. You could do something similar, considering your apprentice is studying here."
"Teaching here would hamper my travels, and research."
"Perhaps. But Todo would be happier with you here. And besides, if Taiyo is so bad, what is more important? Your travel and research into Souls, or stopping him from doing whatever it is you believe he is up to?"
END CHAPTER---
Discord: discord .gg /eHuxNeZfyS [Come chat with me]
pat.reon: Keanu_Eugene [Read ahead & support me]
You.tube: @KeanuEugene [Giving away all my writing knowledge]