"What were you thinking, Noroi?!" a black-haired girl shouted at me in the infirmary.
"I'm sorry, I got carried away," I said, apologizing sincerely to Kirara for what happened earlier.
"Hmph!" She pouted but didn't seem too upset.
Yuuta and the other students looked at the scene with blank faces.
"You really are a handful, Noroi, making my work harder," Shoko said, looking at me with her arms crossed and a small smile.
"Sorry," I said, looking at Shoko.
She smiled. "It was just a joke," she said, chuckling.
I looked at Hakari. He was still unconscious, but his hand had already regenerated.
This sparring really helped me forget what happened recently.
"Kirara, please, can you tell Hakari I said thanks when he wakes up?" I asked, looking at her.
She looked at me with curiosity, the previous anger gone. "Of course."
"Thanks," I said before looking at the group from first grade.
"Let's go. We have to train Okkotsu," I said, walking towards the exit. "Thanks for healing me, Shoko." I stopped at the exit before looking at her.
She nodded and sat down in a chair.
"Aren't you tired, Noroi?" Yuuta asked, looking at me with curiosity.
I grinned. "Not one bit," I said, signaling the group to exit the infirmary.
As we left, Maki spoke to me.
"Noroi, what is it like to be in a domain?" she asked curiously.
Yuuta, Panda, and Inumaki looked at me with curiosity, awaiting my response.
I rested my hand on my chin.
"Well. It's strange. Your surroundings suddenly change, and you get a feeling of not being in control," I said, remembering the times I got inside Hakari's domain.
"That sounds... terrifying," Yuuta said, shivering.
"Don't worry, Yuuta. Domain Expansions are not that common," Panda said, reassuring the teen.
"Salmon," Inumaki said with a nod.
Maki stared at me without saying anything.
I looked at her for a while silently. We were still walking, but we stared at each other.
After a while, she spoke.
"I want to spar with you," she said in a serious voice.
I looked at her deadpan.
"I thought you were going to say something more serious," I said, looking in front of me again.
"Hey! This is pretty serious!" she said in annoyance.
"Okay. Okay," I said dismissively, "but you'll have to team up with Okkotsu," I said as we left the building.
"What?!" she screamed in protest.
Yuuta looked startled and a little depressed.
"But I wanted to have a one-on-one spar with you!" Maki said, pointing her finger at me.
"No can do. Gojo told me your mission with Okkotsu didn't end well. You need to learn more about teamwork," I said, arriving at the training grounds.
"But that was because Yuuta didn't do shit!" she said angrily.
Yuuta stared at the ground in shame.
"Well, he saved your ass, and now he has trained a little bit at least, so no more complaints," I said, jumping down onto the destroyed field that Hakari and I used to spar on.
She grunted and jumped right in front of me.
Yuuta grabbed his sword, unsheathed it, and left his scabbard on the stands. Panda and Inumaki sat beside Yuuta's scabbard and watched as Yuuta walked down the stairs.
Maki grabbed a naginata from the weapons that were around and assumed a stance.
Yuuta had just arrived, and from his awkward, shrunken posture, he changed to a more confident one in his combat stance.
I crossed my upper arms and smiled.
"This time I will fight back, but don't worry. I will not use my cursed technique," I said before taking my own stance.
The two of them looked at me for a moment before launching themselves at me.
Maki tried stabbing me in the abdomen, and Yuuta swung at my right side.
I hit Yuuta's katana on the part that had no edge, deviating the sword upward and missing me. In less than a second, I dodged and stepped on the naginata. Maki lost balance and faltered. I stepped forward, grabbing her by the head and knocking her glasses off. She let go of her weapon and tried freeing herself. I threw her to the other side of the field, careful not to break her neck.
Yuuta tried swinging again. I went for the dodge, but he feinted and tried stabbing me.
I dodged in the nick of time, but before I stepped on the sword, Yuuta swung again.
I jumped over the slash and rapidly landed to step forward, trying to punch Yuuta in the face.
As I was about to do it, my instincts yelled at me, so I ducked, almost throwing myself to the ground.
Maki, now without her glasses, got her naginata back and swung at me.
I did a sweep with my feet, making her fall. Yuuta attempted a downward slash. I rolled to the side and punched him hard in the ribs.
I heard a crack and a scream.
"Fuck," I said, kneeling at the side of the pained Yuuta on the ground.
But as I was about to talk, I dodged another slash from Maki.
"Hey. Stop. I went a little too far and forgot that Yuuta was still new," I said as I dodged multiple slashes from her.
She didn't say a word and continued her onslaught.
I dodged a slash and stepped towards her. I grabbed the naginata by the pole and tried to knock her out with a single punch, but as I was about to punch, I turned and grabbed the katana Yuuta swung at my back.
He was limping and only swung with one hand, his other hand covering his broken ribs.
"Okay, enough," I said, knocking Maki and Yuuta out with a punch to the chin.
I sighed, looking at the limp bodies of the two teens.
'Okkotsu surprised me. I'm sure he never had a rib broken in his life, and just now I broke three or four ribs.'
I looked at the shadow of Yuuta moving.
"Shit," I said before a giant white hand grabbed me and lifted me up.
"DON'T BULLY YUUTA!"
As I was trapped in her grip, Rika tried crushing me.
"Hey! You love Yuuta, right?!" I said, trying not to get Okkotsu killed by the higher-ups.
The curse tilted its head with curiosity, but her grip didn't loosen.
"I LOVE YUUTA!" she said with her distorted voice.
"If you kill me, Yuuta will be executed by the higher-ups!" I said, trying to reason with a curse.
A vein popped on the curse's head.
"I'LL PROTECT YUUTA!" she said, putting more force into her grip.
I was trying not to get crushed, but it was becoming more difficult than I thought.
"Yeah, but there are lots of sorcerers, and very powerful ones. They could kill Yuuta even with you protecting him!" I yelled desperately.
The curse stopped for a moment, looking at Yuuta unconscious on the ground.
She stared for a minute before loosening her grip and throwing me to the ground.
"Noroi! Are you okay?!" Panda asked, approaching me with Inumaki, who had his mouth uncovered and was ready to attack Rika.
"I'm good," I said, watching as the curse looked at Yuuta for a while before entering his shadow.
As she entered the shadow, someone started clapping his hands.
"Very good, Noroi!" Gojo said with a goofy smile. "You saved me the problem of having to kill Yuuta."
"You were watching this whole time?" I asked, looking at him deadpan.
"Maybe," he said, scratching the back of his head.
I looked at him for a minute before throwing my four arms in the air.
"Well, I'm out. You take care of your students," I said before saying goodbye to Inumaki and Panda.
"Hey! You knocked them out," Gojo said. "Why do I have to pick them up?!"
"Because I already went to the infirmary once. Go say hello to Shoko, and tell Yuuta I'm sorry about his ribs," I said before turning back and leaving.
Gojo turned to Panda and Inumaki.
"Hey, my dear students," he said in a mischievous tone.
"No."
"Tuna."
Panda and Inumaki said at the same time.
"Oh, c'mon!" Gojo said before lifting Yuuta and Maki up.
As I was leaving, I saw Principal Yaga going towards the training grounds in a rush.
"Well, I'll leave that to him," I said before calling Kenji to come pick me up.
I arrived at the entrance, where Kenji was already waiting.
"Hey, Kenji-san," I said, entering the car.
"Good morning, Noroi-sama," he said with a smile.
"Kenji, let's go to some ribs restaurant. I'm hungry today," I said, looking outside the window.
"Right away, Noroi-sama," he said as the car started moving.
As I watched the other cars drive by, my mind drifted to the incident that happened yesterday.
I tried distracting myself with other things, but that feeling of guilt was suffocating, and I couldn't shake it off.
As I started to drift into my thoughts, Kenji caught my attention.
"Well, we have arrived," he said with a smile.
I got out and looked at him.
"Do you want to eat with me?" I asked Kenji.
"I'm sorry, Noroi-sama. My daughter and grandson are going to visit me in an hour, and I have to make food for them," he said with a smile.
I looked at him for a while.
"Okay. Thank you, Kenji. Have a good time with your family," I said, turning around to get into the restaurant.
Kenji said goodbye and left in a hurry.
I looked in the direction he went until I couldn't see him anymore.
"Sigh." I sighed before pulling out a cigarette.
As I was about to light it up, a high-pitched squeal startled me.
"Is that a cosplay?!"
I turned around to find a blonde girl with pink eyes, around fifteen, looking at me with gleaming eyes.
"Huh?" I said in confusion.
The girl approached me hurriedly, her friends looking at me with curiosity.
"How did you do it so real?!" she said excitedly. "Can we take a picture together?!"
I looked at the girl in confusion. Maybe she was like those weird girls in high school who told me those weird things.
"Woah!!! Even the arms from your torso move!" she said excitedly.
"What's a cosplay?" I asked, looking at her, confused.
The girl looked at me with a smile.
"Don't try avoiding taking a picture with me," she said, taking out her phone.
"Hey, Marin, we'll go now. See you later," her friends approached to talk to the strange girl.
"Goodbye," the girl said with a smile. "Now the picture," she said, turning around just to find me going inside the restaurant. "Hey!"
I entered the restaurant, ignoring the strange girl, the smell of ribs and sauce hitting my nostrils.
"N-n-no smoking inside the restaurant," the waiter said to me fearfully.
I grabbed the cigarette I had in my mouth and put it back in the box.
The waiter told me to sit at a table where not many people were around.
"Hey!!!"
The voice of the girl echoed in the restaurant. I just ignored her and sat at the table.
"Hey, don't ignore me. I just want a photo!" she said, sitting in front of me.
"Hey, I don't exactly know what cosplays are, but I assure you I am not doing that." Cosplay was a word I had heard before from the weird girls who approached me in high school, but I didn't want to know what they were because of the sick shit they told me.
"Just say you don't want to take a picture with me," she said with a little frown.
"I don't know if the me ignoring you part was enough," I said as the waiter approached me carefully.
"One order of Wagyu ribs, a kimchi mori, a chawanmushi, and some gyoza, with water please," I said to the waiter.
"A-a-and for you, miss?" the waiter said nervously.
I lifted a brow, looking at the girl who was sitting with her arms crossed and a pout.
"I'll have the same," she said in a defiant tone.
"O-o-okay," the waiter said, leaving rapidly.
"Who told you you could eat at this table?" I asked, looking at her with curiosity.
"Well, I wanted to eat here, and there are no more tables," she said with her arms still crossed.
I looked around. There were three empty tables.
I sighed but didn't say anything. Eating with someone is better than eating alone.
As the girl stared at me defiantly, I looked at the TV. They were showing my favorite program.
It was about some guy who lived in a room and could only use things that he won in lotteries.
As I watched him win a box full of water bottles, the girl faked a cough, catching my attention.
"Soooo... how long have you been cosplaying?" she asked, looking at me with curiosity.
"I don't know how to say this, but again. I don't know what you are talking about," I said, getting desperate. "What's a cosplay?"
"You're not joking?" she asked, looking at me with curiosity.
"No," I said deadpan.
"Woooow, so you look like an anime character. That's so sick!!!" she said excitedly.
I knew about anime. Tsumiki watched some, but I never watched it.
I lifted a brow, looking at her with curiosity.
"I have never watched anime."
"Whaaaat?! You have to watch it. It is the best thing ever created!" she said excitedly.
I looked at her strangely, but she seemed so excited and childish that I didn't want to crush her excitement.
"Okay, I'll watch it someday."
Her face brightened up and her smile grew.
As time passed and our meals arrived, we had already talked a bit.
"So, you thought I was twenty-five?" I asked in confusion.
"Yes. I'm really surprised. You're younger than me," she said with a triumphant smile.
"So you were going to sit in a restaurant with an adult you don't know just because I look like an anime character?" I asked, confused.
She looked at me. Her expression froze, and sweat started dripping down her face.
"Maybe..." she said. "Well, let's eat!" She took a gyoza and stuffed it into her mouth.
I looked at her deadpan.
"Yeah," I said before digging into my food.
As we finished talking and eating, we went to the waiter to pay.
"W-w-well, that'll be thirty thousand yen," the waiter said nervously.
Marin looked like a truck had just hit her.
"H-h-h-how many yen?" she said, looking at the bill like it was a bomb.
"Here," I said, giving him the exact amount. "Let's go," I said, walking towards the exit.
"Hey! Wait!" Marin said, running to catch up.
As we left the restaurant, Marin bowed slightly.
"Thanks for paying for my meal. It was really good."
"Don't worry," I said dismissively as I grabbed a cigarette from my box.
Marin looked at me with curiosity.
"Why do you smoke?" she asked as I lit the cigarette.
"Well. It's complicated," I said, taking a drag. "Wanna get an ice cream?" I asked, looking at her.
"Yeah!" she said excitedly as we started walking towards an ice cream shop nearby.
"You know, I was thinking about cosplaying soon," Marin said to me as we walked.
Now that I knew what it was, I looked at her.
"Well, if that's what you want to do, why not?" I said, taking another drag and grabbing my portable ashtray.
She looked at me with curiosity.
"What's that?"
I looked at my portable ashtray.
"This is, as you can see, an ashtray, and if I throw ash here in the street, I will get a ticket," I said, taking another drag.
She looked around, noticing two policemen on a bike giving a ticket to someone who threw a cigarette butt on the ground.
"Makes sense."
As we arrived and got our ice cream, I grabbed the chocolate one, and Marin grabbed one that had two scoops. One was vanilla and the other was strawberry.
I finished the cigarette and put it in the ashtray, closing it so as not to burn my clothes.
As we walked and ate our ice cream, we stopped in front of a building.
As I finished my ice cream, Marin finished hers too.
"This is my house," Marin said with a smile.
"You shouldn't tell a stranger you just met where you live," I said, looking at her with a little frown.
She ignored me.
"Here. Tell me your number," she said, grabbing her phone.
I sighed before telling her my number.
She quickly approached me and took a selfie with me.
"Goodbye!" she said, rushing inside her home.
"She is like a little kid," I said, sighing before turning around to leave.
'Tomorrow I'll visit Akari and Tsumiki,' I thought, watching the busy street and hearing the loud noise of the cars on the road.
As I watched the crowd, I saw someone I recognized: the woman who talked to me this morning.
As I blinked, she disappeared.
'I must be tired,' I thought dismissively.