I left the training field with Mai, Mechamaru, and Miwa after finishing an endurance run around the track.
Mai, Mechamaru, and Miwa.
The Triple M.
I walked with my hands in my pockets, a couple of steps behind Mai and Miwa as they chatted with each other, while Mechamaru walked beside me with his usual stoic demeanor.
“Hey, Nagi-kun, Mechamaru-kun,” Miwa said, turning around and walking backward.
“Mai and I are going to watch a movie in the common room later.
Wanna join us?
We first-years have to stick together, right?”
“Sure, I’m in.
I could use a break.
I’ll tell Hayama to postpone today’s training, although he’ll probably make me do twice as much tomorrow.
That bastard is working me to death.”
“Well, I think he’s a great instructor.
He helps Mai, Nishimiya, and me from time to time,” Miwa said with complete conviction.
“He doesn’t make you bench-press a hundred kilos every day without cursed energy.
Hayama hates me.”
Let’s just say I was still having trouble adjusting to living with insane muscle soreness throughout my entire body every single day.
On top of that, I spent every afternoon studying and training in different fighting disciplines.
I seriously couldn’t take much more.
Mai let out a sarcastic laugh.
“Trust me, if he hated you, you’d be much worse off.
You’ve never seen what he makes the second-years do.”
“Physical fatigue is a normal consequence of training,” Mechamaru interjected.
“Muscles require sufficient stimulus to adapt and grow.
For faster recovery, I recommend using the ice baths in the western sector.”
“I sincerely appreciate that incredibly useful piece of information, Mechamaru,” I muttered.
We turned down one of the side hallways in the residential area, and that was when the gates of heaven opened before me.
I stopped dead in my tracks.
“How the hell did I not notice this before?”
The three of them took a couple more steps before realizing I had stopped behind them, staring at something.
“What’s wrong?” Miwa asked.
I pointed, then Miwa followed my finger.
“A vending machine?”
“Yes.
That one.
Right there, around the corner from my room.”
“And?” Mai asked flatly.
“My body needs sugar, my body needs Coke.”
I walked over and caressed the machine as if I’d just discovered a sacred treasure.
I pulled out my wallet, inserted a couple of coins, and pressed button 3: Coke.
Pssssh…
I took a long drink.
“Fuck…” I sighed.
“This place has some incredible stuff.
Now this is what I call putting taxpayer money to good use.”
“You’re a very simple guy,” Mai said.
“Bitter.
That’s your problem, Mai.
You’re incapable of appreciating the little things in life.
This is the kind of stuff that makes you truly happy.”
“Moron.”
I decided to ignore her profound philosophical assessment of my character and leaned against the wall while I kept drinking.
Miwa sat down on the nearby curb, while Mai remained standing with her arms crossed.
Mechamaru stayed beside us, perfectly still.
“Hey, Nagi,” he said.
“Yeah?
What do you want?”
“How did you end up at Kyoto Jujutsu High?
And why did you accept this job?” Read this novel at g.com for the best experience.
I stopped drinking and looked at him uncertainly.
Mechamaru must have noticed my confusion, because he quickly continued.
“I don’t mean anything bad by it.
I’m just curious.”
“In my case, I never really had much of a choice.
I was born with a Heavenly Restriction.
My biological body is extremely fragile, and I require constant medical assistance just to stay alive.
I can’t go outside or live a normal life.”
He paused briefly.
“In exchange, my restriction granted me an enormous amount of cursed energy and extraordinary range for my technique.
I can control mechanical bodies from kilometers away and use them to experience the world my real body can’t reach.”
“Being a sorcerer is the only way I can actively participate in the world,” he finished.
“So for me, being here was never really a choice.”
That sounds pretty fucked up.
I stared at Mechamaru for a few seconds, not really knowing what to say after something like that.
“That…
fucking sucks, man,” I finally said.
“If you ever need anything, you can count on me.”
Miwa had been fidgeting with her fingers for a while before she decided to speak.
“I’m here because I want to become independent,” she said.
“It’s just me and my younger siblings.
If I get stronger and complete enough missions, I can earn a lot of money, help them out, and maybe buy a house of my own someday.”
She lowered her gaze and clasped her hands together.
“Besides…
I’m not particularly talented.
I don’t have a cursed technique or anything like that, so I have to work harder than everyone else.”
“That’s awesome, Miwa,” I said.
Her head shot up, and a faint blush appeared on her face.
“Huh?”
Mai sighed.
“In my case…” she began.
“It’s all my sister’s fault.”
“Maki left the clan to become a sorcerer.
When she did, she dragged me into all of this with her.
I didn’t want to stay in that shitty place alone.”
She clicked her tongue and looked away.
“I wanted to stay with her, live a normal life, serve the clan, and not make things complicated.
But she decided to leave and left me behind…
so here I am.”
“And you?” Miwa asked.
“Why did you become a sorcerer?”
“I…
don’t really have a reason as clear as any of yours,” I admitted.
“They offered me the chance and I accepted.
I guess I felt like giving this whole sorcerer thing a shot and seeing if I could make a living out of it.”
Mai blinked, almost in disbelief.
“That’s incredibly naive.
I hope they at least told you about the ridiculously high mortality rate among sorcerers.”
“Yeah, they did.
The pros sounded better than the cons to me.
I don’t know, I’m just not afraid,I think I’m good enough to stay alive.”
We stayed there for a while longer, talking about random stuff.
“By the way,” Miwa said after a while, “which room is yours?
Mai, Mechamaru, and I are on the other side.”
“Right here,” I replied, pointing toward one of the doors.
“Although I ended up next to some guy who keeps screaming about someone called Takada-chan.
I could barely sleep last night.”
Mai laughed.
He’s a second-year.”
As if summoned by his name, the door beside mine flew open.
“I HEARD MY NAME!” a sleepy voice roared.
“Who summons me?!
I was trying to fucking sleep.”
A huge guy appeared in the doorway, his hair a mess, half asleep, with a scar running across his eye.
He looked at each of us in annoyance until his gaze landed on me.
“WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!” he exclaimed, pointing at me.
“YOU’RE NEW!”
“Nagi,” I replied without flinching.
“Nice to meet you.”
Todo suddenly strode forward and planted his feet firmly in front of me.
“I don’t like boring men,” he declared with absolute seriousness.
“So answer one important question.”
He pointed directly at me.
“WHAT KIND OF WOMEN ARE YOUR TYPE?”
Hidden slightly behind me, Miwa suddenly seemed very interested in hearing my answer.
“Uh…
pretty face, I guess.
Long hair…
curvy and athletic.”
Todo stared at me, then his expression completely transformed.
An enormous grin spread across his face, exposing practically every tooth in his mouth.
His eyes narrowed and his eyebrows arched into an expression so ridiculously exaggerated that he looked like he’d been ripped straight out of Baki.
“Good, my new favorite person among all these weaklings.
I respect your taste.”
Still wearing that disturbingly delighted grin, he gave me a thumbs-up, then he turned around, opened the door to his room, and disappeared inside.
“Todo is always like that,” said Miwa, slightly red.
“He’s…
peculiar.”
Some time after…
“Hey, Mai.
You mentioned earlier that you’re part of the Zenin clan.
What exactly is that?
Is it like the Uchiha Clan?” I asked, turning toward her.
The relaxed atmosphere we’d built vanished instantly, and Mai’s expression darkened.
“Kind of.
They’re sorcerer families,” Miwa interjected.
“Bloodlines that have been part of the jujutsu world for generations.”
“And some of them hold a lot of power,” Mai added.
“The Zenin clan is one of Japan’s Three Great Clans.”
“Three Great Clans?”
“Zenin, Gojo, and Kamo,” Mechamaru answered.
“They are the three bloodlines with the greatest historical influence within jujutsu society.
They tend to produce more sorcerers than other families and possess some of the strongest inherited techniques.”
“I don’t want to talk about it anymore,” she said, coldly but without any aggression.
“Ask Utahime-sensei if you’re curious.”
“So…” Miwa said, quickly trying to lighten the mood again.
“Are we actually going to watch TV or not?
There’s a horror movie airing right now.”
“Horror?
I’m out, pretty boring”
“Come on, Mai,” Miwa insisted.
“You screamed last time.”
“That was only because the volume was too high.”
In the end, the four of us ended up in the common room watching Saw II.
Chronostasis and help more people find it!