Bloody turquoise eyes | JJK x OC

Canto VII - Under the Veil

Gojou stared at the screen of his phone in apprehension after the seventh failed attempt to contact the exorcist, of which he had lost tracks completely. It had been close to twenty minutes since he left the room and fifteen minutes since he wrote his last message. He had perceived a strong presence within the woods, the youngster mentioned in the reply, a potential first-grade or higher lurking around the battlefield. At first, Gojou chuckled to himself, perhaps one of the students had released a great quantity of cursed energy or he simply sensed the curse within Itadori.

But the more he put thought into it, the more it seemed unlikely for that to be the case. Exorcists are much more sensitive to cursed energy than sorcerers, certainly, they could tell the difference. Hell, it was the main reason why they hadn't let Gabriele partake in the exchange event.

Then Kazumi Miwa suddenly collapsed on the ground, in the middle of the curse-infested forest. Utahime wanted to go outside and retrieve her to safety, Gojou argued that Gabriele was already out, therefore she had no reason to leave the room. The two went on a discussion on whether they could really count on him, until the Kyoto principal, knowing better, sided with Satoru.

"Let the boy take care of it, Utahime." he had said as groomed his beard with his fingers. The woman conceded but not without any protest, not that it mattered to Gojou who immediately phoned the exorcist.

One unanswered call went by, then a second, a third, a fourth, and so on to the seventh failed connection.

Gojou's suspicions were becoming more and more real the longer he stared at the screen, and to make matters worse, the girl didn't give any sign of waking up anytime soon.

"That's it, I'm going." the sorcerer's focus shifted to the Kyoto supervisor standing up from her seat, reasonably growing tired of waiting, "It's obvious the preacher isn't going to respond in the near future, He's not as trustworthy as you claim him to be."

Gojou watched her walk to the door, but his mind wasn't giving him peace. The message, the seven missed calls, it couldn't be just a mere coincidence. If there really was a first-grade curse hiding in the forest, then he should not stand idle while his students are in peril.

"Wait, I'll accompan-"

The room's light abruptly turned red as everyone was now glancing at the entire rows of charms simultaneously combusting into a red fireball till nothing was left but burn marks and smoke. Well, at least they wouldn't have to worry about the curses anymore.

"The game's over? And they all burned red?" Utahime said.

"That's odd. My crows didn't see anything." Mei Mei added. Gojou leaned forward in his seat, so this is how we're doing things now?

"I'd love to say Great Teacher Gojou's students exorcised them all, but..."

"The charms will burn red for unregistered cursed energy," Masamichi concluded, exactly what Satoru didn't want to hear. Storming the school facility wasn't such an easy task anyone could pull off, the entire complex was concealed from the public behind a barrier, so whoever had planned this either had help from inside or already knew the location. The mole acted quicker than anticipated.

The Tokyo Principal stood up as well:

"I'm going to Tengen-sama. Satoru and Principal Gakuganji, please protect the students. Mei, you stay here and identify the locations of the students and stay in constant contact with the other two."

"Fully understood." Mei Mei responded, "I look forward to the bonus."

"Come on, Gramps! Time for a walk!" Gojou said, clapping twice with little to no regard for paying the due respect to the much elder sorcerer, "You just finished your lunch, didn't you?" Gakuganji avoided the annoying man-child and his innate ability to get under his skin the best he could.