// SURVIVOR'S GUILT // : MAKI ZEN'IN

//ESTELLA.

"HAH?!"

Maki Zenin jumped from her seat in a Jujutsu High classroom, glaring at a cheerful Professor Gojo sporting a bright smile on his face behind the class podium at the front of the room.

"Yup~!" The white-haired sorcerer said, "You, Inumaki-kun and Panda have a joint mission together~!"

The Jujutsu High Second-Year slammed her hands on her desk. "Oi, what do you mean, 'Joint Mission'?! You were assigned this investigation, not us!"

"Hey, hey, don't worry about the details, Maki~! It's only a measly Grade-2 that's haunting around an abandoned building not far from here, it's perfect for you three~!"

A disgruntled Maki slumped back into her chair, propping her feet up onto her desk and crossing her arms with a sneer on her lips. "Tch, fine, fine! Just debrief me on this thing again before I change my mind about listening to you."

Gojo clapped his hands together with a grin. "Yay~!" Grabbing a piece of chalk and turning to the board, he scribbled a simple square building with a couple of windows and outline of a rooftop onto the board, followed by an image of a toothy monster in the centre.

"Okay! So, here's the nasty beastie right here."

He then followed with a poorly-drawn Panda, Toge and Maki face on the side. "You three are to go in," Gojo drew a trio of arrows going towards the house, "Kill the beastie," and Gojo finished off with a big X over the monster, "And boom! Mission complete!"

Turning back towards Maki and pointing at the teenager with his chalk, Gojo said, "Capische~?"

Maki let out a long sigh, and got out of her seat. She really didn't want to be stuck doing her lazy professor's dirty work, but at the same time, if it was only a Grade-2, then she'd have no issue doing it herself, let alone with two other sorcerers.

Maki was strong enough to tackle the majority of cursed spirits in the world of Jujutsu; her cursed tool arsenal, combined with her superhuman physical strength, speed and durability granted her the power needed to combat sorcerers capable of harnessing Cursed Energy. Don't let her lowly Grade-4 sorcerer status fool you; she was more than capable out in the field. That was the very reason Satoru Gojo entrusted this mission to her and her friends in the first place; she was capable.

Nonetheless, she had an ache in her stomach at the thought of taking this mission from him.

Hm, don't like this, not at all....

After some thought, Maki did manage to quell her unease for a moment.

"Alright. Guess I'll tell Panda and Toge tomorrow about this."

"Great~! Thanks a ton, Maki-san~!"

As the white-haired sorcerer left the room and Maki was left alone with her thoughts, some of her doubts crawled back up in the form of questions that lingered in her head, long after she had left the classroom that evening. As she ate dinner, as she cooled off under the shower, as she brushed her teeth and put on her sleepwear, and as she lay in bed, staring at the ceiling, she was irked by the whole deal.

If it really was just a simple execution of a Grade-2, why was it given to the strongest sorcerer associated with the Technical College at all? Nanami, Ino, or even students like Megumi or Toge would be fully capable of taking it on singlehandedly, and yet, all three available second-years are assigned? Not to mention, if this was the case, why wasn't the mission assigned directly to those who could go off on solo missions, like Toge? Why did Satoru have to be the one to pass the mission on?

Tch, this whole thing just reeks, Maki groaned to herself.

She tried not to dwell on the matter any further; Megumi does have a mission involving the investigation of cursed spirits being attracted to a school in a neighboring district within the coming days, and Toge just returned from another mission, so she could chalk up her uncertainties to Gojo being unable to assign this to Megumi, and being considerate of Toge in pairing him up with her and Panda as support.