I'll need a vacuum.

41

I resumed the course of my life in the infirmary as if nothing had happened, since no one had noticed my disappearance. I had only been absent for 2 days, and with my depressive history, no questions had been asked about me, resting at Nanami's having sufficed as justification. Shoko was delighted to have me back and I continued to treat the students and study. Only Nanami had changed and came to see me less often : we had moved away from each other, to my great regret. However, I couldn't help it, because I was the cause of his fear: I had the impression that he was running away from me and I felt terribly guilty. He had helped me so much and yet I ended up traumatizing him. I hated myself for that, and decided to prevent such an incident from happening again : it was time for me to resume training with Gojo. It must have been almost three months since he had left me hanging in the forest, for lack of progress on my part and because I refused to use my power. I was finally going to show him an evolution, and as Nanami had sensed, it was the first step to mastering the "attack" that I had unleashed spontaneously in the face of the curses. I didn't know what to call this sudden burst of energy that razed everything in its path without my being able to control it, but my destructuring fists had the same effect in a smaller field of action. I still had to figure out how to apply the same technique but on a larger scale. This is where Gojo became necessary : I needed a teacher who could survive my attempts, and who in case I lost control, could handle the situation.

I cornered him a few days later, after unsuccessful searches : he was very busy with his students and his other missions. After explaining my problem, brushing aside the incident with Nanami that had stopped my training, he agreed and gave me an appointment the next day to observe my new ability. He seemed happy that I resumed my research on the "attack" part instead of counting on the healing as I had said before. I was an inconstant woman, but I assumed.

We found ourselves in the forest of the school, as usual, because isolated from the rest of the school to train me safely. Gojo seemed in a good mood, and clapped his hands as soon as I arrived.

" Come on, show me your new technique !"

I didn't beat around the bush : I dropped off my stuff, then activated my fists and knocked out the nearest tree (sorry) in an instant. A rain of leaves covered me as the tree fell with a thunderous crash. I threw a challenging look at Gojo and he smiled at me :

" Very impressive ! Is this what you used during your last missions?"

"Yes, from the one with Maki and the zombie child. I took the time to figure out how to master it and I'm doing it more and more easily now. The problem is that I can only train against inanimate objects or small curses, which can be destroyed without problem. On the other hand, human beings.. I would prefer to avoid, I have enough deaths under my belt."

"I see. Well, try to attack me with it, so I can find out how it works ! "

I stared at him, then ran at him. He wasn't joking, neither was I, and I had odd confidence in him to survive it. The stronger I became by improving myself, the more I discovered how powerful the exorcists around me were, and much more competent than me. Gojo radiated an incredible cursed energy the extent of which I had only recently begun to grasp, having been too uneducated before to see how much he surpassed everyone. Most of the students also had a very good level, and few were those who returned really hurt after a mission. Mind you, none carried within them a scourge that made every situation worse by attracting curses more deadly than each other...

In short, I was confident in his ability to survive so I charged like a raging bull, my fists haloed in a destructive whirlwind. To my surprise, he didn't dodge, just using his "infinite je ne sais quoi" power to keep my hand out of his way. I forced the space he held between us, feeling the molecules stir and scatter under my control but unable to close the distance. After a silent struggle of a few minutes, I gave up, because the cursed energy expenditure was too great. I was sweating profusely after activating my power for so long, but also from the stress, because part of me was still anxious about hurting someone again. Gojo hadn't moved and seemed satisfied.