The Kid I Used to Know

The Mission From Hell

The next morning, Kei was given his first assignment in the past. He was being sent on a mission with Geto Suguru to Yokohama to exorcise a grade 1 curse that they had identified as the cause behind a series of "suicides" in an office building. The mission was to be his test in order to earn his official grade 1 status. Geto would be his assessor.

Kei cursed his luck. He didn't like the idea of being sent on a mission alone with Geto at the moment. There was the fact that the man seemed unable to stand the sight of him, which given his history with his father, Kei couldn't really blame him for, but the real concern at the moment was his suspicion.

He'd thought about what Yuji had said regarding Geto's questions and their sparring session and had concluded that Geto must have recognized Yuji's combat experience. There was a major difference between a sorcerer who'd seen real combat, had fought curses that threatened their lives and had lived through luck or resourcefulness. Kei had seen it enough, growing up in the world of jujutsu. He'd seen it happen with Yuji, and then again with Kugisaki.

There was no doubt that Geto had managed to spot it when he sparred with Yuji, and that he'd be looking for it when assessing Kei. He'd find it as well, and it would just confirm his suspicions. There wasn't much Kei could do about any of that though.

He was more worried about what else Geto would see when watching him. Kei figured his greatest threat in this situation was actually Gojo.

For all he pretended to hate the man, Kei knew he was finely attuned to Gojo. He knew how to read the white haired menace's emotions on the lines of his face, knew how to read between the lines of what he said and didn't say, knew how to unravel the utter bullshit that sometimes came out of his mouth and make it comprehensible. None of that was extremely noticeable, so Kei wasn't sure if Geto would notice it. He was willing to bet he would, since Geto had already proven himself observant, but on the off chance he missed it or they could explain it away, there would be no missing how unphased Kei was by Gojo's abilities.

Everyone was put off at least somewhat by Gojo's abilities. The only exception he had ever met was himself, Shoko (which was easily explainable as she'd known him forever), and Yuji (who was just a freak of nature).

He'd known Gojo basically his entire life. Kei was less than intimidated by the man, and was even less impressed with his teenage self who was considerably less powerful and experienced.

Kei had noticed it already that Geto was currently the only one unphased by Gojo. Even the teenage version of Shoko couldn't meet his eyes for longer than a minute at a time.

The others were sure to notice that neither Kei or Yuji were fazed by Gojo's god-like abilities or the aura of power that surrounded him. Geto, who was already suspicious and they couldn't be sure of his loyalties, would be their greatest threat.

Hence why Kei was already dreading this mission. Unfortunately, this was also a fact that Geto seemed to pick up on, which made the older teen's already unhappy disposition sour farther.

They were standing outside the Principal's office (and yes, it was very weird to be given orders by some random guy Kei was told was called Principal Matsuo and not Yaga-sensei). They'd just received their orders and were to leave within the hour.

Normally, this was when sorcerers would make up some sort of plan to meet back up within the next hour as soon as they gathered everything they needed and discuss the plan to get there. Kei supposed this was probably his responsibility since it was his mission and Geto was just tagging along for the ride.

"Right," he began, somewhat awkwardly, "Meet at the front gates in 45 minutes? I'll ask one of the assistant managers to give us a ride to the train station."