Chapter 23: Chapter 23- The Interview with The Principal
"So, you are saying you found the one who exorcized that curse in Sendai two years ago and brought her to Jujutsu High?"
One of the higher-ups asked.
"Not only that, I find her potential to be quite terrifying. I'm here to report about another special case we're having." Gojo said calmly, while having his hands in his pants pockets.
"You're referring appearance of a special grade?"
"That's correct. I believe there is no problem regarding Nakamura Sachiko as one of the special grades." Gojo said.
"Exorcizing one curse cannot be regarded as a special anomaly." One of the higher-ups retorted but Gojo smiled.
"The exorcism in itself is not anomaly but she possesses two cursed techniques. Her cursed energy amount is also more than anyone I have ever seen. Are you still going to say it's a normal occurrence?" Gojo asked.
Silence took over the room as the higher-ups digested the news.
After a while, one started to say, "In that case, we can have our forth special grade sorcerer as long as she transfer to Kyoto school."
"I refuse." Gojo said immediately, "I will be taking her to Tokyo school and be in charge of her. After all, it is my duty as the strongest to educate the next generation."
Another silence, again.
But, Gojo knew they couldn't refuse in the end.
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After getting what he wanted from the higher-ups, Gojo decided to go pick Sachiko up and take her to the principal. He doubted the principal would let her get in that easily but he was curious on how Sachiko would clash with the principal.
Opening the door to the sealed room, he saw Sachiko taking selfies with the talismans and when she saw him, she gave him a sheepish smile, saying,
"Umm..I got bored. Can I take a selfie with you too after this?"
Gojo said with a smile, "Sure."
"Great!"
So, she hopped over in excitement and tried to hold the camera to fit both of them in the frame. Gojo couldn't help but laugh when she couldn't quite hold the phone high enough, so he snatched her phone and hold it for her.
"Hey!"
"Shh..pose for the photo!" Gojo said, ignoring her shriek when he snatched her phone.
Sachiko rolled her eyes before smiling and doing a peace sign for the photo.
"There we go!" Gojo took the photo and then sent it to his phone before giving Sachiko her phone back.
"Why would you send the photo to your phone?" Sachiko asked with a purr.
Gojo paused his tracks, looked at her in the eyes and since he was still in his sunglasses, Sachiko could see his eyes clearly.
"Well, it's not fair only you get to keep the photo, is it? Also, I looked great in that photo!"
"Ohh..."
"Why disappointed?" Gojo asked with a hum.
Sachiko quickly said, "I'm not!"
"Really?" Gojo asked, still smiling a bit, "Well, you look cute too! Are you happy now?"
"That..wasn't! I wasn't even upset" Sachiko wasn't even sure what she was supposed to say. All of this whole ordeal was making her nervous for some reason and to make it worse, this guy decided to tease her.
Gojo still stared at her with the same smile, without really responding to her previous comment until Sachiko couldn't handle it anymore and decided to run off towards a random direction.
"Hey! You don't know where you're supposed to meet with the principal!" Gojo called her but Sachiko was just too embarassed at this point, which was pretty strange for her because she never really thought she would feel embarased for something so small.
'Why am I even being like this? God..I swear if he teases me or stare at me with those eyes one more time, I'm gonna lose my sh*t..' Sachiko thought as she was finally being guided to the principal's office.
Gojo looked like he wanted to laugh at her more but when Sachiko refused to even make eye contact with him, he just shook his head lightly with a chuckle.
"Hey..don't be like that. I was just teasing you."
"...."
"Sachiko?"
"..."
"Or would you like me to call you sweetcheeks? cupcake? sweets?" Gojo kept saying and Sachiko wasn't even sure why he kept teasing her.
"Don't call me those weird names!" Sachiko blurted out, her cheeks almost turning red from the weird sweet-related names.
"Okay so Sachiko it is then." Gojo said with a smile and his usual upbeat tone.
"I guess it's better than all the other names..." Sachiko muttered to herself.
Gojo laughed a bit more at her reactions and he thought it was absolutely fun to tease her like this with how easily she got flustered.
With all those teasings and banters, the walk to the office took a bit longer than it should.
"Well, we're here." Gojo opened the door to Yaga's office and Sachiko followed him inside.
"You're late, Satoru. You're nine minutes late." Sachiko heard a muscular man sitting and making cute dolls. "Not enough to chastise you for but I've been telling you to fix your tardiness." He said.
"Come on, if it's not enough to chastise me for, just don't. Besides, you're just making dolls anyway so what's the big deal?" Gojo said before turning to Sachiko, "This is the principal of Tokyo Jujutsu school, Yaga Masamichi."
"Oh..hello! I'm Nakamura Sachiko!" Sachiko greeted cheerfully but it wasn't formal or respectful enough, Yaga didn't seem to mind that much or maybe he was used to it after spending so much time with Gojo Satoru? Sachiko wasn't sure which one it was.
"Is this the girl?" Yaga asked, briefly looking up from making dolls.
Okay, maybe he did mind. Sachiko took a glance at Gojo to see what she should do.
"Yep!" Gojo just replied to Yaga so Sachiko stood there and waited for Yaga to say something about the admission interview.
"So my understanding is.." Yaga finally addressed her after Gojo's confirmation, "you want to join the first years in this school?"
"Well, technically...he's the one who wants me to join first years." Sachiko answered while pointing to Gojo, "but I guess this is better than going to that Kyoto school or getting labeled as a massive curse user, getting executed and stuff, right?" She chuckled at the end of her answer but when she looked at Yaga's face, she found that he didn't look amused.
Gojo, on the other hand, looked like he wanted to go grab popcorn and watch the drama that was about to unfold.
Sachiko swore in her mind and gave side-eye to Gojo who obviously ignored it.
"Is it the only reason? Is fear of getting executed the only reason you're here?" Yaga asked.
"Well, I didn't say I was scared." Sachiko shrugged, "I was upset..I mean how is that fair to mark someone as a curse user just because they refuse to go to Jujutsu high?" She really sounded like she was the victim but Yaga was not having any.
"I have heard your records from Satoru and Ijichi so I wouldn't say it was unfair to you to be forced here." Yaga said calmly.
Sachiko turned to look at Gojo in betrayal, "How could you do this to me??!!"
"Well, he's the principal.." Gojo shrugged.
"....."
That didn't help with Sachiko's feeling of being betrayed at all.
"I will ask you again, Nakamura Sachiko." Yaga said, ignoring Sachiko's dramatic reaction. "Is the execution the only reason for you to be here?"
"Are you going to actually put me up for execution if I give the wrong answer?" Sachiko asked with a frown.
"It depends on your answer. I need to know why you have to be here."
"That's why give me a hint!! I'm concerned!!" Sachiko wasn't really concerned but she wasn't about to go down without annoying the heck out of this old man. As for why she didn't try to guess the answer he liked without all the drama, he didn't seem to like her anyway so why should she even try?
"You do not look concerned to me." Yaga stated.
"Well..I'm sorry I lack the emotional capacity to feel concerned about certain things and this is also one of the unfortunate situations. Surely, you should be the bigger person since you're an adult?" Sachiko tried gaslighting him. Surely, it should work a little?
"You are also an adult." Yaga said with a look of disapproval.
"Right, right, anyways," Seeing her attempt to gaslight failed, Sachiko tried to go back to her dramatic self like nothing happened, "I think I wanted to come here as soon as I learnt about Jujutsu schools. The other one just looks kinda sus? I don't like the vibes and all so I was like 'eww, Kyoto school!' you know?" Sachiko said as dramatically as she could and the look of disapproval got even worse.
"That is not an acceptable answer." Yaga stated.
"See? I told you to give me a hint because I knew you wouldn't approve of my reason! I didn't even need to use Possibility to know the outcome of this." Sachiko said.
Well, both Yaga and Gojo seemed to get more interested when she talked about ger cursed technique.
'In that case...' Sachiko got an idea.
"But aren't you curious about me and my cursed techniques? Surely, you can get to know it better if I go to your school, no?"
"We have interrogation tools for criminal curse users.."
Yaga said.
"That is terrible!! And you're supposed to be good guys?!" Sachiko exclaimed and Gojo bursted out laughing at this point, earning a glare from Yaga.
"Jujutsu sorcerers are not good guys or heroes. We exorcize curses and that happens to save people. That is all."
"Well, same difference. Same difference." Sachiko dismissed the explanation.
"So?" She then asked after a minute, "Am I in?"
"Not yet."
"Ohh okay. What else do you want to ask?" Sachiko asked.
"You did not give a proper answer to any of my questions." Yaga pointed out.
"Well, if you put it like that, I'm going to feel bad..." Sachiko said, "Not that I do but you know..it's not good to emotionally manipulate people to.."
"Satoru, bring her to.."
"Okay, okay! I will answer properly... You don't have to be this serious!" Sachiko interrupted Yaga.
"So...Sachiko's actually capable of feeling concerned, huh?" Gojo hummed and the tone of his made Sachiko feel weirdly mad?
"Shut up, Satoru!" She blurted out before she realized how she addressed him. It was so unpolite that even she got a little concerned on how he would react.
But Gojo didn't seem offended by that, he bursted out a laugh as he said, "How rude! I might end up as your teacher, you know?"
"I don't call snitches 'sensei'" Seeing how Gojo wasn't mad, Sachiko decided to push the buttons, again.
"Really? Then I should call you the nicknames again." Gojo said with a smile.
"No.."
"Okay, cupcake. Now, focus on your admission interview with our principal Yaga!" Gojo clapped his hands and brought Sachiko back to the reality.
Right, she was supposed to be doing the interview with the principal.
Why was she getting carried away by this guy?
As Sachiko tried to focus back on the interview, Yaga started to ask her questions again.
"What will you do if you are accepted here?"
"I will kill curses."
"And?"
"That's it. You said this is the purpose of Jujutsu sorcerers, right?"
"And what if you were to die one day in the hands of the curse? Will you blame the whole purpose about being a Jujutsu sorcerer? Or will you blame the cause of the curses?" When Yaga asked the last part, his voice almost shook as he was reminded of one of his ex-students.
"Honestly, I have never thought about my own death and stuff.." Sachiko said with unusual calmness. "Or should I say I don't do it anymore? It doesn't really make sense but I just feel like there is no point thinking over it or obsessing over it. I could die in the hands of a curse or maybe another Jujutsu sorcerer or curse user. Or I could die an ordinary death. You know like twisting my ankle and falling from the stairs. Then, breaking my neck because someone was stupid enough to leave a skateboard near the stairs and I happen to land my neck on it. And it would all happen when no one else was around me so I wouldn't get help in time."
"That..is oddly specific." Yaga commented.
Sachiko shrugged, "Like I say, it could be anything so I don't have an answer for it. I might blame the system or the ones responsible for my death or if I die from ordinary causes, maybe I might blame my luck but isn't it natural? We're gonna have regrets or have something to blame either case."
Yaga's look softened a bit at her answer, "And you're fine with it?"
"It's what life is." Sachiko said with another shrug, "Besides, I always have the option to curse someone before I die.."
Yaga looked at her with a look that says 'Why was I starting to think highly of you again?', "You are not supposed to curse anyone."
"Oh okay. Noted." Sachiko said but Yaga doubted she meant it.
"Wait outside. I have to talk to Satoru before he can show you the dorms." Yaga said eventually.
"Does that mean I pass?!"
"Yes, now wait outside." Yaga repeated.
"Okay, okay. I'm going outside now." Sachiko was curious on what Yaga would say to Gojo but decided to leave for now.
When Sachiko got outside, Gojo started, "I thought you would use your cursed dolls to test her out."
"You could see how they would barely do anything to her." Yaga stated.
"Even so, it's out of character for you not to try anything physical.."
"I only give physical punishments for you because you deserve those." Yaga said.
"Yeah, yeah..."
"And she was aware of those dolls. She knew I could attack with those dolls." Yaga stated, remembering how Sachiko was constantly ready in case of an attack from those dolls, despite appearing way too casual.
"I could see that." Gojo hummed at that.
"Keep an eye on her, Satoru." Yaga said.
"I will." Gojo nodded in reply.
"And don't flirt with her. You're supposed to be her teacher." Yaga told him as he remembered their exchange earlier.
"Well, I don't see a problem. Besides, I'm just teasing her." Gojo said with a chuckle. He was just teasing her because he loved how easily she could get flustered.
Surely, that wasn't a problem, was it?
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A/N : Here we go, a new chapter!!!
Sachiko's interaction with the principal was harder than I thought. I kinda wanted to give a little more depth than the original version and how Yaga would want to hear about her motivation or if she would end up going down the same path as Suguru, seeing how she had a history to harm people to a degree with curses.
Anyway, I tried my best.
Please drop your thoughts about this chapter if you can :)