The next day, when Maki arrived at Jujutsu High, she looked noticeably different—calm, composed, yet radiating a rare happiness.
"Yo!"
As she stepped onto the training grounds, her entrance didn't go unnoticed. The first thing she saw was her classmates hard at work, including Gojo, who was lounging nearby, observing their progress.
In the past, most of her ti was spent either exorcising cursed spirits or traveling to exorcise them.
But even sorcerers can't work 24/7, and occasionally, they needed a day or two off. Of course, a "break" here usually ant training at the school instead of going on missions.
"How's it going? How's it going?"
Before anyone else could speak, Gojo strode up to Maki with a grin on his face.
"I heard from Yuji that you and Kugisaki ca back with Ryuji?"
Though his tone was casual, Gojo's words carried a deeper aning.
Despite his usual nonchalant deanor, Gojo genuinely cared about his students. He wasn't asking because of gossip, but because he was worried that Ryuji might've tried to take advantage of them.
If Ryuji had dared to do anything inappropriate to his students, Gojo wouldn't sit idly by, even if he couldn't beat him.
"..."
Maki didn't reply imdiately but glanced at Yuji, who was currently sparring on the field.
"Hiss!"
A sudden chill ran down Yuji Itadori's neck, causing him to flinch. At that exact mont, Panda, who was his training partner, landed a solid punch on Yuji's face, sending him flying.
"Why are you spacing out now?" Panda asked, not particularly concerned about whether Yuji would be hurt by the punch, given his physical resilience.
Still, Panda was confused. Usually, Yuji didn't zone out at such random monts.
"I don't know what happened!" Yuji scratched his neck as he stood back up, looking puzzled.
"I just felt this chill, like soone was staring at ."
He kept scratching his neck, trying to make sense of the strange sensation. But as he spoke, he turned his head and locked eyes with Maki, who was watching him with a cold, expressionless gaze from not too far away.
Oh no. That look… am I going to die? Please don't kill !
Thankfully, Maki didn't glare at him for too long.
After all, she knew Yuji's carefree personality. He probably didn't an anything by what he said.
Turning her attention back to Gojo Satoru, Maki replied curtly, "It's nothing. Ryuji was nice to ."
"Oh, really now?"
Gojo's grin widened. Though he often acted playful and unserious, he wasn't oblivious.
"Nice to you? No way. Don't tell sothing actually happened between the two of you?"
"..."
Before Maki could explain, Gojo's mind had already started running wild.
"Now that I think about it, given Ryuji's strength, it'd be a piece of cake for him to crush the Zenin family."
Gojo knew how difficult Maki's life had been growing up in the Zenin clan. Her main driving force all these years—the thing that pushed her to train so hard, was her desire to one day take revenge on the clan that had oppressed her.
"I've always…"
Maki frowned as Gojo's words trailed off.
She had never considered using Ryuji's strength to exact revenge on the Zenin family. Yes, she had been drawn to his power at first, but her connection with him had grown out of admiration not as a ans to an end.
Before she could explain further, however, Gojo Satoru suddenly called out loudly:
"Mina-san!"
That single shout imdiately caught everyone's attention.
Inumaki and Panda—Maki's classmates—along with Fushiguro gumi, Yuji, Nobara, and others all stopped what they were doing and turned toward them.
Yuta Okkotsu was still overseas training and recovering his strength, so he wasn't present.
"Maki's in love!"
Realizing what Gojo was about to do, Maki tried to stop him—but it was too late.
"!!!"
For a mont, the entire field fell into silence.
Then, in the next second, figures rushed toward them at lightning speed.
"No way! Soone actually likes Maki?"
"Who is it? Tell us!"
"This is unbelievable!"
Maki shot a deadly glare at Gojo, her frustration evident.
Everyone was clearly just excited to stir up drama. After all, their days were usually spent either training or battling cursed spirits, opportunities for gossip were few and far between. Now that they'd heard sothing interesting, how could they let it slide?
"No way…"
Among them, Nobara seed to have an inkling of the truth.
She had been there when it happened and had almost beco involved herself. She truly couldn't believe Maki had managed to pull sothing like that off.
Looking at Maki in disbelief, Nobara muttered, "..."
Maki didn't say a word but looked visibly embarrassed.
Whatever. If it's out, it's out. It's not like Maki was the type to shy away from trouble.
"Anyway, if you have any questions, co to . Don't bother Ryuji. Got it?"
At the end of her warning, Maki clenched her fist, making her aning abundantly clear.
"Oh~"
Everyone nodded obediently, though their expressions made it clear they weren't taking her threat all that seriously.
Still, hearing Ryuji's na, everyone looked surprised—except for Nobara and Yuji, who already knew.
No one else had expected Maki to have any sort of connection with soone like Ryuji.
"Hmph."
Snorting lightly, Maki ignored their teasing looks and turned to Gojo.
"For the record, even if I want to take revenge on the Zenin family, I've never thought of relying on Ryuji's strength. I'll do it with my own power."
"Really? Hahahaha!"
Gojo's laughter echoed across the field.
***
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