Capítulo IV- Un Estudiante de intercambio

     Atsuki picked off the aqua-green nail polish at the rim of her skin and nails. No matter how hard she tried, nail polish seeped into the crevices. She waited for Gojou near the classrooms to tag along for today's lesson. He didn't tell her why, but he did tell her there was a cursed transfer student with him. She could hear their incoming voices blending in the wind. It wasn't enough to get the information she wanted though.

     A boy in a white buttoned jacket tucked into his black pants stepped out behind Gojou's tall lanky-looking figure. His white shoes matched his jacket. The eye bags were visible from the side of his gloomy face and his lips were turned upside down unlike Gojou, whose usual bright optimistic smile was on his lips.

     He was quick to spot Atsuki meters away. She didn't wear the school uniform he was instructed to wear. In fact, her choice of clothing was colorful and odd. Her puffy flared skirt was full of bright pink and blue tones and ended at her knees. Black tights covered her legs, meeting the purple heels on her feet. Her white shirt was tight on her upper torso almost like it was wrapped around it, and it puffed out at her shoulders with flared sleeves. Heart earrings dangled from her ears. The pigtail braids nearly blocked them. 

     The closer they got to Atsuki, the urge to run away rose in her. The hairs on her arms stood up from a new chilling presence. Her left foot was already twisted to make a run. She hadn't experienced a vile aura like this before, not even when her boss yelled at her. It must've been something related to the curse following the boy.

     Face to face with Atsuki, Yuuta took notice of the two different eyeshadows packed onto her face, blue on her left and pink on her right, enhancing her purple irises. The eyeliner and fake lashes made her natural slender eye shape sharper, giving them an intimidating look without her smile. The golden highlighter applied to her cheekbones and the tip of her nose brought out the warmth to her brown skin. Her appearance frightened him as he took a step back.

     "Okkutsu Yuuta, this is Sugiyama Atsuki. Don't be intimidated, she isn't as scary as she looks," Gojou ruffled the top of her head.

     "Didn't I tell you to stop doing that," she pushed his hand away. She tugged the hair tie off her pigtails and ran a hand through her hair to flatten it.

     "Oh, hello," Yuuta timidly said. "Are you a student, too?"

     "No. Not yet at least," she replied, braiding the right section of her hair.

     "Atsuki here is going to accompany us for today's lesson. She hasn't met the other first-years yet so I decided why not introduce yourself together to get rid of the nerves."

     "Nerves?" Her eyebrows rose and pinched at the top, "We don't even know each other. And why do I have to follow you around today?"

     "Usually, you know a certain amount of information before enrolling. You need all those years of basic knowledge before you start next year. Hurry up, now, the others are waiting," he stuck his hands in his pockets and advanced down the hall.

     Atsuki couldn't argue with him. It'd been three weeks since she's been here and she barely knew a pinch of this world. Meanwhile, Yuuta only watched their interaction. It surprised the way Atsuki and Gojou spoke to each other, Atsuki didn't put second thoughts to the words that came out of her mouth and Gojou didn't bother to correct the way she spoke to him.

     "Yuuta, are you coming or not?" Atsuki asked halfway down the pathway.

     "Oh, right." He picked up his pace to Gojou and Atsuki.

     "Atsuki," Gojou clapped once, "you and I are going to go in together to give Yuuta the best introduction!"

     Yuuta slowly raised his hand, "I thought we were supposed to go in together?"

     "Oh, sorry. I meant the same day. You're the transfer student and she's my assistant."

     Atsuki pointed her finger up at Gojou, "You better not make me run errands."

     "No, I have too much to teach all of you," he smiled, standing in front of the door. "Come on, Atsuki. You're first. Yuuta, come in when I tell you to. You'll be next."

     Yuuta glanced up at the teacher, "What do I do? What do I say?"

     "Easy. Stand in the front of the classroom and tell us something about yourself." Gojou didn't give Atsuki enough to comprehend what he was doing. He clutched the back of her puffy shirt and dragged her into the classroom. "All right, Students! We have a new student and a new teacher's assistant! Known as her alias the Joker, GIVE SUGIYAMA ATSUKI A HAND!" 

     Atsuki balanced herself and crossed her arms, glaring at the older man, "A little warning next time."

     Atsuki was about to slap Gojou's hand away from her to keep him from ruffling it but instead, he patted the back of her head. "Introduce yourself."

     She looked back at the three students sitting in one row in the front. There wasn't even a seat for Yuuta to sit in. Atsuki made eye contact with each of them and none of them seemed to care. However, they were a little intrigued by her strange attire. A boy with spikey blond hair was near the window, his jacket was a loose turtle neck that covered his mouth. Next to him was a girl with green hair and a set of glasses on her face. A look of amusement replaced the look of boredom for a few seconds. The last student was a giant Panda, he was near the door she entered from.

     "Uh, my name is Sugiyama Atsuki," she paused to think of something interesting but nothing popped into her head. She shrugged, "and I used to be in the circus."

     "That makes sense," the girl mumbled. 

     "See that wasn't so difficult." Gojou jumped to the center of the classroom, shouting, "I'll now be introducing the transfer student!" He raised a three-finger peace sign to the side of his face and burst to say, "EVERYONE GET EXCITED!" The students looked at him unamused. "Get excited.." He turned to Atsuki, "Couldn't I get a little of your performance bedazzle?"

     "Not after you dragged me in here like that."

     The green-haired girl didn't change her posture, one leg was over the other with one hand on the back of her chair. She spoke up, "I heard he's an awfully sour one. I'm not going to create the mood for someone like that."

     "Salmon." Atsuki turned to the boy with the scarf covering his mouth.

     "Oh, well..." Gojou's shoulders dropped, sighing. "Whatever. Come on in!" He smiled, telling Yuuta to come in. He stepped to the side and leaned by the window. Atsuki followed him to let Yuuta have the room.

     After a few seconds, Yuuta slid open the door and took one step in. The strong uneasy aura he carried with him returned when he did. The three first-years' eyes widened and turned their attention to him. Yuuta slouched forward, introducing himself, "I'm Okkotsu Yuuta-"

     A straight black line zoomed passed Atsuki's vision. A blade impaled the chalkboard beside Yuuta as his eyes widened, eyeing the blade. Atsuki didn't know his pale skin could get paler as he was agape. The three students shot up from their seats to surround Yuuta, showing hostility to his presence.

     The green-haired girl ran her hand along with her black staff and held it firmly in the middle. "Is this some kind of test? Hey, you're cursed." Atsuki held her arms closer to her chest, their change of demeanor frightened her. "This is a place to learn about curses. It's not a place for the cursed to be."

     Yuuta gasped, "Huh?"

     "The number of people that die mysterious deaths or go missing in Japan is over 10,000 a year on average. Most of those are casualties of curses. born from the negative emotions of people. Among them are also malicious cases caused by curse users. Only curses can affect other curses. This is where we learn curses to exorcise curses, Tokyo Jujutsu High School."

     The terrified look on Yuuta's face caused Atsuki to look at Gojou. "You didn't tell him!" she scolded.

     Gojou crossed his arms and raised one hand, "Sorry. Oh, you all should step back away quickly."

     The three first-years gave Gojou questioning looks. A white hand phased through the chalkboard behind Yuuta. The curse crept out of a black seep and clenched its fists as it grabbed the girl's staff. "Do not..."

     Yuuta raised his hands, "Wait! Rika-Chan!"

     Atsuki subconsciously moved closer to Gojou at the sight. Its white hand reached forward, wearily saying, "Bully Yuuta!"

     Rika swiped her hands at the first years. Her hands thrashed in the classroom and the first years barely escaped her clutches. Yuuta pled her to stop and Rika slowly crept back into the chalkboard. A couple of scratches roughed up the green-haired girl's face, a bump formed on the silent boy's head, and a tear on top of Panda's head exposed the fluffy material. The desks behind them were left to splinters and steaks pointed to the ceiling. 

     "So as you can see, this is the boy cursed by Rika-Chan, who just loves him," Gojou explained, propelling his back off the window. One of Gojou's hands gestured to him, "Okkotsu Yuuta-kun!" Be nice to him, everyone!" The other hand gestured to Atsuki, "and be nice to Sugiyama Atsuki-chan. Everyone, get along, okay? Atsuki lacks in the friend division-"

     Atsuki huffed, "You don't need to tell them that."

     Gojou laughed. "If you attack Yuuta, Rika-chan's curse will activate... or not. either way, be careful, everyone."

     The green-haired girl turned her head to the side and roughly said, "Say that sooner."

     Gojou glanced between Atsuki and Yuuta, "These guys are all being rebellious so I'll just introduce them quickly." He pointed at the green-haired girl, "This is the cursed tool user, Zen'in Maki. She uses special tools to exorcise curses." Maki piqued Atsuki's interest, maybe she could help her with how to use cursed tools and infuse her cards with cursed energy. "This is the cursed speech user, Inumaki Toge. He can only speak in rice ball ingredients, so good luck conversing."

     The boy with the scarf covering his mouth waved at Atsuki and Yuuta. "Kelp." Atsuki raised her eyebrows and they pinched at the top.

     "This is Panda."

     Atsuki's eyes widened when the panda spoke, "I'm Panda. Nice to meet you." 

     Gojou placed his knuckles underneath his chin, "Well, there you have it." Yuuta walked over and stood next to Panda. "Okay, now there are four first-years and our very first teacher's assistant. For your afternoon jujutsu practice, you'll be in pairs of two on two and Atsuki will be an observer. Toge and Panda."

     Panda made a fist, "Let's do our best."

     "Maki, Yuuta, pair up."

     "Gah!" Maki groaned. Her visible irritation made Atsuki hesitant to speak to her. She was the only girl in the group and Atsuki would've liked to make her at least an acquaintance but she scared her. Atsuki didn't want to be a bother to her. For now, she let her be.