Capítulo V- Rika

     Yuuta took the passenger seat of the car Gojou drove. Atsuki would've fought for the front seat if she had known him well enough, but since she didn't she took the back seat with Maki. She only gazed out of the window ignoring the awkward atmosphere and replied to Gojou when he would speak. It didn't take three weeks for her to figure out he was quite the chatterbox. The car halted in front of a school and Atsuki exited the vehicle.

     "Where are we?" Yuuta asked, examining his surroundings.

     The three teenagers followed behind Gojou through the open courtyard. The glass windows on the building reflected the blue sky and the sun burned into Atsuki's eyes, she hissed facing away. Gojuo answered, "It's just an elementary school. It's just an elementary school where some children have gone missing."

     "Missing!" Atsuki and Yuuta exclaimed. Maki was unfazed hearing this information, she must've been used to cases similar to this.     

     "It happens in places like this. It's probably the work of a naturally-occurring curse."

     Gojou's answer made Yuuta follow up with another question, "You're saying the kids were kidnapped by a curse?"

     "Yup. Two so far."

     An ugly feeling formed in the pit of Atsuki's stomach. She may not have been the most social person on the planet but that didn't mean she didn't care about others. She secretly had a soft spot for kids, even though she was a kid herself, they were one of the main things she liked about the circus. It made her feel better that her shows were able to make children smile and exit the circus with content.

     Maki elaborated, "Curses tend to settle in spots that many people have memories of. Schools... hospitals. Places often remembered with negative emotions are a receptacle for them. As those emotions build up, they cause a curse to be born, like it was here."

     Gojou instructed, "We're here to exorcise the curse and save the children or if they're dead, retrieve them?"

      "Dead?" Atsuki and Yuuta mumbled. She tore her eyes away from Gojou hearing the last instruction and dug out the cards from the pocket sewed into her skirt's waistband. 

     Gojou stuck two fingers in front of his mouth and cited, "Emerge from darkness, blacker than darkness. Purify that which is impure."

     A small dot in the sky above the school expanded like dripping water. "What's that?" Atsuki asked. A black transparent goop enclosed them, getting rid of any sight of the clear blue sky.

     As Atsuki asked her question, Yuuta pointed out, "It's turning into night!"

     Gojou put an arm on Atsuki and Yuuta's shoulders. "It's a veil. It's a barrier that will smoke out the curse and keep you from being seen by the outside." He released his hold on Yuuta and kept it on Atsuki, leading her out of the curtain. "It's pretty easy to undo from inside. Now, do be careful. not to die."

     Atsuki's eyes widened, "What?"

     "Die! Sensei!" Yuuta shouted. The curtain closed completely, dying out the noise from inside.

     Gojou and Atsuki leaned against the black car. "They won't actually die, will they?" Atsuki asked.

     He tilted his head to look down at her. "No, I trust they'll be able to exorcise the curse." He teasingly smiled, "Didn't know you cared about people you just met."

     "No. I don't. Cleaning up after them seems like too much work."

     "I was only kidding, Atsuki, but you are awful at making friends. Didn't all that traveling help you build any social skills?"

     "No, and I didn't want to make friends because of that. I never stayed anywhere longer than a week. And the people I worked with were adults and didn't want to make friends with a kid," she emphasized the word kid.

     "Aw, am I your first friend, Atsuki?" he leaned down to her level with his hands behind his back.

     Yes.

     "You wish," she pushed his face away. Atsuki crossed her arms, turning her head away. She chewed on her lip, debating to ask her next question. After a few minutes of silence, she sucked it up and asked, "What about the kids?"

     "Well, I don't know for sure but we can hope they'll be okay."

     "Gojou."

     "Atsuki."

     "Why did you bring me here?"

     "To learn, I can't always teach you things at Jujutsu High. Like that curtain spell I cited. I can't place one over the school.  And also for you to make friends, I can't be your only one but I can be your favorite," he patted the top of the 13-year-old's head.

     "You're definitely something," she muttered. "I think the only one I'll befriend is Yuuta. Maki is scary."

     "Maki can be harsh but I'm sure she'll like having a girl around."

     "What about the others?"

     "They aren't as harsh as Maki seems to be. Do I also need to teach you how to make friends?"

     "No, that's embarrassing." Atsuki pushed herself off the car and removed her gaze from Gojou. "Why do you want me to make friends so bad?"

     The teasing and cheerful tone in his voice left. "You'll continue to be lonely if you don't." She faced him again and Atsuki did her best to read his facial expression. It seemed to be serious but she could never tell with those bandages covering his eyes. Now to think of it, Atsuki had never seen Gojou without his sunglasses or bandages. "I know you don't like being alone."

     "How'd you pick that up in three weeks?"

     "I pay close attention to my students more than you think. Also, you make it quite obvious." She didn't want to guess so she let him continue. "You get excited when we eat together."

     Atsuki was a lot easier to read than she thought. A part of her hated that she made herself vulnerable but the other didn't because she didn't want to say it out loud, it sounded embarrassing to her. Atsuki had been so used to being alone that she eventually grew numb to it. She hadn't remembered how empty it felt to be by herself until he pointed it out.

     They've eaten most of their meals throughout their day together for the past three weeks. In the beginning, it was awkward, however, Gojou got her to talk more. They mostly talked about her circus acts and the odd interactions she had throughout the years. He didn't care what she talked about because it was something and it entertained him hearing her skills apart from her illusion act. From that, he learned that Atsuki was also acrobatic.

     Atsuki whipped her head to the screeching inside of the curtain. A large faint figure that resembled Rika hovered over the curse Maki and Yuuta were assigned to exorcise. It was unclear to see what was happening, only blood splattering on the curtain told them Rika was ripping the curse twice her size to shreds.

     Gojou put a hand over his face. "Now that's terrifying," he mumbled. "So, this is the full picture of Orimoto Rika, the special-grade cursed apparition?"

     "I think Yuuta is the first friend I have to make if I want to live longer," Atsuki half-heartedly joked.

     "Yep," Gojou chuckled, looking at Atsuki, "You women sure are scary."

     She glared at him, jabbing her sharp painted nail at him, "You better not be mocking us."

     He raised his hands in defense, "I'm not. I promise."

     Atsuki stepped to the side to see if Maki, Yuuta, or even one of the children were visible on the other side. The side she was previously on had wholly been washed by the curse's blood. Anything inside the curtain was visible to a certain distance, but Yuuta's white jacket seemed to peak through, slowly advancing to the end of the curtain. Atsuki refrained from jumping in and helping him. His slow movements only meant one thing and that was that he was injured. It wasn't her mission and not to mention she couldn't even fight a curse if she wanted to.

     Once he stepped out, the veil vanished. Maki was on his back and he carried the two boys in his arms. Yuuta dropped to the floor. They were unconscious meanwhile Yuuta breathed heavily as sweat dripped down his face.

     "Welcome back," Gojou smiled down at him. "You did well."

     Atsuki shuffled her deck of cards in her hand to pass the time as Yuuta quietly sat beside her. Gojou easily spotted the two teenagers walking down the hall, it was easy to notice Atsuki's colorful outfit scheme and raspberry hair within the white walls. "They say both Maki and the kids will be fine."

     Atsuki set her cards to the side, grinning ear to ear, "That's good!"

     Yuuta kept his stare on the ground. He hummed, "Yeah, thank goodness."

     "You don't look very satisfied," Gojou stated, leaning against the wall.

     Yuuta's eyes shifted to his hand. A ring with one gem in the middle glistened in the bright white lights on his ring finger. "I managed to call Rika-chan out myself for the first time."     

     "Really? That's a step forward."

     A boy wheeling an IV pole walked passed them. Yuuta gasped and his eyes widened, watching the boy travel down the hall. Atsuki took a look herself, wondering why his smile slowly disappeared and his expression saddened furthermore. "What's wrong," Gojou questioned, following Yuuta's gaze.

     "Nothing. Just remembered something. I don't think Rika-Chan cursed me. He paused, looking back at the ring on his left finger. "I think I might have cursed Rika-Chan."

     Gojou's lips formed into a fine line. He admitted, "This is my personal theory, but there's no curse more twisted than love."

     Tears gathered at the rim of Yuuta's eyes and he curled his fist. Atsuki watched as he did his best to not cry. She didn't know how to cheer people up, other than her circus performance. She didn't even know how Yuuta liked to be comforted. She gave up and turned her knees to him, "Yuuta, you want to see a magic trick?"

     He blinked away the tears and faced her. "Huh?" his voice wavered.

     "A magic trick."

     "Uh, sure. Why not?"

     Atsuki took the deck of cards back into her hands. "This is called Jack the bounty hunter," she informed, taking out the Jack of Hearts in the pile and setting it in the space between them. She shuffled the cards in her hands multiple times to show she wasn't cheating.

     Atsuki spring flourished the cards from her right to left hand and Yuuta's mouth parted, "Woah, when did you learn to do that?"

     "I had a lot of free time while traveling in the circus." Atsuki counted the first pile of cards in her head. "Each pile has 15 cards and you're going to part each one into two." She put aside the remaining cards for later and put the two piles on the bench, one across from Yuuta and the other across from herself. He did as he was told. Atsuki grabbed the other cards, her thumb fanned out the face-down cards, and held them toward a fascinated Yuuta "Pick a card."

     He pinched the card between his thumb and index finger, memorizing his card. Atsuki set the unnecessary cards off to the side. "Do I show you?"

     "No. Now, put it on one of the piles in front of you, not mine." Yuuta set it on his right pile. "Place one of my piles on top of your card." He chose the one on her left. "Then I'll put the Jack on the last pile on my side and the pile you didn't pick on your side on top, and then put all those cards on top of yours. The Jack of Hearts is going to find the card you chose. Whichever side the Jack is on is where your card is."

     Yuuta nodded, "Okay." He watched carefully as Atsukiseparated the pile into two piles one by one, side by side. One would think her long nails would slow down her movements but she was quick. It was practically a blur and Yuuta couldn't tell if she was hiding a trick up her sleeve to get his card.

     Atsuki repeated the same thing until it was only the Jack of Hearts upside up and the random card upside down. She flipped it around revealing the 10 diamonds. "Is this your card?"

     Yuuta snatched the card from her fingertips to examine it. It was a real card in his hand and not an illusion. "What! How'd you do that?"

     Atsuki's raspberry-colored lips formed into a smirk, "A magician never reveals her secrets."

     "Oh, but that was so cool," he complimented with a small pout. "Did you use your illusions sensei told me about?"

     She turned her smirk to a smile, happy she was able to cheer up the 16-year-old. Usually, older people wouldn't find this trick amusing. The one that did work on them all the time was the Joker Switch. "Okay, okay." Yuuta straightened his posture. "It's super easy, math is behind this trick, not my illusions. I taught myself math with these playing cards."

     "Really? That's it, math?"

     Atsuki shuffled the deck of cards, leaving the Jack of Hearts out. "Here, watch." She explained the trick and Yuuta furrowed his eyebrows in concentration. Gojou crossed his arms and a soft smile made way to his glossy lips proud at Atsuki and Yuuta's progress.