Keitaro, unaware of his friend's shenanigans, could be seen sitting cross-legged under the shade of a massive tree, watching Yuta awkwardly fidget with his sword.
The boy's nervous energy was apparent, even as he tried to keep a composed face. Keitaro took another sip of his tea before setting the cup down, his eyes narrowing slightly.
"Alright, Yuta," Keitaro began, his tone light but firm. "Call her out."
He wanted to see Rika and gauge how much control Yuta had over her. After all, it would be a good starting point—a place from which they could move forward.
Yuta froze, his grip on the hilt of his sword tightening. His eyes darted toward Keitaro, looking quite uncertain.
"You mean... Rika?"
Well, duh, what else could he mean?
Though he couldn't say it like that. He needed to phrase it in a more teacher-like manner.
"Yuta, you're not going to learn if all you do is avoid your fear. You have to confront it head-on. You're a jujutsu sorcerer now—try and think like one. You want strength to protect others. For you to gain that strength, you must earn it, and that starts with you facing your fear."
"But... I don't know if I can control her. What if she hurts you? Or me?"
Rika... hurt him?
Keitaro almost had a stroke. It wasn't that he was particularly cocky—no, it was more the fact that Rika was a curse, and Keitaro could output special-grade levels of reverse curse energy.
Rika was cooked if she got too close.
"Trust me. I am the strongest there is... currently. Everything will be fine."
He gave the boy a bright smile.
Yuta wrestled with his fear, then looked at Keitaro and decided to trust him.
"I trust you."
"Good," Keitaro said, his smirk widening into a grin. "Then stop overthinking it. Let her out."
With a deep breath, Yuta closed his eyes, his cursed energy spiking as he whispered, "Rika... come out."
As those words left his mouth, the air grew heavy as a dark, oppressive aura filled the clearing.
A second later, the monstrous form of Rika materialized, her grotesque, curse-like features stark against the serene backdrop of the forest. Her single red eye gleamed with malice, and her jagged mouth stretched into an unsettling grin.
Jeez, was she scary.
"Yuuuuta~" Rika's voice echoed, both loving and menacing. Her gaze snapped to Keitaro, and the atmosphere seemed to grow even more suffocating. "Is this man making you mad, Yuta? Should I hurt him for you?"
Rika... did not want to have a closed casket funeral. She better not try her chances.
Yuta quickly waved his hands in panic. "No! No, Rika, it's not like that! He's trying to help me, I swear!"
"She is just like I thought she would be," Keitaro said out loud.
Before Yuta or Rika could react, Keitaro blitzed the both of them, his hand gently caressing Rika's face.
From his point of view, he was patting the head of a little girl.
"Keitaro—?!" Yuta barely had time to react before Keitaro's palm landed on Rika's head.
Rika flinched, her monstrous form trembling slightly under his touch. Her single eye widened, and for the first time, she looked... unsure.
"She is rather gentle," Keitaro said, tickling the beast.
Yuta heard laughter... was that Rika laughing?
She was capable of laughing.
Taking a pill from his bag, Keitaro tossed it into her mouth.
Rika swallowed the pill, looking quite obedient.
"It's a treat. Found some during my stay in Somalia. Curses really like them. It's like feeding them cursed energy," Keitaro added calmly.
He then gazed at Yuta before tossing him a manual.
"This will train your control. You need above a 70% in control before we can move forward. And Rika, don't scare him."
"Rika will try..." the curse's distorted voice could be heard saying.
Wait... so easily?
Was Rika tamed already?
Keitaro just had a gentle smile on his face. He had learned about the nature of curses—creatures born from human negative emotions. Though he wondered what would happen if such curses were exposed to positive emotions.
They didn't seem to like it much, so instead, he made a little pill that pushed all of their senses to the max...
TL;DR, drugs for curses. He was curious, it was 3 a.m., and post-nut clarity had not yet kicked in. He had plenty of herbs left... mistakes were bound to happen.
"Yes, Keitaro-sensei," Yuta said obediently, getting back to work.
The joy of being young... he thought, while he himself wasn't even 30 yet.
New jujutsu sorcerers were always fun to watch.
He wondered if Kirara liked his gift—the little pill that helped her achieve her dream. He had no problem with her wanting to be a chick.
That was all on her now; he just helped in his own way. And he'd flipped off the jujutsu higher-ups who were against it.
His words had basically been asking them what the problem was, and when they said no man should switch gender, he'd simply replied that no one above 60 should be in a very high position of power. And yet, there they were—retirement age, still spouting BS.
His final words were something more along the lines of: fine, anyone without erectile dysfunction could speak about the matter.
Well, that shut them down pretty quickly. Old men interfering in people's lives... he'd make sure they had no power left.
Over the past 7 to 8 years, he had been slowly weakening their grip over jujutsu society, giving more power to the individual while helping the new generation. He'd need a few more years before he could overthrow that system entirely and stick those old bastards in a retirement home.
A/N...I am batman