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CHAPTER START---
---June 17th, 2014, Stockholm, Sweden, 5 PM…
Sitting in a small cafe, Mei Mei gracefully scrolls through some information on her phone, paying no mind to the beautiful scenery just over the railing.
One step away from the small cobblestone walkway between her and the small river separating these two islands within the city, citizens and tourists walk by idly chatting and going on with their lives.
But she sits there in a comfortable pair of long blue pants and a matching button-up shirt, suitcase by her side and hair down, ignoring it all as potential money-making investments reach her phone.
Even as the chair across from her moves and someone joins her, she doesn't take her eyes off the screen until her business is concluded.
Only then does she set down her phone and look over at Taiyo.
He's wearing his competition jacket, with a few sponsors printed on it, and beside him is a case containing his rifle and pistol, along with a small backpack of everything he needs.
And around his neck, three gold medals.
"You could have come watch me compete," Taiyo says.
"After fourteen hours on a plane, I wanted to stretch my legs a bit, so I took in some of the sights," Mei Mei says. "Besides, where is the fun in watching a man who doesn't miss fire at simple targets?"
"I've been asking myself that for a while now," Taiyo says as he relaxes into his seat. "How come you didn't meet me in Croatia? We lost a few days of training because of that."
"Something came up, a business opportunity I had to attend to in person. Your annual balance will be glad for it."
"By now you should know I value Jujutsu above money."
"Which is why this relationship is so beautiful," Mei Mei says as she leans in. "A man with all the power and income, who doesn't care for the income, and the woman who cursed her lack of power because it limited her income…we're a match made in hell."
Taiyo just looks at her with a bored expression, "When can we start?"
Mei Mei rolls her eyes. "Teasing you is no fun when you have Jujutsu on the brain. Let's go to the hotel so I can take a shower. We can start after."
"Great," he immediately gets up, and she follows him out of the cafe and down the cobblestone streets.
"For the record, next time you fly me this far away, I expect a private jet," Mei Mei says. "The woman two rows down was annoying with her snoring."
"Well, you're technically part of my team for this tour, so it was sponsored, and I don't think they'll get me a private flight," Taiyo says as he fishes around in his jacket pocket for a moment and hands her two cards and a lanyard.
Mei Mei takes them, and then looks down at them, disappointed.
"What? Don't like the picture they used?"
"Oh please," she looks at the ID card for the shooting tour. "Nobody has ever looked this good in any of your competitions."
"Then why the sad face?"
"I was hoping you were handing me a credit card," Mei Mei says. "When you're on vacation with a woman, you're supposed to take her shopping."
"You have access to most of my money already," Taiyo says. "But really, why the sad face?"
"Is this my room key?"
"You're across the hall from me," Taiyo says as she pockets both cards.
Mei Mei sighs and leans against his shoulder, "You have no sense of romance, I at least expected you to try something like, 'Oh no, there was only one more room at the hotel so we have to share a bed,' something like that."
Taiyo laughs. "If I want that, you'll know. Right now, you're here to teach me the New Shadow Style: Simple Domain, not distract me."
"Well, it's nice to get paid to be on vacation," Mei Mei says as she resumes walking normally as they cross a street.
"Now that we're here, mind telling me why I have to sneak you around like a mistress?" Taiyo asks. "If anything, I'd rather show you off as arm candy."
"Well, Kusakabe told you about the Binding Vow students of the New Shadow school make, and since the master of the school uses it to prologue his life—"
"You stealing the technique is warrant to get you killed, especially because of all the pull they have with Jujutsu Headquarters," Taiyo says.
"And as of right now, only Gojo knows for a fact that I really do have the technique. Everything else is just assumptions and rumors, which they can't act on since the higher-ups are shielding me."
"I see, the New Shadow school is too important for the higher-ups to protect you from them."
"They would also kill my brother," Mei Mei says. "They'd kill all the people most likely to have been taught the technique by me, which aren't that many. And even if I live, they could attack him while we're apart. And I've invested too much time and money into Ui Ui to lose an investment that big."
Taiyo glances at her from the corner of his eye, "Wow, what a loving big sister you are…"
"His Innate Technique is priceless," Mei Mei says. "I could protect him by revealing it to them, but then I wouldn't be able to use him myself, and my cash flow would drastically slow down."
Taiyo sighs, "Is there a sad backstory behind this money-focused attitude of yours?"
Mei Mei looks up at him with surprisingly innocent eyes. "What do you mean?"
"Like, 'grew up poor and homeless', something like that?"
"No, I come from a small family of Curse Users. We've been working for Jujutsu Headquarters for a few generations now, but I just happened to learn early that money is the value of things, and life is no exception."
"Ahh, so Kusakabe was right, you're just a heinous and greedy woman."
"Yes, and you're my Special Grade money bag," she says as they enter the hotel…
---One Hour Later…
Sitting on his bed, wearing only a pair of shorts, Taiyo is staring down at the two talismans laid out in front of him.
Small wooden rectangles with ornate designs and diagrams on them. He studies them for a moment, then reaches over to his Jujutsu Journals and flips through his notes, trying to make sense of this technique.
While he's reading, he hears his door open, then it closes before the lock clicks into place.
"Feeling better?" Taiyo asks as Mei Mei walks into his room, wearing a fluffy white robe, damp hair at her back and shoulders, phone in hand.
"Much better," Mei Mei says as she walks over and lies on his bed, resting her damp hair on one of the pillows.
"You're making a mess of my bed," he says.
"How unfortunate," she says sarcastically while glancing over at the talismans. "What are you doing with those?"
"Trying to learn about summoning Shikigami."
"I assumed with your Cursed Energy control you could easily do that. What's the problem?"
"I'm not trying to summon these," Taiyo says as he gestures at the talismans. "I'm trying to create one."
"Create one?" Mei Mei sits up, now curious about his project.
"Well, Cursed Tools, Talismans, Shikigami, they're all just self-contained Barrier Techniques. Shikigami are constructs of the user's Cursed Energy. They move and act like living things, but they're not, which is why they can always be reformed."
"Hmm, that makes sense," Mei Mei says. "But, I've never heard of someone making one."
"They're normally linked to a Talisman or Innate Technique, so the user can't really dictate what they do or look like, but if I can just understand the Barrier Technique—"
"You could make a new Talisman to suit your needs," Mei Mei says. "But, even then, you'd be limited, since you don't have an Innate Technique that summons a Shikigami, you'll have to abide by the amount of Cursed Energy the medium can handle."
"Yeah, but I don't plan to use it in combat anyway, just for support stuff."
"And how much would you sell this for?"
Taiyo rolls his eyes, "I haven't even made it yet and you're thinking about selling it."
"It pays to think ahead, especially in our line of work."
"Well, from everything I've learned, within an Innate Technique connected to it, they'll be extremely limited in what they can do," Taiyo says as he gestures to his book. "I'll likely have to make a lot of Binding Vows to figure it out, all to boost the one function it can have."
Mei Mei frowns. "So, no summoning a giant to fight for you."
"Probably nothing that can fight for me," Taiyo says. "But, if I can study more Talismans, Barrier Techniques, and Cursed Tools, I'll be able to figure it out."
"Like my battleaxe?"
"No," Taiyo says. "Your battleaxe is Grade 1, which means it has some Cursed Energy in it like a battery, but that's just from exposure. What I need to study are Special Grade Cursed Tools, ones that have Innate Techniques permanently stored in them."
"Those can cost millions of USD a piece, if you want the truly exceptional ones," she says. "Normally I sell any I find to the Zen'In or Kamo clans."
"What about the Gojo clan?"
"They don't really fight," Mei Mei says. "Most of them are actually quite boring as far as Jujutsu goes, but only they can manifest the Six Eyes, which are divinely tied to Master Tengen as her guardian, so their place in Jujutsu Society is beyond reproach."
"And having Satoru Gojo as the clan head probably solves everything else."
"That it does," Mei Mei says. "That man is a walking fortune."
"Try not to drool over other men while you're in my bed," Taiyo says jokingly.
"Hmm, actually, I've never heard anything about Gojo's romantic life…he's probably too busy with work for that sort of thing."
"I heard he and some teacher at Kyoto are secretly a thing."
"No, I think they have an interest in each other, but Gojo is always out of reach in every regard, so it could never be," Mei Mei says with a noticeably sad tone.
Taiyo glances over at her, "She a friend of yours?"
"An acquaintance," Mei Mei says before lying on the bed and closing her eyes.
As she relaxes, Taiyo reaches over and gently strokes her damp hair, immediately drying it off.
"How does it feel, having no sense of temperature?" Mei Mei asks, still keeping her eyes closed.
"Numb," he takes the Talismans and sets them on the bedside table, then grabs a pen and prepares to write in his journal. "Now, about the New Shadow Style: Simple Domain, how exactly does it work, and how does one 'program Cursed Energy'?"
Mei Mei sits up, crosses her legs, and gets comfortable, ready to begin teaching.
"Hopefully you can get this down before we part ways in the Netherlands, so listen closely…"
END CHAPTER---
Discord: discord .gg /eHuxNeZfyS [Come chat with me]
pat.reon: Keanu_Eugene [Read ahead & support me]
You.tube: @KeanuEugene [Giving away all my writing knowledge]