Destined to Collide - Inumaki Toge

2. Connection

It took a moment for Maguro to realize just what she had done.

The off-white haired boy stood in front of her, his cursed seal mark a stark contrast against his fair skin tone.

Maguro's eyes widened in shock.

No shit. This shitty thing happened again.

"Ohhh nooo I've established a connection!" Maguro exclaimed in a Gojo Satoru style drama and grabbed her head in utter regret. Bowing down to Inumaki, she apologized quickly and explained. "I'm so, so sorry! It'll be much easier for me to hear your thoughts from now on! I'm so sorry if I happened to hear your thoughts before this. I couldn't control it as of yet. This ability of mine didn't come from when I was born. I only got it recently."

So, she really could hear him? Inumaki thought to himself silently.

She could, couldn't she? She just answered him.

She just answered his thoughts.

His eyes brightened when he realizes just how hard his heart pounded in his chest. Finally, someone who can understand him comes along.

Finally. Finally, someone can hear him.

"It's alright," Inumaki said to her in thoughts and waved his hands around, smiling happily in delight. "You're a Godsent. I haven't been able to have a normal conversation with anyone else for eons. You have no idea how happy I am right now."

He approached her and casually flicked a dry leaf off from her head, smiled widely while he does so. What a precious person. A mind reader of sort? How rare. He will have to treasure her from now on.

And on Maguro's side...

"Oh? How so?" the girl asked him, not quite understanding why he couldn't speak. He was not a mute, judging by how he called her by her English name meaning earlier. He could just speak...right? He just asked her in... wait. Ingredients. He answered her in food ingredients. Shake, Takana, Tuna.

He didn't call her name just now. He just spoke in food ingredients.

She looked up to see him removing a piece of dried leaf from her head. Maguro's heart lurched a speed up when she saw him standing so close to her and smile. Is he even a real boy? He looks too pretty to be real. "This here is my family's cursed technique mark," Inumaki explained to her, pointing towards the mark around his mouth. He leaned closer to her to show her. "I was born with this. I am a cursed speech user from my clan, Inumaki. In order to not accidentally curse anyone, I limit myself with onigiri ingredients as speech. Takana is my way of asking if you are alright. That is my sort of speech pattern all these while because it is just an ingredient. It doesn't force anyone to obey to my words."

He watches her eyes roaming around his mouth, as if to memorize the mark he has around his mouth. She nodded her head in understanding and said, "So that was your power in work then, when you told me to not move before I fell over the river."

A murder of crows passed by somewhere.

Now that was awkward.

Inumaki felt his ears heats up in shame. He rubbed the back of his neck unconsciously and apologized to her, "I'm sorry about that. I tried calling you back up but..."

"But that...would probably be me then," she interrupted him with an awkward smile, suddenly understood how everything happened. "I think I've Nullified your cursed command when I panicked."

"You...Nullified it?" Inumaki asked in surprise. Nullifiers are rare, and that ability usually comes with another set of cursed technique inherited from their ancestors' spirits. This set of cursed technique could mean she is an asset to the school if she were to enroll here.

And she could very well possess the Reverse Cursed Technique.

"I don't know myself either. Everyone died. So apparently, their powers have no other inheritors but me. Gojo-sensei is supposed to guide me through controlling and using them safely. Couldn't afford to have some unknown inner power popping up one day and start cursing people off."

Inumaki wanted to ask more, but the girl started to sneeze and shiver from the cold air. He silently cursed himself for overlooking her needs over his curiosity and demands to know more.

"Oiiii~" someone called over from the stairs area. Both of them looked towards the source of the sound and found the aforementioned sensei lurking around with a few luggage's.

"Gojo-sensei?" the girl called.

"Tsukigami-kun~~~" Gojo called her. "Come here and get your luggag- Ah! Inumaki-kun! Lend me a hand here will ya! She'll be your new next-door neighbour!"

"Kelp...Tuna mayo?" (Sensei. Wait, neighbour?) Inumaki said, walking towards the white-haired sorcerer. As far as he knows, students stay together in the same dorm wing if they're in the same group. The wing he's staying at right now only has Maki and Panda as they are the only second years there.

He didn't hear anything about a new second year joining them.

Gojo smiled. "I see you've got those wheels turning there, Inumaki-kun. You've guessed right. This here is Tsukigami Maguro. She'll join your group as a transfer second year student, partially because she needs to learn some things from Ieiri at the Infirmary and some from me. Anyway, I'll explain more when we meet up with the others, ne? And...why are the both of you wet?"