That doesn't clear anything up!

Fushiguro doesn't seem inclined to explain, either. He just fetches his own phone from a pocket and nods. "Not a lot of time."

"Nah. But we'll make it work! You, come with me, we'll chat about what you need in your fan and go requisition a new one right now, so it'll definitely be ready in time. I am not letting you face Kyoto with garbage."

She hooks an arm around Akiho's shoulders and begins leading her off.

Okay, this is apparently happening now. Sure, she's fine with this? It will be nice to have someone walk her through how requisitioning things works?

"Uh, see you later," she says to Inori and the others, accepting her fate.

"Practice starts tomorrow at 8!" calls Maki. "If you're late, don't blame me if we end up using you as bait for Kyoto!"

"Whatever."

"Omelet."

Panda and Inumaki turn out to be very helpful with helping Inori work on his cursed techniques. Panda has an impressive knowledge of the nature of cursed energy and how to channel it, and is more than happy to share ways for Inori to help make his shikigami faster. Inumaki, via some illustrative food metaphors and demonstrative hand motions, gives Inori the idea of combining parts of his shikigami. Summoning them in halves to make chimera, with whatever traits he wants of either. The most obvious way to use this is to lend Nue's wings to others, to increase their mobility, but there are probably more creative applications that he can figure out in the future.

Soon enough, though, his upperclassmates run out of low hanging fruit, and accordingly give him some space. They'll have a proper training session tomorrow that's more than just theorizing.

And several hours later, there's a knock at Inori's door.

"Come in," he calls.

"Hey," says Gojo, and in he comes. He is.... very subdued. He finds a wall to lean on and is quiet for a little while.

Inori looks up from the bed, where he's reading something off the reader Akiho's mother got him.

And well... that's unusual. Not that he's complaining, quiet is good but. Uh.

"... It was my fault," he says, softly, after a long silence. "I didn't think they would - go that far, sink that low. I was wrong. I should have just taken all three of you with me on whatever bullshit assignment they gave me to distract me, and not..." He trails off, and stops. "It is my fault this happened. Okay? I am the one in charge of keeping you safe, and I didn't."

He blinks and... puts his book reader away to better look at his Sensei. He's not... sure... what to say to that.

(The tightness in his chest when he gets reminded of it goes away a bit faster, this time. Or maybe he's just hoping it does.)

"I say this not to dump my emotional baggage on you, understand, I'm saying this because if you're blaming yourself, or think you weren't strong enough, or clever enough, or something. Then don't. You did great. Akiho did great. You actually both did so well that even Kyoto's impressed, I'm pretty sure they're scheming new and exciting ways to steal you from Tokyo. I know you—" He stops, and has to try again. "I know you're hurting right now. I'm not telling you to stop, or how to feel, just. I am so incredibly proud of you both. Please... try to be proud of yourself, too."

He looks away. Out the window or... something.

Gojo returns to silence. This conversation seems to be incredibly hard for him, too. It's probably why he put it off.

"I—" No, his voice is wavery, shit. He clears his throat and tries again. "I know it's not my—our fault. It's, it's not yours. It's... theirs." He balls his hands into fists. "I..."

But he lapses back into silence. He doesn't really know how to continue after that.

"Yeah. Ultimately, it is their fault. And believe me when I say I have every intention of making them pay for it. I had to stop myself from going on a killing spree, actually. It's still very tempting. But. I want change, not just their heads. ... Change and their heads. Just. Be smart about it, okay? Play the long game."

He shrugs. "What's the long game?"

"Heh. Do you know why I took up teaching? It's not like I'm, uh. All that suited for it."

Fushiguro scratches his face, yes it's definitely scratching and not anything else shut up, and turns to look at his Sensei again. "Not really."

"The top of the jujutsu world is a den of vice. The younger generation grovels before their elders, who grovel before their elders, who scheme against each other and have long, elaborate shadow wars to get power. Through access to a promising bloodline technique, or getting the younger generation under their thumb, or killing off anyone too uppity, or killing off a rival... you get the idea. For example, I am the result of a systematic breeding project by the Gojo clan. Sort of like what the Kamo clan wants to rope Akiho into. This has been happening for hundreds of years. Everybody is used to it being like this. People that don't play along mysteriously have accidents, or don't have support when they need it. And I hate it, more than words could possibly describe." His words come out as almost a snarl, the most angry Inori's ever heard him, but he takes a deep breath and collects himself. "What I want more than anything is to tear it down, and let people be free to build something new."

"...and killing them all would just make you a villain and not fix anything."

"Yes. The game would just keep going, but with less players. Furthermore, the sorcerer shortage would be even worse than it already is, and I'd have to try to make up the difference by myself. And while I am the strongest sorcerer in the world, I cannot be everywhere. I need to sleep, I need to eat, I need to talk to other human beings or I start thinking that actually ending humanity sounds preferable. I need allies. Not necessarily people who like me, I can be a bit of an unlikeable bastard, but just. People that will not stab me in the back the moment there's an opening. So. Teacher. To help make them."