about two months have passed since you started improving on your hand to hand combat, and about 2 more days for the exchange event.

you were more than ready and excited for all the things to come. the event was one of the main reasons, you could make a name for yourself if you did well in the upcoming competition.

after training for 2 whole months with maki, panda, megumi, nobara and inumaki, you learned some new fighting techniques and became way quicker on your feet.

you were currently taking a break from all the training in the common room among the other first and second years. everyone was there except for gojo sensei, you wondered what he was up too.

you rid yourself of your worries when maki spoke up, "hey you guys, go and get something from the vending machine for us all." directed towards you, megumi and nobara.

the three of you looked her blank in the eye waiting for further explanation as why your break was already ending so soon. no one said something so you decided to speak up. "... why?" you asked carefully.

"going on errands is also part of your training, you know" maki looked over at you and adjusted herself in her seat. the three of you groaned all together and knew there was no point in going into an argument with maki.

all of you stood up simultaneously and walked towards the door, ready to leave. "we'll see you later then" nobara greeted quickly before also heading to the vending machines.

nobara was the first to arrive at the machines and ordered a cold drink almost immediately from 120 yen. as soon as the can dropped she started to complain.

"couldnt they put in a few more vending machines here?" as she was dissatisfied with the fact that she didnt had much to choose from.

"they cant, there are only so many workers who can come in here." answered megumi.

you stood beside him and nodded your head at his previous statement. "thats true, there are not many people who know of this school and let alone work here." you spoke while also walking over to one of the few vending machines.

you were thinking of going with a simple sprite or fanta but decided it would be better if you choose a normal water. and so you ordered your can of water.

the bottle dropped down and you were bending down with your knees to grab the can. that was untill you saw two shadows loom over you from your side.

you tilted your head towards the two unfamiliar faces and forgot about your can, you stood up and now fully faced the two strangers together with nobara and megumi.

the man was a buff guy who was very tall too, he had an unique scar on the left side of his head, almost covering his eye. the woman on the other hand had a kind off cute face that resembled makis. in contrast to maki, this girl had shorter hair that framed her face nicely.

looking towards megumi who was next to you, you saw his eyebrows raised and questioned if he knew them. "megumi, do you know them?" you asked curiously.

megumi turned his head, facing you and nodded. then snapped back at the two figures in front of you, he started speaking himself, "what are you doing here, zenin-senpai?"

"zenin as in related to maki?" you asked him. the girl in front of you started to look awfully alot like maki, after looking a bit longer, megumi spoke up.

"theyre twins." he answered your question once again. nobara seemed to understand the situation too "oh so she is one of them too." she mentioned.

"oh dont call me that fushiguro-kun" the girl spoke out with a raspy voice. you cringed silently at the tone in her voice as it sounded like she was seducing the poor 16 year old boy next to you. "call me mai." she added on while giving megumi a smile and winking at him.

completely confused as why they were here in the first place, the other stranger started speaking up. you almost forgot about him. "so these are the pinch hitters for okkutsu and the third years?" he suddenly asked while obviously looking down at the three of you.

"we came here on orders from the principal, we were just worried about you all." mai said while bringing her hand up to play with her hair. she continued talking. "your classmate died, right?"

this struck a nerve in you that you didnt know you had. no one at jujutsu tech dared to speak a word about yuuji since he died a respectable death. they spoke about him in ways of getting stronger and honoring him in a good way, but besides that, no one had talked about him.

you tensed up at the choice of her words, how there was the slightest bit of amusement hidden in her tone. megumi and mai both seemed to notice this. megumi put his hand on your shoulder to reassure you that it was going to be okay. mai on the other hand took this as a chance to provoke the three of you more.

and so, she continued to tease you three. "was it rough, or did you think nothing of it?" the words left her mouth as if it didnt mean anything.

you were annoyed at the way she talked so you talked back. "why would we think nothing of it? he was our classmate, just like you said. we cherished him." you glared at her.

mai seemed to be satisfied with how you reacted on her. her smirk grew wider since this is exactly what she wanted. "its okay, some things are hard to say." she continued.

megumi knew what she was reffering too and he started to get on edge too. you could feel it by the way his hand started gripping your shoulder a little tighter.

nobara was now frowning and took a step towards mai. "what are you trying to say?" she spat. she too didnt want anything to do with the topic at the moment.

"oh my, ill say it for you then."she started to speak again. "'vessel' makes it sound nice, but it just means he was a half curse monster."

she licked her lips in anticipation. eager to see the responses she would get. "having such a tainted human being next to you must have been revolting, isnt that so?" she let out a soft laugh and cupped her own face with her hand.

she eyed you guys intimidated as she continued to talk, now using her final sentence in hopes of making the three of you snap. "you guys are happier now he is dead, right?" she finished while smiling a little.

you were about to beat her up at this point. the only thing that was stopping you was megumi who was almost crushing your shoulder now.

you tried to step towards mai but megumi held you in place. mai saw she wouldnt get any interesting reactions and sighed. that is when the man next to her broke the silence.

he sighed and spoke "mai, dont bring up such pointless topics. im only here to see if these guys are worthy of taking okkutsu's place." he started walking slowly towards you guys and stood still in front of megumi.

megumi stared at him in confusion and slid his hand off your shoulder. you took this moment to rub your aching shoulder.

the man who still didnt introduce himself then folded his arms in front of his chest and started to talk to megumi. he inhaled as he beemed with his loud voice, "fushiguro! what kind of woman is your type?"