Ananga

Fushiguro Megumi wasn't sure what he had been expecting, but he was pretty sure it hadn't been this. The thing in front of him was undeniably a cursed spirit and almost certainly the spirit he was supposed to exorcise, but... why was the spirit a girl? Why was the spirit sprawled across a couch reading shounen manga? Why was the spirit dressed like *that*?

He didn't know where to begin. The purple silk halter-top? The detached sleeves? The thigh highs? The short skirt? The gold detailing that reminded him of flower petals? Or maybe he should start with the girl herself? Pale skin, pure white hair that reminded him of his teacher, blood red eyes looking right at him-

"Looking for something?"

"Oh, sorry!"

Megumi quickly looked away before remembering that she wasn't actually a person. Should he... attack? She didn't seem to be aggressive, but cursed spirits were inherently malicious things. Even if she wasn't aggressive now, who knows what she'd do later?

The spirit turned a page.

Or maybe she'd just read more manga? No, he couldn't fall for her surprisingly comfy-looking trick.

"Gyokuken!"

Making a dog shadow puppet and shouting its name, Megumi summoned the twin wolf shikigami, Gyokuken. The two dogs, one white, one black, rose from his shadow and growled at the cursed spirit.

The spirit turned another page.

"Gyokuken, att-"

The spirit sighed and set down her manga before turning to face Megumi.

"What do you want?"

Megumi didn't know how to answer. Spirits didn't talk, at least not coherently. They rarely managed more than meaningless gibberish or endless repetition. He'd never had one *ask* him anything, much less expect a response. Just what kind of spirit was this?

She looked like a human. She acted like a human. Weren't those signs of a special grade cursed spirit? She didn't *feel* like a special grade, but if she really was one... then she wasn't something he could handle. He needed to back away and call his teacher. He could handle her, whatever she was. Megumi slowly took a step back...

And bumped into the solid figure of his teacher standing behind him.

"Having trouble, Megumi?"

"Gojo-sensei! When did you-?"

Gojo Satoru chuckled.

"Just now."

Gojo patted Megumi on the shoulder and walked past him toward the spirit.

"I'm not interested in joining your religion."

And Gojo paused mid-stride. Megumi... actually sort of understood where the spirit was coming from. Gojo-sensei was a great person, but he did look... a bit suspicious. Most people didn't walk around blindfolded and wearing all black.

"That's a pity, I'm pretty interested in you. Mind if I sit down?"

Gojo, to his credit, recovered quickly. The spirit rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, I mind."

Gojo laughed and sat down, the spirit begrudgingly making room for him.

"So what's a curse like you doing in a manga cafe?"

The spirit looked at Gojo like he was an idiot and gestured at the manga she had set down.

"What do you *think*?"

Gojo laughed and picked up the manga.

"Well, I wonder. Oh, you've got good taste."

"Hey, don't lose my place. And yeah, obviously."

"Hmm..."

Gojo looked pensive for a moment before lifting his blindfold and staring at the spirit with piercing blue eyes.

"Honestly, just what are you? You're clearly a special grade curse, but you're barely as strong as a 2nd grade. You've got two sorcerers staring you down, but you haven't made a single aggressive move. I can't even feel any malice from you."

The spirit glared.

"You sure about that last bit?"

Gojo laughed loudly.

"Well, maybe there's a little malice. But even a 4th grade curse has more, you know? It's like you don't want to kill me at all."

The spirit shrugged as Gojo continued.

"Even the report doesn't list any casualties or disappearances, just signs of a curse. Have you attacked even a single person while you've been here?"

"Yeah, a couple."

Gojo's eyes narrowed.

"Who."

The spirit shrugged again.

"Just some punks. They were bothering everyone, so I distracted them with some books and kicked them in the nuts."

Gojo and Megumi winced.

"It was hilarious. They haven't been back since."

Gojo made a complicated expression.

"Is that the worst you've done?"

"I burned some ghosts too. Or curses? That's what you'd call them, right?"

"You attacked other curses? Why?"

The spirit shrugged a third time.

"I didn't like how they were looking at the customers."

Gojo sighed and leaned back on the couch.

"Now I'm even more interested in you."

"That's hardly my problem."

Gojo grinned.

"Well, I'm not sure about that. I am a sorcerer, after all."

"So?"

"So exorcising curses is pretty much my job. And interesting as you are, you're still a curse."

"So?"

"Do I really need to spell it out for you?"

"If you're going to exorcise me no matter what, why should I care how interesting you find me? It won't change anything, so why should
I bother?"

Megumi froze and Gojo smiled wryly.

"You really are something else, aren't you."

Gojo wrapped a hand around her neck, his long fingers easily finding purchase on her throat. The spirit just stared at him, unblinking, her red eyes contrasting his blue. She didn't react even when he squeezed. He released her a moment later, falling back into the couch and closing his eyes.

"Are you sure you're a curse?"

The spirit just looked at him like he was an idiot again.

Gojo burst out laughing, only stopping a few minutes later.

"Do you have a name?"

"Ananga."

"Come to the Technical College with me, Ananga."

Ananga raised an eyebrow.

"The what?"

"The Tokyo Metropolitan Curse Technical College. I'm a teacher there."

"Absolutely not. That's sounds like the worst possible idea."

Gojo grinned and picked up the spirit in a single motion, slinging her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

"I don't know, it sounds pretty good to me."