34 Sudden Mission

The look of mockery that was plastered on Gojo's face was enough to infuriate anyone. The first event had been a crushing victory for Tokyo and Gojo was having the time of his life rubbing it in. But that wasn't what bothered Kyoto… no, what bothered them the most was Geto.

Ever since the first event had ended he had been napping on the same fucking turtle that he had strolled across the forest in without a care in the world doing nothing but talk to his teammates about how nice the weather was but he had one complaint, the bugs that kept on buzzing around him.

Saying that while staring directly at the Kyoto students.

It bothered them endlessly that they had been taken out so easily, no one had really had the chance to fight apart from Takahashi and Tatsuo, the only fight they were actually going to win if Atlas didn't step in again and end it with one kick. Which bothered both Tatsuo and Takahashi, the latter claiming that he would have won against Atlas if he hadn't had to fight Tatsuo beforehand.

Which everyone knew was utter bull crap but no one was going to argue with the clearly emotionally damaged boy. That kick had done a lot more than break a few ribs.

Atlas and Geto, the Two Devils of Tokyo.

Not really bothered by his growing reputation Atlas was leaning back against a wall in the sun while he read over a book, flipping through the pages and learning what he could about his problems to try and solve them.

However, it didn't take long before Takahashi approached him where he was sitting.

"Hey! You. Piece of shit, fight me like a man now instead of sneaking up on me. Or do you not have the balls?" The second year said as he smirked down at Atlas, he had just been healed up by the campus doctor and was already begging for another beating.

"Ready when you are Pipsqueak," Atlas said without looking up from what he was reading, he really wasn't bothered by this at all.

"TAKE ME SERIOUSLY GOD DAMN IT!" The younger boy screamed as he rushed at Atlas with golden armour suddenly covering every inch of his body although he wasn't able to do anything as a beam of shattering dimensions hit him in the chest and sent him soaring back and crashing into the yard with enough force to knock him out.

He really wasn't feeling great about his loss was he… well, that didn't matter to Atlas much, he would get over himself soon enough.

Looking up he saw Genki sitting on the other side of the yard with the rest of the Kyoto students. Although he was looking directly at Atlas, his face was a mix of annoyance and awe.

Looking back down at his book Atlas just kept on reading.

---

"We would like to congratulate Toyko on their victory yesterday during the first event. They performed excellently and showcased wonderful brute strength without any careful strategy." Gakuganji said as he practically glared at the Toyko students… now that was a backhanded compliment if he ever heard one. Maybe just an outright insult at the end. Just before he could start explaining the second event an assistant director came through the doors of the hall and ran up to Gakuganji whispering something in his ear.

Nodding his head he turned to Atlas and said, "I apologize for the delay in today's events, Atlas, may you please follow me to the offices. Something has come up."

Without waiting for a reply the man started to make his way to the offices, expecting to be followed.

Getting to the office he motioned for Atlas that had been practically escorted out by the assistant director to sit down before him on the couch.

Nodding his head Atlas took a seat, leaning forward as multiple questions started to spiral through his mind, had they found out about Frank? He was fairly sure they wouldn't the only one that would be able to inform them was Tengen but he was sure that they wouldn't care…

Something was up though, that much was clear.

Oh, he had an idea of what this was.

"Atlas, an emergency mission has come up. A lot of strong spirits have been starting to appear in China because of the population density and the events taking place in the country. We wish for you to go and kill all the high-grade spirits you can find there before coming back. This may take years, but we believe that you are the right person for the job." Gakuganji said, his face completely blank as he stated this.

Yep, they were trying to get him out of the picture for an extended period… something more was up and the more Atlas was thinking about it the more it made sense that Kenjaku's current body had some connection to the Higher-Ups.

After all the Higher-Ups had become a bit too aggressive towards him now they wanted to send him to exterminate all high-grade curses in China? A country that Japan didn't have a good relationship with. He was going to have to stay hidden while hunting hundreds if not thousands of spirits before he could come back. And that wasn't thinking that they would keep emerging as he hunted them.

They were trying to get him to be busy in another country for an indefinite period.

And they were not trying to hide it.

Just as Kenjaku wanted, he could leave the country on a mission. Or he could refuse an emergency order from the Higher-Ups. He could risk that, for all he knew if he said no Kenjaku would bring his relationship with Frank to light and then he would be on the run as a curse user…

He wasn't too worried about this, however.

He could always just come back to Tokyo with teleportation whenever he needed and he knew when the events next year were meant to take place. He just had to keep an eye on everything that was going on…

Who knows, maybe he would be able to find his technique while on his journey, and maybe this could be good for him.

Get out of Kenjaku's range and work on whatever was happening with Hoshi and his locked technique.

Then he would be able to properly come back and kill that bastard.

With his face hardening as his eyes became cold, he could feel Gakuganji start to tense up.

"So, I'm going away for an indefinite amount of time to a hostile country? Sounds very reasonable." Atlas said as he leaned back into the couch, putting an ankle on his knee as he lifted his leg up relaxing.

"Think of it as studying overseas. Only a few of our strongest students are given the opportunity to do so. You will be doing us a great favour by doing so." Gakuganji says as he stares at Atlas seeing the defensive position he was sitting in turn into the relaxed lounging he was now doing.

"You know… I could say no. But I don't think I will, I have some things that I need to sort out and a certain man with a scar crown currently is stopping that from happening. Maybe it would be good to get away for a while." Atlas said as he stood up from where he was sitting.

"How and when am I leaving, 'sir'," Atlas said, his tone dripping with mockery.

Seeing that Gakuganji didn't show any reaction to the mention of a man with a scarred crown he moved on to the next topic, how and when he was leaving.

"Right now, there is a plane waiting for you at the airport. You may go." Gakuganji said, no tone, no expression. Just a blank statement.

Walking out of the offices Atlas saw that the students had left the hall, they were milling around the courtyard in front of it talking to each other. As he approached he saw Yaga looking at him with a… sympathetic look. It seems that he had gotten news of what was happening.

Getting to Geto and Gojo as they were the two people he actually cared about in the crowd he said.

"Do me a favour and win this event for me ight? I'm going to study overseas apparently for a long time. So cya when I get back kids." Turning he started to walk away leaving the shocked students behind.

"Wait? What about the event? You're not staying to finish it?" Torio asks with clear confusion.

"Apparently it's an emergency. So no." Atlas said. Turning around so that he was walking backwards he looked at Geto and Gojo and said, "You two better be able to give me a proper fight when I get back alright?"

With those last words he ignored the confused looks from how sudden this all was and teleported back to Tokyo, grabbing what he wanted from his room before teleporting close to the airport… he was honestly still processing what was happening. But in the end, it didn't really matter.

They didn't want to give him time to process, this was all so, so sudden it was even jarring to him but that was the entire point.

They had wanted him to say no.

He knew that, and he wouldn't give them what they wanted, no. He was stronger than they thought he was and he would be able to get here whenever he wanted. If Kenjaku thought that the only way to properly deal with him was to send him overseas then he was dead wrong.

No. He would use this to his advantage and next year when shit started to go down with the vessel he didn't plan to stay hidden in another country.

As jarring as this was. He was enjoying it. It would give him the time he needed.

=======

Shorter Chapter today! Prepare for a time skip to Gojo's past Arc. Very sudden, very jarring. Hopefully, you all enjoy it!