not wasting a single second, you lunged towards mai. you didnt want to waste time at all since yuuji was still alone in the forest and was being targeted.

mechamaru fled from the scene to look where momo was, she hasnt been in the air for a long time now and he noticed that.

you already knew what mai's technique was so you had to be careful, bullets are dangerous after all. before she even had a chance to draw her gun, you were already right in front of her.

grabbing her arm, you turned around and whipped her over your back. she laid down on the ground once again and let out a grunt as her back made contact with the cold, hard ground. but she was faster than expected.

only blinking once and she stood on her feet again. you also noticed that maki and miwa went down towards a river with a cliff and megumi was fighting kamo in the distance.

the three of you had enough room now to release the full potential of your techniques without hurting any of your comrades.

mai rushed towards you and stood behind you in a split second. she swayed her arm around your neck and pressed you firmly against her chest.

out of reflexes, you brought both your hands towards the arm around your neck and tried your best to pull her away. but she wouldnt budge.

instead, she started speaking up. "l/n, wasnt it?" she asked you. frustrated that you were fully in her grip, you spat out a single, "yes, now what."

she let out a soft laugh and was glad she already provoked you so easily. nevertheless, she continued whatever she was doing. "why dont you just relax and let me take the win, l/n?"

she then drew her gun and put it against the side of your uniform, she loaded it beforehand too.

smirking at you, she wasnt going to let you win anytime soon, but just giving up would never be an option for you. "we both know that i have more experience here, the outcome is already decided." mai continued.

just at that moment, an idea shot in your head. you tried to focus your technique in your hands and would try to punch her in the face. just like you did with toudou but in his chest.

concentrating your shockwave, it took some time. you were more keen on focusing it in your legs as you had done that numerous times already. but hands were smaller and more delicate, therefore more difficult.

mai noticed your sudden relaxing nature and thought you were giving up. she eased herself and smiled. "awe, see, youre a good gir-" she couldnt finish her sentence as you slightly turned your upper body to face her.

with your upper body turning, your arm swayed towards her. your hand in a fist and coming closer and closer to her face.

mai's eyes widened and her mouth slightly parted. she wanted to duck and dodge the punch but she was unfortunately too late.

your fist made contact with her face, right in her cheek. right after the impact you felt a gust of wind come from the punch too.

she spat a bit of blood out of her mouth and closed her eyes from the shockwave. satisfied with the result, you smiled to yourself.

mai loosened her grip on you and you took this opportunity to put more distance between the two of you.

jumping back, there now was a solid 4 to 5 meter distance between you guys and you had the advantage in the situation.

you looked at her and she stood slightly slumped, her back wasnt straight and she had her hands on her mouth. you frowned at the sight, you were sure you didnt hit her that hard.

maybe it was because you couldnt control the strength in your hands very well yet, all you knew was that there was something seriously wrong with mai now.

she became a little pale and her eyes were still widened. there was still blood dripping from her mouth, now dripping through her fingers.

one of her hands was moved and she grabbed tightly on the uniform in front of her chest. you slowly walked over to her, you didnt care if it was a trap. you had to make sure she was okay.

you didnt want to kill anyone with your technique ever, ofcourse you knew you would have to sooner or later, but you would never dare to kill a human.

growing concerned, you now jogged towards her. she started coughing and you stood besides her while patting her on the back.

mai removed her hand that was thightly gripping her uniform earlier and grabbed your shoulder firmly, she was still slumped over.

her knees gave out and she came crashing down, now on her knees and her hands on the floor, you grew even more concerned and yelled out, "mai! what happened, mai?!"

it was useless, she couldnt speak anymore since she was still vigorously coughing, she raised her head and pointed to her neck. you sat down besides her and figured she had something stuck in her throat.

that would explain her becoming pale and not being able to breath. you moved to her back and grabbed her by the waist firmly, you squeezed her multiple times in hopes she would cough up whatever she had in her throat.

finally after about 8 times, something flew out of her mouth. it were two missing teeth of mai. your eyes widened at the sight of it.

your punch had apperantly been a bit too much for the girl, making two of mai's teeth let loose and they accidentally got stuck in her throat.

fortunately to her, those two teeth were from the far back of her mouth, not making it noticeable that she had less teeth than anyone else now. you sighed and visibly relaxed.

the two of you sat there and mai finally caught her breath again. you spoke up softly, "im glad..." you said almost in a whisper.

mai wouldnt dare to look at you, you did save her life just now. instead, she turned to face the forest and spoke, "i owe you i guess." she mumbled out.

you smiled and started standing up. mai did so too and started talking again, "lets just... forget what happened and part ways." she said a bit embarrassed, she felt rather helpless.

looking at her, you gladly accepted that idea. "alright, ill hope i see you another time then." you told her and started walking to find your comrades after getting seperated.

mai looked at your back, seeing you walk away from her. it reminded her of a certain someone. she yelled out for the last time, "l/n!"

you turned around and faced her. she opened her mouth, "if we werent born in this jujutsu world, im sure we wouldve been great friends." she looked at you and gave you a gentle smile.