note: i keep on forgetting that ffnet doesn't work like ao3 but concerning the status of the white dog, that will be an important part of the story. thank you for pointing that out. i'll be settling with 1-3 updates a day depending on my schedule.
Megumi wipes the remains of the Curse from his face. Kugisaki obviously did it on purpose when she guided that Curse to her direction, only to smash it into pieces with her nails. Their daily expedition of walking around the streets of Musutafu ends up with them discovering another Curse, though tiny in size, barely larger than Megumi's torso and it was weak enough for it to not fight back that much. Fighting it barely lasted five minutes with only a simple hit of Kugisaki's nails, Megumi did nothing but stand at watch for other passersby. It was a good thing that these Curses are mostly born in darker areas lest it would create another fuss.
He clearly remembers the last time someone had seen a Curse. It was an April and winter was long gone, and the 'expeditions' became a habit that Kugisaki and Megumi cannot rub off. It was familiar, comforting, and the familiar feeling of the Curses' energies surrounding them strangely made him feel good. The woman that had seen it instinctively assumed it was a Villain, screaming in broad daylight near one of the apartment complexes around the Musutafu Park. She ran, screaming for a Pro-Hero despite the lack of movement or aggression from the Curse. Getting rid of it was easy, exhilarating even (he remembers Kugisaki's grin and the excitement as his hands shake to meet each other; Gojō-sensei always said that sorcerers have screws loose and maybe this is theirs). They quickly left before anyone could see them and it soon just looked like the woman was making things up because of her drunken appearance and how late it was at night.
But what was worse was how this world was adapting to their Cursed Energy. While it is true that the appearance of Curses is one of their biggest problem, Megumi and Kugisaki are beginning to think that it may not be that at all, not even Sukuna's fingers getting involved in this mess or Itadori's disappearance.
Megumi clenches his fingers around the handle of his Cursed Tool. He sends a jolt of Cursed Energy, this time powerful enough to actually be felt and materialize a blue energy. Kugisaki sits in front of him, situating herself in the grass behind the municipal park. She watches the Cursed Energy flicker, eventually fading away in more than a handful of minutes. His companion sighs, throwing her head back a little in disappointment. "So the more Cursed Energy we release, the faster it disperses and," she narrows her eyes, "The faster Cursed Spirits are created. Then that only means one thing then, Fushiguro." She stands up to stretch her legs.
Peering through his hair, he only notices how much longer it had gotten ever since he first made Kugisaki cut them. He bites the inside of his cheek. "What?" He asks.
Kugisaki lifts the hammer she pulled from her jacket's pockets. In another day, Megumi thinks—Kugisaki would have worn something more fashionable, something she decides as 'trendy' and suits her very well but they are stuck in hand-me-downs from middle school students, the grandsons of the Sugiyama Couple and while the couple encourages them to ask for money to buy more clothes, they always politely decline, pouring their money into savings for investigations and travel if needed, and if they need to finally disappear. Kugisaki's jacket mirrors his, embroidered with some middle school a few stations away from Musutafu.
Megumi snaps out of his thoughts when Kugisaki waves her hammer right in front of his face. He instinctively raises his arms to block the blow but receives none. Kugisaki grins teasingly at him. "Sukuna's finger releases massive amounts of Cursed Energy so of course, this world will be hogging it all up. I doubt Sukuna could 'run out' of Cursed Energy since he can use Reverse Cursed Technique but the point is: Cursed Spirits will be flocking there. We just have to follow the trail to get the next finger," she explains, placing a hand on her hip. "And once we gather as much as we can, Itadori can find us a lot faster. Wait, can we use the finger to find Itadori?"
"You can if you eat it."
"Funny."
Beside him, Kugisaki pushes her lengthening hair away from her shoulders. Megumi can never get used to how long it has gotten. She does not look like Kugisaki and the peeking black roots do not help. She was beginning to look like a pudding that had too much caramel on it and he does not like it at all. And whenever Kugisaki pulls back her hair into a low ponytail, Megumi only grows more and more uncomfortable. Without noticing it, his fingers are already brushing against her hair. Kugisaki whips her head to his direction and Megumi quickly puts his arm down. "What? Did you become a pervert after all the months of not having your own room—" Megumi glares at her.
"It's not that," he grits out. He ruffles his own hair in frustration, struggling to find the right words. "Long hair doesn't suit you."
"Your face doesn't suit you, you little—"
"I told you, it's not that. I'm just saying that short hair suits you better."
Kugisaki blinks, her shoulders relaxing. She begins walking ahead as she laughs under her breath. She stuffs her hands in her hoodie and all Megumi could think is how back then, when they were still in Tokyo, whenever they were outside of their uniforms, she always made sure to wear the best clothes she had. He thought that was just her being 'extra' as she always is, but now, he finds himself missing those small things: Itadori carrying everything while Megumi tags along at the back, having been forced to come along, while Kugisaki drags them from one shopping center to another. And when Kugisaki turns around, her longer hair moving along with her and those annoying black roots, Megumi wonders what it felt like to walk in Tokyo as the three of them, complete and arguing as usual. "All we need to do is to hurry up and find Itadori then. Stop slacking off, 'shiguro."
As Megumi catches up, Kugisaki kicks the back of his legs. He stumbles and glares at her. "I think I need help dying my roots. They are kind of irritating," Kugisaki scratches the top her head, fingering the black strands.
"I'm not helping you."
"What are you talking about? You are."
Peering from the classroom where Class 1-A stays, Megumi spots the crowd of reporters. They were lucky enough to not encounter the media, arriving far earlier to school than they usually do. Kugisaki had woken up out of nowhere too early in the morning and it did not take a while for Kugisaki's fidgeting to wake up Megumi, a naturally light sleeper, and thus, their everyday morning run also occurred earlier. Even Megumi had enough time to prepare a quick breakfast for them and the Sugiyama couple who still had been asleep at that time. They found no reason to stay any longer and made their way to UA more than an hour before school starts, which was a good idea because Megumi does not think he can handle the media very well so early in the morning. And who knows what Kugisaki would do in an unplanned encounter with the media. They need to wait for the Sports Festival.
Kugisaki puts herself beside him, leaning at the window. She tilts her face to her hand. "All they're yapping about is All Might," she mumbles and though her displeasure is barely seen, Megumi knows better. "What's his Quirk again? Super-strength? Super-duper Strength?—" She furrows her eyebrows all of the sudden, snapping her back up in vague realization. "Was All Might's Quirk ever mentioned? Like, even in the magazines... I don't recall them naming All Might's..."
The realization comes to Megumi a little later than usual. He and Kugisaki had been investigating the culture and the history of Pro-Heroes very extensively for the past few months but what is All Might's Quirk? The Symbol of Peace is just there. So normalized. So present that why would anyone question him? What is his Quirk? What is the extent of his power? All Megumi can see is a really, really, extremely effective Strength-enhancement Quirk which is one of the most common Quirks in the world but was All Might's Quirk ever explicitly named? He immitates Kugisaki's straightening posture, his shoulders rolling when he realizes that this may be another cause of his stress. Sensing his reaction, Kugisaki pushes his side softly. "Hey, it doesn't matter anyway. It's just a Quirk. We already found it weird that they were putting out their Quirks in public so it's not that big of a deal. Calm down, Fushiguro," for some reason, Kugisaki has been saying that a lot. Is he really getting too paranoid in the past few days?
But those are Quirks, not Cursed Techniques, Megumi almost says. Their Cursed Techniques may be associated to a restriction concerning who they share their Cursed Techniques too but Quirks are not like that. There is something suspicious about All Might. Something he cannot put a finger to but as much as he wants to uncover whatever secret that is, Kugisaki is right. Why does it matter? They should just mind their own businesses. They do not have the time nor the energy to busy themselves with anything other than Itadori, Ryōmen Sukuna's fingers, and the fact that their Cursed Techniques are slowly getting affected by this world. Their goals are much more important than some Pro-Heroes secret or whatever it is supposed to be.
"I am calm," he defends unconsciously.
"If you say so."
Their classmates begin filing up in the room, offering short greetings when they do. Kugisaki returns to the seat while Megumi continues observing the windows, watching the gates of their school shut down mechanically, putting a barrier between the media and the students. It reminds him kind of Tengen-sama's barrier, only weaker, more destroyable, and painfully civilian that Megumi can already think of a lot of ways to destroy the gate. The current best option, he thinks, is Kugisaki's Cursed Techniques. Maybe destructive Cursed Techniques—even the ones everyone would end up struggling to control like Kugisaki's is actually better than he thinks. He scowls, thinking of the destruction that Gojō-sensei left during the battle between the Kyoto and Tokyo students.
Just as he is about to go back to his seat, a vibrant-haired classmate of his enters his field of vision. Kirishima Eijirō, a Third-Grade Curse that is barely even a threat to them. Strength-related Quirks rarely mean anything when there is no skill behind them. Definitely a Third-Grade Curse but his eagerness—"Fushiguro! You were so manly back in the Battle Trials!" First-Grade Curse. Megumi is sure of it. He scoots backwards, wincing at how loud brightly Kirishima is looking at him.
"Thanks," he returns, sitting back to his chair but Kirishima only follows him. He openly cringes. "Do you need anything?"
Kirishima continues to beam, pleased that Megumi actually addressed him for once instead of giving short replies. "You totally beat Yaoyorozu so fast! And—and your Quirk! What is it exactly?" Megumi glances at Kugisaki's direction, who was smart enough to avoid conversations by pretending to sleep. He should have done that instead.
"I can summon creatures," Megumi answers. Though he is pretty sure it is common knowledge that his shikigami come from his shadows, he does not really want to say that out loud because then, they would find out one of his weaknesses. And as a sorcerer, his first instinct is to be as vague as possible. Knowledge about one's Cursed Technique is crucial when fighting. He heard from Itadori that one of Nanami Kento's Restrictions have something to do with sharing the details of his Technique to his enemies and for their Inumaki-senpai, while his Technique is intimdiating and powerful, once the enemy finds out that he cannot deal more damage the more powerful words he uses, he will be much less intimidating. He cannot just scream at everyone to 'die' or 'explode'—that would just be asking for him to collapse then and there.
Kirishima's eyes only sparkle more. "And the swords? The swords that came out of nowhere? Shōji mentioned that too!"
Megumi sighs, cocking his head downwards a little with very evident annoyance in his eyes. "I can store things in my shadow." This is a much lesser-known aspect of his ability. He does not hide this to his schoolmates because of how important knowing each other's skills is but these classmates?
Kirishima continues to talk, complimenting him about how manly he is and how cool he had been when he defeated Yaoyorozu so easily, and 'Fushiguro obviously went through a dojo, huh?' along with 'Kugisaki was so manly too when she just stood there and took Kaminari's electricity!', and as if sensing that he was being talked about, Kaminari showed up out of nowhere, chiming in and thus, dragging Sero with him. Before Megumi knows it, he is already being surrounded by students while Kugisaki 'sleeps' peacefully on her chair. This, however, does not last long. Bakugō marches to Kugisaki's chair, his bag still on his shoulder. "Oi, Pachinko. Fight me," he demands but Kugisaki pretends to not hear him, snuggling further in her arms. "You little bi—"
"Geh," Kirishima grunts, "We should stop him." And that he does, making his way to Bakugō and effectively distracting him when he points out that he still has his bag and that Kugisaki is sound asleep when it is painfully obvious that she is just pretending. No one can blame her though, Megumi can tell. In a span of a few days, Bakugō goes from 'the guy from the Sludge Incident who ranked second in the Practical Exams and has a really powerful Quirk' to 'the one with a nasty temper: just bear with him'. That is not a good start for a Pro-Hero-in-training, especially in a society that prioritizes one's apeparance and how they hold themselves above all else; just look at All Might and Endeavor. Though Endeavor has the highest number of solved cases, All Might is the one at the top, not him because Endeavor is notorious for not 'giving fan service' as if Pro-Heroes are obligated to do so. As of the moment, for Megumi and probably for Kugisaki as well, the most appealing Pro-Hero is Endeavor—efficient, professional, and not hypocrital, well, at least his public image is.
It does not take a while for Aizawa's appearance to finally put a halt to Bakugō's attempt in forcing Kugisaki to a fight. Kugisaki, the moment she hears Aizawa entering the room, finally lifts her head from her arms. Bakugō screeches: "You were fucking awake, Pachinko Nail!" As expected, Kugisaki ignores him.
Aizawa sighs, slams the papers in his hands to the desk, and ushers the others back to their seats. He sighs again, the whole class taking too much time to quiet down. "Hope you're rested from yesterday's Battle Trials. I took liberty of looking at your marks and evaluation. Bakugō—" The blond flinches. "Stop acting like a seven-year-old. You're wasting your talent. Kugisaki." Megumi's companion snaps her head up in surprise. "Just because you can tolerate the pain, doesn't mean you should head straight to battle. Know better. And you—" Midoriya jumps. "Are you always planning on destroying your arm, Midoriya? If you keep going 'I can't adjust my Quirk so I have no choice', you'll never get terribly far. I've said it before. Don't make me say it the third time."
"Yes, sir!"
According to the chatters of his classmates, Midoriya's Quirk appeared late. Very late in life, just a year ago, which explains his difficulty in controlling his Quirk and the bone-breaking problem. Megumi finds it strange. Not only are Quirks supposed to show up around four years old but Midoriya developing his when he is fourteen to fifteen years old? Is that supposed to be normal? To be fair, Itadori only gained Cursed Energy after he ate Ryōmen Sukuna's finger but that is a completely different thing.
From the other side of his room, he spots a brooding Kugisaki, arms crossed and glaring at Aizawa. Right. Though Aizawa was correct about Kugisaki not needing to really absorb the electricity that Kaminari sent to her, it was just so Kugisaki to seek for pain in battles. Megumi had asked where the wounds on her wrist came from, a few days after they arrived in this world, and she hesitated, not really comfortable in sharing the details of her Technique but relenting anyways. To this day, Kugisaki has circular scars littered all over her arms. If they had access to Ieiri Shōko back in Jujutsu Kōtō, such minor injury would have been healed in a heartbeat but Kugisaki lives with the scars, unbothered even though if they weren't just dragged to that stupid portal then this would have never happened in the first place.
"Now, let's get on with the homeroom notices. I'm sorry to have to spring this on you all but we need to pick another class president," Aizawa announces and is greeted by a sudden show of hands, everyone eager to get the position. Megumi looks at them in disbelief but realizes not much later: in UA, positions of leadership will truly help a lot. Not only is this a good addition to the resume you will grow as a Pro-Hero-in-training but this will also heavily assist you in managing your classmates, something to consider that is, in a way, related to how you will manage your future sidekicks. Kugisaki looks just as uncaring as him.
"Be quiet!" Īda exclaims in the whole class, his arm upright and higher than anyone else in the class. "This is a task laden with responsibility where you must carry and pull everyone else's weight! Just because you'd like to do it, doesn't mean you can! It is a holy sacrifice that requires great esteem and trust of those around you! The only truly worthy leader will emerge from a democratic choice reflecting the will of the people! Which is why this must be settled with a vote!"
Considering that everyone will only be voting for themselves, Megumi shares a nod with Kugisaki. He writes his own name and so does his companion. The results show just as expected: the two of them along with the majority of the class wrote their own names with the exception of, it seems, Īda Tenya. If Megumi cared for the class, he would have suggested to vote him and Yaoyorozu Momo who both seem to be the most responsible among everyone but the class somehow concludes that it is Midoriya Izuku, the snivelling, muscle-brained ball of anxiety, who suits the position the most which truth to be told, Megumi does not understand. He cannot even take care of himself properly, so why make him the Class Representative? He sighs, taking the rest of the following class periods to scribble at the corner of his notebook. It does not take much time for lunch to end and Kugisaki to approach his table, suggesting for them to leave.
As always, lunch is cheap and looks unbelievably appetizing. As much as he prefers the Sugiyama Couple's cooking, Megumi cannot help but anticipate for Lunch Rush's as well. "Hey, Fushiguro, about the—" Kugisaki shuts her mouth out of nowhere, putting down her tray to their table and dragging Megumi by the collar down to her height. He grimaces, his collar tight around his neck. "That kid, over there. Wasn't he that kid that got bullied in the internet café," she nods to their back.
Megumi turns, spotting the exact same kid sitting alone at the corner of the bustlign cafeteria. He looks less tired than he had been, which is good, but his bags are still there and his uniform indicates that he is from the General Education Department rather than the Hero Department. Megumi sits down to the opposite of Kugisaki. "This is an annoyingly small world," he grits out in-between bites, "If you're planning to approach him, don't."
"I'm not dumb, Fushiguro. And I doubt we would be interacting much, anyway. He's in the General Education Department and we're in the Hero's. They usually have nothing to do with us. The only people from other classes we'll actually be interacting with are those from the Support Department and Class 1-B, and even that happens rarely," Kugisaki waves her hands around, "Anyway, apparently, the Sports Festival also gets sponsorships from Pro-Heroes. I read from an article and I know we talked about this before but what are we going to do if we get recruited by different Pro-Heroes? It's not like—" A shrill sound of an alarm rings through the canteen and the sudden siren causes Megumi's heart to hammer deeply. He stands up almost immediately, jumping across the table to stand near Kugisaki who straightens up. "Why am I always getting interrupted?" She sighs.
"Security Level 3 has been breached. Students, please promptly evacuate."
"We don't have time for this." Dragging the back of her collar, Megumi tries to maneuver in the canteen but miserably fails when a body aggressively bumps against it. He exhales exhaustedly. He runs a hand down his face, gathering himself. Loud noises always made him more antsy than he usually is. "Isn't this just probably the Press? It makes sense if it was." He immitates the panic of the students, not wanting to seem out of place as Kugisaki does the same.
"How can the press even come in? UA literally has giant walls and public use of Quirks isn't—" Kugisaki almost bites her tongue when a student slams against her. "Watch your step—" She stumbles. Megumi catches her before she falls to the ground and becomes the floor for the other students. She flips her hair angrily. "If this is just the press, I swear, I'm going to—" For the fifth time this day, Kugisaki gets interrupted again and the anger in her eyes, this time, is frighteningly clear.
"Everyone, calm down!" Kugisaki is obviously far from calm but the loud voice is enough to put most of the students to a halt. Megumi spots their classmate, īda, posing awkwardly right above the Emergency Exit, cementing what seems to be his personality trait for the following years in UA. He cringes, watching Īda scream at the top of his lungs. "It's okay! It's just the press! There's nothing to panic about! You're at UA! Let's conduct ourselves in the manner of those enrolled at the highest Academia!"
Once the crowd finally dispersed, Megumi tries to get a hold of Kugisaki but is ignored. She sits at one of the chairs in the cafeteria, stretching her legs in displeasure as she observes her indoor shoes. Megumi grimaces at glances down at his own. "How many people stepped on my feet today?" Kugisaki grumbles, gesturing Megumi to sit down beside her. She run her fingers through her hair. Megumi looks away. "This is going to be a hassle to wash. Do you think we can do this overnight?" She huffs.
"Let's go straight back to the Sugiyama's. We won't have time to clean the shoes and patrol the area," Megumi relents though a little annoyed at their missed opportunity but at the same time, he has no plans to go to school wearing dirty indoor shoes. "We should get going, all the students are—" Kugisaki suddenly grabs his wrist, eyes wide and alert. Megumi grimaces. "Are you paying back for the amount of time you got interrup—"
"Can you feel that?" Kugisaki demands.
Megumi's frown deepens but obliges. He spreads his senses a little, letting himself become more sensitive rather than distracted because of the whole commotion from earlier. His instincts drag pull him to where he remembers the backdoor of UA is, faint but present. In a world where it struggles to adapt to Cursed Energy and only takes what can be taken, spotting Cursed Spirits is terribly easily. He quickly gets up from his seat and glances at the time. They have about ten minutes before lunch time ends, just enough to return and excuse themselves to say that they were just waiting for each other finish in the bathroom.
Kugisaki leads the way, more in tune with the corridors of the school than Megumi. Five minutes and they end up in the back entrance, still within the school though just a door away from the back gates of UA. Kugisaki peeks at the window of the door and cusses under her breath. She turns to Megumi. "It wasn't just the press, 'shiguro," she pulls him to look. Megumi does as told, the sight of the crumbled gates of UA being the first thing he sees. The other UA staff are flocking around it, face as grave as theirs.
"Are you serious?" Megumi nudges his arm away from Kugisaki. They remember those remains, that type of Quirk they had seen and actively avoided months ago while they were venturing in the murky corners of the red light district just to get a crumble of Ryōmen Sukuna or Itadori. They already know they have to be somewhere near. They already know that because of the Cursed Energy that flies between one place to another, all within a certain vicinity but rather difficult to track as a pair of teenagers or even as a pair eccentric exorcists. "That Quirk—isn't that Disintegration?" His heart is loud, hammering against his ribs and it is all he hears.
Kugisaki looks equally as troubled, forgetting about the faint throb of Cursed Spirit they had felt not even a while earlier. They are late for class. There is probably going to be a discussion about what happened and probably a headcount just to make sure. But all Megumi can think of is the ashes that were once the back gates; the red light district speaks to them. It speaks of a budding Villain Group, no one knows what they want, who they are, who leads them, or what they are trying to do. Megumi and Kugisaki both know a one thing though; there is a Villain among them with a Disintegration Quirk, one capable of turning what he touches to a decaying mess. They had witnessed it themselves whilst searching for clues during the five-month interval. And in that instance they pinpointed a quality of it; like Uraraka Ochako's, it only activates when his five fingers are in contact with the said object.
In the red light district, that Quirk is more than famous. Rumor has it that the said Villain group is slowly taking over the underworld of Musutafu and is on eggshells with the Shie Hassaikai that is trying to get back its turf. Megumi and Kugisaki want nothing to do with it so they hid, watched the Villain walk, playing with the walls and letting it turn to ashes with just a touch. "You're just teenagers, right? I don't believe in exorcists but you two should watch out. That Villain Group is always watching. Better not to get their attention on you two," said one of the neighbors of their client, eyeing them with suspicion, as does everyone.
Kugisaki hides her face in her hands, sighing heavily. "If all things do end up badly, we'll cut off a finger," she announces, "Or you know, a hand. Wouldn't be that hard."
It would be hard because they're not going to fight Cursed Spirits but actual people, Megumi bites back his words, clenching his fist in frustration. He tells himself that they are only going to stay in UA for a short while, just enough to show Itadori where they are and that they are alive and kicking, waiting for him, looking for him, and as patient as always.
Whatever that Villain Group is planning, especially that Disintegration-guy, they naturally wouldn't attack UA in their own homeground, right? UA can easily detect any intruder and that show of strength, making the gates crumble, was just a sign of aggression. Anything more would have not only All Might but all the Pro-Heroes in UA running to wherever they are. And besides, Megumi doubts a Villain Group would want anything to do with a bunch of students who have nothing to their name.
Right?
one who chases after two rabbits will not catch even one