Jujutsu Kaisen: The Forgotten Clan
Chapter 5- New Beginnings
December 31, 2006: New Year's Eve Day in Japan, the time is 8:00am
I am standing in an abandoned building, three stories high, waiting for the curse to show its face. This is one of my secret hideaways for practicing jujutsu…my landlord would not be happy if I damaged their property using spells. Shortly after relocating to Japan, I found this building ten kilometers away from Shibuya: it is an old school building and butts up against a cemetery. When it comes to jujutsu, a sorcerer increases their cursed-energy threshold through exorcisms.
"Technique-Release, Soul Flight. Enjoy your time in the afterlife, curses." I have been practicing for four hours and want to enjoy the rest of my downtown. After releasing the barrier around the decrepit school building, I pick up my green backpack, put on my shoes, and my multi-striped ski cap.
After arriving in downtown Shibuya, I make my way to the library…to pick up an Anatomy and Physiology book. It is my favorite subject and I need to understand the human body in order to maximize my curse techniques. The library attendant greets me with a wave and a gentle smile: they recognize me since I spend most of my free time at the library. On my way out of the library, the attendant stops me for a quick chat.
"Ms. Blaze, come here for a second, please." Her voice is soft and motherly.
"How may I help you, Miss Apple? And what is behind your back?"
"Have a blessed birthday, Ms. Blaze. I hope you enjoy your gift and the day your parents brought you into this world!" She hands me a small box wrapped in brown paper and a bow.
"Thank you, Miss Apple. You should not have." I give Miss Apple a quick nod of the head, and she hugs me. I have not been hugged since I was nine…it feels odd. Normally I don't allow others to invade my personal space, but Miss Apple does not threaten me. Most non-sorcerers don't threaten me…it is other sorcerers I am weary about. We exchange a few more words and I leave.
I put the gift inside my backpack and head off to a local farmers market. Since my birthday is tomorrow (New Year's Day), I am buying ingredients for my favorite dinner and dessert. While I am running through the mental list of ingredients to buy, I let out a sneeze. Someone must be talking about or thinking about me.
December 31, 2006: Tokyo Metropolitan Cursed Technical College, the time is 9:00am
"Two of our windows have reported strange activity coming from a three-story school near Shibuya. A total of thirty curses have been exorcised over the last three months at the mentioned location." Some old sorcerer talking with two other sorcerers.
"What is the issue at hand? Have civilian bodies shown up? What level of curses are we talking about here?" The second old sorcerer chimes in.
"Mostly Grade-2 and above. The only exception is one Special Grade spotted three weeks ago. My guess is, had the sorcerer shown up, the Special Grade would have been exorcised or seriously injured."
"I see. We are dealing with an unregistered sorcerer who is at least Grade-2 and could damage relations within the non-sorcerer communities." The third sorcerer makes this statement, and the first sorcerer nods in agreement.
"When was the individual last spotted?"
"An hour ago, they used a barrier technique and did not leave it up long enough during their exorcism. We have dispatched the second-year students to find the culprit." Now the first sorcerer is grinning ear-to-ear.
While perusing the eggs, I get the feeling a group of sorcerers is nearby. Shifting my eyes to the left, I see two men: one is wearing a black suit and tan slacks combination, while his counterpart is in casual clothing. The black suit is looking at fresh strawberries and has light brown hair with pink highlights. His counterpart has a distinct tattoo on his inner left wrist, a black-and-white skull with cross bones and stained-glass eyes.
I make my purchase, tell the vendor thank you, and walk past the two sorcerers. My next stop is right next to where they are standing. While passing them, I make direct eye contact with skull tattoo sorcerer. I give him a smug grin and continue walking past my destination. At the last minute, I decide to grab a coffee and shake off the two sorcerers. More people are gathering inside the farmers market and there is plenty of distance between the rail station and the market.
While maintaining a steady pace and keeping my eyes forward, I start disrobing. My ski cap comes off first, then my wristwatch, and red-plaid t-shirt. I let my hair down, each brown curl bouncing freely with the wind. Finally, I tuck my pants inside my socks, put a green sweatshirt over my black tank top, and dawn a pair of sunglasses. New identity, new me. I walk into a nearby pastry shop and order-up. Once seated by the window, I notice skull tattoo and suit dude walk past the shop, unaware they have just past me bye.
After a few minutes and deciding my followers are gone, I finish up my snack and get ready to leave. While throwing away my trash, I see three young sorcerers heading towards the bakery. A woman and two men: both men are at least 190cm tall, one has crow-black hair that extends past his shoulders…reminds me of the person who attacked me at my home in Canada. This second man has spikey white hair and walks with an air of confidence. The woman has a bob cut and an unlit cigarette in her mouth.
As the four of us pass by each other, the black hair guy and I accidently brush shoulders. He is strong.
"I am terribly sorry Miss, did not mean to run into you. Are you alright?" His cheeks are tinted red, and he is giving me a coy smile.
"I am alright, thank you for asking." I wave at the three sorcerers and leave. Before getting to the other side of the street, I hear them talking with each other.
"What is the physical description of the person we are looking for, again?" The woman asks this to both men while lighting her cigarette.
"An individual with a striped ski cap, dark wash blue jeans, and an unknown eye color. A gender was not specified either. Since we are at my favorite bakery, want to grab a pastry with Suguru and me, Shoko?" This coming from the dude with white hair. Something tells me I should know who he is…I am not going to dwell on this fact right now.
"You know I don't eat sweets. Hurry up so we can find this person before they get away. I am not in the mood to get yelled at by our sensei." Shoko takes a drag from her cigarette and stands outside of the bakery. I realize I have forgotten my green backpack. Oh crud.
I turn around and run across the street just before the walk signal stops flashing. Out the corner of my eye, three blocks away from the bakery, black suit and skull tattoo dude are heading my direction. They have not seen me yet but are retracing their steps.
"Something bothering you?" The woman named Shoko asks me between puffs of smoke. She takes out her phone and starts punching in a name.
"No." I walk inside the bakery and a line of people that starts at the door. Looking around back at my table, I spot my backpack and some individual grabbing said backpack. The person sees me, smiles, and starts walking backwards with my bag.
Trying not to cause a scene, I say excuse me while moving past the line. There is an exit near the restrooms, I am making my way over there when suddenly, black hair dude and I run into each other…again.
"Twice in one day, I see." He is smiling, trying to hide his embarrassment. And looks at his phone screen. I ignore him and walk through the exit door. Once outside and in the alleyway, I assume the robber has gotten away, then I hear footsteps running towards the sidewalk. I head in the same direction.
December 31, 2006: Back inside the bakery, the time is 10:30am
The oblivious black-haired sorcerer and his confident white-haired counterpart are chatting at a table. They are exchanging text messages with Shoko has sent them each a text message.
Shoko: "Hey you guys, the person Suguru ran into is heading back inside the bakery."
Satoru: "Why are you telling us this?"
Shoko: "Take a good look at her if you can. She might be our target."
Suguru: "Not a chance, she does not fit the description provided by the Window."
Satoru: "How do you know what she looks like, Suguru? Did you run into each other again? Nudge, nudge"
Shoko: "Bawah, that would be hilarious."
Satoru: "Suguru where are you?"
"To answer your question, Satoru, I am right in front of you. She just went out the backdoor of the bakery, I saw her on my way back to the table."
"What you have a thing for wayward women?" Satoru says this with zero regard for Suguru's feelings.
"I am not going to answer that. Come on, we should meet up with Shoko and find that woman."
Meanwhile, I have eyes on the backpack thief. He is headed towards the farmers market and walking with a purpose. There are fewer people at the market at this point, so I start jogging…and reach the end of the market within a few minutes. My internal alert system goes off, I turn around and see nothing.
I catch the thief off guard and tackle him to the ground.
"Ouch! What the heck are you doing to me you mad woman! Get off."
"Give me my backpack and I will let you go." I grab one end of the bag and he is holding the other end.
"Your backpack? This is mine! Oh please, send help. Help!" Now he is fake crying, great. A few pedestrians give us the side-eye.
"Hurry up and give me my bag!" We are playing tug-of-war with my green backpack. He kicks me in my left shin, I repay the favor by kicking his right knee-cap. I follow-up with a swift punch to his nose. He releases his grip, holds his nose, the bag falls to the ground, and I scoop it up. The thief stares at me, eyes wide, turns around and scurries away.
As I am smiling to myself, my internal alert system goes off, again. I turn around and see my stalkers running towards me. While struggling to get up, I take in my surrounding and decide to fight. There are not many civilians around, I am tired of these two following me around, and the three sorcerers from the bakery will arrive any minute.
I remove my sunglasses, look towards the approaching sorcerers, blink once, and they drop to the ground. That takes care of them, I run off, taking my bag with me.