Jujutsu Kaisen: The Forgotten Clan
Chapter 6- New Beginnings Part 2
"Oh, my goodness! Someone call the paramedics, there are two unconscious men in the middle of the plaza. Help!" A civilian woman is screaming this while looking around for what caused the two men to pass out. Her screams cause a small group of individuals to cluster around the fallen sorcerers. An unarmed, civilian patrol officer arrives at the scene first.
"Ma'am, what seems to be the issue here?"
"I was walking out of the store when these two, men fell. I did not hear any screaming or loud noises. They just fell!"
"Did you see anyone else within the vicinity when these two individuals, fell?" The patrol officer is trying to make sense of what happened without insulting the woman.
"Umm, two teenage boys who were fighting over something."
"Can you describe what these boys look like, ma'am?"
At this point, I have sprinted behind a nearby building putting distance between me and the scene of the crime. The last thing I want is to get arrested by civilian police or worse, dragged off by sorcerers. While the stalkers are not dead, they have sustained enough internal damage to warrant hospitalization. What a wild birthday eve this is. The one time I decide to treat myself and try celebrating my birthday, again, and I am dragged into the drama of sorcerers. At least I can fend for myself, have learned to identify a sorcerer from a civilian, and take necessary precautions to hide my tracks. Today, I have screwed up big time!
I open my bag and rummage through the contents, making sure nothing has been book, a dozen eggs, random pieces of chewing gum, my headphones, emergency feminine hygiene products, two essays, a pencil case, my house keys, Miss Apple's birthday gift, and my wallet are all here. All my money is accounted for, but…my identification has gone missing. Plus, the clothing I had taken off back at the market is gone too. Crud! This is not good. I must find that damn bag thief again!
I am snapped out of my pity party by the sounds of approaching footsteps. After recollecting myself, I hear the footsteps stop. Whoever it is, they are waiting for me to come out of my hiding spot. I start putting my belongings back inside the bag, remain in a crouched position behind a trashcan, and wait. There is a door right behind me, but it opens from the inside. The footsteps start up again and are accompanied by a voice.
"Long time no see, huh buddy? How is your new girlfriend?"
What the heck? I hear a second pair of footsteps coming from behind me. They are approaching the person who just said, "Hey buddy". To my relief, neither civilian has noticed me. They hug each other, exchange small talk, and walk away from where I am hiding. I wait five minutes to ensure the coast is clear. After which I stand up, stretch my arms and legs, and walk around to the other side of the building (away from the plaza).
I have had enough of being out in public and head towards the nearest bus stop. I am lost in my world and looking at my phone when a new voice calls out to me.
"Excuse me, do you have a few cents to spare so I can get on the bus?" A child is looking at me with puppy eyes. I crack a smile and get to the point.
"If you need to get on the bus, I will pay for you when it arrives. How does this sound?"
"Oh, alright." The child sounds defeated and unhappy.
Meanwhile back at the plaza, an ambulance is present, the two sorcerers are still unconscious, and Shoko (along with her comrades) have arrived on the scene. Another sorcerer is on the scene as well.
"I take it the three of you were unable to find the individual responsible for the exorcisms at the school this, morning. And what happened here?"
"As I stated earlier, Yaga-sensei, we had run into someone who vaguely fit the description provided to us while getting a snack. Unfortunately, their trail ends here with these two curse users. My guess, our target took the curse users out. Do you mind if I smoke?" Shoko is annoyed since nobody believes her. The civilian security officer and the woman who was yelling earlier come over to Shoko's group.
"You must be the backup I had requested. Here is a rough sketch of the two individuals I feel were involved with this incident." The officer hands Yaga a rough sketch of me and the thief: my hair is down to my mid-back, stick straight, and my facial features suggest I am skinner than my actual body shape. My clothing is spot on and so is my height.
"Hold on, let me see this." Spikey hair dude grabs the sketch, looks at it, turns his eyes in the direction I headed and returns the sketch to Yaga. He then walks the path I took to get to the bus stop.
"Where do you think you are going?" Suguru says this with a displeased look on his face. This makes spikey hair dude smile.
"To run into the same person as you have done twice already. Come on, I know where our missing sorcerer is." He signals to his friends to follow him.
Since it is New Year's Eve Day, the bus is running on a shortened schedule. I guess it will take another hour for the next bus to arrive. I am eager to get home and have a sinking feeling in my stomach. To my surprise, the individual who stole my identification and clothing is walking around the park across the street from the bus stop. And they are not alone. I go to hand the child some money, but they have left.
Once the traffic clears up, I jay-walk across the street, being careful not to make sudden movements. I make it to the other side without being spotted. A tree large enough to hide behind comes into view, and I use it as a cover. The thief and his companions, on the other hand, keep moving deeper into the park. It looks like the rest of my day will be spent tailing someone. Oh, the irony.
After twenty minutes of following the leader, the thief and his company have stopped by a pond. The three of them are seated on a bench and talking. I am seated behind a tree with my eyes looking away from the pond, completely hidden from their lines of sight.
"What is with the outfit? Red is not a good color on you." The first individual starts talking.
"I thought it would be fun to wear this around, and the shirt has her scent on it. Keeping it on will remind me of her. Plus, the ski cap is comfortable, I am going to keep it."
Weird, don't ruin my red plaid shirt! It is one of my favorite pieces of clothing.
"Cut the crap, will you. Did you get her identification or not?" The second individual says.
"Hehe, I got more than just and identification. I also got this." In addition to showing his comrades my identification card, the thief brandishes my spare apartment key and my pocketknife. Great, while this individual is a civilian, his two counterparts are not. They are sorcerers…and strong ones at that.
Deciding it would be best for me to maintain distance between myself, the thief, and the two sorcerers, I stay behind the tree and watch the group get up and leave. Based on their selected route, they are heading towards my apartment. I start following them but, get interrupted by someone's conversation and approaching footsteps.
"You said they are wearing a green backpack and green sweater, Shoko?"
"Correct, Satoru. Any sign of her?"
"Look ahead, there is an individual who fits that description walking towards us as we speak." As luck would have it, an individual who is also wearing a green sweater walks past the young sorcerers. The three of them start tailing the civilian and head in the opposite direction of me.
I take off my sweater, put my hair in a bun, and keep the sunglasses on. From now on, I am not going to use cursed energy unless necessary. I can't afford to be traced by my residuals. Time to get my identification back.
December 31, 2006: Someplace in Tokyo, the time is 5:00 pm
Ten minutes of walking later, the trio makes it to the subway station, swipes their transit cards, and gets on the bullet train. I do the same thing and enter a section of the train far away enough for them not to see me. Our destination is unknown to me…we pass the station closest to my house. The number of people on the train is sparse and keeps declining with every stop.
After reaching the end of the line, the trio exits the train. I shake myself out of a stupor before exiting behind them. I have concluded they are not going to my house, at this time and start feeling uneasy. An overwhelming amount of cursed energy, from sorcerers and spirits, radiates from a compound ten kilometers away. The sun has started to set, making it darker with each passing minute. It is time to get my belongings and scram!
"We know you are behind us. Care to walk alongside us and chat?" The civilian who is wearing my t-shirt says this. The three men have stopped walking and are staring in my direction. Are they able to tell I am a sorcerer too? I answer the civilian in a calm, collected manner.
"Surprise, you all caught me. Listen, I am new to this part of town and got lost. Do you mind directing me to the nearest public telephone?" I am suppressing my cursed energy levels and passing myself off as a civilian.
"Tell us your name first, sweetheart, and then we will help you out." This coming from one of the sorcerers: he has short blond hair, dark brown eyes, and is close to my age. He is smiling at me, showing half of his teeth. His flirtatious manner is off-putting, his attitude, sinister. The other sorcerer bears a similar physical appearance to this one, except his hair is darker blond.
"How about you chill out with the pet names. We are not dating, and I don't feel like flirting with you." I am giving a fake smile and trying not to rip this dude a new arsehole for being rude. By this time the three men have come closer to me. The second sorcerer starts talking and grabs me by the front of my shirt.
"We asked for your name, now give it to us." He is yelling in my face and trying to get a good look at me. My sunglasses are still covering my eyes, but I instinctively change my eye color...just in case the glasses fall off.
"You see something you like? Let me go." I am balling my left hand into a fist, preparing myself for a fight. The civilian walks over to the second sorcerer and myself. He is close enough for me to reach him.
"Let her go. We need to report back for the clan meeting." Blond sorcerer says to his counterparts.
The dark-blond sorcerer lets me go, the trio continues on-ward and I stay put. Once the others are out of sight, I look at my identification card and close my eyes. Things could have escalated very quickly had I not remained calm. I head back towards the subway station, spare house keys jingling in my right pocket.