Yūji stares up at the empty movie theater with narrowed eyes. Her mind was going around in circles at the constant, neverending feeling that something bad, something wretched was once here, and possibly nearby.
It's been exactly three days since Kento started training her, and it's been three days since she first gained access to her cursed energy. Kento was definitely surprised by it, not expecting someone so new–and so young–to be able to use it at such a skill level that Yūji was able to. Yūji kept it to herself, for now at least, that Kento's training was eerily similar to her old sensei's.
"Nanamin... we need to be careful..." Yūji speaks up quietly, glancing up at the 27 year old man. Kento glances down at her before silently nodding.
He starts walking inside, passing by the police with ease. "Come on. Everyone should have left the theater."
They silently pass by a sobbing theater worker being comforted by a police officer. Yūji narrows her eyes before a frown forms on her face. The wretched feeling gets stronger the closer she gets to the crime scene.
"Whatever did this... they will not continue to live," Yūji thinks, clenching her fists to her side. For something to do this to a blessing of Izanagi-no-Mikoto*... Yūji will make sure it will never see another life again.
When Kento and Yūji reach the crime scene, Yūji keeps her expression carefully impassive. She stares at the blood-soaked seats indifferently as Kento points over at something else.
"Can you see it? This is the residual taint of cursed energy." Kento moves his finger from the entrance of the seats over to the exit. Yūji blinks before staring down at where he first pointed.
"No... but I can sense it." Whatever it is... it's wretched and shouldn't be alive. Yūji keeps her last comment to herself, her tone very tight and restrained.
"You can't see it, because you're not trying to see it. We typically see curses as if it's perfectly natural to. When a cursed technique is used, it leaves traces behind. That's what residuals are. But residuals are much fainter than cursed spirits. Focus your vision and look closely," Kento explains in a slight harsh tone. Yūji narrows her eyes and makes a small noise in her concentration.
Footsteps slowly appear in her vision, making her smirk. "I see it."
"A proper sorcerer can sense them before seeing them," Kento comments indifferently. Yūji slouches slightly with a pout and gives him a small look as they follow the residuals.
"No wonder you're not a teacher. Teachers are meant to praise and scold a student when they deserve it," Yūji mutters to herself, crouching underneath the caution tape.
"I don't praise or disparage anyone. I adhere to facts and judge on that basis. That's who I am. There was a time where I mistakenly believed society operated the same way, but enough about that," Kento informs calmly. Yūji gives him a disbelieving look before she stretches her back.
"I call bullshit. You can't be able to handle Gojo-sensei's personality without a bit of biased opinions," Yūji states with a small, cheeky smile. Kento gives her a small look before he takes the lead on following the residuals.
Yūji pouts slightly at the slightly awkward silence between them as they walk up the stairs towards the roof. "There wasn't anything on the surveillance cameras, right?"
"Right. There was only one young man aside from the victims."
"It was a cursed spirit," The pink haired teenager states with a small frown.
"Most likely, but we can't rule out curse users," Kento retorts slightly, making Yūji frown even more.
"I know it's a cursed spirit. This feeling... Something so wretched can't be a human..." She trails off with a small growl. When they reach the doors leading to the roof, they grab an umbrella next to the door.
"Humans can be wretched too, as you put it," Kento says calmly, making Yūji snort.
"No. Humanity can be diabolical, inhumane, evil, immoral, but they can't be wretched. Not as humans–not with mortality burdening their souls. As long as someone has a mortal soul, they can't be wretched." Yūji clenches her fists. "If some mortal can–"
Yūji widens her stance and whirls around with her fists in the air. A growl escapes the back of her throat as she glares at the... thing crawling into the shadows. The wretched feeling was coming off of it in waves, but... it wasn't the originator.
"Lu-lu-lu-lunchbox!" It turns its head to stare at Kento and Yūji. Yūji takes a step forward, but Kento reaches out his arm in front of her.
"Stop. I'll take care of this one," Kento states calmly. "You handle the one over there."
Yūji whips her head to the left when the wretched feeling flares up. "Good detergent!"
The pink haired teenager frowns before pulling up the sleeves of her jacket to her elbows. She narrows her eyes when something... familiar waves off of the thing.
"If you decide you can't beat it, please call me," Kento says, making Yūji sweatdrop with a slight pout.
"With how much you've been training me, it would be nice to think that you actually think higher of my skill level," Yūji retorts before she stretches her arms.
"It's not the matter of underestimating you or not. I am an adult, and you are a child. I have a duty to prioritize your life over my own." Kento starts walking towards the thing in the shadows as he takes off his tie. Yūji scoffs as she widens her stance.
"A child who's most likely dealt with more deadly encounters than you have. I'd rather be underestimated than treated like a child," Yūji snarks with a small frown.
"You adults are all the same. Don't go naming a child, a child when you don't know what they've experienced, what they survived, what they lived through," She adds with a certain bitterness to her tone that even surprises her. Yūji blinks and glances at her clenched fists before sighing heavily.
"I thought I got past this..." Yūji looks up and stares down the thing she is tasked to fight.
"Trauma does weird things, no?" Sukuna teases with a grin, making Yūji frown.
"You do not get to say anything after you bruised my neck," Yūji retorts with a small internal huff.
Sukuna chuckles and starts to fade. "You liked it."
Yūji is pulled back into reality when she notices movement in front of her. She easily dodges the punch aimed at her stomach and raises her foot. Her kick makes the thing fly back into the theater building, causing a small crater from the sudden power and force.
"–you listening to me Itadori-kun?" Yūji blinks before her face flushes slightly at the question.
"Oh, were you talking to me? Apologies Nana–" Yūji grunts when she takes a punch to her stomach and releases a small growl. She takes a few steps back before raising her fist. Glowing blue energy explodes from her fist, surrounding it in its glow, before she slams it into the thing's head. She forces into the ground, squishing its head like a grape and making it go limp.
"He was talking about his technique, something having to do with forcing a weak spot on an opponent by a ratio," Sukuna states lazily, making Yūji frown.
"Is it okay to reveal that during a fight?" She asks curiously, standing up with a hand on her hip.
"It's no problem to reveal that technique to that opponent. Also, the better if revealing it misleads them," Kento continues talking calmly.
Yūji raises an eyebrow before glancing down at the thing she killed. "Wait a minute..."
"There is merit to it. "Revealing one's hand" is a pact that increases the effectiveness of one's technique. Like so." Yūji glances up and watches as cursed energy completely surrounds the blonde man. The thing he is fighting charges forward.
"This familiar feeling..." A sharp breath is sucked in when cold realization sinks in. "Humans!"
"Nanamin, wait!" Kento slices through the human's legs and arms. She curses under her breath and rushes forward. She slides on her knees and stops beside the human Kento just defeated.
"Lu-lu-lu-lunchbox..." Yūji bites her cheek and hovers her hands over the human. She couldn't do anything...
Yūji stares into the crying eyes of the human. "I'm sorry. Your pain will end soon."
It nods its head, sniffing loudly. Its eyes glaze over as it continues to repeat lunchbox. Yūji sighs softly when it finally goes completely limp. She raises a hand and gently closes its eyelids.
"A curse technique that modifies a person physically appearance? Interesting..." Sukuna states in amusement. Yūji inwardly gives him a harsh snarl while she keeps her face impassively in reality. A harsh sigh leaves her and she clasps her hands together.
"Izanagi-no-Mikoto... I apologize for my ignorance and negligence to your blessings. May these two be brought to you for the healing of their souls under my recommendation before they are judged for their mortality. I swear on my blood to find the one who has committed the ultimate sin against your blessings and make sure they never live past this life," Yūji prays softly, the rain pouring down harder. She opens her eyes and quickly stands up, her fists clenched at her sides.
"We have to find the one who did this. This–this goes against the divine law of creation." The pink haired teenager turns and gives Kento a determined glare. "These humans were modified, changed to be these–these monstrosities."
"Human? These two are human?" Kento asks, surprise filling his tone. Yūji nods and stares back down at the human.
"Take a picture. They'll still appear in the photo," Yūji says, voice blank with impassiveness.
"You don't care about humanity, so why are you so angry about this?" Sukuna asks with a frown. Yūji stares down at her feet with a dark scowl.
"Sukuna. Ōhirume-no-Muchi is my blood's creator. I am the descendant of the last God Slayer family alive today. For a curse, an incredibly inferior curse to the ones we once fought millenniums ago, to do this to the sanctity of a mortal soul... If I leave this be, I would be disgracing the Gods and all that they have sacrificed and created for the mortals that thrive today." Yūji looks up and breathes in deeply, her eyes dark with anger. "To go against the duty of my blood... the gift of my blood, I'd rather die."
Sukuna leans forward with a narrowed gaze. "I refuse to believe a lowly mortal like yourself knows about the sacrifices the Gods have made."
"No. You refuse to hope that someone with the same duty, the same gift, as you is still alive and able to talk with you." Yūji sighs heavily and turns around. She silently picks up her umbrella as she walks, waiting for Kento at the door.
"Itadori-san is right. They're humans. No, I guess I should call them former humans. They're the same as the three from the theater." Yūji clenches her fist at the statement. She was sitting in a curled position on a window sill, staring at the pouring rain.
"The structure of their bodies was forcibly altered by a cursed technique."
"If that was all, I would have noticed from the start. The two we fought were full of cursed energy, like cursed spirits," Kento states, sitting down on the couch after taking off his jacket.
"You'll have to ask the culprit about their cursed technique to explain that. Though there is evidence that their brain stems were tampered with, most likely to create a state of confusion and impaired consciousness. If they can tamper with the brain, it might be possible for them to modify someone to be able to use cursed energy. The relationship between the brain and cursed energy is still a black box to us. Oh right, is Itadori-san listening?" Ieiri Shoko speaks up again.
Yūji doesn't look away from the window, but nods her head. "I am, Ieiri-sensei."
"To sum it up, these guys died of shock from having their bodies modified. You didn't kill them, so don't get the wrong idea about that," Shoko says, making Yūji smile.
"Thank you, Ieiri-sensei, but this wouldn't have been the first time I killed a human. My family has a lot of enemies," Yūji speaks softly, resting her head against her knees. Kento ends the call after that, glancing over at the subdued Yūji.
"I apologize for snapping at you earlier. I have a lot of... trauma when it comes to adults." Yūji turns her head and gives Kento a small smile. "I was also... furious that something was able to get away with harming a mortal's soul. I still am. To–to taint a blessing of Izanagi-no-Mikoto so easily..."
She avoids his gaze by turning her head to stare at her feet. She closes her eyes and sighs heavily.
"I refuse to allow something so weak compared to the ancient ones, destroy the sanctity of mortality. It goes against the duty of my blood." Yūji clenches her fists as a long flash of lightning streaks across the sky. Booming thunder shakes the window not a even a second later.
Kento stays silent before he stands up. Yūji glances at him and sees a determined expression on his face.
"I only put in minimal effort in every mission I take. It seems we'll need to go all out today. Our foe is quite skilled," Kento states calmly. Yūji blinks before a grin slowly grows on her face.
"It is, but with both of us, I'm sure we can complete this mission easily!" Yūji exclaims brightly, determination glowing in her eyes.
"I've organized the reports from our windows on recent residuals, unnatural deaths, and disappearances. This should help us narrow down the culprit's hideout to some extent," Kento says, raising a hand towards a map on a chalkboard. Yūji hums as she glances over the map before walking forward.
"These four are from the Shō yakuza family. These people refused to pay a certain monetary payment and paid with their lives instead," Yūji says calmly, taking off four outer pins from the map, two of them as unnatural deaths and two as disappearances.
Kento stares at her for a moment before glancing at the map with a nod. "Good, that'll narrow it down even more. While I continue to investigate this matter, I'd like you to deal with another matter."
Kento pulls out a picture of a cute looking boy with long black hair covering the right side of his face, black eyes, and slightly tanned skin in a crowd somewhere. He pins it to the map.
"He's so cute! How old is he? He looks really young... and tired, poor thing," Yūji thinks with a small frown. He was quite small and worryingly thin, barely looking older than 14 years old.
"This is the boy who was at the theater, Yoshino Junpei. Apparently, he goes to the same high school as the victims." Kento holds up a remote, turning on the television to show surveillance footage of Junpei running out of the theater. "Based on the surveillance footage and how he carried himself, I believed it was unlikely he could be a curse user. However, if he's related to the victims, that changes things."
"Curse user?" Yūji tilts her head in confusion. Her cheek tingles, making her roll her eyes almost immediately.
"A jujutsu sorcerer that is labeled as evil, slut. Honestly, you should really pay attention to what people tell you," Sukuna taunts, making Kiyotaka squeak in fear at the sudden appearance of the curse. Yūji slaps her cheek with another eye roll and gives Kento a smile.
"Sorry. He does this a lot–and knows he shouldn't do it if he doesn't want to get the body he's forced to be caged in killed." Yūji puts emphasis on the last part of her statement. The mouth forms on her hand and scoffs loudly.
"Please, these second-rate sorcerers can't do shit to me, slut," Sukuna states confidently. The pink haired teenager sighs heavily and lowers her hand, turning it over to glare at the mouth.
"You're a parasite."
"I'M NOT A FUCKING PARASITE!" Yūji yelps in surprise and stumbles backwards when her hand suddenly punches her straight in the face. She holds her nose in surprise before ripping the hand up to her face. She slaps it with her other hand, deliberately on top of the mouth.
"Bad. I'll take away your talking privileges," She threatens, making the mouth grumble before fading back to a normal hand. Yūji harrumphs and touches her lip, feeling blood trickle down from her nose.
"Sukuna's able to manifest a mouth?" The blonde man asks in a stern tone. Yūji blinks in surprise and looks up at him, quickly noticing how tense he is.
She nods her head with a frown, leaning forward with her hand underneath her nose. "Only thing he can do that I can't stop without really thinking about it. He doesn't like the nickname I gave him."
"Nickname?! I'll show you a nickname you little–"
"So, I'll be investigating Yoshino-san?" Yūji pushes Sukuna's cuss out to the back of her mind with an amused internal chortle.
"Yes, I've entrusted the process to Ijichi-kun," Kento answers with a nod. Yūji and Kiyotaka give him a salute.
"Yes, sir!" Yūji exclaims brightly she turns and gives the black haired man a bright smile.
"Let's do our best, hm?" Kiyotaka smiles and gives the teenager a nod. Yūji grins even brighter and walks out of the room with him. She pauses and quickly rushes back in.
"Itador–" Yūji gives the blonde man a hug, grinning up at him.
"Be careful when fighting the curse, okay? I really like you, even if you're an adult," Yūji states with a warm smile before releasing a shocked Kento from her hug. She gives him a wave before skipping towards the door.
"And call me Yūji!" She calls over her shoulder before grabbing Kiyotaka's hand. "Let's go, Ijichi-san!"
Hey! Hope you all like the new chapter! So, change of plans, Junpei's definitely gonna appear next chapter.
I still hope you enjoy nonetheless! Also, I have made the executive decision to make Junpei younger. I have also made the executive decision to possibly/possibly not make him suffer more.
*Extra information*
*(1): Izanagi-no-Mikoto is another name for Izanagi, a creator deity and the father of Amaterasu, Susanoo, and Tsukuyomi. I tried looking for it, but I'm pretty sure he's the creator of humans... don't take this for absolute fact though, because I do not know.
I hope you all are enjoying the story so far! Bye.
WhovianWhoudini