DISCLAIMER:

I do NOT own the Oregairu and Jujutsu Kaisen series as they are respectfully owned by the creators and studios.


...

10 days ago

She sat on the couch waiting for him to return with the ingredients. However, it had been two hours since he left and her concern grew. She texted him several times, and he hadn't replied once, nor did he even read the messages. Yukino stood and walked back and forth, contemplating whether or not she should call him. Before she could decide, however, there was knocking on the door. She hoped that was her boyfriend, but she knew that wasn't. After all, this was his apartment, so he could've just unlocked the door with his keys. She approached the door and looked through the peephole to see who it was.

It was a man with white hair wearing an all-black high-necked jacket, matching pants, and dark dress boots. His eyes were covered by a black blindfold.

"Gojo-san?" She mumbled and opened the door to face the white-haired sorcerer.

"Yo!" Satoru greeted. "I knew you're here since he bragged about his plans with you at yesterday's call."

"Why are you here?" When she asked that question, he immediately replaced his carefree attitude with a serious one. That caused Yukino to feel anxious.

"Don't faint when I tell you this... But two hours ago, he was attacked by assassins. By the time we arrived, he was already close to knocking on death's door." Satoru explained the situation, and all Yukino did was staring blankly until she almost lost balance. After keeping herself together, she touched her head while trying her best to process everything.

"Is he okay?"

"Our doctor is healing him right now. That kid is really good at rolling the dice. If we came in a minute later, he wouldn't make it."

"You said assassins did that to him. Do you know who they are?"

"Not much, aside from the fact they were the same ones who tried to kill your sister." Satoru answered while shrugging his shoulders. "But he beat them and he'll survive the injuries. If you still don't know, he's stronger than you think."

"No, I didn't know that." Yukino leaned on a wall to support herself. "The only time I saw him fight was when he was almost getting killed by the Kyoto sorcerers in Okinawa. All I was given to display his strength was that look of determination he had... And that's it."

"I see... Well, Hikigaya really is an asshole, huh?!" Satoru suddenly exclaimed with an overdramatic act. "Leaving his girlfriend just to hang out with people they want him dead! Daaaaamn~."

"Uhm, e-excuse me?"

"That guy is a total prick! How the hell did he grab a drop-dead beauty like you?! I call bullshit on that!"

"P-please, calm down."

"And he has the absolute BALLS to doing his best to live in two different worlds, then got FUCKED HAAAARD!"

"Please mind your language! I understand what you're saying!" Yukino stopped him, embarrassed that his loud voice would reach the neighbors and anyone outside the apartment. The white-haired sorcerer laughed at her embarrassment as he held his stomach to ease the pain from laughing so hard.

"I hope you do..." Satoru stopped laughing and took a deep breath. "Because he struggled so hard just for you. If that's not strength, what would you call it?"

"... Foolishness?"

"Oh, wow. Calling him an idiot already."

"I threw several more insults at him other than that." She chuckled before realizing all of her worries and anxiety dissipated after he threw a 'tantrum'. "... Thank you, Gojo-san... How long until he comes back?"

"Depends on his will to live." Satoru answered and then crossed his arms together with a grin. "And from what I've seen so far, he's got that willpower for sure."

"I see..."

"Well, I need to go now. There are matters I need to attend to. Oh! Can you uh... tell your sister because..."

"I understand. Nee-san is quite a handful to deal with it."

"You got that right..." Satoru sighed before waving her a goodbye and left.

"It is fine... everything will be fine." She mumbled to herself. "I just need to wait."

.

.

.

Next Day

September 2

Although Satoru reassured her that Hachiman would return, he didn't specify exactly when. And so, the agony of waiting patiently for her boyfriend to recover began.

"Onii-chan is absent..." Komachi said with a confused expression. Yukino and two other girls were in the Service Club. "He hasn't read my messages..."

"Neither did he read mine..." Yui spoke while looking at the screen of her phone. "I wonder what's wrong?"

"He... said something about going somewhere." Yukino lied.

"Eh? Where?" Komachi asked.

"I don't know. He didn't give me more details."

"So he's skipping school? What's keeping him busy?" Yui asked in curiosity.

"Again, I do not know the details..." Yukino answered while averting her gaze from them. "We just have to wait for him..."

.

.

.

September 3

After school, Yukino walked out of the building and just wandered somewhere. She cancelled her plans to hang out with Yui and the others, as her only focus was on the text conversation on her phone. The girl was waiting for him to send a text or at least call, but so far, there was no notification regarding him. Yukino thought about asking her older sister for Satoru's contact number and decided to do that once she reached home.

However, she realized the place she just walked into was far from her house.

It was the apartment.

The one Hachiman was living in.

She knew that room was empty, but she took the elevator anyway and approached it. With a deep breath, Yukino knocked on the door three times, and there was no response. She knocked on the door again, only this time, it was louder and more rapid. After the 12th knock, she stopped. She then banged her head on the door and stayed in that position for ten seconds until she stood straight and went back inside the elevator.

.

.

.

September 5

Two days had passed, and she noticed how much she was declining.

She couldn't focus on the class lectures at all, as her hand was on the phone the entire time and looked back and forth between the screen and the teacher. Even in the Service Club, she couldn't pay attention to the progress Komachi made at helping Yoru. When school ended, she once again rejected her friends' invitation and just went home, only to come back to her boyfriend's apartment.

When she really did go home, the first thing she saw was her older sister sitting on the couch, and resting her head on her own right hand. Haruno stared at her own phone, waiting for a notification as well.

"Nee-san."

"Hm? Welcome back, Yukino-chan." Haruno lifted her head to face her sister with a smile. "How's my brother-in-law's apartment?"

"Possibly filled with dust by now." Yukino answered, not surprised that her older sister knew about her frequent visit to Hachiman's apartment. The reason was simple: Hayato must've told Haruno about her rejecting invitations and staring at her phone. Then, noticing how she still came home later than usual and after Hachiman's disappearance, it was easy for the older sister to connect the dots.

"Hikigaya-kun is really lazy~." Haruno said with pouty cheeks. "He didn't even read my messages."

"If it is you, I understand why Hachiman would ignore them."

"Ignoring his future sister-in-law is not gentleman-like. And what about you?"

"No replies or mark as read. He could still be recovering."

"What I mean is how are you feeling, Yukino-chan?"

"I am... not fine." Yukino answered and sat next to Haruno. "It's the same as after the massacre happened. Every time I texted, called, or even visited, he didn't respond. I knew he needed time, but... he could at least say he was doing fine... and now it's even worse. He can't respond to my messages and calls until he wakes up. When will he wake up?"

"Yukino." The older sister hugged and pulled her head to lean on the former's shoulder. While comforting Yukino, Haruno spoke. "He'll be back, and I'm confident about it. Do you want to know why?"

"... why?"

"Because I've seen him beaten up before... Back in Okinawa, the last night was the scariest time I'd ever have in my entire life. Just... his body is so bloody and... those lumps... it was as if he was pounded like a clay. Can you imagine? It's pretty disgusting, right?"

"I... don't think I want to."

"Well, all I'm saying is if he can survive that, then there's nothing to worry about him surviving anything else."

"That is such an optimistic thought."

"Oh, would you like me to act as pessimistic as your boyfriend?" Haruno then cleared her throat to speak as low as possible. "From what I experience so far-"

"Please don't." Yukino stopped her midway.

"You didn't let me finish one sentence." Her older sister pouted.

"No one can imitate him... other than himself."

"I guess... unless we find someone as depressing as him."

"Here's to hoping we don't." Yukino responded, and they both chuckled. They stayed that way for a while to comfort each other. Their conversation and comfort didn't get rid of the despair they had towards Hachiman's circumstances, but it did enough to keep their minds together.

.

.

.

September 8

Three days passed, and there was still no news about Hachiman. Though she started hanging out more with others, she couldn't shake off the feeling of worry. An hour ago, Yukino didn't pay attention to all class lectures and just stared at her phone until a teacher caught her. After being scolded, lunch break began, and she walked towards the Service Club room to see Yui.

"Yahallo!" Yui greeted her when the latter slid the door open. However, the peach-haired girl's cheerfulness wasn't as present as usual. There was the feeling of uneasiness she exuded. Still, Yukino smiled and tried to lighten her friend's mood.

"Good afternoon." Yukino greeted back as Yui sat next to her and started talking about mundane topics. The atmosphere was normal, but the former knew it would dissipate soon just from the peach-haired girl's constant checking on her own phone. She found it impressive how Yui could still hold a conversation while texting and looking at her phone, and paid attention to the person next to her in a swift motion. Was it because compared to her, Yui was so sociable, she obtained a skill in communication devices? Yukino shook away such thoughts, as thinking that way reminded her of her boyfriend's strange way of looking at topics like that.

"Hey, Yukinon..." After finishing her lunch, Yui's cheerfulness faded the instant she spoke. Her face was full of sadness as she put down the phone to her lap. "Have you heard anything from Hikki?"

"Not yet." Yukino answered nonchalantly after picking up her food with chopsticks. "I'm worried, too. Yuigahama-san."

"It's not that I'm worried." Yui argued. "I'm just upset he didn't tell anyone what he's doing... even us."

"Even he has his own fair share of secrets. Let's not invade his privacy until he's willing to tell us."

"You mean 'until he's willing to tell YOU', right?"

"Well... I suppose so..."

"You literally dethroned Komachi-chan as his 'Most Important Angel In The World'. That's like the best achievement to have as a girl."

"I doubt Komachi-san descended to 2nd place."

"But you're the only one he told what he was doing. I'm surprised he didn't even tell his parents or the teacher to note his absence." Yui leaned back in her chair and stared at the ceiling in thought. "Hmmm... I say take that trophy with pride!"

"Please stop exaggerating this as if it was the greatest goal for women, especially if it's Hachiman we're discussing." Yukino said with a sigh.

"I'm not being dramatic, Yukinon. Like, come on. Everyone kinda knows how much he put his priorities on his sister... and Totsuka for some reason."

"Again, he has his reasons."

"Yeah!" Yui held both of her friend's cheeks and forced her to imitate her words. "Be! Cause! You're! His! Girl! Friend!"

"..." Yukino wanted to argue, but decided against the idea because she thought this could go on pointlessly for hours. Instead, she grabbed Yui's cheeks and pulled them gently until it was painful for the latter.

"Ow! Ow! Ow! Okay, okay!" Yui gave up, but not without massaging Yukino's cheeks for a moment until she let go. The girls both chuckled and the bell suddenly rang. "Ah, I forgot there's math class."

"I wish you good fortune." Yukino commented.

"That fortune is wasted." Yui said with a defeated sigh. After packing their lunch boxes and tidying the table, the peach-haired girl noticed her friend wanted to say something but appeared to be hesitating. "What's wrong?"

"Yuigahama-san... Are you still in love with him?"

"... Yeah... I still am."

"I see..." Yukino closed her eyes in thought and then smiled. "It really is difficult to find someone such as him."

"I know, right? You know what? It's his fault for making me feel this way!" Yui pouted. "He's like... a succubus!"

"You mean incubus."

"Hm?"

"Incubus is the male counterpart of succubus."

"Oooohhh..." Yui was in awe and the two girls stared at the ceiling to imagine what he would look like as such a creature. Their train of thoughts went from comedic to dangerously erotic and a millisecond after reaching that zone, Yukino cleared her throat to stop herself and her friend from exploring any further.

"We should go or else we will be late for class." Yukino said with her cheeks blushing.

"R-right! Ahahahaha!" And the peach-haired girl ran out of the room while nervously laughing.

"Why are my thoughts like this? It's his fault for influencing my mind."

.

.

.

Hours later and school ended once again, with several students preparing for the cultural festival. Yukino wanted to help her classmates (which were all girls) with their maid cafe, but her phone vibrated. She pulled out her phone to see who it was and the name of the one person she was waiting for was between the app's name and the message that person sent. Yukino quickly unlocked her phone while accidentally dropping her school shoulder bag on the floor.

"Is there something wrong, Yukinoshita-san?" A classmate asked with others checking up on her in worry. The first thing they noticed was tears in the girl's blue eyes. "Are you okay?!"

"Yukinoshita-san?!"

"D-don't cry..."

"N-no, I'm fine. Thank you." Yukino calmed them down while wiping her tears. "Something urgent came up. I apologize, but I need to go."

"It's okay. Most of the important chores are almost done, so we can finish this on our own."

"Thank you very much." Yukino bowed in gratitude before leaving the school.

"I hope she's alright." One classmate commented after seeing her leave and others joined in the discussion.

"I wonder what it's all about."

"Family problems?"

"Who knows?"

"Maybe it's her boyfriend?"

"Oh, yeah... I heard he hasn't come to school recently."

"ALRIGHT! Stop babbling and let's get to work!"

.

.

.

Meet me in my apartment.

Alone.

That was the message sent by him.

Yukino ran as fast as she could to reach the apartment while bumping into people and apologizing to them.

"This is a first for me... to go this far for someone. To have such strong emotions overwhelmed all the thoughts within my mind. All because of him."

"What did you do to me? How are you making me act this way even when you're not here?"

"The closer I am to that place, the more I lose my rationality."
"What will happen if I see his face?DoIcarewhatwouldhappen?No
Itdoesn'tmatterIhavetoseehimHedidthistomeYoudistortmylifeuntileverythingofmeistwisted."

"Ah!" Yukino accidentally sprained her right foot, which caused herself to fall on the concrete face-first. Some civilians saw the scene, and a few came to check on her. However, the girl quickly stood up and just went back running as fast as she could while ignoring their concerns. Her breathing became more erratic, her vision narrowed with only one point forward focused completely. After reaching the familiar road, Yukino immediately stopped and leaned on the utility pole next to her to take a breather. It only took five seconds for her to move her feet despite the sprain and pushed the button of the elevator. As she watched the number in the floor indicator going down, the doors automatically slid open to reveal a middle-aged man exiting the elevator before noticing the girl.

"What the-" Before the man could wonder, Yukino quickly entered the elevator and pressed the desired floor to go. After reaching said floor, she limped her way to the room and leaned her forehead to the door for a moment in thought. She curled her hand into a fist to knock, but not before taking a deep breath to steady her heart for an unpredictable outcome. Yukino finally knocked on the door, and the response was almost immediate as the door opened to reveal the man who troubled her mind and heart. The same black messy hair, and the recognizable eyes of a dead fish.

"Uh... Hey." Hikigaya Hachiman greeted awkwardly, and his girlfriend only remained silent while looking down on the floor. He tried to speak further, but she suddenly embraced him with her face sunk deep into his chest. Silence came after, and all Hachiman could do was wrap his own arms around her as a response. "I missed you too."

"You took too long." She finally spoke as they faced each other.

"Y-your nose."

"Eh?"

"Your nose is bleeding." He pointed at her nose, and she lightly touched it with a finger and felt a liquid substance.

"Oh..." Yukino just stared at the blood on her finger. "It's because I trip and fell."

"You tripped?"

"Twisted my ankle. Nothing more."

"Alright, come here." Hachiman lifted her into a bridal carry and took her to his couch. After gently putting her down on the furniture, he inspected her current condition by first checking her nose, and then slowly removed her right shoe, which caused her to flinch in pain. "Does it hurt?"

"It's okay. Just take it off." Yukino reassured him, and he complied by taking off her black stocking.

"Geez." Her boyfriend mumbled as he saw how bruised the ankle appeared. "Did you run all the way here while enduring this?"

"It's your fault..."

"Sorry about that... I don't have a first-aid kit so I'll just go out and-" Hachiman stood up and tried to go to his bedroom to get outdoor clothing, but Yukino grabbed his hand to stop him.

"Don't go." The girl said in a desperate tone.

"There's nothing to worry about. I can-" He wanted to reassure his girlfriend, but the look of despair from her caused him to give up and sit next to her. "...-stay here until you leave for curfew. Luckily, the sprain isn't that bad."

"Thank you... Why only me?" She asked while leaning her head on his shoulder after he gave him a cloth with ice to treat the sprain.

"Well... we haven't cooked our pasta yet." He stared at the plastic bag full of groceries, and Yukino chuckled. "But looks like you're too injured to help me, sous chef."

"I'm sorry for this misfortune."

"So no fresh pasta?"

"I'm confident you can cook decent, fresh pasta by yourself."

"Please don't." He said as he put a hand on his head.

"Why not?" She argued with an amused smile. "It could be useful for your career as a househusband."

"What's this?" He raised his eyebrow in amusement as well. " Have you finally understand the beauty in my passion that is the pursuit to becoming a househusband?"

"No, but I am anticipating the fall of your career should you actually choose that in the future."

"You really love seeing me fail."

"I love everything about you."

"Do you not realize that cheesy line that came out of your mouth?"

"I am aware. Please stop thinking my mind functions the same as yours."

"It's impressive how you keep finding ways to call me dumb. Did you seriously waste all that space in your brain to store insults on me?"

"Spare me your praises. You've already said that before, but at least YOUR brain is functioning enough to remember my intelligence."

"I'll take that as a compliment to your standards."

"Desperately thinking my criticism gives you a compliment? What an interesting coping mechanism you are using."

"Not like you're not using such coping mechanism either. Oh, and you're not forgetting about your tsundere tendencies, are you? Even now, there's still a hint of that in you."

"I'm curious of what makes you think so."

"For example, you're contemplating whether to hold my hand or not. You've been staring back and forth between me and my hand for a while. Not to mention how your hand kept flinching back every time you try to get close to mine."

"There." Yukino grabbed his hand. "If you want me to hold your hand, just tell me. I wonder who's the dishonest one here."

"Oi, don't deny my observation." Hachiman lifted her head with the shoulder she was leaning on to tease her. "How come you're feeling embarrassed about hand holding now?"

"It's not that I'm embarrassed..." Her tone changed in a much downcast emotion. Hachiman wondered why until he realized she was staring at his hand, but more accurately, his wrist, which was wrapped in bandages. Yukino hesitated until she pulled the long sleeve of his green shirt to reveal the bandages wrapped around his upper arm. She lifted her head from his shoulder and also noticed the scar on the right side of his neck. While caressing his neck, she spoke. "They did this to you..."

"Still hurts a little, but not that it'll bother my daily routine. I'll recover probably by tomorrow." He tried to reassure her as he just sat still, letting her do as she pleased.

"Are you just saying that to calm my worries?"

"No, Ieri-san really told me about my condition. She's really good at healing."

"... Those assassins... You beat them, right?"

"... Yeah, I did." There was hesitation in his answer, which Yukino took notice. She wondered what that hesitation meant. Could it be he failed? Or was there something else? Before she could ask, her boyfriend spoke. "There's something I need to tell you."

"... I feel like it's not pleasant news." Yukino commented while staring at him with worry.

"It's not... I'm being hunted. If I stay here, I would get you and everyone else in danger."

"So you're leaving... How long will you be away?"

"I don't know... probably not soon."

"At least tell me I can still see you." She put both hands on his cheeks and forced him to look at her.

"I'll make it happen." He answered with determination. "And I'll make it soon."

"... I don't want to go home yet." Yukino embraced him.

"You have school tomorrow."

"School without you is meaningless."

"Not going to lie. I feel like I'm about to vomit if I hear another cheesy line from you."

"And whose fault is it?" She pinched his cheek. "Did you tell your parents about this?"

"I did yesterday." He answered while being unaffected by her pinch. "My mom was mad at me while my dad was... oddly supportive of my choice."

"How is that odd?"

"Well... it's not like my dad and I have some issues with each other, but I knew for a fact he pays more attention to Komachi more than me."

"That doesn't mean he doesn't care about you at all." She argued.

" Probably. I guess I just don't know much about how Dad thinks of me... or rather, I'm just assuming what he thinks and just rolled with it."

"And what about Komachi's reaction?"

"I... don't know." He averted his gaze from her. "It was late at night, so she was asleep, but I think my parents would probably tell her about it by now."

"I see..." After that, there was silence as she went back to leaning on his shoulder. There were so many thoughts in Yukino's mind from their discussion: His hesitation to answer about the assassins; him being away from Chiba for who knows how long; and the effects it would have on their relationship due to being distant from each other.

The future had become more unpredictable for everyone, but she knew one thing for sure...

... she refused him to forget her or the time they spent here with others and with each other. Perhaps she was being paranoid because Hachiman wouldn't do that. After all, he suffered so much recently for their sakes, and their bond with each other grew stronger. However, she didn't want to be too sure about it. After all, nothing was guaranteed other than death. And so, Yukino contemplated what she should do to solve that problem, and after a few more seconds of silence, she came up with possibly the most life-changing idea... at least for her.

"Hm?" Hachiman felt her head lifted as she moved to sitting on his lap, an action that caused him to blush. "Uhm... Yukino...-san?"

"I'm staying the night." She declared without hesitation, despite the embarrassment she felt.

"W-what about school?"

"It's just a one-day absent."

"Y-Your family?"

"I can just tell them I'm staying at a friend's house. But I'm confident Nee-san, and quite possibly Mother, will manage to discover where I truly am from that message alone."

"If that's the case, then... uh, y-you can sleep on my bed while-"

"No."

"No... what, exactly?"

"Hachiman..." Yukino leaned closer to touch each other's forehead. "You cannot be this dense."

"It's not that I'm dense..." Hachiman argued while looking away. "I... don't want to get the wrong idea."

"You have the right idea."

"... Are you serious about this?"

"Do you know how much I've been thinking about you ever since you were gone?"

"I expect a lot."

"You literally took over my mind for these past days."

"Now that is an exaggeration."

"It is, but my thoughts of you did disrupt my school activities often."

"So really a lot." The boyfriend lifted his arms and hesitated until he finally held her back. "The sprain?"

"All healed." Yukino answered.

"That's a lie."

"I can endure the pain."

"I doubt it."

"I made it here with this sprain. It's nothing."

"This is... my first time, so be gentle."

"I'm supposed to say that." The girlfriend chuckled and closed the distance between their lips while wrapping her arms around his neck. The red in their cheeks spread to the ears. Both of them were nervous, but that didn't stop them from seeking each other's warmth.

Yukino thought her plan was irrational, but it was too late to back out for her, as such thoughts faded after feeling everything within them became one. At first there was pain, but it was too weak to make her give up. So much sensations took over both her body and heart. One was the hunger of the man she loved, who showed such aggressive behavior. It was as if he was waiting for this moment, or perhaps he was just as desperate to find a way to mark each other as she was.

A mark to know they belonged to each other.

Gentle at the start, and more ferocious as seconds passed. He held and embraced stronger, and his stare was more full of carnal desire.

She loved it.

She loved how much he desired her.

The intimate act left them desiring each other's warmth even more. She truly ignored the sprain as if it never existed. They didn't know how long it lasted as their sense of time was lost. Even if it ended, they wouldn't care less about the time.

In her mind, it was as if she was casting a curse on him.

A curse for him to only bind to her for the rest of his life. And perhaps even the next life.

It appeared to be pleasant on the surface, but that didn't cancel the meaning of the word 'curse'.

Because once they separated, they would be in pain, and when they reunite, more challenges would come to surface. Those challenges would be so difficult, one of them might fall and wished to lean on the other.

Still, did she still regret it?

.

.

.

No.

After all, she couldn't think of giving her everything to anyone else but him.

...

September 12

Present

The birds chirped while standing on a tree branch. Their sounds reached through the window and emanated in the bedroom belonging to the girl who was about to wake up. As her eyes lifted open, she sat up and contemplated, as the dream she had was still vivid. It left her in a shameful feeling and caused her to lie back down with her face sinking into the pillow while she hugged a small plushy of Pan-san.

"A curse... is it?" Yukino mumbled to herself. "If I do have the potential... I want my power to be just that... Maybe he won't leave me if I have that on him."


The Shell And The Slug: Part 3

The Senior And The Junior

In Sobu High School.

Students and the faculty continued the festivities with the same amount of excitement as yesterday. However, one girl among the first years slowly displayed her sadness and exhaustion. She successfully performed well with the band on stage yesterday, so she was currently enjoying some food stands before their next performance near the end of the festival. However, with nothing else to do, she was alone with her thoughts.

"Day 2 of school after Onii-chan transferred." The girl mumbled.

"You seem upset, Komachi-san." She turned to face the person who said that and saw Yukino in her maid outfit. "Is it about your brother?"

"... Yes." Komachi answered while looking down at her own food.

"Did you receive any calls or messages from him?"

"Messages? Yes. Calls? He never picked up mine."

"I see..."

"But he did answer your call, right?"

"Well, yes."

"You've taken my place as 'His Most Precious Angel'. I applaud."

"Again with that title." Yukino sighed. "You know that's not true."

"Hmmm~? You really kept going with that act... when..." Komachi leaned closer to her and pulled the collar of her maid outfit to reveal a red mark on the left side of her neck. "... you have this on you."

"T-This is just a bite from a mosquito." Yukino made an excuse nervously while covering the side of her neck.

"Reaaally~? Because Haruno-san texted me about you staying at a friend's house three days ago." Komachi narrowed her own eyes while grinning. "Then I contacted Yui-san and said you weren't at her apartment. So I thought you went to Onii-chan's apartment and when I asked a resident there, he said 'that girl dashed into the elevator. I remember seeing her weeks ago with a guy who might be his classmate since they share the same school uniform. Damn kids and their energy, I swear.' What do you say to that?"

"... 'He'?... Is it that man at the elevator back then?" Yukino thought as her cheeks became red and averted her gaze from her boyfriend's little sister. "I doubt that resident was referring to m-"

"I showed him a picture of you and he answered 'yes'." Komachi gave her an accused stare, which caused the girl to surrender.

"I-I admit that I slept in his apartment but nothing happened beyond that!" Yukino still lied, but Komachi wasn't convinced.

"Nothing, huuuh~?" A second later, Komachi's phone vibrated, so she took it out from her pocket to see who was calling her. The moment she saw the name on the screen, her smile grew larger and turned to stare at her senpai while emitting a mischievous presence. "Speak of the devil. Why don't I ask HIM to know you're telling the truth?"

"Of all the timing..." Yukino's eye twitched as the little sister answered the call.

"Hello~! Onii-chan!"

"Hey, how are you doing, Komachi?" Hachiman asked through the phone.

"Doing good!" Komachi answered, then suddenly asked him in a low tone. "Have you finally reached stage C?"

"And what is this 'stage C' you're talking about?" He responded with a question in a stoic tone.

"The ABC's, remember? The A. B. C's. Of. LOVE!" Komachi said the last word so loud, it attracted the attention of nearby people for a moment.

"Oh... that." Hachiman was silent, which raised Komachi's suspicion and Yukino's embarrassment. "What makes you think I've reached that stage? I'm not that perverted."

"So you did not do the deed with Yuki-nee at your apartment?" His little sister asked in an accused tone.

"Just where did you get the idea?"

"Well, Haruno-san-"

"Okay, that's already enough to know."

"And Yuki-nee has a hickey on her neck."

"I told you, this is a mosquito bite." Yukino denied her statement calmly.

"My apartment was pretty dirty since I was gone for a while." Hachiman responded.

"Listen, Onii-chan." Komachi spoke in a soft tone. "It's okay to not admit it. I'm just glad you and Yuki-nee still love each other. And I hope you two keep that strong even if you're distant."

"I know." The older brother agreed. "I'm sorry I left without saying goodbye, by the way... and I didn't even visit you for the festival."

"Just calling me is enough for me, Onii-chan! Ah, that earned me a lot of Komachi points!"

"Yes, yes, you did. I watched a video of your band performance yesterday, you sang well."

"Thanks! All that practice almost killed me!" While the Hikigaya siblings engaged in a conversation, Yukino just watched them enjoying their talk as she caressed the left side of her own neck. The sensations she felt at that night were engrained to her body and mind that the carnal desire in her resurfaced. As Yukino slid an index finger to her lip, she failed to notice Komachi witnessing her action as the little sister smirked. After realising too late, Yukino turned around to hide her embarrassment while drinking a beverage with a straw. Komachi stifled her chuckle and went back to her brother. "By the way, Onii-chan."

"What?" Hachiman asked.

"I want two nieces and one nephew please!" Komachi's enthusiastic demand caused the couple to spit their drinks off their mouths in shock. Before her older brother could respond, she abruptly ended the call and faced Yukino as she touched her shoulder for encouragement before giving a thumbs up. "I wish you two well!"

"K-Komachi-san! Why did you say that?" Yukino asked with her face fully red.

"I wish you two well!" Komachi repeated with the same amount of enthusiasm.

"Thank you, but that previous demand is very unnecessary!"

"I can't help it. It's really hard to picture you two breaking up since you guys already act like you're married."

"W-we're not thinking that far in the future."

"You don't want to marry Onii-chan?" Komachi's question caused Yukino to be silent and averted her gaze. The former just chuckled and continued eating food in silence, as she wanted to give her senior space to contemplate.

"Aren't you angry at him for leaving you?" After a few seconds, Yukino finally spoke.

"I'm sad that he left, but that's not the reason why I'm angry."

"Then... why?"

"Because I was left out on something important." Komachi put down her chopsticks and pouted. "I wasn't there when they had the discussion, so I feel like my thoughts on his decision didn't matter to them. Stupid Onii-chan... he's starting to forget about me."

"If he did forget about you, then he wouldn't bother calling you or ask us to record your stage performance." Yukino argued and then the little sister leaned closer to her with a frustrated look.

"Yuki-nee, please take responsibility in my brother's place."

"... Okay." Yukino accepted with a smile. "I'll make sure to scold him about paying so much attention to me."

"I feel like you're bragging."

"50% is me boasting."


"That she-devil just couldn't keep her mouth shut..." Hachiman thought while staring at the black screen of his phone and eating yakisoba bread. They were in a rooftop of a large abandoned four-storey apartment building as he sat on a large platform while Yuji and Akari sat on the floor eating sandwiches the manager bought at a convenient store. "Is there really no way of hiding from Haruno-san?"

"Senpai." Yuji looked up and called out to him, but he didn't respond.

"You're so bad at everything." Shina's voice said with a huff.

"She's just too good at everything." Hachiman argued in his mind.

"Senpai?" Yuji tried calling him out again, only to have the same result. He and Akari just watched as the dead fish-eyed sorcerer gestured as if he was talking to himself with a closed mouth. The two then just faced each other and shrugged their shoulders in confusion, and suddenly they heard a slap. They turned to see Hachiman slapped the left side of his own head and scratched it roughly. "Senpai?! What's wrong?"

"I'm remembering something annoying, that's what." Hachiman responded in a bitter tone and then checked his wristwatch. "Looks like lunch break ended. Let's get back to training."

"Alright!" Yuji stood up while tidying his pants and cracking his knuckles.

"Same thing as before, but this time give it everything you got." Hachiman instructed as he patted the platform...

... which was the back of a giant brown cursed spirit that had a body of a spider made of solid metal like bronze and had eight tentacles for limbs. The head appeared to be a baby too small to suit the gigantic body. It was as small as a human torso with its two eyes vertical as they were located in the forehead and the bridge of its nose. Despite the tentacles being made of solid metal, one could easily misinterpret their textures as soft from the way they moved.

The sorcerers went on a mission to exorcise a powerful cursed spirit that kidnapped and restrained people in its metallic-like webs, but Hachiman had other plans as he easily pinned him down and threatened the curse so it wouldn't try anything. Fortunately, it was intelligent enough to understand the situation, and so it laid still on its front and let him sit on its back. Yuji and Akari were impressed at his swift work in subduing the curse and rescuing the victims.

"I can't believe that cursed spirit is just... doing as you say." The blonde manager commented while staring at the curse and then at Hachiman in awe.

"I just kinda guess its intelligence based on how much cursed energy it has." The dead fish-eyed sorcerer said while looking down at the curse that was shivering in both fear and anger. "We're lucky we got a cursed spirit to cooperate, but I doubt it would be obedient for long. Once I jump off this thing, get ready, Itadori."

"Osu!" The pink-haired junior responded and moved his feet apart to strike a stance. He alternated between stretching his right arm and left arm forward repeatedly and very slowly. Yuji moved his arms so slowly, people would think he was pretending to move in slow motion.

"So, what's the purpose behind this training?" Akari asked in curiosity.

"Itadori sucks at making his cursed energy flow properly." Hachiman explained while throwing the plastic to Akari, which she caught it by letting it go in the plastic grocery bag. "Although his Divergent Fist isn't really a bad technique, that doesn't excuse him to just stay that way. So, I instruct him to move his arms very slowly with relaxed muscles and control his cursed energy to flow into his hands at an equal pace. That way, he can learn how to control it better."

"Will it work?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I can't say for sure." He shrugged. "I just made this idea up in hopes that it would work. So think of this as an experiment."

"Eh?... Then where did you get this idea in the first place?"

"Let's see... Do you play online games?"

"Not really."

"When we play online games, there are times when the game gets laggy. Meaning, our characters would sometimes stand still even when we press a button to move forward, or the FPS would drop. Aside from getting a better internet or computer, we'd try lowering the settings a bit. From the graphics quality to XP and damage indications, we sacrifice those to get a better FPS so the game won't lag. It sucks for a while because of the low settings, but if you play with it for hours, you'd easily get used to it and enjoy the game again."

"Mhm, I don't get it." She said with an innocent smile that made Hachiman sigh.

"Whatever." He mumbled as he suddenly jumped off the cursed spirit's back and landed behind Yuji, who stomped forward with his left foot and curled his right hand into a fist, preparing to throw a punch.

The arachnid-like curse charged at them, which caused the blonde manager to run to the dead fish-eyed sorcerer's side for her own safety. The moment Yuji threw a punch, he quickly imbued his fist with cursed energy and punched the cursed spirit into its baby-like face. After the first impact, a second stronger one came and pushed the cursed spirit back to its original spot.

"Is there even a change in the time lag?" Hachiman asked.

"Hmmm... Nothing." The pink-haired sorcerer answered while staring at his right fist. "It's still the same."

"i see. Well, this training didn't work. Let's go." The dead fish-eyed sorcerer said and drew the katana on his left hip slightly with his left thumb, preparing to exorcise the curse.

"Wait, let's try one more time." Yuji stopped him.

"We already did it five times, and it didn't work. It's a good thing this cursed spirit is durable enough to take heavy hits."

"Please, Senpai. I feel like I can get it right this time."

"... Fine, this is the last try. Got it?"

"Osu!"

"Wait, why are we using a cursed spirit for his training, anyway?" Akari asked with a confused look.

"Oh, I thought he'd learn faster when facing actual life-threatening situations." Hachiman answered nonchalantly. "Well, I can train him myself harshly to the point that his life is on the line, but I just thought this is better because it's authentic."

"Heeeh." Akari then looked at the cursed spirit that appeared to be crying. "The poor thing is being used as a punching bag. This is honestly the first time I'm feeling bad about a cursed spirit."

"This time, I'm not going to warn you." Hachiman explained to his junior while jumping to the cursed spirit's back again. "It might be a second. It might even be an hour. I might not jump off from the curse and it just charge at you. It's up to your capabilities. And of course, I'm not gonna save you until you either hit it or get close to dying."

"Really merciless, Senpai. Let's do it." Yuji grinned and started alternating between stretching his right and left arm slowly once again. Meanwhile, the cursed spirit had enough and attempted hit the person on top of him with its tentacle. The way it swung the tentacle was too fast for even Yuji to see clearly. However, the dead fish-eyed sorcerer held the handle of his katana and in a blur, the blade was completely in full display above his head as the tentacle was cut with purple blood gushing out. He then jumped and did a light axe kick to the top of its head, but the attack was strong enough for its head to plummet into the floor, causing cracks.

"I know you're frustrated, but hold it in." Hachiman patted its head as if he was trying to comfort the curse. "You can vent your frustration to my junior over there, so be glad I allow you to live longer... or I'll end it right now."

"Just hurry up and put it out of its misery." Akari said with a deadpan stare and a drop of sweat on her cheek. Meanwhile, Yuji still continued his task until the cursed spirit was already a few feet in front of him. On reflex, he put both arms in front to guard against a tentacle attack that sent him flying into the air and crashed into a barrier.

"Well, at least my veil is working." Hachiman commented while watching his junior falling to the floor as the arachnid-like curse rushed towards the latter with two tentacles lunging at both sides.

While in mid-air, Yuji right elbowed a tentacle down and kicked up the other with his left foot at the same time, and then rolled on another lunging tentacle to close the distance between him and the cursed spirit's face. After jumping to another tentacle that was swinging towards him, he threw a right punch to its face as he used the Divergent Fist. The attack sent the cursed spirit sliding back towards Hachiman, who just swung a right kick to its abdomen to redirect its trajectory. The pink-haired sorcerer landed on his feet and stared at his fist in bewilderment.

"I think it worked!" He declared excitedly.

"Seriously?" Hachiman asked in the same bewilderment as his junior.

"Y-yeah! The time lag was a lot shorter!"

"Nice!" Akari pulled a thumbs up as she also expressed the same joy as Yuji.

"And it seems that cursed spirit really has enough." The dead fish-eyed sorcerer turned to see the arachnid curse's baby-like face wrinkled when it expressed its anger.

He walked towards it, and the latter just stretched all of its tentacles at him with a roar. Hachiman moved his right foot forward and clenched the sheathed katana's handle. In an instant, he was already right in front of the curse as all the tentacles were cut to pieces. The cursed spirit tried to react, but the sorcerer cut its head off immediately.


Next Day, September 13

In the middle of the woods

"They're... so many... of... them!" Yuji complained while grunting and fighting off against small, black, flying cursed spirits that had bat wings, one eye that appeared to be blind, two vertical mouths, and an absurdly long tail that could reach for a few yards. They were as small as a human hand, and their wings were longer and wider than a human arm. Yuji struggled to even land a hit on them because they kept flying away while taunting him with laughter. "And they piss me off!"

"Then hurry up and exorcise them." Hachiman said while leaning his back to a tree to watch. "Don't just think with your fist. What else can you do?"

"Okay, then..." After ducking three simultaneous whip attacks, he grabbed a rock and threw it at a cursed spirit's right wing. The rock traveled so fast, it ripped the wing off along with the right side of its body. Of course, an attack with no cursed energy wouldn't work, but it did cause the curse to fall for a moment and bought enough time for Yuji to jump and exorcised it.

Four bat-like curses whipped their tails and restrained a limb each. They planned to rip his limbs off, but that was their mistake as Yuji pulled the two curses that wrapped their tails around his wrists, and slam them together. He pulled the two tails with one hand and punched the two cursed spirits with the other, exorcising them. Yuji suddenly went upside down as the two other flying curses that wrapped their tails on his feet lifted him higher. He spun his body, and the curses couldn't match against his strength. They spun for a while until their tails loosened, letting go of Yuji, who landed perfectly on top of another bat-like curse to exorcise.

There were three flying curses left.

Yuji didn't waste time as he grabbed another rock and jumped into a tree trunk to jump higher onto a branch. He hid behind the leaves, and the cursed spirits looked around where he was until they saw Hachiman just standing still. The dead fish-eyed sorcerer just waved his index finger, telling them to not even think about attacking him. But those curses didn't have the intelligence to understand, and so they swung their long tails at him. The latter just sighed and suddenly disappeared, hiding behind nature as well.

The flying cursed spirits appeared to be panicking, and when they were about to separate to search for the sorcerers, Yuji jumped out on top of a tree and punched one in the middle while throwing a rock at another. The rock dealt a direct hit and shattered the cursed spirit, but that didn't fully end it. He jumped into a tree trunk to jump higher and exorcised the curse by kicking it the second after it was fully regenerated. The last one was afraid and tried retreating, but while he was falling, Yuji cut a tree branch with an axe kick and when he landed on the ground, he threw the branch like a javelin to the curse. However, the flying curse dodged it and it flew further away from the forest.

"Damn it!" Yuji spoke in frustration. Just when the cursed spirit thought it finally escaped, but it suddenly got cut in half. "What the-"

"Good work, Itadori." Hachiman spoke behind him, and the latter turned around to see his senior with the drawn blade in his hand.

"That was so fast..."


Next Day, September 14

The two young sorcerers sparred in a training room. Yuji's attire only comprised a plain white T-shirt and red jogging pants, while Hachiman wore a long-sleeved shirt with green jogging pants. Although teaching Yuji hand-to-hand combat wasn't necessary at first, Hachiman realized even his junior lacked in certain aspects in that department, especially when the sparring involved cursed energy.

Yuji threw a right punch in which Hachiman tilted his head to dodge and threw a left jab at Yuji's face. When the pink-haired sorcerer was about to guard, the latter faked the attack and was actually going for a low right kick to sweep his left foot. Yuji noticed it and lifted the left foot to avoid it. The dead fish-eyed sorcerer didn't stop for a second as he swung the same right leg to the right side of his junior's body. Yuji backed away in pain, but that caused his senior to press forward. Hachiman continuously threw a flurry of punches and his junior struggled to guard against all of them until he decided to cross both arms to block and wait for an opportunity. The former lifted his left leg to do a kick, and Yuji read his cursed energy to block the actual attack, which was a left jab.

"Good! Keep reading your opponent's cursed energy and plan ahead." Hachiman praised as his junior went for a counterattack. Yuji deflected a right straight punch and threw a right hook with Divergent Fist, but his senior blocked it and raised his right leg to kick. However, the latter noticed the second impact didn't come until it was too late. The pink-haired sorcerer fooled him to get the timing wrong.

"Gotcha!" Yuji proclaimed proudly, and actually landed a punch to his cheek. However, that didn't make him won the fight. Hachiman turned his body away from the punch to at least lessen the damage, and then be pushed by the attack to spin and flip Yuji with a sweeping kick to his feet. "Ow!... I thought I had you."

"Well, you didn't." Hachiman responded while caressing his cheek. "I didn't expect you to control the time lag of your Divergent Fist. Not bad."

"Hehe! Thanks!" Yuji grinned and accepted a hand from his senior to get up. When he stood up, he was surprised when Hachiman suddenly slapped the left side of his head. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I think there's a mosquito buzzing around." Hachiman answered, but Yuji knew it was a lie.

The pink-haired sorcerer wandered what made him to do that and with a painful expression as well. And so, he asked the one person he might know about it.


"It must be his head injury." Satoru spoke while closing a small book he was reading. "During summer break, Hikigaya-kun fought against curse users who tried to assassinate his friend. Before that though, the Kyoto sorcerers were fed with false information, causing a fight between them. A bullet grazed the left side of his head as a result, and got tinnitus from that."

"I didn't know he's been through a lot." Yuji looked down in guilt.

"Oi, oi. Don't get all down like that." Satoru spoke as he slapped his student's head. "Is it that serous?"

"He said it's a habit, but I don't think that's the case... He looks like he might cry anytime."

"I see. Okay, I'll go check on him."

"Thanks, sensei."


Hours later. In a Subway Station.

"So, what's the deal with this place?" Yuji asked Akari after exiting the car.

"We found cursed residuals that lead to this place. It could either be a grade 3 or 2." Akari answered and stared at the railway leading to a dark tunnel. "There are at least 6 people missing, and they said those people were last seen entering the station."

"Alright." Yuji pound his fists together and went down the railway.

"And don't worry too much." Akari said with a smile. "I know enough that Hikigaya-san is too annoying to just stay put. He'll be alright."

"... Thank you, Nitta-san."

"Now go and save them." After that talk, the blonde manager watched the pink-haired sorcerer going to the dark underground passage and following the railway. Yuji pulled out his phone and used its flashlight to see where he was going. So far, there was nothing. He looked around until he sensed cursed energy deeper in the passage, and so he ran to pursue it. After running for a while, Yuji saw massive webs around the curves between the wall and ceiling, and noticed two women wrapped into a cocoon of silk.

"I'm coming!" Yuji shouted and jumped towards one of them. However, a ball of web flew towards him, and he turned his body to dodge it. When he landed on the ground, he saw a white cursed spirit with the only two human features were the head and torso.

It had six arms that looked like the legs of a brown spider but with white human hands at each end, and spider legs. Its torso appeared to be so skinny, its ribs were visible. The head had a silver ponytail that looked like silk, and its face consisted of four eyes that had black sclera and red pupils, and a mouth of a spider. The curse was also taller than Yuji by two feet.

"That is creepy." He commented while striking a fighting stance. "Another spider monster?"

The cursed spirit bent both legs, preparing to charge at him, and one blink later, it was already in front of his face. Yuji quickly reacted by jumping away with his arms crossed together to guard at the same time, but a long thread of silk came out of the curse's mouth and attached to his wrist. The curse bent its head back to pull him into itself and threw a flurry of punches at him. It was too fast for him to parry or deflect every single one, and so he resorted to just maintaining both crossed arms in front to at least cover his face. Yuji reinforced his entire body with cursed energy to endure some punches. After a few seconds of enduring, he quickly threw a left jab, and the curse guarded it with one upper right arm. The pink-haired sorcerer continued and was about to throw a right punch to the face., which the curse was ready to defend as well.

However, the cursed spirit didn't know there would be a delayed second impact on his left jab. That caused the thick chitin of its upper exoskeletal right arm to crack and the curse to jolt back. At the same time it happened, Yuji redirected his right punch, and instead attempted to hit its abdomen with Divergent Fist. But the curse was too fast as it blocked it as well with two middle arms crossing together. Even though it guarded the attack with cursed energy, the impact was still strong enough to crack the shell of its left middle arm slightly. When the second impact happened, Yuji swung his right foot to the side of the curse's left knee, and crouched to grab its lower body and knocked him to the ground. He did a straight ankle lock to the same leg and ripped it in half with its chitin shattering into pieces.

The cursed spirit screamed in agony as purple blood splattered from its severed leg.

Yuji tried to do the other leg, but the cursed spirit spat a ball of silk at his face and kicked him away.

"Gah! Gross!" He ripped the web off his face and noticed the spider curse disappeared. He heard a sound from above and saw the curse crawling on the ceiling and approaching a restrained civilian. The pink-haired sorcerer jumped to stop it with a left uppercut, but the latter dashed away from the attack, which caused him to shatter the concrete instead and just removed the person from the web. As he landed on the ground, the curse spat multiple balls of silk that were larger than a human torso.

While carrying the bound victim over his shoulder, Yuji sidestepped twice to avoid two balls of silk and jumped away from the third and fourth. He gently put down the civilian on the ground next to a wall and stared at the curse, waiting for it to move. The cursed spirit crawled towards the other victim and Yuji jumped towards it. Even though it missed a leg, it was still fast enough to crawl away from his kick and went for the rescued victim instead. Yuji planted both feet on the ceiling to plummet to the ground faster and chased the curse. Fortunately, he was faster than its crawling, so he quickly punched the curse in the face the moment it was falling above the victim from its recapturing attempt. The cursed spirit tumbled away until it landed on its hands.

It inhaled deeply despite the bleeding, and spat several threads of silk at him. Yuji carried the bound victim over his shoulder and dodged as many of the threads of silk as possible while approaching the other victim hanging above the ceiling. After ducking on a thick thread of silk, he jumped to get the victim off the web and carried both of them out of there. The cursed spirit chased him on the ceiling, but his speed slowly outmatched it.

"NIIIIIIIITTAAAAAAA-SAAAAAAN!" Yuji shouted when he saw the light as he ran faster. When he returned to the station, he tossed the two victims at the blonde manager, who was confused at first, then shouted in horror as the cocoons crashed her into the floor. The pink-haired sorcerer hopped back on the platform and grabbed a long wooden bench to throw at the chasing cursed spirit. The latter noticed the flying projectile that was too fast for it to do anything other than to spit silk moments before the bench was inches near its face. It spat with such force, the silk managed to push the bench back at him with the same speed. As the bench crashed into the floor, shattering and being stuck from the sticky web, the cursed spirit didn't see Yuji anywhere until it received a Divergent Fist to the back. The attack shattered the concrete, and the second impact shattered more and tore a hole through the curse's body.

"BLAGHAAAAAAAAA!" The cursed spirit vomited purple blood and fell to the ground along with Yuji. He watched the curse disintegrating into nothing and felt relief.

"I did it! Nitta-san!" The pink-haired sorcerer shouted proudly with a thumbs up, and noticed Akari on the floor, being crushed by the two cocoons.

"G-Good... job." She spoke while suffocating until her eyes rolled back.

"NITTA-SAN!" Yuji ran towards them and gently moved the victims from her. After helping her regain consciousness, they noticed the cocoons along with the webs and silk disappeared because of the successful exorcism, and they got a good look at their appearances.

"So the curse kidnapped two young women..." The blonde managed spoke while standing up.

As she stated, the two victims were women, and both were still unconscious.

One had long, slightly wavy, blonde hair while the other had shoulder-length, bobbed brown hair. They both appeared to be wearing the same school uniform.

"I'll go find the other missing people." Yuji spoke.

"They're from Sobu High..." Akari commented while staring at their attire.

"Sobu?"

"It's an elite school in Chiba."

"... The same place Hikigaya-senpai used to-" Before Yuji could complete the sentence, they heard the sound of a train in the passage. "... Isn't the station closed?"

"Yes... so why would-" Both of them sensed cursed energy coming towards them, and so with quick movement, Yuji carried the Sobu High School students.

"We need to get them out first." He suggested, which the blonde manager agreed, but they were both too late as something went past the station. All they could see occupying the passage was a large blur, which meant something was moving so fast. It slowed down until it stopped, revealing it to be an ordinary yet empty train. The beeping sound, along with the doors sliding open, caused the two to have headaches for a strange reason. "The train is spewing cursed energy... Is the entire transport a cursed spirit?"

"Itadori-kun..." Akari called out to him while resisting the pain from the headache. "Its cursed energy... matches the residuals."

"Eh? Then that means that spider thing and those victims were just a coincidence?" Yuji turned to look at the blonde manager and saw her in a blank state. He also noticed the two unconscious girls stood up in the same state as her. "Nitta-san? And.. are you two okay?"

"The Next Station is (#$) :?% ." He heard a voice announcing its next destination, which was all distorted and static at the end. The three women walked slowly towards the train and the pink-haired sorcerer understood what was happening.

"Are they being hypnotised? Oi! Don't go in there!" He pulled the brown-haired girl's arm to stop, but her strength shocked him as she just kept walking forward while unintentionally pulling Yuji with her flailing arm. Yuji pulled back harder until he heard the sound of bones breaking, realizing he broke her arm. "I'm sorry!"

He let go, and the three girls boarded the train. Yuji hesitated for a moment until he concluded he had no choice but to enter the train with them. When the doors were about to close, he forcefully pushed them back open for him to get in. Once he went in, he saw people everywhere from left to right, but they were not normal. Although they wore human clothing ranging from casual wear to formal attires, their heads and faces were red and their cheeks were puffing. Their eyes were closed shut to the point there were wrinkles, and they didn't have necks, which meant their heads were floating. The cursed spirits all turned to look at the pink-haired sorcerer with no aura of hostility.

That was until...

"To all passengers, please kill the dangerous intruder. I repeat, please kill the dangerous intruder." The announcer spoke through the speaker in a normal tone.

"Here we go..." Yuji sighed and just raised both fists to get ready. Focusing his cursed energy more towards his legs, he crossed both arms in front and just charged at the cursed spirits at incredible speed.

Fortunately, those cursed spirits were weak, so it was easy for him to break through the horde and exorcise some until objects hit him and exploded. Yuji tumbled while gradually losing the momentum he had from running until he landed on all fours. He saw the heads of two cursed spirits floating higher from their bodies and when they bent backward, they leaned forward fast and the heads flew towards him. It was as if they used their own bodies to fling their floating heads. The pink-haired sorcerer rolled forward to dodge and avoided the explosion while punching one red curse passenger in the face to exorcise. He noticed the horde of cursed spirits behind him were chasing him.

"Oh, boy..." Yuji mumbled and grabbed a cursed spirit in front of him to throw it at the pursuing curses. Then he ran past many more curses to get to the next passenger car. His main priority was to find the victims and Akari before it was too late. He entered the next passenger car and noticed it was empty. That raised suspicion, but he had no time to think as the red curses were still pursuing him. And so, Yuji ran to reach the next passenger car, but then the car he was currently in split in half. The cause was unknown. It was as if it cut itself cleanly apart. Yuji thought little and jumped to the other side before the other half, along with the abandoned half of the train, lost momentum. He looked behind and noticed something strange outside. "That's weird... We should be out of the station by now... Ah."

The pink-haired sorcerer also noticed several flying red heads chasing after the train. He hit two heads away with a left back roundhouse kick, and grabbed another to throw it at them, which the head ricocheted on three heads. Despite his efforts, there were too many as two red heads made it on the passenger car. When the pair landed, they floated until their bodies appeared under them. Instead of facing them, Yuji rolled past them, evading their tackle and approached the door to the next passenger car, but the path stretched in a distorted manner as the door went further away from him. The passenger car he was on started disintegrating while he ran towards the door. The stretching distortion hindered his movement, but he made it to the door, regardless. When he entered, the passenger car was inclining upward.

"W-what the hell? Is the train being lifted or something? Woah!" Yuji held on to an armrest of a passenger bench to avoid sliding down as the passenger car inclined higher until it appeared to be standing up. He looked down and saw they were still on the underground railroad, which confused him. However, he couldn't take the time to think because he had more important tasks such as saving the victims. He pulled up until he planted a foot on the armrest and stood on it while holding the seat to prevent himself from falling. Yuji jumped high enough to reach the other armrest and climbed up to jump towards a stanchion. After spinning on the stanchion, he let go to soar higher, then grabbed the hanging straps and climbed, using them as a ladder.

When he finally got close to the door, he slid it open only to release falling red passengers. Some fell on Yuji.

"Oh, come on!" The pink-haired sorcerer shouted in frustration as he grabbed a hanging strap to save himself. Then, the hanging strap broke, and so he grabbed another one before climbing. He looked down to see the other straps disintegrating, so he climbed quicker, but noticed above there were more falling cursed spirits coming towards him. Yuji put both feet on the window and leaped to the other side, shattering the glass and avoiding the falling curses. He bumped on the other window and grabbed on an arm rest to hold on. Red flying heads pursued him, as he pulled up to plant both feet on the armrest and leaped to another hanging strap. While holding on to it, he kicked three heads away from him until one bit his right leg.

It exploded and burnt through the cloth and skin.

It was more painful than the previous few explosions he took.

Still, he ignored the pain and climbed to the next passenger car and suddenly the train fell down.

"Okay... finally." Yuji released a sigh of relief and tried standing up, but the pain in his right leg made him stop for a moment. "Just keep it together... I'm getting close to-"

Before he could finish his sentence, the doors leading outside slid open by itself and strange gas spread inside the train.

"Is this poison?" He covered his mouth and nose with an arm and started coughing.


"It hurts..." The short brown-haired girl thought. Her head felt dizzy for a moment, until she felt something else. There was an itch throughout her entire lower body and stomach and it grew each second with irritation. She slowly opened her eyes as she slowly regained consciousness and heard screaming.

"AAAAAAH! HELP ME! HEL- Blugaahhg-" The scream of a woman stopped and replaced with a vomiting sound. The girl's vision became clear and saw the woman attached to a wall by a red and sticky flesh enveloping her entire body. The woman looked as if she was malnourished with the eyebags and cheekbones, and there was blood on her mouth that dripped to her chin. Her eyes rolled back and became unresponsive, which meant she either fell unconscious or died from the grotesque flesh. The girl was shocked, but then she felt pain in her lower body, and so she looked down and also saw she was in the same situation.

"It hurts... It hurts..." She repeated the same phrase as the pain kept getting worse until she couldn't endure it. "HELP ME!"

"hmMMmMM?" She heard a distorted and inhuman voice and turned to see what appeared to be a train driver, but with a head that turned 180 degrees to look at her while operating the train. The terrifying monster stood up and walked backwards to approach her with its turned head looking at her. Its face was all red, cheeks were puffing, and eyes closed shut to the point there were wrinkles. She just noticed it didn't have a neck, but that didn't matter to her because the pain kept getting worse. The brown-haired girl gritted her teeth and grunted in agony until a door flew past them. It seemed something hit the door with such immense force that caused a dent in it. The creature turned its floating head to see who it was. Meanwhile, the girl didn't bother to turn her head because she thought even the slightest movement would be bad. She wanted to shout for help, but she doubt the creature in front of her would be so kind to let her do that.

However, all of her thoughts were interrupted by a blue flaming punch on the creature's face that blew its head off. She saw her savior as a young boy with spiky pink hair and appeared to have burnt marks all over his body, along with tattered and burnt clothes. When the strange creature disappeared, the flesh that stuck her to the wall disappeared along with it. The girl was about to fall, but her savior caught her on time.

"Hey, are you alright?!" He spoke with a worried expression and looked back as if he noticed something. Her savior gently put her down and ran somewhere. The girl turned her head and saw there were other people who were in the same situation as her but were saved in the end. One of those people was the girl with long blonde hair that was familiar to her.

"That's right... Me and Miura-senpai were going shopping and... Why in Tokyo again?" The brown-haired girl put her effort into remembering what happened before this incident, but it was no use. Her consciousness started to fade once again, and she tried her best to keep her eyes open. She saw the pink-haired boy approaching her and lifted her in a bridal carry.

"You're gonna be okay. Oh..." He knelt down to pick up something. "The wallet must've slipped from your bag... Let's see, Isshi... ki... Iroha."

She wanted to express her gratitude, but her consciousness faded the moment he lifted her and moved.


Two days later, September 16

Yuji stretched his arms while approaching the car and yawning. After being treated by Shoko, his injuries were fully healed and, with a day's worth of rest, he was recovered and ready to work once again. The window to the front seat descended, and Akari's head went through to speak with him.

"Are you feeling alright now?" Akari asked. "Didn't you mention two days ago about poison?"

"Yeah, I'm good." He answered with a grin. "Apparently, being Sukuna's vessel makes me immune to all kinds of poison."

"Glad to hear it, little monster." Akari commented and noticed someone approaching them behind him. "Hikigaya-san?"

"Yeah, it's me. Who else?" Hachiman asked while stretching his neck and went to the trunk of the car to put the long briefcase in.

"You okay?" Yuji asked with a worried expression, and the two sorcerers stared at each other in silence. The former couldn't read what his senior was thinking from that stoic look. No, Hachiman was always like that. Yet, Yuji was still glad because he was honest, sometimes brutally honest.

When he first met Hachiman, he thought he was the shy type of person and he was right. At first, it was difficult to interact with him, but that was only a few seconds until they started talking about their hobbies. Both shared interests in things such as video games, manga, anime, and a lot more. He thought Hachiman was a good friend and understood the reason for being here. Yuji also thought about his friends back in Sendai, and he cared about them, along with those who would get hurt because of Sukuna's fingers and fighting curses. So Yuji and Hachiman's motivation was almost the same.

Almost.

"Okay? I got berated and mocked by Gojo for two whole days, and you ask me if I am okay..." Hachiman spoke with a twitching eye. "Do you want me to go on to the details of how this innovative torture left me traumatized?"

"A... bit of an exaggeration, but I guess you're fine! Ahaha... hahaha!" Yuji laughed while slapping Hachiman's back.

"It's not an exaggeration." Hachiman gritted his teeth, but then sighed. "So? How was your solo adventure?"

"It was pretty great. I fought another spider curse on my own. Then I faced a train curse, ON MY OWN! Then I saved people, ON MY OWN!"

"And how well did you do, ON YOUR OWN?"

"He did well, actually." Akari answered. "If it wasn't for him, me and all the people that got kidnapped would probably be dead."

"Heheh!" Yuji scratched his nose with a confident grin.

"I see, then..." Hachiman raised his right palm to him, and his junior had a look of confusion until the latter clashed his own palm with his. "It's not a high five. Punch it."

"Oh... Oooh!" Yuji finally understood what he meant. And so, he moved his right foot backward, and curled his right hand into a fist while concentrating his cursed energy. After one deep breath, he finally punched Hachiman's palm with a full-power cursed energy punch, but as always, there was a delay in the flow, so there was a second impact after his fist came in contact with his senior's palm.

"Hmm... Just as fast as last time, but overall, no change in the time lag." The dead fish-eyed sorcerer analyzed while shaking his own hand. "But you are getting stronger, so that's an improvement."

"Yeah. And I'm getting the hang of controlling the delay to trick curses when I attack."

"That's fine and all, but that can only help you so far, and can only affect certain curses. We're still going to work on that, got it?"

"Yes, Senpai!"

"We got a new mission, so hurry up and get in." Akari told the two young sorcerers, and Yuji entered the backseat while Hachiman took the front seat. Yuji pondered about that for a moment, but he shook away those thoughts.

"So, what's the mission?" Hachiman asked.

"Three disfigured corpses were found in a theater in Kawasaki City." The blonde manager answered.

"In Kanagawa? What do you mean by disfigured?"

"They described it as... a cranial deformity. The victims died with increased cranial pressure and respiratory paralysis. 'They were forcefully shaped beyond recognition', they said."

"Sounds disgusting. Is it caused by a cursed spirit?"

"They didn't investigate yet. The incident just happened 20 minutes ago. You need to find the culprit."

"Then we better hurry." After that discussion, there was a moment of silence.

"Hey, Senpai." Yuji broke the silence.

"What?" Hachiman responded.

"Exactly what did Gojo-sensei do you?"

"... I don't want to talk about it." That was his senior's only answer before returning to silence. Akari saw that as Satoru being himself and tormenting the poor sorcerer, but Yuji noticed something off about it. He also wondered if he should tell him about the Sobu High School students he saved two days ago, but decided not to.

Yuji thought it might be best to not give Hachiman more problems.

And it was one of his best decisions because what they were about to face would crush them both physically and mentally.


Train Driver Curse: The cursed technique of the train driving curse is to possess the train and distort reality inside it. The cursed spirit devours its victims and use them to create red passengers. It is unknown what limitations it has and what other things the curse could do in altering reality inside the train. Also, the changes in reality inside the train won't cause any changes on the exterior.


And finally we're about to go into the Junpei arc FOR REAL THIS TIME.

I just thought I should give Yuji some spotlight before the actual canon stuff, while also show the relationship between him and 8man as the senior and junior/mentor and student.

Also, I thought about spicing it up a little with Yukino x 8man and... you know have actual developments. It's either that or I was just horny when I wrote that part.

Oh, by the way, Yuji's 'slow motion' training is a little reference to Hunter x Hunter's Greed Island training. I thought Yuji's cursed energy problem has some principle similar to that.

Anyways, thank you for reading this fanfic. Please leave a review as your opinions will be helpful for making this story better.