Yuji ran through Tokyo school. He was eager to see his team for a new mission. His team would consist of the members of both schools. Did the principals do it because of the baseball competition instead of one-on-one fights? Yuji wasn't sure, but it could be an interesting experience to work with someone new. His recent experience of fighting with Todo was life-changing.
Todo with Fushiguro were already on a mission. They needed to investigate a series of mysterious deaths around Tokyo. Their mission promised to be difficult, but maybe Todo would make Fushiguro stronger as he did to Yuji.
Ijichi had said by phone that he would wait near the conference building. Yuji went over the short bridge and saw the target building. The sun was already low, building and trees cast long shadows. Gusts of wind made Yuji thankful that his uniform had a hood.
He changed his pace to walk. Around a corner of the building, he saw Ijichi. Nearby, Kugisaki talked with Maki. Kugisaki wore her usual jacket, long skirt and light brown belt that held her hammer and nails. Maki wore a similar jacket and a skirt. Over her shoulder was a red weapon case.
Yuji greeted everyone. Physically, Maki was as powerful as Yuji. Also, he didn't have a moment to train with her. Working together on an actual mission could be even more beneficial.
Maki looked at him over her glasses and nodded. "Glad that you're on our team."
Kugisaki said, "Yeah, we are lucky that nobody from Kyoto with us. They can't be trusted after what they did at the team battle."
Ijichi glanced at his watch. "The last member of your team is late. Does anyone know where Utahime-san stays?"
Kugisaki grimaced. "Another teammate!?"
Maki said, "I know where her room is. Is she going with us?"
"No, one of her students is on the team. Fetch them please, I'll bring a car from the garage." Ijichi walked away.
Maki led Yuji and Kugisaki through the school grounds. The road took them around the stadium and near the classrooms.
Kugisaki said. "It's better not to be Mai. I still haven't bought a new tracksuit after she screwed mine."
"They wouldn't team up her with me," Maki rubbed her chin. "Miwa seemed nice, and she could fight with a sword. If the principals assigned her to our team, she would be useful."
"The mission started so well, but now it feels sour. But after it, I'm going to the city. Maki-san, Itadori do you want to join?"
Yuji said, "I'd like to see Risk Addiction. Yesterday it came out in cinemas. It has amazing action scenes with fist fighting and shooting."
"A movie?" Maki said, "I found them boring. I will go shopping if we visit a pizza restaurant. Someone had bought a pizza recently, but they didn't share."
Kugisaki exclaimed, "I know a perfect shopping mall with five different pizza restaurants inside. We can try them all."
"Five different, you say. Okay, let's see how good they are after the mission."
Yuji said, "Kugisaki, how about you?"
"I would watch a romantic movie or a good comedy, but action movies are so boring."
"The hero of Risk Addiction has a love interest. Judging by the trailer, she is pretty badass."
Kugisaki said, "Let's go another time. Or you can wait for Fushiguro and ask him if he would like to watch the movie."
Maki laughed, "I doubt he goes to movies. You have better luck watching it by yourself."
Yuji sighed. Gojo's cursed energy training included a lot of movies. But none of them had a good plot with exciting fight scenes. The reviewers praised Risk Addiction and compared it to masterpieces like Zero Blade and Crossed bullets. "Watching movies in a good company is ninety percent of the fun. Without a company with whom would I discuss all the cool moments after a film?"
Maki said, "Although I've seen Todo watching movies on the big screen in the common-"
"No, no, no, anybody except Todo. And please don't tell him about the movie. I'll watch it alone."
Kugisaki and Maki laughed.
Yuji was grateful that Todo made him stronger, but Todo sometimes was too much.
Maki stopped in front of a two-floor building. The window on the first floor was curtained, but the lights still came through the blue fabric. Indistinguishable voices were coming from the closed door. Yuji and others stepped closer, so they could understand what was being said.
"Send me on this mission alone, and I will deal with all curses," Mai said. "I work much better when I'm alone."
Kugisaki looked at Maki and mouthed. "It's her."
Maki cursed under her breath.
Iori said, "You've already played baseball with him and had no problems."
"The match was in school and under supervision. On the mission, there won't be anybody around. What will happen if Sukuna takes control of the vessel?"
"Satoru assured us that Itadori has full control over Sukuna."
"It doesn't matter. According to the jujutsu law, abominations like him must be destroyed. I don't understand why he is still alive. Killing him is no different from killing a curse."
Yuji never thought that him being alive could make somebody hate him so much.
"Principals allow Itadori to study jujutsu in the school. Therefore, you should treat him as your classmate." Iori paused. "And he has already saved your sister and others by successfully fighting the special-grade cursed spirit."
"Maybe it's because of him these curses attacked the school. Or he could even be their accomplice, who helped them pierce the school defences."
"What? How has this thought even crossed your mind?"
Yuji had enough. He would never betray his friends or help curses. He swung open the door. It banged on the near wall, door's hinges broking to pieces.
Mai quickly rotated to Yuji. Her neck-length dark green hair was all over her face. For a moment, she stared at him with wide eyes and raised eyebrows. Then she clenched her jaw and narrowed her eyes. She took a wide stance and put her right hand in a pocket of her wide trousers.
Yuji overdid his entrance. He should have controlled himself. Now the only thing that he could do was try to diffuse the tension. "Ijichi-san is waiting in the car to take us to our mission."
Mai didn't move for several seconds. Then she hurried past Yuji without a single glance in his direction.
Iori silently watched her student. She smiled sadly at Yuji. "Itadori, you shouldn't take her words close to your heart. She doesn't understand your situation at all."
Yuji nodded. He decided that he wouldn't talk with her if she reacted so badly when he was around. He just had to finish one mission with her, and they wouldn't need to work together in the foreseeable future anymore.
Yuji glanced at the broken door. "Sorry."
"It's okay."
He carefully closed the door and wandered away from the building.
Kugisaki fumed. "Every time I see her, she pisses me off more and more. How I want to punch her in her face."
Maki said, "You're not alone. I'm surprised that with her level of cursed energy, they even send her on any missions."
Yuji was puzzled. "She doesn't have much cursed energy?"
"She might pretend to be a powerful sorcerer, but she has less energy than any other jujutsu sorcerer." Maki laughed. "Her innate technique sucks. It's useless in an actual fight against curses."
Yuji didn't know that Maki's sister wasn't powerful. It was hard to be weak in a world full of dangerous curses. The first time that Yuji fought against the special-grade, he felt so useless and pathetic. He couldn't save anyone, even himself. But now, with the help from Gojo and Todo, he had become more powerful.
Before, Yuji hadn't thought about it, but while his circumstances were unique, it was different for other sorcerers. They had an innate level of cursed energy and techniques, and they couldn't change it. They could only train to fight better and adapt to their limitations.
Yuji said, "It must be difficult for her."
Kugisaki snorted. "It's not a valid reason to be mean to others."
Yuji agreed, but now he could understand Mai's attitude.
Maki said, "She doesn't even need a reason to be mean."
When they got to the car, Mai had been already sitting on the front passenger seat. Yuji, Kugisaki and Maki took the back seats with Yuji behind the driver seat.
Ijichi was saying to Mai. "... right wing has four floors. The left has three. Also, there is a connection between the left wing and the big gym. Because of this, your team is bigger than we usually use."
Ijichi started the car's engine. "Three hours ago, we got a call from a window. Cursed spirits attacked students in an old school that is under reconstruction. "
Maki said, "How did it happen?"
"A group of six students that previously studied in this school had entered it. They wandered around, and after some time, they were attacked."
"Do we need to rescue them?"
"No, the students had run away. Three of them had broken arms, and another two had deep wounds on their legs. But they will be okay. They were sent to a hospital." Ijichi steered the car through the gate to a public road. "The reconstruction of the school had stopped a month ago because of some financial problems of the contractor. The school is empty of ordinary people. Your mission is to exorcise cursed spirits."
Yuji said, "How do we know that there's more than one curse?"
"The students were able to glimpse cursed spirits. They described two. The first one was a black human-like creature with long black claws. The other was the size of a bus monster with six-foot and the long alligator-like maw."
Kugisaki said, "Do we know what grade are those spirits?"
"Because the students successfully escaped, we suppose that the cursed spirits are the second-grade. The students were on the third floor of the left wing when they stumbled upon the human-like spirit and ran away from it. After the students entered the stairs, the spirit disappeared, and they've never seen it again. Then, in the central building of the school, the students run into the six-footed spirit. It was moving to the right wing and didn't react to them."
Yuji thought about the second curse that he fought against. It looked similar to this six-footed curse. The last time Yuji couldn't exorcise it with his own powers, he even didn't have any cursed energy. But now, he was confident that he would succeed. And sadly, with the spirits been only second-grade, the fight wouldn't be a challenge that could make Yuji stronger. But at least his team wouldn't be hurt during the mission.
It was Friday evening, and the roads were full of cars. The route would take some time. Yuji tried to relax.
For a while, he had a strange, barely noticeable feeling that bothered him. At first, he couldn't understand what he felt, but now he figured out that it was cursed energy. Was someone manipulating it? It couldn't be Maki. She didn't have cursed energy. Kugisaki was peering through the window, and her hands were on her knees. It was unlikely that she was manipulating the cursed energy. Mai had her hands in her pockets. There wasn't any light emitted around her. But it seemed that only she could do it. Could it be that she was so furious being in the car with her sister and Yuji that she couldn't control her cursed energy, and it leaked outside? It was possible. But Yuji didn't want to talk to Mai. She might even take offence if he would ask her.
Yuji put his head on the headrest and again tried to relax, ignoring this strange feeling.
He awoke when the car stopped in front of the school. A large fence surrounded the school with a gate right before the car. The school's main building had passageways that connected it to its wings. Yuji didn't see any light in the windows. Construction workers must have turned the power off.
Everyone exited the car. Maki took her weapon case from the car's trunk. There were parts of a polearm, a long black sword, and several throwing knives in her case. She assembled a big polearm with a black cursed blade on top of it. She put the case on her back and held the polearm in her right hand. The part with the cursed blade rested on her right shoulder.
Yuji stretched his hands and legs that were stiff after the ride. Kugisaki took out her hammer and held it in her right hand. She was throwing looks at Mai.
Mai stood apart from them, gazing at the school. She still had her hands in the pockets of her wide trousers. Now Yuji was sure that the feeling was coming from her. How big were her pockets? Yuji saw her using a revolver as her cursed weapon. It must be in her pocket with some ammunition.
Ijichi wished them luck and remained to be vigilant. Everyone except him entered the school territory through the half-opened gates in the fence. They stopped in front of the entrance. There was a trail of blood drops on the ground that lead from the entrance to the gates.
Ijichi stayed near the car. Soon the dark blue curtain covered the school from above, hiding what would happen inside from the outside world.
Kugisaki turned to Maki. "Maki-san, what's our strategy?"
Mai said, "There are two second-grade curses. We should split so that we can finish it faster."
Yuji didn't like this idea of splitting, but decided against speaking it out loud.
Maki said, "It's safer if we stay together. We are not competing who would exorcise a curse faster."
Mai smirked. "What if after we kill one curse, the other will run away? This veil won't be able to stop it, and I don't want to chase after the curse over the populated streets."
Yuji didn't think about this possibility, but it sounded possible. The curse he and Kugisaki fought tried to run away when it felt that it could die.
Maki adjusted her glasses. "Those types of curses usually stay at the same place, but if we exorcise one of them... Hey, where are you going?"
Mai had already stepped on the porch steps of the entrance. She didn't pause and continued walking.
Maki went after Mai. "I'm going with you, Mai. Yuji, you're with Nobara, stay together and call if you need help."
Mai stopped and stared down at Maki. "I'm perfectly capable of killing a second-grade curse by myself."
"You couldn't overpower me in a fight."
Mai laughed. "I wasn't even trying."
Maki gripped her polearm with both of her hands.
Something clicked in the right pocket of Mai's trousers. "What? You want to fight? I won't go easy on you this time."
Yuji thought that if he didn't say something, somebody would be hurt even before they find the curses. He looked into Mai's eyes. "I can go with you."
Kugisaki placed her hand on Maki's shoulder. "Maki-san, I can go with your sister."
Maki visibly relaxed. "Mai, take Nobara with you if you don't want to go with me and afraid to be alone with Yuji."
"Tsk!" Mai bared her teeth for a second, then glared at Maki. "I'll go with him."
