RYOMEN SUKUNA AND THE YUREI
June, 2018
Fushiguro's eyes twitched as his handsome face scrunched up with mild annoyance. "Can these people be any dumber," he said with an overly blunt voice. He walked up beside Juri, a stormy-eyed woman that stood in front of an outdoor thermometer box, located in the Sugisawa High School area. They were both dressed in black clothes that blended in well against the dark blue midnight sky, so to not be seen by any staff that might still be lingering on the premises.
Juri turned her head to the side and curled up her glossy red lips. She smiled warmly at him that made her cheeks flush into a giddy pink shade. "Don't be like that, Megumi. I'm sure they had a reason for putting a special-grade cursed object here." She looked back towards the box while tucking her bluish-gray hair behind her ear.
Fushiguro's already present frown deepened from Juri's sickly sweet nature. He knew she meant well but he figured she had to have a limit on that kindly naïve personality of hers. That limit was still undiscovered though. "Please don't force your unyielding positivity on a stupid idea like this, Kocho-sensei," Fushiguro groaned with half-lidded eyes.
"Only if you don't force your negativity." She laughed with a short and light breath when her smile abruptly fell like her attention was suddenly pulled elsewhere. Juri turned her head up towards the sky as if she had just heard something, blinking and furrowing her brows. "Hm?"
"Nooot….noooot he….re," said a ghostly whisper, riding on the wind that swept by their feet. It was apparent though that Juri was the only one who could hear that unusual voice.
Fushiguro noticed Juri's change in demeanor when she suddenly spoke. "What? Is 'she' saying something to you?" he asked.
She brushed past Fushiguro and went right up towards the box, now noticing that the front lock was undone, leaving it totally exposed. She grabbed the handle and yanked it open but saw nothing inside. She felt her heart sink within a blistering coldness. "Megumi, it's not here."
"What?" he snapped. Juri moved out of the way so he could have a look himself, but sure enough, she was telling the truth. Fushiguro then began frantically searching everywhere he could around the box. He looked over, under, and even closed and opened the doors again, expecting different results. No matter how much you look at it though, the special-grade object was gone.
Juri looked on in awe. "Wow. She was right," she mumbled.
"It's not here!"
Juri turned her eyes to the floor and unconsciously began to bundle up and play with the loose fabric of her long skirt. She pondered silently to herself for a minute about what they should do before reaching into her pocket and fishing out her phone. "Hold on a minute." She didn't have many contacts, so it didn't take long to find the one she needed before dialing it. It only rang about twice before the call went through. "Gojo-san? It's me."
"Ah? Juri~" spoke an enthusiastic voice on the other end. Juri couldn't see Gojo's face but she could hear what sounded like a hint of a smile just by him saying her name. "How you doing out there with Megumi? Is he being nice to you?"
It's been a couple of days since they spoke to one another, so Juri couldn't help but smile when she heard his voice again. "Ah, yes. We're doing just fine. He's as negative as always but nothing I'm not used to by now," she said, completely unaware of Fushiguro's growing irritation behind her.
"That's good to hear. Which reminds me. I'm gonna be in the area soon to pick up some souvenirs. Want anything specific? I heard Sendai's kikufuku is great. Have you had any before?"
"Hm? No. Can't say I have."
"Great. I'm gonna pick some up for the both of us."
"Haaaaang…upppppp," said the same ghostly whisper from before, but this time there was an obvious irritation in the voice.
Juri pulled her phone away from her ear and spoke up to the invisible specter that was still beyond Fushiguro's sight. "We talked about this. You can't keep being this rude to him each time we talk to each other. Why would I hang up?"
Fushiguro had just about enough and had reached his limit long ago. "Hang up if you're not going to ask him where the cursed object is," he nearly snapped, speaking just loud enough for Gojo to hear.
"It ain't there?" Gojo's voice echoed out once Juri placed her phone on speaker. "Haha. That's hilarious!"
"I'm seriously going to punch you," Fushiguro growled.
"No going home until it's recovered, okay? Have fun!" he said just before hanging up on them, leaving no direction for them to follow. Even Juri, who was known to have the patience of a saint to deal with him, hated when he did things like that.
Fushiguro felt every part of his body twitch and ache. "I'm going to punch him…for real this time."
Juri smiled while ruffling Fushiguro's spiky black hair. "Well…. that's a challenge in itself. But I suppose it's a good thing I'm here then, right?"
Fushiguro nodded but pulled away from his teacher's reach to get her to stop. "I guess."
"Alright." She turned her chin up to the dark skies and spoke to the invisible specter. "Hey, I'm sure we'll find it in less than 42 hours, so can you separate yourself from me for the time being? You can search the surrounding area yourself, right? We'll stay at the school and look here."
"…dangerous…Juri….Sukuna will…kill...you," the voice said with a dark and frosty tone.
Fushiguro took a step back and squinted his eyes. Whatever was there was still invisible for him, but looking at Juri's feet, he can clearly see another shadow standing right beside her. It appeared to be small, moving in a state of constant slow motion with loose fabric and long hair floating around gracefully.
"Don't be like that. I'm sure it's going to be fine. It's alright to leave for now." Juri reached her hand out and could feel something cold press against it, like someone with small hands had grabbed her. "I'm going to be fine. I promise." She smiled one last time at the specter while pulling her hand away.
Fushiguro watched silently as the specter's shadow slowly faded away, along with the cold and heavy presence that came with her and surrounded them like an icy blanket.
"Alright. She's going to check out the base of the town while we stay and search the school." Juri looked down at her wrist that had a watch on it and activated a 42-hour countdown. She turned her stormy gray eyes back to Fushiguro and saw his face scrunched up like before, but this time she can clearly see that he was worried for her. "Megumi, what is it?"
"Are you sure it's alright for her to leave you?" he asked.
"Knowing her, she wouldn't dare risk my safety by dragging the timer out, and if I even so much as use her curse technique to pull up a dome, she'll return immediately to my side." It was rare for him to show this much concern for her since his face was usually always neutral. "There's nothing to worry about." She patted his shoulder and he appeared to reluctantly agree with her.
"Alright… I'll trust that you're going to be fine for a while," he said quietly.
Juri and Fushiguro returned the next day to the school after coming up empty the night before. Since the school was now in session, the two had to rid themselves of their black uniforms and attempt to blend in with the rest of the crowd. Fushiguro was already around the age of the rest of the students, so there was no worry there, and Juri looked just about old enough to probably pass as a staff member.
Juri walked across the rugby field but stopped with an uneasy grimace crawling up to her face. There was this large Curse swimming across the ground like it was made of water. It was totally ignoring her though and didn't seem hostile, but it didn't stop her nerves from freezing up at the sight of it. She's seen Curses over a hundred times already but still can't get over the unsettling feeling that filled her heart whenever she'd look at them. It can't be helped though, since it's only been three years since she became aware of their existence.
"That's eerie," she muttered and stepped back beside Fushiguro. Her eyes scanned the outer field towards the students and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that none of them were reacting to the spirit. "I'm glad none of the students can see it, but why is this here? Is there a dead body buried beneath the ground?" She lifted her head and frowned at the morbid thing she had just said. "Dear…I hope that's not the case."
"Even if there is…I'm surprised to see a high-level here," Fushiguro said.
"What do you think the grade is?"
"Grade-2, maybe, but it's probably here because of the cursed object's influence." Fushiguro glanced around. "Its presence is also too strong to pin down. It feels like it's close by, but it could still be far away, too," he grumbled with a frown. "Hey, your invisible specter's still gone, right? You haven't heard anything back from her?"
"No. She's been gone all night, so I guess she's still searching. Pinning down the location's probably hard for her, too," Juri said while glancing down to check her 42-hour countdown. "Why do things never go as planned? The cursed object was inside a small box. Who could have moved it?"
Fushiguro shrugged his shoulders and looked across the rugby field where a crowd gathered around a student and coach.
"Coach Takagi is taking on Itadori from West Middle!" the surrounding students announced with excitement.
Juri watched on with shining eyes. "Wonder what it is…" She pressed her hand against her chin and stared on a little bit longer before curiosity got the better of her. "Let's go check it out," she said and dragged Fushiguro with her to follow. He grumbled but didn't complain or speak against it.
They stopped beside the crowd and got a better idea of what was going on. It looked like the coach was the one who started it all and challenged a student, Itadori Yuji, to a shot-put competition. Coach Takagi had already launched his ball across the field and had some of the students measure it. He had made it about 14 meters, which was quite impressive, seeing how the Japanese national record was 18 meters.
"Hey, can I just throw this however I want?" Itadori asked. He was a little confused since this was the first time he played a game like this. He wasn't sure how to go about tackling it yet, much less how to even hold the ball.
"Yep. I won't call any fouls, so throw however you please." The coach nodded his head with much arrogance and confidence. He didn't sound worried at all. "Sorry. I wanted to demonstrate how serious I am by intentionally choosing something that isn't your forte…"
Everyone fell silent the moment Itadori leaned back and pitched the heavy metal ball as if he was playing baseball. It sure flew across the field like it was a softball though, only stopping when it smacked right into the corner of a soccer goal and getting stuck there at 30 meters. Record broken, along with Coach Takagi's brain.
Fushiguro had to admit that he was impressed. "That guy's incredible. He pulled that off without any cursed energy. I wonder if he's like Zenin-senpai." He glanced over to Juri and was taken back to see how excited she really was. Her eyes were glowing and she was smiling like a madwoman, appearing just as overjoyed as the rest of the students were.
"That was so cool! Hey, Megumi. Did you see that?! Hey, hey!" She tugged on his sleeve and whipped her head back and forth to make sure he saw it too.
"How old are you again?" Fushiguro deadpanned.
"24, but did you see that?!"
Fushiguro looked as if he wanted to say more, question her age to see if she was lying or not. He breathed in deeply though and began to walk away from the field. "Come on. We wasted too much time."
Itadori came running up behind the two and passed them, sparking up a deadly wave of evil cursed energy. In a single blink, they saw a dark vision, a creature with four red eyes that carried death at his back. It immediately froze Juri stiff and caused a massive chill to run under her skin that felt like fire. Her very core became cold and she completely forgot to breathe for five whole seconds.
Fushiguro was the first to snap out of it. "Ah! Wait a moment!" he called out to Itadori but the kid was far too fast and ran off before they could stop him.
"That's all the necessary paperwork," the kindly spoken nurse said and gathered up the death certificates of Itadori's now-departed grandfather.
"Okay. Thank you for everything," Itadori said in a withered voice that was raw from swallowing back his sobs for the last couple of hours.
The nurse looked up and saw the kid's swollen red eyes. Despite his young age though, she was surprised to see how well he was holding it together. "Are you sure you're okay?" she asked.
"Well, this is my first time dealing with something like this, so It doesn't feel real yet," he said with a willing but weakened smile. "Grandpa would snap if I kept moping around forever, though. So I'll just have to keep laughing as I roast him up."
"That's a unique way of putting things," said a gentle woman's voice from behind.
Itadori turned around to see who it was and saw Juri and Fushiguro standing near the shadows of the exit hall. It was prevalent that they were an odd pair though. From their dark clothes to the seriousness worn on their faces. Well, Fushiguro looked serious while Juri appeared more concerned.
"You're Itadori Yuji, right? Fushiguro and Kocho Juri. We're from Jujutsu Tech," Fushiguro said sternly. "We'd like to have a word with you."
Juri frowned and gently nudged his shoulder. "Don't be so harsh," she scolded lightly before turning her gentle eyes back to Itadori. She expressed her condolences by bowing her head slightly. "You're in mourning right now, are you? We're sorry to approach you at this time but there's something we need from you that we believe that you took," she asked politely.
Itadori was grateful for this woman's tender way of speaking but what she said kind of caught him off guard. "Me? What did I take?"
Fushiguro held up his phone that had the picture of the cursed object on it. "You possess a very dangerous cursed object, and we need it back right now."
Itadori blinked and still wasn't following. "Cursed object?" He thought about It for a moment when his memory was finally triggered. "Ah, yeah, yeah. I remember now. I found that. I don't mind giving it back, but my senpai took a liking to it. What do you mean 'dangerous'?" he asked light-heartedly.
Juri bit down on her lips and wasn't quite sure how to approach the question. "Ah…about that," she said while nervously bundling up the loose fabric of her skirt.
Fushiguro was already aware that it was difficult for Juri to explain things like Curses. She wasn't nearly as well informed as he was, but only because it hasn't been long since she became aware of their existence and the impact they have on society. It's only been three years. "The number of unexpected deaths and missing persons within Japan exceeded 10,000 a year on average. Most of these are the result of Curses."
"Curses?" Itadori asked.
"You believing us isn't the point, but it is true. Large pools of negative energy form especially easily in schools, hospitals, and so on. Hardship, regret, shame. The negative emotions of mankind become the source of Curses. That's why most schools secretly keep a cursed object as a protective talisman. The object you found is one of them."
Itadori raised his hand like he was a student asking a question. "If it's protecting us, shouldn't we be grateful for it?"
"Let me finish. Placing a cursed object of greater evil is a deadly poison that keeps other Curses away. It's a bad practice though that only claims to protect. Over the years, the seal weakens and starts to attack other Curses and feeds on them. The one inside your school is extremely dangerous and can be classified as a special-grade. Now hurry up and hand it over before someone gets killed," Fushiguro demanded rudely and got a disapproving glance and grunt from Juri. She nudged him in the side again for him to watch his tone.
Itadori huffed and rummaged through the pocket of his jacket. "Hey, I already said I don't mind. Go tell it to my senpai," he said and passed the box over to Juri.
Juri jumped and wasn't expecting him to just haphazardly toss such a dangerous thing to her. She fumbled to catch the box for a moment before steadying herself and opening it up, only to flinch when she saw that it was actually empty. "Megumi, it's not here," she said distressingly.
"What?" Fushiguro snatched the box to check himself. "So we were just following the taint clinging to the box?! Where's the contents?!"
"S-s-s…chool….It's at…the schooool…." said a sudden wheezing voice against Juri's ear that only she could hear.
Juri nodded her head in response to her invisible specter's return. "School. Megumi, it's at the school."
"What?" Fushiguro turned back to her.
"My friend just came back…telling me that it's at the school."
"Ah…that's right, " Itadori said. "My senpai's were talking about removing the talisman from it tonight at the….school?" He slowed his words to a stop when he saw the horror building up in Juri and Fushiguro's eyes.
"D….death…clings tight…to…him. They…will...all dieeeee."
Twilight trickled in around the time the three of them got back to the school, but no sooner did they hit the back entrance, a dark pressure burst out from inside the building. Juri froze up the moment she sensed it and shivered with a fear she had only experienced once three years ago. If she was having this feeling now, then it prevalent that the seal holding back the cursed object was broken.
"…pressure…seeeeal…tragedy comes innnn…waves."
Juri felt a comforting gesture when the invisible specter placed a hand on her shoulder. It may have been a cold sensation, but she appreciated the gentle concern. "The seal's gone," she informed them.
"You stay here," Fushiguro warned Itadori with a stern voice.
"Hold on! I'm coming with you! It's bad, right? It's only been a couple of months but they're my friends. I can't just leave them." Itadori protested against them and tried to grab Juri by her shoulder, only to have his hand get abruptly slapped away by the invisible presence. He quickly pulled his arm back and just looked at her in shock, unsure what happened because he knew she didn't move her arm.
Juri breathed in softly and captured the young kid's eyes with her own. She reached down and grasped ahold of his shaking hands and just held them tightly. "Stay here. We don't need anyone getting hurt."
She slipped her hands away from his and backed up against the gate. Fushiguro helped her over and they entered the school, leaving Itadori alone to mull over the last words Juri said to him. He must've repeated them over a thousand times in his head over the span of a couple of seconds, each time tightening his fist until his skin turned white. He could still feel traces of warmth though when Juri held his hands. It felt a lot different from the cold sensation that slapped him away earlier.
The atmosphere inside the school felt heavy with a dense smell of musk misting the air. Juri kept a couple of paces ahead of Fushiguro while they ran down the dimly lit hall. She squinted her eyes to try and see past the thick black mist hazing her vision, and saw at the far end of the hallway, an oddly shaped low-grade Curse blocking their way.
"Kocho-sensei, keep going!" Fushiguro brought his hands together and formed them into the shape of a dog's head. "Come! Divine Dogs!" Two black and white dogs bubbled up from the shadow at his feet and ran ahead of both him and Juri. They viciously attacked the Curse in a blink of an eye and ripped it apart with their sharp canine teeth.
Neither Juri nor Fushiguro had to stop and kept on running with the dogs leading the way, chewing up any remaining Curses that were still lingering around. They finally had to stop though once they made it to the top floor of the school, coming face to face with a giant disfigured Curse that had the two missing students Itadori was talking about. They appeared to be unconscious and fused tightly to its gray skin. They were slowly sinking down like it was trying to absorb them and the cursed object the girl had in her pocket.
"Damnit!" Fushiguro was about to call an attack but he already knew he wasn't going to make it in time. Juri would be faster though. "Kocho-sensei!"
"I know!" Juri raised her arms like she was about to do something but stopped when she saw a dark shadow appear at the window beside the Curse. The glass shattered into pieces and Itadori jumped inside right above the creature. "What?!"
Itadori grabbed ahold of both his friends and ripped them out of the clutches of the cursed creature. Not a second later though as the Curse turned his attention to him, Fushiguro's dogs finally attacked and tore it to shreds with seconds to spare.
Fushiguro walked up to him once the Curse was destroyed. "I wanted to ask you what you're doing here, but good job."
Itadori frowned. "Why so haughty?" He looked past him and over at the dogs that were devouring what was left of the Curse. "By the way…what are those things munching on the Curse?"
"My shikigami. You can see them, then? Normally a Curse can't be seen. Not unless you're on the verge of death or in a special place like this," Fushiguro said.
"Oh, that makes sense. I've never seen a ghost or anything before tonight." He gave a light and awkward laugh but was suddenly taken back when Juri rushed up to him with pale panic written all over her. She held her hands up to the sides of his face and looked him over furiously like a worried mother. She was so close that he could see the high collar of her uniform slip down a bit and show an odd-looking scar across her pale neck. It must've been a pretty deep wound when she got it, judging by the discoloration.
"You're…not scared?" she asked curiously.
Itadori had to think a little bit on that question. "Well, I'm scared a bit. But…you know. People can really die," he said and caused Juri to frown with confusion.
"What?"
"So, I at least want the people I know to have a proper death. Not…whatever this is."
Juri pulled her hands away and just stared at him. "A proper death, you say? A little odd coming from someone of your age." She snickered as her eyes crinkled up when she smiled.
"Not that I really get it myself." He got up off the ground when something suddenly fell out of the girl's pocket. Itadori quickly caught it and recognized it to be a shriveled up and wicked-looking finger. "This it?"
"Su…kuna…"
Juri picked up on the growl in the invisible specter's voice and grimaced. "That's the special-grade cursed object, Ryomen Sukuna's finger. It's a bit of a miracle that it wasn't swallowed. Here." She held her hand out and Itadori dropped it into her palm.
"Swallowed? Is it good?" he asked curiously.
"Don't be stupid," Fushiguro said. "You'd do it to gain stronger cursed energy."
"R…u…"
Juri blinked and looked to her right. "Huh? What did you say?"
"I didn't say anything," Itadori said and looked pretty confused about what Juri was looking at, even more, who she was talking to.
"She wasn't talking to you," Fushiguro said.
"Juri…run!"
Crackling drywall reached her ears in an instant. "Megumi!"
Juri shoved Fushiguro as hard as she could just as the wall beside them gave away and a Curse, much bigger than the one before, came bursting through. It rammed right into the woman and threw the both of them through the window and onto the rooftop. The invisible specter was quick to act though and yanked on the back of Juri's collar and pulled her away from harm, but also accidentally letting the finger slip from Juri's hand and fall a couple of feet away.
Fushiguro ran up to the window and saw Juri standing at the very edge of the roof with the Curse blocking her way, leaving no room to escape. "Kocho-sensei!"
"Stay up there, Megumi!" Juri lifted her hand to signal him to stay put. "Just stay back! It'll be fine!"
She tried to compose herself by swallowing her fears back down her throat. The way things were now, it only mattered getting the finger back, which was laying closer to the Curse than she was. It didn't even seem to be that interested in her and kept turning its attention back to the finger, itching to swallow it and gain the power that it held.
Itadori laid his friends against the wall before running over to the window that Fushiguro was looking out of. "Why aren't we helping?"
"It's a standoff right now. The Curse seems to know that Kocho-sensei's trying to get the finger. If she so much as makes a grab for it, then it will charge and probably get there first." Fushiguro clenched his hands tightly and was at a loss for what to do. He was thinking about summoning Nue to distract the Curse, but he wasn't even sure if that will work because of how fixated it was at the moment. "Damnit!"
"You just need the finger back, right?"
"What?" He turned his head just as Itadori jumped out onto the roof with the Curse. "Itadori!"
Itadori hurried past the Curse just as it noticed him and rushed for the finger too. They were nearly neck and neck but the kid was faster and scooped up the finger before the Curse could get it. The creature was relentless though and grabbed ahold of Itadori's legs and began to swing him around. The finger slipped from his hand when he was pulled but he managed to grab it with his teeth. The Curse then wrapped his large hands around him and tried to forcefully shove him into his mouth.
"Itadori!" Juri tried to move but found out that she couldn't. Her body was wrapped up within the invisible specter's cold arms that kept her from moving or doing anything rash. "What? You need to let me go. He'll die at this rate!" she pleaded desperately.
"Promise…Juri….dangerous…"
"You-!"
"Danger…Sukuna…"
Juri felt the specter's arms stiffen when she heard the cold undertone within the faceless voice. "What? Sukuna?" She looked back just in time to see Itadori toss the finger up into the air and swallow it whole. Juri's face went from red to white in a blink of an eye. "Ah!"
"Stay back…"
Juri couldn't move even if she wanted to. The specter's arms felt like cold concrete, wrapped around her tightly like a wild but protective animal. She held her breath and watched as Itadori freed himself with this immense power that wasn't there a second ago. Unusual and dark tattoos formed around his body as his nails turned black, growing out to resemble sharp claws, those in which he used to eradicate the Curse from existence with a single swing of his hand.
Juri continued to watch breathlessly until she felt her lungs begin to burn from the lack of oxygen. She dared herself to take in a gasp of air but flinched when Itadori abruptly opened his eyes a second later, but this time he had two extra pairs of eyes right above his cheekbones. A dreadful and wicked grin crept up to his face as he cackled like an old witch.
"Ah, I knew it! The light feels best in the flesh!" Even his voice wasn't the same anymore. It sounded maniacal but also darkly gleeful at the same time. He pulled at his hoodie and ripped it to shreds as if the simple fabric was binding him down. "A Cursed Spirit's flesh is so boring! Where are the people? The women?! What a wonderful era to be in. Women and children are crawling everywhere like maggots. Wonderful! It'll be a massacre!" He proclaimed with that same wicked smile, bathed in the moonlight that showed off all his twisted features that didn't at all belong to Itadori.
"Ryomen…Sukuna…"
Sukuna's scarlet eyes widen as if he heard the soundless voice. He snapped his head over to where Juri stood and stared at her curiously before noticing the scar she had on her neck. Only then did he smile again. "Ah… I see, I see. I recognize your trademark scar anywhere. So, you finally found a new and young host, eh…Yurei?" He turned fully towards the petrified woman and waited, but there was no movement at all from the invisible specter. He knew she was there though. He recognized that cold air around her, the frosty nature and polished power. "Huh? It's been such a long time and you're not even gonna talk to me, much less reveal yourself?" he closed his eyes and sighed with deep disappointment. "Fine…if you're just gonna sit idly by…I'll drag you out myself!"
Sukuna charged at the frozen woman in a blink of an eye, far too fast for either Juri or Fushiguro to react properly. He closed the distance between them in less than a second and made contact, creating an impact so harsh, that it caused the ground to crack and dust to gather.
"Kocho-sensei!" Fushiguro was about to call forth one of his shikigami but stopped when the dust cloud began to part.
Sukuna's grin couldn't have widened any more than it did at that moment when he felt cold fingers wrap around his hand, holding him back with such ease that it was almost laughable. There was only one person who could stop him as easily as this. One person who could ignite every nerve in his body with a single cold stare, sending his heart into an excited frenzy.
Ah…it's been far too long.
The specter, no longer invisible, was an utterly beautiful and young-looking Cursed Spirit whose features appeared to be as delicate as stark white snow. She had on an abnormally long and flowy white dress that swayed against the wind, matching perfectly with her long hair that glowed under starlight. Her petite body didn't even seem to obey the laws of gravity either and was constantly floating in the air without touching the ground. The only pop of color she had was her glaring scarlet eyes that were just as deep and intimidating as his own.
"Long time no see, Yurei. Queen of Curses!"