Qian grunted as she squirmed, trying to reach into her back pocket. She was held captive in the jaws of the spirit, her arms pinned to her side with her torso clamped in its fangs. Her head and legs remained exposed, the high winds buffeting her face as the snake continued slithering between the architecture of the park. From sheer luck, its teeth mainly penetrated her backpack, although she felt the pronged tips digging into her skin.
She managed to loosen her arm and finally was able to grab the small object inside the cloth, tugging it out of the fabric. She pressed the side and a blade flipped open.
She raised her head to gauge her surroundings. Soon, the snake shot off the rails of a roller, beginning to weave between buildings. As its head dipped low to the ground, she jammed the knife into its oral cavity, jerking her hand across to rake across the flesh.
With an agonizing screech, it opened its mouth and she fell out, slamming and tumbling onto the pavement in a painful thud.
Wincing, her body no doubt bruised from the impact, she immediately climbed to her feet, running into the abandoned souvenir shop nearby. She ducked behind the racks, shakily catching her breath and shrugging off her backpack to clutch her battered shoulder.
"Oooooh little girl! Where did you go?" She froze upon hearing the cursed user's voice.
Why is she here- does this mean…Gojo-sensei? She inhaled sharply, squeezing her eyes shut.
"Come out, come out wherever you are!" The woman sneered, releasing her vines into the ground. Qian held her breath and peered over the counter, seeing the tendrils burst out from the pavement as they searched throughout each building. One vine broke through the window of the store, slithering along the hardwood floor.
Across the street, she saw a tall, colorful building. The sign above the open entrance read 'Magic Mirror Maze' and she narrowed her eyes, noting the numerous mirrors erected inside. Her brain quickly formulated an idea and she glanced around to see the woman stroll past where she was hiding. Qian breathed in deeply and, as soon as the cursed user had her back turned, she leapt over the table, jumped over a crawling tendril, and dove through the broken window, ducking her head as she rolled onto the pavement.
Hinamori heard the scrambling and frantic sound of footsteps and turned to see a dark head of hair disappear into what appeared to be a carnival house of sorts. She smirked, following suit.
—-
Satoru was flying in the sky when he heard a loud screech. He snapped his head towards the source and saw the large serpent viciously rearing its head back and forth, as though in immense pain. He immediately shot forward, shoving his fist into the spirit and driving it into the ground. Without waiting for it to counter-attack, he twisted his body, throwing his leg to dig his heel right between its blood-red eyes, completely splitting its head down the middle. As the annihilated spirit collapsed onto the ground, Satoru landed a few feet away. His bare eyes flickered around, desperately searching for the girl.
He straightened and scanned his surroundings, cursing under his breath upon seeing her nowhere in sight.
"It's cute you think you can get away!" He snapped his gaze towards the distant voice, which seemed to come from a few blocks away. He rushed toward the sound and halted at the end of the street, surveying around the corner to see vines retracting themselves from the pavement and creeping into a brightly painted building.
That's where the cursed user must be. He scrutinized the sign above the entrance, which read 'Magic Mirror Maze.
He gritted his teeth, immediately rushing inside.
—-
Hinamori growled in frustration. She kept bumping into objects that appeared to be invisible and running in continuous circles.
The girl was smart. The entire architecture of this building was built on endless mirrors, which reflected off of each other to hide the real paths and walls. The continuous reflections of varying distortions made it impossible to tell if objects were close or far, or even real at all.
She growled as her shoulder hit against a support beam, which she originally perceived to be a foot away due to the surrounding reflective surfaces. Forcing a grin on her face, she raised a finger to shoot a vine through the pillar, decimating it to pieces. "It's cute that you think you can get away!" She cried haughtily, stubbornly refusing to admit her disadvantage. This whole thing is starting to piss me off! "You can run and hide but I'll find you, my vines are already completely wrapped throughout this building!"
Qian sucked in a breath, her eyes wide in fear. She had managed to crawl around till she found a dark corner where most of the mirrors reflected away from her hiding spot.
"Last time, you caught me off guard, but you won't be so lucky this time." Hinamori called out, hoping for some reply. Upon hearing silence, she bit back a scream, wanting to stomp her foot in frustration. This is wasting precious time- Kurofiru-sama's patience is wearing thin.
She recalled the girl pushing that pesky sorcerer out of the way and smiled wickedly. The way she immediately sacrificed herself to protect the man could only mean one thing… and she could use that to her advantage.
"Your precious sensei is probably groveling on the ground, succumbing to excruciating agony by Rozu's pollen." She remarked off-handedly with an arrogant sneer. "Once you're exposed, you lose the ability to breathe, and soon- the sensation of burning hot needles invades your senses and you slowly lose your mind."
No. Qian shook her head, refusing to fall for her taunt. He's strong, he wouldn't lose that easily.
"He's so worthless. Not only did he get caught in my vines last time, but he couldn't even save that poor student of his!" She snickered as she flipped her hair. "He had to rely on a pathetic loser like you to save them."
She was still met with silence. She sniffed, shrugging her shoulders as she crossed her arms. "Honestly, what kind of teacher fucks up that bad? No wonder all your friends are too weak to fight us one-on-one. He doesn't know how to teach shit, he's probably squirming around on the ground, gasping for breath like some slimy worm dug up from the dirt-"
"D-Don't talk about him like that!" Qian immediately clamped her mouth at her unexpected outburst, cursing herself.
Hinamori snapped her head towards the shout, her lips drawn back in a smirk as she walked towards the source. "Why not? You don't like me talking about your precious sensei like that? What- is he that important to you?"
Qian saw her shadow approach the reflection and she immediately lurched forward, scrambling to find a new spot before a vine burst through the mirror behind her, wrapped around her leg and pinning her to the ground. The shards shattered around her, cutting her cheek and arms.
The woman stood above her. What a stupid girl. She clicked her tongue disapprovingly as she victoriously stared down at her. "Why do you look so angry? Is he that great?"
Qian clenched her jaw and glared up at her. Hinamori quirked a knowing brow at her explicit rage before she held a hand up to her mouth in mock surprise. "Oh wait, I know that look…could it be?" She giggled superciliously. "You like him!"
The girl flushed but refused to respond, instead opting to grab a shard of glass, ignoring its edge digging and slicing her palm open, to start sawing at the vine, vainly trying to wrench herself free.
Hinamori's smirk widened. "No, wait- don't tell me… you… you actually love him!"
—-
Satoru's eyes flickered throughout the numerous mirrors. Fortunately, his Six Eyes ability made it easy to tell where the floor dipped and subtle changes in air pressure to determine where the path divided and how the building was laid out.
"D-Don't talk about him like that!" He instantly recognized Qian's voice and raced down the path.
"Why not? You don't like me talking about your precious sensei like that? What- is he that important to you?" He ducked behind a wall, peering at the mirror across from him to see Qian fall to the ground, the user's tendrils wrapped firmly around her ankle.
"Why do you look so angry? Is he that great?" He quickly raced through his options, noting the woman's back was turned.
"Oh wait, I know that look…could it be?" He had a distinct advantage, now was the moment to strike. He immediately held his fingers up, crossing them over each other. "Domain-"
"You like him!"
His lips faltered, his eyes widening with shock. His throat suddenly felt dry… all he had to do was just utter the last few words… but-
"No, wait- you… you actually love him!"
He held his breath, frozen in place, as his gaze traveled to the girl, whose face was twisted in anger, but flushed red…
"S-So what if I do?" He couldn't breathe, unable to do anything except stare at her with incredulous eyes, completely awestruck.
—-
"S-So what if I do?" Qian used one hand to push herself to a seating position, ignoring the pain as the glass sliced through her palms and skin. Hinamori raised her brows in surprise at the girl's bold response.
"Well, then you're stupider than I thought." She crossed her arms as she regarded her. "You think you even have a chance with him?"
"N-No. I don't." Qian glared at her, still attempting to tear apart the stalk wrapped around her calf with the little shard held between her fingers. "B-But I don't care."
The woman snorted, raising another hand to summon a vine, which twisted around Qian's wrist, pinning it to the wall behind her. "Love gets you nowhere in this world."
"Y-You don't know that." Qian retorted, using her other hand to pull at the tendril. She lurched forward to violently bite into the root, twisting her neck in a desperate attempt to break the fibers to free herself.
The woman smirked at her desperation, though an unusual perspicacious look passed over her expression. "Like I said, stupid. Now enough talk." She rolled her fingers into a fist, and more vines began to wrap around the girl's body. "You're coming with me."
However, before she could blink, the vines were decimated into bits and Qian was wrapped in a warm embrace.
She gasped and blinked, peering up to see Satoru holding her close to his chest. "G-Gojo-sensei-"
"Hold tight." Before she could reply, he shoved them through the hall of mirrors and burst through the back wall of the building. Bits of wood and broken glass crashed around them as he turned to face the cursed user inside. He lowered her to the ground, moving her behind him as he stood in front of her protectively.
"HOW?!" Hinamori shrieked, stomping her food childishly onto the ground. "UGH Rozu that stupid dick! I knew he was weak!"
Satoru shifted his stance. "When I tell you to, just run for the trees, and don't look back." He muttered under his breath.
Qian regarded him with worry. "S-Sensei-"
Hinamori threw her arms forward and he raised two fingers, halting the wave of tendrils in their path. "Now! GO!"
Qian bit her lip and ran off. However, from the corner of her eye, she saw a shadowy figure in the trees, something sharp gleaming in the moonlight…
She frantically looked over her shoulder seeing the trajectory aimed for the sorcerer, whose back was facing the darkness.
Without a second thought, she swung around, pivoting on her heel.
—-
Satoru already noticed the other cursed user hiding in the trees behind him the minute they broke out of the building. He smirked, knowing the idiot was probably thinking he could catch him off guard by attacking him from the shadows. He already had Infinity activated, there was nothing that could hurt him.
"Sensei!" He suddenly felt a pair of arms wrap themselves around his back, followed by the sound of a sickening crunch.
He froze. He slowly turned his head around, peering over his shoulder to see Qian latched onto his back.
For a moment, the world was silent except for the sound of blood rushing to his head, pounding in his ears.
He lowered his gaze, observing how her body leaned into him as she painfully lifted her head to stare up at him with misty eyes, her glasses had clattered to the ground.
"A-Are you alright?" She asked breathlessly, tears falling down her cheeks.
"Y…Yeah." He felt something warm seep into his side and he numbly looked down.
His mind went blank. Long, silver needles had pierced her back and through her chest, its tapered edge protruding between her ribcage. Blood dripped from the tip, falling against the invisible barrier between their bodies and coagulating into a puddle on the cement.
"A-Are you hurt?" She clung to his frame, her legs slowly weakening.
He didn't need to check, he had Infinity activated this whole time. He nodded dumbly. "I…I'm fine."
"G-Good. That's good." Her eyelids slid shut. "T-That's good." She fell forward and he instinctively caught her frame.
"FUCK!" He vaguely heard the woman shriek from behind him as white, hot anger washed over flooded his senses.
—-
Hinamori glared at the trees. "Rozu! He said he wanted her alive!"
"I-I was targeting him, not her!" Rozu landed on the ground, his eyes wild with fear and regret as he ran his hands over his inked scalp in a frenzy, muttering expletives under his breath. He threw his arms up in despair. "Fuck this, I'm out of here!"
"HEY! Wait for me!" She rushed after him, before suddenly she felt a sharp pain on her deltoid. She paused in her step, blinking as blood splattered to the ground, slowly peering down at herself.
Where her arm used to be was now just severed bone, the flesh of what used to be her limb now laid on the pavement in a bloodied heap. The muscles were twitching in the fingers as if the nerve fibers still communicated with her brain. Red began spilling out from the cleaved arm and onto the concrete pavement, coloring the once vibrant-green grass with scarlet.
A scream tore from her lips as she collapsed, clutching her open wound as a river of blood flooded down her side.
"Hinamori!" Rozu shot a glance at the man, who's eyes were shining with fury. "Damn you!" He shouted as he rushed over, throwing his arms out to shoot silver needles at the man.
—-
Satoru raised two fingers to easily disband the onslaught, focusing his cursed energy to cast another wordless technique. He eyed her neck. This time, he wasn't going to miss.
Rozu managed to quickly throw the woman over his shoulder and leapt into the sky, holding his palm out towards the ground.
"Get the fuck away!" The teen roared , and a shower of silver spines erupted from his hand, shooting straight down at the man like a deadly hailstorm.
The sorcerer clasped his hands together. "Hollow Technique: Purple!" A ball of purple light surged forth, piercing through the clouds into the sky. The two techniques met and combined into a violent blast, pure energy exploding everywhere from the impact.
He remained fixated on the spot where the pair had flown. However, once the air cleared, he noted grimly that they had disappeared.
"Shit!" He cursed, peering down at the unconscious girl in his arms. He ripped out the needle and placed a palm on her chest in a vain attempt to stop the bleeding.
"Shit, shit, shit!" He roared, his hands flickering with white light that was unable to fully form. Come on, stupid fucking reverse cursed technique…WORK. DAMN IT. FUCKING. WORK. "COME ON. DAMN IT!" He roared as his palms refused to emit the white light.
"Sensei!" He shot his head up to see his students running towards him. "Shit." Yuji gasped, immediately kneeling down to feel her pulse. "Oh shit."
"Holy crap, what happened?!" Nobara collapsed beside him. Megumi gritted his teeth and immediately took out his phone to dial Jujutsu High's doctor.
"She needs to get to Ieiri-sensei. Now." Maki instructed, immediately ripping off part of her uniform to press against the girl's chest.