"Hey-! Don't toy with country folk like this! This is so not Roppongi!"The girl named Nobara Kugisaki exclaimed angrily as soon as they arrived at their destination – where their skills as Jujutsu Sorcerers will be put to the test.
"Right?! You lied to us, Sensei!" Yuuji shouted, feeling completely duped at the sight of the clearly haunted building in front of them. An old office complex by the looks of it. Untouched for years with its paint grim and its windows clouded by dust.
Beside them, Megumi Fushiguro assessed the building. "There are curses here, aren't there?"
"Bingo!" The adult of the group confessed. Gojo Satoru stride close to the abandoned office building. "Close by is a cemetery, meaning there's a curse outbreak there and in this place too."
"Oh. So curses came out of the gravesite?" Yuuji assumed.
"It's not the gravesite," Megumi informed, "Rather, it's the mindset of people who think gravesites are scary. Their negative thoughts towards it are what draws out curses."
"Ohhh. Now I get it, like what happened at the school," Yuuji now fathomed.
"Huh? Hold on," the newly joined member of the class spoke up. Nobara eyed Yuuji with bewilderment. "That's basic knowledge. How do you not know that?"
"Actually…" Megumi began, stating the truth plainly, "Itadori's a special case…"
After explaining the whole story of how he met Yuuji, and how Yuuji came to be a sorcerer, Nobara was shocked. "Seriously?! He ate a cursed finger?! Gross! That's seriously gross!"
She shuffled as far away from Yuuji as possible, continuously spouting her disgust, much to Yuuji's visible offense.
"Honestly, I feel the same way," Megumi admitted, shocking Yuuji by this betrayal.
"Here is where you'll be using your skills as sorcerers," Gojo informed his small class, bringing their attention back to the task at hand. "I want to know how far you guys can go, so consider this as an entrance exam."
He then called forth two of his new students. "Kugisaki-san, Itadori-kun. You two will go in and exorcise the curses."
Nobara was less than excited to participate, so long as the finger-eater Yuuji was next to her. Yuuji, on the other hand, looked puzzled, "But I can't use cursed energy. Don't you need that to fight curses?"
"Cursed energy isn't the only thing you need to perform an exorcism," Gojo lectured. "For you, Yuuji, you're something like a half-curse. Sorcery is already flowing through your blood, but since you can't control it right now, you can use this instead."
He handed Yuuji a concealed weapon. Unwrapping the weapon, a short sword was revealed. Impressed by the shiny blade, Yuuji stared at it mesmerized like a child being handed a new toy. Nobara was somewhat disturbed by this reaction, believing he'll end up tripping himself on top of the blade.
"That there is "Slaughter Demon," a charm weapon with cursed energy confined inside. This should be effective against any curses you come across," Gojo said. "One more thing, don't let Sukuna out. All the curses here will end up fleeing or killed by his presence alone."
"Yes, Sensei!" Yuuji affirmed with a salute. Nobara was already departing for the building, fastening a brown belt that carried a tool pouch around her waist.
"There's also other people to take into account," Gojo continued, "Try to fight curses on your own without Sukuna's aid."
With that said, the two new students set out into the office building. Megumi, who was still recovering from his previous mission, sat on the sidelines outside with Gojo.
"Shouldn't I go with them?" Megumi asked, "Itadori needs to be monitored, right?"
"True, but you're not fully healed yet. Also…" Gojo said with a slight smirk, "Right now, the one being tested is Nobara. Let's leave it up to those kids and see how well they do."
Megumi said nothing more then, looking up at the haunted building that was radiating some especially thick curse presence.
He overheard Gojo's low hum and saw the smirk on the man's face slowly diminished. The white-haired man rested his chin on the back of his hand as he looked at the building, as if trying to hone in on something.
"What is it?" Megumi asked.
"Well…" Gojo began slowly, tilting his head a bit, "I've just noticed that this building feels a little more potent than yesterday… I'm sure it's nothing."
"This is a load of bull," Nobara complained as she walked up the stairs. Yuuji following behind and keeping watch from behind. "Why is the first thing we do in Tokyo is to hunt down some curses? Hey, Yuuji, right?"
Nobara turned as she addressed the young man. She pointed at the floor above them, "Let's split up. We can cover more ground and get this over with faster. I'll start at the top and work my way back down. You stay here and make your way up. Sounds good yeah?"
She wanted to leave this place as soon as possible to start visiting all the popular spots in Tokyo. Being a girl from the countryside, it's a wasteful opportunity not to enjoy the city and everything it has to offer. She's heard plenty of good things about the sushi's here in Tokyo too, and she's hellbent on getting them before the end of the day.
"Whoa, hold on," Yuuji said, concerned by how flippant the girl was being. "We should act more seriously. These curses are dangerous, you know?"
Nobara's face contorted, as if to say 'you did not just say that to me.' Vexed beyond what she's allowed to endure today, she grabbed the boy's red hood and spun him around, kicking him in the rear and sending him back down the stairs.
"I don't need to hear that from a newbie! You never even knew about curses until recently!"
"What did you kick me for?!" Yuuji shouted up at the girl, rubbing his hurt rear. "Seriously?! What's with your attitude today?!"
"My attitude is fine. It's you who thinks you know more than what I've already done," Nobara rebuked as she continued up the stairs. "This is why no girl likes you."
"Excuse me?!" Yuuji stood up, slighted by such a statement. "Hey! For your information, I got asked out by a girl not too long ago!"
"You're obviously her rebound."
"What?!" Unable to make a clever retort, Yuuji could only watch as the young woman climbed up the steps and was gone from his sight.
Grumbling to himself, he muttered bitterly, "Oh screw you, bitch. Girls do like me. Should have seen the one I met yesterday. Hell of a lot nicer than you."
He started to walk across the hall of the first floor. As he looked around, a sudden thought came to him, "Oh. I wonder if Ciel set up her club already?"
He pulled out his phone to search for Ciel's phone number. Just as he was skimming through his list of contacts, he felt a dangerous presence above his head, and he jumped away immediately. His short sword out, he faced the very first curse who revealed itself to him. A bulging, repulsive creature with multiple limbs like an insect.
"Here… is your receiiiipt," the curse hauntingly uttered. One of its limbs bled after having its splinter sliced off by Yuuji's sword.
Seeing an opening in the curse's defense, Yuuji moved in swiftly for the kill.
Two iron nails pierced the face of a seemingly immobile mannequin. Cursed energy fueled each nail, and eyes were forced open within the face of the mannequin. It glared at the young woman who only stared back with an unimpressed expression.
"It's best if you take out those nails," Nobara warned the curse-possessed mannequin. "My cursed energy runs through them."
With a snap of her fingers, the cursed energy of the nails expanded, and the head of the mannequin exploded. White chunks of fuzz and plastic scattered across the floor as the mannequin slumped against the ground, completely exorcised.
"Piece of cake," Nobara commended herself proudly, twirling her heart-printed hammer once. She examined the room with one more glance and then proceeded back out the doorway she had entered through. "I think we'll – no, I'll clear this place out in less than thirty minutes. That'll leave me plenty of time to visit the shops around here."
Ah, but there wasn't really a lot of money she brought from home. She ought to ask Gojo when they'll get their first paycheck-
Bang!
A muffled sound of a fallen object. Nobara flinched and looked back at the mannequin room. The sound became a series of noises. Like something tumbling to the ground.
Stepping back inside the room with caution, Nobara kept in tune with her cursed energy sensory as she eyed at the door on the left side of the room.
The door suddenly swung wide open, surprising Nobara as she quickly held up her iron nails and hammer readily in defense.
A girl slid backwards out of the room, stopping in front of Nobara and facing the room she had just came out of. Clutching a purple bag by her waist, the girl with blue hair turned her head at the notice of Nobara's presence, and gasped in surprise, "Someone else-?!"
A girl? Nobara blinked. By her outfit, she must be a student. Did she come here out of a dare?
Nobara remembered all the instances of the boys and girls in her village visiting haunted places as a test of bravery. Or in other cases, to see true to the rumors of spirits roaming around. Either way, it was clearly dangerous for a normal girl to be here. While Nobara can handle curses with her ability at hand, people who don't possess cursed energy or a means to defend themselves from curses are far more likely to be hurt or killed.
Nobara scratched her head, holding the iron nails in between her fingers. She wondered if this was part of the test or if this girl really did end up here on a whim. Deciding that neither mattered, she approached the girl. "You alright? You shouldn't be in a place like this, you know?"
The girl with glasses lowered her head, looking at Nobara's uniform, "You're-?"
She briskly returned her attention to the door, where noises continued to persist. Like feet dragging across the floor, and horrid breaths as if someone parched was practically dying inside. Nobara curiously looked at the open doorway, seeing only a dark room inside.
"You need to leave this place now!" The girl warned her. "It's too dangerous here!"
Not taking the demand seriously, Nobara rubbed her nose in pure confidence. Heh. Clearly this girl has no idea how strong I am. I might as well show off a bit.
"Don't worry," Nobara assured with an upbeat voice, "I'm here to clear out this place of any evil. You're safe as long as you're with me."
The girl didn't appear convinced, urging once more, "N-no! This isn't something that you're-!"
The sounds of dragging feet finally reached the edge of the doorway. In Nobara's sight, a couple of humanoid figures with extremely grotesque complexion walked out. Marred with blood lines and glowing red eyes.
"Whoa…" Nobara said, leisurely resting her hammer over her shoulder. She stepped forward and stood protectively in front of the blue-haired girl while keeping her eyes on the mangled humanoids. "I guess curses really do try hard to pass off as humans, doesn't make you guys any prettier though."
She side-glanced at the blue haired girl who was eyeing at the pair of wretched humanoids with what seemed like a conflicted expression, rather than disgust or fear. She can see them? Must have pretty good cursed energy.
Picking up her iron nails, Nobara declared boastfully, "Just keep your eyes on me. I'll put you two out of your misery."
She flicked the nails and slammed her hammer against them. The iron nails shot forth and lodge itself into both the heads of the decrepit figures, two nails in each head. The cursed energy imbued within the nails burns through the carcass flesh of the humanoids, and their heads imploded.
Their ragged bodies dropped to the floor, slumping against the ground like a fallen bag of cement, and a putrid stench burst from their bodies. Nobara, caught off-guard by the stench, audibly gagged and covered her nose.
"Gah-! What the-?! Ew! That's a seriously horrible smell-!" So horrible that Nobara could feel her stomach turn.
Wait. It soon dawned on her. She looked back at the bodies on the floor. I can smell them? But curses don't usually give off strong odors like this.
She had heard of instances of off-putting smell in haunted places, but that's usually to do with stronger curses, and these things don't look to be anywhere near that level. Not only that, but looking at the bodies a little longer, they should be completely burnt up and vanished by now after she shot them with her cursed energy.
Holding her nose still, Nobara stepped closer to the bodies. Making a decision before coming to regret ruining her new shoes later, she tapped with her foot against one of the bodies' shoulders.
A physical touch. An actual solid surface of her foot meeting flesh. Though even curses can be physically touched, somehow, this felt different to Nobara. More "real" so to speak, as if she was touching another human being than a curse. When she pressed her foot a little further, something squirmed underneath the clothing of the body, and through the wilted holes of the shirt, black puss covered maggots crawled out.
"GAH!" Nobara jumped back. Close to puking at the grotesque display. However, the shocking revelation of this scene kept her lunch in her stomach. She uttered in disbelief, "They're… they're real bodies. No way…"
Were these actual corpses? What kind of curse could possess corpses? Did they come from the cemetery?
There was a gasp from behind. Nobara quickly turned around.
A large curse suddenly revealed itself, covered in fur with a nasty grin. Its bulging bug-eyed expression squinted at Nobara as the curse lifted the blue haired girl up by her neck. The girl's legs flailed briefly, her hands holding the grip of the monster that had her by the throat as she shut her eyes from the pain.
Nobara hurriedly held up a new pair of iron nails, but before she could fire them, the curse held the struggling girl in front of itself, blocking Nobara's clear view of the curse and pointed its sharp nails at the girl's neck.
It's taking her hostage?! How are curses smart enough to do that?!
No. Rather than think it impossible, the fact was undeniably in front of her. This curse has intelligence – a cunningness to know Nobara would hesitate if it had an innocent life to shield itself with.
Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!
She messed up. If she had kept her eye on the girl, this wouldn't have been a problem. The curse was obviously a low grade. Why else would it take a hostage? Because it was aware of its own weakness. She could kill it easily if it wasn't such a damn coward!
What should I do? Nobara considered her options, tightly clenching the handle of her hammer. No. I can't let this thing get the upper hand. If I give in, I'll die, and the girl dies. But if I just forget about the girl, then at least I'll survive, and that curse dies.
She just has to launch her nails. Even if she ended up hitting the girl, she can get the curse behind her. This way two people won't end up dying. She won't guilt-trip herself over this. She's just looking at this at a logical perspective. It's not Nobara's fault that the girl ended up at the wrong place at the wrong time. Nobara has to make this decision. She has to!
The curse's sharp nail drew closer to the neck of the choking girl, piercing the skin enough to draw blood and let it trail down her skin.
…Damn it.
Nobara dropped her hammer and nails.
The girl opened her eyes at the sound, and witnessed as Nobara unbuckled the curse-tool belt around her waist. "Wait! Don't-!"
The curse tightened its grip around her neck, silencing her as she winced from the pressure.
"Stay quiet. I know what I'm doing," Nobara lied with a steady voice. After dropping her tool belt, she raised both arms up in surrender. "There. See? I'm unarmed. Now let that girl go."
The curse merely chuckled at Nobara, further pressing its nail into the girl's neck and causing the blood trail to fall again – despite having done so once already. Not that Nobara noticed.
God. I'm such an idiot! Nobara cursed at herself. Just look at it! It's not letting her go in the slightest! Now it's going to kill both of us!
What rotten luck. Her first day in training, and she's already about to be killed. Curses really are different in the city than the ones back home.
Nobara sighed, looking down despondently. She failed to see the girl calmly reach for her purple bag as Nobara wishfully said her last words, "I wish I could have seen Saori one more time."
A fist burst through the wall behind the curse. The blue haired girl, Nobara, and the curse were completely taken aback by this sudden event, and watched peculiarly as the hand that came through the stone wall started patting around the surface.
"Aw crap. Did I not hit anything?"
The curse tried to back away but was not fast enough. Yuuji busted through the wall with his short sword at hand and sliced off the arm of the curse, freeing the girl it had hostage. He then raced and slid passed underneath the curse, catching the startled student in his arms and carried her away until they were at a safe distance.
When Yuuji looked to see if the girl was alright, he instantly recognized her. "Huh? Ciel?"
"Yuuji-kun?!" Ciel exclaimed.
Their exchange was brief when they heard the curse cry out in pain, and it started to slip back into the wall.
"Ah! He's getting away!" Yuuji yelled.
"No, he's not!" Without another second to lose, Nobara pulled open the shirt of her uniform. A straw doll clung underneath the fabric of her black shirt, and she yanked it out. "Itadori! Toss me that arm over there!"
Yuuji glanced at the curse arm he cut off. Releasing Ciel, he quickly grabbed and tossed the arm over to Nobara. Catching the curse arm, Nobara dropped her straw doll upon the sliced limb and raised her hammer and nail.
"Are you doing voodoo? How creepy!" Yuuji couldn't help but say his disturbance. Ciel only watched with interest as Nobara swiftly utilized her cursed energy into the iron nail.
"Straw Doll Technique: Resonance!"
She hammered the nail into the doll and stabbed the limb underneath.
They heard the curse's screech from outside the building, and the limb of the curse began to burn away. Evaporating within a moment, until it ceased to be.
Nobara breathed out a sigh of relief. "There. It's been exorcised. Geez, that was such a close call."
"That's why I told you we had to stick together and take this seriously!" Yuuji admonished. His "I told you so" prominently written in his face.
Nobara clenched her fist, angrily responding, "You didn't say we had to stick together!"
"I-I didn't?"
"In any case! What have you been eating as a child to punch through walls like a superhuman?!"
"It wasn't steel reinforced concrete!"
"That's not the point!"
Ciel watched as both Nobara and Yuuji began to argue back and forth over what had just transpired, leaving her forgotten for a moment.
"Um. Let's settle down now," she attempted to be the voice of reason, getting their attention.
"Oh! Right!" Remembering her, Yuuji jogged over to Ciel, "Are you okay? What are you doing in a place like this?"
"Ah. I'm alright, thanks to the both of you," Ciel gratefully said, rubbing her neck which, to Nobara's surprise, had no blood trail.
That's odd. Nobara thought to herself, I could have sworn she'd been bleeding.
"I was just passing by when I heard a little boy crying for help," Ciel began to explain, "I went into the building and these 'ghosts' appeared out of nowhere. I was able to help the boy escape, but then, well…
"You ended up getting stuck up here?" Nobara asked, adjusting her uniform as she stood up. "So you really can see these curses then."
"Um. Yes," Ciel nodded uncertainly. "'Curses' you say. Then, are you two…?"
"Oh. Right, I didn't get a chance to tell you before," Yuuji said, rubbing the back of his head, "I'm sort of a sorcerer – me and Kugisaki here. We're basically like shamans. We exorcise curses like the ones you saw using Jujutsu Sorcery. That's the kind of school I've transferred to."
"S… Sorcerers, you say?" Ciel said slowly, looking rather taken aback by how honest Yuuji was being. "I see. Sorcerers… Is… that alright for you to tell me?"
"I mean, I'm fine with it," Yuuji said, looking back to Nobara for her input. "It's okay if we tell her, right? She sees curses anyway."
Nobara observed Ciel for a moment before giving a shrug of her shoulders, "It doesn't matter to me. Not like we can just explain all this away."
There was a slight frown on Ciel that lasted only for a few seconds, as if what they said was too strange. Yuuji sniffed the air, "By the way, what's up with this smell? Do curses always smell this bad?"
"Oh. That's because of those guys," Nobara nonchalantly gestured behind Yuuji. Yuuji turned around and finally noticed the two rotting bodies that were in the room with them.
"Wha-?! Ew! Gross!" Yuuji jumped away from the disgusting scene of maggots crawling around the figures, covering his nose from the awful stench. "What happened here?!"
"They were in that other room over there," Nobara pointed at the doorway, her face turning grim. "I don't know how, but these guys had to have come from the cemetery."
"Ceme-" Yuuji mind halted, and he stared back at the two bodies on the floor. "Wait. Are you saying…"
He slowly comprehended the shape that these rotten masses of flesh were. Humans. These were human corpses.
"No way…" Yuuji's eyes widened, a new sickening feeling entered his gut, and it was no longer due to the stench. "They're… people?"
"Dead people," Nobara stated, narrowing her eyes. "Which is weird. I've never heard of curses possessing corpses before. These weren't all that powerful either. It just… doesn't make any sense."
Suddenly, they heard moaning from the hole in the wall Yuuji made. Immediately on guard, they looked towards the noise, where shadows of human figures drew closer. Yuuji quickly grabbed Ciel's hand, ignoring her surprised glance and sound as he pulled her away from the hole.
"What the hell…?" Nobara said, stepping back as soon as she saw the humanoid figures steadily appear, one by one, "Hold on. This… This isn't right…"
"Kugisaki?" Yuuji called her, noticing her nervousness showing while his was slowly creeping up. He held up his short sword and cautiously eyed at the humanoid figures that were slowly stepping inside the mannequin room.
"I can't sense any cursed energy in them…" Nobara finally said, "I thought it was just weak, but weak curses don't just possess bodies like this. They're…"
"Hold on. Do you mean…?" Yuuji said as he held out his arm in front of Ciel, guiding her away from the dreadfully mangy humanoids that were starting to increase in numbers. "They're not curses? They're…?!"
Red eyes and mouths glowed as the corpses glared hungrily at the group of teenagers.
"Zo…Zo…! ZOMBIES?!" Both Yuuji and Nobara screamed. It completely left their minds that they should not be the ones panicking while they have a citizen behind them, relying on their strength and experience – or so it would seem.
"No way-! No way, no way! Zombies are real?!" Nobara spouted as she hastily picked up her tool belt while the zombies drew closer. Her nerves getting to her as she tried to get a hold on some iron nails without her fingers trembling.
"A-Aren't they?!" Yuuji asked, being a fresh newbie in the Jujutsu Sorcery world.
"How should I know?! I fight curses! Not the undead!" Nobara yelled before slamming her hammer against two nails she flung.
The iron nails pierce the eye and forehead of two zombies, their head burst with cursed energy as they slowly but determinedly saunter over to the teens. The two undead heads crumbled, and they soon fell. However, as two were dropped, more came in their place, attracted by the sounds of screaming teens.
"Shit!" Nobara cursed out loud, grabbing more nails and holding them between each finger.
Understanding the intensity of the situation that was likely unprecedented, Yuuji reacted at once. He picked up Ciel without warning and carried her bridal-style, causing the girl to let out a startled sound, "Y-Yuuji-kun?!"
"This way! Come on!" He started rushing for the door, looking back to see Nobara following, which she does without a second's hesitation.
They fled out into the hallway and rushed for the stairs.
"Let's get back to Sensei! I don't think he'd have us fight anything but curses!" Yuuji said.
"He better have not! Or I'm hammering a nail into his head!" Nobara promised.
Yuuji wouldn't blame her. Gojo only mentioned curses roaming here. The man definitely would have warned them of other enemies to look out for if it wasn't just curses. Yuuji may not know Gojo all that well and for long, but he's fairly certain that Gojo wasn't that much of sadist. And besides, with all the danger, they'll have to get Ciel out of here first and foremost.
Seeing as how easily he could bust through walls, Yuuji could jump through one of the windows and make it outside, but he didn't want to leave Nobara behind and on her own. So fastening his hold of Ciel while keeping a careful grip of his Slaughter Demon weapon, both he and Nobara rushed down the stairs to get to the first floor.
However, they were suddenly cut off from the second floor when more of the living dead started to crowd up towards them.
Keeping his momentum without stopping, Yuuji jumped, holding Ciel closely, he slammed both feet against the two of the dead's faces. "Kugisaki!"
Nobara acted accordingly, slamming three iron nails with her hammer and firing them into three of the undead's heads. A sixth and seventh dead remained, and as they outstretched their arms for Yuuji and Ciel, Yuuji swung Slaughter Demon from underneath Ciel's legs and stabbed through two of the undead's bodies – slicing through their waist as if they were made of paper.
Without being sliced through in complete half, however, the pair of undead continued to move, until Kugisaki slammed her hammer against both their heads. The base of her hammer cracked open the skull of the first zombie, causing it to collapse onto the floor. Swinging her arm back, the pointed spine of her weapon stabbed into the eye of the other dead.
Nobara pushed away the zombie promptly, shaking her hands afterwards, "Ugh! Ew! I just touched it! There's dust all over my hands!"
"Keep running!" Yuuji shouted back, adjusting his hold of Ciel, "There has to be a fire exit or-"
A mangled, worm-like cursed spirit suddenly sprouted from the wall at the end of the hallway. "Oh crap-!"
He swung his Slaughter Demon and exorcised the curse, watching as its halved body fell behind him and dissipate. All things considering, he was pretty grateful at how calm Ciel was being, unlike how he and Nobara are.
"Hang onto me!" Yuuji told Ciel.
"H-huh?!" Ciel uttered, surprised by the question, "Oh! Right!"
She wrapped her arms around his neck with a shy expression, clinging to him closely as he ran across the second-floor hallway. There was a scent of curry coming from the girl who showed a hint of embarrassment, though Yuuji would rather take this than the smell of rotting corpses any day.
"Hmmm." Gojo thoughtfully said as he observed the abandoned and curse-occupied building, together hearing with Megumi the concerning sounds of what seemed to be Yuuji and Nobara screaming their heads off and clashing words with each other. A minute after Gojo and Megumi witnessed a curse be exorcised by no doubt Nobara's ability, all hell seemed to have broken loose within the building that they could hear it from outside.
"…Sensei," Megumi said, visibly discomforted by the noise.
"Yeah," Gojo agreed with Megumi's tone. He rose up from his seat, "I better go in and see what all the fuss is about."
He only took one step forward before he suddenly stopped. His shoulders squared, "Megumi. Duck."
Megumi had only one chance to react to that, and he made sure not to waste it. He threw his body forward and barely felt the graze of what seemed like sharp fangs. He rolled across the ground and met with Gojo's side. Looking straight ahead, he spotted what came from the shadows of the buildings that had been behind the two sorcerers.
A mangy black hound, with a deathly growl in its scarred throat. A ravenous appearance, its eyes glowed red as if filled with blood. Razor sharp teeth coated in hungry saliva, and a piece of Megumi's uniform stuck to its canine.
"Megumi…?"
"It's not mine," Megumi bluntly answered, interlocking his hands into a dog jujutsu sign, summoning his own hound of white fur by his side.
"Just checking," Gojo casually adjusted his blind fold, "I'd say today's entrance exam isn't going the way I was expecting."
He gave a little sniff and looked quite surprised, noticing a definite rotten smell of the dead. "It's not a curse?"
"It's not-?" Megumi looked to his teacher for an explanation, and the ravenous black hound saw this as an opportunity. The undead hound quickly lunged for the two sorcerers. Its maw open as it aimed to tear the life out of them.
"Dammit! I don't have enough nails for this! Where the hell do these things keep coming from?!" Nobara shouted as she hammered more iron nails towards the undead, and more towards emerging curses that were roaming around the walking deceased.
"You said from the cemetery!" Yuuji answered as he sliced through both a zombie's head and a curse's body. He ran around the corner with Ciel still in his arm, trying to keep his hold of her while fighting at the same time, only to find more of the dead and curses facing their way.
"I meant where have they been hiding until now?! Idiot!" Nobara yelled as they took another detour to avoid their enemies.
When more came their way regardless, they proceeded to fight their way through. Black goo and maggots splattered against the walls at Yuuji's usage of Slaughter Demon against the zombies. Dealing with curses was no big deal since nothing would remain after their demise, but it was the opposite for the undead. Yuuji had to fight the urge to hurl on top of the poor girl in his arms at the sight of spilled guts that reeked with decomposition.
"How am I supposed to know?! And why am I an idiot for that?!" Although he did, at one point, nearly cover his mouth with his bloodied sword in hand.
"Because you are an idiot, you concrete-punching monkey! Now just keep focusing on the girl's safety!" Nobara shouted back.
"I'm trying to! Shouldn't you be more level-headed than me?!"
Upon finding their path blocked by yet another horde of the undead and curses, Yuuji spotted a door close by and kicked it open. He rushed right in with Nobara close behind, shutting the door behind them and pressed her back against it.
"How am I supposed to be level-headed against all this?!" She angrily tapped the back of her hammer against the door.
Yuuji carried Ciel over to the corner end of the room, setting her down in a seemingly safe place and for him to use both arms to better fight. "Then why did you even bother coming to Jujutsu Tech High?!"
"Because I hated the countryside and wanted to live in Tokyo!" Nobara answered with a swing of her hammer.
"EH?! That's it?!" Yuuji stared in disbelief.
"That's right! I didn't come here to fight zombies!"
"Well we pretty much don't have a choice now!"
"Do you think I'm stupid?! Of course I know that!"
Ciel watched with the light reflecting in her glasses as Nobara and Yuuji argued with each other face to face. Her expression unreadable as both sorcerers tried to toss in ideas after ideas, not one of them seeming to stick.
"We shouldn't be freaking out in front of a civilian anyway! We got to let her think we know what we're doing – even if we are just first-years!"
"So what's your idea then, huh?! You gonna punch through walls and jump out of the building?!"
"That was the idea! But now I'm not so sure with how you're acting right now!"
They heard the door beginning to bang loudly behind Nobara and the sorcerers ceased their yelling.
"Crap! We're cornered!" Nobara said with an accusation in her voice, she pushed against the door with her back to keep it shut, feeling every hit from the other side.
Yuuji joined Nobara's side at once, pushing his shoulder against the door. Without looking back, he called to the other girl with them, "Ciel! Hide behind those boxes! Stay there while we take care of this-!"
Just then, a hand of the undead broke through the door, its rotten grip reached for Nobara's face. Her eyes widened at the sight of grotesque fingers aiming for her eyes.
"Nobara-!" Yuuji reacted quickly and pulled Nobara by the front of her shirt, dragging themselves away and onto the floor, as the group of undead broke through the door.
Like in a horror movie scene, Yuuji and Nobara shrieked as they cling to each other. The dead approached them with widened mouth and rotten teeth.
A black-tinted sword flew over the first-year sorcerer's heads, piercing the head of the first undead stepping in, and the second and third standing behind it. There was a burst of orange flame that erupted from the sword, channeling across the hallway and burning every undead.
Yuuji and Nobara blinked. Uncertain of what they just saw. The dead that had just came in was suddenly on the floor. Their upper bodies consumed by flames, their legs simply all that's left. On the wall of the hallway in front of their door, the sword with a red handle was stabbed into the concrete.
"One: keep calm under pressure. Noises are what attracts the dead."
Another blink from Yuuji and Nobara as Ciel calmly walked past them. "Huh?"
"Two: never assume the enemy will be merciful. Forcing you to unarm yourself was what that curse intended, making you easier prey."
Leaving the room, Ciel yanked the sword out from the wall. "Three: as first-years, it would have been better to stay together from the start. There will come challenges where acting alone limits your options upon facing unforeseeable odds."
Looking to her right, she then proceeded down the hall.
"C…iel?" Yuuji lets go of Nobara and stood up. "Hey. Wait!"
He and Nobara hurried out of the room. They spotted Ciel at the end of the hallway, checking around the corner leading to another. The noises of roaming zombies and curses still apparent.
"…Oh. That's right," Ciel suddenly said, her back facing towards them as she held the purple bag in her hand, "I did say that I would show you these hedge trimmers, Yuuji-kun. I guess now is as good of a time as any."
Faster than either of them could blink, three more swords flew between and over Yuuji's and Nobara's heads. Feeling the wind brush against their face and hair. In such an instance, had the swords been aimed at them, it would have plunged into their heads before either of them could react.
Stunned for a moment, they eventually looked behind them upon hearing the puncture of flesh and sees more of the undead, and even curses, perish under the force of those blades.
"What…?" Nobara asked, shooting her attention back at Ciel. Yuuji looked as well, and to both the sorcerers' surprise, they saw the blue haired girl somehow instantly changed.
With a swift motion of her hand, Ciel removed her student's uniform and glasses. As if unveiling a cape, underneath her uniform, she revealed a nun outfit. A long dark blue dress that reached to her black boots. A golden cross necklace around her white collar, the symbol bearing in front of her chest between the white flaps.
Within another instant, Ciel dashed between Yuuji and Nobara. Yuuji, the only one to follow her speed, watched in amazement as she had already armed herself with more red-handle swords between each of her fingers, and she sprinted down the hallway like a bullet.
More of the undead that had appeared were quickly struck down by Ciel, like a dark blue stream that sped across the air, piercing through the bodies of the undead and curses without hesitation. It was an act that lasted a second, and then she disappeared from their sights as soon as she entered into another hallway.
They hear her black swords struck down more and more zombies and curses. One by one, within seconds, Nobara could sense the presence of curses dwindle inside the building, as if a rush of an ocean wave came and consumed them all.
"…Hey, Itadori," Nobara stated slowly, turning to the boy with a baffled look, "Who is that girl?"
"Ah. Well, um…" Yuuji broke his gaze away from where Ciel ran off, scratching the top of his head, "She's, uh… the girl who asked me out? Apparently, she also goes to my school, although I don't really remember her…"
Hearing that answer that did nothing to explain who that girl they thought they were rescuing was, Nobara looked back at the hallway, "…You definitely have to be her rebound."
Yuuji blanched at her in offense. "…Is it so hard to believe that girls like me?"
"It's hard to believe that that kind of girl likes you," Nobara stated, nearly resting her hammer over her shoulder before spotting the flesh muck on her weapon and she "blegh!" at the smell of it.
"Why?! I'm not that bad!" Yuuji said in defense as Nobara started to walk ahead, "At least, I don't think I am…"
They attempt to follow after the girl, keeping careful mind of any remaining undead. However, as they quickly progress through the halls, they found the place to be suddenly vacant. The dead nothing more than burnt up corpses, and even pieces of curses were lying on the floor before blue flames swarmed them, exorcising them until nothing was left.
"Whoa," Yuuji expressed, "She already cleared the whole place! Is she another sorcerer?"
"Not exactly."
Both Yuuji and Nobara jumped with a shriek, turning to see Ciel standing there. Her hands behind her back as she added, "After all, it would be rather 'hubris' to consider myself as one."
Yuuji glanced curiously at the golden cross Ciel wore, it shimmered under the light of the slowly setting sun. Ciel raised both hands from her side, "All things considering, the two of you have potential with decent abilities, though you still have plenty of ways to go before becoming proper exorcists – or sorcerers as you say."
"Wait, so all this really was a test?" Nobara asked, then looked down-right furious as she raised her dirty hammer, "That damn teacher-! That's it! I'm for sure plunging a nail into his head!"
She's a woman of her word after all. "Yikes…!" Yuuji backed away in fear of the slighted Nobara.
Ciel, however, interrupted Nobara's evident fury with a shake of her head, "I don't believe involving the dead was part of your test. I had no idea that this building was being used as a training ground for shamans such as yourself. I really did hear someone call out for help, and not too long after I rescued him and sent him on his way, I went back in to deal with whatever lurked in this place. At first it had been curses, then the dead, and then you two appeared."
"Oh…" Yuuji said, scratching the side of his face, "Well, thanks for the save. I didn't think we'd be fighting zombies at all – or the fact that they even existed. Although, I guess since curses do, anything's possible."
Ciel looked at Yuuji for a moment, then turned her heels away from the sorcerers. "It's not over yet. I believe your teacher and that other student of his are dealing with another enemy that isn't a curse."
"Ah! Seriously?!" Yuuji said. "We got to go help them then!"
However, despite this obvious urging, Ciel simply walked away in a calm manner. "I caught a glimpse of them through the windows just now. Considering the sort of teacher that's out there, I don't think there's anything to worry about."
The white wolf bit down the throat of the thrashing, black mutt. The deceased yet actively moving hound snarled and barked rabidly, but it could not free itself from its pinned position.
"Nice one, Megumi!" Gojo clapped his hands as he stood aside, "We sure showed that pooch who has the bigger bite here."
"You did nothing to help," Megumi's own words had bite to it as he glared at his teacher.
"I was offering cover! If you needed it," Gojo said as he then approached the struggling black hound, "Now then, whose leash did this dog escape from? Or let run wild intentionally?"
The black hound barked ravenously at Gojo, glowing red eyes that showed not a single thought except hunger.
"It's not often that a familiar like this comes close to where curses roam. Bad blood and all."
He should probably just put it down. A crazy familiar like this is bound to kill any unfortunate soul it stumbled upon. Now what got his curiosity is who would be bold enough to let this familiar run amok so openly? Unless it was trying to look for someone.
"Hmmm." Gojo then raised his head to the abandoned building, "All the curses in there are suddenly gone as well. Definitely doesn't feel like Sukuna's doing."
He raised the right side of his black bandana blindfold, his single crystal-blue eye evaluated the building for a brief moment. "…Ahhh."
He smiled mischievously, "Now I get it. She really is in town."
The white wolf of Megumi tightened its piercing teeth around the black hound, and the black hound's maw opened to unveil its flaming throat.
"Ah." Gojo suddenly stated. He reached down and grasped the head of the black hound, "Megumi. You might want to call back your technique. This hound's about to burst."
Megumi frowned for a bit, then released his technique. His white wolf retreated into the shadows, and the black hound violently shook under Gojo's grip.
"Alrighty then," Gojo said, keeping the black hound down. "If you be a good boy, I'll give you a treat-"
The black hound responded by enveloping itself in orange-hot fire, and an explosion of flame enveloped the area.
"Ggh!" Megumi crossed his arms in front of his face upon the sudden intense heat. He felt that such a flame would be enough to incinerate his flesh in an instant. Thankfully, he was protected from the spouting fire by Gojo's figure, still kneeling just several feet ahead of him.
Gojo remained unflinching as the intense fire swarmed the area, until the fire soon died out. He held down the now ash-carcass of the black hound. Raising his hand, he looked at his palm, the ashes of the undead familiar fading away from his unreachable touch.
"So much for that treat. Good thing I never had any."
He rose from the ground, patting his hand against his pants to rid any residue, though nothing should have stuck onto it.
"Well, that's taken care of. Although, I would have liked to follow it back to its summoner."
He wondered if the black hound responded the way it did after realizing it was trapped, could not defeat the enemy, or if it erupted into a swarm of flame on command. Perhaps it reacted when Megumi's shikigami bit it too hard.
"Maybe she might be able to explain this a bit," Gojo concluded, turning his head towards the abandoned building, "Right? Ciel?"
Megumi's eyes widened, lowering his arms as he followed Gojo's line of concealed sight, "Ciel? She's here?"
After a few seconds, the blue haired girl in her nun outfit walked out of the building. Following behind her was Yuuji and Nobara, looking taken aback.
Yuuji, for instance, pointed at the fence behind Gojo, "Sensei! That fence is on fire!"
"Oh. Yeah. Don't mind that. It'll go out soon enough."
A sudden toss of a red-handle sword shot for the flaming fence. A small usage of a blue wind swarmed the sword, countering the orange fire and was instantly put out.
"Flippant and careless as always, Satoru Gojo," Ciel said with a blunt tone.
"And you're as serious as ever, Executor Ciel," Gojo greeted back, hands in his pockets as he approached the girl. "I'm surprised to see you in Japan. Did you reconsider my offer?"
"I'm here on official business," Ciel answered plainly, the no-nonsense in her tone surprising Yuuji as it was a complete subversion to the light heartedness she first met him with.
"And I believe I made myself clear the last time we spoke," she added, turning herself away from Gojo, "I have no interest in becoming your student."
"That just makes me all the more curious then," Gojo said, holding his chin, "You have no interest in being a Jujutsu Sorcerer, and yet you've taken an interest in a new student of mine. I also get the feeling that the big heads at Jujutsu High aren't even aware of your presence here, considering how your organization works after all. Has the Church finally decided to expand towards East? You know how the Roman Empire ended, right?"
"I'm not at liberty to answer your questions, nor do I wish to quite frankly," Ciel aloofly said, walking to remove the embedded black-tinted sword she tossed into the fence, and did so without trouble.
"Whoa. So cold…" Yuuji whispered to Nobara.
Nobara nodded in agreement, raising her hand by her mouth as she responded back. "That's some show of authority against someone older."
At first, Nobara had been annoyed. Ciel had them fooled into thinking the girl was helpless, leaving Nobara and Yuuji stressed out of their minds as they fought against that horde of zombies themselves. However, seeing Ciel clear out the entire building of curses and the dead with such speed and ease, and now giving a dismissive tone to her teacher, Nobara couldn't help but feel a little impressed. Are all nuns in the city this badass?
Ciel then started walking away, "I'm afraid I'll have to cut our discussion short. With the dead and curses gathering in one place, an anomaly I'm sure you can agree on it being, I'll have to make a report."
The black-tinted sword in her hand vanished with just a swipe of her hands, "If you intend to inform your superiors of me, consider my presence as an observation from the Church. To see if you truly have everything under your best surveillance and control."
Her back was facing Yuuji's direction, but Gojo with his keen awareness can already tell what – or rather who – she was referring to.
"Your school greatly relies on your abilities, after all – to a fault, in fact," Ciel stopped for a brief moment, turning her head slightly and meeting Gojo's concealed gaze, "If, however, it's proven that not even you could keep things in line in Tokyo, then I'll have to perform my duties as I best see fit while I'm here."
With that under-the-table warning that seemed to lean towards a threat, Ciel continued down the street, passing by Megumi, "Keep an eye on your teacher, Fushiguro-san. I would imagine how much of a headache he is to his own coworkers, let alone his own superiors, on a daily basis."
Megumi studied her for a moment before giving a slight nod, "Right, Senpai."
"WHOA! Even the cool Fushiguro is showing his respect!" Yuuji looked in shock as Nobara matched his reaction.
"No way! So there really is more to him than just some unfeeling robot who thinks he's all that!" Nobara was in awe.
"The hell did you just say?" Megumi glared at his classmates as an angry vein popped from his temple. It's strange and irritable how in tune those two appear to be despite their earlier opposition when they first met.
"Hey now! For your information, I'm a very popular and well-liked guy!" Gojo retorted loudly to Ciel.
It went unanswered by the young nun as she resumed down the path, leaving the neighborhood and towards the setting sun where the orange sky reign.
"Um. Sensei…?" Yuuji called as he walked up to his teacher's side. "Do you know Ciel?"
"Hm? Oh. Yeah. We've met overseas a few times. In Japan too," Gojo answered simply. "I have a small suspicion why she's here, but even then, curses aren't her people's jurisdiction. It definitely has something to do with this undead familiar we just dealt with. I think I'll look her up later and ask her then."
"Huh," Yuuji said as he looked back to where Ciel had left. "I never realized she was a nun."
He could see it since Ciel acted so nicely when they first met, but it was also a bit of a let down since that meant she took a celibacy oath. Guess it wasn't a date she invited me to after all.
"Oh. She's not really a nun," Gojo informed Yuuji, explaining with a point of his finger, "She's an Executor. They work for the Holy Church, but their duties are a bit different from nuns and priests."
Yuuji and Nobara looked at Gojo curiously as Megumi joined them, looking relatively stoic as if he'd known this beforehand.
"Like what?" Yuuji asked.
Gojo scratched his chin in thought, "Well, if I'm right about her reason for meeting with you, and if all things go according to the Church's plans."
He then smiled down at the boy, "She might just become your executioner."
"…Eh?" Yuuji at first said, looking dumbly at his teacher.
"Oof…" Nobara said as she covered her mouth, looking at Yuuji in absolute pity, "Now that's just cold."
Yuuji stared at his teacher a little while longer. When the punchline never came, he once more exclaimed, "Eh?! EHHHH?!"
Author's Note: Writing the scene of Ciel's reveal as a secret badass makes me hear the Shingetsutan Tsukihime OST 1 - Justice. Highly recommend it while reading.