Tokyo is quieter than it has been in centuries.
The bustle of traffic has ceased, and those who have no fled the city hide in their homes or the ruins where the destruction of jujutsu sorcery has left an ugly scar. Cursed spirits haunt the streets at night, pushing a curfew no one argues with. The streets aren't safe, and unless you are a sorcerer, you are going to get got.
Roxanne has not spoken in three days.
Yuji watches her, marveling at her quiet determination. During missions, when things were better, he enjoyed her fast and loose teaching style [yet wondered how she and Nanami paired together]. She was quick-thinking, proactive, and encouraging. And like him, she talks with her fists. Having sparred her, he knows he's growing stronger. And he knows Sukuna is waiting for another opportunity to unleash himself. Yuji vows to never let Sukuna slip the restraints again.
On the morning of the evening of the fourth day, they cross paths with a special grade cursed spirit. It takes the form of a disembodied floating severed head, much to Yuji's chagrin.
Roxanne doesn't even blink. She adjusts and fine tunes her cursed energy flow, and Yuji sees her flare up like a beacon.
From the cover of the surrounding buildings, Choso takes aim. Roxanne has taught him the importance of sniper positioning, citing that his technique's advantage lies not in its speed, but in his ability to be stealthy. If the enemy cannot see where it's coming from, they will have no chance to prepare a proper defense. Yuji thinks of how Choso reacted at first, but having fought Roxanne himself, and felt the immensity of her power, he takes her advice.
It serves them well in this fight.
Roxanne curses in her own head for not lifting a few cursed tools from the school before things went to shit. She's formidable enough with only her fists, but a sword or naginata would absolutely cook right about now.
Instead, she relies on Choso, who provides suppressing fire with his blood manipulation and piercing blood techniques, while she and Yuji scale the adjacent buildings to rain blows down on the spirit. It spews a purple toxin that forces them back, corroding everything it touches.
Roxanne has tried to get Yuji to master domain techniques, but she knows even high level sorcerers struggle with it. Nanami was—and her heart constricts to even think of him, which she has tried not to do for almost two weeks—Nanami was the strongest first grade sorcerer she knew. And even he had not been able to achieve domain and barrier techniques.
Roxanne pushes thoughts of Nanami from her mind, locking the vault of that part of her heart and mind. There will be time to unpack it later. Time to grieve, mourn, and scream at the stars for taking that man from her when she wants so badly to walk back the last conversation they had.
No. She thinks firmly, swinging from the curse's long, gossamer-colored hair to latch onto its bloated face. She digs her nails in—god almighty she needs a fucking fill-in and replacement set—and focuses her energy. The creature groans in protest, rolling like a blimp as Roxanne suppresses its very existence, beginning the process of rupturing.
Yuji has taken to calling her technique the Vibe Check. Roxanne herself has never bothered to name it, but it sticks, and so she does what she does best.
The creature's moans become a wail, and its spewing of its toxins become erratic. The cursed energy overload ruptures it in a spray of blood, bone, and brain matter. Roxanne leaps down, and Yuji catches her and then sprints to avoid the rain of gore.
Roxanne waves her hand, performing a complete exorcism as the pieces go up in a bright flare of violet, ghostly flames. One of the perks of this kind of fight is that the enemies do disappear after one kills them. Still gross to get rained on with guts, though.
Silence settles on the street, and Choso joins them shortly after. Yuji is catching his breath until Roxanne clears her throat. He blushes, setting her down with a bashful smile.
"Is it me or are they getting stronger?" Choso asks. Roxanne says nothing, looking pensive. He's right. The curses they've come across have been getting stronger. No doubt they are drawn to the spiritual radiation that is Sukuna's own cursed energy.
"They're definitely getting grosser," Yuji says. "Hey, Abaza-sensei, are you okay?"
Roxanne blinks, the wrinkle in her brow smoothing away, and then looks at Yuji.
"Yeah," it's the first word she's heard herself say in days, and her voice is a hoarse whisper, as if she's been screaming. "I'm okay. Let's keep moving. Fushiguro can't be far."
Both Yuji and Choso agree, and they keep moving, following the faint flicker of Megumi's cursed energy, desperate to reunite with him before things get truly dicey.
November 10, 2018 06:45 AM
It's Roxanne's birthday.
Ordinarily, her birthday would begin with Nanami making her a big breakfast. He has learned to cook all manner of foods, and after years of courting the woman, has learned to master all of her favorite foods. He makes everything from pancakes, to scrambled eggs, fried bacon, breakfast sausages, and biscuits. Nanami introduced her to his favorite bakery, and they've gotten fresh bread there ever since. He has procured a fresh loaf of sourdough for her, along with fresh-squeezed orange juice.
Ordinarily, Roxanne would eat her fill, showering Nanami with kisses for being so good to her, and then he watches her put on the music, fling open her balcony doors, and dance around while Ichi takes up a perch beside Nanami. Because it is her birthday, Nanami indulges her. He's not a particularly good dancer, but he can keep rhythm, and moving in time to her body comes as easy as breathing. Even Ichi begrudgingly allows it, having deemed Nanami an ally of his lady, now theirs. And she smells so very good: shea butter and coconut oil. Nanami wants to devour her. And because it's her birthday, he does. Slowly, indulgently, for as long as her body can hold out, until he's drowning in her just like he always loves.
Ordinarily, Nanami would take Roxanne anywhere she wished to go, and always she picks the little onsen they came across while on a mission together in the mountains. There, they will spend the day soaking in the hot springs, eating fine cuisine, and making love. Nanami's favorite part of the day is being able to relax between the sheets with her. For her part, she welcomes him, and they giggle and moan like horny teenagers, trying not to disturb the entire onsen with their vigorous lovemaking. Ordinarily, Roxanne will bury her face in the crook of Nanami's neck, arms and legs wrapped around him, and it is the safest place in all of the world.
Ordinarily, they would soak in the hot springs, and Roxanne would play her favorite game of naming and numbering the constellations, and Nanami would listen to her go on and on about how wonderful and marvelous it was that no matter where she was, she was looking at the same sky as those she loved. The same sky she shared with her Nanamin.
Roxanne jolts awake, sudden and jarring, her cursed energy flaring briefly as the dream of birthdays past fade in the pale and hazy morning. She is shivering, and sees that the fire they've made at their impromptu camp in an abandoned parking garage has burned down to cooling embers. She looks around, sees Yuji is fast asleep, but Choso is nowhere to be found. She collects her wits, remembering their watch rotation: she took the first watch, then Yuji, then Choso.
When is the last time she got any rest? She is so exhausted she wonders if she's slept at all.
She glances down at her watch, her jaw hardening at the date.
"Tch." She chides herself before getting up to stretch. It will be time to move on soon, and she can't afford to have her subconscious plagued by ghosts she hasn't gotten to bury and send off yet.
And even if he lived, a bitter voice sneers in her mind. What good would it have done? Your soul is bound to Sukuna, now. Because you think you thought you could outsmart him but now he knows your secret because you had the nerve to die on a mission.
Roxanne blinks, rubs her eyes, and ignores the salty drops of moisture on her knuckles.
"Abaza-sensei?" It's Yuji, waking from a stiff sleep, stretching and yawning. Roxanne marvels at how ordinary the boy looks compared to when Sukuna has the controller. The second set of eyes are blessedly closed, and she has not been drawn into his innate domain since that strange evening when her head was full of noise and all she wanted was to—
This won't bring back the dead. Do not look for succor here.
Roxanne swallows a lump in her throat and smiles at Yuji.
"Morning, Itadori," she says, hoping she doesn't sound as shitty as she feels. "Need breakfast?"
Yuji grins, flexing both his arms. "Beef jerky and cheese puffs: breakfast of champions!"
Roxanne chuckles. "Yeah. Say, where is your brother?"
Yuji looks around, blinking. "Huh. I actually don't know? He was due back soon, right? It's dawn so we should be safe to keep moving."
Roxanne purses her lips and sighs. If that boy has gone and got himself hemmed up in some bullshit she's going to put him in a dumpster. She does not say this out loud of course, but Yuji can feel the intensity of her as she grabs her bag and stalks off toward the exit. He jogs, catching up to her easily and matching her stride.
"You don't think he's in trouble do you?" He asks.
They use the emergency stairwell to get back down to the ground level, and Roxanne almost wishes Sukuna would come and wreak havoc just to clear the noise in her head.
It was only an arm.
Roxanne feels her grief pressing up against the weakening barrier in her mind. She needs something to turn her mind to silver again. She needs to stop thinking about Nanami, haloed by sunlight, smiling at her as steam curls around them and they embrace in an ancient hot spring.
She needs to stop thinking about how the gaps between her fingers are lonely.
November 10, 2017
Roxanne stares at the ceiling, and breathes deep the scent of cedar. She bites her lip, muffling a small giggle. Her eyes shut, and a look of bliss suffuses her features. She is completely nude, and she relishes the feel of the soft cotton sheets moving against her gleaming umber skin. Around her taut waist, a pair of strong hands hold her still.
There is a soft sucking sound and Roxanne's mouth drops open in a soundless cry, and it quickly turns into a stuttering gasp.
Nanami engages Roxanne's cunt in open mouthed kisses, turning his head this way and that to soak his nose and chin. He wants to drown in her this morning. He wants her before he wants his morning coffee. He spreads her open with his finger, torturing her clit with slow, indulgent sucking, his tongue precise and efficient like everything he approaches in life. He has nothing to prove because like all of the things he is passionate about, he lets his skills speak for themselves, and speak they do.
Roxanne claps a hand over her mouth, making a high-pitched and spiraling whine through her nose. Nanami squeezes her trembling thighs, and groans when she squeezes his head with them. She's got nice thick thighs, soft and he chuckles when Roxanne comes, screaming into her restraining hand.
"Oh, fuck…" she breathes out, laughing and moaning at the same time as Nanami pulls away from her clit with a wet smack, and then uses his tongue to lick up everything gushing from her beautiful, swollen cunt. He smiles up at her, a little trail of her glistening come trailing from her cunt to his lips. Roxanne is staring at the ceiling, waiting for her soul to knit it back to her body.
"I don't care how many times you do it, it's going to get done every time!" She cries and Nanami laughs, truly laughs. He doesn't know why her praise makes him bashful, but he enjoys scooping her body up to stitch her to his side. She lazily throws a leg over him, and he instinctively reaches to hold her hip with one hand, the other wrapped around her.
"And I haven't even given you your gift yet," Nanami says smugly, leaning in to brush his lips over her sweat-slick forehead. Roxanne chuckles and it sounds like a purr. Nanami almost wants to roll her onto her back, spit on her cunt and plow her until she's hoarse, but something about this onsen makes him take his time.
"Kento?" Her voice is small and Nanami raises his brows, grabbing her hand, raising it to his lips, and kissing her knuckles.
"Hm?" He responds. Roxanne bites her lip.
"Why are you so good to me?"
Nanami smiles, still brushing his lips against her knuckles. He lingers on the scars he has memorized since the first time he was able to kiss her hands. Roxanne shivers. Somehow this act feels more intimate than having his face first in her cunt for almost an hour.
"You deserve nothing less than that," he says, as if it is the law of the universe. "I've loved you for most of our lives, and I want to make you happy. Being good to you makes you happy. I would be good to you anyway, but I can be even better now that we're together. It is as simple as that."
Roxanne laughs. Nanami is no poet, but he is thoughtful. Straightforward. She deserves to be happy.
It's as simple as that.
Present Day…
Roxanne cracks her knuckles as she spots Choso jogging back, much to hers and Yuji's mutual relief. He has a shopping basket filled with different things. Food, and first aid supplies.
"I remembered your list," Choso says, prideful in his accomplishment. "I figured it couldn't hurt to scavenge extra provisions. No telling where we can end up."
Roxanne nods. "Thanks, Choso. Let's eat on the go, throw the rest in the bag. Fushiguro's energy is getting stronger."
Yuji grins. "You're really good at tracking cursed energy. Have you always known how to do that?"
Roxanne chuckles. "I was self-taught before Japanese sorcerers scouted me back in America," she explains. Choso is intrigued by this. Jujutsu society is so insular it borders on incestuous, especially when one dives into the politics of the Big Three families.
"When I started seeing curses, I was about five or six years old. I think I got lucky because outside of Japan folks don't really have any connection to cursed energy. But on occasion, the universe spits one of us out somewhere. I didn't know shit about shit either. Everything I did was…"
"...instinctual." Choso supplies. Roxanne grins.
"Exactly! Like…it was great because there weren't as many curses around, but when there were? Shit got real very fast. I mean, not this real, but I was in some pretty hairy situations so I learned how to hunt curses because they were really good at hiding. And then there was the Coca-Cola Incident."
Yuji and Choso exchange looks. Roxanne chuckles, remembering. It seems so petty now, when it felt so overwhelming then.
"So there was a nasty curse lurking around downtown Atlanta, which if you've ever been there, isn't all that shocking. It was the first time I'd seen other jujutsu sorcerers. I was about fourteen, then, and I didn't know shit about curtains, veils, whatever. So, come to find out, I've been doing all this wild shit out in the open. And this is why I wound up in and out of the system—jail, psych wards. And for a while, I thought I was crazy."
Roxanne hangs a left. "So these two sorcerers get the whole block evacuated, and they call down a veil. I'm over there with my fucking ski mask on, looking like I'm about to hit a lick, and these two sharply dressed little Japanese women just put that cursed spirit in a pack. I tapped in, of course, and when they saw me use my technique to blow off one of its heads, they put me on to the jujutsu world. I had nothing to lose and everything to gain so I put everything on a one-way ticket to Tokyo and here we are."
She points. In the distance, seated on the ruins of a concrete barrier and a twisted railguard, is Megumi. One of his shikigami, a demon dog, spots them.
"How'd she time her story so perfectly like that?" Yuji whispers to which Choso shrugs.
Roxanne raises her hand in greeting, and Fushiguro spots them. He looks none worse for wear, and Roxanne remembers that horrible, horrible night, and his blood splattered on across the wall from where Mahoraga struck him down.
I don't have it in me to bury any more kids this year . She remembers her own words and offers up silent thanks that she's at least helping to keep these boys alive. She wishes Nanami was here. He was always such a natural leader and always had a plan on how to operate. Roxanne had never picked up that particular skill, being so isolated by her own power that it was safer for her to take missions alone or with Satoru. Nanami would know what to do, would tell them to stay together, help any survivors they find, and—
Roxanne feels her heart constrict again. Why can't she stop thinking about him?
Because he's dea—
"Abaza-sensei!" Fushiguro's face, which is always so annoyingly neutral in expression, has a look of relief and joy at seeing his companions intact. He hesitates when he sees Choso, but Roxanne gives him a subtle nod, indicating that things are legitimately good right now…relatively. It can be worse. It's going to get worse.
God she just wants a shower and a bed.
"Fushiguro," Roxanne greets. "Good to see you alive and well. That was a fucking ballsy move you pulled in Shibuya."
Megumi rubs the back of his head, color blooming in his cheeks.
"For all the good it did us," he says glumly and Roxanne's smile fades a little. Fuck. She is reminded that in all of this, these are just kids. No older than she was when she attended the school, and already they're being asked to save the nation. Roxanne realizes this is one of those moments where encouragement is needed.
"Don't beat yourself up," she says firmly. "You threw one hell of a Hail Mary knowing it would cost you everything. You put your faith in your skills and your skills measured up. If it weren't the Higher Ups and their shitty way of handling things, I'd recommend you for first grade. Summoning Mahoraga? That's some next level sorcery, buddy. You did that."
Megumi nods, remembering. He nearly died, but he's alive now, and he doesn't know why.
"Abaza-sensei, something has been bugging me," he says. "When Sukuna opened his domain, we weren't hurt: why? Everything around us was decimated. Why were we safe?"
Roxanne remembers Sukuna, wearing Yuji's face, leading the powerful shikigami on a chase across Shibuya, away from where she and Megumi were. Deliberately so he could cast his domain and exorcize the shikigami, thus gaining mastery over it. She wants to tell Megumi that she got them to safety before Sukuna started cutting loose, but it's a lie.
She gives him a grim smile. "Next level sorcery," she says. Megumi doesn't probe further, figuring it's some strange technique Roxanne employed to protect them. Whatever it was, he's grateful, but that still leaves them in a bind.
"We have to get back to the school," Megumi says and Roxanne grimaces.
"So, about that…" Roxanne begins. "Gojo getting sealed has kind of put us in a bind. We've been declared anathema and they're likely sending someone to come and execute Itadori. In fact, it's really kind of wild that they haven't found us by now."
"Didn't you mention that there are only a small handful of special grade sorcerers?" Choso asks. Roxanne nods.
"Five…well, four for now, myself included. But I'm a hot potato just like Yuji so they probably gonna haul me in for an ass whooping too." Roxanne grins. "But they gotta catch me, first."
Yuji frowns. "Maybe executing me is best," he says quietly and startles when Roxanne, Choso, and Fushiguro all shout a collective "NO!"
"Absolutely fuckin' not," Roxanne says. "The plan is you swallow every last fucking Finger, and then we see about your execution." She sees Yuji's wide-eyed face and softens her tone. "Your time is coming, Itadori, but there's no sense in rushing it."
She feels a prickling on the nape of her neck.
"You got somethin' to say?" Roxanne asks sharply. Yuji startles again, but then realizes she's speaking not to him, but to Sukuna.
The King of Curses remains silent, refusing to rise to the challenge. Roxanne snorts.
"Alright," Roxanne claps her hands together. "So we've lost access to the school, but that doesn't mean we can't put our heads together to get to some semblance of a base of operations."
"What about your apartment, Abaza-sensei?" Yuji asks, raising his hand. Roxanne smiles coldly.
"Well, given that we are being hunted by our own, do you think it's smart for me to go home and sit there waiting for them to kick my door in?"
"But you've got all those wards!"
Roxanne nods. "I do, but they can only hold back so much. And heaven forbid one of them miserable old snakes decide to slide a bounty on our heads and send curse users after us."
Megumi's eyes are wide. "Would they do that?"
Roxanne purses her lips. "Yeah. Yeah they would. There's Higher Ups who keep curse users on their payroll to do their dirty work. And then turn around and send me to hunt them down for being curse users. Why do you think Gojo don't fuck with them like that? They are as miserable and corrupt as any politician, because ultimately, that's all they are in this society: politicians grasping to have power over the collective."
She hates that she misses her late night pillow talk with Gojo. After sex, they shared dreams and philosophy, as naked as ever, illuminated by the stars and moon as Gojo's bed was directly beneath a beautiful skylight. Their philosophies aligned. It was one of the things that drew them to each other.
Itadori looks troubled. "So they made you kill other human beings?"
Roxanne spares him a bit of pity. "Yeah. And it wasn't easy, either. If you're still worried about what happened, don't be. You know what you'll become if it does get easier. And if you ever do become that, then we will already be fucked anyway."
Yuji nods, a look of fierce determination in his eyes.
"Carry that weight, but know when to put it down, Itadori." She says. "Same for you, Fushiguro. Both of you acquitted yourselves well. I don't wanna hear anymore pity parties. We activate badass mode from here on out."
The nape of her neck prickles and this time Roxanne looks at Yuji, and swear she sees a small set of narrowed eyes.
Something stirs inside Yuji and his face goes blank. Roxanne knows he's been pulled into Sukuna's domain, and she dreads whatever traps he's laid for the boy. She prays Yuji holds his own against her…divine husband.
"Badass mode?" Megumi asks, cringing slightly. Roxanne whirls on him, fixing him with a stare that makes the boy go ashen.
"Yes! Badass mode! I'm responsible for y'all, now, but I have faith in every single one of you that you can see this through. You too, blood bag." She says looking at Choso who looks puzzled.
"So what's the plan if we can't return to the school?" Megumi asks. Roxanne taps her lips in pensive thought, making a soft sound.
"Well, if we can infiltrate the school and reach Master Tengen, that would be ideal," she says, counting off on one finger. "However, barring that, we need to find somewhere easily defensible but with an easy path of escape in case Itadori's executioner shows up early. We need a place where we can control the point of entry, and secure a path of exit."
"So not your apartment," Itadori says, returning from whatever trance his dark passenger put him in. Roxanne smiles.
"Unfortunately, no. But fear not: Satoru planned for such situations. We just need to safely get out of the city's main epicenters." Roxanne sighs.
Itadori raises his hand. "So what's our actual objective?"
Roxanne frowns. "We find that freaky fucker with the stitches on his dome calling himself Geto Suguru. He's the architect of all this mess and I'm willing to bet he's got more accomplices helping him."
The city darkens and for a moment Roxanne thinks clouds are scuttling across the sky until she looks up and sees a veil descending over the city.
"Again with this shit…?" Roxanne mutters. "What are you up to, you freaky motherfucker?"
They find out that same evening.
Making their way through the city is tougher when most of it is rubble. The echoes of Sukuna's destruction are still fresh, and what isn't scarred by slash marks is cleaved by them. Yuji sets his jaw but Roxanne can see him wrangling with the aftermath. He has lost two of his mentors in the same night, witnessed the murder of his friend and ally, Nobara, and has endured more than anyone should at his age.
Roxanne shakes her head. It's not her weight to carry, and thus she cannot tell him how he handles his own baggage, only reassure him that he is not at fault for having his body stolen and used for acts of terror.
With the veil, night rushes in much faster, making cursed spirits more likely to be active. They take refuge in the ruins of another parking garage, testing the remaining supports as they set up their meager and sparse camp beneath a crumbling overhang. They share their rationed food, and Megumi deploys his faithful demon dogs to patrol the area. Roxanne must admit, it feels good to not be on a stressful watch rotation.
She watches Choso warm his hands by the meager fire they have fed by whatever paper and wooden trash they can scavenge, along with scraps of cloth.
"This reminds me of being with my siblings," Choso says quietly. "I know you said no more pity parties but I cannot help but feel if I had chosen differently, not only would my brothers still be alive, but what happened in Shibuya could have been prevented."
Roxanne frowns. "That's a child's logic, babe," she says. "The tally of the living is never something we're given to know. But if we spend all our time tallying the dead we'll never appreciate that we did act when the time came and that our doing so saved someone. Even if it was just one."
Yuji stirs at that, remembering his grandfather's final words to him.
Help people. Even if it's just one.
What is a proper death?
Roxanne taps her sternum. "Choso, you fight like a dirty son of a bitch," she laughs at his stupefied expression. "I'm so serious. You were fucking annoyingly dangerous because you played your position very well. I respect that. I wouldn't accept you being on the team if I didn't see you defend Itadori so fiercely. Your brothers would be so proud. But I am not here to be y'alls pep talking mother!"
She sighs. "Look, Shibuya was a fucking shit show and we were all locked in front row seats unfortunately. But that fight is over, and there's no changing it. It went down how it went down. Now we regroup, see who our allies are, and then we go beat the ass of whoever is responsible."
Choso opens his mouth and then closes it.
"Exactly," Roxanne says, confusing him even more. "Now stay alert, we definitely have to check out whatever dropped that veil."
"It could be someone from the school," Megumi offers. Roxanne shakes her head.
"Nah, at this point a veil would be pointless…and there's too many cursed spirits wandering about…" She paces. "Unless they're trying to keep people inside."
No one wants to consider that implication. Three of them, at least, are remembering Nanami's words: focus on the facts.
Pseudo-Geto is up to something, Roxanne can feel it.
And as if that isn't enough, Roxanne feels a curse energy level she hasn't felt in over a year.
"No they fucking didn't…" she mutters. "Fushiguro, Itadori, Choso…look alive, we have company."
She slips the restraints from her soul, sighing with relief as her cursed energy blooms and unfurls like a deadly flower.
"Gon' head and come out," she calls out into the darkness beyond their fire. "Let's wrap this shit up so we can move on."
Soft footsteps, like sneakers. Roxanne spots the silhouette of a slender figure, and as they step forward into the light, she breathes deeply.
Yuta Okkatsu. She remembers Gojo telling her about him when he brought him into the school, and she's met him a few times. She's never seen his cursed technique, but his presence is unmistakable. He's the youngest special grade sorcerer amongst them. She always thought he looked so unfathomably sad, as if the world has taken everything from him. His eyes are empty and guileless, his expression grim.
"Itadori Yuji," he says without preamble, "in accordance with Jujutsu Regulation, your execution's suspension has been withdrawn. You are to come with me and be exorcized as a curse."
Megumi feels something in his heart grow tight. He'd used those same words when Yuji first consumed Sukuna's Finger. Once, he might have been on Yuta's side, but now he does not want to see Itadori harmed for any reason. Not when their larger mission is so much more important.
"Okkatsu," Roxanne says. "I can't let you do this. I think we both know why."
"Abaza-senpai," Yuta says in that sorrowful voice of his, "I wish things were different, but my orders come directly from the Elders. You yourself have been branded an accomplice to Gojo-sensei and are to be brought in as well. But I'm not here for you. I'm here for him." He points at Yuji, who puts up his fists.
"Then you'll have to go through me," Choso says, stepping forward to block Yuji from sight, eyes hard, cursed energy licking around him like flames. Yuta does not look bothered in the slightest and Roxanne remembers Gojo telling her that he's got the limitless potential of himself or Sukuna. It is a chilling and sobering thought.
"Fushiguro," Roxanne says, not taking her eyes off Yuta. "Get Yuji the fuck out of here. We'll keep this one busy and cover you."
Megumi wastes no time, but Yuji protests. Roxanne cuts her eyes to him like a whip crack and quells his protests. This is a fight he can't win, and Roxanne isn't sure she can win it either. Between herself and Choso perhaps there's a chance and she doesn't think Megumi should be summoning Mahoraga if he can't put it back in the box after he's done.
"Abaza-senpai," Yuta says, almost plaintively. "I don't want to hurt you."
"No," Choso says contemptuously. "You just want to kill my little brother."
Yuta cannot refute that, and as Megumi and Yuji take off, it is the first time Roxanne feels like this is something she can handle.
After all, she's killed other sorcerers before.