It's Megumi's birthday in Japan right now, so I thought I'd get this out as a little treat ;) Again, I'm sorry it's so short, but now we're officially entering where the manga and anime begin, so I expect chapters will become longer!

Thank you for all the new favorites/follows, and thanks to everyone who reviewed!

Chapter Five

Tokyo Jujutsu High

The next morning dawned bright and cloudless, and there was a thickness to the air that seemed intent on flattening the earth—or perhaps Rei's nerves were just getting to her, and that was why sweat beaded under her arms and on the back of her neck as she walked with Fushiguro through Jujutsu High's compound.

Despite her attempt at nonchalance the night before, Rei was terrified. She reached up and gripped her worn, faded cotton shirt, just above her scar. She didn't know what she was more scared of—being told that the cursed finger inside of her would be impossible to remove, or that there was a chance of getting it out if she underwent another open-heart surgery like she had as a child.

Except it wasn't exactly a proper open-heart surgery, was it? she thought bitterly, keeping to the shade as she walked. No one was trying to fix me. They wanted to hide an evil sorcerer's finger inside me. Her grip on her shirt tightened until it felt like the fabric was tearing under her nails. Did you know, Mom? Did you know who did it? Did you know anything about this world? About jujutsu?

Fushiguro glanced sidelong at her when her pace slowed, and he halted. "Are you all right? You look pale."

Her fingers trembled. "My mom… If she knew anything, then why didn't she tell me?"

Fushiguro looked uncomfortable. "I can't say."

She swallowed. "You're right. I'm sorry. You can't answer for her."

She had too many thoughts, too many questions. But the worst of them was the one that weighed like a guillotine above her neck, ready to fall whenever she had her answer, one way or the other: Was my mother the one who sealed this curse inside of me?

"Anyway," she said, lowering her hand and starting forward again, "we shouldn't keep the others waiting. Let's go."

They walked for a few more minutes before they stopped again at a central courtyard when they noticed a group of people standing in their path. At their arrival, the small party turned, and Rei took an automatic step back in alarm.

"Is that a panda?"

"Yes," said Fushiguro as if it were the most normal thing in the world. "That's Panda-senpai. He's a second-year."

Rei felt faint again. "A panda named Panda. Right."

Indeed, a fully-grown panda bear stood amongst the group of people on his hind legs, looking like she had just intruded on his conversation. Principal Yaga stood beside him (thankfully devoid of any creepy dolls that day), along with another boy with pale hair and a girl wearing glasses and carrying a very real and very large scythe. The latter two looked around Rei and Fushiguro's age, but Rei still found herself shrinking away from them.

"Good morning," Fushiguro said. "Principal. Panda-senpai. Inumaki-senpai. Maki-senpai."

"Morning," the panda named Panda returned cheerfully. His black eyes—far too intelligent for a mere animal—fastened on Rei. "Ooh, is this that girl you saved, Fushiguro?"

Gods above, Rei thought, the panda named Panda is talking.

Realizing he was waiting for an answer, Rei bowed and began stammering. "Y-yes! My name is Rei Nagatsuka! Nice to meet you!"

"The girl with a Sukuna finger sealed inside of her," the other girl said, raising an eyebrow. She was tall and well-built, wearing the same dark uniform of Jujutsu High but with a skirt instead of pants. Her emerald hair was tied back in a ponytail, showcasing her striking features. She was beautiful and intimidating even without the scythe slung casually over one of her shoulders, and Rei wanted to shrink even more. "Allegedly." She let out a small hmph. "Maki. Nice to meet you."

The boy next to her waved. His mouth was covered by the neck of his uniform jacket, but she still heard him clearly say "Seaweed."

"Inumaki-senpai only speaks in onigiri ingredients when there's no need for his cursed technique," Fushiguro explained when she looked to him, lost.

"Right." She swallowed. Jujutsu High just kept getting stranger and stranger. "Onigiri."

Maki narrowed her eyes at Fushiguro. They were gold and sharp, like a hawk's, and her voice was just as cutting. "You haven't already explained things to her? What, trying not to scare her off just yet?"

Fushiguro gave her a dry look. "I thought I'd leave that to you."

To Rei's surprise, Maki just grinned. "Smart boy."

"Fushiguro; Nagatsuka." Principal Yaga's deep voice rumbled over the group, and Rei swallowed nervously. Besides being the person who ran Jujutsu High, the principal was formidable in his own way, with his huge stature and stony face. It was impossible for Rei to read anything about him, especially when his eyes were always hidden behind dark glasses. She wondered if he wore them for the same reason that Gojo wore his blindfold. "I was just coming to find you two. I'm sorry, but we'll have to push our meeting back."

"Why?" Fushiguro said, voicing Rei's question aloud.

"Gojo has been called away on an errand. And Fushiguro, you've been assigned a mission in the meantime."

"You mean I have to go back to that school." It wasn't a question. In fact, Fushiguro seemed to have known what Principal Yaga meant.

The principal nodded. Fushiguro looked displeased, but he didn't argue. Rei wanted to ask what school they were talking about, but she held her tongue when Principal Yaga's attention shifted to her.

"I apologize for the delay, Miss Nagatsuka. You're free to do as you like in the meantime, but I ask that you remain within the compound."

"The second-years can show you around," Fushiguro said, clearly not missing the nervous look on her face, but the older students shifted uncomfortably.

"Sorry, but we're leaving, too," said Panda.

"Oh. That's all right." Rei glanced at Fushiguro. "Can't I just go with you? You said you're going to a school, right?"

Fushiguro didn't meet her eyes. "I'll be tracking a curse. It's probably better if you stay here."

"Oh," she repeated, her face warming. "Okay, then."

"If you'll excuse me," Principal Yaga said, offering them a polite nod. "Panda; Inumaki; Maki. You should get going."

The second-years nodded, and Principal Yaga left. When he was out of earshot, Maki turned on Rei and Fushiguro again.

"Well, we're off." Maki gave Fushiguro a wry smile. "We can drop you at the school along the way if you keep your goodbyes quick."

Fushiguro glared at her as she left. Inumaki waved at them before following Maki, and Panda brought up the rear. "Bye, Fushiguro! Bye, Nagatsuka!"

Rei waved half-heartedly at the panda before turning to Fushiguro. "Are you sure this isn't some really long, bizarre dream I'm having?"

His lips quirked. "I could try pinching you."

She held out her arm, expectant. That pulled a small puff of laughter out of him.

"All right, fine." He pinched the skin of her forearm between his thumb and index finger. She shrank back, expecting another electric shock like she'd experienced when their hands had brushed in the café the night they met, but all she felt was a sharp burst of pain.

"Ow," she said, surprised.

One of his eyebrows rose. "You asked me to pinch you."

"No, that's not it," she said, rubbing at the raised welt on her arm. "Though that did hurt." She shook her head. "I don't know. I was expecting something different."

"Like how you reacted to me in the café," he said. She blinked; he remembered that? "You looked like I'd burned you or something."

"More like an electrical current." She flexed her fingers, recalling the sensation. "Like static shock, almost. Cursed energy, maybe?"

"Maybe," he said, but he didn't sound convinced. "Has it happened with any other sorcerers or curses you've come into contact with?"

"No, I—" She broke off, her mind flashing back to a night she wanted to forget as much as possible.

She almost hadn't noticed it through the pain and fear, but when the curse's tongue had speared through her shoulder, she'd felt it simmering below the surface – a humming energy, a sparking vibration that tingled in her blood and set her bones reverberating.

"The curse that attacked my house," she said hoarsely. "I felt it, then, too."

Fushiguro's deep blue eyes were troubled. "We'll figure it out. We can ask Gojo-sensei about it when he's back. Try not to worry over it too much in the meantime, all right?"

Easier said than done, she thought, but she nodded. "All right. You should go." She hesitated. "Will you be back soon?"

"I'll try to." For some reason, he didn't look at her when he said it, and her chest suddenly caved in embarrassment. "See you later, Nagatsuka."

"Bye," she said, but it sounded more like a squeak. She rushed off in the opposite direction as him, refusing to look back.

How pathetic was she? She'd done nothing but cling to Fushiguro like a child since she'd arrived at Jujutsu High, and her reliance on him was becoming noticeable – not just to her, but to him, as well. He'd been kind enough to let her use him as her crutch, but he was probably growing tired of it.

She scrubbed at her eyes. She had to get it together. She couldn't continue to act like a frightened little girl, even if that was how she felt. She didn't want to be a burden to anyone. Wasn't that what her mother had taught her?

"It's fine to ask for help occasionally, Rei," she'd said one night. Rei had been in elementary school, and she'd come home crying when the older kids in her neighborhood had picked on her on her way home, throwing pebbles and calling her names. Her mother had dried her eyes and smoothed back her hair. "But you mustn't do it too often, or else you'll begin to rely on others too much. It's better to be stronger on your own, hm? Other people have their own burdens, too; don't add to them."

She was right. Rei had allowed herself to become too dependent on Fushiguro, and she needed to sever that dependency before it grew into a tumor in them both.

She didn't know how long she had walked, or where to, but eventually, she found herself at a koi pond. The space was small but peaceful, nestled between two temple-style buildings, but the weeping willows surrounding the pond kept it safe from prying eyes. She knelt at the edge of the pond and watched the fish circle and dart in the water, their orange and gold and black and white scales shimmering in the sun and reflecting in her eyes.

She wished she had something to give them. She dipped her finger in the cool water and swirled it around, giggling when a curious gaping mouth nibbled on it, then another, before the fish realized she had no food and was not food herself and grew bored of her, swimming deeper below the surface.

With a sigh, she sat back and pulled her knees to her chest. The breeze stirred her hair slightly, and the white ends glinted up at her. The compound was quiet and serene, filled with the low buzzing of insects and birdsong. She never knew such a place existed so close to Tokyo. She'd truly stepped into another world, and she was utterly lost in it.

Now that she'd thought back to that night, she couldn't escape the memories of it. All the blood and horror oozed back into her consciousness, turning her stomach and threatening to overwhelm her. She'd tried so hard to block it all out that the questions did not even surface until that very moment. Why had a curse killed her mother but not her? Who was its master that it had wanted to bring her to? What did that master even want with her?

She assumed it had something to do with the Sukuna finger, but that was only one guess atop a pile of mysteries. Who'd sealed the finger inside of her, and why her?

Why her?

Why her?

I'll find out, she promised. I'll find out the answers to everything if it means I can know why my mother had to die instead of me. I'll find out—

Her hands fisted in the grass, ripping it out from its roots. Even though it petrified her, she finished her silent vow.

I'll find out even if it kills me, too.

Fushiguro did not return that evening.

Rei kept her bedroom door open, hoping that she'd see Fushiguro slink in at any moment, but the hallway was quiet, and his door remained closed. After another thrilling dinner of instant ramen and a bath, Rei finally gave up on waiting for him, went to bed, and for once had a dreamless sleep.

The next morning, she rapped on Fushiguro's door in case he had come in sometime during the night, but there was no answer. Grumbling to herself, she ate breakfast and got ready for the day.

"Such a huge place and absolutely no one around… How do they even pay for all this? …Ugh, where is everyone?"

Maybe she'd track down Principal Yaga or Ieiri. If this was a high school, shouldn't there be third-years, too? Perhaps she'd find a companion in a talking zebra or life-size plushie.

She ventured out of her dorm and began circling the compound. Some paths were beginning to look familiar, and she followed the widest of them to what had to be the main building of the school, as it was the largest.

She'd just taken a step into the main courtyard when she started at the sight of two figures standing just inside. One she recognized easily, and relief broke over her.

"Gojo-sensei, you're back!" she said. "Who're you—?"

Time slowed.

Rei only got a glimpse of the person standing beside Gojo – a boy her age with pink hair and a yellow hoodie – before he was gone. In the space between one blink and the next, he had appeared directly in front of her, but he had changed. Before she could focus, a long-nailed, tattooed hand had wrapped around her throat, and there was a rush of wind before her back slammed into the wooden wall of the building, driving the breath from her lungs.

"Itadori!" Gojo shouted, and Rei vaguely registered a note of panic in his voice. "Get control!"

"You," the thing in front of her breathed. The hand at her throat tightened, and her vision blurred. All she saw were fangs, inches from her own face. Another curse? Her hands clawed at skin and her feet pummeled empty air, but she could still feel the life being choked out of her. "You have something I want, brat. Give it back. Now."

Before she lost consciousness entirely, the hand released her. She slumped to the ground, wheezing, and saw a pair of feet staggering back. She glanced up, and there was only the pink-haired boy again, staring down at her in horror.

Her eyes closed, and she knew no more.

And our main boy Yuji is here!

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Until next time!