(a/n) hello exam szn is upon me so i will porlly not be posting more than once during april T_T i rlly prolly shoulda written out the whole story before posting but i got excited hehe :3 im also thinking of a few oneshots n stuff n im super excited hehe
also my life has been chaotic lately i failed a lab i had an ant infestation n i ate some fucking ants hgeairgaetlnrlaeglt432reew this was one of the hardest chapters for me to write bc its 90% combat RAHHHH when we move past the LORE arc there will be less . combat ?
There was something strange happening in this Tokyo.
Himari had noticed subtle changes— minor differences that seemed meaningless in isolated incidences. Earthquakes which happened months before they were supposed to, technological advances occurring early, individuals passing before expected. At first, she considered these to be outliers: small moments of time which got jumbled when she messed with the timeline.
The moments she had recorded; she had brushed them aside in favour of training and maintaining intel on Geto and Riko. It was something to revisit after addressing the issue of saving the vessel and preventing Geto's descent.
Himari clutched the wound in her thigh with her right hand, blood trickling down her fingers as she brought her hand into view, and she winced.
A large, bulky cursed spirit stood before her. It was white, with black markings lining their shell-like skin. Two wooden antlers emerged from their eyes sockets.
It was a cursed spirit she recognized— one that had been advertised to all the sorcerers in her time prior to Shibuya: flee on sight.
It was here. And it was early.
It was supposed to be a regular mission. Geto and Himari had been assigned to exorcise a second-grade cursed spirit in an abandoned factory.
The mission had begun smoothly— they shared light conversations, and she pre-emptively decided that she would use this mission to get to know him. He wasn't quite like their peers at Tokyo High: Shoko had been warm and welcoming, Gojo had been annoying but tolerable— Geto, however, always maintained a distance.
He was professional and polite, letting very little information about himself slip past his exterior. He wasn't cold, but he was the hardest to decipher.
When the two arrived at the factory, they had slipped into a comfortable silence. She maintained her position a few paces behind him, concealing her cursed energy to the best of her abilities.
The exorcism of the curse had been relatively painless.
Himari used her future image twice— once to disorientate the cursed spirit, and once to position herself for the kill.
It was getting easier to utilize her cursed technique, especially while wielding a weapon. The katana that she held sliced through the cursed spirit, letting out a squelching noise as the blade drove through its body.
There were a number of children that had snuck into the abandoned facility. A core component of their mission was to secure their retrieval. Whilst she exorcised the cursed spirit, Geto had rounded up a small Conga line of children that seemed far too eager to follow him.
"If Gojo were here, he'd call you a predator," She joked as the man stepped into the room where she had just exorcised the cursed spirit. Geto smiled briefly, and Himari scolded herself internally. Perhaps they didn't have that level of comradely yet— or he didn't enjoy those jokes? She had seen the way he acted around Gojo, and she had assumed mimicking their relationship might allow her to understand Geto better. A mental note was made regarding the reaction, and she watched as the man— with his tail of three children and a child perched on his shoulders— walked forwards.
His hand reached towards the remnants of the cursed spirit, and the dissipating body of spirit began to pulsate and shrink, collapsing into a sphere of darkness. Himari's eyes narrowed in anticipation— his technique was incredibly rare.
"Are you a magician?" The child atop his shoulders exclaimed, excitedly swinging his legs back and forth.
Himari glanced at Geto, and their eyes met with recognition. The child could see cursed energy. The remaining children seemed confused by the comment, and the child began to ramble about how the two of them were magicians and fighting evil monsters and that's why they had to hide earlier— the children seemed to only get more confused.
"You're a very bright boy," Himari remarked, and the child proudly placed his hands on his hips and beamed.
She let out a chuckle and pulled two of the children closer to her, ruffling their hair.
"My name is Ando," The child exclaimed, and the children near Himari began to clamor and insist on sharing their names. Himari laughed and took the hands of the two girls near her, staring expectantly at Geto. He nodded, and took the black orb that sat in his palm, letting his fingers glide along the surface of the object. A pensive expression crossed his face, and he lifted his head and opened his mouth.
Himari noted a wince of distaste as the black orb of cursed energy slid down Geto's throat. His body seemed to respond to the action in a manner that he could not hide— slight trembling in his limbs and his face scrunched. His grip tightened slightly around the wrists of the child sitting atop his shoulders, before he unclenched them and relaxed his muscles, heaving out a sigh.
She thought for a moment, letting the question on her tongue linger before questioning him.
"Geto, do you enjoy being a sorcerer?"
The question had caught him off guard, and he glanced at her, wiping his mouth with a swipe of his sleeve.
"I don't know."
It was a sincere tone, muted with a background of repulsion. She had reached a hand out to clasp his shoulder in comfort, and his gaze followed her hand.
And then blood splattered on her face.
There was a thump, and her eyes widened as the child— Ando— that was smiling just moments before slipped from Geto's grasp and landed on the floor.
A gaping hole present in his chest cavity, and a thick brown root recalling towards the caster. The children erupted in screams, and Himari stood in stunned silence as one child began to sprint toward an exit, and the other two cowered behind her legs. The top of their heads barely reached her hips.
Geto's facial expression contorted into one of rage, and a bulky creature lurched through the doorway.
One exit was completely blocked, there were several more around the room.
And the second child had chosen the wrong one. A root slashed through the center of their body.
It was a large room, with conveyor belts slathered with dust and debris flowing throughout the structure. Large metal pillars protruded form the floor, hoisting the high ceiling, and shelves of metallic sheets lay scattered on the floor. There were numerous exits and turns, but the fastest way out would be the way they came from.
"Suzuki. Get the children out of here."
The overwhelming presence of cursed energy felt crushing. It was as if a boulder had been rolled atop her, and she felt frozen for a moment at the sheer pressure the cursed spirit was exerting.
"Suzuki!"
And she grabbed the hands of the two girls and sprinted past the two children's bodies. It was far too late for them.
One of the girls screamed, and Himari scooped up one of the girls into her arms, and crouched down.
"Get on," She commanded, and she felt the girl scamper onto her shoulders, clinging desperately to her.
Roots clung to the walls surrounding Himari, constantly lunging and slashing at her. She maneuvered carefully, in a manner which ensured the safety of the children. It felt incredibly limiting— she had yet to be able to transport any living object with her future image, and she felt the scrapes of near-misses stinging her skin.
She could hear the slashing of roots behind, and the screeching of cursed spirits erupting from Geto's cursed technique. Each summon vanishing almost instantly, pierced by roots like the ones that crawled alongside the walls around her.
The exit was in sight— a bright red emergency exit door marked the escape that she would usher the children toward before rejoining Geto.
A root pierced her thigh.
And she fell forwards, the impact causing her to lurch and the child in her arms to tumble to the floor.
"Go!" She yelled, and the girl perched on her shoulder slid off.
The child looked at Himari with concern in their eyes, and she managed a weak smile.
Hand in hand, the two girls sprinted for the exit, and Himari gripped her katana tightly. The roots continued to chase after the girls and as they drew closer, she severed the ends.
Blood tricked from her thigh, and she winced at the pain. The concentration of roots chasing her had begun to shrink, and she figured this was an indication that Geto was demanding far more of Hanami's resources.
Steeling her nerves, Himari bolted back down the hallway back toward the large room.
The factory room was destroyed; the limited space left little room for the explosive techniques of both Geto and Hanami. The conveyor belts were dismantled, pillars were bent and caving in, metal sheets were scattered haphazardly.
As she stood in the door way, she swallowed. Watching Geto fight felt like watching a wartime strategy— clean, proficient, and calculated.
It unfolded with sharp precision, and Himari understood why Geto was feared— even before his betrayal.
He was incredibly strong.
There was a moment of hesitation where she wasn't sure if she should join.
Geto's overwhelming collection of curses spilled out from a black, ovular opening in the atmosphere. A mass of four-legged grey creatures scrambled towards Hanami, each creature being swallowed by more creatures like a moving stampede.
Hanami stayed planted on the ground, arm wrapped in a white sash and piercing each creature with massive, bulky roots. These were less nimble than the ones that had chased her, but they were heavy; the goal was to flatten and destroy, not to impale or slice. The cursed spirit— the special grade— wanted to land one hit to finish the fight.
Geto craned his neck to glance at the doorway Himari stood at, narrowing his gaze as she observed the fight. A slight tilt of his head was all she needed.
"Time weave," She hissed, and she was beside Geto with her sword. A spew of large discoloured cursed spirits flooded out of the gaping hole behind them; an array of green, purple, blue spirits that charged towards Hanami. Himari narrowed her gaze and leapt into the air, stepping on each of Geto's cursed spirit and weaving between the barrage of branches that bulldozed towards her. Her katana tossed between future images was positioned directly near the nape of Hanami's neck as Himari materialized behind Hanami, who was firing wooden bullets towards her previous location.
The wooden bullets expanded into shrapnel piercing the cursed flesh of the spirits that demanded Hanami's attention. Geto's spirits vanished with the shrapnel impaling their forms.
Gripping her katana, Hanami's attention briefly shifted toward Himari as roots punctured the floor of the factory and raced towards her location.
"That's disrespectful. Focus on me."
Geto's voice was dangerously calm, and in seconds, he was in front of Hanami with fist doused in cursed energy and raised, aimed at the cursed Spirit's head.
The roots previously on the offensive that aimed to spear Himari's form redirected their attention to the defensive. They split around Himari's body and formed a barrier between the cursed Spirit and Geto.
Himari drove her weapon forward in a slashing movement.
And it clanged against Hanami's skin.
She widened her eyes; there was not a single dent, a slash, or a slit.
Hanami focused on blocking Geto, because the cursed spirit knew that Himari could not tear their flesh.
"Suzuki—" Geto's voice was caught in the explosive shriek that erupted out of the wooden balls Hanami formed which exploded outwards.
It was an intense heat.
Himari had managed to avoid the mass of the explosion by weaving away at the sensation of intense cursed energy lingering above, but the shrapnel that burst outwards and the cursed energy embedded in each wooden scrap drove into her flesh.
Geto had flung himself backwards, narrowly dodging the explosion. His skin was nicked with scraps, but no serious wounds were present. He stood by Himari's side and glanced down at her, expression unreadable.
"Suzuki," He began, "Slashing is ineffective."
She wanted to nod, but there was not a moment of rest between the explosion and Hanami's next barrage of attacks. A shower of branches cascaded toward their location. Geto sprinted along the length of each branch, cursed energy funneled into his footfalls to press forward at immense speed.
The gash in Himari's thigh radiated pain upwards as she followed Geto's lead. Two serpent cursed spirits erupted from Geto's control, and the long serpent spirits twisted along the roots that protruded from the ground imitating a double-helix.
Encircling and constricting around Hanami, Geto's summons wrapped the cursed spirit in a tight restraint. Positioned above the restrained cursed spirit's head, a large spirit with its jaw hinged open plunged downward from a summoning circle.
Its blunt teeth snapped around Hanami's form and swallowed the spirit whole. For a moment, Geto and Himari paused— and then the two withdrew backwards as a loud tearing noise echoed through the factory and the hulking cursed spirit emerged from the remnants of Geto's summons.
It stood still for a moment, and then reached an arm across its body and tore the sling around its left arm.
"I don't understand."
The spirit began to murmur to itself, and Himari tensed her muscles. There was something unnerving about the way it spoke— as if it was an amalgamation of numerous other voices.
Flowers began to swarm the air behind Hanami, each row of flowers perched a top another and fanning outwards to resemble a bouquet.
"Those children did not hesitate to kill the creatures they deemed beneath them: stumble over ants, weed out flowers, tear off leaves."
Cursed energy pulsated off the flowers as each bud aimed toward Geto and Himari.
"So why protect them? You do not sob for the abused creatures with no voice— but you will give your life to save the perpetrators."
Cursed buds rained down on the pair. Himari hopped to a future image away from Hanami's targeting, and Geto steeled himself with cursed energy. This was the first mistake made.
The energy that Geto shrouded himself with flooded the roots of the flowers, causing the flowers to expand upon impact. Each flower transitioned from soft petals to hardened explosive shells, pelting Geto.
"Geto!" She yelped in concern, and Himari weaved next to the sorcerer. He had puncture wounds throughout his flesh from the flowers that pierced his skin, blood trickling from each instance of damage.
Anger flashed through his eyes, and Himaei raised a leg to kick away further buds that showered the pair. It was rash, but Geto raised a hand and several dark circles opened up behind him. Cursed spirits concentrated into a bullet form shot toward Hanami.
With all his energy focused on offense, Himari had taken up a defensive position. Her katana slashed each root that raced towards the pair, and she scattered each round of cursed buds with various kicks and punches.
This was the second mistake made.
Hanami had spent the last twenty minutes of combat fighting from a distance. Even when Himari and Geto had been within a close range, the cursed spirit had called upon roots and branches to create distance between them. Himari had classified Hanami as a long-distance fighter.
Until she felt a fist to her stomach.
Hanami was fast— fast to an unfair extent for such a large creature. Her back slammed into the factory wall, and Hanami followed the fist to her stomach with roots slashing through Himari's flesh. Geto landed beside her to intercept another fist from the cursed spirit.
This was the final mistake.
Geto was selfless. There was a moment where Himari was disorientated, slumped against the floor of the factory floor. Dizziness laced her vision, and she desperately gasped for air. It was between her and himself, and Geto was selfless.
He chose her.
A single needle shot out toward Himari, aimed directly for her face. She willed her body to move and materialize in a separate future image, but her concentration was hazy; she was far too slow. And he stepped in front of her.
The needed pierced his chest area, expanding into a flower-like entity with sharp teeth and wriggling roots.
"You shouldn't use any cursed energy." The cursed spirit warned as Himari felt her vision settle into a single concentrated view. "My roots have implanted inside you— they are powered by cursed energy. You humans are far too eager to sacrifice."
Himari pushed herself up from her position, a single thought running through her head.
She was not good enough.
She could hear Geto heaving out blood as black summoning circles spawned around him, only to dissipate as quickly as they mounted. It was her fault. She wasn't good enough. She could feel her muscles beginning to seize and anxiety wrack her body. Staring forwards— she was faced with dozens of roots directed toward her and Geto.
And they shot forwards.
It was a moment of panic— perhaps her brain had been knocked out of place from the impact against the wall.
"Hanami!" Himari called out, and the cursed spirit froze.
It was a trade she had to make. They needed to get out— and revealing her knowledge of the cursed spirit's name bought them time.
Wrapping an arm around Geto's waist and slinging his arm around her shoulder, Himari squeezed her eyes shut. She needed this to work. The moment she felt her skin brush against his, a visualization of a future image where Geto and Himari were outside the factory flashed through her mind and she locked in.
"Time weave."
They were gone.
It was the first time her cursed technique had been able to visualize a future image where she, and another individual, were displaced.
It was just outside the perimeter of the factory where she had transported herself and Geto. The two glanced at each other, and any energy Hiamri had left was used to push them further away from the factory.
Trees began to fade into building-lined streets, graffiti turned into street murals, and heavy cursed energy turned into bustling city atmosphere.
"Suzuki, explain." Geto finally heaved. Blood lined the corner of his mouth and he shoved away Himari's assistance. His gaze locked on with hers, and she felt a coldness that betrayed the intention of the mission she had set out with.
"How did you know the spirit's name?"
The following weeks consisted of paperwork. Well, not for her— for Principal Yaga. A report had to be initiated to the higher-ups outlining the incident, and Geto had neglected to mention the reason they had successfully managed to withdraw. Himari initially took it as an indicator that Geto believed her lie regarding the incident, but the distance that grew between the two indicated otherwise.
He had changed from calm and cordial to cold and cautious.
It was discouraging. Himari had spent the past weeks inviting Geto to spars and lunches, and in one word, one name, it came crashing down.
"Geto," Himari called out.
It had been exactly two weeks since the incident. The man had taken every chance to avoid her; if Himari was in class, Geto was on the opposite side of the room. If they were sparring, he would finish the fight within seconds.
She had been waiting outside Geto's dorm room, her back leaning against the wall next to his door. It was just past dinner time, and Shoko and Gojo had gone out on a shopping trip while Geto excused himself to his room. A moment of silence passed, and Himari felt anxiety well in her chest as her muscles tensed.
The door creaked open. Geto peaked his head out, adorning a stoic expression.
"Suzuki, I don't—"
"Please, let me explain," Himari pleaded, she pushed herself away from the wall and turned to face Geto. She needed to repair whatever trust was destroyed— she didn't need to be best friends, but she wanted him to at least acknowledge her.
"It's not something I want to share just yet— not something I can share yet. I'm sorry you don't trust me, but please don't hate me."
"Listen— whatever explanation you have: I don't know if I care. You have your secrets, I have mine. I don't dislike you— I don't know why you care so much about being liked."
Himari bit the inside of her cheek. He didn't understand, and she couldn't explain. There was too much riding on her shoulders— too many things that begged for her attention, and too many pieces that needed her micromanagement.
"You don't dislike me, but you don't trust me either."
If Geto didn't trust her, she would have no way to understand his descent, and she would have no way to prevent his betrayal.
She took a deep breath. Too many decisions of hers were made from panic— too many strayed from her calculated plan.
"You know what, that's fine."
His stoic expression remained, and he locked his eyes on hers. It felt like he was boring holes into her head, and she shivered when she remembered his capabilities. Geto would be a terrible enemy to make.
She decided she would take a page out of Gojo's book. If Gojo was his best friend, then he must have figured out some kind of formula to gaining Geto's trust.
"That's fine— you don't have to trust me right now. I'm just gonna have to annoy you into it."
jujustroll!
(a/n) Gojo & Shoko's shopping trip!
"Satoru!"
Shoko had insisted on styling the boy. It had begun as a joke, but with each hang-out outside of school uniforms, she had grown to dislike his wardrobe more and more.
The first incident involved a trip to the beach, where he had shown up in socks and sandals, alongside a shirt with the graphic text reading, "Pineapple Slut."
That had been excusable, he would be taking his shirt off for the swim anyways. The fifth incident was unforgiveable: the two had shown up to a formal event, Shoko dressed in a grey suit with a pink dress shirt, something she had in her closet for over a year. She had never had a chance to wear it, and this event was perfect; it wasn't overly dressy, and it had a feminine flare that screamed, "Yes, I like pink. Yes, I'm a girl. Yes, I kick ass."
Upon arriving at the party venue, Geto had exited from a black Honda car with a dark black, classy suit with a white dress shit. Gojo followed him. He was wearing a grey suit with a pink dress shirt.
Shoko huffed, just remembering the story pissed her off. Gojo had spent the evening following her around, trying to ask any individual they met who wore it better. This was when she decided she had enough.
Crossing her legs and drumming her fingers on her thighs, she waited eagerly for the white hair boy to step out of the dressing room. She had chosen a 'soft-boy aesthetic' for him to try on, a white collared shirt layered beneath a blue sweatshirt to match his eyes.
The dressing room door swung open, and Shoko grinned excitedly, waiting to see her results.
Gojo stood, in all his glory, in a floor-length pink dress, with pink high heels. He blew a kiss at her.
A purse promptly hit his head.