DISCLAIMER:
I do NOT own the Oregairu and Jujutsu Kaisen series as they are respectfully owned by the creators and studios.
Two days ago, September 14
"Uh... Excuse me?" Iroha asked with a raised eyebrow. In front of her in the hallway was Miura Yumiko with one arm embracing herself while twirling her curly hair with an index finger.
"I-I need your help in... getting a birthday present for Hayato." The blonde-haired girl said timidly.
"Why me, exactly?"
"I-I don't know! I just thought you knew him better than me since you like him too..."
"I think you should ask Yukinon-senpai for that."
"She looks like she's still having trouble with Hikio, so I don't want to bother her."
"How nice of you, Yumiko-senpai!"
"Oh, shut up."
"Then what about her older sister?"
"I... don't think that's a good idea." Yumiko looked down with uneasiness clearly displayed in her expression. "There's just something not right with her."
"Your friends? Hina-senpai?" Iroha asked.
"She doesn't know that much about him, either. Plus, she's hanging out with Tobe today."
"Oooh."
"So, will you help me?"
"I don't really know much about Hayama-senpai either. And I'm already over with him. And then my actual love was over before I-..." Iroha whispered the last sentence so softly, Yumiko couldn't clearly hear it. "But! I will help you with getting a gift! Manipu- I mean, playing wi- No, understanding what makes men tick is one of my specialty."
"Rrriiiiiiight~." Yumiko stretched that word while giving her a scrutinizing gaze. "Well, I guess any help is good help. You okay with going with me now?"
"Sure! I'm almost done with the paperwork, so please wait, okay?"
"Tokyo, huh?" Yumiko spoke while getting out of the train.
"We have more options to look here than in Chiba." Iroha said while following her. "Yumiko-senpai, what do you know about Hayama-senpai?"
"Well... he loves playing soccer."
"Everyone knows that, but it's a start! You could give him a soccer pendant, some new gear or-"
"No!" Yumiko said loudly. "It has to be something special. Something that'll remind him of me every time he looks at it. I want a gift that's that special to him."
"Hmmm~. Then..." Iroha leaned closer to her blonde senior's ear and whispered. "How about giving him your virginity?"
"H-HAH?!" Yumiko jolted in shock at what her junior had just told her. "There's n-no way I'm gonna do that! T-That would scare him a-and-"
"Relax, Senpai. I'm just kidding." Iroha calmed her down with a teasing smile.
"Geez, I never thought you would be the type to have crazy ideas like that."
"Me neither. I guess ever since I knew about Senpai and Yukinon-senpai sleeping together, I couldn't stop thinking about it."
"Eh?"
"Eh?"
"You mean that... GUY, and that Ice Princess slept together?"
"Yes."
"... As in... like sleeping in the same bed beside each other? Is that what you meant?"
"I mean they really had sex." Iroha whispered.
"Uhm... wait, how did you even know?" Yumiko whispered back.
"I saw Yukinon-senpai had a hickey on her neck yesterday."
"Seriously?"
"Mhm."
"Did you tell anyone else?"
"No, but I think Rice-chan figured it out by herself since she has been teasing Yukinon-senpai a lot more than usual... and started talking about babies."
"Holy- she's pregnant?!" The blonde girl whispered in shock with widened eyes.
"I-I don't know!" Iroha softly stuttered with red cheeks. "But enough about that! Back to Hayama-senpai's birthday gift."
"Right! Right! Okay, how about-" Just as Yumiko was about to voice out her own suggestions, they, along with the rest of the people who were still in the subway, lost all thoughts in their minds and reached a blank state after hearing a train's beeping sound when its doors slid open. As people entered the cursed transportation, something stopped the two girls and others near the pair from approaching the train. Threads of silk wrapped around and bound them, and those threads pulled them not inside the train, but above it as they lifted them up.
Suddenly, three passengers with bald red head and faces, and puffed cheeks exit the train and jumped on top of it to reach the monster crawling on the ceiling. The red passengers' heads flew towards the spider-like monster, and the latter just dropped on top of the train before grabbing the heads in mid-air. The spider-like monster squished the heads, ending the strange passengers to nothingness. More humanoid creatures with floating red heads came out of the train and flung their heads towards the spider monster, in which the latter dodged at blurring speed and defeated several of them. However, some floating heads collided with three of its six arms and exploded. The chitin in the damaged arms cracked, and some threads were cut off because of the shards flying everywhere, along with the explosion.
As more red-headed passengers came out of the train, the spider monster decided to retreat with only two high school girls as its captives.
Present, September 16
Isshiki Iroha slowly went down the stairs to the subway station, passing by salarymen, mothers, children, and elderly. She wore a maroon long-sleeved turtleneck, a red waistcoat that had a tartan pattern comprising thin blue and yellow lines, a denim skirt that reached above her knees, and a pair of black ribbon-tied flats. In her hand was a yellow folded umbrella that was wet because of the rain outside while her right arm was cast and carried by a green arm sling.
The girl looked from afar as different passengers entered and left the transportation. She wanted to get closer, but what stood between her and the train were the turnstiles. Iroha arrived in Tokyo at a different station, but even just riding a train caused to remind her of that strange and nightmarish memory. The sensation of pain she felt was unlike any other. It was agonizing and spine-chilling. She even thought that might've been her last hour. And yet she couldn't avoid visiting the place.
She blamed her curiosity for that.
Because what she saw was surreal, but understood it was, in fact, not a dream.
All she remembered was helping her blonde senior until it faded to black. Then she also remembered how she was pinned into a wall by strange and grotesque flesh and the sight of a woman being tormented.
Was the supernatural real this whole time? Were some of the supposed "ghost captured on camera" videos not full of lies?
The girl wanted to know, but at the same time, she didn't want to approach it any further. With a sigh, she climbed the stairs and left the station while opening the umbrella to protect herself from the rain. She felt disappointed at retreating from it, but it was for the best, she thought. Ignorance would be a better option than diving deeper into the unknown that could be filled with monsters. Iroha was content with that. All she needed to do to forget all of it was to return to her normal routine and act like nothing happened. A simple yet difficult task at the same time. However, achieving complete ignorance would be worth it. With each step on the watery sidewalk, she passed through civilians who were only minding their own business. Blending in with them was much more comfortable than approaching that station for her. As tranquility was slowly returning within her mind, she stopped near the cross-walk waiting for the green light to glow for her, along with other people, to cross the other side.
When she saw the green human figure glowing green and walking, Iroha walked on the road while the rest followed. The vehicles stopped to let the civilians cross it, and there was one vehicle that caught her eye near the other side.
It was a black Subaru Impreza.
The car wasn't the one that caught her attention, but the person in the front seat.
The black hair with one strand standing up on top of his head, those eyes of a dead fish. He appeared to be wearing a suit and talking to someone.
She then looked at the back seat and saw the person through the car window. A boy with pink spiky hair and a red hood that replaced the collar of what appeared to be his school uniform.
"That guy..." Iroha started remembering the person who saved her from that disturbing incident. He had the same appearance. "He and Senpai... know each other?"
The Shell And The Slug: Part 4
The Transfigured Mind
Yukino [9:30 PM]: She told us she just fell on the stairs, but I feel like she was hiding something
Hachiman [9:30 PM]: And what makes you say that?
Yukino [9:30 PM]: She sounded anxious when she answered the question. Flinching and stuttering.
Hachiman [9:30 PM]: Do you know what happened two days ago? Before that happened to her?
Yukino [9:30 PM]: I did see her walking with Miura-san after school. I haven't asked her yet.
Hachiman [9:31 PM]: That's a start, I guess. Is Isshiki alright now?
Yukino [9:31 PM]: She's currently absent. Perhaps she was going to visit the doctor for her injury?
...
After reading the message, Hachiman stared at the text conversation he had with Yukino on his phone and contemplated. He wandered what truly happened to the sly fox of his now former high school.
"So even though you're away from them, they still get hurt." Yoshimi's voice spoke with concern.
"Is it safe to think that you left them too late?" Chisa's voice asked
"Everyone gets hurt no matter who's with who." Hachiman argued in his mind.
"True, but who's to say Isshiki's injury isn't a consequence of you leaving them?" Shina's voice asked.
"Oh please, you can do better than that to make feel guilty over something I didn't even do."
"Ever heard of the Butterfly Effect?"
"Does that mean I should be blamed for something outside of my direct actions?" After that argument, Hachiman didn't hear anything from the voices, but he wandered if that meant they lost the argument or it was just a whim. Not even he could read the minds of malicious beings... since those voices were just in his own mind, after all. He sighed and gave up on understanding their patterns. When he turned to the right to look outside through the car window, the dead fish-eyed sorcerer noticed a familiar girl with shoulder-length brown hair who was holding a yellow umbrella.
Her face was full of bewilderment and confusion.
Hachiman's eyes widened and could only stare at the sight of the girl with a left arm cast. When the traffic light finally turned green, Akari stepped on the gas pedal to drive the car forward before she and the two sorcerers heard honking. She and Yuji turned their heads in the same direction as Hachiman's and saw the familiar brown-haired girl standing in the middle of the road. The blonde manager stepped on the brakes to stop and stared at Hachiman, who continued staring at Iroha.
"... Keep driving." Hachiman spoke in a low tone while waving at his former junior. "You're going to cause traffic."
"Right... sorry." Akari responded and complied. Hachiman just looked away from Iroha after seeing her waving back slowly while still had that look of shock on her face. He looked through the rear-view mirror and noticed Yuji having such a strange expression. That caused Hachiman to raise an eyebrow in curiosity and then narrowed his eyes to scrutinize his other junior.
"Itadori." When he called out his name, Yuji flinched. From that response, the dead fish-eyed sorcerer exhaled sharply and glared. "Do you know Isshiki Iroha?"
"W-who?" The pink-haired sorcerer stuttered.
"It's either you tell me the truth, or have your body cast, which is it?" Hachiman threatened while cracking his knuckles.
"T-that sounds kinda cool." A drop of sweat slowly fell on Yuji's cheek.
"... Fine, I'll wring it out of you after this mission." That was his senior's final words before falling into silence while leaning his head on the seat and looking outside through the window... before... "And you too, Nitta-san."
"Eh?" The blonde manager turned to look at the front seater, almost ignoring the road and almost got them in a car accident.
"Be careful. You might kill someone." Hachiman just spoke so nonchalantly, the two suspects gulped. Akari looked through the rear-view mirror and saw Yuji just tapping his stomach through the uniform with anxiety clearly in his face.
The silence in the car lasted for one nerve-wracking hour until they finally reached their destination. In front of them was what looked like a crime scene, with all the police tapes blocking anyone from even coming close to the entrance of the theater. Two policemen appeared to be interrogating a female employee, who was crying while talking to them. Akari parked behind the police car that still had its siren glowing.
"They already informed the police department to not interfere with you guys." Akari told the two sorcerers. "You can go in there with no worries."
"I'm really curious how much influence Jujutsu Tech really has." Hachiman thought while opening the door and exited the car with an umbrella in hand followed by Yuji with his own umbrella. As the blonde manager pressed a button to open the trunk, the dead fish-eyed sorcerer grabbed the rectangular suitcase, and the pair went inside the theater. They walked down the cinema corridor and saw a track of cursed residuals that appeared as footprints. The residuals came from inside one auditorium, and so they walked under the police tape blocking the entrance to enter the room. The scene had one row on the right had police tapes crossed on both sides of the path to block anyone from entering it. There was still blood splattered on the three seats and the residuals stopped behind that row of seats.
"Looks like they lead to upstairs." Yuji spoke of his observation as he looked outside the room.
"Let's go." Hachiman responded, and the pair climbed the stairs.
"Senpai, do you think it's a cursed spirit?"
"Possibly, but it's still worth considering that a curse user is responsible for this."
"You mean that guy in the surveillance camera?"
"Could be. We'll find out." They finally reached the roof of the building, which was a batting center. The rain still poured, with the sounds of droplets falling onto everything outside covered what other sounds they might hear. There was no sunlight since the dark clouds blocked the sun without letting a single light of it escape. The two sorcerers went out with umbrellas in their hands and checked the area. "The batting center... reminds me of that one talk I had with my teacher."
"Oh yeah? What did you two talk about?" Yuji asked in curiosity.
"Hmm... I guess you could say it was a love advice."
...
"Can you honestly pack all of your feelings into just a single word?"
...
"Now that I think about it... How do I feel about this situation? I almost got killed... again, got voices talking and annoying me in my head, transferred to another school, left behind everyone in Chiba there... left HER behind... and I have to work my ass off to prove my standing to jujutsu society as a good sorcerer. But... even after all that, can I still call this 'Hell'?"
"You mean it isn't?" Yoshimi's voice asked that sounded confused.
"Then what would you call it? Torture? Paradise?" Chisa's voice spoke. "And all it takes is to leave them?"
"But my relationship with Yukino leveled up, and I slept with her. Education at Jujutsu Tech isn't that bad. These powers are still pretty cool, even though it's cursing things... what else..." Hachiman held his chin in thought. "Oh, I went to stage C with Yukino, became friends with this guy, can wield a katana, got to embrace Yukino naked in bed."
"You just mentioned having sex with her three times now." Chisa's voice commented.
"And in different ways to say it, too." Shina's voice said in a deadpan tone.
"Calling my current circumstances 'Hell' is still not accurate enough to say what I feel."
"Then what do you feel?"
"Happiness?"
"Discontent?"
"Relief?"
"Stress?"
"Loneliness?"
"Satisfaction?"
"Probably all the above..."
...
"If you can't solve this in one word, then use all the words you need. And if words aren't enough to get the job done, throw in some actions... Use any words necessary, take any actions necessary. Let each of them become a dot to connect, and.." Shizuka hit his chest lightly before finishing her sentence. "... build them into your answer."
...
"... Or maybe what I'm doing now gives my answer." Hachiman concluded his thoughts before getting tackled by Yuji, which caused the former to accidentally drop the suitcase and umbrella as they fell on the floor. Fortunately, Yuji's action saved him from a punch that shattered the concrete on the floor.
"Stop spacing out!" Yuji shouted while standing up. The dead fish-eyed sorcerer noticed his junior had two bruises on his face. He then looked and saw two cursed spirits: One was white, standing with a tail, and had human limbs, and a large vertical mouth; the other was a green four-legged creature with long black hair, a mouth shaped like a horse, and a fur tail.
"How long was I spacing out?"
"Uh... I think a few minutes after they showed up?"
"Then why didn't you wake me?"
"I don't know! I thought you were trying to be cool and show off or you gave me a sign saying 'do it yourself' or something!"
"Well, thank you for having such high expectations of me in the former." Hachiman stood up and tidied his jacket and tie. The two sorcerers and cursed spirits had a stare-down for a few seconds until Yuji was the first to run to the side. The white curse followed while the four-legged one charged after the senior. Hachiman just walked casually on the other side, appearing to not care about a dangerous creature about to attack him.
The green cursed spirit flipped forward to swing down an axe kick, only for the dead fish-eyed sorcerer to dodge easily. He ducked its left arm swing and then swung his right leg to kick the curse up into the air. As he watched the curse panicking while falling towards him, he stepped his right foot forward and slid the left foot back, preparing for another kick. When the cursed spirit was about to plummet into the ground, Hachiman swung a left kick upward and hit its stomach, powerful enough to make the curse vomit red blood. He watched the cursed spirit fell on the floor, fidgeting and shaking as if it was having a seizure.
"How's it going over there?" Hachiman asked his junior, who was actually doing well, as Yuji deflected punches left and right until hit its face with two left jabs. Yuji threw a right punch to its stomach with Divergent Fist, which made a hole in it from the second impact. The white curse fell with its back while holding the injury in its stomach and crying.
"And that's over." Hachiman mumbled after seeing that and heard the distorted voice of the four-legged curse. He raised his right leg, about to end it by stomping the head. However, he noticed something odd about the cursed spirit.
It wore a watch on its left wrist.
Hachiman immediately guessed what that could mean and took a picture of the cursed spirit with his phone to confirm it. After checking the picture, it proved his speculation was correct.
"Itadori, wait!" He told Yuji.
"What's wrong?" The pink-haired sorcerer asked before he could finish the white curse with another Divergent Fist.
"Take a look at this." Hachiman showed him the picture on his phone.
"An arm?"
"More specifically, it's the arm of that green cursed spirit."
"... Wait, I thought cursed spirits can't be seen through cameras."
"Listen carefully." The dead fish-eyed sorcerer grabbed Yuji's shoulder and gulped. "These two curses are..."
"... Most definitely humans." Shoko spoke through the phone. Hachiman and Yuji were in a room they could use to investigate this incident. They sat in their respective armchairs with Hachiman's jacket removed while Yuji dried himself with a towel. "No, I guess I should say they WERE humans. The same as the three from the theater. Their bodies were forcibly altered by a cursed technique."
"A cursed technique..." Hachiman mumbled while leaning back in his armchair. "I would've noticed it if that was really a cursed technique. Those bodies had cursed energy as if they were curses themselves. How did the culprit do that?"
"You have to ask the culprit himself to get an answer. Though, there is evidence that their brain stems were tampered with. Most likely to create a state of confusion and impaired consciousness. If they can manipulate the brain, it might be possible for them to give cursed energy to humans. The connection between the brain and cursed energy is still a black box to us."
"Give cursed energy? Are you saying this culprit might have the ability of turning normal people into sorcerers?"
"It's not outside the realm of possibility, but I suggest you shouldn't put much thought into it. Overall, that part is speculation."
"Okay."
"Oh, and is Itadori there?"
"Oh... yeah." Yuji responded in a sorrowful tone.
"Listen, you two. To sum it up, these guys died of shock from having their bodies modified." Shoko told them. "You didn't kill them. Don't you dare think otherwise."
"... Right." And that was the end of the call. The room was filled with silence for a few moments as they processed their thoughts on the matter. Yuji looked down and spoke. "Either way, the gravity of death is the same for me."
"You heard her. The culprit killed them with a cursed technique." Hachiman spoke, trying to comfort him.
"But still..." Yuji clenched the towel he used to dry himself. "This isn't right."
"He's riiiight~!" Yoshimi's voice teased.
"You still murdered them." Shina's voice argued.
"They were already dead. We just helped them end their suffering." Hachiman argued back in his mind.
"You didn't even ask if that doctor can heal them or not. Or at least, ask if they would come back to normal if you KILLED#%""^ "",?^ #^" Shina's voice argued as well, but at the end of her sentence, it became static and distorted with grotesque noise and sounds of screaming. Hachiman flinched with a twitching left eye. He raised his left hand to slap the side of his head, but stopped mid-way to avoid letting the action become more than a habit. After taking a deep breath, he stood up.
"Itadori." He called out to his junior with determination and anger in his voice. "Let's find this prick."
"... Right!" His senior's words made Yuji more determined than ever. "Where should we start?"
"We don't have any leads. The residuals we followed were nothing but decoys to lure us into a trap. Whoever it is, he's good. We need to find clues."
"So we're gonna ask the locals?"
"Most likely, about incidents related to this one, and perhaps incidents about people going missing. Before we arrived here, I saw the news on my phone about people disappearing, ranging from children to adults. I dove deep and noticed how large the number of disappearance was. Kanagawa is also one of the places that reached the news."
"Hmmm... that kinda sounds too broad, Senpai. How are we so sure the culprit who killed those people at the theater is the same one responsible for the disappearances?"
"Because the latest disappearances are here. Not to mention, they were publicized an hour before the theater incident was reported to us." Hachiman approached a chalkboard that had a map of Kawasaki City taped on it. He asked Akari for a map of the city for the search. "If that is the case, then I also believe the culprit is still lurking around in the city. We just have to narrow down where he is hiding."
"Asking the entire city, huh?" Yuji leaned on the chair in thought. "That could take hours. He might've bailed by now."
"I could ask the windows to get info." Akari suggested as she entered the room.
"How long will that have to be?"
"Much faster than going around asking in a packed city."
Hours later, 6:30 PM
As the sun started to set, the pink-haired sorcerer and the blonde manager climbed the stairs with the former holding a paper bag of takeout from a restaurant for them to eat. When the latter opened the door, they saw Hachiman writing on the taped map on the chalkboard with a red marker.
"Is that dinner?" Hachiman noticed them and asked.
"Let's eat!" Yuji said cheerfully as he put down the bag on the table. Their dinner was quiet and short since they had an important mission to accomplish. After finishing the food on their paper plates, they threw them all into the trash bin along with the paper bag, as Hachiman and Akari stood in between the map to organize the information they received from the windows.
"These are all the reports from our windows on recent unnatural deaths and disappearances." Akari explained while pointing at the marks on the map. "I have to say... these are too few."
"Only two? That's not enough to pinpoint the hideout through approximation." Hachiman spoke while looking at his phone. "And it's not because the number of incidents here are small... It's because the information is incomplete."
"Eh? What do you mean?" Yuji asked in confusion.
"Take a look at this." His senior showed him a news report from a website with his phone. "This one is an unnatural murder case because of how the autopsy describes the victim's body."
"Let's see... '... His muscles are twisted beyond repair, almost as if the murderer used a machine to pull and twist the limbs. There is a possibility the murderer used chemicals to alter the figure of his body to abnormal proportions, resulting in the deformity of the intestines and head'. Yeah, that actually sounds too creepy to be an ordinary killing."
"And I found three more cases like these and disappearances that aren't normal. It's either the windows didn't see it or-."
"-they didn't put any effort at all." The blonde manager finished Hachiman's sentence and thought. "Are they sabotaging the mission? Why? Is it because Hikigaya-kun's the one handling the mission? Do they not favor him or... did the higher-ups ordered them to? That would make sense. I mean, who else can control our massive information network against him?"
"If they can't work consistently, then we might as well do it ourselves." The dead fish-eyed sorcerer suggested.
And so, the investigation began, as Hachiman, Yuji, and Akari split up to ask people around the city about the aforementioned topic. Despite night approaching, they had to do what they could to gather clues before the case might escalate. From the streets to inside of establishments such as restaurants and shops, they collected as much relevant information as possible from every civilian they questioned, writing down the location of each incident and even wrote the deaths that occurred recently in the city.
The dead fish-eyed sorcerer asked as many people as he could, but he had one problem.
Some of the people he asked looked either scared or disturbed by him.
It was most likely because of his eyes that made them feel uncomfortable. Add that with his attire and the night sky, one could mistake him for being part of a yakuza gang doing shady business in the shadows. Unfortunately for him, some of them whispered behind his back about him being one after he interrogated them. Their rude remarks caused Hachiman to chuckle with a grin and put his hands in his pockets.
"Heh! It's been a while since I've been talked badly behind my back. Really nostalgic. No, they probably did when I was still back in Sobu and I must've ignored them since I couldn't care less." After that thought, he went to a location to investigate a person's disappearance. The problem with this case was there wasn't much information on the news about it other than knowing he was last seen outside of the park. That was because the streets were empty at that evening despite being a populated city. He circled around outside the park to find any clues before going in. He then spotted a man walking towards him who appeared to be in the same age as him and wore a high school uniform. Hachiman approached him and interrupted whatever he was doing on his phone. "Excuse me?"
"Hm?" The high school boy looked away from his phone and faced the sorcerer in front of him. The boy gasped for some reason, which Hachiman wondered but shook away the thought for now.
"Is it okay to ask you a few questions?" The latter asked.
"U-uh, well..." And the boy stuttered and became silent for a moment while staring at him.
"It's okay if you don't want to. Sorry for taking your time." Hachiman bowed as an apology and walked past him until...
"W-wait! Ask me anything!" The boy finally spoke.
"... Okay then, have you seen him before?" The dead fish-eyed sorcerer asked while showing him a picture of the missing person on his phone. After looking at it for a few seconds, the high schooler answered.
"Yes, I did. He works at that clothing shop over there... I didn't know he went missing."
"When was the last time you saw him?"
"A week ago, at this very time."
"Can you describe to me what he was doing?"
"He was just talking to someone on the phone while walking out of the park. He went that way, which I think that direction leads to his home, but I don't know where."
"And after that day, he was nowhere to be seen?"
"I guess so. When I went on a date with my girlfriend the next day, we went to that shop and we didn't see him. That guy used to be the clerk, I think?"
"You didn't report this to the police?"
"That news was posted this afternoon, so..."
"That is true..." Hachiman put his answers into the notes in his phone and bowed. "That is all. Thank you for your help."
"No problem, ahaha..." The high schooler responded while laughing nervously. "Umm... You don't really remember me?"
"I'm sorry, but no. Have we met before?"
"N-nevermind. I must've mistaken you for someone else. See ya!" And with that, the high school boy ran past him. Hachiman was curious about his strange behavior and thought for a moment until he received a phone call. After seeing who the caller was, he answered it.
"Hello, Nitta-san?"
"Hello? I think I should tell you this now, since it could be useful for searching clues." Akari said on the phone.
"What is it?"
"I mentioned to you before about the boy who was caught in a surveillance camera, right? He also went to that same theater with the three victims to watch that horror movie. At first, we thought he was just an innocent viewer running away from that scary sight based on the footage we saw. But get this, I asked some students from Satozakura High School and they said something about a boy those three bullied a lot at school. They even speculated about him being the murderer."
"So the three students who got killed are his classmates?"
"Probably, I'll look more into it. What do you think?"
"It's a very important information. We'll discuss more after we get back with more clues. Thank you." After he ended the call, Hachiman turned around and called out to the high schooler. "Wait a minute!"
"Eh?" The latter turned around to face him, as Hachiman quickly walked closer.
"I actually have a few more questions. I'm sorry I forgot." The dead fish-eyed sorcerer apologized.
"... No worries, ask away."
"Are you a student at Satozakura High School?"
"Yes, I just transferred almost two weeks ago."
"Then do you know about a guy who attends to your school being bullied a lot?"
"Hmmm... Uuuhh... Oh, yeah! I remember hearing from a classmate of mine about seeing a first year in our school getting bullied. His name is... uh, it's at the tip of my tongue... Yoshino?"
"Yoshino, huh? You only heard about him?"
"Well, yeah. The first day after I transferred to the school, I already heard about him and those assholes."
"And none of you did anything to stop it? Not even reporting to the faculty?" Hachiman's question caused the boy to freeze in guilt. "Nevermind, can you describe Yoshino's appearance?"
"Uuuhh, my classmates mocked him about his hairstyle. Calling him the 'Cyclopes Kid' or 'Hitotsume-kun' because of the large bangs covering the side of his face." (1)
"Bangs covering the side of his face... The description matches the person we saw in the security footage." Hachiman thought and then asked the high schooler. "Have you heard anything lately about him?"
"Not much. Just the usual: mocking his looks, attitude, and even guessing what kind of girls he likes."
"I see... thank you for your help once again."
"Your welcome!" After that response, Hachiman turned around and walked away, going in the direction the high schooler pointed at to find clues about the missing person. After a few more steps, the boy called out to the sorcerer. "Is Yoshino..!"
"Hm?" The dead fish-eyed sorcerer turned around.
"Is that Yoshino gonna be alright? I'm... not really friends with him, but I can't help but feel bad about the guy just from hearing about all those shitty things from my classmates. You'll... you'll save him, right? Like how you saved us?"
"... You're one of the survivors at the Chiba Port Tower." Hachiman finally realized who the person in front of him was. After staring at him for a moment, the sorcerer answered. "Don't worry. We will."
"... Thanks." The survivor bowed to him in gratitude before walking away in a more calm manner this time. Hachiman just watched him walking away until he decided to move as well in the opposite direction. At first, he wanted to ask the high school boy about that incident because he still remembered what he said.
...
"Shit... I'm... I'm sorry."
...
Just from the way he was on his knees with an expression of guilt, Hachiman guessed he might have-
"-LET ME DIE?!" The sudden outburst from Yoshimi's voice caused the sorcerer to flinch and was about to slap the left side of his head until he stopped midway.
"It's just a guess." He argued in his mind. "He may be involved or did something that let that happen."
"So, what are you gonna do about that guy?" Shina's voice asked in a low tone. Clearly displaying her anger. "He killed my son. You're not as terrible as to let bygones be bygones, are you?"
"A GUESS?! YOU FEEL LIKE YOU'RE RIGHT ABOUT IT!" Yoshimi's voice shouted with his volume growing louder in his head. "I WANT REVENGE! CHOP HIM! CHOP HIIIIIM!"
"That's enough. There's nothing to accomplishment from doing that."
"AVENGING ME, DUH?!"
"Whether he was responsible or not doesn't matter. He already transferred out of Chiba to get away from all that. And in the end, the ones that killed you are cursed spirits."
"How come you didn't bring that topic up to him?" Chisa's voice asked.
"Because there's no merit in doing so. He already escaped from hell, so I don't want to remind him about it. It's best for both of us. We move on." After that argument, it seemed the voices in his head stopped, and so he sighed and walked slowly forward to continue the investigation. While walking, he checked every minor detail on the road and his surroundings, finding anything worth noting until he reached an apartment complex. "This could be where he lives..."
"Do you need something?" An old man walked out of the apartment and approached him.
"Does this man live here?" Hachiman showed the picture on his phone.
"Oh, yes! He lives on the top floor, but he hasn't come back for three days." The old man answered with a worried look. "A relative of his came to visit here two days ago since he never contacted anyone for a while, but as you can guess, he wasn't there. She called the police yesterday to search for him. I hope he is alright. That man is friendly to my young kids."
"Have you at least seen him outside the apartment before he disappeared?" Hachiman asked while pointing at the surveillance cameras installed both at the utility pole and the front of the apartment building.
"Sorry, but no. He didn't show up at the entrance at all, and he was nowhere in the footage. Even the police are having a hard time finding him because he didn't leave any trace."
"Unless you're aware of curses, that is." The dead fish-eyed sorcerer thought and bowed to the old man in gratitude. He then walked back to the road he took and looked around. "If he wasn't seen outside the apartment, and was last seen going home from the park, then the exact spot where he disappeared is here... There!"
He spotted a manhole in the middle of the road.
"This could be a good spot for the culprit to kidnap him and escape so quickly. But let's keep looking..." He went to another location where someone was murdered 20 days ago. The cause of death was "being pummeled repeatedly until the face was beyond recognition". What caught his attention to that news report was that some described it as "the murderer completely shaped the victim's face into something else", but overall, it was all a deduction. The location of the crime scene was at a small playground. He looked around and didn't see anything noteworthy until he went out of the area and noticed a storm drain near the sidewalk. "Could it be possible...? I think that's the case. If the culprit can change the human body, including the size, then it's possible to shrink them... After all, both of the 'curses' we fought had unnatural proportions. And perhaps the culprit can change his own body. So by going through that line of thought, he's probably hiding in the sewers."
After considering the possibility, he went to check other locations.
Hachiman investigated two cases of a missing old woman and a little boy. Both of the locations he searched had a storm drain near them. Still, it wasn't enough to confirm the hideout was in the sewers, so he went for one more case to reach a conclusion. The last one was a murder case on a construction site that had similar descriptions and reactions from both officers and news reports. They said "His body became flat even though he was a muscular fellow". However this time, there wasn't a single manhole or a drain near the place. Hachiman walked away from the site to find more clues until he saw a couple of female high schoolers.
"Excuse me!" He called them out. "Is there anything like a manhole, or a drain... or even a sewage tunnel close here?"
"Well... If we're talking about sewage tunnels, there's one over there." One of them answered while pointing in the direction. "Just walk straight there and turn left. You won't miss it."
"Thank you." After bowing in gratitude, he pursued the direction she pointed before hearing their insults about him. The dead fish-eyed sorcerer was slightly affected by their rude comments, but of course he was used to that, so he ignored them. He finally reached the sewage tunnel and went down to check the area. "It's within walking distance, so it counts. That confirms it... Wait, is that?"
Hachiman walked inside the tunnel slowly while narrowing his eyes to see straight, glowing trace of footprints on the ground. He quickly approached it and squatted to analyze the trace.
"Residuals! And they're the same ones back at the theater. This could lead to his hideout... or maybe another trap. It could be the latter since the culprit had us fooled with that decoy earlier. I'll have to get back and discuss this with the others."
September 17
2:30 AM
"The identity of our culprit is still unclear." The blonde manager spoke first before yawning. "We don't know if it's a curse user or a cursed spirit. But we have at least two separate leads that would help us find the culprit."
"One is the hideout." Hachiman spoke next while scratching his eye and tapping the locations of the map he crossed out. Each had an arrow pointing at something. "One thing most of them have in common is they're close to manholes, drains, and sewage tunnels, which made me believe he's hiding is the sewers."
"How do you think he kidnaps people from the drains?" Yuji asked while raising his hand up with his eyes appearing to be sleepy and ready to close at anytime.
"If the culprit can change the human body, he can either make his victims bigger and smaller, or use the technique to transform his own body."
"Oooohhh."
"The second is a suspect or acquaintance." Akari pinned a picture of a boy with brown hair that reached his shoulders with a large bang covering the right side of his face. "This man is Yoshino Junpei, the one who was also at the theater during the incident. Apparently, he goes to the same school as the victims, and had a not-so-nice relationship with them. We thought he was innocent, but that went out of the window when we found out he's related to them. How likely do you think he's a curse user?"
"... Very likely." Hachiman answered with confidence. "Most of it is just a hunch."
"You sound pretty sure of it, though." Akari commented with a drop of sweat on her cheek.
"Let's just say loners share one mind."
"Should we split up and check both leads?" Yuji suggested.
"Yes, you and Nitta-san will investigate Yoshino Junpei to confirm if he's a curse user or not," His senior answered. "While I'll check the sewers to find the hideout or at least, clues leading to one. We'll do it tomorrow, so right now we need rest."
"Okay!" Yuji and Akari saluted, as they set up their futons, removed their jackets, turned off the lights and slept. Hachiman sat on the couch and checked on his phone. He missed one call from his girlfriend and sister, and the former sent a text message telling him to call her if he was free. He wished to call her, but sadly it was late, and tomorrow would be busier than ever.
Although he was tired, Hachiman didn't want to sleep. He had so many things in mind to where falling asleep now would be considered as a waste of time for him, even though it was important to rest. While hearing his junior's snoring, he closed his eyes, hoping to lose consciousness and relax until someone called out to him.
"Hey, Hikigaya-kun." Akari spoke. "You know where the hideout is, don't you?"
"What makes you think that?" Hachiman asked.
"Just a hunch. You're pretty smart, after all." She responded with folded arms.
"Being praised feels strange but very welcomed." He said with a smirk and then lied to her. "No, I really don't know where it is. But, if I can organize the reports from both the info we've gathered so far and the window's reports of recent unnatural deaths and disappearances, I can narrow the location down through approximation."
"Hikigaya-kun..." Akari stood from her futon and walked past the sitting sorcerer. "Come with me for a bit."
"..." Without a word, he complied with her request and followed her to an empty room filled with chairs and small tables, and a glass window. The blonde manager lifted two chairs, put them across from each other next to the window, and slid it open as the cold wind breezed into the room. She sat on the chair and looked at the sorcerer.
"Come on, sit." She told him, and the latter complied. "I used to do this with my little brother whenever he's upset. We get some fresh air, and I wring the truth outta him about his issues."
The moment he sat on his own chair, Hachiman felt awake from the wind's cold refreshing touch, but felt more relaxed than ever. As Akari completely removed her tie to loosen herself and enjoy the breeze more, the two just stayed in comfortable silence. A single word might pierce that comfort the outside atmosphere brought, but the blonde manager had no choice.
"So, why are you lying about the hideout?" Akari asked.
"... You know, I would like to understand the reason for that assumption." He responded, pretending to be confused at her statement.
"You had that gloomy look on your face when we came back here."
"I always have this gloomy look."
"It was much darker and a lot more serious... like you just heard the worst take on a news channel."
"I understand what that means."
"Second, you tapped all the locations the windows didn't report on except on one, which involves the murder that took place on a construction site."
"So in other words, you're just went to that conclusion through deductive reasoning." Hachiman let out a sigh that signaled his resignation to lying. "Nitta-san, can you tell me what you see right in front of you?"
"Is this a riddle?" Akari asked, and the boy only fell silent, not bothering to answer. She leaned closer to him and touched the skin under his eye with an index finger. "I see an adorable smartass with creepy eyes... baggy ones, too."
"Did you really just notice it now?" He asked with an amused chuckle.
"Itadori and I just thought you didn't sleep yesterday because of Gojo-san's whims." She answered while putting her hand on his right cheek and caressed the bag under his eye with a thumb, which caused Hachiman to blush from such physical contact. "But now that we're having this serious discussion, it's not the case, huh?"
"Please, no more physical contact. I may have a girlfriend and leveled up in physical intimacy, but that doesn't mean I won't be nervous in physical interactions with the opposite gender." Hachiman thought while removing her hand away from his cheek. "This is what he would end up into if he saw more dead people. Even worse, if he had to 'kill' them with his own hands. Itadori and I are the same: we just drew the short end of the stick and have to die to fix it; we both got slapped by the reality of this cursed world and got back on our feet afterwards. The only difference besides our personalities is which of us fell down again for a second time."
"Hikigaya-kun..."
"Living in this kind of world is really chaotic. One moment, you're enjoying a nice meal, then before you know it, you're fighting for your life the next second. I don't want someone as good-hearted as him to fall."
"Fall? Are you falling right now?" Akari argued with her elbow placed on the windowsill to rest her chin with her hand.
"The fall of a human soul is rather subtle... too unnoticeable at times."
"There you go again, being a smart-ass. Well, I'll tell you this." She leaned back in her chair and looked at the night sky outside the window. "The best thing you could hope for about this job is that you'll have missions where you'd do it with a partner or group. Not because it's fun to work with friends, it's just an assurance."
"Assurance for what?"
"That you won't die alone on a mission." The blonde manager's answer made him freeze in bewilderment. "All of us in Jujutsu Tech would shred common sense of normal society out of our heads to keep things cool and not turning ourselves dead weight because of emotions. I hate that kinda thought, but it's the only way for me to look forward to tomorrow... or what's left of tomorrow. One day I report some curse activity to sorcerers, then the next, I heard they either got killed or quitted the job."
"It takes someone to be crazy to work as a sorcerer."
"But what does 'crazy' mean? To them, it's to get rid of the soft spots we all have. But that's not what you meant, right?"
"It isn't?"
"Gojo-san picked you up, right? That means you have his definition of being 'crazy'." From Akari's words, the dead fish-eyed sorcerer fell silent to process the meaning behind the conversation. After looking outside the window and thinking for a moment, he smiled.
"And Gojo isn't keen on following the higher-ups' whims." He spoke while putting his elbow on the windowsill.
"Which means you're a thing they hate." She grinned.
"Somehow, I feel deeply hurt from that and at the same time, moved by their contempt." The two chuckled until Hachiman stopped. "It's inevitable to save Itadori from hell, huh?"
"Mhm." The blonde manager nodded.
"And not dying alone is regarded as the best comfort here. I can see why Gojo wants to change all that." He sighed while leaning back in his chair and put his right foot on top of his left leg. "Still, we need to split up with you and Itadori taking care of Yoshino Junpei's case while I deal with the culprit."
"But-"
"There's a chance that Yoshino might be our enemy and probably a Grade 2 or higher. If you ask him to come with you for interrogation and he didn't comply, either Itadori will take him by force, or you two run away."
"And that's all from a 'shared loners' mind'."
"That and I couldn't shake the thought of the culprit turning the guy to be compatible as a sorcerer." Hachiman thought and then stood from his chair. "Now, let's get some sleep. This conversation is making our sleeping hours shorter."
"Mhm, good night!" Akari followed Hachiman back to the usual room.
"Wait, are you actually planning to sleep with us?"
"... Oh, right... I guess I'll sleep in the other room then!"
"It didn't even cross your mind once?" He watched as the blonde manager picked up the futon and went to the other room to sleep. When she closed the door, Hachiman pulled out a tiny, cylindrical container full of pills inside from the pocket of his jacket that he had removed after.
...
"Here." Shoko tossed the container full of pills at Hachiman while sitting on an office chair. "Those are antipsychotics. Drink them one pill a day and your auditory hallucinations would weaken in a few weeks. Understand?"
"... Yes." Hachiman responded while staring at his medication with indifference.
"Hikigaya-kun. What Gojo wants... what WE ALL want is not a broken man for a job like this. You won't last that long if you keep beating yourself up for no reason."
...
After grabbing a cup of water, he swallowed one pill of antipsychotics and drank the liquid. Instead of lying on the futon, he sat back in the same armchair without the desire to sleep. Procrastinating his slumber would be a huge mistake, but he couldn't fix it so easily when the major cause of it was the shouts and screaming of the voices in his head. Of course, after being familiar with those voices, he anticipated their anger for taking medication to 'silence' them in a way.
"HAAAAACHIIIIIIIIMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!$#%""#^#{$p&*$*"}#^}{&"
As if he was being punished for trying to silence them, the voices "acted violently" within his mind, disturbing him with screams and shouts of vulgar words, with the noise of people being tormented in agony. Hachiman closed his eyes shut to where wrinkles would form. He clutched the armrests so strongly, he tore the fabric and cotton off. He bit his lower lip with all his might that he injured it and bled. As the blood dripped from the lip to the chin, he lifted his head while holding the arm rests tighter to prevent him from hitting the left side of his head.
The torture would continue on for hours, and when it stopped, the drowsiness in him fully shattered.
Another sleepless night.
.
.
.
7:30 AM
The dead fish-eyed sorcerer parted ways with his junior and the blonde manager to find the hideout. At first, they tried to dissuade him because of how tired he looked with the growing bags under his now red eyes, but he ignored their concerns and walked away. Two days without sleep would lead to so much cognitive issues that doing the mission now could cost his life.
However, he couldn't just sit still. He HAD to move, which was a drive a few minutes ago that ultimately contradicted to what he was feeling currently. Hachiman was losing motivation with each step he took closer to the sewage tunnel, where he found the residuals. His balance became poor and looked like he could fall at any moment from just a light breeze. The paleness of his skin would make others mistake him for a dead man walking, and his muscles ache. He finally reached the sewage tunnel, jumped down and went inside it, but not after leaning to a wall and falling to the ground unconscious. That only lasted for ten seconds, as he woke up immediately and stood up. It was a case of microsleep. He wobbled forward, entering the sewers while following the residuals until he finally sensed cursed energy deep within the tunnel.
The next issue was the dead fish-eyed sorcerer was in the most terrible condition to fight. But, 'most terrible' didn't equal to 'impossible to fight'.
A white humanoid monster with abnormal deformities pounced at him, only for Hachiman to break its face with a right hook that sent the creature crashing against the wall, leaving cracks and shattered concrete. Suddenly, he felt awake as he took a deep breath, absorbing the stench of the sewers to his nose. Two more humanoid monsters came out of a corner and ran towards him. Hachiman moved his right foot forward and held his sheathed katana firmly. He drew the sword, and just from a brief reveal of a slightly exposed blade, he was already behind them. The blade was fully drawn, as the heads of the culprit's victims were decapitated.
"Come out, you piece of fucking..." Hachiman tried to finish his sentence, but just sighed and went deeper into the sewers. "Where are you, fucker?!"
"That's one dirty mouth you got there." A voice of a man echoed. The dead fish-eyed sorcerer could distinguish the man's look from a distance.
He had long grayish-blue hair that reached past his neck and was sectioned off into three large strands with ties at the ends. His face and body had stitches as if he was sewn together, and his eyes had heterochromia, with the left being dark blue and the right being gray. He wore a black shawl that was separated into three pieces on the left sleeve, and matching pants.
"Oh, you don't look so good. Honestly, I didn't expect you to be sent to deal with me." The man with stitches spoke with a look of worry and disgust until the expression changed into lighthearted. "But don't worry! I'm not gonna fight you!"
"A cursed spirit...? A special grade?" Hachiman scowled. He figured out the grade of the curse just by recognizing his intelligence to communicate. "Fan-fucking-tastic."
"Well, that's rude. I don't think we can hold a conversation when you-" The humanoid cursed spirit tried to complain while pouting, but the moment he blinked, the sorcerer was already in front of him, swinging the katana to his neck. He just responded by nonchalantly leaning back to only have his throat slit.
Hachiman noticed how unaffected the cursed spirit looked, but that didn't stop him from attacking further. He cut off the curse's right leg, and as the latter was falling, Hachiman struck his blade to his abdomen. All of those moves were in the frame of one second. As blood came out of those cuts, the sorcerer tried to go for the finishing move, but the cursed spirit grabbed the blade, which caused a cut on his left palm.
"You're really fast." The special grade smiled. "But calm down and let's talk about this!"
"I'll calm down when you're fucking exorcised, you shitty Frankenstein."
"You know, I don't sleep, but even I can say to you that you need some sleep." The stitched creature grabbed the top of Hachiman's head and slammed him to the ground, leaving a small crater and burying the latter's head in it.
He pulled his head out to see if he knocked him unconscious, but the sorcerer swung the katana to the left, aiming at his neck again, only for the curse to block it with his right backhand that was imbued with cursed energy. Hachiman kicked him in the stomach to pull out the blade from his flesh and struck his upper body, giving the curse a cut that spread from the right collarbone to the left area of his abdomen. However, he noticed the curse's injuries started healing, even the slit in his throat and the decapitated leg.
"Sorry, nothing you do will work on me." The special grade raised the recovered right leg and shook it as if to show the sorcerer his futility. "We just need to talk, alright?"
"About what, exactly?"
"About you and why you shouldn't be in Jujutsu Tech. Hm?" The cursed spirit noticed something shining at the end of a tunnel behind the sorcerer and behind himself as well, along with sensing several sources of cursed energy.
"An ambush?!" Both of them thought as flames burst out on both sides and engulfed them immediately. The blazing fire lasted for ten seconds until it all dissipated, leaving scorches and cinders on the walls and ground, and steam from evaporating the sewer water.
"What the hell is this?" Hachiman wondered as he looked around and realized he was inside of a strange small dome made of flesh.
"It's my cursed technique." The special grade answered when his head popped out of the dome's wall to face the sorcerer. "I protected you from their ambush. Look, right now you won't win this fight alone. This is gonna sound weird to you, but we need to work together if we have to make it out of here alive."
"What makes you think I would team up with you?" Hachiman glared.
"You're that sure you can fight me AND the troupe WHILE being tired? Be my guess!" The curse suggested with a cheery smile that felt unsettling for the sorcerer. "I always wondered what a crispy human would look like, but Jogo can't show me because of reasons. Oh.. then again, I think with my Idle Transfiguration, I can change the skin to-"
"What's your deal here? What do you want from me?"
"I don't have time to answer in the middle of a fight, but long story short, just a friendly chat!"
"A friendly chat with a cursed spirit that killed many people, hahahahaha... Fuck!" Hachiman scratched his head so much in frustration, his hair became messy. "I can't think right! It's like I'm making a deal with the devil here!"
"Well I do represent human hatred for one another, so maybe not that farfetched?"
"Shut up... Fine, after taking them out, I'll kill you next."
"Hahaha! Don't you mean 'exorcise'? I'm surprised you actually accept my help."
"Well... I am curious about a talking cursed spirit, anyway."
"What's the phrase again? Curiosity kills the cat?"
"And which one is the cat here?"
"Heh... I wonder which one of us would die from that curiosity." The cursed spirit grinned menacingly until it was replaced with an innocent, childish smile. "I'm Mahito, by the way! Nice to meet you!"
"And it's not nice to meet you." The dead fish-eyed sorcerer turned around while sheathing his katana. "I'll handle those two over there. You take the other pair."
"So a two versus one, huh? This should be fun." The special grade named Mahito said in a low tone while licking his own lips in excitement.
Two people stood still on each end of the tunnel, all four of them had different appearances.
"D'ya think we gottem?" A woman asked in English with her hands on fire. She had black hair tied into a bun, a white tank top, and red jogging pants.
"No, their cursed energy is still strong." A man with dark skin answered in English as well. He had a bald head and closed burnt eyes. His attire consisted of a yellow kimono, a black ankle-banded hakama, and a pair of brown kegutsu. There was also a sheathed katana with a dark green tsuka strapped on his left waist. "Tell them to do it again."
"Roger that! Ya heard 'im!" The woman shouted at her earpiece and both she and the people on the other side combusted more flames on both ends in an attempt to burn their two targets in the middle of it. Their flames were stronger than last time and lasted 30 seconds until they stopped. The woman panted from exhaustion while holding both knees to remain standing. "D'we get 'em this time?"
"... Unfortunately, no." The dark-skinned man answered while drawing the katana, ready to fight, as the sound of distorted screaming and footsteps became louder. Several abominations with horrific deformities and unnatural physique ran out of the tunnel to chase them. The dark-skinned swordsman cut one abomination's arm off, kicked away another monster, and dealt the finishing blow on the previous one by cutting its head off.
However, behind the defeated monster was Hachiman as the moment it fell backward, he swiftly went past between its legs and gave the dark-skinned man a shallow, horizontal cut to his stomach while tearing the fabric of his kimono. Fortunately, the latter leaned back just in time to avoid getting a more fatal cut. Then, they both clashed blades, as the dead fish-eyed sorcerer swung his katana lower to cut off one of his leg, but the dark-skinned swordsman blocked it in time before it could touch the limb's flesh an inch closer. While pushing Hachiman's blade back, he moved forward with his katana sliding on the other to reach for the face. Hachiman leaned back to dodge and thrust a kick to his injured (but not fatal) stomach. The dark-skinned swordsman tried to block it with his left palm while thinking about swinging the katana down at Hachiman's head at the same time, but he miscalculated.
A spark of black light flashed the exact moment Hachiman's foot physically contacted the palm.
The attack caused the bones in the dark-skinned man's left hand to shatter and gave an even worse injury to his stomach, as he was sent flying to a wall. However, it wasn't enough to even knock him unconscious. The man went on all fours while vomiting blood until he stood on his two feet to face him.
"A black flash right off the bat?! As expected of Shani's descendant!" The swordsman smiled, genuinely admiring Hachiman's talent. "Still... I sense your movements felt restrained and unbalanced before you land that attack. Reina, what does he look like now?"
"He looks kinda tired wit' those eye bags... like he hasn't slept for days." The woman named Reina answered while defending herself against the monsters.
"It's a good thing the Black Flash woke me up a little." Hachiman mumbled while keeping his guard up, but his words reached his blind opponent's ears. "Never thought I'd pull it off."
"Black Flash, a special occurrence when space is distorted and deals a more powerful blow, and you treat it as a way to wake yourself up?" The swordman spoke in Japanese and tried to stifle his laugh until he couldn't contain it. "Hahahaha! Astonishing! Despite your exhausted state, your immense concentration remains sharp! Do not tell me that was your plan to fight against that cursed spirit."
"You speak Japanese? Well, it kinda was my plan. But I still got it from hitting you, so I can finally fight properly this time."
"Performing a Black Flash would give the user a 120% maximum potential because of a state called 'The Zone', but in his case it's like recovering his strength back to 100%. No, it is less than 100 since his body is still exhausted." The dark-skinned man analyzed his opponent's current predicament. "All just to compensate for his lack of sleep to fight efficiently. He treats his Black Flash as more of a caffeine drink than a powerful attack. Very unheard of, yet very amusing."
"Why do you guys want to kill me?"
"Because we deemed you a threat to humanity."
"How? I've only been a sorcerer for months and only exorcised curses."
"Yet, within a span of those months, your strength grew immensely. And you not only exorcised, you murdered three of my comrades."
"... right." The dead fish-eyed sorcerer had a look of guilt before asking. "What am I?"
"I cannot disclose such information... is what I'd like to say for the sake of my troupe, but it is unfair. You are subjected to such suffering without a fragment of knowledge." The dark-skinned swordsman raised his katana forward, ready to fight. "If you want to know, you must defeat me in battle. That way, there will be fairness."
"Are ya crazy, Bong?!" Reina protested in English while punching a "cursed spirit" in the face. "It's against our rules to-"
"I'm prepared to take the penalty of our binding vow." The man named Bong said in English with determination as Hachiman looked up at the ceiling, then he spoke in Japanese. "You sense it as well. Outside of the sewers, our comrades, the Dhamini's Troupe, are battling against a group called Samsara's Helm, the ones who wish to aid you. Which of them will succeed is beyond my prediction, but we must fight quickly before intervention arrives, anyway."
"If it's the only way to get answers..." Hachiman contemplated as he took his fighting stance with the katana. "I'll accept your... this is a duel, right?"
"Indeed, it is." Bong looked at his comrade and spoke in English. "Do not interfere, Reina."
"Are ya- Fine! But, if ya lose, I'm killin' 'im!" Reina declared.
"This is one crazy school day." Hachiman thought.
"Where did these cursed spirits come from!?" A young boy asked.
He had a short height and slick-back hair. His attire consisted of a dark green tunic under a cloak made of leaves and twigs, a quiver full of arrows on his back, metal armlets, black pants, and matching boots. The boy used a bow and arrows to shoot the four "cursed spirits" attacking them.
A grown man with long, red silky hair repeatedly tapped his foot in response while hitting a "curse's" head with a full-sized felling axe and continued doing it two more times until he chopped it in half. He wore a black neck gaiter to cover his mouth and neck, a brown zhiduo-type hanfu jacket with narrow sleeves, black pants, and white hanfu boots that had golden flower designs.
"I AM shooting! Just exorcise them, Lyaksandro!" The young archer shouted.
"GOOD MORNING!" Mahito shouted cheerfully as he ran towards the one with the axe named Lyaksandro. He raised a hand to touch the axe wielder, but the latter took steps back to avoid it. Mahito chased after him until an arrow hit his head that pierced through his skull and got stuck there. He looked at the young marksman and lifted a thumbs up. "Nice shot! And you did that while running away from my transfigured humans, too!"
"Humans?" The marksman looked back at the transfigured victims. "You... turned them into those things?"
"Pretty, aren't they?" The special grade asked while pulling the arrow out of his head. Then, he leaned back very low to evade a beam of cursed energy that destroyed the three other transfigured humans. Mahito jumped away from another projectile of raw cursed energy and saw the Lyaksandro with his neck gaiter pulled down, revealing his entire mouth area and neck looked decayed. At the sight of such appearance, Mahito became curious. "Woah! Did you rub the wrong lotion on your skin or something? No, wait! I know this! It's that thing, right?! What's it called? Heavenly Restriction?! Is that why you don't talk?!"
Mahito's guess is correct. Lyaksandro was born with a heavenly restriction that gave him the natural talent to release and manipulate raw cursed energy in his mouth in exchange for almost all functions in his mouth area and throat. He can't taste or even eat because he has no teeth, and every time he swallows, the pain in his throat is unbearable. Breathing through his mouth is also painful. The sense of touch in his mouth area and neck is also lost.
He can manipulate raw cursed energy in his mouth with such expertise that almost every attack only costs little cursed energy. Of course, that depends on the intensity he uses.
"While spitting out cursed energy looks cool and all, it's a shame. None of your, or even that archer's attacks will work against me." Mahito explained, using Revealing One's Hand to amplify his cursed technique. "My Idle Transfiguration can reshape the soul of anyone I touch. I can also reshape my own to heal myself and even transform my body into different things. Sorry!"
"We'll see about that." The archer pulled out six arrows from his quiver. He held three arrows to his left hand with the bow while he held the other three to his right, with one already on the bowstring ready to shoot. "How many arrows will it take before getting rid of that smug of yours?!"
"Zeeeeerooooo~!" The special grade answered and then looked up at the ceiling. "It looks like things are about to get even crazier. Dhamini's Troupe, Samsara's Helm, Jujutsu Tech, and us cursed spirits... What's your move, Ropeholders?"
TRIVIA:
1) The nickname "Hitotsume-kun" is based off on a yokai called the "Hitotsume-kozo".
2) Akari's previous routine with her brother is entirely original.
Hey, everybody.
What do you guys think?
I just thought it'd be cool to play the detective rather than skipping right into what we know and discover.
Finally, Mahito has appeared but it looks like he has a strange intent towards our 8man. What does he want? Who knows!
And the foreign parties are at it again with 8man being the center of the conflict. How is it going to all go down?
And finally, I just want to say thank you for all the support in the last two years. It really means a lot. I'm not a good fanfic author as you can see from all the works I haven't updated and the constant change of schedule I have. But nonetheless, I'm grateful to join the fanfic community and hope to make more!
And as always, please leave a review as your opinions will be helpful for making this story better.