001, RYOMEN SUKUNA AND UGA BENZAITEN
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SEASON ONE, EPISODE ONE
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*WARNING, THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS: Bullying, transphobia, ableism, blackmailing, death, creatures from Japanese mythology/lore, canon violence, injuries, talk about committing massacres
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Chiyoko laughed as a tanuki floated below her while she was trying to leave her house. This one looked like a lost puppy and certainly acted the part. "I already gave you some breakfast. Now you're just being greedy." The tanuki whimpered or at least made a sound that was like a whimper. She sighed and patted the tanuki's head. "I'll make you something when I get the chance to, alright?"
Who needs an actual pet when you have a tanuki you can play with for free? Her phone started to vibrate, but before she could grab it, the tanuki took it and flew away with it. "Hey!" Chiyoko sat her bag down and began her chase against the mythical raccoon. The little trickster taunted the young shaman by teleporting before she could grab her phone from its' cute little paws.
"Give it back! I need my phone!" She yelled out, but to no avail. Chiyoko sighed and then said, "Fine. If I can't have my phone, you won't get any snacks for today." That little threat made the tanuki freeze long enough for Chiyoko to grab her phone. She looked at the caller ID to see that it was her sister Suzume. She tapped on the ANSWER button. "Morning, Zuzu!"
"Hey, what took you so long to answer?," was the first thing Suzume asked. Chiyoko rolled her eyes. "Relax. It was just a tanuki again," she explained as if this was a normal thing. "Where are you? You said you'd be back before midnight last night."
Suzume had a mission yesterday and promptly left when Chiyoko was still in school. She has sent a text around 10 last night that she'd be back but never came back.
Chiyoko heard her sister sigh through the phone. "Yeah, sorry about that. I'm at Shoko Ieiri's place. My wounds were pretty bad after everything. I had Ieiri pick me up and I passed out in the car. Sorry."
"Hey, don't start apologizing, alright? I'm just glad you're alright." Chiyoko never liked it when Suzume apologizing for things she couldn't control. Her wounds were preventing her to come home, and that was fine. This sort of thing has happened multiple times in the past, between the two of them.
The tanuki was poking Chiyoko's cheeks while she was talking and it was on her lap and eventually, it started to squish her cheeks. "Chi, are you doing anything after school?"
"Hmm...just Cooking Club and no missions, I think. Might have one later though. Why?"
"There's been a report for two special-grade cursed objects in town. Be on the lookout for any jujutsu sorcerers or any high-grade curses in the area," Suzume explained. "You got it, Zuzu! Bye!" Chiyoko hung up and left her house with the tanuki following suit.
"Chi-Chi!" She heard a very familiar voice. Meanwhile, the tanuki quickly turned itself into a rock on the ground. Chiyoko turned around and saw the one and only Itadori Yuuji, her childhood friend, running straight towards her. "Morning, Yuuji," she smiled at her best friend. He finally caught up to her. Chiyoko laughed, seeing him out of breath, "You know you didn't have to run to catch up, right?"
Itadori groaned and decided to stretch Chiyoko's cheeks in irritation. "Well, maybe you shouldn't have walked so fast then." He looked down and paled upon seeing a smile on Chiyoko's face. A smile that he dubbed 'the violent smile'. This made him let go of her cheeks quickly. Her 'violent smile' quickly changed into a bright, real smile. "So, how's the Occult Club coming along? Any new members?"
He sweatdropped, he swears this girl is gonna kill him one day. "Uh no, not really."
"Well, have you promote it at all?"
Silence for about five seconds. "You haven't bothered to, have you?"
Silence for another five seconds.
"I'm not helping you with this, Yuuji-kun. Your club, your problem." He gasped. How did she know what he was going to ask? He then whined, "Oh come on! Please!"
"No," she replied calmly, making the boy sadly whimper. "I told you this would happen if you did nothing to promote it. Getting more members to solidify the Occult Club becoming an official school club."
Honestly, Itadori was like a tanuki, but very much an actual human and could bother her without having to hide.
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Megumi Fushigoro, a student attending Jujutsu Tech, was walking around the grounds of Sugisawa High in the hopes of retrieving two cursed objects that were said to be on those school grounds.
"They're keeping cursed objects here in a place like?" Megumi asked himself as he stopped in front of a wooden hut. "Could they be any more stupid?" As he moved to open the hut, he noticed that it wasn't locked. Whatever may be it was something on their part. At least, it wasn't too hard to find and he could leave already-
Wait, it's empty. The second he opened the hut, all he saw was nothing inside. This couldn't be right. There's no way. Megumi looked around to see if the cursed objects were hidden somewhere. Nope. They were physically gone.
Megumi then decided to call someone on his phone. "There's nothing here."
"Huh?" The guy on the other end asked, obviously confused about what he heard. Megumi then explained, "The Stevenson Hut is empty."
"For real? That's hilarious. Maybe they went out for a late-night stroll," the man tried to joke about everything, which Megumi didn't find amusing in the slightest.
"I'm going to punch you."
"Well, no going home until it's recovered." Click.
"I'm seriously going to punch him." Well, this was a total bust. The cursed objects can't have gone too far away from here, so he might as well search around for them. Not only that but these special grade objects are somewhere in the school. Just where are they located?
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"Oh my god! This bowl of udon noodles tastes amazing!" A student exclaimed, with stars in their eyes. "Whoever's this is has done a spectacular job making this!"
"Wait seriously?! I got these ultra spicy udon noodles!" Another student said as he reached in his bag for a carton of coconut water. "Man, I wish I could handle spicy food as well as Mitsuki and Hayashi." Many of the students started to laugh hearing their clubmate's statements. It wasn't like he wasn't too far off.
Chiyoko giggled, eating her chosen udon noodles while doing so. "Oh come on, Kuse. Don't you think that you're being overdramatic?" Kuse scoffed, "Oh hell no! You two have the biggest spice tolerance in the entire club. I would die to have that high of spice tolerance." He chugged down the bottle of coconut water he had in his hand. "There's no way that I'll finish this."
Mitsuki sat their bowl by a nearby table and made their way to Kuse. They asked, "Mind if I try it for myself?" Kuse gave them the bowl, "Have at it."
After a quick taste, Mitsuki replied, "You can taste the spices more than the udon noodles themselves."
"See?! I can't eat that without burning my mouth off."
"Well, we can't just throw it away! That would be a waste of someone's ingredients!" Someone remarked. Mitsuki only shrugged, "Guess we'll just trade udon noodles then. There! Problem solved." When hearing this, Kuse wasted no time in grabbing Mitsuki's abandoned bowl of udon and eating.
The Cooking Club is often known to be one of the safe havens at the school, and it's Chiyoko's as well. It's where they can relax after dealing with everything and hone their cooking skills. It has a soothing and calming atmosphere, makes you feel like you're in the comforts of your home, whatever home is to you.
Here, she can take a break from the training and the assassinations and just cook meals with her clubmates.
"Today's dish frenzy was amazing," Mitsuki said as they wheeled over to Chiyoko who was putting away her cookbook. The two of them walked down the hallway together, heading outside. "I need to find out who made that ultra spicy udon-" They suddenly winced in pain, their brows furrowed tightly.
That was when Chiyoko noticed an emerald green Fly Head curse chilling on Mistuki's head. Of course, there are times when her jujutsu work interferes with her normal school life. "Hey, is your head feeling alright?" Mitsuki was surprised by the question but sadly smiled. "Is it really that obvious?"
"Little bit. Did something happen?"
"Oh, the usual bullying from a couple of our classmates. I've been getting headaches recently thanks to them. Nothing too bad, but they're slowly getting worse and worse," Mitsuki explained while rubbing their temples.
Chiyoko sighed, tired of this crap. Mitsuki's bullying wasn't any news to her. A handful of students have a problem with Mitsuki being in school. And of course, nothing was ever really done about it. Granted, the students that were caught were given punishment, but there was another wave ready to bother Mitsuki some more. Whether it was their gender identity, who they liked, or their disability, the reasons varied and now Mitsuki got a Fly Head on their head. "This is getting real stupid at this point," Chiyoko muttered.
She hated seeing her clubmates, who were practically her friends at this point, getting picked on constantly. "Just give me the names and I'll deal with them."
"Wait, seriously Chi?!"
It was no surprise to their grade that Chiyoko was popular among those who were bullied in the past. No one besides her knows how she does it, but given her title as the Lioness of West Junior High, they decide to never question it.
"Well, yeah," the assassin gave her friend a finger gun, "you are my friend and my cooking partner in crime. Of course, I would help you out. Don't worry about anything."
Mitsuki suddenly felt their headache disappear and their head started to feel much better, almost weightless even.
But in reality, this is due to Chiyoko shooting the Fly Head with a bullet she created when she did her finger gun. But, hey, that was her trade secret.
"Come on. Wanna watch some sports practice to pass the time and possibly rate the players?"
"Oh hell yes!"
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Chiyoko and Mitsuki stood by the practice arena, watching the players practicing while they themselves were eating some snacks. "Hm! What about 23?"
"Eh. 6/10." Mitsuki laughed at the quick rating, "A 6/10? Really?" Chiyoko simply shrugged her shoulders, "Hey, I'm being generous. I would've given him a 4, but him in a ponytail earned him two more points."
"Wait wait wait! You gave him two extra over his ponytail?!" Did they just hear her right?
"I mean, yeah. Anyone who can pull off a ponytail is deserving of two extra points!"
Mitsuki sighed. They won't ever understand Hayashi's taste in people. "Hold on. Is that Itadori?" They were busy looking around for any player to rate only to see a familiar tuft of unkept, pink hair close by. There was a small crowd of students but they could still see him among the crowd. "Not unless there's another pink-haired boy in this school."
"Did he actually leave that Occult Research Club of his?"
"Yeah, I hardly doubt that's the case." The pale blue-haired student ate the last bit of her melon pan and walked up to her best friend. She saw Itadori holding a shot-put and Coach Takagi is standing in front of him. "Yuuji-kun!"
Itadori saw Chiyoko and smiled. "Hey, Chi-chan! Did the Cooking Club end already?" Chiyoko nodded her head, "It ended a while ago. But that's beside the point. What are you doing out here?"
He scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, it was this whole thing with Takagi. Officially, I'm not a member of the Occult Club." How was that possible? She was there when he signed up for the club. He then continued, "Takagi rewrote it that I signed up for Track and Field instead."
"Okay, I'm pretty sure that is illegal, right there. But please continue."
"So we made a competition. I win, I stay in Occult Research Club. He wins, I have to join Track and Field." He started to toss the shot-put in his hand. The two then saw the coach pose after throwing his shot-put. A student ran up to it and shouted, "14 meters!"
"Wow, Takagi's still got it!"
"What're you gonna do, Itadori?!"
The small crowd then began to shout out Itadori's name, cheering him on. "Hey look at that. You already have a fan club," Chiyoko commented, looking around the students. That was when her eyes landed on a familiar face in the background. There he was, Megumi Fushigoro, standing among the crowd, looking straight at the two of them. Like her, he's a jujutsu sorcerer but related to the Zenin Family. He seemed nice with the few times that they talk but more closed off. Why would Fushigoro be here, unless the special cursed objects that Suzume talked about are around here somewhere?
Great. So she'll have to come back to the school tonight to look around and most likely deal with him, other sorcerers, and cursed spirits.
Itadori then stepped into the circle and looked over at Takagi. "Hey, can I just throw this however I want?"
"Yep," Takagi confirmed. "I won't call any fouls, so throw however you please. Sorry. I wanted to demonstrate how serious I am by intentionally choosing something that isn't your forte-"
At that point, Itadori really wasn't listening to him. He cut of Takagi's words as he casually throws his shot-put at a goal, leaving a rather noticeable dent on the end the shot-put landed on. The student keeping track said, "Uh, roughly thirty meters."
"Yeah, I crushed it!" The majority of the students and Takagi were in shock. This boy just casually broke the world record without even trying. Chiyoko was the only other one smiling for him. She figured that he would win, it wasn't any surprise over what happened. Too bad for the school though.
She then picked up a shot-put and said, "Yuu-kun. Let me try." Itadori complied and allowed his best friend to stand in the circle. "Don't kill anybody." Chiyoko dryly laughed as she threw the shot-put. It hit the safety fence that was behind the goal Itadori hit, leaving a ball-sized hole, and into the trees."
"Woah! Did you see that?!"
"She just beat Itadori's as well!"
"How strong is Hayashi?!"
Itadori gave her a side hug and a bright smile. "Nice! That has to be your personal best right there." Chiyoko snorted in laughter, "Oh please. What about you? I'm pretty sure you just broke your record, you gorilla!" He gasped, "Excuse you, but I am a tiger, not a gorilla."
"Oh yeah, but the shot-put says otherwise!"
The two went their separate ways, going back to their friends.
Mitsuki just sat there, still shocked by the whole thing. "If that was true, then you mean to tell me that you could easily destroy sports competitions and your ass is stuck here in Cooking Club?" Chiyoko nervously laughed, "Yeah. I mean, I stopped playing for several reasons. Besides, I love being in the Cooking Club. It's a helluva more relaxing than sports anyway. There was no way I was leaving y'all. I'm already too attached to everyone."
They smiled, and then they asked. "So ... you and Itadori?"
"That's not happening. That boy is more of an annoying little brother to me, alright."
All while this is happening, Fushigoro was watching the whole thing. He looked at Itadori talking to his friends and thought, "That boy's incredible. He pulled that off without any cursed energy. I wonder if he's like Zenin." He then looked over at where Chiyoko was. "Her, on the other hand, she only used a fraction of her cursed energy. Was the rest really her actual strength? That's amazing, I wonder what would happen if she did it without cursed energy."
"Oh, it's already past four!" Itadori looked at the school clock, unaware of the time. He picked up his bag and yelled out, "Well, Coach, I've got stuff to do! Later!" The coach, who was still in shock and decorated with stacked shot-puts, came to his senses and dropped all of the metal balls to see Itadori running towards the exit. "Hey, Chi-chan! You'll come by, right?!"
"Yeah, but go without me. I need to do something before then!" Chiyoko yelled back. She picked up her bag and waved to her cooking accomplice. "See you later, Mitsuki!"
When both of the friends ran past Megumi, the latter quickly noticed the presence of the two cursed energies. One emitting wrathful violence and the other being calm but still as scary and deadly as a large tsunami.
He tried to reach out to the two to gain their attention. "Hey, you two!" Sadly, before Megumi could confront either of them, they sped off in different directions. "They're way too fast!"
"I heard that they can run up to fifty meters in three seconds," a male student told his friend.
"What are they, cars?"
Megumi overheard the two classmates talk about Itadori and Hayashi, realizing that it was a lost cause to chase after either of them. Especially since he doesn't know where they're going.
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Three junior boys were walking near an empty area around the school. No teachers or other students insight to bother them. One of them pulled out a pack of cigarettes and lit one up. "You sure this is the place, Arai?," the smoker asked his friend, "there ain't anybody here but us."
"I'm sure, Osada," Arai rolled his eyes. "The letter I got said to all of us to come here after school had finished." The third boy sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Arai, you're an idiot. For all we know, you just walked us into a prank."
"A prank? Never really thought about something like that."
The three boys turned to see Chiyoko standing right in front of them, plastering a tooth-rotting smile. "Well, if it isn't Hayashi herself? Why did you call us out here? Finally, going to admit your feelings for us?"
She laughed hearing that, "Oh goodness no! You're all not my type, at all anyway. I had something else in mind, actually. Could any of you explain to me why you think it's alright for bullying someone in a wheelchair?"
All three boys stared at Hayashi, mouths open. She wasn't beating around the bush at all. Arai scoffed, "What are you talking about, Hayashi? We've never bully Mitsuki. Whoever told you is nothing but a liar."
"Hmm, that's weird because I never mention anyone by the name of Mistuki at all." The boys were getting a bit more worried at this point, pretty much confirming that they were Mitsuki's bullies. "So I'll reask my question again. Why the fuck do you three nitwits think it's alright to bully someone in a wheelchair?"
"Because it doesn't belong here!" A boy shouted out while glaring at the girl in front. "First, that freak gets everyone's attention with his stupid wheelchair! Next, he gets our friends in trouble for trying to teach him that he should've just stayed home, hell hopefully away from the public eye even! All of us are jumping through hoops just to satisfy this guy."
Of course, Chiyoko defended her friend, "First off, they go by they/them, and secondly did you really just try to justify your bullying by calling Mitsuki an attention seeker?! They didn't ask to be in a wheelchair, you know! And yet, here you all are, thinking otherwise!"
The other two boys looked down and started to back away, cowering in fear. "H-Hey Osada?"
Osada ignored his friend, "So what?! Like I give a damn about its gender! I'll call him whatever I like and the same goes for bullying him!" He inched closer to Chiyoko, "I don't regret anything that I did! He had everything coming to him the second he wheeled in our school! And what are you going to do about all of this? It's not like anyone would believe you anyway! It's your word against ours! The last person who tried to rat us out had to stay in the ER for about a week!"
"Osada!"
"What?!" He then noticed something in one of Chiyoko's hands. It was her phone, and it was on video recording. Osada stumbled backward and fell to the ground on his butt. Chiyoko pressed the Stop button and looked at the new video on her phone. "Let's see. Confessions and insults, with threats to back this up. Yep! This would work. I send this video out and your entire popularity and scholarships will come crashing down all at once. I wonder if your parents would want to be your parents, seeing you bully someone in a wheelchair." She then glared down at Osada, "Now, I might erase this video if you promise not to bother Mitsuki or have others do your dirty work."
"Okay! Okay! We'll stop bullying him-er them," Osada kneeled down. "Just please don't release that video!"
Chiyoko put her phone away and sighed, "You're all talk big, but you're actually pathetic. A real shame." As she walked away, she heard the boys getting up and running away towards the city hospital.
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She walked down the hospital's hallway, searching for the room number. No. No. No. Ah, here we are. Room 301. Chiyoko was about to open the door when she heard an old man yell out, "I told you not to come! And stop bringing flowers with you every time!"
"You always say that, but you already know that these aren't for you. They're for the nurses."
"All the reason not to." That old man was stubborn for as long as Chiyoko could remember.
"Well, if it isn't the fine Itadori men striking up their usual conversation," Chiyoko said as she walked inside the room. She gave Wasuke a small smile before standing beside Yuuji. "You too, Chiyoko!? What are you doing here? And what's happening with your school clubs? Why aren't you two at your clubs?!"
"Nice to see you too, Gramps. You're acting like I can't visit you." In truth, he always acts this way, even towards Yuuji, his own grandson. She always saw Wasuke as another grandfather, ever since she was in kindergarten. He and her parents were good friends, which led to Wasuke unofficially having another grandchild of his own.
Itadori laughed, "Yeah come on, Grandpa! Besides, school ended hours ago. If we didn't have extra time, neither of us would be visiting you."
"Good. Now listen to me since I got free time..."
The younger Itadori cut off his grandfather with a "Not interested." as he grabbed the vase for the flowers. Chiyoko snorted at her friend's stubbornness, only to chuckle hearing the old man say, "Listen away. I've got some things I wanna say before I reach the end. It's about your parents and I want you to..."
Itadori, who was at the sinking filling the vase with fresh water, cut Wasuke off. "Come on. You know I'm not interested." It was true. As far as Yuuji was concerned, Wasuke was his grandfather and the only biological family that mattered to him. He was content not knowing anything about his parents. Something Chiyoko couldn't relate to, sadly.
"Yuu-kun doesn't really care about stuff like them."
Wasuke huffed in irritation, "Hmph. The boy deserves to know about his parents, does he not?" Chiyoko answered, "I mean he does. But he just chooses not to know anything. He's happy with the way things are as they are.
"I keep telling you that I don't care about all that stuff," the young boy sighed, "Grandpa, please. Could you not try and act all cool when you die?" The old man simply told him, "Every man has a right to try and go out with a little style. Get a hint, you useless grandson!" Yuuji paid no mind to his grandfather berating him as he placed the bouquet in the vase, "Quit complaining. You don't have to put a show on for us."
Wasuke didn't say anything, just looked between his grandson and his adopted granddaughter, who was admiring the new flowers Yuuji brought for the nurses. He then turned to his side and complained, "You've had it too easy." He then closed his eyes, not at either teenager. He soon called out for their attention, making them look at him.
"Yuuji. Chiyoko. You're both strong kids, so try to help others. Save the people you can, even if it's those closest to you. It's okay to lose your way and don't worry about whether they thank you or not. Just save as many people as you can, even if it's just one person or each other. When you die, you should be surrounded by people. Don't end up like me."
Both teens looked over at the old man as he talked about his request, while he was on his side not moving. "Grandpa?" Yuuji called out for him, but no answer. Chiyoko widened her eyes and covered her mouth wuth her hands, realizing what had just happened.
Outside the room, in the hallway, one of the nurses picked up a phone that was ringing. "Yes? What can I do for you?" She didn't hear anyone say anything so she asked, "Are you there? Mr. Itadori?" The nurse and her co-workers started to get worried not hearing anything on the other line.
"Hello? Are you there?" On the other side of the call, Yuuji was holding his head up high while tears were about to leave his light brown eyes. Chiyoko, away from Yuuji, still had her mouth covered, muffling her sobs and her tears were already falling down.
"My grandpa...is dead."
Both Itadori and Chiyoko stood by the room's door, watching him being wheeled away by the nurses. Yuuji dealt with the death certificate while Chiyoko stood behind him, leaning against the wall. To her right, she noticed a shinigami exiting Wasuke's hospital room. The two of them made eye contact and all she did was mutter, "Please. Take care of him. He lived a selfless life all the way to his end."
The shinigami nodded and went the direction that Wasuke went in, completing its duties.
Meanwhile, Yuuji finished up the papers that the hospital provided for him. "There. That's all the paperwork we need from you," the nurse said as she collected the last paper Yuuji had finished. "Yeah. Thanks for helping me." The nurse leaned closer, asking him, "Are you sure you two are going to be okay?"
"Well, I uh ... I've never done this before, so it doesn't feel real yet," he gave a solemn smile as he answered. "But then, I know Grandpa would snap at me if he saw me moping around like this. So, I'll have to laugh as I roast him." The white-blue haired girl smiled seeing her friend could still smile after the death of his only known family member.
"Be respectful," the nurse told him.
The two friends suddenly felt like they were being watched and turned their heads, seeing Megumi Fushigoro standing before them. "Yuuji Itadori and Chiyoko Hayashi? I'm Fushigoro from Jujutsu Tech. I'd like to have a word with both of you. Now."
Well, this is just great, Chiyoko thought. Now she has to deal with him. And at a time like this, to top it off. "What fantastic timing you have, Fushigoro," Chiyoko said sarcastically.
"Yeah uh ... we're in mourning right now," Yuuji added in. Megumi apologized, "I understand, but this is important. The cursed objects you two possess are very dangerous. I need you to hand them over."
Chiyoko hid her left hand. Did Jujustu Tech finally catch up with her current status? That can't be the case. If it was, she would've been executed right then and there. But why was Yuuji involved with this? Her hiding her hand, unfortunately, didn't go unnoticed by Fushigoro.
"Cursed objects," Itadori asked, confused by the term itself and the only person who seemed to be clueless about the whole ordeal. Megumi then pulled out his phone, with a picture of two boxes both with a piece of paper written on attached to the outer part. Only one was open, the wooden one, which had some sort of mummified object covered with layers and layers of the same paper wrapped around it. "These."
Yuuji looked at the picture. "Oh yeah, those. Yeah, I found them."
"Where did you find them?" Chiyoko asked.
"I found them in this small wooden hut. I didn't think much of them, but my friends were totally into them. What's dangerous about them?" Megumi scrolled through his phone. News article after article. "Every year, there are over 10,000 unexplained deaths and missing person reports all throughout Japan. And most of them are the result of curses."
"From curses?"
"I don't care whether you believe it or not. The fact is that they exist." Megumi annoyingly looked over at Chiyoko, who was looking away. "You want to explain the rest to him?" Chiyoko said nothing but glared daggers at the student. "Chi-chan?" Just what did Chiyoko have to do with all of this?
She sighed, "I wish he was making this stuff up. But curses are real and are very dangerous if not dealt with correctly. Large pools of pure negative energy. Schools, hospitals, and so on are the easiest places for curses to form. Man's worst emotions, hardships, regret, and shame are what create curses. Most schools are known to have cursed objects to serve as talismans and protect everyone. Like the ones you and the Occult Research Club found."
The pink-haired boy raised his hand, "If they protect us, then shouldn't we be grateful for them?"
"No," it was Megumi who spoke up. "A cursed object has to be incredibly evil in order to keep lesser evil curses away. The protection, however, isn't permanent. Their seals weakening over time is the problem. Then they begin to surface and lure to attract and strengthen curses."
"And lucky us because our school apparently has two of the worst! The ones our school had were special-grade, which is considered to be the worst of them all. Yuuji, please give them to Fushigoro before people start dying," Chiyoko added on, pissed at the fact that the school where her friends and classmates have not one but two special grades.
Yuuji finally got up, rummaging through his pocket. "I told you guys. I don't have them. But you guys can have the boxes." He then tosses the wood box at Megumi. But when he opened the box, he found nothing but the print of the cursed object. "It's empty. All this time, I've been chasing the trace that it left behind. But then ... why does he still sense the other one's trace?
That was when he remembered Chiyoko had her hand. Before she could leave with Yuuji, he grabbed Chiyoko's left arm, finally being able to see the single gold chain ring resting on her middle finger. "Hold it! Where did you get this?!"
"Long before you got here, that's for sure!"
"Leave her alone!" Yuuji quickly got between the two sorcerers. "She doesn't have anything to do with this!"
"The objects! Where are they?!" He grabbed the non-sorcerer's shoulder roughly. At this point, Megumi was getting impatient. "Will you knock it off! Look, my friends were planning to do uh..." Yuuji dozed off, while Megumi yelled at him to keep talking. "Well, they said 'Let's open them up and see what's inside them tonight'."
The three paused for a moment. Megumi backed away while Yuuji stood there confused and Chiyoko couldn't move out of fear. "Wait. Is that bad?"
"It's way worse than bad."
"We need to get to the school. Yuu-kun, if we don't hurry, your friends are going to die tonight!"
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Sasaki and Iguchi managed to sneak back into the school that night. They were in the Occult Research Club room was using a candle as their source of light. The two each had an object in their hands, Sasaki having the long one while Iguchi having the other box. "I can't get it open."
"Did we really need to sneak into the building for this," Iguchi asked his friend. "I'm gonna turn on the lights-" He got up to do just that before Sasaki shot the idea down. "No don't. We need some atmosphere. Enjoying the thrill is part of the Occult Club, isn't it?" It is when you're not basically trespassing on school property late at night. "Besides, it's not like anything is going to happen anyway," she reassured Iguchi.
After constantly messing with a piece of paper, the two of them finally got the paper to peel away. "Hey. Keep going." They then started to pull off the paper until there was none left for either item. Both were surprised to see what Sasaki had in her hand was a human-looking finger. The nail was sharp and the skin had a red-dark purple tone to it, making it look much less like it belonged to a human.
Iguchi's object was just a simple ring box with a ring inside. The ring was a beautiful gold and had a very simple design to it, having only jade embroidered in it. It just sat in its box, looking like it was in pristine condition and was never opened or worn by anyone. It looked to fit a woman's finger by the size of it.
"A human finger and a woman's ring?" The two looked between the two objects, but they were more curious about the finger, given its ungodly appearance. Sasaki questioned, "Is it real?" Just then, the candle's flame went out, startling the two club members. They then looked at the two objects. "Hold on ... you don't think..." Sasaki and Iguchi accidentally dropped the objects on the pile of old paper when they felt the ground shaking and freaked out in the process. They hid the finger and ring in the papers and looked at them with fear written on their faces. Sasaki shakily asked, "What's going on?"
Above them, there was a creature with dark skin, multiple eyes and mouths scattered around it casually hanging on the ceiling, and it processed to emerge itself from the shadows. It had its eyes set below on the two humans and open its mouths, letting out a small screech.
Meanwhile, Megumi, Chiyoko, and Yuuji were running towards the school. Yuuji then asked the two others, "Are talismans that easy to open up?" To which Megumi answered, "No. It's impossible for those without cursed energy. Normally anyway."
Yuuji made them turn right through a shortcut he knew. Megumi continued to explain, "Next to that, the object itself is too strong. The seal is ancient, it might as well be paper." Yuuji huffed, "I sill don't get all of this stuff on curses."
When the jujutsu student saw the school, he asked, "Is that the building? Which floor?"
"4th floor." Yuuji tried to go further, only to get hit by some invisible force that was preventing him from entering the school. The school, itself, was covered in some sort of strange presence.
"What the heck is this pressure?" Megumi ignored him and pushed him aside. "I'll handle this." The black-haired boy proceeds to jump over the fence with ease, with Chiyoko following him. Yuuji grabbed her before she could jump. "Where are you going?"
"I'm going with him," Chiyoko replied it as if it was obvious. "Are you nuts? You'll get hurt if you go in there!"
"She'll be fine. She's done this before."
"Wait what? You have?"
Chiyoko bit her lip, refusing to answer her best friend. Instead, she told him, "Yuu-kun, my family is a part of this whole thing. Look, after all of this, I'll explain everything to you, I promise." She got free from Yuuji's grasp and got on the fence. "Well, if you're both going, then I'm coming with you. I may not know those two very well, but they're friends. I have to help."
Megumi looked back at him, "You're staying here." He then ran towards the school.
"Chi-chan, wait!" Yuuji called out to her. The assassin didn't look back. She didn't want to see his pleading face. "Yuu-kun, this stuff is way too dangerous for you. You just learned about it a while ago. I'm sorry." But knowing him, Yuuji would find some way to his friends in the end. She didn't say another word and ran after Megumi.
Inside, Sasaki was hiding from the monsters that were stalking the halls of the fourth floor. Her mouth was covered so she wouldn't make as much noise. She peeked outside to look at a medium-sized creature. "Just ... what is that thing?"
"Sasaki," she heard her fellow clubmate's silhouette calling her name and found him walking towards her. Relived to see a familiar face she smiled, "Oh Iguchi. Thank goodness. Where have you been?"
He cut her off, pleading to her. "Help me." As he walked closer, he revealed that his head was covered by a small curse, currently eating his head as he was whimpering in fear. Sasaki's smile quickly went away and to make matters worse, a much bigger curse noticed the noise and attacked Sasaki.
Chiyoko and Megumi rushed up the stairs, trying to hurry to the fourth floor. "The curses have been unleashed. Its presence is everywhere!" They eventually made it and came across a small curse in the hallway. "Out of my way! Divine Dogs!" Megumi summoned his DIvine Dogs, wolves that were black and white respectively. "Eat it, boy!"
Outside the school gates, Yuuji was upset he was left behind and was hesitating on storming in himself. "Am I seriously going to stay here just 'cause they told me to? What the hell am I so afraid of?"
"Yuu-kun, if we don't hurry, your friends are going to die tonight!"
'They were right. I could sense death all the way out here. I'm afraid of dying, but was I afraid of it before? Didn't feel like I was. I didn't cry when I was scared, but I was sad. So how were my Grandpa's death and the death I'm facing right now any different?'
That was when he remembered some of Wasuke's last words. "You're both strong kids, so try to help others."
He grabs ahold of the fence bars. Grandpa was crabby, short-tempered, and stubborn. The only people who even visited him were me and Chi-Chi. 'Don't end up like me,' huh?
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Chiyoko threw her chakrams at the walls, managing them to kill multiple curses as it was bouncing off the walls. Megumi continued to use his Divine Dogs and had them eat any that Chiyoko missed. She held out her hand and brought the chakrams back to her, holding them in her hands. "This isn't good. The curses are growing faster than I thought!"
Swords and daggers then fell on top of more curses' heads, killing them instantly. "They're close! Just down here!" The two sorcerers turned down a corner and found a large curse, or more specifically a fusion of curses that merged together. It was trying to eat the two students and the cursed objects at the same time. "There you are. Wait ... Damn! Is it trying to swallow her and the cursed object?! I won't be able to make it!"
"Leave it to me," Chiyoko created a giant saw with her hands and waited. "What are you doing just holding it?!" Megumi yelled at her, only for her to look at the window, presumably waiting for something to go through. "Just give me a few seconds before I do. Then your Divine Dogs could devour it!"
"A few seconds!? Those two and the cursed objects would be gone by then!" Is she out of her mind? What will a few seconds do for them? At this rate, the two students will die and the cursed objects lost with this cursed fusion.
Come on, Yuu-kun. I know how you are. After all ...
That was then they saw Yuuji crash through the window by kicking it. He managed to be above the curse fusion. "Itadori?!" Megumi was shocked while Chiyoko smiled seeing him. "I think you had a proper death, Grandpa, but this kind of a death is just wrong!" He was able to grab his friends out of the curse's hands.
You would anything in your power to help people.
"So this is a curse," Itadori looked at the giant blob of creatures, "Not what I was expecting." He quietly gasped seeing a giant saw blade hit the curse square in the middle followed by two dogs eating it.
"I should ask what you're doing here, but good job."
"Well, aren't you pretty smug?"
Megumi turned to Chiyoko, who was beside him. "By the way Hayashi, how'd you even know that Itadori would arrive and when for that matter?"
"Basic fundamental of being an assassin is knowing the exact moment to strike targets and knowing Yuu-kun is the basic fundamental of being with him since childhood," Chiyoko explained, smiling at Megumi. He didn't even think about Yuuji coming in and helping, but she did and used that to her advantage. She really trusted him so much that her plan involved him.
"Hold on. Chi-Mochi, you're an assassin?!"
"Whole family is, yeah."
"Know what? I'll worry about that later," Yuuji looked behind and saw the dogs eating the now dead curse. "Just curious, but what are those things munching on the curse?"
Megumi answered that they were his shinigami and realized something. "Wait, you can see them? Normally, a curse can't be seen unless you were on the verge of death or in special places like this."
"Yeah, that makes sense. I've never seen ghosts or weird stuff like this before."
"...But you're not scared, though?"
"I was. I mean for a little while there. But then, I thought that everyone was going to die at some point, right. So, I wanna make sure the people I know have a proper death. Not that I understand it." As Yuuji picked up Sasaki, he grabbed the cursed objects from her pocket before they hit the ground. "Oh, are these it?"
"Yeah. The cursed objects, Ryoumen Sukuna's finger and Uga Benzaiten's ring. It's a miracle that thing didn't swallow either of them." Itadori looked at the two objects with curiosity. "Why would anything eat these? Are they good?"
"Ew, Yuuji-kun. That's just gross you even thought that." Chiyoko grimaced at the thought of eating a finger or a whole ring. "Consuming them means you get stronger cursed energy."
"Exactly. Now hand them over. They're dangerous." Yuuji was about to give it to him when a large curse's hand appeared above everyone. Megumi and Chiyoko saw it and so did the Divine Dogs as they started to growl and bark. This made Megumi push Yuuji away from the hand, leaving a hole between him and the sorcerers.
The smoke cleared and during the few seconds of all the confusion, the DIvine Dogs helped Yuuji with his friends while the curse, which had four eyes on the outside and even more inside its mouth and dark green hair on its back, had Megumi and Chiyoko in its hands. "Damn!"
The curse tried to take a bite out of the two teens. Megumi tried to summon Nue, only for the curse to pummel him and even tosses him against the wall, leaving him injured and cough up some blood. Because of this, his Divine Dogs disappeared. "Fushigoro!" Chiyoko was next to be thrown and this made both her and Megumi go through the wall and outside on the roof of the school. While in the air, Chiyoko grabbed Megumi's shirt and create a shield that disappeared when they hit the ground, lowering their injuries at the very most.
Chiyoko managed to get up but Megumi, having the most severe injuries of the two, struggled to get up on his feet, all while the curse as it was charging straight at them. She created a giant shield to protect herself and Megumi. He was able to lift his head. "Can you summon a shinigami?"
"I'm trying!" He groaned in pain. "Damn it! Why ... can't I think straight?!" Itadori appeared from above once again and attacked the curse before it could attack either of them. "Itadori! The only chance you have is to take the other two and run for it!"
As the curse kept on attacking Yuuji, only for the boy to dodge its attacks thanks to his athletic abilities. "You both seemed to be having trouble right now!" But soon, the curse got the better of him, hurting him in the process and sending him flying.
"Only a curse can beat a curse! You can't defeat this!"
"Is that your idea of a pep talk! At this rate, all three of us will die here! If I quit now, I'll be having nightmares about this stuff for weeks!" He scraped by with the curse, causing some damage before it healed itself. "And besides, I know what I have to do. I'm living with a rotten curse already."
Chiyoko groaned before smiling, "Fine then. Since you won't leave, then you might as well have us help you out. Slothful King: Kurokuma!" A large black bear emerged from the shadows and attack the curse from behind and hold it down for a while Yuuji was in the air, losing ground. Sukuna's finger and Benzaiten's ring nearly drop into the curse's mouth.
The ring thankfully landed right in front of Chiyoko and Megumi.
Yuuji managed to catch the finger with his mouth, then the curse opened its mouth ready to eat it and him. "You idiot! Throw it down to me or you'll both get eaten!" Finally gaining the strength he needed, Megumi ran towards Yuuji, leaving Chiyoko and the cursed ring behind.
That was when Chiyoko noticed the ring and managed to grab it.
The curse tried to push Yuuji into its mouth, even using its other hand to push him down. Kurokuma attacked from behind once again, but it didn't do much for the curse, still determined to eat the finger. Itadori then remembered what Chiyoko said earlier about how eating the finger would give the eater a boost of cursed energy.
He then tossed the finger up in the air, shouting, "There's a way I could save everyone! I just need to have my own cursed energy, don't I?" As it was in the air, Chiyoko ran past Megumi, about to put on the ring on her finger. "I was going to wait afterward, but it looks like I don't have a choice.
And there was poor Megumi, watching the two do something incredibly dangerous and dumb.
"Don't do it," Megumi muttered before shouting it at the two of them. "Don't do it!"
At the same time, Yuuji ate Sukuna's finger and Chiyoko slid the finger on her ring finger.
Both Ryomen Sukuna's finger and Uga Benzaiten's ring are special grade curse objects. They're both deadly poisons. They'll die for sure! Unless ... there's a chance. There's a one in a billion chance. Just as the curse was about to eat Yuuji, he was free from its grasp after he destroyed its arms. Yuuji managed to land on his feet, his head down.
Chiyoko ran to her best friend, "Yuu-kun! Are you ..." She was cut off when she saw the curse crawl towards her and him. Before it reached them and before she could kill it, Yuuji managed to do it with ease, simply raising his hand, slicing it like it was nothing but paper. This act left the two young sorcerers lost for words, amazed and scared at the feat they had just witnessed.
That was when Chiyoko noticed the new markings on Yuuji's wrists and the now long claw-like nails on his hands, making her back away and muttered. "Oh shit." She didn't notice the triple moon markings appearing on her throat, but Megumi noticed both of the new markings that had just appeared.
The one-in-a-billion chance happened, and it was the worst that could happen.
Itadori was no longer there anymore.
In his place stood the one Ryomen Sukuna.
But that was when another woman appeared next to Sukuna, with the same markings that Chiyoko had. It was Uga Benzaiten, the cursed wife of Sukuna herself, standing there.
Sukuna opened his eyes, all four of them, and started to laugh like a madman once he realized what had just happened. "I knew it! The light feels best in the flesh." He then proceeded to rip off the hoodie he had on, revealing more of the markings on his chest.
"Already enjoying your body, huh?" Uga smiled at her husband, finally seeing him reincarnated after centuries of not seeing him. "Oh, it feels great to have a body again, Moonie! Do you have any idea how boring it was to have a cursed body?!"
"Given I became a curse same time you did, I do!"
"Enough about that! Where are the people?" Sukuna began to look around. "The women?" He then stood on the railing, looking at the town before him. "What a glorious era to live in! Women and children crawling everywhere like maggots! How marvelous! It'll be a massacre!"
Uga just fixed her hair, "Well, if you get the women, I supposed I'll have to settle with the men here." Sukuna then lifted his wife and twirled her around, "Think about it! Yet another wonderful era for us to rule over! That'll be a thrill! Having fun, just like we used to!" He then started to laugh once again.
"Geez, I didn't think he'd be this dramatic," Chiyoko muttered out loud, causing the curse to look down at her. "Oh no." Instead of out right attacking and killing her, Sukuna just looked at her. "Yua? How are you alive in this era? And why do you look so young right now?"
"First off, my name is Chiyoko, not Yua. Second, how do you even know that name anyway?"
Uga frowned hearing that name from her husband. "Ryou...she isn't Yua...she's my vessel though." Sukuna looked at Chiyoko up and down before sighing. "...I see. Looks like I got my hopes up over nothing."
The King then grabbed a hold of his face, making him both drop Uga off of the railings.
"What do you think you're doing with my body? Give it back!"
Chiyoko was shocked to hear Yuuji's voice again. She thought she never would. Actually, everyone was shocked to hear the boy's voice, especially Sukuna.
"Hey! How are you doing that?"
"I mean, it's my body," Itadori replied to the curse.
He's suppressing me? How?!
"He's able to fight back, huh? Didn't know that was possible in your case." Uga pondered on what she was seeing. This boy is something else entirely. If it was anyone else, Sukuna would've taken complete control and go on with his desired massacre. What makes this boy special from the rest? The only thing he has going for him is that he looked a bit like Sukuna even before becoming his vessel.
"Stay right where you are!"
Everyone turned to see Megumi kneeling on the ground, preparing to summon a shikigami on the three (or four, technically) people in front of him.
"Under jujutsu regulation, Yuuji Itadori and Chiyoko Hayashi, by law, I will now exorcize you both, as curses!" The first-year student yelled out as he prepared to perform the exorcising process for the special-grade curses staying before him.
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𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐑 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐒:
FIRST CHAPTER IS FINALLY DONE!
This is probably the longest chapter that I've ever written but it was worth it in the end (hopefully).
You all got to meet Chiyoko and her life outside of being an assassin.
What do you think of her and her relationships, especially with Yuji and Suzume so far?
Also, Uga and Sukuna are finally out and ready to commit several crimes together.
Double also, not Sukuna being a doting simp for his wife (I mean could you blame him?)
Anyways, see you all in the next chapter!
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