The next day, on Takeshi Street.
"Sorry for the wait. Oh — your uniform made it in time," Gojo said.
It was slightly different from Fushiguro's.
"Uniforms can be customized on request," Gojo said.
"But I didn't—"
"I put in the order," Gojo said with a grin.
"…Cool," I muttered.
"Well, if you want to change anything, just ask."
Itadori nodded in agreement.
"Oh, it looks like she's here'"
Hearing the teacher's words, Itadori and Megumi turned to see a girl with short brown hair seeming to argue with a man.
"So that's the transfer student?" Itadori, even knowing the answer, asked more as a way not to seem too indifferent. "She seems lively."
"I feel like this one's going to be troublesome." Megumi commented with a sigh.
"Hey, over here!" Gojo, ignoring his students' comments, called the girl, who immediately noticed him.
Approaching the group, the girl stopped in front of them, her hand on her hip while her face filled with pride.
"My name is Nobara Kugisaki. I am the beautiful flower in a group of merry boys."
"Ugh." Megumi murmured, while Itadori seemed quite indifferent to the girl's presence.
Itadori didn't have much to say about Nobara. He thought she was a good person. He thought she was a good person, but he didn't pay much attention to her when he watched the anime. He was a little shocked by her death , but it didn't go much beyond that.
"My name is Yuiji Itadori." Itadori introduced himself with a friendly smile.
A stark contrast to Megumi, who seemed completely uninterested in the situation. "I'm Fushiguro Megumi."
"I see I wasn't very lucky." With a sigh, Nobara looked disheartened. Itadori blinked at this attitude. 'What was she expecting?
Gojo led us to Roppongi. A massive, abandoned building loomed near an old cemetery.
"There's a curse here," Gojo said. "They pop up around places people associate with fear and uneasiness."
"Like schools… and cemeteries," I said.
Gojo nodded. "Field test time. Nobara, Yuji — exorcise the curse inside. Fushiguro, stay here." Looking at that building exuding cursed energy from its interior.
I activated my Jugan.
"
Walking down the dim corridor, Itadori kept his grip firm on the cursed-energy–imbued knife, eyes scanning everything with quiet focus.This was his first field test. Gojo had insisted he carry the blade.
His steps were silent. Controlled.
Then the hairs on the back of his neck rose.
Jugan flickered to life.Something was behind him.
Yuji lunged forward—just as a claw sliced through the air where his neck had been a heartbeat ago.
That was close.
He spun.The Jugan locked onto the attacker: a curse shaped like a grotesque grasshopper, its forearms curved like bloodied scythes.
"This will do," Yuji murmured, rolling his shoulders. "Perfect for testing cursed energy manipulation."
The curse screeched and lunged.
Yuji ducked low.The Jugan slowed the world, tracing the flow of cursed energy through its body in glowing threads.
He sidestepped effortlessly, letting it carve into the wall.
"Fast," he muttered. "But not fast enough."
He slammed his elbow into its thorax, then drove the knife through its skull.A crack of cursed energy lit the air—then silence.
Yuji exhaled softly."Too weak."
He didn't celebrate. He couldn't afford to.
Curses weren't just monsters—they were born from human fear and hatred. Killing them was like erasing someone's nightmare.He didn't enjoy it.He just accepted it.
If something threatened him or others, he would eliminate it.Simple. Clean. Efficient.
Jugan's Warning
Then—Jugan flared.
Yuji froze mid-step.
Halfway down the corridor, something pulsed—massive, cursed energy coiled around something smaller, weaker.A hostage.
And next to that faint, trembling signature… a familiar voice.Muffled. Frustrated.But unmistakable.
Nobara.
Yuji's eyes narrowed.Found you.
He tightened his grip on the knife and sprinted.
"Jugan—Target Lock."
The cursed energy trail sharpened in his vision, glowing like a thread.He followed it straight into the wall and—
BOOM!
The blade pierced the curse's skull before it could react.The wall exploded outward as the creature collapsed, black fluid splattering across the floor.
Yuji crouched, gently lifting the trembling boy the curse had been holding hostage.
"It's okay now, kid," he said softly."No monsters will hurt you."
Reunion
"Damn… how the hell did you go through that wall like it was nothing?"
Nobara's voice cut through the dust.Despite her deadpan tone, relief flickered across her face.A kid dying on her first mission would've crushed her.
Yuji grinned."I ate my vegetables when I was younger."
Carrying the boy, he walked toward her with a teasing smile."Maybe splitting up wasn't such a good idea after all."
Nobara scowled."What? You think I can't handle myself?"
Yuji opened his mouth. "I do—"
"Shut up, idiot!" she snapped, crossing her arms.Then, quieter: "…Still. Thanks."
She ruffled the boy's hair gently, then looked at Yuji.
"If this kid had died, I don't know if I could've kept going. Seriously. Thank you."
Yuji just smiled and nodded."Anytime."
Then—his sclera bled to black, irises flaring dark crimson.
The world warped.
Lines of cursed energy webbed through the walls.Every heat signature glowed in sharp relief.
Gojo praised us, And we returned the child home, and then the group went to eat.