Maki stalked along a cobblestone path, her footsteps silent, her breathing even despite her previous heavy injuries. Her hair was burnt short, so low that if not for her impressive figure, she'd look like a boy. She was a quiet wolf on the prowl, moving through bloodstained paths in search of prey. The same couldn't be said for the figures beside her. Mai stomped alongside her, uncaring of how her footsteps sounded like the trudging of an overfed pig, and her sister was just as unconcerned about the noise she made.
Mechamaru was somehow even worse. The cursed puppet had been so badly injured during his fight against Megumi that it was a small miracle it could still move and plod its way after them. If the strange, twisted enemies had been more animalistic and cunning, he would've been ambushed a hundred times over as he trailed behind like a sheep that forgot to stay with the herd. Its limbs groaned with every movement. Bolts and screws fell out of its side every few minutes, clinking and echoing along the ground behind it from the hole Megumi had gored through it. Piercing Ox's strike, she guessed, with practiced ease.
The last person in their entourage was the closest to her in the way they moved. Megumi stalked just to her right. His black eyes drifted, alert for the slightest hint of danger, his fingers twitching every few seconds, eager to form a sign and summon a shikigami. The younger boy was low on cursed energy, owing to how excessively he had used his shikigami earlier, as well as summoning Round Deer to heal her and Mai's injuries. She still marveled at how easily she could move again thanks to the shikigami.
The scars remained from Mai's Cursed Technique Reversal, burn like marks tracing along her arms and beneath her eyes. That was how devastating Mai's technique had been. Maybe Shoko san could've healed her completely, but somehow she doubted it. It was a good thing she didn't care much for looks.
"Hey, do you hear that?" Mai asked, slowing to a stop.
Maki raised a brow and looked around. Among the group, she was the most perceptive. If anything was going to happen, she would've been the first to know and react, even with how distracted she had been.
"I don't hear anything," Megumi answered after a short pause, and Maki agreed with him.
"That's the problem. Over the past few minutes, we haven't heard a single screech, scream, or even warbling."
Maki's amber eyes narrowed at those words. She had been so lost in thought that it took Mai pointing it out for her to realize. Instead of replying, she focused. She closed her eyes. They were useless at this moment. She shut off her sense of smell. The weird creatures didn't have any true scent, lacking sweat pores. She turned off her sense of taste. She was no snake, tracking prey by tasting the wind. She discarded her sense of touch, the feeling of her rough cloth moving against her body disappearing as she suddenly found herself in a void.
Empty and devoid of everything. That was how her mind saw it. She was in a pool of black water, and the only sense available to her was heightened hearing, so acute she could hear everything in the school. There was a sound like a drop, and the echo and waves spread, increasing her range to previously unseen levels.
Farther off in the distance, she could hear four girls talking as they wandered, lost in the woods. Even further away, she could hear older voices. Some she recognized, most she didn't, but she had a vague idea of who they were. Closer to the west, two people seemed to be sitting on opposite sides of a table, the scratch of pencil on paper alongside a heartbeat giving her an idea of their presence. And finally, closest to them was a single heartbeat, calm, steady, and focused.
She reopened her senses one after the other and blinked amber eyes to see Megumi standing closer to her, his body tense as he stood guard. He was the only one aware of what she had done, considering it had happened in seconds. She cracked her head for a moment, wondering how, until she remembered who his father was. This probably wasn't his first time seeing this.
"I don't sense any of those monsters nearby. There are a few farther off, but I think the teachers are taking care of them. The closest person to us is south," she spoke up, ending the brief discussion between Mechamaru and Mai and drawing their attention to her.
"The same south, where that domain opened and that huge fuck off Lightning fell, that same south? Mai asked incredulously. Maki grinned in reply then mouthed, 'Are you scared.' The taunt, worked because her twin sister's eyes came to life a minute later.
"So we go there, then. See if this single person is an enemy or a fellow student," Mechamaru stated, uncaring of the byplay between them.
The group agreed and continued their trek. As they walked down another pathway, Mai kicked at the broken limb of one of the twisted monstrosities and wondered aloud, "What do you think these things even are?"
"They're not curses, that much we know," Megumi replied.
"I know that, but there's something familiar about them…"
"The eerie familiarity is due to an effect known as the uncanny valley," Mechamaru said as he plodded alongside them.
"What do you mean?" Maki inquired as they all turned their focus to the cursed puppet.
"It's a phenomenon where an object, or more likely a being, has enough humanlike characteristics to evoke a sense of unease or revulsion in the observer. They're close enough to humans to trigger a response in the brain, but with the sense that something isn't quite right. It is present in curses as well, but more common with these monsters. Unlike the few humanoid curses that only seem to mimic, these are... more substantial owing to how they remain upon death as well as their red blood"
There was silence as they trudged along. Maki was certain they must've considered it before. At least she had.
"Are you saying…" Mai trailed off, refusing to finish the statement. Mechamaru didn't share her unease.
"Yes. They are most likely humans. Humans who have been cursed and twisted somehow, however they had been humans all the same."
The silence lingered as each of them processed the thought, seeing everything in a new light. They had each killed at least ten of the twisted monsters. Which meant at least ten people had died at their hands today. Ten human lives had been extinguished but before Maki could dwell on it too deeply, they reached the location of the single heartbeat, and around it was desolation and destruction.
The south quadrant of Jujutsu High had been devastated by a previous fight. They had heard the clashes in the distance, felt the soundwaves and vibrations from the blows, and witnessed the massive lightning strike earlier, a single beam of pure electricity that had struck the school. The distance had blunted the impact, but the scale of the fight made it clear that approaching would've been a death sentence. There were only two people in all of Jujutsu High who could be caught in the middle of that kind of brawl, and neither would need the paltry help four exhausted teens could offer.
The sight before them reinforced that belief. Yet somehow, some structures still stood. Dozens of freshly killed cursed humans were scattered around, their blood staining the ground rust red, their ripped limbs and bodies littering the pockmarked earth. It seemed that while the fight had been enough warning for the sorcerers to stay back, the same couldn't be said for the cursed humans. In fact the commotion seemed to have pulled the majority of them there. Like a moth to flames
Maki's eyes traced the broken figures straight to where a small mountain of them had been piled. And that was where she saw him.
Gojo Jiki sat at ease, uncaring of the blood soaking through his clothes and onto his skin. Uncaring of the grotesque throne formed from the bodies of humans cursed and twisted into monsters. He had one leg crossed over the other, his chin resting on his palm. Ignoring his surroundings, he looked like a boy deep in thought. His eyes were unfocused, his stare not aimed at them despite their arrival but fixed somewhere in the distance.
The whole group slowed to a stop, but none more so than Mechamaru and Mai. It took Maki only a split second to figure out why.
Fear.
The duo were stiff with utter dread. Scared of the soft looking boy with blood-splattered white hair. Scared of how casually he lounged on his throne of the dead. Scared of the casual menace the boy held himself with. They were scared of Gojo Jiki, and Maki didn't blame them.
Gojo Satoru had cultivated a persona. An easygoing, carefree, humorous one that dulled the edge of his strength, humanizing him and making him approachable. If someone spent a minute with Gojo Satoru without knowing who he was, they'd never have a reason to fear the whimsical man who smiled too easily.
The same couldn't be said for Gojo Jiki. He had never tried to hide it. Never tried to suppress it or pretend he was just another person. Gojo Jiki was a monster, just like Satoru. The only difference was that he didn't care what people thought or how they reacted. To look at him was to sense danger. To peer into his eyes was to stare into orbs of condensed negative cursed energy. Maki was so used to it, that she had forgotten what it felt like to people unfamiliar with him.
"The cursed puppet theory is correct," a soft voice spoke up. It took them too long to realize Jiki was the one speaking, his attention still not fully on them. "There will be time to deal with the morality of the situation later. For now, more important questions." Only then did he turn to face them, his expression a mask of apathy colder than ice. "How was the goodwill event?"
The mundanity of the question left them tongue tied for seconds as they blinked owlishly at him. Who the hell still cared about the stupid exchange event?
"I'm not sure it concluded, or if there was any winner. Not with everything that happened," Maki finally replied.
Jiki acknowledged their words with a blink. Somehow, he felt distant, still distracted, closed off, and colder than usual. "Understandable. Yuta would be disappointed. He was certain Tokyo Jujutsu High would win."
Maki ignored the name drop as she glanced around before refocusing on him. "What happened here?"
Jiki's eyes drifted, to the scorched and burnt walls, to the lightning-cracked and pockmarked ground, to the devastation in total, before he gave a slight nod. "When the teachers get here and they ask, tell them it was all Kashimo's fault. And partially Kenjaku's as well. I did my best to minimize the damage to the school and environment. The rogue curse users should be held responsible for all the destruction."
Megumi allowed a bark of laughter to escape his lips, while Maki smiled alongside him. Jiki could be a perfect liar if he tried. The problem was that he wasn't trying very hard this time, judging by the thin smile on his lips.
"I'm sure you did," Megumi agreed with a smirk. "What exactly happened here?"
Jiki moved to speak, but his mouth shut a second later as he looked to their left. A heartbeat later, another white haired man appeared, the complete opposite of Jiki. Blue eyes where Jiki's were pits of red and black. A wide grin where Jiki's was a thin line. A cheerful look contrasting Jiki's apathy. Those blue eyes surveyed the destruction, and the grin widened every second.
Gojo Satoru turned his focus to Jiki, grin still wide, and spoke. "The higher-ups are so going to ruin your finances because of this."
Jiki let the comment wash over him before gesturing at the figure in Satoru's hands. "Who is that?"
Satoru blinked, as if he'd forgotten about the figure, then lifted them up by their leg and stared down at the unconscious white-haired woman. "Her name was Uraume, I guess. I managed to snag her while the remaining two ran off. I thought you could use your effective... Information retrieval method on her. What do you think?"
Jiki gave a simple thin smile in response. Kenjaku told him he was going to make him work for it, the reincarnated sorcerer did not realize how right he was.
x
After the rapid events of the past few hours, Jiki had to admit to himself that he was running on fumes at this point. Perhaps if this had been his past life as Uchiha Itachi, he would've collapsed halfway through, his atrocious stamina and sickly body failing in a prolonged fight.
Yet somehow, despite everything, he found himself awake, alert, and with a cup of coffee in hand. Surrounding him were the rest of Jujutsu High's teaching staff, those who had been present, including members from their sister school.
They were all gathered haphazardly in a room filled with multiple television screens. He didn't need his massive intellect to guess its purpose. This was where the teachers had spectated the competition. Jiki took a deep sip from his cup, his eyes peering over the rim to watch the others.
The room was thick with tension, an awkward air hanging over them. He was the only student present. The rest were a mix of familiar and unfamiliar teachers and managers.
There were the worried ones, easy examples being Ijichi and Kusakabe. Where Ijichi's worry seemed like a natural part of him, Kusakabe's was different. Seated at the edge of his seat, his eyes kept darting between Jiki and Satoru.
Then there were the unworried but tired ones. Mei Mei was a prime example. There was no tension in her form as she lounged idly, a smile on her lips as she pressed buttons on her calculator. Each press seemed to widen her grin. While most were exhausted, their clothes splattered with blood, the money grubbing mercenary was the only one who looked untouched by the chaos. Yet, considering how gleeful she was, Jiki was certain she had killed more of the twisted humans than anyone else present, barring him.
"I suppose his absence means we won't be seeing Principal Gakuganji anytime soon," Satoru finally cut through the silence, an amused grin on his face as he sat at the edge of his seat, chin propped on his palm. Everyone's eyes turned to him, but his cousin bore the weight of their expectations with ease.
"To no surprise, I suppose," Satoru admitted as the figure beneath him squirmed. A sharp poke with the tip of his shoe silenced the bound figure. "Regardless, his sentence stands. His absence only reinforces it. We'll see how long it takes for the higher ups to make it official." He finished with a grin, met with brittle smiles from those affiliated with the higher ups and tight ones from those who saw the irony.
It was no secret that Principal Yoshinobu Gakuganji was a puppet of the mysterious congregation of Jujutsu elders, with rumors suggesting only his widespread fame stopped him from being one himself. Everything he did was with their approval. Yet now, Satoru was forcing their hand.
"That said," Satoru drew attention back with a clap of his hands, "we need to talk about more important things. Unfortunately, this isn't a full and precise briefing. That'll be left for another day, when most of you aren't tired, overworked, and staining the chairs with blood."
There were chuckles at that, the tension easing slightly, simply because the person making the joke was the strongest sorcerer. The expectations placed on Satoru were akin to those placed on a Hokage. Jiki didn't envy his cousin.
"Here's what we know. At 2 p.m. today, the sky broke open. This was caused by a deity class Special Grade curse known as Ganesha. If you're familiar with Asia, you should recognize him." Satoru gestured to one of the screens, where a blurred image of a towering, elephant headed curse appeared. There were hitched breaths all around, even Jiki's brows rose in surprise.
Ganesha was old, positively ancient. One of the few curses outright called gods. Diminished in this era, no doubt, but still more powerful than anything barring Japan's Three Great Vengeful Spirits. Given his age, he might even surpass them.
Satoru waved away the fearful mutterings. "Ganesha used his technique, Removal of Obstacles, to create a portal between two points by eliminating the distance between them. After that, the first phase of the enemy's plan activated. The twisted creatures that poured from that portal flooded the school. Preliminary analysis suggests that, at one point, these creatures were humans, transfigured and twisted into something neither curse nor human. Most are rated Grade 3, but I'm sure some of you encountered outliers, Grade 2 or borderline Grade 1. That means there's a slim chance some could match Special Grade sorcerers."
Before murmurs could rise again, Satoru gestured to the screen, displaying two images: a dead transfigured human and a Special Grade curse with blue hair and a body covered in threads, eerily humanlike.
"We believe this curse is responsible for the transformations, and we'll be logging it as a new Special Grade. The attack on the school was a distraction, as well as the trap that was laid near the city, forcing me to counter it, leaving the school vulnerable to the real threat."
Another gesture, another screen lighting up, and it showed a woman's face. She wore formal robes, a smile on her lips, and a long scar across her brow.
"Fortunately for us, one of the chess pieces they thought they'd knocked off the board returned too quickly."
This time, all eyes turned to Jiki. He took another sip of coffee, glaring daggers at Satoru, who only grinned back, though the grin slowly faded. The others didn't notice, but Jiki did. He heard the rushing footsteps before the door slammed open, revealing Maki.
Her amber eyes were wide as she sought out the strongest sorcerer. She glanced at Jiki, then at Satoru, then back at Jiki before blurting out:
"We have a problem. Medical wing was attacked, and Shoko... Shoko was hurt."