The team gathered and waited patiently at the training field. Nobara was checking her equipment. Megumi just stood there. Yuji was doing light stretches trying to get his body moving before the mission. Fumiko was annoyed. She really didn't enjoy being woken up.
They waited for what felt like hours before they heard the sound of footsteps. Thinking it was Gojo they were disappointed to find that it wasn't.
A tall bespectacled well dressed man in a suit came up to them with a clipboard in hand. It was Ijichi, the assistant.
" Gojo-sensei is waiting for you all in the main briefing room." He mentioned, his usual tired expression glued to his face.
"Come along." He said before turning and marching away.
Various expressions crossed the students faces as they followed the man.
Down in the main briefing room, the four first-years sat side by side, varying degrees of boredom, nerves, and anticipation painted across their faces. Also a twinge of remnant anger and annoyance.
Yuji bounced his leg, chewing the end of a pen.
Megumi sat with arms folded, glancing at the clock.
Nobara scrolled through her phone, unimpressed.
Fumiko simply waited, cane resting beside her lap, a slight tilt to her head as she listened carefully.
Gojo entered with a little more flair than necessary, clapping his hands once.
"Alright, team! Hope everyone got sleep because today's your first field mission!"
That got their attention.
"Wait, already?" Yuji asked. "I haven't even unpacked!"
"You didn't bring anything," Megumi muttered.
Nobara perked up. "Where are we going?"
Gojo clicked a remote and the screen behind him lit up, displaying a photo of an old, abandoned middle school building.
"This is Minato Third Middle School. The site of at least three disappearances in the past week. Two students and one teacher. Police haven't found anything, because it's a curse problem."
Yuji raised his hand.
"Yes?"
"Ah…. Isn't Minato one of the "nicer" areas
of Tokyo?"
"It is." Gojo answered.
"Then why would curses appear that side?"
"Yuji, just because someplace looks "nice" doesn't mean it's safe. In places like that jealousy, ambition, pride and lust all run rampant. Perfect conditions for curses to form. Also not all cursed spirits are stationary." Fumiko explained.
Gojo nodded before he pointed at the screen dramatically. "Your job: investigate the area, identify the curse or cursed object responsible, and if possible, exorcise it."
"What do you mean, 'if possible,'" Megumi said flatly.
Gojo grinned. "If you can't handle it, I'll step in. But consider this your practical exam."
"Awesome!" Yuji jumped up. "Let's do this."
Nobara rolled her eyes. "Hope it's more than just slime on the walls this time."
Gojo held up a finger. "Fumiko, you'll be observing for now. No combat unless I give the signal. But keep your senses sharp. You'll be surprised how much you can learn just by listening."
Fumiko nodded once. "Understood."
As the students stood to leave, Gojo gave one last instruction: "Stay close, don't split up, unless you want to be the next mysterious disappearance."
Yuji paused, uncertain. "...Was that a joke or a warning?"
Gojo just smirked. "Yes."
By late afternoon, the team arrived outside the abandoned school.
The sun was already starting to dip low in the sky, casting long shadows across cracked pavement and rusting fences. The building loomed in eerie silence, its windows dark and jagged like broken teeth.
Yuji shivered. "Why do all cursed places look like horror movie sets?"
"Because curses fester where emotions rot," Megumi replied simply.
Gojo stood near the gate. "Alright, kids. You know the drill. I'll monitor from the perimeter. Fushiguro, you're in charge."
Yuji blinked. "Wait, he's in charge?"
"Of course I am." Megumi deadpanned.
Nobara stretched a little, hammer in hand.
"Let's just get this over with."
Fumiko gripped her cane lightly and tilted her head toward the school. "There's something... thick in the air."
They all paused.
"Can you feel the cursed energy?" Megumi asked.
"I can feel something... breathing," she said softly. "Something below."
The group exchanged glances.
Megumi nodded. "Then we start with the basement."
"Of course it's the basement," Nobara sighed. "It's always the basement."
The inside of the school was worse than expected. The air was stale, heavy with mold and decay. The halls were littered with abandoned desks, graffiti-covered lockers, and broken glass.
They moved in formation: Megumi and Yuji up front, Fumiko behind them, Nobara keeping rear watch.
" ~Baby shark. Doo-doo, doo-doo, doo-doo…." Yuji sang as they moved around the around the school.
"Yuji, for crying out loud shut up!" Megumi argued. Ready to bash Yuji in the head if he continued.
"Hey, I don't see what's wrong."
"Your song's annoying! That's what's wrong." Nobara replied.
Fumiko let out a small chuckle. Her cane slowly tapping the ground. " It's think it's quite catchy."
"Thank you. Fumiko-kun, atleast you have taste in music." Yuji responded with a smile before starting again. "Baby shark….."
-----------------------------------------------------------
As they descended toward the lower levels, the pressure in the air thickened. Even Yuji felt it pressing against his chest.
Then came the noise, faint, at first. A scraping sound. Then a whisper.
"Get out..."
Yuji stopped. "Did anyone else ….?"
"I heard it," Fumiko said.
"Sounded like it came from the walls," Nobara added.
They reached the bottom of the stairwell. The hallway ahead was pitch black.
Megumi summoned his Divine Dogs with a hand sign. Two ghostly wolf-like figures appeared, snarling silently as they moved ahead.
"Let them scout ahead," he instructed.
Suddenly, one of the dogs stopped, growling low.
From the ceiling something fall.
It landed with a wet squelch, the stench of rotting meat thick in the air. Mouths whispered nonsense in broken voices, arms twitching like a headless snake.
A Grade 2 Curse.
Yuji stepped forward immediately. "Let's go!"
Megumi: "Yuji, hold …!"
But Yuji was already charging, fists ready to end this curse with a single punch.
Nobara launched a nail. Megumi summoned toads. The battle began in chaos.
Behind them, Fumiko stood still, listening. Then her hand raised slowly.
"Above you!" she called out, seconds before a claw swiped down toward Yuji.
He ducked just in time.
"How did she ....?!" Nobara began.
"She felt it!" Megumi realized.
Fumiko wasn't just hearing the fight, she was reading the curse's movement through the vibrations in the floor and air.
---------------------------------------
Gojo, watching from a distance through a monitoring talisman, chuckled.
"Would you look at that?" he said. "Akari... you really raised something special."
----------------------------------------------
Fumiko's hand stayed raised, her fingers twitching slightly in the air.
"There, left side, behind the column," she said firmly.
Yuji didn't hesitate. He rolled to the side as a gnarled arm burst through the stone column, crumbling it like dry bark. The cursed spirit's mouths screamed, rows of jagged teeth gnashing blindly.
Nobara clicked her tongue. "How the hell is she doing that?"
Megumi's eyes narrowed, watching Fumiko's stillness amidst the chaos. She wasn't tracking with her eyes, her head barely turned. She was feeling it.
"Ten meters back, low to the floor!" Fumiko warned again, just as the curse twisted and tried to burrow into the ground.
Megumi's hands snapped into a new sign. "Max Elephant!"
A wall of water blasted the cursed spirit from beneath just as it slithered underground, throwing it high into the air, flailing.
Yuji launched upward like a bullet.
"Got you!"
His punch connected with the center of the curse's mass, CRACK, sending it crashing back down like a meteor. Dust exploded outward.
Nobara hurled three nails in rapid succession. "Resonance!"
The cursed spirit convulsed, every limb seizing.
Megumi's Divine Dogs pounced next, tearing through the flesh with silent precision.
It screeched; a gurgling, broken howl, then went still. Black sludge oozed into the cracks of the floor, its form unraveling like smoke.
Silence settled.
Yuji landed with a hard breath, brushing grit from his knuckles. "Damn. That one was nasty."
Nobara blew a strand of hair from her face. "It had too many mouths. That's just overkill."
Megumi turned toward Fumiko. "You okay?"
She nodded, exhaling. "I'm fine. It's still echoing in the floor, but it's fading."
Yuji looked at her, eyes wide. "Seriously, how did you know where it was every time?"
Fumiko hesitated. "It's… like feeling echoes. Pressure changes. Vibrations in the air and the ground. My ears help, but it's more than that."
Nobara whistled low. "Okay. That was impressive."
Fumiko gave a faint smile but said nothing more.
From the far corner, the talisman Gojo used to watch flickered softly, unseen.
His voice, distant and amused, echoed faintly through the team's comms.
"Nice teamwork. But don't get comfortable, there's another reading deeper in the north wing."
Megumi nodded. "We move."
They turned as one, bodies still tense but breath slower now. The corridor ahead yawned into shadow, damp and tight with cursed energy.
Yuji cracked his neck. "Let's clean this place out."
Nobara adjusted her hammer. "I hate old buildings. Always full of creeps."
Megumi gave a sharp whistle. His Divine Dogs flanked him again.
Fumiko walked just behind them, steps light, fingertips grazing the wall, listening.
The hunt continued.
The corridor stretched on, dimly lit by flickering ceiling bulbs that buzzed like angry flies. Their footsteps echoed off the concrete; too loud, too alone.
Yuji walked ahead, cracking his knuckles absently. "Why do cursed spirits always hide in creepy basements? Can't one just hang out in a park for once?"
A free trip to place like that would be nice.
Nobara rolled her eyes. "Sure, Yuji. Maybe next time we'll fight one in a nice café, over lattes and croissants."
Megumi, scanning with a Divine Dog at his side, muttered, "Curses thrive in places people fear. Basements, hospitals, schools… anywhere soaked in bad memories."
Yuji shuddered. "Great. So next time: amusement park."
Fumiko trailed behind them, quiet as always, her fingers lightly brushing the wall. She moved like a sensor, reading vibrations, the subtle shifts in pressure and air. Her brow furrowed slightly.
"Something's changed," she murmured.
Megumi turned. "You sense something?"
Fumiko nodded. "Heavier… denser. We're getting close."
They passed by a rusted maintenance door, then another, then stopped. This one was different. Heavy. Reinforced with bolts and chains. It reeked of cursed energy.
And from behind it… a wet, slurping sound.
Yuji's expression darkened.
Megumi stepped forward. "Everyone ready—"
CRASH!
Yuji kicked the door clean off its hinges.
"Yuji!" Megumi barked, too late.
Inside, the room was narrow and stained with old blood. At its center, hunched over a mangled corpse, was the cursed spirit. It was larger than the last; its back covered in eyes, each blinking independently, and its limbs long and jointed wrong, like a spider halfway through molting.
The spirit's head lifted. A long, black tongue slid from its mouth, still dripping with blood.
It grinned.
Yuji's voice came low, tight. "You bastard!"
And then he was already moving.
"Yuji, damn it!" Megumi cursed, diving in after him.
The cursed spirit reacted fast. Its back eyes rolled in every direction, predicting movement. It leapt sideways, clinging to the ceiling with twisted claws, then launched itself at Yuji.
WHAM!
Yuji blocked, skidding back into the wall. The spirit pressed forward, claws flashing. In the tight room, there was barely space to move.
"Too fast!" Nobara shouted, slamming the hammer down. A nail flew, embedding into one of its legs. "Resonance!"
The spirit shrieked, one leg buckling, but not stopping.
It spun wildly, hurling itself at her next.
Megumi's hands flew into a new sign. "Toad: Total Binding!"
Two massive toads slammed down from above, tongues lashing out and pinning the spirit momentarily to the floor.
"Yuji, now!"
Yuji launched forward with explosive speed, fists glowing with cursed energy.
He hit the spirit dead in the torso, BOOM, but something went wrong.
The spirit split, its flesh dividing like clay. The upper half detached and reformed against the wall, watching with dozens of blinking eyes.
Nobara's eyes widened. "It can split its body?!"
The detached piece grinned and spit a ball of cursed bile directly at Megumi, who dove aside just in time.
Fumiko, standing near the door, raised her hand sharply. "Behind, above you!"
Yuji ducked again, barely avoiding a claw that had crept over the ceiling.
He turned and roared, punching up into the spirit's ribs, sending it crashing to the ground.
Fumiko stepped in now, calmly.
She closed her eyes, hand to the wall. "It's trying to distract you. The real core… lower chest. Right side."
Megumi blinked. "How do you know—?"
"I can feel the pulse. It's centered there."
Nobara grinned. "Say no more." She flicked her wrist, nails appearing between her fingers.
"Let's end this."
With a synchronized strike, Megumi's toads pinned the spirit's limbs while Yuji tackled it, pinning it to the ground.
Nobara aimed carefully. Three nails. Right side of the chest. "Resonance."
The cursed spirit screamed.
Its body convulsed, twisted, then exploded into black mist and viscera, staining the floor.
Silence fell again. Heavy, but cleaner.
Yuji stood slowly, panting. "Okay. That one… was tough."
Megumi glanced at the corpse the spirit had been feeding on. "Its one of the missing teachers."
Nobara frowned. "Great. So whatever's down here might be a potential predator."
Fumiko exhaled, slowly releasing her touch from the wall. "There's more. Deeper in."
Yuji rolled his shoulders, face serious now. "Then let's not waste time."
They stepped back into the hallway, shadows stretching ahead.
The door behind them creaked shut, the cursed blood still steaming.
And down below, something else… began to stir.