"T-minus one minute until we begin, and now a word of encouragement from Ms. Utahime," Gojo spoke casually into the radio, broadcasting to the entire event area.
"Huh?!"
"Oh, uh. Some injuries will be unavoidable. So, um, let's help each other and—"
"Time's up," Gojo interrupted, taking the PA microphone from her without hesitation.
"Gojo! You little—"
"It's time for the Goodwill Event to..."
"Where's Todo?" Noritoshi questioned his teammates.
"How should I know?" Mai asked indifferently as Miwa was sweating nearby.
"START!!!!!" Gojo shouted happily into the PA as both teams began to move.
———————————————————
Running together, Yuji looked over at Panda.
"Where do you think the boss curse is located?"
"Probably somewhere in the center. But I doubt it'll stick around there too long," Panda said as Maki spoke up.
"At the designated time, we'll split up into the Megumi and Panda teams like we discussed."
"The rest will be up to you, Yuji."
"Got it!" Yuji gave a salute.
That was when the Divine Dog let out a bark, a Grade 3 curse flying ahead of them.
"Where are you going?" the curse resembling a bug said, its many eyes locking onto the young sorcerers.
"It's Grade 3," Panda said as Maki began to ready her weapon.
"Senpai! Stop!" Megumi shouted suddenly as Todo burst through the woods behind the curse.
"Good, everyone's here!!" Todo grinned, eager to battle.
"Let's have everyone come at me, all at once!"
Before anyone could respond, Yuji had vanished already in front of Todo like a gust of wind, his fist already wound back as he rocked Todo across the face, sending him flying through the trees.
"Damn," Maki said as she and everyone else split up in every direction.
"He came alone after all..." Megumi said, running a bit ahead of Maki.
"We were right to switch with Yuji," Maki smirked, seeing Todo would at the very least be occupied for a good while now.
"He's a beast," Nobara commented, looking over her shoulder as Yuji dashed in the direction he sent Todo.
"Yeah, but we need to focus on winning."
"Tuna."
———————————————————
(A few minutes earlier)
"Todo will definitely come straight at us," Maki said as the team was making a plan of action.
"Mai might follow suit and target me."
"Todo's a handful. Worst-case scenario, even our combined strength might not be enough to take him down."
"At first I was thinking about positioning someone in the rear to keep him occupied—maybe Panda or Megumi..." Maki said, thinking of what to do when she got it.
"Itadori! We'll leave Todo to you. I don't wanna lose anyone who can help locate the enemy."
"You don't have to win. Just buy as much time as you can."
"Give it your all! To be honest, you're an extra player, so it's okay if you go down in the end." Panda gave him a thumbs up.
"Sorry, Megumi, I bet you wanted to fight Todo."
"It doesn't matter either way to me," Megumi responded dryly.
"Sheesh, you're dry," Panda teased.
"If I'm gonna fight, then I'm definitely gonna win," Yuji said with a confident smile.
———————————————————
CRASH!
Todo landed roughly, his feet dragging on the ground to slow himself as he rolled his shoulder.
"That's some great speed there," Todo said as he turned his head, spitting out some blood and wiping the trail of blood coming from his nose.
'Seems it won't be that easy to take this guy out,' Yuji thought, walking towards Todo.
Todo's body tensed with power as he let his cursed energy flow through him at full power.
"Here's one right back at ya, first-year! Defend yourself as if your life depends on it!"
As Todo threw his punch, the Grade 3 curse dropped in between the two of them just as Todo's fist cut through the space.
With a splat, the curse was instantly pulverized as all of Todo's power zeroed in on Yuji's face.
BANG!
The air burst with the force of the blow, but to Todo's surprise, Yuji caught his fist in his open palm.
"Gojo-sensei is faster than that!" Yuji exclaimed as another of his fists slammed into Todo's ribs, knocking the air out of him.
Then, taking that opening, Yuji spun and kicked Todo through more trees with a violent bang.
"Damn! Who is this kid?" Todo thought as more blood escaped his mouth.
As Yuji materialized at full speed in front of Todo once more, Todo clapped his hands, switching places with a stone he imbued with cursed energy to get some distance.
Looking behind himself, Yuji saw Todo wiping the corners of his mouth as he grinned.
"Hey, first-year. What's your name?" Todo asked seriously.
"Yuji Itadori," Yuji said, turning to fully face his opponent.
"I see, so Yuji Itadori. I have an important question for you."
"What kind of woman is your type?"
"My type? What does that have to do with anything?" Yuji put his hands down in confusion.
"Stop fussing. All I'm doing is getting a sense of who I'm fighting," Todo said, gesturing for him to answer.
"I'm not really sure what's goin' on, but if I had to say...."
"I like tall girls with a nice big ass. Kinda like Jennifer Lawrence," Yuji said, holding his chin in thought.
And at that moment, a memory that didn't exist manifested inside Todo's head. Memories of him and Yuji spending their high school days together as best friends. As well as Yuji helping him through truly terrible times, such as Takada rejecting him and much more.
All of those emotions overflowed from Todo's very soul as he looked to the sky in tears.
"It seems that... we're best friends," Todo spoke solemnly.
"BUT WE JUST MET!" Yuji said, annoyed with how strange this guy was suddenly acting.