A/N:
Holy shit its been a long time since I uploaded. I'm super sorry about that. I got a surprise forced visit to my sister's college, and drank WAAYY too much, then I spent the next couple of days in school and studying. But I'm back now, I'm gonna try for daily updates across the three of my stories, as in one chapter a day spread across those three, not one chapter per story. I think I would implode if I did that.
Anyways without further ado, here's the next chapter, I hope you enjoy.
.
.
.
3rd Person POV Yuta
Yuta sighed as he slashed his katana at the open air to clear the blood off it before sheathing it. "Come, Rika," he intoned dully as he walked away.
A ghastly white head and white arms followed him while dropping the mangled remains of a sorcerer. "YuuUUuTAaa?" Its childlike voice echoed out.
Yuta walked steadfastly forward, not sparing her a single glance, "Yes, Rika?" He asked monotonously. He crossed an intersection, noting the destroyed buildings all along the right side. He furrowed his brows at the various spears of rebar that pierced the road.
"DiiIIddD IIi DDooO GggOooDD?!" She asked sheepishly, hovering just over his shoulder.
Yuta walked over, taking in the obliterated buildings and the giant, scorched crater in the center. He noticed a charred corpse in the center of the crater and made his way towards it. "Yes, Rika, you did very well." He said plainly.
Rika made a pleased noise that was far more disturbing than cute as Yuta stretched his hand to the corpse. His hand reeled back as he realized that, from how the residuals felt, the corpse had killed himself with that attack.
There was another residual signature here, too, but there wasn't a corpse here. Yuta smiled as he felt the residual cursed energy from that other signature.
'Vibrating, huh?' He thought to himself with a smile, thinking back to how he had asked Yuji and Shoko about Shinji and what they said about his unique cursed energy.
He stood straight and started to follow the residuals away from the scene and towards the edge of the city. 'Found you.'
1st Person POV Shinji
Wow, I drank too much last night.
I rubbed my eyes to try to soothe the dull ache behind them, but it did nothing to help. I sighed, cursing my stupidity, opening my eyes as I moved my hand behind my head.
I took a deep breath in, and was greeted by the scent of a pleasant floral perfume.
I stopped, noticing for the first time the extra weight and warmth on my chest. I looked down and was greeted by a familiar mop of pink hair.
'Oh fuck,' I thought, 'I am so dead.' I cursed my own drunken stupidity, because why the fuck did I think that this was a good idea?
I sighed. The only thing I can really do right now is to wait for Uro to wake up. 'Oh fuck me,' I thought as I also realized that I had of course forgotten to change out of the shirt from the fight with Jiki.
You know the one with several holes in it.
And one of her hands was resting straight on one of said holes, as was her head, too.
Double fuck.
Guess I would finally experience the offensive version of her reversal.
I stared down at her sleeping form and smiled. From what I do remember of last night, it was quite fun, and she liked Pacific Rim, too, which was a plus.
I waited for several minutes, and honestly, it was weirdly comfortable. But the more I lie here, the more I come to one conclusion.
Uro is, in fact, not asleep.
She wasn't breathing deeply enough, nor were her eyes darting around under her eyelids. Which could only mean one thing: she was faking being asleep.
Why? I have no clue, but I was very confident she wasn't asleep at the moment.
So then what to do about that?
I could call her out on it and embarrass her, which would be funny.
Orrrrrr
I could just let her pretend to sleep until her compulsion to do something makes her get up, and take the time to think about what rule I should make with my 100 points.
'…'
So then what to do about my points? The best move would probably be to establish the moving between colonies rule, then go to recruit Kashimo and Takaba.
Kashimo was interesting, because I had a theory that if they learned RCT, then the theoretical reverse of transformation is reversion, maybe Kashimo's one-time use could be spammable.
But Takaba was a whole other universe of broken. I was honestly scared of him, not as much as full form Sukuna or Kenjaku, but it was pretty fucking close. And I was seriously considering killing him, which I would have to do by pulling a Yuta and sneaking the shit out of him.
Then there was the nuclear option. Because if incarnated sorcerers really did destroy the host soul, then there was one other special grade out there right now.
Yorozu.
Aka the real strongest woman in the canon verse. I was pretty sure I could get Uro far past her level, though, so I wasn't too concerned about it except for one small thing.
Perfect sphere, the attack with an infinite destructive potential, in a domain that ensured it hit you? Yeah FUCK THAT, I was making sure I had a domain at least by the time I went after her, or else I was fucked for sure.
Sure, I had learned simple domain over the past 9 days alongside a hollow wicker basket, and I had resonance cascade too, but still, if I was even an instant late on either of those, I was dead in an instant.
I saw a stray hair fall in front of Uro's face, and I absent-mindedly reached over to brush it behind her ear. She stirred, and I thought that she might finally drop the act, but she went right back to fake sleeping.
'She's really trying to sell it, huh?' I thought, before shaking my head and looking to the ceiling. I looked down at her again and lightly chewed the inside of my mouth, 'What should I do about her?'
I wasn't blind, we were way closer than what would be considered strictly friendly, and…
I took a deep, shaky breath in, watching as her form rose and fell alongside my chest. I was so warm, she was so warm.
And so I placed my warm hand atop hers, and closed my eyes.
Those were all really problems for my future self.
She knew I was awake, and I knew she was awake. Her hand turned ever so slightly, mine now in hers, and neither of us said a word.
We should really get up soon.
.
.
.
Uro faked sleep for another 15 minutes before she finally started to stir.
She woke up slowly, blinking several times, fighting confusion, before she blinked several times and stretched her arms above her head while sitting up, sliding her hand out from mine subtly.
She yawned too, a little over exaggerated, but I had to give her acting props. She did it better than I could. She rubbed her eyes and sat up while stretching her arms above her head.
I raised an eyebrow, 'Okay, now you're overselling it a bit.' I thought with dull amusement at her antics. She looked down at me for the first time since 'waking up' and gave me a small smirk, "That was a good movie."
I took a deep breath in, smelling her perfume again. Was this really what she wanted to talk about at the moment? "Yeah, it's one of my favorites. I thought you might like it." I said softly while maintaining eye contact.
She gave me a knowing smile that did weird things to my chest, "Yes, you do know what I like, don't you…" She trailed off, and I opened my mouth to respond, but she had already bounded off the couch, walking away towards the stairs, "I'm gonna go change now,"
I watched her walk away before looking up and sighing at the sound of her going up the stairs.
I really need a shower.
.
.
.
A shower and a fresh set of clothes later, I started to cook breakfast, just a simple omelette for Uro and for me, but she seemed to enjoy it from how she scarfed it down.
Uro put her chopsticks down and let out a quiet sigh of contentment, "You're quite the chef." She said, simply putting her elbows on the table and leaning over it slightly.
I smiled as I took her dish, turned, and started to wash it. "Thank you… To be honest, I was a bit worried you wouldn't appreciate my talents." I finished rinsing it and started to dry it with a nearby hand towel.
Uro leaned against the counter to my side, surprising me with how close she got before I noticed her. "Hmm," She hummed, and I handed her the dish as I finished cleaning it, her fingers lightly trailing mine as she took it from my hands. "Oh, trust me, I love your 'cooking.'"
I gave her a sideways glance at the strange tone she used. I turned back towards the dishes, reaching for the pan I had used, before Uro stepped closer, standing shoulder to shoulder with me.
She nudged me aside, and I took a half step to let her get closer. She stood, shoulder touching mine, and started to work on the other dishes in the sink alongside me. I took a deep breath, and her perfume filled my lungs once more.
I smiled and started to work on the dishes alongside her. We were halfway done when Uro broke the comfortable silence, "Say, would you—"
A harsh knock on the front door interrupted her before she could finish what she was saying. She clicked her tongue, muttering a soft, "Fucking Ryu," under her breath as she moved to answer the door.
I grabbed her arm lightly, and her head snapped back to look me in the eyes, surprised. I smiled, "I'll get it," I answered, figuring she was annoyed at having to get the door.
She stared at me a moment before sighing and skulking back towards the dishes.
I furrowed my brow at her poor mood, but I shook it off, electing to get the door instead. I scratched the back of my head as I walked to the door. It wasn't like Ryu to drop by without saying something first.
I would be concerned if not for the barrier that Uro and I made, which, while it didn't protect us, did make our cursed energy signature completely hidden from the outside.
In short, there wasn't really a way that it could be anyone but Ryu because he was the only person who knew we lived here.
I turned the door handle and opened the door, "Hey Ryu, what's—" I stopped abruptly, because I was not in fact staring at the man I had learned to call a friend over the past week.
My breath hitched as I recognized who it was in an instant. Pale and just above average height, there stood the figure of Yuta Okkotsu, Katana slung across his back, showing off his white dress shirt.
"You must be Newgate Shinji," He started, and I just noticed the white arms and featureless head floating behind him. "My name is Okkotsu Yuta, and we have much—"
I slammed the door in his face.
My mind raced. What the hell was HE doing here?! He shouldn't be here for another day, at least. Have I really had that big of an effect on the timeline?! And did that mean Dhruv was already dead?!
But most importantly, my eyes flicked over to Uro, who had already almost crossed the distance to me, 'Could I protect her—them, if a fight broke out?' I thought to myself, thinking of the safety of my pompadour-wearing comrade.
"What was–" She started, and I interrupted her before she could finish.
"There's some weird homeless dude on our front porch," I called back instinctively while panicking inwardly. "I'll take care of him, just give me a second." I didn't want to get her involved with this if I didn't have to; Yuta might still be stronger than her.
I reopened the door, took a step outside, and went toward the still smiling Yuta before shutting the door behind me. "Who the hell are you?" I asked defensively, towering over the shorter teenager.
Then I felt an incredible amount of cursed energy wash over me, emanating from the boy in front of me. My eyebrows shot up; he almost had as much as I did, which confirms my suspicion of having stupidly big CE reserves.
He continued to give a small, creepy smile, "My name is Yuta Okkotsu, special grade sorcerer, and a fellow student of Itadori Yuji." He put his hands up in a placating manner, "Relax, I don't want to fight you."
Well, that was a good thing…
…
Okay, so maybe a tiny part of me was disappointed, but I shook my head. "Then why are you here?" I shot back.
"I need your help, or more accurately, I need your points." He said simply, "I was hesitant to ask because of your apparent connection to Kenjaku–" I winced, "–but Itadori vouched for you, and I trust a fellow student of Gojo."
I raised my eyebrows. The guy was really laying it on thick, huh? First mentioning Yuji, who I was a brother to by proxy of Todo, then name-dropping Gojo of all people.
"First of all," I raised a finger, "I am not, nor have I EVER worked with Kenjaku in any way." I raised another finger, "Second, how is Yuji doing?" I raised another finger, "Third, how did you find me?" I raised a fourth and final finger, "Finally, what do YOU want MY points for?"
"Yuji is fine," He started with a softer smile, "I found you by tracking the residuals from your cursed energy." He explained in order, "And I want to help the people trapped in the culling games."
I blinked at the residuals comment. I honestly hadn't thought of that. I only really considered making sure people couldn't sense where I was, not if they could track me back.
They were usually dead by that point.
"What do you mean by save people trapped in the game?" I asked, already knowing the answer, and crossing my arms over my chest.
He took a deep breath in, "I mean, using your points to add a rule to let players leave the culling games. If we did that, then–"
The door opened behind me, "Hey, Shinji, is everything ok–" She stopped as her gaze landed on the two of us. Everything was silent for a moment, none of us daring to move an inch.
Yuta was the first to break the stalemate, moving to introduce himself, "Hello, my name–"
Spit and air flew from Yuta's mouth as Uro blitzed the poor off-guard sorcerer. "Oh no, Uro wait–" My call for her to stop came as space shattered on impact, and Yuta flew skywards. "–don't attack him, he's… friendly…" I drawled out.
She froze in her post-strike stance, turning towards me mechanically. "Oops?"
Oh.
My.
God.
I facepalmed. I really hope that didn't blow my one chance at a peaceful relationship with Jujutsu society.
Yuta shot into a building, 'Oh, he'll probably be fine–'
My thoughts were rudely interrupted by the building crashing down on top of Yuta. 'But I mean, he has reinforcement, and he's a pretty forgiving–'
"YoOOOuUUUU HHuUUrRRTtT YYYuuuUUUTAAAaaA!" A distorted howl came from the building's rubble.
I narrowed my eyes at Uro, who was pointedly staring at the sky far away from me. I sighed, "Call Ryu." I told her to walk towards where Yuta was basted off to. I reached into the back of my waistband and pulled fester from my pants.
The dust cloud from the collapsed building cleared instantly, my eyes widened, and I barely got fester between my neck and the Katana slicing at my neck, 'How fucking fast–'
My left hand flew to form the hand sign for pulse perception, and I was able to block the follow-up slash far more easily. I took a back step as he moved to slash me diagonally downwards.
I intercepted the slash as I vibrated Fester. I expected Fester to cleave straight through Yuta's katana, but I was unpleasantly surprised as our two weapons just clanged against each other.
He let one hand off the guard of his katana and leveled a hook at my body with his dropped hand. I jumped back slightly, curving my upper body to let his blow pass harmlessly through the air in front of me.
I smirked, and 6 eggs shot from the blade of Fester, exploding the instant they cleared the barrel.
My arm shot back from the recoil, but his sword was knocked high, leaving him wide open to my counter. I jabbed forward with the top of Fester, spearing the dull tip into his chest and activating my technique along the cleaver.
Space fractured, and Yuta vanished backwards. I turned to Uro to see her launch the specter of Rika away with a high kick. She huffed and turned to me, "Are you sure we need Ryu? I'm pretty sure we could take this guy and his Shikigami alone."
I hummed it over as I watched Yuta crash through and collapse the third and final building after being launched from my last attack. "Nah, call him over, we might need our sniper." I started walking forward as I heard her groan behind me and start dialing Ryu.
I vibrated my leg on my next step, and vanished from where I was standing. But this time, I planted my feet, pulverizing the concrete to act as a liquid for me to steer through. I vibrated my legs again, pushing forward like an Olympic skater.
I locked onto Yuta's signature through the cloud of dust and debris. I smirked reinforced my body to the max, crossing my arms in front of me. I pushed harder, and the world seemed to stretch in front of me.
It contracted, and I shot through the destroyed buildings and charged into Yuta's chest. His arms came up in a sloppy block, but it was ultimately pointless as space fractured for a meter in all directions.
He was punted back, but I channeled my technique into the ground, forcing it to bevel and ripple upwards behind where Yuta was flying. He slammed into the wave of razed concrete, and it exploded in a wave of force that carried him back towards me.
A white translucent sphere surrounded my hand, and I launched a crushing right overhand blow to his chest. I punched him against the floor, and the road rippled and exploded 10 meters outwards in all directions.
He vomited out spit and blood, back against the concrete stairing up at me, "Okay, look, this is all one huge miss–"
"I guess I should have expected foul play from someone working with the likes of Kenjaku…" He drawled out.
"What?" I asked back, "I told you I'm not working with–"
A pale, ghastly fist buried itself in my side, and I was carried up and away from the downed form of Yuta.
I jumped back a couple of meters as I landed and watched Yuta spring back to his feet.
Uro pulled herself toward me, landing softly to my right, "Ryu said he would be here in–"
A loud boom emanated as a wave of pure pink cursed energy washed over Yuta, and Ryu landed roughly beside me. 'Oh, you have got to be fucking kidding me.'
"Yo, what's up, boss? Uro said you need me." He intoned dully, and I fought down a twitch in my eyes.
I looked to where the beam was dissipating, noting the obliterated remains of the building I had just sent Yuta through. In the center of the decimated building, Yuta crouched, his RCT working overtime to heal the damage he had sustained from our series of attacks.
He glared up at me with cold eyes, all traces of his previous cordiality gone. Rika's white head hovered just over his shoulder while her arms ensnared his head protectively.
I mean, there's no harm in trying to diffuse this, right?
"Look, I swear all of this is just one HUGE–"
A mole rate shikigami landed on top of Yuta.
It exploded into shadowy gore as Yuta glared at me even harder.
Yeah, that confirms it,
I give up.
If the universe wanted me to fight him so bad, I was damn well going to enjoy it.
I formed the hand sign for Pulse Perception and readied for what would likely be my hardest fight to date.
God, what a life.
.
.
.
A/N:
Aaaaand done wow, that was a long process, probably just because I'm a touch out of practice so if there was anything you need clarification on or improvement on just let me know and I will improve it in either an edit of this one or in the chapters after. The other stories will also get an update in the coming days, I think Jackpot will get the next chapter first then Force, but who knows really.
Anyways thank you so so much for reading and your patience I hope you enjoyed, and as always let me know if you liked it!
Have a great night.