My name is John Higaki, and I don't think I'll survive this constant fighting much longer.
After Sugaru Geto, or Kenjaku from what I've heard, revealed the existence of curses to the world, Jujutsu society has been utterly on the defensive. Normally managable curses were quickly devoured and replaced by more powerful spirits. In just these past two years over fourteen special grade excursions have happened.
Thankfully Yuji Itadori was there to squash said curses, but us normal sorcerers still had to deal with the initial wave. After all, he can't be everywhere at once.
And what could we do against special grades? Even after we managed to curb the flow cursed energy to tokyo, the sheer number of those monsters spawned made guarding the borders of tokyo borderline impossible.
The solution? Throw as many Sorcerers at the problem while they figure out a solution. Too bad its been two entire years and their still hammering it out.
I gasped for air as I faced the curse, and I could tell the battle was nearing its end. A grade 1 curse, and the fourth of the day for me. This one had long appendages made of chitin and fly-like eyes sprouting from each of its six limbs. A fly curse if I were to hazard a guess.
Unfortunately there was no time for guessing as another limb swiped at me. I barely managed to duck under it, aiming my pistol at the fly's head.
POP!
One of the larger eyes was blown open and purple ichor covered the ground. The curse loudly shrieked and covered its eye- former eye. I took the opportunity to close the distance, narrowly dodging its flailing strikes and delivering a punch to its throat.
"E-eeek! Chip-bzzzz b-bazard!" The grade one was finally off balance. I Concentrated 80% of my cursed energy into my fist. I felt in the zone. Maybe I could finally do it? Yeah, lets do it!
"Black flash!"
POW
Sadly it was not to be. My fist caved in the curses head, but there were no sparks of black lighting. Still, the curse was dead, and I added another tally to my failed black flash attempts. This made 557… well, I'm pretty sure I broke my PR for fastest grade 1 exorcism at least, even if it can barely be considered one. 4 minutes… yeah, ill just be proud.
Confirming the exorcism of the curse spirit wasn't difficult. I just had to walk out of the city edges and meet with the handlers. It took a few minutes of jogging to reach it, minutes of carefully scanning my sorroundings for ambushes. Its terribly exhausting.
I reached the tarped area before looking around. This was one of the larger checkpoints around tokyo, situated just outside one of the more feared, and therefore more curse prone, parts of the city. As hungry as I was, my day wasn't over. My gaze reluctantly passed the rest area, the kitchen area, the clan area… a lot of area to pass there. Damn haughty clan sorcerers, still arrogant despite having their system nuetered. Still, I saw the mission stand and walked over to the grade 2 line.
There was a small line filled with somewhat exausted sorcerers. Probably just returned from a mission like me. And wasn't that just fucking peachy? A line. For grade 2 Jujutsu Sorcerer missions? Fucking crazy how overworked we are. Still, the line moved fast and I reached the front.
I came upon an older man. He wore the crest of the Kamo clan, his severely patchy black hair 'complimented' by the dark expression on his face as I walked up. Ketsujo Kamo, a sorry excuse for a sorcerer who enjoyed fucking over sorcerers who don't 'mind their place'.
"Higaki. I see you're still alive. Truly, a pity." He sneered at me. If he wasnt standing behind a waist-high table, I'm sure his hate-boner would be clearly visible.
"Kamo, nice to see you. You rethink that offer to smoke some kush with me? Its good stuff, might even give you a 'special grade high.' Wouldn't expect your clan to have much experience with special grades though." I grabbed a blunt from my pocket, wiggling it out in his face.
Predictably he became red and his scowl deepened. It was really easy to rile up these guys, especially as a foreigner. Just tease them with passive aggresive statements and say stupid shit. Easy. I took a glance at the paperwork on the desk while he processemy 'request'.
By the looks of it, I had one more mission for the day. Unlike my last one, this seemed to be a collaborative mission with multiple others. We were to hold off a wave of cursed spirits while one of our special grades, Aoi Todo- wait, THAT Aoi Todo? The guy batshit crazy enough to fight THE Sukuna despite being Grade One at the time?
You know what? It doesnt matter. He's going to be taking on the special grade leading the other grade one spirits. If he can fight Sukuna, this mission isn't even a challenge for him. I tuned back into the 'conversation.'
"-never partake in that substance, especially not with you! And we had a Special Grade. In fact, it was someone who even Yuji Itadori considered a brother!" Wait, really? A Kamo member being friends with Yuji Itadori..?
Wait. The curse guy? Wasn't he literally a curse wand.. curse boom? Curse womb? Something about a death painting? Eh, whatever.
"Pretty sure that guy wasn't even human, let alone a member of your clan. Anyways, I'm going to head out now. I'd warn you to watch your blood pressure, but I'm sure you'd know more about that than me. See ya!" I walked off after having said my piece. It was fun to see the beauricrat unable to attack me. After all, with his political standing cut off, what could a mere grade 3 nepobaby do?
I pulled out my blunt, held up my gun, and channelled my technique. The gun's design shifted from a normal Glock 19 into a slightly smaller flaregun-like design. A small flame exhaled from the barrel, and I took a puff of that green. Being a sorcerer was too damn stressful.
—-
Three of my mission members lay unmoving on the ground, each with their own injuries. One a bloody nose, another a broken leg, and the last one…. sorry man, no kids for you. I stood rooted on the spot, stunned by how quickly this mission was going to shit.
It hadn't even started yet!
"I refuse to entrust my back to such weaklings. A sorcerers taste is a window into their soul, and these lack the soul of true jujutsu sorcerers." The psychopath uttered as he looked down on my former mission-mates. Suddenly, he whipped his head to face me.
Just like his tone, his face was grave. This madman, Aoi Todo, spoke with borderline zealotry even as I leveled my pistol right at his crazy mug. He held his hands- well, hand and instrument in an A pose as if he was a prophet.
"Higaki. Don't dissapoint me like those lowlives. I'll ask you again. What is your type in women!?"
"How the fuck did they dissapoint you?! They answered your damn question. Nice girls, Shy girls and true lovers not good enough for you? That a better answer than mine would be!"
I barely had time to raise my guard as a punch rocketed towards my midsection. Even then, the punch was too fast and slipped right through. It was only by pure instinct that I concentrated my cursed energy towards my liver.
BANG
The astounding force of the punch sent me flying 10, 20, 50 feet. The impact of rolling on the ground was mitigated by my reinforcement, but it still jolted my body. A moment later I sunk into an abandoned car.
This fucker….
I dropped my gun when I went flying. Without something to focus my CE on, my technique was useless, and I was at a severe disadvantage to Todo. I got up anyways, the metal of the car groaning as I extracted from the me shaped mold.
Ping!
"Shit-"
I was cut off as another fist buried itself in my stomach. I gagged for air as I dropped to my knees. How did that asshat get here so fast? Shit!
Amidst the rebar and destroyed city Aoi Todo stood, looking down upon me. I glared the fucker straight back in the eyes. I remember now, he can swap places by hitting that thing in his hands.
"Those are the answers of the weak, those okay with settling with good enough. Those who cannot envision themself with a clear goal in mind. Those who are fine with mediocrity!" His face took on a more manic look as he shouted despite being 2 feet away.
"Higaki! What is your type!?"
You know what? Fuck it. I took a binding vow and grabbed a piece of rebar before hurling at his face. He merely caught it as if it was was nothing.
"You want to know, Todo?! Ill tell you!" I swung up with most of the cursed energy I could muster. The rest was locked away. The target of my attack dissmisively slapped his thingy-I don't know what the fuck it is- in response.
Ping!
Too bad, dumbass! The rebar he was holding turned purple and took upon a clowns crying face. Todo's eyes widened as his technique failed to activate. I knew the truth.
My fist hit him in the jaw with the force of a jackhammer. Enough so that his body was sent flying into a nearby arcade. Take that bitch! I could tell it wasnt over yet however.
He appeared a few feet to my left holding his jaw. The piece of rebar was no longer in his hand. His eyes gleamed in realization of what I'd done.
My curse technique, cursed tool actualization, was a very versatile ability. Any object I held could temporarily turn into a cursed tool depending on how much CE i put into it. I could even customize its effects.
Unfortunately, it was also prohibitively expensive and I had to maintain direct contact with the tool. If I didn't it would dissolve. If the effect was too powerful, it would fail to activate since I wouldn't have enough CE for it.
My plan was pretty simple. I took a binding vow that delayed my cursed tool technique by 1 second. In exchange, my tool would last one second longer before reverting back to a normal object.
I used my technique on the rebar, 'charging' it with the effect 'delays the CT of the user by one second' before throwing it at todo. Since my technique was also delayed by one second, it looked like I was throwing a regular piece of metal at him. His arrogance, however deserved, led him to catching it.
I had to time my punch perfectly; too early and he would still have his technique to dodge, too late and he would drop the tool when it transforms, once again dodging my punch. Luckily, I was just right.
I pointed a finger at his scary- both in scar and fuck off creepy grin- face and pointed a thumb at myself. I took a big gulp of air, I'd need it.
"I LIKE A MUSCULAR DARK SKINNED TOMBOY WITH A SHAPLEY ASS, YOU UNDERSTAND?" I was so pissed I reinforced my vocal cords with CE by complete accident. I was already tired, about a quarter of the way through my CE reserves, and my stomach was purple. Purple!
Aoi Todo stopped. He stood still, contemplating my answer as if we weren't fighting. My words echoed off the destroyed builidings of tokyo. He nodded slowly before cracking a grin. His eyes took on a different look from before, no longer assesing.
Now, there seemed to be actual respect in those eyes.
"Oho! I can't say I relate with you, but I can see where you're coming from. You're answer was certainly better than your fickle comrades- no, they don't pass as comrades. You qualify as a comrade, John Higaki!" He stated with certainty, moving away from his combat stance.
…what in the actual fuck.
"That fight was a nice warmup," todo cracked his neck "but I think it's time to start our original mission. Lets go, Higaki!" And with that, he burst off in a dash.
"There's only two of us, I can't do those grade ones on my own!" I took off after him.
////
This can be considered the prologue to the story. The MC will have a system, though he will gain it in an odd way and at the cost of something. I'm winging it.
Comments fuel my motivation.