"We just received the updated parameters from Ijichi-san," Nitta said, her voice slightly breathless. "The veil is a highly specialized barrier. Civilians can enter, but they cannot leave. Furthermore, it completely severs all radio waves and cellular signals. Once you cross the threshold, you will have absolutely zero communication with the outside world!"
"So we go in blind," Nobara summarized, her tactical brain immediately pushing past her annoyance. "What's the play? Do we breach and establish a comms relay?"
"No! Absolutely not!" Nitta shook her head frantically. "Satoru Gojo has just entered the station alone. Our strict orders are to remain outside the perimeter. We are the net. If any curses or curse users attempt to escape the barrier while Gojo is clearing the subway lines, we exterminate them here."
Naobito let out a raspy, dismissive laugh. "Escape? Bah. If the Six Eyes is cutting loose down there, there won't be anything left to escape except ashes. Wake me up if a Special Grade manages to crawl out of the gutter."
He tipped the gourd back again, closing his eyes and completely tuning them both out.
Nobara stared at him, her mouth opening in sheer disbelief. She looked at Nitta, who just offered a weak, helpless smile and a slight bow of apology.
...
October 31st. 8:40 PM.
Meiji-Jingumae Station, B2F.
The concrete wall buckled inward with a deafening CRACK, spiderwebs of fractured stone exploding outward in a thick cloud of dust.
Yuji Itadori didn't even flinch as a massive, four-armed grasshopper curse skidded across the floor tiles, its chitinous body gouging deep trenches into the station platform.
"I am clever," the grasshopper curse clicked, its mandibles snapping together as it forced itself back up to its feet. It crossed its four muscular arms, looking down at the teenager in the Jujutsu High uniform. "You are not clever. I protect the curtain. The clever one protects the curtain."
Yuji casually rolled his shoulders, cracking his neck. He had been dispatched alongside Mei Mei and her younger brother Ui Ui to handle the secondary veil covering the adjacent station, making sure Satoru Gojo wouldn't be flanked while he cleared the main Shibuya subway lines alone.
"Yeah, yeah. You've said that like five times already," Yuji sighed, dropping his center of gravity into a relaxed but grounded fighting stance. "If you have to keep telling people you're smart, you're probably an idiot."
The grasshopper curse let out a screech of pure indignation. Its powerful insectoid legs compressed, and the tiles beneath it shattered as it launched itself forward like a fired cannonball. All four fists swung in a rapid, synchronized barrage aimed directly at Yuji's head.
It was fast. But to Yuji, whose raw physical specs were already pushing the boundaries of superhuman, the curse's movements were completely readable.
Yuji ducked under the first sweeping hook, slipping inside the creature's guard. The curse brought its lower two arms down to crush him, but Yuji pivoted sharply. He drove a devastating left hook directly into the creature's exposed abdomen.
The impact sounded like a bomb detonating underground.
The grasshopper's eyes bulged as the kinetic force ripped through its armored exoskeleton. Its momentum completely halted, the air violently expelled from its lungs. Before it could even process the pain, Yuji grabbed the creature's upper arm, using his leverage to violently hurl the multi-ton curse over his shoulder.
It slammed onto the platform with a sickening crunch.
"Four arms don't mean much if you don't know how to use 'em," Yuji muttered.
He didn't give the curse a chance to recover. Yuji lunged forward, his fist glowing with the volatile, crackling blue aura of cursed energy. He slammed a Divergent Fist squarely into the grasshopper's face. The initial blunt-force trauma shattered its armor, and a split second later, the delayed secondary impact of cursed energy detonated inside the creature's head.
The grasshopper curse shrieked, its body convulsing before rapidly dissolving into a pile of purple ash and residual miasma.
Yuji exhaled, shaking the tension from his knuckles. He turned his attention away from the fading ashes and looked toward the center of the platform. Driven deep into the concrete floor was a dark, wooden peg wrapped in heavily inscribed talisman seals—the anchor generating the secondary veil.
Yuji walked over, gripping the cursed peg with both hands. He planted his boots, gritted his teeth, and pulled with a massive surge of brute strength.
The concrete groaned, and then the peg snapped cleanly in half.
Instantly, the oppressive, heavy atmosphere in the underground station vanished. The secondary black curtain that had been choking off the Meiji-Jingumae entrances rapidly dissolved into the air, tearing away like burnt paper.
Yuji pulled his phone from his pocket. The "No Service" warning that had been plaguing them inside the radius blinked out, replaced instantly by three bars of reception. He hit the speed dial for his auxiliary manager.
"Nitta-san! It's Itadori," Yuji said the moment the line connected. "The grasshopper curse is exorcised and the physical peg is broken. The veil keeping sorcerers out of Meiji-Jingumae is down. I'm heading back up to rendezvous with Mei Mei."
...
The situation outside Shibuya Station was unraveling by the second.
Sirens wailed in the distance, cutting through the eerie stillness surrounding the massive black curtain. With new barriers suddenly dropping across the district and horrific reports of civilians being slaughtered inside, the higher-ups had finally pulled the leash off the standby squads.
Nanami checked his pocket watch, the harsh glare of a nearby police cruiser reflecting in his opaque goggles. "The parameters have shifted," he told his squad, his voice tight with suppressed frustration. "Civilian rescue is now our primary objective. But these secondary veils are specifically designed to keep sorcerers away from Gojo. We'll have to assess the threat level as we push forward."
"Right behind you, Nanami-san," Ino said, tugging his ski mask into place. Beside him, Megumi's hands were already slipping into a shadow puppet stance.
"Hold on."
Ren's voice broke the momentum. He hadn't moved to join them, his hands still shoved deep in his uniform pockets as he stared down the empty street.
Nanami paused, looking back. "Is there a problem?"
"A pretty massive one," Ren said, turning to meet the Grade 1 sorcerer's gaze. "The second we cross that threshold, we lose all comms. Ijichi and the other managers are standing out here in the dark, glued to their glowing phones. If whoever set this trap has half a brain, they're going to sever our support lines before we even know what hit us."
Megumi frowned, glancing toward the dark alleys behind them. "You want us to wait?"