THE WHITE DRAGON┊ jujutsu kaisen

Chapter 36: Forest of Anxiety 2018, Part 3

         Though they missed the chance to meet with everyone, Haku's priority wasn't to track down each of their classmates to personally tell them that they were fine— that would be a waste of time and necessary effort when they could easily differentiate the steady waves of multiple cursed energy sources radiating throughout the vicinity that each was fine, for now. From the start, this wasn't a battle of finding the opponent's flag like how the administrators made it out to be. Haku's priority was chasing the largest sources of cursed energy they could find to put as big a lead in points as possible to still win the event.

         Without a doubt, that strategy was most likely the topic of discussion in the meeting they missed given Maki's keen insight and level-headed strategic planning. Track down the largest source of cursed energy and to work their way down in difficulty from there would surely be the way to do their part with speed and agility being in their best favor of anyone. Confident in their well traversed path in the woodwork of the forest, they glided with minimal resistance against the ground, hugging as close to the path as possible. The only sight to give away their position being the gleam of their scythe's blade in the pockets of sunlight that broke through the treetop's canopy and the subtle sheen of sweat on their forehead that glistened when the light hit it just right in the afternoon's dry heat.

         Approaching a bend in the upcoming way, a disgustingly familiar feeling settled in their gut with the force of an unforeseen poorly-timed suckerpunch. It was enough to halt Haku's advance as they fell to one side, rolling to remain out of sight. To get a better view, they made their way up and into the branches of the trees as they continued, albeit at an incredibly slower pace, leaping from tree to tree and keeping an eye below. Where they had been heading, to one of the many clearings the forest had to offer and one Gojo and Haku had left untouched in their escapade of training from last year; two persons came into view.

         Itadori and the goliath from last year.

         It appeared the two had been engaged in their fight for quite some time up until now, Itadori fared far worse than Todo. The side of his face had a thick trail of blood seeping down and his uniform was disheveled. Todo had little to no visible wounds and it wasn't as if he left much to the imagination in his candid absence of a shirt. In the secrecy of the trees, Haku watched silently as the two exchanged fists. Those two fought similarly, preferring fists as their choice of weaponry. Though this would be called a fight to any onlooker, it would be closer to say that Itadori was being turned into Todo's punching bag. Sure, in terms of strength it was nearly equal, but where Itadori was lacking was experience and technique— those weren't things he could just learn overnight or in his mysterious whereabouts when he went into hiding that he chose to not disclose to anyone.

         Itadori put forth a valiant effort, doing his best to make up what he lacked with his overabundance of Sukuna's cursed energy, but with every hit, swing and a miss, and failure, it escaped his body to join the vibrant atmosphere teeming with cursed energy residuals from every corner and from countless sources. His steps were becoming heavier, bogged down by the fatigue in his body finally catching up to the several blows of impact he suffered without restoration. This fight would reach its predictable conclusion soon.

         Todo pulled his fist back, ready to lunge forward and give the final blow to knock the living daylights from Itadori's eyes when something flashed before his eyes. Quicker than his step forward, he was halted in proceeding. As his eyes settled on the disturbance that had gotten in his way, he was met with the cool steel of metal; the hilt of Haku's scythe that they thrusted forward like a shield to protect themself and Itadori who had stumbled to the ground. The deadlock lasted only a brief second, they weren't Itadori after all, and Haku kicked back over their head to land crouching protectively behind Itadori.