THE WHITE DRAGON┊ jujutsu kaisen

Chapter 40: I Will Never Forget You

October 8th, 2018
Approximately 4:47 p.m. in Sendai, Miyagi, Japan

Sendai; moniker— The City of Trees; a great place to live, but rather unnoteworthy to visit.

         Having taken the most efficient and reliable transportation known to them, Haku kept to the back alleyways and the sky to reach their hometown in less than twenty minutes. Though over a year has passed since they had been forcefully sieged from its streets by an eccentric man turned teacher, on the surface it would appear as if nothing had changed, but that couldn't have been further from the truth. Unlike before, beneath their feet, Haku has since awakened their skill to feel the slight tremors in the ground, the swirling of the sour air around them, and see the residuals of the cursed energy that stained the sidewalk in unpleasant shades.

         What was once their hometown, would now forever be known to them as a graveyard of memories past. It took everything in their being to walk with a composed manner along the streets of their childhood, taking in the shops that hadn't changed, the faces that always smiled, and the road signs to point them in any direction they desired. Haku surveyed it all with an expression void of happiness; nothing about this town could bring joy to them anymore. Surrounded by all the distractions of familiarity, Haku almost forgot the purpose of why they were sent here in the beginning: the school received an urgent report that there was an immediate threat in a residential area.

         The trip of nostalgia would have to be put on hold— perhaps indefinitely. Haku steered off to the side, out of foot traffic in the busy market district, and leaned against the side of a brick building to close their eyes. Concentrating with precision, they keened their senses to anything of immense abnormality in a town consisting of only anomalies; a rather difficult task, it would be easier to search for a needle buried in a haystack. It couldn't be helped, there were far too many sources of random cursed energy saturating the area and to begin with, they had no idea what they were searching for specifically. Going with this solution would be the most time consuming, but it was the only way to complete the job; Haku would have to visit every source for themself.

         "What a pain this will be," Haku whispered quietly under their breath.

        Starting with what seemed to be the closest potential threat, Haku swiftly weaved through pedestrians with ease. With the fluidity of a river stream, they never caused a person to stumble when walking past nor did their pace ever slow to anything but a brisk stride. Focused solely on the source of abnormality in the area, Haku hadn't even noticed the buildings they were passing or the streets signs of names they would surely recognize had they been paying attention.

         Not until the source became unbearably close did the barriers of their tunnel vision come down and a sharp chill ran down their spine as the screeches of young children filled their ears; laughter on a playground. This was an elementary school— Haku's former elementary school of six years ago. Their face was stricken with the unexpected shock and the gaze of their eyes frantically scoured the vicinity, rolling over several beaming faces of joy, unlike before Haku's body felt heavy; a growing burden of the remainder of a past they prayed desperately to forget so the pain could lessen day by day.

         But as proven by one brief moment of rekindling that spark in their memory, the burden of one's past can never truly be forgotten and pain was a consequence for the happiness they cherished formerly. Haku struggled to swallow the swelling tight lump in their throat, but as soon as they crossed the perimeter of the campus the source of cursed energy was quick to flee. Not even a prolonged pause to respectfully bid farewell to the place, Haku had to leave.

         A rapid blink of their eyes, Haku spun on the balls of their feet and followed the unwelcomed presence snaking through alleyways, tearing across the lawns of parks, and menacingly it treading into traffic without a single care. Delayed only because of the restrictions that came with being a human, Haku couldn't boldly parade across traffic as seamlessly as the source of cursed energy seemed to be able to do. The source couldn't possibly be a person, Haku thought. Not to mention the various types of people they had passed already and not a single one felt "odd".