Jujutsu Kaisen: Purple

Chapter 5: Confrontation

No way... There was another cursed corpse?!

Mizuki followed his teammate's gaze and looked back at him with a dreadful expression. "What should we do?" he whispered in a panicked voice.

The mannequin stared back at the two sorcerers as it struggled to its feet. Impulsively, the curse staggered in their direction with speed. The purple-haired teenager clenched his teeth and clasped his hands, preparing for the oncoming threat.

A white orb shot towards the unsuspecting cursed spirit. An ear-piercing roar echoed across the facility; a mannequin head ricocheted off the wall and landed beside Yukari. A thick, powdery smog shrouded the zone of impact, steadily dissolving to reveal a headless, dismembered mannequin motionlessly hugging the floor.

The blue-haired boy shivered. He glanced at his ally for reassurance. As if hypnotised, the purple-haired teenager silently gazed at the ground. His eyes lit up.

"It'll be fine, Mizuki."

Yukari faced his frightened friend and offered a comforting smile.

"I have an idea."

The sight of a severed mannequin head slamming into a machine and creating a loud metallic 'clang' sound caught the apparition's attention. It scanned the surrounding area, noticing as a teenage boy with purple hair stepped out from behind a wooden crate. The curse's black humanoid eyes widened. Yukari stared back at the monster — a hushed hatred lurking within his light grey eyes.

"Found you!"

The cursed spirit standing before the boy resembled a scarecrow. Its deranged eyes with black irises and white scleras were partially hidden by a frayed straw hat atop the apparition's head — which cast a dark shadow over the rest of its frozen face. The curse lacked a nose. Its mouth consisted of chaotic, complex needlework stitched into an unchanging smile composed of thin, black threads. It wore a tattered, chequered shirt retaining a blue and purple pattern. The monster's arms remained stretched outwards to either side of it as if forcibly held in place by a metal rod embedded deep inside its cursed flesh. In place of the scarecrow's hands were interweaving strands of white yarn, hanging loosely beside it. Furthermore, the apparition had no legs; its body was attached to a slender wooden pole with a black, crow-like talon at the base, which gave the cursed spirit a height of almost three metres.

The purple-haired teenager narrowed his eyes. He thought back to an earlier conversation with Mizuki.

"Can you still walk?"

"Just about, I think. Why?"

"I'm going to keep that thing distracted. Use the fire exit over there to escape as soon as you get the chance. I'll do the same once you're out."

The scarecrow tilted its head playfully, refusing to break eye contact with the boy. The sutures on its mouth began to form a sinister smile.

"No way, Yukari. You'll die!"

"Maybe... but we'll both be dead if I don't do something."

The teenager took a deep breath and let out an anxious sigh, attempting to soothe his racing heartbeat.

Don't dissociate. Don't flinch back in fear. Just focus on running and dodging its attacks.

He felt a bead of sweat trickle down the back of his neck as adrenaline pumped throughout his veins.

I can do this. That's right... I can do this!

"Clutter!"

An orb of cursed energy shot towards Yukari. He sprang sideways — narrowly avoiding the destructive detonation of dust — and sprinted away from Mizuki's location. The scarecrow snarled. The teenager vaulted over a wooden crate, ignoring the explosive echoes flinging serrated splinters into the air directly behind him.