She Shines Eternal (JJK x RaidenMei/Shogun! OC)

(12)

The nails drove themselves even further into the mannequin's head, causing it to burst into chunks as it fell to its knees, decapitated.

'Nailed it.' Nobara thought, smiling cheerfully. Suddenly, she heard something move from behind the boxes. Her hazelnut eyes widen in surprise. A young boy with dark brown hair was hiding behind the boxes at the other end of the room, balled up in a fetal position. He was trembling in fear.

'A child? He must have snuck in for some fun and encountered the curse.' Nobara approaches the boy, cocking her head to the side. "Hey, it's alright now. Come on out." The boy shakes her head. Nobara was instantly struck by invisible lightning.

'Huh?!' 

She turns around, trying to act all nonchalant after the child's rejection. "I guess it's true that kids don't warm up to beautiful women." Nobara attempts to reassure herself. "Guess I'll call Itadori."

"Wait!" The boy cried out. "Don't leave me here!" He pleaded.

All of a sudden, a curse's hand phases through the wall and grabs the boy's head, holding it firmly within its grasp as the curse comes out to reveal itself. The curse looked like a large frog with brown fur all over its body.

The curse smiles mockingly at Kugisaki, gently swinging the boy from left to right as if to taunt her. Nobara gets ready to attack the curse, but she quickly stops herself. The curse points a claw at the boy's throat.

'It's taking him hostage?!'

The curse inches its claw closer to the boy's throat and pierces it, making a thin trail of blood run down his neck. The boy winces in pain, while the curse just laughs insultingly.

'This curse has intelligence?!'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"When I say 'level,' I don't just mean the amount of cursed energy they have," said the white-haired sorcerer. "It's their cunning. Monsters that have gained wisdom will often force cruel choices upon you, with the weight of human lives in the balance." Gojo glances at Megumi to see his reaction but realizes the ravenette is paying no attention at all. Thats when it hit him-

Mei has been gone for more than ten minutes.

'Where is Kaminaga? She's taking so long... It's worrying me.' Fushiguro thought as he abruptly got up from the bench. The white-haired man looks up at his student with a bewildered expression. 'I need to find her now.' The ravenette tries to walk away to look for the noirette, but Gojo quickly stops him, grabbing Megumi by the wrist.

"Woah, where do you think you're going, Megumi?" asked the blindfolded sorcerer.

"I'm going to look for Kaminaga." Megumi replied flatly, not even turning his head to look back at Gojo. He seemed set on finding the girl.

Even though Megumi tried not to reveal his emotions, Gojo could see how concerned the young adult was. It was very obvious to him. The older male exhaled a sigh as he got up from the bench, standing behind Fushiguro. He gives the ravenette a few soft pats on the shoulder, making him tense slightly.

"There's no need to do that. I'm sure Mei will be fine on her own." The white-haired man spoke, attempting to bring solace to his student, but his words provided no comfort at all. Megumi was still distressed. Gojo let out another sigh, removing his hand from Fushiguro's shoulder as he shoved them back into his pockets. "If you want, I could go look for her. It's best if you stay here, just in case Itadori and Kugisaki come out later."

The ravenette nods his head silently in response. "Yeah. I think that's better."

"I'm back!" A familiar voice called out to the two sorcerers as they turned around, seeing Mei running towards them. When she got to the bench, she stood before Megumi and Satoru while trying to catch her breath. "Sorry for the long wait; there was something that I had to deal with." The girl apologizes, looking up at the two males. "Have Itadori and Kugisaki finished yet?" She asks curiously.