"Let's go!"
Y/N cheers on the way out of the tunnel leading to the star corridor. Tengen has already given them the go sign to leave and start their mission with finding Hakari, and they have bid Choso goodbye.
Itadori's nervous for the girl. He's lagging behind the two, wondering if there's going to be some type of lovers quarrel. This would not end well..
And much to his luck, before the three of them can step inside the elevator, Fushiguro stops. He turns to Y/N, grabbing the sleeve of her uniform.
"Y/N." he calls, "are you really safe?"
Her heart skips a beat at the question. Fushiguro looked more worried about her than mad at the fact that she lost a technique. The curse over her shoulder shows a toothy smile, mimicking how Y/N's feeling. Happy.
Fushiguro notices the faces Yūrei was making, but doesn't dare let go.
"Yep." she reassures him, "I just feel something heavy on my shoulders. Nothing more."
'Nothing..more?!'
On Y/N's shoulders is a sorcerer her family turned into a curse and forced to guard three weapons for god knows how long. They may seem friendly now and the only problem she has is the additional weight, but what about during the mission? How is she going to try and take advantage of the curse now?
Y/N hoped for two things; they can be useful in the culling games, and they can atleast hold a weapon. If Yūrei won't cooperate after all the sacrifices she did, then she's done.
'Seikatsu chose not to follow the rules.' she thought, now knowing where his innate technique came from. Now where's he again? Ahaha..
The girl looks over her shoulder, seeing Itadori standing there and watching the both of them.
"Are.. You two done?" the boy ask.
Fushiguro sighs. Did Itadori really think him and Y/N would fight? He got his explanation and if the girl doesn't feel comfortable with sharing more, then he'll leave it.
The last time he recall having an argument with Y/N was a few months ago when the situation at yasohachi bridge was still going. That was all on Fushiguro for letting his anger get the best of him.
Fushiguro frowns.
"Do you want us to leave you?"
"Wait, no!"
"Master Tengen didn't specify anything.."
"It was.. Tochigi, right?"
You and Itadori held a map of the prefecture together while following fushiguro, both clueless. The hour ride from tokyo to Tochigi went by quickly, but that isn't the same with finding the multi story parking lot tengen had mentioned.
The three of you are afraid it might take longer than expected. It's eight in the evening, november nine— ten days until the deadline. At this point, you need to find a place to stay at.
Though what's the harm in exploring? There's a cheap hotel nearby.. And it's a walking distance..
"You two." Fushiguro calls looking over his shoulder, "There's a parking lot there. We should go check."
Both you and Itadori look up from the map, then onto the building Fushiguro is pointing at. He even has his phone out to look at directions.
The streets are almost empty, a few lights are already lit, and no civilians seems to be around; a perfect time to go and check the place out.
"There's curses.. Curses?" you squint, now taking a closer look of the building.
"Yes. Need to eat?" Fushiguro says nonchalantly, no longer bothered by it like he used to.
You hum, "I think. Can we go?"
"Sure."
Itadori sweatdrops, watching you and Fushiguro lead the way while he's still holding the map from earlier. He really does look like a third-party here without Kugisaki huh..
'Well..' Itadori smiles, letting out a sigh as he watches you and Fushiguro walk away.
Atleast both of his best friends are happy together despite their situation. The boy still felt guilty for what happened to you back in Shibuya because of Sukuna. If he didn't tried taking over his own body when Sukuna was having a hard time deciding if he would torture or kill you, would you have been alive?
If that happened, would Fushiguro forgive him? Would the boy blame himself too?
"Itadori!" you call for him, "Do you wanna go or what?"
He chuckles.
"Right. Coming!"
Itadori quickly catches up, and the three of you begin to cross the street and head over to the parking lot. The building is two stories high with only the first floor being occupied by a few cars. The top has no lights working— all pitch black and that seems to be where curses are hanging out at.
The three of you enter the parking lot.
"Are people afraid of cars?" you mutter letting the two men lead the way.
Fushiguro shakes his head, "It's the deaths that people are scared of."
"Deaths? Who died?" Itadori gulps, looking around. There are only five cars in sight.
Fushiguro pulls put his phone, an article already on the screen. It seems he had been searching things up before he asked you and Itadori to check out the building.
"Apparently, a man and his wife committed suicide together on the third floor. One of them passed on, and the other turned to a curse." he explains,
"One of them had a secret lover."
Now this is interesting.
"So.. They agreed to dying together but one of them was cheating?" Itadori ask.
Fushiguro shrugs, "It's the one who turned to a curse. They still have some unfinished business and that was probably saying goodbye to the person they're having an affair with."
"Should we go find out then?" you ask, "Kinda scared because i don't know how curses at Tochigi act, but might as well give it a try."
Fushiguro nods. He, too, is curious about what happened to the couple. He hopes the exorcising goes smoothly because after this, the three of you should probably rest for the night and find the other parking lot tomorrow.
"That's the spirit." Itadori grins.
Fushiguro then hides his phone. He gestures for both you and Itadori to stay close before he finally walks up to the second floor. Like what you all had expected, it's dark. The only light you had is the light from outside the building but even that wasn't much help.
"..He..Hehee." from on your shoulder, Yūrei laughs. You frown.
"What is it?" you ask them in a whisper.
"Him.. Her..!" multiple voices answers at once as they lift their hand. Itadori and Fushiguro watches as they point at a figure in the distance.
It seems your curse had spotted one of the couples.
"It's a man with.." Itadori tried to take a step closer, but you grab his arm. You pull him back.
"A weapon. Itadori, that's a knife." you say, brows furrowed as you let go of him. You weren't sure, but you swear the curse has something sharp.
"Is that what him and his wife used..?" Fushiguro wonders. He clasp his hands together, his gyokuken appearing in front of him.
"I think so.." Itadori mutters.
The aforementioned figure indeed held a knife. His body is hunched, and he seems to be a few feet taller than everyone else. The three first years easily recognized the curse as the husband since he has a necktie tied a bit too tightly around him.
"Should we do this quickly?" you ask, watching the figure beginning to approach the three of you.
Curses at Tochigi already look a lot different. Unlike the disfigured ones in Tokyo, they're..
"..you! Youuuuu!"
"Deserved.. It!!"
It suddenly spoke, voice distorted. The three of you aren't given a time to react when the curse begins running, swinging his arms around.
"Y/N! It wasn't a knife!" Itadori says, "His arms is the weapon!"
The boy with pink hair is right. The curse has long and slender arms with what you assume is the blades on where his hands were previously on. If he kept this up, they'll be forced to keep their distance and that would only consume the little time they have.
"It seems to be after Y/N!" Fushiguro grits his teeth, keeping his shikigami away from the swinging blades. He can't afford to lose another one.
"Huh..?" you mutter, "Oh, right! His wife!"
Maybe that's what triggering him and making him target you. You wonder why he's so upset when it was him who cheated on his lover. It's a little confusing, but something tells you that's not the case.
Seeing that neither you and Itadori could get closer, Fushiguro then pulls out his sword from the shadows on the ground. He gathers his strength, throwing it to the curse.
Fortunately, his weapon effectively stops its arms from swinging. You see this as a chance and you rush to tackle the curse, straddling it's body.
Though it looks dangerous, this curse isn't much of a threat at all..
"Pass on." you mutter, raising your fist and aiming on the curses head.
"..Huu.. I knew.. Affaaaiiiirrrr..."
You stop as the words slips from the curses mouth, his words clear for you. You click the roof of your tongue, finally bringing your fist down and crushing it's head.
Your mouth waters, but you couldn't bring yourself to eat such thing. God you're hungry.
You turn to the curses shoulder before forcefully ripping it off his body. You take a large bite, feeling cursed energy transferring to your body.
"So it wasn't strong after all." Fushiguro mutters, petting his shikigami on the head. It disappears, returning back into a shadow.
Itadori kicks the curses blade hands, the unpleasant sound of metal making contact with the stone ground echoing through the second floor of the parking lot. Besides the light from buildings outside, the place is dimly lit.
"Hoo.. That scared me!" Itadori then turns to you, "Hey Y/N, you okay?"
You cough, already finished feasting on the curses limb. You stand up, walking over to the boys.
"He killed his own wife." you tell them, looking at your hand coated with the curses blood. You huff, lifting your hand to your mouth to lick away the remains.
"I'm assuming he knew of his wife's affair and killed her then himself."
"Woah. Really?" Itadori muses.
"They probably changed up the story to save the buildings reputation. It would've been bad and money would go to waste." Fushiguro adds.
"But why did they cover some stuff up? The man killed his wife then himself.." Itadori scrunches his nose.
The three of you now are heading back to the first floor of the parking lot after making sure the curses body is properly disposed.
"Don't know." Fushiguro says, "I assume it's not to scare people."
It was tragic. You wonder where the woman's secret lover is and if they know what happened. Being cheated on probably hurts, but the husband didn't need to resort to killing his wife and himself. Though you won't know how it felt like— no one has cheated on you.
"Poor lady." you sigh, "But she was in the wrong too for cheating. Both of them are wrong."
"Well, mystery solved!" Itadori grins. The three of you walked out the building as if you didn't deal with a blade swinging curse.
"Right.." Fushiguro says. He places a hand on your shoulder, switching places with you as you were close a bit too the road.
Itadori then suggest,
"So, should we go eat?!"
Dinner went well, but with the situation you and Itadori are in, Fushiguro had to go in and order takeout alone. The three of you suspected that a few sorcerers might've gone undercover and is trying to find you and Itadori.
You had to remind yourself— you two are currently wanted and being hunted down. Who knows how much bounty are on your head?
Fortunately, before it got late, the three of you had found an affordable inn nearby. Using the money Fushiguro has, you all rented out a room with three futons for the night. The old lady who owns the place is nice enough to let you borrow a pair of pajamas.
But there's a small problem.
"Wah.. The beds are fine.." you sigh, tired, "But there's only two blankets?"
The three of you look at the three futons on the ground, contemplating if one of you should go and wake the lady and ask for an extra blanket. Wouldn't you be a bother?
"Two.."
As if a light bulb had lit Itadori's mind, he's quick to take one of the blankets before rolling over to his own bed. You and Fushiguro look at him, irked.
"What? You two should share." he grins. Itadori turns his back againts the two of you, blanket already wrapped around him.
You turn to Fushiguro with a small smile.
"Sleep." he says, patting you on the shoulder, "I'll go turn the lights off."
You chuckle, laying face first on the futon before turning to your side. The room then goes dark, and you watch as Fushiguro grab the blanket before placing it over your body.
He then lays down beside you, keeping mind of his distance. He then frowns, seeing you try to share the blanket with him.
"No. You're an idiot and i wanna share."
He scoffs at what you say, now closing his eyes. You admire his pretty eyelashes and pink cheeks.
"Right.. Your idiot."
Your heart skips a beat. You let out a quiet chuckle to not wake up Itadori while Fushiguro cracks a smile when he hears your laughter.
It then died down. He doesn't open his eyes while he feels your fingers brushing away the hair on his face. This is enough to make him sleep peacefully.
You yawn, feeling your eyelids starting to droop due to fatigue— it's been a long day and it's now time to succumb to sleep.
You rest your hand on Fushiguro's cheek, muttering one last thing before you finally doze off.
"Sweet dreams.."