DEVOTED
Chapter seventeen — "Ba—"
A SMILE GRACED (Y/n)'s face as she looked down at her new boots, practically drooling at the matte black material that reached just below her shins and the black metal that shined on the shoe's toes and heels. She smiled at the red laces that matched her tinted frames as she sat on the floor, leaning against the warm furry legs of Panda who sat at a table, across from Toge who smiled under his collar at the girl. Panda happily watched the girl, "You really like those shoes, huh?"
"Yeah! They're sexy. Lookie, lookie!" she stretched her legs out in front of her, pointing at the boots, "They're sexy as hell."
Megumi spoke from the stairs as he slid past Kamo and Nishimiya, "They're shoes."
"You're mad you can't be as sexy as my shoes."
Gojo and the other staff walked into the room at the same time, causing (Y/n) to shut her eyes at the immense amount of energy in the room, "So a lot of stuff happened and people even died. Whaddaya guys think? Should we continue the event?"
Yuji crossed his arms, cocking his head, "Hm... What kind of question is that?"
"Then, yeah. We should continue," a voice from the corner spoke, causing everyone to look over at the large Kyoto third-year.
"What makes you say that?"
"First off, mourning should be reserved for those who were close to the deceased.It's none of our concern. Second, if there were fatalities, what should be expected of us is to get stronger! Acquired strength is dictated by the accumulation of results. To suffer defeat or experience victory—we grow regardless. Results are important because they exist as results."
Miwa whispered to Mai, "Todo-senpai is actually pretty reliable."
"Uh-huh. He's reliably crazy!" Mai whispered back.
"Third, the unsettled feeling of having unfinished business during our school days will stick with us until the day we die!" Todo continued.
"How old are you again?" Gojo chuckled to himself.
"I don't mind."
"We'll win anyway."
"He sounds ridiculous, but he has a point."
"Why don't you rest, Kamo?"
"No objections."
"Salmon."
"Are the pairings for the individual portion drawn at random?"
"Huh? We're not doing that this year!" Everyone let out a sigh at Gojo's words, "I don't like routines," Gojo tossed a box to Yuji, "Every year we put suggestions in this box and look at them on opening day."
Yuji rustled the slips of paper inside the box before pulling one out and unfolding it while three figures appeared beside him. Gakuganji began to speak, "Ba—"
"Baseball?!" two voices interrupted the old man, one to Yuji's right and the other directly in his ear. (Y/n) clung to Yuji's back, standing on her toes as she peered at the paper he held. The pink boy toothily grinned at the girl which she returned, "Hi, Yuji!"
"Hi, (Y/n)!"
"What's the meaning of this, Yaga?"
"No, I'm sure I suggested an individual—" Yaga noticed a white-haired figure happily leaving the cabin, "Satoru, get back here!"
The lower eyes on Yuji's face opened as Sukuna smirked, "You're quite close, woman. Mind if I take a bite?" Yuji slapped a hand onto his cheek, shutting up the curse as arms wrapped around (Y/n)'s waist, pulling her off the pink boy and carrying her up the stairs. Megumi ignored the smirks that Kamo and Nishimiya gave him as he past them, digging his face into (Y/n)'s shoulder as he watched his footing.
"Gumi, if you also wanted to take a bite, all you have to do is ask~" The entire first floor howled in laughter at the girl's words—most of the first floor.
"Fushiguro, what do you think you're doing with my daughter?!"
Miwa smacked the ball with the bat, Nishimiya running immediately after as Utahime yelled, "Nishimiya! Don't run yet!"
"Huh?! Why?!"
"If you don't know the rules, just say so!"
"I do! I run when the ball is hit, right?!"
Kamo walked in front of Yuji and Gojo, keeping his eyes shut as he prepared his swing, "So, you survived the special grade?"
"Huh? Oh, not really. It's thanks to (Y/n), Todo, and Gojo-sensei."
"Itadori, why did you become a jujutsu sorcerer?"
"It just sorta happened. I'm a loner. I wanna help people so when I die, I'll be surrounded by a lot of people."
"If I can't be with you, mother, then I won't become a jujutsu sorcerer."
"You've got so much potential, Noritoshi. You can help a lot of people. You'll be respected by those you save, then you'll be the one who'll receive help when you need it. You'll only be alone for now. Become a great jujutsu sorcerer and please come find me one day, okay?"
Kamo raised his bat, keeping his eyes closed as the ball flew past him, slamming right into Yuji's mitt, "I see. That's a..." Again, "Great." Again, "Reason."
"Strike three! You're outta there! Change sides!"
Utahime yelled again, "Kamo! You gotta swing!"
"You can call me Tohoku's Masahiro Tanaka!" Nobara said as she approached the home plate, ignoring the boys on the bench as she watched a machine roll onto the pitcher's mound, "Wait a minute! That's just a pitching machine!"
"Kugisaki's lost it! She's charging the mound!"
"What are you talking about? It's a spare Mechamaru. We didn't have a choice since that panda of yours destroyed the other one the other day," Mai looked at the ginger girl who glared at her, "Pitching machine? What's that? You know a lot about machines. What're you, a geek?"
"It's one thing after another with you!" Nobara yelled before walking back to home plate, holding up the bat as she watched Mechumaru, "Bring it on!" She struck the ball, dropping the bat as she ran. Everyone else had their turn to hit, Megumi doing a sacrifice bunt, then Panda swinging after, ending it with Maki who hits the ball into the sky.
"Alright! That's three runs," Maki dropped the bat, walking cheerfully to next base only for a witch in the sky to catch the ball.
"What?! No fair!"
"Fish flakes!"
"Get back on base, Kugisaki."
"Heh... Catcher, huh? Catching, throwing, reading the game, fielding, etcetera... A worthy position of you, brother," Todo approached home base, resting the bat on his neck, "But what I seek is a one-on-one duel with Itadori as the pitcher!"
"Todo!" Yuji greeted the third-year, "Why don't you pitch?"
"No can do. Only Mechumaru can be the pitcher right now," Utahime said.
"Promise me, brother. If I hit a home run here, you'll pit—" Todo's words were cut short when a ball intentionally smashed into his cheek, knocking him to the ground as Yuji cradled his friend and (Y/n) ran over, sliding down beside him.
"To— Todo! Hang in there!"
"Brother! Hang in there!" (Y/n) and Yuji looked around as everyone complimented Maki's pitch, "Brother, everyone hates you."
***
"Do you still hate Itadori?" Yaga asked as he sat beside the other school's principal.
"It's not a matter of whether I hate him or not. If we're going by jujutsu rules, his mere presence cannot be tolerated. The only reason he's alive is because of Gojo's ego. Bending the rules of the group for an individual is not okay and the fact that he remains alive could result in mass death."
"However, there are lives that have been saved thanks to him as well. In reality, with Todo and (L/n), he was able to survive against the special grade. Regret isn't just limited to the students, but he will experience a lot of it. I should've done that. I wish they had done that. I should've said that. I wish they told me that. Whether the decision about Itadori was correct or not, to be honest, I can't say for sure. For now, why don't we support him while we watch over him?" Yaga said as he looked back at the group of students.
"Whoa, he's safe!"
"Inumaki-senpai is fast, you know."
"Salted fist roe," Toge gave a peace sign as he rested his foot on the base plate.
"Mai! Miwa! Watch out for the steal!"
"Our regrets as adults can wait," Yaga finished.
Yuji hit the ball into the sky, flying past Nishimiya as (Y/n) approached the home plate, tapping the bat on the ground as she prepared her swing.
"Yaga, how about you do something about Gojo first?" Gakuganji scowled as the white-haired teacher used his infinity to walk atop a line of ants, leaving them unscathed as he sung to himself.
"Yay, (Y/n)!" Gojo cheered as the ball soared through the sky, flying right past Nishimiya's face as she avoided the head-on collision.
"Woohoo~!" the girl cheered as she walked to the next base with a smile, sharing a thumbs up with her teammates.
Megumi and (Y/n) rested in the girl's room, (Y/n) hung her head off the bed while Megumi leaned his back against the wall. His dark blue eyes occasionally shifted up from his book, looking at the (h/c) girl as she repeatedly played with her energy, coating it over one of her fingers and moving it to the next. Megumi listened to the girl's humming as he spoke, "There's a species of spider that preforms oral sex on their mates."
"Damn. Same," (Y/n) said, unaware of the blush creeping onto Megumi's face. She abruptly stopped playing with her energy, sitting up as thoughts raced through her mind, causing the boy beside her to place his book down. Megumi watched as (Y/n) walked to her desk, grabbing a pen and paper before scribbling down a few things as she muttered to herself. She then folded the paper and placed it into her pocket before lying back down on her bed, "I have some things I can't wait to start working on. For now, I think I'll work on mending things with Makoto. I'll have to ask Yaga about going back to Sendai soon." 'Or maybe I'll convince Daisuke and Makoto to move back to Tokyo. Something about them staying in Sendai doesn't feel right...'
Megumi smiled to himself at the girl's happy humming as she scooted into the spot beside him. He wrapped an arm around her as he held him book in his other hand, "Itadori has been growing a lot since he's been pronounced dead so we might have a lot of tougher missions soon. You might have to wait a little longer until you can go back to Sendai."
"Yeah. Besides, I just got back a few days ago and I'm still beat from my mission... Oh! I have to tell you all about it!" (Y/n) leaned on her best friend as she started talking enthusiastically about her mission.
"Like I said! The auto-lock door was left wide open! I told you last week too, didn't I?! Why am I paying such a high management fee?" a man wearing an unbuttoned flame shirt listened to the person on the phone before speaking again, "Crap! Are you kidding me?! Today! Come inspect it now! I don't care if it's the weekend! Or I'll kill you!" The man was too busy yelling at his phone, he didn't realize the danger that lurked right behind him.
"June, Morioka. Kanada Taichi. August, Yokohama. Shimada Osamu. September, Nagoya. Yamato Hiroshi. They all died under the same circumstances—stabbed to death at the entrances to their respective apartments. They all had recently complained to building management that the auto-lock on the automatic doors was unlocked, however, none of the other residents noticed. All the dates and locations are different," (Y/n) frowned, "Did they really get killed by the same cursed spirit?" the girl reached her arm into the backseat, handing the small tablet off to her three classmates behind her.
"Does the door issue have anything to do with the cursed spirit?" Yuji asked from directly behind (Y/n), "Would a cursed spirit even trip a door sensor? They don't show up on cameras."
A woman with blonde hair and dark roots spoke from the driver's seat, "It's not the door sensor. The door operator was influenced by the cursed spirit and went crazy. It's hard to confirm from the crime scenes whether or not it's the same cursed spirit because some time had elapsed after the crime. So we investigated, trying to find a common thread that connected all three. What we learned was they all went to the same junior high for two years."
Nobara raised a finger to her chin, thinking aloud, "So, the three of them got the same curse and then it manifested after all these years?"
"Yup, there's a good chance that's the case. We're on our way to talk to a classmate who knew all three. I'd like you four to observe as jujutsu sorcerers."
(Y/n) watched as Nitta Akari pulled the car into a neighborhood, she frowned at the multiple people dressed in black as she didn't bother exiting the car, letting the rest have a brief conversation with other people outside before they entered the vehicle again. "Was it the same as the other three?" (Y/n) asked as Nitta sighed with a nod.
"He lived with his parents, but there's no auto-lock. But he was killed in front of the entrance. He claimed that even though the door was unlocked, it wouldn't open. Or so the family says," Nitta explains while she drives to a family junior high. (Y/n) groans as she walks beside Megumi, keeping behind the rest of the group as they walk onto Saitama Urami East Junior High, "His parents aren't sure whether he had a relationship to the three. Oh well... That was our only lead. No problemo! There's gotta be something at this school!"
The five noticed a pair of boys beside a door, smoking a cigarette as Nobara pointed at them, "Oh! We got some punks over there! Let's teach 'em some discipline and beat 'em up!"
The boys looked at the group, Nobara and Yuji stood in the front, happy as the two bowed deeply, "Hello! Sorry for not greeting you properly!"
"Heh... That's more like it," Nobara crossed her arms with a smile.
"One's aura is hard to hide, huh?" Yuji copied the ginger's actions.
"We haven't seen you since graduation, Fushiguro-san and (L/n)-sama!" Nobara and Yuji froze, snapping their heads to the due behind them. Megumi looked to the side while (Y/n) pursed her lips and looked at the sky.
"We used to go to this junior high..." (Y/n) muttered before Yuji and Nobara started grabbing both of their faces, 'I was really hoping nobody would recognize us...'
"That's surprising too, but what the heck?!"
"What?! What's going on?!" Yuji shifted his attention to the two delinquents, "Wait! We should ask them!"
"Hey, Idiot A and Idiot B. What'd this guy do to you?" Nobara pointed to Megumi.
The boy with gelled back hair scratched his neck, "To us...? Nah, half the punks in this area have been beaten to a pulp by Fushiguro-san."
Nobara and Yuji turned their heads again as Megumi muttered, "...Beaten...Pulp..."
Nobara grabbed his face, "Why can't you talk all of a sudden?!"
"What?! What's going on?!" Yuji shook Megumi before shifting his attention to the two delinquents again, "And (Y/n)? Why do you call her (L/n)-sama?"
Both delinquents blushed and scratched their necks as they muttered incoherent sentences before speaking properly when Nobara glared at them, "The lucky other half of punks were beaten to a pulp by (L/n)-sama."
Nobara and Yuji turned their heads to the girl as she avoided their gaze as her soul threatened to leave her body, "S-sama..."
Nobara grabbed (Y/n)'s face, "Huh?! Why are you so flustered?!"
Yuji shook (Y/n), "What?! What's going on?!"
"Hey! Who are you guys?! Are you here from a different school?! You can't come in here!" One of the school faculty came running at the group of rowdy teenagers.
"Who the hell are you?!" Nobara pointed at the man.
"Obviously one of the faculty. What's with the attitude?" Yuji squinted his eyes at the ginger girl.
Nitta approached the old man, pointing at the badge she held, "We have a permit."
"Oh, it's you guys. You're all so young. Gotta wear it around your neck," the man's gaze shifted to the two teens who caused such an outbreak, "Is that Fushiguro and (L/n)?"
"Hello," Megumi looked to the side as he greeted the man.
"H-hi..." (Y/n) briefly made eye contact with the guy before looking to the ground, ignoring the comments from Nobara and Yuji and the heat across her face.
Nitta asked the two, "Has this person been at this school a long time?"
"Probably. Takeda-san is a part-time worker around here."
"Then I'll leave it to you!" Nitta gave the two a thumbs up as Megumi and (Y/n) explained the situation to the old man.
"Kanada, Shimada, Yamato, and now Morishita... I was shocked to hear they all died, but also... I can't believe it's already been 20 years since they graduated. It feels like it was just yesterday. They weren't as bad as you two, but they were troublemakers. What do you need to know?"
"Any strange and dark rumors or connections with bad people?" Megumi said as he whacked the pink boy, sending him falling into the ginger girl, putting a stop to their teasing, "It could be karma. Getting what they had coming."
"Dark rumors... Troublemakers, yes, but nothing out of the ordinary for junior high students. But as for karma..." Takeda thought for a moment.
"What about the Yasohachi Bridge bungee jumping?" One of the deemed idiots spoke.
"Yasohachi Bridge?" Yuji asked.
"It's known for suicides. It's also a hot spot for paranormal activity," (Y/n) explained as she crossed her arms, ignoring the heart-eyes and blushing faces that radiated from Idiots A and B as they gazed at her indifferent expression.
"That's right! Bungee jumping off the bridge in the middle of the night was popular with the punks back then. It was kinda like a test of courage."
"What kind of gang is that?" Nobara asked.
"There are actually a lot of people even more stupid than me!" Yuji smiled brightly.
"What do you use for a cord?" Megumi held back the urge to smack Idiots A and B while they continued to drool over the (h/c) girl beside him.
"We don't do it. It's the generation before us, but we've heard the stories. One day, four students didn't show up to school which is nothing strange, but when the school called their parents, it turned out they hadn't come home the night before. the news spread like wildfire, and they were found unconscious below the bridge. They were all reprimanded, but apparently none of them could remember anything."
After a while, the sorcerers decided to head back to Nitta's car, saying their farewells to the idiots and old man. Idiots A and B yelled after the (h/c) girl with red faces, "Bye, (L/n)-sama!"
Nobara poked the girl's cheek, "So... (L/n)-sama, huh?"
"I had something for being superior..." (Y/n) picked up her pace as Megumi quickly caught up with her, walking beside her as he glared at the idiots they left behind.
the past couple of days haven't been necessarily hard, just weird. plus i have to do the ACT next tuesday. for ppl who don't know (hiii tell me what country you live in i think that would be pretty cool!!!), the ACT is a test we have to take for college and stuff and it's required to graduate. i say i'm not stressed or worried but thats a lie lmao how's everyone been the past couple of days?
— nell —