𝐒𝐮𝐠𝐮𝐫𝐮 𝐫𝐮𝐛𝐛𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐬, 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐯𝐞𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐥. His stomach dropped when an overwhelming sense of impending doom washed over him. He began to choke on his own breath and found himself unable to speak, he looked to his left, "Satoru, we have to get Riko and Rintaro, now."
He lightly pushed on Satoru, trying to force him in the direction he wanted his friend to go in. Yet Satoru stood still and could only reply, "Huh?" accompanied by a blank look on his face.
"Two have already been exorcised." Suguru licked his lips that were drying in anticipation, the pit in his stomach deepening as another one of his cursed spirits were exorcised. "Where's Amanai?" Satoru spoke with a higher pitch to his voice, his nervousness becoming evident.
"It's time for her music class now. So, either the music room or the chapel. It depends on the teacher." Kuroi nervously gripped onto her skirt, unsure of how she could help in this situation other than giving the boys anything she knew.
The trio raced through the entrance of the school, sparing no time in saving the two girls. Suguru internally began to panic, the only thing on his mind was Rintaro and how it would end if the intruders made it to her and Riko first. "Satoru, you take the chapel. Kuroi, the music room. I'll head for the two intruders."
The other two nodded before turning to go to their respective locations. Suguru followed his gut instinct towards his nearest cursed spirit that alerted him. He looked up to see it clinging to the ceiling of an already cracked hallway, he shook his head and began to follow it cautiously, a new aura of some sort filling the height of the hallway. Could these be remnants of Q? If it's hired muscle of the time vessel association, this could be trouble.
Suguru's eyed widened at the presence of the unfamiliar aura's owner. "Well, well... that uniform." The unfamiliar curse user stood on guard with a small cursed spirit chittering lightly by his side.
The cursed spirit bore 4 eyes and a giant set of teeth enclosed in its lips that made up most of the body, it's small frame slimmed into a muscular hand as its leg support. In the opponents other hand he held a paper with traditional writing scripted on both sides, as well as a cursed spirit in the motion of forming itself.
Suguru disbanded his alert cursed spirit and summoned 2 more in its place, this time larger and capable of combat. He knew he had to be cautious, his opponent seemed aware of his uniform and already knew to cover his front and back with his own cursed spirits. "Curse manipulation." The old man spoke roughly, studying Suguru through round glasses.
"Correct. You're as wise as your age suggests." Suguru smirked, slouching his posture as he changed his footing, an easy action that could possibly fool his opponent.
"Old age isn't what it's cracked up to be. It costs a lot of money to live this long, you know." The older curse user looked Suguru up and down, he could tell by just his spirits alone that the student was far more advanced than him.
Yet, the older man found comfort in knowing that Suguru would not fair against him in close combat, just by his faulty stance. He smiled to himself, Doesn't like close quarters combat and isn't expecting aggression. This is too easy.
"You look like you've got a lot on your mind." Suguru held his hand up to his enemy, curling his fingers towards him as he beckoned him to come closer. "Don't waste your time." In a second, Suguru's two cursed spirits had merged and grew together to form a giant sand worm that took up the entirety of the hallway.
The shikigami user stood in shock at the realization he was fooled by two decoy spirits, leaving him to be devoured. "Well then... one down, one to go." Suguru dusted his hands off before pocketing them, turning on his heels to leave his giant worm to finish the remains of the man.
A loud crash echoed behind Suguru as he distanced himself from the scene. His head instinctively spun around and his eyes met the man who he thought to be consumed by his cursed spirit.
"You're mine!" The old man screeched as he fell, a sharpened blade clutched tightly in his hand, ready to puncture and kill Suguru. The curse user landed on his feet, slowly raising his head to look at the damage he'd done. But in Suguru's place sat his dog, Tasuke.
He bent down onto his knees and pet the dog, burying his face in the fur of his only friend that kept him company through years of his parents neglect. And then he remembered that his furry friend had died 50 years ago.
Suguru crept up behind the man, grabbing his fore arm with his right hand. With his left, he delivered a brutal blow to the man's hand, effectively breaking it. His left hand changed course and Suguru pushed the man's face away from the rest of his upper body, a light crack escaping. Suguru shifted his body to hold the man's broken wrist under his left arm, and with his right hand he punched the man in the face, confirming his death by breaking his neck.
Suguru bent over to watch as the life escaped the man's eyes. Until a sudden sense of impending doom knocked Suguru back into reality. Another cursed spirit had been exorcised. He followed the cursed energy residuals of his deceased cursed spirit.
At the opening of the hallway he saw Kuroi, who now fought the second cursed user who infiltrated the school. He watched silently as she brought the large, masked user to his knees. "Where's Riko?" Suguru asked.
"She left the school with Master Gojo." Kuroi held the mop up to the curse users head, letting him know she would not hesitate. Suguru's eyes widened at the mention of a single Gojo, not two. "Then we should follow them, things are getting a little hairy." Suguru pocketed his hands in search of his phone.
"So, she was the 30 million..." Kuroi and Suguru watched as the curse user melted into a puddle on the ground before disappearing into nothing. Suguru hastily found his phone and dialed Satoru's number.
.·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙ ✩ *̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ . .·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙ ✩ *̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ .
Satoru evilly grinned as he closed his phone, the new information about Riko's bounty enticed him. "Sheesh... and to think that we're always low on Jujutsu sorcerers. We'd welcome you with open arms, old man."
His eyes returned to the buildings in front of him, the once empty rooftops now littered with several of the same person. Satoru whispered to himself as he thought aloud, "I see two, three, four... And they all look the same? Are they shikigami?"
"Naw, your profession sounds kinda risky. Just hand over the girl and we'll be outta here." One of the clones spoke, alerting Satoru to a new clone that formed out of a puddle, "There's more... Five!"
Two clones had suddenly jumped in front of Satoru, frightening Riko at his side. He held his hand out in front of him, effectively freezing the clones in time. His hand rose up and pointed towards the sky, the two clones clashed and mashed together as they flew into the air. "The shikigami aren't disappearing! Which is the real one?" Riko clutched onto Satoru's sleeve as she eyed the two clones that seemed to be exorcised.
"Those aren't shikigami. They're clones." He side eyed Riko, checking her for any scratches or wounds he hadn't noticed. "And all of them are the real one."
He laid his hand on Riko's head, forcing her down as two more clones jumped at them, this time attempting to punch him. "What's this?" He turned to eye the clone that spoke from behind him.
"The infinity, you know from achilles and the tortoise." A smile crept up on his face at the sight of the clones frozen in space as their fists stuck to his infinity. "Didn't you learn that studying is important?"
Satoru quickly ended the flight with the clones by punching two more to their death. In light of the situation he began to tease the remaining body by calling him weak and sharing how his technique works. All before finishing off the final clone with an uppercut after his reversal technique, red, didn't work. He stood silently, panting as he caught his breath.
Riko's eyes shot to her phone as it buzzed in her hand, her eyes widened at the picture received from Kuroi's number. Her caretaker had been taken in and made into a hostage, tied and gagged. "They got Kuroi." She croaked out, her hands fell to her sides and her knees buckled, causing her to fall to the floor.
"Sorry, it's my fault." Suguru climbed onto the roof from behind the two, utilizing a ladder that lay against the building. He brushed his pants off and bowed to Riko, "She had told me to go ahead of her and in the moment I hadn't thought of her importance to the enemy." Suguru smacked his palm against his forehead.
"Is that right? It's not a big deal." Satoru stood silently, pitying his regretful best friend. "If anything the enemy is going to take advantage of the situation and use Kuroi as leverage to trade for Riko. We currently have the upper hand and we just need to discuss a meeting place... if that happens to be the case. Let's just take her back to the school and throw a wig on Shoko to act as a double." Suguru nodded as Satoru spoke, feeling too tired to try and point out the holes in his makeshift plan.
"Wait! I have to go, too." Riko's eyes watered as she clutched the front of her uniform. "I can't trust you guys with this!"
"You brat. Do you even realize the situation you're in-" Satoru fumed at the nosy girl.
"Even if you rescue her, what happens if she isn't back before the merger?" Riko panted, tears staining her face, "I haven't even said goodbye to her..." She gripped tightly onto her skirt. The two high schoolers silently stood and watched the young vessel, unsure of how to contest her.
"Well, we should be expecting a call from the kidnappers in a few... If they're smarter than we thought and Kuroi's chances of survival decrease if you come, we'll leave you and continue the mission...And don't try backing out if you're scared." Satoru crossed his arms over his chest as he spoke, looking to Suguru to help him convince her.
"Understood! I got it!" Riko wiped the tears from her eyes with the back of her hands before giving and unconvincing thumbs up to the two boys.
"Wait, where's your sister, Satoru... I don't think I received a picture that she was kidnapped too..." Riko crawled towards her fallen phone and rechecked it, scrolling through the messages in search of a picture or mention of Rintaro.
"Shit!" Satoru yelled as he ran his fingers through his hair, his foot annoyingly tapped against the roof tiles as he thought, "I left her at the school..." Suguru's eyes widened as his heart rate sped up, practically beating out of his chest. His face turned a shade of red as he began to puff his chest.
"Riko's school? Why?!" Suguru used every bit of strength in him to not swing at his best friend. After all, every curse user seeking the bounty knew to find Riko at said school.
"Forget it, take Riko to our school. Get this shit situated with the kidnappers, please, while I go look for your sister. And pray that she's still there, too." The raven haired male quickly jumped off the roof and onto a summoned cursed spirit. He had no time to argue with Satoru, especially if the girl he loved was in jeopardy.
The curse spirit flew low to the ground, trying to avoid to expose himself to the general public of non curse users. It brought him to Riko's school, slowing to a stop as it approached the entrance.
"Rintaro, where are you?" Suguru whispered to himself as he climbed off the cursed spirit and dispelled it into a ball. With a tilt back of his head he swallowed the balled up cursed spirit with ease.
Suguru could immediately feel cursed energy practically seeping through the walls of the school as he walked. And, coincidentally none of the cursed energies belonged to Rintaro. This scared him and all he could think about was the unimaginable thought someone else had made it to her before he could.
He continued sneaking to the back of the school, by walking along the walls, using quiet footfalls, and ducking behind walls. He did his best to avoid any sort of approaching or growing cursed energy that felt foreign to him.
He now approached the chapel where Satoru had picked up the two. "Please, please, please, please, please..." Suguru repeated to himself as he creeped through the ruined entrance of the chapel. He squinted as the his eyes focused on the changing light, no residuals that belonged to Rintaro existed in this room.
He turned and left the chapel, stress building in his chest. He headed towards different route than which he started. "Suguru?" Said boys ears perked at the whisper of his name, "Is that you?" As he stepped closer he realized the voice came from behind a bush that rustled ahead of him. He jogged over, squinting his yellow eyes at the familiarity as he carefully approached.
"Rintaro...?" Suguru happily sighed as he walked around the bush and noticed his love, who looked worn out and pale. "Are you okay? How'd you get here?" He kneeled down and sat next to her, she flinched at his sudden touch against her infinity.
Her eyes flicked open and she saw his face, a weak smile growing on her face. His hand finally met her cheek, her infinity finally torn down. She looked up to see Suguru meeting her tired eyes. She stared at him, enraptured by his presence and the loving aura that filled the air between the two.
"Im okay, are you guys okay? Where's Toru and Riko?" She began to force herself up before being pushed back down against the wall by Suguru. His thumb lightly caressed her cheek, moving back and forth on the soft skin as he did his best to ease her. He couldn't afford to have her make their presence known while other curse users, sent to kill them and the missing vessel, roamed the school.
"They're heading to the school now, they're safe and untouched. And as for me, I feel much better now that I know you're okay and even more so that I'm with you." Suguru smiled through closed eyes, enjoying her presence.
Rintaro drew her hand against his back and pulled him down into a tight embrace. "Im so happy to see you Suguru, I feel like I've been here alone, forever. I don't know what's been up with me... Ever since Toru and I fought that Q soldier, Vayer, I've just felt so weak."
Suguru hugged her back without hesitation, his fingers dug into her uniform with the need to physically feel her, skin to skin. "Thats okay, you probably just over exerted yourself. Let's get you back to the school, though, and you can get some more rest there, okay?" Rintaro winced when Suguru's massaging hand reached a pain point in her shoulder blade.
He drew away from her, eyeing her pained face as she reached for her back. "You okay?" Suguru looked her up and down, concern laced in his silky voice. The pain washed over her, dizzying her sight as she tried to look around for Suguru.
"Rintaro, what's wrong?" She pointed at her back in reply, suddenly collapsing to the ground at the loss of breath. He hesitantly lifted the back of her uniform to reveal her lower back, now inspecting it as Rintaro gasped for air, the pain continuing to immobilize her.
Suguru was unsure as to what he should do, he couldn't see anything on her back that would cause her to act this way. Her shirt escaped his hand when she suddenly rose up and sat straight, she could breathe and the pain seemed to subside. "Just a cramp, I guess." She shrugged at Suguru who watched her, confusion fogging his brain.
"Are you sure you're okay... that didn't seem like a cramp." Suguru laughed nervously as he looked the girl up and down, unsure of if he should trust her or not. A loud thud sounded from above them, debris and dust clouded the air they breathed. Rintaro looked to Suguru with wide eyes before closing her hands together and immediately warped them to the school.
"Rin! You're okay!" Satoru turned at the sound of thudding in his room to see his twin and Suguru laying haphazardly on the floor. He quickly walked over to her and buried his face in her hair, "How I've missed you." He smiled, embracing her tightly from behind as she winced.
"Okay okay, I missed you too. You left me there, not the other way around." Rintaro snapped at her twin, the need to get him off of her surged through her veins as he pressed on her pained shoulder blade.
Suguru looked up at her, he knew she would never react like that, especially not with Satoru. "Yeah, so what's the news?" He said, attempting to separate the twins and end his jealousy.
"We meet at Okinawa in the morning for a swap between Riko and Kuroi, however, Nanami and Haibara are already on there way there to guard the airport til we arrive." Satoru released Rintaro and began running his fingers through her hair to soothe her through her attitude.
"Why Okinawa?" Suguru rose to sit on his bottom and dusted his pants off from the crash he suffered after Rintaro warped them without warning. Rintaro leaned backwards into Satoru's chest and rested her eyes, "They chose it, not me." Satoru began petting her head as she dozed off to sleep in his chest.
Satoru leaned down and whispered into his twins ear, "Rin, let's get you a bath and then we can sleep, I know it's been a rough day." She frowned and clicked her teeth in annoyance in her sleep. "You go start it then." She lazily pointed in the direction of the bathroom.
"Okay, fine. Suguru I'll be right back." Satoru lightly pushed her up out of his arms and forced her to sit up for a couple seconds. With the lack of strength she had, she leaned over and crashed into Suguru' chest, making herself right at home.
He looked down at her and smiled, he knew she was safe here and that her bath might help her ease whatever pain she was in. He couldn't help but give credit to Satoru, he didn't always make the best decisions, but he knew how to look after Rintaro and make sure she was always okay. Even in her most depressed days, Satoru always found the time to make sure she was kept clean and fed, even if he was tired and worn out from a mission himself.
"Alright Rin, come check the water." She yawned and stretched her arms as she prepared herself to stand. Suguru momentarily pulled her back against his chest and held her in his embrace.
"Hey, I'll see you in the morning Rintaro, goodnight." He kissed the back of her head, inhaling as much of her scent as he could. He lingered as long as he possibly could, never wanting to let go. Until, the bathroom door jolted open and Rintaro quickly stood to her feet, dragging them as she trudged to the bathroom.
"Just check and see if it's good, if not you can adjust it." Satoru looked down at her as she walked past him, their shoulders nudged and she filed to react or apologize. She had never acted this way with Satoru before me he wasn't entirely sure how to take it. She would always thank him or apologize for every little thing.
Even so, hadn't seen her lookso worn out since the day he helped her to escape. He rubbed his temples as he sighed, "I know you're tired, just let me know when you're in and I'll come wash your hair."
Satoru knew if there was anything in this world to soothe her and take her out of her daze, it would be a nice hair wash brought to her by her twin himself. Instead, she slammed the door behind her and didn't reply. "Or not." He shook his head, his fluffy white hair moving with him.
Rintaro leaned against the door and deeply stared at herself in the mirror; the reflection of herself became foreign to her the longer she looked. Several minutes later, she finally brushed it off and began to undress. Her shirt came off last as it required a whole lot of mental preparation.
She lightly pulled it up, and unsurprisingly it grazed her back and there came that pain again. She winced quietly and turned sideways to look at whatever caused her shoulder blade to hurt so bad.
She squinted at the shallow cut that adorned her back. It was purple and was several inches long, almost matching the length of her shoulder blade. Veins spread from the minor, she traced them with her eyes, watching as every vein reached as far as the side of her rib cage. A gasp escaped her lips before she dove for a nearby towel, shielding her eyes from the progression of the cut in the mirror.
"Rin... are you okay?" Satoru asked from the other side of the door. His worry peaked when he heard her knock into a couple things and gasp several times. She immediately palmed her mouth shut, her panic increasing.
"Yeah, I'm okay, I just tripped on the rug." She shut her eyes closed, thinking this would convince him if she pretended she didn't exist. He lacked a response, leaving her in the clear to move again.
She quickly threw the towel on the floor and jumped out of the view of the mirror, scared at what the cut was and why it was spreading. Satoru absolutely could not know about this, he would panic and demand everyone to look at it while trying to assess what was going on with her.
Rintaro first dipped her toe into the water, checking the temperature. She found it satisfying and tip toed the rest of her body into the tub, before burying herself beneath the bubbles. She became scared to look at her own body, the vision of watching the veins spread across her chest clouded her mind.
"You know Toru, I'm okay with doing this myself." Satoru sighed on the other side of the door, he had waited at the foot of the door this entire time. But, he officially knew something was wrong. And it didn't help that his shoulder blade was killing him. Yet, he felt safe blaming it on overexerting himself in the days battles.