05.
a touch of normalcy
Log: July 2018
WEST TOKYO, EISHUU JUVENILE DETENTION CENTER
A POTENTIALLY SPECIAL GRADE CURSED SPIRIT <Name Unknown>
Jujutsu windows confirm a Cursed Womb hovering over the training field at Eishuu Juvenile Detention Center in West Tokyo City. Currently, five inmates are trapped inside the Detention Center Building along with the Cursed Womb. Four students from the Tokyo Prefectural Jujutsu Specialty High School were dispatched to the scene.
Among the four first-years dispatched, two were reported dead.
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Akane has become accustomed to being abandoned.
It has just become a fact that she was forced to come to terms with eventually. At first, it made Akane confused- as a child she would watch how other kids her age laughed more often than she did as they hung out with each other- Akane never even went to a proper school until Gojo practically forced the Amano's to send Akane to Jujutsu Tech. Although her silver-haired teacher claimed to have 'convinced' her mother, Akane knows it's far from what the truth is.
The dual-toned girl also managed to avoid contact with her family for the last few days, ever since Sukuna has made his resurrection known to the jujutsu world in the form of Itadori Yuuji. Her mother has been wanting to 'discuss some matters' with Akane, and for good reason. But Akane is simply not ready for that dreaded conversation with Amano Akito - not when Akane knows that her mother would only state what she already knew, that her stupid sacred string was bound with the same Curse who tore down the Amano's legacy as though the clan was a mere anthill.
Akane doesn't want to have that conversation under any circumstances now, lest she break down in front of her mother and then be criticised for being weak and a shame to the Amano Clan. How is she to face her mother, who trusted her with the Mikazuki Katana? That sword was the sole source of hope the Amano's had for Akane, and Sukuna has snapped it like a twig. Her family knows she's doomed, but they somehow found a loophole by tying another string of fate to Akane- Itadori Yuuji's execution.
The thought of that alone made Akane's blood boil. Who is she kidding? She'd rather kill the remaining members of her clan than strike a blade at Yuuji. Or at anyone, for that matter. But if there's one thing that Akane is absolutely sure about, it is that Yuuji does not deserve this fate at all.
Amidst all this, her mind suddenly wanders to her father who has treated her nothing like a father should a daughter. Ever since the moment that Akane was born, Zenba Hayato looked at her like she was scum. It broke Akane's heart, although she would never admit it. Her father wants nothing more than to kill Akane, she's a monster- a curse- she'll bring more ruination to Amano's than Ryomen Sukuna ever did, mark my words.
Akane hates that a part of her believes that he's right. A part of her always knew that she'll never be able to fulfil the mission that her family entrusted her with, Sukuna's reincarnation was a mere confirmation of her prolonged doubts.
She hates that. She hates herself for that. But she will never let that show. There's nothing worse than being vulnerable.
"Oi, Akane?"
The booming voice of Akane's newest classmates breaks her out of her cycle of thoughts. Akane turns to look at Kugisaki Nobara, studying her features once more as she did so. Nobara has short hair that reaches to her shoulders, whose brown strands look almost orange in the sunlight. When Akane met Nobara for the first time (on the same day that she woke up; Nobara came banging on her door when she realised her only other female classmate has woken up from her three-day nap), her hair reminded Akane of sunset. Akane thought her hair was really pretty and felt a pang of jealousy when she came to the realisation that her hair looks nothing like that. Akane's hair is hideous, it makes her feel hideous.
Nobara is also extremely loud. She regularly teases and makes fun of the two boys in their class, often complaining about how useless they are. Megumi is usually quiet whenever this happens, oftentimes just giving her a look that said shut up, but Yuuji, on the other hand, is very vocal about how much she 'pisses him off'. Akane actually finds their banter quite endearing and can see Nobara and Yuuji become close friends eventually.
Akane would like to think that she too, would end up becoming Nobara's best friend. Honestly, Nobara is the only girl her age that Akane has ever been acquainted with. But seeing as to how... socially unfriendly Akane is, she wouldn't be surprised if Nobara got tired of her.
( It was during times like these that Akane really wanted nothing more than to have had a normal childhood, a normal family, a normal life. )
Nobara swings her arm around Akane's shoulder, which makes the timid girl tense. "Say, do you think your parents named you 'Akane' because of your red thread?"
Akane blinks. What a strange thing to be curious about. "My... thread?"
Nobara blows some air from her mouth, fanning her hand. "I mean, that curse thanks to which you're stuck with that dimwit," Nobara points at Yuuji who wails a 'Hey!' in protest. "The string is red, right? And your name means 'red' too."
Akane can't help the shocked expression that washes over her face. "I never thought of that... I guess so."
Nobara chuckles. "I know, right? I always knew I would make a great detective." She points a thumb to herself, pulling Akane closer to her as she frowns. "My name means 'wild rose', although that makes no sense."
Nobara heaves a sigh of disappointment, but Akane bites her lips in thought. She shakes her head. "No, Kugisaki-san, I think your name fits you perfectly. Although you put on a tough exterior and act brash and wild, I think you're still a beautiful person on the inside who's just afraid of voicing her thoughts, even though you're loud. So you're like a rose, in essence- a thorny exterior, but nevertheless, beautiful on the inside."
Nobara's face is as red as the rose Akane just described and the entire car is silent. All her three classmates are looking at her with wide eyes, except Ijichi who silently drives the students to Eishuu Juvenile Detention Center without any words.
Megumi is the first one to break the silence. "You got all that from a name?"
Yuuji excitedly points to himself. "What about me, Akane-san, what do you think of my name?"
Akane tries not to look surprised at the fact that Yuuji called her by her first name, he did ask her permission for it before, but still, it was strange to hear it, albeit in a good way. She looks at him for a long while, trying to decipher the meaning of his name while she looks at the marks underneath his eyes. It took her a while to notice those and when she asked him about it, he said that it was where Sukuna's extra pair of eyes were. Those marks are basically signs that Sukuna is asleep inside Yuuji. He hasn't popped out yet, at least not in front of Akane.
She dreads that moment and prays that he never awaken.
"Akane-san?" Yuuji breaks her out of her thoughts, pouting at her.
"Sorry, Yuuji... I don't know what your name means."
Yuuji looks shocked for some reason, and Akane assumes it's because she doesn't know the meaning of 'Yuuji', but then realised that he was shocked because she called him Yuuji.
Her cheeks feel hot all of a sudden. Truthfully, it just came out automatically when she went to see Gojo last time, and now it seems like it stuck. Although Yuuji didn't look bothered by it, either.
The pink-haired boy drawls out a long hmmm before looking at the Assistant Principal driving the car, "Do you know what 'Yuuji' means, Ijichi-san?"
"Eh?" Ijichi adjusts his glasses, his eyes still on the road. It's pouring heavily and the windscreen wipers aren't of much help right now. "Shouldn't you be the one knowing that?"
Yuuji scratches his cheek, feigning modesty. "Ah, well. I should go look it up once we finish our mission! There are dictionaries for these things, right?"
"There is the internet." Megumi deadpans, and it somehow lets a chuckle escape Akane. The trio of Akane's classmates look at her wide-eyed again. After all, a smiley Akane is rarer than a blue moon.
Somehow, Amano Akane feels a pinch of normalcy then, however small it was.
That feeling didn't even last an hour.
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Akane can't help but scrunch her nose in disgust the second she steps out of the car in front of the juvenile center. The stench of blood is overwhelming even from a distance and the girl could see the goosebumps form on her skin.
It's not just her either- her classmates and the Assistant Principal look over at the building ominously too. Something violent and blood-chilling has definitely taken place here, and it shouldn't be surprising at all. In the jujutsu world, that's just the way it is. It can't be helped- all the 'casualties' and losses of those innocent lives whom Akane was taught to deal with.
And Akane learnt a long time ago that in this world, it is either kill or be killed- Akane doesn't want to be the second kind.
"Our window has confirmed the existence of a Cursed Womb here approximately three hours ago," Ijichi started explaining, narrowing his eyes at the ominous building. Raindrops disperse on his glasses but he doesn't seem bothered by it. "When the evacuation rate reached ninety per cent, we sealed off the facility upon the evacuation of the scene. Residents within a five hundred meters radius have also been evacuated."
Yuuji raises his hand, a curious expression on his face. "Eh, Ijichi-san, what is a 'window'?"
Right. He's new to all this, Akane tends to forget since he's possessed by the strongest demon and all.
"A window is an authorised combat personnel who can confirm curses by sight," Ijichi replied. "They aren't jujutsu sorcerers, though."
"Ooh, I see..."
"Allow me to continue," Says Ijichi. "Inside Dorm Two of the detention center, there are five prisoners left with the Cursed Womb. If it manages to mutate, we predict that it will transform to a Special Grade Cursed Spirit."
Akane takes a sharp breath and holds it. If it's really to become a Special Grade, why would they send a bunch of fifteen-year-olds to exorcise it?
Her mismatched brows rise in realisation as her eyes move to the pink-haired teenager.
"Special Grade..." Megumi and Nobara say simultaneously, their brows furrowed tensely.
"I still don't get it," Yuuji says, his face showing no signs of apprehension over the impending doom they will meet once they enter the cursed building. "I don't really get all this Special Grade stuff."
The way 'Special Grade stuff' rolls so lightly out of his tongue makes Akane want to smack his head, although she knows that it's not his fault he doesn't know any of this. Maybe it's because how since a very fertile age, (five, to be exact) Akane was lectured endlessly about how she should kill any Special Grade she sees. It's 'practice' for when she finally meets (and kills) the devil her string is tied to. She can't say she's met many Special Grade Cursed Spirits her whole life, though, let alone kill one. She was once almost killed by one, though, and now it looks like she will a second time.
Akane wonders, did the Amano's really expect her to kill Ryomen Sukuna? If anyone told her before all this that he was that Cursed Spirit she was meant to kill, she would have laughed, and Akane is a girl who almost never laughs.
Ijichi proceeds to explain the classes that curses are divided into, in a way that a 'fool can understand', as Ijichi put it. Yuuji enthusiastically nods after every sentence and Akane notices how his face brightens every time he understands something.
"And then, we have the Special Grade Curses- for which you'll probably require rapid carpet bombing."
"Huh?! That's very dangerous!" Yuuji bellows.
"Yeah, no shit." Nobara mutters under her breath.
"Usually, they dispatch Jujutsu Sorcerers with an equal level to the Cursed Spirit-"
"-like Gojo," Akane earnestly adds.
"-In today's case, it would have been someone like him." Megumi explains to a very confused Itadori.
"So... Where is Gojo-sensei, then?" Yuuji asks, looking around as if the silver-haired man would pop up in some grand entrance. That seems like a very Gojo thing to do if Akane is being honest.
"He's on a business trip," Says Megumi.
"Huh?"
"Unfortunately, we're always understaffed in this line of business." Ijichi says, "Sorcerers often have to manage tasks way beyond their capabilities."
"Like us, now." Akane says dryly.
"However, this is an emergency case," Ijichi continues, adjusting his black-rimmed glasses on the bridge of his nose. "' Fighting is strictly forbidden '. If you encounter a Special Grade Cursed Spirit, your only choices are to escape or die."
Megumi and Akane stay silent, already expecting this whereas Nobara and Yuuji gasp. A worried expression is etched onto their faces now, and a pang of sympathy washes over Akane. Unlike her and Megumi, they are new students at Jujutsu Tech. Facing death so early on may not be what they expected.
Ijichi turns away from the building to face the students. "Please heed your fears- don't forget your mission is to confirm and rescue any survivors."
"Please! My son Tadashi is in there!"
They all turn to see a woman trying to get in, but the officials block her. "Please stand back, ma'am! We can't let you through."
"Is my son- is Tadashi alright?"
Probably not. Akane thinks bitterly before turning away from the woman. "Let's go," She says walking towards the building before anyone can protest. The last thing she needs now is to feel the weight of someone else's grief.
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Ijichi has placed a curtain around the detention center as the group of students walked in. Megumi summoned his Divine Dog (whom Nobara and Yuuji seem to unconditionally love) and the white-furred dog guides them inside. The stench of blood only becomes stronger with each step, and something heavy weighs on her. There's blood-curling anxiety gnawing at her, something she can't quite decipher. It feels as though she was being warned by the Gods above— an omen even more powerful than the curse laid on her.
Something will definitely go incorrigibly wrong, Akane can feel it in her bones so intensely that she isn't allowed to even breathe.
"Wait," Megumi says sharply, his eyes widening as he looks up. Akane feels her heart drop when she notices the copper-toned walls around her that seem to reach the sky.
"Huh?" Oblivious as ever, Yuuji blinks. "Isn't this supposed to be a dormitory with two floors?"
"C-calm down!" Nobara scolds him, but her shoulders are tense and her face is scrunched with fear. "This is a duplex building!"
"No, it's not." Akane says, her fists clenching. "This is an Innate Domain created by the curse. We've already walked into its trap."
"Find the door!" Megumi shouts turning towards the direction where they came from. Akane isn't surprised to see zero doors there.
"What?" Yuuji and Nobara gasp.
"The... the door has disappeared!" Yuuji exclaims.
"Why?" Nobara panics, pointing at the door frantically. "Didn't we just enter from there?!"
Yuuji nods like a maniac with each word Nobara wails. "That's right!"
"I just told you. We're trapped in the curse's domain."
"What should we do, oh no!" Yuuji and Nobara then proceed to move in a circle and dance around like they're performing some ritual, chanting what should we do? Akane raises her white brow- they both collectively share the lone brain cell in their heads.
"It will be fine," Megumi snaps them out of their trance. "This dog can remember the sent of the entrance." The snowy dog barks in agreement.
"Oh my!" Nobara and Yuuji go on to pepper the dog with their affection and it shrinks from its wolf-like demeanour to that of a happy puppy, snuggling into the teenagers with its tongue out as its tail wags. Akane has never seen the shikigami so pleased, and she doesn't think Megumi has either.
Megumi proceeds to scold them. Akane just watches in amusement, some of the weight lifted from her chest. The duo somehow makes the situation lighter, something Megumi and Akane never got to experience when it was just them.
She doesn't fail to notice how Megumi softens when Yuuji mentions how their lives will definitely be saved thanks to him.
They proceed into the Innate Domain cautiously, the white shikigami leading the way. No words are shared between the students as move further inside, anticipating danger. A few minutes later they find a body slumped against the wall, the lower half of his body ripped off. Next to him are a pile of bones.
Akane grimaces at the sight.
Something tells her that there is no way they can run without a fight. Ijichi's orders will be broken.
Yuuji runs towards the lifeless body, grimacing at the piles of bones beside him. The curse must have had a good time devouring the poor soul. It irks Akane.
"How terrible..." Nobara mutters.
"I guess it's safe to say that there are three people," Says Megumi, sighing.
"I'm taking this body back." Yuuji suddenly states.
"What?" Nobara asks.
"He is that woman's son."
Tadashi.
Akane widens her eyes. "You can't do that, Yuuji... we just have to leave him here. This is the way things are in this world." A frown falls on her lips and her voice softens. "I'm sorry, Yuuji."
"His face is still recognizable!" Yuuji bellows. "Telling her that her son is dead without showing the body... of course, no mother will accept that!"
Megumi moves to the pink-haired boy and drags him by his hoodie. "We have to confirm the status of the remaining two people," He says, pushing Yuuji away from the body. "So we'll just leave this body here."
Akane clenches her teeth at this, "At least be a little sensitive about it!" She surprises even herself by raising her voice against him, of all people. "We may be jujutsu sorcerers, but that doesn't make us any less human."
Megumi narrows his obsidian eyes at her. "So what? Are you saying we should drag this body with us?"
"Of course not! But-"
"We're taking it back!" Yuuji shouts, his voice is resolute. "The path we came from disappeared! There's no chance of coming back here later!"
Megumi's face scrunches in anger. "I'm not saying we're coming back! I'm saying we're leaving him here!"
Yuuji's face turns pale.
Akane's shoulders tense when they start arguing with each other. There may be a Special Grade Cursed Spirit around, and to argue over a dead body at a time like this...
Nobara shouts at the boys in Akane's stead. "Stop it, you two! What are you two doing? Are you fools? Consider the time and situation-"
A black pool emerges under Nobara and yanks her in.
"Kugisaki-!"
The boys slowly turn to the space where Nobara was standing just a second ago, "...Kugisaki?"
Akane's hand moves to the hilt attached to her uniform out of habit, finding it empty. Her jaw clenches- how is she supposed to fight a Special Grade without her katana? Will she have no choice but to rely on Mind Warping...?
Her mismatched eyes follow where Megumi's head turns, and her breath instantly halts. The Divine Dog is buried in the wall, blood oozing from its eyes.
It's here...
"Amano-!"
Megumi can't complete his sentence because a skeleton-toned being appears out of thin air, right in front of her... staring her down. This is it- the Special Curse. Akane begins to count the seconds that pass because she knows this is how she will die. There's no way to escape, she'll die.
She freezes, she can't move.
From the corner of her eyes, Akane sees red and when she looks at it, she finds the red string. This doesn't make sense, her curse never showed during the day-
She feels like her heart has stopped beating when she realises that the string has split in two- one leading to Yuuji, tied around his finger since Sukuna is his inhabitant.
And the other... to the Special Grade in front of her.