"Are you serious?"
"This is really serious! I'm telling you, I have a bad feeling about this mission!" Answered the third year as she had her phone seemingly glued to her right ear as she spoke to Gojo through her phone with a little bit of panic clear in her tone. When she realized that she had been separated from her junior, the first thing she did was to search for her phone, pray that she will have even a little bit of signal, sighing in reassurance seeing that she had in fact a little bit of signal. She dialed the number of someone she knew she could trust for this kind of thing: Satoru Gojo, as surprising as it sounded. She trusted him with her life, not because he was the strongest or for some ridiculous reasons, but more because he was such a good teacher with who she shared the same ideal about the jujutsu world. He was more than a teacher, he was a dear friend.
"What happened again?" Asked the older sorcerer, not totally getting the situation Misaki was in as she spoke as fast as a Formula 1, only getting a few words of what she quickly stammered through the phone. It wasn't usual for her to call in such a hurry on a mission. The last time she acted that way, she almost died in her mission. Gojo had fortunately arrived just on time that day.
"Me and Leoni were walking and then the next second, I can't see him anymore!" She tried to explain from the best of her capacity, panic building up in her body as the bad feeling she had only kept on growing more by the second, all of this weight crushing her stomach uncomfortably and the itchy feeling at the end of her throat was in the way of the air passing by her nose and mouth, making it slightly difficult to breathe. It was the first time in her life that she felt this broad feeling of death. She could almost feel the breath of the grim reaper on her neck as it hugged her like an old friend with its arms, the sharp scythe in its hands grazing her neck dangerously.
Nothing had happened and yet, she knew that the moment her and Leoni had entered the mansion, the both of them would die in it, joining the souls of the others that has been killed in this cursed house coming straight out of a horror movie.
"Where is this mansion?" Misaki sighed in relief as she was now assured that Gojo would come soon enough, to help them with this calamity of a mission they have been given. She leaned against a wall of the thin hallways, breathing out of relief before answering her teacher.
"The mansion is-" She let out a gasp of shock as she couldn't feel the hard surface of the wall on her back. She turned her head over her shoulder, only for her eyes to be met with a void of nothing. She screamed in horror at the sight, trying not to fall into the pit of darkness by gripping the wooden floor, only for her hand to slip, her fingertip burning from the wood sliding harshly under her fingers. She fell into nothingness as the only thing that she could hear was her teacher shouting her name in concern from her cellphone, his voice fading into a whisper until she couldn't hear him anymore, the only thing grazing her ears being the sound of the wind passing by her ears, the sound so loud that she couldn't even hear her thoughts anymore.
She never should have stepped a foot inside that mansion.
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He couldn't believe that in the blink of an eye, Misaki had the time to disappear from his sight, not even knowing how she disappeared or how she managed to get away from his eye range when there were no windows or doors. They were almost squished in between the two walls making the hallways they were walking in for long minutes, hopping to see a door leading to a room where they could move freely or a window that could be opened so they could breathe some fresh air instead of the dusty atmosphere in the house. The house, even if it hadn't kept its original form, still had all the traits of an ancient house. The smell, the look, the vibe, the history that the structure was hiding,...
This house, in particular, had quite the history for itself. He would lie if he told you that he wasn't scared to be the next name on the long list of dead corpses this house kept. If this whole story is false, then the one who created it has a lot of creativity. And they might also be in need of a therapist, in Leoni's opinion.
He also needed to remember that there was a curse in the house with the two young sorcerers. They couldn't tell what grade was the curse as they had difficulty to even feel its presence. They first thought that it was because it was only a low-graded curse, but they quickly wiped off this thought as they remembered that for almost two hundred years, this house had been the target of fear of an entire region. Maybe a sorcerer had once come here to exorcise another curse, but from what they'd been told, no sorcerer has been there yet, making them the first sorcerers to step a foot in this cursed mansion. He didn't know how could a spot like that just go unnoticed by the jujutsu world for almost two hundred years, but it was surprising. Usually, these types of emplacements are the first ones to be noticed in their young years of being targeted by all the negative emotions of the local folks, so it was a mystery for everyone how this mansion was invisible from the jujutsu community.
Nothing is flawless, was Leoni's thought.
As he took his next step, he didn't expect for the floor to totally disappear, letting him fall into a wide void of nothingness. He tried to get a grip of something, but nothing. His fingers went through air as he fell more and more into the pit of darkness, not knowing what would happen from there. Did the same thing happen to Misaki? Was this how she disappeared? Only thing he hoped was that at the end of this infinite void would be Misaki and not death. But he knew that only the future knew of what was waiting for him.
Slowly, he lost his consciousness, even if he didn't want to, his body didn't obey his brain. As if he wasn't the one in control of his own body as strange as it sounded. He could only frown in frustration as he fell unconscious, not being able to fight back anymore.
Though, his little nap didn't last long. Or did it? He didn't know. He was in a different place than before. The room was dark, the only source of light coming from a faint light coming from the seemingly endless ceiling. the place was wide with a lot of open space with only four walls at the ends of the room. But even with all this space, he could smell a restrained and disgusting mix of chemicals and blood, the two smells blending into each other like oil and water, the foul mix burning his nose and the back of his throat painfully every time he would breathe in, coughing a few times as he tried his best to adjust his nose to the olid smell. If death had an odor, it would be this putrid fusion of synthetic and gore that lingered too long in the air.
Once his eyes had adjusted to the darkness and his nose had somewhat gotten used to the smell of a rotting corpse, he wiped the whole room with narrowed eyes, trying to see if he was alone in this weird room. What was even this place? It was immense, almost making anyone in there wonder if there was an end to it. But thinking logically, he would say that this was the work of a curse. What else could it be? So he had no choice but to exorcise the curse responsible for whatever that was.
Suddenly, his eyes landed on the figure of something, or rather someone. From afar, it looked like a pile of trash scattered all around the floor. It was still difficult to see clearly with this bad lightning, so he couldn't tell what exactly that was unless he went nearer the figure. On his guard, he took out his katana from its scabbard, slowly making his way towards the weird form laying on the concrete ground, his footsteps echoing against the walls of the room as he got closer and closer to the unknown figure. He brutally stopped on his path when he recognized the figure of his friend lying unconscious and beaten up on the cold concrete, Misaki's breathing motion weak and frail.
"Misaki!" He ran as fast as he could manage to towards the third year, fear and concern taking over his body as the second he had recognized the frail form of his dear friend, nothing else mattered.
As he ran towards the girl, the culprit of this insane circus showed itself and didn't waste a second before sending an attack towards the swordsman who narrowly avoided the cursed technique of the curse by jumping away. His head quickly turned towards the provenance of the attack, his dark blue eyes sinking in anger as they landed on the form of the curse looking slightly like a human. The creature brought a deformed hand to its mouth, cackling loudly into its palm with its long black hair hiding the eyes of the curse. The curse looked like a strange mix of a centipede, a spider, and a human. It was disgusting the young sorcerers to see such things.
And there began their long exchanges, Leoni twirling around with his sword slashing everything that would get in his way along with the young sorcerer sending punches and kicks with his body covered with his cursed energy. The curse of course didn't let the sorcerer attack without doing anything in return and sent repeatedly attacks of its cursed technique, some hitting the young jujutsu sorcerer directly while some could still be avoided by the now beaten up sorcerer who still kept on fighting with the spiritual creature. He fought with everything he had, mixing hand-to-hand combat with his swordsmanship as well as he could, managing to hit the curse many times. But as soon as he would get a hit on the curse, the creature would send back an attack that would most definitely directly hit him, sending him flying several feet away before rolling on the ground and landing back on his feet as he kept on sliding from the momentum of the attack for a moment before stopping on his track, panting loudly before spitting out a mix of saliva and blood from his mouth as he dashed once again towards the curse, dancing the same dance again and again without mercy, blood and sweat covering their dance floor as the noise of slashing, grunting, crashing and cackling accompanied the both of them into their deadly waltz.
But this dangerous waltz needed to take an end once and for all. Both dancers knew of this fact as more the time would pass and more the fight would be one-sided, the one leading this waltz being the curse, sending attack after attack, the young sorcerer following reluctantly the flow this dance took. Seemingly, more he would try to fight back and more he would take directly the attacks of the curse, his sword being at that point almost useless, the blade broken, leaving only a couple of inches to the sharp blade. He was sure of it, he would die here. He would fail to protect his friend and fail to exorcise the curse. Both him and Misaki would die in this stinky place that still smelled like expired chemicals and blood. He was sure the smell was from the curse. just from its looks, someone could smell the foul odor that smelled like the deepest point of hell. He didn't want Misaki and him to die somewhere that would smell so bad from a curse that looked even more disgusting than the smell itself. What a pitiful end, truly. He thought that he had grown so much, but in reality, he was still in the same place, not strong enough to change his future. Always being a slave of his future.
He was on the ground, panting heavily as he tried to take back his breath, searching for a little bit of energy left in his body to continue to fight. The curse laughed mockingly behind its hand, enjoying the sight of a human suffering by the results of its action. It approached the sorcerer, ready to give death to its opponent with the next blow. But what interrupted its action was the melody of an electric guitar, sending flying the curse as the musician continued to strum the notes of a rock song that radiated power. There she was, Misaki Hanaken standing tall and mighty, blood dripping from her face stained with the same liquid and sweat, her usual messy haircut messier than ever, her eyes glaring at the curse that she send flying, frustration swirling in her eyes with passion.
"Leoni! Get up, we still have to exorcise this mother fucker!" Shouted the third year to her junior who was starting to get back up from the ground, holding firmly what was left of his sword as he took a fighting stance, ready to exorcise the curse. The two of them dashed towards the curse, the two sorcerers avoiding the long limbs of the creature as they made their way towards the body of the curse, Leoni using his sword and Misaki using her technique. Leoni glanced at Misaki as she got thrown away by the curse, the sight almost making him run towards the third year, but a voice stopped him.
"Forget about me and exorcise it!" Even if his brain disagreed with the order he had been given, his body followed her words and he continued his way towards the body of the curse, slashing its limbs that would get in the way as he tried to find a way to exorcise the curse.
'I have to find something, quick! Think! Think for fuck sake!...'
At this precise moment, never in his life has Leoni been so close to death. He was wounded, exhausted, and relied on the adrenaline to fight, knowing that without it, he would presently still be lying on the ground, but this time unconscious. He was also aware that soon enough, the effects of adrenaline would sooner or later wear off. Nothing was infinite, after all. And that is with the accumulation of fear, stress, and his dangerous proximity to death that his technique finally decided to show itself. The second he felt it, it felt strange and uncomfortable, but not even a second later, it was like second nature. All he had to do was to let his body act on its own.
"Cursed technique, first version: Hinokami"
In the blink of an eye, Leoni was out of sight from the curse. The curse kept looking everywhere in panic, not understanding what just happened. Only a second ago, the young sorcerer had difficulty to even move around and now, he had disappeared from its sight, only leaving a trail of fire behind him. Next thing the curse know, the sorcerer is right in front of its face, staring into the curse's eyes for the first time as the first year slashed the neck of the curse with what was left of his blade, his blade leaving a burning trail of golden flames behind as everything around them started to crumble along with the curse. The concrete walls crumbled down to show the peaceful and calm garden of the cursed mansion, the grey sky telling the two sorcerers that they had finished their mission. The disgusting smell disappeared to be replaced with the one of the upcoming rain, the soft smell washing his nose from the previous odor. There was no wind outside, to Leoni's disappointment and the sun was hidden by the thick grey clouds in the sky, not different from the place where they were in before. But even so, seeing the outside again seemed like a dream. He seriously thought his life was about to reach its end this time.
"Misaki! We did it!" Cheered Leoni as he laughed in joy, spreading his arms wide as he stared at the angry sky above him, dropping his broken sword, the weapon hitting the pebbles under them with a small clang. After a few seconds of cheering loudly, he looked around him, trying to find his friend in the beautiful garden. His smile widened as he saw her, standing up with her guitar scattered not so far away on the ground.
"Misaki! We..." His voice fade to silence as he watched Misaki spin around to face him, her upper body displaying a large slash wound, going to her left shoulder to her right hip, her bloodied hands and arms trying desperately to stop the bleeding, but to no avail, as more blood kept pouring out of the wound, painting red the pebbles they were standing on. Leoni watched in horror the state of his friend, the color fading from his face at the amount of blood Misaki was losing.
"L-Leoni..." She tried to take a step forward, only for her to fall to the ground, her junior immediately at her side, his knees on the ground, not feeling the pain coming from his wounds as the panic took over his body, not being able to think straight anymore. His eyes looked at the bloody form of his friend, a whimper coming out of his mouth as he noticed that the wound on her body was deep enough to take her organs out of her. He felt nauseous just at the thought of her organs spilling out of her body, but he quickly erased those thoughts as he pressed his palms on her wound, glancing in horror at the pool of blood that started to take form under them, Misaki's uniform already completely soaked from the blood. Leoni's vision started to blur as he let his tears flow out of his eyes, loud sobs coming from his throat as he was watching the life disappear from his friend's body.
"Le-Leoni..." She started, her voice weak as she coughed once more blood, making it harder to breathe more the seconds would pass.
"Do you think... I'll survive?" Was her question as she kept her eyes on the grey clouds in the sky with the loud sobs of her junior in the background, his hands he kept on her stomach as a desperate attempt being something she couldn't feel any more as everything became numb. She couldn't feel the painful pebbles under her head that would itch the skin of her head uncomfortably nor the excruciating pain she felt on her upper body. Every feeling was gone, being replaced with extreme cold, her body softly shaking from the coldness she felt. Even if she was almost swimming in a pool of her own warm blood, she couldn't help but be cold. As cold as Antarctica.
The first year gulped loudly, looking at Misaki's eyes who started to become lifeless, like the eyes of an old porcelain doll in those creepy stores that nobody would go into. He pressed harder on her wound as if it would change something. He was aware that it would do nothing to help his dying friend. He contained in a sob, trying to answer her answer without becoming a sobbing mess, but it was hard. Even if he had witnessed death before, watching his mother's life fade into nothingness almost a year ago, watching someone that used to be so lively lose their life, being at their side into their last moment, it was the same as if he was going through this experience for the first time, a sobbing mess who couldn't help but whimper pitifully at the sight of his loved ones slowly transforming themself into a lifeless corpse.
"I-I don't know..." He whimpered honestly, clutching her soaked uniform in his hands. He was scared, scared to lose her, his friend. Why did she have to die? It was unfair. Misaki never did anything wrong, she was nothing but a good person. Why, out of all people, did she have to die? She deserved to live a long and happy life with a peaceful death. She didn't deserve this death. She didn't deserve to die, dirtied by her own blood in which she rested in. It was disgusting. Unfair.
Why couldn't he swap places with her?
The last thing Misaki felt before dying, was the first small droplet of rain on her cheek, the cold water prickling her skin not bothering her as she took her last breath with her friend at her side.
The rain only kept on pouring down on them, the pattering of the rain choking the heart-wrenching sob of the sorcerer at the side of the dead body of Misaki Hanaken, a jujutsu sorcerer studying at Tokyo Metropolitan Curse Technical College.
A great person she was indeed.
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This chapter is so long good lord. Usually, I write around 2200 words in a chapter, but this one is 3600 words 😨. I hope it didn't bothered anyone. I also didn't expect for this chapter to be so long.
Let's talk about the elephant in the room: Misaki is dead!🫢 I didn't want to kill her, but Leoni needs some character development, you know? And I had planed and killing her even before publishing the first chapter. All of the plot-or a majority of it- has already been planed so, prepare yourselves y'all.
This is the end of a period! Next chapter, Leoni will be in his second year and soon enough, y'all will meet another character that will be at the side of Leoni. It won't be a Misaki 2, don't worry everything will be different. I'm not telling anything else.
I hoped you liked the chapter! Feel free to comment or leave a vote! 💗 Also, thank you for 200 reads! 🤗 Let's hope we can make it to 300! 🕺🏼
Thank you for reading! 💗 Stay safe. 💞
-WALTZZ_
2023-01-21