WORD COUNT: 4355 words
"DO YOU THINK I SHOULD MAKE THE BASS LINE SOUND LIKE THIS... OR LIKE THIS?" Thumpy bass notes floated through the air as [Name]'s question lingered alongside the upbeat music.
Megumi hummed in thought, considering his genuine opinion on [Name]'s music. He swiveled around in [Name]'s rolling chair to face her. She laid on her back sprawled across her dorm room bed with the bass resting across her chest, her hair messily framing her face. [Name] pivoted her head in Megumi's direction and anticipated his answer.
"I'm waitinggg," she sing-songed as she continued to pluck random tunes on the instrument. The thudding was soft as the amp resting beside the bed frame was turned down pretty low. The last time [Name] had the volume up any higher Maki stormed into [Name]'s dorm and fully fledged wrestled her until she was stuck in an intense headlock. [Name] still remembers the bruise the girl left on her neck that lasted well over a week.
Megumi rolled his eyes at [Name]'s lack of patience while sighing and idly rocking himself from left to right. "The... first one. It sounds more... upbeat jazz? While the other one is slow jazz." Megumi raised his eyebrow at [Name] waiting for her approval.
[Name]'s eyes shifted from Megumi's eyes to the ceiling where a few glow-in-the-dark stickers speckled across. The sight of them brought back the memory where Megumi and her moved into the dorms for the first time. Gojo gave his two favorite students gag gifts, which was some random anime cat-girl figurine for Megumi and the stickers for [Name]. It was a fond memory. [Name]'s gaze fell onto her desk where Megumi's anime cat-girl figure sat, there was no world where he'd have that in his room. Luckily, [Name] thought it was funny.
"I agree. You have a good ear, Megumi. You should let me-"
"You are not teaching me an instrument, you know I'm not musically proficient whatsoever," Megumi grumbled as he interrupted his friend. She could only sigh before returning her attention back to bass fiddling while Megumi went back to playing on his phone.
[Name]'s humming along with her soft bass strumming relaxed Megumi as he continued his random internet scrolling. The increased quality time between him and [Name] was a plus to joining Jujutsu High as beforehand [Name]'s family constantly beat her down with training, practice, and whatever nonsense they deemed needed for her to be the best sorcerer the Utashiro clan had seen.
But just as Megumi started to fully bask in him and [Name]'s time spent together, his phone frantically vibrated. He groaned at the caller ID, causing [Name] to perk up from her laying position. Megumi answered the call, reluctantly, putting it to his ear.
"What do you w-"
"MEGUMIIII!"
[Name]'s curiosity was fulfilled. She smirked at Megumi teasingly when she noticed his immediate discomfort with Gojo's obnoxious volume across the phone before returning to her comfy position on the bed. Megumi scoffed at [Name].
"What do you want?" Megumi repeated dramatically, hopefully getting across how annoying and pest-like Gojo was to him. Gojo didn't seem to care as he continued talking extremely upbeat and obnoxious.
"I have a mission for you and [Name]! I need you two to retrieve a cursed object and it's very important you bring this back, kay? Okayyy, bye!"
Before Megumi could even bark back any degrading words to Gojo, the special grade sorcerer effectively ended the call, leaving him even more ticked off. [Name], listening in to the whole conversation, sat upright on her bed with her feet dangling over the edge. She flicked off all the power switches on her bass and amp before placing the electrical instrument back into its case beside her.
"That shouldn't be so hard, right? Wham-bam-thank-you
-ma'am kind of deal?" [Name] surmised to Megumi while standing up from the bed and stretching her aching arms.
Megumi tilted his head at his friend's odd wording but nonetheless replied, "I suppose. He texted me some other stuff about it being at some school in Sendai."
[Name]'s lit up at the city's name. She skipped over to Megumi, still sat in the chair, and gently shook his shoulders in excitement.
"That's pretty far, do you think we'll be able to look at the shopping areas? Or maybe even the historical sites? We could make this boring mission into a fun trip, you know," [Name] blabbered. Her sheltered life became apparent through her numerous ideas for a trip to a city that wasn't even that interesting, at least to Megumi. He gave the girl a gentle smile, gingerly placing one of his hands on hers.
"Its not as fun as you think it is," he bluntly put while watching [Name]'s face morph into disappointment. She shrugged her shoulders and walked away from him, grabbing her phone off her desk in the midst of it.
"Whatever, it'll still be fun. Is Ijichi already here?" [Name] peered back to Megumi in which he nodded.
"Let's get going. It shouldn't take us that long."
"Mhm, wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am!"
Unfortunately, the mission did take very long and was very much not very wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am.
♫⋆｡♪ ₊˚♬ ﾟ.
Slamming the door open and close to the Stevenson screen near the school multiple times did not seem to bring back the cursed object, [Name] learned.
"What? But wasn't it just here?" [Name] placed a firm hand on her hip as she glanced around the box some more, convinced it maybe just... fell onto the ground.
Megumi groaned after giving up his own personal search for the missing cursed object. He took initiative to call Gojo to update him on their unfortunate findings.
"Maybe it took a nighttime stroll!" [Name] picked up Gojo's joke through Megumi's phone. Unamused, Megumi side eyed [Name].
The girl shrugged her shoulders with a cheeky grin, adding fuel to the fire by commenting, "He could be on to something."
Megumi's deep blue eyes rolled in annoyance, unthankful to both of the closest people in his life.
"I'm going to punch you," Megumi grunted out now that his attention was back on Gojo, unwillingly.
"Well, no going home until it's recovered. BYE [NICK NAME]!" Gojo squealed before cutting off the call. Megumi froze. After all these years he still couldn't comprehend how childish his teacher/guardian really was.
[Name] smiled at the frustrated sight of Megumi as she approached him. A soft grin rested on her face as she patted Megumi's bicep.
"It's hard being his favorite, Megumi."
"I'm going to punch both of you."
♫⋆｡♪ ₊˚♬ ﾟ.
[Name]'s eyes followed the path of the curse as it swam through the earth near hers and Megumi's feet. It was day two of hunting for the cursed object, and to no avail. The two teens had yet to find it, deeply frustrating Megumi.
[Name] uncomfortably fiddled with her disguise, a normal school uniform, wishing she could wear her jujutsu uniform fit to her liking. Megumi didn't seem to care for his disguise as it was needed to blend into the school's environment.
The fish-like curse crawled its way up a metal pole supporting the metal cage of the rugby field. [Name] scrunched her nose up, displeased at the curse's disgusting gurgling and appearance.
"Is there a dead body near by?" Megumi broke the silence with his question. His gaze was set on the fugly curse as it continued its moaning and groaning.
"Looks like a grade two... Lord, it's ugly," [Name] noted as she shielded her eyes against the sun to get a better look at the deemed ugly curse.
Megumi nodded in agreement, "Probably due to the influence of the cursed object."
Determining that staring at the curse any longer would be nothing but helpful, the two first years progressed further along the school's perimeters. Ahead was another athletic field where numerous students flooded the area, creating curiosity to stir within [Name] and Megumi.
The closer the two neared the field, the louder the voices of the students grew. A chant could be heard echoing across the field, the name Yuji Itadori.
[Name] squinted her eyes and ahead the scene of a boy, with cute pink hair [Name] noted, and a coach was portrayed. The coach seemed to be challenging the boy, presumably Yuji Itadori, to a throwing competition.
Megumi, jointly intrigued by the scene, entered the field with [Name] trailing behind. He crossed in arms as his gaze focused on Itadori while he grabbed a ball, ready to throw.
[Name] soon drifted her attention away from the pink haired boy to focus on the students surrounding the field. The abundance of noise was irritating her sensitive ears as the student body cheered and whistled, eager for Itadori's throw. 'I left my earplugs in my uniform...' the girl bashfully thought to herself.
Her sensitive ears perked when an ear-piercing metal crash echoed from the side of the field where Itadori and the coach stood. The boy had thrown an impressive throw of around 30 meters, making his coach's throw of 13 look pathetic in comparison.
From afar, Itadori had noticed the two mysterious strangers observing him and his impressive throw. Firstly, he thought their attentive staring was odd, but when he analyzed [Name]'s face he couldn't help but take note of her attractiveness. He shook his head at the thought when he took note of her closeness to Megumi, assuming they had some type of pre-established relationship.
"He pulled off that shot without using any cursed energy. I wonder if he's like Zenin," Megumi muttered to [Name] as he determined they had seen enough and began sauntering off the field. [Name] butted her elbow against Megumi's and clicked her tongue, mumbling something along the lines of respecting Maki's wishes and referring to her by her first name.
Nearly exiting the field, the two jujutsu sorcerers suddenly felt an immense wave of cursed energy overwhelm their senses as a flash of pink hair flew by. [Name] and Megumi seemed to have found the culprit of the missing cursed object.
Megumi stuck his hand out towards Itadori, exclaiming, "Hey! Hold it!" which seemed to encourage Itadori to run even faster.
"How is he even that fast?" [Name] wondered in amazement.
"I heard he could run the 50 meter in 3 seconds," a student noted as another said back, "Faster than my car!"
All Megumi and [Name] could do as a reaction to this information was look at each other with agape mouths and saucers for eyes.
♫⋆｡♪ ₊˚♬ ﾟ.
Deciding it was smarter to just follow the energy left behind from the cursed object rather than chase after Itadori, Megumi and [name] found themselves at a hospital.
"Bro, what if he has cancer," [Name] abruptly whispered, candy shoved into her mouth from one of the vending machines, as they walked down the winding hallways of the hospital. Megumi gave his childhood friend a 'are you fucking stupid?' look, to which [Name] raised her arms in a defensive way, exclaiming, "Hey! You never know!" Megumi scoffed at her before flicking her forehead and stealing some candy from her hand.
Eventually, the two had found Itadori, who was signing papers at a nurse's desk. Itadori seemed to notice the presence of these two strangers as he whipped his head around. Megumi and [Name] stood in the shadows, which [Name] could only think looked absolutely stupid and a little dramatic.
"Yuji Itadori?" Megumi called out. Itadori furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "I'm Fushigoro and this is Utashiro, we're from Jujutsu High. We'd like to have a word with you, now," he spoke in an intimidating tone of voice. [Name] stood in silence, usually relying on Megumi to do the talking in situations like this.
"Umm, I'm in mourning right now," Itadori confessed as him, Megumi, and [Name] now stood in a new room with privacy. [Name] gave Itadori a sympathetic expression, genuinely caring for his situation at the moment, but Megumi approached him in a less emotionally involved way.
"I understand, but this can't wait," Megumi started with a flat voice, "the cursed object you posses is very dangerous. I need you to hand it over."
Itadori tilted his head in confusion, "Cursed object?" he queried. Megumi unlocked his phone to the photo of the cursed object Gojo had sent to him earlier. Itadori took a step towards Megumi's phone, recognizing it. "Oh, yeah, that. Yeah, I found that," Itadori admitted, looking up at Megumi whose face was frozen in a glare. "I didn't think much of it, but my friends were totally into it. What's dangerous about it?" Itadori inquired, not affected by Megumi's slightly terrifying expression. [Name] sighed at Megumi's 'bad cop' behavior as she leaned against the couch right next to Itadori as he did the same exact thing.
"Every year there are more than 10,000 unexplained deaths and missing persons in Japan, and most of those are the result of curses," Megumi explained in his long monologue.
"From curses?" Itadori asked, now laying his entire body along the couch. He looked up at [Name] with a bewildered expression. She shrugged her shoulders, it was a lot to take in. Itadori swiftly swiveled his head back to Megumi, hoping the slight twinge of blush on his face wasn't evident. He couldn't help it if he thought [Name]'s pretty eyes were intimidating as they glanced down on him.
"I don't care if you believe in them or not, the is fact is they exist. Just listen," Megumi articulated before giving a brief but informative speech about curses and why they stick around places like schools. Itadori intently listened, trying his best to understand while [Name] aimlessly wandered around the room, bored of the conversation.
When Itadori threw the box that held the special grade curse to Megumi, [Name] took that as her cue to make her way back over to her partner. Megumi caught the box with ease and opened it with [Name] lightly resting her head against his arm to get a better look at the cursed object... that wasn't there.
"It's empty? We've just been following a trace of energy left by the object?" Megumi voice held tension and he stormed over to Itadori, unintentionally pushing [name] off him with force. She stumbled back a little before following Megumi, unsure of what he'd do to Itadori.
With a hand grasping Itadori's yellow hoodie, Megumi growled out, "Where is it?" Itadori furrowed his eyebrows at Megumi as he shook off his hand.
"Knock it off! My friends were planning to... uhh..." Itadori trailed off.
"To do what?" Megumi's unnerving voice bellowed. [Name] shadowed behind him, also on edge.
"Well," Itadori's eyes darted between [Name] and Megumi, "they were saying let's open it up to see what's inside it tonight, why? Is that bad?"
"There's no way," [Name] groaned as she ran a hand through her locks in frustration. Itadori cocked his head to the side, still not understanding the extent of the situation.
Megumi backed up, his breathing uneven. [Name] placed a hand against Megumi's back to stabilize him and prevent him from falling into her.
Megumi gave [Name] an appreciative look for her comfort and peered back at Itadori. "It's way worse than bad," Megumi paused before continuing, "Your friends... are going to die."
♫⋆｡♪ ₊˚♬ ﾟ.
The duo now turned trio had made a mad dash towards Itadori's school after Megumi relayed the important fact that Itadori's friends were going to die. [Name] was fully capable of running long distances, but the candy she had devoured in the hospital was not agreeing with the sudden marathon.
"I'm gonna hurl, bro," [Name] huffed out to Megumi who barely gave her a glance. He gave her a swift pat to the back.
"Are talismans that easy to open up?" Itadori questioned, the running not affecting him in any way whatsoever.
"No, it's impossible for those without cursed energy, normally," Megumi replied, giving [Name] the occasional peep to make sure she wasn't actively throwing up.
Abruptly, Itadori changed directions, shouting, "There's a shortcut this way!" He then led the three towards the school. As Itadori reached the entrance of the school he quickly found himself head first into an invisible barrier, not allowing him inside.
"Woah, what is this pressure?" Itadori wondered as he observed dark purple energy sprouting from the school. Megumi placed his hand over Itadori's shoulder, moving past him.
"We'll handle this," Megumi said as he leaped over the fence, [Name] trailing close behind.
She turned her head towards Itadori, giving him a cheesy grin. "Your friends will be okay, stay there!"
Itadori gave [Name] a nervous smile back, watching her swiftly run towards Megumi to catch up. He sighed as his fingers danced on top of his flushed cheeks, reminiscing [Name]'s smile.
[Name], now a survivor of her tummy ache, now ran slightly ahead of Megumi due to her impressive speed. Together, they quickly scaled up the stairs and towards the pinpoint of cursed energy.
"I've never heard of an occult club before, did our middle school have one?" [Name] started up conversation, referencing Itadori's school club, as the distance between the cursed energy and her and Megumi shortened.
"Not that I know of," Megumi replied, his chest slightly heaving.
"Hmm, weird."
"You can't say shit, you were in the tree humper club."
"Tree humper?! You are sick. What's so wrong with wanting to save the planet?"
Unfortunately, [Name] and Megumi's entertaining conversation was cut short as a large blob-like curse appeared with swinging attacks. Megumi in an instant took over as he readied his hands to summon his demon dogs.
The black and white pair of dogs morphed into existence, on guard to attack, but moments later a familiar shade of pink hair blasted through the school's windows.
"Itadori?!" Megumi and [Name] both exclaimed. The two first year's gazes fell on Itadori who was now actively fighting the huge curse in front of them. Itadori landed a solid blow on the curse, grabbing hold of both of his unconscious friends held captive within it.
"So this is a curse. Not what I was expecting." Itadori watched as the curse was quickly obliterated by Megumi's cursed technique. His demon dogs ran towards the corpse. [Name] followed the demon dogs, petting them as they quickly noticed one of their favorite people in front of them. They both wagged their tails and licked at [Name] before turning their attention on the curse to gnaw and chew at it.
"I should ask what you're doing here, but good job," Megumi subtly complimented, giving [Name] a soft glance at the cute scene between her and his demon dogs.
[Name] gave the dogs a last few scratches before shuffling over to Itadori and Megumi. "You're fucking crazy, dude," she pointed out as Itadori gave her a wavering grin.
"You're pretty smug, aren't cha' Megumi?" Itadori said, still cradling his unconscious friend. "Just curious, what are those things munching on the curse?" the pink haired boy questioned, his gaze on Megumi's demon dogs.
"My shikigami- wait, you can see them?" Megumi looked surprised, casting a glance towards [Name] who seemed equally as surprised. Though, she wondered what she looked like if Itadori couldn't she the dogs she was loving up on. "Normally a curse can't be seen, unless you're on the verge of death or special places like this."
Itadori continued to stare at the demon dogs while adding, "Yeah, that makes sense. I've never seen ghosts or weird stuff like this before."
Megumi's surprise evolved into curiosity. "But you're not scared though?" he pressed.
"I was- I mean, for a little while there, but then I thought everybody is gonna die," Itadori explained, causing Megumi and [Name] to both let out a dumb 'huh?'. "So I wanna make sure that the people I know all have a chance at a proper death. Not that I really understand it- woah!" Itadori's kind of sweet speech was interrupted as an object fell out of his friend's pocket while he stood up with her in his arms. Loose bandages cascaded down while Itadori observed the object in his hand.
"This it?" Itadori questioned. It was the cursed object. Megumi replied 'yes' as [Name] leaned in closer at the object.
"Yuck, that nasty," [Name] muttered, Megumi humming in agreement. "It's a miracle that thing didn't eat it. We'd all be fucked." [Name] continued.
"Why would anything eat this? Is it good?" Itadori asked. [Name] stifled a laugh, pondering the same question in her head.
Megumi sighed, "Don't be dense," he grunted, "You eat it to gain stronger cursed energy. Now, hand it over. It's dangerous."
Itadori reached his hand towards Megumi, "Fine, here."
Before Megumi or [Name] could even get the chance to grab it, immense cursed energy pooled from the ceiling above Itadori. Megumi's breath hitched and [Name] took a shaky step back. Megumi then quickly took initiative, pushing both [Name] and Itadori away from the curse as his demon dogs ran towards it.
"Run!"
"Megumi!" [Name] shouted, trying her best to turn her body back to help him, but it was too late. A cloud of dust covered the space between [Name] and Itadori, and the curse and Megumi. The demon dogs growled, taking a protective stance in front of [Name]. The cloud dissipated to reveal the curse with Megumi in its grasp.
[Name] instantly shot up from the ground, preparing to use her cursed technique, but before she could expel it, the curse threw Megumi against the wall, causing him to cough up blood from the impact. [Name] didn't even have a chance to attack the curse or help Megumi as the curse rammed itself into the wall Megumi laid against, blasting into an outside walk way. Dust clouded [Name]'s vision once more, in sighting more panic within her. Megumi was her only concern. She started to dash towards the curse, but Itadori hoisted her up and got them there faster. He jumped on the curse before letting go of [Name] so she could make her way over to Megumi struggling on the floor.
[Name] attempted to help him off the floor, but Megumi pushed her concerned hands away, yelling to Itadori, "You're only chance is to take those two and run for it!"
[Name] furrowed her eyebrows at Megumi and his stubbornness. "[Name], get out of here. Don't worry about me," Megumi mumbled, looking at [Name] with a deep sense of care and affection.
"Are you stupid? And let you get all the credit?" [Name] gave the boy a teasing grin while forcebily lifting him off the ground and into his feet. Megumi huffed and shook his head, leaning his injured self against [Name]'s stronger frame.
"You're in big trouble yourself!" Itadori called back.
"Only a curse can defeat a curse, you cannot defeat this!" Megumi clutched into [Name]'s shoulder in pain and anxiety as he observed Itadori get swung like a ragdoll in the air from the curse.
"Is that your idea of a pep talk? At this rate, we're all gonna die!" Itadori exclaimed, dodging multiple hits from the curse. "If I quit now, I'll be having nightmares for weeks! Besides, I know what I have to do. I'm living with a rotten curse of my own already."
[Name], deciding her silence was enough, yelled, "This is so stupid! Itadori, you can save yourself and your friends! Literally leave!"
She gave an anxious glance to their dark haired friend who was quickly becoming more irritated by Itadori. He glanced back, a silent understanding of her feelings.
Itadori glanced back at [Name], it being a fatal mistake as the curse rammed an appendage into his abdomen, causing him to hack up blood and lose hold of the cursed finger. The finger flew several feet above Itadori who was now trapped by the hands of the curse. Once the finger flew back down, Itadori snatched it with his teeth.
"You idiot!" Megumi ran out of [Name]'s grasp and pushed her back to protect her, but she quickly followed him. [Name] watched as Itadori with the cursed finger in his mouth was soon about to be eaten by the curse. Her head spun thousands of thoughts and feelings all at once. This mission was supposed to be easy. Fuck Gojo.
Itadori released the finger from his jaws and flung it into the air. "There's a way I can save everyone! I just need to have my own cursed energy!" He exclaimed, his eyes following the finger like a predator.
"Itadori you fucking idiot!" [Name] exclaimed as her hands rested on either side of her head in stress while Megumi muttered a quick 'don't do it'. Unfortunately for both of them, Yuji was a fucking idiot.
"DON'T DO IT-"
The finger was gone. And inside Itadori's stomach. Chewed and swallowed. Literally no crumbs.
Megumi and [Name] waited in fear of Itadori's fate. He should die, but there was a one in a million chance the worst possible scenario could happen.
And it happened. Energy bursted from Itadori's body as the curse's arms exploded from the force. It swiftly crawled towards Itadori, about to snap its jaws on him before its body exploded into bits and pieces of flesh.
But this possibly wasn't Itadori's doing. On Itadori's face and body laid tattoo-like markings, black and solid. His nails razor sharp. His frame taller and muscular. Horrific laughter, deep and rugged escaped from the body of Itadori. Megumi and [Name]'s breath hitched as the boy held onto [Name]'s shoulder to keep her near him. This wasn't Itadori at all.
"I knew it! The light feels best in the flesh! Cursed flesh is so boring. So now, where are the people- the women? What a wonderful era to be awakened. Women and children are crawling everywhere like maggots! How marvelous! It'll be a massacre!"
The curse of Ryomen Sukuna had taken over.