I was in Harajuku with Itadori and Megumi. I sat in the railing while the two boys talked, and Gojo was roaming around the area for snacks like usual. We were waiting for our last female student to arrive.
"Hey Kana, why'd you dye your hair white?" Itadori curiously asked, glancing over at me.
I understand that most people wouldn't want to dye their hair white since they don't want to look old. Most people dye it other colors like pink, blonde, lavender, and such. I softly smiled at him, "Because I'm cursed. I am born to die before I reach adulthood. My white hair symbolizes the curse flowing through my blood."
Itadori's face quickly paled, and Megumi hit his shoulder for being rude. "I-I didn't know that! Sorry for being—" He stammered, but it wasn't a new thing I encountered. Everyone's reactions were all the same.
"Megumi, be nice to him. Itadori didn't know. He was asking a harmless question." I jumped off the railing, and I poked Megumi's side as he jumped away from me.
"Stop it!" Megumi grumbled, stepping far away from me.
"But back to what I was saying, it's a cursed cycle where every first born to any Ozaki family members' child will die. They are born with white hair, whereas the rest of the siblings have black or brown hair." I pointed at my pure white hair, resembling a wintry day with fresh snow covering Mother Nature. "I'm a regret free person! I live my life exploring with Megumi, and if I die tomorrow, then I'll die happily—" I can never talk about my unsure future with Megumi interrupting me.
"You aren't dying yet, idiot." Megumi clamped my mouth shut with his slender fingers. My cheeks were squished together as my eyes were glaring at him. "If you plan on living, then I suggest you be careful on surviving," he squeezed his fingers closer, hurting my cheeks in the process.
"Me...gumi...!" I winced, wrapping my hands around his wrist and pulling it away from me. "It...hurts!"
There was a tick mark on his head, but that should be me. I don't know why he's mad. I only told Itadori the truth about me. Megumi could've ignored me if he was tired of hearing the same old character introduction. "No, this teaches you a lesson to appreciate your life. Maybe I will—"
Luckily, Gojo saved me in time before my death by Megumi. "Hey love birds, stop flirting! You guys make me feel single." He jokingly said in disgust.
Instantly, Megumi let go of me and groaned from his comment. If it wasn't for Gojo, then I wouldn't have a jaw right now.
"Sensei, you're not getting any younger, so you should find a partner now." I acutely attacked him with my words. He needed to stop calling us love birds because me and Megumi weren't even on that level, and we will never be either.
Gojo hissed, clutching his heart in pain as his body curled inwards. "Ouch! Why'd you hurt my feelings?!" He dramatically cried while I patted his shoulder.
"There, there... Uncle, maybe Iori can be your future partner." They were polar opposite, but people say that opposite attracts so someday their feelings for each other will blossom. They bicker a lot when I do see them interact, but it's a normal thing which happens to couples—I mean people.
From hearing Iori's name coming out of my mouth, Gojo shot his head up and rejected my statement. "She's not my type! I don't like angry women." He gave me reasons why he would never be with Iori, along with his ideal woman. His words were coming in one ear and coming out from the other ear. I wasn't taking in any of this information from him. It's not my place to really say much because it's not my life, but I'll partially listen since I'm a good person.
Slowly, I stepped away from his speech about romantic relationships and turned to the two boys. "Wanna kill time by exploring the place?!" My hands were clasped together as my eyes sparked. "It'll be a great way to bond with each other!" Moreover, I just wanted someone to be with me while roaming Harajuku.
Itadori's face lit up like my idea was amazing. There was a bright smile on his friendly face, and it already made my heart race in delight before hearing his answer. I knew it was going to be the same as mine. Great minds think alike. "That sounds great! What about you, Fushiguro?"
Megumi's face soured, averting his eyes away from us. He didn't want to come, but he has no choice because I'm here.
"It's okay, Itadori! Megumi is coming with us no matter what. We can't leave him behind! Now let's go," I laughed, grabbing both of their hands to a nearby arcade.
We left Gojo behind, but it was okay since he's always leaving his mission to us to die.
"What games do you like to play?" I looked over at Itadori whose eyes glued at a shooting zombie game. "Hmm, I guess that's what you like. How about you, Megumi? This is probably the first time we're at an arcade together—"
Not even a minute of having fun, our venture ended before it started. "Yo, kids! Our last student has arrived. Let's go meet her!" Gojo found us, signaling us to come over.
"It's okay, Kana. Maybe next time!" Itadori reassured me as he ran up to Gojo's side. He's right. We have the time in the world to have fun. Once the new female joins us, then we can actually go all together.
Right before us was the new female student. We were about the same height and shape. She had her cute ginger bob haircut framing her face. Her physical looks told me that she wasn't going to be the average damsel in distress. The fierceness in her brown eyes says a lot. "The name's Kugisaki Nobara. Lucky you, getting to hangout with a girl like me!" She roughly said, and I took her hands into mine without thinking.
I sandwiched her hands in mine and pulled it between us. "I'm glad to make your acquaintance! I'm Ozaki Kana, but call me Kana. I'll tell you more about myself after today!" When I know a person who will stick by me throughout my life, I have to tell them about my cursed lifespan. I didn't want them to be left hanging if other people knew about it. I don't want Kugisaki to feel like I couldn't trust her with this information. I'm an open book.
After introductions and having sensei lie to the two country folks, we stood in front of a cursed building. "Kana, Megumi, you both will watch. The other two will go in. We're going to test how good they are." Gojo pushed us to sit on a bench.
"O-oh okay..." I complied, just following orders from Gojo. It kind of sucked that I couldn't join in the fight, but it is what it is.
Sitting right next to Megumi, I laid my head on his shoulder. He didn't tense up nor complained like usual. Perhaps he's gotten used to this too. "How's your family?" I forgot that I came back on campus late at night after seeing my family. Megumi was waiting for me at the front gates. It's like it was his duty to be my protector when I can already help myself. I don't understand why he's so scared. It's been like this for my whole life. Was he not tired of me?
"They're doing good. My brothers are learning how to control their cursed energy and even learn techniques too!" I told him about the fun things I've done with them. After training with Hoshi, my brothers and I chilled together as we watched movies. Taiga would poke fun at me whenever a guy with tattoos would come into the screen. He knew I had a weak spot for tattoos. Men with sleeve tattoos were very attractive, and if they have veiny but not too veiny arms were also a double plus.
"Why's your face all red? It's not even sunny." I felt his eyes staring straight at my rosey cheeks, and I turned my head away and laughed.
"Oh it's nothing! J-just some inside family joke that I remembered that's all!" I can't let him know about my weird liking towards tattoos and veiny arms. I hope he doesn't question any further. "Anyways!" I quickly changed the topic so it can leave his mind. "If I go and visit my family again, you should come. They always ask about you." Turning my head, I wanted to see his reaction since he never felt like my parents were welcoming of him. If he only knew what they kept asking...
"It's alright—Ack!"
I jabbed his side from making up any excuses. "You overthink too much. They like you! If they didn't, they wouldn't want us to be friends in the first place." I stated out the obvious, shining a bright smile at his direction. Megumi squinted his eyes as if it was the sun killing his beautiful blue eyes.
"Ah, young love in the air~" Gojo delightly sighed, skipping over to us. He purposely sat in between me and Megumi. His hands pushed us apart like he's parting the hanging clothes in his closet. Then he cozily settled from the small effort. "Now I feel loved by my students."
I playfully rolled my eyes at his childish behavior. "Okay, Uncle Gojo..."
Sensei began commenting about what Itadori and Kugisaki could possibly be doing.
"Oh?" Gojo looked up, and we followed where his attention was at. It was a cursed spirit hopping out of the building.
"I'm going to exorcise it," Megumi stood up, but Gojo pulled him back down.
"Do you not trust them, Megumi?" I asked, relaxing in my seat as I observed the two newcomers next move. "Just because the cursed spirit jumped out doesn't mean they have lost already." He was always so hasty to take things into his hands when it wasn't necessary. And he wondered why he's always annoyed?
"Kana's right. If they are meant to be sorcerers, then they will show us..." A big grin plastered on Gojo's face when the monster turned into ashes in the air. "Good. She's plenty of crazy."
"Wow," I nodded my head in amazement. That Kugisaki girl had a good card under her sleeve. "She didn't disappoint. I'm not that crazy like her... but I can turn into a ball of depression that's all I can emit."
After that day, I was assigned a mission with Kugisaki.
I changed into my school uniform after coming out from the bathroom. I couldn't wait to go on my mission with Kugisaki. Gojo strictly said that it was only for the girls. No boys could tag along if they wanted to. He didn't tell us much about what the mission was going to be about either. He said it was a surprise.
When I opened the door to my room to leave, I bumped into Megumi who stood before the wooden door. "Oh!" I stopped myself from crashing into him. "I didn't know you were there." I stepped back from him and gave us space.
It was his day off as he dressed in his comfy clothes: sweatpants and sweatshirt. Must be nice to stay at home. He doesn't have to do anything but relax, whereas I'm on an unknown mission by Gojo.
"What brings you here?"
His hand patted my head out of nowhere. "I'm letting you know that I expect you to come back alive. I don't want to be the one to break the news to your family." Then he harshly knuckled my head as I winced in pain.
"Stop! You're always hurting me!" I grabbed a hold of his hand and halted his aggressive action. "Now you messed up my hair," I didn't have to touch my hair to know it was messy. His knuckles threw it into a train wreck. "You better fix it." I blocked out his protest as I pulled him inside my room. I threw my comb and a few hair ties at him.
We sat on my bed while he gently combed down my hair. "You want me to braid your hair?" The teeth of the comb separated the strands of my white locks. Megumi was being so delicate with me.
"Yes," Ever since me and Megumi became friends when we were young, he learned how to braid my hair because of his older sister. I broke my arm as a kid this one day, and I was crying about how I was unable to tie my hair back from getting into my face. Megumi told me to stop crying or else he'll leave me behind, then he tied my hair into a cute pony.
His fingers parted my hair into three sections starting at the top of my head. I closed my eyes because his fingers felt like magic. It's like getting a head massage during a hair wash at a salon. Our quiet breathing filled the air as his attention was solely focused on finishing the braid.
I sensed his hand nearing the end of my hair which meant he was almost done. Megumi was quick with his fingers. "You should start socializing... Itadori and Kugisaki seem like good friends to have for a lifetime."
My ears caught the sound of my hair-tie being wrapped around at the end of the French braid tail. "I'm fine where I am, and why do you believe that?"
I opened my eyes, feeling my heart sink a bit from the words which will cause him to be mad. I'm only saying this for his own good. "Because I just do, Megumi. Keep hanging with me, and you're going to hurt a lot when I leave this world." I'll be okay if he were to abandon me. It'll hurt less anyways. Twisting my upper body to look at Megumi, I concernedly showed him my saddened emotions on my face. "Who do you have left if I'm gone? Your sister is in a coma; she's your only family. We don't know when she's waking up. I don't want you to be alone." My left hand cupped his right cheek, rubbing his soft skin with my thumb.
Another heavy silence fell between us until he sighed. Megumi grabbed my left hand and put it down on the blanket. His blue eyes flashed a determined yet desperate look to them. His right hand overlapped my left hand, and my heart leaped from his sudden touch. "Then promise me that you'll come back alive." The sound of his gentle voice made butterflies go crazy in my stomach.
"Me—" just when I was about to say something, Kugisaki popped into the conversation without realizing Megumi was in the room with me.
"Hey, are you— Oh, sorry I didn't mean to intrude!" We turned our head to the shocked yet embarrassed Kugisaki. Her face was a bit flustered, but it was my fault for keeping my door open.
"It's time for you to go anyway. I'm hoping to see you later." Megumi got up from the bed and exited the room, brushing past Kugisaki.
"A-Are you two dating?!" She blurted out what came first in her mind. Of course, me and Megumi always had a close relationship, so people would often mistaken us as being a couple.
I chuckled at her. "No, we're not. We're just very close childhood friends." However, on her face, she didn't look convinced. Her brow arched and lips pouted. I wasn't sure what Kugisaki was trying to do or achieve, but I told her the truth. "Come on, let's get going! We don't want to be late,"
During the car ride to our mission which was located in a sewer from Ijichi, Kugisaki asked me a question that's been in her mind. "So you two aren't dating? Like for real, for real?"
I shook my head in response, "Nope."
"But you two look so close... It looks like you both are a couple." I rejected all her statements that were about me and Megumi. No matter how close me and him were, there was no way I would date him. He can totally find someone better who doesn't have death lingering on her back. Megumi will only hurt if he decides to love me. There's no way I could ever reciprocate any feelings with him because of that reason.
"Haha. It's because we've known each other for almost ten years now. Megumi may be a quiet person, but he's very caring and attentive. Why don't you get to know him more? I won't be able to do that." I explained to her about my family's curse and told her to never leave Megumi's side if I were to die today or tomorrow, or later.
"Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that." Kugisaki uttered out, not knowing how to comfort me.
I didn't want her to feel awkward after telling her this, so I laughed as I patted her shoulder. "Don't be stressed for me! I'm all good! Let's think about our mission instead because Gojo-sensei didn't tell us anything."
Ijichi dropped us off at our location, and he lastly told us that this cursed spirit, we were hunting, had kidnapped girls around the area. They couldn't gather much information about the cursed spirit either.
The sewer entrance was big under a bridge. The sound of running water echoed all the way to our ears, and the foul stench traveled all the way to our noses.
"Gross. I'm going to take ten hot showers now..." Kugisaki mumbled in annoyance.
"You're worried about smelling bad? I'm worried about the cursed spirit." Ijichi didn't know what grade level this spirit was, but he assumed it might be a grade 1 or possibly a special grade. "If its intelligence is high to select their prey, then I believe we're dealing with something greater." I gripped the handle of my scythe tightly. "Well we're going to die trying!" I optimistically exclaimed, striding in the sewer.
"Hey! Don't go in without me!"
Inside the sewer pathway wasn't too dark. There were some light sources here and there as we walked.
"AHH!" A female voice screamed as it echoed in the sewer.
"Come on, let's go!"
We ran as fast as we could to reach the girl. For some reason, I had a bad feeling in my stomach. This bad feeling was telling me that me and Kugisaki weren't going to make it out alive. If the cursed spirit only targeted girls, and they sent us off, we're just the cursed spirit's bait. I'm going to kill Sensei for throwing us into a mission where we were going to die.
"Kugisaki, wait!" I shouted, and she stopped running as she turned around.
"What is it?"
"I'm going to call reinforcement. This doesn't seem right. The cursed spirit might be smarter than everyone thinks." I pulled out my phone and dialed Ijichi's number.
"Okay! I'll go on ahead!" Kugisaki sprinted first.
"Hello?" Ijichi answered.
I sighed in relief before getting to my point. "Send some reinforcements to our location right now. I have no time to explain—"
Thud!
I heard something collapsing from the long hallways of the sewer system.
"Hurry!" I hastily ended the call and ran to the location of where we heard the scream.
Breathing heavily from my mouth, I hurriedly dashed to see if Kugisaki was okay. My heart was racing in anxiety. I prayed that Kugisaki was alive.
"She's a beauty, but it's a shame that I'm going to kill her." The creepy low voice must be from the cursed spirit! There's no way it could be a female's voice.
I was getting closer to the room where the voice was coming from. Just when I turned into the room, my body was hit by a sharp drowsiness. I couldn't take a step forward or else I'll fall. Using my scythe to hold me up, I took a quick glance at my surroundings. There were many young girls in the room. I couldn't tell if they were dead or not. My body was tipping over, and I couldn't stop myself from falling. I had no strength to keep myself conscious either. This was a messy situation.
Thud!
I met the cold ground touching my cheek. Was this the cursed spirit's technique? Before coming in here, I didn't feel tired. I felt energized and awake. Perhaps this was the reason why girls went missing. Its technique made it easier for the spirit to capture girls without anyone hearing their screams. This deadly gas was invisible to our eyes. I hope our reinforcements weren't girls because they're going to share the same fate as me and Kugisaki. My blurring vision spotted an orange blob, and I assumed it was Kugisaki. I couldn't force myself to wake up from this magic spell. I helplessly succumbed to this just like everyone else.
My eyelids closed, and I drifted off to my deathbed. I 'died' without even trying to fight back.
"Hmm... a white haired girl... She's a perfect candidate to keep..."