Chapter Text
The First Meeting: The Only Plan Is Try Not To Die
Sora was thoroughly disappointed with herself, and should have risked sleeping in the city center instead of moving away from it. But no, it had to be the outskirts that she picked as a destination. She grumbled, as another curse fell to her blade. They’d been appearing all night, Grade 4 or below, and were countless. At least she’d stopped bothering to count at this point, and it left the entire town with a coating of heavy cursed energy. She'd even seen what was obviously an Assistant Manager on patrol. It was exhausting, a delicate balance needed between keeping her technique active and not dipping too low in her energy reserves. She even ceased reinforcing herself while not actively performing an exorcism. The curses finally started to thin out as she approached the woods surrounding Sendai, and Sora released a sigh of relief when a clearing completely devoid of curses opened up before her.
It may have hosted buildings at one point, evidenced by some remaining stacks of stone that must have been walls. The remnants were more than enough for her, a campsite coming together with ease. Sora could proudly say she had perfected her traveling bag; first aid kit, swordcare kit, tarp, fire starter, and the other basics of ‘roughing it’. . . though perhaps the swordcare kit was a bit less than basic.
Setting up camp was a meditative activity for her, and a pleasant way to calm herself from the surprise en-mass exorcism.
The sky was clear, and Sora lay relaxing under the stars, the quiet of the night beginning to lull her to sleep. It was a very quiet night. The type of quiet that hid things. The type of quiet that brimmed with carefully muted dangers.
Instinct made her move, leaping to the top of the wall she’d previously rested against. The night pressed in on her, a heavy silence in the clearing. Sleep still clung to Sora’s eyes, but she ignored it, technique fully active, settling around herself despite lower energy reserves than usual. A curse slipped from the woods, insectoid body staying close to the ground. She watched it, observing the wariness of its movements. They appeared to be the movements not of something hunting, but of something hiding.
Rumbling from the trees signaled the actual hunter’s arrival, and a form emerged, at minimum the size of a large van. It bore a resemblance to a giant pill bug, except thick sludge oozed from between its armor plates and strange orbs across its body glowed a faint red. That glow started getting brighter when the curse spotted its prey, a burst of light accompanying a sudden charge. The smaller curse had no chance, and was quickly caught and consumed by the larger, which resumed its slower pace, red glow again faint. Sora could tell her blade would do little to nothing against that shell with her current strength, determining it best to let the curse move on.
. . . Except it was moving on towards Sendai proper.
How annoying.
Jumping down from the wall, she sprinted towards the creature, and managed to stab it directly between two armor plates; not deeply, but enough to hurt. The curse screeched, seemingly unable to return an attack on her, far too bulky to turn or contort. Sora ripped her blade free regardless, instincts again screaming, and again proven correct. Tendrils burst from under the curse, whipping through the air, slamming into the ground. The definition of an offensive defense. Slicing through the tendrils was not difficult, thankfully, allowing her to create an opening out of the attack’s range.
Technique holding strong, Sora took the chance to think. She couldn’t allow the curse to enter the city, not when she knew the manager had been heading in the opposite direction when she saw them. Who knows how long it would take for their patrol to return to this area? However, her energy reserves were dipping far lower than she usually let them, and she’d need every drop to fight when a war of attrition seemed the only option.
Sora tightened the hold on her katana, moving swiftly to the opposite end of the clearing, before dropping her technique and whistling one piercing note.
The curse, whether it heard or sensed her, slowly turned towards her. Again, the glowing on its sides brightened, a flash of red light heralding an incredible burst of speed. Leaping away, Sora renewed her technique while putting distance between herself and the curse. She suspected that the creature could only charge so many times before running out of steam, giving her an opportunity to strike back. The strategy had potential, the red glow signaling the charges getting fainter with each use.
Unfortunately, Sora was tiring at the same rate.
It had been ten or fifteen minutes of running and dodging, of turning her technique on and off. No one but herself could blame Sora for messing up. Barely avoiding another charge, she failed to activate her technique in time. The curse, still able to sense her, used one of its tendrils to slam into her side, launching her to the other end of the clearing. She’d managed to block some of the attack's force with her blade, and reinforced her body enough that when she did finally impact a tree it just knocked the air from her lungs instead of breaking her spine. Winded and dazed, Sora fell to the ground in a heap. She pushed herself up, blinking the spots out of her eyes just in time to see the curse mid-charge, bearing down on her.
She couldn’t dodge that in time, not when her legs refused to cooperate with the adrenaline flooding her veins. All she could do was channel as much cursed energy as possible into reinforcing herself and trust it was enough.
“TORA! PICK UP!”
Another energy signature flared, both curse and sorcerer in one, then Sora found herself yanked away from the curse’s path, a growl in her ears and hot breath at her neck. Whatever was carrying her leapt into the lower branches of a tree, setting her down gently before moving to a higher limb. It was then she could at last see her rescuer . . . rescuers, actually.
Two beings perched on the branch above her.
One was some form of curse, a large catlike creature with striped, fluffy, fabric-esque skin pulled taught over a lithe form, bright yellow eyes peering at her curiously. Stitches held parts of it together, metallic spikes ripped through its shoulders and encircled its tail. She caught a glimpse under the creature, a gaping maw framed by zippers.
The second form was a girl, likely around the same age as herself, sitting atop the cat curse’s back and . . . petting it? The girl was obviously a sorcerer, cursed energy stable enough that she was definitely hiding some of it. Smart. A mass of black hair framed a face with high cheek bones, where both brown-gold eyes and a bright grin could be described as ‘foxlike’. Something itched in the back of her mind, saying the girl looked familiar.
“Yo! You alright?”
Fumiko promised she hadn’t meant to leave the route Mom gave her, she'd even swear it, but Tora had other ideas. Usually this wouldn't be a problem, since their plush form was pretty easy to order and control; but then their curse form was discovered. The zipper on Tora’s stomach had finally been just too tempting to resist one day, and she’d pulled it. What followed was a crime against the very idea of the law of conservation of mass. Tora had turned inside out, becoming way more curselike in their appearance. They were still an absolute sweetheart, Fumiko wouldn't hear any arguments on that, but they were way harder to control. Which led to here, stuck riding on a giant cat that refused to stop following whatever scent they had picked up.
She’d been really excited about this trip too! Sendai was literally where the main character lived, how could she not be? Maybe she’d get really lucky and catch a glimpse of Yuji, and, like, say his hair was cool or something. Introduce herself, you know? Then when he ended up a Jujutsu Tech, Boom! He already knows his Sempai! It would be great! Sadly, Tora was dead-set on heading away from the suburb area, towards the more wooded outskirts. Something had really set them off, a constant, low growl escaping their throat. That growl paused as they reached the edge of the woods, and Fumiko finally got an idea of what had caught their attention. Surges of cursed energy were coming from the trees. Not constantly, but at regular intervals.
It was also at least Grade 3 level energy, much stronger than the Grade 4’s flooding into the city. Whatever curse or cursed object was making those surges was also probably the thing driving weaker curses out of the woods. A brief image flashed across her mind, a mummified finger in a thermometer shed, before she pushed it aside. No way anything to do with Ryomen Sukuna would be out in the open and only letting off Grade 3 bad vibes.
“. . . Tora, sneak attack.”
Tora huffed, but obeyed. She wasn’t actually planning on attacking if it was a curse, but she could likely deal with a cursed object. Those were her whole, like, 'thing' after all. A crash echoed from ahead of them, and Fumiko stopped Tora right on the edge of a clearing. It was a curse, unfortunately, and a big one too. Weirdly enough, it looked like an oozy, emo version of the giant bugs from Nausica. The curse had just charged into a tree for some reason, and was slowly turning itself around.
A second later, another cursed energy signature appeared in the clearing, and Fumiko watched as the curse charged at what must be a sorcerer child, if the figure’s height was anything to go by. Then, as quickly as it appeared, the figure’s energy signature vanished along with the figure themself, and the curse plowed into nothing. Again the figure appeared, and Fumiko had a brief thought of the character Ui ui, before dismissing it; Ui ui probably wasn't even born yet.
Her momentary distraction was enough that a sudden noise surprised her. Tendrils sprouting from under the curse waved about, and a form sailed through the air, crashing into a tree before falling to the ground. That was totally a child, probably a girl around Fumiko’s age, long silver hair obscuring her face, and a katana in one hand. That was all she could take in before she noticed the curse again charging, and had to act fast.
“TORA! PICK UP!”
Tora rushed forward and snagged the back of the girl’s collar before bounding onto a nearby tree’s branch, depositing the girl and moving away. The girl looked at them both, silver eyes roving over them, definitely still dazed and catching her breath from her near-pancake experience. Fumiko should probably make sure she wasn’t too hurt, right?
“Yo! You alright?”
The girl stared at her, before slowly answering through measured breaths.
“I am . . . mostly unharmed. I managed to . . . reinforce myself . . . before my . . . landing.”
Her voice was flat, and a bit rough, like she hadn’t used it in a while.
“Well that’s good news! What, er, sorry, my name’s Fumiko by the way, what’s your name? And, like, why is that Nausica lookin’ curse trying to smush you?”
“. . . I am named Sora, and,” she hesitated, “and I was planning on . . . resting here, when I saw the curse chase, then proceed to catch and eat, a smaller curse. I had seen the large number of Grade 4’s in the city, so I assumed this was the reason for their odd movement. When the . . . Nausica-like curse began also moving towards the city, I determined it best to intervene. As my blade is unable to truly harm it, exhausting it looked to be the next best option.”
Sora’s speech was formal, same as her clothes, leaving Fumiko with suspicions of clan shenanigans. She kept that to herself though.
Further conversation was interrupted by the curse reminding them of its presence, screeching and ramming into the base of their tree. None of them fell, but Fumiko took it as sign to move.
“Tora! Pick up! Sora! You ever ridden a horse?!”
Sora didn’t respond, but quickly sheathed her katana and took the hand offered to her, swinging herself onto Tora’s back. Just in time, as tendrils rushed towards them. Tora avoided the flailing limbs and brought them to the ground in one smooth motion, before beginning to circle the clearing, weaving between trees.
“I assume Tora is the curse we are riding?”
Sora’s voice was still flat, but at least she didn’t seem scared.
“Yeah! I kinda, sorta, accidentally made them with my technique a while ago, so now their my curse hunting buddy! Like a shikigami!”
They reached a denser thicket, and Tora again sprang into the branches, reaching the centermost tree. It should give them a few moments to breath. The curse would need to break through a lot of stuff to reach them.
“So, what should we do now?”
Sora stared at her fellow child, considering. This Fumiko was obviously talented and trained, having managed to tame a curse on accident of all things, so perhaps she’d be useful to work with.
“It would likely be best to continue distracting the curse, as it does seem to be tiring. Did you notice the glowing orbs on it?” A nod, so Sora continued, “Whenever it charges, the orbs glow a bit dimmer, and it seems to need more time between charges. Likely it relies on consuming weaker curses to replenish its strength, so if we keep it moving, it will use up its stored energy and become vulnerable.”
“Wait, so just distracting it will work?”
“I believe so, yes.”
Fumiko’s grinned, actual giggles escaping her as she removed a small bag from her side. Sora’s eyes widened as the girl proceeded to stick half her arm in a space that shouldn’t be able to fit her fist. A candle emerged, the kanji ‘attract’ embossed on the side. Fumiko held it out like some form of holy object.
“Behold! The answer to all our problem!”
“. . . A candle?”
Fumiko just kept grinning.
“Right now, yes, it’s just a candle. But once lit, it becomes a beacon to any curses in range of it! I have six or seven of them, so we can use them to lure it around without being too close ourselves~!”
Sora took a closer look at the candle with new appreciation.
“Interesting, is it a seal of some type?”
“Kinda, but not really,” Fumiko explained, “My technique lets me grant attributes, er, abilities, to objects in the form of kanji; since I gave the candle its attribute when it was lit, blowing it out counts as it being a different object! It’s weird, but helpful for this at least!”
“Impressive.”
“Aww, thanks Sora-chan! By the way, what’s your technique, cause it looked like literal teleportation, which is, like, super cool!”
‘Sora-chan?’ That was rather quick. Now, how much should she explain?
“No. It is a type of concealment, invisibility of both form and cursed energy signature.”
A good description, just not including the . . . finer details.
The cat curse, Tora, growled to alert them of the bug curse's approach. Fumiko went ahead and withdrew the other candles, handing four to Sora along with a lighter.
"You still good to set the first one up? Tora can move pretty fast, but a head start would probably be for the best."
Sora nodded, taking the candles in hand and moving to jump down, but a hand caught her sleeve. Turning, she noticed Fumiko's gaze was fixed on her katana before sliding up to her face.
"My technique can also give weapons a major boost, it might be enough to let you do some real damage, only if you'd let me though!"
That last part was added in a rush as Sora's sleeve was released. The idea was logical, giving them an advantage they currently lacked. Her mind understood this fully, but her heart clenched at the thought of another person handling, let alone putting a mark on, the blades so precious to her Sensei. Her mind won this battle, and Sora reluctantly passed her weapon over.
Fumiko took it from her gently before activating her technique. The blue glow of cursed energy appeared in the form of strings, winding themselves around the katana and sinking in. The glow faded, leaving nothing but a slight change in cursed energy and the appearance of the kanji 'pierce' on the blade's base. Sora immediately took it back and jumped from the tree, intent on distracting herself from the lump forming in her throat.
Sora-chan left faster than Fumiko expected, fading from view almost instantly. Waiting a second to keep the curse distracted, a small flame appearing on the clearing's edge acted as a signal to hop back onto Tora and get moving.
The candles worked great in pulling the curse's attention, and the three of them fell into a rhythm. Sora would light a candle and then set it down as she left, getting the curse to charge, while Tora and Fumiko would follow behind to pick up the used candles once the curse had extinguished them through bodyslam.
Sure, a few of the candles got smashed beyond re-use, but the plan, as simple as it was, looked like it was working! The curse was definitely slowing down, orbs almost completely dimmed, and it finally stopped its charges.
Sora faded back into view next to Tora, scaring both of them, katana in hand.
"I'm going in for an attack now, so please stay back. The curse may still have some power stored away for emergencies."
Fumiko didn't get a chance to respond, as the other girl disappeared again. She was a little annoyed at being told to 'stay back', like she was gonna poke the curse with a stick or something like that, but whatever. Pushing it aside, she instead watched the curse as it rumbled towards the last candle still burning. Just as it snuffed out the flame, Fumiko caught sight of Sora as the girl descended on the curse from an enhanced leap, katana raised to strike and hair trailing out behind her. Fumiko had a brief thought about moonbeams as blade met exoskeleton, a loud CRACK sounding out.
Sora had manged to bury her weapon to the hilt, and the curse screamed. Tendrils erupted, trying to swat its attacker away, but they were uncoordinated from pain and easily dodged. Fumiko cheered as more blows broke the curse's armor, thick blood spurting from the cracks.
It was as Sora landed another hit the the air in the clearing changed, and the girl immediately vanished. Just in time too, as the lights along the curse's sides suddenly turned purple. Fumiko didn't wait, ordering Tora to return to the trees, where Sora soon joined them. Something really weird was happening.
The curse had pushed itself upwards on its tendrils, and was now bending inwards in the most disturbing yoga pose she'd ever seen. The writhing tendril started to wind together under it at the same time, until the creature had completely encased them inside itself, forming a ball of heavy shell armor. The cracks on it still bled, but even from a distance she could tell they were starting to heal. No kidding, emergency energy.
A groan from the balled up curse was the only warning they got before it started rolling, quickly gaining speed until the whole area looked like someone was playing a demented game of pin ball. The curse wasn't even targeting them anymore, happy to just crash into the trees and widen the clearing.
Good for them safety wise, bad for them actually being able to exorcise the thing.
". . . I do not believe I'll be able to attack again in it's current state . . ."
Fumiko stared at the girl next to her, almost impressed by the shear deadpan understatement of her words. The sound of another tree shattering rung out behind them as Sora met her eyes.
"Yeah, I'd say that's kinda obvious," was the response she came up with, "You got any ideas for what next?"
"No, do you have anything else in your bag that might be of use?"
"Maybe? I have some seals that can explode but I'd need to-"
Another swell of cursed energy cut her off, blanketing the area and they looked back just in time. The curse screeched as it veered away from a new figure, its armor covered in more cracks than previously, before doubling back. The figure dodged, throwing one hand up and saying something Fumiko couldn't quite catch. Another screech, more cracks.
. . . That figure was actually kinda small . . .
. . .
. . .
What was it with these woods and fun sized sorcerers!? Including herself!?
Sukuna had known tonight would be a headache. The past few days had been already, a stream of curses showing up in town for no reason and leaving him so busy dealing with them that he hadn't had a moment to actually train! Add in Yuji wanting to 'help' with killing them and it was a real mess. Thank goodness Gramps took pity on him and waived his curfew tonight.
He smiled at that despite his annoyance. Yuji learning about curses had swiftly lead to Gramps learning about curses too, even if he wasn't able to see them. The reaction was nothing like he'd dreaded, no fear of the boy with invisible knives, just worry about him fighting invisible monsters. It just further proved to Sukuna that the only things he could say were good in the world without any doubt were Yuji and Gramps. Yes, he'd always known his little brother was a good kid, but now Sukuna would catch him staring like he'd hung the stars or something. It was, frankly, adorable. Gramps was as sturdy a presence as ever, still just as gruff and rude, but Sukuna was the same in that way. It was . . . good, having one less thing to hide.
He broke into a light jog, cursed energy adding a boost, and headed towards his preferred solo training spot. Training with Yuji was always a Gramp's-Overseen activity in the newly fenced in backyard. There wasn't much progress in that department, but anything was better than nothing. In his own training, however, there was a definite difference.
Sukuna poured on the cursed energy and speed. Enhancing his body with cursed energy had been something he was naturally doing, but not very well. Actually training to do it? Sukuna could now reach Sendai's outskirts in eight minutes without trouble, a distance that took most runners at least twenty.
A flicker of energy made him pause as he reached the woods outside town, senses flaring. A distant crashing could be heard. Clamping down on his signature the best he could, Sukuna crept through the trees to the one large clearing in the area. The source of the noise was very plain. A bug curse, that was weirdly familiar looking to him, was ramming into trees while trying to attack . . . candles?
More energy signatures flickered at the clearing's edge, and Sukuna took the risk of looking. Two small human figures, and one larger not-human figure. The not-human was likely a curse, (maybe a cat or something?) but didn't seem aggressive to the humans, so maybe it was something else. Sukuna blinked, and one of the people was gone, completely vanished, before appearing a few seconds later mid-air over the curse with a literal katana.
He had a moment to process four things.
One, the figure currently dive-bombing the curse was a girl probably around the same age as him.
Two, that girl was obviously a sorcerer kid.
Three, this meant the other human was likely also a sorcerer kid.
Four, the curse was definitely not done for yet.
The katana wielding girl also seemed to realize this, disappearing again as the curse started pushing itself upwards on its . . . legs? Yeah, he'd go with legs. The cursed then proceeded to curl its body into a ball of plate armor and destruction, starting to rocket around the clearing and take down anything in its path. Sukuna winced as it crashed into one tree he recognized, the one perfect for napping in.
Katana Girl showed up again by the other kid, both also watching the curse as it did its best wrecking ball impression. Neither looked like they were planning on doing anything, so Sukuna took that as a signal to step in.
He didn't really want to make himself known, but he also didn't want the whole place flattened, so he'd just have to deal with it. Who knows, maybe the kids would take the opportunity to run away.
Pulling up his hood and stepping out of the tree cover as the curse headed towards him, Sukuna stopped bothering to hide his energy signature and raised an arm.
"Dismantle"
The curse's armor cracked, and it retreated, screeching, before heading right back at him. Dodging the attack was easy, and another 'dismantle' left the curse even more frantic in its movements. Taking the moment he was given, Sukuna sprinted through the trees until he reached a decently sized gap. Hopefully this would work.
The curse swerved back around towards him, and he tensed. Right as he was set to be roadkill, Sukuna flooded his legs with cursed energy and jumped. The curse passed right under him and through the gap, to where a stream had for years dug what became a rather impressive ravine. Spinning right over the edge, the curse plummeted. Sukuna peered over, doubting gravity had killed it.
He was correct, the curse still spinning up and down the ravine. At least it was stuck in one spot now.
"THAT WAS AWESOME!!!"
The shout didn't make him jump, he swore.
The other kid, another girl, was running to him, and Sukuna was very glad he'd thought to pull his hood up. Pink hair was very distinguishable. The maybe-curse (definitely a cat) and Katana Girl followed behind.
He turned back to the ravine as they drew close, holding out an arm in front of them.
"You should probably stay back, the curse is still alive. I was able to trap it though, and can probably kill it once it tires out."
"I mean, maybe, but me and Sora-chan here have been trying to tire it out for like, more than a half hour! Who knows how much energy it’s got stored up."
Katana Girl's name was Sora, good to know.
"If it would only hold still for a few moments, I highly doubt it would take much to finish it off." Sora stated, sounding more annoyed than anything. Sukuna felt the same.
"OF COURSE! Hold on just a second!"
He did not jump, no, not at all. Even if the unnamed girl's exclamation was very near him and very sudden. He watched confused, as the girl stuck an arm in a bag that was way too small for said action, and pulled out . . . a bread knife? She held it carefully, as threads of cursed energy flowed from her hands to wrap around the item. A moment later the threads faded, leaving the knife unchanged except for the kanji 'halt' now on its side.
"If we can get this stabbed into the thing, it should, hopefully, maybe, probably, give you two a few seconds to actually attack it!"
"OK . . . but how are we going to stab it when it's doing that?"
Sukuna pointed a thumb back at the curse, which was quickly gouging a path for itself below them. Bag Girl just walked up to a tree by the ravine’s edge, pulling out a . . . rope and some tape? She took a branch from the ground, taping the knife to the end at a right angle.
“The rope should be long enough that I can lower myself down to juuust above the curse, then stick this,” here she waved her knife-stick in front of them, “Down in its, like, hitbox I guess? It’s going fast enough that the force alone should jam the knife in!”
She seemed confident in her idea, and Sukuna didn’t have a better one, so he shrugged his acceptance and went to help anchor her to the tree. Five minutes later, the three of them (four including the cat curse) stood looking down the ravine. Stepping forward, Bag Girl turned and gave them a cheery salute.
“Welp, here I goooOOHH!”
She dropped down, stopping just above the area that would leave her squished. Sukuna tensed as she put the knife into position, and the curse rocketed towards it. If asked, he couldn’t say what at that moment made him believe this random girl’s plan would work, but something did. Sora must’ve felt the same thing though, as both of them jumped when the curse struck the cursed blade.
Sukuna felt the wind knock his hood back, but didn’t have time to fix it. The guess of the knife only giving them a few seconds was correct, but those few seconds were enough. Landing on the frozen curse, Sora began raining stabs down on its shell, shattering parts completely. Sukuna landed in a crouch instead, one hand down, letting his technique learn the shape of the energy signature below him. One second, two seconds, three seconds. A screech let him know the curse was again mobile, but its window to escape had closed.
“Cleave”
The curse may as well have exploded with how much blood erupted from it. A good third of it was completely severed away, and Sukuna did not waist the reveal of its softer underbelly, ‘dismantles’ ripping apart every tendril that emerged to fight back. The cat curse from above had the same idea, joining him and Sora with a roar and extended claws. Sukuna grinned.
By the time the curse finally started disintegrating, all three of them were covered in purple gore. A whistle from behind had them looking at the fourth member of their strange group, who’s grin was terrifyingly large as she fell the rest of the way from the rope.
“WOW! You three are, like, drenched! Unlucky! I’m probably the only one here who doesn’t mind the feel of curse blood on me!”
The cat curse took that moment to bound up to her, knocking her flat on her back to lick at her face. She let it happen, obviously used to this action, petting it and letting out garbled praises. He and Sora just stared, purple blood finally beginning to fade from their clothes and skin. A gentle breeze ruffled his hair and made him remember to pull his hood back up. Too late.
“Your hair, it's pink, isn’t it?”
Sora was looking at him, silver eyes dissecting him like scalpels, daring him to lie. He met her gaze head on, a little pleased when she tensed from it.
“What if it is?”
An awkward silence descended on the three young sorcerers, and Fumiko watched Sora and the new boy’s staring match. She had a suspicion, definitely about the boy, but Sora’s wariness could also mean something interesting. Determining the risk of sounding completely crazy to be worth it, she broke the silence.
“Soooo, either of you two ever heard the name Gege Akutami before?”
Two sets of eyes snapped to her as she sat up from where Tora had bowled her over.
“Cause if so,” Fumiko continued, “That’d mean I’m like, definitely not crazy. I mean, I’m already fairly certain I’m not, but some extra confirmation would be nice!”
The tension in the other two’s postures didn’t go away, but it lessened.
“. . . Yeah, I know that name,” the boy answered, red eyes narrowed, while Sora just nodded her head.
Fumiko beamed at them, jogging closer and bowing to the boy with a flourish.
“That’s amazing! The name’s Watabe Fumiko, and this is my little curse hunting buddy, Tora!”
“Sugawara Sora,” Sora finally said, giving a light nod, “Child of the Sugawara branch of the Gojo clan.”
The two girls now turned to the boy, who seemed to argue with himself for a moment before giving in and spitting out an introduction.
“I’m Itadori Sukuna, Yuji’s my younger brother.”
Sora froze at his words, but Fumiko bounded up to him with zero hesitation.
“So, like, are you actually also Ryomen Sukuna somehow, or just named that? Wait! You used ‘cleave’ right? So are you the original Sukuna’s reincarnation and someone else’s too? or are you-” Sora had finally decided to approach, and clapped her hand over Fumiko’s mouth. Sukuna, looking a bit overwhelmed, hesitated before answering.
“I’m . . . not actually sure. I don’t think I’m the original Sukuna reborn? The, uh, manga memories would be even weirder then. There’s probably some connection though?”
He was saved from further questioning by shouting from above them.
“FUMIKO! WHAT ARE YOU DOING DOWN THERE?!”
Sora stood next to . . . Itadori Sukuna, KingofCursesTwoFacedSpecterCountlessDeathsWhyAreYouHere, and watched Fumiko’s mother equally berate and fuss over her.
“-nd I explicitly told you not to leave the route I had given you! Tora being the one to leave first is not a good enough excuse, you could have returned him to plush form!”
That had been interesting to watch, the large feline curse inverting into a stuffed animal form, small enough to hold under one arm.
“So why is it I found you standing next to the fading energy signature of an Upper Grade 3 curse?!”
“Well, uh, you seeee . . .”
This though, this was just embarrassing to watch. Sora elected to intervene.
“Apologies, Watabe-san. I’m afraid your daughter got dragged into this situation by myself and Itadori-kun. We had already engaged with the curse when she and Tora showed up, she was just pulled in to aid us in exorcising it.”
The lie was easy, even as Watabe-san looked at her searchingly, and Sora was pleased when Itadori helped her in diverting the conversation.
"Uuuh, do I need to still be here for some reason? My Gramps is gonna be expecting me home pretty soon."
Sadly, Watabe-san used this to open a new line of interrogation.
"And why exactly are you two kids out here fighting curses? Your parents are probably looking for you, scared out of their minds!"
Sora did not say that her parents hadn't looked for her in years, and instead used some words Jiro-oji had once said could shut almost any line of questioning down with speed.
"I'm afraid that's clan business, Watabe-san."
It worked, if the pinched expression the woman had said anything.
"My Gramps knows where I'm at," Itadori added in, "and he knows I've been killing the curses around here for years, so, yeah, I have permission, I guess?"
Watabe-san just stared at them, before taking a deep breath and letting out an impressively long sigh, rubbing her brow.
"Well, at least I know what was causing the influx of curses now. Come on Fumiko, we still need to find a hotel."
"But Mooooom, I wanted to talk with them some more! I've never met other sorcerer kids before!"
Fumiko's protests incited Itadori to speak up again.
"Well, if you're staying in the area, maybe we could meet up tomorrow? I can give your mom my address."
The information was given, and the mother-daughter duo left, meaning it was just Sora and Itadori left.
"You got somewhere to stay tonight?"
The question made her pause, a dreadful realization creeping over her.
". . . I believe my campsite may have been flattened."
"Hmm, let's look."
It was, indeed, flattened. Thankfully her bag remained intact, along with its contents, but her tarp was absolutely destroyed. Itadori held it up, glaring at the mangled piece of gear like it personally offended him.
". . . Come on, you're staying at my place."
Some part of her desperately wanted to refuse, possibly even run as fast as she could away from this place, but another part (one she thought she'd buried long ago) raised a hand and pushed her to follow him. One night, then a conversation tomorrow. That was it. Nothing more.
Lying was easy for Sora, especially to herself.