Chapter 4: First Blood.
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"Do you have your handkerchief?" Tsumiki questioned her younger brother incessantly who just nodded back, she looked as if she had aged 10 years in a day. Her worry all originates from the fact that her 7 year old younger brother would soon go on a mission with their guardian Gojo Satoru.
Although she does trust Gojo-san with her life as he had all but saved their lives. Taking them in from her mother's apartment with the dwindling money they had available, picking them up from that life and granting them a new one.
If she was being honest, she still wasn't fully accustomed to her new life, although her brother seemed to have Adapted to their new life surprisingly quickly. The new house, new school, new friends and found family are still somewhat overwhelming.
Although that isn't to say she hates it, no. Quite the opposite in fact.
If she was being frank, Tsumiki has never been happier in life. Sure she still sometimes misses her mother, but she barely even thinks of her nowadays. Not to mention her father, she's never even met the man. Although Megumi looks quite similar to him from whatever pictures she remembers.
Oh how she wishes she could help Megumi, her brother seemed to be in a world of his own that she couldn't truly tap into. She could never truly relate to him in the way Gojo-san and Shoko-san could, her inability to see and interact with the world of Jujutsu holding her back from being able to do so.
But she couldn't drag him down to her level due to her own failure, so despite it all she must take care of him in every way she can, no matter how small.
"You don't need to worry Tsumiki, I'll be careful. Besides, Satoru-san will be there, won't he? He'll make sure I'm safe." Megumi dismissed her worries as unfounded as he turned around and opened the front door to leave.
"Be careful!" Tsumiki called out at him before he left
"I will be."
As Megumi walked out the door he saw Gojo waiting for him at the end of the property with a Black car, the white marble of the foyer reflected the setting sun unto his eyes causing him to squint slightly as he made his way to the car.
"Took you long enough! I thought you chickened out~." Gojo teased as the younger boy was coming to the car.
"You know that I wouldn't, I'm committed to this Satoru-san. Let's head out." The raven-haired boy replied not seeming very affected by Gojo's taunts.
"Ok then you buzzkill, let's go." Gojo said as he entered the front passenger seat, Megumi entered the back passenger seat right after him.
"Forgive me, but I am not so sure of you bringing along a child so young along with us on this mission Gojo-sama. Are you absolutely certain of this?" A dark haired man with glasses who was in the driving seat questioned Gojo.
"Ah don't you be a worrywart too Ijichi, we'll be fine. Nothing bad will happen to the boy, I'm gonna be protecting him. He couldn't be more safe, after all. I am The Strongest." The Honoured One stated, not worried in the slightest but instead he carried a smirk that conveyed nothing but pure ironclad confidence in his abilities.
Ijichi sighed a sigh that told a tale of too much history and time being used to Gojo Satoru's shenanigans before he resigned himself to agree with him as despite his resignation with this, he couldn't refute Gojo's point. He was The Strongest after all.
Kiyotaka Ijichi is a relatively tall man with a slim figure with mid-length black hair that shapes his head and parts across the front of his forehead. He has small black eyes and normally wears glasses. He has curved black eyebrows and sunken cheeks that give him a resting bored expression across his face most of the time. Kiyotaka sports a normal manager's uniform, which includes a black suit and tie attire.
[Image (In Discord)]
"Very well Gojo-sama, I shall take us to the Cursed Spirit hot zone."
"You've already heard his name from me but this is Kiyotaka Ichiji, he is a window that is responsible for the auxiliary managers. He used to be a student at Jujutsu Tech but I made him quit 'cuz I knew he would get himself killed! He takes care of some missions for me and we work together sometimes." Gojo laughed out as he put Ijichi down while complimenting him in his own special way. Truly the Special Grade Sorcerer is a special being.
"Nice to meet you Ijichi-san, thank you for looking out for me but that won't be necessary. I will be fine." Megumi asserted.
"Nice to meet you too, Megumi-kun and forgive me for any offence from my assumption."
"None taken."
…
Some time later
"So this is the Cursed Spirit hot zone huh?" Megumi looked upon a dilapidated restaurant that looked like it hadn't opened in years, its name was Kuma's Pizzeria. It had a mascot of a Brownish Black Bear on the broken neon sign that had its name.
"Yep! Apparently this place used to be a really popular pizzeria back in the 1980s. But back in 1987, 5 kids went missing in the restaurant, never to be seen again!" Gojo explained in a faux spooky voice waving his hands in the air.
Ijichi could be seen next to the car reading from a report before explaining "As Gojo-sama said, those kids went missing and since then the restaurant closed. Oddly enough on this report it says that the kids went missing in 1983, but what had sealed the deal on the closing was that during a prank gone wrong, a child named 'Evan' had lost his frontal lobe to the main animatronic of the establishment. There had been reports of many teenagers disappearing around this area, we believe that they had gone missing after going into the pizzeria either to have fun or as a dare."
"The why doesn't matter but we believe that according to the Cursed Energy signature readings, there is at the very least one or two Grade 3 cursed spirits within this building with many other Grade 4 cursed spirits haunting the hallways of the restaurant, your job is to go in there and clear it."
"Alright then Ijichi, do your thing!" Commanded Gojo with excitement at the nearing mission start.
"Yes Gojo-sama, Ahem." Ijichi coughed into his hand before pulling it up and twisting his fingers into a specific pose.
"Emerge from darkness, that which is darker than darkness. Purify that which is impure."
Megumi watched on in fascination making sure to remember the pose and phrases that Ijichi used.
The spell the Window employed worked just as intended as a black veil fell from the sky around the abandoned pizzeria hiding it and any Jujutsu activities from the general public.
Without further talk or consideration they walked to the building through the veil and into the restaurant, immediately spotting some Flyheads, a very weak type of Grade 4 curse able to be taken out by simple seals by even the weakest sorcerer and were often used to test if civilians can see cursed spirits.
"Divine Dogs!" Megumi without hesitation of further thought brought his hands together in the hand sign for the latter Shikigami, the dogs flying out of the twin abysses formed at their master's feet and instantly speeding over faster than the Flyheads could hope to react and ripping them apart before bringing the head of a Flyhead each to their master.
"Good boys!" Megumi simply said as he patted their heads and continued on, exorcising various Grade 4 spirits with relative ease with Gojo walking behind him observing everything.
As they made their way towards the back rooms of the restaurant, they looked around taking in the sights of the restaurant around them. It seemed almost alive, the seats out of place with some empty plates on tables that haven't been cleaned in years. The entire restaurant was caked in dust and yet it gave the feeling of walking into a slice of the past.
Most unnerving of all, there were hanging decorations that spelled out 'Happy Birthday Evan' with happy birthday cone hats lying around with the same name 'Evan' on it.
"Sheesh, grim huh?" Gojo grimly chuckled at the monument to lost childhoods, trying to lighten the mood.
"You're right about that, this place is really weird. It feels almost alive, like it had never fully closed down." Megumi reasoned, seeming not shaken in the slightest. Looking around he could see some spots and places where the dust isn't on the same level as others, almost as if somebody had moved things around.
Before the older man could reply, a grim and broken voice cried out from the hallway to their right!
"I bit someone…"
Both sorcerers swivelled around faster than they thought possible before laying their eyes upon the Grade 3 Cursed Spirit.
It was a Bear alright.
But it was standing, Bearing such a monstrous appearance that it had taken breath straight out of the younger boy's lungs, it had a mottled golden colour with various splotches of brown and had many tears and holes throughout its body. It wore a purple bowtie and small top hat with a black stripe.
But more distressingly of all it had 2 defining features, a large mouth splitting its head in two with countless razor sharp teeth stained a deep crimson red and across its belly it had another mouth with somehow even more teeth that had crimson blood dripping from it.
[Image (In Discord)]
"I bit someone, I didn't mean to. He died, I am sorry I didn't mean to!" It cried out horrifyingly from its mouth belly before it started shuffling forward towards the duo and the twin dogs with its hands out.
"Toad!" Quickly summoning his second Shikigami in response to the threat the Toad jumped out of Megumi's shadow, now even bigger than earlier. Standing at a staggering 8 metres tall, his soul and body responding to the change in circumstance a fact that while not considered by himself, Gojo had not let go past him.
The Shikigami didn't need to hear their master's orders as they instinctively knew to move in all haste to protect their master, the Toad lashing out with its tongue throwing a nearby table at the horrifying incarnation of childhood trauma and loss.
The twin divine dogs weren't that far behind running forwards and swiping their paws at the spirit before Blizzard bit at its ankles and pulled back, causing a river of blood to explode gushing out of the spirit, making it cry out in pain and fall to its knees all the while making constant disturbing apologies.
The cursed spirit lashed out with its mouth belly, its body twisting and deforming to unnatural proportions that defied nature, a large metallic scoop-like tongue flying out of its gargantuan orifice and speeding towards Blizzard who dodged the unnatural limb by jumping on top of it, and then proceeding to run across it towards the main body before slashing at it with its paw causing a large gash on its side. Then jumping a few feet away from the lumbering beast.
"AH I'M SORRY IT WAS JUST SUPPOSED TO BE A PRANK!" The monster cried out.
Not paying any attention to its nonsensical pleadings Nyx was not far behind his brother as he jumped at the spirit, grabbing hold of its arm and falling behind it while pulling, causing its arm to rip out of its place with a sickening "Crack!".
The toad not to be out done followed up by throwing out its tongue and grappling the Bear before grabbing its leg and pulling it into the air upside down, leaving it completely open to a follow up attack.
The Master of the Ten shadows not one to be out done by his minions ran up, unsheathing a Wakazashi from his hip and stabbing straight at the spirit, his fever and lust for battle unconsciously fueling his strength as his body performed Cursed energy Reinforcement reflexively.
He drove the blade straight into the open maw of the beast with a swift strike, causing the beast to flinch and shiver for a moment before giving up and going limp, fading away into dust mere moments later.
The boy panted for a small moment, unsummoning his Toad Shikigami and his Black Wolf Nyx leaving Blizzard who came up to his owner to cheer him up.
Gojo Satoru could not keep a smile off of his face, not only had his chosen child cleared a cursed spirit hotspot, and taken down a relatively strong Grade 3 Cursed Spirit at the mere age of 7, he had also reflexively utilised Cursed Energy Reinforcement without any prior guidance to exorcise the spirit swiftly without any damage taken on his side.
"Hehe, congrats Megumi! You are officially a Grade 4 Jujutsu sorcerer, the second youngest to become one in recorded history. Second only to myself of course!"