Gojo-sensei and I caught up to the trio: two boys and one girl — the latter being our mysterious fourth member, the one I'd been hearing about all day.
Kugisaki Nobara, as she introduced herself, carried a striking presence from the start. She gave off a kind of blunt and confident vibe, very different from that green-haired girl whose energy was sharp like a sword.
She stood with her weight on one hip, a small, confident smirk tugging at her lips. Short chestnut hair framed her face in a sharp, almost rebellious bob, the strands catching the afternoon light with warm copper glints. Her amber-orange eyes were sharp and assessing, scanning me like she was already deciding whether I passed her personal test. A faint scent of her shampoo drifted from her hair as the breeze shifted, oddly at odds with her cutting stare.
Wasn't expecting a watermelon scent.
She wore the standard dark blue Jujutsu High uniform, but the skirt and fitted jacket somehow made it look more stylish on her than it had any right to be. The fabric caught the light as she shifted her stance, and even standing still, she radiated a self-assured energy that made it obvious she could talk you under the table just as easily as she could knock you flat.
"Please tell me you aren't like these idiots." She stepped closer, the sound of her shoes tapping against the pavement, leaning in and cupping a hand around her mouth. Her breath was warm against my ear as she dropped her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "Especially not like that stick up the ass."
She was clearly teasing. It was the same with me; I didn't mind Megumi and actually felt close to him, but I had to joke about his tendencies. He just made it too easy.
"Nah," I said, smirking and glancing over at Megumi, "he's way toooooo much of a stiff-ass."
"I know, right?" She grinned, eyes glinting with mischief. "I think it's because he's a virgin. What about you two?"
"Yep."
"Same."
Yuji and I responded in unison like we were twin brothers.
"Oh..." She looked at us pitifully, the tilt of her head making it even worse. The way she looked at us kind of irked me, and I felt my eyebrows tighten.
"Don't try acting like you're any different, Kugisaki-san!" I pointed at her like that guy from the attorney game.
"Do you want to get hit?" She smiled, but it didn't feel like one. I instinctively glanced at Yuji, then quickly moved behind him and, with a little push, added: "Oh my~, is a virgin trying to hate on other virgins?"
"Tsugikawa!?" Kugisaki rushed toward me, the faint metallic clink of her hammer filling the air as she whipped it out of nowhere. Apparently, my Yuji impression needed some work. I wasn't even good at impressions in the first place — I don't know what possessed me to even try.
"Okay, okay." Gojo-sensei stepped between us, the soft rustle of his coat marking his movement, stopping her from nailing me to the ground.
"Scary..." I whispered under my breath.
Megumi watched us without adding any words or even joining up. Seriously, he wasn't ever getting a girlfriend. Sighing, he asked, "Are we going somewhere from here?"
Gojo-sensei finally took the reins and told us what we needed to know. "Now that all four of you are gathered, we can continue with—"
"With" x3 Nobara, Yuji, and I looked on with expectant eyes.
"On a tour of Tokyo!"
This sparked quite a heated back and forth between Yuji and Nobara. It started a little like this:
Nobara: TDL! I want to go to TDL!Yuji: Idiot! TDL's in Chiba! Let's go to Chinatown, Sensei!Nobara: Chinatown's in Yokohama!Yuji: Yokohama's part of Tokyo!Nobara: The hell?! Quit spouting nonsense!
This was the extent of their back and forth before Gojo-sensei cut in.
"Roppongi!"
"There's a curse there?"
"There's a big cemetery nearby. The double whammy of that and an abandoned building brought out a curse. So, let's go!"
Thus, we headed to wherever this curse was. Megumi and Nobara schooled Yuji a bit on knowledge, not even knowing I was listening to teach myself. I think Megumi assumed that I didn't need help because he didn't treat me the same way as Yuji. This was truly injustice.
"He swallowed a cursed object?! That's so disgusting!" Nobara looked at Yuji and backed away while getting closer to me. I felt some of her assets as she hugged my arm — a natural observation from the sensation — and they were quite big, but my focus didn't stay there. I was more focused on what Gojo-sensei had in store for us.
"I want to know what all of you are capable of. Yuji and Nobara, you two just think of this as a field test. Megumi, just supervise unless necessary."
"What about him?" Megumi asked while pointing at me.
Gojo-sensei just smiled, his blindfold not giving anything away toward his eyes. He was completely unreadable when he acted like this, which was different from earlier when I saw that split second of vulnerability.
"I have a different task for him, so I'll be going away with him for a bit."
"That's so irresponsible, hah~"
"Don't worry, Megumi-chan~ It just means I trust you!"
"Whatever."
Megumi went off with Yuji and Nobara while Gojo-sensei grabbed my shoulder, and the surroundings switched instantly to an alley in God knows where in Japan.
"What are we doing here?"
Hm?
After I finished my question, I could feel cursed energy swirl, twist, and create a solid form. It was a black snake with purple eyes — the face of a python but the body size of an anaconda.
"Simple. I want you to beat this. I'm sure you can feel your own cursed energy by now."
I simply nodded.
"But sensing it and using it are two different stories."
"Don't worry, I have a feeling that even if you can't, something interesting will happen." His smile was vague, but I think I could tell what he was referencing.
"Fine." I was a little afraid, but with Gojo-sensei I would be fine, so the fear wasn't as extreme as when I saw that cursed scene that brought me into this chaotic world.
The cursed snake finally noticed us.
"GUH?!"
Before I could blink, the damn thing vanished from my sight. Something slammed into my stomach like a steel beam, folding me in half before I even realized I'd been hit. My breath ripped out of me in a wheeze, and the world spun as my back crashed into the wall. A metallic tang filled my mouth as blood burst past my lips in a harsh, burning cough.
However, the pain soon vanished as that familiar cold energy flowed through my body. That urge...I felt completley disgusted that this vermin would dare touch me.
'This disgusting mongrel!' I clenched my fist trying to resist but at some point the limiters were removed.