.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

❝ you are the universe, expressing itself as human for a little while ❞

[ Tsukasa (in the GIF) is so adorable I love him ]

┏━━━°⌜ 憑拠 ⌟°━━━┓

"—They're human." Ieiri confirms over the phone, standing in between the hospital beds of the two 'humans,' "No, I guess I should call them former humans. They're the same as the three from the theater. The structure of their bodies was forcibly altered by a cursed technique."

"If that was all, I would have noticed at the start." Nanami rejects; sitting down on a couch with Y/N and Itadori sitting on another couch to the left of him. "The two we fought were full of cursed energy, like cursed spirits."

"You'll have to ask the culprit about their cursed technique to explain that." Ieiri replies unhelpfully, "Though there is evidence that their brain stems were tampered with, most likely to create a state of confusion and impaired consciousness."

"If they can modify the brain, it might be possible for them to modify someone to be able to use cursed energy. The relationship between the brain and cursed energy is still a black box to us." Ieiri explains before pausing, as if realizing something

"Oh, right, are Itadori and L/N listening?" Ieiri inquires.

"Mhm." Y/N nods in confirmation despite knowing Ieiri won't see her.

"To sum it up, these guys died of shock form having their bodies modified. You didn't kill them. So don't get the wrong idea about that." Ieiri says, somehow able to tell that the two were worried about that.

"Right." Itadori responds, Y/N simply staying silent as she stares at the ground.

After that, Nanami hangs up the phone, turning to look at the two as Itadori speaks, "Either way, the deaths of these two weigh on me just as heavily. That said, this thing... has disgusting taste."

This boy can get sincerely angry on another's behalf. Nanami observes. "Those residuals were a bluff, likely meant to lure us in. Our die is quite skilled. It looks like this will take more than moderate effort."

Nanami stands up, looking down at the two, "So let's go all out."

"Yeah!"

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"I've organized the reports from our windows on recent residuals, unnatural deaths, and disappearances." Nanami explains, pointing toward a map that had marked locations on it.

Y/N glances up from her spot next to Itadori, the two sitting on the desk as Y/N runs her hands through his short hair, in awe at how soft it is.

"This should help us narrow down the culprit's hideout to some extent." Nanami continues as Itadori grins widely, standing up abruptly.

"Aw yeah! Are we storming in?!"

Y/N huffs quietly, bring her knees to her chest as she crosses her arms across them, resting her head down.

"No, it's still only to some extent." Nanami corrects, "While I continue investigating this matter, I'd like you two to handle a different task."

Nanami pins a picture of a boy with hair covering half his face against the map, "This is the boy who was at the theater, Yoshino Junpei. Apparently, he goes to the same high school as the victims."

Nanami clicks the remote in his hands, the monitor turning off with the video of a boy— Yoshino, running out of the theater. "Based on the surveillance footage and how he carried himself, I believed it was unlikely he could be a curse user."

"However," Nanami continues, "if he's related to the victims, that changes things."

"Curse user?" Itadori asks, looking away from the monitor towards Nanami.

"A jujutsu sorcerer who uses jujutsu maliciously." Y/N answers, surprised that Yuuji didn't know. Also, they're still using the same term after a thousand years?

"—I've entrusted the process to Ijichi-kun, so I'd like you three to investigate Yoshino Junpei." Nanami tells the three who nod vigorously.

"Sure!"

"Speaking of which, I don't know any assistants other than you." Itadori looks towards Ijichi curiosity.

"Huh, now that you say that... yeah." Y/N nods along, tilting her head at Ijichi.

"Well, I'm the only one who's knows you're both still alive, so by necessity..." Ijichi trails off.

"Makes sense." Itadori shrugs, pushing the door open and walking out, the two following behind him.

"Let's go!"

Ijichi slinks behind the two before walking back towards the door, peeking his head through to look at Nanami.

"You already know the location of the culprit, don't you? And not just 'to some extent.'" Ijichi recognizes.

"Of course." Nanami confirms with a short nod, "If the culprit had wanted, he could have left the scene without leaving and residuals. We're being lured in once again."

"Weighting the risk of storming in alone against the risk of taking Itadori-kun and L/N-kun with me, I simply chose the former." Nanami looks down at the ground.

"They are still children, after all. Even with L/N-kun existing for over a thousand years, when she was sealed she was still nineteen. So, mentally, she's still a teenager." Nanami explains at Ijichi inquisitive look.

"Nanami-Sensei!" Yuuji calls, pushing Ijichi as he looks around the door.

Nanami turns towards him, noticing Y/N floating over his shoulder as she sends a concerned look towards Ijichi, who had nearly fallen over.

"I forgot to say something." Yuuji grins, waving at the man, "Be careful, okay?"

"Itadori-kun..." Nanami sighs, "I'm not a teacher, so please don't call me 'Sensei.'"

"Nanamin, then!"

"I will slap you."

━━ ⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆ ━━

"There he is." Itadori takes note of Yoshino, who was walking down the street in casual clothes. "Huh? Casual clothes?"

"It looks like he hasn't attended school for some time." Ijichi, who was driving the car they all were in, observes.

"The same could be said for me, though." Itadori points out, looking towards Ijichi curiously, "So are the others doing well?"

Ijichi gives a small smile, "I hear they're doing quite well."

Itadori smiles in relief before straightening out his face, looking back towards Yoshino, "So what do we do?"

"We use that." Ijichi looks down towards the passenger seat, where a small fly-like curse was being held n a cage.

"Huh?" Y/N frowns, reaching her finger towards the cage as small yellow hands wrap around it, trying to rip her finger off as she blinks in surprise, easily tearing her finger away from the small curses.

"Is that a cursed spirit?" Itadori asks.

"It's a fly head, a low-level curse that doesn't even qualify as a Grade-Four." Ijichi explains, "Once we reach a place with no people, we'll have it attack him."

"Huh?!"

"One: if he's a normal person who can't perceive curses, please save him. Two: if he can perceive it, but has no means to deal with it, likewise, please save him. Then we'll question him about the day of the incident. Three: if he exorcised the fly head with jujutsu..."

Ijichi's tone becomes more serious as his eyes narrow, "we immediately restrain him."

"By force?" Y/N inquires.

"By force." Ijichi confirms.

"If it's a misunderstanding, that's fine. We'll apologize after the fact. However..." Ijichi looks forward once again, "Four: if Yoshino Junpei possesses potential equal to or greater than a Grade-Two sorcerer, L/N is to open a portal and get us back with Nanami."

"I could handle a Grade-Two easily, I'm a Special-Grade...." Y/N points out, slumping against the seat with a childish huff of complaint.

"We can't take any chances with that. You haven't fought many powerful curses after being sealed for so long other than the one at the Detention Center, so currently your power is dampened. You currently have the power of a Grade-One." Ijichi informs as Y/N freezes before slumping against the sets further.

"Humph..."

"But she'd be more powerful than him if he's Grade-Two, right?" Itadori asks.

"If this were a cursed spirit, yes." Ijichi agrees as Yuuji frowns at him confused.

"Huh?"

"Fushiguro-kun mentioned it before, remember? Typically, cursed spirits are assigned to sorcerers of equal grade. That means a Grade-Two sorcerer would be expected to beat Grade-Two cursed spirits. So a Grade-Two sorcerer possesses strength close to a Grade-One cursed spirit." Ijichi explains.

"Why wasn't I ever told something that important?" Itadori frowns as Ijichi's eyes narrow in annoyance.

Because Gojo-san's so irresponsible... Ijichi eye twitches as the car slowly stops a fair distance behind Yoshino. "We'll get out of the car here."

━━ ⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆ ━━

"Ow! Damn, that hurt!" Itadori exclaims as he crashes against one of the lamp poles.

"Itadori! You idiot!" Y/N rushes over to him, hitting the back of his (already injured) head lightly.

"What? You a gymnast or something?" An unfamiliar voice says as Y/N glances up to see the target— Yoshino, and an older man standing there.

The older man didn't seem to even notice her presence, looking past her as though she were invisible (which, to him, she was). Meanwhile, Junpei looks between the two with surprise.

Itadori gets up in an instant, getting really close to Yoshino's face as he makes eye contact with him, "Hey, I have some things I want to ask you about. Would you come with me?"

Yoshino gasps, eyes scanning across Itadori's face before looking down, eyes locking on one of the golden buttons on his uniform, That button...

"Hold on. He and I were just talking." The older man interrupts, putting his hands in his pockets, "You're rude!"

"Uh, well, it's rather a important matter." Itadori backs away from Yoshino, hands hanging loosely by his side.

"An important matter? You're just a kid! What's so important?" The older man snarks rudely. "And what kind of uniform is tha—?"

PLOP!

Itadori pulls the man's pants down suddenly, startling the three as Y/N looks away, face aflame in embarrassment for the man.

"What are you doing, you brat?! Stop! Stop this!" Y/N hears the man yell before suddenly, there was a hand wrapping around hers and she was getting pulled along by Itadori.

They disappear around the corner of an alleyway as Itadori stops running, turning towards Y/N who quickly realizes what to do.

A portal appears under them as the two land on the ground behind Yoshino, watching just as the man runs into the alleyway the two had disappeared into.

"What was that about?" Yoshino asks himself before suddenly tensing, turning around to look at the two behind him.

"Okay, now, let's go!" Itadori grins at the boy, raising his hand in greeting.

"Huh?! That was fast! How'd you do that?!" Yoshino asks in a mix of awe and confusion.

"Secret." Itadori answers with a grin, slinging an arm around Y/N who smiles nervously in reply.

"You didn't have to go through all that. You could've just dragged me away." Yoshino points out.

"Well, sure." Itadori agrees, walking past him, "But you hate that guy, don't you?"

"How do you..." Yoshino trails off.

"Just a hunch." Itadori rubs the back of his neck as he grins at Yoshino, "Oh, was I wrong?"

"You're not wrong." Yoshino admits.

"You don't want someone you hate loitering in front of your home forever, right?" Itadori asks before pointing towards the direction he was walking, "Let's head over there for now."

"...Sure."

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

❝ 𝐈 𝐊𝐍𝐎𝐖. 𝐈 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄. 𝐈 𝐒𝐀𝐖 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐆𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐓 𝐕𝐎𝐈𝐃 𝐈𝐍 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐒𝐎𝐔𝐋, 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐒𝐀𝐖 𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐄 ❞