Nobara was moving carefully and relentlessly through the narrow alleyways of Shibuya. Her deployment was done after Gojo went ahead and had himself killed.
While the boys went to save that idiot, she, with most of the Kyoto students, was clearing out any curse spirits out in the city.
Of course, she was strictly asked to handle only spirits near grade 2 or semi-grade 2.
She wished to go with both Yuji and Megumi; however, she herself knew that she couldn't keep up with those monsters, her technique wasn't suitable for direct open combat.
Still, it rubbed her the wrong way.
Currently she was in an alley, chasing down weaker curses who escaped the station and wandered off around it.
Took her some time but she finally got the little midget, making her sprint for the last 10 minutes.
Honestly she would rather come here in Shibuya for shopping instead of exorcising curses... sigh.
As she was ready to head back, a strong curse energy signature washed over her, making her stiffen for a second.
The curse energy was strong, definitely not a weak curse. She immediately went on the defensive.
And soon enough, the reason for her caution was right in front of her, when she saw him coming out of a dimly lit alley. She recognised him immediately.
Yuji had told her about a patch-faced curse spirit, this was him.
"Oh, it's a girl..." The curse said with a little disappointed expression, but then he immediately lit up.
"Meh, I like girls anyways." He grinned, which gave Nobara a creepy feeling. Yuji told her that this one was a special grade.
That alone gave her every right in any protocol Jujutsu High had to abandon the mission, however, she stayed.
And honestly, she didn't care, she was still going to kick his ass.
"You must be one of his friends," he said, his tone light, almost conversational.
Nobara didn't bother replying. Her grip tightened around her hammer as she immediately closed the distance, nails already prepared between her fingers. If this was the curse Yuji had warned her about, then hesitation wasn't an option.
Mahito moved just as she attacked.
His body twisted unnaturally, bending away from her strike in a way that shouldn't have been possible.
Yup, there was no doubt, this was the curse Yuji talked about.
Nobara reacted instantly, ducking under the reach and rolling past him, barely avoiding contact.
Yuji told her not to let that curse touch her, little did she know that this wasn't the version of the curse spirit Yuji exactly warned her about. This here was merely a clone.
She pushed herself back to her feet, not giving him time to press the advantage, and swung again, forcing him to shift his position once more.
Both darted around each other, Nobara throwing her needles at the curse while nothing seemed to affect him.
This wasn't a normal fight. She couldn't let him touch her. None of her own attacks were working.
"Ah... this is irritating." She growled.
Mahito lunged again.
This time, she let him come closer.
At the last moment, she activated all the needles she used earlier, currently scattered on the ground to stop his movement. This was her do-or-die moment. If this attack didn't work then she doubted she could beat him.
If not for this one technique, she might not even try to fight Mahito. Mahito himself was confused. What was the point of stopping him again?
Nobara didn't explain it, the girl believes in action over words anyways. So, while Mahito was unmoving thanks to all the needles she had drilled into him, she went ahead and hammered one more needle right at Mahito's forehead.
Once again it did nothing to Mahito. Because the real attack was the following one.
Curse energy flashed around her as her hammer came crashing down on that one needle on Mahito's forehead.
"Resonance."
-x-
[MC POV]
I saw Mahito's tongue hand drawing closer, death flashing in front of my eyes. I tried to move in time but couldn't; the attack was almost point-blank.
Seems like my suffering ends here huh... I couldn't help but sigh.
But then I felt a shift on my curse energy, like something inside of me just gotten lose all of a sudden, then something happened that completely baffled me. Out of nowhere, spikes protruded from Mahito's body, even the tongue, which transformed into a hand.
If I was confused and surprised enough to freeze for a heartbeat, I could only expect what Mahito might be feeling.
But then, at the right time, the legendary instincts that were responsible for my continued survivability acted up once again.
Seeing him paralysed there, my hands unconsciously drew back and I punched with everything I had. By instinct, I didn't even use RTC so the punch could actually hurt him. I just punched him like I have been doing with every other curse spirit.
Next second, a booming sound was heard, black spread and space vibrated.
Black Flash.
My mind snapped into the zone like someone injected highly concentrated caffeine into my system. Mahito was thrown back with that attack; however, I didn't follow him.
My mind seemed to be overclocking, trying to find a way to hurt the soul leech and with the Black Flash, that fog between me and the answer finally disappeared.
Instead of taking advantage of his momentary lapse of balance, I just stood there, contemplating my own options I figured out in that one second of clarity which seemed to have left answers behind for me.
I watched as Mahito slowly pulled himself back together, his body reshaping to heal the wounds. I couldn't recall why this would suddenly happen. Don't remember watching this in the anime.
However, it's not like I remember everything perfectly. Might have missed some details.
I steadied myself, entering into the fighting stance I had developed over the span of the last hour or so of being beaten to a pulp.
Counters ran inside my mind, I steadied my breath, I fully expected him to launch himself at me any second. But what happened next almost gave me a cardiac arrest.
He got up, wiped the blood from his mouth, took a fighting stance, smiled, and just as he took the fighting stance, he lost it, confusing me, turned around and ran.
Let me repeat, he turned around and ran...
For a second, I just stood there, staring in disbelief as he bolted down the alley without a word, moving with surprising speed for someone who had been so eager to fight just moments ago.
Something in my head snapped at that, I felt my blood pressure might just cause me to lose consciousness, and before I could even think it through, I was running right behind him.
"Stop right there you annoying soul sucker, you don't get to run away after all this. COME BACK!"
After a few sharp turns through the twisting paths of the station, I followed him. Not letting the curse out of my sight, but then something even stranger happened.
Another figure stepped into view ahead. And it was him.
Mahito.
Completely identical, like I was watching his image in a mirror.
Running straight towards us, and behind him was a girl with a Jujutsu High uniform and a hammer in hand.
I knew who she was. And at this moment, memories which I had trouble figuring out how much of the canon was intact after I f*cked it over, and vice versa.
The memories snapped into place, because there were many fighting scenes to recall them all but key moments like what is about to happen now, I remember them clearly.
I saw both Mahitos run past each other, the one I was chasing going after the approaching Nobara.
"Oh no..."
xXx
A/N : My girl is cooked, or maybe not. MC is already hot on his heels, even though he got loose shoes, they are from Megumi remember.
By the way, I do see that happening to be honest, Mahito acting like that.
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