Chapter Text
“Kugisaki Nobara,” is coolly said at the front of the classroom of 14 students, her name fully written in kanji on the board, and her gaze unwavering as she presents herself to the curious gaze of her new classmates, “Nice to meet you”.
It’s obvious; the rest of the class is wondering why someone joins their class in the middle of the school year. It’s not typical for their school. It is not your average school after all.
“Ah! You’re the girl that went viral last month! The Voodoo Queen!” One guy blurts from the back of the class with his finger pointed to the front. The hums of wander soon follow, to which their teacher, Haibara-Sensei, is quick to calm them down.
“Hey, hey! Calm down. If you have a question for Kugisaki-san, then you can ask her yourself on your break. Kugisaki-san joins you today after being scouted two weeks ago by our team. She will be part of your class moving forward. Please welcome her kindly,” you can see the sweat drop forming on the side of Haibara-sensei’s face as he tries to silence everyone, “Oh, Kugisaki-san, you can take the empty seat behind Itadori-kun, third from the front”.
There are two empty desks, and Nobara is glad to see that she’s getting the one she prefers: Second row from the right, third desk from the front, not too close to the front, and still smackdab in the center. She walks to her seat, barely recognizing the glances she receives from everyone, and is quick to take out all her notebooks and stationery from her bag. She arranges them nicely on her desk, all newly bought and all according to her tastes. And when she’s ready to listen to the class (where Haibara-sensei could be heard still struggling with the students’ random questions), she raises her head only to find someone already looking straight at her.
Pink hair and a boyish face that inspects her with wide eyes and pursed lips.
“What?” She shoots with her usual flat tone that turns people down instantly. The boy, however, is unmoved.
He then says, “Hey, where are you from?”
Nobara gives him a disinterested look, “… Karuizawa”.
“Hmm, cool,” he doesn’t sound like he finds it interesting. Who would hear the name ‘Karuizawa’ and think, ‘amazing!!’. “Wanna exchange LINE IDs?”
“No”.
A pout, “Aww”.
Nobara can’t help but make the comparison between this kid and a kicked puppy. She’s not interested in making friends with some random guy, but then again, someone in her position should not reject anyone, right? Not only is she new to Tokyo and the school, but she is also new to this whole jujutsu world. Her grandma, who has long passed away, taught her the basics of using her techniques and barely anything else. If anything, she should be nice to everyone to ensure that she'll have an easy time in this school, although it is so not on brand for her.
“Fine,” she hands him her phone grouchily, “Though watch out, the teacher would know you’re pulling your phone out during class hours”.
Pink-head seems to miss her warning as he taps onto both his phone and hers, then, though distracted, he says, “Ah, yeah, but it’s fine, it's weekly report time anyways, so everyone has their phones out”.
As he says that, everyone leaves their desks to group up with other classmates. Soon, the whole class is divided into groups sitting around joined desks, leaving both this pink-haired boy and Nobara herself out. While this is happening, Kugisaki looks around awkwardly, wondering if she should do the same. But the pink-haired kid doesn’t seem to be too concerned. She figured that maybe she could just follow his example.
“Done!” The guy shows Nobara the screen on her phone, where a new chat has been created between her and an account named YUUJI, the first text being a sticker of an anime character saying ‘hello’ in the most ridiculous fashion. Nobara assumes YUUJI is this boy's first name.
Nobara snatches her phone wordlessly before she chucks it back inside her bag. Yuuji turns to face the front of the class with no further words just as Haibara-sensei starts calling names.
“Yes, Sensei. So, our team went on our second mission together last week. The curse we faced last week was a couple of fourth-grade small fries -,” one person in a large group of 5 answers after raising his hand. Nobara listens attentively. So everyone has gone to missions in teams. She heard that the students in this school are sent out to do jobs regularly, although the kind of jobs varies.
An uneasy feeling churns in her gut as she realizes she would be somewhat behind. This would be the second year for everyone in doing these missions; meanwhile, Nobara is here feeling like a sitting duck, not knowing anything.
Then again…
Her eyes slowly float to the pink-head – YUUJI or whatever. He, too, is just minding his own business at his own desk. She watches his head tilt slightly as he listens to the student speak, quiet and attentive. Maybe Yuuji hasn’t gone on missions as well?
The presenting group then moves on to show pictures and video recordings using the class’s projector. They also report on the result of their mission, while also conveying each of their self-reflection and reviews. It is interesting to see how these missions go and how the students learn from that experience.
They then move on to the next team, which is a small team of two who were sent to join a team of paranormal journalists. This one is interesting in a different way, in which they share with the class the process of documenting cursed phenomena and how it is presented to the public. The next team up was sent to join a team of professionals on a cleanup mission somewhere in the outskirts of Tokyo, where they had to help normal civilians who were exposed to a curse-related case. This one helps everyone understand what happens after a big-scale exorcism and it is baffling how much needs to be done after a mission.
At the end of that, Nobara is left with her mouth slightly gaping. Sitting there and listening to everyone speak about their experiences got her to realize that, finally, she is not the odd one out for having this strange abilities. There are many others like her at her age, if not better.
Then Haibara-Sensei turns to her row and says, “Okay then, up next, Itadori-kun?”
“Oh, yeah, well… all the pictures and reports are with Megumi, haha,” Yuuji, whose last name is now confirmed to be Itadori, scratches the back of his head. Haibara-sensei sighs heavily as his shoulders sag.
“Itadori-kun, what did I tell you?” The teacher complains in defeat. Something tells Nobara that this happens a lot with Itadori.
“You’re always hopeless, Itadori,” one guy jeers from the back, though it's obviously worded like playful teasing.
“Oi! This time I did take pictures, okay? Megumi took my laptop with him!” Itadori quips back. As soon as he says that, he turns to the teacher again, “I swear, Sensei! We’ve submitted the complete report to Gojo-Sensei and it should be with the Mission Coordinating Committee right now!”
“Fine, fine. At least you can share to the class what you remember from the mission,” Haibara-sensei relents.
From behind him, Nobara watches Yuuji – no, Itadori tilts his head to the back as he looks up as though to retrieve what he witnessed from his mission from his brain. “Umm, so..,” the boy starts, “It was a semi first grade curse”.
There is an instant chorus of ‘woaaaah’ in the room.
“At first, it was just me and Megumi, and we managed, but then we called for backup. We were joined by Panda-Senpai at first, because he was nearby and was on his own mission. Inumaki-Senpai was nearby too, but he didn’t get there until after. Um, we contained the curse at one point, but soon after we were also joined by Gojo-sensei because, well, you know, students are not supposed to deal with anything above second grade. So he dealt with the menace after all of our hard work,” Itadori drones on, yet everyone is so entranced by his story.
“Those two are truly on another level,” someone from the team that sits behind Nobara mutters. She doesn’t know much about the grading system quite yet, but from what she has been told, a semi-first grade would be a very strong opponent to students like them, yet Itadori and this ‘Megumi’ managed to contain it.
But this Megumi girl doesn’t seem to be in the classroom with them.
“ – so it’s reported on the local news as a terrorist attack,” Itadori finishes and another chorus of awe follows. A student then proceeds to ask him a question, which Itadori answers easily. “Yeah, we were there when Gojo-Sensei exorcised it, but it was… how do I say it? It was nothing superb or anything like that because something like this, ya know, is really easy for him when you consider Gojo-Sensei’s levels. And honestly, I think he’s a spoilsport. Every time he appears, it’s like ‘show’s over’. Oh, yea, so for this curse, he said ‘bye’ to it, then the curse just turned to dust”.
“That’s Gojo-sensei for you,” someone chimes. “Sounds about right,” Someone else says. Nobara wonders when she will see this powerful teacher.
Itadori answers more questions before finally, his turn comes to an end. Nobara then finds everyone’s attention on her.
“So, Kugisaki-san, you haven’t received the reports from your grade assessment, right?” Haibara-sensei asked.
“Um, no,” she answers timidly.
“You’ll hear from them tomorrow, correct?”
“Yes”.
“Hmm, as soon as you get your grade assessment, you’ll be able to be sent on missions and be in team-ups. Although I heard that you caught the eye of our talent scout. That is interesting. We don’t get discovered talents such as yourself a lot. Most of the students here are accepted by reference or through legacy acceptance. So, what did you do before you were scouted?”
Nobara shifts in her seat out of nerves, “Well, I was…,” Itadori turns slightly to see her and she finds herself feeling even more inadequate compared to everyone in the class, “I was selling voodoo practices online, love spells, harmless curses, good luck charms – all that jazz”.
It is so dull and mundane compared to everyone else’s that she feels herself shrink under everyone’s gazes.
“My cousin bought your lucky charm!” Someone chirps, and Nobara spins to find them. “She said it worked like a charm, well, literally; but like, your charms are so popular in her school because there are many crazy success stories from them”.
“Yeah, my brother got her love charm too, and he didn’t get the girl he liked, but a girl from a different school who looks so much like the girl he liked asked him out instead. That’s too much of a coincidence!”
“Weren’t you, like, considered a priestess where you’re from? People from all over Japan come to visit you for spiritual advice, right?”
“That’s my late Grandma,” she mutters, more so to herself than the person asking the question. It was true, however, that people back in the country saw her as a successor to the late shaman, though she prefers to forge her own path.
More and more students chime in to share more stories about the charms Nobara sold online. Haibara-sensei smiles at her, “Seems like your charms are proven to be very effective. So, Kugisaki-san, what technique did you use?”
She has both her hands joined in front of her as she answers seriously, “It’s a technique my Grandma taught me before she passed: The straw doll technique”.
Everyone gushes in amazement at her answer. “Very traditional,” Nobara hears someone say in admiration.
“Primarily, it’s used to send a sensation of pain to others, but I’ve developed it enough to manipulate other parts of the target. For example, a lot of the charms contain parts of the straw doll, where I’ve improved its body to improve the charm holder’s health. My love charms don’t actually target the love interest. They actually target the client's appeal by tweaking the characteristics I think would appeal to the love interest. There are many ways to manipulate the straw dolls to achieve different results if you’re creative enough”.
Someone claps their hands very animatedly, and it happens to be the person sitting right in front of her.
He’s the only noise in the classroom at the moment and there’s something annoying about his dumb face as he looks at her with amazement. Forget being nice and making friends at school; isn't this guy just too much?
“Incredible, Kugisaki!! Incredible! Pure cinema!!” He spins his head so quickly to the front of the classroom that Nobara finds it hard to believe it doesn’t give him any whiplash, “Sensei, sensei! She should make it to the team, right? She’s pretty good; she should make it to the team, right? Right?”
“Itadori-kun, I’ve told you, it doesn’t work that way,” Haibara-sensei is rubbing the bridge of his nose.
“But -!”
And Nobara feels a vein pop the more she listens to Itadori’s loud ass. You see, she has no interest in teaming up with idiots, no matter how strong they are.
One hand raised, Nobara voices her thoughts, “Sensei, I don’t want to be teamed up with him!”
“Whaaaat?” Itadori whines as he turns to her in disbelief.
“He’s loud and he’s annoying, and I prefer to be teamed up with,” she looks around, then points a thumb at a random team up, “Them”.
“Hey, who are you calling loud and annoying!? I was friendly to you and this is what I got!”
“You call that friendly? From how you asked for my number, it’s obvious girls don’t even like you!”
“How do you know girls don’t like me? You don’t know that! And are you even popular enough to talk?” Itadori lowers his voice in a grumble, “Bitch”.
And this is where Nobara stands up from her seat and grabs a fistful of that pink hair, “What the hell did you call me, you little shit?”
“All right, all right, settle down! We’re still in school and class is still in session, you two!” Haibara-sensei calls out from the front of the class, already looking like he wanted to retire.
XXX
Nobara is so elated to find that the student dormitory building is big and the room is more than satisfactory. Itadori incident aside, she’s glad to make other friends once she spends the night at the dorms.
She met two girls whose rooms were adjacent to her own, Azusa Fumi and Ozawa Yuko, and they all go to the same class. Suffice to say, they both witnessed Nobara’s little squabble with Itadori Yuuji.
“So, are you teaming up with Itadori-kun then, Nobara-chan?” Yuko bends forward to see her from Fumi’s other side as they all walk to school the next day.
“Haaa? Why would I?” Nobara is surprised she even assumed that.
“W-well, he doesn’t normally ask people to be in his team like that, especially knowing how different the level of curses he and Fushiguro-kun face. I suppose that maybe… maybe he sees something in you?” Yuko explains timidly.
“That idiot? I doubt it. He probably sees a cute girl and thinks that he’s got a chance,” Nobara scoffs.
“Honestly? He’s not the type,” Fumi chips in, “Yuko-chan’s right. If he says all that to you, I think he’d mean it. It’s probably true that he considers you worthy of being part of his team with Fushiguro. I heard that Itadori can sense people’s energy levels, so maybe he knows yours?”
“That’s right! Itadori-kun is not like that at all! He’s very friendly and kind, and he was a little excited yesterday, but he’s normally very sensible and very nice, you know?” Somehow, Yuko is all flustered. Fumi giggles.
“Yeah, Yuko-chan would know, because she has a major crush on him!”
“I-I DO NOT!” Yuko screeches, face blossoming into a deep shade of red like a cherry. Nobara cringes.
Nobara frowns, “Seriously? You like that loser?”
“No no! I just, well, I j-just find him very a-admirable! And also, I can’t harbor that kind of f-feelings for him. After all, Itadori-kun is engag –“
Fumi chortles, “Like it’s even that serious, Yuko-chan! They’re only doing that to avoid a death sentence!"
“Still! Everyone knows about it. It’s rude to just go and ask him out".
In the meantime, Nobara pays very little attention to the conversation and is instead gazing at the view. The scenic walk between the student dormitory and the school is 10 minutes long, and due to both facilities being located on the base of a mountain, everything just smells and appears green. It’s beautiful, sure; but it’s the same old view she has had enough of back home. When she left her countryside home to study in Tokyo, she was expecting to see high-rise buildings, neon lights, and colorful billboards.
Then again, Mount Mushiro is home to not only the one Jujutsu School in the whole country, but also to many Jujutsu official buildings, such as the Jujutsu Headquarters. The Gojos, one of the three biggest sorcerer clans, is based in this mountain as well, with their main house placed a bit higher up the mountain. Many of the houses in the area are also used to house visiting sorcerers. The whole mount is an area reserved for Jujutsu business and is actually covered with a light veil that will repel non-jujutsu users. It is said that those who are not invited will naturally not feel the appeal of visiting this enigmatic mount.
And if you are a jujutsu sorcerer, Mount Mushiro will call to you. And that means, Nobara has no choice but to be stuck with the same old view of the mountains…, again.
The girl trio takes the last turn before their destination, and there they see the big gate of Tokyo Metropolitan Curse Technical College, along with tens of students loitering the area to get to class. Most of them arrive on foot, probably straight from home or from the bus stop at the nearest suburb. Some arrive on bikes – Nobara remembers seeing some of the kids in the dorm leaving for school on theirs.
Some arrive in cars.
One student in particular arrives in a very sleek Audi.
Nobara can’t help but ogle at the four-ring ornament on the hood of the car. “That’s Audi, right? Audi, the luxury car? Who the hell drives an Audi in this school??” Nobara mentally freaks. She has never seen a luxury car in person and this would make the highlight of her first week in Tokyo!
The passenger seat door then opens, and she sees the red hood along with the big red backpack before everything else. Soon, it’s obvious that the student who arrives in the Audi is Itadori Yuuji, and she could see him trying to leave the car quickly before a hand reaches out from inside the car to pull on Itadori’s school uniform, stopping the boy on his track. Itadori spins to turn to the person, a look of annoyance coloring his whole face – the kind of annoyance you’d see on a sibling.
“Oooh, is that Itadori’s brother?” Yuko voices.
“If we’re lucky, brothers,” Fumi says.
The arm that tugged on Itadori’s proceeds to pinch the boy’s cheek, to which Itadori is quick to swat it off. They all could hear him whining, “Stop it~!”
“Oh my God, I heard the oldest is hot,” Fumi chimes as they get closer to the gate, and in return, closer to the car.
“Fumi, you shouldn’t say that! Itadori’s brothers are -!”
“Who cares, Yuko? A hot man is a hot man. And isn’t he somewhat famous? He’s an artist or something, so he should be rich and talented to boot”.
“Yes, but us sorcerers shouldn’t mingle with their… kind”.
“Their kind? You’re crushing on their youngest, aren’t you? It’s not like Itadori-kun is any different”.
“Their kind?” Nobara slowly returns to the conversation, not making sense of anything they’re saying.
The car is still idling by one side of the gate with Itadori still fighting off the people in it, meanwhile Nobara and her company walk from the opposite side. When they are about to take the turn to enter the school gate, Nobara can’t help but keep her eyes on the car. Itadori is still squabbling with someone from the back passenger seat, but Nobara ends up meeting eyes with the person in the driver’s seat, a pale-skinned man with shoulder-length black hair.
Surprised, Nobara hurriedly looks away and is on her way to turn to the school, when a bright voice calls out her name, “Oh! That’s the girl I told you about! Oi, Kugisaki-san! Good morning!!”
It’s Itadori; smiling brightly at her with one hand waving at her high and wide – and what does he mean by ‘the girl I told you about’?
Flustered yet proud, Nobara sends him a glare before haughtily turning her head away, chin up and chest buffed as she turns her back to him and leads her girls away in the direction of the school building, with Fumi squealing like a fangirl all the way there after catching a glimpse of her favorite idol.
Meanwhile, despite the blatant dismissal, Itadori cheerily announces to his brothers, “I think we’re gonna be fast friends!”
XXX
“Congratulations, you are a second-grade sorcerer eligible for a semi-first grade assessment”.
Miwa-sensei is sitting behind a heavy desk, and she pushes a piece of paper in Nobara’s direction. From where she stands, Nobara looks at a sharply printed report on the paper, all describing the result of her assessment and signed by four established sorcerers. “Everyone agreed that you’d be eligible for semi-first grade, but due to you being under the age of 18, we need to put you under a trial period for at least 6 months before we can give you that title. So, congratulations on making it big! Not many sorcerers can reach that level at your age!”
Nobara finally picks up the paper from its leather holder. She reads every word and notes every name with utmost attention. Semi-first grade; that’s the same level as Haibara-Sensei and, if she’s not mistaken, as Miwa-sensei. Nobara’s thumb rubs around the high-quality paper in her hands. This confirms it, she’s actually quite strong.
How much money can she make from this?
“And so, because you’re eligible for promotion to semi-first grade, you’ll be put in a team of similarly-levelled students,” Miwa-sensei opens a drawer to get her tablet. She taps a few things onto the screen until she nods to herself, “That means you’ll be teamed up with Itadori-kun and Fushiguro-kun for missions, okay?”
“Haaa!?” All politeness crumbles down the moment she hears that, “No, sensei. No way”.
“Hm? Is something the matter?”
“Not with that idiot. No”.
Miwa-sensei’s tilts her head in confusion, “Did something happen with Itadori-kun? You haven’t met Fushiguro-kun, I’m sure”.
“He’s loud, annoying and his fashion sense in lame,” the last part is not exactly right because from what she has seen, Itadori seems to be somewhat fashion-aware. But that's beyond the point. She announced out loud yesterday that she didn’t want to team up with Itadori and she can’t have herself proven wrong now! That’s embarrassing and will give Itadori the satisfaction of one-upping her! “Just team me up with the other students! I don’t have to be assessed for semi-first grade right now, do I?”
“But, Kugisaki-san, the other students are way below your level. You will be overqualified for their missions, and it will be such a waste of skills. You’ll be so much more useful elsewhere where your talents can be used to their fullest potential,” Miwa-sensei puts her tablet down to cross her arms. A look of concern colors her face, “And you’ll be missing out on the perks of being a higher-grade sorcerer as well”.
“Perks?”
“Yes. Better inventory, better support, more freedom on how to conduct your missions,” she then adds, “Better pay”.
Nobara wastes no time deciding, “I’m in!”
XXX
Nobara is just glad she didn’t have to explain anything to Itadori when she returned to the classroom before class started. The boy was busy talking with a bunch of other boys from their class, and she went straight to her desk without having to deal with him. Fumi and Yuko were sending her curious looks, probably knowing that she had finally received news of her grade.
Haibara-sensei is the one to break the news.
Everyone is back in their seats and the brown-haired teacher starts the class with: “I just heard back from the assessment board. Kugisaki, congratulations on passing as a second grade. I was told you’re eligible for promotion to semi-first grade, so, Itadori, she’ll be in your team”.
“Are you serious!?” Itadori jumps up from his seat with a fist pointed up, “Sweet!”
He then turns around to shoot Nobara his beaming grin, “We’ll be so awesome, Kugisaki! We got the ‘blood traitor’ from a pureblood line, the prodigy mudblood, and the one cursed with an evil dark lord,” Itadori points a thumb at himself on that last line, “We’re the ultimate trio!”
“Haaa!?”
“Itadori-kun, settle down, please. It’s too early for this,” Haibara-sensei scolds.
Itadori listens, surprisingly, going back to his seat with his back to Nobara, but Nobara hears him say, “Junpei will be so hyped when he hears this”.
XXX
To be Continued