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The thing about monozygotic twins is that they're identical in every way except their cursed energy. When they're born their technique and energy is split between the two. One might have a bigger share than the other, they may have an equal share or one will have none.
Ren's technique is to give cursed energy to others. Pair that with reversed cursed techniques and he becomes a powerful support type when paired with any other kind of sorcerer.
Tora's technique is to steal cursed energy from others. It makes sense. He’s selfish, self centred, and spiteful. He doesn’t have a big energy reserve so he has to steal from others if he wants to be able to exorcise a curse.
As firsts years they were mentored by their teachers and upperclassmen. Ryuko was only a second year but she was practically a genius in her field. A shikigami user with no innate techniques, who used her shikigami as extensions of her body, as weapons. She was weird, but she was close to the two, and even closer to Ren.
It was no surprise when they had a baby. It was a surprise when they both died. Why did he even become a jujutsu sorcerer? Ren was a sorcerer because he was kind, he wanted to help people. Ryoko was a sorcerer because she loved fighting. There’s not a reason for someone as selfish as Tora to be a jujutsu sorcerer. Back then, you were only six years old. The age when jujutsu sorcerers grow into their cursed energy. He had no one left. He had to- He needed to stop you from going into that world.
That’s what he’d like to say. Instead, it only stunted your growth.
“Y/N! WHERE ARE YOU?! Y/N!” Tora ran across the streets looking everywhere while trying to find you. Curses littered the city, like trash on the beach. They were everywhere, yet you were nowhere. You had to be here. You have to be.
December 24th Day of the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons. Shinjuku, Tokyo.
“Sir! Civilians aren’t allowed past this point!” A suited woman, probably in her mid twenties with blonde hair and black roots, stopped him from going past the barrier. She was an auxiliary manager. A window between the jujutsu world and the normal world. The ground rumbled as sorcerers fought hard battles with the natural forces known as curses.
“But my brother’s kid is in there!”
“I understand that but there is an earthquake going on in the middle of the city. We can’t let ordinary citizens go through. How you made it past those barriers is beyond me!”
Behind her he could barely make out the shape of a ginormous cursed spirit. She didn’t seem all too concerned with the thumping footsteps of the curse. How can anyone like her even be as calm as she is right now? “I don't have time for this!” He grabbed her shoulder and pushed her away as he ran past the woman.
“Don’t-” Nitta’s voice died down in her throat as she caught sight of the titan. Ordinary citizens can’t see curses. He could die if he went through and that poor kid wouldn’t be able to see that man anymore. “Wait! Don’t go any further!”
Tora cracked his knuckles. It's been a while since he’s done this. The curse swung its leg at him and slammed him into a building. As the curse pulled back, Tora grabbed it and absorbed the entire limb. Curses are made out of cursed energy, so it's easy for him to just take and blast back. He landed on the ground as the curse fell on its back. He discharged all of the stolen energy through the giant who struggled to deal with the rate of energy flowing through its body and burst like a balloon.
Tora flexed his fingers and tested out his reflexes. He still had a lot of energy left from that curse. The big ones really have a lot of cursed energy in them. His skills are a little rusty but that can easily be fixed. He felt a little sick. Taking in a cursed spirit’s energy can be absolutely sickening.
Just who is this man? She didn’t recognise him which meant he wasn't a jujutsu sorcerer. If he was allied with Geto then he wouldn’t have taken out that curse for her. “Oh god.” There was a trail of injured sorcerers caused by the cursed spirit. “We need to take them to Ieiri-san.”
“We? I’m not helping. I need to find my brother’s kid.” He couldn’t care less if he wanted to. If he helped out anymore he’d eventually get found out and roped back into jujutsu sorcery. He didn’t want to die but even he has some empathy. These people have family too, family who are waiting for them to return home. Pathetic. Did Ren’s death really soften him up that much?
“If we take them to our healer then maybe you can ask her if she’s seen them around.”
There was no reason to refuse. There was no way you were there because they wouldn’t help someone in the opposition. If he told them you were one of the curse users on Geto’s side then who knows what’ll happen to you. Maybe they already know but this woman probably doesn’t. He’ll look suspicious if he doesn't.
He wordlessly picked up two of the sorcerers on the ground. Nitta smiled as she picked up the other one. “Thank you. It’s a little far but I’m sure we’ll make it!”
It was a little worrying seeing all the curses in the streets. Sorcerers were fighting them as he followed the auxiliary manager. He felt useless. Sure he was doing something but retreating towards a safe zone felt cowardly to him. He was the kind of person who fought everything in his way, no questions asked, this was more of his brother’s territory after all.
“I’m Nitta Akari by the way. I can understand how you feel, I have a younger brother who's going to be starting school in jujutsu tech next year. What's your name, if you don't mind me asking.”
“Kitagawa Tora. My brother’s kid is called L/n Y/n.”
“We’re almost there. We just have to turn the corner and-” Before they could, a cursed spirit came from the corner of the building and skidded across the ground. It turned around to face them and charged towards the two.
Nitta flinched as the curse slammed into an invisible looking wall. The curse tried to go around the barrier but found it was trapped inside a box-like shape. One of Tora’s techniques is an energy stealing barrier. There's an upper limit to how much energy it can take but it works well enough against weak cursed spirits. The more it tackled the box the more its energy drained until the box exploded when it couldn’t absorb anymore.
“It's just around the corner, right?”
Nitta nodded and they entered the building together. The doctor coordinated everyone to place the rescues parallel from one another as she checked up on everyone to make sure they were breathing. “You two, place those guys over there.”
They placed the three sorcerers on the ground as Ieiri came over to heal the wounded combatants. Tora scanned the room. He had his hopes up but he didn't see you anywhere in the building. “Have you seen anyone by the name of L/n by any chance?” Nitta asked.
“They’re a first year in highschool right now. Not a sorcerer though.” He went on to describe your uniform and appearance as Ieiri nodded along to his words.
Shoko tried to find anyone that fit the description but she could only remember the warning issued to the school. “By any chance, are they sided with Geto?” You were hiding in the back of the crowd but you were the closest match to that description.
Tora slowly nodded. Shoko could empathise with his situation. Having someone close to you fighting on the opposite side really sucks. “Then you’ll want to try and find them before another sorcerer can.”
“Be careful!” He ran outside the building as Nitta yelled out her farewells. Does he keep looking for you or deal with the curses? It would be a problem if any sorcerers got injured because of a curse he didn’t exorcise but it would be another problem if you were to be attacked before he could get to you.
He came across a horde of curses. He could avoid them but there was always a chance you could be behind them. If only he had Ryuko’s shikigami to help him. Zhuque could fly over the city and avoid attacks in the air but he didn’t have that. Why does he keep thinking about what other people can do? What about what he can do?
A large battle axe came swinging down as a voice counted up the number of curses exorcised. “Twenty one, twenty two” Three more curses had their heads sliced clean off their necks. “Twenty five, I’m already halfway through.”
Isn’t that Mei Mei? “Tiger? Is that you?”
She blitzed past him as she sliced through a curse. “I thought you quit.” She cheekily remarked.
“I did, I’m looking for Ryuko’s kid.” He didn’t want to mention Ren by name. Mei Mei didn’t particularly like his brother but he never knew why. She was always closer to his upperclassman, Ryuko so it made sense to use her name instead of Ren’s.
“And here I thought you were here to stop being a bum. You could make a lot of money with the potential you have.”
“I don't want to make money, I just don't want to die.”
The thing about monozygotic twins is that when one dies, their ruined potential gets transferred to the other. When Ren died, Tora inherited his technique but neither of the twins ever wielded it to its full potential. With the tools given to him, Tora was able to make the most out of his minimal cursed energy reserves yet Ren never honed his abilities or techniques.
It's sad to see someone she respects stoop to a level even lower than someone she doesn’t. One of her crows flew over and perched itself on her shoulder. “I assume you know about my bird strike technique, yes? As of right now you are no worth to me. I could easily kill you with one of my crows. If you don’t make use of your techniques to exorcise these curses then I’ll kill you.”
What was he supposed to do? Where was he supposed to start? The threat of death looming over his head. It was enough to get him out of his state of passivity.
The only thing he can do against one of them is dodge it because once it hits him he’s dead. Tora’s barriers can't do anything against them because the amount of cursed energy employed in one of those attacks exceeds ten times the upper limit of the barrier. But against Mei Mei’s precision there's not much you can do against it. Not unless he could turn that power against her.
He picked the closest curse in the street and started from there. His first attack had a delayed effect as he infused his energy too slow. He needed to go faster. Despite knowing his mistakes, he still couldn’t fix them. With every next attack came more delayed reactions and he could tell that death was coming for him.
He didn’t need to rely on his old techniques now because of his increased energy reverses. He’s not used to them. He needs to take a step back.
Black flashes occur when cursed energy is infused within a microsecond of an attack. It’s something not many people can do but it gives the user a better understanding of how cursed energy works. Kitagawa is among the many sorcerers who can not perform the attack but he can create an artificial black flash by sucking out the cursed energy when an attack hits, causing a vacuum to be made where cursed energy rushes towards the void to fill that space.
But this is different. This is a true black flash. He can see it now. He can smell it. The path to victory!
Mei Mei smirked. That wasn’t what she asked for but it was a start.