Chapter Text
Something lurked in the forest just south of Sugisawa 3rd Municipal High.
At least, that’s what Itadori’s upperclassmen in the Occult Research Club claimed.
To be fair, Sasaki and Iguchi claimed a lot of things about ghosts, demons, and hauntings that turned out to be untrue. They always blamed their source for being incorrect, determined to find evidence of a truly paranormal case, as was the purpose of this club. It didn’t bother Itadori, he’d only recently joined this club (if you could call it that, with only two serious members) under the promise that he could join their roster and never show up for a meeting. A ghost member , Sasaki had said, proud of her pun but very clearly desperate for a third member to join their adventures before the club was disbanded for lack of interest. The desperation on the girl’s face during recruitment and the resigned disappointment Iguchi oozed from behind her broke Itadori’s resolve though, and after submitting his club registration form, he was about to embark on his first on-site investigation with Sugisawa 3rd’s Occult Research Club.
Iguchi parked his car on the road at the border of the forest. He and Sasaki got to unloading their ghost hunting supplies from the trunk, handing anything heavy and bulky to Itadori as they argued over what supplies were necessary on this excursion.
“We don’t need to bring everything, Setsuko. If this investigation turns out like our other ones, we won’t be able to record anything anyway,” Iguchi sighed as his classmate continued digging around his trunk.
“You say that, but what if this time there is something interesting, and we left behind the tools necessary to document it, and no one believes us?” Sasaki argued, voice muffled.
“Let’s bring a camera and a couple of EMF readers, that should be sufficient. If we find anything promising, we can schedule a more thorough investigation later.”
Sasaki popped up from the trunk, thumb to her chin. “You’re right, Iguchi. Maybe I’m still disappointed from our previous trips, but I’m also worried we won’t find anything promising. Itadori, hand me back the ghost box and tripod, we won’t be needing those.”
Silently thankful that he wouldn’t be a pack mule again, Itadori passed back the items before receiving an EMF reader from Sasaki. Even though he was willing to act as a ‘shield’ between his upperclassmen and whatever horrors they imagined in the dim forest, it was hard for him to enjoy the atmosphere of these investigations when he was tasked with lugging around all the heaviest supplies.
Before venturing out into the forest, Sasaki gathered Iguchi and Itadori into a huddle.
“Remember, we’re looking for evidence of a haunting. The reports we have didn’t provide a lot of information, just people who have wandered into this forest encountered several small, mangled animals in their path and glimpsed a white blur in their peripheral vision. Only a few have claimed to spot a figure in a white kimono, and those claims were later refuted. We aren’t looking for a ghost on this trip, as tempting as that may be.”
Itadori didn’t find it particularly tempting, but Iguchi nodded emphatically, his gaze averted a little like he was feeling called out by this reminder.
“Fantastic,” Sasaki concluded, smirk spreading across her face. “Sugisawa Occult Research Club investigation #14, commence!”
The walk into the forest was uneventful, despite how excitedly Sasaki and Iguchi were checking their shared EMF reader for any change in its reading. Itadori strolled behind them, figuring that if anything interesting happened, the reactions of his upperclassmen would inform him and then he could get more invested.
Shockingly, it didn’t take long for something to happen.
Fifteen minutes into their walk, Itadori’s upperclassmen stopped abruptly in front of him. They appeared to be fidgeting with their EMF reader, so while they were busy, Itadori peered around them to check out what caused this pause.
A dormouse lay dead in the middle of the path.
Itadori kneeled to get a closer look, the voices of his bickering seniors fading into the background under his curiosity. The rodent didn’t appear particularly mangled, as the few reports they received claimed of the states of dead animals in this forest, but it was weird that the animal was left directly in their path.
He felt a tap on his shoulder and turned to see Sasaki and Iguchi, tense postures betraying their apprehension. “Itadori, did you notice your EMF go off at all in the past few minutes?”
He shook his head, hiding the fact that he’d stuck the device in his pocket before they entered the forest. The device would have blared like crazy if something actually popped up around them, so he didn’t see the big deal over keeping it in his hand the whole time. “Maybe a hawk or something dropped its lunch earlier, and we just found it.” He reached up to scratch his neck. “I almost wanna bury the poor thing, though. Managed to avoid getting eaten, but not avoid death. That’s gotta suck.”
Sasaki grimaced, tugging Itadori back from the animal. “Ew, don’t do that. Whether the mouse is a victim of a ghost or a hawk, it’s gotta be covered in germs and stuff by now.”
Iguchi brought the camera closer to the dead dormouse to record any fine details, and with that, they continued on their investigation.
Now, Itadori led the group, Iguchi and Sasaki were spooked by this point. When he asked what’s up, his upperclassmen claimed they were simply showing respect and awe for whatever paranormal entities were around them. If they really respected the paranormal, Itadori thinks, shouldn’t they want to leave now?
They continued. The sun was going down, so the forest was now too dim to see the path they were walking. Itadori reached into his backpack to retrieve the three flashlights they packed, passing two behind him to his seniors. Itadori flicked his flashlight on.
A rabbit lay mutilated two feet in front of them.
Sasaki and Iguchi startled behind him, and Sasaki even whimpered at the newly illuminated site. In the corner of his eye, Itadori swore he saw a glowing white blur slip through the trees lining the path. “Holy shit, Iguchi, did you catch that?” Itadori heard from behind him before he turned.
Iguchi fiddled with the camera, the mix of anxiety and disappointment creating a weird expression on this face. “I saw it, yeah, but the camera didn’t pick anything up.” Before he could continue, though, all three high schoolers froze.
The air thickened, the pressure overwhelming. A deer darted out of the forest across the path, causing the kids to jump back. But unexpectedly, the deer stopped.
Really, the deer looked like it was yanked to a halt. In front of Itadori, Iguchi, and Sasaki’s eyes, the deer spasmed, choked, and dropped to the ground, dead. The pressure around them increased exponentially, and something walked closer to the path from the forest.
“Leave, now. Before you can’t.”
Itadori shivered at the presence behind the voice, knees almost buckling beneath himself. Iguchi and Sasaki screamed, and Itadori heard the camera Iguchi was holding drop to the ground and break. They’re gonna be disappointed that they lost their footage , he thinks, almost dissociated. The air thickened again, choking the breath from his lungs. His upperclassmen were long gone, so dazedly, Itadori reached for the camera as he turned. Unfortunately, between his panic and his bending down to pick up the discarded item, Itadori fell face-first onto the forest path.
His surroundings blurred, and Itadori could only be relieved that he’s going to be unconscious while whatever the fuck happened to that deer happened to him.
*****
Itadori woke up to his head pounding and his upperclassmen arguing.
“We need to call emergency services, Sasaki! Or at least take him to the hospital!”
“How are we gonna explain this, huh?! ‘Oh, we were wandering through a reportedly haunted forest in the dark and we left him behind while saving ourselves.’ That’s gonna go disastrously!”
“We’ll say we went hiking and he fell, then we carried him back to our car. But he seriously needs medical attention!”
“What I need is for you guys to quiet down for a bit,” Itadori finally mumbled, sitting up.
Sasaki and Iguchi turned down to him, startled by the unexpected sound after the horror they experienced in the forest. Yet, to Itadori’s surprise, relief flooded both of their expressions upon processing that he was awake.
“OH MY GOD, Itadori! I’m so so sorry we left you behind, that was so shitty of us!” Tears built in Sasaki’s eyes as she crouched beside him, hands hovering around his head.
Iguchi knelt down, almost bowing. “If you want to quit the club, hell, if you never want to see us again, we totally understand. We can take you to a doctor and then we’ll leave you alone forever, promise!”
“Whoa, slow down!” Itadori smiled slightly, head still aching and unable to process all that’s going on in front of him. “I’m not gonna quit, I don’t blame you for running! In fact, I wish I had run away faster.” He winced, looking around to see he was on the side of the road. “How’d you find me?”
Sasaki shivered, seeming reluctant to recall what just happened to them all. “We were walking back to Iguchi’s car when we saw you laying in the grass off the road. How’d you get out of the forest so far from us, Itadori?”
For the second time that night, Itadori felt disturbed deep in his core. “I… didn’t get out of the forest. I passed out on the path trying to… wait, where is it?!”
Iguchi hunched his shoulders while Sasaki wrapped her arms around herself in comfort, watching in shock as Itadori scrambled around himself. Standing up, head swimming, he spotted a small black lump in the grassy ditch between the road and the forest’s edge. He grabbed it and saw the camera he risked his life to save was mangled beyond repair.
Itadori sighed. “Well, I attempted to save your camera, Iguchi, but it looks like it was damaged in the fall more than I thought.” He passed the ghost hunting camera back to his upperclassman. “Well, anyway, would you guys be troubled taking me to a medical center or something? My head is killing me, it would probably be best to get checked out by a doctor.”
Iguchi nodded harshly, almost worrying Itadori that he’d give himself a concussion as well. “Of course, it’s the least I could do. But, I am curious,” he fiddled with the underside of the camera, “did you see any parts of the camera knocked loose when you tried to pick it up? I don’t think the memory card is here.”
Itadori tried to remember, but recalling what just happened was making his brain hurt even more. “I’m having a hard time recalling, but I don’t think so. Honestly, I don’t even remember the camera being that damaged on the ground…”
The three of them let silence hang in the air. Each student remained still, like they were mentally weighing the benefits and risks of venturing back into the forest behind them before the voice invaded their memories.
Leave, now. Before you can’t.
“Well,” Sasaki broke the silence, voice shaking. “We aren’t getting the footage from this trip, and we are never returning to this forest.”