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“Resonance!”
Yuji threw himself to the ground when Kugisaki’s voice rang out over the clamor of their fight. The spirit in front of him swelled for a moment before exploding in a burst of dark fire.
“You go left,” she called, already running to the right.
“Got it!” There was still a faint trail of cursed energy marking the path the escaping spirits had taken. On their own the curse spirits weren’t very strong, but their numbers had been overwhelming. Yuji and Kugisaki had gotten separated from Fushiguro a few minutes into the fight, thanks to a natural spirit the reports hadn’t mentioned.
They could all handle themselves, of course, but Yuji still didn’t like to be separated. Something always went wrong when that happened.
He could still hear the distinctive ring of Kugisaki’s hammer as he moved through the forest, and he kept his eyes peeled for any sign of their other classmate as he ran. He caught up to the fleeing spirits soon enough—they were grade three at best, and he was able to dispatch them easily enough even on his own.
Yuji stood quietly for a moment, listening to the forest around him as he caught his breath. He could still hear Kugisaki in the distance, but he hadn’t heard anything from Fushiguro since they’d been separated. While his friend’s fighting style wasn’t flashy like Yuji’s and Kugisaki’s, he should have at least heard one of his shikigami.
Something was wrong. He could feel it curling in his gut, and he turned back to run to the last place they’d all been together. That nature spirit had been pretty powerful, and he couldn’t shake the feeling that this was a trap. Was this like the prison?
He caught movement to his right and spun in that direction. Now he could see the hulking form of the nature spirit—it was all twisted brambles and thorns and long, spindly arms. Nothing like Hanami, and nothing near that level, but it was still putting off more cursed energy than they’d first detected.
“Fushiguro!” Yuji could see his classmate in the spirit’s clutches, hanging limply from the claw-like hand around his throat. His uniform was torn and bloody, and he wasn’t moving.
The spirit’s head jerked around to stare at Yuji. Its eyes were two different sizes, and the larger one rolled around to focus on him while the smaller one disappeared into the folds of its face to emerge near its ear, still looking at Fushiguro.
Yuji planted his feet and lowered his stance, charging his own cursed energy into his fist. He hadn’t needed any technique for those other low-level cursed spirits, but he could tell this thing wouldn’t go down without a fight.
The sound of a hammer striking a nail rang out from behind him, and the spirit wailed as Kugisaki hit it in the eye. Cursed energy erupted from the nail, and Yuji charged forward as the spirit reeled back, blinded. He aimed for its arm, unleashing enough cursed energy into his blow to smash through and sever it from the spirit’s body.
He caught Fushiguro as he fell, cushioning his landing so his friend wouldn’t be further injured.
“Hairpin!”
Yuji yelped and threw himself over Fushiguro’s body as Kugisaki’s attack exploded. A chunk of the spirit’s body struck him on the shoulder and bits of gnarled wood showered over his head.
“We’re right here!” he shouted.
“I know!” Kugisaki sprinted toward them, spinning enough to hammer a few more nails at the nature spirit. “The arm!”
Yuji grabbed the arm he’d severed and launched it toward Kugisaki. She knocked it out of the air and planted a foot on it, produced one of her straw dolls. He shoved himself up to his feet and scooped up Fushiguro’s limp body to sprint for cover as Kugisaki smashed a nail through the doll into the spirit’s severed arm.
It screamed, something exploded, and Kugisaki laughed.
But Yuji didn’t have time for that. He laid Fushiguro back down and patted his cheeks, shaking his shoulder. “Hey, come on. Wake up, man.”
“Itadori?”
“He’s not moving,” Yuji replied over his shoulder. He fumbled at Fushiguro’s neck, not quite sure what he needed to find. “I don’t…I don’t think he has a pulse?”
Kugisaki swore and dropped to her knees beside him. She shoved his hand out of the way and pressed her fingers to a spot under Fushiguro’s jaw. “Dammit!”
“You know CPR?” Yuji asked. He tore front of Fushiguro’s uniform open and sat up on his knees, crossing his wrists to center the heels of his hands on Fushiguro’s sternum.
“Yeah, got it,” Kugisaki nodded. “I’ll count out the rhythm, just follow me. Got it?”
“Got it.”
“Hey!” she smacked his arm, leaning in to glare at him. “Don’t use your full strength. Breaking his ribs is one thing, but if you crush his spine I’ll curse you.”
“I know.”
“Okay.” She pressed her fingers to Fushiguro’s throat again. “Ready? One, two….”
Yugi leaned up, centering his shoulders over his hands, and began compressions. He matched his movements to Kugisaki’s counting, letting her set the pace.”
“Thirty!”
With that, he leaned back and watched as she pinched Fushiguro’s nose and sealed her lips over his. Two rescue breaths, then she felt for his pulse again. “Keep going,” she said. “One, two, three….”
And again. Thirty more compressions, but this time when Kugisaki leaned down to breathe Yuji dug his phone out. He called Gojo, set the call to speaker, and dropped the phone on the ground in time to start compressions again.
“Yuji!” Gojo’s voice was teasing when he answered. “Calling your beloved sensei for help is cheating!”
“Fushiguro!” he gasped, still following Kugisaki’s count for the chest compressions. “He’s…we need help.”
“Breathe, dammit!” Kugisaki muttered as she bent down. “Still nothing.”
Yuji cursed and leaned forward again, starting the compressions on Kugisaki’s count.
He almost missed Gojo’s reply, but when the words came they were steady and serious. “I’m on my way.”
There wasn’t time to be relieved. Thirty more compressions, then two breaths. Still nothing. Yuji blinked tears out of his eyes as he knelt over his friend’s unresponsive body, feeling broken ribs grind under his hands as he tried to force his heart to beat. Kugisaki was calm and stoic, her face an emotionless mask, but Yuji knew she was just compartmentalizing. She’d break down later, when she had time to feel everything.
There was a shift in pressure, and Gojo was suddenly there, crouched on the other side of Fushiguro’s body. He rested a hand in Fushiguro’s tangled black hair as Kugisaki leaned in for two more breaths.
“All right, Megumi,” Gojo said, his voice gentler than Yuji had ever heard. “You’re worrying your friends. Time to wake up.”
Yuji swallowed, wiped his face against his shoulder, and rose up on his knees for more compressions. Kugisaki smacked him on the arm, her face pinched in concentration.
“Hang on a second,” she hissed. Her fingers were still pressed to Fushiguro’s neck under his jaw, and she moved them down a little, eyes narrowed. “I think…yes! There’s a pulse!”
She held her wrist in front of his face, twisting so that the face of her watch was under his nose. Yuji held his breath, not daring to move, until a tiny mist of vapor clouded the watch’s face.
“He’s breathing!” Kugisaki shouted. She flung her arms around Yuji’s neck, knocking him back, crying and laughing in equal measure. “He’s breathing! We did it!”
Yuji gave a strangled cough as her grip tightened. “Why are you crying now?” he managed to gasp.
She released him and punched his arm. “Don’t be stupid. I’m not crying.”
He didn’t point out that she absolutely, definitely, was crying. He wasn’t that stupid. Just sat back on his knees to watch the slight rise and fall of his classmate’s chest.
Gojo, who still had a hand on Fushiguro’s head, smiled at them, his eyebrows raised behind his blindfold. “There’s still a few low-grade curses in the area,” he commented. “You two clean those up. I’ll take Megumi from here.”
“Right!” Yuji snapped out a salute and struggled to his feet. Kugisaki hauled on his arm to pull herself up, staring down at Fushiguro for a long moment before turning back toward the forest.
A sudden thought struck Yuji, and he jogged after her to catch up.
“Hey, Kugisaki? I was just wondering…was that your first kiss?”