Chapter Text
Fumi had imagined how this moment would feel a million times over. Fantasized about it, fretted over it, envisioned it going a thousand different ways. Yet when she stepped foot in Tokyo at last, she felt nothing. All she saw were bustling crowds of people pushing past one another at the train station she had arrived in.
This was the place that Nobara had longed to go to so badly. The same city Saori was from, and presumably still lived in now. She had thought once she arrived it would be a magical experience. She would be excited that her promise to Nobara was closer to being fulfilled. But instead all she could focus on was how she felt farther away from Nobara than ever despite being in the same city as her once again.
What was she even doing here? She’d spent her whole life following after Nobara, and now she had followed her to Tokyo as well. Going as far as to convince her parents to enroll her in a boarding school in the city. What would she do if she never found Nobara here, or if when she finally did, Nobara didn’t want to see her.
Nobara was always so independent, so bold and bright. She probably had no lack of new friends in Tokyo. Why would she care about Fumi anymore? Her awkward childhood friend who she always had to worry about and protect. Here she probably had found other people more like her, who she had more fun hanging out with. The thought made her feel ill, and she quickly made her way out of the crowded train station, hoping some fresh air might calm her nerves.
Once she was outside the train station, the crowd only thickened and she felt overwhelmed standing in such a vast place so full of people and buildings. She tried to remember how she so effortlessly navigated the city back when she was a very little girl and her family had lived in one. The years spent in the quiet of the countryside had completely stripped her of that ability to meld with the city though, and she anxiously glanced at her phone as she clutched her suitcase to her side with a white-knuckled grip.
Without even thinking, she opened Nobara’s contact in her phone. Whenever she was in trouble she always found herself longing for Nobara to be at her side, a comforting and unrelenting presence as she guided Fumi through whatever problem she faced. Staring at the screen only made her feel worse. The last message was from Nobara two months ago. Just a simple ‘yep! Totally fine, don’t worry. Sorry for the late reply, I've been very busy.’
Fumi hadn’t known how to reply to that so she had never sent a response. The message Nobara had been replying too was dated November 2nd, 2018. She remembered that morning so distinctly. She had woken up and walked into the living room to see her parents sitting on the couch, worried looks on their faces as they held hands. Fumi turned her attention to the television where news about the tragedy in Shibuya was being broadcasted. The news anchor didn’t have an explanation for what happened at the time, all they could do was show videos and images of the carnage and report on the alleged death count. It was hard to properly gauge the actual scale of death and destruction back then, and in the days and weeks that followed it only got worse.
She had frantically run back to her room to grab her phone and text Nobara to see if she was ok. She didn’t know where Nobara’s school in Tokyo was, for all she knew it could have been in Shibuya and her friend could be dead. As the day went on and she never heard back from Nobara her worry quickly descended into panic. A panic that only increased in the days to come as no reply came.
She had made the trip to Nobara’s house to speak to her grandmother, desperately hoping she had heard from Nobara and could confirm for Fumi that she was ok. But all she had said was ‘no, I haven’t heard from the brat since she ran off to Tokyo. Nor do I care.’
The two months after were the most stressful of Fumi’s life. She didn’t want to believe it but a part of her had become convinced Nobara must be dead, especially as more and more tragedy struck Tokyo and the concept of curses was revealed to the public. She hadn’t quite wanted to believe it. Monsters? That most of the public couldn’t even see most of the time. It all sounded ridiculous, she would have thought it nothing more than an insane conspiracy theory online if it hadn't come from an official government statement. And then it had all become more real during that livestream from Shinjuku, where they watched those people fight with actual powers, like heroes from fairy tales.
Fumi had sat in her room, the broadcast on her phone as she hid under her covers and once again imagined Nobara getting caught up in all that madness. At this point it had been nearly two months since she heard from her friend, and she was starting to lose hope that she ever would again. Either Nobara had completely ditched her old life, including Fumi, when she moved to Tokyo, or she was dead. And there was clearly a worse option there. Fumi would be ok having Nobara ignore her as long as it meant she was alive and safe.
Fumi slipped her phone back into her pocket without messaging Nobara. Even if she did respond, did Fumi honestly expect to meet Nobara like this? The moment she stepped off the train from the countryside with her suitcase and backpack still with her. No, it would be better for her to get to her new dorm and unpack first, then she could send a text to Nobara.
She didn’t want to admit that part of that decision came from a place of anxiety over whether she would even get a response in the first place.
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Three weeks passed and Fumi still didn’t message Nobara. Each time she sat down to do it she came up with some new excuse as to why she should wait until later. First she told herself she would do it after she unpacked her bags and met her roommate for the year. Then she told herself it would probably be a lot to meet Nobara right now when she still had to get settled into her new school and start her classes. That was the excuse she was still running with in her head, even though classes had started two weeks ago and she was definitely used to her new schedule.
She got along well with her roommate, but the two of them weren’t that similar, so they didn’t hang out with each other often. And she had yet to try and reach out to any of her classmates to see if they would like to be friends with her. After classes, she spent the evening in her room while the rest of her classmates went out into the city to hang out with their friends. And each night she stared at her text messages with Nobara and debated for hours on whether this day would finally be the one she texted her.
No matter how much she psyched herself up to send the message, she never did. Fumi just couldn’t bear the thought of rejection, especially from Nobara of all people. The girl who had smiled at her with the entire sun reflected in her gaze and offered a hand when Fumi felt most alone in the world. What had changed over the years to get them where they were today? How could she have let herself lose her connection with Nobara. Maybe if she was a better friend this wouldn’t have happened. She should have texted Nobara more after she left for Tokyo and made sure she they kept in contact. But she had never known what to say and she didn’t want to be annoying. That’s why Nobara usually carried their conversations, so Fumi could just follow along with wherever she went.
With her shoulders slumped in defeat she clicked her phone off and resigned herself to another night alone in her room. The knowledge of that unsent message weighed more and more on her these days, and as each day passed without her sending it she felt like it was less likely for her ever muster up the courage to hit send.
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As the days dragged into weeks and Fumi still didn’t contact Nobara, the anxiety started to weigh so heavily on her that it felt like it was physically pulling her down. Her shoulders were almost perpetually slumped these days as if she was lugging a heavy backpack around everywhere with her. And her entire body felt sore and drained, like her energy was being sapped.
Her classmates also noticed the changes in her. They had offered her brief greetings and smiled at her when she first joined the school. But now they avoided her like she had some kind of sickness, and shot her wary looks like they were worried about what she would do. Even her roommate had started to grow distant from her- or well, more distant than before. All Fumi did these days was lay in bed and ruminate on how cowardly she was not to be able to send one measly message. Her grades were slipping badly from the amount of homework she had never gotten around to doing, and she could tell her teachers were concerned about her as well. But Fumi couldn’t find the strength within herself to do anything about it.
It all came to a head one day at lunch. It was the middle of June, and she had been at her new school for nearly two months at this point. She had started coming outside during lunch to try and clear her head a bit, and to avoid the strange looks she got sitting alone in the cafeteria. The moment she was outside of the school doors she slumped against the wall and slid to the ground. The weight hovering over her had been worse than usually lately, and she was starting to wonder whether this wasn’t just in her head, but rather some medical issue she should get checked out. The last thing she wanted to do was go to a doctor and have them tell her she was insane and there was nothing wrong with her though. So she had refrained from getting it checked up, but maybe she should reconsider, it was starting to grow painful.
The sudden sound of voices had her freezing in place. No one ever came out this way, not in all the weeks she had been spending her lunch here, “According to the window, the curse has attached itself to a student here. He said it’s been getting dangerously close to becoming aggressive, apparently it progressed from a simple grade four to a grade two all within a single month.”
It was a boy. Which made no sense because this was an all girls school, and outsiders were strictly prohibited from entering the premises. And what were they saying about curses? Was there one in the school that her and her classmates weren’t able to see? Was this stranger one of the mysterious ‘sorcerers’ who killed curses that they had all heard about.
“How are we supposed to look through all the students if this is an all girls school though,” another boy’s voice complained, “Maybe Gojo-sensei should have just sent you with Maki-senpai or Hoshi-senpai instead of me and Megumi after all.”
“Well, I certainly would have preferred Maki or Kirara to you two losers,” a hauntingly familiar voice said, eliciting a sharp gasp from Fumi’s lips. That was Nobara’s voice, Fumi could recognize it anywhere, even though she hadn’t heard her friend speak in close to a year now, she knew it was her. There wasn’t long for Fumi to dwell on it though, moments later, a long clawed hand suddenly appeared on her shoulder. She slowly looked above her, barely daring to breath.
And then she screamed.
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“Why would Gojo-sensei even assign all three of us for such a simple mission,” Nobara sighed as her, Yuji, and Megumi stepped out of the assistant manager’s car.
“Someone has to do these easy missions, and as students we are more likely be assigned them than experienced sorcerers,” Megumi explained with a sigh.
“Plus its nice to do missions together!” Yuji grinned as he slung an arm around Megumi’s shoulder with a bright grin, “We work well as a team.”
Megumi got that small, lovesick smile on his face that he always got when he was around Yuji, and Nobara had to refrain from rolling her eyes, “Ugh, maybe for you guys. But I have to third wheel you two and your lovey-dovey bullshit twenty-four-seven, the last thing I want to do is deal with that on missions too.”
She strode past the entrance of the school and around the alley leading to the back, since the window said the student usually hid there during her lunch period, “Oh come on Nobara,” Yuji whined as he grabbed Megumi’s hand and pulled him along to chase after her, “We just started dating, can’t we be happy about it.”
“Be happy about it, just not around me,” she shook her head with a huff, “I can’t believe you idiots got a partner before I did! It’s so unfair.”
“Let’s just try to focus on the mission,” Megumi sighed, “According to the window, the curse has attached itself to a student here. He said it’s been getting dangerously close to becoming aggressive, apparently it progressed from a simple grade four to a grade two all within a single month.”
“How are we supposed to look through all the students if this is an all girls school though,” Yuji frowned thoughtfully, “Maybe Gojo-sensei should have just sent you with Maki-senpai or Hoshi-senpai instead of me and Megumi after all.”
“Well I would have preferred Maki or Kirara to you two losers,” Nobara quipped, earning her an affronted look from Yuji. Nobara grinned as Yuji opened his mouth to argue back, only for all of them to freeze at a sudden ear-splitting scream from around the corner.
With practiced ease, the three of them sprinted towards the possible threat. As she rounded the corner, Nobara faltered in her steps, almost tripping if Megumi hadn’t been there to grab her arm and steady her.
It felt like a image from a nightmare. Fumi, who Nobara didn’t even know was in Tokyo, was pressed against the wall with a huge curse lurking over her. Sweet, kind, gentle, Fumi. Her Fumi. Rage coursed through her blood and Nobara whipped her hammer and a handful of nails out of her belt.
Despite Nobara’s previous hesitation, her, Megumi, and Yuji were a good team by now. Her classmates had easily adjusted around her and continued with the mission. Megumi let go of her arm, “You good,” he breathed out quickly as his hands made the hand sign for his demon dog. At the same time, Yuji ran forward and snatched Fumi from the curse’s grip only moments before its claws would have slashed across her throat. He lept out of the way quickly, Fumi shaking in his arms with her eyes closed and her hands clapped over her ears.
“Yeah, tell you later,” Nobara replied to Megumi quickly. With Fumi out of the way, her and Megumi were quick to defeat the curse. She sent three nails flying that pinned it in place and Megumi’s divine dog made quick work of the easy target with a single strike from its claws.
As the curse dissipated into dust on the ground, Nobara tucked her hammer back into her belt and ran over towards Yuji, “Fumi!” she called out, still feeling a little disoriented by the whole situation. If Fumi had transferred to a school in Tokyo, why hadn’t she texted or called Nobara to let her know? She hadn’t heard back from her ever since she replied to Fumi’s message asking if she was ok after everything that had happened last year.
“Wait, Fumi?” she heard Megumi ask as he followed her, “Like your friend from home, Fumi?” Yuji clarified. Nobara reached out to take her from Yuji’s arms, worry creasing her brow as she noticed that Fumi was knocked out cold.
“Yes, that Fumi,” Nobara quickly confirmed, “What happened? Did you knock her head when you were saving her or something?” Nobara asked Yuji with a pointed look.
He held up his hands defensively, “No! She just passed out, I think she fainted from fright.”
At least she wasn’t injured in that case, but Nobara still didn’t know what happened to make Fumi of all people spawn a curse like that all by herself. Sure, it hadn’t been that strong in comparison to some of the curses they fought. But for it to come from a single person’s negative emotions, it was certainly much more powerful than it should have been. That being unless Fumi was deeply distressed, and had been like that for a while now.
Nobara frowned as she looked at Fumi’s face, “We’ll take her back to school and have Shoko check her over,” she decided out loud.
Megumi nodded and pulled out his phone, “I’ll call the assistant manager to tell him to come back.”
Protocol would call for a non-sorcerer like Fumi to be sent to a local hospital and not brought back to Jujutsu tech. In fact, she would usually not be allowed to even enter the campus. But neither Megumi nor Yuji mentioned anything about that rule, they went along with Nobara’s choice because they realized this was important to her.
As much as she teased them and poked fun at them, she appreciated the two of them a lot. They were her best friends, and after all they had been through together she didn’t trust anyone in this world more than she trusted them.
They didn’t have to wait long before the assistant manager arrived, he hadn’t managed to get far before they had called him back. This mission had been expected to take more time and investigation rather than them stumbling upon the curse almost immediately.
As the tallest, Megumi sat in the front seat for the ride back to Jujutsu tech so there would be enough room in the back for Fumi as well. Nobara made sure to carefully place her in the car and not jostle her. Once she sat down herself, she leaned Fumi’s head against her shoulder so she would be as comfortable as possible during the drive. Nobara would get to the bottom of what caused this level of distress in Fumi when she was safe and awake again. And whatever it was, Nobara would make sure it never bothered Fumi again.