Chapter Text
As proud as you were to be one of the few full-time employees at a very quaint and charming used book store just outside of the city (loved by locals and raved about by the tourists), you weren’t so proud that you would take on the role of ghost hunter. Which is what you were doing right now.
Ghost hunter is what you decided to call yourself (or maybe the naive first victim of a horror movie is more like it?) as you walked through an incredibly dark, moldy, probably rat infested abandoned building that was soon to be the second location of the used book store. The owner and your boss, Mayu, was ecstatic about the next step in her business endeavors and talked constantly about her vision for the new store. “Oh it’s just going to be wonderful! We’ll have so much more space! No more stacking books on the floor—and oh! I’m thinking about a breakfast bar in the corner, maybe some self serve coffee, and we can get some comfy chairs for customers to read in…”
Yes, you completely saw her vision and completely trusted it to come to fruition. But right now, as you walked through the abandoned building alone, you began to question just how much loyalty you had to her and this job.
Mayu had asked you to do this favor for her: do a quick sweep of the building and double check the necessities such as working plumbing, an AC unit of some kind, working locks on the doors, solid flooring and walls and ceilings, etcetera. You stopped to look down at the list handwritten by her, and then looked back up to survey your surroundings.
Straight out of a horror movie. You cringed and felt dread weigh in your stomach. It was quite a large building, probably some kind of warehouse or work space at one point. There were stairs that led to some kind of mysterious room you would no doubt avoid at all costs, and another part in the corner sectioned off with a partition and door. Water continued to drip from the ceiling somewhere, evidenced by the lingering smell of mildew in the air. And all the windows were boarded up. You made a mental note that they would probably need to be redone. Natural light was going to be best for the shop and its cozy atmosphere.
You questioned your loyalty to your job once more, debating whether to make a run for it now or just get this errand done and over with before you found yourself truly in the middle of a horror movie.
Something that sounded eerily like scurrying echoed across the room and you jumped.
If you got attacked by a rat, you were sending Mayu the bill for emotional damages.
You gripped the list in your hand tighter and began taking slow steps deeper into the building.
There were definitely problems with the plumbing if you heard leaking, so you just decided to call that one checked off. You squinted your eyes as you looked around to try and decipher any resemblance of an AC unit or central air system. In the corner seemed to be a pile of wood and boxes that was covering something embedded in the wall. You made your way over, careful to avoid any flooring that looked weakened or unstable.
“This place needs some serious fixing up,” you grumbled as you stepped over a splintered piece of floorboard.
The long pieces of wood that lay balanced on the wall looked heavy and way out of your pay grade, not to mention rotting with mold by the smell of it when you stepped closer. If you could just push them far enough off the wall, you would let them fall on the ground and just tell Mayu they were already like that when you came.
You wrapped your arms around the planks and began to push to test the weight, when suddenly that scurrying sound returned and a squeak sounded just near your feet. You leapt back, and the loudest scream you’d ever heard come from your body echoed in the empty warehouse.
A tiny mouse emerged from behind the wood, bounding across the warehouse and disappearing into the void.
The hand pressed to your chest moved up and down as you heaved heavy, panicked filled breaths. A dramatic and heavily annoyed sigh fell from your lips. “Mayu, you owe me big time…”
Stepping towards the wood and wrapping your arms around it once again, you told yourself if you saw another mouse you were walking out of there and bringing your co-worker Kagura with you. With one big heave, you tugged the wood up, let go, and took a step back.
All the planks tumbled to the ground with a loud crash, echoing in the large warehouse around you. It gave you just enough room to step behind the boxes and see what that machinery in the wall was.
But when you stepped behind the boxes, it wasn’t the machinery you saw.
No. The breath caught in your throat, your mouth instantly dried, and your stomach threatened to heave itself out right then and there as you became face to face with what had to be the most horrific and terrible nightmare of your life.
And it was smiling at you.
———
“Nanaminnnnnn at least tell me where we are going!”
While Itadori whined in the backseat, Nanami ignored him and continued to think over what lesson this kind of mission would serve for the kid. Itadori was certainly gaining skills at a fast rate, but still had much to learn. This kind of mission would be a breeze for him.
Gojo got word that there was a problem to be taken care of but assured Nanami it couldn’t be more than a grade four or grade three mission. Some abandoned building outside of town that caused the locals to keep complaining of some strange activities happening in the area. “Take Itadori with you! He needs some practice anyway!”
Nanami remembered being dispatched on simple missions like this and feeling annoyed. As a student sorcerer, he wanted each mission to increase in challenge to feel as though he was really accomplishing and growing. But no mission should be taken lightly and should always be treated with an equal amount of care and consideration. Nanami hoped that this would be a lesson for Itadori to never slack off, even if the mission is below his grade.
“It’s more fun as a surprise, Itadori!” Ijichi chimed in with a smile as he drove them to the location. “Just think, whatever it is your about to face, you’ll have to think on your feet!”
“Yeah, you’re right Ijichi! It is kind of exciting that way!” Itadori beamed. Nanami just continued to look out the window.
As they rounded the corner, Nanami took in what could only be the abandoned building that they were assigned to check out. It was certainly abandoned by the looks of the exterior, and it was a typical site for curses to take refuge.
“Itadori,” Nanami began as Ijichi stopped the car on the road. “Before we go in, I want to go over some things.”
“Is that what we’re dealing with? Doesn’t look to bad to me,” Itadori pressed his nose to the window.
“Never underestimate a mission, whether it’s a grade four or special grade. You never know what you could encounter,” Nanami spoke.
“Yeah, yeah, never underestimate, I got it…” Itadori mumbled. “This will be a piece of cake.”
Nanami frowned and turned his head back slightly. “This is no time to be slacking off—“
Nanami’s sentence was cut off by the deafening sound of splintering wood.
Nanami whipped his head around to see the roof of the abandoned building exploding, dust and debris filling the air.
“Ijichi!” Nanami quickly opened the car door and leapt from the car.
“Got it!” Ijichi called. “Emerge from the darkness, blacker than darkness. Purify that which is impure!”
As the veil began to fall, Nanami quickly glanced behind to make sure his student was with him. Itadori had that look of utter determination on his face as they both ran toward the building, and Nanami felt a twinge of pride to know that Itadori could always be counted on.
Out of the hole of the roof, the curse emerged. Nanami and Itadori broke into a sprint.
———
It started as a snake—no, a worm—with a disgusting face so similar to that of a human’s it made your stomach churn. You slapped a hand to your mouth and stepped back, tripping over the wood as you did. And then, as you fell to the ground with a painful thud, the worm began to grow.
It grew and grew and grew, stretching and and slithering and slinking taller and taller with that horrible face still smiling wickedly.
This has to be a dream, you thought. It was all you could think. It was all you could do. Your body was shaking so violently and your body was so rigid with fear that all you could do was watch this creature from a nightmare grow taller and taller until it broke through the ceiling.
The tremor was what broke you out of your shock, and you found the sense to quickly pull yourself into a ball and cover your head with your arms. The volume of the roof exploding pierced your ears, and debris rapidly fell to the ground and onto you. You were so tightly wound around yourself that none of the pain really registered. But you were brave enough to turn and peek through your arms, and through the dust and streams of light now pouring down onto you, your eyes met the worm’s again.
It was coming back down.
Run run run run run you shouted at yourself, at your body to get the hell up and run away from this monster that had its sights set on you. But your legs felt like jello and your mind wasn’t coherent enough to override the fear that was coursing through your veins. Your breath began to pick up, fast and hurried as tears welled in your eyes.
There was no choice. You had to run. You had to get up off the floor and run as fast as you could to somewhere other than here where the worm began its slow and slithering decent down to you. With your breaths coming in short bursts, you found it in yourself to get up and run.
You trusted your legs to get you somewhere safe as your mind was a jumble of panic and terror. You sprinted toward the partitioned section of the building and didn’t look back.
The building continued to rumble as you ripped open the door and slammed it behind you. You locked it in some futile effort to the keep the monster from getting to you, but it was a small effort that kept you going further back into the building.
It seemed to be a small section of offices and supply rooms, old desks and dusty chairs and more boxes and wood from what you could see in the darkness. Your eyes darted around for any chance of a back door where you could escape whatever nightmare you were trapped in.
You ran to the back of the room. Nothing.
Panic began to settle in more quickly with each hurried breath. This was a dead end. There was no way out of here, not this way at least. There were two boarded up windows in the back however, and you ran over to try to pry the wood off with your hands which was pointless. You whipped around and blinked away the tears. Find something heavy to break the wood, you ordered yourself. Make it out of here alive.
The chair nearest to you seemed heavy enough, so you pulled it to you and heaved it up. With one swing, at the wood. It did nothing. You cursed, trying to muster up all the strength you had into each swing.
The building shook with tremors again, and you sucked in a breath as you looked back at the door. It felt closer to you now, whatever was happening out there. Fear, heavy and terrible, prickled at your skin.
It propelled you to take more swings at the boarded window, and with each swing you began to plead with the universe. “Please,” you rasped out with a swing. “Please don’t let me die. Please don’t let me die.”
Another tremor. Louder. Closer.
“Please,” you cried out, hot tears streaming down your face as you swung at the door. “Please, someone! Someone help! Help! Please, help me!”
The window splintered with your last swing, and so you swung again. The window continued to splinter, and hope sparked in your chest.
But the roof above you began to splinter, too.
Faster than you could process it, the wall that separated you and the room outside suddenly broke with the tail of the worm smashing through it. The roof fell, and all hope you had to make it out of this god forsaken nightmare alive fell with it.
Your arms fell slack; the chair you held fell to the floor. Dust and debris littered the air. The room was utterly silent save for the echo of the wall and roof collapsing. You stared at the tail of the worm, your back and sweaty palms pressed firmly against the wall as you said your final prayers.
You prayed Mayu would find a new place to build a second location and it would be successful. You prayed your dog would find a loving, new owner. You prayed your neighbor’s boyfriend would propose to her soon and that she would live a happy, long life. You prayed that your mom would live a peaceful and joy-filled retirement.
The roof began to crumble little by little, pieces falling to the floor and cracking resonating around you. It began to crumble toward you, the breaking picking up pace as you stood and awaited your fate. You watched as it came closer, suddenly the roof above you falling before you could think to duck away.
The crash sounded, loud and sudden, and silence fell.
Your shaking, raspy breaths continued to fall rapidly from your chest. You were breathing. You were alive.
Then, a different sensation hit you. You pressed against something soft and firm and warm, and you realized you weren’t the only one breathing fast and heavy.
You peeled your squinted eyes open and became face to face with a chest.
One arm caged you in by your head while the rest of you was surrounded on all sides. A man wearing a button up shirt and a yellow patterned tie. You looked up.
He was looking down at you, breathing heavily. His other arm was raised up, forearm protecting himself and you from the still falling debris. Behind his small glasses, his eyes darted around, scanning you, your face. A few pieces of his sandy blonde hair fell over his forehead.
“Are you alright?” He said calmly.
This person, you thought. This person heard me cry out. He’s here to save me. He saved me.
You opened your mouth to speak, but all that escaped was a single, broken sob. He lowered his raised arm and placed it gently on your shoulder. “I need to listen to me very carefully. We are going to run out of here. I’m going to need you to keep up with me. Are you hurt?”
You looked down at the hand he rested on your shoulder and followed up his forearm where his sleeve was pushed up. Bleeding cuts and already formed bruises littered his skin. He had blocked the roof falling on you with his body and arm. “Your—“
The hand moved to your chin and tilted your head up to look at him. “I need you to worry about yourself right now. Are you hurt? Can you run?”
Your chin quivered under his touch. “I—I c-can run.”
His face seemed to soften ever so slightly as you spoke. You know you sounded pathetic, like a terrified child. But his calm and stable demeanor gave you the strength you needed. “I can run.”
The sound of wood breaking made you jump, and behind the man, the tail of the worm started to move.
A sound of fear escaped your lips and tremors wracked your body once again. The man placed his hands on your elbows, prompting you to place your hands around his biceps. He pulled you up quickly, and your shaking legs barely felt stable on the ground but he never let go of you.
“Itadori!” The man called suddenly looking through the hole the worm created. “I trust you can finish this off?”
And then as if this nightmare couldn’t have gotten more stranger, a teenage boy popped up in the hole. He smiled largely and saluted the man. “Roger that, Mr. Nanami!”
Nanami? you questioned in your mind. But the worm began to growl louder and you stepped back toward the wall in terror.
Nanami was quick to grab your hands, silencing the tremors that overtook them. With a look of reassurance, he spoke calmly to you. “We are going to be just fine. My colleague Itadori will handle this. Are you ready to run?”
You couldn’t help but glance at the worm beginning to rise again, it’s head starting to turn around as if it could sense your pure fear.
You glanced at Nanami, a knot in your throat. “Ready.”
The worm roared as Nanami squeezed your hand in his and began to run, you right behind him. The horrible creature rose into the air, and you saw the Itadori boy jump off the roof and onto the worm, fist formed.
“This way!” Nanami yelled over the roaring of the creature, and you forced yourself to tear your eyes away from the scene of the boy. Except Nanami began to run toward the worm, and you felt yourself almost freeze.
But Nanami had reassured you that you and him would be just fine. You had no idea who this handsome man was or why he was here, but he had come to save you and that’s all that mattered.
You ran toward the worm, aiming for the spot of escape just passed where the gaping hole in the wall opened up. The boy named Itadori had distracted the creature so that it was looking up, giving you and Nanami time to run through.
The worm seemed to give one final roaring scream as Nanami and you made it to the doors of the building. You dared to look back at the creature.
The creature who was falling toward you and Nanami.
You let out a noise of fear, trying to alert Nanami but he was already moving. Nanami grabbed you, pulled you into his chest and heaved both of your bodies to the side.
The worm crashed and fell to the floor, causing more wood and debris to fly up while you and Nanami hit the floor. Nanami’s tight grip around you cushioned your fall slightly as you braced for impact, and you didn’t dare open your eyes until there was silence.
Nanami’s chest against your back rose and fall steadily while you gripped onto his forearms that held you to him. You still shook violently even in his tight hold, but he started to rise to sit you both up straight.
“Are you alright?” He spoke close to your ear as he sat you up against his back. You just breathed, focused on his touch to ground you, and opened your eyes.
The giant worm was gone.
For a moment, you thought maybe this whole thing was a nightmare. Would you wake up in your bed at home? But the destruction around you was evidenced of something as terrible as that giant monster.
Whether nightmare or real, it was gone. You let out a shaky sigh.
As reality set in, your body seemed to catch up with your senses, and your stomach began to churn. Before you knew it, you were heaving yourself away from Nanami and began to vomit onto the floor.
Nanami’s touch instantly returned, supporting your back and pulling your hair away from your face. When you finished emptying your stomach, your face was wet with tears again. You were crying.
You used your sleeve to wipe your mouth, but then a small handkerchief was placed in front of your face. Your shaky hand grabbed it from Nanami’s, and you wiped the rest away.
“W-What…what the…it’s gone…” you mumbled words, trying to find the right ones to make sense of what was happening. You swallowed, continuing to try and steady your breaths.
Nanami remained behind you, hand on your back and one gently letting your hair go.
Everything else seemed to set in, too. The pain that littered your body, the weakness of your muscles, the throbbing ache in your head. Your breaths began to pick up, and you fell slack against Nanami.
He caught you against his chest, his legs caging you in as he tried to steady your fall. The tears continued to fall as you sat against him, trying to somehow make sense of what was happening.
“This is a dream,” you whispered through your cries. “This is a dream. This has to be a dream.”
You brought up the heels of your palms to press against your eyes. The words tasted hollow on your tongue, because you knew deep down, this was real. You let out a choked sob. Nanami put a gentle hand on your arm, another attempt to steady the shaking.
Steps against the creaking, broken floor came toward you, and you carefully lifted your face to see the Itadori boy kneeling before you. He scanned your face, worried and concerned. “I’m sorry you had to get caught up in this, ma’am.”
His voice was so genuine and real, and you lowered your hands. “This is real, isn’t it? This isn’t a dream?”
Nanami sighed against you. “We are going to get your somewhere safe.”
But you continued. “And…and you two saved me. You saved my life. From whatever that was.”
Itadori glanced at Nanami behind you, and then back at you. “Like Nanami said, we’ll get you somewhere safe, okay?”
Then another man, dressed in a simple black suit, burst through the doors, panic on his face. “The veil is gone. We’ll need to alert the—“
His eyes fell to you. They widened with panic.
“Ijichi,” Nanami spoke calmly, his voice rumbling against your back. “We need to go to the hospital right now.”
“O-Oh, uh, y-yes. Of course. I’ll go start the car,” the man instantly turned around and ran out of the doors.
“T-The hospital?” You spoke. “H-How will we go to the hospital? What will we tell them? Someone needs to call the police—“
“Just leave that to us, ma’am!” Itadori smiled and offered you his hands to grab. “All you need to worry about is yourself!”
Worry about yourself, you repeated in your mind. You gulped, remembering the reason you had come to the warehouse in the first place. “Mayu,” you rasped. “T-This was supposed to be…the new bookstore…what will she…I need a phone. I need to call my boss and tell her the building was destroyed. I-I need to go back to work. Oh my god, I need to tell her—“
Itadori grabbed your hands and began to pull you onto your feet while Nanami steadied you with his hands around your sides. All you could do is let them lead you to the car while you cried and mumbled incoherent thoughts, trying to grasp what just happened to you. Your head was spinning and dizzy, and you kept tripping on your own feet. You felt like puking again. You felt like screaming. You felt a huge, dark weight on your chest that only kept growing, growing, growing—
—then everything went black.
———
The first thing you registered as you came into consciousness was talking.
“…and figuring out why she was even there in the first place.”
“She mentioned something about work. And her boss. She wasn’t seeking out anything related to supernatural activity.”
“And yet she was almost cursed. Wonder why that is.”
“Because she was poking her nose in the curse’s business, that’s why. Maybe she’s a ghost hunter.”
“Trust me, she wasn’t doing anything to mess with the curse on purpose. She’s a nice lady. Pretty too!”
“Itadori found this list crumpled on the floor. AC, plumbing, windows…she was there for her job.”
The second thing you registered was the unbearable pain shooting up through your body.
You groaned, trying to push down the vomit that rose into your throat. Your eyes were dry and aching as you tried to pry them open, and you were met with several faces blurred together, floating above you.
“Regardless, you’re sure there’s no more curses in the building or the area?”
“Positive! We made sure to knock out that curse on its butt—“
“Shh. She’s waking up.”
The faces blurred together with the white lights of the hospital lights above you, and you squinted while groaning again. They began moving and talking hurriedly, and you were too busy trying not to scream out in pain while you moved to sit up.
A sharp intake of air made you realize how dry your throat was, and you began a coughing fit, causing your chest to wail in pain. You put your hand to your chest at the same moment a warm hand pressed to the back of your head.
“Drink this. Slowly, now.”
The rim of a cup was placed gently to your lips, the hand on your head guiding you gently to take a small sip of water. It instantly cooled your lips and throat, and you wanted more but the cup was pulled away before you could try.
The hand didn’t move from the back of your head at first, and you could finally focus your eyes on who was sitting next to you.
His blonde hair was a mess, and the sleeves of his blue button-up shirt were pushed up to his elbows. His yellow-patterned tie was even hanging loose around his neck. But what caught your eye the most was the fact that his glasses were gone, and you were face to face with sharp, brown eyes.
Nanami removed his hand from the back of your head when you rested it back on the pillow. He sat in a chair that was pushed up to the side of your hospital bed, a small table of water, towels, and other things next to him.
You didn’t say anything. Just stared at him while you took in the fact that yes, you had been attacked by some weird worm monster. And yes, this man saved you from being eaten by it.
“You’ve been examined by several doctors. The doctor from this hospital says you have sustained only minor physical injuries. Bruising, some cuts and scrapes, and he says you might have some difficulty breathing the next couple of days due to inhalation of dust and toxic air,” Nanami explained calmly and matter-of-fact. “You’ve also been examined by a doctor who specializes in exposure to…unique situations such as the one you’ve found yourself in.”
A small laugh puffed out of your lips at the description. It was in fact a unique situation, and you still aren’t entirely convinced it was real, but you nodded. “Okay. And you? What about you…and Itadori?”
Something flashed over Nanami’s faced, and his lips twitched upwards for a moment. “We’re both fine. You don’t have to worry.”
Your eyes flashed over to the scrapes and bruises that littered his arms, but he began to talk again. “You’ll stay another day to rest and to make sure you’re cleared by the hospital.”
You nodded slowly, and tried to process the thoughts swirling in your mind. “Nanami…when I passed out…there was something that…came over me—“
You hesitated. It was going to sound stupid, what you were trying to say. You glanced at him, expecting judgement, but his eyes were locked on yours, waiting intently for you to continue.
You sighed. “It was this…darkness. Like an abyss. I just kept…falling and falling into it with no end. I tried…tried to keep getting away from it but—“
Tightness in your throat cut you off, and you brought a hand up to your mouth to stifle the sob that threatened to escape. Tears welled in your eyes as the remnants of that feeling filled your chest.
“It’s…a side effect,” Nanami began, shuffling in his seat.
You turned to look at him through your tears. He reached out and grabbed your other hand, thumb brushing over your knuckles. The action made your cheeks heat. He looked at you with worry, concerned but tender eyes scanning you over. He continued. “When humans encounter…entities such as the one you came in contact with, there’s side effects of the energy that emits from those entities. The doctor that specializes in these kinds of situations cleansed you of that energy so you were able to wake up.”
Entities…these kinds of situations…He was being intentionally vague. Whatever the hell you experienced was something you were never supposed to know about.
You swallowed, looking down at your hand in his. His hand was warm, and you could feel some rough calluses on his palm. “I appreciate you…trying to protect me from whatever it is you’re being so vague about,” you felt yourself smile. “But can you do me a favor and just tell me the truth?”
Something flashed in Nanami’s eyes…worry, guilt, maybe apprehension…but he sighed and removed his hand from yours. He leaned forward on his knees, folded his hands together and looked at the ground. “It’s…not easy. To explain.”
You leaned down, trying to meet his eyes. “Try me,” you smiled.
Nanami looked up, eyes meeting yours. It gave you a chance to search those brown eyes. Underneath the sharpness was something more, something warmer. And god, was he handsome. He looked at you, thinking.
“Okay,” he said. “I won’t hold back.”
Your smile widened. “Okay.”
He explained everything. Curses. Cursed energy. Jujutsu sorcerers. Jujutsu High. How our world is filled with curses and how many people are affected each day. You kind of got lost with all the grades of curses and cursed techniques but…you just wanted the truth. After everything you had been through, you at least deserved that. You asked him questions, and he answered the best to his ability. Nanami was a very straightforward man, but he was kind. You found yourself thankful for his company and his attention to you.
The conversation was cut off, however, when a few nurses and your doctor came in to check on you.
"Ah," he cleared his throat. "Excuse me."
Nanami started to rise to his feet, and you felt yourself panic. You needed to properly thank him for everything he had done. "Wait, Nanami!"
The doctor began to explain some sort of procedure to you, talking to you while the nurses checked your vitals and IV. But all you could do was watch him go, so many words you wanted to say caught in your throat.
Just before he crossed the threshold of the exit, he stopped. He turned around. Your eyes locked.
Blonde hair falling over his forehead, cute brown eyes, sharp features, yellow tie. You made sure to memorize every feature.
Then, he smiled at you. Tender and thoughtful and real. Your breath caught in your chest.
He left. And you never saw him again.