Work Text:
Rika stands under a bright light, the only light in the elders' conference room, the abyss. She stands still, hiding the rage inside her as her gaze follows the many shoji screens surrounding her. She hates how it feels to be in this room, to be in the center, and to be judged. To be judged means to be stripped of autonomy and be known by the labels thrown at you. She has been labeled a curse, murderer, monster, and freak, but to the elders, she is the Queen of Curses, Gojo's star pupil, and someone who cannot be trusted.
They have sent her on a mission to extinguish curses after her return from Africa, and yet they still can’t seem to trust the gaze she carries when she sees them. The room is still, with the sounds of the flames dancing on the candles, when a rough, disgruntled voice leaves the screen.
“Good work, Queen of Curses."
Rika twitches at their words, “If you intend to thank me, the least you can do is say my name.”
She sighs, then turns her head to a random screen.
“I did your dirty work; you should know by now I’ll follow your command.”
“With an attitude like that, there’s no way we can truly believe the words you say.”
“If my words mean nothing, then I'll prove it with my actions."
The room goes quiet, and they wait for Rika's next move. To them, she poses as much of a risk of descent as Gojo himself.
“I’ll make a binding vow. " He cut off Inumaki's arm, and the curse he fought scared Maki. I got some pent-up anger to release. I will kill Yuuji Itadori myself.”
“We approve. The Queen of Curses, Rika Orimoto, will be Yuuji Itadori’s executioner."
The candles dim out, and the door opens. Rika gives them a courteous smile as she makes her way to the door.
Yuuji Itadori is currently in Shibuya, standing on top of a random rooftop. He claps his hand. Itadori has decided he can no longer return to the friends and life he had in Jujutsu High. He makes it a personal mission to take down as many curse spirits as he can in Shibuya. Curses shoot out into the air as they launch themselves at Itadori, but he is faster. He runs through the many buildings and scaffolds, performing many acrobatic feats that a sorcerer like him could ever perform. He drops down from the scaffold into the tunnel under the bridge, and he calls out.
“CHOSO!”
Choso, his supposed brother, claps his hands, causing a thunderous sound to bounce off the tunnels when he mutters,
“Piercing Blood”
Blood shoots from his fingertips, piercing cleanly through all the curses in front of him. Leaving a trail of monsters in the tunnel, he turns around when a curse suddenly leaps to his side.
FWAM!
Yuuji Itadori flies in, taking out the curse in one punch; the curse caves into the wall of the roadway.
Thoughts fly into Choso’s mind; he is proud of his brother and sees the growth he has made in such a short time. He gleefully calls out,
“Impressive as ever, little brother."
Itadori startled replies, “You seriously still call me that?”
“I will keep calling you that, over and over. Try to recollect your memories. Your father had the scar on his forehead, didn’t he?”
Yuuji looks at Choso, confused, as his gaze tries to force the memories out of him.
“I don’t see Megumi here.” A snarky voice calls out from on top of the bridge. He has dyed blonde hair with black tips, wearing a dark blue kimono and a white hakama. He carries sharp eyes with some eyeliner on them. “Am I really the first one here?”
Yuuji and Choso turn to the voice; their bodies shift to a pose that screams "ready for action."
“Is he really that slow?” The snarky man turns his head down to them. “You guys aren’t going to run?”
Yuuji looks at him with confusion. “Run?”
“You don't know? Your death sentence is back on since Satorus's support is gone." The snarky man raises his hand and shakes his head. “My business is with Megumi; I don't care if you live or die. Buuut you might become a problem.” A smile formed on his face. “So, I'll start by breaking your legs.”
Yuuji calls out to him, “What do you want with Fushiguro!?”
“I think I’ll have him die, but it would be nice if he wrote a little something first.”
He suddenly appears between Yuuji and Choso, startling them. Snarky Man throws a right hook to Yuuji's face, and he shifts his body to elbow Choso, who barely blocks it, shocked by the man's speed. Yuuji and Choso move for their counter when the man suddenly disappears. Shocking them both. He appears on the other side of the roadway.
Yuuji moves to prepare for the man's next move. He speaks to Choso,
“Something's weird. He’s really fast but…”
“It’s probably just a cursed technique,” Choso finishes the sentence as they eye the man down.
The man matches their gaze, slightly annoyed; he praises them. “You’re tougher than I thought… Shall I speed this up?”
GWOOOOOOOOOO
An intense purple aura encloses the area. Yuuji turns his head around to the aura's peak.
“This energy… It's like Gojo Sensei?! No… It's more like Sukunas!!”
He sees a tall, beautiful girl with long brunette hair that reaches her lower back. She is wearing a white version of the uniform shirt and a long skirt covering her legs. She is holding a long sword with intensity as she looks down on the boy.
"Oh!" She carries a soft smile that would normally carry warmth with anybody else, but with her, it's tired eyes and a glint. It shakes Yuuji Itadori down to his core.
“You are not alone.”
“Who… are you?”
The mystery girl ignores his question as she leaps down, her impact destroying the floor. Her left hand moves towards her face as a mask forms.
Yuuji, Choso, and the Snarky Man's eyes pop out as the face of a curse forms on her. It's pure white, with lines forming down to her jaw, with horrifically sharp teeth and tendrils shooting out, mixing into her brunette hair.
She speaks, her voice distorted, with an intense echo, “Who are you two?” She points to Choso and the snarky man.
The snarky man raises his hand in surrender. He proclaims, “Wait a sec, I’m on your side… Must you be Orimoto, right? I'm Maki’s cousin, Naoya Zenin. I’m here to kill Itadori as well.” He stares at the cursed women. “I won’t interfere.”
As Naoya spouts his promise to the brunette, Choso whispers to Yuuji,
“Blondie is a speed type; playing chase with him would be bad, so I'll take him."
Yuuji, with a face of worry, utters, “Will you be alright?”
Choso closes his palm, building up blood in the middle of it. “Yeah, they only want you, Yuuji... Think about getting away from Orimoto, the brunette. I'm guessing she is like Satoru Gojo, so if you fight, you’ll die.”
A little smirk forms on Choso as he feels like a big brother advising his little brother.
“We will meet in yesterday's spot, little brother.”
“All Right!”
Naoya continues his babble, “Even if you kill Itadori, can you refrain from telling the superiors for a while?... I need him as bait.”
Naoya bites his tongue as he almost risked mentioning Fushiguro to Orimoto.
The ripple from Rika's voice is intense as sweat forms on Naoya's face.
“Very well… take care of the other one.”
Choso tries to shoot his piercing blood, but Naoya suddenly kicks his arm up. Rika is given space to zoom towards a running Itadori. Orimoto and Itadori are in a chase now, predator vs. prey. Yuuij's mind is racing. “She’s fast while holding a drawn katana?!"
Rika's mind remains focused. “He’s faster than I thought. I should’ve gone full speed.”
Yuuji runs to a toppled car as he leaps over it when Rika stops and swings her katana, slicing the car in half with pure curse energy. She runs to catch Yuuji when he grabs one half of the sliced car from its gapped parts and swings it towards Rika, who effortlessly dodges it. The second half of the car suddenly comes in front of her, forcing her to block.
She grits her sharp teeth in frustration. “Damn it, I was supposed to cut him with the car… he is just like Maki.”
Yuuji takes the small moment to dart inside the nearest building when the car he threw earlier suddenly flies over him, blocking his exit. The reverberated voice rings through him.
“Would it surprise you if I said I'm not a power type? This cursed mask I wear amplifies my cursed energy. A gift from my late beloved.”
Yuuji remarks, “You’re the exact opposite of me.”
“Bingo!” A grin forms under the masks. “You must’ve noticed, right? I got more cursed energy than Gojo-sensei. He cheaped out thanks to his six eyes; he wastes almost zero cursed energy. He really was the best. I can still run out, especially when I’m masked in battle mode, so…”
She raises her sword into the Chudan no Kamae position, her blade raised as her legs widen out in preparation. “So no more talking, Itadori."
Yuuji's eyes pop when she suddenly appears in front of him out of pure instinct. He jumps back, trying to keep up with the Queen's pace. He can’t read each swing as he tries to overshoot the distance. Her overwhelming cursed energy goes against the way he was trained to fight sorcerers. She’s impossible to read, and every attack could be his last. Nanami's last words flash into his mind.
You’ve got it from here.
The scarred boy readies himself in his battle stance when he asserts, “Sorry, I can’t die just yet.”
A smile forms on Rika's face. “Quite the statement, Itadori. You underestimate me that much?”
She dashes in front of him, swinging her blade down, and Yuuji dodges narrowly. Rika shifts the hilt and swings the sword upward, cutting Yuuji’s cheek as he misunderstands the distance.
Yuuji thinks for a moment. “I have to do something about that katana!" He rushes into a nearby car, swinging through the window. Riko jumps over the car, closing the distance in a second, and swings her blade, which Yuuji parries with the hunting knife he grabbed from the car. The blade flies off the hilt as his hand shakes from the ricochet.
“Shit!”
She shifts her body and shoots her leg out, kicking Itadori in the gut, sending him flying.
“GAH!”
He catches himself and imbues the cut blade and tries to block Rika's swing when
SHINK!
Her sword cuts through his chest and slams into the ground. Yuuji takes that moment to force his left leg on top of the blade and uses his right to kick the blade, breaking it in half. This causes Rika to be sent back from the momentum.
The mask dissipates from her face as the smile she had the entire fight finally shines.
“You really are something else, Itadori."
Yuuji shoots out and rushes Rika when he suddenly notices the markings surrounding her mouth.
“Those are like… "Inumaki-senpai" flashes into his mind for a split second…
He tries to brake and moves his arms to close his ears—
“Stop!”
His body paralyzes, and he is forced to a stop. Rika takes the opportunity to slice a wound through Yuuji's leg, forcing him to collapse.
“Damn it, she has so much cursed energy; her cursed speech completely paralyzed me. " Yuuji's mind is racing as the tall brunette makes his way towards him.
“Sorry, Itadori, I had to cut your leg for insurance… I hope you won’t hate me." She pouts slightly when she lifts her katana to his heart. Yuuji is breathing heavily; he feels the stings from his legs, his body is aching as he hasn’t rested for the past 3 days, and his memory flashes to when he almost died from the Special Grade curse.
“Shit, I'm going to die.” He grits his teeth, trying to fight the cursed speech effect.
“Normally, when I wear the mask, nobody can keep up with the amplification yet. You had me running around, Itadori, and got to see my face…” Her blade pierces his shirt. “Die with pride, Itadori-kun.” Her blade goes through in a second, piercing his heart.
Itadori's body falls to the ground, and Rika stares at it blankly as she grabs his hood and makes her way towards the tunnel. Dragging Itadori on the floor, she walks through their battleground.
“He really is something. Maki wasn’t exaggerating his support versus the special grade that attacked the campus or holding off that gorilla, Todo. She mutters to herself as she sees the abyss of the tunnel reach closer.
“He really reminded me of you… Yuta."
She walks through the puddle of blood that surrounds the tunnel floor. Naoya and Choso’s battle must have been quite intense. She turns the corner and sees Choso preparing his final piercing blood attack on Naoya, but she throws a left hook, knocking out Choso. She looks down on Naoya, who is coughing blood, seemingly poisoned. Noaya’s eyes look up at Rika with anger. To be looked down upon by a woman was his greatest shame.
“You look hurt, Naoya.”
Naoya only grunts back, his eyes trying to reach hers, but her stature makes it impossible. Rika’s right hand begins to glow from her ring.
“Yuta’s Reverse Cursed Technique can heal you, but you have to do something for me.” A smirk forms on Rika's face when Naoya’s face turns to disgust at the thought.
“Inform the elders about Itadori's death, and thank Maki because I would’ve left you to die if you weren’t her kill.”
Naoya glares back, but his body suddenly spasms from the poison.
“Come on, Naoyaa… you have to promise or agree. It's a binding vow." Her voice was so gleeful seeing scum like him in pain.
Naoya finally pipes up, "I... promise."
Rika faces shifts to disappointment. "Man... I wish you were more stubborn as she heals his wounds. She watches Naoya get up, look into her eyes with anger, and then rush away. She stands in the bloody tunnel. Alone with the two bodies of her own making. She sighs and does a little stretch.
“Gotta find somewhere to rest.”
Yuuji wakes up with a gasp; he had a dream, he saw his dad… and heard his grandpa. His mom had a scar over her forehead. He gets up, grabs his chest, and breathes heavily. He tries to take in his surroundings. Rubble consumes the room, with no lighting outside of this fire in front of him.
“An abyss,” he thinks.
His eyes finally catch the brunette girl, Orimoto-Senpai, the person who killed him. His eyes shoot out in fear. The girl is sitting down, knees to her face, with her hands wrapped around her leg. She stares back at the boy; a dead gaze reaches his terrified one.
She blinks a little as she begins to realize the boy is alive; a smile forms on her face as she jumps out of her seat and throws her weight at the terrified boy and hugs him tight.
“What a relief, you are alive!” She nuzzles his shoulder as he stands frozen like a deer in headlights.
“Wha- Whaaaat?” His face goes from total fear to flustered shock.
She moves herself off Yuuji's shoulder and pushes him a little back to see his face. She has a big grin on her face, she says.
“It was back in September, when Gojo told me to look out for you. So… I had to put on that scary act.”
“An act???" Yuuji blurts out, causing Rika to chuckle a bit, and nods.
“I wanted to ensure I was your executioner to get the best details of your location and information. So I planned a workaround; those old idiots will notice some things going on at some point, but hopefully not any time soon.”
Yuuji can only nod in response to the information, as the lack of personal space after almost dying has his mind foggy. Rika chirps up,
“I'm sorry I killed you…" Rika looked down away from Yuuji's gaze as she said it. Yuuji takes the sincerity, and as he looks away too, he asks,
“How am I alive?”
“Thanks to Yuta’s Reversed Curse Technique, or you can just call it RCT.” She raises her hand and shows her ring. Yuuji is taken aback by it slightly.
“When I stabbed you, I used Yuta’s RCT to heal your wound at the same time as I stabbed your heart. I heard rumors about you, so I assumed you were tough enough to survive, but still… I'm glad you did.”
Yuuji looks away from the smile that formed on her face, and his hand goes up to push a distance between the two, startling Rika.
“Why... Go through all this trouble for me?"
“Because you are important to those I care about, Yuuji,” She places her palm on the ground to lean on it.
“I had power that I couldn’t handle before, power that wasn’t mine. I did things I'll have to repent for the rest of my life.” She claws the ground as she looks into Yuuji's eyes.
"You aren’t alone, Itadori-kun… We are both sinners.”
Yuuji looks down, and he begins to fidget with his hands when he finally breathes out and sighs.
"I—who is this Yuta guy you mentioned...?"
Rika shifts herself to a more comfortable position, her knees facing forward, and her left arm wraps around her leg while her right hand plays with the floor.
“He is the person I love, who passed away a long time ago…”
“Oh… I'm sorry, I have lost people I loved too…” Memories of his grandfather, Junpei, Nanami, and Nobara flash in his mind. “Guess you aren’t alone too, Orimoto-Senpai.”
Her eyes light up as a soft smile forms.
“Yeah, we aren't, huh…”
The fire crackles in the air; the intense air turns into something soft as the two sinners have now found comfort in each other. Rika opens her mouth to speak.
“Itadori.”