A/N: Sorry for the late chapter.
Also, I'm retconning the monocle. It's still a bead. Forget that it was ever changed. I won't edit the previous chapter since that would get rid of the comments so I'll just say this here.
It sounded cool in my head at that time, but now, I realize that a monocle would be extremely impractical in JJK.
Anyways, enjoy.
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"Respect your elders!" Shuicui heard Utahime yell beside him as their group walked into a restaurant. Shuichi rolled his eyes at Gojo's antics.
He enjoyed making a fool out of everyone. Utahime was one of his prime targets to speak of. That's right. At this moment, he was, as awkward as he was with social interactions, hanging out with the students of jujutsu high. For reasons he himself did not get.
It was middle of March at this point.
2 whole months with an added 2 weeks had passed since the new year had passed for Shuichi. During this time, he continued on with the usual work of exercising cursed spirits in his free time and suppying a total of 5 cursed tools to the school. And while he was supplying the tools, it was obvious that he would also need to visit the campus.
And during that time, by complete chance, he had stumbled upon the poor lass Utahime.
At that time, she was getting bullied by Gojo. Although, bullied might be a strong word, it is not too far from the truth here.
And all that while, Utahime not being strong enough could do nothing to defend herself or teach the white haired menace a lesson. All she could do was yell in futility: "Repect your Elders!"
Anyways, for their collective hate over Gojo Satoru, the white haired demon, they bonded quickly; often sitting around and cursing Gojo at the same time. It was funny how hate for a common man could bring people together. Shuichi would even say it to be... magical.
"Elders? I don't see any." Gojo shook his head with a mocking grin in response to Utahime's yells.
The surrounding people in the restaurant looked at the group strangely, which included 2 girls and 3 boys, namely, Shoko, Utahime, Gojo, Geto and Shuichi.
Utahime gnashed her teeth in annoyance and they all sat down onto an empty table.
Skimming around the menu for a bit, they all ordered their own food.
After that, it was a game of patience.
"Honestly, it was great that we bumped into each other today!" Satoru exclaimed with no regard to the other people sitting in the restaurant. His tone was as always, however, it now held an even more annoying factor, if that were even possible. If Shuichi had to best describe it, it would be that everytime he spoke, it made other people have the desire to rain punches upon him.
Shuichi scoffed.
"You think so?" He asked in a sarcastic tone.
"Of course!" Satoru seemed completely oblivious to his displeasure.
He lowered his glasses and gazed at Shuichi with the six eyes. Shuichi narrowed his eyes slightly.
"So, what have you been up to?" His eyes travelled down towards his pocket.
"Eh, nothing much. I had a trip to-"
"Nevermind, I don't care!" Satoru threw his head back, exclaiming loudly.
Shuichi gave him a smile, one full of malice. Sometimes, he truly wished he could blow this man's head off.
"So..." Chimed Geto. "What have you been up to these days?" He supported his head with his fist as he spoke. His eyes seemed to hold a strange emotion, bordering between respect and open challenge.
"Nothing much. Just the usual."
"The usual?" Asked shoko.
"Making cursed tools doing some research."
"What kind?" She asked again, her eyes overtaking a strange glimmer.
"That's classified." Hearing his words, Shoko visibly deflated, but then she quickly recovered and chatted along with Utahime.
While the girls chatted amongst themselves, the three male members of the group stared at each other in empty awkward silence.
Well... except of Satoru.
"Hehe.. hehehe." Who seemed to be chuckling quite eerily. It was unknown what was on his mind.
... damn this is awkward. Why did I choose to come here today of all times?! Shuichi yelled in his mind yet didn't show any expression on the outside.
"Hehehe... hehe hehehehehe." Satoru's laugh continued amid the awkward silence among them. Both Suguru and Shuichi looked at him with a sidelong glance, feeling a bit weird around the white haired gremlin.
Suddenly, as Shuichi was about to say something, Satoru spoke first, again with the strange laughter.
"Hey. You seem have gotten a lot stronger you know?" He said, unconsciously making Shuichi tense up a bit.
"What?"
"What do you say?" He asked, fully taking off his shades. "Wanna have a rematch? This time without any interruptions?" he asked.
However, Suguru scoffed.
"Hmph! Says the one that almost lost last time."
"What? If you want a fight you got one!"
"Utahime is the only one you're scaring with your attitude." Suguru quipped back with a glare.
"Why am I getting beaten up between your banter!?"
With that, Satoru butted his head into Suguru's and both of them began pushing against each other.
Shuichi watched all this in quiet stillness. With a deadpan expression, he took a sip from his glass of water.
Somehow, after that, the conversation turned a lot less awkward. Probably because Shuichi had realized that there was no possible way he could be any more eccentric than the two before him. So, it was pretty much smooth conversations from there on.
Before long, the food was delivered to their table and they all ate while having some small talk.
Satoru being Satoru, decided to annoy Shuichi and Utahime, which led to both of them joining forces to through insults at Satoru. Well, it was mostly Shuichi since Utahime wasn't too great at provocation.
After everything was said and done, they all headed their way, with Shuichi heading back to his house.
The sorcerer's did invite Shuichi to Jujutsu Hugh to fool around a bit, but he declined.
He could spend his time doing cursed tool research than go ahead with the teens and mess around.
On his way, he sighed suddenly.
What a strange day... and strange happenings... he turned and looked behind him, aiming to find something amid the sea of people. Or perhaps he already had.
He shook his head and turned around, only to walk into an alleyway, through which he took off towards the more secluded parts of Tokyo.
Because suddenly, going to the school and messing around seemed to look a lot more appealing.
~~~
Shuichi turned towards a secluded alleyway, away from prying eyes. Stopping at the end, where the turn curved into two different alleys, he smiled.
"You should work on your concealment tactics. You're not very good at stealth." His voice echoed off the walls, falling on deaf ears.
Yet, Shuichi knew it had reached the ones he wanted it to reach.
"Come on now. Step out." He chuckled, turning back towards the open road.
Slowly, a man revealed himself, also stepping into the alley.
"Who're you?" He asked. Unbeknownst to the man, his necklace glowed with an eerie, invisible light and died down.
The man stayed still for a moment before he answered.
"Zenin Shuichi-"
"I'm going to stop you right there. I asked you who you were, not for a lecture about how I've wronged someone and how I'll 'pay for it' or whatever." Shuichi shrugged his shoulders, shaking his head alongside it. His dark eyes gazed at the man, scanning his figure.
He was middle aged and had long black hair tied into various braids that extended to his back. Other than that, he wore pretty modern clothes, the likes you would see any average man wear on his day off.
It was a decent disguise, if not for his mean looking eyes, the unusual hairstyle which held a clip that clearly had the insignia of Jujutsu High and no cursed energy escaping from his body.
If you're tailing a Sorcerer, you must also blend into the crowd. The best way to do so is to leak the right amount of cursed energy, escaping the senses of most sorcerers. Controlled cursed energy is more conspicuous than uncontrolled one.
There was, of course. Also the option of no cursed energy, but it was specifically reserved for the man himself, Toji Zenin/Fushiguro.
The man popped a vein atop his head, clearly displeased by the attitude.
His mean looking eyes stared into Shuichi's soul as he grit his teeth in anger.
"I see. You're every bit like I've heard. Now I won't feel so bad anymore." He said.
Shuichi's smile widened.
"Drop the act. Take out your friends as well. I know they're hiding."
Just as his words landed, his vision suddenly flipped.
He appeared in the air, some 150 meters in the air.
"What the?" He raised his eyebrows in surprise. It was unusual for him to get caught off guard like so.
His necklace glowed, and understanding flashed through his eyes.
"I see. A cursed technique that switches places with the opponent... They must've thrown the user into the air, practical, but not useful in the hands of subpar sorcerers." He laughed as he began his rapid descent down to the ground.
"That which is darkness, blacker than itself." He chanted, sensing the people down below doing the same. The best way to counter a barrier? Make your own!
"The pinnacle of purity and impurity, the perfect Yin and Yang.
"Seal this space, henceforth."
Just as he finished, his necklace glowed and a bead that was kept inside his pockets dimmed and expanded with a blue flame!
Shuichi grinned toothily.
As the blackness expanded in the air, faster than he was falling, an error appeared in the world. The barrier which was beyond the comprehension of normal humans was termed as a 'glitch' in their perception, making it even more secretive than it was. And more than that, the glitch was quickly overwritten and magnified!
As Shuichi fell onto the lower building, he landed softly, without kicking up a single spread of dust.
The air below him had been turned into cursed tools, slowing his fall at the last moment.
The barrier also fell before him, and the world split.
The error which had been magnified in the perception of the normal humans was, with the records of tenjin, and an absurd amount of cursed energy on Shuichi's part, turned into reality! It affective separated the normal people from being caught in the domain of the barrier, and created a separate space, identical to the outside world!
"Woah!" Shuichi exclaimed, observing his creation.
Even a pseudo sacred treasure can achieve this much... how much would a true sacred treasure be capable of?! He exclaimed in his heart.
The things inside the barrier were of course, not real.
They were merely illusions in perception. An error magnified. The moment the barrier crumbled, the entire space would collapse, forming a vacuum that would throw everyone out.
It wasn't possible in reality to create such a space. If required a constant maintainance from his Records of tenjin and error bead to stay active.
He also conveniently ignored the fact that the construction of the space, had in fact, taken 70% of his total cursed energy reserves, which at this point, dwarfed the reserves of any first grade Sorcerer.
But in the end, it was worth it since it would save him the trouble of having to avoid the normal people and let loose.
He turned around, chuckling darkly.
His eyes fell upon the group of Sorcerers that looked around vigilantly.
They knew something was wrong. Something was very very wrong.
They were 7 in number.
"My lucky number." Shuichi snickered to himself.
And the battle began.