Tokyo was big. Yuki having a place on the outskirts near Jujutsu High clearly wasn't unintentional, seeing as the city was packed beyond belief. It was different to London in that there didn't seem to be nearly as much open space, despite being the larger city.
"Do I have to wear these?" Quinn mumbled to himself, glancing down at the uniform she'd given him. It was a variation of the uniform worn by students at Jujutsu High, only Yuki had messed around with some of the fabric, making it slicker in certain areas and baggy in others. Quinn didn't mind it so much, though being paraded around as though he were a student was a little deceitful. "What if we run into some real students?"
Yuki scoffed. "As far as anyone else is concerned, you might as well already be a student! Either that or you declare yourself as a curse user, which I doubt is something you want ."
"No," he conceded. Between wearing a makeshift uniform and being hunted down by real jujutsu sorcerers, Quinn was quite adamant on which was the safest. "Who are we meeting, anyway? Why couldn't they have just come directly to us?"
"Are you being lazy?"
Quinn shook his head. "You live fairly close to the school as is, so why couldn't they have just come over?"
"You seem to be under the impression that this person would already be at Jujutsu High," Yuki retorted, still maintaining her pace as she strolled down the street.
"Considering I was just scolded for arguing against wearing this uniform as opposed to declaring myself a curse user," Quinn said as he strode ahead, "I'd say the chances are this person is affiliated with Jujutsu High."
Yuki rolled her eyes. "You can be real dull, you know?"
Before Quinn could answer back, he suddenly found himself flung forward by a light force. The sudden motion pushed him into Yuki, who's own technique meant she didn't move a muscle, leaving Quinn to collapse to the floor. "Again?"
Looking up, Quinn could see that another of the eddies had formed. The eddy pulsated as it formed, rippling across the air like a pebble landing in a body of still water. It didn't seem to be doing anything in particular, though its sudden appearance and the diversion of movement amongst the crowd of people clearly meant something.
"Ordinary people can't see it," Yuki said, walking towards the eddy, "but they do seem to be unconsciously avoiding it—or are you doing that?" She spun around as she spoke, helping Quinn up from the ground.
He shook his head. "I'm not doing anything."
"Strange," she said. Quinn watched her wave her arms around it and, weirdly, they seemed to lag a little after each motion. There was a subtle afterimage constructed of her unique yellow cursed energy that followed, as though it hadn't reacted fast enough to Yuki's movements. "For now, try to suppress your cursed energy as much as you can."
Nodding, Quinn strode around the eddy and followed suit as Yuki guided him through the bustling streets of Tokyo. It wasn't unlike his real world—in fact this might as well have been where he came from, only with a tinge of cursed energy and a few malevolent creatures scattered about, each hell bent and murdering him. Other than that, this might as well have just been a holiday for him.
A month long holiday…with my death hanging over it. Very exciting!
After a bit of walking, Yuki eventually led Quinn down a bleak, unsuspecting alley a little deeper into Tokyo's streets. It was still busy, though most of the activity consisted of constant flows moving one way or another down the streets, as opposed to general smooching around. With that in mind, the alley was relatively protected from intrusion.
"We're here," Yuki chimed, nodding carefully to one of the doors laid into a building. "I'll introduce you. Just…don't be judgmental. He can be a little protective of himself sometimes."
Quinn frowned. "Protective…of himself?"
Yuki shrugged, whispering: just don't judge him!
Sighing, Quinn gathered himself and followed suit, ducking into the building through the low-hanging door. Inside, he was momentarily blinded as a pair of flashlights met his face, obscuring anything going on within the building. Together with the light, a pungent, sickening stench wafted up his nostrils, plaguing him with an array of distasteful senses.
With hands up to his eyes, he moved forward slightly. "Do you mind?"
Flickering, the lights cut out momentarily, though they remained in his peripheral vision as his eyes adjusted. The beams flashed through the sullen room, occasionally landing on him before quickly moving elsewhere. To his left, Yuki was being orbited by Garuda, a smile on her face.
"Where are we?" Quinn asked.
She eyed him. "A crime scene, from the looks of it."
There was something strange about the room. From the looks of it, it seemed to be an abandoned office, with chairs and tables scattered about in pieces. There were electronics laid out across the floor in one big patch, sitting directly in the centre of the room with…a single finger sat in the centre.
"That's one of the fingers you had," Quinn noted. "What's it doing here?"
"It was in possession of a cursed spirit," someone said. It wasn't Yuki that spoke, but an unfamiliar voice. "Gojo Satoru came and exercised it a few hours ago…we're here cleaning up after him."
Yuki clicked her tongue. "Brat."
Kusakabe Atsuya, dressed appropriately, stepped into the light, katana in hand as he approached them. There were some stains along his jacket, some debris sitting lightly atop his shoulders, but the man looked relatively content otherwise. What struck Quinn the most was that, despite his preconception of the man, he didn't seem anywhere near as nerve racking as he'd once assumed. In the manga, he was as Yuki had put it—protective of himself. Here, Quinn didn't get that impression.
He eyed Yuki and quickly shot Quinn a glance, nodding. "Who's the kid?"
Yuki, vanishing on the spot and appearing behind him, placed both hands on his shoulder and smiled. "He's my student!"
Leaning forward, Quinn broke free of her grasp and faced Kusakabe, who was staring at him with a pointed expression. It didn't seem as though he was concerned or suspicious, though Quinn's outfit was likely raising some questions in his mind.
"She told me to wear them," he explained, eying the man.
Kusakabe shrugged. "Won't make a difference. If she's dressed you up nicely in them, then you might as well already be a student. How old are you?"
"Seventeen."
His eyes widened in sudden shock, though quickly died down a moment later. "You're with me, then," Kusakabe moved back towards the pile of electronics after finishing, gesturing for Quinn to follow. "That why she bring you to me?"
Quinn shook his head. "Not necessarily, though I imagine I'll be in your hands after this regardless."
"That's fine," he sighed. With a pair of tongs, he yanked Sukuna's finger free of the wires wrapped around it and stuffed it into a musty-looking box. "Though, if you're anything like Okkotsu, things might get a little rough."
"He's not," Yuki said, chiming in, "but his technique is a little strange, which is why I brought him to you. I can't watch over him for much longer, so I'm killing two birds with one stone!"
Kusakabe eyed her. "Wandering off again?"
"Yep!"
Clicking his tongue, the man gestured for the other sorcerers to leave. "All right, let's have it."
Quinn eyed Yuki before doing anything else, still uncertain as to what was happening. It wasn't that he didn't trust the man, but more that he was afraid of what might happen. He was supposed to gather strength, which was relatively simple so long as he maintained the general flow of the story itself. Accidentally injuring something like Kusakabe with his technique could spell immediate doom, much less anything else that might occur after the month concluded.
Having received a nod from Yuki, Quinn focused on his cursed energy, releasing two of the localisation points; namely, his head and chest. As he did, a red energy began enveloping him, coursing around his body with sudden jolts and spikes, while also remaining calm and elegant in others.
Kusakabe raised a hand to his chin, and then eyed Yuki "It's similar to Hakari's?"
"More or less," Yuki said. "You'd know if you were struck by it, but it basically carries the properties of a sword. Instead of simply driving force with the impact, his cursed energy applies a sort of serration."
"Definitely like a sword, then."
Yuki nodded. "More or less. It's essentially a pseudo-black flash, if you get right down to it."
Quinn found himself being stared at for a moment as both sorcerers locked eyes on him. What was it? Was there some hidden meaning he was supposed to have grasped already? It seemed that way, but then what?
Thinking, concentrating, Quinn focused on himself. Rather than focusing on the energy, which was still flowing without an issue, he looked deep. Not so deep that he could see himself, but deep enough that…something might be hiding there.
Like a streetlight standing alone along a dark street at night, something seemed to be…illuminating. It was buzzing with cursed energy, alight with what might as well have been life itself.
Quinn focused on that.
Immediately, the world seemed to shift on its axis. Nothing changed, yet his entire perception of what was and what could be contorted in on itself. Instinctively, Quinn reached out with his cursed energy and used something.
「Cursed Technique: Axis」
A ripple appeared.
It sat atop the pile of electronics centered in the room, spinning slowly yet somehow infinitely fast at the same time. Like a blotch, it seemed to blur everything around it, yet allowing it all to exist simultaneously, creating a sort of haze in the air. From a distance, it looked to be far closer than it really was, but then when Quinn got closer to it, it seemed to distance itself from him and slow his movements.
"Eddy," Yuki chuckled again, appearing to his side. "Seems like it does…something." She waved her hands around again, noting the cursed energy lagging behind her movements. It wasn't that it was being slowed, but that the relationship between the energy and Yuki was being momentarily distorted.
Strange, Quinn thought to himself. He could feel her cursed energy being separated from her and then granted back a moment later, as though the ripple was taking its time to observe and understand what got close.
When Kusakabe went to reach out as Yuki had done, his arm was suddenly jerked from its trajectory, sending it the opposite direction. Quinn found himself slightly disorientated by the whole thing and instinctively moved away, releasing his technique.
"I…don't understand," he mumbled, shaking his head. He felt dazed, but at the same time felt completely fine.
Kusakabe sighed. "We'll need to do some more tests, but…it looked like it reversed my motion. Something to do with time, maybe?" He eyed Yuki as he spoke, apparently uncertain as to his reasoning.
"No," she retorted, "I don't think so. It would have reverted my technique when I activated it, but all it did was slow my cursed energy. If it were slowed time, it would've had an effect on my movement—but it didn't."
"It sent my hand flying the opposite way faster than I expected," Kusakabe added. "It's…something strange, at the very least."
Quinn, still a little disoriented, decided to get some words in. "Shouldn't I already understand how it works; at least on a technical level?"
He felt as though there was an inherent understanding he already possessed, but it seemed almost…foggy, like there was something missing. There was a sense of knowing what he could do with his technique when and if he activated, but that same sense was also incredibly fleeting, as though it sat at the end of an infinitely long pathway, forever waiting.
"It differs from person to person," Kusakabe replied. "It's not uncommon for a sorcerer to have no idea at all until they get used to it." He strode over as he spoke, pocketed the cursed object and placed a hand on Quinn's shoulder. "For now, try not to activate it if you can help it."
Nodding, he eyed Yuki. "I…suppose I should say thank you."
By the way Kusakabe was moving and speaking, Quinn could tell he wanted to get a move on with things. He was grateful that he'd been so welcoming and understanding of his circumstances, but then that meant discarding something—something Quinn, up until now, had only just come to realize.
It didn't matter if kindness was real or fictional; it seemed to carry the same weight regardless.
With her shikigami still orbiting her, Yuki threw her jacket over her shoulders and smiled. "I was just doing what any good-for-nothing sorcerer would do—you could say I was paying the jujutsu community back!" Smiling, she spun on her heels and headed for the door, Garuda following suit.
Somehow, Quinn could tell she was smiling as she spoke.
"It was good meeting you, Quinn Verner."
Quinn matched her smile. "Likewise, Yuki."
As Yuki left, Kusakabe entered Quinn's vision, katana still in hand. "We're heading back now, Quinn. You…can turn back now, you know? I'll have to write as having met you, but it's not like this is something you're being forced into. There's a choice in everything; even for us sorcerers."
Quinn shrugged. "I've nowhere better to be…" He paused for a moment, remembering something. "Ah…we did forget to mention, but I…have severe amnesia."
Kusakabe, stunned, seemed to pause for a second, unable to gather his words. He shook his head frantically a moment later. "What do you mean? As in you don't remember anything?"
Nodding, Quinn gave the man a smile. "That's right. You could almost say I died."