A/N sorry for the short chapter and late one at the same time school has picked up in intensity and I'm trying to maintain going to the gym and write at the same time it's hard :(
Yuta stood nervously outside her new classroom. She could hear the students talking about her through the partially opened door. While none of their comments were outright negative, she could sense the shock in their voices.
Inside the classroom, Maki, Panda, Inumaki, Yuko, and Yuji were gathered, gossiping about the new transfer student.
"Yeah, I heard she stuffed four of her classmates into a locker," Panda said, arms crossed.
"She killed them?" Yuko gasped, horrified.
"Tuna mayo?" Inumaki muttered in confusion.
"No, but she apparently injured them pretty badly," Maki clarified, her eyes fixed on the door.
"Wait, she?" Yuji muttered to himself. "If the gods keep making gender-swapped versions of important people, I'm seriously gonna lose it." He thought to himself. "Wait is this a harem thing, oh no!....or yes?" His thoughts were cut off by the chatter around the room.
"If she's cocky, I'll wring her out," Maki said, crossing her arms like Panda.
"Bonito flakes," Inumaki added, earning puzzled looks from Yuji and Yuko.
Meanwhile, Sukuna was busy stirring in Yuji's subconscious. He was still irritated by their fight the other day. "So, me and the brat are connected, huh?" he mused, a sly grin spreading across his face. "Kenjaku really is nasty." Sukuna's mood darkened. "That brat's mentality pisses me off," he grumbled.
Suddenly, a mouth appeared on the side of Yuji's face, and an eye formed above it. Sukuna's voice echoed through the classroom. "Maybe if the brat looks decent when I take over, I'll have some fun. He's already got these two over here," he said, glancing at Maki and Yuko.
Yuji smacked the mouth hard. "Sorry, guys. My focus slipped for a second," he said, scratching the back of his head.
"It's fine," Yuko reassured him, while Maki just huffed.
Gojo suddenly appeared at the front of the classroom in a goofy pose. "All right, everyone! Get excited! The transfer student is here!" he announced, pointing dramatically at the door.
"I sense a really mixed mood in there," Yuta muttered nervously as she entered.
The cursed energy radiating from Yuta was intense, but since the students had been around Yuji, who was host to Sukuna, they weren't completely shocked. However, what did catch their attention was the massive curse clinging to Yuta's back.
Before Yuta could introduce herself, Maki hurled a spear past her head.
"Do you even know why this school exists?" Maki demanded, her tone stern. "You're cursed. This is a place to learn curses. It's not a place for the cursed to be."
Yuta blinked in confusion. "Cursed? Curses? What are you talking about?"
Maki didn't flinch. "The number of people who die mysterious deaths or go missing in Japan averages over 10,000 a year. Most of those are casualties of curses born from the negative emotions of people. Only curses can affect other curses," Maki explained. "This is where we learn to exorcise curses—Tokyo Jujutsu High."
Yuji chuckled to himself. He remembered hearing this from the movie Jujutsu Kaisen 0. Wait... didn't Rika show up around this part? His eyes widened. Oh no.
"Tell me that ahead of time!" Yuta snapped, glaring at Gojo.
Everyone pointed at Gojo. "He just now told her that!" they exclaimed in unison.
Gojo rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Oops."
Suddenly, Gojo's expression shifted. "Oh, you all might wanna back up... quickly."
A dark, oppressive presence filled the room. It was a cursed energy unlike anything they'd felt since Sukuna and Gojo's infamous fight.
"Do not..." a deep voice rumbled from behind Yuta.
Emerging from the darkness was a massive cursed spirit. Her muscular upper body, single cycloptic eye, and tendrils made her appearance both terrifying and awe-inspiring. "Don't... bully Yuta!" Rika shrieked, lunging at the first years.
"Wait! Rika-chan!" Yuta screamed, but it was useless.
Yuji quickly intercepted the curse, catching her punch and retaliating with a roundhouse kick that sent her skidding across the floor. "Calm down! We were just talking!" he shouted.
Yuko joined in, throwing a desk at Rika. "Yeah, back off!"
Special-Grade Cursed Human: Okkotsu Yuta
Special-Grade Cursed Apparition: Orimoto Rika
Record: Six Years Ago, Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture
"Over there, over there!" a young Rika shouted, pointing excitedly to a small black box resting on a swing set. She was a petite girl with long black hair that reached her shoulders, soft eyes, and peach-colored skin adorned with a beauty mark below her chin on the left side. She wore a sleeveless black dress with a white collar decorated with hearts and purple shoes.
"What is it?" a young Yuta asked, her medium-length black hair blowing in the wind.
"Happy birthday, Yuta," Rika said with a warm smile as she handed the black box to her.
"Yay! Can I open it?" Yuta asked with unrestrained enthusiasm.
"Go ahead," Rika said as she brushed a lock of hair out of Yuta's face.
"Huh? I can open it?!" Yuta asked, still a little shocked by the gift.
"I said go ahead," Rika replied with a smile. Really, Yuta could be such a silly girl sometimes.
"Wow!" Yuta gasped as she opened the box. Her eyes widened. "Huh? A ring?"
It was beautiful—silver and shiny with an emerald-green stone glistening in the middle.
"An engagement ring," Rika said, blushing slightly.
"Engagement?" Yuta repeated, her face heating up as she too blushed.
"It's a promise," Rika explained as she took a step back and turned to face the setting sun. "When we both grow up, we'll get married." She did a little twirl, her dress fluttering with the breeze.
"Is this real?" Yuta thought to herself as she stared at Rika, disbelief clouding her thoughts. Then it happened.
A screech of tires echoed through the air.
A speeding car barreled toward them.
Yuta's eyes widened in terror. She tried to pull Rika back, but it was too late.
The impact was brutal. Blood splattered across the pavement as Rika's fragile body was sent flying. Yuta stood frozen, the world around her blurring into chaos.
"Hey!" someone shouted.
"Call an ambulance!"
"Idiot! Look at her!"
"Are they okay?"
"There's no saving her!"
"What happened?"
"Her head's crushed in!"
"But still..."
"A child got run over by a car! Yes, hurry!"
"Help them!"
"I can't go near that!"
Amid the noise and panic, Yuta knelt beside Rika's broken body. Her vision blurred with tears.
"Rika-chan?" she whispered, her voice trembling. Memories of their time together raced through her mind—her smile, her warmth, her laughter.
Rika's eyelids fluttered weakly, and for a moment, she managed to speak.
"Yuta..." Her voice was faint, barely audible.
"Rika?" Yuta choked, leaning closer.
"When we grow up... we'll get married. It's a promise," Rika whispered with a fragile smile.
Her breathing stopped.
"Rika-chan?" Yuta sobbed, shaking her. But it was no use. Rika's body lay lifeless in Yuta's arms, the promise they had made shattering in that moment.
Gojo grinned at the chaos. "So as you can see, this is Okkotsu Yuta, cursed by Rika-chan, who just loves her a little too much. Be nice to her, everyone!"
The fight ended when Yuta managed to calm Rika down. As Rika disappeared, Yuji and Yuko accidentally swung their punches at each other, landing with a resounding "Ow!"
Gojo clapped his hands together. "Okay! Time for introductions. This is Zen'in Maki, cursed tool user extraordinaire."
Maki huffed and walked off to help clean up the mess.
"This is Inumaki Toge, cursed speech user. He only speaks in rice ball ingredients. Good luck understanding him."
"Kelp," Inumaki said casually.
Gojo gestured to Yuji and Yuko. "These two are Yuji Itadori and Yuko Ozawa. Yuji's got insane physical strength and blood manipulation, while Yuko's got a cursed technique called Build-Up. They're both pretty amazing fighters."
Yuji grinned. "Hey, I'm Yuji! I'm gonna become the strongest!"
Yuko smiled warmly. "If you ever need help, I'm your girl!"
Yuta blushed. "What's with everyone here being total knockouts?" she thought specifically of Yuji, Maki and Yuko.
"And this is Panda," Gojo finished.
"I'm Panda. Nice to meet you," the large panda said with a thumbs-up.
"Wait, he's actually a panda?" Yuta whispered to Yuko.
"You'll get used to it," Yuko assured her.
"All right, now there are four first years—well, three and one animal," Gojo announced.
Gojo wrote down notes on the chalkboard.
"Wait, what about Itadori-kun and Ozawa-chan?" Yuta asked nervously, glancing around.
"Well, they aren't first-years yet since they're not old enough. They just kind of stay here, train, and go on some missions," Gojo explained quickly as he continued setting up the day's lesson.
"For your afternoon jujutsu practice, you'll be in pairs for two-on-two sparring." He turned around and pointed at Panda and Inumaki. "Toge, Panda, you two pair up."
"Let's do our best," Panda said as he and Inumaki dapped each other up.
"Yuji, Yuta, you're together," Gojo added, pointing at the two of them.
"Yo, I got the newbie! Nice!" Yuji said enthusiastically, holding up a hand for a high five.
Yuta blinked in surprise but smiled faintly, meeting his hand with a shy high five.
"U-Um, I-I hope we can work well together," she stammered nervously.
As they prepared for training, Maki spoke up to Yuta. "You were bullied, weren't you?"
Yuta stiffened. "Bull's-eye, huh?" Maki said. "Even I'd bully you. You're passive, letting yourself be protected. Jujutsu High isn't so easy that you can just coast by without a goal."
"Maki!" Panda shouted in surprise.
"That's enough!" Yuji said sternly. "You can be better than that."
"Bonito flakes," Inumaki agreed.
"Back off," Yuko said, crossing her arms.
Maki sighed. "Fine. Whatever."
"Sorry about her," Yuji said to Yuta. "She's got her issues."
"No... she's right," Yuta said quietly, looking down.