ℙ𝕚𝕟𝕤 [𝙹𝚞𝚓𝚞𝚝𝚜𝚞 𝙺𝚊𝚒𝚜𝚎𝚗]

ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝟟; 𝕋𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕘𝕤 𝕘𝕠 𝕨𝕣𝕠𝕟𝕘

After putting Nozomi in a safe area, Aiko continued looking for curses, jumping from one tree to the next to stay hidden from any of the Kyoto students. She had a few bruises and grazes, she also had a small scar in the middle of her cheeks from trying to dodge one of Nozomi's daggers. "She got a good aim." Aiko said, touching the scar that had stopped bleeding. She had found a small curse and carelessly stabs it with a pin. She then continued jumping around the trees while silently humming a tune to a song. 

"I think this area's pretty far from where Nozomi fought me." Aiko said to herself. "I didn't collect any of the pins though." she added. "Well, if someone were to follow it, it's a dead end since I threw them at random areas and of course, Nozomi moved a lot." she said and then went silent. She jumped from tree to tree until she had noticed something was off.  She got down from the tree and ran to follow the curse she saw . Coincidentally, she had met Inumaki while trying to chase the strange curse. 

"Kelp." he said. Both of them noticed the boss. They were preparing to attack it but then, it's head had fallen. A huge curse appeared behind the tree, it had branch-like things sprouting from where it's eye is supposed to be, some sort of cloth also covered it's other arm. Both had prepared to fight. It spoke some sort of language. "Hold on, did that thing just speak?" Aiko asked, preparing to throw a pin. And so she did. The pin landed but, it was too weak for it to stay on the curse. "Shit." Aiko muttered. Then, they had started running. Without a thought, Aiko ran to another direction. A weird plant had emerged. "Probably from the curse." Aiko muttered. She managed to narrowly escape from each branch. She looked up at the sky and noticed it getting darker. "A curtain?" She muttered and continued running until she stopped for a bit. 

She joined with the three boys and watched as the curse blocked a path. "Why is there a cursed spirit here? And whose curtain is that?" Kamo asked. "It's probably coming from whoever is working with this cursed spirit." Megumi answered. "Huh? You know something?" Kamo asks. "I think it's the special grade cursed spiritthat attacked Gojo-sensei before." Megumi answered. "It matches the description." he added. "Tuna mayo." Inumaki said, making a gesture. "Yes, you're right. Let's call Gojo-sensei." Megumi said pulling his phone out. "Wait a minute...You can understand what he's saying?" Kamo asks in confusion. "Does that matter now, it might use domain expansion on us. We need to contact Gojo-sensei and retreat-" The cursed spirit broke his phone.

"Don't move!" Inumaki said, making the cursed spirit stay still. All four students went into a battle stance. Kamo brings out a pack of blood and uses his technique. Aiko brings out her pins and throws three at the same time. She snaps her fingers but the curse wasn't damaged by it. Then, Nue appears and attacks the cursed spirit.. Megumi then attacks it with a cursed tool. It still wasn't damaged. It spoke. 

"Stop it, foolish children!" the cursed spirit says. "What the-?! I can understand the meaning behind the noises it makes? This is creepy." Megumi states. "All I want, is to protect this planet." it said. "It's the curse talking nonsense! Ignore it!" Kamo exclaims. "It's not just a low-level curse though." Megumi responded. "The forest, the sea, the sky...They're crying from the tragedies they've withstood. We can no longer live in peace with humans." The curse says, "They know that there are humans who care for the planet. But, how useful is mere compassion." It added. "All they want is time." It said. "They've formulated their own language." Megumi said. "Get Inumaki out of here..." Kamo said. "With that time, the planet will once again shine a brilliant blue." The curse continued speaking. "Time without humans!" "Thou shalt become a sage...through death." it said. 

The four students continued running from the cursed spirit. "Are you okay, Inumaki-senpai?"  Megumi asked. "Salmon." Inumaki replied. "Here it comes!" Kamo shouts. "Stop!" Inumaki shouts. The balls and the cursed spirit stopped. Both Kamo and Aiko hit it. Aiko's pin lands on the branch growing from it's eyes. She quickly snaps her fingers. "Hurry! It'll heal and be after us soon enough." Kamo says. The four of them continued to run. They had escaped from the balcony and was now in the roof. Huge branches emerges from the door. "Don't worry, Inumaki-senpai will stop it." Megumi says as Nue returns to his side and attacks the cursed spirit. 

Blood shot out from Nue as the cursed spirit punches through it. Inumaki had also reached his limit. The ball things had hit Kamo and almost hit Aiko in the face but only manages to hit her in the arm. "What the fuck!" Aiko exclaims clutching her left arm that got hit. It made her drop the pins she held in her left hand. Megumi grabbed Kamo. "Kamo! You still alive?!" he exclaimed. Aiko helped Kamo stand up, she let him hang onto her. "Mustard leaf." Inumaki says, patting Megumi's shoulder. "Inumaki-senpai! Any more and you'll-" Megumi was cut off by Inumaki. "Blast away!" he shouted. Inumaki had used his ability too much. Aiko had already put Kamo somewhere safe down the roof and stuck some pins on the building to act as stairs and went back to help Inumaki despite her left arm being at a really worse condition. 

Nishimiya and Aiko both agreed to take Inumaki and Kamo to safety. Aiko carried Inumaki on her back and ran through the forest stealthily to avoid any other curse from seeing them. Nishimiya of course, had taken Kamo with her broom. Aiko knew that her left arm was in no condition to carry another person but she didn't care."My arm's basically dead at this point but the rest of my body was unscathed." she mumbled and continued moving. "Hopefully the entrance is almost there, I don't think my arm can take this anymore." she said to herself. She was getting tired but she still continued, only stopping for a few minutes then continued. "C'mon legs, don't go dyin' on me now!" she mumbled. She noticed the stairs so she ran down and met with Utahime, Mai and Nobara who were going to fight a strange man. "Aiko!" Nobara said as she noticed Aiko. "Hey." she simply said and ran to the entrance. The strange man had left already. Of course, Aiko managed to take Inumaki to safety. 

"Since when were you buddies with that gorilla?" Megumi asked Yuuji. The four first years were in the recovery area. Shoko managed to fix Aiko's arm but warned her not to add any more force in it. "Um...I wouldn't say we're buddies." Yuuji answered. "I remember what happened, but I wasn't really myself." he added. "We're you drunk?" Nobara asked jokingly. "Where would he get something to make him drunk that time?" Aiko asked. "Kugisaki, do you really think I'm the kind of person who would drink in a situation like that?" Yuuji asked, a bit hurt by Nobara's question. "But anyway, we're glad you're okay Fushiguro." Yuuji said. Aiko nodded in agreement, eating a slice of pizza. 

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a/n: Aiko agreed to carry Inumaki despite her injury because she's still hurting herself despite Sayaka's death happening in like 2-3 months before this. She still hasn't forgiven herself from that event.