Destined to Collide - Inumaki Toge

43. Intruder's Invasion Begins

A/N: Hello everyone! Thank you for the massive support of this story. Goodness me, this has been on #1 Inumakitoge tag for weeks! I didn't expect that at all considering there's hundreds more fics out there. This has gone beyond my expectations. Heart you all. <3

Hopefully everyone stays safe out there. Vaccines, booster shots, Vitamin C and water, get them all. Mask up and sanitize your hands and pens! Pens! Sanitize that phone too! That goddamn thing is god awful dark with dust and other unknown grimes whenever you wipe them down with alcohol. 

Keep yourself hydrated, and stay safe there. I'll work hard to upload a chappie soon. <3

Maguro has long since looked at the Kyoto branch's Principal with full suspicion. There was something really odd with the old man, especially more so with the way he views the dead boy comes back to life Itadori Yuuji-kun.

Shock. Full shock. The kind that leans more towards "Why?" and "How?" instead of "You're back?"

If she didn't see the report stating Sukuna dug out Itadori's heart himself, she would have believed the old man has a finger in the incident.

"That's right," Kyoto's Principal, Yoshinobu Gakuganji said in a croaky voice after Utahime volunteered to get Miwa out of the competition fields. "I'm worried about Miwa. Go to her quickly."

Maguro snapped her neck to look at the Kyoto's Principal. That overwhelming sense of murder wafted from the principal's whole body, like an aura that screams 'the boy must die'. Narrowing her eyes at him, she leaned forward in plain sight and whispered to Gojo-sensei sitting in front of her.

In a loud voice.

"Gojo-sensei," Maguro whispered loudly. "The old man from Kyoto is scheming something."

Gojo raised his eyebrows and smiled widely. He doesn't usually show favouritism, but Maguro is quickly climbing up the list to be his favourite student. "Oho~? Is it now? Really, Maguro. We should be nicer to old people. Leave him alone long enough and he'll disappear in a few years' time on his own."

"Ah, I see. I've learnt something today, sensei! Thank you!" Maguro grinned happily at the Kyoto Principal, fully enjoying the miffed expression the old man is displaying now.

Kyoto's Principal gritted his teeth. It was one thing trying to plot behind their backs in their own turf to kill their student, Itadori Yuuji. But it was another trying to avoid getting sniffed out. This has been extra hard considering Mei Mei's crows is everywhere as her eyes and she might report him out. But no, that's alright, the Kyoto's Principal thought to himself quietly while brushing his beard absentmindedly. Mei Mei can be bribed with money.

"I heard you can be bribed with money, Mei Mei-senpai," Maguro piped up happily.

Principal Gakuganji balked openly. How...how?!

"Ara?" Mei Mei smiled, indulging in the younger generation of the Tokyo Metropolitan College's student. She started to grow on her, and quite frankly, Mei Mei finds herself building quite a rapport with Maguro. This delighted the older jujutsu user more. All the better to dig out old jujutsu techniques from the Tsukigami lore. "Where did you hear that, Maguro-chan?"

"I don't know actually," Maguro replied, blinking her eyes in realization. She knew she heard it somewhere. And quite recently too but...but...

Narrowing her eyes, she tried to think where she had heard this before. It couldn't have just echoed in her mind out of the blue. She snapped her eyes and looked at the old man. The old man tightened his leathery old jaws and looked elsewhere. She looked back at her donuts. "I...yeah...where did I hear that again?" 

Maguro frowned and think hard. She did hear it somewhere, but from where and when, she couldn't quite remember.

And just right about then, one of the screens showing their study building side suddenly had an eruption of tree roots shooting in the air, aiming to cover the building.

No. Not to cover the building. Maguro saw Fushiguro and the other third year Kyoto student right about down there, where the tree roots are about to crash upon them.

It all happened so quickly. One second, she sees Inumaki running across the rooftop, the next, all the charms on the walls burst into red flames.

The charms that all the cursed spirits released into the area carries one. For all of them to disappear at once...

Maguro's eyes snapped back to the screen quickly. Nothing. There's nothing there anymore. "Toge-kun..." Maguro whispered worriedly, wringing her hands nervously. He was running from something, and Fushiguro was there too with the third year Kyoto student. "Toge-kun... he was there..."

Inumaki Toge is a semi-grade one jujutsu sorcerer. For him to run from the curse and join up with Fushiguro, it must have been something big that requires more sorcerers to help.

Something beyond a semi-grade one can handle alone.

"Some invaders?" Utahime commented, surprised with the red flames burning all the charms at once. Maguro was so focused on the screen she didn't hear their conversations. Principal Yaga has stated that despite the flames being red, the cursed spirits marked by the charm couldn't be done in by the students all at the same time. It's not possible.

It should be an outsider or some unknown cursed spirit meddling in the game.

Principal Yaga stood up from his seat and said, "I'm going to Tengen-sama. Satoru and Principal Gakuganji, please protect the students. Mei, you stay here and identify the location of the students. Stay in constant contact with the other two."

Maguro went up to the screens. The specific one where Toge is last seen is buzzed out. Should be the cameras were knocked off from its perch or destroyed. Worriedly, she touched the screen, willing it to come back to life to show her beloved Toge safe and sound.

"Toge-kun," Maguro whispered, her heart starting its uneasy pound that something bad is about to happen. "Toge-kun, please be safe."

"Maguro," Gojo called her at the doorway, nudging her out of her reverie. "Your skills are needed. Follow us and stay safe."

Smiling gratefully, Maguro nodded her head and quickly followed Gojo.

"And Maguro," Ieiri called her from behind. Immediately, Maguro stopped in her steps and turned towards her sensei. Ieiri merely smiles at her and said, "Remember my teachings. Fight and flight."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The veil had came down and completed its barrier by the time they arrived there. While the barrier rejected Gojo, Utahime and the Kyoto Principal is able to touch the barrier with no other issues like Gojo's.

"I can try to dismantle this veil with my Nullifying technique," Maguro offered, one hand reaching out to touch the dark veil.

Gojo's hand shoot out to stop her. "No, let me do that. Since you can enter freely, do so with Utahime and the old man. We'll need you at top condition to save the others in case anything happens to them."

Maguro's eyes widened in worry. In case?

Gojo sensed her unease and patted her shoulders. "It's unavoidable. This veil alone is not done in by any simple cursed spirits. It's strong enough to only exclude me out of this barrier, so we have to assume that a strong cursed spirit is at work here, and they don't want me in the game. Plus, whoever it is that has set up this type of curtain must stay within the curtain itself for it to continue working as it is programmed. If we dismantle it too soon, we won't be able to catch them."

"But... but..." Maguro started, sinking into a frenzy of possibilities and feeling her heart descended into her stomach. That was a feeling she hated. It made her nervous, and it made the situation felt like its 10 times worst than it is. "But there's only students inside. There's no teacher, or instructors. And, and there's only cursed spirits at second-grade at most."

Everyone fell into silence. To only target the students in the forest, would probably meant only one thing.

Whoever they are behind the veil, they don't plan to let anyone leave.