THE WHITE DRAGON┊ jujutsu kaisen

Chapter 1: Introducing Namie, Kohaku

     The leaves on the trees have begun to change their color; the season of autumn is well underway. A few have even been cast downward, laying on the ground to be stepped on absentmindedly from random people. Without exception, Haku does the same. The leaves crunch soundly beneath every step taken along the empty sidewalk home. It's the same path as always, the same footsteps, the same buildings; at the intersection, a right turn would take Haku the rest of the way home.

     A simple path, but each footstep became heavier and in need of more energy to continue to move forward. The slowing of movement taken by Haku isn't intentional, rather it's a natural response of the body reacting unintentionally. It's as if an invisible force is preventing any further movement; an impenetrable wall of translucent material or something just as strange. The surroundings hadn't changed, but Haku looked around nonetheless. The lingering feeling of something sinister had been present since leaving campus that afternoon.

The feeling will soon have followed and lurked in the depths of rescinding shadows the entire way home. It's just a single step, to keep moving forward, yet it's impossible to take. Haku's foot had been burdened with a weight equivalent to lead; it would not move another inch. No amount of struggle or pulling with all the weight possible to muster within could move it. In place it stayed put, weighed down heavily by a force unknown.

In an unexpected fashion, something slammed squarely against Haku's stomach. A force that great would send even a well-grown man flying backwards. A high school student could only hope to escape with no major bruising or broken ribs from the anomaly. Just ahead, the streets remain unpopulated and the leaves still flutter along the sidewalk in the slight breeze of the autumn afternoon.

There seemed to be no one else present, however, the onslaught of attacks wouldn't stop with just one hit. It's a force unseen, but ruthless. Against the rough, granular pavement filled with cracks of all sizes, Haku's flesh had been dragged, tossed, scraped, and shoved against. An ashen grey of concrete had been stained crimson with fresh blood that seeped from the wounds sustained.

Despite luck never being on the side of the weak, Haku has never broken a bone before; that statement would be true if it were any day other than today. Several ribs have cracked from slamming chest down against the unforgiving pavement. It's a pain that knocks the wind from lungs, breath from the living, and will to move from Haku. A pain that has a voice of its own and screams throughout every inch of the body it manifests within.

A scream so bloodcurdling, high-piercing, heart stoppingly at death's door— it sent chills down crooked spines.

"JUST STOP!"

In a last-ditch, helpless cry, Haku— blood sodden and unable to move from several broken bones, finally opens both eyes widely to reveal the onslaught attacker for the first time. Though after finally being able to see the first looks, it may have been better off to have never known.

Not just one single, merciless killer, but three; and all so graphically disfigured to the point of looking otherworldly non-human. Upon being able to finally see the perpetrators behind the attacks, an unbearable stench accompanies them as well. A stench so foul, like several rotting corpses fills the air and threatens to burn all nostril hairs.

The smell is enough to send anyone coughing but in Haku's position, every cough is a sharp, piercing pain to the lungs that threaten to be punctured by the fragments of several cracked ribs inside. The disfigured corpuses laugh, maniacally and heinously at the sight before them— and a sad sight indeed. To fuel their pleasure, a swift kick to Haku's abdomen is dealt, followed by several more petty moves prolonging the suffering.

There isn't anything more that can be physically done. This is the doorstep to death's door, the final destination. An unconventional death for an unconventionally unlucky person, fitting as Haku accepts. It may be in vain but to possibly prevent another person from befalling the same fate, all the air that could fill the dangerously close-to-punctured lungs had been drawn in by Haku.

Ringing out into the vast distance, a last blood curdling scream escapes the crumpled mass that lay on the repainted crimson sidewalk.

A scream so desperately fearful and so mournful, it weeped with the pain endured all this time and it would be the last sound heard, but not the last sight.

What seemed to be an easy victory picking on the weak was overturned in an instant by a blinding white light that flashed from an unknown origin. Quick to occur, it was now the turn of the three horribly disfigured masses to screech in pain as they were reduced to ash, forcefully dispelled away from the scene. The stench of rotting flesh had been replaced with a foul odor similar to burnt hair.

As quick as it came, the light dissipated leaving only the brutally beaten body of Haku lying helplessly alone against the concrete sidewalk of the local neighborhood. Despite the scene, there was absolutely no other signs of a chance to be discovered. Previously thought to die at the hands of otherworldly non-human creatures, it now seemed more likely for Haku to die of negligence.

A rather lonely death.

"Found you."

It took an immense effort, but Haku's eyes opened once again. Vision blurred but able to make out the figure of another person, someone who hadn't been there just before the last scream.

"Geez, they were only Grade 3 curses and you're this badly beaten up? That's so lame! I didn't expect the prophesied legend to be someone this weak. Namie, Kohaku."

The voice belonged to a man, arrogance and laughing at misery, it's highly likely to be a younger man. Even though Haku isn't alone any longer, in the current situation, it's impossible to move a single inch in response. There isn't much more time to waste, in a matter of minutes, Haku would succumb to injuries sustained and will die.

"Ijichi! Get the car, full speed to Shoko. This kid is about to die any minute now."

The perception of consciousness faded in and out periodically for Haku. It soon became impossible to distinguish the series of events. All that was undoubtedly certain is that Haku's brutally beaten body is no longer lying as helpless sidewalk decoration, but instead being transported elsewhere— taken against their will but without a choice.