THE WHITE DRAGON┊ jujutsu kaisen

Chapter 17: An Omen to Ruin

     "What's wrong Haku?" Yuta asked as he pulled Haku back underneath his arm once again.

Inumaki and Yuta shifted their grip as Haku remained focused, looking just above the entrance to the school, "Something's coming," they uttered quietly.

Immediately, everyone looked around in that very same direction but saw nothing alarming. Yuta glanced downward, "Hmm? Where? I don't—

Caught mid-sentence, a gut wrenching feeling also struck Yuta to the core. Possibly, the same feeling that Haku shared too. His face turned an ashen shade paler as he became visibly more nervous as well, though no one else seemed to sense anything amiss quite yet.

"What's wrong with you two?" Maki asked, unsure of just why Yuta looked also visibly shaken when it was only Haku who had the roughest time in training prior.

As an attempt to swallow the fear that had a firm grasp on Yuta's throat, he managed to croak out, "I have a bad feeling."

Panda shrugged off the comment, "Yuta's cursed energy perception isn't that great yet because it's thrown off by Rika, everything's probably fine."

"Yeah, but Haku has the accuracy of a sniper," Maki reasoned, taking heed to Haku's warning from earlier.

As the three who couldn't sense a blatantly obvious threat from earlier, stare off into the same direction that had Yuta and Haku stiffened with fear, finally something caught their eye. With the passing seconds, drawing nearer, a dark spec in the sky grew larger as it took shape. The nearer it came, the more it resembled that of a bird— not just a passing pigeon, but something prehistoric in nature. It descended lower and riding on its back was a man, draped in a cloak similar to what a noble priest would wear. The giant bird landed in the middle of the courtyard, just near the entrance of the school as the first years watched in disbelief at the sight unfolding before their eyes.

"Oi, you'd better get out of here if you know what's good for you," Maki warned as she took a step forward, unafraid.

"Yeah, or we'll have Yuta send your sorry asses crying home back the way you came," Panda continued.

Yuta's eyes grew wider, "Huh?!"

The man riding on the back of the bird had come down, but in the bird's beak hid several others that the group had only just noticed when the bird landed. Unamused, the man merely smiled but that was all they saw of him in the moment. The next, Haku was sent stumbling back into Inumaki's arms as Yuta's hands were now preoccupied and held by the visitor's.

"Okkotsu, Yuta. We meet at last, the pleasure is all mine. I've been wanting to greet you for some time now— Suguru, Geto." The man warmly said, firmly keeping the student's hands prisoner in his. His speed surpassed that of the first years' expectations, having moved without them so much as being able to stop him in time. Not even Yuta could withdraw from the firm grasp of Suguru's. All were too shocked to even move, the most they could do was glare at the uninvited visitor.

"Yuta, the world we live in right now is a mess— it's all wrong. The strong, you and I, forced into protecting the weak and powerless; where is the justification in that for the monkeys who don't deserve such a pleasantry? There is none— I can tell you that much," Suguru calmly explained, his smile was beginning to become sickening on his face. "That's why I envision a world where such a task is obsolete. A world of true enlightenment— one without non-sorcerers or family failures. Don't think I haven't noticed you, Zenin Maki— the Zenin clan's failure and biggest disgrace."

Finally looking at someone other than Yuta, Suguru's glare narrowed as his head whipped to stare coldly in Maki's direction. She was at a loss for words, confronted in such a direct matter in front of her friends. All she could do was toughen her stance in attempts to not look as weak as those words made her feel. Not standing the sight of looking at Maki any longer, Suguru's expression warmed considerably once again as he returned to looking at Yuta. However, the same could not be said for the student who jerked his hands away successfully this time, taking a step back from Suguru.