THE WHITE DRAGON┊ jujutsu kaisen

Chapter 29: Where Angels Fear to Tread, Part 2

"I'll come back."

Anxiously, Fushiguro sat in wait unable to move a muscle however, by now he was skilled at hiding the current state of his mental matters under the guise of his calm and neutral expression. As convincing as Haku spoke those three words, the time drew dangerously near to the start of the festival with no sign of their return being any time soon. The sun was beginning to set and the lights of day were beginning to fade. If there was to be a sunset, it would be nearly impossible to see the orange glow through the thick clouds that completely engulfed the sky.

Kugisaki and Itadori came to approach Fushiguro, who had taken a seat outside on a jagged rock as he intently kept his focus on the direction Haku had disappeared to. Neither knew exactly what happened or why Haku was nowhere to be found all of a sudden, but the priest gave them the reminder to let Haku know that the curtain needed to be casted very soon.

Itadori waved a hand in front of Fushiguro's face, bringing him back to reality as he asked, "Hey, do you know where Haku Senpai is? The festival is going to start soon and the curtain has to be casted."

Fushiguro shook his head, "Haven't seen them since this afternoon, but Haku Senpai promised to be back by the time the festival starts."

"Should we look for them?" Kugisaki suggested, but Fushiguro also didn't agree to that.

"Let's just have faith that they'll come back soon," Fushiguro sighed, doing his best to also convince himself with his words.

He knew the exact reason why Haku was missing, to search for the disturbance they felt earlier due to an unknown amount of curses already being present, but Fushiguro didn't reveal that to either of the two; he didn't feel the need to worry them unnecessarily since they would surely turn it into a bigger deal that it was. Haku was more than capable of dispelling a few measly curses, certainly of the grade the priest had mentioned earlier, so Fushiguro repeated that to himself to stay calm. After all, in their absence, Haku entrusted Fushiguro with the responsibility to look after Kugisaki and Itadori; it was a job he wouldn't even think of failing.

"Have any of you seen Namiesan?"

A voice broke through the three crowded by a rock, the priest. His expression was slightly worried as he looked around the area. Fushiguro stood up, partially alarmed seeing the actions of the priest, "Is something wrong?"

The priest merely shrugged, "The monks are lighting the lanterns. The festival will begin very soon, has the curtain been casted?"

Intently, the priest stared at Fushiguro with eyes on the brink of desperation; this would soon become a dire situation if Haku was nowhere to be found. Not wanting to tarnish Haku's reputation with the priest, Fushiguro quickly nodded, "Don't worry, Haku Senpai gave me their assurance."

The phrase lifted a slight burden off the priest's shoulders as he gave a soft smile, "Thank you, then in a few minutes I'll give the word for the festival to commence."

Parting ways with the three first year students, the priest returned to the liveliness of the festival that is about to be underway. Once out of sight, Itadori swiftly turned to Fushiguro and gave him a hard slap on the shoulder, "Dude what the hell are you thinking?!"

Sometimes, even he forgets about his own raw strength and Fushiguro cried out in pain from what Itaodri thought was a gentle hit. Rubbing the sore spot, Fushiguro gave Itadori a nastry glare as Kugisaki couldn't help but agree with Itadori's actions, "I'm not particularly religious, but I think lying to a priest is in the top five of things you should absolutely never do if you want a good afterlife."