THE WHITE DRAGON┊ jujutsu kaisen

Chapter 35: Forest of Anxiety 2018, Part 2

Seated in a circle on the floor of an unused classroom, the group exchanged looks with one another from every angle, no one dared to be the first to speak.

"So what do we do about... this?" Maki asked, breaking the unsettling silence that fell upon the group like a heavy blanket of snow— frigid and unbearably unpleasant. "This wasn't exactly what we prepared for."

Excited just to finally see his friends again, Itadori perked up immediately, "I'm okay to help with anything! I'm a great fighter!"

"We have Panda and Haku for that."

"Speaking of..." Itadori trailed off as his eyes glanced briefly in that direction, "the giant panda..."

"We'll keep the introductions brief. We don't have time to waste," Fushiguro sighed; he'd already lost track of just how many introductions he'd had to do within the span of a few months.

The elephant in the room out of the way, Maki arched her brow as she scanned the room. "The game this year is to hide our team's flag in the forest. We have 30 minutes to do so in the 'peace' of the allotted grace period."

No eyes clouded with confusion, nor did anyone oppose this fact; the game itself was straightforward enough. The flag must remain in one spot— not on a person this year, while both teams actively seek out the opposing flag. In the search, both schools are asked to exorcise as many curses as they come across in the forest for additional points to increase their team's scores. The event's conclusion will be determined by either finding the flag of the opposing team, or when sundown is upon the sky.

"The temporary plan is to give the flag to Haku to hide since they know the forest best after spending an insanely criminal amount of time within its boundaries with Gojo Sensei," Maki continued. "During the grace period, we'll need to do our best to scour the area and exorcise every curse we see since it'll be the only time that the curses are our only enemies— we'll have Inumaki and Megumi going full-out on that."

Those two nodded their heads in understanding, to which Maki turned to give her next order, "I'll take Kugisaki and we'll handle recon."

Still being the only person unmentioned in the grand scheme of things, Itadori couldn't help but raise a meek hand as he pointed to himself, "And me...?"

"Locked up for your own good."

Their voice was quiet, uttered under their breath, but in the room's deafening silence those words might as well have been a scream. Haku couldn't be bothered to lift their eyes higher than the floor, truthfully this event was the very last thing they wanted to participate in, for a second time at that.

Itadori's face fell as his eyes grew wide as saucers, jaw hung agape, "What?! Haku Senpai you're so cruel! You don't even sound like you missed me."

Their chosen silence to that accusation was enough of a reply as Itadori would ever receive from Haku. The expression worn upon their face was neither of irritation or anger— it was blank and distant. Haku managed to be both within arm's reach, physically, and just a hair too far to grasp, emotionally; they lingered in that homeostatic state of existence, suffering quietly in their self-inflicted living purgatory.

"Anyway, Itadori," Panda interjected, "we don't know much about you or what you can do."

"Like I said I'm a great fighter! I can join Fushiguro and Inumaki Senpai— Or even you, Panda Senpai... maybe Haku Senpai?"

Haku closed their eyes and heaved a weighted sigh, "Pass."

"Senpaaaaai!"

"You can come with me, Itadori," Panda flashed him a quick smile just to let him know there would be a place for him on the team. "Haku's better when they work alone anyway. Don't take it personally. They have your best interest at heart for sure."