Jujutsu Kaisen X OC (The Red String of Fate)

【 CHAPTER 24 】The Price of Survival

Inari's POV

A few tense hours had passed since we made the reckless, borderline idiotic decision to confront the curse head-on. 

Itadori's voice crackled through the phone, "I'm going, Nanamin!" he declared, who had long since abandoned the concept of self-preservation.

"You can't. I already explained why this morning." Nanami's voice, calm and unyielding, sliced through the call. 

Logical. Reasonable. The kind of voice that should have made us pause.

But neither of us were logical or reasonable.

"But if Junpei's at his school and there's a veil, we have to act now!" Itadori argued, urgently.

Nanami exhaled sharply. "If a veil has been cast, there's a strong possibility he's alive and at Satozakura High School. But that does not mean—"

"We're going, no matter what you say. Got a problem? Deal with it!" I snapped, my patience having packed its bags and left hours ago.

"I'll be back soon. Please wait there, Itadori-kun, Inari-san."

Click. Call ended.

We barely had time to move before Ijichi materialized in front of us. 

"Step aside, Ijichi-san." 

"Our duty is to protect, not to recklessly endanger ourselves," Ijichi pleaded, softly.

Itadori sidestepped leaving and I followed suit, throwing a sympathetic (but ultimately dismissive) pat on Ijichi's shoulder as we passed.

"Don't worry, we'll survive. Probably." I shot him a grin that did nothing to reassure him.

A few minutes later, Junpei's school loomed ahead, bathed in an eerie stillness that sent every alarm in my head blaring.

"Where is he?!" Itadori demanded, eyes darting wildly, restlessly.

"The gym. I can sense faint cursed energy from there." I jerked my chin in the direction of the source, already moving.

We crashed through the gym doors and chaos unfolded before us.

"What are you doing, Junpei?!" Itadori's voice rang out.

Junpei stood on stage, his gaze empty, "Stay out of this, jujutsu sorcerer," he spat, venomously.

"Yeah, not happening," I shot back, already shifting my stance.

Junpei bolted, and we gave chase. The halls blurred past as he called out, "Moon Dregs!"—and suddenly, a shikigami emerged. A ghostly, otherworldly jellyfish pulsated.

"A jellyfish?! Where the hell did he learn that?" Itadori yelled, skidding to a stop, eyes wide.

"I don't know, but I'm not about to let it sting us and find out!" I fired a cursed energy projectile at the thing, only to watch in mounting horror as the energy was absorbed and the damn thing doubled in size.

"Oh, fantastic! That's exactly what I wanted to happen!" I exclaimed, resisting the urge to punch something (preferably Junpei's face).

Junpei's lips curled into a twisted smirk. "Don't make me repeat myself. Stay out of this."

The jellyfish lashed out. We dodged, barely.

"This is none of your business!" Junpei roared, his frustration warping into something dangerous.

"Not for you to decide!" Itadori shot back, launching himself forward.

We hit the jellyfish's barrier together, and this time, it shattered under the force of our combined assault.