Megumi Of Ten Shadows: CH036

-CHAPTER 36-

-3RD PERSON POV-

“So the Goodwill event will start tomorrow then?” The short dark green haired, hazel eyed girl asked. Acting nonchalant as she fished for information from her upperclassmen.

She had sharp features, a buxom figure and was of average height. Her dark green haired cut in a short style that only reached her chin unlike that of her twin. She was wearing a dark long-dress like uniform with the pin of Jujutsu High on her collar. She was a first year, Zenin Mai, the twin sister of Maki.

“Hn…” The significantly taller, closed eyed boy nods silently as he continues walking ahead. His dark, chin length bangs wrapped in a white cloth while wearing a yukata-like style uniform with lots of breathing space- like wide sleeves and baggy pants. He has narrow eyes that are almost always closed, fair skin tone with sharp features of his noble lineage. He was second year, Noritoshi Kamo, the heir and holder of Kamo Clan’s Inherited Technique, Blood Manipulation.

“Yep!” The short blonde walking alongside her answers her, shorter than even Mai, with her blonde hair done in an upwards pointed twin tails, carrying a wooden broom and also wearing a dark dress-like uniform with a choker holding a Jujutsu High symbol. She was second year, Nishimiya Momo.

The twin-tailed blonde, puts a finger on her chin in thought. “Though, I’m pretty sure the Tokyo students would be arriving today. At least I heard Utahime-sensei talking about it like that.” She ends with a shrug.

“It’ll be eventful this year at least.” Noritoshi comments. He had taken part last year to make the numbers match up against Tokyo. Needless to say, they weren’t up to par with even him in his first-year and the Kyoto had a pretty easy victory. “I’m pretty sure that the Ten Shadows holder will be taking part this year.”

Mai’s eyebrows quirk up as she hums, her lips frowning. “Is that so…?”

“And from what I hear, he’s at least more reliable than the Zenin Clan Head.” Kamo finishes neutrally. Mai twitches.

“Who else is taking part this year? Sensei didn’t really tell us that much…” Nishimiya asks curiously.

Kamo shrugs. “The second year’s are a given, but I’m pretty sure they brought another first year to make the numbers match up. There will be four of us after all.”

Hearing that Mai comes to a stop, her lips frowning in clear displeasure and even a glint of hurt as she thinks. Another first year… Will Maki be the one?

Even thinking about that liar brought a mix of rage and other complicated feeling in her heart, but she was quickly brought out of it by the call of her upperclassmen. Nishimiya asks in concerns, now a few steps ahead of her. “Mai, you okay?”

The Zenin clan member shakes off those thoughts as she smiles, walking quickly to catch up. “Yeah, just got lost in thoughts.”

The Kamo heir slows down to let her catch up, as Momo continues the talk. “Akira-senpai really pushed a lot in these past weeks, right? What a slave driver! Did he have to go so hard on us?”

Kamo frowns in pity. “Yeah, but he is pushing us so much so that what happened to him doesn’t happen to us.” Losing all of your beloved classmates of three years in a mission gone wrong can break any person, even a Jujutsu Sorcerer like him, especially when it all happened in front of his eyes and only he was able to survive.

It had had a very huge impact on his senpai. He had gone from a relaxed and hearty individual to a strict, easily rageful and bitter person.

Momo nods, her tone softening. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

Mai, sensing the awkward tension, changes the topic as they come out of the building into the sunlight, the chirps of sparrows echoing through the compound. “Where is Todo though? Haven’t seen him since the morning. He’s also taking part in this isn’t he?”

Nishimiya sighs in defeat, her shoulder shrugging. “Honestly, who knows where that idiot is…”

“I heard he won a lottery of some kind. He might be out at the moment.” Noritoshi suggests. “How are you guy’s missions going on?”

As Mai, Mechamaru and Miwa were first years- and there was no need for extras –they weren’t going to take part in the Goodwill Event.

Mai shrugs. “Fine. Most of the missions are pretty easy and our fighting styles and techniques complement each other pretty well-”

BOOOOM!

-But they are interrupted by the sound of a huge explosive clash as the ground shakes, their head whipping towards the direction from where now a dusty cloud was expanding.

“What happened…?” Mai asks herself, her heart beating like a drum. “Are we getting attacked?!”

Nishimiya and Kamo gain a serious look as they order her. “We don’t know but from what I can get… a building just collapsed.” Kamo says as he runs ahead.

Nishimiya turns to her before getting on her flying broom. “Get to safety Mai.”

And as the two upperclassmen leave, Mai Zenin is left alone to her thoughts.

…

-FUSHIGURO MEGUMI POV-

-A Few Moments Earlier-

Gulp. Gulp. I swallowed the whole can of soda in but a few seconds, crushing it with my fist and throwing it in a perfect curved arc into the trashcan as I turned towards the voice that had stopped me.

“-What did you just say?” I ask as a smile slowly stretches across my face, looking straight into the dark brown eyes of the muscular guy with tied back hair standing across from me.

He was ridiculously tall and muscled, even by my standards he was built like a gorilla, with a huge scar on the left side of his face, going from his forehead to his cheek. His muscular and buff body on full display as he had ripped his shirt off- for some reason –standing in a grappling fighting style as he repeats his question.

He looks at me seriously, with gleam of battle intent in his eyes, bringing his one hand forwards, he asks.

“What kind of woman is your type?”

Now that… That is the type of question that would end in an exhilarating fight.

I smirk as I throw my own question back at him. “And why should I share my tastes with someone that I have never met?”

After all, I couldn’t really act like I knew him, when I had never even heard of him from other people.

“Todo Aoi, Kyoto Second year.” Answers the buff man- Todo as he narrows his eyes.

I smile politely, tipping my head in greeting. “Fushiguro Megumi, First year from Tokyo. Nice to meet you!”

“-Introduction over! Now we’re friends, hurry up and answer my question!” Todo huffs in displeasure for me ‘wasting the time’, continuing. “If you prefer men that’s fine too!”

Todo looks at me, as his voice gains a feverish tone. “A person’s tastes reveal everything about them. Guys with borings tastes are boring! And I don’t like boring people Fushiguro! So answer me now and maybe I’ll let you go with some bumps and bruises!”

Man, he really as eccentric as he was shown in the anime huh? I chuckle internally. Despite my excitement to take part in this event, I had actually never thought about what I would answer if/when Todo asked me this.

Now how do I handle this? The smart thing would be just to go the easy route and say the same answer as Itadori- even if that would be kind of a lie (because who doesn’t like a tall blonde woman with a big ass?).

But that would just make things boring right?

A fight was inevitable, I could feel his barely restrained battle intent, so even if I took the easy way out he wouldn’t just leave me be… And even if I answered truthfully, he wouldn’t really become my enemy.

Not to mention-

And his comment about ‘letting me go after beating me’ was kind of pissing me off. I knew that that was probably his goal, his 50,000 IQ at play, to piss me off.

But still god damnit! It was working!

Maybe this was how Jogo felt when I mocked him so much… As they say, what goes around, come around.

Decision made. My lips stretched in a smirk, my polite mask fading as my battle intent showed its face, and I said the truth. “A strong girl with a powerful personality, yet a sweet side and big ass and thighs!”

That is probably very specific… But it sums up the type of person I’m interested in very much.

Tap! Tap! Tap!

Todo’s face expectedly falls, tears of sorrow falling from his eyes. He shakes his head in disappointment. “Here I thought you would be interesting…” He looks me in the eyes. “You’re a disappointment Fushiguro.”

Tik! A nerve pops up on my forehead-

DANGER~

BAM!

-Todo rockets towards me and instinctively I block the surprise attack with both my arms, my hands actually straining as my eyes widened. He’s much more physically stronger than I thought.

I jumped back, putting some distance between us, yet Todo doesn’t give me the advantage. Not stopping as he follows and throws a left hook.

My instincts come in handy, as my right hand lashes out and I aim my own right hook straight at his face.

BAM! BLAM!

Yet both our fists clash against each other successfully, decking each other in the jaw as we are sent flying back.

Kchik-! I skid to a halt, wiping my chin I look down at the blood, looking back up with an excited smile on my face as I look at the second year. “You want a fight that much!? THEN COME AND GET SOME TODO AOI!”

I started walking forwards as he laughed, bringing his hands forwards in a fighting stance. “THEN WHY ARE YOU THE ONE WALKING CLOSER?! HAHAHAHA!?”

“I CANT BEAT THE SHIT OUT OF YOU WITHOUT GETTING CLOSER!” I rocketed forwards, CE bursting out like water in a dam as it reinforced me.

Todo held still, yet his CE surged as well, instantly covering his body as he waited for my attack.

BAM! Todo easily blocks my first attack-which he had literally seen coming –but as I started throwing a barrage of punches his defense starts to crack.

BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!

­Each of my punch hits like a truck, making Todo’s bone creak under pressure.

-But before his defense cracks, Todo lashes out, grabbing my arm with his strong grip and hefting me up like a sack of potatoes as he attempt to slam me to the ground.

“HAH!” But in the blink of an eye, I straighten myself midair using his own grip against him, and kick him in the face with both my legs.

BAM!

Todo’s head slams back from the impact as he lets go of his grip, and I flip back to the ground.

-But Todo proves to be much harder to knockout as he uses the millisecond where I dropped back to the ground- to kick a swiping kick straight at my feet, taking me by surprise as I fell on the concrete ground.

Without a moment of hesitation, Todo climbs on top of me and starts pummeling my face with his CE charged fists.

BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!

My body goes slack as my CE dissipates. For all onlookers, I was knocked out.

And finally Todo stops, standing back up as he spits his blood sideways. His expression stilled in disappointment. “Was that really all you had?” He shakes his head as he turns back and starts walking away, the trees above them providing him with shade from the sun. “Maybe the other Tokyo students would prove to be more of a challenge…”

Tap! Tap! Tap! Tap! Tap! Tap! Tap! The sound of running feet echoes.

-Todo’s eyes widen as he whips is head back to see me rocketing straight towards him, my right arm pulled back as massive amounts of CE concentrates in my fist.

The knockout was a bluff all along,

Todo crosses his arms in a defensive posture. Fully believing he could block the attack.

But his eyes widen in surprise as I disappear in front of his eyes.

Where did he disappear to?! Todo’s mind races. His posture alert as his eyes flickers everywhere around him.

His naturally prodigious CE senses enlarging outwards as he tries to sense me out. But he can’t…

He looks everywhere but downwards, but not like that would’ve helped him anyway…

After all, the realm of shadows only answered to me.

-I keep running straight at him in the shadow realm, building up even more momentum and CE, even coating myself in Abyssal Stealth so that it left him no chance to react.

BAM!

-And in an instant, I exit the shadows underneath him, giving him no time before my fist impacts his jaw in a super CE powered uppercut.

“GAH-!?” Blood splatter from his mouth as Todo is sent rocketing straight into an old wooden building, his body colliding with multiple wooden posts before the view is obstructed for me by the rising dust.

RUMBLE-!

“Oh shit…” I muttered as I looked down at the shaking ground, my eyes widening as I looked at the inwardly collapsing building I had sent Todo flying into.

BOOOOM!

Like a stack of Jenga, the building collapses’ in itself in front of my eyes. Thankfully, it was an old kind of building made primarily from wood and not concrete so while it made a lot of noise and raised a whole dust cloud, it really didn’t leave as much damage or wreckage as a modern building would.

Hah... Hah… Hah… I took some deep breaths, my muscles burning in a good way, like after a good session of workout. I gathered the pooling blood in my mouth and spit in it out, twitching as I realized that the strong second year had broken one of my teeth. I guess Madoka will have some work to do…

My lips quirk up, my mind more relaxed now than it’s been in a few weeks. I chuckled aloud. “That was a fun warm up!”

Let’s just go make sure he isn’t too injured or anything. After all, Todo was a very durable individual , there was no way he was out just like that. I have no doubt that if he was fighting any other opponent he would have a much easier time because of one main reason.

His technique doesn’t work on me. My lips twitched upwards. To use his technique, Todo has to be able to sense the CE of the person he is trying to swap places with.

-And my currently active Abyssal Stealth technique hides my curse energy so that no one can sense it. Giving me the perfect counter to his technique.

In a way I am a natural enemy of his technique. My sense range expands and quickly lock on the dim CE signature in the middle of the wreckage. Quickly, I approach the area and flick my wrist as a Abyssal Slash cuts through the broken wreckage revealing-

Danger~!

My eyes widen as I just see a CE infused bo-staff, a Cursed Tool, instead of Todo and as my senses scream in danger, I whirl around to look at-

“HAH!” Todo Aoi stands a few meters away from me, his body bruised a little bit but no sign of pain or tiredness on his face, as he jumps straight towards me with his legs aiming to collide with my chest in a dropkick.

It was Todo Aoi’s turn to make a bluff! Before the building collapsed on him, Todo had used his technique to swap places with a Cursed Tool somewhere within his immense range! As this was a Jujutsu School, it was not unbelievable to think that it would have some Cursed Tools stored all over the compound.

But I was actively trying to sense him though… Don’t tell me?! My eyes shined in excitement as I realized. Did he run from outside my sensing range to here in just the few seconds I was distracted by not seeing him under the wreckage!?

That’s seriously absurd…

But that’s just like him! Imperceptibly I take a step back, out of the range of his kick as I face him with a defensive position-

CLAP!

BAM!

“-GAH!?” In the blink of an eye Todo disappear in front of my eyes and pain blossoms in my back as I am sent rocketing forwards straight on my face from the immense impact of the kick.

I crashed and rolled through the wreckage, before coming to a stop. That… That was his technique wasn’t it?

Now that I had time to analyze I looked back, Todo probably figured out that he couldn’t use Boogie Woogie on me, so he swapped places with the bo-staff Cursed Tool and attacked me in the back. It was my fault for underestimating his strategic skills… I should have known better that just my immunity to his absurd technique wouldn’t be enough.

I guess I was getting bit too arrogant.

I pulled my hips back, and my just a little exertion I jumped up to my feet.

Todo stood ten meters ahead of me, rolling his shoulder, and holding the bo-staff, a grin of excitement on his face as he stares at me.

Sparks of rivalry fly between us, and the same excited grin plasters itself onto my face.

Crack! I crack my neck, then jump up and down a few times. “You tired Todo?” I ask with a grin.

“Not one bit Fushiguro!”

My hands come forward in a fighting position. “Then let’s fight to our heart’s content! COME!”

“HAH!” Todo pulls his arms back as he throws the bo-staff straight towards me, before rocketing forwards with his fists.

My grin widens as my CE flows like water, my fingers flickering in movement as I send multiple slashes at him.

SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! Instantly the staff is cut into small pieces.

But Todo has more tricks of his own, as without hesitation, in a millisecond he takes out a pouch and throws its content all over the wreckage we were fighting inside.

Jingle! Jingle! Jingle! Jingle!

My eyes widen in the millisecond, seeing dozens of small metal marbles infused with CE spread all over the place, instantly realizing their purpose.

CLAP! CLAP! CLAP! CLAP! CLAP! CLAP!

-In just a few seconds Todo teleports all over the battlefield, pushing his technique to its height as he dodges my attacks, as I start to use both of my hands to fire dozens of slashes all over the place to get as much coverage as I can.

SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! Todo is able to dodge most slashes, yet scrapes and cuts are still filling his body with each second.

BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! Similarly, more and more unavoidable hits start pummeling me, as my body screams in barely held back pain.

“HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” Yet I laugh as I dodge his attacks- most of the time as he pushes to close the distance, pushing my CE sensing to its limits as my body moves on its own volition meeting each impact of his fists with my own fists.

I can see why Madara Uchiha called a battle- a “dance”.

BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!

“HAHAHAHAHA!” Somewhere along the line, Todo joins me in my amusement, as we punch each other’s body to pulp.

Which each flicker of my hands, dozens of slashes fire simultaneously, making the nice garden like place we were in but a few minutes ago into a desolate land with wreckage of the fallen building, multiple sliced off trees and long jagged scars of my slashes all over the land, and the constant echoes of dozens of claps as Todo maneuvers around the battlefield.

Yet nothing lasts forever.

My sense pings instantly when I sense multiple unknown CE signatures concentrating straight towards us, and clarity come to my mind of exactly where we were.

Both of us come to a stop, Todo probably having sensed the group too, as our head turns to look at the group of sorcerers converging right on our spot with grim, hard faces.

That is, all except for one-

“Yo Megumi!” Gojo waves his hand as he drinks a smoothie, his relaxed grin proving opposite of everyone yet carrying an even more obvious mirth. “Had fun?”

I’m in so much trouble. But honestly what was a little more at this point?

I throw a thumbs up, a cheeky smile on my face. “Yep!”

…

[EDITED FOR SPELLING MISTAKES]

…

A/N: It starts with a bang! I hope I did Todo’s character justice. I had to rewatch a lot of his scenes in the anime to write the fight scene. Also I improvised it at one point- and giving him CE infused metal balls will be explained later. This fight scene was fun to write because here Megumi was both at an advantage and not because while Todo’s technique didn’t affect him, it could affect his Shikigami so he couldn’t use them because they would give an obvious advantage to Todo.

Also introduced Mai and the other few Kyoto students. Should Mai also be a love interest? Maybe I’ll put a poll later on if enough people are interested.

*“Akira-senpai” is a OC that I will explore more about in the coming chapters, just know that he will play a key role in this arc.

…