Vessel // Jujutsu Kaisen x reader

16. Yoshino Junpei

"They're humans. No... Maybe it's best to say they're ex-humans." the female voice explained over the phone.
"They're the same as the three people in the movie theater. Their bodies were forcibly contorted with sorcery."

"If it's just that, I could have noticed it from the beginning. The three people we were fighting were filled with cursed energy, just like cursed spirits." Nanami answered.

The three of us were sitting in a room. Nanami on one couch and Yuuji on another one. I was sat next to Yuuji, head in my hands as I tried to process all of this.

"That just sounds like an effect of the culprit's technique. There are traces of tampering around the brain stem. Disturbance of consciousness is likely... It was probably a state of confusion."
The female, Ieiri Shouko, continued explaining.
"If they were even able to tamper with the brain, it's probably possible to reconstruct a human who can use cursed energy. Because the relationship between the brain and cursed energy is still like a black box--unknown. Oh, right. Are Itadori and L/n listening?"

"Ah, yeah." Yuuji answered and I looked at the phone.

"Loosely, their cause of death is... Shock from having their bodies contorted. You didn't kill them. Don't be mistaken by that."

Those words strangely soothed my heart and I lightly smiled at the phone along with Yuuji.
"Yes..."

Nanami hung up and put his phone away.

"Either way, their deaths weight heavy on us..." Yuuji glanced at me, seeing as I actually finished my ex-human, it weighted even more on me.
"Even so... This hobby is just too terrible."

The anger flowing out of him made me look up with a glare, the same level of rage flooding my system.
"We'll make them pay."
I grumbled, still trying to process the fact that I had basically killed a human. Or something that once was a human.

"The remnants themselves were a bluff...we must have been enticed." Nanami said, ignoring our outbursts.
"This person is skilled. It doesn't look like we'll finish this casually. Let's go all out."

Yuuji jumped up. "Yes!"

I smiled as I stood. I guess, this was Nanami's attempt at getting us out of our gloomy state.
He's a good man, he's just bad at showing it.

—

"We've obtained reports of remannats with the help of a 'window'. They seem to be linked to recent cases of missing people and unnatural deaths around the area. With this, we can narrow down the location of the culprit's hideout."
Nanami explained as he showed the rough area on a map.
Ijichi stood by idly to the side.

"Alright! We'll just step right in there, right?!" Yuuji shouted, full of determination but by the look on Nanami's face I knew that wasn't the case.

"I'm sure we aren't allowed to come with." I hummed and Nanami nodded.

"That's right, L/n-kun. There's still some uncertainty. I will continue my investigation, so..." the man sighed and looked at the two of us.
"I will give you two a different job, Itadori-kun, L/n-kun."

"Figured." I sighed and leaned back, ready to hear whatever he had to say.

"The boy who was in the movie theater... Yoshino Junpei. It seems he's classmates with the victims. They attend the same school. The surveillance cameras were only in the passageway you see on the screen, but..." Nanami fiddled with his glasses.
"From his appearance, I thought it was unlikely he'd be a curse specialist. However, since he's related to the victims, it's a different story."