The Priestesses' Voice | a Jujutsu Kaisen fanfiction

16

Tokyo Metropolitan Curse Technical College, Tokyo, 2018

"Eh? W-wait... what is that?" Kugisaki Nobara breathed as she paused in shock, slightly nudging Fushiguro's shoulder as they entered the college library. It was just after their lessons had ended and they were busy searching for their classmate under the instruction of one of their teachers. "It's a... racoon?"

Fushiguro stared at the creature collecting books - his mind drawing blanks as he watched it navigate the shelves with a pile of books rested neatly in it's tiny hands - paws? Noriko had been missing from almost all their lessons the last week or so and they didn't even catch a glimpse of her at meal times in the cafeteria. Nobara hadn't built up the confidence to knock on her classmate's door for meals, and Fushiguro had been just as passive in that realm as he normally had been. She had piles of homework to complete and Gojo had suggested she could've been in the library when he saw they were struggling.

The creature was thick-furred and a tan colour with raccoon-like markings on it's face... yet it stood to barely five feet in height on it's two back legs. It donned black priest robes, a yellow embroidered apron and from it's lower back sprouted a fluffy tail.

"It... uh... could be one of Noriko's... things?" Fushiguro suggested, venturing further into the library. It was quiet and he could hear the soft rustle of the raccoon creature and the crinkle of pages. Nobara followed behind him cautiously as they approached the bipedal beast. "It looks like a tanuki - and it's in priest robes - so it has to be related to Noriko, right?"

Nobara shrugged as they came to stop a few yards away from the creature.

"Um, excuse me, Mr. Tanuki?" She called, crouching down slightly to the creature's eye level as it turned it's attention away from the shelves. It's whiskers twitched in anticipation as it stared up at them expectantly. "We're looking for Noriko... Noriko Kamo."

The tanuki glanced down at the books in it's paws before turning it's gaze down one of the aisles. 

"Shukaku," a voice called from towards the back of the library - one they recognised as their classmate's - and the tanuki made a movement down the aisles. He paused briefly, noticing that they weren't following him, and waited until they finally broke themselves out of shock. Following the creature through the tall bookshelves, they stepped out into a open corner of the room. The black-haired girl was sat hunched over a stack of documents. The table she was at was covered in piles of books and loose leaf - some completely blank; others with intricate drawings detailed the smooth paper. The tanuki bustled round the mess, standing on it's tiptoes to carefully rest the tower of books on the table. "Hmm... Is that all you found on Domain Amplification?"

"Yes, Noriko-ue," the tanuki answered diligently, stepping back to stand behind Noriko as she flipped the file she was glancing through shut and turned her attention to her classmates. Fushiguro moved first, striding up to the table and taking a look at some of the titles of the books she was looking at. "Would you like me to prepare some tea?"

"You're okay, Shukaku, thanks." The aforementioned nodded, turning to leave the immediate area around them as he disappeared into the almost completely empty library. Her dark-haired classmate picked up a couple of the books, flicking through them before placing them back and glancing over to the girl. "Can I help you two?"

"You've got too many absences... and a stack of homework to do," Nobara started gingerly, moving up to flank Fushiguro as she eyed the girl slouched in the chair. Her gaze was colder than before and her long, black hair was tied up into a single pony tail. She was still breaking the dress rules: purple hoodie, white sneakers, too much jewellery - which was a relief for Nobara, who reasoned that she couldn't have changed too much after all. "Some of the teachers sent us to check on you."