The Priestesses' Voice | a Jujutsu Kaisen fanfiction

19

Tokyo Metropolitan Curse Technical College, Tokyo, 2018

"I won't forgive you, Yuta Okkotsu," Nobara roared, rolling a magazine into a make-shift megaphone. Noriko raised an eyebrow to Maki, who merely shrugged.

"That's misdirected anger." Panda sighed, rubbing the back of his neck with a paw as the group of sorcerers observed their classmate's meltdown. Noriko had recalled telling Nobara at one point that it would be held at Tokyo, but now she realised that the brunette probably wasn't listening to her. Sighing, the first-year stuffed her hands into her hoodie pocket, wrinkling her nose at the outburst before glancing around the clearing. It was just them so far - and it had been for the last ten or so minutes.

"Salmon." Toge Inumaki agreed quietly.

"You don't suppose they backed-" Noriko was cut off by Maki, who nudged her to look at the set of stairs across from them, leading up to the clearing. Noriko assumed they were near a shrine? There was a whole torii* gate at the entrance of some more steps and there were a couple statues dotting the expanse. Some Shinto, some Taoist.

"Hey, they're here." Maki Zenin sighed and the groups attention followed her gesture. The Kyoto students arrived lazily up the hill - all now donned in their regular uniform (which made Noriko wince slightly as she realised she was the only one not in the official attire). 'Not that it matters,' she smirked to herself, 'the flashier I am, the easier it'll be'. The gold bangles around her wrist clinked together as she rubbed the back of her neck and pulled her lips into a smug grin. 'Intimidate them', that was all Gojo had said to her before he disappeared a few weeks ago. She figured it must have been something to do with what he said before about her beating Mai Zenin being beneficial for him?

Maki tensed next to her as Mai Zenin lead the group forward to them. Nobara and Fushiguro, however, were practically relaxed in her presence - they'd come a long way in the month or so they'd had to prepare. Especially Nobara.

"Oh, look. It's everyone from Tokyo together." Mai Zenin purred, her painted lips growing into a snarl as she stared down her nose at them. "You went out of your way to greet us? That's -"

Her dark eyes met Noriko's darker ones and her sentence trailed off. The Tokyo student's grin grew and she gave the group a once over. Aoi Todo, Mai Zenin, Kasumi Miwa, Momo Nishimiya, Chitose Saito, Ultimate Mechamaru... and Noritoshi Kamo. After hours of pouring over student records, she was confident she knew her opponents as well as her allies.

Maki eyed Noriko as she sent the Kamo heir a deliberate smirk. After spending significant time with the girl, Maki had begun to tell when she was acting and when she wasn't (something only Fushiguro had been able to do previously), and she could practically feel her discomfort despite her smug face. 

"Isn't having three first-years a disadvantage?" The machine, willed by Kokichi Muta, spoke, it's dark face creaking as it did so. Nobara couldn't help but pull a face of disgust, shooting her classmates a questioning glance, only to find Fushiguro the only one really paying attention to their taunts - but he was blank as usual.

'Ahhh... that smug bastard,' Noriko mused to herself, keeping her eyes trained on the Kamo heir. 'I'm not even half as scared of you as I was back then.'

"Ah? A disadvantage?" The first-year barked out a sharp laugh, startling her classmates as she stepped forward - pushing herself to be bolder, flashier, more confrontational. She'd never normally oblige someone's request with no real information, but Gojo wasn't exactly the strongest sorcerer alive for nothing, and she supposed she'd make up for snooping around in his business. The blonde in the front, Momo Nishimiya, stepped back warily and Mai visibly tensed. "That's cute and all, but I've already proven that Mai Zenin is useless and Kasumi Miwa verbally asserts that herself. If your second years are anything to go by, I think us first years will be just fine."