The Priestesses' Voice | a Jujutsu Kaisen fanfiction

23

The Mountains, Tokyo, 2018

Noriko hummed lightly, rocking on the balls of her feet as she glanced around the forest. The trees were tall; thinner at the bottom of their trunks but flourishing into a canopy of leaves above. Not as much cover as she'd liked, she noted, she could've done with some more ground-level foliage. But at least, she'd switched out her brightly coloured hoodie for a black one with cute heart designs on the front, which should've helped to make her less visible... maybe.

Panda glanced over to her, her movements catching his attention out of his peripherals, and he placed a large paw on her shoulder to still her. To say the team had taken a little hit when they learned about the assassination plot would've been an understatement - Fushiguro, especially, was uncharacteristically angry. But, Noriko seemed fine... and she'd reassured them it would be. Perhaps a little too confidently, he mused, but... she had done the most research. 

"We're starting in one minute." Gojo Satoru's voice rang out from the speakers overhead and the group shifted slightly to look up towards them. Maki grimaced, bracing herself for the mess that would be the event. "Now, let's hear a few words of well-appreciated encouragement from Iori Utahime-sensei."

"Huh?" Noriko assumed the soft, feminine voice belonged to Utahime - she'd only ever heard her speak a few words. It seemed Gojo was still causing chaos wherever he went as the staff member began to stutter. "Uh, some degree of injury will be unavoidable, but... um... now and then, help each other out... or something."

"Time's up."

"Wait-"

"Now, let the sister school exchange event... begin."

At his yell, the Tokyo students shot from their stilled positions into a run. Fushiguro and Maki lead the front while Noriko began to distance herself as she veered off to the side. Pushing herself faster, she soon overtook Fushiguro - who sent her a brief nod - and she leapt over a few rocks. Maybe she should try out for track teams when this was over, she wondered as she dodged the trees in her path. Logically, the Curse should've been released somewhere at the exact halfway point between the schools, but it must've been mobile, so, reasonably, could've been anywhere within a three mile radius.

Reaching down her hand, she unclipped a new pouch on her holster. It turned out that sewing wasn't too hard if you were already skilled with delicate things such as calligraphy and drawing. Her holster still held her brush, however, there was now two cylinders of ink (instead of just one) and a few pouches. The one she reached into held pages of paper tightly rolled into thin tubes and tied with various ribbons or plaited cords.

Noriko supposed with her technique, she'd already received a huge advantage. She could ready her moves before she even stepped foot in the forest.

Cautiously, her dark-eyes lifted to the foliage above her as the birds in the canopy above took flight in a shrieking envoy and the ground shook beneath her feet.

'Todo must have got to them', she hummed lightly, 'good'. 

If the focus was on their fight, she had much more freedom, since it was more likely that the faculty would be observing that - rather than her.

Noriko snapped the pouch on her holster closed as she slowed to a light jog and began to channel her energy. She tossed the scroll ahead of her and watched as it began to crackle - the red rope around it singeing and shrivelling as her energy poured through it. The paper followed suite, crumpling into a point before black ink began to splatter out from the pinnacle. Before it hit the ground, the washes of ink began to meld into tiny, pale spheres and hundreds - if not thousands - of tiny, white mice began to form.