BOUND; jujutsu kaisen

Chapter Three

CHAPTER THREE . . .
. . . THE GHOST OF THE ZEN'IN !

The January breeze was relentless, the forest trees chiming with every push and pull, the crackle of bark sounding. Air scraped against her face, forcing her to inhale the lashing wind into her fiery lungs. Miran heaved and sniffled, her body shivering and sweating.

Toji was fast, inhumanly so.

She relaxed her knees, scanning the surrounding area for just a measly glimpse of his shadow. Presence. Figure. Anything really. When he proposed teaching her to defend herself, the girl thought more about weaponry, like a small pocketknife.

Maybe even pepper spray.

Not this.

The Jujutsu world was an underground society, kept from the world because it would lead to the end if acknowledged. People don't do well with knowledge that can't be understood by the naked eye. Mankind may want to create more, mankind may want to use them (power and control, the bellowed)— they can't. Curses can't be controlled, they're their own beings, not soldiers to brainwash.

They are similar to humans in a sense, they act on their pleasures, on a driven goal, their cynical grins taking (and taking) until there's nothing left to take.

Humans are curses.

Curses are humans.

Hand in hand.

That's what he taught her.

Toji was a rare case in their society, he could sense them and fight them, but he couldn't see them or use any "power-ups." He explained the grounding of something called curse techniques, its uniqueness given to a person's bloodline and familial connections.

"Think of it like genes, some people have parents with brown hair, yet they have blonde– then there's the exact opposite. It's the same with curse energy," he spins the katana, "It can be a rarity for a child to have zero curse energy, not impossible though. We all have curse energy, however, there are a few in the population who are aware of it. Even rarer for them to be capable of using it."

Miran rocked her legs back and forth on the kitchen chair, her mind drawing to an easy connection, "Moon Prism Power, Make up!" Her eyes became starry-eyed at the thought, bouncing on her heels in excitement.

He grimaced.

Miran focused on her footing, the soil digging into her boots, eyes scanning the space around her. "Straighten your stance," Toji ordered, and she sharply turned.

No one was there.

She whined, "Can we go eat, please?"

"You give up already?" There was amusement hidden in the neutrality of his voice.

"No! I'm just hungry."

"Uh huh."

Miran pouted the moment he reappeared in front of her, "I can do it." He sighed, leaning against a tree trunk, "You can," he reached for something in his pocket, "Here. We haven't tried this way." In his hand was a long black cloth. "Let's try suppressing your eyes."

"My eyes?"

"Mm," Toji motioned her to turn, ignoring the gape of her expression. The girl complied, huffing as the cloth blocked her vision, "How am I supposed to find you if I can't see you?"

"You don't need your eyes to see me. The second I tap you on the shoulder, you lose."

Miran didn't say anything else. The second Toji tied the knot, he vanished, she felt it though the gush of air. Subconsciously, her hands stretched out, the fear of slamming into anything at the back of her head. Yet, there was this quietness in the absence of vision, a blank canvas...