Honestly, Kugisaki Nobara should have known better than to trust these two idiots to do anything on their own. She had only turned away from Megumi and Itadori for a moment to look at some fashion magazines when she heard a scream a few aisles away. It sounded like a child's scream and at first, Nobara assumed that the parents would be in to reel the child's tantrum in soon enough.
But then the shelves were folding in like dominos.
Nobara shuffled out of the way with ease and then noticed one particular shelf looking like it was about to topple on top of a frightened store clerk. Why do non-sorcerers have zero self-preservation skills? Nobara groaned internally and jumped to the rescue, easily pushing the teenage girl out of harm's way. Glass shattered behind her and the sickening sweet smell of wine and sake filled the air. Nobara looked forlornly at her abandoned bag of new clothes, all now ruined by the debris. Someone in the distance yelled for the police to be called.
"Where the hell are you two idiots?!" Nobara called out as the dust began to settle.
"Are we being attacked?" The woman squeaked, pulling her knees up to her chest. Nobara rolled her eyes and ignored her. Why the hell would anyone want to attack a grocery store? Not even a curse would choose a place as boring as this one.
There wasn't a reply from the two first year boys and Nobara decided that if the crashing didn't kill them, she definitely would. Abandoning the store clerk, Nobara began to pick her way through the debris, mentally noting that those two idiots would also need to buy her new shoes as these were now totally ruined. She began running down the ruined aisles, glancing in each one until she finally saw Megumi and Itadori standing awkwardly amongst scattered peanuts and pickles. She felt her face burn red with anger.
"Do you two have any explanation for this?!" She shouted, storming up to the both of them. Itadori scrambled back, holding his hands out defensively.
"I-it wasn't my fault this time! I swear!" He stammered. Both Megumi and Nobara gave him a look.
"You really need to make sure that you have Sukuna under control," Megumi said. If he was already struggling, maybe they would have to hand this mission to someone else. They couldn't risk such a populated area getting devastated by Sukuna's wrath.
"I have it under control, guys. He's just really talkative today for some reason." Itadori said, looking down at the palm of his hand.
"Did you see where that woman left?" Megumi asked, changing the subject. He never liked to dwell on the subject of the King of Curses for very long. It brought back too many terrible memories and reminded him of what was to become of his friend.
"What woman?" Nobara asked, looking around.
"She took the kid and ran," Itadori said, stretching his arms over his head with a sigh. That had been one heavy hit, almost knocking the wind out of him.
"Well, we need to get out of here. All of these people have seen our faces and the police will be here any minute," Megumi said, dismissing his divine dog.
"But my–" Nobara began, Megumi held up a hand to stop her from arguing. The nerve of this guy! Why the hell does he think that he's the damn leader of this
"I'll be back later tonight to erase the footage. I'll make sure to pick up the bags on my way out tonight," Megumi said, waving for them to follow him. Nobara grumbled, mostly to herself, and they all ran out the front door, past all of the dirty shocked faces of the store clerks.
~~
"I almost forgot how depressing this place was," Kugisaki whined as the door to their hotel room squealed open on rusted hinges. For some reason her brain had been expecting the room to magically transform into a beautiful king-sized suite while they were away. If anything, the room looked even more depressing now that the Sun had gone down.
