(Pov Satoshi)
Later that night, we had been enjoying the meal that Yoshino Nagi had offered. I took the opportunity to find the finger that had been hidden within the house. It took much longer than I had anticipated to find the thing long enough that Nagi had passed out on the table after we finished eating. It was like the thing just appeared, not long after that, having shown up under the kitchen table. I picked the thing up and noticed right away that it was bare, unlike most of them. This one had most likely been left here intentionally, and knowing who was here in town, I couldn't help but think Mahito had done this to drive Junpei to despair.
Given the lack of talismans on the thing, this finger was undoubtedly drawing in curses every second it was exposed, so I quickly placed it within a protected case. They were made with the specific idea of being a temporary container, usually until the finger could be properly wrapped and placed in a protected environment, though in this case, it would be until I met back up with Yuji. After stowing the finger away, I began scouting the environment for evidence of any approaching curses I couldn't just leave or else Nagi and Junpei would likely still be in danger if whatever had been coming for the finger showed up anyway.
I climbed onto the roof of their house and began looking around, though it didn't take me long to notice a shape moving its way towards the house through the shadows. Looking closer, it was an ugly thing with a multitude of arms coming out of the place its legs should be, a series of round bulbs around the torso, and an elongated face with too many eyes. Curses were almost always ugly-looking, but sometimes you see one that's somehow worse than the others, and this one took the top spot. I jumped down in front of the thing ctching its attention right away, though a few of its eyes darted to where I had stashed the box, likely still able to sense the residual cursed energy.
The curse didn't wait long, lunging forward as its arms spread out trying to grab me, but I jumped forward, intercepting the curse and landing a kick to its face, knocking it back. I drew out the Fearless Glaive and used the blade to slice the curse, cutting off some of the arms. As it drew back, I ran forward, piercing through the thing's brain or where its brain should be, causing the curse to go slack before dissolving. As it faded away, I climbed back onto the house to once again survey the surroundings, but I didn't see any more cursed spirits.
Now the question was how to draw out Mahito, as originally he had come out after Nagi was killed and influenced Junpei to attack an old bully of his, and both Mahito and Kenjaku used the attack to draw out Yuji. Now there was a more direct risk to the life of Nagi as Mahito may kill her himself, so my new plan was a little risky, but it would have to work. It was time for full disclosure.
I entered the home once more to see that Nagi had finally woken up. "Oh, Satoshi, you're still here. Did Yuji leave?" She asked, her voice tired and still groggy from the earlier drinking.
"Yeah, Yuji met back up with some of my coworkers, but there's something we need to discuss first, and it involves your son as well," I said, doing my best to relay how serious the situation was. She seemed startled at the change in attitude for a moment before she left, and not long after, came back with Junpei following her.
"What I have to tell you may seem crazy, but I promise it's the truth." I began as they both sat down. "The school I work for trains people to use cursed energy to exorcise cursed spirits and keep the population safe."
I went into as quick an explanation on cursed energy as I could to explain what was happening around them. Junpei, who had been shocked at first, soon fell into silent agreement, having already learned some of this information from his earlier talks with Mahito.
Once I had finished, Nagi looked less skeptical than I had expected. "So you're saying that my son has magic?" She asked after a moment.
"Not exactly magic, he has cursed energy and most likely a cursed technique, which is why I wished for him to attend the school so he could be trained in how to use them properly," I said. "I also have reason to believe that you both may be in danger."
That shocked both of them, with Nagi speaking first. "What do you mean? Why are we in danger?!"
I pulled out a drawing that I had made from memory and Nanami's description showing it to them. "Do you recognize this face?" I asked, directing the question at Junpei.
"Yeah, that's Mahito. He helped me out." He answered.
"This is the face of a cursed spirit who has been responsible for several murders recently, and I believe he left behind an object with the intention of drawing a curse to your house. I managed to find it first, though." I said. "He may now take direct action against you two."
"What, no, he wouldn't. Mahito isn't like that. Sure, he hurt those guys in the theatre, but they deserved it!" Junpei jumped in defending who he thought was someone who wanted to help him.
"He is, Junpei, because he's a curse; he has no care for the lives of humans around him. All he cares about is causing pain for others." As I said this, I suddenly felt a presence approaching with footsteps approaching the house's door. I pulled out the inventory curse before turning back to Nagi and handing her my phone. "Open my contacts and call the one labeled Nanami, tell him I found the curse, and I'm going to bring it to the school, and call Ijichi, tell him to pick you up," I said before the door exploded inward, shards of wood blasting past me.
"Well, well, I must say you're as impressive as he said I didn't think anyone could have found that finger." The figure said as it entered the house, revealing the form of Mahito. His foot had been expanded to smash the door, and it rapidly shrank back to a normal size. "I've heard so much about you, especially after what you did to Jogo. I was hoping to find the vessel as well, but you'll have to do."
"You're Mahito, I take it?" I asked, drawing out the Soul Split Katana.
"Oh wow, I must be famous, did that suit guy tell you about me?" Mahito said, though when he noticed the sword, he stopped.
"You recognize this blade, don't you? You control the soul; this blade cuts the soul. Let's see how you fight without your one advantage." I said before charging forward brining the blade toward his neck. As the weapon approached him, though his head suddenly shrank into his body, causing the strike to miss. He brought his hand up to try to grab me, but I kicked him as hard as I could, flinging his body out of the hallway. I chased him out, only to find he was already up and running away, having grown multiple legs to move faster.
"You bastard, don't run from me!" I shouted and began chasing him, and while doing so, I pulled out a weapon that had been created by Mai. It was a simple revolver similar to what she would have used in another time, but now it had been made entirely of cursed energy, and so had all of its bullets. It wouldn't be effective given Mahito's soul protection, but it would still hurt, hopefully.
As he ran, I took a few shots at him, though it was impossible to tell if they landed, but it made me feel better anyway. He was moving erratically to get a clear hit off on him, so I decided to boost my speed to try to get closer. I pressed my legs down and jumped forward, rocketing next to Mahito before bringing the katana back up toward his body this time. Though once again I'm forced to dodge as he reaches for me again, but the cut doesn't miss completely, striking a cut across his side, and though it wasn't deep, it did stay in place.
The victory was short-lived, though, as suddenly he grew wings where his arms should be and leapt into the sky and began to fly away. I couldn't afford to let him escape, so I took a risk and turned the sword in my hand into a sort of reverse grip before hurling it like a spear right at his form. The sword struck his left wing, piercing through, causing him to fall from the sky and behind a building I hadn't noticed until now. I had made it to the school, which had been abandoned this late at night. I had been trying to get here due to the lack of civilians nearby. I ran through the main gate and began searching for where Mahito had landed, but all I found was a smashed wall that he likely hit on his descent.
The hairs on the back of my neck stood up, and I dropped down just in time to avoid the Soul Split Katana from slicing me. Looking back, Mahito had gotten up, though the wounds on his side and through his arm persisted, but now he was wielding the katana himself.
"You know we curses don't tend to use weapons like this, but I can see the appeal." He said before attacking again, forcing me to dodge repeatedly, leaving me no time to draw a new weapon. I backed up, but his arms just stretched out to keep swinging at me, but he had overextended. I ducked between his arms and wrapped them around each other like a big bow, then I used it like a sling to spin him around before throwing him into a more open space.
"The strongest weapon won't help if you don't know how to use it," I said, drawing out the Playful Cloud as Mahito unwrapped his arms, but then he took the sword and threw it behind him, then he reached his hand into his mouth before pulling out a handful of small pill-like objects. He dropped these objects, and they quickly expanded into large, distended bodies and began shambling at me. I brought up Playful Cloud using its force to smash through their bodies, killing them easily when I felt something land on my stomach.
"Got you." Mahito said before laughing, but as he stood there, nothing happened. "Huh?" He said, and I could almost see the question mark above his head, but he didn't have long to think about it as I brought Playful Cloud directly to his face laucnhing him across the open yard and into the school itself. This wasn't enough, though, as despite the power of Playful Cloud, it can't target the soul, so any damage it does is only temporary, something he proved as he got back up rather quickly, though he looked almost excited now.
"Tell me, how did you avoid my technique? I know I touched you, but your soul didn't budge." He said his voice was almost manic.
"Wouldn't you like to know," I said before preparing once more, but before we could meet, I heard a new voice to the side.
"Hey, Gojo-Sensei!" I looked over and saw that both Yuji and Nanami had arrived that would make this easier at least. Mahito noticed them as well and decided they would be an easier target, running over to attack them, targeting Yuji, who had the least experience so far. He didn't make it, though, as both Nanami and I intercepted him, landing dual strikes, knocking him down.
"Come on, we all need to attack him, don't give him a chance to get up," I say, looking towards the others, before they nod. With that, all three of us begin our attack. Without the Soul Split Katana, my soul attacks are basically ineffective, as I can't target the soul with other cursed tools. However, Yuji can target the soul. If I can make a break and grab the sword again, we can end this fight.
The fight is brutal as Nanami Yuji and I all attack Mahito in turn. The moment one of us finishes an attack, one of the others jumps in with their own. With such an onslaught of attacks, Mahito was unable to fight back at all. He was being pushed back with every attack and the wounds from my sword earlier, and now Yuji's soul punches were piling up. This wasn't something I had much experience with before, as most of my fights had been solo, but now I could understand why the idea of jumping was so popular. This was fun.
The fun couldn't last, though, as suddenly Mahito's head fell back and small hands began to form within his mouth.
"Domain Expansion: Self-Embodiment of Perfection!"
A series of large hands erupted from Mahito's body, surrounding all three of us as the barrier fully closed, though it didn't last long, as suddenly the barrier shattered, and Mahito's left arm came off. Without the earlier moment of both Mahito and Sukuna laughing at Yuji's misery, there was no allowance for soul touching, so when the domain caught Yuji, Sukuna took exception. With his body damaged and a burnt-out technique, Mahito collapsed to his knees, unable to gather the strength to run anymore, but I couldn't delay running over to where the katana had landed. I picked it up and used all of my speed to rush back to where Mahito knelt brining down the sword and cutting him in half, his body dissolving into nothingness.
"Is that it? We got him?" Yuji asked, somewhat out of breath after the battle.
"Yeah, we got him a good job, kid," I said, ruffling Yuji's hair before turning to Nanami. "Can you call Kiyotaka make sure he found the Yoshinos'?"
"Sure thing, they sounded mostly fine when I got their call, though." He responded before taking out his own phone and making the call.
"Gojo-Sensei, what happens now?" Yuji asked.
"Well, now that the curse is gone, you'll be going back to Jujutsu High and officially coming back to life," I said. "Also, it's likely that Junpei will be joining you and the other first years soon." Yuji looked excited at that before he walked off to join Nanami and wait for our pick up.
This mission had gone about as well as it could have for us. We had exorcised the curse and now had a recruit for the school. In more personal terms, things were even better, as without Mahito Kenjaku's plans for beginning the Culling Games would be made much more difficult, and the attack on Shibuya wouldn't be as devastating without a curse as dangerous as Mahito would become. I had also managed to save both members of the Yoshino family and prevented Yuji from watching his friend die in front of his eyes.
Things were good, the question was what would happen now?