** SPOILERS w/ my own twist tho. **

don't say i didn't warn u 💔

We stood outside of a large, abandoned building. Probably a former hospital by the look of it.

Cursed energy was oozing out of it even from our current distance. They said there was for sure a special grade in the area, but it definitely felt like more than one...

"Y/n-sensei!? What are we waiting for?!" Kugisaki asked. Her voice always held a tinge of frustration and annoyance.

"I don't like that there's a barrier around this warehouse," I explained. "I don't understand what they're protecting."

"Or hiding," Megumi added.

"Mm," I mumbled in agreement.

"A barrier? This close to cursed spirits? Wouldn't that mean there's probably some cursed-users?" Yuuji asked.

"Probably."

I turned to face the three of them, "Look, no matter what, I want you three to stick together if possible. If you get separated, just try to make your way back to each other. Not to me. Understand?"

"We're all getting ready to be first grades. You don't need to worry about us," Kugisaki smirked as she waved her hands dismissively.

"You're all perfectly capable," I said as I walked forward, the three trailing closely behind me. "But I'm lead on this, so follow my instructions."

They didn't say much after that. The tone in my voice probably shocking them a bit. It wasn't that I was scared of what we would find, I just knew something was off.

But I couldn't place exactly what it was. With everything that's happened with Yuuji, I was worried this was another setup to get him killed.

I knew that if he stayed with Megumi and Kugisaki, they'd have his back, but I couldn't risk him being alone. And I wasn't confident I'd be available.

My eyes widened as we walked inside the first room.

"Stop!" I yelled out and shot out a darkness barrier so that they couldn't see what I was looking at.

Yuuji pounded on the black veil, "Y/n?! Y/n! What is it!?"

With tears in my eyes I walked over to the lifeless body, crouching down before him. It was Kokichi Muta, the second year from Kyoto.

I stared at his disfigured body, warped from whatever curse he encountered that killed him. His skin was pale and ice cold.

He had definitely been dead for awhile, and based off the position of his body, someone had moved him here. They moved him here for us to find.

I shadowed him in my technique so the students wouldn't be able to see, similar to a body bag, and removed my barrier, allowing them all to rush over towards me.

"Heh? Is that just a dead body underneath there?" Kugisaki tilted her head. "We've all seen them before. Why'd you stop us?"

"It doesn't matter," I called in a shaky voice.

"Y/n..." Megumi trailed off as he stared at me tear-stained cheeks.

"We have to keep moving, but I'm coming back for this body. So if things get bad and you need to flee, leave me behind."

"We're not—" I cut off Yuuji.

"I said leave me behind," my tone much more demanding now.

"Fine," Megumi agreed. "But we're not leaving you entirely. We'll wait nearby."

I nodded, "Fair enough. Now let's go."

I tried to stay focused as we made our way through the long corridors and deserted rooms. The further in we got through this maze of a building, the stronger the cursed energy became.

I tried to stay focus on the matter at hand, but my mind kept flickering back to Muta. He must have been the Jujutsu High mole. That was the only explanation.

Which means the people who brought him here were part of Geto's little makeshift alliance, and that's probably who we would be coming in contact with shortly.

Did Satoru already know about him being the leak? If so why didn't he tell me? I'm sure he wasn't expecting me to find his body here, but now I knew. And I had absolutely no idea what to do with that information other than to keep it hidden for the time being.

"Well, well. Someone showed up after all," a raspy voice called out, and my eyes shot up to witness three people in front of us. By the looks of it, they were cursed users.

"We knew some special grades would be too much of a delight for the great jujutsu high to pass up," the other one snickered.

Fuck. They said special grades. As in more than one. I figured, but I was really hoping I was wrong.

I quickly got in an attack stance, my mind racing through all the options. There were three of them, more than I was anticipating.

It'd be an easy enough task if I were to just kill them, but since I was trying to keep that off the table, I would have to detain them. Plus, we could use the information they'd be able to give us. It'd be stupid to kill them now.

But that was about to make this so much harder. Especially since none of my students had any Jujutsu binding techniques. I'd have to do it alone.

"What next?" Megumi asked just above a whisper.

"You know, we've been waiting for you!" the one in the middle called out. He appeared to be the one in charge at this point.

"We didn't expect the precious sorcerers to take your time in addressing such an important matter," he smirked.

I couldn't believe this guy was just chatting away, giving me more time to think. Men and their fucking egos. It'll always put them at a disadvantage.

But for now, I was grateful. I had been too distracted by Muta, I wasn't even focused on anything else at all.

Which is probably one of the reasons they left his body out there.

"And they brought us two pretty girls," one of them

snickered as he licked his lips.

"Alright," Kugisaki called out, starting to step forward. "I've had enough of this."

She quickly grabbed out a few nails and her hammer, getting ready to attack.

Dammit.

"Nobara! Stand back!!!" I yelled out too late. As the words left my lips, a special grade curse burst through the wall, sending pieces of cement flying everywhere.

The creature let out a loud yell before snatching the girl. I felt it's presence, but I felt it too late. Man, I was really off my game today, and if I didn't get my shit together, someone's life could be lost.

"Why is it always her?" I mumbled as she was dragged away.

"We're on it!" Megumi yelled. "You'll be good here right sensei?!"

"Yea, exorcise that damn thing and get Nobara out of here," I ordered.

"On it!" Megumi was already off, but Yuuji hesitated as he does whenever he has to leave someone behind.

"Go!" I ordered.

"Be safe," he looked at me with worried eyes.

As he was about to leave, a mouth appeared on the side of his cheek, "Not so fast, brat. We're switching."

"Wait what!?" Yuuji yelled right before his body began to transform.

I watched in horror as 4 eyes opened up on Yuuji's face, his hands turning into claws, markings beginning to wrap around his body.

Really? Right now? Of all the times, it had to be right fucking now.

The man slicked back Yuuji's wild hair, his eyes piercing into me, "Mm, it's a pleasure to finally meet you Sato. I'm a big fan."

"Sukuna..."