8 The Roppongi Test {1}

A gust of wind whipped through the empty side street, carrying a floral scent with it. A girl with fiery orange hair planted herself before us, her arms crossed tightly over her chest. Her gaze swept back and forth between the boys, landing on me with an appraising look.

"Nobara Kugisaki. You should be honored," she announced.

The intensity in her voice made me smirk. She wasn't shy, that was for sure.

As her gaze fell on Sumiko, a hint of warmth flickered in her eyes. She gave a half-wave, a trace of a smile on her lips.

I coughed into my fist, masking my amusement. "Nice to meet you, I'm Kaito Murakami." Itadori stepped forward next to me.

"I'm Yuji Itadori, from Sendai!"

Fushiguro chose his typical path of minimalist communication. "Fushiguro," he grumbled, barely moving his head.

Sumiko returned the smile, "And I'm Izumi Sumiko. I hope we can all get along."

An exasperated sigh escaped Nobara's lips. "This is what I get to work with? Great. Just my luck." She shot me a sidelong glance, "Although…" she muttered, "...it might not be so bad." Her eyes drifted back to Sumiko with a genuine smile. "I hope we can be friends too, Sumiko."

Itadori blinked, the gears in his brain turning. "Hey, uh… she took one look at us and sighed. That can't be good."

I shrugged. "Maybe she's just tired from the trip here."

"Are we going somewhere or what?" Fushiguro interjected, addressing Gojo with an impatient frown.

"I finally gathered my five students, and on top of that, almost all of them are from the countryside," Gojo chuckled. "So of course, we'd go… sightseeing in Tokyo!"

Itadori and Nobara's eyes lit up almost in unison, a matching sparkle of excitement in their gazes. "Tokyo! Tokyo! Tokyo!" they chanted, "We love Tokyo!"

Their enthusiasm was infectious, and I found myself grinning. I turned towards Sumiko. "So, where would you like to go sightseeing?"

A thoughtful smile crossed her face. "Hmm. Maybe a botanical garden? Or a karaoke bar, if any of you would be up for that." Then she looked at me expectantly. "What about you?"

"Shinjuku, definitely," I said. I could practically taste the sizzling skewers and yakitori already.

A snort escaped me as I overheard Nobara's loud declaration. "I WANT TO GO TO DISNEYLAND! DISNEYLAND!"

Itadori's exasperated tone cut through the noise. "Idiot, Disneyland is in Chiba! Let's go to Chinatown, sensei!"

"Chinatown is in Yokohama, you know!" Nobara retorted.

"Yokohama is in Tokyo! How do you not know that? Look at a map!" Itadori fired back.

Sumiko tilted her head. "Should… should we do something about that?"

I shrugged, leaning against a wall as the argument escalated. "Nah, they'll be alright. Best way to learn geography, right?"

Sumiko giggled softly. "I suppose you're right."

Suddenly, Gojo's voice cut through the bickering. "If you quiet down, I'll announce our destination!"

The effect was instantaneous. Nobara and Itadori practically snapped to attention, instinctively dropping to one knee like scolded children. With a warm smile, Gojo addressed the group.

"We're going to Roppongi."

Itadori and Nobara whipped their heads towards each other and in perfect unison, they exclaimed, "Roppongi!?"

"What's in Roppongi?" I asked.

Gojo smirked. "You'll see."

Thirty minutes of weaving through Tokyo's bustling streets later, we arrived at our destination. But it wasn't quite the neon wonderland I'd been envisioning. An abandoned building loomed before us, its crumbling facade shrouded in an unnatural stillness, casting a somber shadow over the vibrant cityscape..

"Why are we at an abandoned building?" Sumiko's voice echoed my own confusion.

"Yeah," I chimed in, "what happened to sightseeing?" I caught Gojo's smile out of the corner of my eye. Something about it made me uneasy.

Fushiguro broke his usual silence. "Ah, I know what's going on. There are curses here." A smirk flickered on his lips – a sight I never expected to see.

His words hit me like a cold splash of water. Of course. It was too good to be true. No karaoke, no ramen, no sightseeing. Just a pile of potential demonic entities to deal with. Well, this might not be what I expected from a Tokyo trip, but it was the perfect chance to test out my powers in a real scenario, to see how Phantom Threads would react against a true curse. Maybe this wasn't so bad after all.

Itadori gasped, pointing an accusing finger at Gojo. "You liar!"

"Sensei, it's a cruel move to toy with country folk!" Nobara added, looking disdainfully at gojo.

Feigning ignorance, Gojo replied innocently, "What? This is sightseeing!" He continued, "there's a big cemetery nearby. That, plus an abandoned building, practically guarantees a curse outbreak."

"So they pop up more around graves?" Itadori asked.

"It's not the cemetery itself," Fushiguro explained, "it's the fact people associate cemeteries with fear and uneasiness. Those negative emotions act like fuel for curses."

I think I get it. "So it's the same for schools, right?" I asked. "All those stories and rumors about ghosts and spirits lurking in classrooms..."

Nobara cut me off with a grimace. "Hold up, you guys don't even know that yet?"

Fushiguro deadpanned, "To be honest..." He gestured towards Itadori. "...he swallowed a special grade cursed object," then pointed at me, "...and at the same time, he used cursed energy for the first time with what seems like an almost infinite supply."

"Gross! That's so unsanitary and disgusting!" Nobara exclaimed, wrinkling her nose.

Sumiko's brow furrowed. "Wait, so you're both new to this world of curses?"

Itadori and I exchanged glances before offering simultaneous nods. I couldn't help but feel a little self-conscious under the weight of their stares, especially knowing I was harboring powers I didn't fully understand.

Gojo's voice cut through the tension. "I want to see what the four of you are capable of. That's why we're doing this field test." He turned to Fushiguro. "Megumi, you sit this one out. You're still recovering."

A disapproving growl rumbled in Fushiguro's throat, but he begrudgingly complied, taking a seat on a nearby bench.

Itadori's brow furrowed. "Wait, sensei. I can't really use cursed energy yet, so how am I going to exorcise them?"

"Well, you're pretty much a half-curse already, so you have some cursed energy flowing inside you," Gojo explained with a chuckle. "But I figured you couldn't master it in a day, so I came prepared."

With a flourish, Gojo produced a crude-looking machete wrapped in dingy cloth. Itadori stared at it in awe, a single "Woah..." escaping his lips.

"It's called 'Slaughter Demon,'" Gojo elaborated. "A weapon imbued with cursed energy, perfect for slicing through pesky spirits."

Itadori offered a grateful bow. "Thanks so much, sensei." He took the machete, unsheathing it and giving an experimental swing.

Hm, should I withdraw my own katana from my inventory? But that would raise too many questions, and I wasn't sure I could explain it away. I barely knew my new teammates. While Gojo seemed harmlessly eccentric, and Itadori struck me as more impulsive than manipulative, I still didn't trust them enough to reveal something so potentially dangerous. Not yet.

If the higher-ups were willing to order Itadori's execution, there was no telling how they'd react to me. Would they try to kill me, or worse, attempt to control the power I barely understood? With so many unknowns, I decided it was too risky. I wasn't yet powerful enough to defend myself if things went south.

With a subtle shift of my focus, I willed my cursed energy towards my right hand. A swirling pink and red hue crept over my skin, and I nodded to myself, satisfied. A chorus of gasps met my ears, and I glanced up to see Itadori, Nobara, and Sumiko staring wide-eyed at my hand. Everyone, except Gojo of course, who just wore his usual half-smile.

"Well, then," I said, "what are we waiting for? Let's get this show on the road."

As we approached the dilapidated building's entrance, Gojo held up a hand. "Oh, one more thing, Yuji," he said. "Remember to suppress Sukuna. If he pops out, any curse nearby will be vaporized, and the ruckus could pull innocent bystanders into danger."

Itadori spun around, his usual goofy grin slipping slightly. He flashed a thumbs-up, but a flicker of hesitation crossed his eyes."You got it, Sensei! I won't let him out!"

"Hey! Hurry up!" Nobara's impatience echoed through the abandoned street.

"Alright, alright, jeez!" Itadori replied, jogging forward.

Gojo gave a casual wave. "Have fun in there!" he called as we stepped across the threshold.

The air inside was cold and damp, a musty scent clinging to every peeling surface. I closed my eyes and counted to three. It was time to put this new power of mine to the test.

"Let's split up," Sumiko proposed. "We can each take a floor and clear all the curses faster."

I nodded. "Divide and conquer, good strategy."

"I'll take the top floor!" Nobara declared.

"Third floor for me," I said.

"Second it is," Sumiko chirped.

"Guess that leaves me with the first," Itadori said.

"Alright, let's finish this so Gojo-sensei can treat us to some sushi!" Nobara added.

"Hey, let's be a little more serious about this. Curses are dangerous, you know?" Itadori chided, his voice uncharacteristically stern.

Nobara scoffed. "I don't want to hear that from someone who was a normie just a week ago. Just finish this quickly so we can eat."

An exasperated sigh escaped me as I started walking towards the third floor.

"You're an out-of-control roller coaster of emotions!" Itadori yelled after her.

"This is why girls don't like you!" Nobara shot back, her voice already fading as she ascended the stairs.

"How do you know they don't like me, huh?" Itadori's retort echoed through the stairwell.

"You guys can flirt afterwards, let's get this done please!" I yelled, trying to restore some semblance of focus. I wasn't sure if they even heard me.

The third floor was a maze of crumbling hallways and decaying rooms. The silence felt unnatural, a heavy tension clinging to the air. My footsteps echoed eerily in the stillness. Eyes darting, I scanned each doorway, each shadowy corner. Where were they? My senses were on high alert, straining to find my targets.

Suddenly, a flicker of movement in the far corner of the hallway. A grotesque shape, hunched and twisted, emerged from the gloom. This must be my first target.

Mentally, I called upon my power and my hand slashed upwards in a swift arc, barely a conscious motion. The curse – big and spider like in nature, screeched, a sound that made my teeth ache. It stumbled back, five diagonal gashes appearing across its form.

But it wasn't dead. The wounds seeped a deep purple, but they were shallow, not the lethal strike I'd hoped for. Damn it. So much for an easy victory.

The spider-curse screeched again, gathering itself for another attack. My eyes flicked to my hands. Thin black lines, like cracks on fragile porcelain, pulsed faintly from my fingertips, disappearing into the swirling energy around my palms. I blinked, confused. What the hell was this? An aftereffect?

The creature didn't give me time to think. It charged and my Instincts took over. I dove to the side, barely evading its lunge. In the same motion, I channeled a surge of cursed energy into my right hand.

My next slash was different, way more powerful. The curse shrieked, a terrible sound cut short as it disintegrated before my eyes. The impact of my strike echoed through the room; five deep gashes scored the wall behind it.

Something flickered where the curse used to be. +50 XP.

Then, a voice, mechanical and detached, reverberated through my mind: [Congratulations Host, for leveling up to level 2!

Rewards: Ten Attribute Points]

My gaze fell to the swirling black energy within my palm. A shaky laugh bubbled up in my chest. That battle was dangerous... but damn, did it feel badass.

"Now, who's next?"

Meanwhile, Outside the building:

"So what's the real reason you didn't let me participate?" Fushiguro asked, barely suppressing a note of irritation in his voice.

Gojo decided to ask a question of his own. "Itadori and Murakami… they're a little crazy, right?"

Fushiguro couldn't help but let out a scoff and crossed his arms. "Yeah. One of them willingly ate some cursed object, the other used cursed energy like it was nothing... their first day."

"Right. But that's not quite what I meant." Gojo paused, the playful glint in his eyes replaced by a more contemplative look. "Curses don't hesitate, you know. They act with a raw brutality. Most humans never learn that – fear gets in the way. But those two.. they didn't hesitate." His gaze flickered towards Fushiguro. "Unlike you, they've only been in this new reality for three days and as you know, even experienced sorcerers, can't get over that hurdle."

Fushiguro lowered his eyes, unable to disguise the flicker of discomfort that crossed his face.

Sensing the shift in Fushiguro's demeanor, Gojo continued, his voice a touch more serious, "So, I want to see if the others have that kind of… recklessness in them. The kind that throws caution to the wind, just enough to survive another minute. Might be the only thing that will keep them alive in this profession."