Chapter 24 -Investigations

"Nakamura san, I assume you already knew what the case is since you're the one who insisted to join.." The assistant Nitta said and Sachiko nodded, "I know that they were all killed in front of their doors and four of them went to same school."

"Right. We managed to find a mutual friend of them but unfortunately, when we got to his house, there was already a funeral. So, we're back to investigate the school." Nitta filled in.

"I see."

Sachiko said nothing else as they walked into the school.

Soon, they saw two teenage boys smoking cigarette and Nobara went to lecture them.

"Let's go beat them up to reform them!"

The boys looked terrified when they saw the group and Itadori and Nobara looked proud. However, it turns out that Megumi was the one they were scared of. The two proceeded to interrogate Megumi and Sachiko finally managed to chuckle at that.

"Why are you chuckling, Nakamura?! Help me them what Fushiguro did!"

Nobara said, pointing her finger to Megumi.

"Okay, what did you do, Fushiguro? They looked terrified."

Megumi hid his face.

"That's it! I'm gonna ask these idiots!" Nobara continued as she pointed to the two boys, "Hey, idiot A, idiot B, what did Fushiguro do to you?!"

"....Actually, Fushiguro used to beat half of the delinquents around here.." One of the boys answered.

Megumi hid his face farther and stuttered, "I beat them up...."

"Why do you keep stuttering?" Nobara said, pulling Megumi's cheek while Itadori held Megumi's head in place so that he couldn't shift away from their stare.

"What did you do? Just what did you do?" Itadori asked.

"Pffft. They sure are chaotic." Sachiko said with a laugh.

"Yeah, although it's hard to believe Fushiguro had this side to him..." Junpei said.

"Who are you guys? Outsiders are not allowed to enter." They heard an old man's voice.

"Who are you then?" Nobara yelled as she pointer her finger to the old man.

"He must be a staff here. Why are you so fierce?" Itadori said with a sigh.

Nitta stepped forward to show their permission and said, "We have permission to enter the school."

"Oh, it's you guys. You all look so young. Please wear your visitor pass around your neck." The old man said, "Wait. Fushiguro?"

"Hello."

"He remembers you." Sachiko, Itadori and Nobara said at the same time.

"Has he been in this school for a long time?" Nitta asked.

"I guess so.. Takeda san is a permanent staff." Megumi replied.

"Well, then, I'll leave the rest to you, Fushiguro kun." Nitta said with a thumbs up.

'You're neglecting your work duties.' Megumi thought.

Megumi rolled his eyes.

"Kanada, Shimata, Yamato, Saito and now Morishita?" Takeda asked. "I'm surprised to hear about their passing, but I can't believe that they have graduated for almost 20 years. I still remember them as if it were just yesterday."

He continued with a smile, "They weren't on par with you, but they were also troublemakers. What do you want to know?"

Megumi asked, "Were there any strange or bad rumors. Do they mingle with bad people?"

"A troublemaker. "

"A troublemaker."

Nobara and Itadori teased Megumi.

Megumi hit Itadori's head while talking indifferently with Takeda.

"Or did they do anything that would incur bad karma?"

"Bad rumors?" Takeda seemed a bit surprised at the question , "They were troublemakers but no more than your average junior high student."

"Wait..bad karma.." Takeda looked like he remembered something.

One of the guys Fushiguro beat up spoke up, "Could it be it? Bungee jumping from Yasohachi bridge."

"Idiot A, B, you're still here ?"

Nobara raised her eyebrow.

"Yasohachi Bridge?" Itadori asked.

"A place known for suicides." Junpei replied.

"Yes. And it's a famous local spot for paranormal activities." Megumi said.

"Right. It's popular among delinquents to bungee jump from it. It's the so-called bravery test."Takeda said.

"Wow, there are people dumber than me." Itadori said.

"Wow, it's really true that there is no limit to people's stupidity. " Sachiko mumbled.

"How do they even get the ropes?" Megumi frowned.

"We won't do that. We only heard it from people of my parent's generation." One of the delinquents said.

"One day, they skipped school. It's nothing unusual but when we contacted their parents, they didn't go home the night before. It was quite a fuss back then. Later, they were found under the bridge and they claimed that they had no idea how they ended up there."

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Later, the group talked at the front gate of the school.

"I think we're in the right direction." Nitta said.

"I have been to Yasohachi bridge before." Megumi said.

"To bungee jump?" Itadori asked, only to get hit on the head by Megumi. He sobbed at the side.

"Paranormal hospots accumulate curses easily, just like schools. So people from Jujutsu High regularly patrol those places. There was nothing special back then. It was just a famous bridge that everyone uses regularly." Megumi continued.

"Do you think something fueled the incident ? I mean those who were cursed were not killed until recently, right?" Sachiko asked as she recalled the theme park incident.

"Right, should we go check that out?" Nobara asked.

"Of course. We should." Sachiko replied.

Just after saying that, Takeda arrived, "Fushiguro kun!" He called out.

Megumi turned to face him.

"Sorry, but I have something to ask you." Takeda said.

"What is it?"

"She took care of me when she was in school. How's Tsumiki doing?" Takeda asked.

"She's doing well."

"Who's Tsumiki?" Itadori asked.

"My sister." Megumi replied.

"Huh? You never tell us about yourself!" Nobara yelled.

"That's right! That's right!" Itadori agreed.

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"What do you mean Nakamura Sachiko is joining the investigation? You said before that only the other four were assigned." Geto talked on the phone.

After a while, Geto hang up and said, "We're changing plans. Let's raise the difficulty of the mission, shall we?"

"I thought we can't use our trump cards yet. And I'm not supposed to do anything before Shibuya. No one can know I'm still alive after all." The curse replied.

"I didn't say you need to show your face or use our trump cards. Besides, you're not alive, Mahito. You're the pseudo one created by her after Mahito's death." Geto reminded.

"....you don't need to remind me that." Pseudo Mahito said.

"Can't get you all forget, can we? Now, how many percent of Mahito's power can you use?" Geto asked.

"80% probably. Knowing that Mahito himself didn't have the opportunity to grow properly, this is the farthest I can go. Pseudos are weaker than real ones after all."

"Such a pity." Geto commented. "But this is still better than Mahito gone. She just needs to experiment more before making stronger pseudos."

"Now, let's put the cursed womb death paintings brothers in game. Mahito, feed them the death paintings."

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"So, this is the place?"

"It looks ordinary to me." Nobara said.

"I'll cast the veil at once a cursed spirit is confirmed." Nitta announced.

"Got it!" Itadori said as he pulled out a vinyl string.

"So, how do you plan to find it?" Sachiko asked.

"I was trying to bungee jump from here. " Itadori said.

"With a vinyl string?" Junpei asked.

"Yeah, I mean that's all we got now." Itadori replied.

"And you said others are dumb because they bungee jump from here..." Sachiko facepalmed.

"Do you have a better option? " Nobara asked.

"Of course, I can try using Possibility to see the route you know." Sachiko said.

"Then why don't do you say it sooner?" Nobara said.

"Well, technically this is your mission and I was only planning on seeing the curse that killed her and exorcise it. But, that means I would end up doing all the job so I think you should be the ones who searched for it at least. Besides, it's interesting to see alternage methods!" Sachiko grinned.

"Makes sense. But what if more people died because we were late ? The death rate is 100% ,you know." Itadori frowned.

"Then, you have to search quickly." Sachiko said as she sat down on the rail.

"Is she serious?" Junpei asked.

"She is." Megumi sighed.

A few hours later, they took a break and went to a convenience store to buy some food to eat and ended up getting onigiris and some drinks.

"So, how is the search going?"

Nitta asked.

"We haven't found anything yet."

"I don't feel any residuals or aura." Megumi replied.

"What about you, Nakamura san?" Nitta asked.

"I think I have an idea on where it could be. I haven't confirmed it with my cursed technique tho." Sachiko replied.

"Where?"

The group asked and before Sachiko could answer, a voice called out Megumi.

"Fushiguro, I found you! That's great!"

It was one of the guys from earlier and now, there was a girl on the bicycle with him.

"Fujinuma?" Megumi explained to the others, "She's my ex-classmate."

"She's my sister," The boy also explained.

The girl asked if the death of Morishita is connected with the Yasohachi Bridge. Nitta shook her head and Megumi lied to the girl that it wasn't.

"I....I was there before. I went to that bridge during my sophomore year." Fujinuma said anxiously.

"Oh my...." Nobara murmured.

Nitta however, asked calmly, "Did anything strange happen in your house recently? For example, a strange feeling that only you experience at home."

"My family runs a local specialty store...But when I go back alone, the automatic doors are wide open. My parents said it was a coincidence but I know there's definitely something there. I'm scared." Fujinuma was anxious.

"When did these automatic door incidents start?" Nitta asked.

"Exactly a week ago. It happens every other week." Fujinuma replied.

"Do you recall going there with anyone else?" Nobara asked, causing Fujinuma to panic if the incident is connected to the bridge.

Nitta said just in time that there was no connection and she was just doing a university report on the impact of paranormal hotspots on magnetic waves and electronic products.

"It's lame, right? But I want to hear it from more people. Do you know anyone else who went there?" Nitta said.

"Right, Tsumiki...I remember going there with Tsumiki." Fujinuma replied.

Megumi's expression turned grim for a brief second but recovered quickly, "I'll go ask Tsumiki then."

After the siblings left, Megumi excused himself and called Ijichi.

"Provide protection for Tsumiki san? But we only have Grade-2 Jujutsu sorcerers now." Ijichi said.

"Grade 2??" Megumi hestitated, having a feeling that a Grade-2 Jujutsu sorcerer is not enough to protect her.

"There aren't any high grade Jujutsu sorcerers available now. And since the threat level is uncertain, we would need to reexamins the threat level before proceeding to request for assistance." Ijichi said.

"We should be fine here since Nakamura also ended up joining us." Megumi said, "Please do what you can for protecting Tsumiki. Thank you."

"Nakamura san is joining?" Ijichi was confused.

"We have to go to investigate now so I'll hang up." Megumi said.

After hanging up, Megumi went over to the group.

"So, we're going back to the bridge now?"

Sachiko asked.

"Of course , I need to exorcise it before it gets to Tsumiki." Megumi replied.

"Good. Let's go kill it!" Itadori said.

"I thought the word is 'exorcise'." Junpei muttered, confused by the choice of words.

"It is. But these two idiots, Nakamura and Itadori tend to use the word 'kill'. Just don't pay attention to them." Nobara said.

"I can hear you!" Itadori shouted.

"Yeah, how can you tell him to not pay attention to me? What if I had something important to say?" Sachiko pouted.

"Well, that would be unfortunate. But, I still somehow agree with Kugisaki." Megumi said.

"Why?" Sachiko asked.

"Isn't it obvious? You're not that reliable. You only act if you're interested in something or it somehow concerns you, don't you?" Nobara returned the question.

"Well, that's technically true. Whether it's about changing the society or making dreams come true... I care neither of them. I just want to go with the flow and see what is interesting. That's just who I am. Maybe I would try changing things for some people I love but as for the society as a whole, I don't really care."

Sachiko didn't deny it. She knew she was not a hero from the start and had no intention of becoming a hero. She was the type of person who was fine as long as she had her freedom and her loved ones were safe.

"You don't even deny it." Junpei mumbled.

"Well, I don't see the need to. " Sachiko shrugged.

"Well, let's get going." Itadori said.

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Soon, they stood in front of the forest.

"I think it's about the sequence. You have to follow certain sequence or take a certain route to get to the destination. It could be a barrier as we can't sense cursed energy residuals from here. It could also be a separate domain." Sachiko said.

"I see. You have experience in dealing this kind of situation?" Megumi asked.

"Well, Gojo sensei sent me for missions during those two months and there was a similar case to this. I didn't figure out the sequence but it was a route I think. If you don't manage to figure out any of those, it wouldn't be easy for you to notice the barrier let alone enter it. But, there are exceptions, of course. For example, I can now figure out where the barrier is without following the specific route or sequence by using my cursed technique."

"Amazing." Junpei said.

"So, you're going to find the location now?" Itadori asked.

"I know the location already but let me double check it." Sachiko said and used her Possibility.

"How strange... There're two barriers?"

Sachiko was about to tell her classmates the locations of the two barriers when the phone rang.

"Nakamura san, we just got reports that the first victim, Kanada's family is dead. It's still unknown if it was done by the same cursed spirit." Nitta said on the phone.

"It's targetting the families now ?"Sachiko asked.

"We're afraid that is the case. If there is another case, we might even need some of you to personally protect the victim's family. But, let's hope for the best now and please proceed to exorcise the cursed spirit as fast as you can." Nitta said.

"I got it. Thanks for information." Sachiko said and endes the call.

She didn't need to use Possibility to see it was a scheme to make their group split up.

Just what did they want this time?

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A/N:

Please can someone tell me if this story getting boring or uninteresting?

I feel like a lot of people dropped this already and I feel stressed because I don't know where it went wrong.

I also want to know your opinions on MC's character? Because I feel like there's a difference between what I imagined and wrote abkut her character and what some of you might understand by reading.

Please comment if you don't mind and thank you all for sticking with this story!!!!