Ijichi Kiyotaka kept his hands tight on the steering wheel as the car crawled down the dim, nearly empty Tokyo street, constantly glancing at the rearview mirror as if to check if his passengers were mentally unstable.
In the backseat was Yuta, Maki, Toge, and Panda were silently watching the abandoned hospital in the distance
Yuta leaned forward slightly as the car slowed to a stop right at the vandalized entrance, his blue eyes scanning the crumbling hospital sign above the doorway.
Panda stretched his arms and legs as he climbed out first.
Maki hopped out after him, getting her guandao from the trunk.
Toge slid out quietly, adjusting his collar.
Yuta stepped out last, closing the door gently behind him.
Ijichi stepped out from the driver's side and bowed deeply.
"I wish you all the best of luck. Please return safely."
Yuta smiled politely and bowed back.
"Thanks, Ijichi-san. We appreciate it."
Maki rolled her shoulders as she eyed the building.
"Alright. Let's get this over with."
Panda looked at Yuta.
"So, Yuta-kun, how do you wanna handle this?"
Yuta raised one hand and said.
"Well, first I was thinking we should-"
But Maki immediately cut him off.
"The plan is simple."
Before anyone could say anything, she swung her new guandao in a wide arc, the blade crashing down on the cracked double doors.
The metal bent inward with a screech before snapping free entirely, clattering into the dark hallway beyond.
"Zenin-san, wait, hold on a second."
Yuta called, jogging after her as she stepped inside without hesitation.
Panda and Toge blinked at each other.
Panda shrugged.
"Well… that's Maki-chan for you."
Toge muttered in agreement.
"Salmon."
The two followed after Yuta.
But the moment Panda and Toge crossed the threshold, their eyes widened.
The inside of the hospital didn't match the outside at all.
Everything was upside down, the walls twisting and turning like a funhouse mirror from hell.
The floor above their heads dripped old blood that fell upward instead of down, floating and spiraling into red mist.
Flickering red emergency lights cast crawling shadows across every surface, wheelchairs and gurneys floated slowly in midair, and the smell of rot was thick.
Toge muttered quietly in a low and uneasy tone.
"Bonito flakes."
Panda nodded slowly.
"Yeah… this looks pretty bad. Let's go find Yuta and Maki before something finds us first."
Toge gave a sharp nod.
"Salmon."
He turned and began walking deeper into the twisted hallway, Panda following close behind as the Innate Domain shifted around them, walls stretching and contracting as the entrance was sealed shut.
JJK
Somewhere else inside the distorted hospital, Yuta walked calmly with his hands in his pockets, humming a soft tune as he glanced down different hallways.
Floating surgical tools turned slowly, cracked tiles rearranged themselves when he stepped on them, and every few seconds, the entire hallway would flicker, resetting at random angles.
Yuta looked around and sighed.
"Where did she even run off to?"
Then he stopped.
A door at the far end of the hallway creaked open slowly.
Yuta tilted his head as several figures stepped out into the flickering red light.
They were nurses, or at least that's what they looked like, but their faces were melted, stretched, and twisted.
Their limbs bent the wrong way as they jerked forward in sharp, snapping motions.
Each one held a rusty pipe or blood-soaked scalpel, dragging metal along the ground as they moved.
Yuta blinked twice.
(Are those nurses from Silent Hill?)
He raised a hand in greeting.
"Uh, hi there. Sorry to bother you all, but did any of you happen to see a hot tomboy with a ponytail and wearing glasses run past here?"
The nurses twisted their necks unnaturally as their bodies jolted.
Then their jaws unhinged with a wet crack, and they let out distorted, gurgling shrieks.
They charged fast.
Yuta stared at them for half a second.
"…I'm guessing that's a no?"
He reached behind him into his shadow and pulled out a katana, and Cursed Energy flowed around it as he reinforced the weapon.
The nurses closed in, their sharp weapons raised.
Yuta exhaled once.
He swung, not at them, but at empty air.
For a moment, nothing happened.
The nurses froze mid-charge, arms still raised.
*Thud*
One of the nurses' heads fell to the ceiling.
Then one by one their heads began sliding off their necks, falling upward toward the ceiling like severed balloons before fading away.
Their bodies crumpled and dissolved afterward, leaving the hallway empty once more.
Yuta sheathed the katana smoothly and returned it to his shadow.
He started walking again, completely unfazed.
"Alright, where did you run off to, Zenin Maki?"
He whistled a tune to himself, Chug Jug With You, cheerfully.
He kept strolling casually deeper into the innate domain, unaware that Maki was currently fighting for her life somewhere nearby, Toge and Panda running through the shifting rooms in panic, and a malformed fetus was watching him from somewhere.
JJK
Maki exhaled sharply as her boots slid against the tiled floor.
She swung her guandao in a wide arc, slicing through the damp air as a long, disjointed arm lunged toward her from seemingly nowhere.
She didn't hesitate as the blade carved through the twisted limb cleanly, the severed piece dissolving into nothingness.
But before she could fully regain her footing, another arm shot out from the opposite wall, then another from the ceiling, then another from the floor.
It was like the entire building had become alive with hands reaching, grasping, clawing, trying to tear her apart.
Maki moved without stopping.
Her steps were quick and light as she spun her guandao around her, blocking attacks with the metal shaft and cutting down the curse's limbs that got too close.
One arm attempted a grab at her ankle, another swung down like a hammer aimed at her skull, and another stretched impossibly long toward her back.
Maki snarled and ducked, sliding across the cold floor as two arms smashed into each other above her head.
Her guandao whipped upward and sliced the third arm cleanly.
But even as she fought, she couldn't help muttering through clenched teeth.
"Fuck this. Seriously, fuck this! Why the hell are there so many of you bastards?!"
She leapt backward just as a creepy, elongated arm shot from behind, the fingers quivering as it almost grazed her cheek.
Maki turned and sprinted down the corridor, boots pounding on tile as her heart raced, though she tried to keep her breathing steady.
(Yeah, great job, Maki. Wandering around without a plan was a brilliant idea. Why do you always end up stuck in the creepy-ass parts of buildings? You should've just stayed with the boys.)
Another hand erupted from a wall near her shoulder, forcing her to twist sharply to avoid being grabbed.
Maki gritted her teeth and rammed her shoulder into a nearby door, kicking it open.
She rushed inside and slammed the door with her foot.
The moment she was in the room, she slid down slightly and pressed her back against the wall, exhaling harshly.
The arms outside continued to swipe at the air, their shadows stretching under the narrow gap at the bottom of the metal door.
They dragged across the floor, tapping it to feel where she had gone.
Maki breathed through her nose to steady her nerves.
Her muscles trembled faintly with adrenaline as she took the briefest moment to gather herself.
"Fuck... This is bad. Really bad."
She muttered quietly.
She slipped a hand into her pocket and pulled out her flip phone.
She flicked it open with her thumb and pressed Panda's contact number first.
Nothing.
She tried Toge next.
Still nothing.
She then tried to contact Yuta.
But as she searched through her contacts, she remembered something crucial.
"... I don't have Okkotsu's number... Fuck."
Her jaw clenched.
She approached the door cautiously and peeked through a small crack.
Nothing.
The arms seemed to have retreated for now.
She let out a controlled exhale.
(Okay… okay. They're gone. For now. At least it buys me a minute. Just got to figure out where the hell the others are. And if possible, where this Cursed Womb is.)
She turned around, letting her guard drop just enough for her shoulders to loosen.
That was when the air behind her shifted.
A sudden wave of killing intent surged forward, thick and suffocating like a giant hand closing around her lungs.
The hair on the back of her neck stood up.
Maki didn't question it.
She spun around, but she was a heartbeat too slow.
A massive, fat curse spirit burst out of the shadowed corner behind her.
Before Maki could fully lift her guandao to block, its heavy arm slammed into her midsection.
The impact threw her across the room like she weighed nothing.
Her back struck the wall as pain shot through her ribs and up her spine, leaving her breathless.
"Gah-!"
The Cursed Spirit barreled forward, eager to finish the job.
Maki gritted her teeth through the pain, forcing her body to move before she even processed the idea.
She tightened her grip around the shaft of her guandao and steadied her stance.
The curse roared and raised its massive limb to crush her.
Maki thrust forward with everything she had without even looking.
Her blade pierced straight through the curse's head.
The spirit froze, its grotesque body convulsing before the curse finally dissolved, crumbling into particles that drifted away.
Maki leaned forward and braced one hand against her knee, panting.
"Where the fuck did that curse come from…?"
Her voice was rough and tired.
The ache in her ribs throbbed sharply, reminding her of just how hard she had been hit.
She pressed her shoulder back against the cracked wall to steady herself, but something felt off.
Maki blinked.
Her eyes widened in realization.
"...My glasses."
She looked down and saw them on the ground.
The lenses cracked into pieces.
She knelt, fingers trembling with a mix of pain and annoyance as she reached toward them.
"Damnit…"
She lifted the broken frames, her jaw tightening.
Without them, she couldn't see curses clearly.
She adjusted one lens out of habit before remembering it was pointless.
She exhaled shakily.
"...Great. Just great."
She stayed kneeling as she examined the ruined glasses, unaware that several Curses began to appear, their mouths stretched into jagged, tooth-filled grins.
JJK
Panda and Toge sprinted down the hallway at full speed, their footsteps slapping wetly against the floor as something behind them shrieked and clattered in pursuit.
Behind them surged a swarm of Cursed Corpses, their bodies fused from hospital mannequins, plastic arms bent backward at impossible angles, clawed forward, faceless heads twisted on their necks, and hollow eye sockets wept black fluid as they screeched.
Panda screamed at the top of his lungs, tears streaming down his face in exaggeration as he ran.
"WHY DOES THIS ALWAYS HAPPEN TO US?!"
His voice echoed down the corridor, cracking with panic and disbelief as he waved his arms while still somehow maintaining impressive speed.
"We're supposed to be Jujutsu Sorcerers, not horror movie extras!"
One of the mannequin amalgamations lunged forward, its torso splitting open to reveal writhing limbs inside.
Toge glanced over his shoulder with unsettling calm despite the chaos, his eyes narrowing slightly.
"Caviar."
His hand reached up and tugged down the high collar of his uniform.
He inhaled once, sharply.
"GO AWAY!"
His Cursed Speech detonated through the hallway like a shockwave.
Invisible force slammed into the front line of Cursed Corpses, blasting them backward violently as bodies shattered apart, limbs snapping off and ricocheting against the walls.
Mannequin heads burst like brittle shells, and several amalgamations were smashed flat against the ceiling before dissolving into cursed residue.
Panda skidded slightly as he ran and looked back in awe.
"Nice save, Toge-kun!"
But his amazement lasted only a second.
More Cursed Corpses poured out from side doors, ventilation shafts, and even the ceiling panels, crawling and dropping down in jerky motions as if the hospital itself was birthing them.
Toge winced and pulled his collar back up quickly, his throat already strained.
"…S-Salmon."
Panda's ears flattened as he saw the numbers multiply.
"Yeah, buddy, I know, using that again would wreck your throat, but can we talk about how there are WAY more now?!"
They rounded a corner sharply, nearly slipping on blood-soaked tiles, and the corridor ahead stretched even longer, like the hospital was stretching.
Suddenly, a massive shadow descended from above, accompanied by a low, echoing moan that rattled the walls.
Panda skidded to a stop so hard he left grooves in the floor.
Floating in front of them was a giant skull, easily twice Panda's size, its empty eye sockets glowing faintly with cursed energy.
Its jaw unhinged slowly, stretching wider and wider, ready to swallow them whole.
Panda stared at it for half a second.
Then he yelled.
"DON'T WORRY! I GOT IT!"
Before Toge could react, Panda charged forward, muscles bulging beneath his fur as he planted his feet and leapt upward.
The skull roared as Panda slammed both clenched paws straight into its forehead with a thunderous impact.
The corridor shook violently, cracks spiderwebbed across the walls, and the skull let out a distorted wail before crashing into the wall and collapsing into fragments, dissolving mid-fall.
Panda landed heavily, skidding backward on his feet as he shook out his paws.
"Heh, still got it."
Behind them, the mannequin swarm screamed louder, enraged by the destruction of the skull curse.
Toge grabbed Panda's arm.
"Tuna!"
Panda didn't need translation this time as they took off running again.
"Where is Yuta-kun and Maki-chan?!"
Panda turned his head sharply left and right.
Toge looked ahead, then behind, then down another branching hallway.
"Bonito flakes."
Panda grimaced.
"Yeah… I don't know either."
They continued running, deeper into the twisted hospital, unaware of just how close their teammates really were, and how much worse things were about to get.
JJK
Hello readers!
Here's another chapter after disappearing for God knows how long.
I ain't making excuses, so I'll upload another chapter on my DxD Arthur fanfic soon.
Thank you, everyone, and see you later!