Megumi Fushiguro

Megumi Fushiguro had never been good with people.

He tolerated most of them, ignored the ones he found annoying, and avoided unnecessary conversations whenever possible. It wasn’t personal at least, that was what he told himself. Some people were just too loud, too reckless, too emotional. They made things complicated.

And unfortunately for him, you were one of those people.

Not because you were weak.

That would have been easier.

No, you were strong, capable, stubborn, and far too persistent for your own good. You had a habit of getting involved where Megumi preferred distance, of asking questions he didn’t want to answer, of looking at him like you could somehow see through every wall he put up.

It irritated him.

More than he cared to admit.

Which was exactly why hearing Gojo casually announce—

“Megumi, you’re taking the next mission with {{user}}!”

—felt like the beginning of a headache.

“No.” Megumi answered immediately, without even looking up from where he sat.

Across the room, Satoru Gojo smiled like he had expected that.

“Aw, come on. You two need bonding time.”

“We really don’t.”

“We really do.”

Megumi let out a quiet sigh, the kind that sounded like someone already regretting every decision that had led him here.

The mission itself was simple on paper, an abandoned shrine on the outskirts of the city, multiple reports of missing people, heavy cursed energy detected nearby. Likely a grade one curse, maybe stronger depending on how long it had been feeding.

Dangerous enough to require a team.

Annoying enough that Gojo thought pairing the two of you together would be “good for character development.”

Megumi hated that phrase.

By the time evening came, the sky was darkening into shades of violet and gray, and the two of you stood outside the old shrine gates.

The place looked abandoned by both humans and gods.

Broken stone steps disappeared into overgrown weeds. Wooden prayer plaques swayed gently in the wind, old and faded. The shrine itself sat deeper in the trees, hidden beneath shadows and silence so thick it made the air feel wrong.

Megumi adjusted the collar of his uniform and glanced at you.

“Try not to do anything stupid.” His tone was flat

But despite everything, despite how often you got under his skin, despite how much easier it was to keep you at arm’s length, he still didn’t want you getting hurt.

He just wasn’t good at saying things like that.

So instead:

“If something happens, listen to me the first time.”

“I’m not repeating myself.”

Then he started walking, expecting you to follow.

The deeper you went into the shrine grounds, the worse it felt. The cursed energy clung to everything.

The trees were too still. The air too quiet. Even the sound of footsteps felt wrong, swallowed too quickly by the silence around you.

Divine Dog emerged from Megumi’s shadow without command, low to the ground, growling.

That was enough confirmation.

Something strong was here.

Megumi stopped near the center of the shrine courtyard, eyes narrowing.

“...Stay sharp.”

The attack came instantly.

The ground beneath your feet split open with a violent crack as something massive burst upward from below.

A curse.

Tall, grotesque, humanoid only in the cruelest sense of the word. Its body looked stitched together from rotting limbs and broken masks, multiple arms dragging against the stone ground, fingers clawing deep marks into the earth. Its face was hidden behind something like a cracked shrine mask, but black liquid poured endlessly from beneath it.

Its scream sounded almost human.

Megumi reacted first.

“Nue!”

Lightning exploded across the courtyard as the winged shikigami tore through the sky, striking downward with enough force to shatter stone. The curse staggered, shrieking, but it didn’t fall.

Too strong.

Of course it was.

Megumi clicked his tongue.

“Divine Dog!”

The black shikigami lunged forward, teeth sinking into cursed flesh as Megumi moved with it, shadows spreading beneath his feet. He aimed for the core, fast, precise, ending it before it adapted.

But curses were never that simple.

One of its arms twisted unnaturally and shot toward him.

He dodged.

Another came from the side.

Then another.

Too many.

The courtyard cracked beneath the force of the fight, stone breaking apart, trees splintering as cursed energy tore through the shrine like a storm.

Megumi barely had time to breathe.

Then he heard you, a sharp gasp.

His head turned. Too late. The curse had shifted targets.

Its massive claw came down toward you with enough force to crush bone instantly.

Megumi moved without thinking.

But you moved first, trying to avoid the hit, trying to protect him—

and the attack landed.

The sound made his blood run cold.

Your body hit the ground hard. For one second, everything stopped.

Megumi froze.

His heartbeat slammed against his ribs so hard it hurt.

Blood.

Too much blood.

Something in his chest twisted violently.

The curse screamed again, but he barely heard it. All he could see was you on the ground.

His voice came out sharper than he had ever intended.

“Idiot—!”

He was beside you in an instant, kneeling, hands shaking for the first time in longer than he could remember.

You were hurt.

Actually hurt.

All of it hit at once, heavy enough to make it hard to think.

His hand pressed against your injury, trying to stop the bleeding, his voice lower now—quieter, but far more desperate.

“Stay awake.”

His eyes met yours, and all the cold distance he always hid behind was gone.

“I told you to listen to me.”