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🎶🎶🎶

A broken heart is all that's left
I'm still fixing all the cracks
Lost a couple of pieces when
I carried it, carried it, carried it home
I'm afraid of all I am
My mind feels like a foreign land
Silence ringing inside my head
Please carry me, carry me, carry me home
I've spent all of the love I saved
We were always a losing game
Small town boy in a big arcade
I got addicted to a losing game
Oh
Oh
All I know, all I know
Loving you is a losing game
Do you love me, love me not?
Giving pieces from my heart
Tomorrow's coming and has gone
Still I carried, I carried, I carried on
Oh
Oh
All I know, all I know
Loving you is a losing game
Oh
Oh
All I know, all I know
Loving you is a losing game
I don't need your games, game over
Get me off this rollercoaster
Oh
Oh
All I know, all I know
Loving you is a losing game
Oh
Oh
All I know, all I know
Loving you is a losing game

🎶🎶🎶

Ena and Gojo had both ignored each other the whole journey back home. Geto and Utahime had their hands full handling the grumpy teenagers.

They climbed up the 785 long steps of Tokyo Jujutsu High School, Mushiroyma Foothills. By the time, they reached the top everyone was breathless. "Great job, everyone." Geto said, "we're finally inside the school barriers."

Utahime panted, "we should've taken the road."

"This route's safer," Geto reminded them. Ena is still the star plasma vessel and people were still after her. She'd only be safe after the blue moon passes.

The pearl blonde hair girl massaged her knee caps, "I nearly lost a limb back there..."

"Satoru..." Geto turned to the grumpy looking teenager, "good job."

The snow-white hair boy rolled his eyes, "I'm never going on a vacation ever again." As he slowly dismantled the cursed technique, his vibrant blue eyes dimmed a little.

Ena grabbed Utahime's wrist, "let's get out of here." Because she didn't want to spend another moment with Gojo. This was their first fight and neither of them, knew how to react in front of the other person. But from the corner of her eyes, she saw him being pierced by a sharp sword. What just happened?

"Impossible...this is...inside the school's barrier!" Utahime gasped at the sight.

"Have I...seen you somewhere before?" Gojo asked turning sideways to look at his attacker.

"Don't mind it, because I'm the same." The well-built middle-aged man with mid-length straight black hair and a sharp scar over the right side of his mouth said. "I'm not good at remembering men's names. I once went to see that six-eyed kid born into the Gojo family out of curiosity. It was the first time anyone noticed that I'm standing behind them. It was the only time. So I weakened your spirit, until you became dull."

In a breath Gojo formed a fist and the man went flying back, Geto send his cursed worm, it swallowed him instantly.

"Toru," Ena finally called out his name, forgetting all about the drama between them as she rushed to his side. "You're bleeding."

"I'm okay...I couldn't use a cursed technique in time, but it didn't hit my vital organs. I used cursed energy to strengthen my body, so that the blade wouldn't hurt other parts. It's just like a safety pin going through a sweater. I'm really okay. Don't mind me, he's after you, you need to get out of here."

At that very moment, the man bursted open the worm and stood before them. A small purple worm with a creepy face around his neck and a cursed sword in his hand. Where did that large sword and cursed spirit come from? Ena can't figure him out.

"Suguru," Gojo said. "Take the girls and leave. I'll take care of him."

"There's something off about this man. He has absolutely no cursed energy but he's different from the rest." Ena said desperately as she clung to Gojo's blood stained coat.

"Don't worry, I'll handle him love."

Geto grabbed her forearm, her safety is their number one priority. "We need to leave now."

"Toru..."

"I promise, I'll come back to you." He gave her a little smile.

"Be careful." She returned the smile as they left the boy behind.

The girl knew she being there would only make things worse as she didn't have cursed abilities to protect herself or others and the man was there to kidnap her or kill her. But leaving Gojo behind just like that, didn't feel right because this mysterious man was ten steps ahead. He send all those cursed users and set up all those obstacles in their way because he knew he couldn't defeat Gojo, so he needed to weaken the boy. The snow-white hair boy has been exhausted lately, using up all his energy to put up a barrier around them and skipping sleep just to keep her safe not knowing that, he's putting himself in danger.

Ena wanted to scream, they fell right into this man's trap, didn't they? And now because of her. Everyone is in danger.

Geto boy pushed the door of Masamichi's room, the man was at Kyoto. "The cursed corpses will protect you."

Masamichi Yaga is the foremost practitioner of puppet jujutsu, he creatures cursed corpses capable of following a set of pre-determined commands. His room was filled with a dozen of them. They resemble soft toys of all shapes and sizes.

"Utahime, stay with her."

"Gru," Ena looked at him, she wanted to say something but her mouth couldn't form words.

"Don't worry Ena-chan, we will protect you. We're the strongest after all." He said opening the door but to their shock, the mysterious man was standing right there. A smirk plastered over his tantalising face. "All right, good job. You're dismissed."

"Why are you here?" The dark hair boy asked his temper rising.

"For the star plasma vessel of course."

"You're not taking her!"

The man said easily, "then die like Satoru Gojo!"

Ena couldn't believe her ears, is Gojo really dead? No! It can't be she refused to believe it.

Dark cursed energy began to form behind Geto, "girls get out of here."

Utahime pulled Ena up from the floor, "we need to go now." But Ena couldn't will her body to move, her friend had to literally drag her out of the dojo. The dozen cursed corpses followed the girls.

"I'm sorry but I can't protect you on my own, I need to take you to Master Tengen's lair."

Master Tengen lies beneath the foundation of major domestic barriers, the main hall of the tomb of stars. Unlike the barrier around the school, there is a special barrier, which only those invited can enter. That's the safest place to be until the merge happens because Master Tengen would protect her. But if she steps into his lair she might never get the chance to come out again.

"No!" She said, "I need to see Toru!"

"We can't..."

Ena ran towards the debris, without a second thought. There used to be houses surrounding that area but now—everything is gone. She knew in her bones Satoru Gojo would be there. But no amount of preparations had made her ready for what she saw next. The snow-white hair boy laid down in the middle of the ground, motionless.

Her steps slowed as she moved towards him, he was lying in a pool of his own blood. Satoru Gojo the gifted boy with six-eyes from the Gojo clan was gone. Impossible! She fell on her knees. His vibrant blue eyes were looking up at the sky, the shine on it was gone. "Toru..." she chocked, "Toru..." as tears streamed down her face.

The boy is dead because of her, he died protecting her. He died for someone who's going to merge in 24 hours. He died for nothing.

She slowly ran a hand across his face, putting his eyelids to rest. "I'm sorry...I'm sorry for everything."

"Ena," Utahime put a hand on her shoulder, "we should go."

Go where? And for what? She didn't care even if she lived or die. It didn't matter at all. Why was she even born? Why was she even chosen to be the star plasma vessel? It had only brought misery in her life and the people surrounding her, nothing else.

"He promised...he promised he would come back to me..."

"I'm sorry," the black hair girl's voice cracked.

"I thought I'd find you here! I was right." A familiar voice said from behind, Ena didn't have to turn back to know who he is.

"Run Ena!" Utahima barked as the cursed corpses attacked the man, but the man was putting them down one after the other. The pearl blonde hair girl just kneeled there, staring at Gojo's lifeless body.

Utahime looked at her friend desperately, "Ena please..." but then in a flash the man had knocked the girl unconscious.

Ena finally rose up and wiped her tears, "don't hurt her, I'll come with you."

"Good."

"Where's Gru?" She asked not wanting to know the answer to that.

"You mean the host of the weird cursed spirits? Don't worry! I didn't kill him." He said easily, "just hurt him enough so that he wouldn't move."

"I would've come with you anyway," she looked at him, eyes blazing. "You didn't need to kill Toru!"

"I know you would've but the six-eyed kid wouldn't have let you. What needs to be done is done!"

She clenched her jaws, "you'd pay for this!"

"I will, if there's any justice in the world. And we all know how likely that is." He gestured her to follow him, "now come on, before I kill anymore of your jujutsu friends."

Jujutsu sorcerers job is to eliminate cursed users in order to protect non-sorcerers but looking at this mysterious non-sorcerer, who's more talented than any cursed user, the girl has ever come across. For the first time in her life—she felt anger and resentment towards a non-sorcerer.

The Star Religious Group HQ. House of the children of the star. The sign read as they entered the building adorned with white and gold. Ena felt a chill down her spine, the building was undoubtedly quite and chilly and the smells from the incenses were overwhelming.

They entered the office of a very creepy looking man, with a bump on his forehead. Executive Shigeru Sonoda the sign on his desk read.

"The star plasma vessel, Ena Yaga. Alive!" The man in white stood up astonished.

"I didn't need to kill her, she was cooperative enough to follow."

Sonoda grinned. "Fushiguro, I will pay you the agreed sum in the way we discussed beforehand. And I'll give you a little extra for her being alive."

Ena cringed at the executive words, what evil plans does he have in mind?

"You want to add a bonus to the 40 million yen? I'm not complaining."

The girl turned to Fushiguro in disgust, if only she could smack him.

"We requested the assassination, but we thought it was a long shot. We originated in the Nara period. With the spread of Buddhism in Japan, Master Tengen advocated morals towards a minority group. Jujutsu sorcerers. The realm of sorcery and religious corporations can't get along. Born from that distortion is the current Star Religious Group's Time Vessel Association. That's why we consistently uphold a non-sorcerer stance. After all, even sorcerers who are allowed to go beyond their authority cannot lay a hand in non-sorcerer in principle." The man moved towards her. "But now the time has come. The taboo recorded in our scriptures, merging of something impure and the very person we the star religious group worship as a monotheistic religion." He grabbed her jaw none too gently. "In front of the believers, if we turn a blind eye to merging, we won't be able to continue. But if we interfere too much, we might be eliminated by the sorcerers. We were desperate. But now, we now have in our hands, everything we could have lost. That's why we're so generous with our money."

"If Tengen loses control, the ones who won't be able to continue might be the human society." Fushiguro stated the obvious.

The man slowly let go of Ena's jaw. "If we are to fall with the star, that's the way it is."

She scoffed. The executive is absolutely disgusting and delusional. Fushiguro gave her a little wink, in agreement. She wanted to poke his eyes out.

Sonoda handed Fushiguro a briefcase, "this is the extra Fushiguro. The rest will be in your account by this evening."

He took the briefcase with a smile plastered across his face, "pleasure doing business with you." The man returned the smile back. Fushiguro then turned to Ena, "don't take it personally sweetheart." And then, he walked out of the room.

Shigeru Sonoda turned to her, a cruel smile passing through his face and that's when Ena Yaga knew, she was facing the true evil.

01 August, 2023.