"Uh, well, it, hasn't been that long, but. I was thinking Orizuki?" Why did he say that, he should have just said he didn't have anything figured out yet, it's silly to name something that's just a cursed summon that doesn't... really feel things.

(But the little jellyfish is also the closest thing he has to a friend, so.)

Itadori looks directly at the little jellyfish and grins. "Hi, Orizuki! It's nice to meet you! I'm Itadori Tōkan."

Junpei smiles a little, and he makes the little jellyfish wiggle a tentacle in something like a wave.

"So, your place or your mum's workplace?"

"My place. I don't think mom would appreciate if I just kind of. Showed up. At her job. While she's busy."

She wouldn't say anything, of course, and would welcome them both, but. She'd be very worried, and he doesn't want to do that to her.

"Yosh! Lead the way."

It's around that time that Ijichi receives another phone call. This one is from Nanami.

Ijichi had left his phone in his car when he went to chase one of the curses he and Itadori had meant to use to check Yoshino's status, so when he got back he had a minor heart attack when he saw the missed calls from Itadori. The text messages were more reassuring, though, if still somewhat concerning, and he's been trying to work up the courage to call Nanami for the past five minutes when he sees Nanami's call (which startles him bad enough he drops the phone and has to spend a few seconds fishing it from under his car's seat).

"Moshi moshi?" he says, a pit of dread in his stomach.

Nanami is currently in a shopping center bathroom, nursing a large wound on his side. He has, at this point, managed to stop the bleeding, but he will probably need to be taken to the resident expert in healing to see that everything's sorted out properly. Such are the dangers of risky maneuvers. Even calculated risks are still risks.

"I've sent you my location. Please come and pick me up ASAP. I need you to take me to Jujutsu High, to get some treatment from Ieiri."

...oh he's not being scolded, alright. "Are you alright?"

"More or less. It's not going to kill me anytime soon."

"...right. I'll meet up with Itadori-kun and be right there—"

"... Meet up? You're not with him?"

He's an idiot.

"I, uhm, there was a, he's—"

"I don't care. Where is he now?"

"...he's, uh, he went to Yoshino Junpei's house."

.... Nanami gives a heavy sigh.

"The witness? ... Fine. It's safe as anywhere else, I suppose, and at least we know its location. Have the address sent to Gojo just in case. I found and fought the curse responsible for the transfigurations, but I wasn't able to confirm a proper exorcism. It might still be out there."

"R-right. I'll be there in a bit.

"...so what, um, happened?"

"The hideout was a trap, as we," well, as Nanami, "expected. I dispatched several more of the transfiguration victims, and soon enough the curse responsible came out to meet me..."

"Oh, good!" calls the curse, emerging from the shadows. They're wearing long trousers and a sleeveless top but their feet are bare, making soft noises against the ground as they walk. And they're beaming widely, sounding cheerful. "I'd have been in trouble if Gojō Satoru himself had come, but you're just strong enough that you'll do great as an experimental subject."

Ugh. It's always so annoying when a client was expecting one of his coworkers, and is surprised to get him instead. He didn't like it in the business world, and he doesn't like it in the world of curses. Fortunately, in the world of curses, he is in fact allowed to stab someone over it, and he doesn't have to hide his irritation. It's insulting to be discounted in favor of one of the most unhinged sorcerers in Japan.

He huffs a heavy sigh. "I can see this is going to drag on, isn't it. And I hate putting in overtime. Do you think we could get this over with before 6 PM?"

"You could lie down and let me test you! That'd be quick. But, ah, a lot less fun, and I want to try your resistance."

And they don't wait for a reply before lunging, their speed and power just as great as would be expected of a curse that can talk.

Yeah, that's about what he expected. Such a pain.

The first bout is fast and brutal, but the cheer and irreverence backed up by overwhelming strength of this curse reminds him of Gojo, of all people. Still, Nanami Kento doesn't do too badly for himself, even now. See? The curse is down an arm.

Which surprises the curse enough that they pull back and stop pressing the offensive, staring at the stump halfway up their forearm from which the rest of their arm is hanging by a thread of skin, blood lazily dripping. "Eh? But I blocked with cursed energy, didn't I? Is your technique that kind of technique, then?"

"I don't know what you mean. You'll have to be more specific in your questioning if you want an answer, vague interpretive statements waste everyone's time."

Now. Is the curse going to tidily heal from that? Because most couldn't, not a cursed strike at the weak point his technique made, but Nanami suspects that this is not like most curses.