Before She Could Even Put A Name To A Face, Nobara Had Already Decided That She Had A Bone To Pick With

kugisaki nobara

their first year as tōkyō jujutsu tech students had come and gone.

her first year as a tōkyō jujutsu tech student had come and gone, just like that, leaving her second year open with possibilities and even more room to grow. days, weeks, months: a whole year's gone by since her move to tōkyō and nobara's decided that a passed year of self-indulgence, of living on her own terms, and the survival that comes with clashes against the cursed spirits of the city kind of makes her a bit of a professional in deciding if she's made the right move in the end, right?

she's coming into her own, blossoming at a self-set pace, and this eases her. definitely beats the what if scenario of if she'd stayed back home. she's done so much in one year, she's seen so much in one year, and it's thanks to gojō-sensei's initial teachings: he's wacky, sure, but efficient where it matters as a teacher and she dutifully carries his teachings into this current year.

with each passing day, week, month: nobara has found herself settling more and more into everyday life in tōkyō. she's sat at the communal space's kitchen table, face's cheek cradled in a dainty hand, idly scrolling social media. eyes lift to meet fushiguro's for a brief moment with barely contained excitement before she stands to tilt her chair back on its legs.

it was hard to rope fushiguro into much of anything, sometimes, and it was so nice out. it'd be a waste if the day was spent inside cooped up with some book or whatever he usually does, but she observes that it's easier to coax him, he isn't as non-compliant to her whims. really, he should thank her though. he needed a bit of vitamin d!

it's once they're shuttled outside to harajuku's shopping district, nobara fitted in a flattering sun dress with a paired straw hat to block out the harsh summer sun, and it's when they've fallen in step with one another that she speaks. “ i think encouraging him to reach out was the most amazing thing we've did recently, wouldn't you agree? i need to be frank, though, fushiguro ... i'm helping out itadori, he's a boy — he has no idea what to get her. me and him? we've talked a bit about this. sorry you weren't in on the loop, ”

their first year as tōkyō jujutsu tech students had come and gone.

queen of expressions, nobara

megumis’ clothes often get,,,”permanently borrowed” by nobara 🍂

wara ningyō are a popular kind of katashiro made of straw [ ... ] wara ningyō are used extensively as wards against evil. they are combined with something from the recipient of the curse, such as a piece of hair. this transforms the doll into a substitute for the intended target. long nails are pushed through the wara ningyō, harming the subject as well as the doll.

#waraningyo is an independent, privately selective, mutuals only, headcanon and lore-heavy rendition of kugisaki nobara from akutami gege's 呪術廻戦. delicately crafted by nine and re-est. dec 2023.

wara ningyō are a popular kind of katashiro made of straw [ ... ] wara ningyō are used extensively as wards against evil. they are combined with something from the recipient of the curse, such as a piece of hair. this transforms the doll into a substitute for the intended target. long nails are pushed through the wara ningyō, harming the subject as well as the doll.

#waraningyo is an independent, privately selective, mutuals only, headcanon and lore-heavy rendition of kugisaki nobara from akutami gege's 呪術廻戦. delicately crafted by nine and re-est. dec 2023.

a curse stake-out with gojo-sensei!⠀웃⠀semi-plotted starter.

ginza, ginza, she was in ginza!  nobara had heard great things about ginza, mainly from magazines acquired from her local konbini back home, and what's more is that now? now she's experiencing first-hand what people find so great about ginza since her move to the city from the boonies of tōhoku.

that doe-eyed, amazed child-to-tween reading through said magazines was now reflected in her eyes as she took in the sights,  reflected in her nose as she took in the smells,  reflected in her ears as she took in the hustle and bustle of the famed shopping district with a penchant for attracting tourists and those native alike, joined only together in the allure that has enchanted them to come in the first place. 

put simply: nobara has found herself in shopping paradise. 

quite frankly, though?  she should be enjoying herself, enjoying the chillness that's seeping into the day as it gradually turns to night, since she's off-duty, after all. she should be decked out for the weather, dressed to the nines, and enjoying herself as teenage girls do! 

she's off-duty, technically, but technically? she's never off-duty.  

so sure, it was an off-day technically, but what's that to a student-sorcerer whose enemies are spawned around the clock: birthed by the negativity found in humanity? where her hands would be holding any number of shopping bags on a night like tonight, they're empty on a saturday night. she can't be too put off, though, it comes with the job. she isn't alone, anyway: her sensei, as eccentric and jovial as he is, is accompanying her on what is a stake-out in the deeper part of the district.

her targets for tonight? a gaggle of upper grade 2s in a residential area: they boast the kind of intellect that makes it easy for them to pick off unsuspecting targets, and what's more is that they'd been in the area for quite some time, coming out of dormancy every now and again to terrorize. it was no wonder why they weren't exorcised sooner, but nobara supposes they'd had been kept alive just for this.

part of her should be annoyed that she isn't shopping, but there's a flounce in her step that's a touch too giddy. she's been practicing on optimizing the maximum damage of hairpin once triggered, the usage of the one binding vow she can't be bothered to properly place the name of right now: she just knows that she's elated to try it out, showcase her ever-budding strength to her sensei —-

because she had been practicing: because that's the point of attending tōkyō jujutsu tech in the first place, you hone your cursed technique against curses, you fight curses with curses. it's a battle of cursing, but it isn't something trivial, in hindsight it isn't something inherently moralistic. it just is, and that's how it's been for a long while: probably how it'll always be.

a job's a job, a cycle's a cycle, a machine's a machine until it's not. until it inevitably breaks down due to rusted old parts that interfere with its functioning, until it has no choice but to replace those old parts with new parts or until it's replaced with something new entirely.

“ since this is cutting into my me time, sensei, you wouldn't mind making sure a couple extra yen gets deposited into my student bank account, right? ”

what’s nobara’s contact name in your muse’s phone?

@duefault.

shopping 🛍️

kugisaki nobara.⠀⠀웃⠀⠀a glimpse into her instagram.

some to-knows:

maki, fushiguro, and itadori were among the first people she followed from tōkyō jujutsu tech. family members⠀⠀(⠀⠀some of those of her clan residing outside of japan included⠀⠀)⠀⠀and her favorite fashion brands, designers, + celebrities were among her first followings.

someway, somehow, she makes the time to be a brand ambassador for one of her favorite makeup brands.

she's somewhat slow at following people back⠀⠀(⠀⠀if she even chooses to⠀⠀) and extremely selective. between in-class jujutsu lectures, classwork, personal time to herself, and fieldwork on top of that:⠀⠀nobara is extremely in-demand!

whenever she goes live it's usually when she's sightseeing or trying new foods, or visiting her favorite, more popular stores and malls. sometimes, she'll stumble upon the most simplistic nook-and-crannied little spot in tōkyō ( like that one non-descript coffee shop that she's claimed for her own for studying, because she loves their coffee, and it's hers because she says so ).

she has profile reels that have become popular, and that've went viral, of her constructing wara ningyō 「 藁人形, lit. " straw dolls " 」: of her showing step-by-step how they're made. these videos have not only become a hit in her native japan, but outside as well, particularly in the west: her following is accredited to this, largely. before they were ever thought of to be used as a clever device in exorcising curses, before they were ever thought of to be ever-useful proxies by the women in the kugisaki clan, they were apart of her culture. nobara takes immense pride in that.

she has a select, private groupchat on nearly every social media app and instagram is not exempt. members obviously consist of itadori, fushiguro, and herself.

makes it a point to block mai everywhere. it works for the most part, but nobara soon learned she has ample burner accounts one day. luckily, she isn't at all afraid to run blockchains through third-party apps.