-Volume 1- Chapter 3: Lagging Fists

We continue our story, with Dante admiring the destruction in front of him, while Tetsuo pats him on the shoulder.

"Liked what you saw, little bro?" Tetsuo asks him.

"Pretty Explosions." Dante mutters.

"Yeah, they certainly are. Her Cursed Technique is called Explosive Touch. While not a flashy ability, she has the ability to imbue weapons with a sort of explosion buff. Kind of like casting a buff in a video game."

"What's a vid-eeeo game?" Dante asks him.

"Seriously?! You've never heard of a video game? Boy there is a lot I need to teach you."

"There's no time for that, Tetsuo." Tanya tells him. "We still have that Semi-Grade two to exorcise."

As she begins to walk further down the hall, Tetsuo turns to Dante and twirls his finger on the side of his head.

"Seriously Tanya. Just relax a little. The last Cursed spirit isn't even gonna be a challenge."

"Easy for you to say." She mocks. "You're only semi-grade two because of that pesky technique of yours."

"Pesky technique?" Dante mutters. "What is she talking about?"

"Don't worry, I'll show you soon enough. For now, lets just find this cursed spirit."

The three continue to walk through the hall, with Dante getting an eerie feeling from the darkness, until they hear the sounds of munching, seeing a large cursed spirit eating the corpse of an unnamed student, her fingers slightly twitching. Dante, seeing this, is slightly grossed out by this.

"Not used to this kind of stuff, Dante?"

'Well, not really. I only ever saw this kind of stuff every once in a while."

"I see. Don't worry, we'll take care of this guy."

"Hold on, we?"

"Yep, I want you to assist me in taking this cursed spirit down. Better to have you experience the power of a high grade cursed spirit first hand."

Dante walks with Tetsuo towards the cursed spirit, while Tanya in the background lights up a cigarette.

"You know you can't smoke in school, Tanya." Tetsuo tells her.

"Oh put a sock in it." She responds back.

*For a better reading experience*

*https://youtu.be/3-HJnt5qgsI*

Tetsuo taps Dante's shoulder, while the two continue to move in on the cursed spirit, who turns it's head to see them.

"Yo! Sorry to cut your meal short, but I'm afraid your days of terror end here. Me and my little bro Dante are here to stop you and that ugly face of yours from terrorising this school."

The cursed spirit releases its hold over the corpse, and begins to scream out loud violently.

"Okay Dante, just avoid it's attacks and hit it with everything you've got."

"Right!"

The two begin to charge towards it, with Tetsuo clapping his hands together. The cursed spirit, attempts to hit Dante, and succeeds, but finds out it is merely his after image, before it quickly disappears from sight. Suddenly we see Dante appear behind it, slashing it with his sword.

"What the heck? Why isn't it trying to hit us? Its throwing attacks at places where we just were?" Dante asks him, while cutting into the cursed spirit. "Also, why isn't my attacks working?! I'm clearly stabbing it, so what gives?!"

"It is trying to attack us, it just can't because we're moving differently from it's perspective."

"Huh?"

"See, in online video games, every player has a different perspective from each other, with each of them seeing events differently. But in online games, that perspective relies entirely on how strong someone's wifi connection is. Those who lack this wifi tend to be at a disadvantage against those who has superior connection. But the same can be said for the other player, if one knows how to exploit it."

"My technique is a manifestation of such exploitation. While the cursed spirit is seeing us teleporting around him, we're actually using the power of lag to overwhelm it. This is my ability, Dante. My "pesky" cursed technique.

He claps his hands, and all the damage that Dante and Tetsuo had done to it, suddenly afflict the curse at once, with massive splashes of purple blood shooting out.

"LAG SPIKE!!!"

*Opening*

*https://youtu.be/ptyuC1GHqqc*

Moments pass, and we see the three exit the school, with Tetsuo and Dante slightly covered in the cursed spirits blood, while he carries the body of the deceased student.

"We were able to take care of the cursed spirits. But I'm afraid this student was found dead during our search." Tanya tells the now arriving principal.

"I see. Thank you for your hard work you three. Despite the outcome, you did everything you could."

Pushing through the crowd, we see three high school girls approaching, as one of them screams out in agony.

"KARIN!!!"

Her two friends try to pull her back, as the girl attempts to get to her friends body.

"Fubuki, you can't just-"

"You! Why didn't you save her?! Aren't you supposed to be able to deal with cursed spirits quickly?! You are Jujutsu Sorcerers, aren't you?!" She yells at Tanya

Dante, hearing this, gets agitated by the girl, but is stopped by Tanya.

"I'm sorry... we do not have an excuse to give you for why we couldn't save her."

The girl merely cries into her friends arms, before Tanya, Tetsuo and Dante, begin to walk off the school grounds.

"That's the hardest thing about being a Jujutsu Sorcerer." Tetsuo tells Dante. "Bearing the hatred of those who think we didn't do enough to save their loved ones. It causes many to fixate on becoming better, disregarding their health, even their lives."

"I see."

Tetsuo turns to Dante, patting him on the back in a friendly manner.

"Don't worry, little bro. We all get used to it at some point, and besides, we're here for you if you ever need to talk to us.

The three travel to the Tokyo Sorcerer's Guild, where Tanya heads to Masaru's office.

"The four cursed spirits were taken care of with little issue. However, there was one known causality."

"I see. And what about Dante. Did you get a good glimpse of his capabilities?"

"Not really, sir. While he did assist Tetsuo in taking down the Semi-Grade 2, I didn't give him a proper assessment."

"Oh, well that's disappointing." Masaru sighs out.

"Buuut. He does show some promise. Even with Tetsuo's cursed technique active, his speed exceeded many of the lower ranked sorcerers I worked with in the past. He also has a good handling of the weapon you gave him. So I'll give him a chance."

"Well that's great. Because he was gonna stay no matter what you said." He tells her, much to her annoyance. "Anyway, I want you to keep him at your apartment in the mean time."

"But-...Yes sir." She says with a sigh.

Moments pass, and we see the trio arrive at a small apartment complex, where they eventually go into an apartment on the fourth floor.

"Okay Dante, the bathroom is at the end of the hall, and the guest room is on the first door to the right. If you need anything, either ask me, or Tetsuo. My room is on the second door on the left, while his is the first. Though he might be busy playing his games to even acknowledge your question."

"Hey!! I can take time out of my games to help him." 

"Um... I do have one question. What's a bathroom?" He asks her.

Tanya and Tetsuo look at him with a bit of concern.

"You... don't know what a bathroom is? Then, how do you... well, you know."

"Know what?"

"You know... relieve yourself." Tanya finishes.

"Uhh..."

"Actually, I don't want to know."

"So um... is there any food here, or..."

"Oh, yeah. There should be some apples in the fridge." Tetsuo tells him.

"Sweet."

He heads over to the fridge, struggling to open it, before seeing a bag full of apples in the corner, quickly grabbing one.

"Okay, there are some ground rules that you should know. One, everyone here goes to bed at 10pm at the earliest, and 10:45pm at the latest. Two, always clean up after yourself after any meal. And three, and this is the most important one. Knock on my door before entering. Do you understand?" She asks him.

"Got it!" He says with a salute.

"Good. Now get yourself acquainted in your room."

Hours pass, and we see Dante lying on the bed, while staring up at the ceiling, having an empty feeling in his chest.

"Huh... this is the first time I've ever slept on a good bed before. But Hachi isn't here to enjoy it. I know he would've loved to sleep on a bed like this. Still... no matter how comfy the bed is... I can't seem to fall asleep."

"The boss once said to me he has to take some medicine to help him go to sleep. I wonder if Tanya has something similar."

He turns over to his side to look at the clock provided to him, displaying the time of 11:30pm.

"But would she even be asleep at this hour? I highly doubt it, given her rule set. Buuut... she would understand if I make the excuse that I wouldn't be able to perform properly with lack of sleep."

After getting up from his bed, he exits the room, looking for Tanya's room in the darkness.

"Which room did she say was hers again? Oh, right, second door on the left."

He walks up to the door, ready to knock on the door, before hearing the sound of what seemed to him was a soft grunt.

"Huh? What was that sound?" He thinks to himself.

After hearing more of the grunts, he slightly opens the door, curious as to what is going on, before seeing something that made him widen his eyes. The moon light pierces through the window, while movement can be seen in the darkness. 

Upon getting a better look, he see's Tanya and Tetsuo melding their silhouettes into each other, while the sounds continue to make themselves known. Dante, not sure what is going on, merely closes the door silently, before walking to his bed.

"What was that?"

The morning comes, and we see Dante, now sleep deprived, going about the mundane tasks of daily life. Brushing his teeth, struggling to eat food, and assisting Masaru with some involuntary office work.

"Okay, so I need you to put this file in the filing cabinet. The Guild leaders are pretty strict when it comes to this stuff."

But Dante doesn't respond to his instructions, merely staring out into space.

"Dante? Hellooo... earth to Dante."

After snapping his fingers, Dante breaks out of his trance, and rubs his eyes.

"Oh... sorry about that Mr. Kagemitsu. I didn't get much sleep last night."

"Hmm? Why's that?" He asks the boy. "Was the bed not to your liking?"

"Oh no, the bed was better that what I originally slept on, it's just...well... I saw something last night that kept me awake."

"Hmm?"

"I was having trouble sleeping, so I was gonna ask Miss Okata if she had anything to help with it, but then... I walked into her room and... saw her and Tetsuo doing something. I wasn't sure what was going on, but... Miss Okata started... making weird sounds."

"Ooohhh... I see what you're talking about."

"Wait, you do? But I didn't give you any details."

"I kind of got the gist of what you were on about when you mentioned Tanya and Tetsuo doing something in the dark."

"Wait, so you can tell me what they were doing?!"

"I can, but... I'm not sure whether I should."

"Pleeeease."

"Oh, all right. But allow me to ask you something first. What do you know about... love."

"Huh? Love? Well... I know the old man said that love is important to people, but I never really understood that. Still, it's something that I've wanted to know about."

"I see. And he didn't tell you anything beyond that?"

"Nope."

"Okay... this is awkward. Well, what you saw last night was... a form of love. The conjoining of souls in an intimate way."

"Intimate way?"

"Yeah... y'know. Sex."

"Mr. Kagemitsu, I've... never heard of this word in my life, so you kind of lost me on that."

"You haven't?" He says in confusion. "Huh... well, all you really need to know is that, out there in the world, there is someone for all of us. Some of us are able to find them pretty easily, while others take an entire lifetime to find."

"Like a... best friend?"

"Something like that. A best friend that we're willing to life with for the rest of our lives." 

Dante merely looks away, before turning back to Masaru

"Do you think I can find someone like that? A "best friend" who will put up with me?" Dante asks him.

"Of course. I have no doubt there is someone out there for you."

"Do-Do you have someone like that, Mr. Kagemitsu?" 

Masaru merely smiles, before leaning back on his chair.

"Nah, I'm too busy for all that lovey-dovey stuff. Plus I doubt it would last."

Masaru gets up from his chair, patting Dante on the shoulder, before heading to the door.

"Anyway, we better get these files sorted before we get in trouble from the guild leaders."

"R-Right."

The pair walk out of his office, before we are shown a picture frame, of a girl with white hair and red-violet eyes, making a funny face, with a teenage Masaru at an unknown setting.

But while the two walk to the filing cabinet, Dante begins to think about Masaru's answer to him, imagining a scenario where he and the girl of his fantasies enjoy themselves.

"Man, I can't wait to find that "best friend"." He mutters to himself.

Some time passes, and we see Dante sitting on the couch next to Tetsuo while he mashes buttons on the controller in his hands.

"KO, PLAYER ONE WINS!!" The game announcer yells out.

"Ahh!! Come on!!" Dante yells out.

"Man, you're getting invested into this game, aren't ya?"

"It's frustrating! How then hell am I meant to even beat you when I've never played a video game in my life?! Seriously, at least let me get a hit on you, I didn't even do any damage to you!"

"Well... that's just what years of playing fighting games does. Even if I wanted to go easy on you, my hands just move on their own."

Dante is about to throw the controller at Tetsuo, before hearing the door open to see Tanya entire the apartment.

"Oh, hey Tanya." Tetsuo says greeting her. "Mr. Kagemitsu let you off early?"

"Unfortunately not." She says letting out a sigh. "He asked me to come collect you two for a mission."

"A mission, huh. Sounds fun." Tetsuo says with a smile. 

"Apparently he got a call saying that there was a horde of cursed spirits at an apartment complex forty minutes away."

"I see, but does he think the three of us are enough?" Tetsuo asks her. "I mean, I may be a Semi-Grade 2, but I don't think us three alone can deal with it, especially since we don't know the grading."

"He knows... that's why he's getting Sato and Tobi to join us."

"Who are they?" Dante asks her.

"Just a couple more sorcerers that do other missions. Normal we operate in small teams and spread out the work, however in circumstances like this, bigger teams are formed to deal with the situation." Tanya explains. "Now come on, we have to go."

Dante gets up from the couch, and heads to his room, grabbing his weapon before heading out with Tetsuo and Tanya.

Time passes, and we see the three standing at the parking lot, waiting idly by.

"So... what kind of people are these two anyway?" Dante asks them.

"They're all good." Tetsuo tells him. "Though with Sato, it's best that you do as he says without complaint. He has a tendency to get annoyed quickly to those who make a fuss about things."

While they continue to stand idly by, a black car is seen driving towards them, parking in an available space nearby. Stepping out of the car, we see a young man with short brown hair and an all black outfit with green shoes emerging out, before walking towards them.

"Tetsuo, Tanya, it's a pleasure to work with you again. I take it this is the new guy, Kagemitsu told us about?"

A woman smaller than the boy with long black hair suddenly appears behind him. 

"Wow, he's pretty tall." She says.

The two approach the trio.

"Sorry for being late. The traffic wasn't necessarily in our favor." Sato tells them.

"Nah, this guy just got lost because he doesn't want to rely on the navigator!"

"Shut up, Tobi." He tells the girl.

"So, new guy, what do I call you?"

"O-Oh. My name is Dante."

"No last name? Oh well, simple enough. Have you been given a grading yet?"

Dante merely looks on, unable to answer, before Tetsuo steps in.

"At the moment he hasn't been given a grade. But he was able to assist me with taking down a Semi-Grade 2 without any issue."

Sato merely turns his gaze to Dante, before looking away.

"I guess the more man power we have the better I suppose."

'All right, lets make our way inside." Tanya tells them.

The group of five enter the building, before the door shuts on them.

Chapter End.

Jujutsu Kaisen Cursed Requiem Data Card:

Dante (No Last Name)

* He's 183cm tall.

* Despite not having them too much in his childhood, he often enjoys things like sweets and meat.

* Despite the colour of his right eye being yellow, it's apparently natural.

* He is often considered the dumbass of the three, due to having no basic knowledge of things such as mathematics.