Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Yuji Itadori awakened in a dark room, only dimly lit up by candles. It looked a little like someone's basement.

“You awake yet?”

As he got his bearings, and his brain processed the voice he heard, he noticed that the entire wall was covered in paper talismans. A blindfolded man with white hair, wearing some type of school uniform, was sitting in front of him.

“Ah, Finally! I was getting bored y’know? Good morning!” Blindfold Man said in a voice that sounded like nothing but light-heartedness and sarcasm. It seemed very inappropriate for the situation.

“Uh… mornin’.” Yuji tried to recall how exactly he got here. The man in front of him didn’t seem hostile at least.

My head’s all fuzzy… Something about, curses? Maybe that was an activity with the occult club… Yuji thought as his sleepy mind cleared up.

Memories of what happened in the past few hours start to come back to him. The occult club? Sasaki and Iguchi… Wait, they were in danger or somethin’ weren’t they? That thing with the weird paper around it? I think that was like… a finger?

Right, something attacked them. It looked like… I don’t even know, it looked weird as hell.

Then, it all seemed to hit him at once. Ah, the guy with the wild black hair and pretty eyes! Fushi- something! He told me about the thing me and the others found, and then… We were about to die so… oh yeah… I ate that finger.

Fushi…guro, that was it.

“So, which one are you right now?” Blindfold Man reminded Yuji of his presence. “Actually… the lack of marks and second pair of eyes kinda tell me who’s in control.”

In control? Whatever, who is this guy? No, wait, blindfold, white hair…

…Didn’t this guy beat the shit out of me? No, wait… ‘who’s in control’ he said. That’s right, I got freakin’ possessed or something after swallowing the finger! I guess he technically didn’t beat me up then…

Blindfold Man looked like he was itching to tell him everything that happened, so Yuji stopped trying to overwork his already exhausted brain.

“You’re… you’re that strong guy right? What happened?” Yuji asked.

Blindfold answered with the same smirk that hasn’t left his face since Yuji first laid eyes on him. “I’m Satoru Gojo. I teach the first-years at Jujutsu High.”

“Jujutsu…?” That word sounds familiar… I think Fushiguro said something about that. Dammit, I can’t remember what happened after this guy started beating me- or whatever possessed me- up.

“H-Hey, where’s my friends? Where’s Fushiguro?!” Yuji’s mind finally woke up slightly. He tried to get closer to Gojo, but then he realised his hands and wrists were tied behind the chair this whole time.

It hits him then that he has found himself in a situation that is way more intense than he was ever prepared for.

“I’m not sure if you should be worrying about others right now… Yuji Itadori.” Gojo suddenly spoke up. “But eh, if you have to know, your little occult club friends are just fine, and so is Megumi- ah, did you catch his first name before? Whatever, Fushiguro is safe and sound as well!”

Relief filled Yuji’s body only for a moment. Whatever happened last night was a haze when he woke up, but it slowly but surely became a very clear picture in his mind.

~

“Did you just eat the Cursed Object you idiot?!” Fushiguro yelled out.

Yuji was having a terrible day. He once again got harassed by some sports teacher for ‘wasting his potential’, just because he won’t join a middle school sports club. His grandpa sadly passed away in a hospital bed, leaving Yuji with no family left.

Then he got interrogated about some ‘Special Grade Cursed Object’ by some edgelord named Fushiguro, while he was still in the hospital his grandpa died in. NOW there’s a weird giant creature trying to kill him, the edgelord, and his occult club friends.

A ‘Cursed Spirit’ is what Fushiguro called it, I think.

Yuji quickly explained why he just ate a rotten looking finger. “You said I needed Cursed Energy to beat a Cursed Spirit right?!”

“That object was Special Grade! It’ll kill you! Do you have a death wish?!” Fushiguro came with the late warning. None of this made sense to Yuji, he didn’t even know what ‘Special Grade’ meant, he was simply following his instincts.

“I don’t care, if doing this will give me Cursed Energy, then I can at least prote-“ Yuji abruptly stopped speaking, his body was feeling weird. He started convulsing.

Then, his body suddenly wasn’t his anymore.

-

“Oh shit…” Megumi muttered out. This was worst-case scenario.

The Curse charged at Itadori, but it wasn’t Itadori anymore. In an instant, the Curse got simply obliterated. Megumi could only watch in fear as he knew what has just happened.

No way… that was a one in a million chance. There’s just no way that’s- Megumi’s mind was full of despair all of the sudden.

Itadori stood there for a moment taking in the surroundings. He lifted his arm as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. His hands looked like a monster’s claws and Megumi could see tattoos on his face that definitely were not there before.

…Maybe if I don’t move, he won’t notice me. Megumi thought.

“Aha… Haha! AHAHAHAHAHAA!” Itadori started laughing maniacally. By that point, Megumi was 99% sure that Itadori was gone. The 1% of hope he still had, came from the fact that Itadori’s body was completely intact after eating a Special Grade Cursed Object. Maybe, just maybe, he was still alive in there.

Megumi didn’t have time to find out, he had to think of what he could possibly do to fix this, to stop the Special Grade Cursed Object that has now incarnated in Yuji Itadori.

Ryomen Sukuna…

“Aaah! I knew light was best appreciated in the flesh! It’s been so long since I felt the wind breeze on my face!” Sukuna has taken over Itadori’s body, and he revels in the moment. After being sealed away for god knows how long, he could finally feel and smell the fresh air around him once again.

He rips apart the hoodie Itadori was wearing to let himself breathe everything in easier. “Damn, what a boring first kill in such a long time however! A meek little Cursed Spirit’s no fun! Where are the people?! The women?!”

Sukuna takes in the sights for a moment and chuckles to himself. “Oh… what a wonderful age it has become… I can feel it! Women and children spawning like maggots! THIS’LL BE A MASSACRE!” He laughed like he was high.

Megumi was hoping beyond hope he somehow wouldn’t be spotted, and if he was, that he would be spared. Not that Sukuna is known for his mercy, the opposite actually.

Sukuna stopped laughing and immediately turned around like he felt Megumi’s presence. Dammit… I’m way too banged up from fighting that Curse. Not that I stand a chance against him either way.

Sukuna didn’t kill him right away, he just stared at him, probably sizing up his first human prey in centuries. “Hm, what do we have here? I can sense your Cursed Energy… you a Jujutsu sorcerer?”

Megumi went into a particular stance, the shadows from his Jujutsu Technique appearing around him. He had his hands out in front of him, clenching his fists and making a motion like he’s about to twist open a vault door.

“Well now… don’t tell me, that puddle around you, is that the Ten Shadows Technique…? Oh my! I haven’t seen that in a while… This new era is already amazing!” Sukuna looked extremely excited. “What’s your name, boy?”

“…Fushiguro.” Megumi never imagined himself having a conversation with the King of Curses, but life’s full of surprises apparently.

Maybe I could stall… maybe I can think of something…Please, anything.

…I may have no other choice but to use… THAT Shikigami.

“Uh huh... You look young! You even know how your technique works kid? Do you even know what you’re trying to do right now?” He asked, clearly amused.

“…Under Jujutsu regulations, I must exorcise the Curse known as Yuji Itadori.” Megumi mustered up all the courage he could, and got ready to use his ace in the hole.

“Who? Wait, you’re talking about me? Aha! You’re gonna exorcise me, are you? Bring it on, sorcerer!”

He wasn’t strong enough to take on the King of Curses, but the move he was about to pull might be enough to take him down.

Only 1 finger was consumed, surely Sukuna doesn’t have enough power to take on-

Megumi’s train of thought had to halt there, as Sukuna suddenly reached out with his claw. Megumi gathered all his remaining strength quickly and stepped back to perform the ritual.

I’m so sorry Tsumiki…

“With this treasure, I summon-!”

Out of nowhere, Sukuna hand started twitching, before shooting backwards and grabbing himself by the throat.

“Huh?” They both said in unison.

“What… the… hell?!” Sukuna exclaimed as it looked like he was trying to strangle himself. He turned away from Megumi. “Ha… how the hell… are you able to move?”

Megumi looked on in confusion. What in the world is he doing? Wait… is Yuji Itadori’s body fighting him? But that’s… impossible.

“Um… I’m able to move cause it’s my body?” There’s no way…

That didn’t sound like Sukuna, it sounded like Itadori. He’s somehow still alive, and apparently fighting against Sukuna trying to take over his body. For all Megumi knows, that should be impossible.

And yet, Itadori/Sukuna’s body freezes up for a moment, before relaxing again. When he turns around, the extra 2 eyes that Sukuna should have are gone, and the tattoos on his body begin to fade away.

How did he… No, it doesn’t matter sadly, who knows when he’ll lose control again. My apologies Itadori, but I must still exorcise you.

“Stand still Itadori, you’re cursed. I don’t know when he’ll be back, but I must exorcise you before that happens.” Megumi solemnly declared.

Yuji put his hands up in surrender. “Woah, hold up! It’s fine see? Cursed? I’m fine! More importantly, we’re both hurt, we should get to a hospital!”

Dammit, Sukuna’s marks are gone and he looks normal, but I can’t drop my guard! It could be a trick!

Ugh, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I wish Gojo was here.

“Yo! What seems to be the situation?” A voice came from behind Megumi.

Funny, I thought of him and it’s like I heard him say something like he was actually here.

…Wait.

Megumi quickly turned his delirious head back and saw Satoru Gojo staring back at him.

“Gojo-sensei?! What are you doing here?!”

Gojo didn’t seem to taking his concern seriously. “Welllll, I wasn’t gonna come at first, but then the higher-ups heard about the Special Grade Cursed Object and they started getting annoying about it as usual…”

Megumi just rolled his eyes. Part of him was relieved that Gojo was here to take care of Itadori, but a part of him is also getting second-hand embarrassment from Itadori having to witness Gojo being Gojo.

“Oh, and Suguru was getting so worried about you as well, he practically begged me to go help you out!” Geto was worried about me? Psht, right.

“I seriously doubt all of what you just said. Does Geto even know what we’re doing?” Megumi replied deadpan.

“Jeez, so cold, but you’re right, I was lying about the second part. Man, you’re really messed up by the way!” Gojo pulled out his phone and started taking pictures of Megumi’s face, which got messed up by the Curse that Sukuna easily tore apart earlier. “I’m showing this to Maki.”

“Don’t you dare.” Maki bullied him (light-heartedly) enough as it was.

“Right, anyways! Special Grade Cursed Object, the reason I came here, yup.” Gojo said, trying to get back on track. “So! Did’ya find it yet?”

“Uhm…” Yuji finally spoke up after watching the other two’s interaction. “Sorry, but, I ate that thing…”

“…Really?” Gojo asked after a few seconds of silence.

“Yup.” “He sure did.” Yuji and Fushiguro replied at the same time.

Gojo suddenly got real close to Yuji, inspecting his face with focus. He was suddenly acting a lot more serious than before. “Say, what’s your name?”

Megumi answered for him. “Yuji Itadori. First-year student at Sendai’s Sugisawa Municipal High School.”

Gojo noticed the 2 thin lines that appeared under Yuji’s eyes since he ate the Cursed Object, and came to a conclusion. “Heh, no kidding… They’re combined, they share the same body. That’s kinda funny.”

Gojo backed off and looked Itadori over. “How does your body feel? Do you think you can switch to Sukuna?”

“Sukuna?”

Megumi watched them closely. Right, he still has no clue what’s going on at all. How the hell did a regular human being supress Sukuna?

“The Cursed Object you ate! If you can switch with him, do it. Take control again after about 10 seconds, ‘kay?” Gojo started stretching as if he’s preparing to throw hands. Itadori muttered out a ‘I dunno about this…’ but he was promptly ignored.

“Don’t worry kid, I’m The Strongest!” Itadori had no clue what he meant by that, so that did not reassure him at all. “Megumi! Hold this!”

Gojo suddenly threw what looked like a regular shopping bag at Megumi. “…What’s in this?”

“Kikufuku Mochi.” Gojo casually answered.

“Mochi?! People are dying over here and you’re buying souvenirs?!” Megumi hissed at him.

“Those aren’t souvenirs! I’m eating those on the bullet train ride home. I’m saving one of the cream flavored ones for Suguru-“

Sukuna was suddenly active and jumping in the air right behind Gojo. Seems like Itadori went along with what was asked of him despite his doubts.

“Behind you!” Megumi shouted in warning. I don’t even know why he’s doing this whole song and dance! I get that he wants to test if Itadori really has control, but he’s acting like fighting Sukuna is no big deal! Can he take anything seriously?!

Sukuna swiped at Gojo, but it didn’t hit him at all, despite the fact that Gojo didn’t move a muscle.

“Hah?!” Sukuna yelled in both confusion and anger.

Gojo just grinned at him. “Say, a favorite student of mine is watching, so…” Gojo grabbed Sukuna’s right arm that he used to swipe at him with. “Do you mind if I show off a bit?” Sukuna looked downright shocked at his audacity.

Gojo pulled Sukuna in and elbowed him right in the face, before manhandling his arm to throw him over the shoulder, onto the ground.

Sukuna immediately got up and charged at Gojo again. He threw two quick punches which Gojo easily sidestepped, then went for an uppercut which Gojo narrowly avoided. Gojo seemed to stumble a bit, so Sukuna went for a front punch right to his face.

Gojo very quickly regained his footing however, and ducked under Sukuna’s fist, before driving his fist into Sukuna’s stomach. The force was enough to launch Sukuna to the edge of the balcony.

“Ha… you’re fast…” Sukuna complimented. “Haha! It doesn’t matter what era it is, you Jujutsu sorcerers are always such a pain in the ass!”

He got back on his feet and got ready for another attack. “No matter… I’ll crush you.”

Sukuna punched the ground in front of him with enough force to send debris flying towards Gojo, who didn’t even make an attempt to dodge. It looked like a solid hit.

When the dust cleared however, Gojo was completely untouched. The rubble was simply floating around his body.

“What in the…” Sukuna muttered in awe. He was so concentrated on the sight before him that he didn’t hear Gojo counting up.

“…9, 10! Come out Yuji!”

Sukuna started struggling to keep his second pair of eyes open, and the marks started to fade once again. “Hah… all that was 10 seconds…? Damn! It was just getting interesting too-”

Sukuna went quiet, and Itadori gained back control. Megumi, who has been spectating from the sidelines this whole time, can’t believe his eyes.

He can actually… control Sukuna? Who the hell is this guy?

“I’m bisexual!” Itadori suddenly yelled out.

…

“Huh?” Megumi was baffled by Itadori’s sudden confession.

“Uh, cool? So am I!” Gojo just rolled with it.

“You told me to come out?” Yuji explained with a dumb grin on his face. Megumi could not tell if he was being serious.

At least Gojo seemed amused by Itadori’s antics. “I feel like it was pretty obvious that’s not what I meant, but alright!”

“Haha! Yeah, I know! The joke popped into my head as soon as you said it, then I was debating if saying it would be funny or lame and then it just kinda slipped out!”

Oh god, don’t tell me he has Gojo’s sense of humor, I can’t handle two of them.

“But hey, you’re bi too? Cool! What about you Fushiguro?” Itadori suddenly turned his attention to Megumi.

“That’s none of your business.” Megumi said dryly.

“Awww… I promise I won’t judge you! Or, like, tell anyone else about it! Not that I know who you’re friends with but-“ As Yuji was rambling on, Gojo slowly walked up to him and put his pointing and middle finger to Yuji’s forehead.

After a second, Yuji got knocked out. Gojo caught him before he fell to the ground.

Megumi has no idea how Gojo did that, but there’s a lot of things Gojo can do where Megumi has no idea how he does them, so whatever.

“Well anyways, that settles it, he really can control Sukuna. Well done Gumi!” Gojo said, even though Megumi did nothing. “Now, if he wakes up not possessed, he might have potential to be a safe vessel for Sukuna.”

Gojo gently put Yuji on the ground and turned to face Megumi. “But, what do you think? What should we do with him?” The question should’ve been rhetorical, but it sounded like he was genuinely asking for Megumi’s input.

He’s asking if we should exorcise him… We technically have to, I was going to, but, there’s something about him…

Megumi looked at Itadori’s unmoving body, he looked so peaceful in his sleep. Honestly, this boy intrigued Megumi to no end. His stomach felt funny all of the sudden, he chose to ignore it.

He can control Sukuna for god sake! And… he saved me, as reckless as he was. He might be cursed, but he’s still a person.

I can’t let someone like him die.

“Jujutsu regulations say that we should… execute him.” Megumi paused for a second as Gojo raised his eyebrows, as if telling him ‘Go on’. “But… I don’t want him to die, Gojo-sensei.”

Gojo looked strangely proud of him. “Say no more! I can’t ignore a precious student’s request, leave it to me!”

~

“So, you’re gonna be executed.” Gojo said to Yuji with a deadpan look on his face, after having quickly explained the deal with the Special Grade Cursed Object and how the ‘higher-ups’ feel about it.

“…Huh? Executed?! Just like that?!” Yuji’s face screamed despair. Despite his reckless actions the previous day, he really didn’t want to die just yet.

“Hey man, I tried, the higher-ups wouldn’t budge. But worry not! I have a… temporary solution.” Gojo leaned forward in his chair, which he was sitting in backwards. “Basically, I managed to convince them to… suspend the sentence.”

“Suspend? So it’s on hold for now?” Yuji questioned with hope on his face.

“Exactly. Here, let me explain.” Gojo pulled out an object that looked identical to the finger that Yuji ate. “This here’s the same as the Cursed Object that you consumed. They’re Sukuna’s fingers. There’re 20 in total. We here at Jujutsu High are in possession of 6, including this one I’m holding.”

Yuji didn’t see the math there. “20 fingers? Don’t you mean 10 fingers and 10 toes?”

“Nope, Sukuna has 4 arms.” Makes about as much sense as everything else so far I guess.

“Oh, and also,” Gojo throws the finger up into the air and blasts it into the wall with some sort of magic force, from what Yuji could tell. “-these things are indestructible. That’s how powerful this Curse is.”

Yuji just stared blankly at the hole in the wall Gojo created. “Ah, woopsy daisy! I’ll get that fixed later. Anyways, we don’t have the proper means to seal Sukuna away forever, but you? You can be his vessel, for all 20 fingers.”

Yuji sat there quietly, so Gojo continued. “You see, if you die now, the little part of Sukuna you have within you dies too! The higher-ups wanted to kill you right away, so I told them: ‘Hold on, who knows when a new Sukuna vessel will show up? This could be an opportunity to be rid of Ryomen Sukuna forever! Let’s keep this kid alive, have him consume all 20 fingers, and THEN kill him!’”

Gojo finished his spiel, then gave Yuji a more serious look. “They agreed with me! So, now it’s up to you. Die now, or find and consume all of Sukuna, then die.”

“It sounds like both options end with me dying…” Yuji looked and sounded miserable.

Gojo just chuckled. “I’m sorry Yuji, truly, but this is the best I could do. The higher-ups are way too scared of Sukuna.”

“As they should be!”

A small mouth suddenly appeared on Yuji’s cheek. It was twisted into a sinister grin, and its teeth are razor sharp. The voice belonging to it sounded a lot like-

“Oh? That you Sukuna? I didn’t know you could do that.” Gojo looked on with amusement while Yuji was freaking out.

“What the hell?! Get off my face!”

Sukuna ignored him. “You Jujutsu sorcerers think you’re sooooo clever… You’re gonna ‘kill me’? You think you can take me when I’m at full power, you idiot?!” He started cackling.

Yuji slapped the mouth on his cheek closed. If you listened closely, you could hear mumbles of death threats through his hand. Eventually it was quiet again.

“For what it’s worth, I will try my absolute hardest to find a way to exorcise Sukuna completely while keeping you alive. I promised Megumi I would, it was his request!” Gojo comforted him.

“…Fushiguro asked you to do that?” Yuji was a little touched by that. Fushiguro barely knew him, and yet he specifically requested to keep Yuji alive, even though the thing inside him could apparently be really dangerous.

“Mhm, so, what’s it gonna be?” Gojo asked.

Are you really prepared to enter the mouth of hell kid? Sukuna taunted Yuji from within his head.

What the- Can you shut up?

Nah, I’m gonna be inside this empty little mind of yours for who knows how long. Do you realise how boring that’s gonna be? I’ll be saying a lot of things, none of them nice.

“I’ll do it, I’ll consume all of Sukuna’s fingers.” Yuji barely hesitated. His options weren’t exactly great.

Gojo got up from the chair and made his way over. “Great! I’ll let you go now then. I’m sure you’ve got things to take care of before you leave?”

“Uh… I should go visit Sasaki and Iguchi, you said they were at the hospital right?” Yuji was so focused on checking up on his friends that he almost didn’t register what Gojo said. “…Wait, what do you mean ‘leave’?”

“Oh uuuuhhhh, I’m getting ahead of myself. Tell you what, I’ll take you to the hospital myself and I can explain after you’ve seen your friends okay? We can both take a break from my boring explanations that way.” Yuji nodded as he decided to go along with what Gojo said, he was pretty tired of all this exposition.

As Gojo was untying Yuji’s restraints, someone else was suddenly the room. Yuji didn’t hear them come in at all.

“Satoru, are you done here?” The newcomer had long black hair, partly tied up. He was wearing the same type of uniform that Gojo was wearing.

“Woah! Who are you now?!”

Gojo looked up at the newcomer with a beaming smile. “Suguru! Where’d you come out of? Did I keep you waiting for our date?” Gojo jested.

“Uh… hi there.” Yuji said lamely. He couldn’t explain why, but ‘Suguru’ had the same aura to him as Gojo. Yuji could somehow tell they were both insanely powerful. Their personalities seemed wildly different though.

‘“Ah, you must be Yuji Itadori. Satoru… please tell me why I received a call from one of the higher-ups about the reincarnation of Ryomen Sukuna, and not a call from you?” ‘Suguru’ looked kinda tired. Being close enough with Gojo to casually call him by his first name will probably do that to you.

“…I forgot?” Gojo said sheepishly.

Suguru just stared at him for about 5 seconds, before turning his attention to Yuji.

“A pleasure to meet you. My name is Suguru Geto.”

Chapter Text

Suguru Geto had made some poor choices in his life, to say the least.

Until about a year ago, he was planning to wipe out every non-sorcerer on the planet. Until about a year ago, he was longing for a man he once called his best friend, a man who was basically an enemy of his at that point.

Until about a year ago, Suguru Geto and Satoru Gojo were technically enemies.

About a year ago, Satoru Gojo saved Suguru Geto’s life.

~

Suguru had launched a full scale attack on Kyoto and Shinjuku. Every single Jujutsu sorcerer available stepped in to help stop it in some way.

Suguru himself also had Curse Users on his side however, people who used their Jujutsu abilities for evil. Over the years, Suguru had gained himself a literal cult following. His philosophy about ending the suffering of all Jujutsu sorcerers must’ve sounded great on paper to some people.

The attack was eventually thwarted, with a surprising lack of casualties. Satoru wanted to believe that was because Suguru, deep down, didn’t want to hurt these people. He could’ve easily finished off Satoru’s students, Maki, Toge, Panda. But he didn’t.

His messed up head simply thought that the slaughter of all non-sorcerers was necessary to achieve his goal. Satoru won’t give up trying to convince him otherwise.

If Satoru ever gave up on Suguru Geto, he would never be able to fill that hole inside his heart.

“It’s not too late Suguru. We can- you can stop this, I can take you to Shoko and she can heal you and-”

Suguru chuckled sadly at Satoru’s desperation. “Satoru, please, it is too late, look at what I’ve done…” His voice was hoarse.

Satoru couldn’t help the tears from flowing down his face. Suguru was heavily damaged by Rika, the powerful Cursed Spirit now ‘tamed’ by Yuta Okkotsu.

Rika Orimoto was Okkotsu’s childhood friend, who passed away in a car accident. She’s haunted Okkotsu ever since, attacking anyone who she deemed a threat to him. Only just a few minutes ago did Okkotsu manage to get her under control.

Satoru wanted to be glad that his students were safe, and he was, but it may come at the cost of his best friend’s life, the person who meant more to him than anything in the world.

The man he loves.

“What the hell are you gonna tell the higher-ups? They want my head on a silver platter at this point. Are you gonna tell them that I was possessed by a Curse all this time and, what, you and Okkotsu finally managed to exorcise it?” Suguru laughed humorlessly. “It’s too late, Sato.”

He hasn’t called him ‘Sato’ in a long time. It only crushed his heart more. Suguru Geto is someone that he will never get over or forget about.

Satoru was not gonna let him die here.

Satoru put his hand on Suguru’s wounds, and Suguru gasped. his body felt strange all of the sudden. The damage that Okkotsu and Rika did to him should be fatal, and yet.

“S-Satoru? What the hell are you-”

“RCT, remember?” Satoru smirked. RCT, A.K.A Reverse Cursed Technique. A technique almost every sorcerer can learn, but few actually understand how to grasp its secrets. In very simple terms: RCT allows a sorcerer to heal themselves or others by literally reversing their Cursed Energy.

“I’m nowhere near Shoko’s level, not even close to being in the same league. Hell, I haven’t actually used it in a while! I asked Shoko to teach me ages ago after I first…”

Satoru went quiet. They both remember when Satoru had to use RCT on himself for the first time.

“Satoru, you can’t do thi-!” Suguru tried to push against Satoru in vain, Satoru just pushed him back on the wall he was sitting against.

“Hm? Yeah I can. Again, I’m not great at it, but look, it’s working! You’ll live through this!” Satoru had a slight tremble in his voice.

“You know damn well that’s not what I meant- Sator-!” Eventually Satoru stopped, but he did more than enough to keep Suguru alive long enough to get to an RCT user who actually knew what they were doing.

The list of competent RCT users was really short. As far as Satoru knew, only Shoko was on it.

“Come on Suguru.” Satoru stood up and held his hand out for Suguru. “Let’s go home.”

Suguru just sat there, dumbfounded. He had killed, murdered, butchered. He felt all of them were people who had it coming, but the higher-ups obviously wouldn’t feel the same way. God knows how many innocents may have ended up dead in his attack just now.

He wanted to create a better life for Jujutsu sorcerers, a life where they didn’t have to suffer every day until the day they die. But that meant killing every non-sorcerer on the planet. In the eyes of many, he was evil. He was… a monster.

Not in Satoru Gojo’s eyes, however.

“How, the hell, are you gonna get the elders off your back for doing this? How are your students gonna react to this? I- I just assaulted them!” Suguru questioned, grabbing Satoru’s hand. He was so full of doubt with what Satoru is saying, but he has also been willing to trust Satoru with his life. He didn’t have much to lose anymore anyways.

“Heh, I’ll figure something out. The elders have to listen to me, what are they gonna do without me? I’m The Strongest.”

Suguru got a sad look on his face at that. He looked like he wanted to say something, but he had no fight left in him.

He just had to ask one last question. “How…? How could you possibly forgive-”

“I don’t.”

Suguru got caught off guard by the bluntness of that, seems like Satoru can’t entirely keep up his ‘everything is okay’ façade.

“I don’t forgive you. You fucked up Suguru. You’ve killed a lot of people, maybe more than I’m aware of?” Suguru stayed quiet. “Right, I guess, a part of me just… I really wanna believe that, the person who became a sorcerer to protect the weak, that he’s still in there, somewhere.”

Suguru just stared at him. “…And if he’s not?”

Satoru took off the bandages covering his eyes like a blindfold, letting Suguru stare into them as he spoke.

“Let me put it this way. If you don’t come with me, and join my side at Jujutsu High? If you don’t stop this cultist bullshit, and I think you’re even hinting at continuing to go through with your ‘kill all non-sorcerers’ plan? Well, I won’t hesitate to fire Hollow Purple at you.”

Suguru couldn’t exactly argue with that. He was gonna stop with his plan either way. He thought he was about to die just a minute ago after all. He had no idea what to do right now

“So, what’s it gonna be Suguru? It’s all up to you.”

“…Why would you even want me on your side anymore?” Suguru somberly asked.

Satoru wore a sad smile. “It’s what I’ve wanted for over a decade. I’ve surely earned the right to be a little selfish just this once, right?”

“…Fair enough.” With that, Suguru relented. He walked towards Satoru as he prepared to teleport them away.

“S-Satoru… one more thing. Nanako and Mimiko, those two girls I had with me. Please… they have nowhere else to go. I may be asking too much but-”

“I got it, Suguru. I’ll take care of it.” Satoru reassured him. They took each other’s hand before getting teleported to Shoko’s office.

She, naturally, had a shit ton of questions.

~

“Satoru? Itadori-kun’s coming back.”

Gojo was shaken awake. What went from ‘just resting his eyes’ apparently turned into a nap.

Right, he was with Suguru on a bench, waiting for Yuji to come back from checking on his occult club friends from school in the hospital. After the commotion last night, Gojo had one of the managers from Jujutsu High bring Sasaki and Iguchi to the nearest hospital.

Those two didn’t need to know what went down. I asked Yuji to not tell them anything that even hints towards the existence of Curses. Let’s hope he doesn’t slip up.

“I’m awake, I’m awaaaake…” Gojo didn’t sound awake, but Suguru didn’t bother saying so.

“Take your time, I know you needed your beauty sleep.” Suguru chuckled. Gojo laughed under his breath as he rubbed the sleepiness from his eyes.

Yuji walked up to them looking a little somber. “Yo Yuji! How’d it go? Are your friends okay?” Gojo asked out of genuine concern.

“Huh? Yeah yeah, they’re fine! Well… a little banged up, but they’ll be okay!” That was good, Yuji still seemed a bit depressed though.

Suguru actually took notice before Gojo could say something about it. “What’s wrong Itadori-kun? You look a bit down. Not a fan of hospitals?”

“Uhm… yeah.” Yuji awkwardly responded.

That reminds me… Megumi said he confronted Yuji in that hospital. What was Yuji doing there beforehand?

“Megumi told me you were in that hospital yesterday. Wanna share?” Suguru gave him a look. “Ah, you don’t have to obviously!”

“Oh, nah, it’s fine! Truth is… my grandpa passed away yesterday.”

“Ah, our condolences.” Suguru said respectfully.

“I see, sorry that we’re bothering you with all this stuff at a time like this.” Gojo said. Damn man, what a rough day.

“Thanks… But Gojo-san, can we please talk about what you said about ‘leaving’?” Yuji seemed determined now.

“Uh, right… Basically Yuji- well, I’d say ‘we’d like you to do this’, but you kinda don’t have much choice. You’ll be joining Tokyo Jujutsu High! It’s a high school where Jujutsu sorcerers get taught the ways of being a sorcerer and how to hone their skills. Which, did I mention? You’re technically a Jujutsu sorcerer now.”

“Right… I guess I get all that, but you said ‘Tokyo’ right?”

Suguru took over. “That’s right. In order for us to keep an eye on you, and to train your sorcerer capabilities so that you can aid us in finding Sukuna’s fingers, we’re asking you to relocate to Tokyo.”

Gojo casually threw his arm around Suguru, which surprised Yuji for half a second, and continued. “You’ll be fighting Curses, you will put your life at risk, that’s a guarantee.”

“You know, most people who die a normal death after running into a Curse are lucky. Even when they find you torn to pieces it’s still considered ‘all right’. What I’m saying is, it’ll be a gruesome scene, and we can’t promise you won’t be a victim yourself someday.”

“But we will do our absolute best to train and guide you. Gojo will be your teacher, but you can always come to me for advice too.” Suguru added.

Gojo nodded in agreement. “I know you made a choice yesterday Yuji, but with what we just said in mind, I wanted to ask you again. Die now, or eat all of Sukuna’s fingers, then die. Pick your hell.”

Yuji seemed to get lost in thought. He sat down next to Gojo on the bench. He eventually spoke. “If Sukuna gets eliminated, will fewer people die to Curses?”

Gojo and Suguru shared a look. So far, Yuji’s main concern always seems to be other people, instead of himself. Looks like, as a Jujutsu sorcerer, his heart is in the right place.

“Of course.” Gojo said with a grin.

“Do you still have that finger? The one you blasted into the wall earlier?” Gojo nodded and pulled the finger out of his pocket.

“You blasted it into a wall?” Suguru asked as Gojo handed Yuji the finger.

“Don’t worry about it.” Gojo simply responded.

Without warning, Yuji put the finger into his mouth and swallowed it whole.

Suguru was taken aback by this. “Ita-!” Gojo held his hand up towards Suguru signifying that it’s no big deal. He pretty much expected Yuji would do that. “Satoru, is that safe-”

“What? I saw you quietly moping earlier that you didn’t get to see a non-sorcerer control Sukuna with your own eyes when I told you about it. Here you go!” Suguru still glared at him.

The marks flashed on Yuji’s skin for just a second, but besides that, he manages to completely resist Sukuna’s influence.

This confirms it 100%. We found a perfect vessel for Sukuna. Only once every thousand years does a person with such phenomenal power like this show up.

Gojo’s silently giggling to himself as Yuji just gags from how disgusting the finger tastes. Suguru actually looks impressed at Yuji’s ability.

“Incredible… and he’s not even a Jujutsu sorcerer.” He said in awe. Gojo shot him a glance, which he noticed. He cleared his throat and moved on. “Itadori-kun, are you prepared for what’s to come?”

“Eh, not really.” Yuji replied casually. Suguru gave him a questioning look. “I mean, I really just got dragged into this out of nowhere y’know. I still don’t fully understand why I have to be executed.”

Yuji got up off the bench before continuing. “If defeating Curses will help people, save people, then I’ll take the risk that comes with it. I’ll eat the rest of Sukuna.”

“…I already know how I’m gonna go out.” Yuji finished his little speech.

Gojo clapped his hands together and stood up. “Alright, good stuff! You’re growing on me kid!” He turned to look at Suguru. “Looks like hell’s gonna be fun, eh?”

Suguru couldn’t help but let out a chuckle at Gojo’s antics. “It just might be… Anyways, Itadori-kun, if you can, please get your belongings together by the end of the day, you will leave for Tokyo tomorrow with Satoru.”

“Right!” Yuji got a sudden look of realisation on his face. “Ah, wait! I meant to ask how Fushiguro’s doing? I couldn’t find him in the hospital.”

“He’s doing fine.” A voice said right behind Yuji.

Yuji turned his head so fast he almost breaks his neck. “Fushiguro! Heeeeyyyy, you’re looking goooooood! Real good”.

“…Thank you? I’m covered in bandages.” Aww, little Gumi can’t take a compliment!

Megumi might actually attempt to kill Gojo on the spot if he said that out loud right now.

“Itadori-kun here will be joining us, he will be enrolling into the same class as you Fushiguro-kun.” Suguru informed.

“Yeah, I figured that would be the case.” He responded neutrally. Gojo’s gotten better at reading Megumi over the years, but he couldn’t tell if he was happy or sad about this news.

“Let’s part ways for now gentlemen! Yuji, I expect you bright and early at the station ‘kay?” With that, Gojo took Suguru’s hand and walked off. “Let’s go Gumi!”

Megumi got a bit red in the face at the nickname. “I’m coming!” He yelled out. He ignored Yuji asking ‘Gumi?’ and walked after Gojo and Suguru. “Bye, Itadori.”

“Ah, see you tomorrow then?” Yuji laughed. Gojo just had to smile. Looks like Megumi found himself a friend. They grow up so fast…

“Whatever you’re thinking that interaction was, stop thinking.” Megumi said as he walked up next to him, out of Yuji’s earshot now.

“Huh?! I didn’t say anything!” He sounded genuinely offended that Megumi would ever think Satoru Gojo had something mischievous in mind.

“No… but you had that look on your face Sato.” Gojo couldn’t believe this. His pseudo son and his beloved were teaming up on him!

“What look?! Oh, I get it, you’re saying I’m ugly…” He sniffed as if he was about to cry. Both Suguru and Megumi just rolled their eyes, one more fondly than the other.

“You are ugly though.” Megumi threw in.

“Pfft, good one! Do you know how many beautiful ladies have given me their numbers without me even asking?”

“I recall you telling me that one of them was a middle-aged teacher.” Suguru brought up. “…You were 16.”

“We don’t talk about that Suguru.”

“That woman should’ve been fired.”

“Suguru, please.”

-

Tokyo Prefectural Jujutsu High School. A high school where teenagers learn ‘sorcery’. Yuji has learned in the last day and a half that there are some things in life you just have to accept.

Still… How the hell did I get fully introduced to a whole new world of people and politics like this, literally overnight?

He was walking alone with Gojo on school grounds, they were gonna go meet the principal of this place. Fushiguro was already there, and Geto had to take care of some business regarding his own students.

The buildings looked very old-fashioned, they were huge though. The entire place was pretty massive, it was more like a college campus.

“So, Gojo-sensei… I can call you that now right?” Gojo has technically already taught him a bunch about Curses and stuff, so he’s practically already Yuji’s teacher.

“Call me whatever you feel comfortable with! You can even call me Satoru if you want, I call you Yuji after all.” Talking to Gojo was surprisingly easy, his eccentric personality made any and all tension disappear.

“I’ll just call you Gojo-sensei! So, first of all, I wanted to ask, how many students are in my class?” Yuji asked.

“Oh right, I forgot to mention that. There’s only three first-years, including you!” Gojo answered.

“O-Oh… that seems kinda low?” Just three students for a whole year of students seemed crazy to him.

“Jujutsu sorcerers are scarce these days kid!” Gojo responded. “We’re really struggling out here, every new potential sorcerer we find is a miracle.”

“I see… So, second, who are the other teachers here?” Yuji figured that Jujutsu teachers were just as hard to find as students.

“Well, you’ve met Suguru Geto. He teaches the second years. Oh, he’s also my best friend in the whole wide world, so you better show him respect!” Gojo joked. “Then let’s see… Well, to be frank, that’s kinda it?”

“Eh? You said this school has four years right? There’s only two teachers for four groups of students?” The need for Jujutsu sorcerers was a lot more dire than Yuji thought.

“Well, basically, we only have two groups of students, at the moment.” Yuji got even more confused, so Gojo elaborated. “See, the fourth years are basically never at the school, they’re always overseas doing dangerous missions. You could say the fourth year is the internship phase.”

Gojo cleared his throat. “And the third years are both… suspended.”

“Sounds like there’s a story there…” Gojo just goes ‘mhm’. Yuji takes that as a sign that he shouldn’t worry about it. “So, that’s it? How many second years are there?”

“There’s four, but one of them is on an assignment all the way in Africa. So, in total, there’s gonna be 6 of you for now.”

Gojo seemed to remember something. “Oh yeah, when I said ‘that’s basically it’ for the teachers? We have ‘managers’ here we also know Jututsu, and you can ask them for help or advice if you want, but they’re not really trained sorcerers for the most part.”

“The only other real ‘teacher’ here is a guy named Atsuya Kusakabe, he taught the third years before they got suspended, you might see him around though!” Gojo finished.

“I see, no further questions sir!” They stopped outside a large building. It was almost time for the meeting with the principal of Jujutsu High, Masamichi Yaga.

“Ah right, Yuji, forgot to mention.” Gojo ignored Yuji going ‘You sure forget to mention a lot of things…’ and continued. “Uh, just stay on your toes in there! If you mess up somehow, the principal might just get you rejected for admission.”

“Huh?! I can still get rejected right now?!”

“Oh? You’re not the leader here then, Blindfold? I thought you were ‘The Strongest’.” Sukuna’s mouth appeared on Yuji’s cheek again. “Heh, any hierarchy not based on strength is boring as hell. How disappointing…” He sighed.

Yuji slapped against the second mouth that was on his face to make Sukuna disappear again, but the mouth instead moved over to the hand that Yuji just used to slap himself.

“Oh I won’t forget about you anytime soon, you’re in my sights now. ‘Satoru Gojo’, was it? Here’s a promise: when I make this kid’s body mine, you’ll be the first one I kill! And I think I’ll make ‘Fushiguro’ watch.” Sukuna threatened.

Gojo, as expected, didn’t take it seriously. “Ooh, I’m in the sights of the great Ryomen Sukuna? What an honor!”

Yuji waved his hand around trying to somehow shake Sukuna’s mouth off. “Sorry about that, he still does that, it’s even worse in my head. He wouldn’t stop talking to me yesterday, it’s kinda annoying…”

Sukuna was still on his hand, Yuji just slapped it again. “Y’know, you, Fushiguro, and Geto-sensei kinda talk about him like he’s some sort of celebrity. Is he really that famous?”

“Ryomen Sukuna. four arms, two faces. He is a demon of legends. Over a thousand years ago, he was actually a human that existed!” Gojo went into story time.

Damn… I have a really old man living inside me.

Gojo continued the tale. “In the golden age of Jujutsu, many sorcerers sharpened their skills against Sukuna, but they all ultimately fell. Even after his death, Ryomen Sukuna would traverse the ages as a Cursed Object. Us Jujutsu sorcerers can’t even destroy his remains.”

“He is, without a doubt, The King of Curses!” Gojo ended it with.

Whenever Sukuna took control of his body, Yuji was still able to see through his eyes. He couldn’t do anything though, it was like he was just a spectator.

He saw how easily Sukuna tore apart that one Curse, how scared Fushiguro looked, how fast and powerfully he moved in the short brawl against Gojo. And that was just with 1 finger!

“If he completely regained his power… would he be stronger than you, sensei?”

Gojo crossed his arms and contemplated it for a moment. “Hmm… fighting 20 finger Sukuna? I’ll admit, that would be a bit difficult.”

Psht, ‘a bit’? Yuji heard Sukuna mock Gojo in his head. He decided to ignore him.

“Would you lose?” Yuji asked.

Gojo responded with all the nonchalant confidence that someone that calls themselves ‘The Strongest’ would have.

“Nah, I’d win.”

“Satoru! You’re late! Late by eight minutes!”

Masamichi Yaga was quite an imposing figure in Yuji’s opinion. He was way taller and wider than both him and Gojo, and his face was pretty intimidating. Yuji couldn’t read his eyes cause of the goggles he was wearing. He had that same problem with Gojo.

What Yaga was doing wasn’t particularly scary though. It looked like he was… knitting?

That looks so silly… This scary old dude is making cute dolls!

“Sheesh, why are you so angry?” Gojo groaned. “Cut me some slack, you’re busy making dolls anyways, 8 minutes is no big deal right?”

Yaga grumbled before turning his attention to Yuji, which made Yuji flinch. “So, you’re the kid?”

‘Stay on your toes.’ Gojo-sensei said… Right, stay composed, you got this.

He made a deep bow. “I’m Yuji Itadori! I’m 15 years old! I’m bisexual! I’m into girls like Jennifer Lawrence and guys like Sasuke from Naruto! Nice to meet you sir!”

“Why are you here?” Yaga was very forthright.

…Is that good or bad?

Yuji straightened his back. “Um, for an interview? To join Jujutsu High and learn Jujutsu?”

“Beyond that.” Yaga clarifies. “You learn the ways of Jujutsu sorcery, then what?”

Yuji didn’t understand where this was going. “Uh… I’m gonna collect all of Sukuna’s fingers and eat them?”

“Why?” Yaga asks, incredibly blunt. “Let me put it this way: people you don’t know are dying every single day from all kinds of things. Are you saying you can’t accept their deaths just because it’s caused by a Curse?”

“Oh boy, here we go.” Gojo sighed, amused.

“I mean… unlike other things, I can actively prevent people from dying to Curses can’t I?” Yuji thought his reasoning was fine enough. Can’t he save people just because?

Yaga wasn’t satisfied. “Why, Itadori. Why do you want to prevent people from dying so badly? We all die eventually.”

What is this guy’s problem? Whatever… if he wants a ‘proper’ reason then…

Yuji thought of his grandfather, Wasuke Itadori. When he died a day and a half ago now, he said something to Yuji before he passed. It’s hard to forget the pleading words of a dying man who raised him.

‘Save people. When you die, make sure you’re surrounded by people you love.’ he pretty much said. Grandpa may have been grumpy and stubborn, but he raised me the best he could after my parents died when I was young. Grandpa is the reason I’m here today.

I won’t fail his last ever request to me.

“It was a last request from my grandpa… He told me to help people in any way I can, so I’m going to. I’m not really concerned with the details.” Yuji hoped that would be solid enough.

“…You’re gonna fight Curses cause someone else asked you to?” Yaga was expressionless.

“…Well, ‘fighting Curses’ isn’t what he said but-”

“Disqualified.” The principal said, out of the blue. One of the dolls next to him suddenly stood up, which is not something dolls normally do.

“T-The doll is moving?!” Yuji said, bewildered.

“Her name is Cathy.” Yaga casually said. “It’s a Cursed Corpse, a doll infused with my Cursed Energy.”

Cathy charged straight at Yuji and sent a punch flying towards him. Yuji barely blocked it with his backpack. He felt the power behind it though.

How is a tiny doll so strong?!

“You’ll be more honest with your back against the wall. So, until you give me a worthy answer, she’ll keep attacking.” Yaga explained.

Gojo seemed content just watching from the sidelines, so Yuji accepted that he would just have to solve this himself. “Look man, it’s not just ‘someone else’ okay? It was my grandpa, he raised me! He taught me to be kind and respect women and stuff!”

Yuji launched Cathy with a punch of his own, which sent her bouncing all over the place, but she didn’t stop at all.

Right, it’s a doll. I don’t know how ‘Cursed Corpses’ work, but it probably doesn’t feel pain.

“As far as I’m concerned, a family member is also just ‘someone else’ when it comes to my question.” Yaga kept lecturing him. Cathy managed to hit Yuji square in the face, sending him flying into the wall.

“Jujutsu sorcerers are always, always, at risk of death. This job is unpleasant. You have to have motivation, and the right amount of craziness. And you want to do it, you wanna risk your life, just because someone asked you to? That reasoning may be too crazy!” Yuji had a hard time listening with Cathy still pounding on him.

“I would’ve preferred if you said you’re doing this to postpone your execution, that would’ve been more honest at least!”

Yuji was getting really frustrated now. “Shut up! I-” Yaga didn’t let him finish.

“I guess you can blame your granddad when a Curse tears you apart then?!”

“…Sheesh dude, you’re really mean…” Yuji sadly responded, Yaga’s statements hit way too deep.

“Hmph, the most effective way to teach, in my opinion, is to tell your students the exact words they need to hear to make a realisation about themselves. Cruel or not.” That was really vague, in Yuji’s opinion. You’re just kinda being an asshole man…

“I thought I wasn’t your student yet-” Yuji groaned, before getting cut off by Cathy, who came back for more. He could hear Gojo giggling at that one.

“You’re a potential student, still counts.” Cathy beat Yuji while he was down. None of her punches really caused any injuries, but they still hurt. “Listen, I know it’s not always easy to describe how you feel in words. But, I can say this for sure: no sorcerer dies without regret! Do you have regrets?”

Yuji focused up and stood in preparation for Cathy, who was jumping at him once again. Yuji steeled his mind and stood against Yaga’s words, no matter how much they might hurt him.

“I’ll ask you one more time, Yuji Itadori! Why are you here?!”

Yuji caught Cathy in his grasp as the words he was looking for finally came to him.

“I’m here… because consuming Sukuna is something only I can do. I am his ‘vessel’.” Yaga made no change in expression so far.

“Yeah, I could ignore it, run away from the execution, just move on with my life. But ignoring it won’t make it go away!”

It looked like Yuji was trying to choke Cathy out, which was probably impossible since Cathy is a doll. “Why am I here, Yaga-sensei? It’s not because I can’t accept people dying because of Curses. It’s because I can’t accept people dying because of me. Because I alone could’ve stopped it, and did nothing.” Gojo was looking ever so slightly impressed.

“You could say it doesn’t involve me, but I wouldn’t be able to convince myself it’s not my fault if I did nothing. I can’t say what I’ll be thinking of my life when I die, but…” Yuji paused for just a second.

“…I’m not gonna regret the way I live! How I live is up to me! No one else! And you don’t get to tell me that answer’s ‘unworthy’!”

Gojo had a big proud smile on his face the whole speech.

“Satoru, show him his room and explain the rules to him.” Yaga told Gojo, who nodded.

Wh- Just like that?

“You pass! Welcome to Jujutsu High.” Yaga grinned and reached out his hand for Yuji to grab. He was suddenly way less intimidating.

Well, as intimidating as one can be when they were introduced to Yuji sitting on the floor, legs crossed, making dolls.

Before Yuji could grab his hand, Cathy came in for one last punch that rattled his skull.

Yaga’s face turned sheepish. “Oops, forgot to turn that off.”

“This is your room!” Gojo announced after leading Yuji through the dorms, which were way too big considering there were only six students right now, including Yuji.

His room was nice, very standard. A bed, a desk and chair, a closet. Yuji was excited to have his own room despite its simplicity.

He immediately began to unpack the stuff he brought from his room back home. Including a poster of Jennifer Lawrence that he hung up on the wall, first thing.

“Hey Yuji, you don’t have to fight y’know? I can easily go find all the fingers with Suguru, Megumi’ll help too. You can just wait here the whole time, if you want.” Gojo offered him.

Yuji was offended, honestly. “No! I said I’d do it didn’t I? …Though it would be kinda funny to see Fushiguro bring me a finger, all beaten up from fighting, while I’m just chilling in my room.”

“Heh, true.” Gojo agreed.

“Also… no offence sensei, but, if you and Geto-sensei are so strong, why haven’t you found all the fingers yet?” Yuji asked, almost sarcastically, but he was also genuinely curious why these things were so hard to find.

“Haha! You caught me! I was just testing you, you are absolutely gonna fight.” Gojo looked stupidly smug while saying that.

“Are the fingers really that hard to find…?” Yuji asked, a little worried at the prospect of doing a task that even two strong Jujutsu sorcerers struggle with.

“You see, some Sukuna fingers like to… keep quiet, as it were. Some might have already been consumed by a Cursed Spirit. So yeah, finding Sukuna fingers has been a giant pain. But hey, now we have you!”

Yuji gave a questioning look, so Gojo further explained.

“Think about it, Sukuna wants his power back too right? And wouldn’t it make sense that, since every finger is a part of Sukuna, the part of Sukuna inside will be able to sense where the other fingers are? And wouldn’t he want to lead you to them so you can eat them?”

Yuji got the message. “I’m like a metal detector for the fingers…” He whispered in awe. “I’m not sure if Sukuna’s thrilled about speeding up his execution though…”

“Heh, I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t see it as speeding up his execution… To him it’s probably more like speeding up the execution for the rest of the world.”

Ha! Gojo knows me so well already… Sukuna popped up in Yuji’s head. He’s right y’know, at full power, I won’t be the one executed kid…

Shut up already…

Actually, I think I finally recall who he reminds me of. He wouldn’t happen to be an ancestor to Sugawara? Ah, right, you don’t know who that is… You’re really worthless to me you know that?

The more Sukuna talks, the more Yuji wants to somehow reach into his brain and rip his voice out.

“Huh? You’re next door?” A voice sounded in the hall.

Yuji recognized that voice. He peaked out to find Fushiguro standing there, the bandages were off his face.

“Hey, Fushiguro! You’re looking even better than before!” Fushiguro didn’t look all that amused. He completely ignored Yuji and looked at Gojo.

“Gojo-sensei, there were plenty of empty rooms, was this necessary?”

“Well excuse me for wanting you to socialize…” Gojo pouted.

“I’ll be spending enough time with him as it is…” Fushiguro whined. On the contrary, Yuji was excited about getting to know Fushiguro.

He’s kinda cool… I like his hair, his eyes are pretty too, and well… he pretty much saved me, didn’t he? Aw he cares about me, that nonchalant attitude isn’t fooling me!

Gojo ignored Fushiguro’s protestations. “It’s fine Gumi! Anyways, that’s it for today Yuji, get settled in ‘kay? The three of us are going out tomorrow! We’re gonna pick up the last first year!”

Gojo walked away from them. Leaving Yuji and Fushiguro alone. “’Pick up’? The other one’s not here yet?” Yuji noticed Fushiguro glancing into his room.

I kinda hope he didn’t see the Jennifer Lawrence poster…

“It’s a whole thing.” Fushiguro didn’t elaborate beyond that. He doesn’t seem to ever talk more than what he deems necessary.

“So… after all this time, I think we should greet each other properly, no?” Yuji suggested, holding out his hand.

Fushiguro stared at him with a tired look, but he eventually seemed to accept the fact that Yuji would be his next door neighbor for the coming days.

“Yeah, sure.” He took Yuji’s hand and shook it.

“I’m Yuji Itadori! Nice to meet you!”

“…Megumi Fushiguro.” Yuji didn’t miss the corners of Fushiguro’s lips slightly going up into a very small smile.

Chapter Text

Yuji and Fushiguro got ready in Yuji’s room to go to the train station where they would be meeting the last first year.

Before they left, Yuji received a school uniform from one of the managers, kinda the same as what Gojo and Fushiguro wear.

Officially a part of the Jujutsu crew. He supposed.

“Look Fushiguro! It has a hoodie!” Yuji noted.

“You can customize your uniform upon request. Gojo-sensei must’ve called that in.”

It’s not like Yuji necessarily preferred hoodies, he can actually be pretty indecisive about his clothing most of the time.

Still, I like the uniform, and I appreciate the thought from Gojo-sensei! Yuji thought.

“Careful Itadori, Gojo-sensei’s quirky like that.” Fushiguro stated.

So I’ve noticed…

“So hey, Fushiguro, who exactly is this person? Gojo said I was the third first year, but I got here before them?”

“They got admitted a while ago, actually. This is an unusual school, and everyone has different circumstances.” Yuji couldn’t argue with that.

“What do you think they’re like? Do you think we’ll get along?” Yuji gasped in worry. “What if they’re a massive jerk?!”

“…I don’t see why it matters, but for what it’s worth, if they are a ‘massive jerk’ to you or me, I’m sure Gojo-sensei and Geto-sensei will shut that down real quick.” Fushiguro reassured him. “We should get going now, Gojo-sensei will meet us there.”

“Right!” Yuji agreed as he followed Fushiguro outside.

Once they arrived and met up with Gojo, they had a bit of time to kill, so they started walking down the busy street looking for entertainment. “Why are we in Harajuku anyways?” Fushiguro asked.

“Dunno! That’s where she wanted to meet.” Gojo answered.

Wait, ‘she’? Damn… I didn’t even stop to think that the Jujutsu sorcerer joining us is a girl… I’m sorry women, I’m a failure…

Before Yuji could spiral about his failure as a feminist, he noticed a stall that sold popcorn and ran towards it like his life depended on it.

He ended up buying a few souvenirs. Gojo, alongside being really strong, handsome, and funny, was also apparently rich. He had no problem letting Yuji and Fushiguro share the wealth.

If someone told me a week ago I’d be living in Tokyo with a rich teacher who lets me spend his money however I want…

…Okay well, compared to the other things that have happened lately, I guess that’s not too crazy.

They eventually returned to the entrance of the station when it was time. After some waiting, Gojo seemed to find who he was looking for, and Yuji tried to follow his eyes to see where he was looking, which was hard because Yuji couldn’t see his eyes behind that blindfold.

He eventually spotted a short girl with hair that was cut into a short bob and seemingly dyed orange. She looked like she was wearing the same uniform as him and Fushiguro. This must be the first year.

She wasn’t carrying a bag, but she had a small pouch and a wooden handle of something attached to her hip.

Wait, is that a… hammer?

-

Nobara Kugisaki is convinced she’s a city girl accidentally birthed in the countryside.

She hated the village she grew up in. The atmosphere sucked, the people were awful, her mom abandoned her as soon as she awakened her Cursed Technique, her grandma was more concerned with training Nobara’s Technique rather than making sure she was happy. It was a nightmare.

The last two technically didn’t have anything to do with the village itself, but it still sucked.

She only liked two people who lived there, and one of them moved away early on too, just fantastic. Nobara hated to leave her one remaining friend behind, but she couldn’t take another minute in that godawful place.

The moment she received the offer to join Jujutsu High and permanently move to Tokyo. Her mind was made up.

She hoped she could reunite with her best friend one day, they promised they’d find each other, someday.

New place, new chances… Now, priorities. I wonder where I could find a model agency to hire me?

Upon stepping off the station and making her way outside, she immediately found a man who fit the bill of a desperate model scout. She walked up to him as he was quickly losing a potential client, and put her hand on his shoulder.

“Hey, you’re looking for models right? What about me?” She thinks she didn’t sound too threatening.

“Wah! A-Ah, s-sorry, oh would you look at the time I have to-” Apparently she did, the dude looks scared out of his mind. He tried to scurry away from her real fast.

“The hell’s your problem? Hey! What’s wrong with me huh? Don’t just run away!”

“N-Nothing’s wrong! I’m just real busy- b-bye!” Nobara let him go, people were staring now. She didn’t feel like getting arrested for disturbing the peace the moment she got here.

“Should we go talk to her?” She faintly hears behind her.

“Hah?” She went while turning her head, wondering who was brave enough to whisper about her behind her back.

She saw the culprits, they stood out like sore thumbs, they were wearing the same uniforms as her. She concluded that they must be from Jujutsu High and walked towards them.

“Geez, that guy completely turned her down, that’s embarrassing.”

Some schmuck with pink hair, wearing some dumbass sunglasses, has the gall to call me embarrassing?

“…Yeah, so are you!” The guy next to Pink Hair grumbled.

Thank you.

“Hi there! We’re from Jujutsu High. You’re the new student correct?” The dude with the blindfold on was the only one to greet her properly.

How can he see?

Questions like that could come later. Nobara supposed it was time for introductions.

“The name’s Nobara Kugisaki. Rejoice boys! You get to hang out with a beautiful girl like me from now on. Lucky you!” She made her statements loud and clear.

“Hi! I’m Yuji Itadori! I’m bisexu-” Urchin Hair gave him an elbow to the side while muttering something that sounded like ‘Stop greeting people like that.’ “I’m… from Sendai!”

“Megumi Fushiguro.” Went Urchin Hair.

Ooh dear, I have my work cut out for me. Nobara sighed internally.

Pink Hair looks like an actual potato, he probably ate his own boogers as a kid. I think he was about to say he’s bisexual, which is cool I guess, but why did Urchin Hair stop him from saying that? Don’t tell me someone at the school’s some huge bigot… I’ve dealt with that enough back home.

Then there’s Urchin Hair… ‘Ooh look at me I greet people by saying only my name cause I’m dark and mysterious.’ Man, shut up. You probably stop on the sidewalk specifically so you can crush an ant you saw on the ground.

This shit… sucks ass.

From their point of view, Nobara took a 2 second look and let out a deep sigh. “Sheesh… how unlucky. Yo, you’re my teacher, Gojo, correct?”

Gojo looked ready to assist, good, Nobara had a very important question. “That’s right! You good to go Nobara?”

…Never gave you permission to use my first name, but whatever.

“I just have one question for you before I go anywhere with you.” Nobara said. Pink Hair looked worried like she was about to say she wasn’t joining after all.

“Are there any girl students?” She asked completely sincerely.

“…Huh?” Pink Hair let out.

If Gojo was shocked at her question, he did a solid job of hiding it. “We have… one? One of the second years is a girl? She’s not at the school right now, but she’ll be back in a week!”

“Just one?” She sighed. She just felt way more comfortable around women than men. “Whatever, that’ll do, let’s get going.”

She thinks she can hear Itadori muttering: “Damn, I didn’t think of the fact that one of the second years could’ve been a girl either… what have I become?”

Is this guy like, okay?

“Where exactly are we going now?” Fushiguro asked Gojo.

“Well, we finally have all three of you together, and two of you have never been in Tokyo… So, let me give you guys a tour of Tokyo!”

Oh hell yeah, my new teacher fucking rules.

Nobara and Itadori both gasped in excitement. Seems like he shared the same longing to see all that Japan has to offer as her. They both even made the exact same motion with their hands. Fushiguro just seemed annoyed at Gojo’s proposal.

They jumped at Gojo with joy, Itadori even throwing his arms around him. “Disneyland, Disneyland, Disneyland!” Itadori chanted.

“Disneyland’s in Chiba moron! Let’s go to Chinatown!” Nobara countered.

“Chinatown’s in Yokohama!”

“Well Yokohama’s in Tokyo isn’t it?!”

“It’s not.” Fushiguro threw in his 2 cents.

“Silence!” Gojo said. Nobara and Itadori both got on one knee at the same time, like royal guards reporting to their king.

She barely knew this guy, but they were so in sync you’d think their souls were telepathically linked somehow. Fushiguro gave them a weird look.

“I’m glad you two are already getting along, but I’ve already decided our destination. We’re headed to Roppongi!”

Nobara and Itadori shared an excited look.

-

Yuji and Kugisaki have never felt more betrayed in their lives.

The place they were at might’ve been Roppongi, Yuji couldn’t tell at all though. An old abandoned building, which was giving off a really weird energy Yuji couldn’t describe, definitely wasn’t what he pictured. Tokyo was supposed to be a beautiful place from what he’s seen in pictures.

Kugisaki very loudly made it clear that it wasn’t the fabulous sight she had in mind either.

“Oh yeah, way to mess with us country folk man, real funny! I swear to god I’m never trusting another man ever again-” She went on like this for a while.

“There’s a Curse here! There’s a cemetery as well as the abandoned building, a Curse spawning here was bound to happen.” Gojo explained to Yuji.

“Are graves like a hot spot for Curses?” Yuji wondered. He’s already gotten over the betrayal, maybe cause he was a little more used to Gojo’s antics than Kugisaki.

“It’s not really the cemetery itself, the fear that a lot of people have of cemeteries is what spawned the Curse.” Fushiguro clarified. Yuji made a noise of understanding.

Kugisaki stopped her rambling. “Hold up, you didn’t know that? You are a sorcerer right?”

Yuji looked at her sheepishly. “Ah… I kinda, only just started? Like a day ago?

Kugisaki looked bewildered. “Eh? Most people’s Jujutsu Techniques awaken at the age of 4. Did no one ever tell you anything about it or are you some extremely late bloomer?”

“Right, you don’t know his deal. About that…” Fushiguro spoke up. “Well, Itadori here’s kind of a special case.”

Aw, he called me special!

“He uh… wasn’t a Jujutsu sorcerer a few days ago, then he consumed a Special Grade Cursed Object, somehow survived, and that gave him enough Cursed Energy to become a sorcerer.” Fushiguro summarized for Kugisaki.

“…He ‘consumed’ a Special Grade Cursed Object?” She questioned.

“Yeah, he… ate it.” Fushiguro said with second-hand embarrassment. “Heard of Ryomen Sukuna?”

“Uh… yeah… I think so, sure.” Nobara was naturally taken aback by all this.

Yuji felt the need to defend his frankly heroic actions that day. “I did it to save him!”

“You ate a Cursed Object?!” Kugisaki just yelled.

“It looked like a finger!”

“THAT’S EVEN WORSE!” Yeah, she’s not wrong. I don’t know why I thought that would make it better.

“That is SO unsanitary! No way no way no way, get away from me!” She backed away from Yuji while crossing her forearms into an X, like he had the plague.

“I agree with her honestly.” Fushiguro unhelpfully added.

So much betrayal today…

Gojo looked at the interaction with fondness. There was work to be done though.

“Yuji, Nobara.” They stood to attention. “To put it simply, you two are… unproven.” Nobara looked like she was about to protest. “Unproven to me, I mean! This Curse will be up to you two, I wanna see what you can do! Think of it as a field test.”

Kugisaki looked upset, Yuji wasn’t thrilled either. “I thought only Jujutsu sorcerers and other Curses can exorcise Curses… I don’t know any of those ‘Jujutsu Techniques’.”

“Is this guy for real?” Kugisaki stuck her thumb out at Yuji while asking Fushiguro.

“Unfortunately, yes.” Why are they teaming up on me?! Sensei! I’m being bullied!

“Well Yuji, you do have Cursed Energy inside you… I’ll have to teach you to control that some other time. For now, take this!” Gojo handed him a big ass knife. “It’s called Slaughter Demon!”

“Pfft, lame…” Kugisaki muttered.

“That’s not just a knife Yuji, it’s a big knife. It’s also a Cursed Tool, a weapon infused with Cursed Energy. With this you can kill Curses!” Gojo told him. It was hard to explain what it felt like, but Yuji could indeed feel the Cursed Energy inside it somehow.

“Cool, whatever, let’s go Itadori.” Kugisaki said impatiently. Yuji wasn’t sure if she was more irritated by the Curse or by having to work with him.

Gojo called out as he and Kugisaki were entering the building. “One more thing Yuji! Don’t let Sukuna out, no matter what. He’ll kill the Curse, sure, but…” Gojo seemed to look past him, at Kugisaki. “Let’s just say he might not stop there, got it?”

“Yeah, got it! You can count on me!” Yuji smiled. He turned around and followed Kugisaki inside.

As they went in, Fushiguro walked up behind Gojo. “Hey, let me go too. We need to keep an eye on Itadori don’t we?”

Gojo just got a stupid grin on his face. “Hm? Miss him already?” Fushiguro just scoffed at that. “You’re still recovering Megumi. I wanna see what Nobara can do.”

-

Uuuuuuugh… Curse extermination as soon as I get here? Whatever, let’s get this over with. I don’t wanna be around this finger eating idiot any longer than I have to.

The building was abandoned alright, it was a mess, not a soul to be found. Nobara felt the aura of a Curse though, it’s easier to detect Cursed Energy when you’re actively searching for it.

Itadori was just looking around aimlessly. It’s like dealing with a toddler…

“Yo, Pinky, I’ll start up top and work my way down, you start from the bottom. Let’s make this quick and go get some sushi, okay?” Nobara was already on her way up the stairs by the time she finished her sentence.

“Hey, shouldn’t you take this more seriously? Curses are dangerous y’know.”

The dude who didn’t even know how Curses spawn is trying to lecture me about how Curses are dangerous. Typical.

That ticked her off. She kicked him in the torso, which spun him around and made him fall to his knees. “Get moving! I don’t need to be lectured by a complete newbie!”

“Geez! What did I say?! I can’t tell what your deal is at all!” Yuji groaned as he got up.

“Which is why neither girls nor boys want you!” Nobara shouted down the stairs.

“How would you know?! Are you even popular enough yourself to talk…” Nobara was already long gone.

-

…How did she know I like boys… That’s a strong gaydar… or maybe she knew what I was trying to say earlier before Fushiguro interrupted me.

Yuji was struggling with Kugisaki. When he said he hoped the third first year wasn’t a jerk, he supposes, it could’ve been a lot worse than her.

She wasn’t exactly being a jerk for no reason. It just didn’t take much to set her off, and he couldn’t get a read on her at all.

Great, my classmates are two sides of the same emotional mess coin…

Yuji suddenly felt a presence above him.

He immediately went into action, grabbing the Cursed Tool that Gojo gave him and slashing at whatever it was that tried to sneak attack him.

It was definitely a Curse. It was 4-legged, with a caterpillar bottom half and an almost human chest, with the arms of a praying mantis. It was kinda disturbing, but not much more disturbing than the Curse that was at the school, which was also the first Curse Yuji ever saw.

I wonder what other Curses look like… How messed up can they get?

“D-Do you need a receipt?”

“It can talk?” Yuji said to no one, surprised. “Whatever… need to exorcise it now. I’ve got this… I’ve got this!”

Yuji psyched himself up and went for a head-on attack. It was a trick though, as the mantis Curse swiped at him with its claw, Yuji slid under it and cut one of its legs open along the way.

Yuji got behind the Curse, and as it struggled, Yuji cut one of its legs completely off, it bled purple.

Ew.

Yuji quickly finished it off by jumping on top of it and planting the knife into its head upon landing.

Yuji sat there for a moment to savor his first Curse exorcism. It was pretty impressive, if he says so himself.

“Heh, my sports teacher was right about one thing, I’ve got some moves!”

You are SUCH a LOSER! Sukuna yelled out in his head like the hater he is.

-

“Gojo-sensei, I’m just not sure about this.” Megumi was starting to get paranoid. He was a little worried about how Itadori would handle a Curse on his own.

Sure, Kugisaki’s with him, but I don’t know her or how good she is either!

“We don’t know what Itadori might do, he might get killed, or worse, Sukuna takes control again! I’m worried that- ”

Gojo was NOT listening to him, he was just giggling while texting on his phone. “…What are you doing?”

“Oh, just, texting Suguru.” Megumi looked over his shoulder at his phone.

-

Gojo: suguru sweetie!!!!!!!! hows it going with the second years?

smelly husband: Good! Maki-san told me they’ve almost taken care of all the reported Cursed Spirits in that area. I was just on my way to meet them at the base they’re staying at for the assignment. They should be back in a few days.

smelly husband: I think Panda is warming up to me?

-

“You named Geto-sensei ‘smelly husband’ in your contacts?”

“Hehe, yeah…”

“…Last I heard, you’re not even dating, let alone married-”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“And you call him ‘sweetie’?”

“Okay!” Gojo finally turned his attention towards Megumi. “Listen Gumi, that boy Yuji? He is crazy up here.” Gojo pointing at his head.

“And, ‘To be a Jujutsu sorcerer, you have to be a little crazy’…” Megumi repeated what Gojo always tells him.

“Exactly! I mean look, this guy was an average student just a few days ago. He didn’t grow up learning about all this stuff like you, or any of the other students.”

Gojo interlaces his fingers as he continues. He was acting like his plan here was unfathomably clever. Megumi thought it was unfathomably stupid.

“If you can’t deal with the disgust and fear of Curses, you won’t make it as a Jujutsu sorcerer. I can tell though, Yuji can handle it. No, Nobara’s the one I’m more curious about.”

“Judging by her attitude, I don’t think she’d be scared at all. Disgusted? Maybe.” Megumi pointed out.

“I agree… she has the crazy in her, but that’s not what this test is for.” Gojo could be really cryptic sometimes.

“The bigger a place’s population, the greater the number and strength of the Curses there. In that small countryside she grew up in? I doubt she saw much real action, compared to what she’ll face in Tokyo.”

Gojo smirked excitedly. “So for now? I wanna see just how crazy she can get.”

-

Nobara finally found the room where she could sense the most Cursed Energy. It was full of mannequins and boxes.

Why are abandoned buildings always full of mannequins? What do non clothing stores even use them for?

She could easily pinpoint where the most Cursed Energy was coming from now. “Yo, Curse, you in the middle. D’you think you’re clever or something?”

No reaction. This must be a Curse born from gaslighting, cause it’s trying to make me look crazy, talking to an inanimate object.

Nobara was offended, to be honest. She took her carpentry nails and hammer out of her pouch and took aim.

“Alright, you asked for it!” Using her own Cursed Energy, she made two nails float, before striking them with her hammer, launching them towards the mannequin.

They hit right where the eyes would be if mannequins had eyes. Then, actual eyes appeared on its face, multiple. If Nobara was 99% sure this mannequin was a Curse before, it just went up to 100%.

The mannequin started moving, struggling with the sudden pointy objects planted in its head. “I’d take those out if I were you…” Nobara said in a mocking way.

Nobara snapped her fingers, which caused the nails to unleash the Cursed Energy stored inside them, shooting out like spikes. The mannequin’s head was straight up obliterated.

“Heh… flawless victory.” Nobara celebrated.

It turns out her job wasn’t entirely done however. She heard movement in the corner of the room, and went to check it out. She found a little boy hiding there.

Probably snuck in here for fun… Well, let this be a lesson, I guess.

Nobara attempted to approach. “It’s okay! You can come out, I’m not gonna hurt you.” Keeping her voice light.

The boy quickly shook his head from left to right. Ouch, what’s the problem? They do say kids have a hard time talking to beautiful girls… So this is what it means to suffer from success.

Anyways, I need to get this kid safe. Maybe he’ll talk to Itadori? He’s not beautiful nor a girl. He also looks like a guy that the neighborhood kids would love to like, play soccer with or something.

“W-Wait!” The boy yelled out. Nobara looked away for just a second, and now there’s another Curse, right behind the kid.

Nobara immediately went into action, but the Curse was now holding the kid, holding a sharp claw up to his neck.

This Curse is taking a hostage?! I didn’t think they were smart enough for that! Damn, I guess Tokyo Curses are on another level.

It’s not even strong though… It feels like a low Grade 3 at best, but it has something I haven’t seen a Curse possess before… Intelligence.

The Curse understood it was weaker than Nobara. Hell, it might just be a Grade 4. If it’s Grade 4, even a non-sorcerer adult with a baseball bat had the potential to take it out, if that person was somehow able to see the Curse that is.

It understands. It’s taking the kid hostage cause it understands. This is ridiculous…

If the boy dies, I’ll be just fine. If I die, the boy also dies. Let’s think rationally here…

Nobara dropped her hammer, nails, and pouch on the ground.

“There. Now let him go you sack of shit!” This was a terrible idea, it can just kill the kid now and go after me while I’m unarmed. There was no right choice here!

The Curse grinned in victory. It kinda ticked Nobara off that this thing’s incredibly simple strategy managed to disarm her.

Welp, guess I’m dying within 30 minutes of arriving here. That has to be some sort of an achievement. First ever experienced Jujutsu sorcerer to die to a Grade 4 Cursed Spirit. Embarrassing…

Saori should be somewhere in Tokyo, I wish I got to see her one last time…

Before Nobara could go on regretting her life choices, a fist came in through the wall behind the Curse.

Both Nobara and the Curse looked confused. “Huh? Did I miss?” A muffled voice came from the other side.

Is that… Itadori? Was that wall made out of paper?! How the fuck?!

Itadori suddenly tore the whole wall apart. This wasn’t a Cursed Technique from what Nobara could tell, Itadori doesn’t have one, and Gojo just said earlier that he had no clue how to use his Cursed Energy externally.

What was the point of that fucking knife when he’s this strong naturally?!

Itadori swiftly grabbed the child away from the Curse and used ‘Slaughter Demon’ to cut the Curse’s arm clean off.

Still a lame name. Which dork did that belong to before Gojo borrowed it?

Itadori jumped away and took the kid to safety. “You alright?” He asked. The kid nodded.

Heh, I knew he’d be good with kids.

The Curse got attacked once and immediately gave up and tried to run away, basically proving to Nobara that it’s a Grade 4. At this point a Grade 3 would at least go in for one last desperate attack.

Nobara wasn’t letting that scumbag get away though. She tore open her uniform jacket and grabbed her homemade straw doll that had pocketed on the inside. “Itadori! Hand me that arm!”

Itadori thankfully asked no questions and grabbed the arm he cut off, before passing it to Nobara. She placed the straw doll on top of it, then put a nail in the center. She readied her hammer for a strike.

“Strawdoll Technique: Resonance!”

She hit the nail with her hammer, pushing it into the straw doll and the Curse’s arm. Like a carpenter building a house.

-

“I spy with my little eye, something that’s gray.”

“Is it the fucking building again?” Megumi groaned.

“Wow you’re so good at this game Gumi!” Gojo said sarcastically. “No need to be so grumpy… I get that you’re worried about your new BFF Yuji but lighten up! I’m sure they’re almost done.”

As soon as Gojo said that, a Curse flew out the window above them. Megumi sighed and stood up.

“Looks weak, I’ve got it-”

Gojo held his hand out, signalling Megumi to stop. “Just a sec Megumi…”

Before it could hit the ground, a bunch of Cursed Energy powered spikes shot out of it. It screeched in pain before entirely disappearing.

Megumi stared in shock. Gojo stared in satisfaction.

Nice, she’s plenty crazy.

-

“Phew! That takes care of that guy.” Kugisaki sighed in relief. “That could’ve been a disaster.”

“Damn…” Yuji just said in awe.

Was that her Cursed Technique? That was the first time I got to see one in action properly… I didn’t really get a good look at what Fushiguro was doing with his Technique at the school. That was kinda sick.

He was a little frustrated though, if it wasn’t for him, Kugisaki could’ve been seriously hurt.

“See, I told you it was dangerous to go alone!”

“You did not?!” Kugisaki countered.

“I- Didn’t I?” He did not, in fact.

“Look here pal, you’re gonna explain to me how the FUCK you were able to break through a goddamn wall with your bare hands!” Kugisaki yelled angrily.

Yuji had no clue where his supposed superhuman strength came from either, so he couldn’t really answer that. Everything came to him so naturally.

“Look, I wanna know why you joined Jujutsu High at all! It seems you really don’t like dealing with Curses at all, so why bother?” Yuji threw his own questions at her.

Kugisaki yelled even louder somehow. “I didn’t wanna be stuck in the middle of nowhere all my life, and this was the only way to move to the city!”

When she didn’t continue talking, Yuji concluded that that was the whole reason.

“…That’s it?”

She scowled at him. “Oh, I’m sorry, is my motivation not heroic enough for you? Yeah, I’m here for myself, what about it?” Yuji couldn’t fault her for that he supposed.

“N-Nah that’s fine, it’s just… you’d risk your life for that?” He wondered.

“Think of it this way: I could either live a long life in misery, or a short life where I can be myself and feel alive. I chose the latter. This is how I stay true to myself!” Kugisaki’s smile was more sincere than anything else Yuji had seen of her so far.

In the blink of an eye, his respect for Nobara Kugisaki went up by a lot.

“I’m grateful, Itadori. If it wasn’t for you, well…” She patted the boy that Yuji was still holding onto on the head. “I mean, if I was the only survivor here, the future would’ve been less bright.”

Huh? I don’t understand her at all. She had a massive ego earlier and now she’s basically saying her life matters less than not only this kid’s, but mine too?

…I’ve known her for half an hour and I feel like I’ve already seen her express every emotion that exists.

“Heh, well, everyone has their reasons-”

Kugisaki stopped him in his tracks. “Okay! I said thanks already, let’s get out of here! Take the kid to Gojo, he’ll probably know what to do.”

She promptly jumped out the window. She’ll be alright surely.

Yuji shared a look with the boy, and chuckled fondly. He may have had doubts about Kugisaki, but it feels like they’ll get along just fine as time goes on.

-

“You could’ve taken the stairs y’know.”

“Jumping out of the window was way cooler though.”

“Ha! Yeah, true.”

Megumi was confused as all hell. One abandoned building later, and Itadori and Kugisaki were acting like long lost siblings.

After Gojo called one of the managers to get the kid safely out of there, they decided to celebrate with sushi. Itadori first suggested steak, but he gave in to Kugisaki’s demands rather fast.

So here they were, in a busy restaurant sitting at a table. Again, Kugisaki requested it.

I suppose she got 2 out of 3 Curses today, it’s only fair.

Gojo left early, the man’s busy, so it was just the three of them. Megumi couldn’t help but feel a little out of place next to the other two. He’s known Itadori for longer, yet he’s pretty sure Kugisaki has already spoken about ten times more words to him than he has.

He was always anti-social, he preferred being alone. For some reason though, whenever Itadori was with him, he didn’t mind the company.

What was the saying? ‘Two’s company but three’s a crowd.’?

Kugisaki wasn’t a crowd though, it’s like she blended in perfectly, like she was here from the start.

Was Megumi the crowd to them? He wasn’t participating in most of their conversations. Should he just sit with Gojo and leave them alone?

He didn’t want to though. It was a strange feeling for him, but he actually wanted to be around Itadori more. To keep an eye on him? Megumi didn’t think that excuse could hold on much longer. Sukuna is clearly under control for the moment.

Megumi was not about to admit it out loud, but he wanted to try and be friends with Itadori. Kugisaki too, as little as Megumi knows about her so far.

While Itadori and Kugisaki kept chatting, Megumi was about to get up to use the bathroom and clear his head, but Itadori pulled on his sleeve. “Hey, where you going?”

“Huh? Uh, was just gonna…” Megumi went quiet, Itadori grabbing him like that suddenly made him want to stay real badly.

“I was gonna ask about your Cursed Technique! I saw Kugisaki’s in action earlier, how does yours work?” Itadori always looked so interested in learning about the Jujutsu world, it kinda softened Megumi’s heart a bit each time.

He couldn’t resist Itadori’s pleading face. He sat back down again, and instead of explaining with words, he simply summoned one of his many Shikigami.

“Divine Dogs”

His two black and white dog Shikigami appeared beside him, Itadori and Kugisaki gasped in awe. “Regular people can’t see Shikigami, just like with Curses, so the people in the restaurant aren’t a concern.”

“Ohhh my gosh they’re so cute!” Itadori squealed.

“What are their names?” Kugisaki asked beside him.

“Why would I name my Shikigami?” He lied, he did name them. The other two both pouted like children.

Fine, Megumi needed to open up anyways. “…Kuro and Shiro.”

They both started giggling deviously. Last time Megumi tells them anything. “That’s adorableeee!” Itadori went, Megumi felt weird.

“You named the black and white dogs ‘black’ and ‘white’? How creative…”

Megumi had a twist up his sleeve though. “Well actually, the white one is named Kuro, the black one is named Shiro.”

Itadori and Kugisaki lost their shit at that. Megumi couldn’t help but quietly chuckle along with them.

-

Despite what others might say because of his past, Geto didn’t think of himself as some sort of god. Some righteous figure that needed to be worshipped and shown humility by others at all times.

But, is some respect from his own students too much to ask?

“You kinda tried to kill them last year bud.” Said the voice that Geto was talking to over the phone.

“I am aware…” Geto groaned.

“Didn’t you call Maki a monkey to her face?”

Right, every non-sorcerer was nothing more than a worthless ‘monkey’ in Geto’s mind. He’s made good progress in shaking his previous mindset he thinks, but he still slips up sometimes. Earlier in the day he called a random citizen a ‘monkey’ in his head for bumping into him.

“Shoko, I was there.” Old habits die hard, but I wish that habit would die already.

He wouldn’t get over everything in the span of a year, that’s physically impossible. He still resents non-sorcerers for the suffering they indirectly cause on others. The suffering they cause his Jujutsu sorcerer friends.

The suffering they cause Satoru and Shoko.

It’s truly some divine irony that one of his students was technically a non-sorcerer. Someone with zero Cursed Energy.

Maki Zenin had something else instead, a Heavenly Pact, or Heavenly Restriction as it was often called. They were things that placed upon a person upon birth, no control over it whatsoever. Hers basically gave her superhuman senses, speed, and strength.

The same as… him.

Not entirely, Maki’s felt much weaker. Geto just assumed it was because she needed more training.

“Listen I have to go now, I’m about to meet with them and see how they’re holding up. I already informed Satoru that they’ll be back soon.” This assignment was a little further out than normal, but with the amount of Cursed Spirits Geto has stored up using his Technique, getting around was no problem.

Speaking of which, there was one in the tree right next to the little house that his students were using as a temporary base. The managers always set those up for long-form assignments like this, it lets sorcerers rest and get their bearings easily.

The Curse looked like a Grade 3, yikes, have his students not noticed it? Where did it even originate from? It looked like a small deformed human with crow wings.

“Suguru? You there?” Ah, he must’ve spaced out.

“Ah, yeah, I got distracted by a Curse, it’s only a Grade 3 though, I should go now.”

“Ooh Grade 3, you sure you can handle that?”

Geto chuckled. “Come on Shoko, where’s the trust?”

There was an awkward silence. “…You really wanna know where my trust in you went?”

Geto quickly hung up. He looked up at the Grade 3.

Hm, I hadn’t deactivated the dragon I used to get here yet.

Geto would forever be grateful he found another dragon Curse after his last one got eliminated ages ago. Having a tamed dragon do whatever you want was very helpful.

Soon enough, the Grade 3 Curse was eliminated, and Geto entered the base.

It was an abandoned school, this time. With its own gymnasium, which is where he found the second years hard at work as usual.

Maki Zenin, Toge Inumaki, and… Panda, just Panda. A literal Panda, one of Yaga’s Cursed Corpses, his magnum opus he calls it. Geto would never understand why a Cursed Corpse became a student, but Panda’s actually pretty alright at being one, so he digressed.

Inumaki and Panda were going at it while Maki watched from the sidelines. Truly a rare sight to see Maki, not sparring.

“Yo, Maki-san!” Geto tried his best, he really did.

Maki just scowled at his appearance. “Ah, Suguru, you finally asked a kind stranger for directions here after failing to find it for hours? Or were you busy glaring at some non-sorcerers on the streets for daring to be happy in your presence?”

“…Good evening to you too Maki-san. How’s the assignment coming along?” Geto has accepted that Maki basically loathes him, he can’t blame her.

Even if he did, getting mad at her wouldn’t make her care, and would only upset Satoru, who desperately wants Geto to get along with everyone so that things can go back to looking like his fantasy world where everyone is happy and nice.

It was naïve of Satoru to think the second years would ever accept Geto as their teacher, but Geto has never been good at denying him.

“Salmon!” Inumaki spoke up. Seems like he and Panda ceased their training once they realised Geto was here.

If Geto remembered correctly, ‘salmon’ was the Inumaki equivalent of ‘yes’, or, something positive at least.

Panda confirmed it for him. “Almost done! There were reports of activities that sounded like a Curse’s doing from a village nearby. That’ll be the last one in this area for now!”

Geto put one hand on his hip. “Very good! Now, could one of you please tell me why I found a Grade 3 Curse just sitting by the entrance when I came here?”

They all went silent, until Maki spoke up. “…We uh, didn’t know that.”

“Spicy Cod Roe...”

“Aw but it was only a Grade 3 sensei! It’s no big-”

Geto cut Panda off. “It is a big deal, a Grade 3 is easily capable of injuring or killing a m- regular human being, you shouldn’t ignore that!” He scolded.

“…Sorry sensei.” Panda muttered.

“Funny that you suddenly care about regular human beings isn’t it?” Jabs like that from Maki have become extremely common, so Geto simply ignored it.

“Maki-san… I only ask that you all take your duties seriously, don’t let your guard down when on an assignment. No place is ever truly safe for Jujutsu sorcerers.” He said solemnly.

“Right… that what you came here for? To tell us we have to do our jobs?” Maki joked.

Geto actually chuckled a bit. “I simply came here to see how all of you were doing, and I also have some news for you. We actually have two new first years joining us.”

“Oh? Are Nanako and Mimiko finally joining?” Maki grinned.

Geto looked appalled at that. “…No, it’s not them.” He cleared his throat. “Their names are Yuji Itadori and Nobara Kugisaki.”

“Itadori and Kugisaki? Those don’t sound like familiar clan names.” Panda noted.

“They’re not, both of them come from… unique backgrounds.” Geto explained.

“Cool, can’t wait to meet ‘em, I’ve been waiting for new first years to bully around, just Megumi was getting boring.” Maki smirked, she wasn’t serious though. What she calls ‘bullying’ comes down to witty remarks and a bit of pushing people around, it’s always light-hearted though.

Geto will never admit it to her or Satoru, but some of Maki’s quips make him laugh on the inside, even some that were directed at him.

“What are they like Geto-sensei? These first years?” Panda asked. Geto just realised he has to explain to them that the vessel for the King of Curses will be living with them from now on.

Would that even bother them though? Maki would probably just ask to spar with Itadori if she heard that. Inumaki always seems unconcerned about everything in life, and Panda is unconcerned about everything in life.

He decided to just go for it. “Kugisaki-san uses Strawdoll Technique, heard of it?” They all looked at each other before shaking their heads. “That’s not surprising, it’s a rather unknown one. Anyways, Itadori-kun is Sukuna’s vessel. Well on that note I should-”

He tried to calmly turn and walk away, he promised Nanako and Mimiko he would be home early today. Maki stopped him, as he probably should’ve expected.

“Okay hold the fuck up, you don’t just drop that and not elaborate.” They all looked bothered, turns out Geto was wrong in his assessment.

“…I’m not sure if Satoru even wanted me to tell you yet.” He confessed.

“Who cares what Satoru wants? You clearly wanted to tell us since, well, you just told us.” Maki countered. “Now, spill.”

I care about what Satoru wants… But she has a point, I’ve already told them, might as well explain.

“Long story short, as Fushiguro-kun and Satoru were looking for a Special Grade Cursed Object that sounded like Sukuna’s finger, a boy named Yuji Itadori swallowed it. Sukuna possessed him, but he was somehow able to gain back control. Obviously, the ability to do that is nothing short of incredible, so Satoru took him in.”

“I can’t imagine the higher-ups being okay with Sukuna basically being awakened and taken into the school though?” Panda reasonably asked.

“Bonito Flakes…” Inumaki chimed in.

“Satoru made a compromise with them, as always…” Geto sighed. “He didn’t want me to worry you guys, but you were gonna find out later when you return to school anyways.”

“Well, whatever, if he can control Sukuna there’s nothing to worry about right?” Maki was as nonchalant about this as Geto expected, it made him smile.

“Right… but I felt my students had a right to know.” The conversation was wrapping up, Geto checked the time on his phone to see how long he had until Nanako and Mimiko would get angry and send him a dozen texts.

Oh, that’s a dozen texts from Nanako, it’s only a minute past when I said I’d be home… Give me a break girls.

He chuckled fondly. “I should go now, good luck with the final Cursed Spirit. I’ll see you in a few days’ time.” He started walking towards the exit.

“Bye sensei!” Panda called out. Inumaki gave a small wave and Maki just gestured ‘farewell’ with her hand.

Before he left, he remembered something. “Oh right, don’t tell Satoru I told you about Sukuna. He wanted to see your reactions to it in person and now he’s gonna be disappointed that, not only did he not see your reactions, but your reactions were lackluster too.”

He closed the door just enough so that only his head was visible. “When he tells you about it, please act surprised for me. Okay bye!” The door swung shut fast and hard. The second years just stood there.

“…The fuck?” Was all Maki could say.

Chapter Text

It’s been nearly a week since Yuji swallowed that finger, Sukuna’s voice has not gotten any less irritating.

I can’t even lie, Kugisaki’s bob looks very good, who’s her barber?

Sometimes he ran out of death threats and resorted to incredibly random small talk.

If you won’t ask her I will…

What could you possibly do with that information?

Alleviate the boredom? Whatever, you’re as lame as ever.

The day after Kugisaki joined the party, it was time for her and Yuji’s first day of ‘class’. The classroom looked depressingly empty with only three students. Despite all the empty space, Gojo insisted they all sat at the front, next to each other.

Yuji could only imagine what being taught an actual class by Satoru Gojo would be like.

“Okay class! Let’s take turns introducing ourselves! State your names, where you’re from, hobbies, and a fun fact about yourself!”

Yuji, Fushiguro, and Kugisaki all groaned in unison.

Gojo pouted like a child. “Don’t be like that! Megumi, you start.” He pointed at Fushiguro.

“We don’t need to do this Gojo-sensei.” Fushiguro sighed in misery.

“Whatever, I’ll start then! My name is Satoru Gojo, I’m the head of the Gojo Clan, I’m the greatest Jujutsu sorcerer of our time-”

Yuji stuck his hand up, which cut Gojo off. “Yes Yuji?”

“What uhm… What are we gonna learn in these classes?” Yuji asked.

“I’m glad you asked!” Gojo grinned, seemingly forgetting about making introductions, which weren’t necessary in the first place. “This might be a Jujutsu school, but it’s still high school. You’ll still be learning things like math, Japanese, English, all that good stuff!”

“Huh?! We still have to do all that? Aww man, I suck at math…” Kugisaki whined.

Gojo snickered. “Being a Jujutsu sorcerer doesn’t mean you don’t need education! Knowing addition, subtraction and your percentages may help you out against certain techniques! You guys are only 15, you need to learn.”

“I’m almost 16…” Kugisaki pouted. She abruptly stood up and pointed at the two boys next to her with one hand on her hip. “August 7^th, I expect a surprise party.”

Yuji saluted like a soldier, Fushiguro just rolled his eyes.

Gojo suddenly slammed his hands against his desk. “Okay! Enough messing around! Yuji, History pop quiz: what ended in 1945?!”

Yuji took a minute to think about it. “…1944?”

“You passed.” Gojo said as if he was genuinely proud of the answer.

Fushiguro and Kugisaki just looked at each other tiredly.

-

It’s been a little over a week after the trio formed, and Megumi can honestly say he’s getting a little more comfortable around them. Having friends was kind of a big deal to him.

It was lunchtime for the Tokyo students. Megumi usually just fixed up a sandwich with whatever was available in the kitchen. Itadori wanted to show them something different today though.

“My grandpa taught me how to make these really tasty meatballs! It’s really easy, I’ll show you guys!” Megumi and Kugisaki followed Itadori to the kitchen where he’s already gathered the ingredients.

Itadori looked ready to get started, but Megumi stopped him. “Did you wash your hands?”

The silence that came after told him everything he needed to know.

“Ew…” Kugisaki muttered with a frown.

“Hey, I wash my hands all the time! I just got excited and forgot this time…” Itadori defended himself.

Megumi believed him. Itadori wasn’t dumb, he was just really impulsive sometimes.

After everyone washes their hands, they all put on aprons and got to work. Kugisaki had her hair put into a short ponytail.

The recipe was simple, just throw all the ground beef in a bowl and mix it together with all the other stuff. After making sure the mixture was moist and that it held its shape, it was time to take pieces off and turn them into several small balls of meat.

“Those look good Kugisaki!” Itadori complimented. They did look good, Kugisaki was apparently a natural at shaping meatballs.

“Heh, I know.” She simply responded. She looked happy at the compliment though.

Megumi himself was having a harder time. He’s not sure if he’s bad at shaping, or if he’s just astronomically unlucky, but the clumps of meat he was working with fell apart really easily.

He was admittedly also distracted by Itadori and Kugisaki’s interaction, which made him feel a pang in his chest for reasons unknown. This has been happening often lately.

I just haven’t hung out with people in a while, this is all new to me, that’s all this is…

Itadori just had to notice Megumi’s struggle. “Ah, Fushiguro, let me help you out!” Before Megumi could even respond, Itadori was right next to him.

“Oh, no it’s okay, I’ve got it.” Megumi tried to reassure.

Itadori wasn’t hearing him though. “Here, it can be kinda tricky to make the shape stick. I’ll help you get the hang of it!”

Megumi’s brain wasn’t sure how to process what happened next. Itadori put his arms around him and put his hands on top of Megumi’s. He started guiding Megumi’s hands and fingers.

“What you wanna do is be gentle with it. Put it all together like this, then gently put the shape on your palm. Then you put your hands together and start slowly rolling it, really make sure it all sticks together before you try to make it the shape you want it to be.”

Megumi was barely listening. He was too focused on Itadori’s hands around his, and Itadori’s voice so close to his ear. It was almost like he was being hugged from behind, not quite, but almost.

It felt so… domestic.

He knew Itadori had no problem with initiating physical contact, but this was something else.

Suddenly a beeping sound was heard nearby. “Ah, the oven’s warmed up!” Itadori announced. He suddenly pulled away from Megumi, which upset him for reasons he didn’t wanna think about.

“I’ll go put mine in. They don’t take long to cook, so yours can go right after Kugisaki!” Itadori grabbed his plate of meatballs and headed over to the oven. He looked like he was in a hurry, he was speaking really fast, as if he was flustered.

Megumi was still frozen on the spot. He eventually looked over at Kugisaki, who was giving him a wide eyed expression, her jaw slightly open.

“…I knew you two were friends but, damn.” She asked. Apparently Itadori’s ‘guidance’ looked as suspicious from the outside as Megumi thought it did.

Megumi could not find an answer for Kugisaki’s question, no matter how hard he tried.

“…He was just helping me out…” Was all he could say.

“Right, well I sincerely hope he never ‘helps me out’ like that.” Kugisaki responded back.

In the end, the meatballs did indeed taste really good.

-

“What’s this business trip even for?” Suguru asked, annoyed.

He and Gojo were standing at the station, Gojo had to go on a business trip outside of Tokyo. Being The Strongest and also the head of one of the big three clans meant that there were often some minor annoyances you had to take care of.

Gojo could teleport there, but that would require some Cursed Energy and for him to use his brain. His supply of Cursed Energy was massive, just shy of the top highest amount of Cursed Energy in the world, so that wasn’t really an issue.

His brain cells however? They needed as much charge as possible for whatever boring nonsense he was about to get into with the elders.

“They were vague on the details, but the higher-ups need me someplace else for about a day. Think this is their way of punishing me for always getting on their nerves?” Gojo smirked.

“I don’t get it though, why would they not explain to you what exactly you’re doing?” Suguru asked.

The higher-ups are always vague as hell… Eh, guess I’m more used to it than Suguru is. He’s only been dealing with them for a year. Gojo thought.

“It’ll be fine Suguru! Just keep an eye on my students for me please? They’re still fresh, and they need time to build chemistry, they’ve only been together for like two weeks. Don’t let them try anything too hard okay?”

“I’m aware… Just, stay safe, okay? Those higher-ups probably despise you at this point for both me, and the whole Itadori thing. Who knows what they might do eventually.” Suguru said so full of concern that it melted Gojo’s heart.

Gojo couldn’t stop himself and threw him arms around Suguru’s neck. Suguru just chuckled under his shaky breath and hugged him back.

Gojo felt the strong urge to comfort his beloved. “I’ll be back before you know it! Call me if there’s an emergency, I’ll teleport there immediately. But, what’s the worst that could happen?”

-

Nobara was sitting in her new room at the Jujutsu High dorms, contemplating.

Should I buy a plant? A fake one at least? I don’t think I’ll have much time here to maintain a real one. A plant might look tacky though… Ugh, this room needs decorating badly but I have no idea what to decorate it with!

It’s been about two weeks since she arrived here now. Cursed Spirit assignments have been few and far between, none of them memorable. The most they’ve done when it comes to training is hitting training dummies and targets.

They don’t really spar either. Itadori and Fushiguro both said no to getting carpentry nails shot into their bodies for practice, go figure.

So, actually training to be Jujutsu sorcerers hasn’t gotten far yet. When it came to the other typical high school subjects? Yikes.

Well, at least Gojo was weirdly enthusiastic about teaching them physics, he seems to know a lot about gravity. Nobara didn’t understand a word of it though.

Fushiguro showed her the room Gojo assigned for her to stay in after they were done with celebratory sushi that first day. It was spacy, bed was alright, that desk and chair were a perfect place for her to do her makeup with the small mirror she bought the other day.

Gojo gave her an opportunity to go shopping on day 3 with a hefty budget. She mostly spent it all on clothes.

She figured Itadori wouldn’t mind carrying all her bags. He was strong right? He loved and respected women? Then surely he’d be willing to help a beautiful one like Nobara out.

In her defence, he didn’t protest.

She was actually starting to warm up to Itadori. Sure he might eat fingers, and sure his head might echo when you knock on it. But, he’s a good time.

Fushiguro was alright. Nobara wasn’t sure how to describe it, but he was simultaneously the least emotional person ever and also the most. He cares a lot about making sure that people think that he doesn’t care.

The two of them haven’t talked much, not that Nobara’s tried very hard to, to be fair. He was just kinda hard to approach. He seemed to enjoy Itadori’s presence though. Itadori likes talking to him too, even though he doesn’t always respond well.

Itadori is nothing if not persistent, he’ll probably be the one to get Fushiguro to open up more. Itadori’s kind of the core of this little trio that they’ve formed.

Whenever Nobara and Fushiguro are together alone, you can almost hear the awkward silence.

What am I missing… How is Itadori talking to him so easily?

It’s not that she needs to get along with Fushiguro, but if she’s gonna spend the next four years or so with him as one of her only two classmates, she’d like to get at least something going.

Ugh, talking to boys is impossible.

Someone knocked on her door while she was lost in thought. Can’t be Gojo, Nobara hadn’t seen him all day, and Fushiguro mentioned he was ‘away for today’ when she asked. Must be one of the boys.

Nobara got up from her chair and made her way over. She opened to door to find not one of the boys, but a dude with long black hair partly tied up standing on the other side.

“Ah, Kugisaki-san, correct?” He said. “My name is Suguru Geto, I teach the second years.”

“Oh yeah, Itadori mentioned you I think. Need something?” She asked bluntly.

According to Itadori, Geto’s a Special Grade sorcerer, just like Gojo. Apparently there’s only four of those in all of Japan. Nobara wasn’t really interested in having a meet-and-greet though.

Geto just chuckled. “No no, I only wanted to introduce myself. We’ll probably see each other around more when my students return from their assignment.”

Hmm, he teaches the second years he said?

“Yo, when are your students coming back? I wanna meet the other girl here, there’s too many boys for my liking.” Nobara stated.

“You mean Maki-san? You know, you actually remind me of her…”

“That so? Is she also devastatingly hot like me?” Nobara flipped her short hair as she said that.

“I can’t answer that due to the fact that you’re teenagers and I’m 28.” Geto said deadpan.

Only 28? Talk about aging poorly, I thought he was at least late 30’s.

Nobara decided to keep that to herself.

She and Geto just kinda stared at each other for a few seconds. “Well whatever, we’ve met now. Uhm… bye?”

“Ah, right. Sorry Kugisaki-san it’s just…” He paused for but a moment. “I was just thinking that you and Itadori are the first people I’ve talked to in a long time who aren’t aware of what I’ve done. It’s refreshing.”

…Okay?

Nobara hoped her confusion showed on her face. “…That’s great man. Uh-”

They suddenly got interrupted by Itadori, who came running down the hall. “Kugisaki! We’ve got a mission!” He yelled, which Nobara groaned at.

“Don’t talk so fucking loud! Have you heard of an inside voice?!” She yelled back just a loudly.

Geto chuckled at their interaction before he started walking off. “Well, sounds like you’re busy Kugisaki-san, let’s leave it at that for now. Stay safe you two!”

He left them alone. Nobara realised as an afterthought that he never answered when the second years are coming back.

Gojo said they would come back soon, but it’s been like nearly two weeks. Oh well.

“What were you talking about with Geto-sensei?” Itadori wondered.

“Uh, I’m honestly not sure.” She said, Itadori didn’t ask any further questions thankfully. “Now, a mission you said?”

-

“Our windows confirmed the Curse Womb approximately 3 hours ago. Before the evacuation process was entirely complete, the decision was made to close off the facility.”

Yuji, Fushiguro, and Kugisaki stood outside in the rain in front of the detention center where their new assignment needed them to be. They were being currently being debriefed by one of the managers from Jujutsu High, Kiyotaka Ijichi.

“Five inmates are currently trapped inside along with the Curse. Curse Wombs are, as the name implies, Curses that have yet to be born. Once they grow and change shape however, they can be expected to be born as a Cursed Spirit close to that of a Special Grade.” Ijichi explained.

Fushiguro and Kugisaki looked serious all of the sudden. Yuji got the gist, Sukuna was also called a ‘Special Grade’, this could be dangerous.

“That’s bad right?” Yuji asked just to clarify. Kugisaki’s face instantly fell into a negative emotion Yuji couldn’t quite describe. She looked disappointed in him though.

Fushiguro explained it to him. “Special Grade’s the highest difficulty. Normally a Jujutsu sorcerer of similar grade as the Curse is put on the task…”

“You mean this is an assignment even Gojo-sensei would struggle with?! What are we doing here?!” Yuji got worried all of the sudden.

“Gojo would be here normally, but he’s apparently away on a business trip right now.” Fushiguro said.

“This feels really sketch…” Kugisaki gave her thoughts on the situation. Yuji kinda agreed.

Ijichi adjusted his glasses. “Well, in my opinion, a man like Satoru Gojo shouldn’t be wasting time in Jujutsu High anyway. This line of work is always short on manpower, and being overwhelmed by missions is commonplace.”

He cleared his throat before continuing. “Before you ask, Geto-san was also busy according to the higher-ups, Okkotsu is still in Africa, and Tsukumo is… who knows where. We sadly have no Special Grade sorcerers available. This is an extreme emergency.”

“The state of Jujutsu sorcerers is kinda depressing when you think about it huh?” Kugisaki said what they were all thinking.

“Your task isn’t to defeat the Special Grade that this Womb will surely spawn.” Ijichi reassured. “Your only job is to go in and quickly rescue the inmates. If you sense a Special Grade level Curse, do NOT engage. Your options when confronted with one are run or die!” He stated.

An unknown woman was suddenly running towards them, with the other managers besides Ijichi trying to intercept her. She looked really worried.

“Please you have to tell me what’s going on! Tadashi, my son, is he okay?!” She looked nearly hysterical. Yuji couldn’t blame her though.

Shit… familial love, my weakness…

He actually started tearing up at how worried this woman was about her son, something about it hit him deep.

“I’m sorry ma’am, we believe poison was spread across the facility, we can’t disclose any more information at this time.” Ijichi handled it. Regular civilians couldn’t find out about the existence of Curses after all.

“No… it can’t be, please, not my baby boy…” She was crying now, and she sounded devastated. It just made Yuji all the more determined.

This is why I’m here… I’ll save her son, this is not the death he deserves.

Sympathy will get you nowhere kid. Sukuna piped up, Yuji’s gotten better at ignoring him.

“Kugisaki, Fushiguro… we have to save ‘em!” He said.

“Yeah, let’s do it!” Kugisaki got a determined look on her face as well. Fushiguro just stayed silent, but Yuji figured that was his own special way of preparing for action.

They made their way to the entrance of the facility. “I’m going to lower the Curtain now, be careful in there.” Ijichi proclaimed.

“Emerge from darkness, blacker than darkness. Purify that which is impure.”

It’s like Ijichi was casting a spell. The sky was suddenly getting covered by a black layer of weird liquid.

Yuji stared in awe. “Woah… it’s turning night. Is that his Cursed Technique?” He wondered.

He’s pretty sure he heard Kugisaki mutter ‘This fucking guy…’ under her breath. Fushiguro once again started explaining it to him.

“No, this is a Curtain. It’s a barrier that keeps everything within it hidden from outside view. It’s something most Jujutsu sorcerers are capable of doing, but all the managers are specialized in it.”

“Also yeah, it turns the sky to night. I think that’s to lure Curses out, right Fushiguro?” Kugisaki further elaborated.

“That’s right, Cursed Spirits are more likely to come out during night.” Yuji didn’t get how that works, but it felt like he was understanding the Jujutsu world a little more every day, he’ll get there.

It’s only been about a week since he consumed Sukuna’s finger and essentially got kidnapped by Gojo. He hasn’t gotten completely used to this new way of life, but he was trying his best.

This mission was serious, they could be facing a Special Grade if the Curse Womb had already, well, given birth. This could be Yuji’s first chance to truly save someone while officially being a Jujutsu sorcerer.

You care so much about saving people… makes me sick. Sukuna gave his opinion that no one asked for.

I find it horrifically ironic that the person who finally took me into their soul after all these years happens to be the complete opposite of me… Makes you think, huh?

…It does not…

Right, you don’t think, ever, my bad.

Sukuna hasn’t really done much since day 1, he’s just been kinda annoying. Which is good, Yuji supposed.

Fushiguro lets one of his Divine Dogs, Kuro, the white one, out. Yuji immediately starts petting them. “If the Curse gets close, it’ll let us know- Itadori, stops scratching its chin it’ll get distracted.”

Yuji reluctantly stopped with a pout on his face, which Kuro actually whined at. Kugisaki had the audacity to giggle from behind her hand.

-

It may sounds childish, but Megumi hates bad, mean, evil people. So when he was told to rescue convicted inmates from a detention center, he wasn’t thrilled.

They were given the files of the inmates prior to the mission, Itadori and Kugisaki didn't seem to bother reading them.

Megumi did read them, thoroughly. In his opinion, all those inmates deserved to be here.

Now, it wasn’t like he was gonna kill the inmates himself if they turned out to be alive, he wasn't that cold blooded. But if it turned out they were dead?

Can’t say I’ll feel sorry for them.

They went inside, and it looked bizarre. It was supposed to be a two-story dorm building from the outside, but what they saw on the inside looked way taller. The layout made no sense either. Most of all, the energy of the place felt incredibly off.

What the hell… we’re inside the Curse’s Domain, but… I’ve never seen one this big.

Immediately, Itadori and Kugisaki started calmly freaking out.

Kugisaki tried to be rational. “T-This doesn’t look right… Okay let’s calm down, I’m sure there’s a reasonable-”

“Door gone.” Itadori emotionlessly stated.

“W-What do you mean door gone?!” Kugisaki screamed. She and Megumi turned around and, yep, door gone. The door they just used to get in here was mysteriously gone and covered up by a bunch of giant steel pipes.

“Ah fuck! Door gone!” Kugisaki yelled out.

“Door gone!” Itadori confirmed.

Who exactly did I piss off in a previous lifetime to get stuck with these two? Anyways…

While they continued losing their minds at the slightest inconvenience, Megumi checked in with Kuro, who confirmed without words that it had the scent of the exit locked down.

Megumi figured he should probably inform his comrades before they have an aneurysm. Itadori was pacing back and forth like a madman while Kugisaki was on her knees with her head down, muttering something.

…Is she praying?

“Will you two calm down already? Kuro can track the exit, we’ll be fine.” Megumi told them.

They both instantly rushed Kuro with relief on their faces. “Oooh is that so?! What a good doggy you are, yes you are!” Itadori cooed.

“Fushiguro! Give your dog all the beef jerky it deserves, right now!” Kugisaki demanded.

These past few days, he’s gotten used to their antics. Dare he say he even likes being around these two for long periods of time. All the same, he really wishes they would take this more seriously.

One Satoru Gojo in my life wasn’t enough? Now there’s three of them?

“Dogs can’t eat too much beef jerky though…” Itadori said.

“It’s a fucking Shikigami dude.” Kugisaki responded.

Okay they’re not exactly like Gojo, their goofiness just… comes from a different place.

“You’re so reliable Fushiguro, I don’t know what we’d do without you!” Itadori suddenly said.

“Hm? You’re exaggerating…” Gojo had once told Megumi that he had trouble taking compliments, and he was right, unfortunately.

Not unfortunate cause Megumi wants to change how he feels about compliments, unfortunate cause Gojo was right about something.

Yuji’s smile was as big, warm, and honest as always. “I’m serious! You’ve saved a lot of people, including me!”

“…” Megumi didn’t know what to say to that, but his chest felt weird again. That happens a lot when he’s around Itadori for some reason, he couldn’t pinpoint what it was.

“Hm? You saved Itadori?” Kugisaki questioned. Right, she wasn’t there for that.

“Ah… hasn’t he told you? The higher-ups were gonna execute him because he’s Sukuna’s vessel. Gojo stopped them, because I requested that he lives.”

Kugisaki got a really weird look on her face. She took a good few seconds to glance back and forth between Megumi and Itadori, like she was watching a tennis match happen.

“So, you specifically requested he lives, which in this context was against Jujutsu regulations, when you didn’t know him at all?” She asked. It was more of a statement than a question though.

“He’s so modest isn’t he Kugisaki?” Itadori laughed.

“…Yup.” Now Kugisaki was looking at Megumi with suspicion.

…Now I get what Itadori was saying that one time, she is really hard to read.

Megumi cleared his throat. “Enough messing around, let’s go.”

The deeper they went inside, the more disturbing the sights got. Every time they looked back, the layout seemed to change again.

They reached a giant room with a giant empty inside pool. Inside the pool were what looked like three human corpses.

While Itadori went up to the bodies to check the damage, Megumi got increasingly worried about this place. He fully understood that they were dealing with a Curse Womb that could become a Special Grade Curse, hell, maybe it already has, but there was still something very off about all this.

“Are those three even people? Geez, that’s rough.” Kugisaki said in sympathy. He couldn’t help but agree, the three inmates were torn apart.

They were tasked with rescuing these people, but Megumi couldn’t help but feel that task was doomed from the start. Whatever was in the detention center was way more dangerous than what anyone told them about.

It’s like the Curse Womb had already become a Special Grade hours ago, and they just walked into its nest.

Itadori was quiet over there, before Megumi could ask what’s wrong, he spoke up. “We’re bringing this body back.”

Bring it back?

“It’s that lady’s son, Tadashi. His face isn’t that messed up, she’ll accept it.” Itadori explained his reasoning.

“W-What? But Itadori, that’s-” Kugisaki stuttered.

Does he seriously not understand the situation yet? We don’t have time for that. Besides, how’s the mom gonna react when we bring back her son, cut in half, when she believes this whole thing is a poison outbreak?

Megumi was sick and tired of this place, they’re gonna confirm the status of the other two inmates, probably dead too, and they are leaving.

Megumi grabbed Itadori by his hoodie and pulled him away from the corpse. “Leave him.”

“Huh? But Fushiguro, the layout keeps changing, how’re we gonna get back here?” Itadori questioned.

“I didn’t say we’re coming back did I?” He asked rhetorically. “I said, leave him. This guy here’s not even worth saving alive to be honest, why would I save his dead body?”

That hit a nerve on Itadori, which Megumi kinda expected. If brutal honesty will get Itadori to move his ass then so be it.

“The hell is that supposed to mean?!” Itadori growled.

Megumi sighed tiredly. “This is a juvenile detention center. Tadashi here specifically, he hit a girl with his car and killed her while driving without a license. That was his second time driving without a license too. So what I mean is that I couldn’t care less that he’s dead.”

Itadori stared at him in disbelief. Megumi knew it sounded harsh, but those were also his honest feelings.

If you want someone who just started out as a sorcerer to survive long in the Jujutsu world, sugarcoating is the worst thing you could do.

“You always want to save people, help them die a normal death. That sounds great and all, but what if someone you save will one day take the life of another?” Megumi kept going. He needed Itadori to understand, he would never survive otherwise.

“If you don’t get what I’m saying, you’re headed for an early grave. How are you gonna save people when you’re dead yourself?!”

“If that’s how you feel then why did you save me?!” Itadori shot back at him.

Megumi felt sick when he found that he didn’t have a good answer to that question. His decision to save Itadori was pretty selfish in the end, Sukuna could hurt and kill people because of it. Because of his decision.

For some reason, he doesn’t regret it at all.

They stood in silence for a moment, just staring at each other. Eventually Kugisaki stepped in looking like a child watching her parents get divorced.

“Knock it off already! This neither the place nor time for your gay-”

Kugisaki suddenly got cut off. When Megumi and Itadori looked at where she was standing just a second ago, she was gone.

There was a dark puddle on the ground, suggesting that she got pulled in by something hiding on the other side.

“Kugisaki?!” Itadori called out.

What just happened?! Why did Divine Dog not-

Megumi stopped thinking when he saw what happened to Kuro. Kuro was dead, its decapitated head was lodged into the wall.

“Shit! Itadori!” Megumi warned. The Special Grade hasn’t even shown itself and Megumi already lost one half out of ten Shikigami.

“…Did Kugisaki just call us gay?” Itadori wondered, like that mattered right now.

Megumi went up to him and looked him dead in the eyes. “Get your fucking head in the game Itadori! We need to get out of here and then look for Kugisaki-”

They both froze. Completely out of nowhere, an extremely powerful presence snuck up behind the two of them.

This is… definitely the Special Grade.

Megumi couldn’t even turn his head, but he could barely see the Curse out of the corner of his eye. It had four weird tendrils wrapped around its head, with eyes on the middle two. It had a bigger than average mouth with teeth showing, and a very strange looking upper body. It didn’t appear to have legs.

If Megumi had to describe it in one sentence, it looked like a very strange humanoid sea creature.

Its power was so great that it basically paralysed both Megumi and Itadori. Megumi knew this phenomenon. When the power level between a Jujutsu sorcerer and a Curse is extraordinarily massive, it could shock the individual with the lower level down to their core.

If Megumi was being generous, he himself was a Grade 2. Itadori? Right now, Grade 4 at best. The guy couldn’t even control his Cursed Energy yet, he barely knew what it was.

In other words, this was leagues above their pay check. If they survived, Megumi was gonna find whoever assigned this mission to the three of them and strangle that person.

The Curse did nothing for some time, it absolutely saw the sheer difference in strength between it and the two of them.

Move… Move. MOVE!

Itadori turned out to be the one who moved first. He pulled the same Cursed Tool he used the first time with Kugisaki, ‘Slaughter Demon’, seemingly out of thin air and slashed at the Curse with it.

It did absolutely nothing, as he could’ve expected, and for his troubles, the Curse cut off Itadori’s left hand in the blink of an eye.

…We’re so dead.

-

Ah, that’s my hand, gone.

For some reason, Yuji expected getting his hand cut off to hurt a lot more than it did. Not that he ever expected to get his hand cut off in his life.

“I-Itadori…” Fushiguro muttered in disbelief.

Yuji didn’t think about it any further, there was no time to think, he felt the adrenaline coursing through him. He charged straight at the Special Grade, which shocked both it and Fushiguro.

The small distance was quickly closed and Yuji punched the Special Grade right in the face. It didn’t seem to faze it at all though.

Alongside his hand being cut off, Slaughter Demon got broken in half too, so Yuji could basically do nothing anymore.

It’s right on top of us! Ijichi-san said ‘run or die’ but running away’s just not an option anymore.

Yuji had a slightly crazy idea, desperate times call for desperate measures. Hey! Sukuna! If I die, you die too. You don’t want that do you? Give me a hand!

Sukuna decided to come outside to respond, his mouth appearing on Yuji’s cheek once again. “Nah, I’m good. There’s still 18 fragments of me out there, I’ll be alright.”

Yuji groaned. The Special Grade was thankfully taking its sweet time, it seemed to understand how much more powerful it was than the two sorcerers standing before it.

They weren’t defeating it like this, Yuji needed to convince Sukuna somehow.

It’s playing with us. We could blindside it and beat it if you would just come out!

Did you not hear what I just said? I refuse. Besides kid, you’re in control remember? You need to switch with me.

I don’t know how!

Tough luck. Let me tell you something though. If you did switch, I wouldn’t stop at just killing the Curse, if you catch my drift. You’ve taken quite a liking to Fushiguro here right? I’ll go nice and slow with him…

Stop…

Oh and Kugisaki… Mmh she’s got spunk. It would be so much fun to personally watch the fire leave her eyes.

Right, okay, Sukuna was off the table then.

I won’t let you lay a single rotten finger on either of them!

I figured as much. Anyways, don’t let me distract you from your certain doom. Heads up.

Before Yuji could question what he’s talking about, a powerful projectile shot out at him and Fushiguro, shattering the ground between the two of them.

He needed Sukuna. Gojo wasn’t coming, neither was Geto. Running away wasn’t an option. There was no other way to get through this. He needed Sukuna.

He needs to figure out how to switch. As for the threats Sukuna made against his friends? There might be a loophole.

Hey Sukuna, you can’t kill Fushiguro and Kugisaki if you can’t get to them.

…No, I suppose not.

That settled it in Yuji’s mind. “Fushiguro! Look, this thing’s messing with us, it knows it’s massively stronger. It shouldn’t be too hard for me to distract it.” Fushiguro’s eyebrows shot up as he pieced together what Yuji was implying.

“Are you insane?! It’s a Special Grade, you can’t-”

“This is not a discussion!” Yuji interrupted. “Find Kugisaki and get the hell out of here. Give me a signal when you two are safe! Once I get the signal, I’ll switch to Sukuna!”

Fushiguro almost sounded like he was begging. “This is insane Itadori! You only have one arm! There’s no way you’ll-”

“Fushiguro!” Yuji looked at Fushiguro with pleading eyes. It seemed to have an effect, as his face softened ever so slightly.

“Please. There’s no other options here. I’ll see you on the other side!” Yuji reassured.

Fushiguro’s face scrunched up in extreme frustration, but he eventually gave in to Yuji’s suggestion. He ran away from the Curse and summoned his remaining Divine Dog.

“Shiro, find Kugisaki!” Shiro should have her scent, Fushiguro had let his dogs out to let them play with Yuji and Kugisaki on multiple occasions these past few days.

The Special Grade Curse let Fushiguro get away, it seemed more interested in Yuji, which was good.

Punching it does nothing, and I have no idea how to use Cursed Energy still. That’s fine, I don’t need to defeat it, I just need to-

Before Yuji could even finish his thought, the Curse unleashed a weird barrier of Cursed Energy, which blasted Yuji away into the wall once it reached him.

Shit…! This thing isn’t even using any techniques I think, it’s just really good at using Cursed Energy as a weapon!

The Curse was suddenly right in front of Yuji, its hands charged up with Cursed Energy. Before Yuji could even process it, he was blown straight through the wall into another room.

As soon as Yuji landed on the ground, he immediately tried to get back up, which took a while because he just got the wind completely knocked out of him.

He noticed the Curse was charging up that barrier attack again. Apparently it was already done playing with its food. Seeing no other options, Yuji put his hands up in a vain attempt to guard against the Cursed Energy blast.

“Yeah?! Bring it on!” Yuji roared in frustration.

The Curse brought it on. The barrier didn’t simply blast Yuji away this time, he stood his ground. The pain he felt from the Cursed Energy assaulting his body was immense. Yuji couldn’t even describe it, he just screamed in agony.

It hurts, it hurts, it hurts. Was all that was going through his mind.

Shit shit shit! Why did I have to swallow that finger?! If only I hadn’t. If only. If only…

‘Help people’. I don’t wanna die. I don’t wanna die. I don’t wanna die! PLEASE NO MORE!

STOP THINKING! DON’T THINK!

Yuji’s body gave in before his mind did. He lost his footing and got launched into the wall again. His body felt and looked like it got incinerated.

His mind gave in too, passing out from the pain that he couldn’t comprehend.

-

Nobara was not having fun with this mission, that’s for sure.

After watching Bi-tadori and Fushigayro- Heh, gottem.- have an argument over dragging a corpse back through the hellhole they were in, she got pulled into a different hellhole within the hellhole.

She couldn’t say if she preferred this hellhole over the other. The other one had a very creepy atmosphere, and there was definitely something with the energy of a Special Grade in the shadows.

This current hellhole had a dozen Curses waiting for her as soon as she entered, pick your poison.

Except I didn’t even get to pick my poison…

It was a variety of Curses too. Some were gross bug looking things while others were just floating theatre masks.

“Okay… who wants it first?” Nobara taunted, pulling out her nails and hammer.

The Curses were only staring at her for now, but she wasn’t about to let them make the first move. She lined up the first shot and hit a nail straight into one of the masks.

She didn’t have time to analyse how strong these Curses were exactly. Considering how many of them were in one place, she could only assume and hope that they weren’t stronger than Grade 2.

According to the Jujutsu ranking system that Gojo showed once, Nobara herself was Grade 3.

“Yeah, this is winnable.” Nobara muttered before snapping her fingers and completely obliterating the mask that ate her nail.

She needed to get back to the boys, no time to lose. She ran sideways while lining up three more nails with the remaining three masks.

Those things are creeping me out, let’s get rid of them first.

All three nails hit dead on, and with another snap of her finger, Nobara destroyed three more Curses in an instant. There were still more in there with her though.

There were a couple of centipedes, two mushrooms with way too many eyeballs of their heads, and an oversized mutated toad.

Nobara kept her distance, her technique worked best at medium range. The centipedes were getting too close for her liking, so she shot some more nails at them.

Those little bastards are hard to hit…

When the centipedes were almost on her, she decided to kill these bugs the old fashioned way.

“Get the fuck away from me!” She imbued her hammer with Cursed Energy and hit one of them square on the head with it. The force was so great that it exploded the centipede’s head into a mist of purple.

Now came Nobara’s reminder of why she didn’t like close range combat, she was kinda really bad at it.

Her grandma never really taught her martial arts besides the very basic of basics. She could throw a punch and kick, she knew how to block punches and kicks, that was about it.

She was out of practice too, she thought her Cursed Technique would be enough to win her most battles, and it usually was.

The other centipede latched onto her leg. Ew, ew, ew, ew! If she sucked at fighting with her bare hands, she would just have to get creative. She placed three more nails between her fingers, made a fist, and punched the nails straight into the Curse’s face.

She quickly snapped again to explode it into pieces. Purple blood spewed out everywhere.

“Hah… Shit, that was kinda badass if I say so myse-”

Nobara got cut off with a rather violent hit to the side of her face, courtesy of the toad Curse. She fell to the ground and dropped her hammer. The toad was clearly stronger than any of the other Curses here.

No way it’s Grade 1 though, Grade 2 at best maybe? If I can just get my hammer back I can-

A crunch echoed throughout the room.

Oh, the toad stepped on my hammer, my hammer’s split in two, wonderful.

With her hammer unavailable, Nobara was as vulnerable as could be. The Curses were once again intelligent enough to capitalize on their advantage, which still boggled Nobara’s mind.

The toad picked Nobara up by her leg and held her upside down. It looked like it was getting ready to turn her into its midnight snack.

I wonder how I’d taste actually… Delicious, no doubt.

Nobara couldn’t be bothered to care anymore, this whole mission was doomed from the start, it was a mess.

“You little shit, you ruined my perfect face!” She yelled at the Curse holding her, as if it cared. “You better not eat me! I’ll Curse you, you bastard!” The dumbass mushrooms were just laughing at her predicament.

This sucks. What a dumb way to go out…

Apparently Nobara still had a guardian angel on her side though. A Shikigami that she was pretty sure was just a giant snake came out of nowhere and gobbled the toad Curse up.

This made it drop Nobara, but before she could hit the ground, something gross and sticky caught her mid-air and pulled her away.

I am inside a frog. What is happening.

What’s happening was that Fushiguro finally managed to find and rescue her from the depths of the detention center. This is a relief of course, but Nobara was now incredibly distracted by the fact that she was inside a big frog’s mouth

“You couldn’t have saved me with any other Shikigami, Fushiguro? Frogs are so gross…” She complained.

“That’s too damn bad, we need to go!” Fushiguro shot back. He made a compelling argument.

Without her hammer, Nobara was content to just watch from inside the frog as Fushiguro exorcised the last of the Curses in that room.

-

“No Jujutsu sorcerer dies without regret!”

Yaga’s words echoed in Yuji’s head. Did he have regrets? A lot.

I’m not ready to die… Not yet. I thought I was strong enough… to die on my own terms. Guess I was naïve.

The adrenaline he felt has worn off by now, but it made his mind clearer.

‘Curses are the result of negative energy.’ Gojo-sensei once told me. Does Cursed Energy work the same?

Yuji made a fist with the hand that wasn’t detached from his body.

All this pain, anger, fear, regret…

Must… let it… out!

His fist started glowing with Cursed Energy, he felt it too. It looked like the same glow that he always saw around Kugisaki’s nails. It wasn’t much, but he hoped it would be enough to do something, anything.

Yuji mustered up all his remaining strength and hit the Curse in the face with his fist now filled with Cursed Energy.

As opposed to the previous punch, which did nothing, this punch did almost nothing.

The Curse was just laughing at him now, Yuji wanted to wipe that stupid grin off its face already.

I can’t do this… I can’t-

Suddenly, Yuji heard a wolf’s howl in the distance. The Curse turned its head too.

That’s… Divine Dog! Fushiguro’s signal!

They were safe, they got out. Even so, this next part was gonna be risky. Yuji had no idea how to manually switch. All he could do was think about switching, and hope his body listened to him.

I still never said I’d help you out. Sukuna piped up.

Yeah? Well I call your bluff!

…The hell does that mean?

You said you didn’t care that I die, that you’d lose two fingers, but you want all your power back don’t you?! Losing two fingers out of twenty has to be a big deal! You’ll never defeat Gojo-sensei like that!

Please, I could take Gojo right now.

Really? He kinda destroyed you when you were one finger.

Quiet.

Come on… they might not find another vessel for you, it might take another thousand years. You wanna live too don’t you?!

…Whatever kid, if you wanna switch, do it.

That’s all he needed to hear.

“NOW! SUKUNA!” Yuji roared out. His body felt strange, and then his body wasn’t his anymore.

Chapter Text

The Special Grade Curse born from the Curse Womb must’ve felt the shift in Cursed Energy. It started trembling in fear at what stood before it.

“Honestly… what an annoying brat huh?” Sukuna said casually.

The switch was a success. Where Yuji Itadori once stood was now replaced by the King of Curses.

Sukuna didn’t do anything. Now that he had control again, he needed to think how to utilize the limited time he had to the fullest.

The Curse took a step towards him, but Sukuna just put his hand up to stop it. “Hold on, I’m thinking.” Was all he had to say.

Tch, nice to be back in control, but what the hell now? As soon as this Special Grade bites the dust, the brat will switch right back… Same goes for if I try to go after Fushiguro or Kugisaki.

Maybe I can lead the Special Grade to them? Ugh, but he’ll probably switch back if I try that too, if he catches on. Besides, Curses linger at their point of origin, I can’t lead this thing too far. This stupid kid has annoyingly good control over me.

…Wait, can he hear what I’m thinking right now? He should shouldn’t he? We’re connected… Hey brat! Are you there?!

Sukuna suddenly felt something coming. The Special Grade decided it was a good idea to fire off a blast of Cursed Energy at him. Sukuna would be glad to prove it wrong.

In his excitement to put a Curse in its place, he accidentally healed Yuji’s missing hand in the process. He used that hand to completely block the Cursed Energy that was fired at him. The Special Grade stood there in shock.

“Fool.” Sukuna simply said.

No response, kid? I guess he’s catching his breath. Whatever, I wanted to take advantage of this, but there’s sadly not much I can do if this Curse wants to fight me.

“Alright, have it your way…”

It tried to fight back, oh did it try. Even with just two fingers, Sukuna was simply stronger, fast, more experienced. Better in every way.

“Come on, you can do better than that can’t you?!” Sukuna taunted it all the while.

By the end of it, the giant room they were in got completely destroyed, and Sukuna had the Curse planted into a pillar with its limbs detached from its body.

“You know, you and I are both classified as Special Grade… How pathetic.” Sukuna mocked the Curse while its torso dug into the concrete with its limbs displayed under him, like Sukuna just made a modern art masterpiece.

The Curse had some life left in it, it managed to break itself free and quickly regenerate its missing limbs. It looked real proud of itself.

Sukuna was not impressed. “Heh, atta boy. You used Cursed Energy to heal yourself. Should I applaud? Should I hold a ceremony? Should I give you a medal?” He said sarcastically.

The Curse looked ready to go again, but Sukuna’s had enough by now.

What a shame… Oh well, let’s hope I get another opportunity to take control of you, brat. Next time with Fushiguro and Kugisaki present eh?

Itadori still wasn’t responding, Sukuna started to wonder if he was even still there, or if the pain from earlier had knocked his consciousness out.

Wouldn’t that be nice…

As Sukuna got ready to end it, he took one last look at the Curse. He sensed its Cursed Energy and stopped for a second. He didn’t know how to describe it, but something about it felt… familiar.

Huh… You know kid, this mission was kinda above your pay grade wouldn’t you say? Why would those old farts send you here?

…And, this Curse Womb, the way that manager was talking, it birthed way faster than it should’ve didn’t it? Why is that?

A part of the Cursed Energy on the Curse just felt way too much like Sukuna’s own. It’s like Sukuna suddenly had an epiphany. Ohoho… that’s what I’m sensing huh? Oh, the kid’s not gonna like this.

“You three just walked into a trap…” Sukuna muttered with a grin on his face.

The Curse moved to attack, but stopped in its tracks as Sukuna started moving too. “What these three scoundrels have shown you so far has been nothing short of child’s play.”

Sukuna put his hands together and made an image with his fingers. “How about I show you some real Jujutsu?”

The Curse was frozen in fear. No matter which way you look at it, they both knew that this is the end.

“Domain Expansion: Malevolent Shrine”

A shrine surrounded by the skulls and bones of various creatures appeared behind Sukuna. The entire area was surrounded by his Cursed Energy. He had full control.

In the blink of an eye, the Curse was cleaved into 5 horizontal pieces. Sukuna slowly walked up to it.

“I’ll just be taking this back.” Sukuna reached out and plucked out an object that was inside the Curse. It was one of his Cursed Object fingers.

What a coincidence. Sukuna thought sarcastically, he decided to pocket the finger for now.

The Special Grade Curse Womb then disappeared into dust.

“Damn… even that wasn’t all that satisfying. Cursed Spirits are so boring…” Sukuna lamented.

The job was done, all he could do now was wait for Itadori to switch back. Sukuna whistled as he waited for the inevitable.

…I gotta say, the inevitable is taking a real long time.

“Brat! It’s done! I’m getting annoyed now, if you’re gonna switch back just do it already!” Sukuna yelled out into the empty room. Itadori was supposed to switch back as soon as the Special Grade was dead.

…You haven’t said a word since switching. I was just joking earlier, but, are you actually not there?

Sukuna could faintly hear a voice whisper in the back of his mind.

I… can’t-

After that, Sukuna got no response for a long time.

Sukuna’s mouth twisted into a manic grin.

-

Today had a really weird vibe in Geto’s opinion.

Satoru’s business trip was the first sign, it was incredibly out of nowhere. You could say it’s par for the course for the leader of the Gojo Clan to go on business trips, but this one was so vague that Geto couldn’t help but wonder if Satoru himself even knew where he was going or what he was doing.

The second sign? Well, almost immediately after Satoru left, his students get sent on a mission. Geto figured they would be fine with the reliable guidance of Fushiguro, as long as it was nothing too difficult.

Then came the third sign.

Geto had just returned to the little house in the middle of nowhere that he shared with Nanako and Mimiko, ready to settle in after another long day working at Jujutsu High.

The third sign was that he heard an extremely loud crash the moment he got to the front door, and a scream that sounded like it came from one of his girls.

He immediately sprang into action. He kicked the door down and went to the source of all the chaos.

“GETO-SAMA!” Nanako yelled upon seeing him enter the scene.

The Curse was powerful, way too powerful to just be in Geto’s home all of the sudden. It looked like a deformed humanoid creature, like most Curses do. It turned its head 180 degrees like an owl when it noticed Geto’s arrival.

It feels like a Grade 1, no, this could be a Semi-Special Grade. Not quite the most powerful a Cursed Spirit can be, but still strong. How did this thing get in here?!

Geto wasted no time, you don’t threaten his girls and come out alive. The Curse lunged at him, but Geto had summoned his own Curse, a Grade 1 Curse that was built like a brick wall with arms and legs. It managed to intercept the Curse and lock it down in its arms.

There’s one good reason why Suguru Geto is classified as a Special Grade sorcerer. His Cursed Technique that lets him absorb and use the Curses he exorcises, is incredibly versatile.

He releases the brick wall Curse and instead unleashes a Grade 3 Curse which was just a swarm of hornets.

It’s only Grade 3 because it lacks the power to go higher. Geto doesn’t need every Curse of his to be powerful though, they all just need their own specific use.

The hornets surround the Curse, and work together to carry it up high. Geto shifted all of his Cursed Energy into his feet. He was gonna finish this thing off fast.

He ran at the trapped Curse and dropkicked it through the window, away from Nanako and Mimiko, who were holding onto each other in fear.

“G-Geto!” Poor Mimiko cried while running to him with her arms held out, he held up his hand telling her to stay put. It hurt Geto’s soul to reject her embrace, but he needed to make sure the Curse was dealt with.

“Stay back. This will only be a second.” He muttered dangerously. He ran and jumped out of the window he just kicked the Curse through. It was cut up by glass and had a hole in its chest, courtesy of Geto’s Cursed Energy kick.

Strong Curses like this had the capability to regenerate, but Geto wasn’t gonna let that happen.

The Curse got back on its feet, and jumped high into the air to either fly away or strike Geto once more. Geto would let it do neither.

His trusty dragon Curse swooped in from the side and swallowed the Curse whole in an instant.

Hm, perhaps Semi-Special Grade was an extremely generous assessment… He thought coldly.

Before he returned the dragon to his arsenal of Curses, it started doing something weird with its mouth. Suddenly, it spit out a small object. Small, but with a lot of Cursed Energy inside.

…Oh, I see.

He rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn’t hallucinating. The object his Curse just spat out was one of Sukuna’s fingers.

Geto didn’t have to think long to figure out how it ended up inside his home.

“G-Geto-sama? Is it gone? Are you okay?” Nanako piped up from inside the house. She was still holding tightly onto Mimiko.

Satoru’s sudden business trip, the first years’ sudden mission, a Sukuna finger appearing in his house. Everything. Everything was way too weirdly timed.

And way too conveniently timed for a certain group of individuals.

As if fate was orchestrating the whole thing, Geto’s phone started ringing. It was Ijichi.

He picked up immediately. “Ijichi-san? What’s-”

“Geto-san! Something’s wrong, the detention center… Fushiguro and Kugisaki got out, but Itadori… Itadori-kun’s in danger!”

“What?” Geto gasped.

“I know you’re busy but this is serious! Please, this is Special Grade we’re dealing with, we need you to-”

Geto interrupted him. “Ijichi, what are you talking about? I’m not- well I am busy, but not with what you think. I can be there straight away.”

Ijichi sighed in relief, that man needed a vacation. “Oh thank god… The elders said you were busy though? I-I promise this is urgent though! Please we-”

Geto hung up on him, his mind went blank. “…The elders said that huh?”

“W-What’s going on?” Nanako and Mimiko stood there with concern on their faces. Geto looked back at them and spoke firmly.

“Nanako, Mimiko, cover up that broken window, barricade the front door, lock everything up, and stay hidden underneath the bed. I’ll be right back.”

-

Megumi hoped that the howl from Shiro was enough of a signal for Itadori to get the message, there wasn’t much else he could do anymore.

The toad Curse that Kugisaki had to deal with was barely Grade 2, but it disoriented her something fierce before Megumi came in. Either way, Kugisaki without her hammer wasn’t much help, she needed to get to safety.

Ijichi was outside waiting for them, he immediately made a phone call while Megumi helped Kugisaki to the back of Ijichi’s car.

The Curse Womb’s domain could still be seen from outside. Megumi desperately hoped Itadori was still alive in there to summon Sukuna.

Ijichi got in the driver’s seat after quickly finishing his call. Megumi didn’t get in though. “The five inmates are dead, please expand the evacuation zone to ten kilometers.”

“Fushiguro, what are you going to do?” Ijichi asked.

The Domain was still there. “Just get Kugisaki to safety, and if you come back, please bring a Special Grade or Grade 1 sorcerer if you can.”

“But what about you?!” Ijichi didn’t understand what Megumi was trying to accomplish by staying.

“…I’m waiting for Itadori.” Megumi announced.

Kugisaki spoke up from the backseat, barely awake. “H-Hey… I’m not just gonna sit here while you-”

Megumi cut her off. “Kugisaki, I genuinely mean no offence, but you are of no use at all without your hammer.” This predictably made her glare at him.

“Just get help, okay?” Megumi sighed.

Kugisaki looked offended, but she was also too exhausted to argue any further. “…Fine, just don’t be stupid okay? If Itadori isn’t out soon, just leave…”

Neither said anything else after that. Ijichi drove away with Kugisaki, presumably to Shoko.

A normal hospital could treat Kugisaki’s concussion, but I’m sure Ijichi would love an excuse to see Ieiri-san.

The only thing Megumi could do was contemplate about how this whole thing went wrong.

That Curse Womb was way too powerful for us. The whole thing was fishy from the start. Dammit! Itadori can’t die yet, he hasn’t even been a sorcerer for a month, it’s too soon…

After a few minutes, Megumi watched as the Curse Womb’s Domain started to fade away. After a few seconds more, it disappeared completely.

He… He did it. The Special Grade is dead!

“Sorry, he ain’t coming back.” Megumi heard a familiar voice say right next to him.

…Why is Sukuna here?

As if Sukuna could read his mind, he explained it for him. “Seems like he’s having a hard time switching back… I can only assume it’s a side effect of using me without restrictions applied.”

Megumi didn’t move, what could he do anyways? There was nothing non-Special Grades could do against Ryomen Sukuna besides pray that he was in a good mood.

“It’s probably only a matter of time before he can gain control back, I’ve come up with a solution though…” Sukuna said in cryptic way.

Sukuna tore apart Itadori’s uniform jacket, then abruptly shoved his hand straight into his chest and pulled his own heart out.

“What the hell…” Megumi muttered in shock.

“I can survive without this… But he can’t. He wouldn’t wanna switch back to a body that doesn’t pump blood would he?” Sukuna sadistically grinned.

He suddenly pulled something out of his pocket. It was one of his fingers. “Look what the Special Grade had on it! We both know you stood no chance against me with just one finger, but just to make sure…” Sukuna took it to his mouth and swallowed it whole.

Just like the day I met you… but Gojo’s not here this time.

“Itadori will come back, even if he dies. That’s just who he is.” Megumi said with confidence.

“Heh… you give him too much credit. Just earlier when he was distracting the Special Grade, he was crying and whining about all his misfortunes. I heard it all.” Sukuna always took great pleasure in the suffering of others.

“…” Megumi didn’t say anything, he wasn’t gonna let Sukuna get in his head.

“Oh was it pathetic! ‘No, I don’t wanna die yet!’ and ‘Why did this happen to me?’ Hahaha!” Sukuna laughed through his cruel impression of Itadori. “So yeah, he’s not gonna kill himself, I can say that for certain.”

Megumi ignored him the best he could and instead focused on survival.

Itadori’s hand is healed, Sukuna must be able to use RCT. He’s not immortal, he might not need a heart to live but surely it’s still not ideal for him. Maybe I can wear him down enough to think he needs the heart intact to beat me.

…But, can I?

“What beautiful scenery for a battle. A dark sky coated by the immaculate rain…” Sukuna proclaimed. “Now then, Fushiguro, let’s begin.” He pulled his hair back to prevent it from blocking his face.

It’s not a matter of ‘can’. I will!

“NUE!”

Megumi summoned his electric bird Shikigami, Nue, who flew past Sukuna in an attempt to distract him.

Megumi charged at Sukuna and threw multiple punches which he easily intercepted. Sukuna eventually caught Megumi’s fist and gave him a backhand of his own.

“Come on, this is your friend isn’t he? Put more effort into it!” Sukuna taunted.

“Great Serpent.”

This time Megumi summoned his giant snake Shikigami. It rose out of a shadow puddle on the ground and caught Sukuna in its mouth.

Then, Nue came back around and flew its wing into the back of Sukuna’s head. It then flew back to do it again, and again, and again.

“Don’t let up!” Megumi told them.

As if it was nothing, Sukuna pulled Great Serpent’s jaws apart and started pulling himself out of its grasp. He was grinning the whole time that Nue was bashing him.

Megumi got a really bad feeling. “Great Serpent, Retreat!”

Great Serpent got pulled back into the shadows. Megumi’s bad feeling was spot on. Just as it retreated, Sukuna was about to launch a cleave attack and cut Great Serpent in two.

“Oh? Impressive reaction time! Now, let’s go all out!” Sukuna said, cause apparently he wasn’t going all out until now.

Megumi was vulnerable after pulling back Great Serpent, which Sukuna easily took advantage of. He grabbed Megumi by the back of his shirt and threw him into the air and halfway across town.

Sukuna was also in the air and right on top of Megumi in an instant. “I like a Shikigami user who mixes things up! Come on Fushiguro, show me more!” He roared before putting his hands together and slamming Megumi down.

Before he could hit solid ground, Nue intercepted Megumi mid-air, but the momentum was too much. Megumi and Nue both crashed into an apartment complex, which made the building partially collapse.

They eventually hit the ground. Megumi was badly injured, but still alive. Same goes for Nue.

“N-Nue… Retreat.” Megumi called out, and Nue returned to the shadows where it could heal its wounds.

As if my Shikigami’s survival is even gonna matter… I might die here. I’ve used all my Shikigami just to get out of this situation, I’m missing a Divine Dog, and my Cursed Energy is at its limit.

Sukuna landed hard in front of Megumi, causing the ground to crack open. He looked at Megumi curiously.

“Y’know, the kid’s woken back up.” He announces. Megumi just got a slither of hope. Itadori could take back control.

Sukuna hasn’t healed his heart yet though! What is it gonna take…

“Aha! He’s yelling at me now. ‘Nooo Sukuna please don’t hurt him!’ Pfft, what a riot!” Sukuna mocks.

“Itadori…” Megumi muttered sadly. He needed Sukuna to heal his heart, but convincing him that he needed a heart to beat Megumi wasn’t going well.

“Hm, say, why’d you run away back then? Honestly Fushiguro… you’re like the human embodiment of wasted potential…” Sukuna sounded genuinely disappointed in Megumi.

“Huh?” Was all Megumi could say.

“You’re not going all out, is what I’m saying. I’ve watched you these past few weeks, you’re just… not getting it.” Sukuna took a step forward and looked Megumi dead in the eyes. “But your life is on the line here you fool! You holding back now cause it’s Itadori? Let me tell you, this brat’s not worth the effort…”

Not worth the effort? That’s what I’d usually say too.

…Why did I save him?

Megumi thought of his sister, Tsumiki, who is cursed despite being the kindest person Megumi knows. He thinks of his father, who abandoned them, who didn’t even know Megumi’s gender, who’s still alive and kicking somewhere.

Karma doesn’t happen on its own, criminals are disciplined under law, and Jujutsu sorcerers are just cogs in this retribution.

‘The only thing that’s fair about life is that it’s unfair to everyone.’ Tsumiki always said.

…I’ll save you, whether it’s fair or not.

Megumi’s body flared up with the last bit of Cursed Energy he had left. He went into a particular stance, Sukuna went on alert.

“…This again huh?” Sukuna said. It was the same stance as when they first met, where Megumi held his hands out like twisting the wheel of a vault door open.

This time… I’ll do it this time.

“That’s it… Show me what you got Megumi Fushiguro!” Sukuna challenged.

“With this treasure I summon, eight handles-”

Megumi abruptly stopped. ‘Why did you save me?!’ Itadori’s words from before echoed in his mind.

He couldn’t go out without telling Itadori the truth.

“…I didn’t save you because it was the logical thing to do, I didn’t save you cause it made sense to keep you alive. I saved you because I didn’t wanna see a good person die. That’s all it was. My request to Gojo-sensei was completely selfish.”

Sukuna just stood there with a blank expression on his face.

“People could die because I let Ryomen Sukuna live. I’m no hero, I’m a Jujutsu sorcerer. I never regretted saving you, not even for a moment.” Megumi finished.

Sukuna was frozen on the spot. Suddenly, his second pair of eyes closed, and the marks on his body started to disappear.

Wha-

Itadori switched back before his heart could be repaired. Blood started pooling out of his mouth, he had a dumb grin on his face all the same.

“You’re so smart Fushiguro! I never think that hard when it comes to saving people…” Itadori laughed. “For what it’s worth, I don’t think your way of doing things is wrong, but that doesn’t mean mine is.”

Megumi smiled sadly with fondness in his eyes. Even when dying, Itadori was as positive as ever.

Megumi desperately didn’t want to give up hope yet, but even Shoko Ieiri couldn’t possibly fix a missing heart.

Itadori let out his final words. “Hey… You, Kugisaki, Gojo-sensei, Geto-sensei… Live a long life, okay? All of y-”

Itadori’s body suddenly got launched sideways into the wall of the apartment complex. Megumi couldn’t even react. One second he was there, and the next he was struck by a Curse.

“Fushiguro-kun!” Geto rolled up on his dragon Curse. He must have seen the situation from afar, and naturally assumed that Sukuna was about to kill Megumi.

“G-Geto?” Megumi’s head moved slowly, first turning to look at Geto, who looked back in worry. Then he slowly turned towards where Itadori’s body flew.

His body was covered in rubble, it looked lifeless.

Geto stepped off his dragon and looked over towards Itadori. He realised what just transpired. “Fushiguro? Was that…”

Megumi’s eyes were empty. “That wasn’t… Sukuna.”

Geto’s eyes widened, and his face took on an expression of deep regret.

“I- I didn’t-”

Megumi cut him off before he could finish his excuse. “You didn’t see it was Itadori, I know.” He sounded completely dead inside. “It’s okay, he was dead anyways.”

They both stood there in the rain for a long time, neither knowing how to process the fact that Yuji Itadori is dead.

Neither knowing how to process the fact that they both played a part in it. He may have been dead either way, but Geto still technically struck the final blow.

Itadori might’ve been alive if Megumi was stronger.

-

The last thing Nobara remembers is passing out in the back of Ijichi’s car. She just woke up in what looked like a nurse’s office in a school. Judging by the time on the clock, it was the next morning.

“Ah, look who’s awake.” A slightly deep yet feminine voice sounded.

Nobara groaned while sitting up. A woman with long dark brown hair and a white doctor’s coat stood next to the bed she was resting on.

Nobara faintly recognized her. “Ugh… you’re uh… you’re the doctor lady right? I saw you once when Gojo was giving me the tour…”

The doctor lady chuckled. “That’s right. Shoko Ieiri, pleasure to officially meet you Kugisaki-chan. You can just call me Shoko.” She held up a small box of lollipops. “Want one?”

“…I’m good.” Nobara responded.

Shoko just shrugged and put the box down. “You’re immediately free to go by the way. Minor concussion, just needed some rest.”

Real nonchalant… I just went through hell and it’s a ‘minor’ concussion. I guess doctors can’t heal the mental damage I went through though…

Speaking of hell, she needed to know if the other two were okay.

“Hey, are Itadori and Fushiguro good? Did they make it back?”

“Oh, Fushiguro’s fine, few injuries here and there. Itadori’s dead, I’m gonna go dissect his body later.” Shoko said way too calmly.

…Itadori’s… what? Nobara’s mind shut off.

Shoko noticed Nobara’s shock and actually looked apologetic. “Ah, sorry. My bedside manner needs work. I just figured you’re the type of person who doesn’t like sugarcoating.”

Nobara looked down. “So… he’s gone? Just like that?”

“Yeah… sorry kid. I don’t mean to sound harsh, but you should get used to things like this happening if you’re gonna be a Jujutsu sorcerer.” Shoko said in a matter of fact way.

Without saying another word, Nobara got up and silently left the room. She needed to process this.

-

Geto looked down at Itadori’s corpse on the table. He felt nothing but frustration.

The higher-ups did this. They unsealed and planted Sukuna’s fingers at my house and the detention center so that powerful Cursed Spirits would go there. This was an assassination attempt.

…In Itadori-kun’s case, it wasn’t an attempt.

“The Curse Womb wasn’t supposed to have shaped into a Special Grade that fast…” Ijichi stood next to him. They were in the morgue, where Shoko would soon dissect Itadori to see what effect Sukuna had on his body.

“I know, Ijichi-san. This wasn’t your fault.” Geto reassured.

“Nah, it was the higher-ups’ fault.” A voice suddenly came from behind.

Geto turned to find Satoru Gojo himself standing there. “Gojo-san!” Ijichi exclaimed.

“S-Satoru… when did you-”

Satoru cut him off. “Ijichi had to call me about it. I thought I told you to call me if it was an emergency, Suguru?”

Geto winced at the slight bit of hurt he could hear in Satoru’s voice. The room got so tense that Ijichi had to back off from the two.

“I- I forgot… I wasn’t thinking straight.”

“Yeah yeah, we all know you’re not straight.” Satoru said sarcastically.

“They came after Nanako and Mimiko, Satoru! They planted Sukuna’s finger in my house! If I didn’t get there in time they would’ve…” Geto trails off.

After a moment of silence, he continued. “…So yes, I couldn’t waste time calling you. I thought your first years may have died if I didn’t get there fast enough.”

“…That’s fair, but you didn’t think to call me afterwards? To let me know a student of mine passed away maybe?”

“Ijichi called you didn’t he? I’m sorry, but I had to deal with the aftermath. I got Megumi here safe and sound.”

Satoru couldn’t say anything against that. He decided to change topic by turning to Ijichi.

“The mission was a Special Grade, with five rescue victims who weren’t even confirmed alive. In what world would I send my first years in for that?” Satoru’s tone was really passive aggressive.

Ijichi nervously spoke up. “W-When the mission was planned, it was just a Curse Womb, it wasn’t supposed to be a Special Grade...”

“So, the elders didn’t like that I gave Suguru a second chance, and that I suspended Itadori’s execution huh? They tried to kill two birds with one stone while I was gone. If Megumi and Nobara died too, that would’ve just been icing on the cake probably.” Satoru pondered.

“Well, we don’t know which higher-up is the culprit behind this plan.” Geto said.

Satoru looked at him with an expression he couldn’t quite place. “Should we just kill all of them?” He asked calmly.

The silence was deafening. Satoru’s words brought Geto back to 12 years ago. The context was slightly different, but Satoru had told him those same exact words then.

They stared at each other for what felt like a full minute, Ijichi awkwardly standing next to them. A new arrival broke the tension. “Look at you two getting all serious.”

Shoko walked into the room with equipment in hand. She gave Satoru and Geto a tired look. “I guess you did just lose a student, and Suguru you must be devastated to lose a fellow sorcerer…”

“Good morning to you too, Shoko…” Geto greeted.

“A 15 year old is dead on my table and you wanna tell me the morning is ‘good’?” Shoko said dryly.

Everyone who knew of Geto’s misdeeds a year ago still treat him like he’s some kind of ticking time bomb. Like it’s only a matter of time until he goes back to his old ways.

Shoko treating him so coldly hurt him the most somehow, at least Satoru tried to pretend to still like him.

Satoru cleared his throat to ease the awkward tension. “Come on Shoko, I’m a model teacher who cares about his students.”

Shoko gave him a blank expression. “Right… last I heard you weren’t teaching them shit when it came to non-Jujutsu stuff.”

“Non-Jujutsu stuff is hard for me to teach okay?” Satoru chuckled slightly.

Geto easily joined in with the banter. “The great Satoru Gojo struggles with something? This is gonna send shockwaves down the Jujutsu sorcery community.”

Satoru looked surprised for a second, as if Geto making a joke was foreign to him these days.

Which I suppose it is…

The two of them shared a laugh while Shoko looked on with what looked like nostalgia.

“Uhm… Ieiri-san.” Ijichi said. Geto almost forgot he was still there. “You came to inspect Sukuna’s vessel’s body, yes?”

“You ruined the moment Ijichi…” Satoru muttered.

Shoko giggled. “Go easy on him Satoru, Ijichi doesn’t have it easy being caught between us and the higher-ups all the time.” Ijichi blushed at her defending him.

Funny to see he’s still a certified Shoko simp…

“I don’t give a damn about the hardships of men.” Satoru bluntly stated while waving his hand.

“I’m a man, and you certainly care about my hardships.” Geto shot back at him.

Satoru levelled him with a look. “You’re not just a man though. You’re my man.”

Geto was pretty sure he could hear Shoko mutter ‘Oh dear.’ under her breath.

Geto couldn’t help but smile. Sometimes it felt like they were 16 years old again.

-

“He told us to live a long life.” Megumi told Kugisaki.

The two of them were sitting outside on the staircase of a shrine. Megumi’s injuries healed fast thanks to Shoko’s RCT. Kugisaki found him almost immediately after he was discharged.

Obviously, the topic of their classmate’s death was the first thing that came up. Megumi just finished telling Kugisaki what went down with Itadori and Sukuna.

“…Well that’s just great, isn’t it.” Kugisaki said sarcastically.

They sat in silence for a moment, neither knowing what to say. Things have always been a little awkward between the two of them. Megumi supposed it was just because their personalities were so different.

Kugisaki eventually broke the ice. “So, this the first time a friend of yours died?”

…I guess small talk is out the window.

“Yeah, in terms of Jujutsu classmates.”

“I said friends, not classmates.” Kugisaki exclaimed, Megumi stayed quiet. “Whatever, it’s just, you’re taking it pretty well.”

Megumi just looked down at the ground the whole time. “I could say the same for you, you two were closer than I was with either of you.”

Kugisaki scowled at him for some reason. “As if, you two were practically besties.”

Megumi just stayed silent again.

Kugisaki put her chin on her hand. “Besides, I only knew him for, what, two weeks? I ain’t the type of girl to cry over a guy like that.”

Megumi saw Kugisaki’s lip tremble and knew she wasn’t being sincere.

She must’ve really liked him… Can’t blame her, Itadori was… He was something else. I’m so sorry I couldn’t save him, Kugisaki… You two would’ve been good together.

He didn’t voice that last thought out loud, it might just make Kugisaki more sad. Kugisaki liking Itadori like that was only an assumption on his part anyways.

Before his thoughts could self-destruct further, he heard voices and footsteps approaching.

One voice he was very familiar with.

Kugisaki wanted to meet the other female student right? Maybe this’ll cheer her up.

Maki Zenin walked up to them carrying a Cursed Tool on her back. “Yo, Megumi! You’re even gloomier than usual, did you just come back from a funeral or something?”

Ah, right, it’s Maki. This might be an awkward first impression.

“Zenin-senpai…” Shit, force of habit.

Megumi was so used to calling everyone besides Tsumiki by their last name, he often forgets that Maki does not like her last name in the slightest.

And she doesn’t like it this time either, she scowls at him. “How many times do I have to remind you? Don’t call me-”

Before she can scold him, Panda whisper yelled from behind her. He’s hiding behind a bush with Inumaki.

“Maki! There was a funeral! That Itadori kid died just yesterday!”

“Fish flakes!” Inumaki added for good measure.

Maki’s face fell completely, which was kinda funny to see. “You- You could’ve said something a little sooner! Now I look like an asshole!”

“Well you kinda are!” Panda shouted back.

As the second years bickered, Megumi looked at Kugisaki, who was staring at the second years, weirdly intrigued.

“So… those are the second years, in case you couldn’t tell.” Megumi awkwardly said.

“Uh huh…” Kugisaki was staring straight at Maki. “Nice to see they actually exist…”

…What is that expression supposed to be?

It looked like Kugisaki was either lost in thought, or daydreaming. Either way, whenever Megumi followed where her eyes are pointed at, they always lead straight to Maki.

Guess I’ll introduce them?

“That’s Maki Zenin. No one, and I mean no one is a better Cursed Tool user than her.”

Kugisaki hummed, almost dreamily.

“She’s also my cousin, technically.”

Kugisaki’s face dropped ever so slightly. “Huh?”

“Ah, yeah, I’m from the Zenin clan, technically.”

“Oh, that’s really awkward.” Kugisaki muttered under her breath.

What the hell does that mean?

“Uhm… Huh?” Megumi voiced his confusion.

“N-Nothing! What about the other two? I notice one of them is… a panda.” Kugisaki quickly switched topics.

I’m surprised she noticed either of the other two with how focused she was on Maki.

“The other human being is Toge Inumaki, he’s a Cursed Speech user. He only talks in onigiri fillings.”

“…I’m sure I’ll find out why that is later.” Kugisaki said. “Tell me about the talking panda why don’t you.”

“His name’s Panda.” Megumi simply said.

“Are you fucking with me?” Kugisaki exclaimed.

“No. Anyways, the last one is Yuta Okkotsu, he’s the only one I respect. He’s abroad right now so-”

He tried to continue, but Kugisaki wasn’t having it. “You’re seriously not gonna elaborate on the fucking talking panda?!”

“I’m a Cursed Corpse! But just treat me as any other classmate.” Panda spoke up. Seems like the second years are done with their argument.

“So, you’re the other one right? The new first year that lived?” Maki asked Kugisaki.

Kugisaki’s body language got a little weird. Is she… nervous? I’ve never seen her nervous. I guess Maki has that effect on people.

“Ah, yup. Nobara Kugisaki, that’s me.” She delivered awkwardly. Maki looked her up and down, evaluating her. It only made Kugisaki more nervous.

Eventually Panda broke the silence. “We’re so sorry to ask this of you with your recent loss, but… Well, to be blunt, we want you two to participate in the Kyoto Sister-School Goodwill Event with us!”

Kugisaki finally took her eyes off of Maki. “The what who when event?”

“It’s an event with the other Jujutsu High School, the one in Kyoto.” Megumi explained for her. “But senpai, I thought only second and third years participate in that?”

“Kinji and Kirara are suspended remember? We don’t have enough people, you two are all we’ve got.”

“Hakari-senpai would’ve destroyed them too… What a shame.” Panda lamented.

“We don’t need his dumbass gimmick to beat them.” Maki snorted. “With that said, strength in numbers and all that. So, you two in?”

“Well hold on, what do we even do in the event?” Kugisaki naturally asked. “Smash Bros tournament? I’m good at Brawl, Meteor Smash all the way.”

“Actually, maybe we’re fine with just three.” Panda said deadpan.

Maki explained it for Kugisaki. “Well, there’s a lot more details and stuff but… To put it simply, we fight. We fight the Kyoto students in a Jujutsu battle.” Maki got a big grin on her face. “The only rule is no killing!”

“Don’t worry! We’ll train you guys so you’ll be in tip top shape to take them on!” Panda reassured them.

Kugisaki still had more questions. “Do we even have time for that? How long until the event?”

“About a month and a half from today I think.” Megumi piped up.

“Salmon!” Inumaki confirmed.

“…I don’t know what ‘salmon’ means, but thanks man.” Kugisaki threw Inumaki a peace sign.

Maki spoke up again, she’s basically the leader of the second years. “Come on… you’re in right?” Staring straight at Kugisaki.

“Do it for your fallen comrade!” Panda shouted, which earned him an elbow from Maki.

“One condition.” Megumi said after some thought. “If I deem any of the training or the event itself as pointless, I’m out.”

“Yeah, same.” Kugisaki agreed. She shot Maki specifically a look. “I’d rather not waste my time training with people who can’t teach me anything.”

Maki looked downright smug after hearing that. She walked up to the two of them until she was arm length away from Kugisaki.

“Oh, I’ll teach you a thing or two. Nobara, was it?” Being called by her first name so casually seemed to startle Kugisaki. She obviously didn’t know Maki calls everyone by their first name.

Kugisaki held her breath as Maki continued. “It was getting boring with just Megumi as the only first year here… I’ll have fun putting you in your place.”

Am I saved from Maki’s terror? Kugisaki, I will never forget your sacrifice.

Maki was being incredibly bold, bolder than usual. Even the second years looked surprised at Maki’s behavior.

I guess Kugisaki has her fired up?

For the first time ever that Megumi can recall, Kugisaki stutters. “A-Ah, uhm-”

She can’t even find words to say before Maki backs off with the same self-satisfied grin on her face as always. “Anyways, come on boys, we should go see Suguru and let him know we’re back.”

“Y-Yes Maki.” Panda stuttered out.

“S-Salmon…” Even Inumaki was baffled by that display.

Soon enough, the two of them were left alone again. Kugisaki was completely lost in thought now.

…At least that took her mind off of Itadori?

-

Sat in a small café was a woman with short dark hair, wearing robes. Stitch marks ran horizontally across her forehead.

“We Curses, we’re born from the purest human emotions, the negative ones. We are the purest form! We are the true humans!”

Across from her, which no ordinary human could see, was a Curse named Jogo. It looked nearly human, except its head was shaped like a volcano, and it only had one giant eye on its face instead of two.

“The fake humans… they should be burned away. That is our goal here!” Jogo continued their rant.

“Yet, with how things are going… You’ll be the ones who get burned away, no?” The woman with stitch marks questioned.

“That’s why we’re asking for your help, to defeat Jujutsu sorcerers. You said we’re going to war with them?” Jogo asked. “Guide us, Kenjaku.”

Kenjaku, the woman with stitch marks, leaned forward. “That’s right, and you will need to meet two conditions to win this war.” She held up two fingers. “First, remove Satoru Gojo from the fight. Second, make an ally of Ryomen Sukuna, and by extension, Yuji Itadori.”

Jogo looked confused. “Isn’t Yuji Itadori… dead?”

Kenjaku just smirked. “Is he?”

-

Yuji woke up in what felt like purgatory, and he wasn’t alone. For the first time ever, he was actually face to face with Ryomen Sukuna.

“This isn’t hell, if that’s what you’re thinking.” Sukuna said.

He was face to face with him, but after challenging him to a fight, he swiftly got knocked on his ass. Sukuna was literally using Yuji as a seat while Yuji struggled not to drown in a shallow puddle.

“This is my Innate Domain, I’m sure Fushiguro mentioned it once.” Sukuna explained, Yuji looked as confused as he always does.

Sukuna sighed. “Think of it as being inside my heart. In other words, we’re not dead yet!”

Hope suddenly filled Yuji’s eyes. “Oh?”

Sukuna looked at him with a shady grin. “If you accept my terms, I’ll fix your heart and revive you!”

Yuji tried to look back at Sukuna the best he could when he was laying on his stomach. “Ha, I knew it! You did wanna live, you were bluffing!”

“Heh, losing two fingers, three now, would’ve sucked I suppose. That’s not why I changed my mind though… I just think something interesting will happen if I stick with you as my vessel.” Sukuna said cryptically.

Yuji didn’t get what he meant, he was too focused on the prospect of being alive again.

Sukuna held up two fingers. “I have two conditions. First, you let me take full control of your body for one full minute when I chant ‘Enchain’. Second, you’ll forget about this agreement.”

That sounds… dangerous.

Yuji told him so. “…That’s not gonna happen. I’m not letting you take control of my body again.”

Sukuna groaned as if Yuji was being unreasonable. “Fiiiiine, how about I I agree not to hurt or kill anyone during that one minute?”

“Do you think I’m stupid?!” Yuji yelled.

“Yeah, you are, but that’s not the point. This is a Binding Vow kid, trust has nothing to do with it. If either of us break this agreement, we’ll be punished.”

Yuji still looked confused, so Sukuna explained further. “The lack of a Binding Vow is exactly why you lost control of me for a while back at the detention center. It’s basically a contract that cannot be broken, lest you face dire consequences.”

There wasn’t exactly a good outcome for Yuji. If he didn’t agree to this, Sukuna wouldn’t revive him. If he did agree, it could be disastrous in the future.

But if he can’t hurt or kill anyone in the one minute he takes control… surely there’s nothing he can do?

Yuji wasn’t sure if he wanted to risk hypotheticals like that. All of this is assuming that Sukuna’s ‘Binding Vow’ spiel was even legit.

“Revive me without conditions. You’re the one who killed me in the first place asshole.” Yuji spat out.

Sukuna sighed tiredly. “…How about, a fight to the death?” He got up off of Yuji and let him stand up too. “You win, revive with no conditions. I win, revive with conditions, the Binding Vow will go into effect. Got it?”

Yuji stood tall. “Alright, bring it old man! I’m gonna-”

Sukuna cut his head in half in less than half a second.

-

Gojo and Suguru sat next to each other on an empty bed, waiting while Shoko was getting her tools ready.

“…Are you just gonna watch?” Suguru asked.

Gojo simply nodded. “Nothing I haven’t seen before.”

As Shoko got prepared to cut into Yuji’s body, Suguru leaned further into Gojo. “At least… at least Sukuna is gone.”

“Yeah, for now.” Gojo dryly stated.

Suguru seemed to be deep in thought. Gojo had always wished that his six eyes could see people’s thoughts, he might’ve prevented Suguru from walking the path he did twelve years ago if that was the case.

“You remember December last year?” Suguru suddenly asked, which Gojo frowned at. Of course he remembers December last year.

“My uhm… assault, that day. The other day I heard that the higher-ups dubbed it ‘The Night Parade of a Hundred Demons’.” Suguru chuckled at the name.

Gojo didn’t see the point in what Suguru was saying. “…Is this your idea of small talk?”

Suguru glanced at him for a second before looking straight forward again. He was silent for a few seconds before speaking again. “…What’s your endgame, Satoru?”

“Huh?” Gojo went, confused.

Suguru went on a tangent. “The elders will forever despise me. You saw what happened, they won’t stop until they have it their way. Itadori’s dead, and I was supposed to join him. They also didn’t care in the slightest if Fushiguro and Kugisaki bit the dust as well, even though neither did anything wrong.”

Gojo fully turned towards Suguru. “What are you getting at?”

“I’m trying to figure out if you were being serious or not when you asked if we should just kill all the higher-ups.” Suguru finally turned his head towards Gojo. “Are you just gonna ‘compromise’ with them forever? If that’s the case, it’s only a matter of time before they get me.”

Suguru sounded incredibly bitter, and frustrated. Gojo supposed he couldn’t blame him after the night he had.

After concluding that Suguru was finished, Gojo gave his response.

“Suguru, I have a dream. I’m gonna reset this shitty Jujutsu world.”

Suguru narrowed his eyes. “What?”

“The higher-ups are scum, and killing them would be so easy, but others would just take their place.” Gojo put his hand on Suguru’s shoulder. “You’re asking what my endgame is? Our students are. They are the future, Suguru.”

“…Living your life for the sake of others again?” Suguru solemnly said.

Gojo smirked. “You often wonder why I became a teacher, and why I asked you to join me in teaching these kids. Well, here you go. It’s because one day, I’m confident that they’ll be great, as good as us even…”

He reached down to grab Suguru’s hand. “…I believe that we can break the cycle, and make a better world for the next generation of Jujutsu sorcerers. Isn’t that what you want too?”

Suguru said nothing else. He just stared fondly at their intertwined hands.

Shoko interrupted their moment with a snap of her rubber gloves being put on. “Hey lovebirds, I’m about to get started. If you don’t wanna see gore now’s the time to- why are you all staring like that?”

Gojo, Suguru, and Ijichi, who was just standing there watching the two have their conversation the whole time apparently, had expressions of surprise on their faces.

Behind Shoko, Yuji’s corpse started to sit up. In the next second, his eyes opened, and words came out of his mouth..

“…Why am I naked?”

Everyone stood frozen in shock. Ijichi spoke first. “H-He’s alive?!”

“It would seem so…” Suguru muttered.

Shoko had the gall to look disappointed. “Aw man… I already got everything ready…”

“Uh… sorry?” Yuji needlessly apologized.

Clearly, there was a lot to discuss. Mainly how Yuji managed to actually literally come back from the dead just now.

Right now though, Gojo was over the moon.

“Yuji! Welcome back buddy!” He rushed over to Yuji, who looked just as excited that he was alive as Gojo was.

Gojo turned off Infinity so that he could give Yuji a big high five. He then looked over at Suguru, who actually looked ever so slightly hopeful.

See Suguru? These kids are great.

Chapter Text

‘Come on Shoko, when are you gonna quit smoking?’

‘Satoru, the day I quit smoking is the day you somehow convince Suguru to stop what he’s doing through the power of friendship.’

Shoko did not think Satoru was actually gonna do it. The day he showed up with a heavily injured Suguru in tow, she mentally aged a hundred years. Shows what she knows about the power of friendship.

She’s kept her word, hasn’t smoked since. So Satoru not only saved Suguru from death, he also saved Shoko from potential lung cancer. What a guy.

The memory of Suguru returning to Jujutsu High fills her mind right now, cause she just watched another corpse reanimate.

I gotta say, relapsing sounds real tempting right now. Shoko thought.

Yuji Itadori is alive, and Satoru is absolutely thrilled. Shoko’s not, she just gathered all her tools together for nothing.

She’s outside with Satoru and Suguru now. Ijichi was helping Itadori get dressed and somewhere where he could rest any remaining exhaustion.

“Oh yeah, Sugu, are Nanako and Mimiko okay?” Satoru put his hand on Suguru’s shoulder.

Suguru slightly flinched at Satoru’s touch. “They’re fine… I relocated them somewhere safe while Fushiguro and the managers took care of Itadori.”

“Good, we’re not letting the higher-ups near them again.” Satoru said in a low, scary tone of voice.

If Shoko remembered correctly, this situation is exactly why Suguru didn’t want his two (basically) daughters to join Jujutsu High, no matter how much Satoru promised to protect them.

‘You won’t always be there, and I can’t risk the higher-ups putting Nanako and Mimiko in danger as some sort of punishment against me.’ Suguru had said. He was sadly proven right yesterday.

Shoko sighed. “Anyways, now I have to go change Itadori’s report…” She was so tired.

Satoru turned to her. “Nah, leave him as deceased.”

“Hm?” Shoko and Suguru hummed at the same time.

Satoru had that stupid grin on his face again as per usual. “You two are looking at me like I’m crazy, but listen. This is the perfect opportunity to train him without the higher-ups or anyone else going after him again.”

“So Itadori will have to go into hiding forever?” Shoko questioned.

Satoru shook his head. “No no, I’ll have him ready by the time the Goodwill Event starts! Then, I’ll reveal he’s alive in front of everyone, and at that point there’s not much the higher-ups can do. I told Ijichi to bring him somewhere no one could find him.”

“You sound so confident, but the higher-ups will get pissed when they discover he’s alive.” Suguru pointed out.

“And Yuji will be ready to take on anything the higher-ups throw at him by that point!” Satoru shot back. “Listen, Yuji’s only 15. I refuse to keep this kid from living the best years of his life.”

Suguru knew better than to argue with Satoru after that. “…The best years of his life huh?” Suguru chuckled sadly.

Satoru put his hands on both of their shoulders. “It’ll be fine! Just keep him as deceased, and don’t tell the other students anything.”

“You want us to lie to Fushiguro and Kugisaki?” Suguru seemed upset at that. “No offence to Ijichi, but if we can trust him with this secret, surely we can trust them? They’re Itadori’s friends, they have a right to know he’s alive.”

“I actually agree. It’s not like either of them have any reason to go snitch to the elders.” Shoko concurred.

Satoru frowned. “…I’ll think about it, for now just let me train him in private, ‘kay?”

Suguru didn’t press further. “Fine, but promise you’ll take this seriously-”

“Yo, sensei!”

“Kelp!”

Maki and Inumaki were suddenly walking up to them, announcing their return.

Suguru turns to greet them. “Ah, Maki-san, Inumaki-kun, you’re back! Where’s Panda?”

“He’s already back in his room to take a nap. We’ll be doing the same, just wanted to say hi.” Maki explains.

Satoru’s eyes lit up at the sight of Maki. “Maki my star student! I miss having you in my class!” He cried out with a smile.

“Shut up.” Maki dryly responded.

“Ah! Maki, have you met Kugisaki-san yet? She seemed excited to meet you.” Suguru asked.

“…Did she?” Maki narrowed her eyes. “I did meet her, five minutes ago, she seems fine.”

Satoru yelled indignantly. “Just fine?! That’s my student you’re talking about, she’s fantastic!” It was genuinely hard to tell if he was actually offended.

Maki just chuckled. “I’ll judge for myself. Anyways, later.”

With that, Maki and Inumaki turned and walked away from them. Inumaki gave them a small wave as they left.

“Can we tell them Itadori’s alive?” Shoko asked.

Suguru actually answered this before Satoru could. “No, that’ll definitely create too much chaos. And well… who knows if Panda might accidentally spill the beans to Yaga.”

“Sounds like something that would happen.” Shoko chuckled.

Satoru clapped his hands together. “Well! Glad we’re in agreement on something for once! I’m gonna take off now, I have a lot to explain to Yuji.”

Suguru chose to ignore the ‘for once’ part of that statement. “I’ll come with you. Sounds like it’s gonna be an exciting Goodwill Event…” He grinned.

“Mhm… I’ll get to see Utahime again…” Shoko sighed dreamily.

Satoru groaned. “Great… Just warn me when you two start making eyes at each other so that I can leave the room early.”

“Ditto.” Suguru said.

Shoko laughed. “You two actually have no right to say all that.”

The two of them act like a divorced couple who still love each other deep down for god sake.

“Huh?” Satoru and Suguru went in sync.

Shoko decided she’s had enough of these two for one day. “Whatever… morons.” She walked away from them back to her office.

“What did she mean by that?” She could hear Suguru question before she was out of earshot.

God help me.

-

“Killing Satoru Gojo is pretty much impossible, especially for you. You’ll need to seal him instead.”

Across from Kenjaku, Jogo narrowed their eyes at her. They’ve been at the café for some time now, she noticed some staff looking her way in confusion.

To them, it looks like I’m just keeping this table all to myself while not ordering anything…

The others at her table were Cursed Spirits after all. Jogo, Hanami, and Dagon. Regular people could not see Curses.

Jogo finally spoke. “What do you mean… ‘seal’?”

“Exactly what it sounds like.” Kenjaku chuckled. “You’ll need something Special Grade level of course… something like, Prison Realm?”

The air around them immediately started heating up as Jogo looked ready to blow a fuse.

“Prison Realm?! You have that taboo object?!” They yelled.

Kenjaku fanned her face as she noticed a staff member heading their way. “Calm down Jogo, I’d rather not cause a-”

Before she could finish her sentence, the waiter got too close to them. “Excuse me, ma’am? Are you ready to-”

He instantly got incinerated by Jogo’s flames, causing the rest of the restaurant staff and customers to go into a frenzy.

“-commotion…” Kenjaku finished her sentence, too late.

“How about this…” Jogo said, before igniting everyone in the entire restaurant, almost instantly killing them.

“You give me Prison Realm, and I’ll kill Satoru Gojo myself!”

Kenjaku coughed as the ashes filled her lungs. “Well, can’t wait to see the news report about a burnt down restaurant later today…”

Jogo slammed the table. “Kao- Kenjaku! How strong would you say I am, in terms of Sukuna fingers?”

Kenjaku let their near slip up go for now. “You? I’d say… eight or nine. That’s being generous though.”

Jogo got a really creepy smile on their face. Or maybe their face is just creepy in general.

“That’s plenty… Give me Prison Realm, I’ll take care of it.” They said.

Kenjaku narrowed her eyes at Jogo. “Hm, sure, but Jogo… Do not call me that name. You’re lucky because you just made sure there’s no one else around to hear it, but if a sorcerer hears it? And the information gets passed along to Yuji Itadori? I cannot have that happen just yet.”

“Y-Yes Kenjaku, you’ve told me that, my apologies.” Jogo actually looked a little nervous.

Satisfied, Kenjaku put on a soft smile. It almost looked like the warm smile a mother would give her child.

-

Training at 7 in the morning… are the second years insane?

Only a day after she met the second years, Nobara was already being tasked to train with them. She understood that a month and a half wasn’t a lot of time to teach her the good stuff, but surely she could get one more day of rest?

The answer was a resounding no. Zenin and Inumaki were already going at it when Nobara got there.

“Hey, Kugisaki!” Panda was on the side watching as he noticed Nobara’s arrival.

Zenin and Inumaki immediately stopped and turned. Nobara felt kinda awkward being watched by all of them.

“Yo, where’s Megumi?” Zenin asked.

“You know the mission where our classmate died? Some civvies bit the dust too, Fushiguro’s informing the family members.” Nobara explained bluntly.

“Salmon roe?” Inumaki said.

“Yeah, isn’t that the managers’ job?” Zenin questioned.

How the fuck does she know what ‘salmon roe’ means.

Nobara shrugged. “He said he wanted to do this one personally.”

“Well, whatever, I guess you’re up first then.” Zenin grinned maliciously. It sent shivers down Nobara’s spine.

Inumaki went over to sit on the benches next to Panda as Nobara took over his place on the training field across from Zenin.

Zenin put her hands on her hips. “You’re taking me on first, no Cursed Technique. I wanna see your hand-to-hand.”

Ahaha. Fuck.

“Ah- My uh… my hand-to-hand?” Nobara nervously stuttered.

Zenin just chuckled. “No experience with that? I figured, no offence. Just show me what you do know and we go from there.”

Nobara groaned. “I know nothing though. What do I need hand-to-hand for when-”

Zenin cut her off by putting her hand up. “Let me be transparent here. I talked a bit with Megumi about you yesterday, and from what he told me it sounds a lot like you use your Cursed Technique as a crutch. What if your hammer gets broken? What if you lose your nails?”

‘You are of no use at all without your hammer.’ Fushiguro’s words from yesterday rang in her head.

“A Jujutsu sorcerer should know how to throw hands in case all else fails, that’s why we’re doing this.”

“Whatever you say Zenin-senpai…” Nobara sighed.

Nobara’s words made Zenin flinch and frown for some reason. “Don’t call me that.”

Huh?

Her tone sounded lowkey dangerous, it made Nobara even more nervous. “Don’t call you what? Your name? Zeni-”

“Don’t call me that.” Maki said even more sternly.

“Here we go…” Panda muttered.

“O-Okay okay! What do I call you then?” Nobara asked.

“Just ‘Maki’ is fine. I’m on a first name basis with pretty much everyone, don’t sweat it.” Ze- Maki’s smirk was back on her face like it never left.

“Okay… Maki-san then.” Nobara smiled at how Maki’s name sounded coming out of her mouth.

Maki got into a fighting stance. “Alright, enough chit-chat. Get ready, I won’t go easy on you.”

“Ha! Wasn’t hoping you wou-”

Before Nobara could even finish her sentence and get into her own stance, Maki ran at her with insane speed. She was right in front of Nobara within a second.

Holy fu-

Maki sent a powerful roundhouse kick straight to Nobara’s head, which she blocked last nanosecond by putting her arm up to her head in a panic.

Nobara grunted. She managed to protect herself from yet another concussion, but the kick still completely knocked the wind out of her. Before she could recover, Maki was already moving again.

She quickly pulled her leg back and moved it down to sweep Nobara off her feet.

Maki’s speed was terrifying. Before Nobara could even hit the ground, Maki was somehow already standing up straight and grabbing onto Nobara’s jacket, holding her upper body off the ground.

Nobara just hovers there in shock as she attempts to figure out what just happened. Even Inumaki and Panda’s eyes and jaws were wide open.

I guess she wasn’t kidding when she said she wouldn’t go easy…

“Hm, that was… three seconds? If I’m being generous…” Maki said in a way that sounded disappointed.

Nobara quickly snapped out of it despite how light-headed she felt. She didn’t like the feeling of being looked down on.

She grabbed Maki’s wrist, who was still easily holding onto Nobara to keep her from falling, as if she weighed nothing. “That was a warmup… Again!”

Maki pulled her up so that she could properly stand on her own feet, but didn’t let go. “Okay, I won’t catch you if you fall this time though…”

With that, Maki finally let go of Nobara’s jacket and stepped back to go again. Nobara felt colder all of the sudden.

Maki got into her stance. “Ready?” She asked Nobara.

“Ready!” Nobara confirmed.

Nobara lasted a little longer this time. Just like Maki promised, she did not catch Nobara, and Nobara landed straight on her ass.

“Okay… time out…” Nobara groaned as she just laid there for a minute.

Maki grinned down at her. “Nearly eight seconds this time, not bad honestly.” Nobara had to assume that was sarcasm, but Maki managed to sound completely earnest. “C’mon, up. A Special Grade isn’t gonna give you a time out.”

“Ah, but a kind sorcerer such as yourself will give me time to rest will you?” Nobara sighed.

“Kind? I am not kind, you take that back.” Maki said deadpan.

She’s so… god.

“I’m sure she didn’t mean it Maki!” Panda shouted as if Maki was genuinely upset at being called kind.

Maki chuckled light-heartedly, which eased Nobara’s nerves. “Alright, let’s switch opponents. Nobara, have you ever tried to fistfight a fully grown panda bear?”

Panda was already walking up to them. Nobara wanted to protest, cause she in fact didn’t feel like fighting an actual  literal panda, but Maki didn’t let her.

“With your height, most of your opponents from Kyoto will be bigger and taller than you, so why not try practicing against the tallest creature we have here?” Maki smirked.

I’m not gonna get through this day alive am I… Fushiguro save me…

-

The corpse of Tadashi Okazaki, the inmate from the detention center that Itadori so desperately wanted to save, had completely disappeared alongside the Curse Womb’s Innate Domain.

Before he saved Kugisaki, Megumi had managed to snag the name tag off of Tadashi’s shirt. It was the next best thing to show his grieving mother.

“I’m sorry, by the time we got to the scene, your son was already dead…”

Usually the managers take care of informing civilians that a loved one of theirs passed away from a Cursed Spirit incident, but this one was personal to Megumi.

Rather, it was personal to Itadori, but Itadori isn’t here anymore, so Megumi decided it was his task now.

Megumi stood in front of Tadashi’s mother, who seemed to have already accepted her son’s fate before Megumi even said anything.

He told her the whole story, including how he admittedly wasn’t all that interested in saving the inmates, while his two classmates were. He obviously left out anything that indicated Cursed Spirits and such.

Once he was done, he bowed. “I’m sorry we couldn’t save his life.”

Tadashi’s mother was silent for a few seconds, probably processing the story, then she spoke. “Don’t apologize…” Megumi looked back up to see the tears start flowing.

“I’m the only person on earth… who will grieve for him.” She sobbed, holding Tadashi’s name tag up to her face.

Megumi silently left her house as she continued crying. He bit his bottom lip to keep it from trembling.

On the walk back to Jujutsu High, he couldn’t help but let his thoughts wander. They were all about Itadori.

…This is stupid. I only knew him for two weeks, I shouldn’t be so…

He had trouble finding the right words to describe how he was feeling. Confused was definitely one of the words though.

Yesterday, he and Itadori really only barely knew each other, and yet they were both ready to sacrifice themselves for each other.

They were so different as well, Itadori even mentioned that before he went. ‘I don’t think your way of doing things is wrong. But that doesn’t mean mine is.’ He had said.

Megumi wanted to save good people. Itadori wanted to save everyone.

Megumi doesn’t understand why he didn’t summon Mahoraga, the Shikigami that could’ve ended Sukuna, even if Megumi had to give his own life in return.

I stopped the ritual, I was just gonna let Sukuna kill me, I didn’t know Itadori would switch back. Itadori was dead either way, so why did I stop-

The only reason Megumi could think of was that he simply didn’t want to be the one that killed Itadori.

My words made him switch back, I practically still killed him. I’m such an idiot-

“Yo, Megumi! You’re late.”

Megumi was so lost in thought that he didn’t fully comprehend that he already made it back to Jujutsu High, and now Maki was yelling at him, as per usual. Inumaki was sitting next to her.

It kind of disorientated Megumi, about twenty minutes of travel time went by in like ten seconds in his mind.

He looked at the scene in front of him, Kugisaki was not having a good time. Panda was just chasing her around while she ran away in fear. Megumi couldn’t blame her, Panda was kinda scary.

“I see training is going well…” Megumi said sarcastically.

“Kelp!” Inumaki greeted him.

Megumi’s earlier thoughts still lingered. He wanted to understand Itadori’s mindset so badly.

He looked towards Maki. “Maki-senpai, as a Jujutsu sorcerer, what kind of people do you want to save?”

Maki looked at him like he just said the sky is red and grass is blue. “Huh? The fuck kind of question is that? What kind of people? I just kill Curses, and if that saves someone’s life, then cool. I don’t really think about it.”

“Huh, I should’ve known you were the wrong person to ask.” Megumi said dryly.

“Say what?!” Maki shouted at him, offended.

“FUSHIGURO SHUT THE FUCK UP AND TAG IN WITH ME I’M DYING OVER HERE!” Kugisaki was fighting for her life as Panda was tossing her around like a ragdoll.

Megumi just stared. “…What is this training her for exactly?”

“To be perfectly honest, her close up hand-to-hand sucks complete ass. She needs a lot of work in general. I thought being tossed around by Panda would at least build up her endurance so she can last longer against me.” Maki explained.

Kugisaki landed on the ground and immediately stood back up, so apparently Maki’s training plan is solid.

“Go easy on her… The countryside evidently didn’t prepare her properly.” Megumi sighed.

“That is exactly why I shouldn’t go easy on her. Anyways, you’re not one to talk buddy, your close combat is weak too.” Maki flipped her staff as she walked onto the field.

She turned and made a ‘come at me’ motion towards Megumi with her hand. “C’mon, you versus me, whoever wins makes lunch.”

“Salmon roe…” Inumaki muttered mischievously.

Looks like Megumi was making lunch for everyone today.

-

Yuji couldn’t help but feel excited as the two strongest Jujutsu sorcerers stood before him, ready to teach him their ways.

“I won’t be teaching you anything, I’m just here to make sure Satoru doesn’t get too goofy.” Geto said. Well there goes that.

Gojo stuck his tongue out at Geto. “I resent that, I know when to get serious.”

Geto chuckled. “Let me rephrase, I’m just here to get an idea of how Gojo-sensei intents to teach you.”

Yuji nodded in understanding. “So… what are we doing?”

Gojo got straight to explaining. “Well Yuji, from my observations, Megumi and Nobara are excellent at controlling their Cursed Energy, but they lack experience in hand-to-hand fights.”

He crosses his arms. “You, my friend, are the complete opposite. You’re a natural at close combat, what you need to learn is how to control that Cursed Energy.”

“I’m ready to learn, Gojo-sensei. I don’t wanna be weak anymore, teach me to be the strongest like you!” Yuji had a beaming smile on his face.

“Aww you flatter me Yuji!” Gojo cooed.

“You literally call yourself that all the time.” Yuji could almost hear Geto rolling his eyes.

Gojo directed Yuji’s eyes towards two cans on the table. Suddenly, both cans twisted and exploded, one got twisted more than the other.

Gojo pointed at the can that was less twisted. “This is Cursed Energy, and that is Cursed Technique.” He then pointed at the can that was completely twisted around.

“I see… Wait, no I don’t.” Yuji said deadpan, which made Geto snort.

Gojo frowned. “Okay well… think of it like this: Cursed Energy is electricity, and Cursed Techniques are electronics. Cursed Energy basically powers Cursed Techniques.”

“We can get into specifics, but yes that’s the basic premise.” Geto said.

Yuji put his finger to his chin. “Alright… so Kugisaki for example powers her nails with Cursed Energy, and then she uses the Cursed Energy inside the nails to use her Cursed Technique?”

“That’s precisely it! Nobara’s technique is actually a really good example. If she didn’t have Cursed Energy, the nails wouldn’t explode like you’ve seen them do. She can only do that with Strawdoll Technique by empowering her nails with Cursed Energy.” Gojo explained.

“Without Cursed Energy, she’d just be swinging a hammer around.” Geto added.

“Okay… Oh! Does that mean I’ll get a super cool Cursed Technique too?” Yuji got excited.

His excitement was immediately crushed into nothingness by Gojo. “Nope, besides basic Shikigami and Barriers, Cursed Techniques are intrinsic. Simply put, you can’t use Jujutsu.”

“…Oh.” Yuji deflated.

“Way to go, not even 5 minutes into training and you crushed his hopes and dreams.” Geto teased.

Gojo scoffed. “Shut up… Anyways, forget about Cursed Techniques Yuji! We’re here to focus on how we can combine Cursed Energy with your insane physical capabilities! You won’t even need a Cursed Technique, you can just swing Cursed Tools around like Maki if you want!”

“That’s right, you don’t need a Cursed Technique to be a great Jujutsu sorcerer.” Geto reassured.

“Easy for two people with overpowered Cursed Techniques to say…” Yuji muttered.

Geto chuckled awkwardly. “Well… that’s a fair point, but we’re not just Special Grades because of our Cursed Techniques you know. Us learning to use our Cursed Energy to the fullest is how we both got this far.”

“Yeah, let’s ignore the fact that Yuta was classified as Special Grade before he even had any training…” Gojo snickered. Geto scowled, but he had no response for that. “You’re not wrong Yuji, a sorcerer’s skill set is about 80% innate talent.”

So just get lucky that you’re given a good Technique at birth? Is that it? This sucks… guess I’ll just have to learn to use Cursed Energy in my fists.

Yuji suddenly remembered something. Back at the detention center, before he summoned Sukuna, he tried to fight the Curse Womb himself. At one point, his fist started glowing.

That’s right…

“I already know how to do that!” He voiced his thoughts out loud.

Gojo and Geto look at him with surprise. “Erm… kinda.” Yuji weakly adds. “I kinda got it back at the detention center, my fist started glowing.”

“Oh? Think you can do it again then?” Gojo puts up his hand. “Hit me.”

“U-Uh… if you’re sure?” Yuji reckons ‘The Strongest’ can take a punch. He focuses as hard as he can and punches Gojo’s palm. Sadly, no Cursed Energy seemed to spark.

It also didn’t feel like I even hit him… Why does his palm feel like thin air?

“N-Nothing happened this time…” Yuji said dejectedly.

“Hm, back at the detention center you said? I assume you were feeling a lot of negative emotions during that time.” Geto interjected.

Gojo nods. “Mhm, the basis of Cursed Energy is negative emotion. Considering the stress you were under, it must’ve come to you naturally at that point.”

“So… I’ve gotta be angry all the time? Ooooh that would explain Fushiguro and Kugisaki’s attitudes!” Yuji said as if he reached an amazing conclusion.

“No- Well… kinda? Those two are indeed angry a lot, and who knows, that might be helping them with their Cursed Energy…” Gojo actually pondered for a moment. “But anyway, no, the best way to channel your Cursed Energy is by learning to control your emotions.”

“Many Jujutsu sorcerers train to control their emotions so that they don’t waste Cursed Energy when they’re overwhelmed.” Geto explains.

“There’s a lot of ways to train that, but considering we don’t have all the time in the world, your training method’s gonna be a little tough…” Gojo reached into a cardboard box that was sitting next to the couch in the room. A TV sat across from the couch.

Gojo pulled a bunch of DVD’s from the box. “You’re gonna be watching movies.” He said deadpan.

“…I’m huh?”

“Alright I think I’ll take my leave now.” Geto announced out of nowhere. Before either Yuji or Gojo could react, he was already walking out.

“The movie watching tactic is legit whether you like it or not!” Gojo shouted at him as he left. “His loss… some of these are classics.”

“So… watching movies is gonna help me?” Yuji was naturally skeptical.

“Yup, and you won’t be watching alone.” Gojo pulled what looked like a teddy bear with boxing gloves out of thin air. “You’ll be watching with this little fella.”

Is that thing breathing?

“This is one of Yaga’s Cursed Corpses, you remember right?” Gojo questioned.

Yuji certainly remembers getting the shit beaten out of him by a doll. He takes the doll that Gojo’s holding and feels nothing coming from it. “So what do I do exactl-”

Yuji got cut off by the doll suddenly springing to life and punching Yuji right in the chin. It had nowhere near the amount of force as the last Cursed Corpse Yuji fought, but it still hurt.

Gojo grinned playfully. “If that thing doesn’t receive a consistent flow of Cursed Energy from you, it’ll wake up and attack you. Now, when you’re watching movies, it’ll make you feel all kinds of emotions, the goal is to keep those emotions under control.”

Yuji rubbed his sore chin as Gojo continued. “You don’t wanna give the doll too much or too little Cursed Energy. With this training, you’ll be able to balance your Cursed Energy output, no matter how much your emotions are tampered with.”

The doll appeared to be sleeping. Yuji picked it back up and attempted to focus on his Cursed Energy output. It thankfully stayed asleep for now, so Yuji must be doing something right.

Gojo snapped his fingers. “Oh, and stay on your toes. Its Cursed Energy level is set to match yours, which is kinda low, but it’ll require a higher flow of Cursed Energy as time goes on.”

Gojo picks a movie out of the box. “Let’s start with this one! The main character dies at the end!” He said way too gleefully.

Yuji frowned. “Dude, spoilers-”

Apparently getting spoiled really upsets Yuji, cause the doll immediately woke up and punched him in the face again.

“S-Shit! Ow!” Yuji groaned.

“Keep your Cursed Energy steady no matter what!” Gojo reminded.

-

Maki sat on the bench, watching Nobara and Panda continue their brawl. Toge sat next to her texting on his phone, and after watching Nobara get tossed around for the nth time, she got curious what her onigiri buddy was up to.

I have a really good guess on who he’s texting.

Sure enough, she sneakily looked at Toge’s phone over his shoulder to see the chat.

Is that a heart next to Yuta’s name?

-

Yuta <3: Have you been sleeping well????

Toge: dw about it

Yuta <3: Toge…

Toge: I miss u

Yuta <3: I miss you too but you need to sleep!!

Toge: no

Toge: I wish u were here to meet Kugisaki, she’s a riot

Toge: Maki seems to like her too

Yuta <3: Awww Maki’s making friends?

Toge: yeah, friends.

-

Maki narrows her eyes. “What exactly is that supposed to mean?” 

Toge flinches as he realizes she’s reading his texts. “…Fish flakes.”

-

Yuta <3: Damn, I have to go now, stay safe!!!! :)

Toge: <3

Yuta <3: miobunewmdcvrwejf

-

“Smooth, buddy.” Maki teased.

“Salmon roe!” Toge shoved his hand into Maki’s face, which she tried to shrug away.

Before they could start full on wrestling, Megumi showed up to make an announcement. “Lunch is ready!” He shouted with his hands around his mouth.

Maki had kicked his ass earlier, as expected, so lunch was on him. Maki was curious to see what he had cooked up.

“Ooh, lunch?” Panda was in the middle of rushing at Nobara before he got distracted by the prospect of food. Nobara did not waste this opportunity and launched a fist up towards Panda’s face. It connected.

Panda grunted and actually stumbled backwards before tripping and falling over. Nobara put all the force she could muster into that punch.

“Boom! That’s what I’m talking about!” Nobara celebrated.

“Ugh… good for you. That’s 1 victory to my uh… 20 something?” Panda taunted.

Nobara points at him. “This is where your winning streak ends, panda dude…”

Maki smiled in amusement. Toge was right, Nobara Kugisaki is a riot.

She gave Nobara a mock round of applause. “Well done! Think you can beat me yet?”

Nobara’s face immediately sunk. “Please have mercy…”

Maki chuckled. “If you’re looking for mercy I’m the wrong person to ask. Now come on, lunch time!”

Everyone started heading back inside, Maki caught up to Megumi who was already walking as soon as his announcement was done.

“You and Kugisaki getting along?” He asked as soon as she stood next to him.

Maki put her hands in her pockets. “Hm? Eh, she needs a lot of work. She seems eager to learn though, so that’s good-”

“That’s not what I asked.” Megumi interrupted.

“Huh?” Maki went.

Megumi put his hand on his face. “Christ… I’m asking if you two are getting along as… I don’t know, friends?”

“I just met her like not even 24 hours ago dude.”

“God, you’re the most blunt person I know and yet I can never get a straight answer from you…” Megumi muttered loud enough for Maki to hear.

Maki scowled at him and his face turned sheepish. “…Sorry, it’s just…”

“Just what?” Maki asked.

They then arrived at the table in the living room of the dorms where they’d be eating, the others were also almost there.

Megumi gestured for Maki to follow him to the kitchen. When they got there he started talking.

“I’m not 100% sure, but I think Kugisaki liked Itadori.”

Maki took a few seconds to process that. “Ah, your dead classmate?” She bluntly questioned.

Megumi flinched. “Yeah… so I was asking if you were getting along cause I just wanted to know if she’s still feeling sad, if that makes sense?”

“Since when do you care about other people?” Maki said sarcastically with a grin.

“Shut up…” He hung his head down. “I- …I wish you got to meet Itadori honestly. He was a physical powerhouse, you would’ve loved sparring against him.”

“That so? Hm, well, that’s a shame.” Maki put a hand on her hip. “But, you don’t have to worry about Kugisaki, if she liked Itadori, I think she’s gotten over it.”

Megumi looked confused. “Huh? How do you know that? Did she say something?”

“No, but…”

Maki is blunt, brash, a little hardheaded, and sometimes had trouble reading the room. What Maki is not, is blind.

“Let’s just say, a few times during training, I’ve caught her eyeing me up like I’m an oasis in a desert.” She smirked. “That’s probably a clue that she’s over it, if she ever even had those feelings for him in the first place.”

Megumi was positively stunned frozen, eyes wide and jaw slack.

Maki looked over at the four plates of food Megumi prepared for lunch, lots of tiny meatballs. “These look good by the way. C’mon, I’ll take two plates you take the other two.”

She was already back in the living room before Megumi could recover.

“What, the…” Was all he could mutter.

-

“Lunch is served.” Maki announced as she put her plates down, Megumi coming in with his own soon after.

Toge was more than ready for the change of pace. The second years’ last assignment had taken way longer than expected, and the rations and sloppy fast food they ate while they were out there was getting old.

I will never understand how Maki can say fast food is her ‘favorite’ food, but to each their own I guess.

Everyone put their hands together and bowed as appreciation for the delicious meal that has been placed before them. Then, they grabbed their chopsticks and dug in.

Toge sat with Maki and Panda, while the first years sat next to each other, across from them. Kugisaki looked weirdly sad at the sight of the meatballs.

Who doesn’t like meatballs? Toge tried one, and it tasted like the greatest thing he has eaten in a long time.

Maki spoke up about it first. “Woah… these are really good.”

“Salmon! Hm, tuna tuna.” Toge agreed. He tapped Maki on the arm to get her attention.

“Should we ask him for the recipe?” He said using sign language. His Cursed Speech kinda made it necessary to learn it, and his classmates thankfully understood.

Sign language was hard, so he preferred using onigiri words, but sometimes he had to get specific with what he wanted to say.

I think Fushiguro’s been picking up on it pretty well lately. I’m sure Maki’ll force Kugisaki to learn it too… You can’t say no to Maki, you just can’t.

“Yeah Megumi, share the secret recipe!” Maki grinned.

Fushiguro fidgeted. “There’s not much secret, they’re really easy to make actually.” He said with profound sadness.

Kugisaki still seemed upset for some reason. She was scowling at the meatballs like they hurt her family.

…Are these two okay?

Toge remembers when Yuta first joined the school. His eyebags were heavy and his sorrow was evident. All of it was the result of the death of his childhood friend. Grief is a powerful enemy to overcome.

God I miss Yuta… He allowed himself a single thought about his… friend, it was complicated, before getting back on track.

Toge recognized it when he saw it. He didn’t know Yuji Itadori, but he must’ve meant a lot to these two. They were hiding their grief pretty well in his opinion, but something must’ve triggered just now, the atmosphere was really awkward.

Now, he’s not quite sure what meatballs have to do with it, but emotions never make any sense.

Kugisaki managed to snap out of it. “So, any of you gay?”

That is about the last thing Toge expected her to say.

Whatever breaks the ice I guess?

“Salmon.” He immediately responded while nodding, letting her know he was saying ‘yes’.

Nobara hummed in approval. “Hm, cool, I’m a lesbian myself by the way.”

Fushiguro hung his head down and apparently refused to answer.

Maki swallowed down another meatball before answering. “I haven’t given it much thought, I don’t really care about romance right now.”

Toge could’ve sworn he saw Kugisaki’s face get flooded with disappointment.

Maki looked up in thought. “…Yeah no, I’m unsure, ask me again in the future.” She playfully grinned. Kugisaki pouted.

“Uh… I don’t have to answer do I?” Panda asked worriedly.

“No offence, but I don’t want to know when it comes to you.” Kugisaki said dryly.

“Yeah I figured…” Panda sighed.

Fushiguro was still being quiet. “Come on Fushiguro, we won’t judge!” Kugisaki reassured.

“…It’s none of your business, frankly.” All of the sudden, Fushiguro slammed his chopsticks down, stood up, and walked outside.

“…Okayyyy, touchy subject, got it.” Kugisaki said. “I think I’ll go check on him, be right back.”

With that, Kugisaki also left, and now it was just the second years.

Panda tried his darndest to break the tension. “…So! Does anyone wanna take Fushiguro’s or Kugisaki’s portion of meatballs?”

“Don’t you dare.” Maki threatened.

Toge just rolled his eyes and kept eating.

-

Fushiguro didn’t go far, Nobara found him sitting on the stairs of the school’s entrance.

Nobara only started that conversation to distract herself from the fact that Fushiguro made Itadori’s stupid meatballs which cause her to get reminded of him.

She admittedly should’ve been more careful about asking him his sexuality. Nobara was just so open about it that she often forgets other people don’t feel the same way.

He’s definitely gay though.

Either way, she felt bad, and Nobara would be offended if you called her anything but a good friend.

She sat down next to him, he didn’t reject her company. “Hey, sorry man. You were clearly uncomfortable, I shouldn’t have pushed it.”

Fushiguro didn’t look upset, more sad than anything. “It’s alright, I’m not mad, I just didn’t feel like having that conversation.”

“And I get that! Again man, no judgement.” She smiled genuinely.

Fushiguro actually had a small smile on his face. Was Nobara making progress?

“…To answer your question, gender doesn’t matter to me. So I guess you could say I’m gay, yeah.”

“Oh I knew.” Nobara said.

Fushiguro wasn’t sure what to make of that. “What do you mean you-” He cut himself off and just sighed. “…Nevermind. Anyways, that’s not exactly why I left just now.”

“Oh?”

“Well, it’s kinda stupid…” Fushiguro muttered.

Aww is emo boy getting shy?

“Come ooooon.” Nobara poked Fushiguro on the cheek.

He swatted her finger away. “Okay look when- When I met Itadori, he uh… also asked me what you just asked me.”

Nobara narrowed her eyes. “…He asked if you were gay upon meeting you?”

Fushiguro swallowed nervously. “Well there’s more context behind it, but essentially, yes. He even said ‘I won’t judge.’ Like you just did. So it kinda triggered something in me… You couldn’t have known that in a million years though, so it’s fine.”

“Wow, you’re right, that is stupid.” Nobara said bluntly.

Fushiguro frowned. “…Gee, thanks.”

Nobara crossed her arms. “No no, I mean, it’s kinda funny don’t you think?” She had a silly smile on her face now. “We only knew the dude for two weeks and here we are going ‘Oh, everything reminds me of him!’ Ahaha!” She cackled like an idiot.

A part of her was worried Fushiguro would be really insulted by her words, but after some silence, she heard something she never thought she would ever hear in her life. Fushiguro was quietly laughing along with her.

This was never a competition, but hell yeah, I’m the first person in the world to make Megumi Fushiguro laugh.

As they quieted down, Fushiguro choked up a bit. “He- He was a great guy… I did think it was silly that I’m so upset over it, but the fact of the matter is that there aren’t many people like him out there…”

“Yeah, you got that right.” Nobara agreed solemnly.

Fushiguro looked at her strangely then. “Uhm, sorry if I’m overstepping, but did you… like him?”

Nobara immediately groaned. She was partially prepared for a question like that, she knew how her bond with Itadori might’ve looked to Fushiguro.

Cause a man and a woman getting along well and not absolutely despising each other, means they must be in love and get married in the future and have a bajillion kids right? Fuck off…

“I just told you five minutes ago that I’m a lesbian.” She responded harshly.

He actually leaned back at her tone. “N-No I know, just- I don’t know… before you said that I thought-”

“…Did you like him?” Nobara shot back. It was a rhetorical question in her mind honestly.

Fushiguro flinched, but otherwise stayed dead silent.

Nobara scootched closer and put her hand on his shoulder. “You know… it’s not the end of the world to feel, Fushiguro.”

Fushiguro looked at her in surprise, still unsure of how to respond. Nobara decided to let him off for now.

“Whatever, you think on that why don’t you.” She walked back inside to the second years, who looked up with a question in all their eyes.

“Fushiguro’s fine don’t worry.” They immediately went back to what they were doing.

“Anyways, I’m gonna go spend Gojo-sensei’s money and buy myself a cute tracksuit, the school uniform isn’t doing it for me… anyone wanna come with?” She specifically looked at Maki.

“Ah, sorry, shopping’s not really my thing.” Maki responded.

Fuuuuck…

“That aside, sit down and eat first. Your diet’s also an important part of training.” Maki said sternly.

Nobara has learned in the last 24 hours, you have to be stupid to try and win an argument against Maki. “Ugh, fiiine…” Nobara groaned as she sat back down.

Maki chuckled. “Good girl.”

Lord have mercy.

-

While Yuji was watching movie after movie, Gojo went out for a breather. His phone went off with an alert.

Ah, did Utahime finally respond to my extremely important text?

-

Gojo: oh great kyoto sapphic what is your wisdom

Hime-chan: Can you shut the fuck up for one fucking day I swear to god if it wasn’t for the fact that you’re Shoko’s friend I would’ve already strangled you in your sleep you arrogant shithead.

Gojo: oof, lets hope these texts never get leaked to the elders yeah?

Hime-chan: Fuck off.

-

Ah, as calm and collected as ever.

He loved Utahime, truly, it was just so damn easy and fun to pick on her. He’s not a monster, he always immediately stops bothering her if he sees that she’s really not in the mood for his bullshit.

As Gojo was walking around the premises, he saw a surprising familiar face smoking a cigarette.

Not Shoko, god forbid, someone else.

“Kusakabe! What’re you doing here buddy?” Gojo gleefully asked.

Atsuya Kusakabe, the teacher for the third years. The third years who are now suspended. So he practically had nothing to do right now. Gojo was surprised to see him around Jujutsu High at all.

“Hm? Ah, Gojo-san. I had to see Yaga about how we could potentially lift the suspension on my students… I gotta tell you though, it’s not looking likely.” Kusakabe explained.

“You sound almost relieved.” Gojo teased.

Kusakabe grinned sheepishly. “Well… let’s just say life has gotten a little easier without being around Hakari all day, no offence to him.”

Gojo hummed in understanding. “How are Hakari and Hoshi now by the way?”

Kusakabe took another drag off his cigarette. “They’re fine, I have no idea where they are or what they’re doing though. I just check up on them every day through text.”

He’s always loved minimal effort…

Gojo thought about his own students, and what Suguru said this morning.

Telling Gumi and Norbs about Yuji being alive huh… I think they could both keep that secret, I’m struggling to find downsides honestly.

He wanted to be extremely cautious, this was the opportunity of a lifetime to properly train Yuji, he didn’t wanna mess this up.

But then he thinks of the words he himself said, about not wanting Yuji to waste his youth.

Keeping his two friends from him for a whole month and a half… and having those same friends grieve for him all the while. That’s not right is it?

Gojo crossed his arms. “Kusakabe, I’m glad I found you actually, I need a second opinion.”

“Hm?” Kusakabe hummed questioningly.

Gojo looked up in thought. “Well… kind of a third opinion, maybe fourth? Whatever, I need an outsider’s opinion.”

Kusakabe sighed at his rambling. “I get it, what’s up?”

“Okay, picture this: one of your students just died, but came back to life. Your two other students don’t know the dead student is alive. You wanna keep the dead student’s aliveness a secret from the higher-ups for the time being. You’re fairly certain the other two students can be trusted to keep a secret. Do you tell them the dead student’s alive?”

Kusakabe blinked twice. “…Wha?”

Gojo groaned. “Do I tell Megumi and Nobara that Yuji’s alive?!” He whisper-yelled, lest any eavesdropper hear him accidentally spill the beans himself.

Kusakabe pondered for a moment. “…I guess?”

What Gojo was about to do might be stupid, but it’s okay. If anyone asks why he did it, he can now say it was Kusakabe’s fault. He said ‘I guess’ after all.

Gojo grinned mischievously. “Awesome, see you around!”

Gojo vanished into nothingness right in front of Kusakabe’s eyes.

“…What did I just do?”

-

The movie that Yuji was watching was actually really investing, it almost made him forget about real life.

Oh, real life just punched him in the face while he was taking a sip of soda.

Yuji choked and sputtered as he kneeled on the ground. “Pft oh my god, while I’m drinking you asshole?!”

“Just stop drinking!” Gojo was suddenly behind him.

“What’s movie watching without snacks and sodas?!” Yuji countered.

“Eh, true.” As Yuji got back up, he noticed Gojo had a big square box next to him. It looked big enough to fit a whole person.

“What’s that for?” Yuji naturally asked.

Gojo chuckled mysteriously. “We’re uh… taking a small break from movies. Before that though, I wanted to ask, did Sukuna talk to you while you were dead?”

“Talk?” Yuji questioned.

Gojo nodded. “Yeah, did he mention any conditions or contracts in exchange for fixing your heart or anything?”

Yuji tried to think back. For some reason, what Gojo was saying sounded familiar. The memories were hazy at best though.

“We talked about something, yeah… I can’t remember what though. Sorry.”

Gojo frowned, a rare case of him looking serious. “I see… that’s alright, we’ll worry about that later. For now though!”

He opened the lid of the box he was standing next to. “Okay get in.”

“…For what?” Yuji had to ask of course.

“I’ll explain once you get in.” Gojo dryly answered.

This has to be the most vague Gojo has ever been. Yuji trusted him nonetheless.