In which Yuji Itadori accidentally spoils Hana Akiwara’s plans by ingesting Sukuna’s finger, and Satoru Gojo is constantly humbled as a result.
Satoru took one step forward. His body collided with some kind of unseen barrier, making him backtrack. Hana watched him blink outside the threshold of her home.
Once.
Twice.
She spoke after his third blink.
“Don’t tell me you didn't see that coming.”
satoru gojo x ofc x suguru geto
[ canon divergence, fix-it au, everybody lives, no kenjaku, no shibuya incident, jjk s1, slow-burn, aged-up characters, age gap, questionable relationships, mentor-student relationships, unresolved sexual tension, more mature and graphic in future chapters, crack heavy for now, tvd references if you squint ]
one / two / three / four / five / six
˖ ⁺ ‧ ₊ ˚ ♡ ˚ ₊ ‧ ⁺ ˖
𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 ≠ 𝐬𝐡𝐲𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬.
Inumaki may be quiet but that doesn't mean he wants to.
Maybe she was just dirty-minded and the fellow second-year didn’t mean what she thought he meant; but as much as she wanted to believe that, Rin swore she often felt him smile when she was all flustered.
The younger sorcerer cleared her throat.
“Inumaki. Were you… looking at my ass?”
toge inumaki x ofc
[ aged-up characters, awkward flirting, inumaki is a menace, sexting, confessions, incorrect use of cursed techniques, more mature in future chapters, crack and fluff heavy in this one ]
one / two / three
˖ ⁺ ‧ ₊ ˚ ♡ ˚ ₊ ‧ ⁺ ˖
𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭.
Sukuna keeps popping out once he learns Yuji’s best friend’s name.
[ yuji itadori x ofc x ryomen sukuna, mature, aged-up characters, short chapters, not edited in a long time ]
In which Yuji Itadori accidentally spoils Hana Akiwara’s plans by ingesting Sukuna’s finger, and Satoru Gojo is constantly humbled as a result.
satoru gojo x ofc x suguru geto
[ canon divergence, fix-it au, everybody lives, no kenjaku, no shibuya incident, jjk s1, slow-burn, aged-up characters, age gap, questionable relationships, mentor-student relationships, unresolved sexual tension, more mature and graphic in future chapters, crack heavy for now, tvd references if you squint ]
previous - ao3 link - masterlist - next
On the following Saturday, they saw each other again.
“Hey.”
The soft timbre of his voice cut through the crisp morning air, startling Hana. She turned, her gray eyes locking with his brown ones. She had arrived earlier than him, Suguru noticed.
Their positions had reversed, this time Hana had claimed the bench. She sat with her legs crossed in order to maintain as much warmth as she could, her legs twitching under her wide jeans. Her hands were inside the pockets of her black coat and her enormous white scarf engulfed her neck. Her freezing figure was hard to miss for Suguru. His eyes easily landed on her, the signature cursed energy of her talisman working as a beacon, as he walked past families strolling through the park and children playing in the freshly fallen snow.
Now that the man was within her field of view, Hana inspected him with curiosity. Dressed in a coffee-colored coat, a black turtleneck and black dress pants, he smiled at her. His long, black locks waved with a gust of wind. Hana shrank from the cold, getting up from her seat at the bench.
“Hey.” She finally greeted back, guiding him through the park’s paths as their walk began. “No monk robes today?”
Hana had half-expected the man would wear his eccentric costume, but she didn’t dislike the alternative either. Both styles suited him, to be honest.
“Thought I’d dress for the occasion.” Suguru quipped, a playful edge to his voice.
“Okay, stop right there, monk man.” Hana halted with an interjection, outstretching an arm in his direction as she put herself in front of him. “Don’t get it twisted, this” Hana gestured between them, “isn’t a date, this is only a business meeting.”
Suguru’s chuckle was low, clearly enjoying the teasing. “One in which I’m buying you lunch?”
“And in which you’re paying me for information. Just business.” The girl affirmed, lifting both her thin eyebrows at him. Suguru stared back at her with an amused expression. They resumed walking, as a devious smile crept down her face. “Didn’t think you were into escorts, Suguru. I’m sorry to inform you that my services don’t extend to that.”
Hana feigned an apologetic grimace as she lifted her face to the older man. A hint of color rose to his cheeks over her bluntness, a rare show of vulnerability that she noted with satisfaction. “I don’t need to pay women to get dates, Akiwara.” He bit back after regaining his composure, and shot her a smile.
“You were the one who said this was a date.” Hana shrugged. She was enjoying annoying this man, and he seemed not to completely detest their banter. It could be worse, Hana guessed. “And, please just call me Hana. I’m not used to people calling me by my family name. It feels weird.”
“A foreigner, eh?” Suguru inquired, looking at her briefly.
“I thought you had already noticed my slight accent. American family, Japanese roots.” Akiwara explained with a nod. “But, this isn’t why we’re here, so shoot.” She stared at him sideways. “What do you want to know?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” Geto retorted, his gaze intense as it met hers. “Why are you hiding your gift?”
She sighed. “It’s a long story I’d rather tell you about with a delicious, hot bowl of ramen in front of me.”
“You already have a place in mind.” Geto pondered, his eyebrows arching slightly.
“Yep.” She confirmed with a nod. “But, what I meant was what do you want to get out of this meeting overall? The more information, the higher my price gets.”
“I just want to know more about you.” Suguru responded, shaking his head at her attitude. “You really want the money.”
“You’re the first curse user I’m attempting to bleed dry; I need to know how much I can bargain.” Hana retorted with a smile that just made the other curse user shake his head. “Besides, you haven’t asked for your money back even though I’ve essentially scammed you.”
“The cursed object is useless in the grand scheme of things. You, on the other hand, have piqued my interest, Hana.” Suguru admitted, her name rolling off his tongue softly, unfamiliarly. The woman couldn’t say she hated the sound. “I see it as an investment. Why do you want the money?”
“Oh, it’s for college.” She revealed nonchalantly.
Suguru Geto was growing more and more curious about her as she spoke. Why was a talented curse user wasting her potential in mundane stuff? Hana anticipated his thoughts, rolling her eyes in amusement. It seemed most curse users struggled to balance their ordinary lives with their jujutsu. No wonder almost all of them seemed a bit unhinged. Or at least the ones Hana and Kenji had contacted through the underground market did.
They settled in silence until they arrived at the cozy restaurant Hana had an eye on for some time. She could have brought them somewhere more expensive, and lucrate from Suguru’s money, but she was somewhat of a picky eater and she wanted to at least enjoy her meal if she wouldn’t be enjoying his company.
Not that she wasn’t having a great time annoying Suguru. It was surprising that he hadn’t lost his temper at her yet. Most curse users became somewhat irritable after realizing they were scammed by Kenji and Hana.
Meeting this stranger was probably reckless on Hana’s part, but she was confident in her abilities, and Suguru didn’t seem intent on harming her. It didn’t look like he was planning on killing her, which was a good sign. He hadn’t even defended himself the other day and was offering more money than any of her other gullible clients had. She would likely face some scolding from Kenji when he’d find out, that was -of course- if she made it out alive. It didn’t look like Suguru was planning on killing her, which was a good sign. Even though she knew her brother didn’t approve of her methods, the money she was bringing home would make him less angry.
Upon arriving at the restaurant, Hana and Suguru were escorted to a table. Hana shrugged off her coat, revealing her oversized cream sweater. As she moved, the sweater slipped off one shoulder, exposing her collarbone. Her silver necklace -the talisman- glinted against her skin. Hana noticed Suguru’s eyes roaming over her body, curiosity evident in his gaze, but he remained silent. He also removed his coat, folding it neatly and putting it over his chair. The black turtleneck he wore clung to his form, accentuating his muscular physique. Hana found herself momentarily captivated by him before shaking herself out of it. She sat down unceremoniously when he turned around, and Suguru also took a seat.
It wasn’t exactly the time to be ogling, no matter how attractive the man was. This was a business meeting and, as the saying goes, you shouldn’t mix business with pleasure.
The menu was handed to both curse users, and they quietly scanned the menu. Hana already had a specific ramen in mind, but her eyes darted over the array of dishes anyway before they placed their orders. It was Suguru who finally shattered the silence that had formed between them.
“Why are you hiding your gift?” Geto inquired, repeating his question from earlier, his gaze locked onto Hana’s necklace as she subconsciously fiddled with it. “Why are you holding back?”
“I thought I said I wanted a bowl of ramen in front of me before I started.” Akiwara teased playfully and the man playfully rolled his brown, sharp eyes at her. “Alright, alright. It’s a safety measure. I could suck all your cursed energy by mistake, killing you.”
Geto tilted his head. She seemed to have confirmed a hunch he had. “So, you don't have full control over your technique?”
“More or less.” Hana admitted just as the waiter arrived with their food, the delicious smell filling the air. “I’ve been using jujutsu only for a few months.” This intrigued Suguru, his eyes narrowing slightly. “And I’m not used to sensing this much cursed energy. My technique can be overwhelming, and it could potentially expose me. You have seen it for yourself.”
As they began to eat, Suguru leaned back for a moment, his expression thoughtful. “What really makes you stand out to sorcerers is the talisman.” Hana tensed, her previously calm demeanor evaporating with his words. The man quickly took notice of that. “I’m a curse user like you, you don’t have to worry about that. I cut ties with sorcerers years ago.”
Realization dawned on Hana, her posture relaxing slightly. “If you’ve worked with them, then you already understand why I don’t exactly want to attract attention to myself.”
Suguru nodded, his brown eyes never leaving her gray ones. “Your clan is thought to be extinct, they were involved in some questionable stuff in the past and they have been persecuted since.” He said softly. “I’m just surprised they didn’t find you before I did. Why come to Japan of all places?”
Hana’s smile was a bittersweet thing, setting a few more lines in Suguru’s frown. “I’m just tired of having to fit in with non-sorcerers because sorcerers fear us. I’m tired of having to bend myself for their morals. I don’t want to do jujutsu for their sake, or from the goodness of my heart.” She sighed, her head drooping slightly. Unbeknownst to her, Suguru’s expression softened with understanding. “I want a world where my technique isn't persecuted and my family can stop living in fear.”
They continued to eat in silence before Suguru responded. “You’ve been robbed of the experience of jujutsu. I can relate to that to an extent.”
Hana hummed. Her client wore a determined face, which made her wonder what were the horrors he had seen. The world of jujutsu was itself cruel, and not only for the grim past that surrounded her family.
“I didn’t come to Japan to commit mass murder, if that’s what you’re thinking.” Hana joked and flashed Suguru a genuine, infectious smile. “It would be lovely to get rid of those assholes, but then more assholes would spawn. So, I think I’ll settle for proving them wrong and showing them that powerful jujutsu can be born into my family despite all the killing they did to please their morals.” Hana gesticulated with a scowl. “I don’t really know how we’ll get to that, but it’s an on-going plan.”
Suguru’s soft laugh echoed her statement. “So, you’ve come here to get stronger right under their noses as a big fuck you.” Suguru’s eyes sparkled with understanding and respect, Hana saw. “It’s impressive.”
Hana chuckled before taking a sip from her water. Looking down at her bowl, she had finished her whole meal. She was a quick eater, alright? “Did I satisfy your curiosity?”
Suguru seemed lost in thought before he answered her, his gaze scrutinizing her features. “I think you just made me hungry for more.” Hana playfully rolled her eyes. He reached into his coat pocket and handed an envelope to Hana. “Hope this helps your college fund.”
“Will do, thank you very much.”Hana replied, pocketing the money and standing up to grab her coat.
“We can hold the next meeting at my compound.” Suguru suggested, watching her movements.
“Oh, no, no, no.” Hana shook her head, her short hair following her. She put on her coat and wrapped her scarf around her neck. “No more meetings. If you ever need someone to locate a cursed object, contact me.” Suguru was visibly taken aback by her blunt rejection, his eyes widening slightly as he stared at her. Yet, there was no anger in his gaze. “I promise I won’t pull any tricks next time, for a higher price, of course.”
The curse user just stared at her. It may have been the first time Suguru’s charm had failed to recruit someone, but he would never confess that aloud. Hana Akiwara, his fraudulent seller, was simply different. She was driven by a similar passion to his and seemed to take a perverse pleasure in draining his wallet, but that wasn’t enough for her to surrender. There was something else that kept her from making that decision, and Suguru was itching for answers. But, as much as he would love to just get her to join his cult- his family, the older curse user wanted to see how things would play out.
He had a feeling they would cross paths again soon, and it wouldn’t be because of him.
Lost in his thoughts, Hana exited the establishment completely unscathed.
It had been a fascinating encounter, she gave him that. This was the second curse user she had met in person, and he had left a great impression, regardless of what she first thought his character would be. His whole cult-leader persona was captivating and it wasn’t like Kenji and her had that many allies, but Hana had no interest in making deep bonds with what both Akiwara twins strictly saw as cash cows.
Most curse users were a little bit sick in the head, and she didn’t want word to spread around about them. This would be her first and only meeting with a client, she was sure of that. She repeated that mentally a few times, she couldn’t stop thinking about how they seemed to have found an unexpected common ground. As genuine as he seemed, he was still a stranger and whatever connection they may have might as well be as fake as his smile had been the other day. Plus, neither her grandmother nor her brother would be pleased about any of these meetings. Her grandmother’s health had been on a steady decline lately, and she had just been admitted to the hospital. Hana didn’t want to add to her worries in her final days. Hana and Kenji would be visiting her on Christmas, and she hoped the stranger wouldn’t bother them in the near future.
In the present, a year and a half later, Hana returned the necklace to its original place, nestled on the frame of the photo she had with Mineko. She sighed at the memories of the person who would eventually give her the confidence to stop using her grandmother’s old necklace: Suguru Geto.
˖ ⁺ ‧ ₊ ˚ ♡ ˚ ₊ ‧ ⁺ ˖
It had been just a couple of days after their last encounter with Satoru, when the siblings decided to reach out to him. As much as they were enjoying their tranquility and their quality time free of sorcerers, the Akiwaras needed to make their requests known. Hana had obtained his number all thanks to Yuji. Now the older sorcerer had the ability to bother her anytime, but it was a price she was willing to pay in order to bargain their “alliance” before the man decided not to be so benevolent with them.
In their three-hour-long text message discussion, Gojo and the Akiwaras had agreed the twins would officially become sorcerers under four simple clauses:
One - The siblings' enrollment in Jujutsu Tech would be postponed until further notice.
It wasn’t confirmed exactly when they would have to join the school. Gojo had only said they would be enrolled for the Sister-School Goodwill Event, which was when he will inform everybody about Yuji’s resurrection and all. He didn’t specify a concrete date, but Hana suspected it would be around the end of summer. Still, the twins clung to the remnants of their normalcy. They went to work, attended their classes and completed their mundane routines they had before, choosing to ignore for the time being that they had already lost all of it.
Two - There would be no more threats of execution or any kind towards them and their clan.
Kenji had annoyed Satoru to no end with this request, despite his countless assurances that they would be fine because he was the strongest and such kind of bullshit. Regardless of the importance of his name, Hana recalled it didn’t stop the high-ups from setting a trap for Yuji. It was then when Gojo had to surrender and accept the fact that they could flee if things got ugly, not needing a trial or other sorcerer bureaucracy, only if they didn’t commit mass murder or something. Kenji then pointed out that the higher-ups could just incriminate them with false evidence, and Satoru and him spent a good half an hour debating.
Hana remembered with a chuckle how her brother had driven the man to mental exhaustion. In the end, Gojo couldn’t promise them that the elders wouldn’t be a problem, but did promise them to have their backs. He’d make sure the elders would have to just suck it up if they weren’t happy with their clan and their presence. Hana was actually pleased with his unhingedness for once, as it played in their favor.
Three - Gojo would pay for their expenses.
Now that the twins were sure Satoru’s mind was more than a bit stunted from Kenji’s insistence, they got to the money issue. They were going to ditch their respective jobs to join the school, so the least Gojo could do was cover their rent and groceries. The sorcerer had actually found their thought process amusing, but he agreed without any resistance. He smugly told them he was loaded, which earned some mocking and rolled eyes from the twins on the other side of the phone. Satoru also informed them that the school paid students for their assignments, but the twins still wanted to mooch off of him. They didn’t feel guilty when it was him who proudly announced his wealthy status.
Gojo had a feeling that the twins had no qualms about taking advantage of others in business matters. It made him wonder how they actually managed to afford both tuition and an apartment in Kichijoji with minimum wage jobs. Satoru knew the siblings were playing some kind of scheme to manipulate him into agreeing to their demands by being incredibly insufferable. They had mastered the art of bending things to their will, he had to admit.
Regardless, Satoru would have probably agreed to their requests anyway, although he enjoyed seeing how they operated. Even if that meant that Hana and Kenji would drain him financially.
Four - The siblings would have to report to him.
After all, they were Gojo’s responsibility and he was supposed to supervise them. The sorcerer established this after the twins were satisfied with their demands. Hana and Kenji had talked about everything but this, knowing they would have to give up their freedom in some kind of way. Even though Satoru had assured them he wouldn’t be too invasive, Hana had a feeling their opinions on the matter would differ. He promised them they could have their privacy, stay at their apartment or fly back home if they wanted, but they needed to be in contact with him. He just wanted to be informed.
Hana suspected he would have them monitored in some way, like a helicopter parent of sorts, but agreed nonetheless to his only clause. Kenji had done the same after complaining for a bit, completing their ‘contract’.
Hana would have her suspicions proven correct a little bit over a week later in Ginza, where Kenji and her were at the moment. The older curse user stared at the map on her phone and guided her brother though the busy streets, finally approaching an unfamiliar building in a residential area. Inspecting the streets, Hana didn’t see a recognizable mop of white hair sticked up in a toilet brush fashion.
“Where the hell is Satoru?” She muttered, almost grumbling as her brother joined in the search for the sorcerer.
They had been spending their time without any jujutsu related incidents during the past week, until she received a message from Satoru the previous day. He had been brief, only sending her the location, date and hour. He didn’t even answer her questions or offer any kind of reply. It had been radio silence since then and the siblings still complied. They had embarked on a 40-minute train journey and a 10-minute walk to what could probably mean their death.
Trust? Yeah, Hana wasn’t there yet.
The girl expected some kind of communication back if the sorcerer wanted them to keep in contact with him. They didn’t even know what they were getting into, yet they believed Satoru was going to ask them to do something for him. Keeping that in mind, Hana had chosen to braid her hair as usual to keep it out of her way, and wore workout clothes: a black open hoodie, a tight crop top, some wide gray joggers and a pair of comfortable sneakers. Kenji had picked an outfit in a similar fashion, his colorscheme varying in different greens. They probably just looked like thieves to the residents of Ginza, noticing how the women grabbed their purses or how the men looked at them with suspicion when they walked past them, but the twins ignored them.
Just when Kenji was about to complain, Satoru emerged from a car in front of them with Yuji. It was the same car he had driven her last time, Hana noticed. Something sporty and white, it looked like a new model. She stopped eyeing the vehicle with interest to stare at the late man, lifting her thin eyebrows.
“Hey.” Hana greeted the newcomers as they approached. Kenji, who was leaning on the building, simply nodded and straightened himself.
Yuji waved his hand at them, giving Hana a tiny smile she reciprocated. “Sorry for being late.”
“Glad you could make it.” Satoru flashed them a grin, staring back at her through his blindfold. Hana wondered how he hadn’t been stopped yet by the police for driving with that on. “Were you waiting for long?”
“You called, we came.” Han rolled her eyes. “What do you want?”
“You’ll see. Now follow me.”
He made a gesture with his hand and his three students accompanied him inside the apartment complex. They entered the polished lobby and made their way to the elevator. The four of them filled the tiny space when its door opened. The silence inside the minuscule metal box was heavy, filled with palpable tension between them. The doors closed and Hana found herself inadvertently locking gazes with Satoru. Or at least, she assumed she did, given the blindfold. The man was literally in front of her and his large figure loomed over her, it wasn’t intentional on any side. Hana lowered her gaze, as she waited for the elevator to ascend.
But it didn’t.
Gojo raised his eyebrows under his blindfold. “I forgot to press the button. Whoops.” He turned around, hitting both Akiwaras somehow on his way. Hana’s body collided with the walls of the elevator and Kenji hit Yuji as the older sorcerer moved. It happened again when he turned back to Hana after choosing the floor, deepening her frown. “Now we’re ready.”
This idiot.
The elevator did ascend this time, both Hana and Kenji not too pleased having to spend more time than necessary with Satoru in close quarters. Once they reached the selected floor, the four of them stepped out into a hallway. Their poor excuse of a mentor led them to a door at the end, knocking in a rhythmic pattern.
The door swung open, revealing a tall blond man with sharp features and tiny glasses. He was a sorcerer, one who wore a business suit for some reason. The suit consisted of a blue dress shirt underneath a tan blazer, with matching slacks and a dotted tie. A little bit tacky for Hana’s liking, but she still felt underdressed in her sweatpants. If it weren’t for the amount of cursed energy he emanated, both curse users would have mistaken him for a civilian.
His expression was unreadable as he examined his guests.
“Nanami!” Gojo shattered the silence when he greeted the aforementioned. The blindfolded sorcerer flashed a big smile that the man didn’t return. In fact, his voice only seemed to age Nanami further. Was that the effect Gojo had in the long-term, wrinkles and a resting bitch face? “Thanks for letting us use your place.”
The man stepped aside with a nod, which worked both as a welcome as a resignation. “It’s not a problem.” He said, though his tone suggested it was a minor inconvenience.
Satoru’s smile widened and he ushered the twins and Yuji inside. “As you may have suspected, this is going to be your first mission as sorcerers.” The man announced with a slightly off-putting cheery tone. Hana and Kenji shared a look, as their new mentor continued. “I won’t be able to lead you this time, but don’t worry! I have a friend you can trust.” Gojo put his arm around Nanami’s shoulders, who noticeably stiffened. “This is Nanami Kento, the ex-salaryman jujutsu sorcerer!”
Both Hana and Kenji grimaced at the man’s expression; his frown only deepening. “Please don’t call me that.” Nanami interjected, his annoyance thinly veiled beneath his composed exterior.
Still, Gojo kept talking as if he hadn’t said anything. “Plenty of jujutsu sorcerers are oddballs,” he stated, prompting an eye roll from the older Akiwara, “but since he worked for a company, he’s got a good head on his shoulders. He’s a first-grade sorcerer and my underclassman, too.”
“I’m sure no one would want to hear you saying that about them.” The trio noticed Kento was slowly but surely losing his patience with the blindfolded sorcerer. It made Hana wonder how many years of pure discipline had taken him not to snap at Satoru every time he opened his damn mouth.
“Ex-salaryman? Why didn’t you become a jujutsu sorcerer from the start?” Yuji inquired, with a confused gaze directed at the blond man.
Hana shrugged before replying. “Clearly, not everyone wants to be in that school, Yuji.”
“We are not even here willingly.” Kenji added, making Yuji deflate with a hum. “And what even is a first-grade sorcerer? Isn’t he a bit old to be still studying?”
Hana nodded, but before she could add anything, Kento cut their banter. “We should greet each other first.” The man bowed. “Nice to meet you, Itadori and Akiwaras.”
“Oh, yes, nice to meet you, too.” Itadori responded, also bowing, and Hana and Kenji mimicked his actions.
Hana straightened her back, her gaze fixed on Nanami. “Please, use our first names.”
“It’s going to get confusing if you don’t.” Kenji explained, nodding in agreement to his sister.
The three sorcerers observed the twins, slightly unnerved by their synchronized speech. Even their mannerisms were alike.
“Alright, Hana and Kenji.” Nanami conceded, understandingly. “Please, take a seat before we continue.”
The trio nodded in awkwardness, as the five of them still stood by the entrance of his flat. They walked further into his home, settling into the comfort of the couch. Gojo, already familiarized with the environment or simply lacking manners, claimed a dining chair for himself and placed it near the coffee table. Nanami made no comment about it, choosing instead to seat himself in the armchair. The interior of his flat was warm and cozy. It made Hana feel like they were intruding on some kind of sacred place and, judging with the amount of lines in Nanami’s frown, they probably were.
Did Gojo ask him to use his place or did he just appear with the three students on his door?
Nanami resumed the conversation, his gaze intensifying. “I studied at Jujutsu Tech, and one thing I learned is that jujutsu sorcerers are shit!”
“Huh?” Yuji was perplexed, but both Hana and Kenji shared a laugh, not really expecting the man to voice that. Hana had a feeling they would be getting along.
“Then I worked at your typical company, and one thing I learned,” he continued, his eyes narrowing with conviction, “is that work is shit!”
Itadori couldn’t contain his surprise. “Really?!”
Nanami nodded. “If both are equally shit, I’ll take the one I’m more suited to.” He didn’t really leave room for discussion, explaining himself nonchalantly. “That’s the only reason I came back.”
“That’s dark.” Yuji mumbled, still taken aback.
Satoru nodded, inclining towards him. “Right?”
“Itadori, please don’t believe I’m of the same mindset as Gojo.” Nanami clarified, his gaze fixed on the younger sorcerer. “I do trust and have faith in him.” Satoru looked at Hana with pride, smiling widely. Okay, maybe she wouldn’t be getting along that well with Kento… “But I do not respect him!”
Gojo’s expression shifted to one of surprise, pouting. “Huh?!”
Hana couldn’t contain her laugh behind her hand, and Kenji didn’t even try to hide it. Scratch that, they would definitely be getting along. Hana was actually pleased with a sorcerer for a change.
“I hate the way the higher-ups do things, but I believe in rules and regulations.” Kento continued with a sigh. “This conversation is dragging on.” He disliked Satoru and liked getting to the point? “In short, I don’t recognize any of you as sorcerers, yet. Even if you, Itadori, do carry the bomb we know as Sukuna, please make an effort to prove that you are useful.”
“Lately, I’ve been forced to realize how weak and useless I am. But I’ll become strong. I have to be strong, or I won’t be able to choose how I die.” Yuji’s voice was full of determination as he locked his brown eyes on Kento’s hazel ones. “I’ll make you recognize me, even without that advice. Just give me a bit more time.”
The man just offered a dismissive shrug. “Say that to the higher-ups, not me.”
“Oh, right…” Itadori mused, his cheeks tingling with embarrassment.
“Frankly, I don’t care!” Namai exclaimed bluntly, eliciting chuckles from the twins at his sudden outburst.
Yuji grimaced. “Okay, I get it!”
By that point, Hana and Kenji had barely spoken any word, instead enjoying their new chaperone’s critique about his kind. It was honestly refreshing. In the end, the twins had just discovered what Gojo regarded as monitoring: Kento Nanami, a hot salaryman by day and jujutsu sorcerer by night or something. A quiet and polite man, something both curse users appreciated in comparison to Satoru's petulant nature.
It seemed that the man and the twins were a bit alike. They both returned to jujutsu after trying to abandon that side of them. Well, the twins’ situation had really nothing to do with him, but Hana just enjoyed his presence. She was able to respect him already, and he seemed more reliable than Gojo anyways. What puzzled her was the fact that Nanami was supposed to be younger than Gojo and they both were still attending school…
Eventually, Hana snapped out of her thoughts and voiced her question, interrupting whatever the older sorcerers were bickering about. “You mentioned he was your underclassman, just how old are you, Satoru?”
Nanami’s eyebrow arched at the use of his colleague’s first name.
“Isn’t Nanami a bit older?” Kenji chimed in, his thoughts having gone the same route as his sister’s.
“He’s actually younger than me.” Satoru deadpanned, staring at the twins through his blindfold. “I’m 26 and he's 25.”
“It may appear so because you lack manners and act like a child.” Kento remarked. A hint of a smile played at the corners of his mouth, the Akiwaras noticed.
“That was actually pretty accurate.” Hana didn’t even try to hide her laugh this time, smiling at the man’s jab. “Why didn’t I meet you first?”
“I’m not that bad!” Satoru whined and protested, pouting at her.
Kento ignored both of them, sighing. “We’re getting off topic. We are set to investigate a murder at a cinema.”
“Wait, hold on!” Kenji interrupted the older man, frowning. “You’re 25 and still studying? Just how long do we have to keep training?”
“We’re not-” Kento stopped himself and sighed, rubbing his temples. Maybe he wasn’t enjoying their company as much as they were enjoying his. Whoops. “We have already graduated, it’s like college, four years.” His clarification made Kenji exhale, his fears dissipating. Hana also relaxed by his side. “Grades are how we rank the strength of jujutsu sorcerers and curses. Has he not explained anything?”
Nanami’s glare at Gojo was sharp as the twins shook their heads, innocently amplifying the blonde’s disdain towards the white-haired sorcerer. The latter offered an apologetic smile that wasn't apologetic at all.
“Well, now seems like a good time for a quick lesson.” Nanami finally concluded.
˖ ⁺ ‧ ₊ ˚ ♡ ˚ ₊ ‧ ⁺ ˖
previous - ao3 link - masterlist - next
and we're back! geto is in the flashbacks and nanami had been introduced in the present hehe
the next chapters are going to be a bit more canon compliant, but don't worry! no shibuya here. i can't deal with what's going on in the manga nowadays so… yeah, no shibuya and no kenjaku for me!
i'm not entirely proud of this chapter, but i wanted to update and keep going!!! if i reread it any longer i'd go crazy, i'll just probably revist this later on
as always, comments and suggestions are highly appreciated! hope you guys like how it's turning out <3
ᰔ pairing. college au - soccer player! gojo x film major! reader
ᰔ summary. gojo satoru is the most popular guy on your college campus. he's tall, funny, hot, not to mention he's the most talented soccer forward the school has seen in years. but he's also a frat dude, which puts him in a world very different from your own, as he spends most of his nights partying & drinking while you spend most of yours working on your annoying film major assignments. but when he reaches out to you for a favor, you realize that helping him out might have something in it for you too.
ᰔ warnings/tags. 18+, fem reader, fluff, angst, smut, college au, fraternities, sororities, partying, drinking/alcohol, romance, jealousy, pining, slow burn, opposites to lovers, friends to lovers, she falls first he falls harder, gojo being an idiot, marijuana use, sexism, sexual harassment (verbal only)
ᰔ chapter. 9/x (probably 12)
ᰔ words. 15.6k (WHY DO THEY KEEP GETTING LONGER)
a/n. HELLO MY DEAR KICKOFF READERS IVE MISSED YOU ALL SO MUCH i am soooo sorry for the wait on this one. this chapter felt very vulnerable to write for some reason lmfao, but i really hope it was worth the wait :''') see you at the bottom!! if there are typos or some things don't make sense i'm so sorry i literally gave up on proofreading this i just ended up raw-doggin it and then posting it
nav. masterlist
☾·̩͙꙳ moodboard no.1
♬.*゚playlist
an additional author's note. hellooo ellie here. there are some additional warnings/tags for this chapter, i added them to the tags above, so if you know you have any sort of triggers, please refer to them before reading! but if you don't have any and don't want to be spoiled ab anything then you can keep reading lol. thank youu <33
--
The restaurant address that Kai sent you was just a ten minute taxi ride away, save for the five minutes you spent trying to evasively maneuver through the hotel lobby in order to avoid running into people you’re not too keen on seeing right now, a list that stacks up to just one person at this moment.
It’s a Korean barbecue place, it’s been ages since you’ve been to one, probably since they’re way too expensive for any sort of outing you could afford these days, but the crisp sizzling sounds of the grills and the savory air has your mouth watering in a way that makes you indifferent to the cost. Anything to get this churning feeling out of your stomach.
It’s instantly brought to your attention that Hana’s tipsy off of Soju because she’s slid out of the booth the second you emerge to the tablestide, and she’s onto her feet to pull you into a hug. You hug her back.
“I’m ssssoooooooo glad you’re—hic—here,” she says, voice sounding loud near your ear, but her embrace is surprisingly calming to you.
Her face appears flushed when you pull away, and you give her a smile and a kind hold of her elbow. “I’m happy to be here, sorry for coming late, I just decided I wanted to have dinner with you all.”
Minato is pulling on Hana’s arm to get her to sit down, which she finally agrees to, and you glance to the left side of the table where Kai sat, meticulously turning over pieces of meat on the grill. His eyes are on you, and the seat next to him is empty.
“You look nice,” he says, eyes falling to your lap under the table once you’ve taken a seat next to him.
Your eyes fall to your lap as well. “Oh. Thanks. I wasn’t really trying to look any sort of way, though.” Just faded jeans with a few rips & holes you made yourself, way back in high school when that sort of thing was trendy.
“I know,” he says, smirk heard perfectly through his words, “I like that.”
You ignore him, a fleeting thought passing through your head of how annoyingly forward men are to women they’ve met within a day, just something you’ve noticed recently, and then you’re accepting the glass of Soju that Minato’s poured for you. Quick to tip it back, you feel a burn on your tongue that’s just enough to distract.
“Today’s game was pretty interesting,” Minato speaks up, picking up a few pieces off the grill with his chop sticks and placing them on Hana’s plate first before taking some for himself. You find the gesture sweet. “The first half was intense.”
Hana nods enthusiastically, elbows rested on the tabletop as she waves her hands around in the air. “Uh huh, uh huh, the boys kicked the ball like whoosh. Goes all over the place! Can’t get a—hic—can’t get a single shot. No, I mean me, I can’t get a camera shot. Not them, they can get the shots of goals. The goals of shots? Huh.”
“Alright, you’ve had enough,” Minato grumbles as he drags the glass of Soju that she was nursing away from her.
Kai lets out a laugh beside you, his knee bumping against yours under the table. “I’ve watched so many of these soccer games for this job, and I’ve still got no damn clue what the rules are.”
You blink down at your empty plate for a second before grabbing the silver chopsticks laid neatly on your napkin, and taking some food from the center of the table. “Really? I’ve only been to a couple, and I feel like I get the gist of it.” Maybe it’s because you had a personal interest, though.
Kai lets out a low whistle next to you. “Okay, you’re a smartass then.”
You give him a sidewards glance. “Maybe you’re just dumb?”
Your own words startle you a bit. Minato lets a laugh out, but under his breath, while Hana does absolutely nothing to conceal hers. Kai’s eyes just widen. You bite down on a carrot stick.
“Hey, hey, hey, y/n,” Hana chirps, tapping at your wrist, “do you know any of the soccer players? Utahime said you doooo.”
You swallow slowly to buy yourself time, but give a preliminary shake of your head before answering, “no, not really.” You catch a whiff of the cologne on your wrist when you lift your glass to your lips.
“Oh,” she sulks her shoulders and then sinks down into the booth again, her head falling onto Minato’s shoulder. The man stiffens a bit and then there’s a content smile playing at his lips. A hint of a smile develops on your face too at the sight when you put two and two together. What an adorable little crush. It makes you feel sick.
Kai pours you some more Soju the second you drink down the last of it in your glass, and you nod to him as a thanks. “Pretty sure most of my photos from the first half are fucked,” he says, dragging the opening of the bottle against the rim of your glass before pulling it away, “didn’t realize until way later that my aperture was way off.”
You bring the glass to your lips, inhaling before taking a sip. You’re about to speak up about that when Minato beats you to it.
“Are you serious?” he asks, disappointed, like they’re suddenly talking business now. “I better see some good shots. Your side was where most of the action took place. Like that through-pass, tight behind the defensive line, from Nanami Kento to Gojo Satoru before he sunk it a couple mins before the half ended.”
You choke a little on your Soju at the mention of Gojo’s name, and then all three of them are looking at you. You wave a hand in front of your face. “Sorry.”
Kai grumbles something under his breath and then stuffs a piece of pork belly into his mouth. “Yeah, whatever, man. I’m pretty sure I got some good ones. Don’t worry.”
Dinner goes on like that, where you count the number of times Kai thinks that someone saying something funny across the table is an excuse to press his thigh against yours, but at least the cute way that Hana and Minato seem to inch closer to one another all night is enough to put you at some sort of bitter ease. But that unsettling feeling in your stomach from a couple of hours ago still lingers.
The four of you stand outside the restaurant, heels rocking back and forth in the cold as you all take up the last chance to debrief the day, and then Minato’s glancing at his watch.
“Alright, it’s probably time to head back. We can all share a ride to the hotel, it’s cheaper that way,” Minato says. Hana’s clinging to his sleeve.
“Oh, uh, I was going to stay here. There’s a cool camera shop around the corner. I was gonna check it out,” Kai says, pointing over his shoulder before glancing at you. “Wanna come? I saw they’ve got used film cameras.”
You twiddle with the hotel key card in your pocket. It’s cheap plastic, could break easily with just the right amount of pressure. Like your resolve right now. “Sure.”
He smiles at you.
“Alright, well I need to get this one back to her room,” Minato says with a sigh, pointing to Hana, “so I’ll see you all at the next game?”
You and Kai nod at him and then watch as he walks away with Hana on his arm towards the curb, pulling his phone out to call for a ride.
“Where’s this camera shop at?” you ask Kai once the silence between the two of you stretches out a little too long.
“It really is just around the corner,” he says, shoving his hands in the pockets of his jacket. He starts walking down the row of miscellaneous shops and establishments under dim street lighting, and you follow after him before the two of you circle to the adjacent end. A tiny shop in the distance catches your eye. The LED sign above the storefront was blinking sporadically, and read 17th St Camera & Rentals, except half the letters were extinct of any light. Next to it was a 24/7 liquor store.
It’s only when you walk right up to it that you realize the sign dangling behind the glass door that says closed.
“Oh. Bummer,” Kai comments in a flat tone. “I swear it was open before I got to the restaurant.”
You sigh, pulling your phone out to glance at the time. “Yeah, at 8pm? It’s past 10 now.”
He looks at you and taps the camera case still hung at his neck. “That’s fine. I’ve still got a camera to show you, anyways.”
You blink your eyes at him, suddenly feeling a bit exhausted and then glance over your shoulder at the curb of the street to see if Minato & Hana were still there waiting for a ride. You don’t see them anymore.
A distraction. Wasn’t that what you wanted?
“Yeah, show me.”
Kai seems to know the area better than you, since he walks down the haphazardly lain sheets of concrete across the ground with more confidence than a tourist would. The thought occurs to you that maybe the newsletter photographers have eaten here before during their time in Kyoto.
“What made you start working with the newsletter?” you ask, glancing at him as the two of you walk down further, into what seems like a neighborhood.
He shrugs. “First job I could find out of college. I had a lot of freelance experience, so I’m assuming that’s why they hired me.” He nudges your arm with his elbow. “What about you?”
“I’ve known Utahime for a while. She was impressed with my work.”
“Ahh, connections,” he muses, “smart. That’ll get you far as an artist.”
He suddenly stops walking and peers off to the right, into a darkness that you can’t really make anything out of until you’ve spent a few seconds staring too. He walks in that direction, the loud echoing stomps of his boots on concrete no longer audible once he crosses the threshold onto grass, and you follow behind to what seems like a deserted children’s park. You wish there were more trees in the city. There are a lot here in the countryside, and it makes you homesick for something you’re not even sure of.
A gust of wind brushes through, rattling the set of swings hung on rusty chains. The wood chips underneath your feet feel stale, with no snap to them at all as you follow Kai through the playhouses set up in connected fashion. There are two picnic benches, one looks like it’s been freshly painted with faux effort to improve its image in the line of sight of the street, while the other has red paint peeled back to reveal bronze underneath the moonlight, neglected and tucked behind a few trees. The latter is what he chooses.
He slides into the bench, and he shakes his head when he sees you try to take a seat on the other side before patting at the seat beside him. “It’d be easier for you to take a look at my side.”
He has a point, so you sit next to him instead. Although at this point in the night, you were feigning interest. He zips his camera bag open and you take a better look at the lens. There’s no way it was as cheap as he told you it was.
“There’s no way this was as cheap as you told me it was,” you say.
He laughs, pulling the camera out and handing it to you. “Yeah, maybe the guy cut me a deal since I’ve bought from him before.”
You’re smart enough to put the strap around your neck, even though you’re only holding it a few inches above the table, because a camera like this deserves the care and respect. The material is minimalist and sleek, and it’s heavy in your hands. You click the shutter button, screen coming to life with a few mechanic chirps. “Woah. Is it LCD or OLED?”
“LCD.”
“That’s nice,” you say, “paying for the OLED just seems silly to me.”
“I concur, Canon. Color accuracy is king.”
He shuffles to pull something out of his pocket while you continue to inspect the camera in your hands, and you see him fidget with said thing over the table in the corner of your eye. The flick of something and the light of something makes you turn your head to face him, and he’s pinching the end of a joint to his mouth, lighting the other end.
He gives you a glance when you stare for too long, inhaling from it before pulling it from his mouth. “What?” You can see the smoke leave his mouth in the chill of the air.
“Is that why you chose the secluded bench?”
“I did? Didn’t even notice.”
You blink at him, and he places his elbow on the table to lean closer to you.
“Do you mind it?” he asks.
“No, not really.”
“Wanna smoke with me?” Two fingers pinching the origin of smoke tilt towards you. “This is my good weed, though, so, I charge by the drag.”
“That’s ridiculous, and no thanks. It doesn’t suit me.”
He lets out a laugh, releasing whatever tension he was building in your space, and the smell of weed is nauseating, but at least it's a new sensation to you.
“You’ve gotta be the only film major on the planet that doesn’t smoke weed. How do you manage?” he asks, the orange flicker of his joint being the only color you can distinctly see under the similarly flickering street lights.
Your finger traces the rim of the camera lens and is careful to not smudge the glass. “I think I manage just fine.”
“Yeah. With delusion,” he says, coughing, scattering smoke into the air this time instead of a clean blow.
You turn a bit in your seat to face him more, placing the camera down. “You’re extremely blunt.”
His eyebrow raises in amusement and you close your eyes with annoyance at the pun. You brush it off.
“I mean, seriously, I get you’re probably just looking out for me, I guess. I appreciate that. But do you really think my dreams of becoming a filmmaker are that far-fetched?” you ask. There’s a crack to your voice at the end that you didn’t like.
He sighs, setting his wrist down on the table. There’s a long pause where he thinks about what to say. Probably the most you’ve seen him consider what words leave his mouth next. “I was in the same shoes as you, y/n. A couple years ago. I, too, had big dreams of making movies. I was going to apply to film grad school as well, although you’re shooting higher than I was at the time. There’s no way I would’ve gotten into UTokyo’s.” He tilts his head to the side a few times while looking straight off ahead. “I sent scripts in everywhere. To every fucking production company, creative agency, you name it. Never got a callback, not even once. While all my fellow grads were landing decent, respectable jobs.” He brings the joint to his mouth again, but he doesn’t inhale, just bitterly bites it. “I could’ve went on like that, but,” his brow furrows, “I’ve seen my peers torture themselves for years for those dreams of theirs. I swore I wouldn’t be one of them. Because they’re all delusional fucks.” He finally glances at you. “Are you one, too?”
Your shoulders drop a little and your lips purse. “I don’t know yet. It’s too early to say.”
“It’s never too early to say, if the outcome is all the same,” he tells you.
You consider his words for a moment. It’s the easy way out. You should consider yourself lucky. Everyone wants a reason, a sign, to turn away from the one thing they’re scared to think about. And here he was, giving that to you on a silver platter.
But if what you wanted was really all that fragile, then it means there’s nothing to show for any of it. For all the effort it took you to get here, and all the effort you’re still willing to give.
“I’ll keep going until I fail,” you say, “or until I succeed.” It’s not really something you say for him, but for yourself.
He juts his bottom lip out and raises his eyebrows, slowly nodding his head, like he’s impressed by you. But his posture remains lax. “I mean, you’re working this job. You’ve got some sort of plan, at least. It’s not like I’m your parent to tell you what to do and what not to do.” He finally takes another drag, eyebrows pinching together at the same time his fingers pinch close to the burn of his joint to pull it away. “What’s that one saying? You can take a horse to the water, but you can’t make it drink.”
“Wow. You don’t sound a day older than sixty-five.”
He smirks at you. “You’ve got a lot of attitude, Canon. Where does it come from?”
You sink a little in your seat, turning away from him to look down at your hands that were still messing with the features of his camera. “My annoying feelings lately.”
“Feelings about what?”
You consider telling the truth. But you don’t. “My car is in repair and I’m not sure I can afford to pay for the bill, since things keep coming up with it.” It was the thing at the top of your mind at the moment though, for some reason, so partially truthful.
He laughs. “Yeah, cars have a way of doing that when you’re finally getting caught up on bills.”
“At what point does spontaneously picking up random, obscure jobs go from omg I’m so excited to have this opportunity to I just need the money?” you ask.
“You mean you’re not already at that point yet?” he says with a scoff. “Soon, then.”
You sigh.
“Y’know I used to work at this lousy cinema a few miles away from Central,” he tells you, hand tapping the table with a rhythm that makes no sense. “Busted my ass working minimum wage on night shifts because I thought I’d catch a big break in conversation with a director, as if Martin Fucking Scorcese would choose to host his opening night at a random Edwards in Tokyo.” His tapping on the table stops. “Tell me that isn’t pathetic as hell.”
“That’s pathetic as hell.”
“The things you’ll do for money,” he says with a sigh. He sounds detached, like it’s really just a message for you.
You lick your lips, skin feeling dry from the wind that occasionally brushes by, and when you glance at Kai again, there’s a grit to his jaw.
“Should’ve been born as one of those damn college athletes,” he grumbles, sucking in fast through the joint that was close to withering away. “Those fuckers don’t pay tuition.”
The harsh colors of the soccer team’s color-coded practice schedule on your phone are visible when you blink, as well as the exhaustion under Gojo’s eyes in the warm lighting of the hotel lobby earlier tonight. “They work hard.”
He looks at you. “I work hard, too.”
Your shoulders tense. “I’m sure.”
“You work hard as well.” Just to include you.
“Yeah.”
“I mean, you can’t tell me that it’s fair.”
Your mind wanders to some of the people you’ve met on that team, who have been nice to you. You think of Gojo, and the memory of him makes you wish you were with him right now. Despite everything.
“I guess it’s not fair,” is all you say, a tactic to diffuse the conversation, one that you’ve had to use twice with him today. The sound of the swing chains clinking together from the wind in the distance runs a chill down your spine.
You feel heavy in your chest, and you glance at the joint pinched in between Kai’s fingers. He’s not keeping an eye on it, so it’s easy to steal, and you bring it to your lips before sucking in. You instantly let out a few coughs. He’s looking at you with surprise. And you’re still in desperate need of that distraction you’ve been craving.
“How long does it take for it to kick in?” you ask, coughing again and pressing a hand to your chest.
“Super long when you can barely stomach a single drag.”
You try again. He watches you. You swear you feel a buzz this time, and you hand the joint back to him. You feel like you’re having an out-of-body experience.
“How are you feeling?” he asks.
“Good,” you tell him, “really good.”
“That’s gotta be placebo, Canon.”
“No, really,” you sigh it. Even if it was, maybe your mind was just blessing you with a single moment of reprieve. “I feel…really good,” you say with your head in a haze. “Best I’ve…” you don’t know why you have to blink back tears, “best I’ve felt this whole week.”
Kai’s silent next to you. You look over at him, and he’s got a scrutinizing expression on his face. His eyes are glazed. “You seeing anyone right now, Canon?”
It’s the savory question you know has been on the tip of his tongue. Ignorantly asked, as if you would’ve been sitting here with him right now in the dead of night if the answer was yes.
“No.”
He’s leaning towards you, and you’re dazed and also sleepy. His face is close now, there’s an urge to giggle, which means there’s no way this is all just placebo, and when his lips dip towards yours, you’re conscious enough to push him away by a weakly fisted hand pressed to his collarbone.
“Oh. I. Um,” you stutter.
“What?” he asks, eyebrow raised, still close to you.
“No. No thanks.” Because it felt wrong.
He fully pulls away from you, and runs a hand through his hair, a deep sigh leaving him. “Alright.”
You’re breathing faster now, surroundings feeling vague, like you’re in sweltering heat but the air only bites cold.
You stand up suddenly. “I…I want to go back.”
“Go back where?”
“To the hotel. To my room.” You pause. “I mean, by myself. Not with you. We can share a ride, though.”
He stands up too, hands reaching for you, gripping the straps of his camera still hung around your neck and he pulls it off to place it back into the case. You feel like you’ve lost favor with him somehow. “Okay. Sure.”
“But not with you.” You felt the need to clarify again.
“I get it, Canon. It’s fine.”
—
“Maybe you just need to fuck him aggressively without mercy.”
“I beg your finest pardon?”
You’re sitting in a booth inside this streetside KFC with Mina sitting across the table, waving a fry around in the air, and with Nobara next to you as she tries to open a packet of ketchup with her teeth. The hangout the three of you have been hyping up all week, just to be sat in the same place you always go to. You were about to take a bite out of your sandwich, but you set it back down on your tray.
Mina points the fry at you and shrugs. “I’m saying. Maybe you’re having such a hard time getting over Gojo because you got so close to fucking him in that bathroom, but you didn’t, and now you’re in, like, this constant state of edging.” She bites down on the fry. “The clit knows what the heart doesn’t.”
“Your theories never fail to amaze me,” you mumble, sinking further into the booth.
“Perhaps it’ll take the edge off.” Mina sucks through the straw of her Diet coke. Nobara finally succeeds in opening her packet of ketchup.
“I doubt it. Besides, I technically already gave him an invitation to,” you say, fingers rubbing at your eye with a swipe as you wince from the memory, “and he rejected me, so, still swimming in the self hatred from that one.”
Mina hums. “There’s no way he’s not foaming at the mouth for it, y/n. Men never let a meal they were craving go unfinished,” she states, dramatically stabbing a chicken nugget with a fork.
“What kind of pigs do you guys associate yourselves with?” Nobara asks. She’s a lesbian, by the way.
“I raise another question. Why are we talking about this in a public restaurant?” you offer.
“Listen, babes,” Mina continues, like your words fall on deaf ears because she’s got some point to make, “it’ll either poof. Make your feelings go away like the drop of a hat because you find out he’s a bad lay. Or it’ll be so good that you realize you’re never getting over him and you’ll be thinking of his dick instead of your husband’s on your wedding night.”
“We’re. In. A. Public. Restaurant.”
Mina steals a biscuit from your tray. “If it ends up being the first outcome, then the whole thing was my idea. If it’s the second…then just know that Nobara has steered you wrong.”
“Why the hell do you have to drag me into this?” Nobara asks.
You’re about to take a bite from your sandwich again when you’re interrupted by the buzzing of your phone in your purse. You pull it out and glance at the caller ID, then let out a sigh.
“Sorry, I have to take this,” you mumble, slipping out of the booth and towards the restaurant’s exit, pushing the tense door open with a gust of fresh air brushed through you.
“Hello?” It’s the car repair man. “Really? I thought you said it was fixed.” Apparently something else came up. “Okay…how much longer will it be in repair?” Much longer than you had thought. “And how much will it cost?” Much more expensive than you had thought. “I don’t know what to say. I mean, really, I feel as though every time I’m on the line with you all, I have to wait longer to get my car back, and the bill just racks up higher.” They’re trying their best. “I know. Is it necessary to fix in order to drive, though?” State laws require it. “Okay…thanks for the update.” And then you hang up without another word, and with all the frustration in the world.
You head back inside and grumble about your car woes to Mina and Nobara, who try their best to respond with interest.
“Why can’t your insurance cover it?” Mina asks.
“Apparently they can’t claim it’s because of those rocks I drove over,” you sigh, “since it looks like it’s been a problem for longer than that.”
“Can you afford it?” Nobara asks.
“Not really,” you say. “I’ll just have to postpone having my car for a bit.”
You sigh with a glance out the window of this fine dining establishment, into the blue skies just beyond, head drowning out the voices of Mina and Nobara as they continue to grill you about all sorts of questions that you don’t have the energy to answer right now. You had another student loan payment to make once you got home today, and just the thought of it makes your heart drop a little. And you realize you just can’t afford to be picky about your financial situation anymore.
—
“Thanks for helping me out with this,” you say, footsteps over familiar grassy hills as you head towards the UTokyo’s practice field, your digital Canon EOS hanging from your neck.
“Sure,” Kai says as he keeps pace next to you, “why the sudden mission, though?”
You’re gazing off straight ahead, a nervous pit in your stomach since it’s been a while since you’ve walked across this landscape towards the field.
“I just feel like I need to diversify my income somehow,” you sigh, the buzzwords leaving a bitter taste in your mouth as you say them but it was the reality of your situation, “to make ends meet. When you mentioned freelance work during our conversation last week, it made me think it’s time for me to pick that up too.”
Kai hums. “Yeah, it’s a good plan. I’ll try to show you what I know.”
Once you’ve made it to the top of that hill, the one that oversees the field, your eyes instantly scan the field for familiar silhouettes, and your breath catches in your throat when you spot Gojo passively kicking a ball back and forth between one of his teammates for warm-ups.
It’s the second time you’ve seen him since that argument the two of you had in the hotel lobby, the first being at the post-game conference in which you did everything in your power to swiftly avoid him, and you plan on keeping that up. There’s also an urge to run away, but you’re starting to realize that’s not much of an option anymore.
“Honestly, you don’t really need to worry too much about shutter speed with freelance like you do for shooting sports,” Kai is mumbling next to you as he messes with the settings on his camera, the two of you making your way down the hill towards the field, and you’re not really listening because your eyes are on Gojo, who’s yelling something across the field to his teammates with a look of concentration on his face.
“Uh huh, I see,” you say. You see Kai glance at you in his periphery.
“You again!” you hear a familiar harsh voice call out, and you turn on your heel to face Coach Yaga who’s standing a few feet away in his custom UTokyo tracksuit with his arms crossed against his chest. “Why are you on my field?”
You hold your breath for a second. “Hi, Coach Yaga, so sorry, but I’m just here to take some more photos.”
He lets out one of his hmphs, unrelenting. “You’re a distraction. Get off my field.”
“D-Distraction?”
“Coach!” Suddenly, Geto’s in your line of sight as he emerges with a light jog up to your side. “You should really be nicer to our photographers, they give us a lot of publicity for our games. And publicity means funding.”
Coach Yaga narrows his eyes. “I need all my players focused right now. Even during practice.” He gives you a disapproving glance and you’re still confused, but also weirdly angered.
“Excuse me, Coach Yaga, but last time I checked, this field is technically open for all students. And I’m a student,” you say to him, crossing your arms across your chest now. “So, I can be here if I want.”
You have no idea if that’s true at all, but sometimes you’ve just gotta fake it ‘til you make it.
Coach Yaga grumbles something and then waves his hands in the air. “Fine! I’ve no bandwidth to argue about this anymore! Just don’t distract my players.”
You’re shocked that it worked, and Geto nudges you with an elbow to correct your expression so that Coach Yaga doesn’t catch on to the bullshit you just spewed.
“Are you here to take some photos?” Geto asks, facing you. He’s got his hands on his hips, breathing slightly fast, some of his hair falling onto his forehead.
“Yeah, I am, just for practice though. I’m here with—” you glance at Kai, who’s standing with his fists shoved into his pockets, “Kai. He’s also with the newsletter.”
There’s a moment where Geto studies the two of you for a second before speaking. “I know,” he says, extending his hand out for Kai to shake, which he does, “I think I’ve seen you around. Not sure if we’ve formally met, but it’s nice to meet you.”
“Yeah, likewise.” Kai’s hand is then shoved back into his pocket.
You feel awkward suddenly, and then quickly say something to Geto about how he should probably get back to practice, which he agrees to, and then you’re standing at the chalk sideline with Kai as he shows you the ins and outs about digital photography.
“Have you tried shooting in burst mode?” he asks, switching the feature on your camera and then handing it back to you. You sling the strap around your neck.
“Hm…” you start, pointing your camera across the expanse of the field to multiple areas. The trees off into the distance, the goal posts, Coach Yaga’s yapping Pomeranian. “Not really…” The grass beneath your feet, the sky above your head, and then blurrily focused before settling on Gojo who stood in the distance straight ahead.
You see through your viewfinder that he’s caught sight of you too, a look of surprise on his face seen only by the level of zoom, and you glance up from the screen to make eye contact with him in reality. He’s fully staring at you, and you can barely see the way his expression relaxes from that one of athletic concentration to something wistful and strange that you’ve had a hard time reading lately.
“Canon? Are you even listening?”
“Huh?” you snap out of it and look at Kai. “Sorry. Could you repeat that?” You quickly glance toward Gojo again, and his line of sight points towards Kai now.
“I was asking if you’ve tried panning before,” he says, reaching for your camera, pulling it towards him, but the strap around your neck means you’re pulled closer to him too.
“Satoru!” Coach Yaga yells in the distance. “Eyes on the ball!”
“Just got to set your camera to manual mode first,” Kai mutters, confusion in his voice. “Where the fuck is it?” He’s turning your camera in his hands, which only has you stumbling with another small step towards him, your chest pressed flush to his arm, and he looks down at you for a brief second with a smirk on his face.
You hear the sound of a ball being kicked on the field, followed by the shout of one of the players.
“Ah, here, found it,” Kai says, handing your camera back to you, and just as you’re about to say thanks and you hold your camera up, you’re hit straight in the face by a flying object and fall backwards onto the grass with a painful thud.
What the fuck?
Where are you?
Who are you?
Okay, that’s dramatic, it wasn’t that bad.
There’s shouting in the distance as you hold your head with a groan, eyes shut tight with images of your life flashing behind your eyelids, and when you open your eyes again from where you’re sat up on the grass, you’re surrounded by soccer players.
Gojo’s suddenly in your line of sight, knelt down beside you and he’s holding your shoulders, trying to get you to look at him but you’re still blinking away the stars you’re seeing. “Fuck, y/n, are you okay?” he asks, and you register the concern on his face.
“Dude,” one of his teammates kicks the heel of his cleat, “where the fuck were you looking? It was clear as day I was tryna pass to you.”
Gojo grumbles something to him, his brow furrowed, and he’s lowering his head to try to make eye-level contact with you but you’re still holding your head with a wince.
“Oh shit,” Kai comments, “she’s bleeding.”
You pull your hand from your face to glance down at the wetness that you feel, and bright red color stains the tips of your fingers.
The next thing you register is Gojo picking you up off the hard grassy ground into his arms, and starts carrying you away down the field.
“W-What the hell are you doing?” you ask, his pacing across the grass is fast and you have to wrap your arms around his neck to keep from getting dizzy.
“I’m taking you to the hospital,” he says, voice strained in his throat, and you’ve never seen him look so worried before.
“The hospital?! Please don’t, I don’t have health insurance right now.” His face is so close and you’re distracted from the pain of your headache.
“You’re bleeding on the face, I’m taking you whether you like it or not,” he grumbles.
You dig your nails into his shoulder through the nylon of his shirt, and he hisses from the pain before stopping in his tracks. “I don’t need to go to the hospital, Satoru, I just need a fucking bandaid.”
“You could have a concussion.”
“A concussion?!” You kick your feet for him to let you down but his grip on you only tightens. “You’re being ridiculous. Let me go, or I’ll bite you.”
He scoffs at that and continues walking forward. “You’re gonna bite me? That’s the most threatening thing you could come up with?”
“I’m being so dead serious, Gojo Satoru. No hospital.”
He grumbles something under his breath at your use of his full government name, and then says “fine” but he’s still walking down the grass until his cleats begin to tap on concrete, and then on what sounds like tile as he carries you into a building a few yards from the field.
He seats you on a cold counter, your hand gripping the faucet of a sink, and you finally take a comprehensive look at your surroundings. light blue, faint scent of chlorine in the air
“Is this…a locker room? The men's locker room?”
He sighs, bending his knees a bit to look at your face closely. You flinch when his hand reaches out, and he pauses, but you relax slightly and then he rubs his thumb over your cheek. You feel the smear of a droplet of blood. “Yes. I need running water.” He turns the faucet of the sink on to run his thumb under.
“For what?” you ask. His thumb is running over your cheek again.
“To take care of this cut.” He disappears behind a tile wall for a moment. You can hear metal clanking, probably of a locker opening and closing, and he re-emerges with a first-aid kit.
You slide your butt across the counter to the edge, about to hop off and make a run for it when he grabs your hips and puts you back into place. “Don’t even think about it,” he grumbles. He leans forward, grips you strongly, and you see that he’s still breathing heavily from practice, strands of hair stuck to his forehead with sweat, and you can practically taste the salt on his neck.
You press your shin to the front of his thigh, desperate to put some space between the two of you. “I don’t wanna be in here. Men are scary.”
“Well I can’t take you into the women’s locker room,” he says, ripping the packet of an antiseptic wipe open with his teeth, “I’d get registered as a sex offender.”
You attempt at an escape again, and he’s quick to get his hands on you to stop it.
“Quit manhandling me, or I’ll scream,” you threaten through gritted teeth, because you’re still mad at him. For everything.
“Go ahead,” he says, using his knee to spread your legs apart, then finds a place to stand between your thighs to get closer to you. “I’ve got a lot of ways I could shut you up.”
You blink at him, breath catching in your throat, and the expression on his face tells you he’s not interested in dealing with your stubbornness anymore.
“Just hold still,” he grumbles, placing the packet down on your thigh and then stepping off to the side to wash his hands under the sink.
“What exactly happened?” you ask, watching him dry his hands off with a few paper towels. One moment, Kai was trying to explain good digital photography to you, and the next you were dizzy from being knocked back onto the ground.
“You got hit by a soccer ball.”
“I know, but how?” You remember your camera hit your face from the impact too, and now you’re worried about it.
“I…wasn’t paying attention when my teammate passed it,” he admits with a sigh, finding his place in front of you again, the knuckles of his clean hand brushing across your cheek, caressing. Your expression softens slightly. He uses a hand spread across the small of your back to push you forward to him, then he gently passes the wipe over your wound.
“Oh okay so, you failed to protect me from a flying soccer ball.”
He pulls his hand from you to read the lettering on the back of the packet. “I’m patching you up now, aren’t I?” he says, annoyed. “…oh fuck, I was supposed to go in with water first.”
“So glad to be in such good hands right now.”
He gives you a pointed look, but you ignore it and turn your torso to see your reflection in the mirror for the first time. You had a small wound on your cheek, right over the bone, with some bleeding and it’s wider than it is deep. But when you look at Gojo again, who’s putting some ointment onto a Q-tip now, the look of guilt and worry on his face makes you feel satisfied for some reason, and you wanted to make it worse.
“Does it hurt?” he asks, brow furrowed, applying the cold gel to your cheek.
“Mhm. A lot.” Not really, no.
“Fuck. I’m sorry,” he sighs, head dipping towards you slightly to get a better look, “can you feel this?”
“Ahh, yeah. Ouch. So much.” Barely.
His other hand is placed flat on the counter next to where you’re sitting, and you allow it when his thumb starts to run soothing circles over your hip.
“Hmm…” you start, wide eyes looking up at him as he seems to lean closer and closer to you with every word that leaves your lips, “I really wonder if it’ll leave a scar.”
He looks tortured. His hand that was maneuvering the Q-tip in his hands drops to the counter now, and he brings his other one to your face, cupping your cheek. His eyes dart from the wound, thumb pressing at the plush of your cheek, and this time, it hurts a little so you wince. His expression is tense, some sort of inner turmoil you could read across his forehead, and then his jaw hardens.
“Who was that guy you were talking to earlier?”
You blink a few, then tilt your head slightly. You feel like you’re on a game show, where there’s four options and only one right answer. New boytoy, gay best friend, fuck buddy, or— “He’s my coworker.”
“That’s it?”
“Mhm.”
“Has he tried anything funny with you?”
You almost roll your eyes. “No, dad, he hasn’t.”
“Woah. Say that again but make it daddy.”
“Hey just a quick question for you. Where do you get the audacity?”
His bent index finger finds a place under your chin, tilting your head up so you’re forced to look at him. “It’s your fault, really. I can’t help it sometimes,” he says, voice lower now. You’re squirming a little, wanting to push him away but his lips get close to your cheek, brushing near your wound, like he wants to make it all better somehow. “I really am sorry,” he whispers, near your ear. There’s a whimper you have to stifle in your throat. He pulls aways just enough to where he can look into your eyes. “A cut…” he starts, thumb now passing over your bottom lip, “on your pretty face.” He sighs. You shouldn’t, but when he prods, you tuck his thumb under your front teeth and your tongue presses slightly against the padded skin of it. He looks like he’s being driven to insanity, and his other hand has no shame at all in pulling you towards him, to seat you at the edge of the counter, and you miss the texture of his thumb on your tongue when he pulls it from your mouth. But it’s so he can dip his head down to kiss you instead.
Of course the sensation of his lips on yours only lasts for a second, because the universe really fucking hates (or loves?) you, so the loud clanking of a metal water bottle against tile interrupts with harsh reverberation throughout the locker room walls, and he pulls away from you when you jump at the sound.
You both turn your heads towards the origin, located at the curved end of the entryway hall, and one of Gojo’s teammates is standing there with his duffle bag slung around his neck and hanging heavily to his thigh, his water bottle clutched in his hand. He blinks at the two of you.
Oh. It’s the one you kissed at that party a few weeks ago.
“What—…Why is there a—” his teammate starts, panicked, turning his head to double check the sign on the locker room wall as if he’s hallucinating, and when his eyes land on you again, they widen with recognition. His gaze shifts, and his chin tips down at the sight of Gojo’s irritated side eye from where he was still all up in your personal space. “…you know what. Nevermind.”
His teammate’s eyes are on you again, and you give him a shy little wave, just a fluttering of your fingers in the air paired with a small smile, legs swinging back and forth under the counter. He lets out an amused scoff from the entryway, lifting his hand to return the gesture, some cheeky grin on his face as he then scratches the back of his head before turning on his heel to leave the locker room, out of sight. You let out a sigh, hand dropping to your lap, and you don’t need to look at Gojo to tell that he’s staring at you with disbelief.
“What the fuck was that—”
“You,” you interrupt him, finger jabbing at the center of his chest, “have seriously got a lot of fucking nerve,” you hop off the counter, “to not only allow a soccer ball to sock me in the face,” he’s taking a step back with every harsh jab of your finger, “but to also hold me hostage in a mens’ locker room,” his back is pressed up against cold tile wall now while he just looks down at you with wide eyes and something akin to fear, “and then, oh my god, the audacity to kiss me?”
“I—”
“I don’t wanna hear it!” you yell, which shuts him up. “You really are just a fucking player.”
He’s stiff, not wanting to catch a punishment from you right now.
“But it doesn’t matter,” you grumble, still drilling your finger into his ribcage with the intent to cause pain. You didn’t need to be this close, but his body is warm, probably due to the blood pumping from practice, and it feels nice to be pressed up against. “Because I don’t have feelings for you anymore, so just fucking get over yourself.” It was a lie if you’ve ever told one, but you wanted to believe it so much that it could come off as the truth.
His eyes narrow down at you, eyebrows flattening. “You don’t have feelings for me anymore?”
“No, I don’t.”
“I don’t believe you.”
You roll your eyes. “Why? Because you want me to keep suffering?”
He grabs your hips, then makes a motion that is evident of his desire to pull you flush to him, but he stops himself. There’s a moment where he just takes a few deep breaths and looks at you with a hardened expression, then a split second where his eyes fall to that little cut on your cheek, and every single feature of his face softens, and then he lets you go.
You take a small step back, breathing heavily of your own, and you feel the ghost sensation of his fingertips wrapped around your hips. It makes you feel dizzy, and your thoughts are a mess.
He sighs. “Sorry. For the soccer ball, and this locker room. But I’m not really sorry for kissing you, and if that makes me a jerk, then so be it.”
Your heart is beating fast. “You are a jerk, Satoru,” you say. He doesn’t like you, he doesn’t want you. A mantra played over and over in your head that you’ve started to hear it at night. “A real fucking jerk.” And you leave him standing there in a way that feels like the hundredth time.
—
2:34pm kaito (work): yo
2:34pm kaito (work): i had my guy look at your camera
2:35pm kaito (work): it’s pretty fucked up
2:37pm you: :( oh okay isee. does he have an estimate for the fix? the lens is okay though right?
2:39pm kaito (work): yeah lens is fine, you should really count your blessings on that.
2:40pm kaito (work): but nah, fix would be around the same as the cost of it, so you’re better off getting a new one
2:42pm you: i don’t have thousands of yen laying around unfortunately. my car bill has sucked me dry
2:44pm kaito (work): well let me check with him. maybe he can hook you up with a good deal on a used one
2:45pm kaito (work): i got a 50% off on one of my canon cameras i bought from him a few years back. maybe he’s still got some like that
2:46pm you: yes could you check with him please? thanks so much, really
2:48pm kaito (work): sure. although i think the guy that kicked the ball to your face should be paying for your camera replacement
2:51pm you: they were just practicing. it’s their field
2:56pm kaito (work): alright. btw, you free tonight?
You blink at your phone screen from where you were sprawled across your bed. Before you have a chance to type out a response, your phone lights up with a phone call from kaito (work). You accept the call.
“Oh, hi,” you say.
“Hey, are you free tonight?”
“Oh uhh, I was just about to check my schedule.” You shake your head at your inability to come up with an excuse on the spot.
“Okay,” he says on the other line. You hear the sounds of cars honking in the distance. “Well let me know. I just left my camera guy’s shop, and he was telling me about how one of his friends does visuals for a short-film director, and that the director is looking for an assistant.” Kai grumbles something about someone he walked past being rude. “I think the director’s agency is Verve Films, so.”
You sit up in bed, eyes wide at the mention of the name. “Oh, oh wow. That’s insane.”
“Yup,” he says, “anyways, apparently the director is busy as fuck, so he left the hiring process up to my camera guy’s friend. I told him I knew someone that might be interested. Are you?”
You take a deep breath in and out. “Yeah, I am. Most of my experience on my resume lines up with short-film, so I’d be able to—”
“Alright great,” he interrupts, “so we can hold the interview tonight.”
“We?” you ask.
“Well yeah, me, my camera guy, the hiring guy. Maybe go for drinks or something.”
Your brow furrows. “That hardly sounds like an interview.”
Kai sighs. “Well, it’s not an interview for a desk job or something. It’s more of like—well, like building connections. I know you know all about that, since Utahime got you the newsletter job.”
Well, yes. She put a word in for you, which helped get the interview, but you still went against qualified applicants. “I guess.”
“It’ll be like that. Most opportunities you’ll get if you still want to pursue filmmaking are going to be like that,” he tells you, “if it feels informal, it means you’re doing it right. You might not think so now because you’re still in school, where they practically serve opportunities to students on platters, but it’s going to be different in the real world.”
You lay your head back onto the pillow, feeling like you’re receiving a lecture you didn’t ask for, and your first instinct is to pretend that you know better than he does. But when you think about all the stress recently, all of the not knowing, and the unsure, you question if you should start leaning into the advice of the people around you, and start to accept this career path for what it’s known to be. Unruly, unconventional, and a lot of times, unfair.
“I see. Well, can I think about it? Tonight is too soon, I’d need time to research the director, put a portfolio together, and also do some interview prep,” you say, pulling your phone from your ear to glance at the time.
“Well, tonight’s the only night that works since their team’s shooting abroad for the weekend and they leave tomorrow morning,” he says.
You purse your lips together.
“But also,” Kai says, “it’s the nice thing to do, y’know, since my camera guy is taking the time to look at your camera for free, you could at least help his friend out. By the way, he just texted me, he does have some used Canons available at discount.”
You close your eyes for a second, just trying to process this conversation right now. Kai was speaking too fast, hardly enough time for you to even think.
“So do you want to do the interview tonight?”
“Yes, sure. Okay. Just— just send me the details. I’ll be there,” you say.
“Alright cool, will do.”
You say bye, and then he hangs up.
A few hours pass by, where you spend some time putting together a flash drive of a couple of your best short films you’ve worked on in the past with other directors, as well as a portfolio of some recently developed film photography. The last thing to do was grab your emergency stash of print outs of your resume, and then you stuff it all into a folder before glancing at the mirror to take in your reflection. It felt extremely weird to show up to a job interview in something as casual as what you were wearing right now, but Kai insisted to not wear anything business. But at least you opted for jeans that don’t have any DIY holes in them.
Your face is glued to the navigation on your phone screen the second you get out of the taxi, and you walk down the bustling nightlife streets of Tokyo to get to this bar that Kai sent you the address of. But just as you’re about to turn the corner to your destination down the bar strip, you bump into someone’s chest due to lack of paying any proper attention.
“Ah— I’m so sorry,” you say, your grip on your phone tightening when you realize it was about to get knocked out of your hand, and then you look up to see a familiar face.
“Oh!” Geto exclaims from where he’s standing right in front of you, “You’re everywhere, y/n. What are you doing here?”
You open your mouth to speak, hesitate for a second, and then continue. “I’m here to…get drinks with some of my friends.”
He gives you a smile. “That’s nice. I am too.” He points over his shoulder to behind him. “Nanami got into his MBA program earlier this week, so, Satoru, Choso and I are buying him a few rounds. Or possibly a million. The plan is to incapacitate him as punishment for giving up on playing in the national league with us.”
You humor him with a laugh. “That’s sweet. Or not? Well anyway, tell him I said congrats.” Your heart starts to beat a little faster, because from the direction Geto came from, it meant Gojo was likely just around the corner somewhere. “Where are you heading to now?”
“We’re bar hopping, and I think I forgot my phone at the last one we went to over there,” he says, pointing across the street. “So I’m going to go look for it.”
“Oh alright,” you say. “Good luck with that. I’m going to go find my, uh, my friends.”
Geto tilts his head at you and had a slightly more serious expression on his face, glancing at the folder in your hands. “Thanks. And stay safe.”
You nod at him and then walk past him to round the corner onto the street that had groups of people loitering in front of restaurants, bars and all sorts of establishments as they wait in the cold to get inside or be seated. You recognize the name on one of the signs hanging as the one Kai sent you in his message, and when you’re a few feet away from it, you spot Kai. He’s wearing his typical street photographer wear, with a red flannel over a gray shirt and pants that are possibly a size too big for him, but that’s likely the style he was going for. He’s standing with two other people.
“Hey,” you greet Kai first, who has a pleasant look on his expression before he greets you back and gestures to the two people he was with.
“Yo, this is Junichi, my camera guy,” he says. “Don’t bother shaking his hand, he’s a germaphobe. Gotta keep ‘em clean for the electronics.”
“Oh,” you say. Junichi is a big man, broad shoulders and thick muscles. His neck is almost as thick as his bicep, and he has no hair on his head. His arms are crossed. “It’s nice to meet you. Thank you for taking a look at my camera.”
He nods at you in acknowledgment. “Sure thing. Pretty Boy here says you want to buy one of my used Canons. I don’t refurbish them, so you’d better know how.”
Kai sighs, nudging Junichi a little with a fist. “Relax, dude, we can talk about that later. Also, stop calling me that.”
Your eyes flicker to the right, where another man stood, who you assume was Junichi’s friend and this Verve Films director’s visual effects specialist. He’s similar in stature to Kai, with that casual artist look, and he has a scuffle of facial hair littering his jaw in less of an intentional fashion but rather a five-o-clock shadow fashion. You vaguely register the scent of weed, familiar to the one that lingers in the photo lab on campus after class hours. He reaches his hand out to you first.
“Hi, I’m Ren. I work in visual effects for director Akira Ko at Verve.”
Your eyes widen as you shake his hand. “That’s amazing. I’ve studied a lot of his contemporary works, I’d love to learn more about his process.”
Ren lets a fast exhale out through his nose. “Yeah, you’ll learn a lot under him.” He pauses to shove his hands into the pockets of his jacket. “Most of his assistants always do.”
“We’ve been waiting for too damn long,” Kai interjects before you could ask any questions about the assistant position, and he glances at his watch, “and there’s still a lot of people ahead of us.”
You glance around to the small groups of people gathered in front of this bar on a lively Friday night, eyes jumping from one area to the next, until a familiar silhouette catches your eye.
You see Gojo standing with Nanami and Choso a few strides away, near the lamppost. He’s mostly turned away from you, Nanami nudging his arm annoyed at something he said, and the sound of his laughter in the air makes your heart feel like it’s at stray. Like that was where you were supposed to be right now, not here.
You watch him from the distance as he sighs, shrugging his shoulders up and down slightly before crossing his arms when Choso gestures towards the entrance of the bar, and so he looks in that direction too. He’s frowning slightly and he brushes some of the hair fallen over his forehead away from his eyes, in that boyish way that makes your heart skip a beat, and you know he’s just doing it to see a little bit better, but it makes you want to cry.
Geto walks up to them and rejoins their little circle, and holds his phone up in the air, and then there’s the melody of their voices bouncing off one another’s again. Geto rests his elbow up onto Gojo’s shoulder, leaning in a bit closer to tell him something, and when Gojo hears it, you see his entire body tense before his wide eyes are searching his surroundings, until those eyes land on you.
Your breath catches, and you hold his eye contact for only a moment before you look away, because it almost felt like too much to bear.
“What’s that folder in your hand?” Ren asks you, and you turn completely to face him so you can’t see Gojo in your periphery at all anymore.
“I just brought some of my work, for your—er, I guess Mr. Ko’s—reference if he’d like to see it after today’s…interview,” you say. “There’s a flashdrive, too.”
Ren has an amused look on his face and he shoves Kai’s shoulder with his palm. “Dude, you didn’t tell her?”
Kai shakes his head. “Tell her what?”
“Ohh, I see how it is,” Ren muses.
“What?” Kai asks, starting to sound annoyed.
Ren tips his chin up slightly to study Kai’s face, and then his look of amusement dissipates into one of understanding. “Nothing.”
“Tell me what?” you prod.
“Just that you didn’t really need to bring all of that with you,” he says. “Sorry for the trouble.”
You shake your head. “It’s fine, but if you could still give it to him—”
“I’m surprised Kai suggested someone when I asked if he knew anyone,” Junichi jumps in, “I’m used to him grumbling on and on about how shit the work is in filmmaking. Would’ve thought he’d convinced you to look the other way by now.”
You blink at the gruff man, then look at Kai, and he’s just staring down at the dirt of his shoes. “Well, we had a conversation about it. But I’m pretty set on what I want to do,” you say.
Kai lets out a scoff. “Yeah, I don’t really know how else to warn you about the shit show you’re in for, but if you want to be in debt to grad school for the next couple decades of your life, then it’s up to you.”
“Hey, jackass, try to be a bit nicer,” Ren speaks up. “She’s got some goals. Big fuckin’ deal.” He turns to you. “Although, he’s got a point sweetheart, school’s not going to get you anywhere in this industry.”
You frown. “A lot of directors I look up to went through graduate schooling. Most, I would say. I don’t understand where this rhetoric is coming from.”
“It’s coming from real people with real experience,” Ren says, and you dislike the way he takes a step closer to you to reiterate his point, “honestly, you should save yourself some time and give up on applying. It’s not worth it.”
“I’ve already put my application together,” you say, brow furrowing slightly, “I’ve asked professors for my references, spent the past four years working on my profile—”
“But working under a director, I mean really getting to work under one, beats all of that. Which is why you’re here, right?” Ren asks, but it’s not curious, it’s testing.
You feel a sheen of sweat build at your forehead, even in this cold, and you clench your hand into a fist once, twice, thrice. You’re breathing fast, and the three sets of eyes that are staring so scrutinizingly into your soul right now have you faltering, like if they took another step forward, tried to intrude what you thought you knew one more time, you’d fall backwards over the cliff.
Suddenly, a hand wraps around your upper arm, and when you turn your head to the left, you see Gojo standing there.
“Hey,” he says to you, sparing one single sidewards glare towards Kai, who immediately averts the eye contact, before Gojo’s eyes are on you again, “can I talk to you for a second?”
You look at the three men in your circle, who suddenly adopt skittish body postures, and Gojo doesn’t really wait longer than a few seconds before he’s pulling you away from them over towards the edge of the curb towards the street.
“What?” you ask once he lets go of your arm.
“What are you doing here with those guys?” he asks.
“I’m—…why does it matter to you?” you ask.
“It matters to me because of the fucking absurd conversation I just overheard,” he says, “now answer me.”
His tone annoys you, and you cross your arms. “Are you eavesdropping?”
“I’m going to ask you one more time,” he says, taking a step forward to you, “who are those guys, and why are you here with them?”
You blink at him, furrowed brows relaxing slightly as you drop your crossed arms to your side, and you stare straight ahead at the blankness of the white t-shirt he’s wearing, as your mind runs blank to his question. Why were you here with them? Was it because you had no other plans? Was it because the opportunity sounded too good to be true, and you just had to see for yourself? Was it because you’ve been unable to sleep at night from all the stress, the financial worries, the rejection, and you just want to finally feel like you’ve done one good thing for yourself? To feel like you’re at least making one step in the right direction, no matter the cost?
“I’m here for a job interview,” you say to him. Your tone is flat, and you feel numb.
“A job interview?” he asks, with just about as much incredulity you would’ve expected to hear from him at that answer, “At a bar? How does that make any sense?”
“It…” you start, “sounded fine.”
“It sounds shady as fuck.”
“This doesn’t concern you, okay? I’m—…I’m just trying to make my goals work for me, Satoru, and I really don’t expect you to understand.”
“Why wouldn’t I understand?” he asks. There’s confusion in his voice, and maybe even a little bit of hurt.
“Because you can’t even understand how unfair and painful it is for me that you keep—” you have to purse your lips together briefly to fight back the knot in your throat, “…that you keep interfering with my life everywhere I go.”
His expression softens, and he silently stands in front of you for a moment. His eyes dart across your face, and then he reaches out to grab your hand. “Listen, if you still want to get drinks tonight, then just get drinks with us. But don’t hang out with those guys. They’re bad news, especially the dude with the flannel, and I don’t think you’re in a good place right now to see that.”
Your eyes see white fury at that, and you all but snap. Because the irony of this whole situation, is that you’re not in a good place right now because of him. Because of all the pain that he’s put you through, for promising to stay away but then always being near, for saying he doesn’t want you but then acting like he does.
“You know what I think, Satoru?” you ask through gritted teeth, yanking your hand from his grasp.
He’s looking at you, studying. “What?”
You take a step forward, threateningly, and he takes a step back so that he steps off the curb and onto the road, and you’re at eye-level with him now. “I think that you’re jealous,” you say, eyes glaring daggers into his.
He blinks at you, almost dumbfounded for a moment before he says “what?”
“You’re just fucking jealous that I seem to be moving on after you rejected me, because for some weird reason, you think it’s okay to not want me, and yet not want me to be with anyone else,” you say, practically hissing the words. “You don’t like seeing me with any guys other than you? You don’t want to believe me when I say that I’m over you? You’re not sorry for kissing me? Even after knowing,” you take a pause to breathe, because you feel like you can’t, “even after knowing that I like you,” eyes blinking fast because you don’t want him to see you cry right now, “you know that I like you so fucking much, and that it’s hurtful, and that it’s wrong— and even after all of that, you act the same, and still won’t promise me any commitment of your own.”
He’s looking at you with an expression you can’t read, but you’ve lost all interest in trying to understand it anymore.
“You don’t want me hanging out with them?” you repeat after him, “I’m not listening to that. Because it’s possessive. And it’s wrong.”
At the mention of them, Gojo clenches his jaw. “That has nothing to do with you and me, right now. What they’re trying to convince you of doesn’t make any sense, and it won’t help you achieve your dreams either, y/n.”
“You don’t know anything about my dreams, Satoru,” you say, just to hurt him. But you think about the sincere expression on his face the first time you met him when you told him that you wanted his help with your assignment. You think about the playful nudge of his elbow that night he stayed with you on the curb, and told you that you just had to try to put yourself out there, because you couldn’t accomplish anything without facing your fears. You think about how he’s always the first to like every single one of the slideshows you post of your pictures on Instagram. You think about the adoration in his eyes, reflected off the moonlight through the hotel window, when you told him about a little cottage on the countryside, one you’ve always wanted, and those eyes told you that he was really rooting for you. “You don’t know. Because you—” there’s an echo of words in your head. Someone else’s words, not yours, “Because you’re a college athlete. And—” you let out an exhale, “and you don’t pay tuition.”
His brow furrows. There’s a beat of silence as his confusion settles in. “What?”
“You were born blessed with talent, and you’re popular, and people adore you, and you don’t have to worry about internships, or jumping from job to job just to make something of yourself,” you say, picturing your life in your head along with all the strife, “or about all of the sinking debt, and the worry, and the— and the car repair bills,” you say, almost with a scoff, eyes sheening with tears, like you’re losing your mind, “all of the fucking car repair bills.” Your chest is heaving as you shake your head. “Because you’re set for life as long as you kick a fucking ball.”
His lips purse together, like he can tell there’s more on your tongue to say, more hurtful words, and he wants to hear you say them. And so you do.
“You’ve never had to suffer or worry about a single thing in your life. So don’t pretend like you understand what I’m trying to do here tonight,” you say, inflection signing off on the end, to tell him that you’re done.
He stands in front of you, practically motionless except for the slow movement of his chest as he breathes. His expression, tense and hurt, softens slowly, and you see him digging his nails into the skin of his palms through fidgeting clenched fists at his sides. And then he relaxes them, too.
“Does that make you feel better?” he asks.
His question confuses you, and for some reason, regret washes over you. “What?”
“Does thinking of me that way—…does it make you feel better about all of this? Between us?”
You’re breathing fast, eyebrows pinching upwards to look at him, and the defeated expression on his face makes your heart ache. He’s waiting for an answer, and so you give him one. “Yes.”
He glances down at the ground for a moment, then at your collarbone, before meeting your gaze again. “I’m sorry. For everything. And I—” the words catch in his throat briefly, “I’ll try to leave you alone tonight.”
His use of the word try doesn’t escape you, but you give him a furtive nod, and he studies your face for a few moments before he steps back up onto the curb and walks past you. You watch him walk all the way, no longer with that confidence or conviction you’re so used to seeing in him, as he steps back into his circle, to Geto’s side. Geto gives a small glance over his shoulder to look at you with discerning eyes before looking at Gojo again, and then he’s turned away from you.
Heavy feet drag you back to Kai, Ren, and Junichi, and you feel feverish. They mention something about the table being ready, and you nod. The bar is rustic, with more tables than barspace, and the four of you are seated and then presented with a small food menu. You’re seated next to Kai, Ren is right across from you, and Junichi is to his right. You watch a waitress usher Nanami, Choso, Geto and Gojo to one of the tables as well, two away from yours, and you forcefully blur your vision so you don’t have to catch sight of the expression on Gojo’s face.
“So,” Ren speaks up as his eyes peruse the food menu and Junichi waves the waitress over to order a round of sake, “tell me more about your experience, sweetheart.”
You blink at him, eyes feeling heavy, heart feeling heavy. “I’d prefer it if you called me by my name.”
Ren lets out a coo, and you briefly glance at Kai who’s shaking his head with a sigh. “My bad, y/n. Your experience?”
Your hands play with the folder sitting in your lap. “I started writing screenplays for small-scale directors when I was a freshman, and was greenlit on a couple into my sophomore year. One of the films I worked on, I had directing credits for, and it was nominated for best screenplay at Etoile Film Festival the year following.”
Ren swallows slightly, shifting in his chair and pushing his shoulders back, like he’s trying to establish himself now. Kai is clenching a fist on the surface of the table.
Ren clears his throat before speaking again. “Wow, okay, so you’ve actually got some serious shit going on.” His voice is a faux octave deeper. “What do you know about being a good assistant? Ever worked in customer service? Secretary?”
“Oh, I mean I have worked in customer service, but I wasn’t done sharing about my experience—” you try to say but Junichi cuts you off.
“First round’s on me,” he declares, “for bringing her out here.” He tips his chin to you and then sends Kai a glance.
A waitress brings by a bottle of sake, and Junichi begins pouring drinks into the glasses, then slides them across the table. Kai gives Ren a pointed look.
“Don’t get too wasted,” Kai says to him as he brings his glass to his lips, “you start running that mouth of yours a little too much when you do.”
Ren grins at him and immediately knocks down the glass Junichi barely finished pouring from him in one go, and the gruff man beside him is grumbling. “Whatever you say.”
Something had been bothering you since you came here. “Wait,” you say, pointing between Kai and Ren, “do you two know each other already? Because,” you turn to look at Kai, “on the phone earlier, you sounded like you didn’t.”
Kai’s eyebrows raise in surprise, as though he’s discovered you have some skill for foresight. You glance at Ren, and he gives Kai a puzzled look.
“Uh, yeah. I’ve known Kai for years,” he says, “we go way back. We went to highschool together.”
Kai shifts a little in his chair. “Sorry. Probably forgot to mention it.”
You glance down at the glass of sake in front of you, and the way it twinkles under the lighting of the bar. You slowly bring it to your mouth, taking a small sip, and the way it coats your tongue is less than pleasing.
“Can you tell me more about the assistant position?” you ask Ren, who’s emptied out the bottle of sake and waving someone over to order more. He already has a slightly flush to his face.
“Yeah, yeah, will do,” he says, “but first, let me tell you about what I do in visuals.”
Another round of sake is dropped by, and then another, followed by another, as Ren continues to ramble on and on about what he does for work, and how it’s entirely integral to the final piece of the film, although you’ve never really had a terrible level of appreciation for visual effects in short-film craft, since it’s hardly much work. But you wouldn’t say that, you just continue to nurse your one glass of sake as the three men surrounding you knock back more and more, and there’s slurs to their speeches now.
“Sooo, I’m so sorry, sweetheart—I mean y/n, for cuttin’ you off earlier,” he says, “but what was that experience you wanted to talk to me about?” Ren asks from across the table, and his eyes are all traveling over you.
“I…” you start, “well, I started to work with one of my professors last year, she’s a two-time Cannes Film Festival winner, and she let me under her wing for one of her projects last year.”
“Who is she? Oh wait, nevermind, probably wouldn’t have heard of her anyways,” Ren says, but when you fail to laugh, he waves his hand in the air. “Joking, joking. What’s her name?”
“Naoko. Naoko Ogigami.”
“Oh shit. I have heard of her,” Ren says, followed by a shallow hiccup. Junichi shrugs his shoulders, and when you look at Kai, he’s nodding slowly and toying with the rim of his glass with a finger.
“Yes. Well, anyways—” you start up again, before Kai sets his glass of sake down particularly loud.
“This is all bullshit. Really. I told you, filmmaking is a waste of time. Just focus on your photography, and your freelance or whatnot,” Kai says, grit to his jaw, face looking red with possibly something other than just a tipsiness.
Ren lets out a laugh. “Fuckin’ Kai. What a pessimist. Don’t listen to him, sweetheart,” he says, slurred, and you furrow your brow at him with a glare, “sorry. Don’t listen to him. Trust me, you’ll learn a lot under Mr. Ko. He’s a suuuper nice guy.”
“What’s the compensation?” you ask. It’s a brazen question, one you’d never ask so soon in a formal interview process, but this table was hardly anything formal.
“Real good. Mmm I think like…5200 yen an hour, and then also, you get your foot in the door.”
“Oh,” you sit up a little in your chair. It was higher than most entry-level anything for undergraduates or even new grads.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” he drawls when he sees you’re more interested. “Good stuff. Kai used to pick these kinds of jobs up, too, back in his college days. I remember. Although, he’s hardly Mr. Ko’s type, so I doubt he’d be any good for this one.”
Your head snaps to Ren again at his words, face tensing.
“Tell her about what a job like this—hic—entails,” Ren says as he extends his glass out for Junichi to pour him another.
Kai glances at Ren once, and you watch him grind his teeth for a moment, and then there’s a hint of a smirk on his face.
“Oh. Y’know, clerical work. Stuff like printing scripts out,” Kai starts, Junichi filling up his glass and then he raises it into the air to watch the liquid swish around, “grabbing him coffee. Making sure his trailer is stocked.”
“Blowing him in said trailer,” Ren says. It’s something quiet, under his breath with a small laugh, where you could barely hear it across the table. But you heard it nonetheless. And your heart sinks to the core of the earth.
“Excuse me?” you say. The benefit of doubt sitting on your shoulder, watching in disbelief as well.
“He’s joking,” Kai says, quickly, “runnin’ his mouth.”
“Oh fuck off, Kai,” Ren says, throwing his hands up in the air, “don’t act like that’s not why you brought her here.”
Your head slowly turns to Kai, who can’t meet your gaze. Your eyes flicker to Junichi, who looks amused.
Ren leans over the table, elbows resting on top, to look you straight in the eyes. He’s got a sleazy smile, and you can smell the alcohol on his breath, and he dips his tone down low enough to where you can hardly hear it over the sounds surrounding you in the bar. “That’s how you’ll make it in this industry, sweetheart. Whether you like it or not, you’ll be working under those directors until you make it.”
You stand up so fast that your chair falls behind you, hand raised in the air, and you swiftly slap the man across from you so hard across the cheek that it leaves his skin even more red than the flush from before, and your palm is stinging.
There’s gasps all around the bar, hushed voices, eyes on you, but you don’t care. There’s not a single thing in the world you care more about right now than the anger swelled in your chest.
Ren holds his cheek, surprised, blinking like a pathetic animal. He almost looks like he’s about to cry, and you let out a scoff at the sight.
You turn to face Kai, whose eyes are wide and he’s staring up at you. Your fists are clenched at your side.
“Is this why you brought me here tonight?” you ask. Your voice is trembling, anxiety at the wake, the white anger spotting your vision. But there’s also pain. So much pain, and you’re just so fed up with all of it. “Because your belittling, condescending words weren’t enough to tear my hopes apart, so you had to humiliate me in front of your friends instead?”
Kai holds his hand up. “Woah, Canon, relax. He was just joking—…” Kai glances at Ren, who’s still holding his cheek and biting down on his lip, and then his gaze hardens. “Y’know what? It’s about fucking time you get this wake-up call, y/n. I’ve been trying to do the nice thing to steer you in the right direction, and the least you could—”
“Steer me in the right fucking direction?!” you’re yelling now, registering the way your voice echoes in the bar. “You know what I think this is all about, Kai?” You grit your teeth, “You’re a sick, stupid, sexist fuck who didn’t have the balls to go after what he wanted. So miserably pathetic that you’ve got no other fucking business than to pull people down to your level.”
Kai pinches his eyebrows together, hand on the table clenching into a fist.
You lean down closer, an exasperated scoff leaving your lips. “Why don’t you go be his assistant instead? Since I’m sure you’re good at taking it up the ass.”
Kai’s eyes twitch, “you fucking—”
You grab his glass off the table and throw the alcohol into his face, eliciting another round of noises around the bar, and his mouth falls agape in shock before he gets up out of his chair, hand reaching out to grab for you. You close your eyes shut with a flinch to expect pain. Any sort of pain. But you don’t feel anything at all.
When you open your eyes, you see Gojo standing to your left, veins of his arm tense with the tight grip he has on Kai’s forearm, and you can see he’s practically shaking with rage. He steps in front of you, guarding, and you can’t see the expression on his face, but the fear in Kai’s eyes is enough to say it all.
“That’s enough,” he says, the clench of his jaw evident through the strain in his voice, “try to put your hands on her again, and I’ll split your fucking face in half.”
You can see Kai’s breathing pick up from where you’re peering over Gojo’s shoulder, and then Gojo shoves him backwards right as Choso kicks the fallen chair to his feet so he trips over it backwards then hits the ground with a loud and indignant thud.
Gojo’s hovering over Kai, his hands shoved in his pockets as he glares down at him, while Geto and Nanami put space between you and the other two men at your table. You feel a searing flush to your cheeks. You’re breathing fast, the peering eyes all around you are scrutinizing, looking at you with surprise, confusion, shock, and pity. Your mind is racing, and you wonder what your parents would think of all this. What your friends would think of all of this. What the people who support you would think of the fucked up situation you’ve found yourself in, and the humiliation courses so deep through your veins that you just want to run away and hide. The ground could swallow you whole right now, and it still wouldn’t be enough.
You take one step back, then another, before you turn on your heel to rush out the door into the night, and you barely register that it’s raining. You can feel your heart thumping fast in your chest and in your head, that familiar knot in your throat twisting tight as you walk fast down the street and ignore Gojo’s call of your name from behind you.
You don’t want to see anyone right now. You don’t want to be seen by anyone right now. Especially Gojo, of all people, because he was right about everything, and the fact that you had shut him down about it, and the way that you had shut him down about it makes your head numb and your breathing pick up fast.
“y/n,” you hear him call out from behind you, his pace is getting faster and so you’re resorting to longer strides as well, puddles of water splashing under your feet with every step, “just wait—”
“I’m seriously,” you start, and the tears begin to fall, “I’m seriously so, so, so, so, so fucking embarassed right now,” you gasp out the words with no air left in your lungs to breathe as you continue to run away from him, “so please, just leave me alone.”
You can picture it all in your head. Something like I told you so from his lips, because after what you’ve been put through tonight, you just want to assume the worst in people.
But just as you round the corner into an alley, feeling lost with the sight of a dead end, you feel a hand wrap around your arm and then you’re being pulled into an embrace.
Your eyes are blinking with tears streaming, your face buried in a chest that is warm, with a heart beating so fast that it’s keeping time with your own, and the fragrance that surrounds you is so painfully him that it makes you sob even more.
Strong arms wrap around you, pulling you closer, and Gojo rests his chin at the top of your head. “I’m sorry,” he says softly, and you can feel the rumble of his voice, “I just needed to stop you from running.”
Your arms are weakly raised, an outline over his torso but not yet grabbing on, until you hesitantly do. And when you hold onto him, it’s so tight and strong, and you realize that after everything between the two of you, it’s the first time you’ve been wrapped in his arms.
“I feel so stupid,” you start, already hating the words because you want to be stronger right now, but you can’t.
“You’re not stupid,” he quickly corrects you, “those guys are fucking insecure losers. You’re just trying your best. You always have, for as long as I’ve known you, and it’s something you should be proud of yourself for.”
You don’t know what to say to him, you just cling to the damp fabric of his shirt in the rain.
“Things are going to work out for you, no matter what, because I know you’ve got what it takes and you’re willing to work hard for it,” he says, his chin nuzzling so you’re tucked into him even further, “and if things don’t work out, that’s okay, you’re strong and you’ll always get back up. And I want to be there to help you through everything.”
You pull your face from his chest to stare up at him, droplets of rain falling to your face and making you flinch occasionally. “I’m confused.”
His hand comes up to cup your face, swiping at a tear on your cheek, or maybe it was rain. “I thought that—” he starts, his thumb briefly running over the small cut still healing on your cheek, his brow furrowing, “I thought that I’d be okay with watching your life from afar, through cropped pictures on a screen,” he says, a chill running through you, “but I can’t. It’s killing me. And I’m really sorry that it took me this long to tell you this, but I like you so much and I really want to be with you.”
Your eyes widen at his words, and you don’t know how to feel. You push your face into his chest again. His thumb runs circles at your side through the dampness of your shirt.
“There are a lot of reasons I didn’t feel like I could date you, or show up for you,” he says, “but the pain of not getting to be with you, of not getting to hold you, and just share my life with you is way worse than whatever reasons I kept trying to convince myself of.”
You nod slowly, because there was a part of you deep inside that knew that all along.
His grip on you relaxes slightly and you take that as a request from him for you to look up at him, so you do. “I know I’ve put you through a lot of pain, and I’m really not a perfect person, but if there’s room in your heart to forgive me, I promise you that I’ll do everything I can to make you feel happy and cared for.”
Your eyes study his face for sincerity. They’re words you’ve been wanting to hear, words you could’ve pictured in your head, but the adoration in his eyes makes you realize you never could’ve imagined the true sweetness of those words when they’re said from him.
You press your cheek to his chest again. You’re not crying anymore. “I’m sorry for what I said to you earlier. About kicking a soccer ball, and having it easy,” you bite down on your lip, because now there’s tears in your eyes again, “I didn’t mean it.” You sniffle a little, “I know you work hard. And it was a really mean thing to say.”
He sighs, holding you flush to himself. His cheek presses against the top of your head. “That’s okay, you don’t have to apologize for that.”
“But I do.”
There was no grudge at all. There was nothing withdrawn from you, nothing taken away as punishment. He just held onto you, exactly as you are, and you felt so safe in every second you spent in his arms.
You look up at him again. His hair is damp, strands clinging to his face in all the places they usually fall over, droplets of rain falling from his fringe onto your face and he does everything he can to wipe them away. “It’s too late,” you tell him, and he immediately knows what you’re referring to.
He just holds you closer. “I know.”
“I don’t have feelings for you anymore,” you say through a sniffle.
He knows you’re lying, and that you say it just out of spite, but he holds your head to his chest. “I know.”
“You’ll have to beg and grovel, and even then, I might not like you ever again,” you say, gripping so tightly onto his shirt for purchase, your voice sounding muffled as you breathe in the scent of him. “That’s your punishment.”
He presses a kiss to the top of your head. A firm press of his lips, lasting as he takes a few deep breaths. And then he kisses the same spot again, staying still in that position as he repeats himself.
“I know.”
--
a/n. phewww thank you for reading, i swear, this chapter felt like a goddamn war to write. my emotions were all over the damn place, i think cause i wrote from a place of bitter experience lol.
i dedicate this chap to my lovely friend she’s a film major (she inspired me to create this story) and i srs wouldn’t be able to write kickoff without her 😭💕 dear M♥︎, i thought of you sm while writing this chapter, i can only hope i’ve captured even the slightest bit of the understanding i will always aim to have of you, and that you feel seen. i’m incredibly proud of you, always rooting for you, so often thinking of you, and terribly missing you so much rn (plsssssss visit meee😩💔 ) dedicated w sm love 💕
-bitchasshoe
this chapter is also dedicated to anyone who’s going through a hard times n maybe just trying to figure themselves out :”) i am so proud of you, you should be so proud of yourself, there’s still so much to live and learn, and i hope the universe blesses you w everything you’ve ever wanted!!
big thank u to my lovely m00t @quinnyundertow she pulled me out of my writers block for this chapter and also beta read a lot of it for me
there’s only three chapters left for kickoff (i’m gonna cry just thinking ab it :”)) which doesnt sound like a lot but there’s still a lot i’ve got planned 😭 i’m just noticing that i very poorly planned the second half of this series. chapters 1-6 combined have less words than chapters 7-9 combined 😅✨ sooooo i may increase the chapters from 12 to 14 by splitting them up to make it easier on me, or just stick to the plan and come out with long chapters like the last two. idk. i’ll figure it out.
thank u to everyone for reading i love you all dearly 😭💕 i’ll see you in the next one!!
this is making me cry so hard!! i'm also studying film and the lack of support is heartbreaking :(
i wrote and directed my first short film this year, and i feel so much pressure of never going to be able to do that well again, i'm constantly self sabotaging and my fear just blocks me from writing all the scripts i have already started ughh
i love writing, and this hits too close to home, sorry for rambling!! i really enjoyed reading this fic, and i'm happy gojo finally confessed hehe
In which Yuji Itadori accidentally spoils Hana Akiwara’s plans by ingesting Sukuna’s finger, and Satoru Gojo is constantly humbled as a result.
satoru gojo x ofc x suguru geto
[ canon divergence, fix-it au, everybody lives, no kenjaku, no shibuya incident, jjk s1, slow-burn, aged-up characters, age gap, questionable relationships, mentor-student relationships, unresolved sexual tension, more mature and graphic in future chapters, crack heavy for now, tvd references if you squint ]
previous - ao3 link - masterlist - next
“Idiot.” Hana grumbled under her breath as the door clicked shut behind Kenji, signaling his departure. She turned to face the annoying older sorcerer, who hovered too close for comfort. “Ignore him.”
He was looking at her with an amused smile. Yuji, who stood rigidly beside them, seemed to be waiting for a fight to break out. Maybe it just would. Hana scooped to the other side of the couch before Satoru could take her brother’s seat on the armrest. He seemed entertained by her awkwardness, as he took it once she had already put some space between them.
Prick. Hana took back what she said about him looking normal and less annoying.
The man patted the space that Hana had vacated, and Yuji hesitantly took it.
“So, where were we?” The man adjusted his glasses, his eyes twinkling with a mischievous sparkle. “Ah, yes, Jujutsu Tech. With your brother’s dramatic exit, I assume we no longer need his blessing?”
Hana scrowled. She had no desire to engage in this conversation, and neither had Kenji. Her twin had an “akiwaresque” line of thinking, you could say. His disdain for Satoru was no secret; he saw the sorcerer as nothing more than a nuisance, an imbecile and a stalker. Kenji was convinced that getting involved with sorcerers was a risky move, especially when dealing with an unhinged sorcerer from one of the Big Three Families.
The siblings had been unsuccessful in their attempts to avoid drawing attention to themselves, as being active members in jujutsu seemed to attract other active members. The Akiwaras had decided to stay away from them since January. Not that there were many curse users lingering in Tokyo after whatever happened in December… The Night Parade of a Hundred Demons.
Hana shrunk herself in her seat, shaking off the gloomy feeling that thinking about that brought her. Kenji and her were in the US, peacefully celebrating the festivities with their family when hell broke loose in Shinjuku and Kyoto. Hana exhaled, they were safe.
Well, as safe as they could be now that their paths had intertwined with sorcerers.
The constant presence of Gojo and the looming threat that hung over their heads were already taking a toll on Hana, fueling her temper and her need for surrender. She had even noticed a shift in Kenji’s judgment. Whether it was driven by boredom, the realization that they couldn’t get rid of Gojo, or having heard Hana bawl her eyes out too much for his liking; Kenji was having a change of heart.
The heart-to-heart the twins had after Yuji’s death and subsequent resurrection had been a turning point. Hana’s tears had flowed freely, a release of pent-up emotions she couldn’t quite comprehend. Then, after her eyes were all irritated and her head hurt from crying, they had weighed their options:
Option A: Run away.
Option B: Surrender.
And, option C: Fight (this was their favorite)
Option A was out of the question. Nuh-uh. They had come to Japan with a purpose; to stop hiding and practice jujutsu freely. Option B was annoying and option C had to be discarded if they ever wanted to live in peace. So B they settled with. Of course, they wouldn’t give up easily. They had some requests for Gojo and if they could buy themselves more time, they would. In case the situation escalated, they were also prepared for option C and A. In that specific order, yes.
Realistically speaking, as now turned pacifists, there were few paths the Akiwaras could follow that didn't involve a bunch of questionable stuff to get rid of their problem. They weren’t particularly opposed to it if things got to that point, but Kenji recognized Yuji’s importance in his sister’s life. He was considering option B for her sake, begrudgingly. It was one of the reasons why he left her to deal with Satoru, but he was also just a prick.
Kenji only had to endure him for less than an hour. It was unfair.
“Um, Hana?” Itadori’s gentle shakes drew her attention back to the conversation. He gave her a concerned stare. Behind him, his teacher looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “I asked if Kenji and you had thought it over?”
“Oh, yes… We did.” Hana nodded, speaking softly.
“And?” Satoru pressed, leaning in slightly.
“We will, but-!” She made a pause and held up a hand at Gojo, halting his response. “Not yet. Not until Yuji does, alright? We want a break from all this mess.”
The sorcerer’s skepticism was palpable. “I’m glad you chose correctly, but what exactly would prevent you from running away?”
“Nothing.” She admitted with a smile, relishing the wariness in his tone. “But I think it’ll be great if we started on better terms and, since you don’t trust us and we don’t trust you, we’ve decided to show you our little collection of cursed trinkets.” His glare became more pointed. Hana rolled her eyes. “ And I’ll give you back the finger. Just let me end the sentence, geez.”
Yuji muffled a laugh behind his hand at the exchange. Hana was probably the only person able to annoy his mentor this way.
“Excellent.” The sorcerer’s smile returned, his demeanor shifting to one of satisfaction. “And, just so we are clear, I didn’t say I didn’t trust you, I just didn’t trust you too much! But I do trust you a little.”
The curse user lifted her thin, black eyebrows. “You should really work on your words, Satoru.”
“Hey! I’m being honest here.” Satoru leaned on the couch’s backrest, inclining to his side in an uncomfortable position. “You didn’t let me down.”
Hana leaned in the opposite direction, using Yuji as a human wall dividing her space from his. “I don’t need your approval. You’re not my teacher.”
“But I will be!” Satoru countered with a hint of triumph.
“Whatever.” Hana rolled her eyes, her sigh was a soft exhalation of her frustration with him. “Do you actually want to see our artifacts or not?” Gojo rose from his seat, almost too enthusiastically for her liking. She gave him a look, her gray eyes inspecting him before she continued. “No touching, just watching, got it?”
Both Gojo and Itadori nodded in agreement, the latter in a more credible manner. Akiwara stood and led them down the corridor to a simple, built-in closet. With a flick of her wrist, she slid open the door and revealed shelves full of different talismans, amulets and artifacts. Each piece emanated a distinct and unique cursed energy that was only now being noticeable.
Itadori’s eyes widened at the sight, completely awed. Gojo, however, remained unfazed, his attention drawn instead to the protective rune etched inside the closet. He had seen it in the living and kitchen area, alongside another he didn’t recognize. He guessed this one hid cursed energy and the other prevented unwanted guests like him.
“You have quite the liking for hiding yourselves, heh?” Satoru voiced his thoughts, to which Hana replied with a hum and shrug.
It was something he should have expected, now that he knew what kind of trinkets they had. Their little collection amounted to quite the sum of cursed objects Hana and her brother had been manufacturing over the years. Or kindly borrowed , Satoru suspected as he eyed some objects he had briefly heard about. Thankfully, they weren’t special-grade type of cursed objects. They weren’t even powerful enough to have to be confiscated, but it still made him wonder if they were Hana’s practice dummies so to speak. The sorcerer wanted to believe she wasn’t using sorcerers as guinea pigs, but he had half a mind to ask about it.
Both Hana and Kenji had decided to show him their collection as a little truce, but Satoru knew he was one stupid comment away from having the cursed energy sucked out of him. It hadn’t been pleasant when the curse user to his left did it before and he’d love to never have to experience that ever again. Plus, the fact that his infinity proved to be useless with her unnerved him. Just as she kept some things to herself, he did too, forcing a small smile on his mouth as he eyed the trinkets again.
The woman watched as the man recognized some of the items, silently confirming his theory. The twins had a habit of taking what they deemed worthy of other curse users when they were, conveniently, unable to protest. It wasn’t stealing if what they took was stolen in the first place, alright?
Hana caught the movement out of the corner of her eye, Satoru’s hand inching towards the shelves. “No touching!” She chastised him, swatting his hand away from the closet.
Yuji stopped looking at the insides in curiosity and turned to the sound of her voice, anticipating some kind of argument to erupt over the tension. Instead, his mentor only chuckled at his friend’s fierce protectiveness. She crossed her arms as Itadori scratched his head, knowing he was probably overdoing it with the worrying. He didn’t comprehend if his teacher and his friend hated each other’s guts or were in the path of friendship. Also, Sukuna’s monologue recognizing some of the artifacts didn’t help his peanut-sized brain to decipher it either.
“Now, where’s the finger?” Gojo inquired, making Itadori realize he had probably missed Hana’s explanation about what was in the closet. It wasn’t like he would have understood that much about it, aside from the basics.
“Obviously not here.” The girl closed the door with a swift movement. The oppressive cursed energy dissipated the moment the closet was shut, lessening the tension in the air.
Hana retreated to her room, her steps quick and purposeful. Kneeling down, she lifted a specific loose floorboard with a familiarity, and peered into the hidden compartment only to find it empty. “Yuji?” Hana called him out, her voice tinged with a mix of confusion and accusation.
“Um, yes?” Her friend appeared at the doorway, his expression completely dumbfounded.
“Did you have a midnight snack?” Hana grimaced as Yuji blinked at the implication of her words stilling outside her room. “A finger, perhaps?”
The teacher stepped into her line of view, his towering presence filling the space next to Yuji. “You let him sleep in the same room you were hiding the finger?” He questioned the woman with a raised eyebrow.
“You said he was in complete control.” Hana tossed her black hair to the side and put the floorboard back in place before staring back at the man. Her gaze was defiant as she remained seated on the floor, earning another pointed look with a raised eyebrow from Satoru. “How would have I known?”
“Rookie mistake.” Satoru chidded, the corners of his mouth turning up in a knowing smile. He took a few long strides into her room and removed his black lenses, surveying the space with a critical eye. His gaze swept over the room, noting the absence of any residual cursed energy, save for the aura surrounding Yuji himself. “When dealing with a vessel, you need to be more careful.”
“I’m dealing with my friend.” Hana retorted, her voice softening despite her irritation. “Besides, isn’t it good that he consumed it? You were going to make him do it either way.”
“Well, yes, but in a controlled environment.” Satoru exhaled a sigh. He readjusted his glasses, his eyes meeting hers once more. “Did he take over… or anything?”
The two friends looked at each other before shaking their heads.
Gojo blinked, processing the silent exchange. “I was right, then. You have unknowingly made a binding vow of shorts with Sukuna, Yuji.” His tone was casual, almost conversational, as if they weren’t discussing the catastrophe a biding vow was. “And now he’s able to overpower you. We should learn what the grounds for that are, because you are strong enough to control him.”
Hana’s glare shifted from Gojo to Itadori, her eyes narrowing. “You didn’t think it was important to tell me you had made a binding vow with him?”
“We weren’t sure.” The vessel looked like a kicked puppy with his crestfallen expression.
“But now we are!” Gojo interjected, clapping his hands together with a sense of finality. “Isn’t it wonderful?”
Hana was seething and she felt a migraine brewing. She let out a long, drawn-out sigh, closing her eyes for a moment. When she opened her eyes, she lifted her face towards the older sorcerer. “If that’s all, can you leave?”
“We still haven’t discussed-” Satoru began, but Hana cut him off with a sharp gesture.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake!” She exclaimed, her arms crossing over her chest in a defensive posture.. “Just make up some story about me helping you with a mission or whatever. I need time, and I’d rather join when he does.” Her gaze flicked to Yuji, who had resorted to just watching them. Her friend had a feeling he hadn’t done a great job convincing Hana, so it would probably be best if he sat this one out… “What’s the point of making us enroll when summer break is about to start?”
Gojo’s smile was infuriatingly serene, too calm in comparison to what Akiwara was feeling. “You might have a point there.” He conceded and paused. “But don’t think I’m letting you guys off the hook.”
“Whatever.” Hana sighed, her voice a mixture of exasperation and resignation. “Just do something on my terms for once.”
Fortunately, the sorcerer didn't argue further, leaving her bedroom instead. Yuji muttered a goodbye, to which she gave an acknowledging nod, and he followed Satoru out of her home. It was only when she heard the front door close that Hana let out another tired breath, leaning against her bed while still sitting on the floor.
Fingerless Hana 2 - The Strongest 1
Gojo knew that woman had already put him in his place multiple times. Meeting her had been a humbling experience, to say the least. Yet, as he descended the stairs with Itadori, a small, triumphant smile played on his lips. He was slowly but surely going to make up for it.
˖ ⁺ ‧ ₊ ˚ ♡ ˚ ₊ ‧ ⁺ ˖
For a few more minutes, Hana remained motionless sitting on the floor of her room. Her thoughts were a whirlwind, circling the revelation of Sukuna’s binding vow with Yuji. All the possibilities of what could have happened to Kenji weighed heavily on her, complicating an already messy situation she found herself in. The brief mention of her nana the night before had stirred some memories in her, prompting her to get up from the floor. Hana walked towards her desk, where she had a framed picture of her grandmother and her. In the picture, a teenager Hana had her arms wrapped around her elderly grandmother. The photograph was a couple of years old, it was her high school graduation, before her grandmother got sick. Hana was looking beautiful, but what caught her eye was the necklace she always used to wear.
The actual necklace was hung over the frame. It was made from silver and had a small circular locket with a detailed design, adorned with a tiny ruby. It was probably the most expensive item she owned, and the one that held the most memories. Her nana, Mineko Akiwara, had made it when she ran away from Japan with her sister, who didn’t have cursed energy. She wore it regularly in fear of a sorcerer ever finding her.
When her own children showed no signs of jujutsu, Mineko had set the necklace aside, believing that cursed energy in their lineage had ended with her. The birth of Kenji and Hana, children of her second son, reignited her deepest fears. They had the spark of cursed energy, but it wasn’t until years later that they tapped into jujutsu and discovered their cursed techniques. Hana had inherited the clan’s cursed technique, whereas Kenji displayed a natural talent for crafting cursed tools and possessed a more subtle reserve of cursed energy, just like their grandmother had.
Most sorcerers of Mineko’s age and their ancestors had often lacked a distinct technique, their jujutsu watering down from generation to generation. Instead, they relied on their profound understanding and creation of cursed tools and weapons, their sharpness being passed down. Yet, it had proven not to be enough when the clan had to face the Big Three Families, and running was all that was left for them. Mineko was determined to keep her grandchildren away from sorcerers, mentoring Kenji how to make artifacts. His first creation was two rings that would cloak them completely from sorcerers. It was an emergency measure, sure, but they had put it to use in Japan.
For Hana, it was another story. Their nana had her using her old necklace, as a means to dwell down her cursed energy. The fear that sorcerer’s instilled in Mineko was still great, even if she was in a completely different continent and hadn’t met any of them in over thirty years. Her life had been marred by tragedy, the loss of her entire family at the hands of sorcerers left her with severe trauma that only shared with her sister. She had passed away before Hana and Kenji were born, and Mineko, being the matriarch of the clan, had to make some decisions for the well-being of her family. Her sons, nieces and nephews, as well as their respective spouses hadn’t opposed her choice. They felt the beacon Hana could grow up into, sadly. In her desperation, Mineko believed the best course was to veil Hana’s powers from the world.
Even as a little girl, Hana wasn’t capable of resenting her grandmother. The loss of her cursed energy when she wore the necklace was noticeable, feeling a void within. She knew a piece of herself was being restrained, but she remained an obedient child and never took off the necklace.
It was only at a family gathering that Hana’s interest in jujutsu was piqued. Most of her extended family had attended, filling her nana’s already packed home. Some of her relatives from her great aunt’s side started discussing jujutsu and the clan’s history. They mentioned Hana and her technique, which was the one who could “restore the family’s honor”. That was the Akiwara’s legacy, a centuries-old legend about a savior who would bring back the clan’s old glory and avenge their ancestors. To Hana, it was some story her ancestors had made to keep their hopes up, as they were being massacred left and right. It was a self-fulfilling prophecy, really. If sorcerers kept killing them, it was a matter of time before one tried to return the favor. Yet, as much as she disliked sorcerers, she didn’t want to start a war.
Not then, and not now.
Mineko’s reaction to their conversation was one of alarm. She got pretty upset with the other family members, as she didn’t want them putting those ideas in Hana’s head, but it was already too late. Hana asked her grandmother about what they meant, and Mineko reluctantly explained that her technique was supposed to be able to beat the Big Three Families. She never wanted to put Hana at risk and believed she would be safer away from jujutsu, which they knew was the truth. Hana, nearing the end of high school by that time, was determined to fly to Japan and get stronger. It wasn’t to comply with the family's legacy, but for the peace of mind it would offer her grandmother. Mineko’s heart swelled with mixed emotions, pride mingling with fear. Kenji supported his sister’s decision, also believing that going to Japan would be great in order for both of them to get stronger and possibly to allow their family to come back to their roots.
The twins left for Tokyo the fall following their graduation, as nothing else aside from their family and a few friends stopped them from going. They settled down in Kichijoji, a neighborhood close to what would eventually become their campus, Sugisawa College. In the time being before the start of the school year in April, they grew accustomed to a routine of training and working at their part-time jobs. Hana was recruited by the café she currently worked at, and Kenji was briefly a supermarket clerk before taking a position as an instructor in the local gym they frequented. Kenji wanted his sister to learn self defense, just in case running away wasn’t an option one day. Back in high school, Hana used to be on the track team. She was an excellent runner, quite faster than the average, but also wanted to be able to fend for herself. In the first months in Tokyo, she made quick progress while her brother perfected what he already knew.
But their learning didn’t stop there; the twins also trained jujutsu at home. Kenji had deciphered the rune that made cursed energy untraceable inside their flat after a few weeks of investigation and sleepless nights, a matter Hana wasn’t able to help him with. Until then, his sister wore Mineko’s necklace even to go to sleep, just as she had done for the last eight years. Kenji’s rune allowed her to get used to her own cursed energy, as well as accustomed to sensing others’ and seeing curses, in the safety of their home. Her brother counted and described many curses when they went outside, a great contrast to America’s fewer and weaker curses. Hana worried that without her necklace, the flood of cursed energy might overwhelm her senses and not only because she was fairly new to it. Since her technique specialized in detecting cursed energy, she was quite sensitive like somebody with good hearing or a strong sense of smell
Nowadays, Hana wondered if that was what Satoru felt like. She suspected his problem was a lot bigger than hers was, as the man had to cover his eyes. Her nana had mentioned briefly the abilities the Six-Eyes had or, at least, what she knew about them. Satoru was basically the best glorified curse detector.
In those initial months in Tokyo, the necklace remained clasped around Hana’s neck. It was a part of her, the memories of being gently chided by Mineko for forgetting to wear it still clear in her mind. Yet, Hana was also doing it for her grandmother’s sake; the poor woman would have a heart attack if she knew Hana was “flaunting” her cursed energy. What the Akiwara’s matriarch hadn't realized was that the necklace also emanated a strong cursed energy and it was hard to miss once you had spotted it.
That was what provoked Hana’s second meeting with another fellow cursed user to take a different turn. However, her first meeting was a lot grimmer.
The twins had been searching for a cursed object for Hana to channel and practice on, as she still didn’t have a great grip on her technique. Using it on Kenji was out of the question. If she stripped off a sorcerer all their cursed energy, they would die. The siblings found out about that when their paths crossed with a curse user, a man that had been looking for the very same cursed trinket they just acquired. He made sure to let them know of his intentions, knocking Kenji unconscious upon his arrival. Hana used her technique on the man, grabbing him by the shoulders.
She didn’t realize what she had done until she dropped his gray, desiccated body. That was the effect of her technique when she exceeded the limit of how much cursed energy the victim produced. If the rate at which she took it was faster, she would eventually deplete her opponent of cursed energy.
This encounter made Hana more wary of sorcerers, if that was even possible. She practiced daily with the tool, while Kenji made more of them for her to train on. His trinkets were weaker in comparison, but she dedicated herself to master the balance, to understand when to stop at varying cursed energy levels. There were more positives to using objects. It meant they could put cursed energy inside it again and reuse it, whereas if Hana used sorcerers, their bodies would pile up.
Do not get it twisted: Hana didn’t want to hurt anybody, but she also didn’t feel remorseful for taking that man’s life. The woman would always choose their safety over a stranger’s life. There just were more risks in letting the curse user live when he already had made it known he wanted to kill them.
Another great point in using cursed objects was that they could sell them afterwards. There was a large underground market many curse users were a part of that they could exploit. You see, the average idiot buying off of them didn’t realize that the cursed object they were sold had been stripped out of its original cursed energy and instead had been replaced by some to resemble it, making it practically useless. The item didn’t have its original properties, which meant Hana and Kenji were actually doing Jujutsu Tech a favor, getting all of these dangerous weapons away from curse users' paws and, instead, giving them useless copies.
Their operation was a well-oiled machine, shipping out packages to eager buyers who were none the wiser. For safety reasons, it was best if they weren’t present when the buyer realized their mistake, but there was one curse user who offered a great sum of money. Money they needed for college, as what they had gathered until that moment wasn’t enough to cover for both their tuitions.
They needed 1.64 million yen, roughly 10k dollars, and they were halfway there by the start of December. The Akiwaras had three months to come up with the rest of money to continue with their education, and the stranger curse user’s offer of 900,000 yen to sweeten them had worked. Mineko Akiwara was adamant they went to college and tried to live a normal life, and the twins' efforts to accomplish her wishes grew as her health deteriorated. That was the only thing their grandmother asked them to do, since she knew there was no point in stopping them from going to Japan. Both Hana and Kenji knew their grandmother wouldn’t live to see them graduate, but they wanted to make her proud and happy that they were enjoying life despite jujutsu.
Thankfully, tuition in Japan was less expensive than in the States, but it still didn’t mean they could ask their family for help. The Akiwaras didn’t come from money and some of their relatives were already struggling. They actually intended on sending them money from their “business” once their college fees were paid.
So, against Kenji’s judgment, Hana accepted the curse user’s kind offer and met him one cold night of December in a quiet park. The silence was filled with her breaths and her steps as she navigated through the park. Whatever bad feeling she had about the encounter was kept at bay with the reminder that all she had to do was drain his opponent if it came to it.
The man she was to meet had signed off as S.G., and she didn’t even know what he looked like. They just agreed to a place and a time, but Hana believed she wouldn’t have trouble spotting him. Even wearing her necklace, which prevented her from recognizing cursed energy, they would probably be the only people in the park at that hour. It wouldn’t be difficult.
Just as she thought about it, she reached their agreed spot. It was a bench near the lake, already occupied by a man. He had been pretty punctual, which was something she appreciated.
The sound of her boots scraping the paved pathway made the stranger turn his head towards the source. As her figure emerged from the trees and approached him, the man inspected her. Hana was clad in black clothing excepting her scarf, which engulfed her neck making her look even tinier than she already was. She sported a layered bob cut that framed her pale face and made her gray eyes adorned with eyeliner pop.
The image would have made him chuckle if it weren’t for the fact that he hadn’t noticed an ounce of cursed energy emitting from her, only from the object he had purchased. There were lines forming on his forehead before he erased his annoyed expression with a more kind one. Hana lifted her thin eyebrows at his reaction, insulted.
He probably wasn’t expecting a woman to arrive, just as she wasn’t expecting a monk.
The man had beautiful sharp features and pretty fox-like brown eyes, that closed into crescent moons when he smiled upon her arrival. A very fake smile now that she had seen him frown, Hana may add. He wore blue robes and sandals, which resembled a buddhist priest’s attire. Hana thought he seemed fairly young to be one, and knowing he was a curse user just like her, it was probably some kind of ruse.
The woman put her hand inside her bag and grabbed the object the fake monk was waiting for. With a flick of her wrist, Hana tossed the object towards him, keeping some distance from him. The man caught the item with ease, his smile faltering. He then took a stack of money from under his clothes and actually handed it to her, like a normal person would. Hana stored it in her bag, smiling now that the exchange was complete. She spun on her heel, thoughts already drifting to the warmth of hot chocolate.
But the man wasn’t done. “I paid you, and you’re not going to tell me the object is fake?” His voice sliced through the cold night air, sharp with accusation.
Stupid monk.
Hana stopped dead in her tracks, as panic took over her. She mustered the picture perfect face of innocence before turning to the man. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. It isn’t fake.” Her voice didn’t waver, as she feigned confusion.
“No, you’re right.” He shook his head, getting up from his seat on the bench. “It is the original piece, but it doesn’t have the cursed energy it used to have.” His eyes firmly fixed on her, his expression worryingly tranquil as he discarded the useless trinket onto the frosty grass. “ You don’t have the cursed energy you should have. I suppose that’s the job of the talisman you carry, am I correct?”
Stupid monk and his stupid keen eye.
Hana was frozen a few steps away from him, almost rooted to the spot. Her hand instinctively went to her necklace when she saw him try to shorten the distance between them. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” She warned him, her voice barely above a whisper
But the man, sharing the white-haired sorcerer’s stubbornness, paid her no mind. Hana took off her necklace with a swift movement, her other palm colliding with the man’s chest before he stepped closer. She held onto his robes, feeling the exhilarating rush of sucking the cursed energy from him. A pleased smile played on her lips as he grimaced at the feeling. The man had a big amount of cursed energy, Hana noticed. She still didn’t fully know how to control her technique, the process stopping as she wasn’t concentrating anymore.
The man retracted a few steps from her, staring at her with wide eyes. Hana’s stance remained defensive, her hand extended in front of her warily. The man had underestimated her, that much was clear, but he also took notice of her hesitant nature. Her raw power was unrefined, yet the potential was undeniable. The cursed object he was looking for was nothing in comparison to who had delivered it to him. It had been four years since he had seen an exhibit of power like that, so needless to say he was intrigued.
Especially with a technique like that.
“That’s all?” Hana challenged him with a look, lowering her arm.
The man didn’t respond, which she attributed to shock. Instead of waiting for his answer, the woman turned and started walking. She had barely taken a few steps when his voice pierced the silence.
“Wait!” He called out.
Hana paused, her shoulder tensing, but spun back. “I’d rather not talk to curse users I’m not making business with.” She sighed. She was growing tired of his shenanigans already.
The man gave her an eerie smile. His expressions seemed performed, only natural when she had taken him by surprise. “Meet me here on Saturday and I won’t spread the word about your shady business.” He proposed, a certain glint in his eyes, but just Hana raised her brows at him in an unimpressed manner. “Alright, and I’ll give you an extra 100,000 yen.”
That was better.
The mention of money drew a smile from Hana as she clasped her necklace back on. The man watched it work with interest. “Saturday at 12, sharp. Right here. And you’re buying lunch, eh…” She trailed off, her brow furrowing slightly. “What’s your name again?”
“Suguru Geto.” He replied, a note of amusement in his voice that did seem real. Hana nodded in acknowledgement, his name didn’t ring any bells, although she found it cute. “Yours?”
“Hana Akiwara.” She shot back and turned again, this time decided to get home no matter what he said. She waved her hand without looking in his direction, which was more dismissal than farewell. “See you then, Suguru!”
As she vanished into the night, Suguru stood motionless, a rare flicker of confusion crossing his features at the use of his first name by the stranger. It was the first time somebody was able to make him break his practiced character multiple times in a row, which he found more interesting than unsettling. His seller was turning out to be a delightful surprise.
˖ ⁺ ‧ ₊ ˚ ♡ ˚ ₊ ‧ ⁺ ˖
previous - ao3 link - masterlist - next
"Why is a filthy monkey delivering the cursed object?"
"Filthy monkey? Is this a racist thing?" Hana was stunted. "Look man, I just want the money"
i initially wanted to add this but geto is like one of the characters i want to take seriously hahahahaha
i promise as the story goes on i'll make my tone more serious for the tiniest bits of angst i'll write, but be warned that this is mostly a fix-it crack fic, i don't want to see my babies suffer :(
mmmm also let's forget i said kenji and hana lived in sendai, i didn't take into account the distance it had from tokyo so it didn't make much sense... sugisawa college is now in tokyo
on another note, has anybody noticed the vampire diares references at all???? or the fact that hana and kenji are basically mikasa and levi from shingeki physically?? i just love when i notice this in other fics, kinda cute, hope you don't find it annoying!!
and as always, comments and suggestions are highly appreciated! hope you guys like how it's turning out <3
In which Yuji Itadori accidentally spoils Hana Akiwara’s plans by ingesting Sukuna’s finger, and Satoru Gojo is constantly humbled as a result.
satoru gojo x ofc x suguru geto
[ canon divergence, fix-it au, everybody lives, no kenjaku, no shibuya incident, jjk s1, slow-burn, aged-up characters, age gap, questionable relationships, mentor-student relationships, unresolved sexual tension, more mature and graphic in future chapters, crack heavy for now, tvd references if you squint ]
previous - ao3 link - masterlist - next
The topic of Sukuna's finger was set aside, replaced by the promise of tea. Hana expertly avoided the matter, instead lecturing poor Yuji about the intricacies of cursed energy and her manipulation technique. As the electric kettle hummed to life, her friend settled onto a bar stool in her cozy kitchen. His fingers traced invisible patterns on the counter, but his gaze remained fixed on her.
“Cursed energy is like… an aura.” Hana explained, leaning on the counter opposite Yuji as she met his eyes. “All sorcerers and curses have it, no matter how strong or weak they are. Each one has a distinct signature, but I guess the energies can be similar if the technique is the same.” Moving her braid to the side, she paused. “You should be able to notice it now that you have cursed energy.”
Yuji hummed, nodding thoughtfully. “Like werewolves sensing each other.”
Hana frowned at his comparison, but shrugged nonetheless. They didn’t need to sniff each other’s butts to sense sorcerers, but if the analogy helped him grasp the concept, she was all for it. Hana really pitied him, her mouth turning downwards as they waited in silence. Not only did Yuji have a 1000-year-old evil spirit inside him, he also just didn’t know anything that came natural to her. Or to anybody close to him back in the Jujutsu Tech. Explaining techniques to someone who already wielded cursed energy was challenging; explaining it to Yuji was like teaching a foreign language to someone born deaf.
“That makes so much sense.” Itadori broke the silence as Akiwara finished preparing their tea. “Gojo mostly left a stuffed animal to do all the explaining.”
The girl placed the cups on the counter, turning around to see her friend scrubbing his temple with a hurt expression. Yuji seemed to be dwelling in the past and Hana didn’t really want to ask, as she already questioned more than enough his teacher’s methods. She lessened her frown, finally taking a sip from her cup.
Yuji’s gaze lingered on Hana, and she sensed the weight of his curiosity. “What else do you want to know? I know this is still quite new to you.”
“I think I’m getting the hang of it, more or less.” The vessel replied with a reassuring grin. “Gojo mentioned something about your clan being on the brink of extinction, and you don’t seem to like the school much.” He observed. “Can I ask why?”
The curse user sighed, staring at her cup for a few seconds as she found the right words. Her friend waited patiently as he drank from his own.
“Long story short, some old-timey clan beef turned into my family’s inquisition.” Yuji’s eyes widened and she shrugged in response. “The Big Three, which I guess includes Satoru’s clan, and the school aren’t really on good terms with my family. I don’t think you could even call us a clan anymore as most are… you know.”
Hana concluded her explanation by drawing a line on her neck and making a face. Yuji couldn’t hold back the horror from showing in his expression, and she managed an awkward smile, fiddling with her half-undone braid. When he didn’t respond, she continued.
She had a great way with words, you see.
“You know I’m from the US, right?” The vessel was capable of nodding, his fluffy pink hair shaking with his rigid movements. “Well, my family is originally from Japan as you know and probably have realized because I don’t really have an accent and-” Hana stopped herself from rambling. It didn’t seem to be helping Yuji out of his shock. “Anyways, some centuries ago, my clan made some questionable choices and we have been persecuted ever since. My grandma moved to the US with her older sister when they were young. The rest didn’t make it.”
Hana exhaled trying to ease her breathing, as she noticed the knot forming in her throat. She wasn’t able to face Yuji as she continued talking. “Nana didn't have fond memories of sorcerers, so excuse me for being distrustful.”
It had been a little over a year after her nana’s passing. She didn’t even have the chance to say goodbye, which still pained her to this day. Her death set off some kind of chain reaction that ignited so much hatred towards herself, and made her walk away from jujutsu for a while. Needless to say, Hana didn’t have any good memories worth remembering of 2017.
“I’m sorry, about your grandmother.” Yuji lamented. His eyes were filled with empathy. “Did they…?”
“Kill her?” Hana finished his sentence, softly shaking her head. “No, she was really sick.”
Her friend hummed and gently grabbed her hand laying on the counter. He gripped it momentarily before releasing it. The girl sipped from her cup before continuing with her story, grateful.
“Life outside Japan was easier for our family. Few sorcerers, even less cursed energy.” The vessel nodded at the curse user’s words, listening intently. “My brother Kenji and I are the only ones in my family with it. No one else was able to tap into it.”
“And you came here because of it?” Yuji supposed, asking.
Hana affirmed with a nod. “My family despised the idea of us ever setting a foot in Japan, especially Grandma. But Kenji and I wanted to learn, and there wasn’t much exorcizing to do in the US. So we came here last year.” The girl paused as she took a sip of her cup. She locked eyes with her friend before looking at her cup once more. “We’ve kept a low profile, until now.”
Low profile might have been a stretch, a tad far from the truth. She could feel Yuji’s stare on her as he processed her words.
“You were scared of them finding out there’s still some of you around.” The vessel stated.
“Well, I wouldn’t say exactly scared. We were- are wary of sorcerers.” Hana gave him a wry smile as she corrected him with humor. “I don’t want to discover they are still killing Akiwara twins for sport. Better safe than sorry.”
Yuji’s intrigue was evident, as he leaned forward and his brown eyes glinted with curiosity. “They went for twins specially?”
His eyes were tinted red, which could be due to lack of sleep or the fact that he died and resurrected a few days prior. It couldn’t have felt nice.
“Um, for any Akiwara really, but twins are some sort of bad omen in jujutsu.” The curse user shrugged, her gray eyes leaving Yuji’s brownish reddish ones. She felt kind of uncomfortable speaking about her twin and her like that. “Our clan had… unconventional ways to deal with it, which didn’t sit well with the Big Three Families. It was a merging ritual of sorts.”
Yuji nearly choked on his tea, spitting it all over the counter. “A merging ritual?”
Hana gave him a pointed glare, yet her lips curled into a smile. “You are cleaning that up.”
Post-spill apologies and cleanup, they resettled on the couch. The conversation veered away from the Akiwara clan history, circling back to the essence of cursed energy. Yuji’s questions flowed, and Hana responded to his curiosity with thoughtful explanations. She couldn’t help but frown at Gojo’s seemingly lack of teaching.
Hana Akiwara had a great understanding of cursed energy; after all, she manipulated it to her will. Understanding how cursed techniques worked was also something she never had a problem with. Yuji was, clearly, having some troubles grasping the complexity of it all. It was expected, nobody in his shoes would do much better. He was well-adjusted considering the circumstances.
“Can I ask you a question?” The black-haired girl interrupted her pink-haired friend before he could conjure more questions.
Honestly, she was starting to dwell into her thoughts as Yuji rambled. Sorry, Yuji.
The aforementioned gave a nod, his legs casually crossed on the couch, signaling her to proceed. “So, what’s the deal with cursed energy? What did Gojo actually teach you?”
Yuji shrugged, a wry smile on his face. “Um, not much. It was a slow learning process. I wasn’t able to use my cursed energy at first and didn’t really understand it. Then Gojo left me with that stuffed animal, which helped a bit.” Hana raised an eyebrow, but still didn’t question the stuffed animal part. Maybe Satoru was into puppets? “He has sped up the process though, seeing he has left me with you.” Yuji admitted. “You’re like a cursed energy encyclopedia.”
“So, he’s not really occupied tonight?” The vessel shook his head, making the girl roll her eyes and lean further into the couch’s cushions. “It’s a bit ironic, heh? You can’t trust me but you can learn from me. How does that work?”
Yuji’s expression softened, a hint of concern flickering in his eyes as he locked them with hers. “You didn’t want to see me?”
“Of course I did!” Hana’s irritation was palpable, though directed not at Yuji but at the man who should have been mentoring him. “I asked that idiot if I’d be able to see you post-resurrection, and all he could say was that you’d be safer at the school.”
“Hana-” Yuji started, but she cut him off.
“He was hoping you’d convince me to join Jujutsu Tech, then?” Yuji hesitated, his silence hanging heavy in the air. Hana took it as an affirmative, frowning. “Oh, come on!”
She let out a sigh of disbelief, both her astonishment and her frustration etched across her face. Akiwara was genuinely relieved to see Itadori in perfect conditions, yet the games Gojo played were wearing thin on her patience. She was already contemplating his kind offer of joining the school, only to avoid her and her brother’s potential execution. He didn’t need to wave this Yuji-shaped white flag at her.
She really couldn’t stand him.
After a long sigh, Hana voiced her confusion. “I don’t really understand how you can trust him.” Her tone was skeptic. “He comes off as… well, negligent, to put it mildly.”
“He has good intentions and he has yet to let me down.” Yuji tried to reason with her, giving a small smile. “I’m still here, see?”
Hana rubbed her eyes, feeling a bit sleepy. “By some kind of miracle, Yuji.” She stared at him with a grimace.
Her friend grabbed her shoulder, giving it a light squeeze. “Look, I understand your doubts about Gojo, okay?” He raised his eyebrows, letting his hand rest softly on the couch. “I know he seems uncaring and he’s annoying, not the conventional type of teacher, but he’s been there for me from the start. And it’s not just him, Fushiguro and Kugisaki too, although you don’t know who they are. I’d love for you to meet them, properly, but-” Itadori paused, clearing his throat as if to realign his thoughts. “Um… What I’m trying to say is if you can’t trust him, then at least trust me.”
Hana’s expression softened at his rambling, and she nodded gently. “I trust you, Yuji. Don’t doubt it.”
˖ ⁺ ‧ ₊ ˚ ♡ ˚ ₊ ‧ ⁺ ˖
It was almost dawn and Hana found herself restless, while Yuji was peacefully sleeping in the solitude of her bedroom. Her body was sprawled across the couch, which had become her makeshift bed for the night, as she managed to drift to sleep from time to time. Sometime around the second hour of battling her unusual insomnia, Hana had flicked on the TV, the low murmur of a late-night show serving as a distraction. It filled the silence of the otherwise quiet living room. Her eyes, heavy with the weight of exhaustion, remained glued on the TV as sleep evaded her. The curse user adjusted her blanket and rubbed her eyes, finally feeling them close on their own volition after a few minutes. Maybe this time she wouldn’t wake up in just half an hour.
Just as she turned over on the couch, a creak jolted her to alertness. Sitting up, she scanned the dark corridor leading to the bedrooms, but she wasn’t able to distinguish any shape in the shadows.
“Yuji?” She called out, her voice tinged with apprehension.
Receiving no answer, Hana got up and turned on her heels towards the door, almost colliding with Yuji. The cool-toned light emitted by the television illuminated her friend’s features. His pink hair was tussled, in a wild manner. The slits that were drawn under his eyes were no longer scars, but a second set of eyes. They shone bright red. The numerous markings adorning his skin also alerted Akiwara.
This wasn’t Itadori.
“Not quite.” His words sliced through the silence, breaking Hana from the spell that had her staring at him in shock.
The girl took a step back as the curse possessing her friend stood there, menacingly. Hana wasn’t sure Yuji could look that intimidating.
“What do you want from me?” Her voice was steady, even though she felt her heart pound against her ribcage. She held his stare.
Well, stares. He had many eyes. Which ones was she supposed to look at? It might have been the sleep deprivation what made Hana get lost in the details.
“Just a couple of questions.” Sukuna’s seemingly casual tone brought her back to the present.
Right, there was a murderous, evil being in her living room. Didn’t Satoru say Yuji was able to control Sukuna? Because this surely didn’t look like it. She could wonder about it later, now wasn’t the time.
Hana focused back on him. Said murderous, evil being’s eyes gleamed with a predatory glint, as he inspected her. “It’s almost as if we’ve already had this conversation before.”
Confusion furrowed Hana’s brow. She was pretty sure this was the first time she had ever talked to him. “Why would I tell you anything?”
Sukuna emitted something similar to a twisted, low chuckle. It tensed the curse user further, her body rigid as she stared back at him. “It would be wise to talk, rather than forcing me to resort to other methods, woman.” His head tilted ominously towards her brother’s room in the corridor. Kenji was asleep, unaware of the events that had transpired in the last few hours.
With a reluctant sigh, Hana sat back on the couch, leaving a considerate amount of space between herself and the cursed spirit. The curse settled into it with a pleased smile, an air of regality about him that bordered on the absurd. Hana chose to observe him silently.
He was terrifying, there was no denying that. Now that he controlled Yuji’s body, his cursed energy was more than noticeable. Hana knew his signature all too well, and not only because she had one of his fingers.
Remember Gojo mentioning something about the Akiwara clan’s connections with Sukuna? Well, her clan may or may not have been buddy-buddy with Sukuna during the Heian Era. And those old, now severed, connections may or may not have something to do with those questionable choices her clan made two centuries ago. Nothing too crazy, of course, just contacting one of Sukuna’s old servants and plotting with them.
Yeah, facing Sukuna now, Hana understoodthe Big Three Families’ animosity towards her clan. Yet, that didn’t justify all the killing, all that suffering due to the mistake of a previous generation.
“Now,” Sukuna’s voice was firm as he watched her, too. His smirk didn’t sit well with Hana, “tell me about the Akiwara clan.”
The curse user resisted the urge to panic and replied simply. “Slowly dying. My brother and I are the only ones with remarkable cursed energy, or interest in it for that matter.”
“Yeah, yeah. The Six-Eyes wielder said you were practically extinct.” The curse waved his hand dismissively, almost urging her to get to the point. “And you told the brat the clan was hunted, but why ?”
Hana had believed Sukuna would be completely dormant when not in control, but she supposed it had to be boring to be inside Yuji without anything else to do other than to watch through him. It served him a purpose to be an observer, she realized.
“Well, I guess it was hard to survive when they had the three clans uniting forces against them. Whatever my clan was planning two hundred years ago, just didn’t work out.” Hana paused, her gaze focusing on the people talking on the TV. She missed the flicker of curiosity in Sukuna’s eyes. “My family barely escaped, and they’ve since withdrawn from jujutsu.”
“What a waste.” His tone was disappointed, his curiosity dissolving when Hana met his harsh stare. “You were destined to fail due to your inherent weakness.”
“A millennium of strong sorcerers doesn’t just vanish that easily.” She lifted her eyebrows, challenging. “My brother and I are living proof of that. We’ll restore our family’s honor and all that.”
Sukuna’s amusement was evident. “Ah, right. Your family legacy.” He mocked her.
Hana resisted the urge to roll her eyes, biting back a retort. She didn’t really feel like analyzing whatever the curse was suggesting. He had been trapped in twenty different fingers for over a thousand years, there wasn’t much he could know about her clan that remained true nowadays. Even if he managed to learn something from watching the sorcerers at Jujutsu Tech, Hana doubted it was updated information.
Silence fell then, as Hana refused to engage further. Sukuna leaned forward, his four eyes scrutinizing her closely. He lifted his hand to grasp her chin firmly, forcing her to connect her eyes with his. Hana still didn’t know which set of eyes she should be looking at.
“Don’t even think about using any of my techniques against me.” Sukuna warned, firmly.
Hana nodded, eager to put some space between the curse and her. The murderous, evil being departed as abruptly as he had appeared, leaving Hana to her own devices. She laid back on the couch as confusion washed over her, succumbing to sleep as if nothing had happened.
˖ ⁺ ‧ ₊ ˚ ♡ ˚ ₊ ‧ ⁺ ˖
Faint memories of the previous night lingered in Hana’s mind. They mainly consisted of restless tossing and turning trying to fall asleep after bidding goodnight to Yuji. She woke up with a sore neck to a stern looking Kenji and an apologetic Yuji. Oh, right, she had forgotten her brother didn’t really know Yuji was there.
Kenji’s voice sliced through the morning haze. Who knows for how long they had been standing there before she woke up. “Care to explain what this thing is doing here, huh?” His words instantly snapped Hana into full alertness, making her sit up straight on the couch.
“This thing?” Yuji mumbled, but Hana paid him no mind, instead focusing on her brother’s defensive stance.
Disentangling herself from the blanket that had cocooned around her legs, Hana got up from her seat. “Look, Kenji, I meant to tell you… well, when I woke up.” She explained, attempting to diffuse the clear tension in the living room, but her brother’s glare didn’t waver. “Satoru dropped him off last night, and you were already asleep. I didn’t want to disturb you.”
“When it comes to inviting the damned vessel of the King of Curses into our home, I guess I don’t mind being bothered!” Kenji exclaimed, running a hand through his short black hair. The twin duo migrated towards their tiny kitchen and Yuji followed them, hesitantly. “I mean, no offense Yuji, but now you’re a liability. A ticking bomb in the shape of a friendly face.”
“None taken?” Yuji smiled awkwardly, scratching his head.
Said ticking bomb sat on one of the stools as he watched the siblings busy themselves preparing breakfast. Kenji, already dressed in a casual sweater and jeans, contrasted sharply with Hana and Yuji’s pajama-clad forms. Kenji’s hair was styled, whereas Hana’s resembled a bird’s nest. Yuji didn’t need a mirror to know his own hair probably looked the same. Despite having met Kenji only twice before, Yuji was still struck by the uncanny resemblance between the siblings. They were twins, after all. Same black, straight hair and very same gray eyes. They also shared the same short height and all. Yeah, the Akiwara twins weren’t exactly tall, but Yuji wouldn’t be commenting on it anytime soon.
He made that mistake when Hana first introduced him to Kenji, and he wasn’t planning on repeating it. No, thank you.
Yuji noticed he was getting side-tracked when Hana caught his attention, setting a cup of coffee in front of him and placing a package of cookies on the counter. She grabbed the stool next to him and Kenji remained standing, clinging to his own cup of coffee with a thoughtful look.
“Well!” Hana broke the silence that had settled, with a crooked smile. “Kenji, you’re going to be real bothered now: Satoru’s coming sometime this morning.”
“What?” Kenji gasped, his tone accusatory. “You invited him in?”
“No!” The girl shook her head vehemently. “But he was really persistent and I know you’d love to have a few words with him.”
Her brother waved a hand dismissively and sipped from his cup. “Yeah, yeah.”
“Plus, I had to deal with him way too many times.” Hana stated, using a matter-of-fact tone as she took a cookie and dipped it in her coffee. “It was your fault I was back at the warehouse that day!”
“And I already apologized!” Kenji complained, leaning on the counter behind him. “God, just let it go.”
The girl bit her now soggy cookie. “Just after you deal with him.” She mouthed and lifted her eyebrows, stubbornly.
“Fine.” Kenji conceded and drank from his cup.
“Um… Guys?” The siblings stared at Yuji in unison when he spoke. It was creeping him out how similarly they acted, consequences of being an only child, right? “Can I ask why you returned to the warehouse? I mean, you already had the finger.”
Hana pointed an accusing finger at her brother’s direction. “Oh, this anchovy-faced idiot lost an important amulet.”
“You’re anchovy-faced, not me. And I didn't lose it,” Kenji corrected, “I misplaced it after doing the stupid rune you asked me to do.”
“It wasn’t an stupid rune.” His sister rebutted with a frown. “How else would I have found the place again, eh?”
“Ever heard of GPS, eh?” Kenji imitated her tone. “And stop talking, he’s here!”
“You’re the one who started it!”
Yuji’s head turned from sibling to sibling, watching the exchange with a smile. His soft laugh stopped the bickering duo from continuing. “Don’t worry about me, I didn’t understand a single thing of what you just said.”
Both siblings knew that statement was true to an extent. Yuji was a fast learner, he had to have caught something, right? But before they could resume their banter, they were interrupted by the chime of the doorbell, which signaled the arrival of the one person neither twin was particularly eager to confront.
“His stupid teacher is probably going to try to convince you to join the school, so good luck with that.” Hana briefly explained to her brother, quickly getting up from her seat at the stool and leaving behind her unfinished breakfast.
Throwing a peace sign, the girl retreated to her bedroom. She instantly noticed Yuji had neatly made her bed and thanked him mentally, not regretting for a single second having escaped whatever nightmare was going on in the living room. She could barely hear their voices as she started collecting her clothes for the day. After hiding away in the bathroom, she put on a black lace-trimmed top, some black jeans and a pair of comfortable sneakers. She then tackled that tangled hair of hers and completed her morning routine, which concluded with doing her eyeliner and applying mascara. The crusty bits remaining of the previous day’s make-up were easy to wipe away.
Yes, she had forgotten to clean it off with the Yuji delivery and all, sue her.
Now that she remembered, how was Satoru able to get to their floor without ringing from downstairs? It had been bugging her since the previous day. Last time she checked their intercom wasn’t working, maybe the entrance door was broken again and didn’t close properly. Hana ignored her questions regarding the sorcerer and she gestured to Yuji, who promptly headed for the bathroom, leaving her to brace for what might be the worst first meeting she had to witness.
“Yeah, that’s not happening.” Kenji’s voice was what welcomed her when she re-entered the living room.
Her brother was blocking the entryway, failing miserably to shield Hana from the older sorcerer’s keen gaze. That guy was huge, she remembered as she saw him looming in the doorway. His towering figure leaned casually against the disjointed frames, as if he hadn’t been humiliated the previous day. The poor door was proof of what happened.
The man was, once again, not wearing his stupid blindfold. Instead, he had his rectangular, opaque sunglasses on. They weren’t doing much to hide the piercing blue of his eyes, as they stood a bit low on his nose bridge. Now that her initial shock had worn off and she had adjusted to the fact that Satoru did not have six eyes literally, Hana admitted to herself that the irritating man looked normal. He seemed less annoyed than the previous day too, something that she wished was a good sign.
Maybe he wouldn’t be especially difficult today.
The curse user bit the inside of her cheek, walking towards her brother.
“Why not?” Satoru’s voice was light, tinged with amusement, as he smiled sideways. “Oh, hey, Hana! Would you ask your kind brother to invite me in, please? It is rude to leave guests waiting outside.”
Hana couldn’t suppress the eye roll as she stepped up beside Kenji, making him forcefully stop his futile attempts to hide her from the sorcerer. “You’re not a guest, just a nuisance.”
The man pouted, feigning to be hurt by her comment. He tilted his head in a playful manner as he inspected her, his white hair following his movements. “I do recall you inviting me to talk to your brother.”
“To talk, precisely.” Hana nodded. “Which you’re managing to do just fine over there, so I don’t really see why we should invite you in. Right, Kens?”
“Right, Hans.” Kenji echoed, his tone dripping with sarcasm.
“I told you to stop calling me that.” Hana furrowed her frown, glancing sideways at her brother.
“And I told you to stop calling me that, too.” He shot back, mimicking her.
The banter was interrupted by the sorcerer’s mocking chiding tone. “Now, now. Don’t start fighting, children.”
“Shut up.” Both twins retorted in unison, turning to stare at him.
Gojo just ignored their order, changing the subject. “Where did Itadori go?”
“He’s in the bathroom.” The older Akiwara replied simply, looking at him unimpressed. He had literally seen him go when she arrived.
“Did anything happen out of the ordinary?” Gojo shrugged at her glare and continued his interrogation, his gaze sharp on her.
Hana blinked a few times. “Nope.” The words rolled on her tongue, her mind feeling dizzy, but she couldn’t think of anything worth mentioning. She had a bad night’s sleep and that was all.
“Alright, then.” The man nodded to himself, seemingly satisfied with her answer. “Can I come in now?”
Hana and Kenji exchanged a look. The girl shrugged and mimicked Satoru’s pout, pointing at him. Her brother replied by rolling his eyes and nodding. If they ever decided to revoke the sorcerer of his entering privileges, they could easily just put up the barrier again.
But they weren’t going to tell him so.
Gojo already looked insulted enough by their sign language, which both Akiwara siblings very much did on purpose. You see, Kenji had been dying to annoy this asshole for a while. After all, he had been pestering his sister. It was only fair he tested his limits.
“The verdict is,” Kenji faced Satoru again, looking at him with a stern look, “you’ll be able to enter only if you promise you won't be a threat to my sister or me.”
“And you two won't be threats either?” Satoru raised an eyebrow, his eyes dancing from Kenji to Hana.
“Fair enough.” Kenji shrugged and stepped aside, followed by Hana. “Come on in.”
Satoru Gojo was perplexed by the twins’ thought process, yet he didn’t comment on it. He had been invited in, which gave him a false sense of security that the Akiwara noticed. In contrast to the previous day, Satoru was able to cross the threshold without any inconvenience. It was a wonder how they used runes to their will.
Now that he was inside of the house, he took off his sunglasses to see .
The first thing he searched for was Yuji’s aura, which -true to Hana’s words- was located a room over, the bathroom. The kid was probably enjoying his time away from the situation unfolding in the living room. Satoru had to admit, things were progressing better than he had anticipated. Sure, Kenji was more annoying than Hana, but it was manageable. They were stepping into the right direction, he hoped. His attention then shifted to the siblings. It was then when he realized the disproportionate cursed energies in front of him. Hana’s signature almost completely overshadowed her brother’s. Kenji had far less cursed energy than his sister, which didn’t come as a surprise for Satoru given Hana’s evident overprotectiveness of her sibling.
The man in front of him crossed his arms, shifting uncomfortably in his place before his sister. Satoru put his lenses back on.
“I know what you’re seeing, but don’t be fooled by it.” He spoke firmly, acknowledging the sorcerer’s stare. “My cursed energy might be minimal, but that doesn’t mean it’s useless. I specialize in making runes and barriers, just like the one that kept you out.” He then turned to Hana. “My sister is basically a vacuum for cursed energy.”
Hana rolled her eyes, sitting on the couch. Kenji followed suit, perching on the armrest despite his sister’s disapproving glare.
“I prefer to think of myself as an expert in mimicking techniques, but yeah, that works too.” Hana shrugged nonchalantly. “I have a feeling you already knew what we do because you recognized our clan, so please do tell me, why are you so focused on getting us to enroll in Jujutsu Tech?”
“There isn’t much intel about your clan nowadays, but I’m well aware of your family’s history with sorcerers.” Satoru admitted, steeping further into the home that had pretty much thrown him out the door the previous day. “Let’s just say I have a thing for lost causes.”
Yuji.
“So not puppets, eh?” Hana mocked him, sinking into the cushions as she watched her brother look at him in confusion. Gojo did seem like a puppet kind of guy.
“I guess Itadori told you about my unorthodox methods.” The sorcerer nodded to his student.
The pink-haired sorcerer just arrived at the scene, preparing himself for the worst. Only to find his teacher, his friend and his friend’s brother chatting inside the house. Itadori didn’t know whether that was a good thing or a bad thing that Gojo had been invited in.
“So, Kenji, you made an artifact to cloak yourselves.” The Akiwara twins’ attention shifted from Itadori back to Gojo. “It was what you,” he pointed at Hana, “were using when we first met, right?”
The woman put a loose strand of hair behind her ear, nodding nonetheless. He was quite sharp, she noted.
“Observant much?” Kenji chuckled, raising his eyebrows. The sorcerer was asking many, many questions. It was likely he had been telling the truth about not knowing much about them, now seeking answers to his theories. “But no, I didn’t make it per se.”
“The amulet you lost and Hana had to get back?” Yuji interjected as he took a seat next to Hana.
Hana sighed in confirmation. “Yes, the reason why we’re here right now.” She explained and gave him a look before turning to Satoru back again. “That’s a secret recipe we can’t disclose, sorry. Get to the point, now.”
“Right.” Satoru smiled, back on business. None of the siblings enjoyed that grin. “What would it take for you to consider joining Jujutsu Tech?”
It was Kenji’s cue to leave, the younger twin anticipated.
He abandoned his spot on the armrest, looking at an imaginary watch on his wrist. “This has been great and all, but I really should get going.” He walked towards the door, just passing by Satoru. “Dear sister of mine, since he has already been invited in, dispose of him however you seem fit when you’re done. Bye!”
just fixed spelling!! didn't know it's 'per se' and not 'per say' xddd
english isn't my first language and it sometimes makes me feel like my dialogues don't sound natural at all ughh, please tell me how i can improve them!!
literally anything you can tell me about my writing style, the pacing, the tone and the charcaterization of jjk is super appreciated <3 and if you have questions i'd love to answer them hehehe