watching s1 and the "dying to win and risking death to win are different thigns" scene is so misunderstood... also like damn this kid does NOT want to be a sorcerer lol it's so obvious.
anyway, i think the reason many people are disappointed with megumi's character development is because they took what gojo was saying in that scene as gospel. however, if you ask me, gege himself proving gojo wrong in the airport scene shows that that wasn't the intention. because there, gojo explicitly says that what he told his students about dying alone was wrong. in my opinion, the inclusion of that line is there to tell the reader: "hey, maybe not everything gojo said to megumi in that scene is right"
because...he says jujutsu is ultimately an individual sport. he loses to sukuna, alone. they win against sukuna as a group, and the ultimate lesson yuji learns is that your connections and memories with people is what makes life worth living. it doesn't matter if you're unable to execute your predetermined 'role' perfectly, your life still has value regardless of that due to the connections you've made.
gojo tells megumi to be more selfish. to imagine a stronger version of himself. to be greedier. and, in a way, to be more like him. but is that really what megumi wants? does megumi really want to be a strong sorcerer the way gojo or sukuna are?
moreover, early on in his life, megumi has internalized the fact that his life is worthless. he only finds value in protecting good people like tsumiki or yuuji. and of course, other people only value him in terms of his technique. of his potential. of his future strength as a sorcerer. whether they be toji, gojo, or sukuna, they all value megumi because of what his technique can offer. gojo tells megumi 'become strong so you're not left behind'. furthermore, megumi is never given any agency in any of this. he's sold to the zenin clan, gojo stops the sale with the collateral that megumi will become a sorcerer, and sukuna literally possesses his body, overriding his agency in a much more literal way. it's telling that gojo's first student literally becomes a weapon for someone else to wield, because that's what he always was, even to gojo himself.
however, the scene with yuji -which parallels gojo's first meeting with megumi- goes against all of this. yuji says that he understands if megumi doesn't want to live anymore because it's too painful. he says 'it would be lonely without you, fushiguro'. yuji is the first person to let megumi choose instead of forcing his own desires onto him. even the choice gojo gave him wasn't much of a choice at all (either become a sorcerer with the zenin or without them is still just being a sorcerer). yuji didn't say shit like 'i know you're strong, you can fight against sukuna!' he simply said that he understood. and that the choice was up to megumi. yuji didn't value megumi due to how strong he could be or due to his technique. yuji valued megumi because he was his friend.
anyway the thing is...megumi's problem wasn't that he was too selfless. megumi's problem that he completely stopped valuing himself due to that selflessness. he never thought that his death would have any meaning, because he knew that he would only ever be a sorcerer. he would only be a walking techinque. he had a role as a sorcerer that he never chose, and he knew he couldn't go against it. that's why megumi says "once again, i will live for others". only this time he admits that there are other people in the world besides tsumiki. if a strong sorcerer only lives for himself, then maybe megumi doesn't want to be a strong sorcerer. and what's wrong with that? what's wrong with not wanting to be what sukuna and gojo want from him?
yuji's final realization is explicitly tied to megumi's arc. yuji thought he only had value as a cog, but he realizes that's not the case. megumi was only valued as a strong sorcerer, but yuji tells him it's okay to not be strong, because what really matters is connections. idk i'm repeating myself too much, but basically it's just..deconstructing gojo's ideology, no? gojo was only ever a sorcerer and he died like one too. he still valued strength above all. he still told that he needed to be strong to not get left behind. but yuji refuses all of that. to yuji, how strong megumi is or how good of a sorcerer he is DOESN'T MATTER. yuji refuses to leave him behind, but acknowledges that megumi might not want to live anymore and gives him the CHOICE.
basically...the whole point of that scene is that gojo is fucking wrong lol
