A/N

We're entering Hidden Inventory! I'm so excited. By the way, I'm sorry for the minor grammatical mistakes. I'm sorry for the angst last chapter but I'm making up to all of you by this chapter *giving you the fluff*.

2006 August 10

Gojo Satoru remembered.

He remembered when he killed Suguru using his own hands, when Shoko begged him to escape, and he remembered his death.

With his memories from the near future, Satoru realized he was never the strongest. If he was strong, he didn't need to sacrifice so much, lose so much, and adjust to something that he could do with force. Emi was right; he shouldn't be too full of himself—she even fulfilled her promise. The girl had taken him down by so many notches he did not know where to start again. She disappeared, and now he needed to endure having all these memories alone.

It started back when they were ten years old. Satoru and Emi decided to drink alcohol for fun, but the heavy feeling in his heart came along with the effects of alcohol. Memories started to trickle inside his mind, and with that, he cried for the first time since he was a baby. Fortunately, the girl was the only one who saw him in that state, so he pretended he did not remember anything the next day. From then, he would unconsciously ask her about what she'd do if she ever vanished.

Emi promised him she would come back, and he held unto that ever since.

In truth, he had thought carefully about how he would send his memories to the past. However, he forgot to consider if it would be delivered in portions or as a whole. It was shown in a series of flashbacks when he least expected it the most. What was worse was when the exact memory of how Emi disappeared came into his mind; it was the day after it happened. Now he learned his lesson, and Satoru admitted he was somewhat dumb too.

It was a good thing he now remembered it all. He could be spared from suddenly blanking out while talking to someone at last.

"Satoru, you look like you were run over by a van many times. Are you okay?" Shoko appeared behind him with a lollipop in her mouth. She raised one eyebrow and questioned him sarcastically. "You need rest. I told you."

"You don't look any better," he shot back, going back to reading some of the Gojo Clans teleport circles. Satoru had not slept properly for a week, and that was because of the continuous memory bombardment he had to endure frequently. It didn't help that the last one was about his death.

"Is this a real case of the pot calling the kettle black?" Suguru appeared in his doorway. He styled his bangs in a slick manner while he tied some of his hair behind his back. It made Satoru remember when the teen braided his hair; the mental image immediately made him make a sour face. "What the hell is wrong with you?" Suguru noticed his facial expression and had the urge to punch his face.

"Nothing, bangs-kun."

Suguru donned his patient smile while calling out one of his cursed spirits. "I'm gonna fuck you up."

Knock, knock.

Someone knocked on the open door that led the two teens who were at the edge of fighting to transfer their gaze.

"Nanamin!" Shoko, who was sitting at the edge of the room, brightened at the sight of the familiar blond kouhai. "How was our daily budget?"

"Definitely not enough if Suguru-san decided to ruin the dorms again," he deadpanned, entering the room and dropping off the papers that needed Satoru's signature beside him. Nanami tucked his parted hair behind his ear before he looked at them with an unimpressed look.

"Rough day, Nanami?" Suguru decided to be a good senpai and asked him how he was doing while pulling the nearest empty chair. Shoko then offered him a lollipop which he gladly took.

The blond frowned, thinking about his day. "If you counted how we recently lost contact with Iori-san and Mei Mei-san, who were the ones on duty to exorcise the curses outside Jujutsu High, then I guess it is rough." As the youngest students in the technical college, both Nanami and Haibara needed to take care of miscellaneous tasks left by their seniors.

"Lost contact?" Shoko removed the lollipop from his mouth with a 'pop' as she tilted her head in wonder. "Now that I think about it, she hadn't texted me for two days either." Flipping her phone open, she added, "Actually, I was the one who didn't reply."

Iori Utahime and Mei Mei were 19-year-olds that graduated from the Tokyo Metropolitan Curse Technical College a year ago. Since Jujutsu High only had a four-year program that allowed you to combine college and high school simultaneously, they were recognized as registered sorcerers earlier as well. Both of them were exorcising high-level curses at the same level (sometimes lower) than them. The former was currently a Grade 2 sorcerer, while the latter was Grade 1.

Both of them had high levels, and if they failed to update the state of their well-being, they were either dead or trapped by a curse stronger than them.

"Shall we go check?" Satoru smirked and wore his pitch-black eyeglasses as he stood up.

Utahime frowned in front of the seemingly endless dark hallway. They had been stuck here for a few hours, and every time they tried to escape, they failed to find the entrance where they came from.

They were in the Shizuoka Prefecture, specifically in Hamamatsu City, to exorcise a Grade 1 curse inside a famous 'ghost-infested' mansion. When they got a hold of the details of the mission, there was no indication it would be this tricky. It was a good thing Mei was with her, and she was not alone.

"This is endless." The woman wanted to curse out loud, but it would be useless unless they could find a way to escape.

Mei Mei glanced at her wristwatch, counting the time from when they started running to where they stopped. "I'd say we ran for about 15 kilometers in about 30 minutes."

"The markers we left also disappeared." Counting the house area, Utahime thought it was unlikely it would be 15 kilometers long, so there was indeed something fishy about it. "We're either running in a loop, or the floor is moving."

"In that case, the curse's barrier could extend the front by taking the length of the back. The walls are impenetrable too." The silver-blue-haired woman ran a hand through her bangs and punched the wall as a dent formed from where her hands were.

"Let's split up." Whether it was an incredulously large barrier or it was reusing the space it already had, they would know after the split up. If they started to move unpredictably, it would confuse the cursed spirit so one of them could escape. "If one of us gets out first, let's call for help from the outside."

Mei Mei smirked and nodded at her suggestion. "Sounds good. Let's try it."

Before the silver-blue-haired woman could finish her words, cracks started to appear on the ceiling. The building gave out in less than a second, so Utahime had to raise both of her arms to protect her head from the falling rubble. She fell from where she was standing because the floor turned unstable. Releasing some of her cursed energy, she enhanced her most vulnerable body parts.

"Nice seeing you're getting comfy there!" A certain white-haired teen called out from above. "How's your sleep?"

Utahime, who was battered and bruised because of the flying debris, gritted her teeth in frustration. "I'm not sleeping! And respect your elders!" She shouted at the top of her lungs.

"Nice going, Gojo-kun." Mei Mei safely escaped Satoru's attack range earlier and landed outside of the affected area. Making sure her hair was tied tightly, she brushed some of the dust from her clothes.

"Thanks," he replied with a wink, then grinned widely.

Utahime felt angered beyond belief. She could not believe the arrogance of her kouhais, especially this Gojo Satoru. The woman did not even remember being this rude to her senpais when she was their age. That white-haired teen could not even provide her with some consideration and had to destroy the whole building that they were in instead of exorcising one lone cursed spirit! Now her clothes were torn, and her hair was dirty, what would she ever do with that?

Unknown to her, an enormous head-like curse appeared behind her. It had a large forehead and a small mouth. It was attempting to swallow her, but in a short moment, before she turned her head, it was suddenly eaten by a familiar caterpillar cursed spirit.

"Ah, don't swallow it." With one strand of bangs on his face, the newly arrived Suguru muttered under his breath as if talking to the curse. Seeing how his friend was teasing their senpai again, he said, "Satoru, stop picking on the weak."

Weak?!

It fueled Utahime's anger once more. Her features distorted; she held her anger in. Grabbing the hem of her clothes, the woman glared at her junior, who had no idea he was already belittling her. What was with these monster second-years?! Not everyone was a special grade shaman right after they entered Jujutsu High. Those two were all exceptions. It did not help that Ieiri Shoko, a capable reverse jujutsu specialist who studied under Tomita Osamu, was also in the same year!

"Suguru, you're doing it unknowingly, too." Speak of the devil, and the devil shall appear. Shoko, promoted recently to a Special Grade 1 Jujutsu Sorcerer, bobbed her head behind Satoru. "Look at Utahime. She's going to explode."

"SHOKO!" Utahime wanted to thank the heavens when the only girl with a brain in the group showed up. The woman jumped outside the devastated area to hug the short-haired brunette.

"Nanamin told us you haven't reported for two days, so we checked on you." Shoko waved hello and smiled at her. "Sorry, I forgot to reply to your text a day ago," she then apologetically laughed as she patted her senpai's head.

Pouting because of sadness, Utahime realized she was not any better. There was not one normal second year, and she forgot about that. The three of them would usually go to individual missions, and unless requested, then that was the time they would go as a group. Other than that, they would be holed up inside Satoru's dormitory, researching something they were unaware of when not on a mission.

The woman had asked Masamichi what it was about before, but he readily dismissed her.

"Wait, two days?" Utahime belatedly registered what the brunette said, so she reluctantly let go of the hug and faced Mei Mei. "But we were in there for just a few hours?"

"Oh, then it was some barrier that either manipulated time or could control it?" Satoru wondered out loud, looking at his two senpais. There was a glint in his eyes as he exchanged looks with Suguru.

Unexpectedly while they were talking, the cursed spirit that Suguru controlled started to run amok, slithering against the remains of the destroyed building. All of them were suddenly alarmed and took a few steps back. Shoko dragged Utahime further backward, a few steps behind Mei Mei so she could protect them if something happened. On the other hand, Satoru jumped on top of the curse while signaling his friend to ask what was happening.

"It seems to be indigestion?" Suguru shouted, unsure, at the white-haired boy while he tried to communicate with his 'pet.' "The curse it swallowed seemed to have eaten something hard to digest!"

"Wow. He just eats everything just like his master," Satoru flatly replied, making the other teen raise his middle finger at him.

Shoko, who was listening to their conversation, decided to add her two cents. "Way to train your cursed spirits, Suguru!"

"SHUT UP!"

The curse shook as if ready to vomit something from its mouth. Satoru raised his glasses, preparing himself if it was something much more powerful than the curse they exorcised earlier. With Suguru's continuous murmuring so that his pet could take it out, an object flew outside from its mouth, landing on the white-haired teen's arms, who was caught unprepared. Utahime watched as he widened his eyes, wearing a shocked expression she saw him wear for the first time.

Shoko, who was holding her arms, froze at the same time. Conversely, Suguru's jaw dropped, his slitted eyes turning into circles. The only one who had the same reaction as Utahimime was Mei Mei. The two women were staring at the mysterious person on the white-haired teen's arm. From what they could observe, she was a girl because of her unusually long hair.

And when Utahime said long, it was three meters long.

"Wha-fuck!" Satoru was the first one who recovered, recognizing the visage of a girl she had not seen for three years. "Emi?!"

The girl opened one of her eyes tiredly, a little dizzy from all the tossing and turning inside the cursed spirit. "Hi?" She muttered, trying to recognize the face of the person that was holding her. "Is that you, Ruru?"

"WHAT THE FUCK WAS HE THINKING?"

Suguru could barely hold the arms of Shoko, who was shouting crazily. He was on the verge of going insane himself if only the brunette did not make a scene before him. Utahime was trying to understand why she was seeing her tame kouhai grow angry because of the disappearance of Satoru. Mei Mei, on the other hand, was watching them a little entertained.

The teen wanted to admit Satoru was very helpful most of the time, but he wished he could strangle him at this very moment.

The white-haired teen disappeared with Emi, who they had not seen for three freaking years, effectively spiriting her away. He had the gall to teleport without them so Suguru could understand where Shoko was coming from. At this rate, they would arrive in Jujutsu High later this afternoon since Shizuoka Prefecture was almost 200 kilometers away from Tokyo.

Fuck Satoru. He never changed. Suguru wanted to curse at his friend until he couldn't anymore.

"Let's go back, or Satoru might hide Emi elsewhere," Suguru ordered firmly, to which the brunette nodded right away.

Mei Mei, who was watching the commotion silently, decided to ask. "Who is this, Emi?"

"She's a childhood friend." Suguru did not know how to feel after he spoke those words. It was a long time since they had to introduce her because she usually introduced them to others. "A very important one."

"How come this is the first time we're hearing of her?" Utahime managed to calm down Shoko by tying her down. Lifting the teen by the ropes, she glanced at the sudden smiling face of the brunette.

"That's because she likes to make others worry." The bound girl managed to talk while her lips were trembling. "I'm still fucking angry."

Suguru tried to hold his laughter when he saw the brunette getting emotional. It had been a long time since he saw Shoko cry, and ever since Emi's disappearance, she was the one who took care of all of her work. Although she was not up to par with the girl, she did her best to maintain the secretarial work while studying to be a jujutsu sorcerer. It was pure luck they managed to find Nanami, so her burden somehow lightened.

The four of them managed to leave after the auxiliary manager they were supposed to bring finally arrived. Suguru knew Masamichi would scold them this time, considering they forgot to lower the curtain again. But it didn't matter since Suguru felt his heart pounding for another reason. It had been a long time since they last saw Emi, and he wondered what happened to her when she was absent.

Satoru trembled as he lay Emi's body softly on his bed. The girl had fallen asleep after her initial dizziness, so he made sure to teleport her back to his dorm. Because of his and Suguru's recent fights, there were no clean nor prepared dorms for unexpected guests, so the white-haired teen decided to let her rest in his room.

The mattress looked as if no one had lied on it for a while. That was because Satoru had been sleeping on the table for a few days now. After all, he could not be bothered to move.

The white-haired teen's hands shook as he slowly caressed Emi's face. Her features matured, and despite the fact that a part of her appearance changed compared to before, he could still see her tiredness. His heart felt heavy while he was still in disbelief. It had been short three years for others, but for Satoru, it had been decades since he last saw her. Everything he did before became worth it all of a sudden. Even his death didn't seem that bad after he saw the girl breathing faintly beside him.

Emi's hair grew long, and the only thing she maintained the same length was the white fringe on her forehead. Not only that, but her cursed energy became much higher than before, and even though Satoru also became strong, he knew that if they fought, none of them would win the fight.

Of course, Satoru was still taller than her—same old.

Satoru decided to lie down beside her like he always did before. This action made Emi's long lashes flutter, gradually opening because of the sudden movement on the bed.

"Ruru?" Emi was greeted by his blue eyes that blinked a few times. She finally showed a smile then flicked his forehead. "Long time, no see."

"Long time, no see, stupid." Satoru enveloped her in his arms. He felt her stiffen, but he buried his face at the crook of her neck, hugging her tightly.

Emi laughed loudly, returning his affection. "You're still a child." She stroked his head the way she did when they were children. The only thing that changed was they were both teens, and mentally none of them reflected the age of their bodies. "I told you I'd come back, didn't I?"

You didn't, at first. Satoru could not hold back his tears, wanting to complain about the years she was not there, and he had to endure being alone.

"Glad to see your sorry ass cry again." The technically 16-year-old girl snickered in as an attempt to lighten the mood. Then with a berating tone, she scolded, "I saw Suguru and Shoko there. Why the hell did you leave them?" Grabbing his face away from her neck, she furrowed her brows in disappointment.

Satoru wiped away his tears, rolling his eyes. "Why wouldn't I?" A punch in the stomach made him curl his body, and he remembered again how cruel this girl was.

"Seemed like you became more arrogant than before."

"Fuck," he cursed under his breath, then chuckled. "I didn't mean to. You were out of it, so I had to bring you back first." Giving Emi a side glance, he pinched her nose as revenge. "Why were you inside the cursed spirit in the first place?"

"Stop." Emi swatted his hands as she glared at him. "That's where I came from. Somehow we needed a vessel that uses a little bit of space-and-time cursed technique, so I ended up there."

Satoru listened to her explain what had happened to her. Emi was transported 1000 years into the future, where curses had a much larger population than humans. People created camps, and they sheltered both sorcerers and non-sorcerers. That wasn't the only odd thing about her story, the world also turned apocalyptic, and she had to live there for nine years.

Narrowing his eyes, the white-haired boy was sure it was not that bad before he died, albeit it was a hundred years before the year she was transported to. He needed to talk about that to her later.

"How are you, Ruru?" Emi sat down so the teen could lay down on her lap. "It looks like you've been through a lot."

Satoru closed his blue eyes as he became a little sleepy. "You too." He yawned, linking his hands to hers casually.

He planned to tell her what happened to him some other time. That could wait. What mattered the most was that she was back, and Emi was the same familiar childhood friend he hadn't seen in years. Satoru did not know, but he felt his worries disappear when he saw her earlier in Hamamatsu.

The white-haired teen did not know when he fell asleep. But it was the best sleep he experienced in years.

Shoko tackled the girl into a hug right after they entered their dorms. Utahime and Mei did not come with them to Jujutsu High, so she and Suguru were the only ones to go to their dorms.

"Emi," the brunette mumbled, hugging Emi by the waist. "Leaving us was such a shitty move." Shoko's hug turned into a chokehold as she gritted her teeth in fake annoyance.

"Nice to see you." Suguru waved with a smile; his eyes narrowed into slits while he watched them make a scene.

The girl who successfully escaped Shoko's hold pinched his cheeks. "You're back to your customer service grin again?" Emi teased, pulling his cheeks as a way to widen his smile.

"Yeah. You tell him," she jeered in the background. Shoko had noticed his mood plummeting for a while now. If not for her and Satoru riling him again and again, then he would eventually become depressed. "Anyway, Emi. Where's Satoru?"

It was weird that Satoru wasn't outside his dormitory when he was the one sticking to Emi whenever he had the chance. He even had the gall to teleport without them. Kidding aside, the white-haired teen was the one who was obsessed with researching to find his childhood friend, so it made Shoko wonder where the hell could he be when the one he was searching for was outside of his damn door.

"Ah, he's asleep," Emi explained, pointing at the door using her thumb.

"Figures." Suguru crossed his arms, leaning his whole body weight on Shoko, who was minding her own business. "Speaking of, where will you sleep?"

Shoko pushed him with force, sending him a few meters away. "Of course, she's going to sleep with me. I'm the only girl in this damn building."

The third years were out on a mission, while the first years consisted of two boys—Kento Nanami and Yu Haibara. Both would be automatically crossed out, and since it was also the same for Satoru and Suguru, Emi would only be left with Shoko. Unless someone recently moved out, no one properly cleaned any of the rooms. Added to the fact that some of the buildings would be destroyed because of a fight between jujutsu sorcerers, finding a spotless renovated room was challenging.

Suguru only shrugged, thinking it was a good point. "I was also thinking about the school years you missed, but since it's you, I guess you could handle that," he mentioned after walking back to them.

"Uh," Emi winced a little, remembering how she did not do an ounce of work that used her brain in nine years. "Let's go to that later. First, let's rest. It was a long day for all of us."

"Suguru, let me borrow one of your pillows." Shoko poked his arms, remembering she only had one, and the teen had tons of it.

"Nop—"

"Suguru, let Shoko borrow one of your pillows."

"Ugh."

Satoru jolted awake, faintly remembering the events that happened that day. Every time he would sleep deeply, the circumstances of the girl's disappearance would haunt him every time, so he always tried to sleep lightly. Panic enveloped his heart when he dreamt of finally seeing Emi again. He buried his face in his hands when he noticed he was not alone in the bed.

"What the—"

"Shhh," Emi whispered in his ear. Seeing her face, the white-haired teen's heavy heart unknowingly disappeared after realizing he was not dreaming. "Suguru and Shoko are sleeping," she continued, pointing at the two teens lying on the floor beside them.

That was when Satoru realized he was not on his bed but on top of mattresses piled on each other. Suguru's legs were on top of his while Shoko was lying beside Emi, wearing a scary face mask in the dark. He made a disgusted expression, kicking the other teen's feet away from his own. Emi giggled at this action, pushing him back on the make-shift bed.

"Why are you not sleeping?" Satoru's hand interlocked his hands with hers to feel the familiar security. "Do you still have those dreams?"

"Yeah," she admitted, hiding her face behind his shoulders. "There wasn't really a mental health professional in a place where their priority is to survive."

Satoru sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Well, you're here now. Everyone missed you. I'm sure they could make it better."

"I guess so." Emi covered her face with the bedsheet as she held his hands tighter.

He felt like they were back to being children again. Satoru felt the dark was comfortable for the first time. The white-haired teen smiled as he pulled Suguru near their group of three since he was at the edge of their make-shift bed. Tucking him in so he wouldn't move far away, he laid down beside Emi to continue to sleep.

2006 August 11

"You just got back, and you're busy?" Masamichi smirked, then gave her a high five. Osamu was following behind him, popping behind the larger man as he waved at her. Although they received the news that she got back earlier this morning, it took them until late afternoon to see her since she was going around taking care of everything she left. "Nice to see you, gaki." He ruffled her hair which made Emi pout in irritation.

Dr. Tomita hugged her, patting her shoulder with a big smile on his face. "It's been a long time. You made us worry a lot."

"Never expected you'd be the school doctor." Emi's childish voice had already disappeared, but the way she conversed with people didn't change.

"Well, a lot of things happened while you were away," he side-eyed Masamichi and shrugged. "I'll tell you later."

"Something that Shoko hasn't told me yet?"

"Pretty much." The doctor laughed, one hand behind his head, a little embarrassed in front of the girl he had last seen as a child. Their relationship was not only with a psychiatrist and a client, as they were also friends.

Emi gave him a knowing smile as she directed her gaze at Masamichi. "Then how about our future principal? I can't say I didn't guess the old man would give you the position." She had heard from Shoko that he was going to be promoted, which was a piece of excellent news to hear.

"I guess, yeah," he replied with a complicated expression. Masamichi looked as if he was absorbing the news for the first time and realized it appeared he didn't like the promotion, so he defended himself. "The old man decided he's done with everything, so he was passing it on to me. But I'm grateful, really."

Considering that Jujutsu High was also the headquarters, it shouldn't be overlooked. The one who managed the school had the same governing power as the higher-ups. Frankly, transferring the position needed the outgoing person to give up their rights. Not to mention it emphasized the decision of the current principal since they were also the only ones who needed to choose the next person.

The girl wanted to laugh at this predicament. Masamichi as the principal and Osamu as the school doctor, huh.

"Emi, I forgot to mention. But the principal wanted to see you." Dr. Tomita interrupted their conversation as he pushed aside the blushing Masamichi.

"Is he going to make me run around again?" Emi raised one of her eyebrows with a hint of displeasure, remembering the day after they exorcised a special grade for the first time.

Back then, she had to meet the principal alone. Emi didn't like how he used her connections to do things for him to gather resources, money, and people. Since then, she got pretty familiar with the old man; on the other hand, it didn't help her and gave her countless headaches. She recalled they had come to some agreement which they were probably going to discuss later.

"I guess you'll find out. You know where to go, right?" Osamu nodded when the girl showed him a thumbs up. Dragging Masamichi to where the classrooms were, he decided to give her a piece of advice, "Tsukumo Yuki's also with him."

"Got it." Emi appreciated the heads-up before giving the two an odd look. "Where are the two of you going?"

Masamichi was the one who answered, this time showing exasperation. "On the way to scold some kids that didn't put up the curtain."

Ah, that was probably Satoru. Shoko and Suguru were too responsible for overlooking that kind of thing. Perhaps the white-haired teen dragged them via teleportation, so they had no choice but to leave the auxiliary manager that was supposed to lower the curtain.

Emi walked to the next building where the offices were. The Jujutsu High were divided in terms of the function of the rooms. The dorms were located on the farthest side, while the rooms and training grounds could be found in the middle. Now that she had thought about it, Shoko had not finished informing her about what had happened for the last three years. Some of the information was also in Kento Nanami's hands so that they couldn't continue the briefing.

That she did not expect. At all. Before she vanished, the girl faintly remembered how they met each other in her previous middle school (she was technically still in middle school, wasn't she?).

It took her half an hour to go to the room where they were supposed to meet. Emi did take her time, considering there was no way she would be willing to meet her stressor. Anyway, all those errands benefitted her in some way so that she couldn't complain. Opening the modern shoji door, she saw an older man sitting behind a table wearing a tuxedo, waxed hair, and feet up on the table—the complete opposite of Principal Gakuganji Yoshinobu, who always wore his traditional hakama over a nagajuban and a cane.

"You still don't know how to knock?" The older man did not show annoyance and instead stood up straight, brushing his suit from invisible dust particles.

"Ah, the gaki who disappeared for three years." Tsukumo Yuki commented with a lazy drawl, removing one of her motorcycle gloves to wave at her.

Emi sat beside her, resting her chin on her hand. "Principal Matsumoto, I just got back. What the hell did you need me for?" She said, then shook her head when Yuki offered her candy.

Matsumoto Genki grinned widely, showing his white front row of teeth. "Remember what we talked about?"

A/N

The whole previous arc along with this chapter is brought to you by the song Sign by Mr. Children. Anyway, thank you to all those people who followed and favorited this fic!