A DIFFICULT CHOICE

Itadori looked up in awe at the moss-covered mountain range where the college for jujutsu sorcerers rested upon. It wasn't exactly hidden from the public eye, but it was kept away from high-traffic, Curse-covered areas like the cities. Regardless, Itadori didn't even know that a school was in the mountains.

"All this was up in the mountains?" Itadori asked. "Are we really still in Tokyo?"

"It's not that out of the ordinary from the Tokyo suburbs," Juri explained and looked around at the multiple buildings that surrounded them. Even she didn't know such a place existed, but then again, she was hardly the adventurous type. Before meeting Yurei, there were only three places she partook in throughout her adult life. Home, work, and the library. Sometimes she would shake it up and go to the park or Akihabara, but those were rare moments.

"Is that so." Itadori turned around and noticed that Fushiguro wasn't with them anymore. He didn't even notice he was gone since he was so quiet. "Where's Fushiguro?"

"He was pretty exhausted, so he went on ahead to rest," Gojo answered and walked ahead with Juri and Itadori following close behind. "First thing's first. You got an interview with the principal."

"The principal?"

"If you mess up, you might get rejected for admission, so stay sharp, okay?" he warned a bit too lightheartedly, immediately warranting concern from Itadori. Even Juri had to doubletake at his lightness of the situation.

"What? Does that mean I'll get executed right away?" Itadori shouted with pale panic all over his face.

"What a disappointment…I thought you were the leader." The air suddenly became dense and heavy as an ominous tone of voice gathered their attention. Gojo and Juri looked down at Itadori and saw a human mouth appear on the side of his face. Wide-smiled and sinister. "A hierarchy not based purely on strength is boring if you ask me."

Upon hearing Sukuna's voice, Yurei's white frame manifested in seconds and grabbed Juri by her shoulders, forcing her to take a couple of steps away from the startled child.

"What in the…" Yurei muttered while grabbing tightly to Juri's shoulder.

"He's pretty persistent," Juri said.

Itadori immediately tried to shut Sukuna up by slapping a hand over the small mouth. "Sorry. He comes out sometimes."

"You must be joking," Yurei grumbled.

Itadori waited for a moment before pulling his hand away, only to have Sukuna's mouth appear again and start talking. "You and that jujutsu sorcerer better be wary, Yurei. When I make this kid's body mine…the first person I'm going to kill is that girl you're holding so dearly," he threatened.

Juri felt her body stiffen as she slowly lifted her head to try and get a look at Yurei's face. The pressure she created was suffocating, but the look on the beautiful Cursed Spirit's face was completely blank. Just a clean sheet that lacked depth and emotion. It was clearly not what Juri was expecting, so she said nothing as Yurei floated past her and over to Itadori. She then lifted her hand…and slapped the teen hard across the face, quite literally wiping Sukuna's grin off his cheek.

"Yurei?!" Juri explained once the sound of the slap reached her ears. It was so loud that it made her whole body jolt from shock.

Itadori immediately hunched down to the floor and held his burning red cheek that was stinging like crazy. "Ow! Why did you slap me?!" he cried out with tears watering up in his eyes.

Yurei scoffed and crossed her arms over her chest. "I didn't slap you…I slapped him," she said plainly.

"I get what you mean but you still ended up slapping me too!"

Gojo couldn't help himself and laughed at the antics playing out before him. "I'm not worried about Sukuna trying anything to Juri," he said while patting the top of her head. "With me and Yurei always beside her…I'd say she's the most protected person on the planet," he assured.

That made Itadori wonder since he knew how strong both Gojo and Yurei were. Was Sukuna really that much of a threat as they were making it out to be? "To have that much protection…is he really that famous?"

"I think the word you're looking for is 'infamous', Itadori," Yurei corrected. "Ryomen Sukuna is a nasty guy with four arms and two faces, and he's often quoted to be a demon by lore. But that's not entirely true. In reality…he was once a human, living in the golden age of jujutsu sorcerers over a thousand years ago. It took some time, but the sorcerers of that era did eventually defeat him. Yet somehow…he didn't stay dead. He persevered through the ages as a cursed object, and not even the jujutsu sorcerers could destroy his remains. I hate to admit it, but without a doubt…he is the King of Curses," she said through gritted teeth, clearly showing the disdain she felt for having to say that.

Hearing that made Itadori ponder for a second before looking at Gojo. "Then…is he stronger than you, Sensei?" he asked.

Gojo smiled since he could already feel Juri and Yurei's eyes beginning to burn into him. They probably already knew what he was going to say and were anticipating it. "Good question. If Sukuna were to regain all his power…it might be a little tough."

"Would you lose?"

"Nah, I'd win." He finished with complete confidence in his voice. It was soon after he said it though that he heard one of the girls stifle a laugh. He looked to see who it was…but they were both purposely looking away from him to avoid eye contact.

They headed inside the main entrance of the school and saw that someone was waiting there for them. A large and intimidating muscular man with sunglasses over his eyes, but the most disorienting thing about the scene was that he was surrounded by a variety of stuffed animals. Some were ugly, others were cute, and some were so ugly that they were cute.

"Satoru! You and Juri are late by eight minutes!" Principle Yaga snapped. "You've been like this since forever but stop rubbing your bad habits on Juri."

Gojo grumbled in response. "Come on. Cut me some slack. Eight minutes isn't something to get mad about. And I'm not rubbing my bad habits on Juri."

Juri snickered under her breath and walked up to Itadori, patting him on the shoulder to grab his attention. "I believe this is where I'll head out," she said once he turned around.

"Huh? Kocho-sensei, you're not staying?" he asked.

"Unfortunately, I can't. There are dorms here, so I'm going to head over there now and make sure all your stuff arrived. You'll see me again after you're done here," she said while gesturing to his backpack. "Give me your backpack. I'll take it to your room."

"Oh. Sure," he said and handed it over.

Juri held it against her chest and began to back out of the room. "Don't be too harsh on him." She gave one last wave to Itadori and Gojo before swiftly turning around and heading in the direction of the dorms.

"For a teenage boy, he surprisingly doesn't have a lot of things," Yurei's charming voice hummed from within Juri's head.

"I see what you mean," she said while setting down the last box in Itadori's new dorm room. He didn't bring many things with him, and only had about three large boxes that were mainly full of clothes and other odds and ends. "He doesn't strike me as a minimalist. Then again, it only ever been him and his grandpa for the longest time."

"And Fushiguro. They appear to be neighbors… was that you're doing?"

Juri's lips melted into a sheepish smile. Resembling the look of a kid who got caught with her hand in the cookie jar. "I thought it would be nice if all the first-years stayed together, and I figured it would be good for Megumi if he's around a good-hearted kid like Yuji, don't you think?"

"Hm…I guess," Yurei said flatly."Though I'm not sure Fushiguro will agree with you once he finds out."Her voice had an echo to it as she materialized within the room. She floated over to one of Itadori's moving boxes and took a peek inside.

Juri quickly realized what her friend was doing and rushed over to try and stop her. "Yurei, you shouldn't look through his things." She tried to shut the box, but Yurei was quicker and pulled out what looked to be a rolled-up poster. "Please put it back."

"Yeah, yeah. Just give me a second," she said while unraveling the poster, revealing it to be a scantily dressed model in only a bikini.

Juri's face turned red the instant she saw the image. She quickly snatched it out of Yurei's hand and rolled it back up at a record pace. "Definitely a boy's room," she muttered while stuffing it back in the moving box. She had to take a breath before turning her eyes up to Yurei, seeing what looked to be distress and uncertainty within her red gaze. "Yurei, is something wrong?" she asked. "You look like you want to say something?"

Yurei's face curled up as her eyes narrowed, silently cursing Juri's naturally perceptive nature. She did have something she wanted to say but just didn't know how to bring it up in a better situation, but it looked like she didn't have a choice anymore. "Sorry, but I think there are some things we need to address. About that kid and Sukuna."

Juri looked curious for only a moment before realizing what her friend actually meant. Instantly making her sink with discomfort. "Oh, I think I know where this is going. Yurei, I don't want to talk about this."

"I know, I know." Yurei softened her voice and floated down closer to Juri's level. "But we have to talk about Sukuna and Itadori. There are some things I want to be clear between us."

"Is this about Sukuna threatening me?"

"Something like that. At the moment, Sukuna isn't really a problem. I can handle him without killing him, but if he keeps regaining his strength, sooner or later I won't be able to," Yurei said. She then tightened her jaw and looked down at her body. "As I currently am…this spirit body of mine can only draw out a limited amount of power. Probably less than half."

Juri frowned. "It's only like that because you're too stubborn to draw out your full potential-"

"And I thought I already establish that I wasn't going to do that ever again," Yurei snarled. She hardly ever snaps at Juri and didn't like doing it at all, which is why her abrupt outburst surprised her. Luckily Juri didn't look fazed by it and let her continue speaking. "And that isn't what I was wanting to ask. I want things to be clear for us if the worst-case scenario happens. If Sukuna regains his full power and takes the kid's body…there is without a doubt in my mind that he'll be banking for you and I."

Juri crossed her arms over her chest and turned her eyes away. "Fighting Sukuna means we'll be fighting Yuji as well. I'm not fighting my own student," she said through gritted teeth.

Yurei wasn't surprised to hear that. She had a feeling that she already knew Juri's answer but still wanted to be sure. "That's the exact reason why I'm asking this, Juri. It's a life-or-death situation when it comes to Sukuna. You and I could die."

Juri opened her mouth but looked to have second thoughts of what she was going to say. She closed her lips tightly and continued to stare at the ground, instinctively bundling up the fabric of her black skirt. She held her breath for a couple of seconds before turning her head up high and meeting Yurei's eyes, now speaking with a strange air of confidence. "Yurei…"

"What is it?"

"Are you…willing to die with me?"

Those words nearly knocked the air from Yurei's lungs, rendering her shocked and unable to speak. She searched along Juri's delicate features to find some semblance of an answer, but all she saw was odd confidence. She was completely composed and sure of herself.

The front door suddenly burst open and Gojo walked in with a slightly battered Itadori behind him. "Hey! Are you two done keeping secrets from Gojo-sensei?" he announced loudly, prompting Yurei to disappear the instant she saw him, leaving Juri alone with her back turned towards them. Oddly quiet. "Juri? Something wrong?" he asked a bit more skeptically.

Slowly Juri turned her whole body around and smiled warmly at them as she had always done. "No. We were just talking."

At that time, a clearly exhausted Fushiguro stepped out of the room and saw that Itadori had moved in right next door. "Did you really move in right next to me?" he groaned while peeking his head inside and seeing everyone there.

Itadori brightened. "Fushiguro!"

"You look better," Juri said eagerly, but Fushiguro only gave her a long, drawn-out stare.

"Kocho-sensei, were you the one who set this up?" he asked, pointing out the fact that he and Itadori were now neighbors.

Juri winced before chuckling awkwardly. "Ah, well…I just thought it would be fun, you know?"

"Classes and missions are more than enough!" Fushiguro grumbled. "What a pain…"

To gather everyone's attention back to him, Gojo clapped his hands together and spoke up. "it's fine, right? More importantly, we're going out tomorrow!" he announced with great enthusiasm. "We're going to get the third first-year student."