It was relatively early in the morning the day after the events of the cursed object retrieval mission gone sideways. Shohei Gojo was visiting Megumi Fushiguro, who was discharged from the school's designated Doctor, Shoko Ieiri, and was resting in his dorm at Jujutsu High.
Megmui had his forehead wrapped in bandages, a bandage patch on his right cheek, a bandage under his left eye, and another patch on his chin. Shohei was dressed in his school uniform.
"So you got thrown through the wall by a grade-two spirit?" Shohei asked, passing a bag of pastries to the boy in bed and pulling up a desk chair to the bedside.
"Yea," Megumi said quietly, opening the bag. "That was the biggest cause of damage and nothing else really hurt too bad. What're these?"
"A little pick me up for you. They're apple and ginger pastries," Shohei said, smiling, hoping the boy might like the surprise.
"I went into town a little early this morning and hunted down a bakery that had those ginger goods. I know you like stuff with ginger."
"Thanks a lot," Megumi nodded in a casual and almost monotone voice that some might mistake for ungratefulness, but Shohei knew Megumi appreciated it.
Megumi passed him a pastry and the boys ate quietly for a short while.
"Gojo should be almost done interrogating the boy now, don't you think?" Shohei asked, stopping his passive staring at the floor paneling and focusing back on the conversation.
"I don't know. Probably," Megumi said, not meeting eyes with Shohei's bangs.
"You admitted to Satoru and I that it was personal feelings that made you want to spare the boy. What are those feelings in particular?" Shohei said, taking a swing at prying open the cold boy for possibly the millionth time in the years they've known each other.
Megumi didn't even show a look of contemplation or sign he even heard the older boy's question, but then quickly turned to him and stared at where the boy's eyes should be behind his hair.
The older boy didn't move, but just waited expectantly.
"His name is Yuji Itadori," Megumi said.
"Nice name. Doesn't explain anything though," Shohei replied.
"You and me both have seen people die," Megumi kept going, as if Shohei cut him off. "People beg for their lives when it's about to end, or curse others or themselves. People can reveal their true selves when they think their life is gonna end. Their real selves are almost always disappointing."
Megumi stopped, looked away, and took another breath to keep going, keeping a passive voice on.
"When Itadori was putting his life on the line for some of his classmates that were in the building, his character was unwavering. His character was brave and heroic. Someone who sees what we fight everyday and chooses to fight back against them for someone other than themselves shouldn't have their life taken like the higher-ups would take Itadori's."
Shohei nodded and leaned back into his chair and said, "I owe Itadori a favor."
Megumi questioned Shohei with just a small raise of his eyebrow.
"His getting into a pickle caused you to open up to me for the first time. I appreciate that," Shohei explained.
"I'd rather tell you than Gojo any time," Megumi said, tossing the paper bag in a bin across the room and getting out of bed. "I'm getting ready to meet Gojo and Itadori at a Crematorium. He said he'd test Itadori one more time before we decided to invite him here to Jujutsu High as a student."
"Good to know. I hope he passes," Shohei said, grinning as he stood up from the chair. "Text me if you need anything. I'll probably ask around when they're gonna schedule my application mission for moving up to grade-one too. They've pushed it back for so long. If I get done with that, maybe I'll try to catch up and join you."
"Okay. See you," Megumi said, waving the boy good bye.
Shohei had made his way to the Staff room after a small walk and knocked on the door, hoping he could find who he was looking for.
"Come in," called the smooth voice of a woman from inside the room.
Shohei slid the door open and saw a tall, blue haired woman with a braid coming straight down her face, sitting at a table with a calculator and several stacks of paper and cash infront of her.
"Hi Mei-sensei," Shohei said, nodding to the woman before entering and closing the door behind him.
"Hello Shohei," Mei Mei said, looking back to her calculator and papers. "Is there something I can help you with?"
"Yes, actually, there is," he said, taking a seat across from her, and making sure that he didn't touch any of her money or documents, in fear of her taking his head off. "I was hoping we could work out a final date for my mission to determine if I can move up to grade-one or not. It's been almost a month since we first talked about it."
"Sure thing. We can do it later this week," Mei Mei said. Shohei's temple twitched slightly.
"Really?" Shohei asked. "Is that all we needed to do?"
"Well of course that is not all we needed to do," Mei Mei said, not looking up from her papers and past her braid. "I've been researching possible grade-one cases and missions all this time. Any single rinky dink mission that barely makes grade-two wouldn't qualify. After all that research I only found two or three missions difficult enough for your examination."
"Oh," Shohei said, put mildly off guard that Mei Mei put so much effort into finding a mission for him. "Thank you for all the work you did. Satoru said he figured you were pushing it back for your own missions and money transactions."
"Well, if we're being honest I did do that a couple times," Mei Mei said, as casual as ever. "My money is my number one priority, but don't think that's shallow of me. Everyone has their priorities."
"I'll try my hardest not to," Shohei sighed, sinking deeper into his chair and dismissing the woman's money driven mindset. "But I would like to finish the mission before the week is out without any more delays if that is possible."
"That can be done," Mei Mei said, looking up at Shohei for the first time with her deep, dark eyes. "I've taken all the missions I could that provided me with more money than our deal to be your supervisor. Is there any day you'd like to schedule it specifically?"
"Whenever it's most convenient," Shohei shrugged, not bothering to stress out over the matter anymore. He figured he could complete the mission no matter what it was and reach grade-one. The idea of not having to go through the process of promotion with Mei Mei again was the biggest thing to look forward to now that the plans were finally playing out.
"Perfect," Mei Mei said, reaching into a file divider in her bag on the ground and pulling out several papers that she then handed to Shohei. "These are the few missions I've found that might be to your liking and skill level. They all have generous payments on completion as a sweet little bonus thrown on there."
The three documents had very little knowledge of the cursed spirits themselves, but had plenty of background knowledge on the locations and probable causes of why the locations themselves would be cursed.
The first was an orphanage that was planned to be repurposed as a building for private rent for a very long time, but everytime the demolition workers went in to refurbish the insides, their machinery backfired on the workers or the workers got into arguments that lead into violent fights.
Shohei was sure that whatever curse at this location wasn't a grade-one because of how it simply interfered with the locations changing and manipulated the people to fight each other rather than kill them itself. The only reason the mission had such a high reward and ranking was because it had been around so long and it needed to be dealt with.
The second location was a hospital that only recently closed down, but was suspected of being a location of curses even before becoming abandoned because it had higher mortality rates of non terminal patients than any other hospital in the Kanto region for several years straight. Hospital's usually did have a lot of negative emotions tied to them so it would be possible that there could be several grade-one or two curses, which means there would be a larger fight between them and Shohei possibly, also meaning that there would be property damage.
Shohei didn't like the idea of this option because it was still surrounded by several buildings in use. Even when the cloak is placed, when it is taken down after he wiped out the curses, if he caused noticeable damage to the still relatively new looking building it could cause questions he wouldn't want to hear about from his superiors. He thought to ask if any of the other second-years who caused less property damage would like the mission.
The third and most ideal sounding mission to Shohei was an old factory that a kidnapper made his base of operations. The man would kidnap women and children from cities further away and bring them to the building to tourture them. The criminal was considered a professional by police because all his victims were kept alive and then released by him in different locations after they'd been tortured into a coma or a vegetative state so they couldn't disclose where they were previously being kept. The police finally got told the location of the factory by a recovered victim and arrested the criminal while being able to rescue several victims he had hostage, but disappearances still happened near the factory. It is suspected that curses that manifested there were attacking occasional hikers of a nearby trail since no villages or towns were nearby.
"I'd like this case, Mei-sensei," Shohei said, sliding her back the third paper. "It definitely has strong curses from the extremely horrible things done there. It also is rather remote so there are no constant passersby to wonder why the building got damaged suddenly if I just so happen to cause excessive property damage."
"Very well," Mei Mei said with pleasure. "I'll schedule our ride there later this week and notify you three days prior to the trip."
"Thank you very much Mei-sensei," Shohei said, rising from the chair and nodding to her. "Good luck with your money and have a nice day."
Mei Mei smiled and waved him goodbye and returned to her money on the table.
Shohei walked out the door of the staff room and sweeped his hair back from his eyes to rub them as if to wipe away the encounter with his difficult teacher like it was just a bit of morning eye crust.
His left eye's iris and pupil glowed shades of radiating orange and yellow like a burning star. His right eye had no distinguishable pupil or iris, but one spiraling circle of deep blackness contrasting the rest of the normal veined white of his eye. Shohei let his black, white dotted hair fall back down over his eyes.
"I'll see if I can catch Megumi before he leaves," Shohei said to himself before he slowly ambled off back to Megumi's room.
Shohei was able to catch Megumi right as he was leaving his dorm. The two walked to the outskirts of the school property where they found a car and driver waiting to give them a ride to the crematorium.
The two thanked their driver for the smooth ride to their location before exiting the car. The brief trip went as smoothly as any drive and walk ever could. Shohei and Megumi hadn't made conversation the whole time spent on the way to meet Satoru and Itadori.
The relationship dynamic between the two boys was always friendly, but not in the traditional way. They had both been raised by Satoru Gojo the bulk of their life for different reasons, and grew up into people who just knew each other really well.
Megumi was raised with his half sister by Satoru because their parents were indisposed after a few years of the children's lives.
Shohei did so because the Gojo family sent him to follow in Satoru's footsteps as closely as possible to become a strong sorcerer like him.
The boys were not strikingly similar in any way, but rather different from each other and their caregiver. Megumi was stoic and heroic and liked his shikigami more than he did most real life people. Shohei was dreamy and an airhead in most others' eyes who never had his head lower than the clouds and only expressly cared for those he was raised with.
Megumi wanted to save good people's lives if he could help it. Shohei fought cursed spirits when he was told because he was capable of getting it done and usually was doing nothing else.
Satoru says Megumi has trouble reaching his own potential because he doesn't see it himself. Satoru thinks Shohei doesn't strive for reaching his potential because he only ever makes the effort when it's absolutely necessary.
Megumi was quiet and had quiet hobbies and appreciated the fact that Shohei could hangout with him and not interrupt those hobbies with unnecessary chit chat or other plans, and respected him most of the time.
Shohei would rather not put the effort into making plans, but let others make them, and that's exactly what Megumi did when they choose to just sit around together in prolonged peaceful silence or occasionally go somewhere to eat and sit in silence there instead.
The two wouldn't call themselves brothers, best friends, or anything other than two friends who knew each other without trying. Anyone who knows them both however would guess the two would die for each other.
"This is the place," Megumi said, stopping in front of a plain grey building with many windows and several bushes and benches in front. The building had several small metal chimneys for smoke to be released from the burning of the bodies.
"Let's go on in," Shohei said, following behind Megumi into the building.
The inside was really different from the outside. The interior had black marble tiling and walls with other dark colored ornaments and hangings. It was all very well suited for mourning parties of people.
"This is the room he texted me they'd be in," Megumi said in a hushed voice to not disturb any others that might be mourning.
Now in complete silence, Shohei heard Satoru's voice from inside the room. His energetic and overall happy tone seemed misplaced in such a somber environment. Megumi seemed to hear it too and scoffed at the older man in the room.
"Nice!" called Satoru so loudly that both Shohei and Megumi heard. "I like people like you. Sounds like a fun hell awaits. Make sure you're packed by the end of the day." The electronic door to the room began to open.
"We going somewhere?" Itadori asked.
"Tokyo," Megumi answered, waiting for the door to open. Both Satoru in his uniform and Itadori in street clothes stood in the cremating room, ready to go.
"Fushiguro! You're looking good!" Itadori cheered loudly with a twinkle in his eye, giving Megumi a thumbs up.
"You think so after seeing this?" Megumi said, exasperatedly, pointing at his bandaged head and face.
"You look like a war hero," Shohei said. "Hey there Itadori. I never introduced myself the right way. I'm Shohei Gojo. Good to see you've still got pep in your step after all this."
"Hey there Gojo," Itadori greeted.
"You're going to transfer to the same school for jujutsu sorcerers we attend," Megumi said plainly with a hand on his hip.
"Huh?" Itadori said, finally putting down his thumbs up.
"Tokyo Jujutsu High School," Shohei told the boy.
"By the way," Satoru said holding up three fingers, "you're the third first-year."
"Only three?!" Itadori asked, shocked.
The next day, Satoru and Shohei swung by Itadori's home to pick him before visiting Itadori's family grave.
The two gave Itadori his time alone to spend his time at the grave alone. They stood waiting at the entrance of the cemetery for Itadori, and when the boy came out, they took off walking to Tokyo High.
"This is really deep in the mountains!" Itadori announced to the small group as they had reached a heavily forested area on the road to the school. "Is this actually Tokyo?"
"Even Tokyo's like this on the outskirts."
"Where's Fushiguro?" Itadori asked, looking back at several other distant mountain ranges.
"He's been treated by a sorcerer, and now he's fast asleep," Satoru said.
The boys finished the remaining trek of their walk and came across the large, traditional gates of the school.
"Tokyo Jujutsu High school," Satoru said, reading it from a plank nailed to the gate. "It's one of only two Jujutsu educational facilities. On the surface, it's known as a private religious school."
The two Gojos kept walking Itadori through the facility, showing Itadori the tall and gorgeous old shrines, the moss blanketed pathways and the candle lit statues.
"Many jujutsu sorcerers continue to use it as a base after graduation, so it's a pillar of the Jujutsu community, and not just in education, but for support and meditation in missions," said Satoru.
They walked by a hut with a calm and wide stream splitting the tracing the path and were now on the path that lead to the principal's building.
"Are we going to see Yaga?" Shohei asked, recognizing the path.
"Yes. Itadori is about to have an interview with the principal. Screw it up and he could reject your admission, so go all-out," Satoru advised, scaling the last steps of stairs and entering through the gate into the courtyard of four temples that flanked the main building.
"Huh?!" Itadori gasped, pointing at himself in shock. "And what then? Immediate execution?!"
"What?" said a low and wicked voice in surprise. "So you're not the boss?"
Shohei and Satoru looked at each other and then looked back at Itadori in either blank faced seriousness or airheaded confusion.
"Any hierarchy other than strength is worthless," said a small, fanged mouth that had opened itself on Itadori's cheek. Itadori slapped a hand over his face immediately.
"Sorry, sensei. He pops out sometimes," Itadori apologized, clutching his face.
Shohei chuckled,"That's funny how a mouth looked under your second eye."
"What an amusing body you have now," Satoru said, rubbing his chin.
"I owe you a favor, you know," Sukuna said, materializing a mouth on the back of Itadori's hand instead.
"Not again," Itadori muttered.
"Once I make this brat's body my own, you'll be the first one I kill!" Sukuna said in a full, arrogant tone.
"It's an honor to be targeted by Sukuna," Satoru said, almost politely.
"This guy's really that famous?" Itadori said, holding out his own hand and covering it.
"Ryomen Sukuna is a fierce imaginary god with four arms and two faces," Satoru said, his head bowed a little. "But he's actually a human that really existed, though it was over a thousand years ago. In the golden age of jujutsu, sorcerers gathered up all their might to challenge him and failed. Crowned the title of Sukuna, we couldn't even destroy his grave wax as he traversed the ages after death as a cursed object. Without a doubt, he is the king of curses."
"Who's stronger, you or him?" Itadori asked.
"Easy answer," Shohei said calmly, lifting Itadori's hand so see if the mouth was still there.
"Well..." Satoru started walking again to the building. "If Sukuna regained all of his power, it might be a little draining."
"Would you lose?" Itadori asked, shooing Shohei from his hands. Shohei grinned, rather arrogantly at his question.
"I'd win," Satoru said simply, head held high again, strolling up the stairs of the main temple that had its doors wide open.
"Good luck Itadori," Shohei wished him with a thumbs up. "I'm gonna jet."
Shohei didn't want to stand around and listen to Principal Masamichi interrogate Itadori while making plushies only to zone out and not take in a word. The candle light of that temple always made him extra cloudy, so he'd rather head back to his dorms and zone out in a well shaded tree nearby.
Shohei took a page out of a squirrel's book and jumped up into a tree by his own dormitory to relax. He leaned back onto one of the thicker branches and stared past the thick canopy of leaves and into the clouded azure sky for several minutes until he faded into a shallow sleep.
What startled Shohei awake was the combination of a bird speeding by past his ear, making its flapping wings sound like a brief air strike to him. What also shocked him awake was Itadori gasping at his one story complete little flat of a new dorm that was right by Shohei and the second-year's dorm building.
Shohei slipped out of the tree and onto his feet to go join the excited sounding boy in his new room. Shohei breezed by Megumi's room and stood in the doorway of the only other open room in the building's hallway.
"There aren't many of them," Satoru said, then turned to Shohei. "I was just telling him about how the other second and third-years are out on business currently."
"If you're a second or third-year Sho-senpai, then why aren't you with the others?" Itadori stopped examining the room to ask.
"I'm not out with my other second-years because I've been waiting for a mission for a long time that only now got a concrete date for. I've been putting off other missions while waiting for this one," Shohei explained like the matter was all trivial. "It's nice hanging around the school and with Satoru, but I do miss missions and my classmates."
"Psh," Satoru scoffed with a smile. "I've been a doll to hang around with. You don't even miss the missions because you always just flatten the area in question anyway. The most you miss is Maki," Satoru teased, making kissy faces and waving his butt in the air.
"And you miss your childhood," Shohei said, waving him away. "Oh wait… you never got one."
Shohei stuck his tongue out at the older man. Satoru charged him and put the younger man in a camel crunch with ease.
"What's that thing parents say to their kids when they're losing the argument," Satoru asked Itadori while needing the other boy's face with his hands. "'I put you in this world and I can take you out'. Well it looks like I'm a proper parent after all."
"Are you two actually father and son?" Itadori asked, laughing at Sho's smushed face.
"Thank God not," Megumi said, standing in the doorway of the room. "He raised us two, but he's only Sho's distant cousin."
"Oh, Fushiguro," Itadori said, glad to see Megumi. "You look like you're doing well now."
Megumi ignored Itadori's comment on all his bandages being removed and said, "There were plenty of other empty rooms, weren't there?"
"The second and third-year dorms aren't filled in sure, but isn't a livelier building better?" Satoru said. "I thought it'd be good for-"
"Classes and missions are enough," Megumi interrupted. "That was an unwelcome favor." Megumi looked irritated with Satoru as he crossed his arms.
"As I was saying Yuji," Satoru said, turning his head to face Itadori who was now putting up a poster of a woman. "You really don't have to fight if you don't want to. Fushiguro, Sho, and I could just retrieve Sukuna's fingers. You could just wait here."
"It's fine!" Itadori said resolutely, turning back to the poster. "I said I'd do it, and I'm doing it! Though lazing around while Fushiguro came in all beaten up to bring me a finger would be a funny sight."
"That's true," Satoru chuckled in agreement. "You done talking like you're a big shot you little turd?" he asked the purple faced Shohei who was gasping for air and flinging his arms around.
He reached around and tapped Satoru's leg to agree. Satoru stood up and dropped him, Shohei then only huffing and puffing on the ground.
Satrou turned to Itadori and said, "Well… I know there's no way in hell you're not gonna fight."
"Hey! You were testing me?!" Itadori shouted, raising a fist at Satoru.
Satoru got close to him and put up a finger to hush Itadori.
"If they were that easy to find, we would've found them all already," he said. "Some have a presence that's overwhelming. Some keep very quiet. Some have already been absorbed by a cursed spirit. There's nothing more troublesome when it comes to searching for them. But now we have you."
Satoru turned his shushing finger to point at Itadori.
"The Sukuna within you will tell us where the fingers are to try and regain his power. You're both vessel and locator, our very own radar. So we won't get anywhere without you in the field."
"No pressure," Shohei said, rolling onto his back, still lying on the floor.
"You think he's going to be that nice?" Itadori asked.
"I think we can come to a win-win agreement there," Satoru said, walking out of the room and into the more spacious hallway.
The rest followed him out and spreaded out in the hall in a circle. Itadori broke away immediately and peaked his head into Megumi's room right next door.
"Wow, it's so organized," Itadori complimented.
"Didn't I say you're unwelcome," Megumi grunted, slamming the door onto Itadori.
"Well, it's all good," Satoru said, clapping his hands like the matter was resolved.
"You'll get over it," Shohei said to Megumi. "And you'll get used to him," he reassured Itadori who was rubbing his door slammed face.
"More importantly, we're heading out tomorrow!" Satoru cheered, clapping again. "We're gonna go pick up the third first-year."
Hello. This chapter I gave it a swing at just giving some evidence and examples of Shohei's relationships with Megumi and Gojo. I hinted towards a lot and almost all at what I've hinted at with the second years will come into play at least a little by chapter 6, but I can guarantee action and Shohei's technique being explained in chapter 5. Updating every weekends sounds good to me right now, but I'll have to see how school treats me. Thanks for reading.