chapter 1: a prologue of the gloomy, lonely, and weird

in which yuuta meets someone everyone else at jujutsu high somehow already knows


cw: passive suicidal ideation, mentions of homicidal intent, and some general cringe.

also, this is the sequel to gods, monsters, monkeys, which i highly recommend reading first.


Okkotsu Yuuta had been told many times by his middle school homeroom teacher that high school would be better, but he had never believed her. There had not been a particularly good way to explain why he was so convicted of this fact (see: RIKA). Given that no one else could see Rika even while she was shoving them into a locker, Yuuta had resolved himself to a high school life that almost assuredly would end with someone dying. Because Rika had a vested interest in Yuuta's well-being, Yuuta was willing to bet that he'd be a labeled a murderer before he hit sixteen, even though the only person he really wanted to hurt was himself.

Gloomy is how the blindfolded man who changes Yuuta's life describes him when they first meet.

If Yuuta is gloomy, the feeling of a looming thunderstorm on an outdoor wedding, Gojou Satoru is as bright as sunlight against the shimmering sea, as blinding as freshly fallen snow. Gojou Satoru grins and talks like he is the world's best salesman and walks like the world and its every molecule is his to sell. If Yuuta is gloomy, he who possesses the deep-seated melancholy of unwanted responsibility, Gojou Satoru is exhilarating, a man who cannot fathom the concept of responsibility because he exists in a plane on which nothing else but his own greatness exists.

Which is why, when Yuuta tells Gojou Satoru that he will never leave the prison in Jujutsu High and Satoru's question is not why or why not but,

"Won't you be lonely?"

Yuuta believes that, on that plane of greatness, Gojou Satoru must know a taste of loneliness, too.

Through Gojou Satoru, Yuuta meets the three other first-years at Jujutsu High who, whether they like it or not, chip away at Yuuta's loneliness grain-by-grain. They teach him slowly that to be strong is a choice, which is not mutually exclusive with being lonely, and as the months go by, Yuuta learns resolve and the barest smidge of happiness too.

Yaga Masamichi, the principal of Tokyo Jujutsu Technical College, or Jujutsu High for short (Yuuta finds the terminology confusing), calls the first-year student to his office one morning in November. Yuuta has met with Yaga-sensei a handful of times, usually with Gojou-sensei or one of the other students, and finds him very intimidating. Yaga-sensei has a severe crease right between his bushy eyebrows, which Yuuta has seen deepen in real time whenever Gojou-sensei talks. Yuuta is eternally grateful to Gojou-sensei but has also quickly realized that he gets on everyone else's last nerve, and so to be associated with the "great Gojou Satoru" does not always work in Yuuta's favor.

Yuuta stares quietly at his hands while Yaga peers at him from across the desk, his eyes barely visible from behind his sunglasses. Stacks of files tower on each side of him, framing Yaga in the middle as if he's in a bad photobooth. The principal stitches together a pink rabbit plush as he glares at Yuuta.

"Okkotsu."

Yuuta jolts in his seat. "Y-y-yes?"

Yaga snorts. "Calm down. I'm not gonna beat you."

Yuuta gulps, not finding the reassurance reassuring in the slightest. "O-o-kay."

The principal looks amused. "Who'd have thought a Special Grade could be as meek as you?"

"S-sorry."

Yaga waves his hand. "It wasn't a critique." (Though Yuuta has never heard the term "meek" be used as a compliment.) "A guest is arriving this afternoon, and I want you to meet her. Be sure to be on campus."

"Oh." Yuuta blinks in relief. He'd thought Yaga was going to tell him that the Jujutsu Higher-Ups ("Those tasteless, useless geezers," as Gojou-sensei likes to call them) had decided that it was time for him to be executed after all. Yuuta from several months ago would have been A-OK with that. The Yuuta from now, though, wants to give living a shot.

"Who is she?" Yuuta thinks to ask.

"An old student of mine. Satoru knows her, too, she was his teacher. She spends most of her time overseas nowadays, but comes back to repair the School's Barriers once in a while. I want her to register your and Rika's Cursed Energy for the School's Barriers—if you let Rika out, I want her to trigger a different alarm than a foreign curse crossing the School's borders."

"That kind of tailoring is possible?" says Yuuta, amazed.

Yaga shrugs. "She's pretty good at specialized Curtain casting. It's worth a shot."

"Oh, okay. That seems reasonable enough." Yuuta hopes this teacher will be able to sense Rika's Energy by just examining him; he's not confident Rika will consent to being poked and prodded if Yuuta lets her out. "Is there anything I should prepare?"

"Nah, just be here. Tell the others to be here, too. She always has issues with Maki."

Yuuta frowns. "Why would she have issues with Maki-san?"

"No, not with her," says Yaga dismissively. "Though I dunno, maybe Maki is the one with issues—no, I'm just assuming, Maki's never done anything—anyway, it's just 'cause of Maki's Cursed Energy. Yuna needs to tailor the Barriers for Maki specifically."

"Oh. That makes sense," says Yuuta, even though it doesn't, but he's too afraid to ask because Yaga talks about Maki's Cursed Energy as if Yuuta is supposed to know what exactly he's talking about. "I'll let the others know then."

"Great. Have you seen Satoru today?"

"We had class this morning." And by class, Yuuta thinks but does not say aloud, I mean he just had Maki-san beat me up while he took pictures on his phone. "I haven't seen him since."

Yaga purses his lips. "All right. Tell the others about Yuna, but don't tell him."

"Why?" says Yuuta, puzzled.

"Nothin' really. He just gets…" Yaga scratches his chin with the same hand that is holding the pink bunny, making it look like he's strangling the plush. "He just gets a bit weird."

"Weird?" Yuuta repeats, thinking that Gojou Satoru is many things already, including weird.

"Yeah, just, it's complicated, not in a bad way, it's nothing dangerous, but just…anyway, don't worry about it," ends Yaga firmly.

Yuuta blinks. He worries about it.


The first-year class of Tokyo Jujutsu Technical College is considered large, with Yuuta's transfer considered abnormal on all fronts. He is very grateful to have been accepted into the existing class, even with their idiosyncrasies (Yuuta isn't one to talk, he has a very large, semi-murderous, Special Grade curse born from his childhood fiancée attached to him at all times). Still, he can't help but feel anxious whenever they all venture out into the city, still in their uniforms and with their weapons (concealed!) hanging around their shoulders. Even without the weapons, Yuuta knows they stand out.

Inumaki Toge is not that noticeable as long as no one is listening to him speak or watching him eat. Yuuta thinks the tattoos on his face (the "Snake and Fangs seal of the Inumaki clan," he remembers Gojou-sensei telling him) look very cool, but face tattoos in Japan are generally unacceptable; once in a while an older obaachan frowns at Toge while he is innocently sipping on a cola and Yuuta tries to glare her down (and fails).

Zen'in Maki is tall, graceful, and powerful even just from the way she walks. Her eyes are as sharp as her grin and she is probably one of the only people in the world who wears glasses and is made less dorky because of them. She is everything Yuuta is not: self-assured and beautiful and blunt to the point of intimidating, but Yuuta does not mind even though the sales representatives they interact with at the movie theater or restaurants sometimes do.

Panda is a panda. Yuuta does not understand how they are not swarmed with news reporters and excited biologists each time Panda leaves the School's campus, but maybe the idea of a talking panda is so absurd to non-sorcerers that everyone just assumes Panda is not actually a panda, but instead a very dedicated and very convincing cosplayer.

Today, the three of them meet up with Fushiguro Megumi, a polite if not slightly too serious third-year student at a nearby middle school who has lived in the Jujutsu High dorms since he was a kid, even though that's not really allowed. Something about extenuating circumstances involving "the blindfolded idiot" and "Megumi's actually a Zen'in" and "Please don't call me that, Zen'in-senpai," and "Don't call me Zen'in yourself!"

It turns out Maki is Megumi's aunt, though Maki hates that term so they just refer to each other as cousin instead. Apparently, the Zen'ins are a complicated, large, and very powerful sorcerer family that Yuuta is assured he will interact with eventually and will almost definitely hate. Yuuta is not sure how that's possible, given that the two Zen'ins he has met so far are quite pleasant and to his liking.

The five of them spend the early afternoon in a small café in a bookstore, where Yuuta, Toge, and Panda clamor over the latest Shounen Jump while Maki and Megumi read on their own. Maki has brought some obscure book on weapons from ancient China from the Jujutsu High library, while Megumi studies for his exams. When it hits four p.m., Yuuta's alarm sounds and he jerks up in his seat, nearly colliding the back of his head against Panda's face.

"Oh, we have to get back!" he says after quickly apologizing to Panda.

"What's the rush?" Megumi asks, calm and collected as Yuuta hastily throws the copy of Jump in his backpack, then realizes that he needs to pay for it first. Megumi and Maki look crazy similar, with jet black hair and dark green eyes that are constantly darting around, alert but not anxious.

"Yaga-sensei just wanted us to be back to meet with a former student who repairs the School's Barriers," Yuuta explains. "Something about calibrating it with Rika-chan."

"Oh," Maki says, tone unconvincingly blasé as she stares hard at her weapons book. "She's back, huh."

"Salmon," says Toge, taking the copy of Jump away from Yuuta and putting it back on the shelf.

"Did you know, Megumi?" Panda asks.

Megumi nods his head. "Yeah, she told me this time."

"You guys know her?" says Yuuta, then regretting it immediately because of course they would, hadn't that been why Yaga had only called him in today? "Is she the other Special-Grade or something, and that's why everyone is acting funny?"

"We're not acting funny," says Maki shortly. "It's just hard to explain. But she's not a Special-Grade."

"Yaga said she was Gojou-sensei's teacher," offers Yuuta.

Maki makes a face. "I guess, but…hey, Megumi, you know her better than I do. How would you describe her and Satoru's relationship?"

Megumi doesn't even deign to look up from his textbook.

"Embarrassing."

"Salmon," agrees Toge.

"Yaga-sensei did tell me not to mention it to Gojou-sensei," admits Yuuta. "He said Gojou-sensei would get…weird."

"Weirder than normal?" scoffs Maki. "I guess that's true."

"Guess we should go back then," says Panda. "Megumi-kun, you coming?"

Megumi fixates on his book, suggesting to Yuuta that everyone is acting at least a little weird. "Nah. I'm gonna go visit Tsumiki for a bit. Yuna-san will probably be by to visit later too."

Yuuta opens his mouth to ask who Tsumiki is, but Maki kicks him underneath the table and Yuuta winces.

"C'mon, let's go." She yanks Yuuta up by the collar and drags him out of his seat. "See ya later then, Megumi."

Megumi just waves as they exit, unfazed by Maki practically strangling Yuuta as if it's a normal occurrence. When they're out on the street, Maki finally releases him.

"Maki-san!" gasps Yuuta, rubbing his neck. "You're lucky Rika-chan didn't come out!"

"I would hope Satoru has trained you better than that by now," she frowns. "Or maybe Rika-chan knows you shouldn't ask dumb questions."

"It's not his fault," chides Panda, ever the pacifist. "How is he supposed to know about Tsumiki?"

"Salmon," says Toge.

Maki rolls her eyes. "Fine. Tsumiki is Megumi's stepsister. She got cursed and fell into a coma last year. Don't ask about it, it makes him sad."

"Sadder than he normally is," adds Panda.

"Kelp," says Toge.

"Oh…kay," says Yuuta slowly. He feels like he should've been told this information earlier, but everyone at Jujutsu High has the uncanny habit of not sharing important information until it is absolutely necessary. The greatest perpetrator of this bad habit, Gojou-sensei, calls it his tried-and-true teaching method.

"So," tries Yuuta, "this Yuna-san and Fushiguro-kun must be close if she's visiting his…stepsister?"

Maki makes another face. "Sort of."

She doesn't elaborate. Yuuta looks back and forth between the three of them, but Toge unhelpfully says, "Bonito flakes" and Panda just shrugs. Maki simply stares ahead, leading their group as they weave in and out of the crowds and toward campus.

Yuuta decides not to push it, even though he thinks they all, not just Gojou, are being weird.


Ieiri Shouko is proud to say that she has not smoked a cigarette in three years. Sure, her initial goal had been to quit when she'd started medical school, but then she had found the coursework simultaneously so overwhelming yet boring that she'd needed to smoke to get through it (that and she might've cheated off her girlfriend who happened to be top-of-the-class). She'd taken a break after graduating, but then her girlfriend had broken up with her because Shouko spent too much time in the morgue even for a forensic pathologist, which then got Shouko back on cigarettes for a few years, until her senpai Iori Utahime had finally threatened to stop visiting her completely if she kept smoking because "how can I go back to my cute students smelling like a delinquent!"

So yes, for the sake of Iori Utahime's dumb students, Shouko had stopped smoking. Though, right now, as she stands with her kouhai, Nanami Kento, in the smoking section outside a train station, surrounded by the delicious haze of nicotine, Shouko cannot remember for the life of her why.

"You sure you don't want one?" Kento asks, handing her a stick.

"Why are you doing this to me," says Shouko miserably as she pushes the cigarette away.

"Sorry," he says sincerely. "I just need something before I see Gojou."

"Couldn't we have gotten drinks instead?"

"Ieiri-senpai, it's four o'clock."

"Your point?" she grumbles, waving the smoke in front of her away even though it's entirely ineffective. "C'mon, Nanami, Yuna-san said she'd arrive around five. We're going to be late."

"You have never cared for punctuality."

"I do if it means I'm going to be tortured like this for one more minute." Shouko checks her phone. "Come on, Satoru won't be that bad. He's usually better when Yuna's around."

Kento sighs but obeys, dropping his cigarette to the ground and crushing it under his shiny, brown-leather wingtip. Shouko sometimes forgets that Kento used to look like a dork in high school, with emo bangs and almost a heroin-chic aesthetic. He's filled out well since then; his face is still narrow and frown lines stern, but his blonde hair is sleeked back and his ivory suit and shirt are luxury. He looks like a foreign businessman (he was one, up until two years ago), much less a Grade One Sorcerer.

"Does he know she's coming back?" asks Kento as he parts a path through the masses for Shouko to follow.

"Doubt it. It's better when he doesn't. When he does, he gets all weird and runs through like fifteen scenarios on what he should or shouldn't."

Kento nods understandingly. "He did that to me before he went to Los Angeles."

Shouko snorts. "You must've wanted to blow your brains out."

"It'd be tolerable if he actually listened to advice. He gets in front of her and short-circuits."

"Did he tell you what he did when he found her in Spain?"

He grimaces. "I put it together. Apparently, Korea was bad too."

Shouko laughs. "It's kind of funny, honestly. It's somehow gotten worse over the years. You think he does that when he sees Suguru, too?"

Kento glances back at her in warning. "Ieiri-senpai."

"Right," she says, sobering. She looks around, knowing Kento is doing the same, but they do not spot any unfamiliar Residuals.

"I think Gojou-senpai, if he were to ever see Getou-senpai again, would do the right thing," Kento says carefully.

"Yeah." Shouko wishes she'd taken that cigarette. No one knows what the right thing is. "I think so, too."


Yuuta has a bad feeling when they get back to Jujutsu High. Maybe this Yuna-san is terrifying and terrible; if she is making everyone act weird, then surely she has done something so awful to them in the past that none of them will admit it aloud.

He pauses right outside the front gates and glances back. The sun is setting against a cloudless sky of lilac and navy. The winter air nips and Yuuta's breath comes out in short puffs. There's nothing distinct, no presence, no pulse, but Yuuta doesn't like it.

"I have a bad feeling," he says.

"It's in your head," respond Maki and Panda simultaneously.

"Tuna roll," says Toge.

Yuuta admits he has bad feelings frequently, and they're usually due to Rika getting antsy, but this feels different. He stares out into the horizon, but doesn't see anything beyond the sway and rustle of branches empty of their foliage.

"Your sensing ability is almost as bad as a monkey's," remarks Panda.

A monkey, Yuuta reminds himself, is a colloquial term for a non-sorcerer. It's not a term Yuuta understands or particularly likes, though there is something ironic about a panda calling a human a monkey.

"Can't blame him," comments Maki in a rare moment of defending Yuuta's incompetence. She never says anything for the sole purpose of making Yuuta feel better—she only states what is true. "With something like Rika at his side constantly, of course his senses would be dulled."

"Yeah, I guess." Yuuta turns around, resigned to being wrong.

"Hang on, though…" Maki's eyes sharpen at something in the sky apparently only she can see, and she unsheathes her spear. At the sight of her readying her weapon, Panda and Toge immediately shift into battle stances too, even if none of them can see their enemy; Maki's senses are second to none.

Something drops out of nowhere behind Yuuta right when he is about to ask Maki what's going on. He lurches toward his friends, his new katana still sheathed on his back. A huge pelican descends at the School's entrance, its beak alone the size of a school bus. A man dressed in a black kasaya, with long, black hair and black piercings in his ears, lands gracefully in front of the pelican. Yuuta knows he is bad at sensing Cursed Energy, but the bird curse is enormous, and both of them have seemingly appeared out of thin air.

"You don't look like you're authorized," Maki says coolly, her weapon ready to swing.

Panda cocks his head to the side as he studies the pelican. "Man, haven't seen a curse that huge before."

"Salmon roe," agrees Toge, his collar pulled down, Fangs on display.

"This place sure hasn't changed," muses the stranger as the pelican lowers its bill to the ground, and out spills three fully grown people: two girls in school uniform, and a shirtless guy with eyelashes that reach his eyebrows.

"Wow, Getou-sama," the blonde girl peers all around. "Are we really in Tokyo? Why does it reek of the countryside?"

"Nanako," her black-haired twin chides, "that's rude."

"But you think so too, right, Mimiko?"

"Just get out of the bird, would you?" the shirtless man with a beauty mark sighs.

Nanako rolls her eyes. "Shut up, aren't you cold, dude?" Her eyes land on Panda. "Whoa, is that a panda?" She whips out her cell phone to take a picture. "That's so cute!"

"Who are you?" says Maki, audibly annoyed.

"Who are you?" shoots back Nanako.

"No, who are you?" argues back Panda. "Yuuta-san here won't forgive intruders, y'know?"

"Eh?" stammers Yuuta.

The black-haired priest smiles. Yuuta blinks, and the man is in front of him, his hands clasped over Yuuta's, a benevolent expression on his face. Maki, Panda, and Toge all jerk back, a millisecond delayed, stunned—hardly anyone can beat Maki in a race, and Toge, despite how he looks, is incredibly fast too. That someone can get past both of them with such ease raises alarm bells.

"Nice to meet you, Okkotsu-kun," says the man. Something about his smile reminds Yuuta of Satoru: the ease, the confidence, and, in some ways, the insincerity. His hands are rough and calloused but he holds Yuuta's loosely, almost granting him the opportunity to break away. "I'm Getou Suguru. You possess a truly wonderful power, one that I believe should be used for a greater mission. Don't you find our world so bizarre? A world where jujutsu sorcerers secretly protect commoners, where the strong have to adapt to the weak? You see," Getou Suguru swings an arm around Yuuta's shoulder and brings up a hand of mock injustice, "I want to correct this contradiction! How will we evolve as a species without a proper survival strategy! As a result, I'm here to ask for your help."

"With what?" Yuuta says blankly.

Getou Suguru smiles down at him. "I want to kill every non-jujutsu sorcerer and make a world where only sorcerers live."

Yuuta stares at him, waiting for a "Just kidding," that does not ever come.

"Don't go pushing your insane ideas onto my students."

Suguru turns around, pulling Yuuta with him. His eyes light up when as he sees Satoru and Yaga-sensei approach; behind them is a legion of sorcerers of which Yuuta only recognizes a few: Mei Mei, a first-grade sorcerer whose primary choice of weapon is a large broad-axe; Ieiri Shouko, the School's physician; Nanami Kento, who Satoru had called "a retired salaryman, converted to first-grade sorcerer, also, my cutest kouhai."

As the group nears, Suguru pulls Yuuta even closer to him. "Satoru! It's been a while. Nice to see a welcome party full of familiar faces."

"Get away from my kids, Suguru," says Satoru coolly.

"I did hear the first-years this year were particularly exceptional," Suguru muses aloud, making no move to let Yuuta go. "It makes sense that you were in charge. A Special Grade sorcerer, a mutated cursed corpse, a descendant of powerful spell-casters, and…" Suguru turns to Maki, "a failure of the Zen'in clan."

Maki bristles. "You fucking—"

"Watch your mouth," says Suguru, his tone suddenly gone from unctuous to deadly in a heartbeat. "A monkey like you isn't needed in my world."

Yuuta knocks the arm around him off. "I'm sorry, Getou-san, I'm not really sure what you're talking about, but I can't align with someone who talks badly of my friends."

"Sorry," says Suguru, apology unconvincing. "I did not mean to make you uncomfortable."

Satoru appears in the small gap between Suguru and Yuuta, his face eerily close to Suguru's. "Then what are you hear for?"

In the months Yuuta has known Gojou Satoru, he has never seen Satoru stressed, serious, or anything beyond disaffected. To see not even the barest hint of a smile on Satoru's face sends Yuuta's hairs on end, but Suguru does not appear shaken in the slightest. In the mere seconds that follow Satoru's question, Suguru smiles at Satoru, a flash of gentleness so brief that Yuuta thinks he'd imagined it, but then Suguru looks straight at Maki and his grin turns malicious.

"I'm here to declare war. On the twenty-fourth of December, at sunset, we shall perform a Hyakki Yakou! I will release a thousand curses in Shinjuku, Tokyo, and the capital of jujutsu, Kyoto, with simply the orders of, 'Kill the trash.' Unless you want hell to be painted on earth, work your hardest to stop me! We'll curse each other to the death, but no matter what, we'll lay waste to thousands of monkeys!"

"I've told you before, Getou-kun," a voice says from the staircase leading up to the front gates, "I really hate that term."

Yuuta knows his ability to sense foreign Cursed Energy is poor, but with him, Satoru, and now this new group present, the volume of Cursed Energy concentrated at the School's gates is massive. He is not the only one who misses the arrival of yet another newcomer, whose Cursed Energy is as diminutive as a single match next to the furnace Rika radiates.

The woman is shorter than Maki, of a slimmer build too, with long, straight hair dyed a shade deeper than forest leaves. Despite the weather, she is dressed in a loose, black tank-top tucked into frayed jeans, exposing sleeves of tattoos from her forefingers up both her arms. Yuuta can make out several kanji characters amidst decorative ink of delicate flowers and trees: Barrier, Blast, Calm, Sleep, Bind. The tattoo sleeve on her right arm stops at her elbow; the one on her left creeps up past her shoulder, where it spills out over her collarbone in a single branch of an orange tree, upon which a hummingbird flutters right above her clavicle, its beak kissing an orange blossom pressed on her neck.

When Yuuta gets past the substantial amounts of ink, he realizes that the woman's face does not quite match the rest of her: taken in isolation and minus the green hair, she looks like she could be a flight attendant, with a calm, blank face, features soft and pretty in a forgettable way, the exact opposite of Maki. Her eyes are large, dark, and down-turned, like she is about to cry, though something tells Yuuta that that's an uncommon occurrence. She carries with her a large heather-gray duffel bag that bulges oddly at the corners, as if stacked with rods, and she cradles a training staff that towers over her in her right arm. It is plastered from end-to-end with washi and wrapped with a bright silver chain.

"Sensei," says Suguru, stunned.

"I told you not to call me that anymore, Getou-kun. I suppose my travel misfortunes were your doing then." She bows in Yaga's direction. "I apologize for my appearance and for being late, Yaga-sensei. I hope whoever Getou-kun bribed to cancel my flight can kindly relocate the rest of my belongings."

Suguru looks slightly guilty. "I had them ship it back to America."

She blinks slowly. "I see."

Suguru looks even guiltier.

"Hi, Yuna-san," says Shouko from behind Yaga. Mei waves her broadaxe, and Nanami bows in greeting.

"Hello, Shouko-san, Mei-san," Yuna bows back. "Hello, Nanami-kun." She turns to Satoru. "Gojou-kun—"

"I don't like it," blurts out Satoru.

A beat passes. The wind blows. The students exchange glances. Shouko makes a small noise like a snicker. Nanami adjusts his glasses. Suguru stares at Satoru.

"I beg your pardon, Gojou-kun?" says Yuna pleasantly.

"Your clothes. You look…you look…and your hair," says Satoru, pointing as if they cannot see what he is referring to. "It…it's green."

"Yes." Yuna offers no other explanation, simply blinks, and then turns her attention to the students. "Hello, Maki-kun, Panda-kun, Inumaki-kun." She looks at Yuuta. "Hello, Okkotsu Yuuta-kun. My name is Morimoto Yuna. It is good to meet you." She bows deeply at the waist.

Yuuta looks around him, making sure Yuna is not bowing to anyone else, before hastily bowing back.

"I-it's good to meet you too, Morimoto-san."

Yuna turns to Suguru. "Getou-kun, I have a lot of work to do on the weakened Barriers you so thoughtfully took advantage of. If your announcement is all you are here for, then please be on your way."

"Getou-sama!" pouts Nanako. "The store is gonna close!"

"Right, that's all we're here for," says Suguru. "These girls said they'd only come if they got to eat crepes on Takeshita Street, so we'll take our leave. Dear me, for a place full of monkeys, what's so great about—"

"Hold on," cuts in Satoru, "you think I'll just let you waltz out of here?"

"Come on, Satoru." Suguru waves his hand casually, not even bothering to turn around as his party climbs back into the bill of the pelican. "My free time is only for my cute students. You don't want things to get messy now, do you?"

Another curse, equally as large as the bird, but humanoid with only one eye and a gargantuan belly, lands between them with a thud that reverberates through the ground. It lets out a groan from the depths of its gut that makes Yuuta abruptly feel like crying, but instead flimsy, shadowy skeletons emerge from the cracks in the ground and surround the sorcerers.

"Great to see you all!" waves Suguru cheerily. "See you on the battlefield! Except for you, Shouko, stay indoors!"

Shouko flicks him off, and Satoru snarls, his fingers flexed in a sign. "You—"

"Careful, Gojou-kun," Yuna strides past Suguru, toward the Jujutsu High sorcerers. The Curse Users let her past, and the cyclops curse and its shadow ghouls make no move to attack her when she walks by. "There are children here."

Yuna stops when she is in front of Yuuta. Up this close, Yuuta realizes that Yuna's left eye has a gray pupil that does not fix on him the same way her right eye does, as if it can't quite see him. She studies his face closely, eyes lingering over his shoulder as if she can see Rika's shadow, then looks down at the ring that Yuuta wears on his left hand. Her eyes soften.

"If I may borrow your hand, Okkotsu-kun." She gestures to the ring.

"S-sure."

Yuna takes his hand in hers; inside him, Rika bristles, but Yuuta holds her at bay.

Yuna pricks her finger with small needle and traces Yuuta's ring with a light smear of blood. Yuuta feels something tug at his Cursed Energy; Rika howls, but it is more out of surprise than injury. The character for Barrier on Yuna's forearm glows green, and a faint gold light shoots up from the ground and ascends into the twilight sky, casting the faint stars in a yellow haze. The army of shadow ghouls dissolve into ashes; outside the School grounds, the cyclops curse bashes against the Barrier, causing it to vibrate, but it holds strong.

"Thank you, Okkotsu-kun, Rika-san." Yuna opens her eyes and turns to Suguru, who is eyeing the Barrier with interest. "Hope the crepes are worth it, Getou-kun."

"I'm sure they won't be," he laughs. "Hope you head back to America soon, sensei."

"I think I will stay through the winter holiday," she answers. "I do not think I should miss your parade."

"A shame. Wasn't planning on inviting you, but I guess it can't be helped. See you all later!"

The bird ascends into the sky with Suguru waving as he holds onto the bird's ankle. The cyclops crouches down, then springs into the air after them, soon out of sight.

Yuna lets out a long breath. "I apologize. He knows my style. It's hard for me to design remote Barriers he can't disable, especially when they're weak."

"He knows your schedule," frowns Yaga. "He knew exactly when they were due for repair."

"Getou-kun has many powerful non-sorcerers in his pocket. One must have alerted him of my flight back; he must have guessed." Yuna shuffles her bag on her shoulder, causing the scrolls inside to clunk together.

"Ah, Morimoto-san, I can take those," offers Yuuta.

Yuna looks slightly taken aback, but shakes her head. "Thank you, Okkotsu-kun. I'm fine. You and your classmates should get ready for dinner."

"Shouldn't we talk about," Maki jerks her thumb in the direction Suguru left, "whatever that was?"

"No," Yuna answers.

Maki is annoyed. "Morimoto-san—"

"Later, Maki," says Yaga. "You guys go get dinner. The adults will talk about it first."

"But—"

"Kids," says Kento, "go to dinner."

Even Maki has a hard time arguing against Kento, who is the beacon of reason and practicality. The first-years bow their goodbyes and shuffle past the adults toward the dorms. As they do, Yuuta hears Satoru whine,

"I'm serious, Yuna, I don't like it."

"Gojou-kun, that is hardly important right now."

"It is to me! It's weird, it's unnatural—"

"You are the least natural out of all of us, Satoru," cuts in Shouko, "shut up. You look cool, Yuna-san."

"She looks like yakuza! Tell her, Nanami!"

"You look very cool, Yuna-san," says Kento, completely deadpan.

"Nanami!"

The students arrive back at the dorms to toss their backpacks and weapons into their rooms, except for Maki, who always keeps some kind of weapon on her.

As they make their way to the cafeteria, Maki glances at Yuuta. "See what we mean now? About Satoru being weird?"

Yuuta nods, but then thinks of those three seconds of silence between Getou Suguru and Satoru instead. Right after Satoru had asked, "Then what are you here for?", Suguru had hesitated. Had smiled. And if Yuuta isn't crazy, Satoru might have smiled back.

That was weirder.

"What about that guy?" he asks.

"What guy?"

"The Getou Suguru guy. Do he and Gojou-sensei know each other?"

Panda nods. "He was a student at the school. He was Satoru and Ieiri-san's classmate. Turned bad in his third year."

"Oh. That's it?"

"What do you mean, that's it?" Maki says shortly. "It's like one of us turning bad in our third year."

"Oh." Yuuta looks at her, then at Panda, then at Toge. "I see." He thinks about it. "I wonder if Gojou-sensei is sad about it."

Maki snorts. "Did that idiot seem sad to you?"

Yuuta opens his mouth to answer affirmatively, but realizes that Maki is being sarcastic and promptly shuts his mouth. They'd all seemed a little sad. Satoru, Shouko, Yaga, Yuna, even Suguru, but Yuuta knows better than voice that aloud.

Much later, Yuuta learns that he'd been right: that no one made Satoru weirder or sadder than Getou Suguru, the Special Grade classmate turned Curse User, Gojou Satoru's perpetual one and only, the only person who had ever joined Satoru on his plane of greatness.

He is, however, not the only one who teaches Gojou Satoru the great lesson of loneliness. That is a lesson the Honored One learns over and over again, all on his own.