"It appeared again? Jeez."
A 14-year old Yuji Itadori complained when he saw the same icon in his phone for the nth time. It looked like some sort of pixelated white imp standing over a black background.
"How many times did I delete you? I just hope I didn't catch a virus."
Since that morning, that strange app appeared on his phone. Not remembering having downloaded it, he just deleted it. And next time he used his phone, he deleted it again. Rinse and repeat.
Yuji sighed. He wasn't an adept in technology, much less smartphones so he would probably have to send it to a repair shop. He doesn't know how much repairing the software would cost so he'd like to use that as a last resort.
"Mmm, maybe a video tutorial would help me in getting rid of it."
Once he arrived home, he went straight towards his room, the noises of the TV telling him his grandpa was home and opened his laptop.
"You've gotta be kidding me!"
… only to see the same damning icon on his desktop.
"Just what is this thing?" Yuji read its name "Demon Summoning Program."
"... sounds like something Sasaki would be interested in. It will end up in the bin anyway."
… Only for the program to reappear in the desktop after the bin was emptied with it inside. Yuji may be a patient man but he's nearing his limits
"Urrrrrgh! Why won't you die?! That's it! If you want me to click on you, I'll click on you! YAH!" With a furious yell, he clicked on the program's icon.
That computer-using-headache-inducing stupidity would change his destiny… not so much but with unknown variables in play that you could say it changed enormously.
After some windows randomly opening with computer mumbo-jumbo (and he sweared there were occult-sounding prayers) his computer's screen turned black.
Blinking his eyes, Yuji slowly realized how disastrous his error was.
"Crap, crap, crap!" Yuji cursed in panic "What have I done! I fucking fell for such a stupid trap for a 21st century tech-using teenager! All my things are now lost! Forever! Goodbye digital photos of Jennifer Lawrence"
"Yuji!" His grandfather's shouts were heard "Shut up! You're distracting me from the match!"
"D-don't worry Gramps! It was nothing, huh?" He took notice that his computer wasn't actually dead and that its screen was showing more code, of which a professional computer expert would tell it should be complete nonsense unless complemented by graphics designers, sound specialists and occult researchers, for the code was actually representing chants and psalms in Enochian, Latin and other forgotten religious languages as well as 'mystical' symbols like six-pointed stars, runes and alchemical arrays.
At the end of all that compiling, a single message was left out:
YOUR LIFE HAS JUST CHANGED FOREVER
Immediately after, the screen returned to normal, showing the desktop as well as an opened window titled after the same program that caused so many problems to Yuji.
"The hell?" Yuji said confused. In curiosity, he observed the window. It showed various buttons like 'Party', 'Fusion' and 'Summon'.
"Is it me or does it resemble a videogame's pause menu?" Yuji scratched his head and clicked the Summon button.
'There are currently no demons in storage. Wish to randomly summon a new demon? It won't surpass the user's relative strength. It will be free for one time only.'
Shrugging, he clicked Yes. Even after all this freakiness, he still thought that everything was just an elaborate prank or some quirky game. He never expected to suddenly feel as if something drained him of his energy, even though it actually didn't affect him too negatively thanks to his enormous stamina, just surprised by the momentary tiredness.
Suddenly, some sort of luminous circle with a six-pointed star appeared, accompanied by floating digital numbers, which coalesced into some sort of humanoid body covered in static which eventually revealed a pale skinned young woman with dense, braided black hair that reached her shoulders and yellow eyes. She was wearing a long pink dress with a cow head in a belt and what looked like two pompoms on her lower back that reminded of tails. She was also wearing a huge golden headdress with horns and a disc. She also had gold piercings below her eyes.
"Greetings, Summoner." She spoke "I am Hathor, goddess of-" She was rudely interrupted by the shrill, terrorized cry of Yuji, making her cover her ears.
"Yuji!" Gramps violently opened the room's door "What the hell is happening here!"
"A weird girl appeared from thin air!" Ever the honest man, Yuji bluntly told him that in reflex, gaining an annoyed glare from Hathor.
"A… girl?" The old man blinked "There's anyone else here, Yuji."
"Huh?" He turned back to Hathor "But, she's here. And I can see her."
"Well, I can't see her and she isn't here." He sighed "I think you're tired Yuji. Maybe you should go to bed early." And he returned to the TV, mumbling about youngsters with too much exposure to the Internet and stuff.
"Now that that was taken care of…" Hathor turned to a stupified Yuji "What in Apophis cursed name was that?! I bother myself answering a summons only to be yelled at and be treated as a hallucination by a child and an old man!" She shouted in divine rage with shark teeth.
"Ahhh! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Yuji comically bowed in dogeza for an apology "But wait, if you're not a hallucination, why couldn't my grandparent see you?"
"Easy. Only Summoners and those with supernatural abilities are able to take notice of spiritual entities like us, demons." Hathor explained.
"I see…" Yuji nodded until he realized something off "Wait, a demon? Are you going to take my soul to Hell?! That program was the real deal and it's cursed!"
"I am NOT that type of demon." Hathor sighed in exasperation though she took a more sinister expression "Though I don't think it would be difficult to just go with it and eat your soul. Wait, don't shout again please, I am joking, I am joking!" She hurriedly pleaded to Yuji when she saw him take on a terrorized expression.
Coughing in an attempt to recover some of her lost dignity, she continued "You could say that the word 'demon' is a general term to describe us, denizens of the Expanse. An extradimensional plane where the Observations of humanity like belief and myth take physical form. I, myself, am Hathor, the cow goddess of the ancient Egyptians that holds domain over love, fertility, dance and many others, though I wouldn't say I am the Hathor. Just a collection of data about the mythological Hathor put together into a body of magnetite." She finished in a self-deprecating tone
"I… didn't understand any of it" Yuji honestly admitted.
Hathor facepalmed "Demons. Creatures of legend. Including gods, angels and even heroes."
"Okay, now I understand."
"Just what did I do to deserve a torture like this?"
"Wait a minute, you said a goddess like yourself is a demon. Does that mean even the Big G guy is one as well?"
Hathor's face cringed "Please, don't talk too much about Him. He doesn't like other demons that aren't His angels, especially other pantheons and Lucifer's forces."
"Satan is real, too?!"
"Actually, Satan and Lucifer are different entities."
"That doesn't make sense."
"You remember what I said about Observations? Well, think about any story or rumor. That story will propagate from mouth to mouth. Little by little, whether from imperfect memory or just to add original touches, that story will then be modified until it reaches the point it's another version of it, or just an entirely new one that only resembles little of the original. Sometimes, it will even overshadow the original version."
"Like a book being adapted to film or anime?" Yuji guessed "They tend to change a few things at least."
"I guess that's an analogy as good as any." Hathor shrugged.
"But, what now?" Yuji asked "I mean, it's obvious my computer summoned you here though I don't know if you have something else to do."
"Who knows." Hathor nonchalantly answered "You're the one who summoned me, so whatever you say."
"... Beg your pardon?"
"That program of yours is not only to summon demons, but also to bind them." She looked towards the computer "However, a formal contract still needs to be done between the Summoner and the demon. It's just that the process is streamlined."
"Why?" Yuji asked "Wouldn't you want to be free instead of chained to someone?"
Hathor's expression turned neutral "It seems you are ignorant of many things, Summoner." She said seriously "We demons are not like humans. We're entirely shaped by human imagination including our thought patterns. Most of us don't resemble humans, whether in form and mind, despite originating from humans. Even our bodies are made from human spirit energy or magnetite if you'd prefer. What would you think would happen if, let's say, a chaos god were to be summoned by an amateur magician, eh?" Hathor's hands now were shining with dangerous mystical fire "Like humans, we're also prisoners of our own natures though like them, we tend to seek for a way to break our chains and have goals of our own, and like humans, we tend to demolish everything and everyone in our opposition."
"Buuuuut, I feel nice for a change and I am bored, so either we make the contract or I'll just go pass the rest of my eternal time wandering the human world."
Yuji was now pale and sweating from terror "I… prefer contract, please."
AN: Two dark urban fantasy series dealing with horrors born from humanity's minds, one about technically exorcists that use the same negative energy as their enemies and the other, just recruits and fuses the enemies to sick them on their own kind? Jujutsu Kaisen crossovers are few and between though their now appearing thanks to the anime but Shin Megami Tensei? Unless it's Persona, there are still few of them despite being around for decades, and they tend to be about Nocturne.
So, I am taking the Devil Summoner approach, that of street-level masquerade, like Jujutsu does, though I am incorporating other elements of Megaten here, whether from main series or spin-off.
Why Hathor? Apart from usually being a beginning-game demon, she's one of my Megaten waifu *cough, cough* though for her to be useful, I'm going to use the IMAGINE skill charts for her and many other demons.
By the way, Jujutsu sorcerers and Cursed Spirits are still a thing. And no, the Curses themselves are not going to be demons. They're actually closer to Shadows due to also being monsters born from human emotion, especially negative ones. Cursed energy is essentially the Magatsuhi, though.
The momentary tiredness that Yuji experienced? That was the program extracting his spiritual essence (magnetite and Magatsuhi) in order to form Hathor's body. Thanks Apart from cursed energy/Magatsuhi being important here, magnetite will take a fundamental role here, too. Those who played the first SMT games or the Devil Summoner ones will remember that annoying little mechanic.
By the way, having potential for Summoning doesn't mean you have the same potential to use Jujutsu and vice versa. Both are extremely rare but those able to use both Jujutsu and demons? Even more so. Especially when the demons are starting to appear with the program. There will be… tensions.
By the way, both Jujutsu sorcerers/curse users can also see demons and Summoners, Cursed Spirits. Both can only be taken down with supernatural means.
More will be explained in the next chapters.