Chapter 19

It took some time, but eventually, they began to fill the kitchen with jars of pickles.

Pickles, kimchi, pickled carrots, root vegetables, essentially anything that could be pickled has become a mantle on the shelf in the kitchen!

What troubled Junpei was that he hasn't seen Yuuji as of late. But that was explained soon when one Satoru Gojo suddenly came to see them out of the blue. "HEY!" he called aloud as he came once more unannounced.

"Gojo sensei…" Junpei was about to speak farther when he was interrupted.

"So… uh… Yuuji won't be able to come visit for a little while… we had a small incident… just a small one." he explained.

"Incident?" Choso asked as he came out to see what was happening. "I felt little brother change recently… in fact, it feels as if my chest is on fire when I focus on him."

"About that…" Gojo explained about the volcano curse he ate the last time, it appears to have come back with a vengeance… not the curse itself, but what it did to Yuuji's body. He is currently a walking volcano right now and won't be able to leave the school until he settles himself. "So, I thought you should be made aware…"

"Thank you for looking after him…" Choso paused oddly. "Have you been raiding our kitchen?"

"Ooo busted…"

"YOU!? Why are you raiding our kitchen?" Junpei demanded.

"I got to say, I took one jar of each of your pickled stuff, and it was amazing!"

Odd, he wasn't specific as to what he took, then again there are various jars missing. Junpei admits he keeps some of the carrots in his room for snacking on. Eso LOVES pickles, the same with Sanso.

Yet the other stuff isn't poached as often… yet there are jars missing. "You've taken more than pickles too haven't you… wait… that list I wrote…"

Suddenly it came into Gojo sensei's hands. "Yeah, I found it. Got a little curious to it and it appears my curiosity paid off! All very good by the way. And normally I am a sweets guy, but the spicy… just something about it… put a curse on my taste buds have you?"

Junpei smirked a little. "We're trying to figure out ways of using it all now. We tested everything on the brothers, all of them like it. But we have yet to test on Yuuji and Suiryu…"

"Well, I think that's going to have to wait a little… Or… Let me take a few things back with me. Okay?"

He didn't argue, Choso sighed aloud to Gojo's antics. Not that he minds him being here, they just don't quite know what to make of Satoru. Yet, Gojo sensei went right to the kitchen, he already selected one of each jars and took three things of kimchi as well. "I'll be sure to put these to good use. I've been doing a look more cooking myself as of late." He explained.

"Really? You cook?" Choso asked curiously.

"Just got into it, brand new pizza oven too," he said with a sly grin on his face.

It would later be known that Satoru Gojo had put a pizza oven over one of Itadori's windows since he was constantly on fire… in other words, he made Itadori his personal oven.

#

Tests and more tests were done.

It wasn't long until the other brothers decided to get hobbies of their own. Eso was absorbed into cooking, pickling and preserves. Junpei had gotten the triplets into sports. Their favorite happens to be basketball at this point, but that can change.

Inspired by Eso's passion, Sanso has opted to take up gardening. He made a small plot near the dorms and has already started tilling the soil. Tanso has been practicing his drums, but at the same time has wanted to test his abilities a little farther. He expressed this to Junpei on one of their walks.

He wants to test on a human.

"That there is a slippery slope to go down there. If we do this, it cannot be someone innocent, noticeable that they went missing, at the same time, deserves a punishment like this. Hmm, after all. I am just as curious…"

He never thought he would utter those words before, and yet, he truly was. Again, that curse side of him, it distance Junpei's emotions from his human ones.

Tanso nodded in agreement to the terms. 'Little brother Yuuji would not be happy with me if I hurt innocent people. I rather try this on those who deserve to be punished.'

"Wise choice, can you give me some time. I know we can find some people to test it, it should be simple to find them too…"

Tanso nodded. 'I'm in no rush, it's just an idea I wanted to try out'

But even Junpei was curious to the outcome. What would it do to a person? What would Tanso' technique do to a sorcerer… there are many ideas and outcomes and yet… no one to test them on.

At least, not yet.