The next day.
Toji stood before the gates of the old Zen'in estate. He sneered a little but then remembered why they were here. He turned and saw the thirty who have graduated from their lessons. They were all trained accordingly and are ready to hunt curses on their own. However, he wasn't sure about letting them live here of all places.
"I have the same misgivings about it too, but Suiryu insisted." Maki said offhandedly.
She turned to the students who all had their things in hand. She cleared her throat and announced. "You have all graduated from the lessons, and each one of you have the same abilities as Toji sensei and myself. Do NOT abuse your power!" she roared.
"YES SENSEI!" they shouted back respectfully.
Toji smirked. He never thought he would have been the teaching type and yet, here he is before his first class that have graduated under him. "So, with that in mind, we are going to appoint the heads of the household here. Everyone has worked hard under us, but I think we can all agree who has excelled in their learning and lessons… Ghost."
There was one student, Toji would admit he favored this one since he reminded him a lot of himself. Ghost was nineteen years old, he came here when the first wave of student arrived a few years ago and yet he caught on so quickly to the lessons and took his training seriously. He had long black hair, with a sturdy frame. Toji smirked once more as he came forward, he lowered his head to them.
"Sensei, thank you for everything." He said with great sincerity.
"I nominate Ghost to be one of the family heads, are there any objections?" Toji asked.
Much to his shock, there weren't any. Students knew too that he liked this kid a lot, despite the fact he got stronger each and every day, Toji would see Ghost also help the others too. He never flaunted his power, showed off or put other down because of it. He was a great teacher himself.
"We have no objections." Said one of the female students.
Ghost bowed politely to the masses. "I will be in your care." He decreed.
"I nominate Nokia as the second head." Maki called.
Toji knew this one well. Nokia was the strongest girl among the students here. She could hold her own against any of them, including Ghost, in fact, she is nearly on par with him. She was a small-framed young woman with black skin and long braided hair. Despite her size, she could kick anyone's ass!
There was no objections to her being the second head of the house.
"As such, I ask you all continue to treat each other respectfully, for from this moment on, you are all a family. This here is the former clan estate of the Zen'in. Toji and I both come from this clan, and we are the remaining survivors of it." Maki explained. "However, Suiryu has known you have all wanted to move out of the domain. He has taken his time to renovate this estate, Mechamaru has also installed technology within to assist you if you are hunting curses. However, the true beauty of this place is the security guard… Right Naoya?"
Toji peered over and saw Naoya standing there…
"What the hell happened to you?" Toji asked.
"Shut up, I don't want to talk about it!" he said but then glared at the students. "They won't be able to enter. I already set the rule here. Only Zen'ins can enter!" he decreed.
Toji hid his smile as Maki was more open about it. "Well aware. Okay grab your stuff everyone, I'll show you around."
Naoya smirked as the student began to approach, but that smile instantly dropped the moment they crossed the gate without incident. "Hey… Wait! This isn't right! STOP!" he protested.
But they all made their way in.
Naoya froze as his shoulders slumped. "I know I can expel them, I know it! Why isn't this working now!"
Toji snickered. "Hey, that little rule? Thanks, that will protect the kids a lot better than being left on their own…"
"What?" Naoya demanded.
"I didn't tell you this, and you can't change your rule now right?" Toji asked.
The sneer on his face was the only answer he needed.
"Right, so it's a good thing I didn't say this out loud with Maki. Everyone we teach, who graduate from our lessons… they gain the name of Zen'in."
"WHAT!"
"Well, these kids are orphans, they don't have a proper family name. So, might as well give then one that essentially only one person is using right now. You don't count since you ain't human."
"TOJI! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO YOUR CLAN?" Naoya protested.
"MY clan… like to beat the shit out of me, MY clan, saw me as nothing more than a failure… MY clan… never treated me anything close to family…"
He saw the light in Naoya's eye fade. Stunned beyond belief, and yet oddly enough, silent about it.
As Toji walked away from him, he paused when Naoya whispered. "I never saw you as a failure… I only wanted to be acknowledged by you…"
He stopped oddly.
Toji turned and saw the look on his face. Naoya looked rather pathetic right now!
"You serious?" he asked with a smirk on his face. "You wanted MY attention? The great prodigy of the Zen'in clan… sought MY approval?"
There was no sneer on his face, he didn't look upset… if anything, he reminded him of a sad puppy at this point.
"I have only wanted to be like you… to stand as an equal next to you and Satoru Gojo…"
Toji approached him and leaned in. "That was never going to happen, you know that right? Being Gojo's equal? And wouldn't your old man say why would you want to lower yourself to a monkey's standard? You would have been laughed out and disowned by the clan had you told them that you looked up to me."
"But…"
"Everyone here now minus you… everyone is just like me… some have been treated like I was, others have not but have suffered. You think I would be touched that a prick like you wants to stand as my equal, when you won't even acknowledge those I trained?"
Silence.
For once Naoya had shut the hell up. There was nothing he could say at this point that would make Toji see his perspective. He didn't need to hear it anyways.
#
The students knew their way around the estate. They understood that the various buildings were for everyone to use as living residence. "We know some of you may hook up, some of you already have. Just keep it civil, Toji and I will come by to check on you as well. Suiryu may also drop in unannounced so heads up on that."
Maki was just finishing giving everyone the details to the estate. The main house is used for meetings, as well as getting everyone else who may come here situated and adjusted. There is also a video conference room that connects to the domain.
"And if for any reason you need to return to the domain, there is a daemon gate here. It's in the pit, on the left side that gap by the wall in the corner. That's a daemon gate." Toji chimed in.
The students nodded and thanked them once more for their guidance.
"But, before we go. We got one other surprise for you. One last hunt with us!" Toji called.
They whispered in shock, but they were all smiling to the news. "In fact, we are going to be hunting near the family estate here. Curses have gathered up and have tried to take over this area. It's more difficult for them to do now since you got that jackass over there." Maki explained as Naoya finally showed his face once again. He sneered at her but said nothing.
"With that being said, let's get to some house cleaning here!"
They would wonder off the clan grounds and into the woods that surrounded them. There were some curses, nothing really threatening or anything like that. But it was a good bonding exercise for the students who will be on their own.
When they cleared the area, they returned and started to organize themselves. Ghost and Nokia spoke with everyone and in a respectful tone. They are going to take turn doing chores however, everyone is going to responsible for cooking.
Toji turned to Maki and nodded. "Have we given them everything?" she asked.
"I gave them all their debit and credit cards. Luckily, there's a guy name Numbers. He took a shine to Nanami's approach on various not fighting ideas. He is going to be in charge of the finances here. Eso made certain that everyone here knows how to cook for themselves and for a large group if they do a communal meal."
Maki nodded.
With that, they took their leave, Toji peered over at Naoya one last time but found his cousin was avoiding eye contact with him.
Maki and Toji walked for a short while until she said. "Why didn't you do it?"
He paused but smirked. "Came close," he said. "Then again, no one really knows THAT side of the story…"
"THAT side?" she asked offhandedly.
Toji smiled once more. "It was shortly after I obtained heavenly restrictions. The family came to see what was wrong since I was left in the pit once more… apparently it was punishment since what little curse energy I had was nearly gone. Well, since I wasn't focused on growing it, they decided I was no longer needed. I was thrown in… but that was what I needed to awaken."
"Sounds familiar…"
"Yeah, I smelt your blood in the pit too, despite it being years and whatever else has happened to the estate in the time I was gone. But I smelt your blood, then another similar to yours… your sister I assume. Then your old man…"
"Get back to your story,"
"Right… well… I was tossed into the pit, I carried a small curse weapon with me and used it, clearing the curses out with a dinky weapon no bigger than a kitchen knife. They were waiting for me to die. I know they were. And when that last bit of curse energy was expelled out of me… Well… let's just say everyone looked like the dead when they found me. I was sitting there, waiting for them to open the door. When they saw the death that lingered around me, they realized, I could do that to them with such ease. So, I slowly stood up and began to approach the door. All the while I twirled this little knife in my hand, staring at their throats and thinking how easy it would be… to just…" he paused. "Odd thing was, despite the fact I could do it, something held me back, telling me not to go through with it…"
Maki was silent.
"Did you ever think about what would have happened if you did?"
"All the time," he said rather bluntly. "Had I, I doubt I would ever know peace again, I would be on the run constantly by the jujutsu council. Since I cut the strings to one of their puppets. If that had happened, I never would have met my wife. I wouldn't have had Megumi… I wouldn't be here and nor would you."
Maki nodded to that idea.
"Any regrets?" Toji asked of her.
Maki paused. "Some, but at the same time… none." She said bluntly. "I regret I couldn't save Mai. But, in her death, I was able to become this…"
"Yeah, that whole twin thing for sorcerers really is a pain in the ass." Toji said offhandedly.
"So, we get ready for the next group?" Maki questioned. "I do admit, we have less and less students. Some just can't reach it, others aren't interested and sometimes… it's just not possible for them to achieve."
"We'll keep going, it doesn't matter if we get more students or any, if anything that Tooru woman will put us to work elsewhere!"
She snorted a laugh but nodded. "Yeah, she does have a knack for it."
"Had you met her aunt, you would know it's a Tooru thing…"