Coco: Hey, everyone, here I am with another Jujutsu Kaisen update. I've just been feeling in the mood to write for Eiji. Might be because I rewatched Jujutsu Kaisen 0...But who knows?
I just wanted to make a brief disclaimer before we get started. A warning really. On the last second of this chapter, there might be some content triggering for some people who struggle with their own emotions and/or have trouble handling depression. And I think I might kind of leave this warning at the beginning of a lot of these chapters moving forward.
Because the way I wrote Eiji-at least for me-represents some of the struggles that I've dealt with personally. Like, being unable to expression yourself when you feel pain or sadness or anger. Or feeling unsafe to express them. Or feeling as if expressing yourself when are feeling these things is wrong because the people around you don't understand, or don't know how to help you with what you are going through.
So, I just wanted to warn you all ahead of time and tell you to read at your own discretion.
'This can't be happening,' Yuji thought as he watched the special grade curse toss Eiji to the side like a rag doll.
She hit the wall with a sickening thump before sliding down onto the ground. Megumi was by her side in an instant while calling out her name. He had his hands pressed against her wound as her head was lulling to the side.
'If I don't do something, Megumi and Eiji will…,' Yuji thought as he watched how desperately Megumi was trying to get her to respond. 'Though it might already be too late for Eiji…'
The thought was a painful one as he watched the girl's skin become sickly pale.
"Don't you dare die on me, dammit!" Megumi snapped. "Eiji, you can survive this! Heal yourself! Take it! Take it and heal your wound, now!"
Yuji wasn't sure what Megumi meant when he ordered Eiji to 'take it' but the girl seemed to stir at his words. Yuji wanted to hurry over to her side as well, but remembering they weren't alone, he turned his eyes back to the cursed spirit who was smiling manically at his hand, which was coated with Eiji's blood. It giggled while smearing the girl's blood up and down its arm with its hand. As if the sight of the red liquid brought it joy. Yuji felt his anger well up as his lone hand clenched into a fist.
'I know what I have to do.' Yuji thought.
To save Megumi so he could go and find Nobara, he'd have to unleash Sukuna. It was the only way. Otherwise…the rest of them would…
"Hey, Sukuna," Yuji called out to the spirit. "If I die here then you die too, right? So, you have to help me out."
Said curse scoffed as one of Sukuna's eyes and his mouth appeared on Yuji's cheek.
"Not true." Sukuna told Yuji. "Even if the part of me that's inside you dies, there are eighteen other fragments of my soul still out there. Still, irritatingly enough, I don't have control of this body. So, if you want to switch, go ahead of switch, but once you do, I'll kill that punk sorcerer and his little bitch before she finishes healing herself. And I'll take my time on her too along with that other girl."
Yuji narrowed his eyes at Sukuna's threat. However, something else that Sukuna said caught his attention.
'Finishes healing herself?' Yuji wondered.
Yuji then stiffened when a pink light appeared behind him. He whirled around with wide eyes when seeing a glowing, pink light emitting underneath Megumi's hand. The one that was placed over Eiji's wound. As it glowed, color returned to Eiji's complexion.
"People in her clan are hard to kill." Sukuna said. "I would know. I've had fun killing her clansmen before. And if I keep that punk alive, I can use his very own feelings for her against him! Use them to keep her alive longer to prolong the fun!"
He laughed manically as he said this as Megumi looked over his shoulder to glare at the cursed spirit.
"I'm not going to let you do that." Yuji said firmly.
"Is that right?" Sukuna mocked. "But if your focus is on me then your friends are going to die."
As if to prove his point, the Special Grade Curse in front of him let out a blast of pure cursed energy. Megumi quickly covered Eiji's body with his own as the blast exploded between him and Yuji. It sent his ears ringing.
'That wasn't jujutsu,' Megumi realized as he stared down at Eiji whose breathing had evened out. 'He just released pure cursed energy.'
There was no way they could fight against that. Meaning even if Eiji healed herself now, he wouldn't be strong enough to save them. They'd both die here. He mentally cursed as he pressed even harder against the still bleeding hole in Eiji's torso. Though it was mostly healed now, there was still a danger that she'd bleed out even if they could make a run for it.
'What do I do?' He wondered as his mind raced a mile per minute.
"Fushiguro! Fushiguro!" Yuji shouted snapping Megumi out of his thoughts.
Megumi looked over at the pinkette as he was giving Megumi a stern look. One telling him to get focused.
"Take Akashi and get out of here!" Yuji told him. "And find Kugisaki! The three of you need to get away from me! I'll stay here and keep this one busy. At least until you three are clear! As soon as you three are out, give me some kind of signal. And then I'll switch bodies with Sukuna."
"You'll never stand a chance!" Megumi argued. "Fighting that thing with one hand?!"
In his eyes, Yuji was just walking willingly right to his death. Something Megumi refused to be okay with.
"Look closer," Yuji said as he and Megumi glanced at the cursed spirit who was giggling to itself. "That curse is having fun. It's obviously toying with us. At least I can buy us some time."
"You can't!" Megumi told Yuji.
"Fushiguro…it's okay." Yuji said smiling at the dark-haired male. "Besides, if you don't leave now, who's going to make sure Akashi gets the help she needs? She needs you to keep her alive, right?"
He pointed to the hand the pink energy was coming from. The hand Megumi was desperately keeping pressed to her wound. Megumi looked back to Eiji as her eyes were slowly opening to meet his concerned gaze. She smiled softly at him.
"Megumi…I'm sorry…for being so useless…" She murmured with a weak chuckle.
Megumi bowed his head in relief when hearing her voice. Some of the tension left his body as he leaned closer to Eiji to rest his forehead against hers.
"Shut up, idiot." Megumi said. "Just focus on closing your wound. Think you can while we're moving?"
Eiji nodded weakly then winced when Megumi helped her to her feet. The girl's eyes fell on Yuji as he smiled at her.
"It's good to see you're going to be okay, Akashi." Yuji told her. "You scared me there for a second."
"…Yuji…" Eiji murmured as her smile tightened.
"Don't look so worried." Yuji said. "It's all going to be okay. Just make sure to survive this. Otherwise, Gojo and Fushiguro will be sad."
Before Eiji could comprehend what was going on, Megumi lifted her up into his arms and took off running.
"Wait…," she said as she clutched the front of Megumi's uniform. "Why…why are we leaving Yuji…Megumi, why?!"
Megumi just kept his head bowed as he continued to run. Forcing himself not to look back. If he had, he might have noticed, Sukuna's eye narrowing on Yuji's cheek.
'Those damn sorcerers of the Akashi Clan…never just die easy,' he thought before mentally smirking. 'But that girl is something a bit different…she's cursed herself…how interesting…'
He chuckled thinking she'll be fun to watch grow as time goes on. He always did have a soft spot for those of the Akashi Clan. They always brought him some of the best entertainment back in the day.
'People who wear their emotions as freely as those fools are more likely to become victims to curses,' Sukuna thought as his foolish vessel tried to face the special grade cursed spirit. 'But emotions are also the strongest weapon a sorcerer can have. I wonder will this girl fall to her curse. Or will she become a fun little plaything for me in the future?'
He almost got goosebumps just thinking about it. He might not have control of his vessel now, but he will eventually, and when he does, he'll be sure to have some fun with that Akashi brat.
'So, don't go dying so soon, little girl,' Sukuna thought as said girl's voice was growing weaker the farther Megumi carried them away and as she was starting to slip into unconsciousness.
Eiji let out a laugh as she ran underneath the Sakura trees with Megumi walking behind her. They were at Jujutsu High today for training now that they were done at school. She always thought the Sakura trees at Jujutsu High were the prettiest. So full of blossoms and planted just right, so the sun hit them perfectly as it was setting to cause a beautiful glow.
"If you keep it up, you're going to trip and hurt yourself." Megumi told her sounding exasperated. "And I won't carry you if you do."
"We both know that's a lie, Megumi." Eiji said with a cheeky smile. "If you actually thought I was hurt, you'd help me. You're just nice like that."
Megumi scoffed at her words as he stuffed his hands into his pockets. Eiji waited for him to catch up to her before they both walked on together.
"I'm really not." Megumi said.
He then stiffened when Eiji looped her arms with one of his and rested her head on his shoulder.
"You can't fool me," Eiji said. "You act like you don't care, but deep down you're a really good guy. Which is why I trust you so much. I know whenever that you're around that I'm safe, so I don't have to worry."
Megumi looked down at the shorter teen—well, she wasn't a teen just yet as her thirteen birthday wasn't for another month—as she was looking forward.
"…you're an idiot…" Megumi finally said with a sigh leaving between his lips.
Eiji just laughed at his words before she hugged his arm even closer to her side.
"Whatever you say, Megumi." Eiji said. "But just know, you can't hide the fact that you love me. I can read your emotions, remember?"
Megumi looked down at Eiji after he placed her in the car with Ijichi and the unconscious Nobara. Though both girls had lost consciousness, he was relieved that neither of them was in danger of dying. Eiji's wound was closed now. Maybe not completely healed but closed to the point where the bleeding stopped.
'I shouldn't have let you get hurt like this,' Megumi thought as his hands clenched into fists.
He knew that curse was out of all their leagues. Even though Eiji's cursed energy ranks as high as some first-grade sorcerers, she can't control it yet and must limit her output when using cursed techniques. If she uses more than her body is ready to handle, her cursed energy hurts her as well as curses. But a part of him had hoped that if she unleashed that strong attack that maybe they could all survive this mission with minimum energies.
'That was a stupid hope,' Megumi thought. 'I should have just grabbed her and Itadori and ran first thing.'
Thinking of Yuji had Megumi looking back at the compound. Yuji was still in there with that special grade curse. Even if Yuji managed to swap places with Sukuna in time, there's still a risk. The risk of Sukuna getting loose and going on a rampage was the worst possible risk. And Megumi highly doubted anyone would be coming to help them in time. So, he'd just try to do what he can for now. With that in mind, he looked to Ijichi who was getting ready to leave.
"We need to expand the evacuation area to 10 kilometers." Megumi told the older male.
The people in the area weren't safe with the special grade curse in the first place. If Sukuna ended up getting away before Yuji could switch places with him then even more lives would be in danger.
"What about you?" Ijichi questioned.
"I'll stay." Megumi replied. "I'm going to wait for Itadori."
He knew the boy would do it for him, and he also knew Eiji would be upset if they all left Yuji behind. He knew she was already distraught about leaving him in the compound alone to begin with.
"Understood." Ijichi said. "Alright, let me get Kugisaki and Akashi to the hospital then I'll come back here for you."
"No, you wouldn't be of much use in this situation," Megumi told the man bluntly. "To really help, you could have them send us a sorcerer who's Grade One or higher. If one was around."
He said this while crossing his arms as Ijichi looked insulted by the boy's words.
"I'll do my best." Ijichi told Megumi. "Later."
He rolled up the car window before he pulled away from the compound. Megumi looked back at the building. If Yuji didn't come out of that building and only Sukuna was left in his place, Megumi knew what he had to do. It was his responsibility to take Sukuna down no matter what.
Eiji groaned as she started to feel herself wake. Her eyes fluttered open to see she was in the medical wing of the school.
'How…how did I get here again?' She wondered as her hand moved up to block the harshness of the lights above her.
All she could remember at the moment was arriving to the juvenile correction facility for their mission. They went inside…and then…
'That's right…' Eiji thought with her mind still a bit hazy. 'We ran into that Special Grade Curse…and then…'
As her mind was still trying to put together the pieces, she felt a hand gently grasp the one laying at her side.
"Looks who's finally awake," she heard Satoru's familiar voice.
It lacked its usual flippancy, which immediately put Eiji's brain on high alert. She turned her head towards the white-haired man as he was giving her a smile. Though she could see that it was a strained one.
"Satoru…what happened?" She asked him.
The white-haired man, who was sat at her bedside, frowned as he reached out with his other hand to push some of her hair back.
"Eiji, don't you remember?" He questioned. "Your mission to the correction facility?"
Eiji looked up in thought as her smile became tight. She could remember bits and pieces. She even remembered being hurt, but…the details were fuzzy.
"We went on a mission to either rescue or confirm the passing of five juveniles at a correctional facility." Eiji said. "The curse in the facility was…a curse womb…with the potential of becoming a special grade…"
She trailed off as her head started to hurt from her trying to recount everything that happened before she wound up here.
"That's right." Satoru said as he squeezed her hand. "Do you remember anything after that?"
"It gets fuzzy but yeah." She replied. "I remember going into the building…confirming three were dead…Yuji and Megumi were arguing and then we were attacked by that special grade curse…"
Yuji had lost a hand trying to fight against it and that's when Eiji had stepped in to fight in on her own.
"I didn't even faze it." Eiji remembered as she held tightly onto Satoru's hand. "It laughed at my attempts and then…it stuck its arm through my torso."
She remembered the pain…and how she just dangled in the air before being tossed the side like garbage. She remembered that she was dying…and she would have if not…
"Is…is Megumi okay?" She asked looking to Satoru. "I remember him yelling at me…telling me not to die…and then nothing."
"Megumi's okay." Satoru promised her. "He's already been cleared by Ieiri along with Nobara."
Eiji was relieved to hear it because she had been worried about Nobara too. She vaguely remembers the girl disappearing at some point during their mission, so it was nice to hear she was okay.
"Yuji on the other hand didn't make it." Satoru told Eiji.
Eiji's heart stopped at those words as she stared at Satoru in disbelief. She was sure her face didn't reflect it as it never does, but she felt like she had just been sucker punched to the gut. As Eiji thought about Yuji, the memories of him telling her and Megumi to make a run for it returned to her. She remembered asking Megumi why they were leaving without him, and she remembers the look of pain on the ravenette's face as he ignored her questioning and kept running.
"Yuji was able to switch places with Sukuna to exorcise the curse womb." Satoru continued. "However, he couldn't switch back with Sukuna after. Sukuna took Yuji hostage by ripping his heart from his chest after going to face Megumi. I guess Sukuna thought with Yuji as a hostage if I or another stronger sorcerer showed up, we wouldn't try to exorcise him."
Eiji continued to listen intently to Satoru's words as she felt a swirl of emotions build up inside of her.
"Megumi took it upon himself to face Sukuna." Satoru said. "Not that Sukuna would have let him walk away anyway. The two fought for some time, but in the end, Yuji took back control of his body and died."
Eiji's emotions were raging at this point as a Cheshire Cat-like grin spread across her face. She felt angry…angry at Sukuna for killing Yuji…she felt angry at Megumi for putting himself in that kind of danger. She felt angry at Yuji for dying. But she also felt sorrow for losing him. But most of all she was angry at herself. She lost someone else important to her because she was too weak to do anything. She was useless…helpless just as she was back then.
'What was the point of all that training to become stronger if I couldn't even keep one friend from dying?!' She thought as the first few giggles escaped her lips. 'What was the point of making that sacrifice back then?!'
A full laugh came out of her mouth next, which had her clamping her hand down over her mouth. Her body shook in repressed laughter as her fingers tightened painfully around her mouth. Her nails dug into her skin leaving marks as she bit the inside of her cheek hard enough to draw blood.
'Stop it!' She mentally screamed at herself as laugher came out between her fingers. 'Stop it…stop it…stop it! Please, stop!'
However, the laugher continued as her body shook trying to let it all out. When she felt such strong emotions, her body tried to give her an outlet. And as she can't expressive negatively, anger usually turned to shouts of glee. Embarrassment expressed itself in little giggles and jokes. And sadness…the need to cry came out as laughter. The more powerful the urge to cry and sob were the more maniacal the laughter.
'Just shut up already!' Eiji mentally cried. 'I hate it…I hate hearing you!'
She hated the sound of her own laughter. It was like poison to her ears. She just wanted it to go away. Eiji came out of her mental battle with herself when a hand firmly grasped her wrist and removed her hand from her mouth.
"Eiji, it's okay." Satoru said. "Don't hold it in. You're safe here."
He continued to speak to her soothingly as he brought her into his arms, so she could bury her face into his chest. She clung to him with her fingers digging into his uniform as her shoulders shook and her laughter filled the room.
"They—haha—we…we were sent there for a reason, weren't we?" Eiji asked as she pulled back to look up into his face. "That mission—hehe—there was no point in sending in first years to confirm if people were alive or dead when such a strong curse was involved. So why—hahaha—why were we actually sent on that mission?"
She asked this in between laughter before placing her face right against Satoru's chest. Satoru, who had already figured out why his precious students were sent on that mission, frowned as his hands clenched into fists against her back.
"Don't worry about that." Satoru said. "Nothing like that will ever happen again."
Eiji just kept laughing into his chest as he held her. The girl not knowing that as her guardian was trying to comfort her, she had two concerned classmates on the other side of the door. Outside of her room, Megumi was leaning against the wall. His hands were shaking as he stuffed them deep into his pockets. His eyes were clenched shut as he hit the back of his head against the wall out of frustration. He wanted to be in there right now, but respected Satoru's call of not overwhelming Eiji and letting her work through her emotions after hearing of Yuji's passing.
"…you said Akashi can't express negative emotions earlier today." Nobara said breaking the silence between them. "You meant that literally, didn't you?"
She figured that had to be the case as she listed to Eiji's laughter coming through the door. Though it sounded cheery to the point of being manic, Nobara felt like she wasn't listening to laughter…but sobbing instead. Though she had no real reason to feel that way.
"Yeah, I did." Megumi replied as he looked up at the ceiling. "Ei…Akashi's been cursed since before I met her. Have you ever heard of her clan before?"
Nobara shook her head and Megumi sighed guessing he'd have to start from the beginning.
"Well, they're a clan of sorcerers who only come second the Three Major Clans." Megumi said. "Curses are born from negative emotions. The same can be said for cursed energy and the Akashi Clan have the power to control emotions. Positive and negative."
Nobara nodded to show she was following along as Megumi moved his eyes to her.
"Some in Akashi's clan were so strong that they could control curses to a certain extent because of how curses are born." Megumi continued. "But to gain that strength, they had to make sacrifices. To gain power, they sacrificed their own emotions."
Nobara's eyes went wide when hearing this as she didn't know that was even possible.
"They still felt those emotions, but they could no longer express them once they fed those emotions to their cursed technique." Megumi said. "Let's see if I can explain it…Akashi once said that it's like there's this little monster inside of her. A monster that has its own consciousness. Through it, Akashi and her clansmen could make deals. If they agree to feed the monster their emotions, it will in return give them more power."
Nobara frowned trying to imagine what that'd be like. To have something that had to be a curse living inside you like that…it felt weird on so many levels.
"And whatever emotion they chose to sacrifice, that emotion would be stored within them and build up because they had no way of letting it out." Megumi said. "Many would choose positive emotions. Happiness, love, peace. Because not being able to burst out in joy is a lot easier to deal with than negative emotions building up and not being released. Could you imagine constantly carrying around sadness or anger with your only way of releasing it being the same as letting a bomb go off?"
Nobara shook her head. And while she was starting to understand how Eiji's gifts work, she was still confused about this curse of hers that Megumi mentioned.
"And most in her clan would only sacrifice one to two emotions at most." Megumi said. "But Akashi…Akashi sacrificed the ability to show any negative emotion. Meaning every moment of sadness, anger, pain…it builds up inside of her. She feels it constantly. Even when she is happy, it's always there. And some days, it completely outweighs all other emotions. It doesn't matter how much Satoru acts like an idiot to make her laugh…or how much I try to at least get her to feel an ounce of peace, she just can't shake the negativity."
Nobara's eyes widened at this information as she glanced through the window in the door to Eiji's room. The girl's laughter had died down. She almost looked as if she might fall back asleep as she laid half limp in Satoru's arms…a tiny smile on her face.
"But why?" Nobara asked as she looked back to Megumi. "Why did she do it?"
"To try and save her family." Megumi replied. "Several years back, the Akashi Clan were being massacred by an unknown special grade curse. To this day, no one has figured out what it was. But whatever it was, it was able to slaughter Grade One sorcerers like it was nothing. Akashi had been there that night. A little girl being clutched in her mother's arms and completely helpless against such a monster."
Megumi hated just to think about that night, and he hadn't even been there. But Eiji told him about it. She left out a lot of the details for his sake, but even what he did know made him get sick to his stomach when thinking about it.
"She told me she didn't know what possessed her to do it." Megumi said. "She doesn't even remember how she knew how to do it. But she made a deal with that thing inside of her. She'd give it all her negative emotions if it'd just give her the power to exorcise the curse to save her family. The deal was made and with its help, Akashi not only gathered up all her emotions but the emotions of her clansmen as well. The sorrow they felt seeing each other slaughtered…the pain they felt as they were being hurt…the anger of feeling helpless and the fear of dying. Taking all those combined feelings she destroyed that curse along with most of her family home. And even after all that…even after she made such a sacrifice not a single member of her clan survived."
Nobara felt her heart lurch painfully when hearing this as her eyes started to sting. She bit her lip to hold in them in as she put her arms around herself tightly.
"All of them…all of them died?" Nobara asked in a whisper.
"That's right." Megumi said. "Akashi was taken in by Satoru not long after that. If it wasn't for him, Akashi would probably be at the Kyoto school with that guy."
He said that with a frown, and before Nobara could ask him who he was talking about, Satoru came through the door. Both teens turned to him expectantly. The white-haired man turned to Megumi.
"I have to take care of things regarding Yuji's passing." Satoru said. "You'll stay with her, won't you?"
"Of course." Megumi said without a moment of hesitation.
"We'll take care of her," Nobara added.
Satoru smiled at the both of them before he left to go to the morgue where Yuji's body was being held. His two students then entered Eiji's room, which had her eyes flickering towards them. Eiji gave them a tired smile as they made their way to her bed side.
"I'm happy to see you both." Eiji said. "I was worried about you."
"Worry about yourself," Megumi said as he took a seat on the edge of her bed. "You nearly broke your promise to me, Akashi. You can't die and leave me behind to deal with that idiot Gojo by myself."
As Eiji apologized to Megumi with a soft laugh, Nobara watched the two while starting to understand their dynamic a bit better. The brunette smiled slightly as she listened to Megumi refused Eiji's apology, which had Eiji complaining that he was being a jerk. The atmosphere wasn't as tense as it was before, but all three teens couldn't ignore the feeling of something—or rather someone—missing from the room.
Someone who would have been telling Megumi to be nice to Eiji as he laughed at the pair of them. Yuji was gone and while they might have only known him for a short while, the pain was still there. And none of them thought it'd go away any time soon.
Coco: Well, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. It was kind of dark this time around and the next one won't be the cheeriest, but they won't all be this way. We'll have some fun was the Kyoto students join the party and Yuji returns to the group. I plan to write like a bunch of platonic cuteness between him and Eiji once he's back in action. They're going to have so much fun during the exchange event...ya know until it all goes it shit. But that's still a few chapters away, so we'll worry about ti then.
Now, as always, you guys continue to be your beautiful selves and stay safe out there. Until next time~ Bye!
