the eyes and the teeth

A/N: I want to complete this before Season 2 drops. As always, feedback is appreciated. Thanks for reading!

Shirokaki – preparing a rice field for planting by flooding it and tilling the soil

Haru no Mizu - "lakes and torrents of spring"

Kaibori: Shio wo Maku

Kaibori – draining a pond, lake, or ditch (to remove fish, purify water, etc.); cleaning a well

Shio wo Maku – to spread salt (to spiritually purify)

"Homage to all-pervading diamond thunderbolts. Utterly crush and devour!" - the mantra for the "Kai" gesture in the Nice Cuts Mudra

"In jujutsu fights, it's always a matter of who's the bigger monster."

A curse is exorcized and a domain is made. Between that, a funeral is held and a promise is broken.

The flowers are starting to wilt.

You've just started noticing all the yellowed leaves and the drooping stems. Among all the totems and books, and all the other little things in this small apartment, the flowers are Tatsuya's reminder. The flowers are Tatsuya's proof of existence, never mind all his other things, his clothes still in the closet, his toothbrush, his perfume– No, maybe that's the thing. Maybe that's the thing to track the Jorogumo once and for all–

You've already spent so much time grieving, haven't you? You visit his grave and hunt down cursed spirits whenever you can. You ought to simplify your goal now, gather all your resources and hone all your skills to hunt down the Jorogumo and peel its skin off his foul bones– But you weren't always like this, moody and angry at the world. You used to be nice. You used to pick wildflowers near the beach. You used to wait for the Akkorokamui to appear–

And maybe that's the thing you need to do, worship one god among your family's arsenal of many, and wish for the divine to enact its punishment on these foul, filthy yokai.

You stare at the pot where the violets used to be, lamenting its wilted blossoms and withered leaves. How long has it been since you've cracked open the window to let the sunlight in? The city at night, behind the frosted glass, is hazy and blurry and almost dream-like. But in the daytime, the city is quiet, grayscale, and devoid of vibrance. There's a reason the yokai prefer to hunt at night, you think. And it's the same reason you sleep during the day whenever you're not out hunting for them.

But as you prepare yourself for bed, a series of loud knocks startle you.

"Senpai."

And it's the only other person who knows where you live.

"It's too early."

"Perfect time for breakfast!"

If you told anyone back home that you'd see the Satoru Gojo with a bag of convenience store food, they'd never believe you.

"I work nights, dinner then."

But you appreciate the gesture. You appreciate everything he's done for you since that day you left Tokyo and went to Yokohama. Satoru Gojo is probably your only friend now, besides being your only other mentor in the world of spirits. And he's probably the only one in the world who could go to Tokyo from Yokohama in the blink of an eye, while you and the rest of the world travels in trains and cars and planes and boats… Sometimes you wonder if that's how a god travels. Instantaneously. Sometimes you wonder if you could too.

"Let's eat!"

Maybe Satoru could end the Jorogumo by himself, maybe he was just giving this to you because he felt sorry. Acting like a good senior to the eager junior, as what's expected of him.

You read the packaging and you try not to act surprised when you see the label, "This is from… Fukuoka?"

He hums in agreement like a child, you think, before you turn back to the plants.

"I should be in Tokyo more often," you say to the pot on the shelf with browning leaves and dead flowers, "the plants need me."

"Then bring them with you."

You know that won't be easy.

"Or bring the search here."

But you know he is aware what the Jorogumo and all other spirits like, so you don't rule out his suggestion, and instead answer, "Tokyo will be difficult."

"Tokyo will always be difficult the same way it's difficult for a jujutsu sorcerer to find work in Hokkaido."

You almost chuckle at that.

"Hokkaido is sacred ground," you reply, "and it's because of my family."

It almost feels… entitled.

"You ever thought of expanding the family business?"

What business exactly?

"If you could get Tokyo, then the money it'll rack up in a week far exceeds however you earn back home."

But this isn't just about money, is it?

"Maybe you'll rack in more in just a day."

Why does he seem excited about all this?

"Just imagine–"

But what you imagine instead of all the money is the world, is Tatsuya still alive.

That won't bring him back.

"What?"

You didn't realize you'd said it out loud, so you commit to it, and complete the thought, "All the money in the world can't bring back the dead."

Can't. Won't. Ever. You understand this. You've had to watch burials and funerals, see exactly what becomes of those who fall victim, those who fail, those who lose. And you've already lost so much, haven't you? So what does that make you?

"Nothing can ever bring back the dead," he says, "not even a god."

You don't believe that. There have been gods–

"I know from experience," he continues, "and I do know some gods."

Then he says nothing else, just looks at you– peers at you, really– over his glasses. And you know, and it makes your skin crawl to know, that the Six Eyes can see through you. But you don't show it, you don't it because he already knows, he already sees it, feels it maybe. The Six Eyes can see everything, and Limitless can control everything, just like a god.

"I know some gods too," you say, grinning.

"Really?" He laughs, "Maybe we have some common friends then."

Then you frown, remembering exactly what kind of gods you know, what kind of gods you're made to deal with, what kind of gods you've yet to be introduced to, what kinds of gods you're not supposed to know… Which of them does he know? Which of them is he?

"Gods rarely ever make friends, senpai, we're the ones who try to make friends with them."

"Mm-hm," he nods enthusiastically, "so eat. Gods rarely ever make offerings either."

He lifts a pair of chopsticks and slides the food he got for you to the other side of the table. And it's nice, you think, it's nice to be friends with a god like Satoru Gojo.

"You fool!"

But it's not nice when your grandmother is accusing you of something.

"You absolute buffoon!"

What that something is, you aren't really sure.

"Look at what you've done!"

But you… can't, can you? Not when it's just her voice on speaker phone and you were supposedly answering a call from your father–

"You let it run rampant in your city!"

What is?

You know your grandmother to be a little preachy these days, a little too occupied with her otherworldly companions, a little distant. She's been conducting seances more often, locking herself in a specific ritual chamber beneath a specific temple in a certain mountain… for days' on end. And you know this because your cousins tell you, they tell you how lucky you are to escape the clutches of the most-high, most-holy divinator that is your grandmother.

So when you answer her screeching with a half-worried, "Grandmother, I–"

You don't expect to see it– grotesque, uncanny, inhuman thing– crawling over the windows of a high building. It's such a shock to see it so far from its territory, so strange to see it unbound and… No. It's not such a shock, it's not even a coincidence.

This was done on purpose.

Something or somebody was unleashing all these cursed spirits in the city.

But who? Why? How–

The thing turns to you with all its bulging eyes, and screeches, "Come chase me, onmyoji!"

It can speak in your language, which means it's no ordinary spirit, no mere ghost hungry or out for revenge, it was… It had manifested its own consciousness. Just like the onryou. Just like the many, many cursed spirits you've encountered in the city. But what was causing all this? Who was creating all this chaos? You can recall very few onmyoji and jujutsu sorcerers in history who have the ability, but who could have such an ability now?

"The temple purification!" Your grandmother's voice jolts you back, "Did you forget?"

A purification? You just did one recently, and there's no other temple near you that hasn't had its seals renewed and repurified in recent years. Unless there was something or someone who removed–

"I wouldn't," you say, "but I'm going after it."

"Just put it back where it belongs," she hisses, "be glad they told me."

Who's they?

You don't ask, instead you tell her sweetly, "Take care, Grandma."

To which her only response is a sigh. Whether she's disappointed or relieved, you don't think about it now, because there's something close to sabotage now, something close to a… conspiracy surrounding the increase of spirit activity in the cities.

Oh, right!

[Gagoze sighted. I'm on it, senpai.]

You send the message to Satoru and gather what arsenal you have available to face it. You doubt he'd be anywhere near Tokyo today, because he told you he's going overseas for some secret rendezvous– But a reply pings, and he says:

[Don't exorcise it without me, kouhai!]

What– What?

[Capture it for me, please~?]

Capture a– What level would that gagoze be, anyway? Do you even have the means of capturing it?

You check the ink on your skin, the tools you have available, and it's… It will be possible for you to capture it, right? You have the skill, you have the tools, you have enough ink to bind and trap it… This is the first time you're going to trap and capture a spirit of this level, and it's for Satoru Gojo. Well, if only your cousins could see this now. If only your grandmother could see you now. If Tatsuya can see you now, if he knew what you really are, then maybe–

"Take care."

You imagine him smiling at you as he arranges the flowers in his shop, and you imagine yourself smiling back at him with promise and determination. But Tatsuya's no longer here, and there are more and more spirits rising every day.

[I'll have it gift-wrapped for you, senpai.]

So instead of remaining wistful, you send that message to Satoru. But still, the question that hangs in your head is, why would your grandmother, a high and divine matriarch of the onmyoji, be rubbing shoulders too often with the gods? Would there be something amidst? Well, there's always something when it comes to the spiritual world, right?

Thankfully, there's only a few places in the city that the gagoze could really call its territory. But it's going to take some time to find it, to single it out from the many, many places of power you know. Or was its territory a place you didn't know, a place you have yet to find? What's difficult about your position here is that you know close to no one, besides Satoru and Shoko, the jujutsu community in Tokyo is unfamiliar to you and you're equally unfamiliar to them. You don't have allies here, not really, you don't have anyone else to call–

"Here, onmyoji!"

It's a gagoze, and it's… calling you? You turn around, trying to look for it among the many buildings, and spot it right in front of you.

"Hurry, hurry!"

It bursts into a run, tripping over an unsuspecting civilian, to which you quickly mutter an apology while you run after it. Most ordinary people don't acknowledge the existence of the supernatural and the occult, and the people who do just sum it all into one lump of "urban legend" and "superstition" and it's not their fault, really. It's not their fault the gods and their divine friends only choose to appear to the very few, and it's not their fault you're among these very few. But among the very few, you're part of the many who have yet to actually witness a god in action.

Quietly, you wonder how the Akkorokamui is now. That counts as seeing an actual god in action, right? When the Akkorokamui waved her bright red tentacles at you in a dance?

You run after the gagoze, halting to catch your breath more often than actually running, and find yourself lagging behind. You pull up the map on your phone and look for the nearest temple or any place of power nearby, and find that there's five of them in the immediate area. But which one of them could it be? The gagoze is supposed to be exclusive to the Gango-ji Temple in Nara, so why would a creature like that be in Tokyo? What could have brought such a thing to it? Who could have–

And then you spot a location on the map that's unusually green with a single, unknown structure in the middle. Could it be a park? A ruin? Most yokai would prefer to make their territories in quieter places near people, so this could likely be it. You head over there, already preparing the characters you'd need to capture it, and find that someone had just bought it recently. The sign is fairly new, and it's a name unheard of, possibly someone who doesn't even know anything about the supernatural.

But there's something… emanating from the place. Something sinister, you think, something foul. It reminds you of that building Satoru took you to. The one where he exorcised whatever was haunting it in the blink of an eye–

Could this be the same thing? Was the demon haunting that building the gagoze? But gagoze don't haunt residential areas, and yokai like it don't move too far from its territory. You doubt the gagoze could have this kind of evil energy around it, much less in a place so far from its domain…

Could this be the start of a domain expansion?

You ignore the sign and push forth, moving past the overgrown weeds in search for the source of this aura. The building in the center used to be a temple, you think, and now it's hiding away in disuse. But still, it is a temple and it could be restored as a proper place of power. Could the person who bought it have thought the same thing? Or would they demolish it in the end?

You notice the aura is emanating from inside the temples, and you scout its surroundings to make sure, to look for any sign of the gagoze. If this was a trap all along, then you'd better root out the cursed spirit before it completes its domain. You know better now, and you're ready to nullify whatever domain comes around you. But what you find at the back of the temple surprises you. The gagoze is nowhere to be found, and what you find instead is a mummified arm. And you know one specific story about a missing arm, don't you?

But this couldn't be it. Why would the arm be here instead of–

You hear the rattling of chains and move quickly before anything can strike you.

"Nagasu: Kireaji."

The ink from your leg lifts and solidifies into the blade. It's become like a favorite now, you think, this crude-edged sword of ink. Because it's versatile and easy, and it should only get sharper and stronger the more often you use it. You can trade most of your one-use techniques with this alone, maybe. You should develop more techniques like this one, you think, all ink-black weapons and equipment and make yourself more like your relatives abroad. "Less reliance on the gods, more dependence on individual strength," as one uncle had said.

You continue circling the outside of the building, letting ink drip from the sword to the ground. The gagoze is still nowhere to be found, but the mummified arm inside the building remains where it is and still emits a strange, eerie aura. You should purify it, at least, if this was that thing your grandmother was screaming at you about. You should purify it, as is your duty to the onmyoji community, to the half-world you live in, to the people living in this area…

"Shirokaki."

You use whatever energy is in you to let the ink overflow into sizeable puddles. You don't have enough to flood this entire space, but what you have is enough. As long as you can focus the same way as before…

You wave the blade in your hands, remembering the movements your father showed you years and years before, when he was purifying a temple back home. From the ink puddles, emerge columns that tower over you and the dilapidated building. The gagoze is still nowhere in sight, so you can purify this location in peace. From the columns then emerge beams, like the support beams of a roof, and from the beams emerges a web-like structure. You look up, and it's nowhere as neat or symmetrical as your father's, but you think it's enough for the next step.

"Haru no Mizu."

You're using a lot more energy than expected, you think, with the next step requiring a lot more than you thought. From the web-like structure, it begins to rain heavily. The ink is cold, and you wonder if it's supposed to be this way, or if your father had mixed his blood with the ink to make it work better. But the rain pours within the area, creating a small flood in the enclosed space. The gagoze is still nowhere in sight and you wonder if it was rampaging and terrorizing the area, or if it was a more… docile yokai. Maybe it lead you here for this exact purpose.

If this is the arm you think it is, then maybe you should offer the gagoze an offering as thanks.

But the space continues to flood, and once the cold, cold ink reaches your ankles you know it's time for the next step.

You being waving the blade again, moving from the memory of your father's close-eyed, smiling face when he did this back then. He is a priest, an expert in purification rituals, and you'd much rather learn from him and your mother than you strict grandmother. He married into the family, but he wasn't from a line of jujutsu sorcerers or onmyoji, but he was spiritualist, a Buddhist monk who served one of the Thirteen Buddhas. He is good at what he does, at exorcising and purifying places of power.

"Kaibori…"

The next step involves draining, and you feel yourself going weak, weary, and out of breath. The ink around you flashes brightly, and for a second it's searing-hot.

Ow!

And now, you think the ink was supposed to be cold. If it wasn't, then maybe this wouldn't work. The ink flashes again, is searing-hot again, before it drains and coils around the arm tightly.

"Shio wo Maku."

You dig the sword into the ground, and the ink coiled around the arm tightens, before crushing the limb to dust. The ink mixes with it, turning it into a black, black viscous liquid. You pick up the sword and use it to direct the viscous liquid up to the web-like structure, where it flows into each of the branches, into each of the columns, until it reaches the ground.

You exhale a particularly heavy breath.

The final movement involves you digging the sword into the ground, deep and steady, and reciting the Nine Cuts Mudra until… Wait– how long did your father recite it for? So you recite it, again and again, and the ink columns around you crack. You continue reciting the mudra until the web above you falls, until the columns crack–

Bright, bright light flashes around you, and you fall to the ground heaving.

Is it… Is it done?

You look around, searching for both the arm and the gagoze, and find nothing.

It's… It's done!

A smile breaks your tired face. This is your first solo purification, and you feel like celebrating. You feel like… laughing. You should tell somebody, you should tell your father. Yes, take a picture and tell your father and he'll tell your grandmother and she'll be proud–

An ominous aura, heavier, colder, and more violent than before, surges upward from the building. It's the… The…

The attacker surges toward you and tackles you to the ground.

"Akuin Akka!"

The tattoo on your exposed belly surges upward and pierces the neck of the attacker. The spirit, grotesque and grossly inhuman, screams and screeches at you. Its teeth are pitch-black and dripping with foul-smelling ooze. But you don't hesitate or flinch, instead you put your hands together and interlock your fingers.

"Homage to all-pervading diamond thunderbolts."

The ink piercing the spirit flashes brightly, like lightning, sending a searing, electric jolt from your body and into the spirit.

"Utterly crush and devour!"

The spirit cracks apart, bright light destroying it from within, and disintegrates, showing the sky above you. Clear and blue. Bright. Peaceful. You exhale your second heavy and tired breath, thinking this is too nice a day to spend on the ground, panting.

"That was wonderful, kouhai!"

And maybe you should have expected your ever-mysterious senior to be watching.

You huff and smile at the sound of his voice, "Good enough for you, senpai?"

You sit up, still too tired to stand, and look for him.

"Good enough?" He appears beside you, "I should have gotten it on video! It's everything I could have wanted to see."

"Could have"?

You look up at him, suddenly filled with questions, but there's one thing you're sure of.

"Senpai, you knew about this."

And he nods, eagerly, "Mm-hmm. The old hag won't stop nagging about it."

You frown, "But you didn't tell me."

He shakes his head, still eager and smiling, "Nope!"

Your frown deepens, "Why?"

"I wanted an organic experience. It's no fun when it's premeditated."

But that's against your grandmother's teachings; kill the curse at its root, purge the ghost at its birth. Wasn't that the right way?

"That's against our practice," you sigh, "onmyoji purify rather than exorcise."

"But that's no fun," he exaggerates the whine, "where's the excitement in that?"

"Fun"? Risking your life isn't exactly "fun". In fact, it's the farthest from it.

"It's not supposed to be fun," you stand up, "it's a… responsibility. Ours. To the world."

It sounds preachy, you know, but it's the truth isn't it?

"A responsibility, huh…" You haven't heard him like this before, but then he turns to you, "Is that what you really think?"

You tell him the truth, "It's the lineage I was born in, I don't know if I'm allowed to be otherwise."

Because it's not that you think you can be anything else, you know you can. If not for this "most holy" lineage, maybe you'll be something else. Maybe you'll have a different job, a different story. Maybe you and Tatsuya will–

"But if you were."

There's no escaping Satoru Gojo and the Six Eyes, is there?

"Tatsuya will still be alive."

It's a sentiment you've held on to for a long, long time, and you expect him to laugh at it. That's what Satoru Gojo does, right? He laughs and laughs at you humans like he's some god– No, because he is a god, a god-on-earth, something like a bodhisattva…

"There are always two aspects to this world," he begins, sounding somber, "and you are of the select few who live on the line between them."

"You"?

"And where are you there, senpai?" You dare ask, knowing how he'll answer.

"I'm the one watching it."

He and his Six Eyes, you think, will never not be.

"Anyway!" He claps his hands, already back to his jovial self, "That was a really, really great demonstration. You should teach at Jujutsu Tech."

That was a fast change, but there's one thing that's missing.

"The gagoze…" You look around, trying to sense it anywhere near, "It's… Was it… Did you send it, senpai?"

You don't think Satoru kept any… spirits, but it doesn't make sense otherwise.

"Nuh-uh," he shakes his head, "but it's nothing to worry about now."

What does he mean by that? Did he… exorcise it?

"And this… the arm that was here…" You point to the now-purified building, "it shouldn't have been here."

You think he knows whose arm it was.

"Where was it supposed to be?"

"Mount Atago in Kyoto."

You aren't even sure if that's the exact location, but just that it shouldn't be anywhere near Tokyo. Satoru hums at your answer, thinking.

"So how could one extra-special, extra-secret artifact move from one place to another?"

Is he… asking rhetorical questions?

"Unless the arm suddenly got a life of its own, or perhaps…"

He crouches down and touches the ground, and a sudden surge of energy flows.

How powerful.

"Somebody wants to meet you."

For him to conclude it like that… He's serious, isn't he? But who would, who could–

"The Jorogumo?" You suggested.

He turns to you, and you don't miss the smallest, slightest, quickest flash of seriousness of his face, before smiling like it was nothing.

"Maybe."

Maybe? What does that–

"In any case, that's a job well done, kouhai. You deserve a treat."

But–

"Lunch," he grins, "on me."

And then he's off to a walk, and again, you're left trailing after him. You're left to wonder who or what wants to meet you, why they would send you here. If it was Satoru all along, him denying it wouldn't make sense. He would own up to it, wouldn't he? Laugh it off as a joke, a test, like what he did before. And if it was your grandmother, it wouldn't make sense either. Why would she go out of her way to summon a yokai and have you chase after it? Why would she even place a Kyoto artifact here in the first place? The existence of Ibaraki Doji's Cursed Arm is permanently tied to Mount Atage, so…

So that couldn't be the real arm. It was just a manifestation.

And if it was… That would mean Ibaraki Doji is bound to manifest here.

But who would be powerful enough?

"Satoru-senpai," you ask him when you reach the end of a crosswalk, "the arm was a manifestation."

"You figured it out." He doesn't turn around, but you don't think he's disappointed.

Still, you apologize, "I'm sorry."

"No, don't be, but I think I know what's going to happen next."

He always does, does he?

"You too, don't you?" He asks under his breath.

"Ibaraki Doji," the name is a whisper against your teeth.

He rolls his shoulders back and nods mutely. You don't see his face, his expression, his Six Eyes, and you wonder what he's thinking now.

"Senpai–"

But when he does turn around, he isn't looking at you. He's looking past you.

At who?

Before you can turn to look, he's back to his usual self, smiling with his hands in his pockets.

"But you can handle it, can't you, kouhai?"

Briefly, you don't think you can ever disappoint him.

"Of course," you roll your shoulders back, like him, and repeat what he said, "the best learn from the best, after all."

Still, you wonder what he might be looking at.

Or who.