Author's note: Screw it, let's have fun.
We were underwater. Well, to be more specific, we were surrounded by water. And while that's usually really distressing, the four of us here weren't panicking or trying to swim up towards the glittering surface above or holding our breaths, no. Right now, we were actually really safe. We were safe because we are at an aquarium, staring at the water through the glass that held the water back from us.
Standing in front of the giant glass wall was a young girl who stared into the abysmal darkness of the water. Her body never once turned back to stare at me or at anyone else. But her gaze was fixated on the animals swimming on the other side. Little fishes swam up to her before swimming back into the waters. There were dozens and dozens of them, swimming alongside the glass. But they all ran away from her as if their lives were in danger. The girl reaches her hand out to the glass as if to comfort the fish, but she was only greeted with blue.
Then, out of nowhere, a giant, leviathan-like creature swam up to the glass and started swimming towards the side, moving to the left side of the glass. The giant whale shark's eyes then gazed back at the girl before looking forward, almost as if commanding for a walk with the young girl. Noticing this, the girl followed the whale shark as the two have their walk across both land and water. The whale shark continued swimming forward, tracing the glass, as the girl followed the fin of the shark. Their eyes both interchangeably locked in a gaze. Just then, groups of smaller fishes joined in their walk. Fishes of many species observing the two as more whale sharks join in on the walk. She was just like one of them; Looking for a place to belong. Running away from her danger. Finding a family while doing so.
"Riko." I wanted to call out. That was her name, Riko. She was a person that both me and… him were assigned to watch over and protect. But… certain conditions happened, and Riko is no longer alive. I don't know… I didn't want to know how she died. All I saw was a huge hole in her head. And her brain scattered in her hair and on the floor. But she was no longer with us. Suguru had convinced me not to kill everyone who was involved in this: the followers.
I was holding onto her corpse while walking back to Jujutsu High. While it is saddening to see her go, at the same time, I'm also grateful for the conditions that were met. Thanks to him, I was able to bring out my ultimate technique, Purple, for the first time. Riko was exterminated by a former member of the Zenin clan. His name is… irrelevant as he is dead now. But his son, I took him under my wing to guide him onto the correct path. The path of Jujutsu Sorcerers.
I hope that all is going well out there. I truly hope so. I don't feel any concern nor do I feel anxious for them, I trust in their strengths to break any obstacle in their way. What I'm uncertain about… is just what I would do when I come back… My presence being gone… will shake the sorcerer world... To come back into the world… hopefully, they haven't already appointed me… as a dead man or as a criminal. Eh… knowing those old geezers, I've most likely… been branded a… criminal, so my social power… of things… may have… died… alongside… my capturing…
… Am I tired?
"—ister?"
Also, his name… the one I fought… what was it?
"—ster?"
The former Zenin guy…
"—ter?"
What was his name again? I think his name was—
"MISTER!" A sharp scream exploded into my left ear.
I then sat up in a blank of an eye as my entire body tensed. My eyes struggled to open as the bright beam of sunlight rammed its way into my pupils. My sudden movement then caused the girl to collapse onto her bum while screaming, but not before flailing her arms everywhere as if she was doing some fantastic dance. She seems to have been carrying a large bucket with both her hands before falling back. The large wooden bucket then slammed into the uneven dirt ground before flipping to its side and spilling large quantities of water everywhere.
"WAAAAAAAAAAAHH!" She continued to scream as her eyes opened as if they had no limits. "MONSTER!" She then threw a chunk of dirt at me, but it fell short as the dirt became scattered in the air.
"Oh-ho? Monster?" I said in a low voice while raising an eyebrow. "I can show you worse than a monster!"
"YOUR HAIR IS WHITE, AND Y—YOUR EYES ARE BLUE!" She screamed back.
"Yeah, yeah, hair being white is the sign of a mon— wait eyes?"
Placing his hand onto his face, Gojo then notices that the blindfold he kept on him at all times was now missing. In a scare, the only Gojo could do at this moment was, "MY BLINDFOLD!" He shouted before proceeding to flip over any nearby rocks into the air.
The only thing that was keeping him sane, the only thing that reminded Gojo of Gojo in the morning, the sole factor in his personality, the reason why girls fawn over him, was his blindfold! Now that it's gone, Gojo Satoru has been murdered. Who would do something so cruel and unnecessary? The world's strongest means nothing without the blindfold! How can he ever show them his strengths if he cannot wear his—
"You mean t—this blindfold?" A small voice then came from behind him. Gojo then picks his head back up and glances in the direction of the voice. It was the same girl who tried to throw dirt at him.
In her hands was now a black piece of cloth that only Gojo can truly understand the value of. No amount of money could ever force Gojo to throw the blindfold away. It was simply his best way of flexing his strength and asserting dominance over those around him.
Gojo then softly smiles as the situation calmed down. The younger girl was now no longer too scared of him, thanks to his awkward display earlier for his blindfolds. Looking at the girl, it made absolutely no sense as to why the first thing she'd do is try to wake the person, before screaming and calling them a monster. Her face had patches of dirt and mud, and a line could be seen running toward her chin from both eyes. Her fingers were also red from carrying the bucket. No kid should be carrying that heavy of a bucket. Especially when they only look to be eight years of age.
"Thank you very much, young miss," Gojo says while making his way to the girl. Her hands were shaking as if she wanted to retract them. She then takes half a step backward, but her kind heart was forcing her to help me out. Her mouth seemed to be on the verge of screaming again, but discipline held her together. My six eyes were telling me that much.
Gojo then stares off to the side for a moment as he purses his lips.
"M—mister? A—are you alright?" She spoke with a hic in her voice while her eyes became filled with water. However, for some reason, she was holding the tears back from flowing down her face.
"Yeah, I'm fine," I took the blindfold from her hand with a smile. The moment I did, her entire body then gives out and she collapses onto the floor. The adrenaline had finally caught up with her. She was going to be out for a few minutes.
Now that he has time to appropriately process everything that had just happened, Gojo silently made his way to a giant rock whilst allowing the girl to lie on the ground. Exhaling a long extended breath, he sat down. Looking all around him, his eyes scanned every detail that they could see. It didn't take long at all for Gojo to process that right now, he was currently inside a giant ass forest. Trees were everywhere, birds were chirping all around him, and bugs were flying from tree to tree and crawling all across the floor. Even on this rock, a few spiders and ants were crawling underneath. He had awoken in the middle of absolutely nowhere.
Two things then caught the attention of Gojo. Firstly, he can hear something loud and consistent, far, far away from here. It was as if the sounds were getting closer and then farther again. Crashing into something before retreating away. Secondly, there was this off feeling within him. It was the same feeling that a person experiences when they're trying to remember something, but can't, so they try to mentally go back and recall it. Doing the same repetitive actions that they were doing beforehand to try and remember, much like the time Gojo walked around his couch four times in the same manner while trying to remember what he was thinking about the first time he had walked around the same couch (he had forgotten that he was supposed to go meet some of the old geezer officials and was about thirty minutes late to the meeting).
However, being unable to recall it, Gojo simply sighs as he leans back, using both his arms as his support pillars while cocking his head up to look at the clouds. It was around some time in the morning, so the deep blue hues of the night colored the skies still courted the clouds. It must be sometime between five to six in the morning so what could a child possibly be doing this early?
The soft winds then cause Gojo to close his eyes as he held onto his blindfold in his hand. Gojo's entire body relaxes as the cleanest of oxygen and delicate breezes played with his hair.
But that moment was cut short as the young girl woke up. She then groans as she rubbed her hair, trying to remove any dirt or leaves that she was laying on. She then frowned before rubbing her eyes awake. I didn't need to use my eyes to tell me that she was already extremely fatigued.
Not wanting her to think that helping me was for naught, I quickly placed the blindfold back over my eyes and walked over to her.
"Was it my natural beauty that knocked you unconscious?" I then reached out a hand to her, only for her to become frightened at my presence, again.
"I-I'll get up! I swear! Just, leave me alone…" She then stood up and immediately began looking around for something. Her eyes then lit up as she notices the wooden bucket that she had been carrying and quickly picked it up.
"I-I don't have any money on me! S—So if you're looking for some, I don't h-have it!" She then pauses for a moment before continuing. "I'm also not selling my body."
The fact that she hadn't stuttered even once in that final sentence surprised me quite a bit.
Raising both my hands as if arrested, I shake my head, "I ain't ever going to buy a person, especially not someone so weak as yourself, Miss." I reassured her.
"T-Then leave me a-alone!" Her voice began hiccuping again.
I then sigh, rather annoyed at this repetitive interaction. This was getting nowhere. Once she had figured that out, she began to slowly walk in a random location. How curious. As I continued to observe her, she then slowly walks past and away from me, not once looking up to meet my blindfold. I then noticed something nearing her foot. It was a path. She had been following a dirt trail that was on the ground through this forest the entire time. Before she completely disappeared, there was a question that I had on me that I just wanted to make clear. "Why did you wake me up if you were going to be scared of me?"
She then stops walking and drops the bucket with a loud clunk as it touched the grass. "B—Because… you were s-sleeping on my path."
Yeah, that would make sense. "Then, mind telling me where I am?"
She says nothing as the empty bucket began rolling away from her foot. I then saw that she had mouthed something under her breath. Her hair flew in the way every so often, but from what I took away from it, she simply said, "His men are all the same."
How intriguing.
The girl then points towards her left with her right hand, "That way. That's b-back to where the city is."
There was nothing to her response. The bucket then comes to a stop after running over a rock. It seems the rock had acted as a wedge to lock the bucket in its place.
"Did you catch that, mis…?" The girl then turns around to see nothing but trees and leaves and grass and the rock. There was no sighting of the white-haired, blindfolded guy that was conversing with her earlier. There weren't even shoe prints on the ground to leave a mark to show that he was ever there. The only thing that proved his existence there was the memories that the girl had established within her mind.
Floating high above the early morning skies, Satoru Gojo's eyes widen as he stared downward towards a rather perplexing sight.
"...Wow…" Below him was a gigantic city that lavished, thrived, and prospered, nearing an oceanic shore. One that looked nothing at all like Japan. "If I were to guess, I'd say it's European-styled. Like, old, old European-styled…" A whistle then escapes his mouth after finishing that sentence.
The lavish city seems to have been built in a circle. Looking around, it was obvious that the rich lived nearer to the middle of the circle as the outer edges were more town-like—suburban, to say. Much like a typical neighborhood away from all the entertainment near the center of the circle. It was the perfect place for common folks. What really caught Gojo's attention was the building in the direct center of the circle: A gigantic castle, one befitting of a king and their thanes.
A longer whistle then escaped my mouth for the second time as I continued to stare at this Disneyland look-alike of a castle. The only thing missing from that castle was its flags. All I could see were the poles of where the flags should've been.
"Are they at war or something?" He whispered as he takes off his blindfolds, his blue eyes opened to the world for the second time. There being a war also doesn't seem like a possibility as taking a good look at the few handfuls of civilians down below showed no signs of stress, worry, tension, or anxiousness relating to their livelihood. Aside from hating waking up early, they all seemed rather… well-kempt. It felt much like a fancy fantasy world than anything he was used to backing at home as people walked around wearing fancy-looking suits, golden monocle glasses, nice-looking mustaches, and weird-looking top hats.
Ignoring the civilians for a second, I lift my head and stared forward. When I first saw it, it left me rather taken aback. But it would explain the sounds that I was hearing earlier. Looking behind me and towards the opposite side of the port that the town was connected to I showed the same blueness of the water as well. This whole place was an island; that much we could comprehend immediately. But to see such a dramatic difference from the sheer wilderness that I was just sitting within to seeing such an established city and town just a few miles away.
"I guess staying up here isn't going to do me any favors." Satoru Gojo then vanishes from the air in mere moments, almost as if he were never there in the first place.
Landing on the cobblestone road that was split into two different colors, one was a desaturated gray to signify the sidewalk, and the other was black to act as the road for vehicles and transportation. The street life seems spectacular every I looked. The street lights seemed fairly short as there were candles within them to light the dark sidewalks and roads.
"I feel bad for the poor fellas who have to run through the streets turning off and on the lights."
Cafes that held both warm, comfortable indoors and blue, brisk outdoor tables for early commuters to come rest before starting the day. People must be early risers or something to be able to get up this early. Ah, I wonder if they got sweets? —Ah… that brings up another problem: Do they take in Japanese currency?
Walking up to the cafe, there seemed to have been a lonely young lady working at the store's front. There were no customers yet, so I took it as a chance to converse with the lonely lady. Seeing as the young girl from earlier was able to perfectly understand me, and vice versa, this lady must be able to speak the same language as well. Which, if that's true, then that makes this whole situation very, very, very convenient.
"Excuse me!" The classic smiling, beautiful, blindfold-wearing Gojo then makes his appearance upon the lone worker.
"Huh? Oh, ah! Good morning, sir—" The lady's expression then stiffens as she looks at me. Her entire body then straightens up as her heart race went through the roof. Her entire tone and body language then change. "Sir! Good Morning! How may I serve you today?" The young lady then completely bows her head forward, just barely missing the cash register in front of her, exposing her smooth pale nape.
This again? Well, this situation has gotten rather perplexing…
"Please lift your head, young miss. I just have a question to ask you." I then reached into my pockets to grab my wallet.
"Yes! Whatever it is, I'll comply, Sir!" Spoken like that of a new soldier. Perhaps they were at war after all.
"I was just wondering, do you accept yen?" I then pull out ¥1,000 and showed it to her. Her eyes being unable to immediately recognize this as the symbol of money in Japan confirms it. I'm completely in the middle of nowhere outside of Japan. It wasn't almost as if that wasn't already evident enough in the style of culture though.
The young lady then immediately catches her composure, immediately realizing that she had gotten too comfortable with the way she was acting towards me as her sweat increased.
"U-um! Whatever you want in here, you can take." Her hands then gesture towards the inside of the store, where there were, indeed, sweets (or things that resembled sweets).
"Really?" I asked.
"R-really…"
"Really, really…?"
"Y-yes! You can take anything you wa-want…"
I really didn't like the way she enunciated 'anything' there, but whatever they do is none of my concern as long as it doesn't involve a curse.
"Say, if you were to take anything that you had wanted here, which one would you choose?" I then tilt my head as I pursed my lips, rubbing my chin. My eyes were floating all around the cafe place as I viewed the vibrancy of each sweet on display, bread with a beautiful red gloss over them, sweet buns that had white sugar dancing on their surface, and a rounded piece of bread that resembled a donut. Of course, there were a bunch more, but those three are currently in competition within my mind to see which one I'd choose. Of course, I got my blindfold on, so I can't really see them ;P.
The girl stayed silent and simply observed with shaking eyes as she stood behind the cash register, having trouble keeping them staring in my direction. She was trembling as if cold within this warm cafe—speaking of which, I just noticed that it had a fireplace at the opposite end of the store. If the door of this cafe were to be any closer to her, I'm pretty confident that she would've left a long time ago.
Her expression seemed as if she was about to burst into tears. Fed up, lean my back and head against the outline of the doorframe, and sigh. If this continues to be the interaction between me and the people of this island for the duration of my time here, it may really just get on my nerves.
"Look, young lady"—My sudden voice causes her body to straighten up—"you're scared of me, right?" She silently nodded her head. "Okay… Why?"
A tear then drops down her face as she clamps her arms even harder against the sides of her body. Practically crying, she finally speaks up.
"Be-because… y-you're Master Tupheasant."
We stood there in silence immediately afterward. "... Really?"
"R-really…"
What a shock. Just who the hell is Tupheasant, and just how much does the guy resemble me? I wondered. It's impossible that there's another good-looking, white-haired male such as mine running around town.
"So, tell me then. Just who exactly is this, Master Tupheasant, guy?" I said while grabbing myself a seat from the tables.
"Y-You're the wealthiest, strongest pirate who brought prosperity and power into this city, Master Tupheasant, Captain of the Black Leviathans. We are forever in your debt, and so to make it up for you. Any service that you request is tolerable."
Her words were static. Almost robotic or scripted. Either or, I hate this misunderstanding of the confusion between my complexion and his. "Look, young Lady. I don't know who this Tupheasant guy is—although you did give me a pretty good rough idea of who I'm looking out for—I'm a Jujutsu Sorceror who overlooks the Tokyo jurisdiction. Current, or former, whichever one is true is true, head of the Gojo clan, Satoru Gojo."
Her eyebrows then furrow as her head tilts to the side. Her gaze kept looking at me up and down, first my hair, then towards my body figure, then back to my hair again. While she was too busy scanning my figure, what she mentioned earlier both puzzled and humored me a bit. 'Captain of the Black Leviathans,' this Tupheasant guy is. A pirate who brought prosperity and wealth to this place? I wonder if I can chalk it up to her essentially saying that he's built the city? Or did he expand the city? Or did he just take over the city? Well, whatever it is, I'm sure if I meet him, it'd be nice to clear the air. And if I do meet him, I'd probably like to understand just where the hell I am. Rushing to leave this place would only bring me back to the box, so perhaps it'd make more sense if I just stayed here while Itadori and they are trying to break me free. Perhaps I'll leave this place as well once the Prison Realm is broken. Well what ever happens, once I'm out, I need to correct a mistake that I had left. Whether they know it or not, right now, he's currently the most dangerous curse user running around in Japan.
"How frustrating…" I sigh aloud. Startling the lady again. "OK, look. I'm not Tupheasant, I'm not a pirate, and I'm not going to steal anything here. What I want now are just a few answers—"
The muscles inside of my thighs then give out and I fell to my knees, hitting the wooden as a searing pain shot through my body the moment I land. I then felt as if I was being crushed in between two rocks, or as if I was laying on the ground and a bus had fallen onto my chest as I struggled to breathe. Sweat began to race out my body, and for the second time in my life, I genuinely had no idea what was going on. I couldn't perceive anything as my six eyes struggled to help me.
The lady that watched behind the counter, whether she knew it or not, was almost immediately by my side giving me aid as she knelt in front of me. She was muttering words, but my ears felt as if they were clogged with literal walls. I could still see her through the blindfolds, so it confirms that the six eyes are still working, but what concerned me more was that I felt the warm palms of the ladys hand on my forehead; my infinity had turned off.
"The last time—" I then place one hand onto the ground to stop myself from falling over—" I felt this way." The lady then holds onto my shoulder, still trying to say something but I still couldn't hear.
"The last time I felt this way, I was dead."
Satoru Gojo collapses onto the floor.