The first time six-year-old Satoru Gojo met Reimu, she swam in infinity. She was small then and had looked more creature than human—broad smiles showing missing teeth, chin wet with drool. Satoru didn't know what to make of her as she tried to reach him. Infinity kept the creature who'd decided to do breaststrokes in the empty air at bay. Six Eyes peered deep into her, and Satoru felt the wind's caress. In her was a mountain overlooking a world. Her cursed energy was a paradox of rigidity and flexibility, as impenetrable barriers surrounded a soul that was not bound to it, imprisoned yet free. Odd. Satoru wanted to see her use her technique and examine how that paradox expressed itself. It was not every day someone like him could see something truly extraordinary. Satoru's brilliance had jaded him, making everything look so dull. Cynicism killed his curiosity, but Reimu reignited it.

Perhaps she was like him? Destined to stand at the peak of their world. Alone.

Only Reimu wasn't alone. Some meters away, next to the entrance of Jujutsu High's warehouse, was a woman in a kitsune mask. She wore the Miko's garb, kosode and all; a tsunami of cursed energy seeped from her being. Satoru reckoned the woman was Reimu's mom; their cursed energy possessed a similar shade and had something to do with barriers. His sky-blue eyes squinted at the woman's shadow. It was alive. A closer look with Six Eyes showed him an abyss, void of light and matter—like flailing in the dark. A kind of flow of cursed energy roiled in that shadow, though "pit" would be a more accurate term. A curse spirit, He thought. One connected to some of the purest beings he's ever seen. Special Grade, too, has to be. He wondered why they were here, close to the heart of the Jujutsu world. His journey here had been fuelled by rumours alone. Whispers of an evil pact between the higher-ups and a monster pulled him here step by curious step. The elders of his clan believed it to be hysterical rumour-mongering, but seeing was believing, and Satoru's sight was second to none. Was this the higher-up's dirty secret? The devil in a closet full of skeletons.

"Boop," a sudden weight pressed itself on the tip of Satoru's nose. The tactile sensation of Reimu's finger brought a shocking tingle in his spine. Satoru flinched. Immersed in his thoughts, he hadn't noticed the kid bypassing Infinity. Fat, stubby fingers continued to poke at him with the subtlety of a child. It seemed Reimu was as interested in Satoru as he was in her. It made sense; his eyes were a captivating novelty to most. Reimu grabbed at his nose, laughing that childish laugh of hers. Satoru learned all there was to the Limitless technique to know this shouldn't be possible. Reimu shouldn't be able to reach him.

Wait, was it on?

It was! Satoru felt stupid for even doubting it in the first place.

The woman in the mask cooed, "Looks like Reimu's got a crush." Satoru fended Reimu off, throwing her onto her mother. The kid landed on her mother's waiting arms with a playful umph! The girl jerked about in an explosive attempt at escape. She tried to jump out frantically, hands and feet blurring in erratic movements. But her mother was strong. "What?! Leaving me for a boy so soon!" The woman turned to her shadow, "What do I do with her, Rumia? She'll leave Gensokyo for him!" The mother's shadow shifted in a way that resembled a shrug. The curse had a name…

"Are you with the Higher-Ups?" Satoru asked. Blessed he may be, he wasn't above gossip. The whispers he'd heard amongst his clan mates nagged at him, too, like a scab waiting to be picked. He'd reckoned it was a highly inappropriate question to ask, considering the kind of etiquette he was taught back home. One must beat around the bush before asking something as blunt as that. But Satoru was young, and patience wasn't a trait that stuck well to him. He wanted to know, so he asked.

The woman shook her head, struggling to calm down a very curious Reimu. "We're on loan," She replied. Loan…The higher-ups were borrowing their services. That didn't sit well with Satoru. The only time Jujutsu HQ borrowed someone was because they were clan-affiliated, but he would have known of them if they were. They were too strong for him not to take notice. Which meant they could be clanless, but that wasn't right either. The clanless get assimilated into clans or taken into custody and forced to enrol as a certified sorcerer. You don't borrow something you would've just taken. If they were neither, that meant they were curse users. Curse users were pariahs to be killed on sight.

Before Satoru could say anything, Reimu phased through her mother's arms and ran towards him. Infinity stopped her from crashing into him, but for how long, Satoru wasn't sure. He crouched down onto Reimu's level as the girl pushed her face into Infinity. It was like seeing a child peer into a car window. Satoru found the sight amusing the same way one found amusement in a zoo. "Do you know me?" Satoru asked. The kid displayed a behaviour no other kids around him ever did. The reputation of his birth and technique created a distance between him and those below him. It was a distance rarely crossed by anyone. But here was this kid who did cross it without knowing it was there. Reimu shook her head. Her feet dug into the ground as she tried to push harder and harder into Satoru's barrier. He wondered when she'd bypass it again. "I'm Gojo Satoru." He said.

"Hakurei Reimu," she answered back, "yorosh—" As Reimu tried to bow, the part of her face that was pushed into the barrier began to stretch upwards. It showed the full extent of her nostrils, making her out to be some sort of demon. Giggles escaped Satoru's mouth, the drizzle preceding the torrent of full-blown laughter. Reimu laughed back, clearly enjoying herself. This girl. This careless, fearless girl. It was refreshing to be with someone that was true to themselves. It helped that she was strong and interesting. She's worth my time, the Gojo clan's heir thought. A flicker of cursed energy bloomed in the woods, he squinted and saw a pair of sorcerers approaching from afar. He had snuck into Jujutsu High to disperse the cloud of mystery that hung over the shrine maiden and her daughter. Now, having given them a look, he was satisfied.

No.

That'd be a lie; he wasn't satisfied at all, but the endeavour had become much too troublesome. Getting caught meant hours of lecture from the elders, and he wasn't willing to risk it for simple curiosity. So he left.

For the longest time, Reimu would be known as the girl who crossed infinity in Satoru's mind. She would continue to exist behind his eyelids, a puzzle he'd solve during idle-day dreams. What technique did she possess to bypass infinity? The implications of it should scare Satoru, but it didn't. From that small interaction alone, he didn't feel threatened at all. A part of him regretted not bringing her with him and showing her the Gojo clan's compound, whether her mother would allow it or not.

Loan…that word would never leave him be. Loan, loan, loan…Were they Ainu? No, they're way too reclusive. The two were most certainly Japanese, but from where exactly, he didn't know. He'd resolve to meet them again when he's stronger so the adults couldn't punish him. And he would years later, but it would be Satoru's first brush with the fragility of youth. Reimu would be alone this time, no mother nor curse. She'd be older and taller, with spots of purple on the tips of her hair and the smell of blood emanating from her. Satoru's Six Eyes worked overdrive and found that Reimu's cursed energy shone like the sun, a bright, far-away splendour that was out of his reach. It was divine and cursed at the same time, a mix of purity and impurity, coalescing into something that defied categorisation. She transcended any box Satoru tried to put her in, and it frustrated him to no end. She was simply Reimu.

But the smile she had so easily worn had been wiped clean. Eleven-year-old Gojo Satoru saw not a child that intrigued him but a death-dealer in the outline of a girl—a destroyer of worlds.

Author's Note:

Cross posted from AO3
" I've been struck by another plot-bunny. Im sitting at the airport right now typing this, coming off the hype of JJK season 2, and naturally being me, I wanted to put Touhou in it. So here's this small chapter I cooked up 2 hours before departure. Maybe I'll find Gojo Satoru if I wait here long enough? hehe."

I made some edits and thought to post it here since this fic doesn't seem like it's going to be a one-chapter affair. Comments and Feedback are appreciated, though please be mindful not to derail the thread too much with power scaling discussions ? .