"What?!" Satoru says over the phone.
"I-I don't know, theh never said it'd be a special grade." I say in a panic.
"Where is he?!" He asks in a demanding low tone.
"Shoko's clinic." I say with tears rolling down my face.
The sheet covers his lifeless body. Itadori was a good kid. He had great potential like Satoru said, and he had a good heart. I hadn't like the idea of keeping him around, but it's hard to think that once you meet him. He was going to be one of the greats, I could tell. But he was killed, and I didn't protect him. I sent them out there. It's my fault.
Familiar hands rest on top of mine. It's only just now that I notice i've placed my hands over my ears and have my head down with my eyes closed hard. I peek them open and see Satoru looking at me with his blindfolded eyes. I shut my eyes again as the tears come in another wave.
It's just us in the room. Shoko left me alone not long ago to call Satoru and break the news. He holds me now as he sits beside me. He rubs my back trying to comfort me. I feel like such a failure. He was a child under my care, and he didn't even last a day without Satoru here. I was supposed to take care of them. Shoko healed Megumi and Kugisaki enough for them to go home and rest. This is my fault, if I were there then none of this would have happened. I could have called Satoru to help save them, but I failed them all.
"Stop." I hear Satoru say in my ear, "this was not you."
"Then who was it?" I say crying hard. I struggle to catch my breath and Satoru hugs me hard placing his forehead on mine. "They're kids, and it was my job to protect them. I failed them."
"No you didn't. You would have never known what this turned into." He tells me.
"I could have if I went." I say slowing my breathing and the tears.
He wipes my face as he forces me to look at him.
"I promise this wasn't you. They were sabotaged." He tells me.
"Wh- what? Sabotaged? I don't understand." I say confused.
"The higher ups knew about it. The documents were altered. They reflected only low level curses, and there's no way they wouldn't have picked up on the special grade curse. They knew about it, and they sent them anyways." He tells me as he brings his hands down to mine and holds them tightly.
"Why? Why put them in danger like that? They know they weren't ready." I tell him.
"To get rid of Itadori and blame it on the curse." He says.
I shake my head in disbelief, "they wouldn't do that. They wouldn't put Megumi and Kugisaki in danger for that? That's stupid!" I say outraged.
The cursed energy flowing from my body radiates in my stomach where the baby is. We look down and see the baby more active than before. I feel him kicking and moving around more than usually and instinctively put my hand on my stomach to calm him.
"I promise to look into this and take care of it. But right now I need you to remain calm. We can't have you or the baby stressed right now. It isn't good for either of you, although it looks like he is trying to use his cursed energy." He says.
I nod, "yeah. It's probably best."
Shoko enters the room pulling gloves on her hands. She looks to us and nods.
"Satoru, you're back early." She says.
"Had to." He says plainly as he leans forward on his knees.
"Sorry about your students. Got dealt a shit hand." She says solemnly.
He sighs in response, "they're all great sorcerers with amazing potential. But Itadori could have been one of the best." He says squeezing his hands as hard as he can with anger.
"Didn't peg you as the sentimental type." She says.
She takes the sheet off of Itadori and looks at him briefly.
"So this is Sukuna's vessel? What a shame." She says, "I can cut him up though right?" She asks.
Satoru sighs, "just make good use of him." He says disappointed.
She readies her tools and turns to us, "alright. I'll get started then."
Just then, Itadori's body from the waist up raises up on the table like he's sitting up. My jaw drops wide open. I have to bee tripping, or seeing a ghost.
"What the-" I say before I'm cut off by Itadori.
"Ugh, what happened?" He asks and looks down at himself, "uhh, where are my clothes?" He asks covering himself.
Satoru smirks as he stands up chuckling, "you never cease to amaze. Welcome back." He says giving him a high five.
"What? Impossible." I say to myself.
Satoru throws his uniform to him and I turn around as he gets dresses. I smile widely so happy for this miracle. I don't know what just happened, i'm sure it's something to do with Sukuna, but I'm just happy he's alive.
I turn back around once he's dressed and walk over to him giving him a hug, "it's so good to see you're okay." I tell him.
"Thanks Sensei." He says hugging me back.
"Now let's go tell the others!" Itadori says excitedly while walking off.
Satoru grabs him by the ack of his shirt and pulls him back. "Whoa whoa whoa. Not yet."
"What? Why not?" He asks confused.
"You just died under unknown circumstances. We need to buy you some time to gain strength to fight back." He tells him.
"He's right. You need to remain in hiding until you get your strength back." I add.
"Then, you can make your grand debut at the exchange event!" Satoru says confidently.
"Huh? What's that?" Itadori asks completely lost.
I sigh, "you didn't tell him did you." I say to Satoru.
"Huh, I could have swore I did." He says with a hand on his chin, "at any rate, it's an event between us and the Kyoto sister school to basically show off your talents and for bragging rights. It's not only fun, but it's a chance for lower level sorcerers to gain some ground on a promotion." Satoru explains.
"And we're going to train you for it. Don't worry." I tell him smiling.
"Well, I know I need to get stronger anyways. The curse womb even made me realize how weak I really am, and that will put my friends in danger and I won't get to choose how I die." He says looking away thinking hard. He looks back up at us determined, "so i'll do it if it means I'll get stronger."
"Great! Then let's get started. Naomi, will you please take him to our spot? I'll stay back and go over the report with Shoko." Satoru says meaning the basement.
I nod, "of course."
———
"Whoa, cool place. Is this where I'll be staying?" Itadori asks looking around the basement room we've used for years.
"Yup, most people don't come down here really. Mainly Satoru, Shoko, and I. It'll be the perfect place for you to hide out." I tell him.
He sighs, "I just wish I didn't have to hide from my friends." He says sitting down on the worn out old couch.
I nod sitting clumsily next to him. He holds a hand out for me to grab and I do to stabilize myself. I'll never get used to the added weight. I nod to him in thanks.
"I know, but it's what's best for them and for you until Satoru and I figure out what's going on." I tell him.
"Yeah." He says disappointed.
"For now though, why not a lesson on cursed energy?" I say bumping his shoulder with mine trying to take his mind off of it.
He smirks, "alright!"
"So, obviously you know about cursed energy." I start.
"Yeah, but I don't really understand it very well." He says turning to me to listen.
I turn to him and sit criss cross on the couch facing him. It feels a lot better to sit this way anyways. More support for the baby.
"That's okay. It's my job to help you understand. My passion really. So, cursed energy is the base of all cursed techniques. You have to have cursed energy to use a technique right?" I say.
Itadori looks confused.
Just then, Satoru walks in. Perfect timing, he cause use his energy to help explain.
"Hello my beautiful wife and child." He says walking over to me placing a kiss on my lips as I smile.
"Hello student of mine." He says rubbing the top of Itadori's head messing up his hair.
"Hey Gojo!" He replies excitedly, "I just wanna say I'm stoked to be taught by the two most powerful sorcerers in the school. It's an honor." He says bowing.
I chuckle, "well thanks Yugi."
"Of course! You have to train with the best to be the best am I right. So, what are we talking about?" he asks sitting behind me on the arm of the chair placing an arm over my shoulders.
"Oh, I was just explaining cursed energy to Yugi." I tell him.
"Yeah, but i'm not getting it really." He say rubbing the back of his head.
"Ah, allow me to demonstrate then." He says standing up placing two empty soda cans from the trash on the table in front of us.
"See these two soda cans? Watch closely." He says.
He kicks one over with his cursed energy, and crushed the other in a twisting motion with his technique.
"There. The first one I used plain cursed energy to hit the can. The second I used a cursed technique." He says as he stands in front of us putting his hands on his hips.
"Ah, I see. No I don't." Itadori says with a hand to his chin.
I sigh and roll my eyes smirking. He's trying at least.
"Think of it like electricity. Electricity by itself is useless and can't accomplish much. But apply that electricity to an appliance, and you get the desired outcome depending on what you do. Same thing with cursed energy." I tell him.
"Oh I get it. You use your cursed energy to pull off fighting moves." He says simply.
"Yes exactly!" Satoru says pointing at him.
"So does that mean I can do that?!" Itadori says smiling.
"No, you have little to no cursed energy output." Satoru says plainly.
Itadori's face goes blank as he falls to the floor whining.
"What are you doing?" Satoru asks.
"Oh nothing. I just thought I'd be able to pull off a cool fireball or something." He says.
"Just because you can't right now, doesn't mean you'll never be able to. It just means you need to learn to control it." I tell him.
"Oh! How?" He asks looking up to us.
"Watching movies!" Satoru says smiling holding up a few of our favorites.
"Movies?" Itadori says standing up, "how will this help me?"
"It'll teach you to keep a constant flow of cursed energy." I tell him.
"Yup, using this." Satoru says pulling out one of Yaga's cursed corpses.
I cringe knowing what's about to happen.
"Ooh, good luck." I say.
"Huh? This again?" Itadori asks confused.
He looks at it and pokes it trying to figure it what it does and gets punched right in the face.
"Oh, what the hell!" He says rubbing his face.
"That cursed corpse is set to hit you if your cursed energy drops too low. It's set at a level you can manage for now but it will go up in increments as time goes on. Your goal is to get through a movie without getting punched." Satoru says.
"Ugh, just wish it wasn't so-" he starts but get's punched again.
"Oh come on!" He says annoyed.
Satoru chuckles and I stand shaking my head. I walk over to Satoru and get ready to leave.
"I'm going to walk Naomi home. I'll be back. Don't let your cursed energy drop." Satoru says as we walk to the door.
"Don't worry Gojo, I can-" he says as we walk way but get's punched again. "Seriously?!"
I laugh as we close the door.
"Did you have to do it that way?" I ask him.
"Itadori learns best in high stress situations i've noticed. He'll be fine." He says confidently.
I sigh, "alright." I say worriedly.
"Now, let's get home and get some rest. It's been a long day." He says wrapping an arm around my shoulders.
I yawn and nod resting my head on his chest as we walk.
"Good idea." I say.
"I love you Naomi Gojo." He says.
"I love you too Satoru Gojo."