Author's note at the end.
The third and officially final day of Shohei's healing process couldn't have rolled around slower. Shohei had spent hours after Naoya's departure reading, signing, and asking for clarification on all his initial paperwork and extensive new duties as the head of the Gojo clan.
Shohei took it easy knowing his clan didn't do much besides mind their business on a mountain top or ask a lot from Satoru. Shohei did not take comfort in Satoru's neglect of sharing the minute duties that he took care of while leading the clan with Shohei. Shohei of course never thought he'd take over because Satoru was untouchable in all aspects, but he did recognize that he might be second in command and at some point be needed to assist with those duties. Then suddenly he sat clueless and overwhelmed by a sea of paperwork and new responsibilities that he may very well dismiss as Satoru dismissed old ways of thinking.
After a night of dreams of papers suffocating him to death, Shohei was finally cleared to begin sorcery work as soon as he wanted. First he had to have his bandages removed though.
The final strand of bandage falling from Shohei's head and onto the foot of his bed, Shoko chirped, "And there we are."
Shoko tried to brace the boy for his new appearance. "Be prepared, Shohei. It's jarring to see yourself not look like how you used to. Just know it's still you and there's nothing wrong with you."
Shohei's worries of clan business took a backseat as Shoho and Mai stood over his shoulder as he would see his face newly and cruelly shaped once again.
"I've seen myself mangled before," Shohei muttered almost to himself, grazing his transfigured lip scar, once even more disfigured.
Mai handed Shohei a hand held mirror. Shohei took the mirror and took a steady breath. He raised it up hesitantly and met his new self.
The right half of his face was as good as split in two. A deep, pale, and glossy scar spanned from the corner of his eye, through the side of his head and where his ear once was, and to the very back of his head. His eyelids had been restored, but the feeling in them had not, remaining loosely closed. Shohei manually parted his eyelids, revealing there was only an empty pink captivity where his eyeball once was. From the lobule to the helix, all that once was Shohei's ear was missing, replaced now with a small indent in his flesh and a hole.
Shohei, silent as a stone, felt a hand gently lay on his shoulder. Shohei looked away from his reflection to meet Mai's softened gaze.
"How about we get you that haircut?" The girl distracted.
Shohei's hair was drastically uneven. The top of his hair and bangs were wholly unaffected, but his right temple and side were roughly hacked away. He still had much hair below the scar too. His left even looked long and mangy with stress and neglect in contract to the right.
Shoko provided Mai with a pair of scissors, a comb, and a razor. With her new arsenal, Mai went to work.
"Can you leave my bangs?" Shohei asked, sitting atop a stool just outside the tent. "I don't feel like getting an eye patch."
"Sure thing," Mai agreed, shaving everything below his scar almost bald. "But that's all the input you get. Let me style in peace. I've got a lot of damage to undo."
"If you could leave it all behind, being a sorcerer and Jujutsu Society that is, would you be a hairdresser?" Shohei asked, Mai skillfully cutting and blending his sides as she worked her way up.
"Hell no," Mai laughed. "I'd be leaving my family to get away from the snobs. I don't want to listen to snobby non-sorcerers complain about their neighborhood drama and how hard it is asking their husband's to do the dishes."
"Leagues better than exorcizing curses," Shohei shrugged. Mai pulled back her scissors and smacked him for moving. "Sorry!"
"It's your look at risk. Not mine," Mai scolded, returning to cutting.
"Think I got too many scars to be called handsome now?"
"Depends on how well I cut your hair. If you stop moving and I do my best, it might just offset them all," Mai teased.
"If I recall correctly, and I don't typically do so feel free to correct me, you said I was handsome and my lip scar was cute. 'Gives your cute face a serious note," you said."
"I will feel free to correct you. I don't remember that at all," Mai dismissed. She harmlessly shrugged as she prowled around Shohei, examining where she needed to work next.
"Well I remember it vividly actually," Shohei assured. "Maki acted like an anchor for me when I was crumbling under the weight of my failure. She made me feel better, but you made me really laugh again. Just like these last few nights. You were hard on me and didn't kiss my ass like everyone else. Then you decided to be the funniest person I know. That was the greatest gift I could have been given. Honesty and joy. After you stopped being such a bully after the attack on Tokyo High, that's really all you've given me. Honesty and joy."
Mai returned behind Shohei, but her silence spoke volumes.
"So," Shohei veered off from that topic. "If you wouldn't be a hairdresser, what would you like to be?"
Mai cleared the frog in her throat, "I'd like to work with plants. In a greenhouse. Tending a garden all day. Hell, even a planlife section of a rural store. Working out in the sticks is up in the air. I'd be away from it all, but there might be some entitled old people. And that's really what I'd be running away from in the first place."
"I didn't know you had a green thumb."
"A green thumbnail maybe. All I've been able to keep alive is this little cactus. I want to get better at it though. Plant's don't have opinions and can't run out on me."
"I like plants. On campus I would tend the flowers with Inumaki or trim some trees with Panda. If I could travel more I'd rather visit rural areas and beautiful landscapes just for the scenery."
"That's the life we should be allowed to have," Mai sighed, daydreaming. "Traveling across the world. Attending real schools. Staying out late and drinking, only to regret it and still do it the next weekend. Not be child soldiers in a war with no end in sight."
"One can only hope and dream," Shohei murmured, daydreaming with Mai.
"All done," Mai barked, cutting their day dream short.
"Huh?" Shohei turned back. Mai was holding out the hand mirror again.
"Don't sit there looking stupid," Mai waved the mirror in his face. "Take a look."
Shohei took the mirror and studied his new look. Mai had faded all the hair on his sides bald from his scar down. Above the parallel of his scar, his hair was cut short to long, leaving the top almost untouched except being properly shaped up. Shohei applied Gravity Field for the first time since before Shibuya. His hair looked as great flattened by force as it did naturally standing upright.
"Honesty, joy, and a refreshing look is all you give me now!" Shohei gawked, not remembering a better haircut he'd received. "Thank you so much Mai."
The boy released his technique. He stood and turned to her, half already reaching for a hug. Mai recoiled at the gesture.
Shohei shrunk apologetically. "I'm sorry…"
"Don't be," Mai interrupted. "I just haven't been hugged in a long time."
Shohei took a step back, giving her her own space.
"Well I'd shake your hand, but that's too formal. I'd give you a high five but that's weird. A fist bump maybe?"
Mai cut the boy off with a lunging hug. Her arms wrapped around his neck, face buried in his neck, and weight rested on his shoulders.
Crouching down for the significantly shorter girl and returning the hug cautiously. Shohei cluelessly asked, "Mai?"
"Thank you. For treating me like a normal person. For forgiving me after I acted like a prick all those years. For making me laugh when I haven't in years. For treating Maki right and saving her. For staying beside her and me. For being a constant in my life. For being yourself. I love you Shohei."
Shohei had no words. He had seen Mai's tenderness below her defensive facade. He had seen her cry, and shout, and break down. He had never heard anyone speak their truth so passionately though.
"Kids!" Shoko called from inside the tent. "She's awake!"
Mai pulled away from Shohei, dashing to the entrance of the tent. Her watery eyes scanned the tent. Shohei joined her in the entrance. Maki's curtain was drawn open and Shoko was kneeling at her bedside. Golden eyes met their own.
Shoko busied herself with taking her vitals, and when she passed between Maki's view of them, Mai grabbed Shohei again. The girl pulled at his hand, lowering him to her level. She planted a peck of a kiss on his cheek, and whispered in his ear.
"Goodbye Shohei."
With a final squeeze of his hand Mai began to walk away. Like she said, she would only stick around to see Maki awaken. Shohei didn't stop her, shaken by her final words, but wanting to honor her wishes. Mai turned a corner, then was out of sight and alone in the chaos of Japan.
"Shohei?" Maki's voice reached his ear, weak from days of lack of use.
Shohei spun back around, racing into the tent and by her side.
"Good morning Maki," Shohei heaved, grasping her hands. She sat up in her bed as Shoko ran her stethoscope across her back bare back. Shohei pulled the cover over Maki, bare in the openness. Not that his eye was wavering from her's. He studied her own fogged expression, soaking in her gaze.
"Where are we?" she croaked, peering into his own eye, unphased by his lack of two.
"We are in Shoko's medical tent outside of Shibuya. We've been in her care for a few days. You were asleep the whole time."
"Does anything hurt, Maki?" Shoko asked, examining the girl. "How are you feeling?"
Maki squeezed her own hand, finally looking away from Shohei. Her gaze trailed from her fingertips, up her arm, across her chest, and under her covers.
"The curse… Nanami."
"You sustained some very dire burns. I've treated you extensively, but burn scars are something reversed cursed technique can't always prevent. Your skin may experience some moderate discomfort, but I assure you your wounds are fully healed."
Maki looked from Shoko to Shohei, glimpsing his own arm now, the injury identical to hers.
"Did it get you too?" Maki asked, holding her arm parallel to Shohei.
"No, thankfully,Shohei assured her, studying their matching arms. "I exorcized it in the end. Not before it got Naobito too. I was still unconscious. When I came to you all were either unconscious or missing. I flew you here and then pursued it. Got into it with the curse and Sukuna. That's how these came to be." Shohei gestured to his arm and face. "We had a very eventful night."
About to explain how Sukuna took Maki hostage when saving Fushiguro, Shohei felt a metaphysical hand clutch his tongue from the back of his throat. He halted, unable and unwilling to break Sukuna's Binding Vow, swearing him to not expose their deal.
"Sukuna was loose? Gojo was sealed. How was he stopped? Did we ever unseal Gojo? Did we lose anyone else?"
"Oh god," Shohei grimaced, having to relive the Shibuya incident to inform Maki. "There's so much."
"Well I've slept enough. I've got nothing better to do."
–
"And the two love birds are united once again!" Yuki Tsukumo cheered, barging into the tent. A lumpy garbage bag was thrown over her shoulder and a shining grin painted her face. She resembled a cruel imitation of Santa Clause.
Shohei sat atop a stool as Maki stretched and paced the length of the room in her fresh hospital attire, sick of lying down. Shohei had recalled every fight he participated in or heard of, every injury resulting in someone joining him in the tent, every event that only sent the night spiraling further into a living hell, and all the subsequent consequences the days following. Maki only grimaced in silence or asked for the next series of events when Shohei's storytelling lapsed. She had not commented on her new appearance of short hair and textured skin even once.
"Where have you been? You've been gone for a whole day." Shohei asked
Tsukumo strolled up to Shohei, plopped her gift-filled garbage bag on the ground, and began rummaging around.
"Well I did find you a new phone, clothes, and the tools you were hoping for. That all took me only a couple hours. I also found an intact, fully stocked, swanky bar. A girl can enjoy a nice drink every now and again. A girl however does not enjoy the rough morning soon after one too many nice drinks."
The special-grade sorcerer extracted all the cursed tools Shohei had requested she find. Protruding from the bag immediately was Shooting Star, which Shohei swiftly picked up, examined, and set aside. Next was Iguana Talon, his favorite tool and gift from Maki. Shohei didn't just glance at the karambit, but studied its cursed energy, seeing he had overworked the regenerative factor of the tool by pouring excessive cursed energy into it, crippling the technique. The tool would no longer immediately repair itself, but instead take upwards to an hour, voiding its ideal use in combat.
"Oh damn," Maki gawked, taking the three segments of the destroyed Playful Cloud from Tsukumo. The two ends of the three-sectioned staff were whittled against each other to a crude point and the two interlocking chains were torn apart. "What a waste destroying a special grade tool."
"Not fully destroyed like I hoped," Shohei smirked, studying the tool. The dissection and mangling of the tool had not stripped it of its technique. "I wasn't sure if they were destroyed or if I'd find Iguana Talon or Shooting Star. I also saw your spear was destroyed. I plan to repair Playful Cloud. Now that I'm a clan head though, this might go over smoother than I thought."
"Well whatever you're planning can wait," Tsukumo interrupted. "I've waited three days for you to recover and for here to wake up. Time to stick to your word and get ready to train. On top of that, I intend to contact Master Tengen."
"Don't call me by my surname," Maki demanded coldly, but was ignored completely by the sorcerer.
"And we will, but we should discuss that. I still have some things I need to tend to," Shohei said to Tsukumo, hoping a dogfight wouldn't break out between the two ladies.
"More?" Yuki gawked, not pleased with her time being wasted.
"I could actually use your help with half of it. And it will ensure my duties as Gojo clan head do not interfere with our training. The other half will simply provide another tool to aid us in this war against curses."
The blonde woman nodded in approval. "You're speaking my language kid! My goal as a humble beauty is to eradicate cursed spirits from the world. I opt to travel abroad and study what everywhere else in the world has to say on jujutsu. That's why I don't take such short sighted jobs of exorcizing curses. I'm aiming to treat the disease, not the symptoms."
"Real humble," Maki scoffed.
"Hello." The special-grade finally introduced herself to Maki. "I'm Yuki Tsukumo. I've heard lots about you"
"Well I could use your experience traveling abroad specifically," Shohei said, rising from his seat and pacing as he began to explain. "I've got my hands full and I'm willing to admit I'm not fit for any form of leadership position. Whether it's paperwork or politics, I'm bound to be no good. I want to remove my clan from the equation for the time being. Their location is exposed to Pseudo-Geto and any of his remaining allies. Jujutsu society is trying and failing to combat the curses running rampant across all of Japan. Our allies are either turned against each other, on the run, missing, or in danger. There is a possibility the Gojo clan can be put in danger sometime soon and I refuse to have another fiasco like the night they were first attacked. I need to remove as much from my full to the brim plate, and equip myself for what remains."
"Alright then," Tsukumo kept track of where he was going.
"You must have allies and or connections outside of Japan that you either trust or we can buy. I can remove my clan from my plate by placing them in a sort of witness protection program."
"I do indeed have a few connections in Europe. I find that I can trust them, but something on this scale would surely elicit some form of payment for them."
"I can hash that out," Shohei confirmed, waving that roadblock.
"Okay then. You've an idea for removing an obstacle. What about equipping yourself," Maki asked.
Shohei turned to Maki. "Do you remember hearing about that crazy guy raving about making Satoru a coat rack during the attack on the school?"
"Yeah. Juzo Kumiya. What about him?"
"He supposedly is a master cursed tool smith. I want him to repair Playful Cloud. It's one of the few powerful cursed tools we have and we can't just let it go to waste. And that Toji guy was onto something when he carved those two points."
Tsukumo stroked her chin, pondering. "This all seems like very long term plans. Not a whole lot of this can get done super quickly, I imagine."
"That's why we are gonna get started now. I've wasted your time enough too, Tsukumo. I've spent too long recovering. Call your connections and tell them there is big money and little to no risk involved. I just need a secure, undisclosed location to relocate and house not even a hundred people."
"Right now?" Yuki asked, stunned by the sudden demand as she pulled out her phone.
"You shouldn't have waited on me," Maki scolded him. "You could have had half this done and finished by the time I woke up."
Shohei turned from Yuki and whispered, "Maybe, but I'll be completely honest with you. I just came up with all this today, and most of it on the spot just now. I couldn't have this stroke of genius again if I tried. I'm also hoping you'll come with me. I know a minion doesn't ask its boss to tag along, but will you?"
"Of course," Maki assured, squeezing Shohei's hand, a small smirk creeping in the corners of her mouth for the first time she woke up. "I can't let you go wondering about all of Japan without me. And I need to see how bad this shit is going to hit the fan."
"Well, you can't enact your master plan in slippers," Shoko spoke up. She emerged from the back of the tent, having listened to the conversation. She nodded to Yuki's garbage bag. "You better get dressed. I'm discharging you two from my care. I'll be one call away if you need anything."
–
"Okay," Shohei heaved, checking off a box of his mental to do list. Tsukumo, Maki, and Shohei stood on the street with two charter buses waiting on them. It had taken them several hours to find any services still renting out buses despite the chaos across the country.
Shohei and Maki were dressed in equally too small or too large clothing procured for them by Tsukumo. Maki's sweatshirt engulfed her and Shohei's ankles were exposed at the bottom of his joggers. The three of them looked like a pair of mismatched siblings and teen mom lost in the city.
"Tsukumo. I would like you to accompany the buses to these coordinates. There is no specific address. It's gonna lead you to the side of a mountain. If the drivers complain or ask questions, throw some cash their way. We shouldn't take more than one or two hours to meet you there. Depends on how these negotiations go."
"You're the boss," Tsukumo saluted, and turned on the spot. She banged on one bus door, circled her finger overhead, boarded the other, and waved the two teens goodbye.
Standing alone in the streets of Tokyo, Shohei and Maki shared an exasperated glance at Tsukumo's departure.
"She's a big personality for a special-grade sorcerer," Maki scoffed, throwing Shooting Star over her shoulder. She was wielding it and Iguana Talon for the time being while she had no other tools, or even her glasses.
"All of them really are. Satoru is Satoru. Geto wanted a genocide of non-sorcerers. She's a quirky, philosophical, world wanderer. Yuta was haunted by the vengeful spirit of his childhood best friend and is practically married to the semblance of her."
"Back on track," Maki chidded, grabbing and jostling Shohei's face. "The Juzo guy next."
"Right. Are you ready? Can I wrap my arm around you while we fly?"
"Yes?" Maki looked at Shohei like it was the silliest question he had ever asked.
"I wasn't sure," Shohei explained. "When I got my lip scar, touching was a sensitive subject. Remember? You might've held my hand, but you haven't said anything about your scars. I wasn't sure if you minded more touch."
"They were jarring to see," Maki admitted, looking down at her hands again. "I feel really really different all around. Like my skin feels uncomfortable in these clothes. Like the only thing that would be comfortable is silk or water, but I'm glad in a way. I once told you that you should look at your scars as a trophy or perseverance. I survived something that would kill most people. Yes, I'm physically uncomfortable in my own skin, but you can choose to grow and adapt when stuck in discomfort. Yes, I don't look like me, but my body is only a tool for my will. I'm not gonna sulk and stress over a tool that's got a scratch or two as long as it works. Especially right now. I've got you to support me and you need my support."
"God you're as tough as nails," Shohei cooed, love struck.
"I know," Maki shrugged, smirking at the boy as she wrapped an arm around his waist. "Up, up and away pretty boy."
Shohei wrapped an arm under Maki's arms. He enshrouded her in her own Gravity Field acting as a G suit to protect from the force of flight and cold wind.
"I've never taken you flying before," Shohei noted. "I would've preferred it to be on a romantic date to fly above the clouds or stargaze."
"I find a mission to commission the repair of my favorite and most powerful cursed tool to be romantic."
"I will never understand your fascination with weapons."
"I don't get your fascination with everything in the natural world and space."
"To each their own I guess."
And the two took flight in a roar of force, and as they climbed over the skyline, a sonic boom rattled the buildings below. The two soared across Tokyo's city and into its rural area.
With the luxury of express super sonic flight, the two were soon approaching the mountains that housed Tokyo High School. Shohei began their descent, and with a nose dive and sudden swoop to halt their landing, the two touched down.
"So," Shohei turned to Maki, still in his arms. "Flying all it's cracked up to be?"
"I'm gonna be sick." Maki peeled herself from his side and semi-watered a bush outside the gates of the school.
"So no cloudtop stargazing date. Noted."
"Maybe just no sonic booms," Maki countered, spitting one final time on the greenery.
"Meet you back here at noon," Shohei said. He glanced at his tattered trashbag housing Playful Cloud's remnants and recalled the plan. He looked at his phone as well, checking the time of almost eleven o'clock.
"Yup. I grab my glasses, supplies, better clothes, and any of my spare tools. You go bargain with Juzo in his cell."
They nodded, and split up.
Shohei had only been to the Isolation Chambers once. That was to execute some overly ambitious curse user who got captured when no other staff were readily available. Finding his way back was not the easiest. Despite traveling across the country in the span of minutes or even seconds, navigating on foot was not the easiest for Shohei.
Then there was the roadblock of discerning which chamber was Kumiya's and how to unlock it. Thankfully, Shohei knew the one person bound to know all he needed.
Shohei pulled out his phone and opened the phone app. As he wandered around, he attempted to recall the phone number of the higher ups designated assistant. After he made the wrong turn again, he remembered thankfully.
"Good morning. You've reached Okura Tamaki," an oily voice of a man spoke through the phone.
"Good morning Tamaki-san. This is Shohei Gojo. I have a question or two about a sudden matter on my hands."
"Hello Gojo-sama! I've heard about your promotion to the position of clan head. Congratulations. I am however afraid to inform you that the higher ups are preoccupied with the ongoing predicament jujutsu society is facing right now. They are unable to answer any questions at the moment."
"That's fine. I know we are at war with hordes of cursed spirits and the world's falling apart, but if you could let them know that I'm about to free a curse user prisoner to fix a weapon of mine. I may or may not throw him back in his cell when he's done with it all. I'll let you know how that goes in the end. I'm more so calling to ask you what cell he is in and what's the sign and gesture to free him."
"Gojo-sama! I don't particularly believe that this sudden measure is appropriate. Freeing a dangerous curse user for your own gain and even considering not returning them to custody is highly irresponsible. Even if I could give you the means to find and enter his chambers, I would find it immoral."
Unamused and as lost as ever, Shohei bluntly said, "Okura. Shut the hell up and give Juzo Kumiya's his cell number and gesture. I know you know every password and location of anything important in this god forsaken country. You are the higher ups manilla folder of anything that matters. I also know you're only remaining in the position of the higher ups personal assistant because you're scared to be in the field as an auxiliary manager. You're more scared than anyone of anything that goes bump in the night. If you don't help me in fact, I'm gonna drag you out of your hidey hole and force you into the first Isolation Chamber with a curse user I can unlock and change the password."
Shohei's phone was silent. The oily voice finally spoke up after one second too long of nothing.
"Juzo Kumiya's cell is the seventeenth chamber on the left when entering the Isolation Chamber hallway. The gesture to unseal his cell door is the buddhist hand symbol jnana mudra sliding from the left of the chest to the right."
"Perfect," Shohei chirped. "Now…"
Shohei glanced around after spending his time the entire call getting more lost on campus.
"Can you direct me to the Isolation Chambers."
With Tamaki's guidance through Shohei describing his surroundings, Shohei discovered the partially underground building that was the Isolation Chamber Prison.
"I appreciate your cooperation Okura-san! Have fun managing the world going to hell," Shohei mocked and hung up.
Shohei scaled the stairs and came across the secondary and secured door that led to the individual chambers, Shohei flared his cursed energy in hand, gestured a hand sign, and traced the hand over the solid stone door plastered with talisman. The talisman first parted ways, folding aside, then the stone door turned to dust and disappeared. Shohei stepped through and the door returned behind him.
Shohei flared his cursed energy once again, and a series of candles lit along the walls of a vast hallway. The candles illuminated dozens upon dozens of stone doors similar to the one he just passed.
Shohei counted the doors to his left, googled the appropriate buddhist hand sign, and opened the chamber door. Behind the door was a room large enough to fit no more than a dozen people shoulder to shoulder. The walls were a dark, almost fleshy stone, but were littered with protective and sealing talismans. The only light in the room were a few dim candles seeping with wax on the floor.
Shohei stepped in the room and before him was a large bald man with a black rectangular tattoo spanning across his eyes. He sat in a typical wooden chair with his arms tied behind him. They were restrained by thick braided ropes around his wrists nailed to the floor, intertwined with an additional talisman.
"Is it my time?" the curse user growled like a defeated dog about to be put down.
"If you fail to cooperate," Shohei threatened, but soon dismissed his glum demeanor with a smile. "In fact. You may even feel alive again."
Kumiya only quirked an eyebrow, studying Shohei and his misleading smile.
"Do you know who I am?" Shohei asked him politely.
"Shohei Gojo."
"Yes. And you'll be keen to know I'm now the head of my clan. Do you know what that entails?"
"Satoru Gojo is dead?" the curse user asked, more sad than Shohei would expect from a criminal.
"No. From the rumor or two I heard about you, I thought you were supposed to be manic and flamboyant," Shohei sighed, dragged down by the man's glum demeanor.
"You would lose a little of your spark if Satoru mangled all four of your limbs, interrogated you for hours on end, and left you in a cell to rot while you waited for your unknown but impending execution."
"Well, that is a shame. I was gonna need your spark for your craft. Satoru is indisposed for the foreseeable future. That means two things. One. You will not get your coat rack any time soon. Two. I now have the power to sway your sentence and eventual execution."
"Get to the point?" Juzo bucked in his chair, using the little movement he had while restrained.
"I want you to repair a cursed tool of mine. I might even want your help again in the future depending on how well you do."
"I can forge cursed tools again?" a spark of hope, foreignly humane shimmered in the man's beady eyes.
Shohei nodded, but held up a hand. "Yes. I do, however, have some conditions."
Kumiya waited eagerly, but patiently for Shohei to continue.
"You make a Binding Vow with me. To the best of your abilities you will carry out any requests in creating, repairs, or altering tools for me when I ask of you. I will provide appropriate primary material for whatever I ask of you. You will cease your criminal behavior as a curse user as well. If you agree to those terms I will spare you from your death sentence. From then on you are free to live a life as a typical citizen. Maybe even a sorcerer on probation. Jujutsu society needs all the help it can get. How does that sound?"
"You expect me to sign my life away just for it not to end sooner?" the man raised an eyebrow, not impressed by the deal.
"Not at all. I'm asking you to not be a criminal and enjoy your very skillful craft more humanely," Shohei countered. "Which do you value more? Your art and life, or killing, being on the run, and rotting in this hole?"
Shohei's reiteration prompted Juzo to turn the offer over in his mind. Shohei studied Kumiya's face wrinkled in thought, waiting for confirmation or denial.
Getting Playful Cloud was not necessary, but it was ideal. Shohei lost Stygian Void and Iguana Talon, his favorite and slowly more proficient tool. He wanted to close the gap in skill he lost by any means necessary. He was good at hand to hand combat, but was better with weapons. He didn't know how much or even what Yuki intended to train him in. He needed something he could rely on, and Playful Cloud was a simple and powerful tool he had years of on and off experience with, along with many of his friends who also used it.
"Well? I have a busy day," Shohei poked, trying to bluff that Kumiya's fate didn't matter much to him.
The curse user glanced back up at the boy, leaned back to peer at his restraints, and studied the room bitterly.
"Fine," Kumiya said. "I'll accept it all once you get me out of this damn chair."
Unfazed by the possibility of Juzo fleeing or attacking him, Shohei beamed at his agreement and approached.
"I'm glad you came around," Shohei thanked, gesturing the same sign he did to enter the chamber to the talisman on the ropes. The ropes went slack around Kumiya's arms and fell to the ground.
The large man stood, rubbing his wrists and shaking out his legs. Shohei caught the curse user glancing at the door and sizing him up. Once Shohei stood straight up and was not just as wide but taller than him, Kumiya's gaze slackened. Maybe his submission was the desire not to have all four limbs of his mangled again by a second Gojo.
"Shake on it," Shohei said, thrusting out a hand. "Again, to the best of your abilities you will carry out any requests in creating, repairing, or altering tools for me when I ask of you. I will provide appropriate primary material for whatever I ask of you. You will cease your criminal behavior as a curse user as well. If you agree to those terms I will spare you from this death sentence."
Kumiya stuck out his hand, sure to give an indignant squeeze, and shook Shohei.
"I agree to carry out any requests in creating, repairing, or altering tools for you when you ask of me. You will provide appropriate primary material for whatever you ask of me. I will cease my criminal behavior as a curse user. I agree to these terms in return for you sparing me from my current death sentence."
Before their hands parted, the sensation of heavy chains interlocked over them, and faded from their mind.
"Now," Shohei chirped, thrusting the ravished garbage bag into Juzo's arms. "Care to see the damage of your first project as a free man?"
"What's this?" Kumiya muttered, rummaging through the bag. He extracted the thirds of Playful Cloud and almost vomited. "The special-grade cursed tool, Playful Cloud! Who massacred it? How? It's one of the most durable tools I've ever heard of."
"I didn't expect you to know so much. I guess you are a real craftsman."
Kumiya looked indignant, clutching the weapon to his chest like an injured child.
"Just cause I'm a criminal doesn't mean I'm ignorant!"
"Well you're a criminal no longer," Shohei assured, sending Tamaki a text message. Shohei demanded Juzo Kumiya be cleared of all charges and be considered under the political protection of Shohei and their Binding Vow swearing off all criminal activity as a curse user. "Do you have a workshop or forge of some sort? I don't really have any tools for your disposal."
"I have a workshop, but its location was disclosed when I was being interrogated. The sorcerers connected it with Tengen's barriers across the countryside."
"Dammit," Shohei spat. "I can't navigate Tengen's barriers. We plan to speak to them in the next few days, but we have different matters to tend to until then."
"I'm not gonna get dragged alongside you for god knows how many days," Kumiya grumbled, examining Playful Cloud further.
"I didn't plan on it. If Master Tengen is gracious enough, they might return your workshop to you. Until then I might have a place for you to stay until then."
"Where is that?"
"You'll see. Until then just ride along. Let's go."
Shohei and Kumiya exited the Isolation Chamber buildings and reunited with Maki at the entrance of Tokyo Jujutsu High.
Shohei greeted Maki with a squeeze of her hand. "Find what you were looking for?"
"Mostly. I see you did."the girl gave Kumiya an unimpressed glance up and down with her old, round lens glasses. Kumiya only had a leer to respond. They seemingly cleared out my room of the tools I rented, loaned, or even bought from the Zenin clan. The Zenin and Kamo probably cleared the school weaponry after Shibuya. The Gojo clan doesn't have any loaned to the school, does it?"
"I don't think so," Shohei recalled. "If they did I probably would have heard of it when hashing out the paperwork to become head."
"Dammit," Maki spat, slinging off the backpack thrown across her shoulder. "Well I got you your favorite NASA sweater and some better pants and shirts. Got some for myself. Some essentials too."
"All I see is your junk food," Shohei noted, peering into the bag.
"Precisely," Maki unironically confirmed. She buried herself in Shohei's side and threw an arm around his waist. "Ready when you are."
"Kumiya," Shohei called to the standoffish man. "We're going to fly to our next location. I need you to stand close."
Kumiya gave an indignant grumble, but joined Shohei's side. The boy grabbed the man under the arm and enveloped his two passengers in their own G suit-like fields before taking off to the Gojo clan estate.
I want to address a little upstart at the mention of Gojo and Geto being more than best friends. I would like to clarify that it was Naoya Zenin of all people to even first mention the two of them being more than friends. I'd imagine you should take anything he says with a grain of salt. I, as the author, didn't confirm or deny what they are. I haven't tried to ship them more or less than the anime, which I think can be interpreted as either a ship or friends, in this fan fiction. Shohei, possibly Satoru's closest friend and family member hasn't even flushed out what Satoru and Suguru were. Not many characters are gonna define what they were perfectly. I don't intent to heavily flush out their relationship like that because this isn't a fanfiction about those two specifically. I will address them and their history though at several points in the future when it is needed, so please don't flood to the comments if you don't like that ship or other ships mentioned in the comments if I haven't even shipped it myself in this work.
I hope you enjoyed the chapter. It was moderately longer than the recent several and covers a wide number of bases. Granted, the bases covered are all preparation for the Perfect Prepartion Arc and Culling Games arc. I don't intend for their to be any big action heavy chapters in the next few posts. Thats simply because there will be numerous subsequent chapters were it feels like there is only action when the Culling Games roll around and a substantial amount of content and planning takes place before then that I don't want to gloss over. I do however plan for there to be some action here and there when training with Yuki begins. I'll also splice in some elaboration and better explanation of Shohei's powers in those chapters and their author's notes. I don't think I did a great job explaining his techniques in my earliest chapters and I've only introduced more since then. I'd rather readers have an appropriate grasp of his powers before they're none stop used in the Culling Games.
Again, thank you for reading and supporting Spaced Out with your favorites, follows, and comments.