Indignation heats his veins at the admission of Kagome, wanting to venture out without him. It's silly–he knows this — and the chances of her running into a special grade are slim. And he can't really keep her locked away - well, he could, but she probably wouldn't speak to him for a while.

He shakes those thoughts away and grins down at his students. People walking by shoots them annoyed looks for taking up the busy sidewalk.

"I will now announce our destination!" He declares, lifting his arms up towards the clear sky. "Roppongi!"

"Roppongi!" Yuji and Nobara scream out, leaping towards him. Their arms fail out as they jump around. Nobara's orange eyes glitter with happiness.

Next to Nobara, Gojo notices how pale Yuji's skin is. The vibrancy that he had the day before is gone. It's subtle, he suspects that Yuji himself doesn't notice the difference.

Megumi catches his eye, scoffing. Gojo almost feels bad for how misleading he's being.

Almost.

"Follow me to our destination!" He sings along to his own tune, enjoying the background noise of Yuji and Nobara arguing about what to do first. Those two are such a contrast to the quietness of Megumi. And for that, he is grateful. It'll be good for Megumi, he decides, to be surrounded by such a lively bunch.

He snickers to himself when they stop at an abandoned building. It drips with cursed energy. The perfect amount for Nobara and Yuji to handle.

"The hell is this?" Nobara whips her face away from the worn-down building, her orange bob sways to the beat of her anger.

"This isn't Roppongi," Yuji groans out.

"There's a curse here." Gojo pulls out a cleaver and deposits it into Yuji's hands. "Here, this a cursed weapon that should help you out for now. Megumi and I will hang back. I want to see what you two can do. And remember, curses in the city are different from those in the country." He wags a finger, punctuating each point.

"That was actually informative," Megumi comments.

"Why thank you, I am the best sensei after all."

He pushes Yuji and Nobara towards the building, their groans about not actually going to Roppongi do little to deter him. Nobara has never been to the city, and Yuji has only encountered one curse. He needs to assess their strengths and weakness if he's going to be able to properly teach them.

What he needs most is powerful allies if he's going to change the jujutsu world.

"Sensei," Megumi calls out after Nobara and Yuji disappear into the building, "I wanted to ask you about Kagome-san."

"What about her?" Gojo takes a seat next to Megumi on the bench.

"There's something strange about her." He pauses, his eyebrows scrunch together. "Like she's not…" his mouth closes, pressed into a firm line.

"You should interact with more civilians, Megumi-kun," Gojo chides.

"Tha- that's not it! She's just different. I don't know what it is." Megumi turns to the side, his hand grips the front of his black jacket. "She burned Yuji."

Burned?

"What do you mean she burned Yuji? We were all together." Gojo clucks his tongue against the roof of his mouth.

"When Yuji hugged her. There's a burn on his back that showed up last night."

"It happened after you guys were back at the dorms, right?" At Megumi's nod, Gojo continues, "How do you know it was Kagome and not Sukuna? We have no idea how hosting Sukuna is going to affect Yuji."

"That's true." Megumi turns back around, facing the building. "Sorry, Sensei. I didn't mean to accuse Kagome-san."

Gojo waves him off and then places a hand on his shoulder, squeezing gently. "You're worried about your teammate. That's nothing to apologize for." He points to his blindfold with his other hand. "Besides, you forget. If there was anything abnormal about Kagome-chan, I'd know."

Megumi sighs, his body relaxes with relief.

"I forgot." He leans back, Gojo's hand leaves his shoulder.

"How big is the burn on Yuji?"

"It's like a perfect circle, but it's not big. Though he started screaming and there was smoke coming from him, when it happened. It didn't last that long - maybe a minute or two."

"Why didn't you tell me last night?"

Shard of glass spray out from the top window, a curse with enormous eyes and brown fur leaps out. Megumi stands quickly, hand poised to summon his dogs. Gojo reaches out and tugs him back down.

"Hold on, give your teammates a chance. Let's see how crazy they are."

The curse bursts into flames before it can touch the ground. Nobara waves to them from the window, there's a scratch on her cheek, but she looks unharmed for the most part. Gojo smirks to himself.

His phone buzzes in his pocket. Standing, he retrieves it. With his luck, it's probably a message from Yaga about some special grade that he needs to take care of. A genuine smile graces his face as Kagome's name pops up.

Found a stray cat. I'm naming him Buyo Jr.

Wait.

Tell me you didn't bring home a stray.

He doesn't do pets, it's bad enough that he has to entertain Megumi's shikigami. He ignores Megumi's questioning stare.

Okay.

He stares at the phone, waiting for an elaboration that doesn't come. He barely notices the young child standing between Yuji and Nobara.

"Gojo-sensei? What do we do about the kid? The curse was holding him hostage." Nobara's voice cuts through his internal monologue.

"Eh?" He slips the phone into his pocket. "I'll take care of it!" He gives them a thumbs up. "Meet me at the station," he calls out, leading the kid in the opposite direction.

"Which station!" They call out after him.


A/N: Next chapter will be longer! And as always, thank you all so much for the reviews :)