𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 |ʳʸᵒᵐᵉⁿ ˢᵘᵏᵘⁿᵃ| ʳᵉʷʳⁱᵗᵉ|

Chapter 1 - Divine Intervention: 13th

The universe didn't like many things. From little inconsistencies to bumps in the river of time, it held a certain distaste for paradoxes especially—specifically the cause of them.

Kiko Mirai has been the source of its problems recently. More accurately, she had been the source for a total of 120 years.

The latest repeat of her seemingly perpetual cycle was last August, 2007. It watched her head to class, flashing the same bright smile to her friends, and it frowned as she managed to prevent Getou Suguru from meeting Yuki Tsukumo.

This was not how the timeline was supposed to unfold.

It scowled when she just "happened to be in the area" before saving Yu Haibara and Nanami Kento from a misidentified grade one.

Actions do not come without ramifications, and nothing goes by the universe unnoticed. Kiko's was playing a dangerous game—one it was not unwilling to join.

Yuki Tsukumo would suddenly receive more missions that led her to meeting Getou, and Yu Haibara would die in another accident involving a strangely strong curse. The slightly altered events would still take place, and Getou would deviate, just as planned.

It worked for a while, until it didn't. Until the 11th repeat, where every move it made was countered, albeit weakly. Kiko had a sense of how events would work as she planned ahead, forcing it to follow, as more and more of its thoughts revolved around how to get rid of this nuisance.

She kept Getou by her side at all times, keeping a close eye on Haibara and Nanami, even going so far as to train them and try to give them hints of the future.

It never worked.

No matter who she said them to, her words would be perceived as gibberish, and her efforts, it knew, were all in vain. They were going to be, anyway.

She had barely been able to keep Getou from leaving Jujutsu High, and had only delayed his transformation by half a year. Yuki managed to have a conversation with him while Kiko saved Haibara on yet another mission, and the gears, after much delay, were finally able to turn.

Another paradox—the 12th.

"Why prevent the inevitable?" Getou asked as he sat across Kiko, his now colleague instead of classmate.

The end of third year was only last week. She had managed to steer him on the path she wanted, so that he would become a teacher, albeit an unsatisfied one. A teacher that would still feel the same suppressed disgust and superiority towards non-jujutsu sorcerers.

Kiko stayed silent, a bitter expression on her face. She provided no answer for Getou's question, only asking in return,

"Can't you let someone else do it?"

Getou laughed, an equally harsh smile on his face. "Do you think I'm the type of person to wait around for such a drastic change?"

"But what about me? What about Gojo and Shoko and everyone you know? Are you willing to give them up for a chance at this supposed evolution? Even if you die in the process?"

"I am."

She was holding back her emotions. It watched her jaw tighten to keep her voice level, to hold her breath steady. "I'm not."

How selfish. Getou pointed it out as she denied it, and with each word, her voice grew louder, sharper, until he could no longer get through to her, and she faced nothing but a shut door.

It gained no pleasure in seeing her suffer. Tears stained her shirt as she grieved, and as the night went on, her hair only became more and more tangled.