𝑬𝑴𝑷𝑰𝑹𝑬 𝑶𝑭 𝑮𝑶𝑳𝑫 ⇢ Gojo Satoru

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐗𝐕𝐈𝐈 - 𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊 𝐓𝐎 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐄𝐆𝐈𝐍𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆

THIRTEEN YEARS AGO, Friday, November 19th, 2004 –

GOJO SATORU HAD LANDED HIMSELF IN DETENTION AGAIN, an occurrence which seemed to be repeating itself more often than not now that the boy had reached his second year as a student at Jujutsu High School.

This same occurrence also happened to anger and displease the elders of the Gojo Clan along with his own grandmother, the matriarch of the family, not that he ever got to talk to her for more than five minutes. His father wasn't a real Gojo – only by marriage – and his mother was dead while his grandmother – the honourable Gojo Sene – couldn't care less about him or his wellbeing as long as he continued to be the prodigy everyone knew him as.

Satoru had grown used to this, his absentee family becoming quite unimportant when it came to the grand scheme of things. He was the eldest, and as such, many things were expected of him, such as producing heirs – the more, the merrier – and running the family business once his grandmother stepped down. However, just because he wasn't clan head yet did not mean that he didn't have a role to play within the ranks of his family. As the strongest male Jujutsu sorcerer, both The Magistrate and the elders of the clan expected great things of him.

When Satoru entered the classroom, he expected it to be deserted. There were only a handful of other students in his year and they were all far more quiet and less troublesome than he was, the likelihood that they'd end up in detention beside him was preposterous.

So when he pushed the wooden door and found himself face to face with Kinzoku Mikazuki, he almost winced.

The fifteen-year-old in front of him jumped away, quickly excusing herself, a curtain of black hair covering her suddenly reddened face. The young Kinzoku was wearing the school's uniform, the blazer at least two sizes too big as it hung languidly from her shoulders while the hem of the skirt rested just above her knees. The white shirt she wore underneath had been ironed to perfection, the fabric smooth and spotless despite their rough training as semi second-grade sorcerers.

Satoru quirked an eyebrow, staring at his rival with an amused expression. Though the word 'rival' might have been a bit too strong to describe his relationship with the sorceress. Her existence challenged him, but not to a level he was uncomfortable or to the point where he felt threatened by it. He was also supposed to marry her one day, but that was another subject altogether.

Seeing the girl without her twin was rare, she and Keisuke were joined to the hip, always wandering the halls together and sparring with one another whenever Yaga-sensei allowed it. Still, seeing her in detention was far more strange, especially for a child like her.

Mikazuki was too shy, the kind of girl who rarely got into trouble. She only spoke when spoken to, she spent her days with her nose buried in a book, either horror or fantasy, not that Satoru particularly cared. She was his exact opposite, always calm and contained while he was wild and unbound.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't aware anyone else was supposed to be here." She apologized, straightening her uniform, her golden eyes trailing on the boy in front of her, silently counting the distance between the two and praying it was enough.

Satoru glanced at the wooden floor, he too counting the steps in his head, wondering when the habit had become so engrained in him to the point he was able to do it mindlessly. Sene had made sure the gesture would come naturally to him, yet there was still something terribly ridiculous and frightening about it.

"That's fine." Satoru answered non-commitmently, stepping into the dusty classroom and leaning against one of the desks, hands buried deep within his pockets while still making sure the distance remained.