Omg guys.
I'm so sorry. I was supposed to publish it last night but if anyone lives in the valley, it is windy as heck! My power went down and I could not access my Wattpad account at all.
Crazy but I'm here now! Made it a little longer for you guys. Pls let me know what you think of this chapter and vote too if you can!
Enjoy!
A chill is in the air when the kids all hop out of the train to Takayama. Kei breathes out, looking around the village far ahead of them.
He looks down at his postcard and the address written in the corner.
Nobara puts a hand on his shoulder and squeezed it and the blonde looks up to her,
"Don't worry Kei-Kun, we're going to find them."
And so they did.
Before that though, Kei had enough and went to nearest hair salon to get his hair turned back to his original color.
It was a little bright than before but he blew it off, as long as the color black was gone from his head.
After the group scattered to ask where their place was, they found a lone house away from the rest of the town.
It was a beautiful cottage with stone-like features around it.
They were so close to the ocean and the group began to shiver from how cold it got.
"Let's just hope this is them so we can get out of this cold!" Megumi scowls while rubbing his shoulders.
"So..cold.." Yuji whimpers.
"Salmon." Toge adds and Kei turns to look at them.
"Don't worry guys. I'm positive that it is them.." He strolls ahead of them and knocks on the door until it creaks open, the residents appear.
An elderly couple and when they look down to see Kei, tears start cascading down the old lady's puffy cheeks.
"Kei! Oh, my grandson, you came to visit us?!"
He chuckles softly,
"A home far away from your troubles. That's how you described your retirement, right grams?"
"Yes and it's all thanks to your grandfather!" The old man says with a cheeky grin before pulling him close as well.
The three huddle together while the group watches a little far.
"This is a nice reunion and all but can you please, let my human friends inside..they're freezing." Panda calls out and the couple stare at him.
"Oh! We're so sorry about that! Please do come in." She bows profusely as the old man rubs his head in embarrassment.
Kei slouches and looks down in confusion.
'So they're not going to question the talking panda?'
-
Everyone stood by the fire as Nobara and Kei sat down at the dinner table with the file placed against their ceramic table.
"And that's why I came here to you guys.." Kei mutters with a frown, his finger pushing the ends of the paper towards his relatives. "They won't acknowledge you guys because I never officially was adopted by you and or Gojo.."
"But the only way you can get out of it.."
"If you sign this paper and let Satoru take custody of me while I'm in tokyo."
His grandfather leans back and sighs,
"I can't believe they bought you. Isn't that illegal or something?"
He shakes his head,
"I'm afraid not in the jujutsu world. Apparently the Zenin family can buy whatever they want, whenever they want as long as the person has no parental control."
"Why didn't you stay with us, Kei? You shouldn't go and live with them so young. This could have been avoided." The woman grumbled, her hand wrapped into a fist out of frustration.
"Also how come you don't speak to us for years and now you show up, just for a favor?"
Kei flinches from those words.
It was a bit sensitive of him to come all those years of not speaking to him.
But he had his reasons..
Nobara looks at a quiet Kei before speaking for him,
"Kei wants to help people, Mrs. Murasaki.." She says, startling the boy as he looks at her. "When I first met him, he told me he didn't want anyone to go through the same pain as he did. So, he wants to become the best sorcerer he can be."
She continues to defend him.
"Kei is no cruel person and he didn't ignore you because of you guys, but because of him. I know he doesn't want to put you guys in harm's way," She puts a hand over his and she smiles softly,
"He's just that type of guy."
The two look at their paired hands in confusion before Kei broke his silence,
"Grandmother..grandfather, I'm sorry I never responded back to you. And I will next time, it's just..my dream is something that involves me risking my life and risking the lives of others if it wants to come true." He inhales, hands trembling a bit.
"I'm sorry I made you feel like you were at fault. I just want to protect you is all..cause I couldn't with mom and dad."
"N-No, no.." The elders cooed, dismissing his self direct insult. "Kei, their deaths were never your fault..."
Kei looks down.
"Even so, I had the power. They didn't. But now I'm trying to be strong so more lives aren't at risk. But being in the Zenin family is stopping that from happening," He cursed to himself.
"They just want me as some mule. They're not trying to help me. They're using me..but this problem can change if you sign this paper."
There's silence in the room, even in the living room where the other students were hanging out at. They heard Kei's commotion and turned mute too.
Kei never saw himself living with his grandparents
He couldn't be that disabled kid who lived rent free in their grandparents house with no job for the rest of his life.
No purpose.
The taunts and insults he'd get for being useless to society falls deaf to his ears.
'I have to keep fighting and protect the ones I love. That's my dream and I intend to seek it through.'
"If that's what you really want, then we will sign this. But please, Kei, we ask you to take care of yourself. We mean it from our hearts.."
Kei smiles in relief.
"I will. I promise."
"Yeah! Don't worry, guys!" Nobara says with words of encouragement, "He's got me on his side so he won't be dying or getting hurt anytime soon."
They laughed in the dining room and then, they signed the paper.
Kei was going to be free from the Zenin family.
"Nobara, dear, why don't you open the walk-in closet?" Grandma insists as Nobara sips the hot chocolate they gave to her and the others. "We have some spare coats and jackets for anyone that needs them."
"Leave it to me, grams." She chimes before jumping out of her seat. Kei looks back at her, chuckling at her enthusiasm.
He turns back only to see his grandparents leaning over the table and boring him with wide eyes.
"So who's the girl? Is she your girlfriend?" The grandfather asked, hand in hip.
"Ehh?" Kei starts to blush madly, taken aback by their bold behavior.
"W-Well, yeah, we've been dating for only a short time now."
"Oh my god, yay!" His grandmother clasped her hands together, squealing in delight. "She's so pretty and I can tell she really cares."
"Yeah and so do I." Kei responds with a cheery smile.
The old man chuckles, "All I can say is get married before you and your grandmother here roll to our deaths here!"
"G-Grandpa.." He cries out. He's getting even more shy. "I-uh am not thinking of that right now.."
"Hahaha, I'm just kidding you!" He sighs, looking up at the ceiling. "Boy, your father would have a field day on this if he were here."
'He would, he thought to himself. His father was always a bit of a player around my age or so I was told by grandmother. He would have been happy to see someone like me get with someone amazing as Nobs.'
"Do you..love her?"
The question made his heart swell in happiness, a smile creeping up his face.
"Of course. I've never been so in love until I met her. I want to make her happy as much as I can."
"Good."
--
The ocean was beautiful while the sun settled down in the background. Kei found himself sitting down on a towel, his bare feet sinking into the warm sand.
He watches Toge chase after Panda while Maki and Megumi chat to themselves close to him. Nobs skips and makes her way next to him, with a towel in her hand.
She settles it right below her and sits down, handing him a cup of coffee from her hands.
"Careful. Your grams said it was a bit too hot still."
"Thanks babe." He looks down to the swirl of black coffee in his cup as Nobara leaned back with her hands behind her.
"You know, this reminds me alot of home," Nobara smiles with a blush on her face, "Everyday I used to walk with a friend home to school and there'd be the ocean view on our way back.."
"Aw, do you ever miss home?" He asked before taking a small sip of his drink. She sighs at that.
"Honestly, when I came here..I could not help but feel home sick. I hated the countryside when I was little and dreamed of always going to tokyo. But when I left, my perspective on it changed.."
She shrugs to herself,
"I guess I didn't appreciate it until I left. You never know what you have till it's gone, right?"
"Yeah, ladybird, I know exactly what you mean." He smirks at her and she raises her eyebrow.
"Ladybird..?"
"Heh yeah..it's some oscar-nominated film. The whole thing you were telling me reminded me of the plot a bit."
Nobara laughs at that, "Really? And let me guess, the actress looks like me too?"
She jokes about it but Kei puts a finger under his chin.
"You know..you guys kinda have the same hair..kinda."
"You'll have to show me it when we go back to your place. Especially after we emancipate you from the Zenin."
He rolls his eyes at that,
"Oh yeah, that nonsense," He sighs before putting his drink to the side. "I can't wait to go back to my own room and sleep. Feels like fucking forever."
"Totally." She grins before intertwining hands with him.
"And we definitely have lots to catch up in there too."
He pulls her close to her, their noses touch as he smiles.
"Yes, we do."
She looks into his eyes, looking at him with a bit more serious expression.
"But Kei, ever since you showed me Tokyo and the last few trips, you made me feel like I was home. I don't feel as homesick or lonely as I did before.. And I want to thank you for that."
"Of course, Nobs. I want to be there for you, always."
Her heart jumps at that and then she kisses him on the lips.
"Oohhh yeah, this is going to be one for the books!"
They break the kiss off and turn to see Yuji far back with his phone pointing at them.
"Uhh, Yuji..are you recording us?"
"Haha, maybe~"
"Itadori's been taking photos and videos this whole time, during this trip." Megumi explained with a judged tone and everyone turned to the pink hair boy.
"Whattt. I-I just wanted to make some memories!"
Kei smiles at his innocence before swaying his hand at Megumi..
"It's okay, Megs. If he wants to make memories, then let's make them for him."
He makes a devious smile and Megumi looks at him blankly before smiling back with the same smile. Then at Maki, Nobs, Toge and Panda.
"Water fight." They all say before calling Yuji to come to them. Yuji looks at his camera roll before recording as he walks up to him.
"Yuji come closer, the water is fine!" Kei smirks with a playful tone and Yuji comes closer, completely oblivious. He watches Yuji come into the water enough to reach his ankles as the others do the same.
"Hey guys, I'm here n-woahh!"
They ambush him, splashing him with water. He gets it all on footage before running away, his screen completely soaked.
He's laughing in the background before running back at them, charging them with water of his own.
Kei laughs seeing the party attack Yuji, all of them laughing and screaming as they get wet.
Through Yuji's phone, he still sees Kei all by himself before smiling and grabbing a bucket of water.
Kei starts waving his hands.
"Ah, no!" He begs, "Get Megumi instead!" but the boy laughs and dumps it in his head.
"Yeah, let's get kugisaki's boyfriend now!" Maki roared, running with water cupped in her hands.
"Hey, wait a minute!" Nobara cried out, going after her senpai.
Everyone was getting wet and likely would get sick from it too, but they didn't care.
Everyone was having a blast.
They were not acting as sorcerers, but just a group of friends having a good time among each other.
Kei's worries all left for just a moment, content to be around those he loved.
Suddenly,
A song reminisces in his head to commence this memory.
A song he heard long ago, on a car ride he had with his mother and father.
The radio plays a song, starting with the sound of a piano. The woman in the song sang,
"I'm not alone," That's what I want to believe
That's what I want to believe
Give it a shot
I saw hope in the faint light that was born
My heart is so warm
All he could think about is them and this loving memory he wished it can last long forever.
'But nothing really lasts forever.. does it?'
He doesn't know it yet but Kei will find himself in a fate far darker than he is in now
A month will pass
And later,
Kei will find himself laying on the cold pavement with blood stained against it. His blood is so immense and more is coming out of his mouth.
He croaks, gasping for air and the color in his eyes starts to leave.
He can't move. He can't move
He's surrounded and blinks to avoid the blurriness in his tearful eyes.
"Poor little sorcerer, all alone by yourself."
Getou smiles with the rest of the cursed spirits around him. Mahito. Hanami
"And nowhere to escape."
The song plays again in his head all over again..
Where are they? It's so lonely
Please give it back
When can I finally be free?
I'll struggle within the waves that come and goes
"I'm not alone," That's what I want to believe
This chapter was inspired by Jujutsu kaisen ending and lyrics of "GIVE IT BACK" by Co Shu Nie
I just felt that this song resonates a lot with Kei and what trials the boy will go through throughout this story.
Anyways you guys, I really hope you enjoy the story. As I say, let me know what you guys think of this chapter and until next time for the next chapter. Where we dive into the aftermath with Zenin family, cute dates with Nobara and the obedience arc!
Have a wonderful day, stay safe, and stay awesome!!!