Gojo had been knocking at Megumi's door for a good 5 minutes now. Any other person would have stopped after the third knock without a response, but not Gojo. He'd tried all of his students' doors and had gotten no response from any of them.
I can't believe none of them have heard any of my knocking! Are they pranking me?
He huffed and decided to get a snack before trying this again. When Gojo entered the kids' common room, he didn't even notice the four first years cuddled up on the floor on one half of the room. It was only when he realized none of the sweets they typically kept in the cabinet were over there when he turned around and saw the adorable sight.
He used all of his self control to keep from waking them up and whipped out his phone. After taking a selfie with the sleeping students in the background, he opened the curtains to the window and woke them up calmly.
"Gojo?" They all stared up at him.
"Hey kiddos. Rough night?"
"Heh... yeah a little bit," Itadori gave their teacher a sheepish grin and stood up.
The rest of the students followed and started cleaning up the blankets and snacks that laid around the living area. Gojo helped them fold the blankets and put them back in the closet. While they worked, Gojo explained what the plan for the day was.
"As you may have already guessed, the exchange event has been canceled."
All four first years shared disappointed looks. They had been looking forward to this and training for it for a long time.
"I know, I know. It's sad. But I do have some good news..." Gojo's playful attitude slowly returned. Y/N was relieved. Seeing him so serious was seriously weird.
"What is it?"
"Tell us!"
Itadori and Kugisaki were back to their antics of harassing Gojo. Y/N smiled at the sight of her friends still being happy and not letting yesterday's events take away their personalities.
"We're going out!"
"Out where?" Fushiguro asked.
"You all need a happy day. We are going out to Tokyo!"
"No way, are you for real, Gojo?" Y/N was shocked that he got this approved by Yaga.
"I am! Go get into some casual clothes and meet me out by the gate."
"We need to go find the cutest city outfits!!" Kugisaki grabbed Y/N's hand and they ran down the hallway to their rooms.
Several outfit changes later, the girls admired their clothes in Kugisaki's mirror.
"Red is definitely your color, Y/N!"
"And green is totally yours!"
Y/N was enjoying the combination of black pants and a red shirt that she decided on when the two boys congregated in Nobara's open door frame.
I need to get Kugisaki's fashion advice more often!
"Are you guys almost ready?" Itadori was practically bouncing off the walls. If he could, he would probably run into the city instead of waiting for the car.
"Don't rush a girl when she's getting ready, Itadori!" Kugisaki yelled from the bathroom mirror where she was retouching her makeup.
"Of course, how could I commit such a terrible offense," he laughed as she rolled her eyes.
Itadori made a big show out of being bored while waiting to annoy Nobara. He had them all nearly to tears with his acting and even Kugisaki couldn't hold back her laughter. Soon enough, the four first years were all ready for their adventure into the city.
Fushiguro hung back to talk with Y/N on their walk to Gojo's car.
"You look nice," he complimented her on her outfit.
"Thanks! So do you! It's so weird to see everyone in a different day outfit than their uniform.
"Agreed," Fushiguro fidgeted with the hem of his black zip up.
"I never would have expected you to be a white pants kind of guy!"
"Oh, do you not-"
"Nonono, I think you look great. I just meant I didn't imagine this to be ur style, but I like it!"
"I suppose I'm a man of many surprises."
An engine revved down the street and Gojo pulled up in a nice-looking car. He opened the passenger window and gave them a smirk.
"Your ride has arrived."
Their jaws were all on the floor.
Where on earth did this man get a car this nice?
"Did you steal this car?" Fushiguro gave Gojo a suspicious look.
"You pain me, Megumi. Of course not!"
"Are you sure?" Kugisaki asked as she claimed shotgun for herself.
"Yes! I just know a guy who happens to know a guy..."
They all sighed as Gojo tried to change the conversation.
"He definitely stole it," Itadori whispered to Y/N who passed the message down the line to Fushiguro. She'd gotten stuck in the middle seat and was now the designated telephone for the two boys on either side of her.
Despite the fact that Gojo was driving, the car ride was peaceful. There had been a few minor arguments over the radio station, but everyone was still in a good mood as they parked the car and stretched.
"Here's our itinerary for the day... if I can find it," Gojo fished around in his bag and eventually pulled out a folded piece of paper. "We're going sightseeing as a group, then after lunch you can all wander around. We'll meet at the restaurant that we'll be having dinner at. Does that sound like a good plan?"
"Yes!"
Gojo smiled. The sight of his students all being so happy made him proud. They had all gone through so much individually and here they were, his students, cheering like a bunch of elementary schoolers on a field trip.
He tried his best not to get sentimental as he watched them take silly pictures in front of major monuments. Y/N gave the group impromptu tours of locations she'd been to during her childhood and narrated several stories that had everyone dying of laughter. Without a doubt, the best part of the morning was Yuji walking into several doors in the aquarium because he spent too much time chasing fish instead of looking where he was going. Even Fushiguro loosened up and spent time explaining his favorite historical exhibits in the museum they visited.
The morning hours flew by and lunch was over before they knew it. After he had paid the bill, Gojo had the first years give him their phone numbers in case of an emergency and he let them loose into the city.
"If you kids need me, just call me.
"Or go to the nearest bakery. The chance Gojo will be there is pretty high." Fushiguro's smart comment had them all laughing at Gojo's denial of his sugar addiction.
"Guys! I promise I eat healthy meals!"
"It's alright Gojo, we all have secrets. Yours is just a group secret!"
The instructor dismissed his kids and went his own way before any more embarrassing information could be shared. Little did they know, he was walking to his favorite bakery.
"Where are you guys going to go?" Y/N asked.
"I'm taking this idiot right here shopping with me!" Before he could protest, Nobara dragged Yuji by the sleeve into a shopping mall.
"Why am I going shopping?!"
"I need someone to hold my bags. Plus, you could use an outfit upgrade."
"That is so insulting."
Itadori's groans slowly faded into the noise of the city while Y/N and Fushiguro stood together laughing.
"It is not funny to laugh at my misery!" The pink-haired boy yelled back at them before Kugisaki dragged him back inside and scolded him.
The remaining pair of first years doubled over in laughter.
"It's like you can still hear his ghost."
Their fit of giggles subsided and they wandered together aimlessly. Neither had any specific place they wanted to visit, so they just walked and talked. They eventually found their way into an expansive garden.
"What was your life like before Gojo found you?" Fushiguro asked an innocent question, but Y/N's mood mellowed at the thought of her old life. He noticed the change and tried to save the situation. "You don't have to share, I was just thinking of ways to start a conversation-"
"It's okay, you didn't ask anything wrong. My old life just wasn't the best. My home situation wasn't very happy. It was just me and my mom, but she was more of a bad roommate than a mother."
"Oh, I'm sorry."
"Don't be. I still had school most of the time, and if I wasn't at school I would wander the city before I was old enough to get a job. It was easier to just be away from home than be near her or sit in my room silently."
"Silently?" He gave her a puzzled look.
"I had to be quiet at home. I'd get in serious trouble otherwise."
The conversation paused briefly while Y/N stopped to take a picture of a gorgeous tree.
"Was your mother a sorcerer?"
"Oh, hell no. I didn't know anything about jujutsu before Gojo found me."
Fushiguro was shocked.
"Nothing? Really? But you're such a strong sorcerer!"
"Pure luck got me this far. My mother used to call me a liar whenever I told her what I could see, which were curses apparently. It started when I was 6 or 7, but I stopped saying anything after I got in trouble for 'making up stories' and waking her up with nightmares about them."
"Damn."
They walked in silence for a short bit.
"Sorry for such a dry response. I just don't know what to say to that."
"I understand, its okay." She gave him a smile and started asking him similar questions.
"How did you get into sorcery, Fushiguro."
"Before I get into that mess," he looked her in the eyes, "call me Megumi."
Y/N didn't know what to say.
Not even Itadori calls him Megumi. Only Gojo! And he is alright with me using his given name?
"Are-"
"Yes, I'm sure L/N."
"Well, call me Y/N then too."
"Alright then, Y/N. I got into sorcery for familial reasons. And Gojo kinda tracked me down and just appeared in my life one day."
"That's such a Gojo thing to do."
"Yea. He kinda just recruited me and taught me. I've lived my life in the jujutsu world."
"Wow, your whole life?"
"Pretty much. My mom and dad ditched me and my sister when I was younger. We lived together alone until Gojo found us and was kinda like a cool uncle to us both."
Gojo... as a cool uncle? Yeah, that checks out.
They kept talking as they exited the gardens. The conversation moved on to happier topics until Y/N interrupted it with a self-proclaimed "amazing idea."
"Let me make an outfit for you!"
"What." Megumi deadpanned.
"Come on! We'll just go into a few stores, but let me choose you an outfit!"
"I cannot believe we are doing this. I never should have laughed at Itadori. Now I'm meeting the same fate."
"You're such a drama queen. This will be fun!"
The pair went store by store until Y/N completed the perfect outfit. She had been right earlier. Fushiguro was totally a black pants kind of guy.
He came out of the dressing room with black cargo pants, a light green shirt, and white shoes.
"It's just how I imagined it!"
"I hate to admit this... but I kinda like it," Fushiguro admired the outfit in the mirror.
Y/N joined him in the mirror and took a picture before he could protest.
"Just as proof that I'm right sometimes," she giggled as he shook his head.
"As long as Gojo never hears about this..."
"I make no promises! Now go change so we can make our purchase and go to dinner."
"Alright, alright."
Y/N and Megumi left the store laughing and they decided to walk around a few more places before going to the dinner location. As they walked around the large intersection, Y/N felt a strange feeling creep up along her back.
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"Is that her?"
A woman snatched a pair of binoculars out of a man's hand as they stood on the balcony of a hotel room. She peered down the lenses and locked onto a young girl across the intersection that lay several stories beneath her current position.
"Yea, that's the little bitch," She confirmed and took another large sip from the bottle in her hand.
"Who's the guy with her?" The man had taken the binoculars back and was staring at the dark-haired boy walking with the girl.
"Fuck if I know," the woman muttered as she rested on the metal railing beside the man, "He's probably some street rat she found."
"He's no street rat. They're both wearing nice clothing. And who's this new guy?"
He shoved the binoculars back to the woman, who zoomed in on a newcomer.
"The guy with the white hair. You see him? He's got to be older than those kids.
"God damnit," the woman watched as the tall, white-haired newcomer approached the students and offered them what seemed to be sweets from a bakery. The girl turned her phone toward him, probably showing him a picture, while the black-haired guy beside her tried to hide whatever she was showing. "He's got to be some teacher."
"That's what I was thinking. So that makes the boy beside her a classmate."
"I can't believe she's still in school. And she's in those nice clothes!" The woman took another drink and went back to watching.
"Look at how comfortable the tall guy is with the two kids." The man gestured to how the older man had wrapped his arms around the kids' shoulders and they seemed to be walking somewhere.
"Take these back." The woman shoved the binoculars away and focused her attention on the bottle in her hands. She turned her back to the bustling street and swore. "Tch. I thought she was bluffing when she left. I can't believe she actually left."
"I know you are angry, darling." The man escorted her inside the room. "But think about it. We never would have met if your ungrateful daughter didn't run away. Now you've got a lovely boyfriend who's going to get her back for you."
"You're right."
"Just keep paying her cell phone service for a little longer. That way we'll still be able to see her location."
"I'll do whatever you say, as long as you get her and whatever money she's clearly got now."
"If you're just in this for the money, you know I can give you more than she could possibly have, right?"
"I know, love. I want her too. She's my property. My child, my property."
"Of course, darling. Now let's get to a proper bar. This hotel minibar may suffice for you, but I prefer my alcohol expensive."
--------------------🎕--------------------
The unsettling feeling faded away as Y/N rounded the corner with Gojo's arm around her shoulder. He had bumped into them as they were leaving the store and had shared his sweet treats with them. Now, the tall man was leading them to the place where he booked dinner reservations for the whole group.
"Wow Gojo, this place is so nice!" Y/N marveled at the gorgeous interior of the restaurant.
The atmosphere was so peaceful and the lighting wasn't too bright but wasn't too dim at the same time. Not long after the trio arrived, Itadori and Kugisaki joined them. Itadori was buried under at least eight different shopping bags.
Small talk ensued as they first years shared what they did with their afternoons. Gojo took the time after they placed their orders to interrupt the stories with a more serious topic.
"I want to discuss what happened yesterday with you all. I won't bring it up again after this, but I thought some closure would be nice."
They all nodded in agreement and he continued talking.
"The official report is that three special grade cursed spirits infiltrated and attacked the Kyoto/Tokyo Jujutsu High exchange event. Todo and Itadori exorcised one and I exorcised the other two with their help. The higher ups are investigating if there were any other curse users or curses in cahoots with them, but the current report is that there weren't. I will inform you if that changes."
"Is there an official reason why they attacked?" Kugisaki asked their teacher.
"They wanted to kill me, as well as all jujutsu sorcerers. Their plan was to kill all the students, then the teachers, then me."
A deeper silence fell over the table as the students realized how serious the situation had been.
"Their ultimate plan was something about eradicating humanity and only living in a curse-filled world."
"That's dumb," Fushiguro commented.
"Yea... aren't curses born from human energy?" Itadori added.
"I don't think they thought their plan through that thoroughly," Gojo concluded.
They talked a bit more about the details of what happened, but eventually the food arrived and the conversation shifted back to happier topics. Y/N participated in the conversation, but she still couldn't stop thinking about the odd feeling she had when Gojo had found Fushiguro and her before dinner.
She knew nothing good would come from worrying and opted to shake it off. She was safe with her classmates and teachers. The jujutsu world was a dangerous place when it came to curses, but her colleagues and classmates were always by her side.
--------------------🎕--------------------
Chapter 10!
I cannot believe I've made it to ten chapters in such a short time.
Extra long chapter this time (almost 3k words)!
The next few chapters are where this story starts to deviate from the plot of JJK and I'm excited to write them!
See you next time