___________
"By the time we arrived on the scene, your son was already dead. To be honest I was sceptical about saving any of the people in there. But my friends are different.. He wasn't successful but he still tried to bring your son's body back to you even after we confirmed his death.."
Megumi recalled the moment before he ran to look for Nobara inside the incomplete Domain Expansion after Itadori told him to go. Before leaving completely, Megumi ripped the nametag from the corpse and ran away to find Nobara.
Unfortunately the body disappeared along with the Special Grade curse's Domain Expansion.. He thought and took out the nametag, "At least, Take this.. I'm sorry we weren't able to save Tadashi-san.." he bowed apologetically feeling really really guilty.
"It's all right. Please don't apologize.. Because the only one who will mourn for that Child's death is me.." The mother of Tadashi said as she cried, placing the nametag close to her chest and falling on her knees.
Minutes later Megumi walked out of the lady's apartment after making sure that she's all right.
"Megumi.."
The said boy raised his head and was a little surprised to see the fair-haired lady, "Sensei? How did you know I was here?"
"Ijichi told me.." she smiled and handed him a bottle of milk tea. "I see.." he replied and took the milk tea, "thank you, sensei"
The two then walked side by side on the pedestrian side, "Are you okay now?.." she asked.
"Roughly.." he hummed "say, sensei.."
"Yes?"
"Is this how you feel when someone close to you dies?.." he mutters with half lidded eyes, "it feels.. so unreal that Itadori died.. I mean.. he's an utter idiot who always yells around about saving people.. but.." he halts his steps, hair covering his eyes.
Hinari stopped walking as well and looked to the side to face her student, "He selfishly just went and died like this.. 'live a long life' ?.. Kugisaki was right, what's the point of saying that when he went off and died himself?.."
Hinari widened her eyes slowly when she saw Megumi's trembling lips as he's holding back his tears. She then walked closer to him and wrapped her arms around him, comforting him like she's comforting her little brother. Megumi could only show this side of him to Hinari and Tsumiki, no one else.
I'm sorry I couldn't tell you that Yuji-kun is alive.. She thought and patted his back, "It's okay, Megumi.. It's okay to cry or get angry when someone close to you dies.. but don't get too caught up in those emotions." She muttered
He nodded and they stayed like that for a couple more minutes before taking a step away from each other, Megumi wiped his tears and looked away in embarrassment for acting like a child which made her laugh and ruffle his hair.
"Are you going back to school?" She asked with a gentle smile. "Yes.. how about you sensei?" He asked.
"I'll have to go somewhere else." she muttered
"Is it a mission again?"
"You could say that." She replied. "Maki and the others are waiting for you, right? You should head back first."
"Ah I almost forgot.. See you later, sensei." He waved his hand, a genuine smile formed on his mouth.
"Good luck on your training."
He nodded and Hinari watched him walk away. After he is no longer in her line of view, Hinari sighed furrowing her eyebrows. "Sorry, Megumi.. I have to lie.."
The click-clack of the heels echoed in the passages that led to a certain basement beneath one of the buildings. Hair swaying left and right gently as the fair-haired lady walks down the hall, she made her way down the stairs carefully and was greeted by the cheerful voice of a familiar teenager.
"Oh, Sensei!" Itadori greeted her as soon as he saw her walking down the stairs. "Hi, Yuji-kun." She waved back at him with a smile on her face.
"Sorry to make you lie to Megumi about Yuji." Gojo muttered and she shook her head, still smiling subtly albeit genuinely. "It's fine"
Gojo then clapped his hands once, "okay let's begin!"
"Okay!" Itadori said enthusiastically.
"First of all, you're ahead above the rest when it comes to close combat, Yuji. So what you need to learn right now is to control cursed energy as well as the bare minimum about Jujutsu knowledge. Hinari will help with your training too."
"Eheheh.." Itadori smiled like a kid receiving a puppy as their birthday gift and imaginary pink flowers appeared in the background. "What's the matter with you?" Gojo asked.
"Oh nothing, I was just thinking the best people to teach me are Gojo-sensei and Shirazaki-sensei, so I'm just happy." He grinned.
"Oh my.. is that so?" She chuckled.
"Yep! I wasn't able to save anyone because I was weak. Even worse, I nearly Killed Fushiguro.. in my current state, I won't be able to face them. That's why.." he looked at Hinari and Gojo before continuing, "I want to become strong. Please teach me to become The Strongest."
Hinari and Gojo exchanged glances and smiled. "hoo?, you've got a keen eye~" Gojo grinned feeling proud.
"Sensei, you're the one who called yourself The Strongest.."
"True, and Hinari is also one of The Strongest, you know?" He smirked
"Ehh?? Really??"
"Well that's.." she rubbed the back of her neck feeling a bit embarrassed. "Yup! She's known as The Strongest Shikigami User to be exact~" Gojo said proudly.
"Woahh!! Then.. is sensei similar to Fushiguro?? Did you also summon cute Shikigami??" Itadori asked excitedly
"Cute?" Gojo repeated that word and thought about Megumi's shadow dogs. "Ahh.." he mumbled to himself
"Um.. Well, yes. I can summon shikigami of my own. But they mostly.. aren't that cute.." she chuckles softly
"Really??"
"Yup." she smiled with her eyes closed. Yuji was about to say something again but Gojo beats him to it, "Alright, enough chit-chatting and let's begin~"
"Roger that!" Yuji yelled, straightening his posture.
"First, take a look at those canned juices." Gojo said and demonstrated how cursed energies worked. With a simple hand gesture, the green colored can got knocked off while the orange colored can was magically twisted.
"Oooohhh!!"
"That's Cursed Energy." Gojo said, pointing at the green colored can. "And that one is called Cursed Technique." Hinari added, pointing at the orange colored can
"Hm.. I see, I don't get it." Itadori muttered with a serious expression.
"...... Right, well.. let's think of the cursed energy as electricity and cursed techniques as electrical appliances." Gojo began to explain using other methods, "If there's only electricity then it wouldn't be very user-friendly, right? That's why we run electricity through appliances to achieve various results, yes?"
"Ah yes.."
"Now take a look at the green can, I just simply fire off pure cursed energy. As for the other can, I channelled my cursed energy into a cursed technique to twist the can with my sorcery." Gojo said and Itadori's face lights up in excitement.
"Oh! Which means I'm gonna learn some super cool cursed techniques?!"
"Nope. You can't use sorcery, Yuji."
"Eh?!"
"Setting aside simple barriers and Shikigami. To be clear, Cursed Techniques are fundamentally etched into people's bodies at birth. So the power of Jujutsu Sorcerers is roughly eighty percent innate talent, Yuji-kun." Hinari explained while smiling sympathetically.
Hearing that, Itadori's body then turned into a piece of paper-like as he lay on the floor feeling disappointed that he has no talent in sorcery whatsoever.
"Ah.. Yuji-kun?" Hinari blinked her eyes twice.
"Are you okay?.." Gojo asked.
"No.. I just thought I'd be able to pull off thunder or fire or a power bomb or something." He muttered
"You can pull off power bombs. Onita's, Right?" Gojo replied.
"Aaah.. this sucks.. I wanted to pull off a Spirit gun or Bankai, or Rasengan, or a Dodon ray.." He mumbled and Hinari chuckled in response. "What action anime did you watch, Yuji-kun?.."
"Hmh" Gojo smirked. You just can't use them, yet. Eventually Sukuna's cursed techniques will be engraved into your body, Yuji. He thought.
"Aaah this isn't good, I really wanted to fire off a Kamehameha.. or.. or maybe the power of Bankai.."
"Yuji-kun.." a comical sweat appeared behind Hinari's head, "It's really not that bad, you're already ahead in terms of your raw strength."
"Let's just ignore what you can't do! We're going to enhance your strengths. We'll get you to imbue your fighting style with cursed energy! I'm way more scared of someone who can force their way through with the basics than I am of inferior sorcery, y'know~" Gojo said with a smile on his face.
"Hm?" Itadori finally stopped whining
"Like I just said, your talent for close combat is top-notch!"
He gasped and turned back to normal, "But..! If that's it, I can already do that!"
Gojo's smile falters and his tone changes when he sees Itadori still laying on the wooden floor. "Get up."
"Back then I somehow managed to get a hang of it." Itadori clapped his hands. "Then give it a try, you can hit me here." Gojo raised his right hand, "not that you actually can, though~"
"Heheh, don't blame me if you get hurt." Itadori grinned
"Alright, alright, just do it."
Itadori took a stance and used his power to punch Gojo's right hand but he didn't even budge nor felt anything. "Hm, that didn't have any cursed energy behind it." He said with a smile
"Ehh?! Why?!"
"Negative emotions are the source of cursed energy. In the incident you're referring to, you were probably full of anger and fear, Yuji-kun." Hinari said and Gojo nodded, agreeing to what she said.
"Ah! So you have to constantly be flipping out to use cursed energy?? Now that you mention it, Fushiguro's always a bit snappy."
Hinari blinked her eyes and chuckled while Gojo moved his hand up and down to dismiss the thoughts of Megumi biting people.
"That's not it." Gojo said.
"Yuji-kun, everyone's training themselves through the faintest sparks of emotions. They've also trained themselves not to waste their cursed energy when they're emotionally shaken." Hinari explained once more.
"That's right~ there are several methods to train that. I'll be having you use a pretty exhausting one." Gojo muttered, making Itadori gulp, "L-Like what?.."
Gojo and Hinari showed several DVDs, "Movie Appreciation." They said in chorus.
"Movie Appreciation?.."
"Yup! Everything from masterpieces to C-Grade horror films and terrible french movies. You'll be watching them nonstop as long as you're awake. Of course you won't just be watching them." Gojo said and pulled out a sleeping bear wearing a pair of boxing gloves, "You'll be watching with this guy."
"Oh..! Tsukamoto-chan!" Hinari muttered with a bright smile. "Hmm... so his name is Tsukamoto, huh?.." Gojo mumbled and nodded.
"What's with this creepy-cute doll?"
"It's cute??" Gojo mutters, taking another glance at it before giving it to Itadori "it's the principal's cursed corpse."
"Ah, I knew it! It has his sense and design!" Itadori yelled and pressed the doll and slightly shook it "and? I don't understand what you're getting at here.."
"Don't rush, it's almost time." Gojo smirked and right when he said that, the bear woke up and punched Itadori straight in the face.
"Woaghhhh..!!!"
"That Cursed Corpse will wake up and attack you, just like that, if you don't keep pouring a set amount of cursed energy into it."
"It Huuurrrtttssss..!!!"
"You can do it, Yuji-kun." Hinari giggles.
"Like I just said, we have all kinds of movies available here. It can make your heart throb, anxious, and excited. One that'll make you cry, laugh or feel nauseous." Gojo informed.
"Ughh.. damn it hurts.." he rubbed his chin and the bear went off to sleep again.
"Your first goal is to watch an entire movie from start to finish without waking that Cursed Corpse. This is a training to maintain a constant output of cursed energy no matter what emotions you feel. You can't emit your cursed energy too much or too little." Gojo instructed and Itadori took the sleeping bear once again.
He tried emitting his cursed energy and made the bear stay asleep but a second later it flapped its hand and went back to sleep and woke up again repeating it for another three times.
"Right now I've set it to the faint level of cursed energy you can produce right now, but it'll steadily start demanding greater output, so don't lose focus, okay?" Gojo said.
Itadori sighed and nodded, "If it's like this, I can't lose focus even if I wanted to.."
"Anyways!~ What do you want to start with? I recommend this one. The heroine irritates me but she dies flashily in the end!" Gojo said cheerfully. "Wow, Major spoilers." Itadori replied.
"Or do you want to watch the action one, Yuji-kun?" Hinari asked, crouching next to Gojo while holding several action DVDs.
"Ah! That's a good start! I'll start off with an actnghhh-!!"
"Oh no.." She covers her lips with her left hand when the doll punches Itadori in the face again. "Oh Dammit!!!" Itadori yelled and threw the doll to the floor as it began to move its arm as if it's boxing with another doll.
"Hey, even if you're irritated, keep it steady." Gojo reminded him.
"This thing is so annoying!!"
//////
"It should be red. Anyone would go with red!" Said the woman in the movie. "Hm, I'll trust you." The man replied.
It's been hours and Itadori was watching another action movie and was watching the most thrilling part of it all while drinking his soda when all of a sudden the Cursed Corpse woke up and smacked his face, again.
"Mghhh!!" He fell to the floor and coughed several times, "Don't do that while I'm drinking cola!!"
"Don't drink then. Do you think this is easy??" Gojo commented as he leaned against the wall near the staircase. "And where did you even get them?.."
"But you gotta have chips and cola when you're watching movies at home, right?!" He yelled, "Shirazaki-sensei bought it for me."
"Well that's true~" Gojo said and nodded, "I see."
"Woah.. your face is swollen, did you get punched again?.." Hinari said as soon as she arrived at the basement after going back to her dorm and showered.
"Yes.." he pouted
"Oh? Where are you going, Hina?" Gojo asked when he saw her dressed up wearing a grey colored striped turtleneck under a denim jacket, Maroon Suede Skirt with black colored belt, black boots and a black sling bag on her right shoulder. She also tied her slightly curled hair into a high ponytail using her black ribbon.
"Ah.. Shoko-senpai invited me out to her regular bar." she informed. "Bar?.." he asked
"Woah! Sensei, you look pretty!"
"Really? Thank you." She smiled softly at her student and Gojo went silent for a moment.
"Do you want me to accompany you there?" Gojo asked
"It's okay senpai, Shoko-san is the one who's driving so it'll be fine" she smiled "besides, don't you have an appointment with principal yaga?"
"Ah right.." he said, sounding disappointed "well then, I have some business to deal with, keep it up okay?" Gojo said to Itadori
"Will this really make me stronger??" Itadori pouted again
"Ah.. shoko-senpai is here." She said and keep her phone back in her sling bag "Do your best, Yuji-kun!"
"Yessir!"
"Oh right.." Gojo halted his steps and turned around, "did you talk to Sukuna while you were dead?"
Upon hearing this, Hinari also stopped on her tracks and looked over her shoulder.
"Talk?" Itadori repeated
"When he fixed your heart, did he propose any conditions or contracts?" Gojo asked again. "Ah.. I get the feeling that we did talk about something.. but I can't remember what it was.." Itadori replied.
"I see.." Gojo mutters "well, we'll be leaving. Do your best, Yuji."
"Okay! Be careful on your way, sensei"
With that the two lecturers left the basement, walking up the stairs together. "I kinda have a bad feeling about that.." Hinari muttered once they're out of the building
"Yeah.." Gojo replied "anyway, where's Shoko?"
"Right here." The said woman answered and both of them turned their heads to the left side.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, senpai." Hinari apologized. "It's fine, and as always, our outfits are matching except for the jacket or coat." Shoko chuckles lightly and Hinari smiled
"Hey Shoko, Make sure you drive safely." Gojo said
"Of course I will. I still want to live for another day. Besides, she'll be going with me. No need to be This protective, Gojo." She sighed
"Well sure.." he mutters and patted Hinari's head, "Be careful on your way."
"Ah.. yes" she replied with her usual smile "you too, senpai."
"Alright~ let's get going Hinari." Shoko held her shoulders and gently pushed her to the front passenger seat "we're leaving. Oh and Ijichi is waiting for you, Gojo."
"Yeah." He mutters and waved his hand before walking towards the car where Ijichi is in. Well.. this will be a long night. He thought.
ᴛʜᴇ ᴄᴜʀꜱᴇ ɪ | 07
[A/N]: FULLY EDITED.