Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It all started with a rumor. 

Idle gossip among children that Mimiko and Nanako had picked up during the most recent baseball game at their school. 

As much as it pained Suguru to send them to learn among the sea of ignorant monkeys, his girls would benefit more from a rounded education at a well-founded institution than allowing an outsider to enter their home or rely on the others of their growing family to play teacher when they lacked the proper qualifications. There was a social aspect as well, even if they were monkeys, they were monkeys of the same age range as his girls, and it would do them some good to know how to integrate themselves with others. Even if it means playing nice and pretending to care about such mundane activities such as sports or clubs, some of which Suguru swore they held a genuine interest in, even if they won’t admit it to him as if he’d be upset at their enjoyment. 

On the contrary, to see them smile and experience all the new opportunities he could afford to offer them was fulfilling in its own right. And if the opposite held true, and they truly were not happy at such a place, or god-forbid some monkey child ever dared lay their hands on his girls, then Suguru would have had them removed on the spot and a proper punishment dealt to those responsible for their distress.

For now, it seemed Mimiko and Nanako were content, and as such, Suguru was as content as he could be in the path he’d chosen.

It was Wednesday night when the rumor that had caught Suguru’s interest first reached his ears.

He was at the dinner table with his girls, Nanako typing away at the screen of her phone, babbling away about the prior afternoon in which she and her sister stayed on their school’s campus after class to observe the baseball game teachers and students alike had been chattering about for some time. Mimiko fiddled with the leftovers on her plate. She listened to her sister’s recap of the events while eyeing her phone in annoyance, aware that the camera Nanako was using to check her face was cause for distraction.

“So, our school is in a baseball league that competes with other schools. And apparently, there is this big rivalry between our school and this other high school… Sugi… Sugisana— Sugisawa! The school’s in Sendai. Everyone was talking about this big game and how we’re going to beat them in the semi-finals again this year, and it’s all supposed to be super exciting— It really wasn’t. I mean the concession stand was ok—”

“Nanako!”

“Yes! I’m getting to it! I’m getting to it!” Nanako sighed and flicked the screen off, still intent on keeping the device in her hand. “Point is, everyone expected the game to be just as one-sided as last year, but nope! The visiting team completely kicked their asses. It’s that hilarious? All that confidence for nothing. It’s like that saying, the one about the chickens.” 

Snapping her fingers, Nanako attempted to call forth the idiom she was thinking of. When she came up empty, Suguru thought for a moment and supplied the best guess he had as to what she was referring to.

“Don’t count your chickens before they hatch?” The approval on Nanako’s face was enough to know he’d guessed correctly. “I would have to agree with you. One shouldn’t assume the outcome of anything so readily. Understanding the realistic probability of where one’s actions may lead them is not only important for formulating goals, but searching for the best opportunities in which to achieve them.”

“Yeah. That one! Of course, you understood what I meant, Geto-sama.” Nanako beamed both at Suguru’s deduction and herself for coming to the same conclusion about the game. 

“Is that all to this story?”

“No! I promise I wouldn’t have wasted your time with just that!”

Suguru would never believe his girls to be a waste of his time. No matter how exhausting his chasing his goals had become, there were no others capable of lighting up his day as they were. He’d let them go one for hours on whatever topic they wished if time and energy permitted it. 

“Anyway, the whole reason I’m talking about this baseball game is because of what happened after. I was bored and wanted to try swinging one of those bats around since Mimiko thought they would be too heavy—”

“—They are—”

“—And I overheard the team from Sendai talking about how they were going to pay their respects to the spirit that watched over their game when they returned home. But we didn’t see any cursed spirits powerful enough to do something like that the entire time! Only those annoying pest ones that are always creeping about monkey schools.” Visible disgust flashed across Nanako’s face with her tongue sticking out to further drive the point home. “ Obviously nothing was watching over them, and I wasn’t going to sit there and watch those monkeys keep living in ignorance, so I told them the truth, and you know what they did? They laughed at me!”

Suguru placed a hand over his mouth, unsure if he had the right to smile at the thought of Nanako rushing a sports team with Mimiko in tow to shout at them when it was such a fruitless endeavor. Considering the state they were in now and the fact he’d received no phone call from the school about a fight breaking out on the baseball field, Suguru could only assume the encounter either ended without escalation or his girls had gotten better at hiding their confrontations from the supervision of others. Still, he was curious what the outcome of all that was, thus he bid for Nanako to continue.

“They didn’t believe you?”

“I mean, ok. I guess one of the guys agreed that it was poor word choice, and we settled on their spirit in question blessing them with good luck that day rather than literally being there in person. Their resident spirit lives at their school. They even gave him a name. Yuji-sama.”

“Yuji?” Suguru thought for a moment, mulling over the name in search of any cursed spirits, folklore or urban legends he knew of that correlated with the name to no avail. “The name… I believe holds a benevolent connotation, but I doubt that matters if the ignorant were the ones who bestowed the title.”

“Mimiko doesn’t believe a cursed spirit had anything to do with it.”

“Hey!” Mimiko pulled her stuffed doll closer, hiding behind it as she explained her doubt. “I only suggested that maybe the reason the team did better this year was because they worked hard and practiced a lot more. Our school’s team grew complacent according to their coach’s scolding.”

“But how does that explain the teleporting lucky glove?” The girls turned from their bickering to Suguru, taking the raised eyebrow on his face as a signal to explain what Nanako was referring to. “The day before the game, the team’s pitcher prayed to Yuji-sama to win. Then, right when the team was about to leave on the bus for our school, pitcher-boy discovered he left his lucky glove at home and sulked the whole way there, only for it to appear within his bag just moments before the first inning.” 

“And your theory is that this Yuji-sama the team invoked spirited the glove to them and somehow that altered the outcome of their game?”

“Yup! With my social expertise and charisma, I went onto Twitter and Instagram to ask around—” 

“—Nanako bullied people through DMs until they responded to her—”

“—And found out there’s this little shrine they leave offerings to. Like snacks, coins and things in exchange for favors or good luck! I couldn’t find any pictures of it though, which is kind of annoying.”

“The food offerings disappear by morning, but someone could be clearing out the shrine before school starts or animals could have gotten to them.” Mimiko added, testing Nanako’s theory against the more obvious explanation. This only served to rile her sister up more, forcing her hand to try harder to prove her suspicion.

With haste, Nanako flickered her finger across the screen while scrolling through her messages until a certain name caught her attention. 

“The school has an occult club. It’s mostly about misinformed garbage or superstitious nonsense, but the head of the club was nice enough to get back to me. She wasn’t open to telling me everything about Yuji-sama, but when I asked for proof of the spirit’s influence, she sent me one of the club’s ‘case files.’” No effort was made to hide the sarcasm in Nanako’s voice. But there was enough confidence in the information she’d obtained that she felt the need to share it, happily parting with her cell phone to allow Suguru to hold it in whichever way suited him best to read the text on the screen.

Case 27: Crossroads of Misfortune

Location: North-west street corner of Sugisawa Municipal High School campus.

Incident Record: Summarized for your convenience. Names unaffiliated with the school have been removed.

NOTE: There are numerous small instances of students reporting scraped knees from tripping over the sidewalk or careless drivers brushing past walkers and bicyclists that date back up to May 8th, 2016. 

October 29th, 2016 - Head-on collision between two vehicles both turning at the intersection without adhering to the stop sign. Two people were hospitalized. Both recovered with only one receiving a lifelong injury. The ambulance was able to move to and from the scene without issue.

December 18th, 2016 - Drunk driving accident with the incapacitated driver swerving into the telephone pole as the corner. The driver was hospitalized, and the passenger escaped with minimal injuries. Telephone pole repairs were done in the late evening, with one worker receiving a nasty shock while fixing the lines. She was not seriously harmed, and continued working until repairs were done.

February 3rd and 7th, 2017 - Street construction on that corner to replace the manhole cover and clean out the sewer line resulted in several minor injuries, all culminating into a worker experiencing a hit and run as someone spread through the work zone. The driver was never identified. The worker was sent to the hospital and released, unable to continue working for the next three months until he fully recovered.

February 15th, 2017 - Third-year student, Fujihara Keiko, left an offering of taffy candy, a can of peach soda, and three homemade cookies for the spirit known as Yuji-sama in exchange for requesting his help in dispelling that street corner of whatever evil has taken over it. Upon further questioning, we found that her kouhai, Tachibana Hino walks through that intersection daily to get home. The offerings were not present the next following day, and there have been no further incidents on the north-west corner in the following four months since.

Conclusion: Yuji-sama had dispersed the evil spirit or negative energy that had overtaken the area and the street corner is suspected to once again be a safe place to cross. We will continue to monitor the area until six months have passed to be one-hundred percent sure.

Sent by one Sasaki Setsuko. 

Suguru read over the report a second time, scrolling through the wall of text slowly to assure himself that he had missed nothing of note. 

As far as a summary of events was concerned, the girl’s messages did their job. A simple breakdown of events. Nothing more. From what Suguru could recall during his own time chasing after cursed spirits mission after mission, the consistent string of unfortunate events on this street corner show correlations with other curse related incidents. With a pattern of roughly two months between each major event, he understood why the student would wait to conclude the cause of the incidents had been removed. However, the very caution she used to avoid declaring right away led Suguru to believe that she was just another monkey without the gift of sight, or else she would have been able to determine for herself if that was the case.

Unless the girl was being vague on purpose.

For what reason? Suguru couldn’t say. Not that he was unable to think of one, but because he was unable to pin down one of the dozen or so responses cropping up in his mind to latch onto. Ultimately, he concluded it would be best to wait and see before his own presumptions sought to blind him.

It was not uncommon for cursed spirits to manifest within or near school grounds. It was expected, and often monitored, which made the appearance of this ‘Yuji-sama’ all the more intriguing, if only for the fact that it appears to be a rather recent phenomenon. Any older, and such a name would have fallen into urban legend or spread further amongst the alumni and out to the public. Jujutsu Tech should have also picked up on this by now, and perhaps they already have.

Suguru would have to make sure of their involvement before he dared to humor the idea of treading on Sugisawa’s school grounds to witness this cursed spirit for himself.

“A cursed spirit answering to the whims of a bunch of monkeys. Tamed with cheap convenience store snacks and a couple homemade cookies for good measure.”

Suguru shook his head in disbelief. He then returned Nanako’s cell phone as he stood up from his chair, lifting his empty plate to bring over to the kitchen sink. The twins eagerly did the same, both done with their meals and ready to follow through with their next step of their evening routine.

Nanako took Suguru's right, collecting all the dirty dishes to one side in preparation for being washed. Mimiko naturally fell to his left, pulling out the dry rack and getting a towel ready to dry off any excess water from what Suguru would hand to her, as it was his job to scrub the plates and silverware clean. 

He turned on the hot water and let Nanako squirt soap into the basin, chuckling as she smacked her palm against the bottom of the bottle to make sure every last drop got out. 

“What are your thoughts on the girl’s report, Mimiko?”

“Me?” Mimiko looked up at Suguru, afraid she’d done something wrong in her prior opinion on the matter. 

To ease her mind and coax an honest answer, Suguru continued to keep up the smile which his face had taken a handful of years to get used to.

“Your perspective rarely differs from your sister’s. I’m curious to hear what must be going through your head.”

“Oh.” Mimiko nodded, taking the first of several dishes in her hand to dry. “Well, the girl’s message said that no other incidents happened after February, but maybe it’s because people tend to avoid areas they know are dangerous. If fewer people cross that intersection, then fewer bad things will happen.”

“But that’s boring Mimiko.” Nanako leaned on the back of her heels, poking her head out behind Suguru to shoot an annoyed look at her sister. “Trying to explain everything with ‘rational thinking’ like you’re some monkey—”

“Enough.”  

Suguru immediately came to regret raising his voice. Both girls flinched at the sound. Mimiko dropped the plate in her hand, everyone thankful it had fallen into the plastic rack and not the floor at their feet. 

Quick to rectify his actions, Suguru shook both hands in the air before grabbing his girls by the shoulders and pulling them close, offering a hug as an apology for the scare.

“We don’t call one another such insults, alright?”

“I’m sorry, Geto-sama.”

“No need for an apology. Just don’t do it again.” Suguru squeezed Nanako tight before letting go and turning his attention to Mimiko. He crouched on the ground, finding himself a little lower than eye level since he used to do this when they were small. “Mimiko, why does the idea of this cursed spirit trouble you?”

Upon noticing Mimiko’s fingers twitch in desperate need of something to hold on to, Suguru was more than happy to provide his hands to fulfill her need for comfort. 

“It’s because kind cursed spirits don’t exist. Cursed spirits come from the negative emotions of monkeys, so how can something so bad do something good? It’s all fake. Or if a cursed spirit is responsible, it’s lying to them and that’s worse.” Mimiko lowered her head before letting out another whisper, “I don’t like liars.”

“Me neither.” Suguru agreed as he patted Mimiko on the head. “The world would be so much better if we were all a bit more honest with each other about the state it's in. But, enough about all that, let’s finish cleaning up and get ourselves ready for bed. We’re all in for a long day tomorrow and there’s no worse way to start the day than running late.”

Neither Nanako nor Mimiko objected to his statement, though Suguru swore he heard Nanako mumble something under her breath along the lines of “But you take the longest to get ready, Geto-sama.”

Suguru elected to ignore her comment, happily proceeding to finish their nightly chores and clean the kitchen table down for putting the girls to bed. After wishing them both a good night and closing their bedroom door, Suguru let out a sigh and picked up his cell phone off the kitchen counter where he’d left it some odd hours ago, determined to put his girls first before anyone from his work could ruin their time together.

If it was an emergency, the rest of his family knew where to reach him.

Tired, but not worn out completely, Suguru sauntered over to the glass doors to their apartment’s balcony. Shoving the glass panes aside was only a struggle in his endeavor to avoid making noise that would catch the girl’s attention, but once he was outside and the doors closed beside him, the man was free to do as he pleased.

His action was to fall back into one of the patio chairs. The next was to let out an apologetic groan as he wiped his bangs out of his eyes. Only a dozen or so messages were in need of his immediate review. Many of which could be put off indefinitely if he truly wanted to, but that would defeat the purpose of all the hard work he’d put in over the years.

Still, he wondered if a handful of days off would be so detrimental of a request to make?

Suguru scrolled through his contacts, quick to find who he was looking for: Suda Manami. With how often they spoke, he honestly considered placing a zero in front of her name if it meant keeping it easily accessible. Scrolling through the maze of his growing contact list was becoming quite the chore.

“Geto-sama? For what do I owe the pleasure of this late?”

“How difficult would it be for you to clear my schedule for the next few days—two days at the least? Please don’t pout, I can feel your face contorting through the screen.”

“Geto-sama, you have two very important meetings tomorrow.”

“With whom?” Suguru closed his eyes, resting the back of his neck against the headrest to quell his aching head.

“I know you don’t care to remember the names of monkeys.”

“Then you already know how important those meetings really are to me.” As unbecoming as it was, Suguru was practically pleading with his assistant. “I wish to go out of town for a couple of days. There’s a cursed spirit in Sendai that has piqued my interest. I’ll have Miguel watch over the girls, and if there are any emergencies, I’ll provide the address I’ll be staying at once it's sorted out in case you are in need of me.”

“You haven’t even booked a hotel yet?” Manami was judging him, poking holes through his plans to reveal the impulsive decision-making behind them. 

“I was… planning to do it on the way.”

“Honestly, Geto-sama.” Manami sighed. “I can handle the reservations if you tell me the area you’ll be doing business in. It sounds like you’re planning to go alone. Wouldn’t it be better to take one of us with you? Perhaps Toshihisa or Larue could meet you there—”

“There’s really no need. There’s a good chance this cursed spirit may be nothing more than a hoax, but if the rumors are true… I doubt it’s stronger than a fourth grade if children are able to commune with it and keep their lives intact. Perhaps the bound nature of its offering system could make it a higher grade acting under the conditions of a binding vow of some sort…” Suguru waved his hand in the air to no one, embarrassed at how his mind had already gone to wander. “Sorry, I’m already working through this little conundrum aloud. I’ll text you the address of the school I’m investigating. Any hotel close by with a private floor or wing would be preferred, but not absolutely necessary.”

“I’ll see it done. Be sure to call if you require us as well, you know we’ll drop everything to come to you if asked.”

“I know. Have a good rest of your night, Manami.”

“I will as soon as I reschedule these meetings.” She wasn’t bitter, but there was satisfaction to be found in her voice as she yanked on Suguru’s heart with the bit of guilt she could leave him with. It came from a place of concern, as all his family’s actions had, as Suguru played an integral role in keeping them together. “Take care of yourself, Geto-sama.”

No one would dare imagine what would happen if they were to find him absent from their side. 

Suguru ended the call and opened his eyes to the late evening sky, confronted with the same constellations that had been in the sky before his conception and will remain there long after he departed from this world. 

It was June, wasn’t it? Testing his own memory, Suguru pointed at the stars barely visible from the city wide light pollution and began naming what he could remember as if he was back on the rooftop of the school he’d forsaken.

Polaris was easy to start with. The brightest star in the sky, little could deter it from making its presence known to anyone with a set of functioning eyes. The star was also the tip of the handle to the little dipper, officially known as Ursa Minor. It only made sense to follow up the little bear constellation with its larger brother, Ursa Major. To find the next constellation, one simply needed to… How did that saying go?

“Follow the arc to Arcturus. Come on Suguru, it’s that easy!”

Suguru’s thoughts were invaded by the voice of another, one he’d longed to hear again despite how impossible that was. The memory guided his hand across the sky, landing on the next constellation to catch his interest—Boötes, the herdsman. One could not forget the zodiac constellation of his month either, with Libra’s scales on route to intersect with the meridian in the days to come before Gemini was set to reign over the sky in the month to follow.

Diverting his eyes from the now painful reminder of summer’s past, Suguru tilted the screen of his cell phone toward him and clicked the device back on, opening his search bar to begin research on anything and everything he could find on a ‘Yuji-sama’ that matched his current inquiry.

It wasn’t unheard of for a cursed spirit to become bound to those without sorcery. Fushiguro Toji had managed just fine with the disgusting worm that stored his tools. But such alliances were forged with time and were thought to hold very particular offering gifts to entice such deals to be made. Someone knowledgeable on cursed spirits—or able to interact with them on a level only a sorcerer could—must have been the original intermediary of whatever vow or law is keeping this cursed spirit bound to the school’s offering shrine— If it was bound at all.

That secondary assumption would imply the curse had thought behind its actions. The ability to understand and comprehend human words and perhaps even the ability to communicate back… that would immediately bring this cursed spirit’s classification up to special grade, would it not? On the ground of such an odd manifestation occurring, regardless of its power.

The possibility alone was enough to further demand Suguru’s attention. Another special grade curse to add to his arsenal was not an opportunity he could pass up. As for its abilities and general usefulness in the long term, he’d have to discover that for himself when he reached Sendai. Until then, Suguru was left to ponder in silence.

Yuji-sama… Just what manner of curse are you?

Chapter Text

Suguru arrived in Sendai later than initially anticipated.

Determined not to leave too much work behind, he’d woken up early to sign off on the simple tasks and documents that required his approval. Half-awake while nursing a fresh cup of coffee, Suguru flipped through his emails as fast as he could, cursing as time ticked on faster than he’d felt it should. He completed this self-appointed task just before Mimiko and Nanako could wake up and scold him for his lack of a full night’s rest. The three of them fell into their typical morning routine all the way through dropping off his girls at the front of their school.

It was only after they had gotten out of the car did Suguru inform them that Miguel would be the one to pick up later, if only to avoid hearing their very loud objection. If he’d been subjected to hearing the two beg him to reconsider the entire ride there, he might have reconsidered leaving them behind to their studies. Instead, Suguru was subjected to roughly thirty seconds of shouting before he waved them off, promising to keep in touch as much as he could while rolling up his driver-side window.

He counted himself lucky Miguel was a man willing to take on more unconventional tasks if his price was met. With the way things were going with donations and business deals and Suguru’s own willingness to meet with clients in need of supernatural aid to rid the unknown plaguing their lives, he had more than enough money to ensure his girls were well looked after. Though, he was beginning to suspect that the mercenary had no qualms with the task given to him and saw it as more than a break from the usual business rather than anything else. 

That still didn’t stop him from charging more than his usual rate.

After dropping the twins off, Suguru double-backed to their apartment to continue his research from the night before, unsatisfied with the little information he could find on this Sugisawa cursed spirit.

Offerings to deities in order to receive blessings or bouts of good fortune were nothing new. While not to the same extent as centuries past, such traditions even persisted to the modern day with many still visiting shrines or embarking on full pilgrimages in search of such divine gifts. The consensus among sorcerers was that historical figures and deities of old were long thought to be the work of special cursed spirits masquerading as the divine. Suguru agreed with the sentiment, but with his own addendum of painting it in a more realistic light: Foolish monkeys designating benevolence where there was none in the hopes of feeding their own delusions with certain cursed spirits more than willing to play along to their benefit.

The case with this Yuji-sama fit into this role rather well, but something Suguru couldn’t quite grasp in his chest told him it wasn’t a one-for-one comparison. 

Thus, Suguru had to keep searching. 

From the online posts Nanako directed him towards, Suguru was hard pressed to admit there wasn’t much to go off that proved useful in learning about this cursed spirit besides the present relationship he shared with the students of the school. 

Yuji-sama had strong ties with the occult club, which was an obvious connection given the club’s purpose, but the actual presence the cursed spirit had among the student body on these message threads was rather lacking. It was as if Suguru had stumbled into a closely guarded topic spoken to those only already involved than something to be proclaimed so easily to the outside world. 

He wondered if it was due to a mindset of selfishness the students held in regard to their unique situation that made them wish to keep Yuji-sama for themselves. Or perhaps the lack of spoken word was done so on the cursed spirit’s request if it was capable of making one at all. The occult club member, Setsuko, had been willing to speak with Nanako on the matter, but even she avoided talking about the spirit directly in her messages, mostly describing the cursed spirit within the context of other events or keeping her answers vague to avoid going into more detail she must be privy to. 

What Suguru had thought was the first actual break he had been able to scrounge up was the alternate name the students used to refer to the cursed spirit. It was more of a nickname, though shorthand would be the best way to describe it as the tiger emoji had become synonymous with the cursed spirit’s name. Where such a connection was made was unclear, but that gave context to the few messages then mentioned going to the tiger emoji after class, which Suguru could only assume was a way of saying they were visiting the shrine with fewer characters.

However, as quick as the revelation came, the actual worth to be found in that knowledge gained him surprisingly little insight. Cross-referencing the imagery of tigers with the world of spirits and sorcery, he was left looking into legends of the Byakko, or white tiger yokai which were more of a stretch to connect with this Yuji-sama than Suguru had hoped. 

If the cursed spirit was referred to as Byakko among the students and the children sought changes in the weather or requests involving communion with beasts, the conclusion that their cursed spirit was created from their collective belief, manifesting as an imaginary spirit would make the most logical sense. The name Yuji came from nowhere Suguru could find, and the bids for general fortune did not match what the Byakko was known for. He could possibly correlate the Chinese belief that the white tiger appeared to an emperor who ruled with virtue or when there was peace throughout the world, but only in the general sense that this cursed spirit was supposedly a benevolent spirit as Suguru could not fathom referring to this world as a peaceful one. The lack of white mentioned when discussing Yuji-sama was another thing, as the instances in which the tiger imagery was used only included the common orange tiger. 

Suguru crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair.

Once again he could not walk away with anything substantial surrounding its origin, just a handful of half-baked assumptions and possible threads that left him with more questions than answers. 

On the table beside him, Suguru’s cell phone vibrates just enough to pull him from his thoughts. A new message notification popped up, lingering long enough to convince him to open the device and at the very least review its contents… A smile found its way to Suguru’s face, stretching from ear to ear as the first direct answer to his inquiries uplifted his mood from the frustrated pit it had been stewing in.

Jujutsu Tech and their affiliated sorcerers haven’t stepped foot on the grounds of Sugisawa Municipal High School in over two years. 

With how overbooked and consistently understaffed Jujutsu Tech was, Suguru could only believe this school had slipped through the cracks of their attempts at doing routine inspections of locations with high quantities of negative energy required for cursed spirits to manifest. There wasn’t the time to investigate every rumor or trend among student populaces when most of them turned out to be matters far from in need of immediate concern. The never-ending battles sorcerers were subjected to were picked deliberately and since Yuji-sama hadn’t appeared until sometime early last year… the cursed spirit had eluded their sights.

There wasn’t a more perfect opportunity for Suguru to investigate and subjugate this strange cursed spirit for himself. If anything, his quarry should be grateful for his appearance now. If sorcerers from the school had been sent in, the chances of this cursed spirit getting exorcised without a second thought were astronomically high—unless one sorcerer, in particular, was assigned this case…

Suguru was quick to dismiss such thoughts as he closed his laptop, deciding it was about time he departed for Sendai before the day passed by without him. 

Two hours later, Suguru arrived at the high school as the afternoon began. A quarter after one to be precise. He’d saved going through the song and dance of checking in the hotel Manami booked for a later time, in case the reservation was unnecessary if his business wrapped up as soon as he stepped foot onto the school's grounds. The car was parked a couple of blocks from the campus, uncaring if he caught the attention of storefront security cameras or not. Suguru may be a wanted man, but if no one was going to make due on that promise to see him executed after ten years, the need to take each step with extreme paranoia had withered and died with the passage of time.

The attire Suguru wore out in public today reflected this, donning the same robes he wore amongst his followers and the foolish sought his aid as some kind of priest. His complete disregard for the need to change his appearance did come with a benefit, as his clothes would aid in his cover story if his presence on the campus was questioned.

Anyone working in the realm of spirits and mysticism would not be faulted for taking interest in a spirit such as Yuji-sama. All he had to do was explain his curiosity and that should be enough, but given the time of day, Suguru approached campus believing few would be around to question him at all. Both students and teachers alike were too busy with their lessons to pay him any mind.

The first thing Suguru noted when crossing the remaining street which stood between him and his quarry was the absence of cursed spirits skittering about as he’d grown accustomed to witnessing. Upon reaching the out edge of the main building, Suguru had to truly reach with his senses, straining them to an unnecessary degree to find residuals of anything resembling the negative energy which should be flooding the area. Whatever he’d found, however, would quickly disperse into nothing, unable to coagulate into a proper cursed spirit under an unknown force keeping the property void of any such creatures. 

Powerful cursed spirits had a tendency to drive out the weaker ones out of fear of being consumed by the greater threat. But the aura of this place lacked that intensity that came with higher tier cursed spirits— the thickening of the air, crushing pressure on the body, and terror assaulting the mind —all of it was missing.

Was this the work of Yuji-sama?  

Or were there talismans or other mechanisms in place that Suguru could not sense at this distance? Tengen’s barrier around Jujutsu Tech produced a similar pocket void of cursed spirits, but never had Suguru come across this phenomenon to the same degree elsewhere. He had never thought it was possible for it to be replicated, so how could this be? 

Suguru remained on guard as he followed the faint wisps of energy that remained within this empty campus. An echo of a trail diverging from the intended cement path, it almost felt as if he was being purposely led to the shaded corner tucked behind the far end of the small courtyard before him. 

A repurposed Stevenson stood next to a small tree growing freely from the tamed lines marking the edge of the clearing. While sporting a roof that had been painted red some months prior with paint now chipping into the dirt at Suguru’s feet and a small wind chime hanging on the branches above it, the sign propped up against the front leg of the structure was unneeded in telling Suguru that he’d found the makeshift offering shrine. 

It was a creation of students between their studies, failing to hold a candle to any proper shrine he’d come across over the years. This was not the temple of some towering deity and the weak cursed energy which lingered around the structure only proved it, much to his disappointment. 

There was no sign of the cursed spirit in sight.

Had Suguru come too late? Had Yuji-sama been driven out in the same manner as all the other cursed spirits? Why else would there be nothing to greet Suguru besides an empty shell?

Suguru’s next course of action was to flip open the semi-rusted lock to see what offerings lay inside. The creaking hinge pierced through the courtyard, doing little to deter Suguru from his investigation as he moved the door—

“What do you think you’re doing?”

Just as a sliver of light was about to grant his eyes access to the contents inside, Suguru straightened his back and turned around to address the girl standing behind him. 

A young teenager with short hair styled close to Mimiko’s fixed her glasses back into place while staring him down. She carried a small wrapped box in her hand, no doubt an offering of her own to the cursed spirit’s little shrine.

“I was just taking a peek inside.”

“You don’t have an offering, do you? I better not have caught you stealing.” The girl trudged forward as Suguru stepped aside to allow her to pull back the doors of the offering box for him to scrutinize the contents inside. As if Suguru would lower himself to steal warm candy, pencils, and a couple hundred yen scattered over a few slips of paper which held the requests of the ones who left them there. “Everything seems to be as it was earlier…”

“I assume that’s your offering?” Suguru pointed to the box in the girl’s hand.

“So what if it is?” Little time was wasted in organizing the items within the offering box, neatly shuffling things around until a large enough space was available for the girl to place her wrapped box inside. But not without digging into her pocket for what had to be a coin— from a pachinko parlor no less —to place down first before resting her offering on top.

“I’m curious. Is there a purpose to the coin?” His questions were not granting him any favors. The girl was clearly annoyed by his pestering, but she answered him after shutting the offering box shut nonetheless.

“It’s an experiment.”

“An experiment?”

“With Yuji-sama.” The girl continued, “He returns anything that isn’t food. A spirit has no need for money or other small items people assume he would like, so he returns them at night. I bring him new foods to try, and if he likes it he’ll return the coin back to the clubroom heads up. If he doesn’t, it’ll be heads down. Today is onigiri. These have pickled plums in them.”

The clubroom…?

Ah. 

That was it.

“And by clubroom, I assume you are referring to the occult club. Which would make you Sasaki Setsuko, correct?” Her eyes squinted further with her rising suspicion, only proving Suguru’s guess correct. Not wishing to remain on her bad side, Suguru raised both of his hands to playfully cower from her stare. “My daughter messaged you with questions about Yuji-sama. My profession leads me to come across all sorts of supernatural phenomena, but never have I heard of a case as curious as this one. Benevolent spirits are not as easy to come by as you may think.”

“Are you some kind of priest?”

“You could say that.” Suguru hummed, allowing Setsuko to make her own conclusion on the matter.

“Uh huh.” Setsuko pulled out her phone to flip through her messages until she landed on the messages Suguru was referencing. “Her name’s Nanako, right? She’s really pushy, and now I see where she gets it from. I’m on my lunch period right now, so if you’re going to keep asking questions we can talk in the clubroom. It's better than standing out in the open.”

Suguru wondered if he was deliberately being kept away from the shrine as the girl clearly didn’t find the thought of him snooping around appealing. However, instead of shooing him away entirely, she was willing to continue their discussion, and seeing as how she held an apparent relationship with this cursed spirit, there was bound to be more worth learning from her. It would also be best to determine if this girl was the same as the rest of her lowly classmates or if there was something more going on.

As they walked through the halls and passed the monkeys staring his way, Suguru kept his disgust at a minimum when addressing the girl in front of him with further inquiries.

“Pardon me if this comes across as rude, but I don’t sense your spirit anywhere nearby. Is he not around?”

“Sense…? Oh, you mean around the shrine? Yuji-sama isn’t always around, especially during the day. He’s off doing important spirit business or whatever nonsense he gets roped up into. Normally he’s somewhere around campus, but there’s no hope in keeping track of him.” 

Setsuko’s footsteps came to a halt outside a small set of sliding doors. The label hanging above the door revealed this was their destination, and upon opening the room for him, Suguru was greeted with nothing out of the ordinary from a standard clubroom. A table made of two desks shoved together with three chairs placed haphazardly around it. A few bookshelves lined the walls with a whiteboard hanging across from them. The only thing that really stood out was the scattered items of occult-related objects, many of which were rooted in pop culture rather than actual sorcery. 

“And how do you know when Yuji-sama is around?” The doors were shut behind him after entering. Setsuko was generous enough to offer Suguru a chair, but he didn’t plan to stay in the room long enough to get comfortable. 

“We have a code that changes weekly between Takeshi, Yuji-sama and I so no one can mess with it. Sometimes it's flickering the lights, messing with the curtains or tapping a pen against the counter. It’s not like we can see him.”

Setsuko is the same as the rest of them. What a shame.

Still, their means of communication in spite of their limitations is commendable. They also served to prove that what Suguru had stumbled into was, in fact, a group of students playing games with a special grade cursed spirit.

“I’ll assume Takeshi is your other club member.” Suguru’s eyes glided over to the club member registry hanging on the wall. The sheet of paper was rather empty which came as a surprise, given the popularity the cursed spirit has garnered over the last year. Overall interest in Yuji-sama must be shallow, with those only seeking the cursed spirit when there was something to be gained from him. Not that Suguru couldn’t judge anyone too harshly on those grounds alone. He was currently seeking out the cursed spirit for the same reason. “Is the minimum for student clubs not three members?”

“Yuji-sama makes three.” There was pride in the statement to go along with the girl’s smirk. “The student council president lets the club exist with only two ‘official’ members because he’s afraid to get on Yuji-sama’s bad side which is hilarious because he doesn’t hold much stock in the occult. But I’ve seen him pray at the shrine before finals, so desperation eventually wins out in the end.”

Setsuko’s eagerness to share dwindled after she sighed, returning to her original scrutiny of Suguru’s purpose for being there.

“Why are you so interested in Yuji-sama? You’re not planning on exorcising him, are you?” Exorcising? That was a specific phrase to use, though given who he was dealing with, any talk of spirits went hand in hand with exorcisms and releasing them from the mortal world. She could have easily picked up the word from any number of books and movies, but the chances of Yuji-sama warning her of sorcerers and those who deal with cursed spirits was not to be ignored. “Did someone hire you?”

“No, nothing like that. As I already said, I came here out of my own interest to learn more about your Yuji-sama. How he came to be. That is all.” He wasn’t technically lying, as using his cursed spirit manipulation technique would absorb the spirit and place it under his control. It wasn’t the same thing as a traditional exorcism.

A minute passed by before the girl made up her mind.

“Good. But I hate to tell you this, we don’t really know all that much.”

“Is he not forthcoming with such topics?”

“The opposite.” Setsuko shuffled over the center bookshelf and retrieved a thin binder from the collection on display. Case 15: Yuji-sama . After dropping the binder on the table, she took a seat and flipped the cover open to reveal what little contents were inside. “Yuji-sama’s an open book, but the pages are blank, get it?”

“Elaborate.”

“Well…” Setsuko adjusted her glasses again, moving to the next few pages of plastic sheets filled with handwritten notes, scattered scrap pieces of paper, and the occasional photograph or school newspaper clipping taped inside. “What we do know is that the first person to interact with Yuji-sama was Itadori-san. They met last year. The old man was the school’s groundskeeper for… I didn’t write it down, but I know it was at least twenty years! Yuji-sama would assist him with his work and in exchange, Itadori-san would leave him treats in the Stevenson, which eventually got turned into a formal offering box as more students started doing it once a few started to believe Itadori-san wasn’t talking to himself all day while doing yard work. He always seemed to know where Yuji-sama was, so I guess he could sense him like you say you can.”

This Itadori-san, intentional or not, was the one responsible for introducing the cursed spirit to the school. 

“Was the groundskeeper?”

“Itadori-san was hospitalized last winter. Mid-January. He passed away at the end of April to natural causes, but… it was still rough for Yuji-sama. He spent a lot of time by Itadori-san’s side at the hospital and Itadori-san would call it a waste and scold him. The two were close.” 

Next page. It was far emptier than the prior one. 

“Anyway, everything before Yuji-sama met Itadori-san is a mystery. And it’s not because Yuji-sama is hiding it, he just doesn’t remember much of anything. How did he put it… He remembers existing before meeting Itadori-san, but he doesn’t remember how or what happened other than tiny bits and pieces. We’ve been trying to jog his memory, but there’s been little luck in that department other than narrowing down a few details to place where his oldest memories stem from.” Setsuko spun the binder over and slid it closer to Suguru to show the following page written in kana rarely seen in the modern year. “Yuji-sama wrote a lot of his answers down in this old kana before he caught on to the hiragana and katakana we use in school. Takeshi dated the older script to have been used as far back as the Heian era, which could make him over a thousand years old which does not match at all how he looks. But I guess it would be silly to think that spirits would age like we do.”

The Heian era. The golden age of Jujutsu. A time when the sorcerers and cursed spirits of the world were in a league of their own. That would put Yuji-sama around a thousand years old if that was true. How the cursed spirit had survived to the modern day if this was true would be something worth questioning if this theory was true.

“Looks? I thought you couldn’t see him?”

“We can’t, but after a dozen or computer flash games and borrowed sessions on the gaming club’s consoles to use the character creation menu of certain video games, we ended up with a pretty good idea of what he looks like. According to Yuji-sama at least.”

Setsuko’s finger tapping on the binder gestured for Suguru to sift through the next two pages of printouts of video game avatars and a few sketches drawn in an attempt to combine them into a cohesive representation of the cursed spirit. 

The first thing that stood out was the humanoid form and the consistent use of pink hair for each character generated. While it may be because of the limitations of the systems used or Yuji-sama simply lying about his form, Suguru was inclined to believe there was some truth to this. Of the special grade cursed spirits cataloged, many possessed humanoid forms. Only a very few—less than three—held forms close to that of mimicking a human to the unsuspecting observer which meant Yuji-sama’s self-depiction was not wholly impossible.

Each persona was in the form of a young man with short, messy pink hair and gold-amber eyes. The clothes selection had been limited by the genre of the games used, but the sketches accompanying them all depicted the cursed spirit in a simple red and black kimono with a soft smile and two markings underneath the edges of his eyes. Suguru did not recognize the visual aids to correlate with any cursed spirit or stories he’d heard previously which made them just as useless as his name when it came to revealing more information than what was currently being provided.

What Suguru could conclude was that the cursed spirit took on the form of a young man or even a teenager, but he would have to see it for himself in order to confirm this.

The ring of the bell echoing throughout the campus drew Suguru back to the girl in front of him, quick to reclaim the binder and return it to its proper place as her free time had come to an end. 

“I’m sorry, but I have to get going. I have a meeting with my senpai before class.” Setsuko bowed her head before heading for the door. “You should probably leave before someone questions your visit.”

“You’re quite right.” Suguru gave an internal laugh at the thought of worrying about what some monkeys thought of him. He did not turn tail and run for their sake.

“Yuji-sama usually returns to the campus at night to see what has been left for him before wandering the school grounds again. He even takes care of cleaning up the clubroom if he’s in a good mood.”

“And if he’s not in a good mood?”

“Then he doesn’t? He doesn’t throw a tantrum if that is what you’re expecting.” Setsuko scoffed as she stood in the doorway to ensure that Suguru had vacated the clubroom before leaving it behind. “He doesn’t like doing harm.”

Suguru found that hard to believe. As endearing as it was to see the bond between the cursed spirit and the humans surrounding it, Suguru continued to remind himself of what he was investigating. 

A cursed spirit. A special grade. 

While the point of this elaborate web of lies remained undetermined, any chance this Yuji-sama’s actions had of being considered genuine were crushed under the weight of all the previous cursed spirits Suguru had encountered before him.

“While you may believe that…” Suguru took out his phone and opened its settings to reveal the phone number registered to the device. “Commit this number to memory. Or better yet, add it to your contacts list. If anything unusual happens with Yuji-sama, it would be in your best interest to notify me, understand?”

The girl nodded and quickly typed the number into her phone, only pausing when it came time to label the contact with a name.

“You never gave me your name.”

“Geto Su—” Suguru stopped, biting his tongue in disgust as he caught himself from continuing to go through the motions of the life he left behind. He hadn’t registered giving this monkey—this girl his personal number as anything out of the ordinary until he’d already done it.

“Geto-san. Got it. I really have to go now. Um, have a good day I guess?” 

 Suguru didn’t answer Setsuko as she had already turned around and ran off with a hand in the air to wave goodbye until she rounded the first corner out of his sight. 

It wasn’t worth going back on the decision, and it would be a waste of time to continue fuming over it, thus Suguru let his lapse in judgment slide. The girl’s own interest in the occult would no doubt drive her to tell him anything new that transpires in his absence which would only make giving away his number to be a beneficial move.

He was still getting it changed once this investigation was done and over with.

With little left for him at the campus besides scouring the area in hopes of coming across this Yuji-sama, Suguru chose his next move carefully. If waiting until nightfall guaranteed that he and this cursed spirit could cross paths, then looking into this Itadori-san in the meantime was the next logical step. A deal must have been forged between the two for a cursed spirit to serve a human, and if Itadori could converse and perhaps see the spirit as Suguru hoped to, then he would be the cause of why this cursed spirit continued to linger around the area.

Suguru massaged his temples as he left the building, growing more frustrated than he had any right to be given how much he’d gained from such a brief conversation. There were still far more questions than answers, and this state of uncertainty was getting under Suguru’s skin.

Huh. 

He’d forgotten to ask why Yuji-sama was associated with tigers… A question for Yuji-sama himself then.

Chapter Text

“This is so boring! Why can’t we just go after the curse now? I can just—”

“We don’t truly know what we’re getting involved with. It would be smarter to gather as much information as we can before picking a battle we may not like the outcome of.”

“You say that like we aren’t the strongest there is? What curse could possibly best the two of us? Hm?”

“That’s not the point.”

“Fine! Fine—Just stop glaring at me like that! Gives me chills. And not the fun kind. We’ll do things your way. But next time, we do things the fun way, ok?”

There was nothing special about Itadori Wasuke. Ironically, that statement in itself had pushed Suguru to look into the man further, as if having such an unremarkable history was an impossibility that should only raise more red flags than quell them.

Suguru pushed aside the empty bowl in front of him to rest his elbows on the table. The phone in his hand was angled just so to ensure the glare from the sun wouldn’t interfere with his ability to read the report in front of him. While it was his own fault for insisting on dining away from the monkeys swarming the rest of the café inside, the benefits of the balcony he claimed by his lonesome outweighed the headache he’d receive from being forced to remain downstairs.

He was almost coming to regret avoiding the hotel when room service had also been a viable option, but it was by Nanako’s recommendation that he try this café in particular. She must know he had caught on to her little game of suggesting places to visit in the hopes he’d bring the twins something back in return. It was only because Suguru hadn’t stopped doing it after realizing he was being used that they continued on like this, though at some point he should really just insist she send their requests for what pastries they want to be brought home instead of leaving him to guess.

The decorative cupcakes already boxed and wrapped on the seat beside him were what he assumed they had been after. Maybe Manami was right in saying he spoiled them too much…

Back to the device in his hand, while the words in the report hadn’t changed in the last several minutes, Suguru found himself rereading the information regardless.

Itadori Wasuke. Born and died in Sendai. No criminal record. No record of travel. His branch of the Itadori family had whittled down into obscurity with Wasuke possessing no living relatives at the time of his passing. 

With a little more reading, Suguru found that the old man had a son, Jin Itadori. Again, nothing remarkable about his records either, except that they stopped after his twenty-fifth year when a car accident took the life of both him and his wife on impact in 2002. Wasuke’s own wife had passed away several years prior, leaving the old man alone for the next fifteen years to follow.

Suguru had even looked into the history of both Wasuke and his son’s wife for any signs of the occult, turning up empty and forcing him to conclude that all four of them had no relation to sorcery or curses from the surface glance these documents provided. The best Suguru could claim was that Wasuke had either gained the ability to see cursed spirits close to his death or had been perceiving cursed spirits all his life despite being born from a family of monkeys. The phenomenon was not an unlikely one— Suguru’s own family history, unfortunately, supported this fact. If no other cursed techniques or large amounts of cursed energy manifested within the man, then he would have flown under the radar of the sorcery world with relative ease.

Either way, that would not explain how the old man had that ability to bind a cursed spirit both in his life and after his death as the system used to keep this spirit around continued on without him.

In a moment of childish weakness, Suguru let his head fall against the table as he lamented over the scattered pieces of information before him. It would be so much easier if he could converse with those directly involved, but if the cursed spirit doesn’t intend to show until evening…

The thought of provoking the spirit into appearing sooner had crossed Suguru’s mind, but all options that he considered would paint him hostile before he had a chance to claim otherwise—As false a claim as that was. Friendly relations, as tiresome an act, made a good start before a show of force was necessary.

Internally, Suguru uttered a quick apology to Mimiko for his hypocrisy. While he would never lie to his girls or the rest of their family, putting up an air of friendliness to go along with a confident and carefree attitude did wonders in avoiding the true exhaustion he felt underneath when dealing with the world beyond them. The small lies required to coax cooperation out of those below him… It was for their benefit.

Until the future Suguru desired was fully realized, he was going to have to make compromises to ensure the path he was taking would not be hindered by rash decision-making. Each monkey, no matter how detestable, had their use. Suguru’s lesser dishonesty when speaking to Setsuko was unlikely to draw on the cursed spirit’s ire, the same could not be said if he’d made nothing but threats and demands upon their first meeting.

And unfortunately, Suguru was evolving from handpicked omissions as he was already in the midst of crafting his cover story before heading out to his next destination: Meirikai Sendai General Hospital

Unlike the high school, the hospital was infested with minor cursed spirits.

Suguru should not have been surprised. Next to high schools, hospitals were another go-to place for such creatures to spawn in droves. Yet, when Setsuko had mentioned Yuji-sama’s penchant for visiting the old man after his hospitalization, Suguru had prepared for the building to be in a similar empty state as the school if the lack of cursed spirits were Yuji-sama’s doing. 

Then again, if Yuji-sama had no reason to visit after Wasuke’s death, then the overrun of cursed spirits in his absence would be the logical outcome.

Vile wisps of negative energy clung to the floors and crawled the walls of this place, forcing Suguru to cover his mouth to hide the utter disgust he displayed in staring at what looked to the blind as a respectable and sterile environment. His hope for picking up any residuals of Yuji-sama’s presence plummeted quickly, as even his own heightened awareness of cursed energy could not compete with the sheer amalgamous force he was presented with. A piece of him begged to let loose the subjected cursed spirits which clung to his soul to cleanse the building for his own sanity, but Suguru refrained, only awaiting away at the creatures that dared get too close. Nothing here had breached grade four, thus it was not worth his time.

Skipping past the check-in desk, Suguru walked with purpose to the destination he had in mind: the room in which Wasuke had spent his remaining days. Most of the people around him were far too busy with the constant stream of tasks and emergency codes spoken over the loudspeaker to deal with the intruder stepping foot where he did not belong. He had to count himself lucky the room whose number he’d memorized from the report was currently unoccupied which made entering far less of a hassle than he came prepared to deal with.

Upon opening the door, Suguru was greeted with a refreshing sight to his supernatural senses as behind the threshold was an area with substantially less cursed energy than the rooms surrounding. Not a single cursed spirit could be found. The little ones which buzzed around the hallway lights showed no interest in the room, while the snakes which slithered in the corners of the floor were quick to make themselves scarce. Their purposeful avoidance was obvious.

Suguru went inside regardless and closed the door, basking in the silence he was left in for only a moment, as his immediate reaction was to search the room for any signs of a talisman or cursed technique responsible for the pocket of respite he’d found himself in. All he found were the same residuals from the school which Suguru had designated to be traces of Yuji-sama’s presence, having since corroded in the cursed spirit’s absence. That would explain how it was not a perfect shield against the negative low of energy within this place, as only the entities which formed from it found the desire to abide by whatever claim the Yuji-sama once had on this room.

“—Nakimura’s room is next! Let me take care of the bedding in here and—” 

Suguru turned his head to the now open door, his eyes landing on the shocked nurse frozen at the sight of a man standing in what should have been an empty room.

This was a rather awful habit Suguru was developing. To be unexpectedly caught by not one, but two monkeys in the same day was something he was surely going to leave out of his tale after returning home when his time in Sendai was all said and done.

“A-Are you lost… sir?” The nurse—a young woman—stammered out in her confusion. Her legs shook underneath her and her hair was all in disarray with strands falling out of the bun she’d used to keep it all together. “This room isn’t in use. The lady who was here earlier was released a bit ago, so if you’re looking for someone—”

“I’m not lost. An older man was staying here for a few months, and I was told this was his room. It appears I’ve come too late to speak with him before…” Suguru intentionally let his words go, internally smirking at the first signs of the nurse’s recognition of who he could be referring to.

“I wasn’t aware that Itadori-san had anyone else left— I-I mean, I’m sorry that was rude! He never mentioned having any other potential visitors.”

“He knew my father some odd years ago.” The lie flowed all too easy. “When I had heard he had no family left to visit, I made plans to appear on my father’s behalf but regretfully, time and time again my busy schedule kept me from making an appearance.”

“I’m so sorry.” The nurse accepted his story easily, placing cleaning supplies she’d been juggling in her hand on the empty bedside table. “But, if it helps, I heard from one of the senior nurses that Itadori-san had a grandson who would come see him quite frequently.”

It was Suguru’s turn to be confused.

“A grandson?” 

That wasn’t in the report. Jin was Wasuke’s only child and there were no hospital records of his wife conceiving a child. There were no records of adoption, so unless the man was promiscuous—

“Oh yes! I can still remember Ishida-san’s face when she heard the news! She’s known Itadori-san for a pretty long time. Not that they were close, only that they had graduated from the same school—Sorry! Here I go babbling again.” 

The nurse gave an apologetic bow before walking over to the large window overlooking the parking lot. She set both her hands down on the counter, beckoning for Suguru’s attention as she traced the outline of a bowl or vase in the air. 

“His grandson would bring fresh flowers weekly to brighten the room. I think… After the third week, one of his nurses lent Itadori-san a vase to put them in, so they’d last longer. It’s kind of strange. For someone so considerate to visit so often, I don’t think anyone actually got the chance to formally meet him. Maybe it was for the best. I couldn’t imagine meeting the poor boy having to keep visiting his grandfather each day. I’d probably break down and hug him all over!” She pressed her hands on her cheeks, bawling between her hands at the thought she’d placed in her own head. Such sympathy was wasted on a stranger.

Uninterested in the gossip’s feelings, Suguru pressed her further.

“I wasn’t aware Itadori-san had a grandson. Even if you've never met him, did any of you happen to catch his name? Anything about him at all? If only so that I could give him my sympathies.” He prayed on her noisy ears to give him something to work with, feigning concern and worry to keep her investment.

“Not off the top of my head—Hold on! I think Hidaka knew!” 

The young woman ran off, darting out into the hallway in frantic search before returning as quickly as she came with a male staff member dragged behind her by the wrist. He was about her age, just as frazzled but for an entirely different reason as she had pulled him away without explanation. Points for efficiency. 

The nurse turned to her coworker, brushing past introductions as she prompted him to answer what she could not.

“You’ve worked on this floor longer than I have. He wants to know about Itadori-san’s grandson.”

The young man took a second to collect himself, nodding along with her words but only answering once they settled in, and he had a chance to think. 

“Itadori-san, elderly patient…” He snapped his fingers once it clicked. “I remember! He complained about him a few times, always wishing he’d spend his time elsewhere… Yu-Yuichi— Yuji! That’s it!”

Yuji…? The cursed spirit?

“Thank you, Hidaka! You’re the best!” 

The young woman gave him a pat on the shoulder before unceremoniously shoving him back out the door. She must have lingered in the doorway when she turned back to Suguru, but he was too busy pondering over the name to look up and confirm it himself.

Yuji. Yuji. Yuji.

That didn’t make sense— Why did it have to be Yuji?

“Um… Sir? Is everything alright?”

Suguru shook his head and waved the nurse off, too frustrated to continue conversing with her. 

“I’m fine. I just need a minute—alone —If you would.”

“It’s not a problem!” The nurse collected her things in a hurry. “I’ll clean the next room over then, but I’ll be back in a few so don’t be too long.” 

“I won’t be.” 

Suguru didn’t plan on remaining here any longer than he had to. The door slammed shut, and he was alone once more, leaving him to stare out the window to find his reflection just as deep in thought as he was.

Yuji-sama was supposedly a very old cursed spirit. A thousand-year-old by Setsuko’s earlier claim. If that claim was still true, then how could his relations to Wasuke be that of a grandchild when there was no evidence of tampering in the old man’s files? 

Unless there was. But Suguru was starting to believe himself reaching the point, choosing to focus on his current evidence before considering his own speculation on what could be.

Now, for a cursed spirit to have a relation to a living human, the only explanation would be that of a vengeful spirit manifesting from the improper death, noted as a death without the involvement of cursed energy, of a sorcerer. The nature of a vengeful spirit was that of its namesake, driven by the need to right a wrong or regret that could not have been fulfilled in life. Every case Suguru had ever heard of was driven by anger, regret, betrayal, and every other negative emotion under the sun that could be strong enough to manifest the cursed spirit into being to carry out a goal of revenge. 

Disregarding the connection to the Heian period, if Wasuke’s grandson was killed and returned as a vengeful spirit… Yuji-sama, as characterized by the students, was by all accounts benevolent. Vengeful spirits do not lose their nature after completing their task.

No. 

They reveled in it. Embraced it. Vengeful spirits will embody every aspect of what they’ve become and transpose the punishment they dealt to any who could possibly fall into the same role as the one who initially wronged them.

None of that aligned with what Suguru understood of this Yuji-sama. But could he really say he understood this curse at all? Was any of what he learned nothing more than a fabrication to throw his investigation off? Who was to say Setsuko had been entirely honest with him when she clearly suspicious of his intentions from the start?

“You’re always overthinking things. I swear, I can see the smoke coming out of your ears.”

A hint of movement in the window’s reflection caught Suguru’s eye. 

He whipped his head around, only to find nothing in the empty room behind him and the window of the hospital room door to blame for the bodies pacing by in the hall, the activity caught in the reflection Suguru had been so caught up in. A verbal curse escaped his lips as he ran his fingers through his bangs. A deep breath came next with another one soon to follow, but the ring of his phone cut the action short, vying for his attention.

Oh, how close Suguru had come to throwing the device in the waste bin. However, as most of his calls were being routed to Manami, this one had to be important. Instead of trashing the device, Suguru calmed himself and answered the call, missing the name on the screen in favor of swiping the answer icon and getting straight to the point.

“What is it?” 

“Geto-sama?”

That was Mimiko’s voice.

“Mimiko? Is everything alright?” Suguru glanced up at the clock on the wall, checking the time to gather that the twins should be in the process of departing school if they haven’t already. The thought of something happening to them in his absence hit him all too quickly, further sending his mood into a frenzy.

“We’re ok. I was calling to ask you the same thing. I’m sorry if I was interrupting something important.”

Had he truly sounded that irritable?

“There’s no need for an apology. I’m actually alone at the moment, so there was no better time to call.” Assurance was all Suguru could do to correct his mistake. “I’m doing good. I forgot to let your sister know, but I did stop by the café you both recommended for lunch.”

“Was the food good?”

“Very. But I would still rate the place we went to in Osaka as my favorite.” The quality of the food hardly changed from place to place. It was who Suguru was with at the time which held the greatest influence on his favor of a location more than anything else.

“I’d like to go there again—When you’re not busy, Geto-sama.” Mimiko paused, moving away from the speaker to whisper something to who he assumed was her sister somewhere close by. The sounds of shouting and grabbing for the device in Mimiko’s hands that came after confirmed this. “Nanako wanted to know if you found the cursed spirit yet?”

Not yet.

“Unfortunately, the case surrounding this Yuji-sama is a bit more complicated than I had initially thought. I do hope to track the cursed spirit down tonight, but that means I won’t be returning home until tomorrow afternoon at the earliest.” He did not need to see Mimiko to know the disappointment on her face. The cursed spirit case, while intriguing in its own right, had not been the focus of her call. “You’ll both behave until then, won’t you?”

“We will!” Nanako’s voice shouted over the speaker, with Mimiko adding her own sentiment after. “We miss you, Geto-sama.”

“I miss you both too. While I know it’s early, I’m going to wish you both an early good night as I will be tied up in the investigation by the time you two should be heading to bed.”

“You better get some rest tonight too. Manami will throw a fit if you don’t. She already knows you haven’t checked into your room yet.”

“I will. I will. Promise.” Suguru shook his head at their concern, a reluctant smile breaking through the frown which had failed to remain on his face. “Take care now.”

He hung up the phone and let out a long sigh, taking advantage of the short distraction which had done wonders to cool his head. To say he was relaxed was a bit of a stretch, but the tension which had overtaken his muscles before had fallen apart. Once again, Suguru could organize his thoughts without it feeling like a deluge of scrambled nonsense.

What he could do now was focus. And with that focus, Suguru sifted through everything up to this point and narrowed down what he could say with relative certainty.

One. There is without a doubt a supernatural force linked to Sugisawa High School and Meirikai Sendai General Hospital. Itadori Wasuke is the thread that connects both locations, and the residuals Suguru could sense assured him that a cursed spirit is responsible.

Two. The cursed spirit’s name is Yuji-sama according to Sugisawa’s student body. Wasuke’s grandson shares the same name, but there are no official records confirming the existence of a grandson whatsoever. It can’t be concluded at this time if the two are related or are one and the same.

Three. The Occult club at Sugisawa High School has been communicating with this Yuji-sama for some time. The students as a whole have been leaving offerings in exchange for favors or good luck. They believe him to be benevolent.

Four. Wherever the cursed spirit resides, the smaller cursed spirits in the area are pushed out if they haven’t fled already. If this is indicative of power, then Yuji-sama is a special grade cursed spirit of a higher magnitude than Suguru had originally thought. However, the cursed spirit’s true ranking can’t be assessed until he witnessed it for himself. Additionally, Suguru has yet to observe any spirits higher than a fourth grade be subjected to this strange phenomenon.

Five. Yuji-sama will, by Setsuko’s claim, appear on Sugisawa’s grounds at night. Cursed spirits had a tendency to be more active at night, so this had not surprised him.

Suguru should prepare himself accordingly. He did not trust in the cursed spirit’s benevolence. Preparing his own curses for a possible fight was a must. The most ideal time to arrive would be on the cusp of nightfall, leaving him with the entire night at his disposal to encounter this cursed spirit if need be. But he prayed that would not be the case. A sweep of the school grounds with no monkeys traipsing about should be easy.

With a handful of hours left to his disposal, Suguru left the hospital long behind him to return to his car. On his way, he sent out another request to his information broker to have Wasuke’s records looked over again in search of his mysterious grandson. The man did his job and did it well, making the chances of this important detail being glossed over in the initial search next to nothing. But it didn’t hurt to double-check.

There was very little Suguru could do now besides bide his time, so reluctantly, he drove to the hotel which held Manami’s reservation and officially checked himself in. Whether he liked it or not, his stay was going to keep him there overnight. A sleepless night at that, which meant a brief rest now couldn’t hurt if he was to stay awake for the hours to come.

Too bad Suguru’s own anticipation would get the better of him, leaving him more restless than before when the time to depart reared its inevitable head. 

It’s time for us to finally meet. 

I have a lot of questions for you, Yuji-sama. Willing or not, you are going to answer them if only to sate this burning curiosity.

Chapter Text

Suguru waited until the last of the students had gathered their things from their clubrooms and the sports team’s practice had wrapped for the day before returning to the campus. The sun had just fallen below the horizon when he chose the place he’d await Yuji-sama’s manifestation. He sat on the step leading into the building closest to the shrine, both out of view from the road and the questioning eyes of passersby who might find his presence at the school concerning. 

Internal deliberation over whether a curtain should be placed over the area was swift, as an unauthorized curtain in a populated area would catch the eye of Jujutsu Tech’s Windows. Trading the pesky inquiries of monkeys for sorcerers would do him no favors. Not only that, but with enough evidence to back-up Yuji-sama’s ability to reason and communicate, a curtain would only serve to inform the cursed spirit that something was amiss if Suguru’s presence hadn’t done that already.

The bush between himself and the shrine several meters away did nothing to hide Suguru’s cursed energy, only providing partial visual cover and nothing more. If a student stumbled on grounds during his investigation, then Suguru would remain out of their sight and any further interaction, but that was the least of his concerns. 

What Suguru wanted was for Yuji-sama to appear and since there were no additional prerequisites he’d been informed of to make that happen, all he could do now was to sit down and wait. A feat that would have been much easier to endure if Suguru had brought someone to wait alongside him.

With eyes on the shrine, Suguru wondered if he’d chosen the best location to place his bets on the cursed spirit’s appearance. The offering from before hadn’t been removed when Suguru had done his initial sweep of the area. And the pattern of cursed energy residuals remained the same, leaving the impression that Yuji-sama’s visits would follow the same beats as his previous ones. 

Yet, Suguru found room for doubt, though that could just be his impatience. With no one with him, the hours ticked away at a snail’s pace, but even that analogy would be generous. Perhaps he should have brought Larue with him. If not for conversation, then a second set of eyes to keep watch on the unchanging scene when Suguru’s own wandered toward other, more mentally stimulating things. As distracting as they may be…

“Suguru, check this out. I can get Tetris on this thing! The screen is so tiny!”

“Would you put that away? We need to focus or else we’ll miss it—”

Suguru’s ears latched onto the sound of footsteps rustling the uncut grass, his eyes following suit as he lifted his head from the unwelcome memory. His muscles tensed at the new presence, ready to act, but Suguru’s mind would not let them. 

From where he sat, Suguru should not have been surprised by the sight that awaited him.

The back of a teenager. Short messy pink hair, dressed in a black kimono whose finer details included red trimming and with the same red used in the scarf draped around his neck. What Suguru had heard was the sound of zori hitting the ground, completing the traditional ensemble with red straps over the black tabi socks over his feet—

Teenager?

Or cursed spirit?

While the cursed energy output he was sensing was significantly smaller than he predicted, it was still greater than that of a monkey. But not enough for Suguru to believe his eyes. Wishing to rule out all possibilities of this image before him being anything but what he was promised, Suguru took out his phone and opened the camera, lifting the device higher until this ‘teenager’ was captured by the lens and shown on his screen.

The spirit’s subsequent absence from the picture proved that this was no sorcerer playing some elaborate prank, and thus, Suguru concluded it was Yuji-sama who stood humming before him. 

A soft, energetic hum. One that fell in line with his movements as the cursed spirit eagerly opened the door to the shrine with a gentle hand. Both hands were used to collect the small goods inside, all disappearing into the cursed spirit’s loose sleeves which appeared to act as some form of loose storage. Setsuko’s offering had been left last, with a bit of poking and prodding preceding the box’s opening and the subsequent bite of the onigiri left inside.

The whole scene was, in its own way, surreal, as if Suguru hadn’t known any better, he would have truly believed this was a student from the school or anything else but a cursed spirit whose forms had a tendency to be grotesque in nature. He found the display… off-putting, in that he knew it would be easy for his guard to falter if he wasn’t careful. 

Suguru wasn’t able to get Yuji-sama’s reaction to the taste, as the cursed spirit’s head turned toward the corner of the building before running along around the corner and out of Suguru’s view. Unwilling to lose track of him, Suguru jumped to his feet and cautiously followed, chasing after the sound of the metal doors slamming shut behind where Yuji-sama had fled into the building. 

Had the cursed spirit sensed Suguru’s presence? Was he trying to lose him with this game of chase?

The answers to those questions, along with many others, would come soon enough as Suguru peeked through the entrance door window. The room inside contained several rows of shoe lockers. Despite the poor lighting, he could continue observing the cursed spirit as Yuji-sama shuffled around to a random assortment of lockers and placed something inside before darting off once more.

Suguru found the door handle in his grip gave way as he shoved his way inside. Curious to know what Yuji-sama had been doing, Suguru sifted through the first locker he knew the cursed spirit had touched. A pair of indoor shoes were an expected find, but the mechanical pencil sticking out of them was what caught his eye. There was a kitty eraser in the next locker, and a rolled-up banknote for one thousand yen in another.

“He returns anything that isn’t food.”

So that’s what Yuji-sama was doing…

An odd quirk, but it was no lie.

Suguru followed the trail of cursed energy further inside the building, casting a confused eye at the ground when he moved past what had to be Yuji-sama’s sandals placed neatly on the ground beside the lockers. He saw no reason to mimic the action, even if tradition requested him to remove his shoes, but he wondered what compelled the cursed spirit to do such a thing when the spirit was incapable of dragging dirt inside or scuffing the flooring.

Yuji-sama’s hum from before echoed through the hall, growing louder as Suguru turned the next corner and ended up where the clubrooms were situated. This made sense, once again proving Setsuko’s claims as the door to the Occult club was now open with the light pouring out into the hallway from inside.

Hesitant, Suguru approached the room as slowly as his nerves would let him. If taken by surprise, the cursed spirit may fight or flee, both outcomes bringing whatever interaction they could have to an immediate end. His curiosity would not accept that. Suguru wished to meet this spirit in its usual state, if only to get the most accurate understanding of this odd case before him.

Yuji-sama was not skulking the grounds in search of humans to devour. Yet. The cursed spirit wasn’t seeking destruction nor wandering aimlessly either. There was a purpose behind Yuji-sama’s actions to which only the cursed spirit could explain. And now Suguru’s ears were picking up the sound of bristles brushing against the floor, a broom sweeping the room— Yuji-sama was sweeping the room.

That meant he was in a good mood, didn’t it?

Only a couple more steps were taken before Suguru stopped in front of the clubroom door. Fully exposed by the light, he stood silent in anticipation for the cursed spirit to take notice of him, as his own mouth ran dry and any potential words he’d thought to say had cruelly fled his thoughts.

A minute passed by before Yuji-sama turned his head, ears perking up at the sound of Suguru’s first breath after holding it for far too long, sporting a child’s face to match the rest of his body. Content, golden eyes met his own, shifting from the lazy calm to utter shock as Yuji-sama’s grip on the broom handle faltered, and the cleaning object clattered on the ground. 

Suguru kept his eyes on the cursed spirit.

In return, Yuji-sama tilted his head and backed up from the broom, eyeing him with suspicion as their eye contact did not waver as the cursed spirit circled around the back of the table between them.

What broke the silence was the sudden gasp that escaped from the cursed spirit’s mouth before Yuji-sama’s hands could hide his shock.

“You can see me?” 

Suguru observed the cursed spirit's eyes go wide at the thought of getting caught, perhaps in fear or shock that a sorcerer— technically a curse user, but that was all semantics —had finally come across his antics. The cursed spirit had been toying with monkeys for a while now, the fact that Suguru could witness him without the aid of death’s looming door should have given him a clue as to who he was now dealing with.

Suguru held himself steady in preparation for what response may come next.

However, what Suguru witnessed next was not a creature lashing out in an effort to survive against the natural foe standing before it, but a bout of childish curiosity. The cursed spirit dropped his hands to his side and dashed toward the sorcerer with nothing but interest, looking him up and down without a care for the practice of personal space nor any form of retaliation that may come from his poking and prodding. 

Instinct told Suguru that he should lash out. Or, at the very least, move and put distance between him and the spirit fawning over his clothes. But he did neither of those things. Suguru’s eyes continued to follow the cursed spirit's movements with bated breath in case further action was required of him. This only amused the cursed spirit further, answering his question of Suguru’s sight from the sorcerer’s reaction to him alone.

“You can see me!”

“Obviously.” Suguru lowered his gaze, attempting to pierce through this act of ignorance before him. “You should know who you are dealing with.”

“Uh…” Yuji-sama gripped his chin, tilting his head back in thought before shaking his head. “This isn’t fair. You haven’t told me your name yet.”

Does he truly not know what Suguru was? Was the cursed energy that radiated off him not proof of something to be wary of? Or was this a ploy to get Suguru to reveal information? In a world where cursed techniques grow ever stranger and words had meaning beyond their definitions, Suguru would have to act with caution.

“And why would I do that?”

“Because that’s how people get to know each other?” The cursed spirit’s statement wasn’t incorrect, but such pleasantries hardly applied when two very different entities came into contact. 

“If I share my name, what would you do with that information?”

“Call you by it?” Yuji-sama hid his mouth behind his sleeves and chuckled. “You’re very weird! Or is this some kind of game? I don’t know this one, but I’m willing to learn.”

To be insulted by a cursed spirit— in the form of a child no less— Suguru’s patience was stretching thin far quicker than he would have liked. Unsure how much more of this conversation was truly necessary, Suguru found the wisest course of action would be to subjugate this cursed spirit and interrogate it later under his full control. While the technique may strip its rather unique nature from it, at least then he could do away with this silly back and forth. 

With a sigh, Suguru turned and raised his hand over the cursed spirit’s head, preemptively gagging at the thought of swallowing another restless entity so soon after the last one he’d taken in a few days prior. The curse’s aura was rather shallow than what he’d prepared to encounter, an observation that factored heavily into the confidence Suguru had in absorbing this ‘special grade’ with his technique since the gap in their cursed energy was quite apparent.

However, that did not occur.

Suguru’s technique did not activate. Not a single tug could be felt, as if Suguru had cast his fishing line only to come up empty, his hand still held awkwardly in the air while he stared upon the scene utterly baffled by what he’d witnessed.

“Is something wrong…?” Yuji-sama leaned away from Suguru’s hand, golden eyes flickering between a most confused face and the open palm still right beside him. “Oh! Is this one of those high-fives you humans do?”

Confident in his mistaken conclusion, the cursed spirit hesitantly tapped his palm against Suguru’s hand. Upon making contact, the face before him lit up, astonished that they were able to interact on this level.

“I’ve never been able to do that with someone before! You’re not like the others at all, are you?” Excited by this new discovery, the cursed spirit pressed against his palm again, and again until Suguru snapped out of his disbelief and tore away his hand, much to the curse’s disappointment. 

How could this be? How could Suguru’s technique fail so spectacularly? He was a special-grade sorcerer with hundreds of cursed spirits under his control! He’d absorbed and manipulated cursed spirits that boasted power that could easily dwarf this Yuji-sama— So how the hell was it not working!?

“Are you ok, Geto-san?” Suguru snapped back to the present, surprised by the display of concern when he’d expected a reaction of conceited mockery in response to his plight. “You look pale. The nurse isn’t in right now, but it might be a good idea if you go lay down.”

“Geto-san. You already know my name.” Suspicion laced his words. Yuji-sama already knew— Was this all a game? The energy around Suguru coiled and pulsed, readying his cursed spirits—

“You got me!” Yuji-sama raised his open hands in mock surrender. “The truth is, Sasaki told me that there was someone who wanted to meet me, so I guessed you were him! And now you just confirmed it, so… Hi!”

Hi?

The cursed spirit straightened his posture before providing Suguru with a proper greeting, happily bowing to the sorcerer in front of him.

“I’m Itadori Yuji.”

Years of polite conversation trained Suguru to repeat the motion, bowing to a lesser degree before realizing what he was doing and stopping himself halfway through. There was no reason to repeat information the cursed spirit already knew, so he skipped past introducing himself and brought focus to the name that just came out of Yuji-sama’s mouth.

“Itadori. As in, Itadori Wasuke?”

“That’s right. Do you know him?”

Suguru thought of continuing the same lie he fed the nurse, but decided against it as he knew nothing of what the cursed spirit could counter him with. 

“No. His name came up when I was speaking to Set— Sasaki about you. I was told you’re his grandson.”

“Yeah. I guess I am, aren’t I?” Yuji-sama blushed, scratching the back of his head while providing an answer that couldn’t be less vague. But thankfully, Suguru’s confusion was quickly picked up, and the curse explained himself before there was a need to question him further. “Itadori-san gave me his family’s name when he learned I couldn’t remember mine or even if I had one. Plus, I was already referring to him as Jii-chan since he looked old enough to be one.”

Wasuke adopted a cursed spirit? Brought him under his family name… It sounded so foolish, but for a man who had no family of his own… Suguru could almost relate to whatever whim bewitched the man to do something like that.

Almost.

There was still no understanding as to why.

“If you don’t mind me asking, how did you two meet?”

“Hm?” Yuji-sama looked up at the ceiling, recalling the memory of their encounter. “I think… I saw him working on one of the flower beds around the school. I have this habit of people watching and Jii-chan was the first to yell at me for standing around and staring.” The cursed spirit lowered his voice to imitate that of an older man. “‘If you’re going to skip class to stare off into space, you might as well spend your free time being productive.’ ”

A small fit of melancholic laughter from Yuji-sama interrupted his own story. His mouth was smiling, but his eyes were pointed at the ground, still mulling over the memory in a very different light.

“And then he tossed one of his tools at me! He made me pull out weeds and get dirt all over my clothes! And when it was all over, he gave me a drink from those machines outside. I didn’t even ask for one!”

Had the cursed spirit been offended by Wasuke’s actions?

“What would have asked for your assistance instead?” 

“Nothing, I guess. I helped because I wanted to. And it ended up being a lot of fun once I understood what I was supposed to be doing. He was the first person to talk to me after so long… at least I think it was a long time. Or maybe it just feels like a long time.”

The memory loss. Wasuke being the first to interact with the cursed spirit could very well be a meeting of chance. Born to a family of non-sorcerers, the odds of Wasuke knowing what he had been interacting with was rather low.

“You take offerings for your services now, don’t you? Was your… grandfather the exception?” Or the one who fostered the transactional relationship by bestowing something to the cursed spirit after a service was completed?

“Jii-chan would always buy me snacks as a thank you, so other people started doing the same. I tried explaining that I didn’t really need anything, but Sasaki said that I shouldn’t do things for free or else I’ll be taken advantage of. Plus, it’s like… a formality! That’s it! I still return anything that isn’t food. A lot of students offer their favorite pencils or money, but they need those a lot more than I do.”

“That’s very considerate of you.” 

“You think so— Crap! Before I forget!” 

The cursed spirit whipped around and dashed back into the clubroom, stumbling in front of the countertop below the window when he came to an abrupt stop. Before Suguru could begin to guess what he was doing, Yuji-sama pulled out a small object from his sleeve and held it above his head. He spun the object— Suguru could now see it was the pachinko chip from Setsuko —around and slammed it back down on the countertop. Not with enough force to break either object, but something more in line with how a game show contestant would lock in their final answer.

“I have to let Sasaki know I enjoyed that last onigiri she brought me. I hope she brings me another one soon.” Yuji-sama was speaking more to the air than to Suguru, happily swaying his arms around while rocking on his feet to the beat of his own thoughts.

Was this blissful ignorance of the danger the sorcerer could pose to him or did Yuji-sama not register him as a threat because the curse’s power could easily trump his own?

“You can sit down if you want. Standing around must get tiring after a while. Unless you’re leaving soon, then I guess you wouldn’t need to sit…”

Suguru hadn’t planned on staying too long, given that even if a fight broke out, the battle itself would not last more than a few minutes with the level of power he was at. Suguru hadn’t planned on entering the building either. Nor did he plan on returning to the clubroom and speaking with a cursed spirit willing to cooperate with his inquiries. He could see Yuji-sama treating this affair as a break from routine, clearly curious in his own right in the human who with the ability to see him when so many others cannot. It would be foolish not to take advantage of this, especially when the cursed spirit appeared immune to his attempts at forced manipulation.

“I will take you up on that offer.” Suguru forced a smile to keep his overworked mind hidden from view, purposely claiming the seat closest to the door to keep as much distance between himself and the cursed spirit as possible. “Thank you.”

Yuji-sama turned to him and then hoisted himself onto the counter, feet dangling off the edge with the tips of his toes brushing against the floor. His actions continued to coincide with his appearance, down to the childish tendency to swing hyperactive legs about. 

“You’re welcome.”

So polite.

It was time to see just how far this agreeable attitude went.

“That coin reminds me, you take in offerings for favors… How does that work? Or rather, what are the limitations to what can be requested?”

“Anyone can ask for anything, but I’m not a miracle worker. Like, I can’t change how a person feels about someone or how well they will do on a test. But I can knock books out of their hands so that two people will pick them up together or close all the windows in the classroom, so the gym class doesn’t disrupt the students inside.”

“Or returning a lucky glove to the baseball team’s pitcher?”

“Exactly! Nakano left his glove in the locker room and I had to run after that bus! I’m glad they did well, the team has been staying later to practice more.” Yuji-sama beamed with pride. “Most people do all the work themselves, they just need to feel like someone else is supporting them. So, I really can’t take all the credit.”

Mimiko was right. The baseball team worked hard, and their effort paid off in their victory. There was no force invigorating them to perform better or achieve greater heights than they could normally do. It was the simple act of returning a lost object that sealed their faith in themselves and the cursed spirit following through with their plea for aid. A mental influence, not one with cursed energy.

Once again, Suguru was conflicted on the power this cursed spirit could truly wield. 

“Why?”

Why do this at all? What does this cursed spirit gain from assisting monkeys with their meaningless troubles? Small convenience store confections shouldn’t be enough of a trade-off. There had to be something more.

“Because I want to. I want to make friends, and fulfilling these small requests does that. Even if they can’t see me, they know I’m there. I like being around others.” Yuji-sama’s voice fell just below a whisper, just audible enough for Suguru to pick it up as the usual school setting ambiance was absent within these empty night halls. “He didn’t want me to be alone.”

Friends. 

The cursed spirit, a creature born from the negative aspects of humanity that should lash out in wanton destruction, wants friends.

And Suguru, unable to explain why, believed him.

What the hell was he supposed to do now?

For the life of him, Suguru couldn’t believe this cursed spirit to be anything less than genuine. His actions continue to line up with the narrative of his benevolent nature and unless the cursed spirit was an award-winning actor… No. Suguru was sure he’d notice signs of malicious nature if there was one. Or heard stories of misfortune that could be traced back to him. But, there really was nothing.

Suguru glanced down at his open palm, currently resting on his leg. If his cursed technique had worked, then he could take the cursed spirit with him and be done with it. A lot of trouble may go into getting the cursed spirit to do what he asks willingly, but to leave Yuji-sama here to continue on with this routine was a recipe for disaster. If the rumors still haven’t been picked up by Jujutsu Tech, they would eventually. And when that day comes, a sorcerer would be sent to investigate and exorcize him on the elder’s orders. At best, whoever finds Yuji-sama first might speak to him as Suguru had and try to vouch for him, but the best Suguru could believe the elders would allow would be to see the cursed spirit sealed away. Not exactly an ideal outcome for such a strange anomaly, now, was it?

Maybe Suguru could convince Yuji-sama to leave with him with an offering. He could attempt to twist it into a proper binding vow to see that the cursed spirit followed through with his agreement. Yuji-sama’s morals would be another problem that needed to be dealt with, but that could be tackled at a later time.

Concerned for a cursed spirit as if it were defenseless… The Suguru who’d left his home this morning would have smacked him if he were to see himself now.

“Um, Geto-san? You’ve been really quiet.”

“How strong are you?”

Suguru looked up to see Yuji-sama standing over him with a hand reaching out in an effort to get his attention. The cursed spirit jumped back upon making eye contact.

“Pretty strong. I think. I can punch and kick things really hard.” To demonstrate, Yuji-sama lifted his fists and punched the air a few times over.

That didn’t help Suguru gauge this cursed spirit’s power in the slightest. Punching and kicking hardly equated to anything noteworthy.

“Did you punch and kick that cursed spirit harassing humans on the street corner by this school?”

“Cursed spirit?” Yuji-sama paused. “You mean the evil spirit.”

“Cursed spirit.” Suguru corrected him. “You do know what those are, don’t you? You’re a cursed spirit.”

“I’m cursed?”

“You’re—” Suguru took in a harsh breath, exhaling his frustration and disbelief as he explained the most basic knowledge of their world. “In a way. Cursed spirits are born from curses. Do you know what I am?”

“A person?” There was no confidence in the cursed spirit’s words, even if he wasn’t technically wrong.

“Someone who wields curses. A sorcerer. That’s why I can see you. I can interact and manipulate cursed energy. The same energy that makes up what you are.”

“Evil spirits and cursed spirits are the same thing?”

“Most beliefs, superstitions, and folktales are rooted in the machinations of cursed spirits which in turn fuel the creations of new spirits based on those very things. Like a cycle. Any instance of ‘evil’ spirits you’ve witnessed, manifestations you can see and interact with but most humans cannot, those are cursed spirits. How do you not know this?”

Yuji-sama could only shrug.

“I don’t get to talk to other cursed spirits and sorcerers all that much? Not that I haven’t tried, but evil—I mean, cursed spirits are mean and nasty! They try to hurt people! I don’t like them. You humans are better and a lot more interesting.” 

Humans.

Yuji-sama still doesn’t see a difference between those who can use cursed energy and those who don’t.

He admitted to taking care of the cursed spirit at least. Judging by the report, the feats the crossroads spirit were responsible for would place it around third grade. For one to defeat the other, raw strength alone would dictate Yuji-sama must have power equal to that of a semi-grade two or higher for that to happen. But if he possessed a cursed technique…

“I take it, you don’t know what a cursed technique is either?”

Yuji-sama stopped flailing his arms to form the large ‘X’ in the air to further display his distaste, the silence between them answering the question of the cursed spirit’s ignorance for him.

“A cursed technique is an ability that is innate. Something you’re born/created with. Supernatural in nature. Fueled by cursed energy to utilize.”

“Hm… No? Maybe—No. I don’t think so.”

Suguru pinched the bridge of his nose. Again with vague answers.

“What about what you’re doing right now? The domain-like claim around this campus? Surely you realize that there are no cursed spirits where you tread.”

“I’m not doing anything on purpose! I don’t like other cursed spirits, and they don’t like me. I bet they just know to leave me alone!” Yuji-sama huffed, growing a bit red in the face from embarrassment of his own ignorance. What a rare sight to see a cursed spirit blush. “And what about you? Do you have a cursed technique? You must be pretty strong to know all this stuff!”

“I do.” Would it be wise to share it? Suguru had already gotten this far without trouble, but if he was already agitating Yuji-sama with the holes he was poking in his knowledge then maybe… If only to test the waters further and see how the cursed spirit reacts. “I was born with a technique that can manipulate cursed spirits to do as I ask.”

To provide an example, Suguru summoned a centipede-shaped curse from his sleeve, displaying the cursed spirit in his hand for Yuji-sama to see. He then pointed to one of the pencils left out on the counter, ordering the centipede with a mental command to retrieve it for him to which the spirit did so without hesitation. 

“Whoa! That’s so cool!” Yuji-sama dropped to his knees, eyes now level with the table to get a closer look at the centipede as it dropped the pencil in Suguru’s hand. “Can you make it do tricks? Roll over? Wiggle in a certain way— Wait.”

And there it is.

Yuji-sama turned back to Suguru with the dots finally connected inside that naïve head of his.

“You weren’t trying to use that technique on me, were you? With the open hand, to move me around like a puppet?”

“I was. But the technique didn’t work. It appears you’re free from its influence.” Revealing his own failure may not have been the best move, but it would at least instill a level of trust that came in hand with honesty. 

“Aw, that sucks. I kind of want to know what it feels like.”

“I really don’t think you do.” 

Suguru dismissed the centipede in front of them, allowing it to disappear from their sight as he worked to convince himself that Yuji-sama’s words were said in jest and nothing more. 

“I normally use this technique to prevent cursed spirits from harming those targetted by them.” Thus adding them to my stockpile and overall strength for his future endeavors but Yuji-sama didn’t need to know that. “There are many more sorcerers like myself who are quite powerful and adept at exorcizing cursed spirits. You should be more careful about who you interact with, as not all sorcerers share the same school of thought. The moment they learn of your existence, they’ll come for you.”

“To exorcize me?”

Suguru nodded.

“Regardless of how you act, you’ll be seen as a threat. Cursed spirits have always been perceived as enemies wishing to do harm. If a sorcerer from Jujutsu Tech were to show up here, they wouldn’t respond to you with the same kindness you show them.” All save for one. But the chances of him being dispatched to deal with a cursed spirit with no reported death count or unfortunate occurrences related to it was slim. “You’re already far too trusting with me.”

“But you seem like a nice person.”

“I’m a pretty good judge of character.”

Suguru blinked, dispersing the echo of someone he once knew sharing the same wide smile and hopeful attitude he was witnessing before him. A face he hadn’t seen in a long time, it truly tore at his heart to even think of saying his name.

“If you were bad, you would have attacked me already, right? But we’re sitting here talking.”

Moving quickly from the unsettling memory, Suguru found Yuji-sama’s argument acceptable, only in that it was the same logic he had been using as well to determine whether he should take up arms or continue conversing throughout their time together. 

“Still, I believe it would be in your best interest to move on from this location. Rumors of your favors are beginning to spread beyond school grounds. You’re in danger.” Suguru pushed the urgency in his voice, hoping to get through the cursed spirit’s carefree attitude.

“But I can’t leave. My friends…”

“I can introduce you to new ones. Friends who can see you and talk to you directly like I can.”

“Sorcerers like you? But you just said—”

“They’re a part of my family. If you put any amount of faith in me, you can put that same faith in them. A cursed spirit like yourself can’t communicate with monk— non-sorcerers like you can with us. The novelty of your existence is bound to wear off eventually. And what will you do then?”

Yuji-sama remained quiet as he rose to his feet. For the first time that night, Suguru observed the cursed spirit contemplating his situation. So Suguru refrained from saying anything further to allow Yuji-sama to walk over to the window and watch the night pass by outside.

In the end, Yuji-sama shook his head with an unsatisfied groan.

“Can I have longer to think about it?”

Suguru could accept the cursed spirit’s request. If he pressed for an immediate answer, the chances of an outright rejection were rather high.

“Time is not something you have an infinite supply of. Would stopping by tomorrow give you enough time to come up with your answer?”

“Tomorrow’s good. Thank you for understanding.” 

With the prospect of a second meeting, Suguru felt satisfied in ending his inquiries there, lest he overstayed his welcome. But as he got up from his chair, there was still one minor curiosity that he’d rather not forget a second time.

“If you humor one more question,” Yuji-sama cocked his head back in interest. “What relationship do you have with tigers?”

“Tigers? Oh! That…” The cursed spirit brought both of his sleeves up to bury his face behind them. Hesitantly, Yuji-sama pulled one of his arms away to retrieve another object he’d stored inside them. In this case, a small tiger plush with a loop of string on its head to be used as a key chain. “I just like tigers. I think they’re cool! Iguchi gave this to me when I mentioned that, and I tried to tell him I don’t need something like this, but he insisted I have it anyway. He kept leaving it in my shrine every day and I kept putting it back in his locker. The other students started wondering why and… I started finding a lot more tiger-themed snacks because of it!”

Yuji-sama stuck his finger through the string and dangled the plush in front of Suguru for him to see.

“It’s cute though, isn’t it?”

“It is.” With little thought, Suguru patted Yuji-sama on the head as he would Mimiko or Nanako. It was terribly difficult to not see this cursed spirit as anything other than a child. The notion hurt more than it should, given that Yuji-sama’s human-like tendencies were most likely manifesting from a past life twisted into the spirit he was now. “If that Iguchi is going to be so insistent that you keep it, you might as well. Is there really harm in doing so?”

“No. I guess not.” Yuji-sama conceded. 

Suguru lifted his hand and gave a curt wave goodbye.

“I’ll be seeing you later.”

He hadn’t made it more than a few steps into the hall when the cursed spirit stuck his head out to shout after him.

“You actually mean that when you say it!” The cursed spirit happily returned Suguru’s prior wave. If there was any ill intent between them, it wasn’t Yuji-sama’s doing. He was far too endearing to be left alone to his own devices. 

As Suguru passed through the door he came through, he couldn’t help but wonder if it had all been a sleep-deprived fever dream. Exhausted could not even begin to describe his state of being, Suguru was slowly leaning toward overwhelmed as a better word to start with as he stood outside and looked up at the clubroom window the cursed spirit had been looking out of not too long ago.

He may not have gotten all the answers he was looking for, the cursed spirit’s cooperation gave him more than enough to work with to conclude that Yuji-sama was truly a strange one. His ignorance was almost concerning in of itself, and the confirmation of memory loss was yet another unique case to tack onto this one-of-a-kind encounter Suguru was facing. 

For now, all that was left for him to do in the meantime was to wait for his answer.

If Yuji-sama knew what was good for him, then the choice was obvious.

Chapter Text

“I’m going to stay here.”

At the time, Suguru had been quite aggravated with Yuji-sama’s response. He’d channeled as much patience as he could to wait out the ever-growing hours of the day. A day spent as a recluse within his hotel room, giving up making use of the complementary television as a distraction in favor of working on whatever paperwork or calls Manami could send his way. 

The same anticipation he’d felt before their first meeting had grown worse, an invasive weed that could not be plucked out or squashed underfoot no matter how Suguru had tried. It was not just the prospect of a second meeting, but what Suguru could gain from it. This peculiar cursed spirit was a dangerous gamble to bring into his fold, but if Yuji-sama’s demeanor and understanding—or rather, lack thereof—was genuine, then it would be a simple matter of gaining the curse’s favor to uncover what use Suguru could make of him.

Leaving the cursed spirit to his own devices would be nothing short of a waste. Especially if Jujutsu Tech were to get involved. 

It was this assessment that had only frustrated Suguru further when the cursed spirit had made his decision.

“I’m really sorry, Geto-san.”

Yuji-sama’s rejection had come with an apology, one the cursed spirit repeated profusely in between his explanation for how his conclusion came to be. The guilt was unexpected, but it was not enough to change Yuji-sama’s mind.

“I can’t leave, especially while classes are still going on. It wouldn’t be fair to the occult club, they need a third member! And a lot of the students come to me for help, I… I’m sorry, I don’t want to abandon the school if I don’t have to.”

Maybe it was Suguru’s own fault for granting the cursed spirit such a generous window of time to decide. A time that overlapped with the monkeys he’s gotten so attached to. There would be little surprise if the cursed spirit had spoken of their encounter to the students of his club and had received backlash for even considering the possibility of leaving them to survive on their own. It wasn’t as if thousands, millions of students at other schools nationwide weren’t able to complete high school without a cursed spirit providing a helping hand. 

To demand so much of Yuji-sama when they know so little… 

Suguru’s disgust was reignited each time the thought crossed his mind.

When words did not work in getting Yuji-sama to reconsider, Suguru had come rather close to sacrificing the cupcakes he’d bought his girls as a formal offering, more desperate than curious if the cursed spirit would fulfill his request when the ritual was properly evoked. It was by no means out of Yuji-sama’s capability to go where Suguru went— the cursed spirit clearly possessed legs necessary to facilitate movement —but based on their talk last night; it appeared that nothing Suguru could do mattered. Yuji-sama would do what he wished regardless. 

“I won’t forget your warnings, Geto-san. I promise to be very careful around other sorcerers! I’ll stay out of sight if any scary-looking ones show up because I’m not going anywhere! Which also means… I’ll be here if you want to come visit sometime, that would be kind of nice. If you aren’t busy, that is!”

It was the offer Yuji-sama tacked on at the end that had Suguru’s thoughts returning to their exchange before his departure.

A week had passed since his trip to Sendai. Each day had been packed to the brim with things to do, places to be and people to meet. The occasional inquiry of the cursed spirit he had sought from his family was enough to keep the encounter fresh in his mind in spite of this, with unsurprisingly, his girls being the most vocal about seeing Yuji-sama for themselves. 

Nanako, the more persistent of the two, already went about teetering on the edge of asking and demanding to join him on his next visit. Her interest had piqued, and it would seem Setsuko was ignoring Nanako’s deluge of messages after Suguru’s departure. Mimiko, on the other hand, still held onto her reservations with Yuji-sama and remained cautious enough for the three of them. She had every reason to distrust the cursed spirit and question his intent and quite honestly, Suguru should share the same mindset but after meeting him…

It was rather difficult.

Annoyingly so.

The cursed spirit had allowed Suguru to enter and leave the grounds of his school without issue. With no record of misfortune or harm done to the student body, there was very little reason to assume the cursed spirit was malevolent unless his friendly nature had been nothing more than an act.

But Suguru had trouble believing that was the case, and thus he continued to question the reality of the cursed spirit in a seemingly endless loop of assumption, reconciliation, and caution just to be sure his choices going forward didn’t come back to bite him. That was one of the reasons in hindsight, Suguru was almost grateful he had more time to understand more about Yuji-sama before attempting to introduce him to anyone else.

He may draw the ire of his girls for going without them, but he could hardly be blamed when he was already so close to Sendai for work. 

Currently, Suguru was standing waving goodbye to an elderly couple in Natori. Both husband and wife were from prominent monkey families who had more than enough money to throw at him in the hopes of a miracle cure to the husband’s ailing body. House visits were almost never made when those desperate enough to seek the aid of a supernatural specialist could make the trip themselves, but given the amount of zeros the couple had added to the check, Suguru had dismissed the audacity of their summons and saw to removing the cursed spirit responsible for locking the husband’s joints and restricting his movements to a taxing degree.

The whole affair was quick and easy, with the couple none the wiser to what the cause of their woes truly was.

The wide smile on Suguru’s face started to strain his cheeks. His teeth were clenched tight behind his lips, only able to relax upon entering the back of the car where Manami had made herself comfortable. Already set to work on her tablet, she waited for the door to close behind him before impatiently waving her hand as a signal for their driver to get moving.

“Excellent work as always, Geto-sama. The couple’s check cleared while you were inside. The amount they sent exceeded the original sum we requested. Should I keep the Okamoto's on file in case they wish to contact us again?”

“I don’t see why not. We may as well offer them a place on the donation list as well, a bit of insurance should they require my assistance again as our donors get priority. You can send the offer after a couple of weeks, a month at the latest. We don’t want it to look as though we are only after their money.” 

Suguru’s grin returned, twisted by the laughter Manami and he shared. This pleasant facade was no longer necessary when out of view of the public, but the guise was rather hard to drop after so many hours wearing that crafted face of his. 

“We wouldn’t want your money-collecting monkeys to know the truth, now would we?” 

“Even if they did, they should be grateful. The alternative is far less advantageous for them.” Suguru’s elbow fell against the passenger door as he slouched forward, resting his tired chin on his palm. It was either that or allow his head to fall back against the seat and his body melt against the upholstery, neither giving off the air of the great spiritual leader he invoked earlier. “It’s quite late, are we planning to drive through the night back home, or have you already booked a hotel?”

“The reservation was made while you were inside. They have a spa, and your first meeting tomorrow is a video call at eleven.”

“What a convenient window of time for you to book an appointment for yourself.”

“Self-care is important, Geto-sama.” Manami crossed her arms, making her disappointment in Suguru’s lack of enthusiasm rather obvious. “And I was going to be booking that appointment for you first! What do I tell the twins if you come back completely drained and with worsened bags under your eyes?”

“Well, you could start by—” 

Their back-and-forth was unceremoniously interrupted by the blaring ringtone emanating from somewhere within Suguru’s robes. With the conversation halted as Suguru searched for his cell phone, albeit briefly, he could hear the window between the front and back portions of their vehicle sliding shut as the driver worked to give them privacy for the impromptu call. The faint noise came to a stop at the same moment Suguru’s hand caught hold of his device, curiously spinning it around to see a number he did not recognize beaming back at him in late evening shadow.

Who could be calling him at this hour? 

At his personal number no less?

Having already put the effort into getting out the damned thing, Suguru crossed his legs and leaned back into his seat, resting the device against his ear just as he flicked the green icon on his screen to answer the call.

“May I ask who is—”

“I-Is this G-Geto-san?”

That voice. 

He had only heard it once and even as broken up as it was coming through the speaker, there was no doubt as to who it belonged to.

“Setsuko?” 

Suguru’s posture corrected itself, his body acting on his own as he leaned forward into the device. Giving his number to the girl had completely slipped his mind, catching him off guard as he played back the conversation between them.

“Y-yes! That’s me—Geto-san! You n-need to—” The sound coming through cackled and snapped apart, distorting Setsuko’s words as she continued to shout, desperately unaware that her words were not getting through. “ —Monsters! Spirits—C-Curses! Everywhere! Takeshi is—”

Cursed Spirits? 

Is she now able to see them? 

How was that possible?

“Setsuko, you need to speak clearly.” Suguru’s voice remained steady. He glanced over to Manami, still piecing together who the girl on the other end might be, but already prepared to do whatever he asked of her nonetheless. “Where are you?”

“The school. You n-need t-to come—” There was another screech through the speakers, the signal too unstable to fully support their call. “T-there’s something wrong-wrong-wrong—”

The temptation to smack the device was growing stronger despite knowing nothing he could do would fix the looping effect. Suguru’s hand still threatened to snap the case underneath his fingers, his grip tightening each second he was forced to endure the corrupted signal until a proper string of words could be gathered from what he was hearing.

It was only when Suguru received his wish that he realized there would be no relief.

“Something’s wrong with Yuji-sama.”

“What—”

The line went dead before the first word flew past his lips.

“Stop the car.”

His order was met with Manami’s confusion, her fingers hovering over her tablet, paused as she questioned if she had heard him correctly. 

“Geto-sama—?” 

“I said, stop the car!”  

Suguru’s voice overtook the inside of the vehicle, his shouting loud enough to break through the barrier so that even the driver knew to slam on the brakes and bring them to a startling halt. Impatient, Suguru grabbed for the handle beside him and thrust the door open, stepping out to determine where exactly they were in relation to Sendai. 

“G-Geto-sama! What are you doing!?”

“I need to be in Sendai.” He’d have to go north, slightly westward to reach his destination. “Which direction were we headed in?”

“South!” Manami crawled across the seats to follow, one heel landing on the pavement as she called out after him. “But we can take the car—”

“There isn’t time. A trip by car would be a half hour if no obstacles stood in our way.” Traffic jams. Road work. Forced detours. Whatever was going on at the school— whatever happened to Yuji-sama —Suguru needed to be there now. “But if I were to travel through the air…”

With a deep breath, Suguru gathered his energy and called forth a cursed spirit he had not laid eyes on for quite some time. Capable of flight with a passenger present, the stingray cursed spirit spiraled around him before settling at an angle to which he could seat himself on without fear of falling off. With it being so late, no one would turn their heads to the skies. Even if they did, who would believe anyone claiming to see a man soaring through the air at unbelievable speed?

“Manami, take the car and meet me at Sugisawa High School.”

“I’ll call in the others, Miguel and Larue—”

“Call them if you must. Stress caution. I do not know if Jujutsu Tech is involved or will be soon.”

“Listen to your own warning, Geto-sama.” Manami let a scowl slip as she pulled herself back into the car, following his orders unconditionally, casting her own worry aside as her faith in him superseded it.

“I will.”

Suguru’s response was no more than a whisper, the surrounding air whisking it away into the night as he took off into the unknown, preparing to face any cursed spirit in his way. 

And as unfortunate as it was, that included Yuji-sama.

Chapter Text

There was no telling how many minutes ticked by the time Suguru caught sight of the high school on the horizon. Any number that could be given to him felt to be too many, as he would have given anything to be able to appear on the scene instantaneously. 

But that was the skill of another sorcerer.

If it were not for the landmarks designating this area to be the city of his destination, he wouldn’t have believed this school to be the very same one he walked through merely a week prior. 

A miasma of cursed energy seeped through the area, blanketing it in a dense aura that washed over every inch of the property. Minor cursed spirits ran rampant in a place that had once been devoid of them. There were clear signs of destruction to the main building, consisting of glass from shattered windows and rubble from dismantled walls sprayed out onto the ground outside. The shadow cast over the place almost acted as a sort of barrier in itself, distorting the ongoings inside from the local populace while simultaneously casting a beacon that the windows of Jujutsu Tech may have already witnessed.

Suguru’s time here was short, and he had to make the most of what he could accomplish while his movements were unrestricted. 

Descending further downward, the finer details came into focus, directing Suguru’s attention to the two entities forged of living flesh, now sticking out like a sore thumb amongst the chaos surrounding them. 

“G-Geto-san!” Suguru dropped to the ground mere meters away from the two teenagers desperately huddled together on the roof, crammed against what remained of the outside wall of the connected building behind them. Fear and recognition had taken over Setsuko’s eyes, clearly aware of not just the creature Suguru rode in on, but the minor spirits lurking around the edges of an invisible line preventing them from crossing. “You—Is that—?”

“Never mind it right now.” With a simple gesture, the cursed spirit by his side was dismissed from view. “What happened? Where is Yuji-sama?”

It did not matter how many times Suguru surveyed his eyes back and forth, there was not a single sign of the cursed spirit’s energy aside from the odd barrier protecting the two students from what he assumed was further harm. All the cursed spirits he took note of were grade four or lower, lacking in uniform, and clearly lacking the capacity to be responsible for what he was witnessing.

“I don’t— I don’t know!”

“How do you not—?” Suguru held his tongue, walking forward and testing the barrier in front of him to see if he would be repelled as well. When no such energy worked to prevent his approach, he concluded the barrier’s conditions must have been set to recognize cursed spirits, as none of the ones that dared to remain transfixed on the teenagers after Suguru’s arrival chose to make a move.

Redirecting to the two teenagers in front of him, Suguru noted the unconscious boy in Setsuko’s arms. He appeared to lack any physical injuries on the surface, with the continuous rise and fall of the boy’s chest informing Suguru that he was alive. Setsuko, on the other hand, had a few noticeable scraps and was far more shaken, still well aware of the danger they were in. Her cell phone was clutched tight in her palm, the screen cracked but still functional.

It was a miracle she had been able to get a signal through all this cursed energy.

Aware that yelling won’t get him the answers he required, Suguru bent down to his knees and held himself steady, pressing only as much as he had to in order to understand just what happened in his absence. They were the only lead he had in determining where Yuji-sama was.

“As long as I’m here, you both are safe.” 

Suguru knew it was hard to believe, especially with the monstrous truth of curses temporarily bestowed to Setsuko in this distorted place, but to prove his point, he summoned a serpentine cursed spirit to his aid. One order was all that was needed for the gigantic beast to sweep its tail across the roof, destroying lesser spirits and sending the durable few plummeting to the ground below before being recalled by Suguru’s technique. A quick and dirty solution. The area grew quiet, and the ease creeping onto Setsuko’s face was enough to sway her into believing his words.

“What happened? It’s very late, neither of you should be within school grounds.”

“W-we usually meet late at night on Fridays. For the club. The atmosphere and all that.” The confidence to speak was returning. However, Setsuko had turned her head down in guilt, something she would only feel in hindsight as such a decision had come with the worst outcome playing out before them.

“And Yuji-sama was with you?”

“Yes. Everything was normal, until…” Setsuko’s voice started to fade, but Suguru would not allow it to disappear completely.

“Until what? You need to be specific. What caused Yuji-sama to do all this?”

“It’s not his fault!” The girl snapped, only to recoil and take all her aggression with it. “Yuji-sama didn’t— He kept us safe! It’s not his fault this happened. It’s… mine.”

“Explain.”

“When I was walking home today, I, uh, met this woman. Or she came to me, asking questions about Yuji-sama like you did. She wasn’t that persistent when I didn’t answer her right away, and she seemed nice even though her head injury freaked me out a bit… anyway. S-she gave me this.” Setsuko reached for the nearly tattered school bag at her hip. Its temporary purpose as a makeshift shield was no longer feasible with how little of the fabric was held together between the claw-like gashes across its front. From what remained of the inside, she pulled out a rectangular wooden box, looking to be rather old given the state of it. “She said it was for Yuji-sama. A gift, to help him with his memory. I never told her about his memory, and before I could ask she had already walked off.”

A woman with a head injury?

“A shady individual hands you a box of mysterious origin, and you proceed to do exactly as they tell you?” Suguru did nothing to hide his seething judgment. 

With both hands, he took the wooden box from Setsuko’s hand and flipped it around, fingers lingering over the top of the container in a hesitation his mind had to catch up with. 

Cursed energy bled out from the cracks, mixing with what was already present in the air, hiding how truly foul this object was when their surroundings were equally abhorrent. Still, there was no time for this undesired hesitation, so Suguru steeled himself and pressed the lid tight, dragging it along until he revealed the contents inside.

Then he shut the lid, shook his head, and opened it once more, still struggling to convince himself of what he was looking at— a mummified finger. And not just any finger, not this one had to be a special case. A piece of a larger set. 

“Do you have any idea of what this is?” Suguru forced out, shutting the box again and holding it tight with an iron grip to make use of what little the ancient wood could do to hold the energy inside it. “Do you?”

“No! And I still don’t! It was wrapped when we opened it, there was no way we could have—”

“Only an ignorant monkey would do something so— Those bindings were there for a reason!”

There was no longer a need to wonder what facilitated the gathering of all these cursed spirits. Why was such an object given to a child, a non-sorcerer no less— What was the purpose of giving Yuji-sama Ryomen’s finger? Cursed spirits tend to flock to them for power, don’t they? But she specifically appealed to the curse’s missing memories—

“You think I don’t know that now!” Setsuko shouted back, tears forming as she could no longer hold herself together. “W-we unwrapped it together, and everything was fine until the bindings came fully undone. The lights went out, a-and this disgusting feeling kept growing until we started seeing them! Those things attacked us and Yuji-sama— He doesn’t look any older than I do. He’s —He created this barrier and killed that large, lizard-monster-thing and, and then—”

“And what?” He forced Setsuko to continue.

“I don’t—He panicked. Freaked out! That thing in your hands scared him— the look on his face —the entire building shook and then he just, ran away. I don’t know where. More of those cursed spirits showed up after that, I haven’t been able to call for help, but you’re here and…”

Suguru couldn’t think as clearly as he wanted to. No here. Not with all this noise. 

He had half the mind to leave these two to fend for themselves without another word. He couldn’t be expected to hold any guilt over it, their foolishness was the catalyst in all this, but…

“I’m going to get you both down from here. You’re going to call for emergency services once you are far enough from the building to get a proper signal.” Suguru did not give Setsuko time to argue or object as he stepped forward and picked up Takeshi’s unconscious body. “Those spirits are after the object inside this box, once I leave with it, they should leave you alone. That being said, the ones you see before you are rather tame and are no threat to me or you if you remain by my side. Now on your feet.”

And true to his word, no harm came to either student the entire way.

He told himself he was doing this for Yuji-sama’s favor. To avoid distressing the cursed spirit further, hoping the shred of good news in all of this would bring about some semblance of calm when he was found. 

When they passed through the gate leading to the school, Suguru deemed it a safe enough distance to let the boy in his arms down on the sidewalk. His own energy flared, warning the minor cursed spirits not to follow, disconnecting the two from the turbulent affair they left behind.

“For both your sake and his, mention nothing in relation to cursed spirits. You’ll be deemed mad by the hospital and general authorities. Think of any other excuse, I don’t care. As for anyone else who will surely come to investigate this matter, do not mention Yuji-sama in any capacity, or you’ll be putting him at risk. Delete my contact from your phone. Never say my name. Have I made myself clear?”

“Y-yes. Get— Sir.” Setsuko bowed her head, unable to keep her eyes from drifting back toward the school. “Are you… going to find him? Those other spirits—”

“I would hope to refrain from doing further harm tonight, but that all depends on Yuji-sama.” Suguru scanned the area, unable to find any sign of where the cursed spirit had run off to. “Do you have any guess as to where he could have gone? Any places he frequents outside your school?”

Setsuko shook her head.

“I’ve only ever known him to be at the school or the hospital when Itadori-san was staying there. Anywhere else was because of a student request, or he tagged along on a club activity… I’m sorry.”

The school and the hospital. Yuji-sama was far from the average cursed spirit, but if Suguru were to keep in line with the notion cursed spirits linger in places or people familiar to them… the hospital seemed unlikely. Suguru had flown past it on his way here and sensed nothing on par with the maelstrom of energy slowly breaking down around Sugisawa High School. Perhaps it wasn’t the place, but the person connecting them both that Suguru should consider, as a third location came to mind as the address flashed across Suguru’s thoughts.

Itadori Wasuke’s final resting place.

The walk was not terribly far; the distance served to both delay their meeting and to allow him to get far enough away from the school before Jujutsu Tech arrived on the scene. And even then, Suguru kept the caution surrounding them in the back of his mind as he crossed the cemetery grounds, aware that he could not remain in the area for much longer regardless of his investment.

There were more people than himself relying on his ability to return home unscathed.

Suguru’s deduction on the cursed spirit’s whereabouts soon proved to be true, as the tuff of pink hair he’d remembered from their first visit acted as a beacon amongst the empty rows of gray before him. 

Further down, Yuji-sama stood uncharacteristically still. The energetic and bubbly movements Suguru had begun to associate with him were absent, replaced by a lowered head, fingers clawing tight at his own chest as he kept his gaze fixated on the ground. 

Suguru didn’t need to read the etchings on the stone to know which family the site belonged to. Wilted flowers on the cusp of breaking down completely remained in the vase by Yuji-sama’s feet. And in the seconds of silence between each step Suguru took, he swore he could hear the faintest splashes of what he’d assumed were the tears rolling down the cursed spirit’s nose.

“Yuji-sama?” Suguru called out, making his presence known if his footsteps hadn’t already.

“Don’t.”

Don’t what? Don’t approach? He stopped moving at Yuji-sama’s order, but all it did was cause the cursed spirit to recoil and grab himself tighter.

“Yuji—”

“Don’t make me do it.” The cursed spirit’s energy, which had once been so minuscule and tame, exploded inside the small space around Yuji-sama. As if deliberately held back, it surrounded Yuji-sama in a phantom fire that provided nothing more than a glimpse into what his true capabilities are. “Don’t make me, Geto-san. I won’t— I can’t. Not with him. I’m not— Don’t come near me with that—that thing. Don’t. Don’t make me do it, I won’t!”  

Ryomen’s finger.

It was only natural Yuji-sama could sense it on him.

“I’m only here for answers, nothing more.” Suguru chose his words carefully. “Ryomen’s finger will remain in its container. What I need from you is to help me understand what happened, what is happening.”  

“Stop.”

Suguru couldn’t.

“Why did you run?” 

“Stop it.”

Not yet.

“Why are you afraid?”

“Please—”

Not until Yuji-sama answered him.

“How are you and Ryomen’s finger connected?”

“I’m not becoming a part of him again!”

Yuji-sama let out a visceral cry. Gasping for air, the cursed spirit fell to his knees, grasping at the stone for anything to latch onto and ultimately coming up empty. Distraught, he buried his head between his sleeves, his weeping muffled by the fabric, his panic far too human.

Suguru tucked the box further into his robes, burying it out of sight as he moved closer, bit by bit until he was hovering by Yuji-sama’s side. Continuing to act slowly, he sat down beside the cursed spirit and reached out, rescinding his hand as soon as he offered it in fear the sudden touch would be too much at once for Yuji-sama to bear. 

Not yet.

“Becoming.” Suguru softly repeated. “What does that mean?”

“I don’t want to remember him. I don’t. I hate him.”

“But you do remember, don’t you?” Yuji-sama can’t deny it. His hate stung, spewing acid into such simple, yet powerful words. “I find it hard to imagine you feeling that way about anyone.”

“I hate feeling—I hate him. He makes me feel this way and I—”

“Who?”

Yuji lifted his head, his blank stare pointing straight ahead as he uttered a single name under his breath.

“Sukuna.”

There it was.

The confirmation Suguru had fought so hard for.

Ryomen Sukuna. The King of Curses. More akin to a natural disaster in the sheer amount of destruction caused by his hands. It had taken countless deaths to bring Ryomen done from his macabre throne and countless more to seal a curse so persistent, that what slivers remained of his soul would still wreak havoc in the modern day.

His power was unrivaled, indestructible, and poisonous to all that came into contact with it.

And Yuji-sama was intrinsically tied to this demon of legend. Instinct would drive Suguru to his feet, summon his curses, and put as much space between them as he could, knowing full well that nowhere was safe from such power. But, Suguru remained where he was, unable to accept both realities he was faced with as this cursed spirit had shown nothing but kindness to those around him, going so far as to save the very people who brought wherever memories he’d kept locked away to the forefront. 

He had already come this far, he may as well see the rest of this conversation through to the end.

“You were a part of Ryomen Sukuna?”

“Not always.” Yuji-sama trembled, revealing the open palms of his hands as he delved further into what he meant. “There’s Sukuna. And me. We’re twins. Born together, but apart, it wasn’t until that day he… he made—me-he, we became one. I-I-I— I don’t want to be that monster again!”

Suguru was not prepared for the cursed spirit to fling himself over him. His body jumped at the sudden touch, arms wrapped around his waist and the sobbing head pressed against his chest. Suguru’s own hands remained over the cursed spirit, unsure how to react. This was not an attack. The squeeze around his torso did nothing to inhibit his breathing nor was he thrown to the ground in pain from the initial grab—All the cursed spirit wanted was comfort. Something Suguru couldn’t stop himself from giving, no matter how meager his initial attempt at rubbing a gentle hand on his back was.

“I’m Yuji. Me. He’s supposed to be gone —those sorcerers sealed him away. I’m not bringing him back. I won’t! I just want to forget again.”

All that power, it was no wonder the lesser cursed spirits knew to give Yuji-sama a wide berth wherever he had been known to tread. The King Of Curses was made of not one, but two special grade cursed spirits whose individual power could not be measured. Was this where the moniker of the two-faced specter originated? Had the true understanding of Ryomen’s existence been lost to time? Or was it only allowed to be known by a select few? If the focus had been on Sukuna during the sealing process, breaking the cursed spirit to pieces must have been what granted Yuji-sama the ability to break free.

How many times since then has he been sought after? Cornered? Faced with the demands to release his twin onto the world once more, using his own body as the vessel to contain him?

Would Yuji-sama be able to maintain control this time around? The cursed spirit himself didn’t appear to think so.

“Geto-san. Please don’t make me eat that finger.”

Suguru tore himself from his thoughts to look down at the cursed spirit in his arms. With so much fear in Yuji-sama’s voice, there was just as much trust for him to be this close to the one sorcerer who could possibly hold a chance of forcing such an act on him.

“I won’t.” 

His hands pulled Yuji-sama closer. 

“I won’t allow anyone to force that on you.”

How such a paradoxical existence could continue to persist, Suguru wasn’t sure, but there was no piece of him that wanted to see it be crushed into the same putrid sludge as the rest of the world’s curses.

“I’ll see to locking away this finger far out of anyone’s reach. Ryomen Sukuna will not be brought back in this era, but I need you to do something for me in return.” Yuji-sama went still, waiting for Suguru to make his demands. “It is no longer safe for you to be at the school. Ignoring the one responsible for gifting you this finger, the damage to the building, and what happened to your friends will be enough to alert the ones I warned you about.”

“Sasaki! Iguchi!” The cursed spirit bolted upward. “Are they ok? I-I just left them all alone—”

“They are fine.” Both of Suguru’s hands took hold of Yuji-sama’s shoulders, keeping him steady. “I took care of the remaining spirits, but it was your barrier that kept them away. Neither one was critically injured when I left, so if Setsuko did as I told her to do, then they should already be on their way to the hospital.”

“That’s… a relief. I’m very glad.”

The two remained in silence for a moment as Yuji-sama continued to wind down and his cursed energy stabilized. It was when he was able to detach himself from Suguru did both of them attempted to stand, with Yuji-sama struggling to keep his balance without clinging to Suguru’s sleeve.

“Sorry. My legs are slow to catch up.”

“It’s alright. We can spare another minute or so. Then we should see about clearing out of here and finding a safe place for Manami to meet with us—” Suguru cut himself off, raising an eyebrow at the reddening blush on Yuji-sama’s face. “Is something the matter?”

“N-No. It’s fine. I’m just—You were so insistent before about me leaving with you to meet your family, and then you learn about… him and you haven’t taken your offer back. I’m just very grateful. I don’t…” The cursed spirit looked to Wasuke’s grave finding a somber comfort in the reminder of who he last had watching over him.

“He didn’t want you to be alone.”

“No, he didn’t. Jiichan… he worried about me. I—It’s still coming back to me, but he was the closest thing to family I can remember.”

Suguru ran his fingers through Yuji’s hair, ushering away any fears or reservations he may still have about following along with Suguru’s offer. “Well, I hope I can change that. I know my girls have been pestering me about meeting the famous Yuji-sama, so they will be in for an unexpected surprise. And you’ll find Manami to be pleasant to be around, I’m the two of you will get along quite well.”

“Really?” A small, but noticeable smile broke free. Then came another blush before the cursed spirit covered his mouth with his sleeve. “You don’t… have to use ‘-sama’ Geto-san. Yuji is ok. I don’t… that honorific doesn’t feel right.”

“Yuji it is then. Though, for the sake of fairness, you may use Suguru if you wish.”

“Um, ok… Suguru.”  

He couldn’t help but be amused at Yuji’s hesitation, in need of getting used to using his name as freely. To find any hint of joy on display was enough to lighten the cursed spirit’s mood quite a bit, while in contrast, it only made the wooden box in Suguru’s possession grow all the heavier, emulating that of a stone he could not simply cast aside.

The promise he had made was not done in jest nor in the desire to go against in the days to come. While there was no arguing that having the King of Curses’ favor—whether a piece, half, or the whole entity—was something he could surely use to his benefit, to push Yuji any further down a path he held no desire to take would make Suguru no worse than the brother the cursed spirit loathed so deeply.

The one exception to Suguru’s crusade. The cursed spirit who still possessed a heart so many of the living lacked. The odd existence of Itadori Yuji would remain as it was. 

Suguru would make sure of it.

Chapter Text

Integrating the cursed spirit known as Itadori Yuji into his family had not been as strenuous of a process as Suguru may have expected it to be. Yuji was, by all accounts, a kind spirit and a relatively shy one when it came to meeting his family as opposed to their initial introductions at the school. Perhaps it was the stress of the day before or the reveal of his personal history that had him flustered, leaving the cursed spirit to hide behind Suguru as Manami’s car rolled up to retrieve him.

To be acknowledged by another person had Yuji a little excited, breaking through the initial awkwardness to exchange greetings and answer whatever questions Manami asked him. Many of these were simple icebreakers to initiate small talk, covering the skeptical looks she was tossing Suguru’s way for his impulsive actions leading up to this point, still in need of a proper explanation as to what had happened before she arrived.

When that summary finally came, Suguru was especially grateful for the faith Manami had in him, or else she may have freaked out quite a bit more over the news that half of King of Curses was sitting between them. Yuji’s own demeanor had a hand in her acceptance as well, making no effort to deny that fact, but also expressing his appreciation for being with them, placating concern over any possible intention to do harm. 

“I w-would like to pay back Suguru-san’s kindness.” Suguru stifled a chuckle at the added suffix, something Yuji would continue to do as it was the best compromise between the formality he had given earlier. “ And I hope we can be friends too.” 

The actual trial had been introducing Yuji to his girls and subsequently, to the rest of his family. 

Suguru was the first to walk into their home, greeted by the sight of Mimiko and Nanako waiting impatiently on the couch with Larue claiming the far corner for himself. Toshihisa leaned on the back of the couch from behind hit, in the middle of speaking with the girls when Suguru’s appearance led to two excited screams and an immediate rush of footsteps to greet him.

Why they weren’t in bed at this hour, the answer was obvious, given the events from earlier, but nonetheless, Suguru caught Miguel shrugging off the fact despite being the one responsible for ensuring such things would still happen. Oh well, extenuating circumstances and all that.

The twins, already worked up, clamored to the entryway refusing to allow Suguru the chance to even say hello.

“Geto-sama! Manami told us that you got a call from that girl—” Nanako started, only for Mimiko to finish her sentence as Nanako juggled the phone in her hand.

“—And that something was happening at Sugisawa High School.”

“That’s the one with that Yuji-sama! Was it him? Did he attack someone?”

“Are you ok, Geto-sama? You’re not hurt are you?”

“At least give him the chance to breathe!” Toshihisa called out, prompting the twins to take a few reluctant steps back for himself and Manami to come inside. 

All that was left was for Yuji to poke his head out from around the corner, but Suguru assumed he was allowing him the chance to give an explanation first to smooth this introduction over.

“I can assure you that I am fine. Yes, something happened at the high school. No, Yuji did not attack anyone. An unknown party decided to cause a disturbance by leaving a dangerous cursed object in the hands of ignorant children and I saw it taken care of. The cursed object caused a fair amount of cursed spirits to swarm, which is a dangerous event for anyone, sorcerer or not.” Suguru let out a soft sigh, turning behind him to direct his next few words to the cursed spirit hiding out of view. “Such an event won’t go ignored by Jujutsu Tech, which means Sugisawa’s resident cursed spirit won’t be staying there any longer if he wishes to avoid their pestering. You can come on out now, Yuji.”

A pop of pink appeared at the edge of the entryway, as did a foot and a small hint of the cursed spirit’s kimono as he peered into the room. 

“Hi.”

No one in this room should be shocked by the sight of a cursed spirit, which meant it was Yuji’s unique physical appearance that had caught them off guard. Very few looked human, and fewer communicated coherently. Yuji appeared to be around the age of his daughters, give or take a year or two, and while his actual age dwarfed the age of everyone in this room combined, his mannerisms betrayed that.

“Suguru-san.” Yuji placed a hand over his mouth and continued to whisper as he shuffled behind Suguru’s back. “They’re staring! I’m not used to so many people being able to look at me.”

It was rather hard for Suguru not to laugh.

“This is Yuji-sama of Sugisawa High School, but in truth, his name is simply Itadori Yuji. He’s a special grade cursed spirit here of his own volition, and—”

Before Suguru could finish, Nanako dashed forward with a reluctant Mimiko close behind. Nanako poked her head around Suguru, getting right in Yuji’s personal space as she stared him up and down with an indescribable amount of intensity. 

Then she poked him in the head.

“You’re shorter than I thought you’d be.”

“I’m sorry…?”

“Your hair is a very cute shade of pink though. It would look great through this week’s new Snapchat filter— Stand still!” Nanako lifted her phone, hastily swiping across the screen to prepare for a photo, only to frown in disappointment. “That’s not fair! You’re not showing up. Lame!”

“Cursed spirits don’t show up on camera, Nanako. You know that.” Mimiko received a stuck-out tongue from her sister after Nanako moved behind Yuji, assessing his clothes while simultaneously using him as a shield.

“Well, now we know for sure that he’s a cursed spirit!”

“Did you think that Geto-sama was lying to us about him?”

“No! That’s not what I—”

Suguru left the twins to their bickering, relying on Manami to step into Yuji’s rescue in case they overwhelmed him. The three remaining by the couch held concerns that needed to be addressed first.

Larue was the first to speak.

“The cursed object used… Do you still have it in your possession? I had originally thought it was the cursed spirit casting that aura, but I sensed an intensity drawing closer with your steps.”

“Yes. It’s going to be locked away and sealed shortly. It has no inherent use to us, but that doesn’t mean I’ll be putting it into circulation on the black market for a quick sum.”

“And the object itself?” Miguel raised his hand. “What is it? If you don’t mind me asking.” 

Suguru could feel the mercenary lowering his eyes from underneath his shades. The topic was unavoidable, so Suguru would take the opportunity to inform the last piece of information about Yuji that needed to be said.

“One of Ryoman’s fingers.”

“At a high school when no one should even be there?”

“The one responsible had a specific target in mind.” Suguru glanced back towards Yuji, bringing the girls’ chattering to an end as he continued his explanation. “The King of Curses we know from legend was not a single special grade curse spirit, but two joined as one. Ryomen Sukuna was the dominant half and the one that got sealed away within these wax fingers. His other half wishes to never be a part of the curse they were again, and since the world would do better with Sukuna remaining sealed away as he is, keeping that other half from merging with him would be in everyone’s best interest.”

It did not take more than a second to connect Yuji and Sukuna with his explanation, but the silence persisted as everyone collected their thoughts. If Suguru hadn’t witnessed the swell of cursed energy from Yuji nor the utter desperation he had in keeping that finger far away from him, Suguru would find it hard to believe that the cursed spirit was related to the monster of legend.

With the gap in conversation, Yuji found it prudent to say something in addition to Suguru’s explanation.

“Sukuna and I are twins. But I-I’m not—I don’t want to hurt anyone if you’re worried about that! I’m not like him. And I don’t want to be!” Yuji clutched his arm as he turned to the floor, mumbling the remainder of his thoughts to the floor. “He’s… not who he—Sukuna can remain sealed away forever. I don’t miss him.”

“And we’ll make sure that doesn’t change.” Suguru then returned his attention to his family. “The purpose of telling you all this is for the sake of transparency. If there are any objections, you would do well to voice them now.”

Yet, when given the chance, no one had spoken against his decision.

“As long as you don’t pick up the other twin, I won’t complain.” Toshihisa shrugged. “He’s supposed to be friendly, right?”

“And if it doesn’t affect my paycheck—”

Larue cut Miguel off with a wave of his hand. “We trust your judgment, Geto-sama.”

From Suguru’s peripheral, he watched the twins nod in agreement. Mimiko was a bit more reluctant than her sister, but nonetheless on board with the outcome of this meeting.

“Thank you all very much. Your faith means a lot to me.”

Yuji bowed his head with his own thanks. “I’m very grateful.”

“You do favors, right?” 

Nanako wasted no time to circle back to their previous conversation, still wishing to learn more about the cursed spirit Suguru had brought into their home. The cursed spirit’s ears perked up at this, ready to listen for where this train of thought was leading to.

“If I offer you candy, can you do my math homework for me?”

“I mean I could…” One silent leer from Suguru was enough for the cursed spirit to understand that would not be an acceptable use of his time or ability to change his tune so quickly. “But you’d probably fail if I did it, so it’d be kind of a waste!”

“But your shrine was at a school! How could you be that bad at homework?”

“I didn’t sit in the classes all day! I mean, I’d pick up some stuff here or there, but a lot of it flew over my head even when I did pay attention. Anything with all those symbols with the numbers just doesn’t work!” 

“Lay off him, Nanako. Besides, there are no legends pointing to the King of Curses to be a math genius.” Miguel’s laughter was quite infectious, the entire room sharing in it to one degree or another. 

The surrounding air had grown comfortable, returning to how it usually felt to have the whole family together on the rare occasions fate would allow it. It wasn’t instantaneous, but over the course of the late evening they all had taken advantage of, conversation had integrated their newest member rather easily. That nervous shell had only been temporary, and soon enough, the excitable energy that had been missing burst forth, and all had settled back to some realm of normalcy.

As well as this all had been, there was one topic Suguru had avoided. One he had continued to avoid during the preceding months as it would only cause unneeded friction between themselves and the cursed spirit— Suguru’s plan to do away with non-sorcerers entirely.

For everything Yuji could have been in this existence he was trapped in, defying his nature as a cursed spirit to act with such a kind heart was a double-edged sword. 

The benefit to keeping the cursed spirit around was his willingness to protect those he’s grown attached to. Suguru had already witnessed this at the school, but now that he has gotten to know Suguru and his family, Yuji could be relied upon to keep his girls safe when others could not. He was willing to travel if Suguru saw there was no danger in it, and a perk that came with Yuji’s presence beside the company was that he naturally warded off most minor cursed spirits given his status as one league above their power.

Yuji also found no issue with Suguru’s work at removing cursed spirits and doing away with the few undesirable ones he could not find a use for. Despite being of the same classification, Yuji held no kinship with them. They were destructive creatures able to draw his anger out more than anything else, and Suguru was left to speculate if it was because they acted as a reminder of something that had gone unshared. 

The cursed spirit saw Suguru’s work as a kindness, but if he was privy to the greater purpose Suguru was collecting them for, there was little doubt his stance would change. 

Yuji wasn’t blind to Suguru’s stance on non-sorcerers. ‘Monkey’ had slipped out of Suguru’s mouth on more than one occasion, and if any discussion were to continue from it, the consensus was that while they each had their reasons, changing the other’s mind was a fruitless task. 

The topic had been dropped entirely since then.

If Yuji wouldn’t join his cause, Suguru would not force the matter. That was Yuji’s choice to make and one he had already promised to respect. However, that same respect was what left the cursed spirit out of the loop about Suguru’s plans going forward. Knowing the peaceful world Suguru envisioned was one thing, but the method on how to achieve it was what may very well be what ultimately sets them apart once he went through with it.

Delaying that inevitable was something Suguru had spent far too much effort in, something Miguel has haphazardly commented on during their meeting to determine the task Suguru would be paying him to complete that coming December.

Why not find a way to utilize the cursed spirit whose power they had yet to fully measure? Even with only half the power Yuji once had as a singular being, surely against most sorcerers he’d come out on top. He’d make an excellent trump card. 

Those were the types of sentiments that Suguru had been continuously reminded of, but as the months pressed on, one counter kept those options from ever being considered.

Yuji wasn’t his trump card.

Orimoto Rika was.

The discovery of Rika and the boy she possessed had been enough to reignite Suguru’s passion from a steady flame to a growing inferno. The power he had worked so hard to build after all these years, the means by which to change the world culminated into one cataclysmic spirit— Rika was practically in Suguru’s grasp. All he had to do was reach out and take it.

Obviously, Yuji had not been informed of how Suguru planned to do it. Nothing about his declaration of war, the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons, or even news about Rika herself— the appointed Queen of Curses. Though, it was no lie that Suguru’s own curiosity to know how Yuji would react to such a title. It was a moniker that did the cursed spirit justice, given the sheer amount of cursed energy radiated from just the aura surrounding her. If sat side by side, she could easily rival Yuji’s own power, but with no confirmation on where Yuji’s peaked, it was hard to claim anything concrete if he were to bet on a fight between the two.

Leaving Yuji behind was the best move Suguru could make.

He’d rather seek forgiveness later than be subjected to the cursed spirit’s intervention now.

Still, as Suguru clutched the bloody stump of his severed arm, painfully forcing each consecutive step, the realization of his defeat and what could have been rang through his mind. He’d thought his own Uzumaki technique would have been enough to see Okkotsu Yuta dead and Rika his, but the cursed spirit had once again exceeded Suguru’s expectations.

Soon enough, even standing became too arduous a task, and Suguru took to the closest wall for support as his thoughts tumbled forth with little care.

“Truly the power to change the world… If I had Rika, there would be no need to sneak around gathering curses…” Suguru struggled to breathe, his lungs burning as they worked to keep him going. “Next time… Next time she’ll be mine!”

As his legs gave out underneath him, Suguru collapsed to the ground. 

Next time.

Would there really be a next time?

Footsteps alerted him to the incoming presence of another. Suguru’s bangs fell over most of his face, obscuring his vision, leaving his smirk poking out as he turned to who it could possibly be knowing his time was reaching its end. 

The zori sandals should have given his identity away sooner, but it wasn’t until Suguru forced his head higher did he accept the one standing in the middle of the sidewalk, the sun bouncing off his already bright features— Yuji.

“Suguru-san!”

For a cursed spirit with boundless energy, Yuji appeared to have run a mile with the wear and tear one would expect to prove it. He was quick to lunge forward to Suguru’s aid, assessing his accumulated injuries with trembling hands.

“Yuji, what are you doing here—You shouldn’t be here!” 

How was he here? Why was he—Had someone leaked him information? Or had Suguru not given Yuji enough credit and the cursed spirit known of his schemes for quite some time?

“It’s dangerous. The school—The sorcerers will be making their return—You need to—” Suguru sucked in a harsh breath, gripping what remained of his missing arm tighter as his nerves sought to overload his system. 

“You’re hurt! Y-You’re arm, it’s… Let me help!” Yuji ignored Suguru’s warnings, choosing to drop to his knees and channel his cursed energy out from his shaking fingertips. “If he can do it, so can I.”

Suguru braced for pain, shutting his eyes and wincing at the sting that followed before an unparalleled sense of relief took over.

The reversed cursed technique.

He shouldn’t be surprised that Yuji knew it. Cursed spirits were natural users of the technique. As a matter of fact, the King of Curses had at least two other techniques recorded, but for Yuji’s sake, Suguru would assume he’d only lied about possessing them due to amnesia—

Yuji’s head slumped forward. His hands fell to his lap once enough was done to prevent Suguru from bleeding out further. While Suguru couldn’t make out his expression, the way Yuji’s hands tear at his kimono made it easy to fill in the blanks as the cursed spirit mumbled under his breath.

“I’m really mad at you, Geto-san.”

They were back to his surname now.

“I had wished to keep you from this—”

“No! That’s not… I’m pissed about this too, but that’s why I’m angry! Your family—You left them behind to almost die alone like this. Mimiko and Nanako… I can’t believe you would do something so cruel to them… and yourself.” Droplets fell onto the back of Yuji’s hands and there wasn’t much Suguru could say to prevent them further.

“Yuji, you need to go before anyone else arrives. You can’t get caught.”

“No!” Of all the times to be stubborn. “I need to help you! I’m going to fix you up a bit more, and then we’re going home together! Your family’s safe. They are waiting for you—Please, don’t make me go.”

The news of his family was the silver lining in all this, but that wouldn’t change Suguru’s mind. He was about to counter, urging the cursed spirit to reconsider his stance and regain some semblance of self-preservation when another figure stepped into view over Yuji’s shoulder.

Satoru.

Whatever expression Suguru was sporting at his appearance had caused Yuji to pick up on the sorcerer behind him, the cursed spirit’s eyes widening at the sudden intrusion. Satoru’s cursed energy held an intensity that even a non-sorcerer could sense the sheer power at his command. That alone would have been enough to spur Yuji onto his feet. And it had.

But instead of fleeing as Suguru would have hoped, the cursed spirit turned to Satoru and firmly held his ground in the space between the two sorcerers, arms spread apart intending to keep the world’s strongest away.

“I won’t let you near him!”

Without his coverings, where Satoru’s eyes held their focus was no longer a mystery. His Six Eyes were already at work discerning that it was a special grade cursed spirit shielding Suguru from him. Whether they could identify anything further until Yuji acted out was anyone’s guess, but Satoru eventually looked past Yuji in favor of addressing Suguru directly without even a hint of a smile to be found.

“Suguru.”

“Satoru.”

Being ignored did not sit well with Yuji, and he took it upon himself to shuffle sideways to interrupt their line of sight.

“Don’t even think about coming anywhere closer. I mean it!”

“And who are you supposed to be?” In defiance of Yuji’s order, Satoru stepped forward with one hand gripping his chin. “Definitely not one of Suguru’s curse users…”

“Yuji, don’t get involved any further.” Suguru shoved against the wall as best he could to sit himself up straight. “Return to the others.” 

“I can’t do that. Not without you!”

“You’re not using your technique on this one.” Satoru lowered himself to the cursed spirit’s level, “ Yuji… Yuji. Yu-ji. Why do I know that name? Your energy feels familiar too.”

Was Satoru the one they sent to investigate Sugisawa that night? Or had he gotten the report from a colleague? Even if he hadn’t, if Satoru had come into contact with any of Sukuna’s fingers— and Suguru knew it was almost a guarantee that he had —then he’d know the energy both the cursed objects and Yuji gave off were intrinsically tied.

“Leave him be.”

With a snap of his fingers, a light bulb of recognition had gone off in Satoru’s head.

“The missing school spirit from Sendai. So this is where he went. Figures, considering I sensed your cursed energy all over the place too, Suguru.”

“You're correct. He hasn’t realized he’s bitten off more than he can chew. We have unfinished business, Satoru, let’s keep it between us and let this one run off.”

Just go.

Disappear.

This may be your final chance—

“I’m not weak!”

Yuji’s cursed energy flares in offense, shaking the nearby buildings in a turbulent storm. The display lasted mere seconds, akin to when a child would stomp their foot on the ground, but he would not be dismissed so easily.

“I may have been gifted the name Itadori, but my origin is that of a Ryomen!” Much to Suguru’s dismay, the cursed spirit raised his fists and shifted in feet, in anticipation of a fight breaking out between them. “I am Ryomen Yuji, the title of King is just as mine as his, and I won’t let you harm Geto-san. I don’t fear you!”

There really was no going back now.

Yuji’s words were meant to intimidate, and if it were any other sorcerer before him, Suguru would have bet on his success. But this was Gojo Satoru, and Suguru knew him far too well to believe that he would be intimidated by anyone or anything, especially the cursed spirit who appeared no older than the students he regularly taught.

At most, Yuji managed to crack a grin on Satoru’s face. 

“King… as in King of Curses? This pipsqueak?” He waved his thumb in Yuji’s direction, barely taking the cursed spirit seriously.

“Half.” Suguru supplied. “Ryomen Sukuna, the name history remembers, is his twin.”

“Huh. Who knew? And after all the trouble you went through to corner Okkotsu, you didn’t involve him…” Satoru was already filling the missing information with his own assumptions, shifting his eyes back to Yuji to test his reactions, amused to find the cursed spirit flinching and reluctant to fight. Yuji wouldn’t do harm unless he had to and Satoru was currently in the process of learning that himself. “Here’s the deal—”

Yuji lowered his eyes as Satoru addressed him personally.

“—I won’t harm Suguru. But I can’t let him go either. This game of ours has to end, it can’t be avoided any longer.” Blue eyes now turned to Suguru, despite Satoru continuing to speak to the cursed spirit in front of him. “He needs to pay for what he did today. The attack on the school. Kyoto and Tokyo… The best he’ll get is imprisonment for life if I push hard enough. The council might be willing to agree, considering no one wants to piss off the King of Curses. Am I right?”

Something down the road catches Satoru’s attention, driving him to stand and face where Suguru had last seen Okkotsu. 

“I need to attend to my students. Can you both stay here for a minute?” 

Both Yuji and Suguru blinked at the odd request, but before Satoru could even take his third step, Suguru called out after him.

“The very same students you sent to fight me? You knew they wouldn’t win, all to set Okkotsu off.” The underlying accusation of callousness spoke for itself and Satoru would stop to turn his head back and answer it.

“I trusted you. I trusted that a man as principled as you wouldn’t kill a young sorcerer without reason.”

And with that, Satoru walked away. He either had enough trust left to believe they truly wouldn’t leave from this post, or he knew he’d track them down easily given the extent of Suguru’s injuries. The latter was most likely.

“Principles…” Suguru let out a coarse laugh as he attempted to stand, unable to even accomplish that in the sorry state he was in. 

Yuji returned to Suguru’s side, summoning his cursed energy to continue treating his wounds. As weak as he was, Suguru still made the attempt to silently shoo the cursed spirit away, but Yuji continued to refuse him as he worked. 

“Geto-san. I’m not going anywhere. If I can heal you fast enough, maybe we can—”

“Enough.” Suguru rested his hand on Yuji’s head, beckoning the curse to stop and focus on his voice. “I lost today. I’m grateful to even speak with you now and to hear that everyone else is well. I’ll bide my time and rejoin the others eventually, but for now, this is how things will be. There is no reason to push our luck further than we already have.” 

A cough tore through Suguru’s throat. He had grown unbelievably tired, enough to let his head hit the stone and his eyes drift shut.

“G— Suguru-san!”

“I’m fine. You healed me, remember?” Suguru forced a smile to ease Yuji’s concern. “Satoru won’t exorcize you without good reason. He’s not like other sorcerers, especially the council. And once he gets to know you, I’m sure he’d prefer keeping you around then seal you away as Sukuna was. Maybe with all his power, he’ll find a way to destroy those fingers where I could not. You can trust him.”

Trust, huh?

Suguru didn’t think he still had any of that left. And yet…

“Take care of yourself, Yuji.”