Chapter Text
Itadori Yuuji is lead to a room, dim and candlelit, filled with Talismans. He is not tied up this time. He suspects that it is his Sensei’s influence.
“There’s a bunch of people who want to meet you.” Sensei says. “Say their final goodbyes and all that.”
“Meet me?” Yuuji gazes up in wonder. He knew he wouldn’t die alone. He just hadn’t quite grasped what that meant .
oOo
“I was only planning on killing the Zeni’in Clan,” Maki informs him casually. “But I think Gojo-sensei has enlightened me on the benefits of further homicide.”
“We’ll miss you,” Panda says.
“Salmon.” Inumaki mutters
Itadori Yuji loves his friends.
oOo
Okkotsu Yuta does not show up. He is busy fighting a special grade curse in Korea which would normally have been assigned to Gojo-sensei. He sends a letter regardless.
“ You’re facing execution for harboring a dangerous entity within you huh? I can relate. Don’t get lonely alright?”
oOo
Ieri Shoko comes in with a cigarette.
“Didn’t you quit smoking ages ago?”
“Yeah, well, kid, some things just make you want to start back up again.”
“... Are you here to ask for permission to dissect my body?”
Shoko laughs. “I don’t need permission to dissect your body.”
She shuffles awkwardly. Yuji realizes that maybe Ieri Shoko is not very good with emotions.
“Thank you,” He says, partially to help her through this conversation and partially because of genuine gratitude.
“Yeah, well.” Shoko says. Pats him on the shoulder twice. Then leaves.
oOo
“BROTHER!!!” Todo wails, and wraps himself around him, in stark contrast to the awkward and fidgeting Shoko. “You will be missed! I will forever treasure our long lasting childhood friendship! I will carry on your legacy.”
Itadori still does not get it. Or remember this childhood friendship. He knew the dude for like. One day.
He pats his back anyways. “Uh, thank you,” he says. “I’ll miss you too… Brother…”
Todo devolves into more masculine wailing.
oOo
Nanami’s presence is unexpected. Yuji did not realize that he cared for him that much.
“I quit.” He takes a seat in front of Yuji.
“Quit? … You mean jujutsu? But why?” Yuji feels a sense of deja vu.
Instead, “Gojo has done many awful things in his life. This is the worst thing he will do by far.” Nanami says, not answering. The deja vu continues to grow. At least he is not speaking in exclamation points.
“It’s not sensei’s fault,” Yuji says, oddly defensive about his eccentric teacher and eventual executioner. Nanami scoffs. “Besides, weren’t you all for respecting authority and doing things the higher up’s way??”
“I changed my mind.” Nanami says simply. And they sit in silence for a minute. Nanami makes no move to leave.
“Please don’t quit because of me,” Yuji says, finally cutting through the smog of choking silence. “People will die. You save people.” More deja vu.
Nanami breathes. “You’re a good kid,”
I’m not a kid . Yuji wants to say. I don’t want to be a kid when I die .
“I don’t do jujutsu sorcery to save people,” Nanami says, like a liar. “I am a selfish man. I do jujutsu sorcery because it provides meaning to my life. I had accepted that children die in this line of work. I had accepted that children would be sent out to work for things far beyond them. But this? Killing a child in cold blood?” Nanami shakes his head. “I can’t stand for it. I can’t work for something like this. I will find something else. Work at a homeless shelter. Start a bakery. Find another way to find meaning.”
Don’t call me a child . But he is . He’ll forever remain a child in all these people’s memories. He thinks of Gojo sensei taking a week off. It is hard not to, with all the deja vu flooding his senses “Even when I’m dying to protect the world,” he says miserably, “I still kill people huh.”
“It’s not your duty to protect the world,” Nanami says sharply. “And don’t say that you have killed people because I am not there to save them. Because by extension, I am a murderer too. Are you calling me a killer ?”
“I… No. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be.” Nanami says. “The world is not entitled to my strength nor my service.” He says. Then, more gently. “I’m sorry this is happening to you. I am sorry this world has failed you. I wish I could do more. You deserve to live.”
Nanami thinks that he is selfish... But how could he be selfish, Yuji thinks, when he sacrificed so much to become a jujutsu sorcerer. And then sacrificed sorcery, the very thing which gave meaning to his life, for Itadori Yuji, a child he met once.
Kento Nanami can be described with many adjectives. Selfish is not one of them.
oOo
Principal Yaga is filling in for another curse which would have been assigned to Gojo Satoru.
He sends his regards in the form of a doll. The doll does not punch him.
It conveys all Principal Yaga’s emotions in a way Principal Yaga never could.
oOo
Megumi Fushiguro and Nobara Kugisaki come in last.
There are no words to be said that haven’t already been said, so they all pile together into a group hug in the middle of the room until someone comes and drags them out.
oOo
“Itadori Yuji,” Gojo-sensei begins, “Vessel of Sukuna,” and that. Kind of hurts. Yuji knows what people see him as, but never sensei. Never his friends. But maybe Sensei needs some way of steeling himself. Of prepping himself for what he is going to do. Yuji can’t begrudge him that..
“You have been sentenced to an execution. Now, you will march through these doors, where there awaits a chair. And I will kill you, in whichever way you please.”
Yuji nods. Lump in his throat. He thought he had been ready.
He thinks about a future with Nobara and Fushiguro reminiscing about him. 17 forever.
This is a good death.
Sensei will be kind. It won’t hurt. Probably.
“Or,” Sensei says, “You could turn around, and walk away and live.”
Or what.
“Huh?”
Sensei softens his voice. “I’m offering you a choice, Yuji-kun. If you don’t want to, you could walk away. I had decided a long time ago, I would never sacrifice someone who has not offered themselves up first.”
Yuji’s heart thumps faster. Sensei can’t be saying what he is saying. This is a nightmare. Or a dream. “But, it is my duty,” he says, almost trying to convince himself. “My responsibility. Sukuna – he is a danger, this is something only I can –”
“When I was born,” Sensei interrupts, in a strange change of subject “The very fabric of the universe changed. It couldn’t handle my awesomeness.” He waggles his fingers, “But you know, because of me, the balance of the world shifted on its axis. Like an unspoken heavenly vow taken by the universe. Curses became more powerful, more intelligent. Grade 1 curses became more common. Grade 3 curses evolved into Grade 2. My very existence brought so much death and destruction.”
“But you. That. You couldn’t…”
“Me being alive has killed thousands of people, Yuji. Sorcerers and non-sorcerers alike.” Sensei cracks a smile. “How many have you killed?”
Yuji thinks about how Sensei casually defies the laws of physics. The terrifying strength contained within a lanky, unassuming figure. Thinks about how his sensei could probably end the world on a whim if he wanted to. A ticking nuclear bomb. An anomaly, and a testament to the fact that maybe it is a good thing that humanity has limits to what they can do. A good thing that men are mortal. The feral grin he sports whenever he gets serious in a fight. Isn’t that what he is too? All these thoughts, but still, in the end…
“It’s different…”
Because it is Satoru Gojo. And just like how the world breaks and bends to accommodate him, Yuji’s internal logic will break and bend to accommodate him too. He does not have the words for it.
“Is it?”
And so Yuji tries to find the words for it.
“You’re so kind, sensei. You’ve saved so many people! And being born is not your fault. You’re so strong, and you help people. You saved me. ”
Sensei’s fingers twitch and his smile turns more genuine. Soft.
“And you have not? Yuji-kun, you know what I see when I look at you?”
“...What?”
“I see a promising young man, with a bright future ahead! I see someone will one day catch up to me. Someone who will surpass me.” He giggles. “And I’m the strongest! I see someone who will save so many people in the future. I see strength. I’m not afraid of strength. Only the weak are afraid of strength,”
Sensei crouches down. He does that very often to get to eye-level with his students. Too long and lanky otherwise. “Yuji-kun,” he says seriously. So serious. Sensei is never serious.
He takes off his blindfold and the constant pressure of all of Six Eyes upon him makes him almost stop breathing. “You are strong. Very strong. With strength comes obstacles. Sometimes even the weight of the world,”
For a moment, Six-Eyes go hazy, far away, before snapping back to focus. “People like us, we have an obligation, a responsibility to give ourselves to the world, because the world has given so much to us. But we have a choice in how we share that strength. How we share that piece of ourselves. How we sacrifice parts of ourselves.”
Yuji holds his breath. He misses his teacher’s usual flippancy. He wants to go back to that, if this is how Sensei gets when he is serious.
“Is the world entitled to your strength? I don’t know Yuji-kun. I once had a friend who told me that it was the duty of the strong to protect the weak. Perhaps it is. Perhaps it is not. This is your decision.”
Sensei’s gaze shifts to the marks on Yuji’s cheeks. The ones he had gotten when he ate the first finger for Megumi. “I think I know the answer for you. You can sacrifice yourself for the world if you want to Yuji-kun. But I can give you options on how to do it. You can die now, right here. Or you can live, give your strength to the world. Save people.”
Ruffles his hair “Your control of Sukuna has not wavered, and I have trust it will not waver for as long as you are alive. I trust in you .”
A bright blue oceanic sky stares down Yuji’s own irises. He did not feel it was possible to feel insecure about an eye-color before.
“It is your decision. Whatever you choose, I will respect it.”
Yuji’s mouth is dry. Give your strength to the world. He thinks about his teacher’s unreasonable schedule filled with fighting curses upon curses. A friend, he said. Vestiges of history, stolen from conversations and mentions and glances and textbooks. Executions. Geto Suguru.
He wonders if his teacher views his service to the world as a sacrifice. That does not sound like Gojo-sensei. But this whole conversation does not sound like Gojo-sensei.
“But… how? Is that even an option? The higher ups and –”
“Shhh, you let the adults sweat the small stuff.” Gojo-sensei holds his arms and halts his wringing wrists. The pool of relief, which had been growing bigger and bigger in his stomach, the longer this conversation went on, bursts into a whole bunch of more relief.
“I’m the strongest, remember? No matter what choice you make, I will protect your future.”
Tears pool between Yuji’s eyes. And so much relief.
More than relief. The emotion reminds Yuuji of whenever he is having an intense, death-defying fight, where everyone is dying and everything is a nightmare. Before Gojo-sensei drops into the scene, smirking and cocky. And people can breathe because Sensei is here and he can fix everything and everyone knows that all will eventually be resolved.
Then painful hiccuping sobs before he launches himself against his teacher’s shirt and holds tightly onto the fabric. There is no infinity separating them, even though Yuji thinks it might be helpful in not getting snot and tears all over his probably super expensive clothes. But Sensei does not push him away, just puts a comforting hand against his back.
“I didn’t know this was – I want to live,” Yuji says between sobs. “I want to be selfish. I thought I had accepted it. I thought I had – But I want to live to celebrate my 18th birthday. I want to live to argue with Nobara and go shopping with her and do her makeup. I want to live to pet Fushiguro’s dogs. I want to be old enough to drink alcohol and drive a car. I want to eat cake and ramen and soba. I want to look at the clouds. I want to go to the beach again, and make sandcastles with my friends. I want to grow old and have wrinkles and grey hairs”
“Yuji-kun,” Sensei whispers against his ear. “I will tell you a secret. I want to be selfish too. I have killed so many people. I don’t want to kill my beloved student too. Won’t you let me be selfish Yuji-kun? Won’t you let me save you one more time?”
Yuji just keeps sobbing in his arms.
—
Itadori Yuji doesn’t have many plans for the last week of his life.
This is irrelevant because he is a teenager and the week is far, far away on the horizon.
oOo
Ryomann Sukuna, silent for a week, cackles inside Itadori Yuji’s head. This provides just as much comfort as his silence. Atleast the man remains consistent in the emotions he inspires.
oOo
History does not repeat, but it often rhymes. Gojo Satoru, despite being the strongest sorcerer alive, cannot save everyone.
He has many ghosts from his past. Sometimes, he will see the ghost of Amanai Riko in the carefree footsteps and bright smile of one Itadori Yuji, another child once destined for death. She haunts him, Before she too, fades away to the wind. But Amanai Riko is dead and Itadori Yuji is not.
Maybe this is a sign that Satoru Gojo has grown up. Maybe it is a sign he has learnt and changed.
Or maybe it is just dumb luck, whims and fancies of the universe falling in his favor for once.
Satoru Gojo has made many mistakes. His failure in executing one Itadori Yuji is not a mistake at all.
oOo
Itadori Yuji decided how he wanted to die at fifteen years old. At sixteen, he was ready to face it.
At seventeen, he chooses to live instead.