Chapter Text
Junpei corners him outside the literature club room, a grim look of determination on his face. “Fushiguro-kun, can I talk to you for a minute?”
Megumi hesitates; he’s got one hand on the door, half slid open to reveal the curious glances of Inumaki-senpai, vice-president, and Panda-senpai, club president. It’s the club’s first proper official meeting and despite his terrible track record with afterschool activities in the past, Megumi has somehow been elected club secretary which comes with a certain sense of obligation.
“Go on, Fushiguro,” Panda gestures with a little wave. “Just make sure you come back. I hate taking minutes.”
There are about ten students in the literature club and somehow the most capable student turned out to be a muscle-bound second year with a penchant for panda masks. Panda-senpai called it a social experiment and had somehow even gotten a written agreement from the school’s principal. Since everyone has taken to calling him Panda, Megumi doesn't even know his name, let alone what he actually looks like.
Junpei leads him to an empty classroom nearby and starts pulling out some photos that Megumi immediately recognises. Junpei spreads out the photos on a desk side by side along with another picture of a notebook. The handwritings look identical.
“Whose is it?” Megumi asks.
“Morinaga Satoshi. But he doesn’t matter. He’s just a lackey. Probably forced into doing it. The real culprit is Ito Shota.”
“And... who’s that?”
Junpei stares at him a moment, eyebrows shooting up before he turns away with a puff of laughter, amusement tinged with bitterness. “Figures. You sent him to the infirmary on your first day.”
“Oh. Him." Megumi had effectively put the name out of his mind but he remember's Shota's face. Hard to forget a face like that. "How are you so sure it's him?”
Junpei’s smile is a cool dead thing. “They’re not exactly discreet about it, especially when they think no one’s listening. We’re in the same class. But don’t take my word for it. I’ll prove it to you.”
Apart from the occasional angry glare when their paths did cross, Ito had mostly stayed out of his way. There was no way he could have taken either Megumi or Itadori in a fight so it made sense he would resort to backhanded tactics. Itadori was just an easier target at the moment.
“So you want me to - what? Beat Ito into a pulp? If it didn’t work the first time, it’s not going to work now.” Megumi has had ample experience in the area. The truth is, he really doesn't know how effective his methods have been - in real life, you can’t punch someone into being a better person. But you can put the fear of God into them, at least to a certain extent. “Why me?” he asks even though he already knows the answer.
Junpei looks at him squarely in the face. “You’ve got a reputation. And you care. About Yuuji, I mean. And I never said anything about beating up Ito. I just need you to be there, just in case he tries to kill me.”
Megumi frowns. Junpei isn’t being dramatic; he says it so matter-of-factly it makes Megumi pause to reassess the whole thing. There’s something more going on between Ito and junpei that the other boy isn’t saying. But Megumi isn’t going to pry if Junpei doesn’t want to tell him.
“What do you want to do?”
----
Itadori doesn’t turn up at school on Friday. No one is particularly surprised by this. On the outside Itadori honestly hadn't seemed bothered at all but even a cheery guy like Itadori was bound to crack under this level of pressure.
He’d been called into the discipline teacher’s office the day before to discuss the escalating harassment and rumours being spread about his parents’ death and his living arrangements. It seemed the school was “investigating” if the allegations were true.
“This is bullshit,” Megumi overhears Kugisaki grousing aloud. “If I found out who’s behind this, I’m going to rip them to pieces.”
“Hey,” Megumi interrupts. “Do you really wanna help?”
Kugisaki eyes him. “What do you mean?”
----
Turns out Maki has keys to the broadcasting room since she’s part of the student council and is more than happy to hand them over. “I’ll just say I dropped them,” she shrugs.
----
They find Ito and his friend smoking and trash-talking behind the science labs during recess.
“Hey,” says Junpei, voice surprisingly even although Megumi can see he’s trembling. “Shitheads.”
Four pairs of eyes turn to him. One of the boys, a tall brute who Megumi last remembered lying on the ground with blood running from his nose, sneers and croons, “Oh look who it is. Brought your boyfriend along?” When neither of them reacts, he straightens, face hardening. “Yoshino, you’re looking for trouble.”
“I know you guys are behind it,” Junpei says.
“What the fuck are you talking about?” Ito asks but his smile says something else entirely.
“Itadori Yuuji, you assholes.”
“Oh, right. Your other boyfriend.” Snickers. “Does he spread his legs for your tiny dick too, Yoshino? Or is it the other way round?”
Megumi has heard a lot of shit in his sixteen years but it’s taking every ounce of his control not to march over and beat the living daylights out of Ito. It takes even more effort to pretend he’s unaffected.
“Quit playing dumb. I tracked the IP addresses from the anonymous accounts on Yuuji’s page. And traced most of them to you four. Did Morinaga help you set them up?”
Megumii was pretty sure that was not how IP addresses worked but not one of Ito or his gang seem to know this judging from their bugged eye expressions.
“So what,” says Handa or Honda or something. “It’s not like you have any proof.”
“I have all the logs, the comments, the accounts and even Morinaga’s confession that you forced him to write all that shit around school.” Junpei pulls out his phone. “So here’s the deal, you stop everything and leave Yuuji alone and I won’t send the folder to everyone in school.”
“As if you have anyone’s contacts apart from your circle of nerd friends.”
Junpei ignores this. “Do we have a deal?”
“How about I smash your head in first?”
“Just try it,” Megumi says. The tall brute stops, feet shifting as his hands curl into fists.
“Itadori’s ass must be real good if he has this many guys fighting for it,” Ito drawls. “Is he too pussy to come here himself? Or is it because it’s all true? I mean just look at him. No parents, no family. Picked up by some rich guy when he’s fourteen. What else does he have to offer? The story practically writes itself.”
“You’re way out of line, Ito. Yuuji’s my friend. I’ve known him since middle school. Everything you’re saying is bullshit.”
“Tell that to everyone in school. We’ve all been thinking the same thing. I just made it obvious.”
Junpei smiles and presses a button on this phone. “I just did.”
The PA system crackles to life and Kugisaki’s voice echoes through, “Attention, boys and girls. Attention! Today’s announcement is: Shota Ito is a turd.” Then the recording starts playing, “Hey, shitheads - Oh, look who it is-”
There’s a beat of silence as the earlier conversation plays all around them.
“You little fuck!” Honda or Handa roars, rushing forward.
Megumi catches the fist and twists, shoving Junpei backwards. He blocks a left-hook (how predictable) and sends the guy tumbling with a kick to the chest. Ito takes a step back, never the type to get his hands dirty personally. The kinda guy Megumi hates the most.
He’s not a violent person by nature. He finds no joy in drawing out fights or torturing someone who’s already down. When he dishes out beatings, they’re usually fast and brutally efficient. He makes quick work of the group. Unfortunately for Ito and of great fortune for Megumi, the hangout behind the science labs backs into a dead end - the wall of the lab and a toolshed. Ito tries to open the tool shed for one comical desperate moment as Megumi watches, unimpressed. The toolshed is also, unfortunately for Ito, locked.
“Hey, Junpei,” Megumi says once he had dodged Ito’s pathetic attempt at a punch and twisted his arm behind him on the ground. “This guy’s right handed?”
Junpei swallows. “Yeah.”
“Please, don’t, please…,” Ito whimpers. Megumi shifts his weight and Ito screams, more in fear than in pain. Megumi doesn’t ease off the pressure. His knuckles are scrapped raw, cheekbone smarting from a lucky graze from one of the gorillas lying on the ground. He’s not feeling particularly generous at the moment, in fact he’s fucking furious.
He hears himself saying from far away. “Should I break his arm?”
“Fushiguro…”
“Please, please, no, please. I’m sorry, okay? Please - “
“Your call, Junpei.”
Junpei doesn’t respond for the longest time. Then he says so softly Megumi almost doesn’t catch it. “Break it.”
Ito screams. Megumi doesn’t break his arm, but he does wrench it back hard enough that they both can hear the joint pop painfully out of it’s socket. He stands up, feeling a little sick that he doesn’t feel the least bit sorry about what just happened. He might have even enjoyed it a little.
"Stay put,” he tells Ito, who’s gasping in pain, curled into a ball. “Junpei, you might wanna get out of here.”
Junpei takes a shuddering breath, looking visibly shaken, “What are you going to do?”
“Going to the staff room to get help. They need medical attention. I think I might have bruised some ribs, given them a concussion or something.” He hadn’t gone this hard in years.
“Fushiguro! They’re going to put you in jail!”
With the Japanese school system and their tendency to sweep things under the rug? Fushiguro really doubted that. “You really have been watching too many movies. IP addresses? We didn’t even talk to Morinaga.”
“It worked, didn’t it? They’re too stupid to figure out a bluff anyway.”
Megumi assesses the lean figure in front of him. Yoshino Junpei was a scary guy if he put his mind to it. He had wanted Megumi to break a guy’s arm. He had known this whole thing would end up in punches being thrown and it was better if Megumi was the one involved. To Junpei, Megumi is expendable.
Itadori is not.
-----
He gets home late after a massive, massive dressing down; warnings, threats and officially being blacklisted as a ‘problem student’. There were genuine talks about getting his dad to come to school (good luck with that).
What a way to end the first month of highschool.
He fetches his dog from Tanaka-san, takes a short walk around the block before heading home for a shower. There's a million messages and DMs on his phone when he gets back. Huh. Never knew he had so many friends. Megumi ignores all of them but one.
You home?
It takes less than five minutes to get to Itadori's unit. The plus of staying in a high end apartment block is that the lifts are one step away from being shuttle rockets.
Itadori opens the door on the first ring. "Hey," he says, a bit surprised but grinning easily. He's wearing an apron covered with tiny egg motifs over a green hoodie, large print on the front declaring, 'I'm an egg-cellent cook!'
"I was just about to ask if you had any plans for dinner but uh, you didn't reply and you're here so I guess… you don't?"
"You didn't come to school today," Megumi says.
Itadori grimaces. "I know how it looks but it's not what you're thinking. Gojo-san left for a business trip today and he wanted to go to the amusement park. So we did. He's kinda a spur of the moment guy."
"Really," Megumi retorts, voice flat.
"Yeah?" Itadori pauses, gaze drifting to the bruise on Megumi's cheek and busted knuckles, his face turning serious with concern. He steps aside to let Megumi in. "Did something happen? I've been avoiding social media like the plague for obvious reasons."
"You so owe me dinner."
"Guess I'm clairvoyant or something, huh?" Itadori says, lips twitching upwards.
Megumi settles onto a counter stool, watching him putter around the kitchen and thinks it was worth it.
----
"Hello?" Megumi answers, curious. Maki never calls unless it's something really important.
"Heads up, Megumi, the old man wants to see you."
"What old man?"
"The head of the Zenin family." He can almost hear her sense of schadenfreude. "Try not to give him a heart attack."