Chapter Text
Coffee shops have always been essential to Utahime.
Aside from the fact that it supplied her with her second-most favorite drink (an iced Americano, by the way), it was a good source of income while she was joggling her studies. Coffee shops typically had a chill atmosphere, and the owner allowed her to study outside of rush hours.
Fortunately, her sole friend in college enjoyed hanging out in the coffee shop she worked in. Mei-Mei would study in one secluded spot, doing schoolwork or whatever hobby she was into (investing in stocks). Mei-Mei would order one cup of coffee at the start, and then, she’d practically live off of service water after. She understood that Utahime had to support herself, but couldn’t spend time with her. Besides, the coffee shop owner didn’t mind her since she helped the coffee shop owner with his stock investments.
She’d only leave when her evening classes were going to start since she knew that someone was arriving soon to send Utahime home.
Her boyfriend, Gojo Satoru, never failed to show up at the end of Utahime’s shift.
“You don’t have to do this every night, you know,” Utahime told him one night as he walked her to her apartment. Utahime knew that Satoru took classes that ended earlier than the end of her shift on purpose so that he could take her home. She also knew that he barely hung out with other people his age, aside from Geto and Shoko.
“Why? You don’t think I can protect you? I know I look weak, but I’m pretty strong. I’m the strongest. You’d know that,” he winked at the last part, as Utahime resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Without a doubt, he was referring to that aspect of their relationship.
“You’re a freshman in university. You’re supposed to be busy.”
“I’m special. I know how to manage my time.”
“Are you sure? I don’t want you to overdo yourself. I don’t want you tired all the time. Maybe, you’d also get tired of me. I know it’s not fun to be around me,” she mumbled, pausing in her tracks. She knew that their free times together were usually spent at the library or the coffee shop. They barely went on real dates. The last time they even went to the cinema together was four months ago.
Satoru stopped walking when he realized that she had stopped walking. He turned to her, looking insulted by what she implied. His eyebrows furrowed, “Utahime, what are you trying to say?”
“We can’t date properly. We can’t go out. We’re just hanging out either in my apartment or the library or the coffee shop where I’m working in.”
“I don’t mind hanging out in your apartment always,” Satoru grinned, sleazily wagging his eyebrows. However, when he realized that his girlfriend wasn’t amused by his joke, he stopped himself. He scratched his head, before sighing, “Do you think I’m not having fun?”
“I’m not sure. Other couples get to go out and have normal dates in the movies or amusement parks. But, we don’t get to do a lot of things normal couples do.”
“Bleh, that’s boring. Normalcy is overrated.”
“I know you’re just trying to patronize me,” Utahime frowned.
Satoru looked at his girlfriend as if he was trying to figure things out. He probably knew that Utahime wasn’t going to believe him, no matter how hard he tried to convince her that he was completely fine with whatever they did. After all, what mattered to him wasn’t where their dates were held, or what they could be doing.
What mattered to him was that he was together with Utahime.
But, she wasn’t going to believe that.
“Then, maybe you just have to make it up to me.”
“What do you want me to do?” Utahime asked, very keen on fulfilling whatever wish her boyfriend wanted her to do. She hoped it wasn’t anything expensive, time-consuming, or perverted.
“I just want you to remember something for me. You can’t ever forget this, okay?” He took her hands into his, carefully caressing her hand with his thumb. His hands were always bigger than hers. But, when they were clasped together, it was always a perfect fit.
“I want you to always remember three things: First, I’d never get tired of you. Second, I’d never get sick of things. And lastly, I’d never get tired of us. Can you promise to never forget those three sentences, Utahime?”
PRESENT
“How are Yuji and the other kids?” Utahime asked as Gojo took the seat across her. They decided to meet up in a coffee shop in Tokyo, a few days after Yuji and the other kids were attacked. Since Gojo had to watch over the kids, Utahime decided to meet up with him in Tokyo.
“Megumi and Nobara are doing well. They have a few injuries, but they were shallow. On the other hand, Yuji’s still unconscious. He’s in the ICU now after that surgery. Still comatose, but his vital signs are stable.”
“That’s good to hear. At least, Yuuji’s stable now. I panicked when you called me up and told me that Yuuji was in the hospital.”
The two of them stayed quiet, not knowing how to proceed to talk from thereon. Utahime, for one, was not sure how to comfort Gojo. She wasn’t even sure if he wanted her comfort or sympathy. He might even snap at her, saying that he didn’t need it. To be fair, while he never did it in the past, the present Gojo Satoru was a mystery to her.
“Do you have any idea who started the attack?” Gojo broke the silence, going straight to the point.
Utahime shook her head at Gojo’s question. “I’ve confirmed with my students where they were at that time during the attack. They have alibis.”
“Alibi’s the weakest defense under the law.”
He was right, but Utahime didn’t know what else to say. She sighed, taking out a folder from her bag. It contained pictures of her students present in different places. She didn’t ask them for these pictures, but she noticed that they were tagged to these photos on social media. These kids, they were supposed to be under suspension, but they were out and about, Utahime sighed inwardly.
Gojo took the folder from her hands, going through every photo inside. “One thing we can only be sure of is that they didn’t perpetrate the attacks directly on my kids.”
“They’re just kids, you know. I don’t think they would go all out to kill Itadori.”
"It’s possible that they didn't think about it, but someone might have incited them to do it.”
Utahime sighed, “It’s not like they could plan an attack of such a big range, you know. Someone else must have done it.”
Gojo kept quiet, sipping from his Frappuccino. Despite being in his mid-20s, he still had a sweet tooth that was constantly threatening him with diabetes. Utahime used to call him out on his sugar intake, but he’d reassure her that he was keeping track of his blood sugar level.
“I’ll try to talk to them again. Miwa’s out by tomorrow. She’s the easiest person to talk to.”
“You’re keeping this quiet, right? You can’t trust anyone in your school. I suspect there’s a mole or something.”
“A mole?” Utahime raised an eyebrow.
“Yuji. He’s a special kid. I wouldn’t be surprised why someone would want to kill him.”
“Yes, I know. I heard from Shoko that he’s a student-athlete that’s Olympic material. It must have been the inter-school competitions. The kids were just too desperate to win. They tend to be very competitive,” Utahime sighed, shaking her head, before taking a bite from the cinnamon roll she bought.
“That’s not it,” Gojo sighed, sitting properly for once since he arrived. He stared straight at Utahime’s eyes before he decided to drop the bomb: “Yuuji’s the heir of the Noroi Group.”
Utahime choked on her food, realizing the real identity of the pink-haired boy. She instantly took a sip from her Iced Americano to relieve her.
“What did you say? Yuuji’s the heir of what?”
“He’s the heir of Ryomen Sukuna, the current President and CEO of the Noroi Group.”
“And, why is that supposed to be an issue?”
Gojo paused for a moment before realizing that Utahime didn’t understand what it implied. He sighed before looking at her with a stern look on his face.
“I think it’s best that you don’t know.”
Riding the train back to Kyoto, Utahime sighed for the umpteenth time that day. She has been going back and forth to Tokyo a lot these two weeks, making her wonder if it was worth buying rail passes, instead of the single tickets. The expenses were no joke.
“Today, in an official press conference, the Special Grade Corporation announced that its President, Mahito, was stepping down from his position. Yesterday, the Noroi Group announced its acquisition of a majority of the shares of the Special Grade Corporation. It also announced that it was taking over the company, making the said corporation a subsidiary of the Noroi Group. This led to a special Board of Directors’ meeting this morning. According to our sources, President Mahito was told to step down from the company as another person from the Noroi Group was taking over his position.”
Noroi Group? Utahime blinked for a moment as she turned to where the voice came from, before realizing that it was from her seatmate who was watching the evening news.
“I’m sorry! Was it too noisy? I’ll tone it down,” the man scrambled for his phone’s volume.
Utahime shook her head. “It’s okay. I’m also interested in the news.”
Truthfully, Utahime had little to no information regarding the Noroi Group. It was public knowledge that it was a Japanese conglomerate that was worth a billion yen. The said conglomerate was owned by a man named Ryomen Sukuna. But, she never met him nor any person connected to the group.
“Are you into stocks and trading, too, Miss? You should buy the Noroi Group’s stocks. Their stocks have been on a rise lately, ever since they started acquiring different companies.”
“Oh really? I’m into cryptocurrency nowadays. I’ll look into investing with the Noroi Group,” Utahime recalled the conversation she had with Mei Mei recently. She was convincing her to buy cryptocurrency since they were the fad nowadays.
“Oho, I’m gonna tell you that buying stocks from the Noroi Group is a good deal. They’ve been a lot aggressive lately. I even feel like they’d probably surpass the Big Three soon,” the man beside her continued to ramble as Utahime pieced things together.
The Noroi Group was threatening the ranks and probably, the existence of other conglomerates, especially the Big Three Conglomerates which have been in power since the start of the last century. If Itadori Yuji was the supposed heir of the Noroi Group, it made sense why he would be the target. Thus, her students who were members of the Zen’in Group and Kamo Group were up to the task of eliminating him. But, there had to be someone, a mole, who was taking orders from the Big Three. That person was probably influencing the other students to attack Yuji.
Utahime felt an impending headache as she realized why Gojo didn’t want to elaborate to her what it meant for Yuji to be the Noroi Group Heir. He probably knew that Utahime shouldn’t be too involved with the issue anymore. Even if she was their teacher, this was an issue that directly affected the Big Three, a world she wasn’t involved in.
Still, Utahime knew she had to do something for her students. She couldn’t just let them be criminals for the sake of money and power. Taking out her phone, she made the deliberate choice of texting one of her students.
Meet me tomorrow at the cafeteria.
Miwa Kasumi was a normal person.
She was by far very average, but she was very proficient with kendo. If given the opportunity, she would have been able to excel in her sport. Unfortunately, her family was saddled with debts. Her father died from a car accident when she was in middle school, leaving behind her, her mother, and her two younger brothers. During the day, her mother did two jobs to sustain them. Kasumi would also do part-time jobs after school, but it wasn’t enough. She thought about postponing entering high school, but one day, a golden opportunity knocked on their doorstep.
She was granted a scholarship by Kyoto Jujutsu High School due to her skills in kendo. Her kendo teacher was an alumnus from the said high school and had endorsed her to the school administration. And that was how useless Miwa became a student in one of the most prestigious high schools in Japan.
The quality of education in the school was top-notch. The facilities were always renovated to the latest technology. The teachers were experts in their fields, but still nice and caring to their students. They were also able to explain concepts to her in a way that allowed her average brain to understand. Her classmates were great and nice. The seniors were also kind to her. They played harmless jokes on her now and then, but they never looked down on her for being poor. Instead, they made her feel like she was their peer.
It became natural for her to love her school and her friends. And along with love came loyalty.
So now that her favorite teacher was asking her what truly happened, Kasumi could not answer her question. She didn’t want to betray her friends. She also didn’t want to lose her scholarship.
“Utahime-sensei, what are you saying? I don’t get what you mean,” she laughed at what her favorite teacher said.
Truth be told, Utahime-sensei was her favorite teacher. She would often drop by their classroom to ask the students how they were doing, and if they truly understood the lessons. The said teacher would even go out of her way to give Kasumi extra lessons so that she wouldn’t fall behind in her classes. In short, Utahime always took the extra mile for her students.
But, Kasumi couldn’t choose between her friends and her favorite teacher.
And so, she was just going to pretend that she couldn’t understand the question; that her average brain could not grasp what the teacher meant.
“Miwa, I know that you’re a nice girl. And I know that you didn’t have it in you to go and attack Itadori Yuuji. And that’s why you got off a light sentence, right?” Utahime asked.
Kasumi nodded. “I don’t know what happened. I fainted in the middle of the fight.”
“I know you fainted in the middle of the brawl. We’ve already established that last time.”
Kasumi nodded again.
“But, I need to know what happened before the brawl. What made you students go all the way to Tokyo? Did someone convince you to do it?”
Kasumi shook her head. “It was just a student brawl like what Momo said.”
“Miwa, if you tell me what happened, I’m willing to delete this from your record. You won’t have a problem when you go to university or if you go decide to work immediately.”
Kasumi still shook her head. Her friends were more important to her than some stainless disciplinary record. It couldn’t make her betray them.
Utahime sighed, clenching her forehead. She took out her phone, typing a few things before she placed it back inside her pocket.
“Since you’re not going to tell me anything, let’s leave it there. Thank you for your time, Miwa.”
Kasumi nodded as she bit her lower lip, feeling like her tears were about to fall. She didn’t want to betray anyone. She also didn’t want to disappoint her favorite teacher, but she didn’t want to betray her friends and get them into further trouble. She left the cafeteria, leaving behind Utahime who looked perplexed.
Utahime sighed as she received a reply from a white-haired teacher in Tokyo.
Did you tell her that her record was going to be stainless?
Yup.
Do you know anyone else who would care that her record would become stainless?
I doubt her family knows what happened.
I’m not talking about her family. I’m talking about someone who cares for her a lot. Someone who would want the best for her. Someone who’d be willing to lay down the world for her, if she asked them to. Does she have a boyfriend or girlfriend? Or just anyone who loves her that much?
These are high school students.
Utahime, we were once high school students. You would know.
Utahime paused for a moment, realizing what he meant. After all, once upon a time, they were also willing to go against the world, too.
Do you know anyone who’d do that for your student?
In that instant, one name came into Utahime’s head: Mechamaru.
Utahime immediately ran towards the school dormitory, knowing that Mechamaru stayed in the dormitory. Since he was an orphan with no relatives to adopt him, he was always there, even during the holidays. Hence, the only times he wouldn’t be there were when his friends would invite him to a sleepover or during field trips. But since he was suspended at the moment, he shouldn’t be allowed to leave the school campus.
Yet, when Utahime opened his room and realized that nobody was around, she knew that she had found the mole.
It’s Mechamaru. He’s the mole.
It’s Mechamaru. He’s the mole.
Gojo smiled, looking down at the message that Utahime sent him just now. He was sitting on a chair inside the ICU where Yuji was staying. Rather, the ICU where Yuji was supposed to be staying. He turned up from his phone, looking straight at a boy who arrived with three armed men, whom Gojo assumed to be hired assassins.
“Ah, you must be Mechamaru-kun, huh?” Gojo smiled, waving his hand as his bodyguards went inside and pushed down Mechamaru and his companions to the floor, disarming them in the process. “Too bad I saw you coming. I’m pretty smart.”
“You’re the real Gojo Clan Head,” Mechamaru pointed out, glaring at him.
Gojo chuckled. “Oh, you must be very well-connected to know that. I’ve already left things to my cousin. Yuta’s always the person representing me during events nowadays.”
“Where’s Itadori Yuji?” He asked, realizing that there was only a doll on the bed. The said doll had a badly-drawn henohenomoheji on its face. “That wasn’t what you texted Utahime-sensei.”
Gojo smiled. A few days ago, he asked Shoko and their other friends to transfer Yuji to another location. Yuji’s current location was a secret to everyone including Utahime, except for Shoko, Suguru, Nanami, and Gojo himself. Thus, Yuji was recuperating in another location that couldn’t be found by outsiders. “I figured that you would have bugged her phone.”
Mechamaru snorted.
“Well then, Mechamaru-kun, shall you start talking? Not only for your sake, but for Miwa’s, as well?”