Chapter Text
The clock ticking slowly and the tension fills the silence. He drums his fingers atop the wooden table, nodding his head involuntarily from the opposite side of the table as the older man, the only person aside from him in the room, talks. Zenin Naobito doesn’t even try to hide his discomfort to be in the same room with him and with all due respect, the same goes to Satoru.
“What do you think?”
Gojo Satoru, the 28-year-old head of the Gojo clan, a powerful, noble sorcerer family - has his thoughts on the main topic.
Everything happened a few months ago when he and a former member of the Zenin clan clashed in a battle of life and death. Simply put, a mission came and Fushiguro Toji got in the way which caused tension between the two. The two almost died in the said fight and neither of their clans is willing to let it pass.
The Gojo and the Zenin rivalry dates back hundreds of generations and even in the present, their relationship hasn’t got better over time. And now, it has come to the point that they are both exhausted from this nonsense conflict.
A mutual enmity is bad for business. It makes their world cramped and unsafe considering they share a common society of sorcerers and the sorcerer world isn’t that big, to say the least.
This family feud should be stopped.
But here lies the question:
How?
“This conflict has been tiring and none of us are benefitting from it,” Satoru replies, sympathizing with the older man. Naobito dips his head in regards. They may not like each other but as the head of their clans, it is their responsibility to bring peace and put their family at ease.
However, they are aware that it won’t be that easy. Satoru mulls over this the night before but none comes to mind. A written truce would be good but without consequences, it’s just cheap talk. They need to have a common benefit and an absolute assurance that no one in their family would break the rules had they decided to make an official agreement that they would stop trying to slash each other’s throats.
Satoru brings the teacup into his lips and Naobito speaks.
“In our family, we use the power of marriage to settle things.”
Satoru makes a strangled noise and almost spits out the contents of the cup but luckily, he managed not to. He immediately swallowed the warm liquid as his eyes visibly grew in size.
No way he’s suggesting-
Satoru makes a duck face unknowingly, anticipating a horrible suggestion coming from the man.
“There are young ladies in my family you can choose from. Now, I’m not saying you should take one of them on your own but this is just a suggestion.”
Oh.
A halfhearted insinuation.
Satoru chuckles. “My, my, aren’t we being bold? Betrothing is an ancient way. Modern problems require modern solutions.” he gives him a broken smile. Now this meeting has just gotten 5x uncomfortable especially to him - a man whose marriage is the last thing on the priority list. Besides, he’s satisfied with his carefree life of being single, dating numerous women has never been boring, and staying loyal with one isn’t so him.
It’s no secret that the Zenins marry inside their family and marriage has been a reliable key to forge families since ancient times. Still, Satoru doesn’t want to get that far. He wants to solve this without involving anyone.
But it looks like he will fail in this. Satoru can’t think of anything that could guarantee their families. He needs to think of something else but alas, there is none. As he thought before, a treaty is the best way but it only works in milder cases and not for eternal rivals like the Gojo and the Zenin. Their situation is on a different level.
His family would nag at him if he failed to work this one and that’s the last thing he wants to deal with. As a clan head, he should maintain harmony. His ancestors worked hard to achieve it for so long. Surely, he doesn’t want to lose it just because of his selfish desires.
Satoru leans back, crosses his legs, and reconsiders.
“If you have another proposition, just tell it right away.” Naobito senses that the Gojo clan head is having doubts about his suggestion.
Satoru can see how the man is also unhappy with it but it could be that even he hasn’t thought of something aside from a beneficial marriage that could end the strife between their families.
But if he turned him down here, Zenin Naobito might take it as him being uncooperative. He can’t risk giving that thought to their rival family clan head.
“I don’t mean it as rejecting the idea completely but I would like to make things clear, if you don’t mind,” Satoru says, looking at the bigger picture.
Naobito’s face suggests that he should continue.
“You’re not asking me to get a girl from your family and marry her right off the bat, right?” he gets straight to the point.
“Not necessarily that it should be you since..” the man frowns slightly, judging him in the back of his mind. “I know you’re not that type of man.”
“Naobito-san, you wound me.” Satoru makes a dramatic sigh putting a hand on his chest but laughs lightheartedly soon afterward. “So to speak, it could be anyone from my clan and then a lady from yours.”
“It could work vice versa.”
“Too bad, there’s no single lady marriageable enough from my clan,.” Satoru shrugs. “But I can give you a man.”
Naobito grunts, lips twitching in mild annoyance. He’s playing safe .
No way Satoru would allow a female family member to marry one of the disgusting Zenin males.
“Fine.” Naobito looks at him with calculating eyes. “The girl is 16 years of age.”
Satoru gapes at him momentarily. “She’s kinda young?”
“It’s not you who’s going to marry her if ever, why do you even care?” the man didn’t hide his impatience, probably trying to end the discussion as soon as possible. Satoru feels how the man is itching to bolt outside and he wants to laugh out loud. He wants to annoy him more by asking more questions to prolong the talk but doing so would be tasteless since the future of their families is at stake here. Maybe some other time.
“Legalities,” Satoru says. “is she your daughter?”
“My niece.”
“Does her parents-”
“You can ask her yourself when you find someone from your clan who can marry her.” the chair creaks as he stands, cutting him off.
“Oh okay.” Satoru nods simply.
Naobito straightens the front of his kimono. “I believe we’re done here.”
“I believe so. I’ll be the one to contact you once I find someone.”
“Hm.” the man turns around. “And if you ever thought of something other than this, the idea is still welcome.” he proceeds outside, his bodyguards following behind.
Once he’s left in the room, Satoru snorts out loud and shakes his head.
“He looks constipated the whole time.”
This is a problem.
Satoru marches in the hallway of the mansion evaluating his memories about his family members. Trying to recollect if there’s a teenager or someone who can be a possible candidate for the beneficial engagement.
He calls his assistant, an older man with white hair, and immediately asks to bring him the family records. The man, Enmei, is working for them for as long as he can remember.
“Could you check if there’s a teenager, preferably around 16-20 years of age among my cousins or nephews? A boy.”
Enmei scans the list of the Gojo family members, silently wondering why the clan head himself doesn’t know each member but thinks it’s unsurprising since Satoru doesn’t seem to be interested in them.
“There is...none around that age scale, master. But there is one who is twelve years of age, your nephew, Yoshio.” the older man says, staring at the profile of each member.
Satoru waves a hand. “No, no, I need someone marriageable or at least in that age bracket.” he sits on a chair near the windows and stares outside, feeling edgy. What if he can’t find one? What if they’re all a little too old or too young to get married? As far as he knows, his uncles are all married men and he barely remembers his cousins from the main families, even the branch. He trusts that he can convince them if he finds one but what if there’s none? He doesn’t want to get married yet...this is a problem.
Enmei pauses and lifts his head to look at him. “Marriageable, master?”
“Yes.”
The old man turns to the next page of the thick book of records with furrowed eyebrows. He adjusts his eyeglasses as he reads.
“Your first cousin, Master Tatsuya is a 25-year-old-”
“No, not him.” Satoru cuts him off. Knowing how rebellious that cousin of his is, Tatsuya would wreak havoc instead of bringing peace in the two families. Other than that, he could be a perfect candidate but Satoru and he aren’t on good terms and it would be challenging to convince him later on. He’s a pain in the ass.
“Check the branch family members.”
“But Master Satoru, I’m afraid we could not find the person you’re looking for even in the branch line,” Enmei continues checking, eyes bouncing from one page to another. “Maybe a distant relative of yours could work?”
“As long as he’s related to me, no need to be from the main or branch lines.” Satoru fishes out his phone and takes a call from one of his business partners then turns to Enmei before he walks out of the room. “Inform me once you find one in an instant. Call for an investigator or whatever your preferred method is. I need it as soon as possible.”
The door shuts in, leaving the assistant alone to search for the candidate.
“Hey, don’t make that face Okkotsu, it makes me want to punch you more.”
He’s bending over between a steel cabinet and a corner of the wall like a kicked puppy, hands over his head. Yuta’s body trembles as his bullies tower in front of him, threatening to injure him if he dares to fight back.
“Please just stop…” his voice cracks and his body is paralyzed with fear. He shrinks onto the ground, helplessly shielding himself from their punches.
“You Liar!”
Liar. Liar. Liar. Liar.
I never lied.
“It’s all true….” Yuta whispers, glancing above to meet the boy’s eyes, ridiculing him.
They won’t believe you. They can’t see things that you can. Only you can. Only you.
He swallows, it has been like this since he’s eleven. Seeing things only he could see, hearing things only he could hear, and feeling things only he could feel. Those abominable creatures started appearing ever since that day, that accident, the day he lost his childhood friend - Orimoto Rika.
“Hah! I told you he’s crazy. What a weirdo spouting nonsense saying he can see spirits!”
“Bahaha! He never changes huh,”
“What did he say earlier? That he saw a green-eyed turtle in the windows of our classroom?”
“Yeah and he started screaming like a maniac saying it entered.”
“What a joke!”
The three boys laughed, making fun of him for the existence that only he could understand.
Yuta regrets that he had to react like that, panicking and forgetting that the people around him couldn’t see that thing but he worries that it might hurt his classmates and teachers.
For some reason, he could tell that the spirit would bring harm. Yuta isn’t sure how he can sense it, the danger and the mystery of it all, but deep within him, he has an understanding of what the creature is capable of doing.
“Please...please stop!”
“Okkotsu, you crazy bastard!” the boy raises his fists, aiming to punch him one more time.
“I said STOP!”
Out of desperation, Yuta shoves them away in one strong push, a strength he didn’t know he possessed has emerged from his body. The three boys slammed onto the wall and nearly broke their bones at the impact. One of them collapses and loses consciousness while the other two crawls, squirming on the floor like pathetic worms.
“He’s...he’s a monster!”
Yuta stares at his palms, his heartbeat accelerates and he sweats. What the hell was that?
“Ruuuun!”
The boys desperately move, carrying their other member who is still unconscious, scrambling to their feet, almost slipping on their way to dash away.
Yuta wasted no time and went outside, not trying to outrun his bullies this time but his fear of what just happened. He has a heavy feeling in his stomach and his mind is scattered, full of questions that have no answers. Yuta shuts his eyes closed as he runs, he keeps on running and running until he’s completely out of the campus, until he's in the middle of the streets.
How he wishes that his parents are still here. How he wishes that there is someone out there who could explain these things to him.
He lost them three months ago in a freak accident leaving his ten-year-old sister in his care. They have an uncle in Miyagi and he wants to take them both but Yuta has doubts. He fears that his uncle’s family would find him weird and he doesn’t want to bother him with his troubles. It’s hard for him to not react every time he sees the spirits, especially in those cases where a spirit tries to attack him and disturb his daily life. He’s also scared that a day might come and they try to hurt everyone around him.
His sister may be young but he can tell that she also finds him strange at times. Yuta keeps it all to himself, not wanting his sister to worry about him. He’s her older brother and he should take care of her, not the other way around.
Yuta walks at a steady pace and remembers that he forgot to bring his bag with him in his hurry to leave school. He turns his head back and sighs. He can’t remember where he put it before the bullies cornered him.
“Guess I’ll just look for it tomorrow.” he sighs again and continues walking.
His mind wanders back to the incident earlier. Yuta checks his hands quizzically, attention wholly engaged on the phenomena that happened to notice an incoming person running in the opposite direction.
The person is a young woman, around his age with green hair tied in a high ponytail wearing round glasses.
“Shitty bastards won’t just let me live in peace! That damn old man! Who the hell does he think he is?!” the girl cusses, gritting her teeth in anger, looking above her shoulder, wary of the men who are chasing her as commanded by her uncle.
Zenin Maki just decided to leave the mansion today. She couldn't even call it home anymore. The food sucks, there are scary and disgusting men walking everywhere and she can’t do what she wants and has to obey every damn rule to fit their standards.
To top it all, her uncle who happened to be the clan head casually ordered her to get betrothed- of all things! With someone from the rival clan - of all clans! What the hell.
She’s no useless woman. She has dreams of her own and she has the skills to make it a reality. Maki has decided that she will build herself and return to that horrible clan and kick everyone out one day as the clan head. She won’t be like her poor mother who simply submitted to the clan’s traditions marrying and having kids with her father despite them being cousins.
Ew.
But she wouldn't let herself be engaged with someone she doesn’t know. To hell with that too.
She senses a presence, a strong one, in front of her and turns her head forward to see a young man with his head down staring at his hands as if checking if there’s dirt in them.
“Look out!”
She was too distracted by the men chasing her and didn’t sense the person in front of her right away. The boy lifts his head and both of them scream when their bodies and heads collide, resulting in Maki landing at the top of the boy.
“Uhh..”
“It...hurts!” she groans, massaging her head after she bumps into his. It feels like she broke a fragment of her skull, just who is this guy and what's with his presence?
Yuta has his eyes closed, his back flat on the roughness of the pavement. He thought it was a motorcycle or a bike at first when the girl screamed but he’s silently grateful that it’s just a girl and nothing more.
He opens his eyes and the first thing he sees is the face of the green-haired girl, caressing her forehead. The girl is pretty - something Yuta quickly noticed despite the painful expression on her face.
“What’re you looking at?!” she hisses and pauses, following the direction of Yuta’s arm, reaching onto her, feeling it.
Still in a daze, Yuta blinks and realizes what the girl is looking at. All the color of his face vanishes, seeing how his right hand seizes her left breast.
“Y-YOU DAMN PERVERT!” Maki shrieks.
Yuta jolts and tumbles as the girl attack him with countless slaps.
“Sorry! I didn’t-- hey! I don’t! I didn’t touch it on purpose!” he tries to explain, shielding himself from the slaps but the girl’s entire face is red, whether in fury or embarrassment, he couldn’t tell. Maybe both but that’s not important. He has to get away from her before she ultimately kills him or before anyone nearby overheard what the girl is screaming about.
He has a little sister waiting for him at home and Yuta thinks he’s too young for jail time.
“There she is!”
Men in tuxedos appear from a corner and Maki mutters a loud ‘shit!’ before leaving the scandalized Yuta laying on the road. She runs again to escape and Yuta turns over to the side as the men follow her.
He glances up to see the men and the girl chasing each other. “What’s with that girl?” he worries for a second, what could possibly those men would do once they caught her? Yuta thinks of reporting it to the nearest station because he doubts he has the strength to stand up against them and the girl might also suspect that he’s one of the men because he accidentally touched her boob.
After he reports it, Yuta walks home. His uniform is filthy and wrinkled, all thanks to the troubles today. One from his bullies at school and the other is from an unknown girl who slapped the fuck out of him and leaves like nothing happened.
He stopped midway and peers intently, seeing a sleek black car parked in front of their house.
“So cool!” he mumbles, checking the rear and front of the car. He hasn’t seen this one before and he doubts it’s owned by their neighbor. Yuta has limited knowledge of car models but he knows this one came from a luxurious line.
“AH! There you are,”
Yuta jumps and faces the person, ready to apologize for ogling the owner’s car when he - a white-haired, tall, and really good-looking man wearing all black, obviously expensive clothes, approaches him with his hands in his pockets.
“Okkotsu Yuuta-kun,”
Yuta gapes and tilts his head in confusion. The man knows him?
“Hi!” Satoru grins widely like an excited child. “I am your cousin!”
A mysterious man appeared in his life. A man who will change everything.