Chapter Text
It has been officially eight years since Utahime entered the workforce and became a teacher in a private school in the Kyoto Prefecture. Coming from a family of teachers, it was not surprising that she would end up teaching, as well. Growing up, she didn't really mind whichever profession she would end up in, since she always excelled in school. Furthermore, teaching was supposed to be a vocation and a fulfilling profession, even if it wasn’t a lucrative one. Fortunately, she was being paid at a higher rate than her other counterparts.
The school she was teaching in was very prestigious, in which only the most elite families in Japan would be able to send their children. It was not enough that the family who wanted their children to study in Kyoto Jujutsu High School had money. Lineage was also an important factor, unless you were scouted by the school. Hence, they hired elite teachers, while also paying them at an elite rate. Utahime's grades in high school and university helped a lot in landing her a spot in the school, especially since she was not an alumna of the said high school, but of its sister school. Having graduated at the top of her class in high school, and also with honors in Todai, she was immediately hired by the old principal after listening to her demo class.
At first, teaching children from elite families seemed pretty intimidating. Her previous experience with children from elite families was not exactly a walk in the park, especially when they were disrespectful, loud-mouthed, and rambunctious.
Fortunately, her students were a different story.
Even if they were all privileged and aware that she was not an alumna of the school, they were all respectful to her. They listened to her and never gave her any headache. In fact, they all performed really well, that the least performing student in their school would probably still make it to Todai.
A knock on the door was heard as a freshman opened the door to the faculty room, “Excuse me,” Nitta Arata said with an awkward look on his face, waving reluctantly at the black-haired teacher. “Utahime-sensei, the cafeteria lady was looking for you.”
The cafeteria lady was looking for you.
That was the cue that students gave when students were looking for Utahime to talk to her. Utahime was widely-known to be the most approachable teacher in Kyoto Jujutsu High School, despite being in-charge of discipline and order. Thus, students often looked for her to ask their opinion on certain matters that bothered them. Since Utahime wasn't one to tattletale, it was easy for the students to trust her.
“Alright! Thanks for telling me. I’ll just finish a few things here,” Utahime smiled, as Arata nodded enthusiastically. It must be a follow up session from their talk a week ago. The freshman was contemplating whether he should become an anesthesiologist, or work in their family’s business, just like his older sister. Utahime recalled that the kid had an affinity with biology, and was even part of the paramedics in the school. So, she advised him to gauge whether his family would be open to him entering a different profession, especially since somebody else would be able to inherit the family business already.
She stood up from her chair before making her way to the cafeteria, where she would usually hold her sessions with the kids who wanted to talk to her. Normally, this would have been the Guidance Counsellor’s job, but the students preferred talking to her, despite being the Prefect of Discipline. On her way to the Cafeteria, she sees the Principal, Gakuganji Yoshinobu, walking along the corridors running across Utahime. Utahime smiled and greeted the older teacher before making her way to the cafeteria.
“Are you on your way to the cafeteria? It just closed a while ago,” Gakuganji informed Utahime, knowing that the end of the corridor was the school cafeteria.
Utahime nodded, holding up her empty water bottle, “Ah, it’s okay. I just needed to refill my water bottle.”
“Oh,” Principal Gakuganji nodded, before his eyebrows hit each other in wonder, “Isn’t there a water dispenser in the faculty room?” He asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Ah, I prefer the water fountain by the cafeteria. I think the filter of the dispenser in the faculty room needs to be replaced,” Utahime casually reminded the older man that the filter in the faculty room has not been changed for months. She remembered one of the older faculty members complaining about it a few days back.
“I see.”
Utahime smiled back, not knowing what else to reply.
“I should not hold you then. I have some things to fix,” Gakuganji walked away as Utahime gave a casual bow before hurrying to the water dispenser beside the cafeteria. She filled her water bottle for a few minutes. When it was already full, she looked left and right, checking if the coast was clear. When she saw that there was nobody already, she quickly entered the cafeteria with her water bottle. Nitta Arata was there sitting by one of the tables, a can of juice on his hand.
“I hope I didn’t make you wait so much,” Utahime smiled sheepishly as the blond shook his head.
“It’s okay, sensei,” he smiled.
“So, what happened?” She took her seat as the young blond narrated to her how his parents reacted when he tried talking to warm up the idea of him not succeeding the family business. Last week, Utahime suggested to tell his parents of how his other friends were not succeeding the family business, preferring to get a profession first. Unfortunately, when Arata tried Utahime's suggestion, his parents shut down the idea, wanting him to succeed the family business, even if his older sister was already working in the family business. While Arata didn’t specify it, Utahime knew that old families were more traditional and patriarchal, preferring to hand over the family business to the sons, instead of the daughters who were already working hard in the family business.
“I see,” Utahime sighed, wondering if there was anything she could say to support her student. In her opinion, students were better suited to follow their dreams, instead of following the whims of their parents. If the kids end up failing in life because they were not passionate of the path their parents chose for them, it would already be too late for regrets. Worse, if the parents would start blaming on the child for failing to reach what they chose for the child.
“Should I just give up, sensei?” Arata asked, a tired and weary smile on his face. Utahime didn’t want to crush his dream, but she also knew that parents from elite families were more rigid. But, the kid had two more years in high school. Things could still change in two years.
“Nitta-kun, let’s wait it out for two more years,” Utahime suggested, “You’re only 15, right?”
The blond nodded.
“You have two more years in high school. Let’s wait it out for two more ye-“
RING
A ringtone interrupted Utahime’s thoughts as she excused herself from the freshman for a moment. She answered her phone when she was out of the blond’s earshot.
“Is this Iori Utahime?” The person on the other line asked.
“Ah, yes. This is Iori Utahime speaking. May I please know who I’m talking to?”
“This is Inuhara Kaede from the Tokyo Police Department,” the person on the other line introduced himself.
Tokyo Police Department? Why would the Tokyo Police Department contact her when she was all the way in Kyoto? Utahime was bewildered for a moment. What could possibly happen when she had already moved her life to Kyoto years ago? It was also unlikely that her family would be caught in something, especially when-
“Iori-san?”
“Ah, yes, Officer, what can I do for you?” She asked, regaining her composure.
“We arrested your students who were causing a fight here in Tokyo.”
“My students are in Tokyo? I don’t understand. I’m teaching in a school here in Kyoto.”
“Kamo Noritoshi, Toudou Aoi, Nishimiya Miya, Zenin Mai, Muta Kokichi, and Miwa Kasumi, these are your students, yes? We caught them causing a brawl with another group of students here in Tokyo.”
Utahime groaned.
Oh no.
Utahime finds herself in Tokyo hours later after she was able to take the next trip to Tokyo on the bullet train. She didn’t think she would find herself in Tokyo this easily, but here she was. She immediately rushed to the Police Precinct as soon as the train arrived on the platform.
She had a lot of questions inside her head, especially since she knew that three of the students mentioned were from elite families, while the other three were scouted by the school. It was not surprising, however, that they decided to point Utahime as their guardian since: first, it was gonna cause them a lot of trouble if the police contacted their parents; second, Utahime was the only teacher they could trust not to telltale; and third, all of them were her students either in the present or in the past.
Utahime sighed as she arrived at the police station with a hardened look on her face. She introduced herself, “I’m the teacher of the six students from Kyoto who were brought in. My name is Iori Utahime.”
“Ah, yes. I was the person you were talking over the phone earlier,” Inuhara Kaede introduced himself, giving a slight bow, which Utahime returned. Inuhara led Utahime to her students who were sitting at the side with a somber look on their faces, all roughed up with scratches, wounds, and a cast for some.
“What exactly happened?” Utahime asked the police officer.
“Sensei, we were just-“ Nishimiya tried to reason out, but Utahime shook her head, stopping her from saying what she wanted to say.
“I was asking the police officer. Not you, Nishimiya. Don’t interrupt him.”
Nishimiya begrudgingly frowned, looking down, while the others sighed. Nishimiya obviously wanted to explain before Utahime heard what the police officers would say.
“We caught them and some students from Tokyo Jujutsu High in a brawl against each other in one of the street alleys here in Tokyo. The cameras showed that your students were actually going to ambush one student from Tokyo Jujutsu High."
“Ambush?” Utahime turned to her students with a glare, who were all looking down in shame, “And, what happened to the student from Tokyo Jujutsu High?” She turned back to the police officer.
“Fortunately, he was able to stand his ground until his friends arrived. It turned to an all-out brawl between the two groups,” Inuhara narrated as Utahime turned to her students with a disapproving look on her face. She couldn’t believe that they would just ambush a student all of a sudden. From the looks of it, the six students intentionally went to Tokyo to cause a brawl with the student. “And where is the student now? I want to talk to him and apologize in behalf of my students."
Her students looked up from their seats, surprised that their teacher was going to apologize in their stead. “Sensei, you don’t have to apologize in behalf of us, we-“ Utahime cut them all off with a glare before turning back to the police officer. They shut up once again and looked down again.
“He left earlier with his friends after their teacher showed up and took them out. He’s not pushing for charges, especially since.…” the police officer pointed to her students who all looked like they were the ones who got ambushed instead. From the way the police officer was implying, her students were probably in a worse state compared to the students from Tokyo Jujutsu High School.
“Regardless of the state of my students at the moment, I feel like I still need to personally apologize to him. I don’t think it’s right to just finish things without an apology. Would you be able to give me his contact details?” Utahime insisted as Inuhara nodded, giving out the student’s details to Utahime immediately.
Name: Itadori Yuuji
Birthdate: March 20, 2002
Address: Tokyo Jujutsu High School Dormitory
Utahime groaned. She couldn’t believe that her students had the audacity to ambush a person who was younger than all of them. The six of them were either born on 2000 or 2001, but they all decided to ambush one boy who was younger than all of them.
“Do you know if there's any way for me to contact his parents? I'd also like to apologize to them personally.” She said, taking out her phone to take a photo of the student's details.
“I remembered that he was an orphan with no immediate relatives left to take care of him, so his guardian is his current teacher. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the teacher’s contact details.”
An orphan at that!
She turned to her students, shaking her head in disbelief on how they could ambush an orphan. Honestly, she hoped that they would realize the unfortunate state the person they ambushed had: Itadori Yuuji was a kohai who lost his entire family during his teenage years.
Fortunately since Itadori decided not to push charges, her students were released without any issue. After filling out a few documents, Utahime was able to release all her students from the Police Station.
“Tomorrow, I want to meet everyone at the cafeteria after your classes. I don’t care if you have an extra-curricular activity or not. I’m exercising my authority as the Prefect of Discipline,” Utahime told her students with a serious face before they boarded the train back to Kyoto.
The six of them nodded, knowing that it was useless to argue with Utahime. The whole trip was silent, except for Aoi who was busy texting on his phone with an enthusiastic look on his face. Utahime didn’t see the need to reprimand him, especially since she was going to talk to them altogether tomorrow afternoon. Utahime stared at her reflection on the window and sighed. And to think she really thought her students would not give her any headache. But at least, it wasn't bad as her experience in the past when she had to visit the police station to release people from police custody.
In fact, it wasn’t the first time she spoke to Officer Inuhara Kaede, who was usually in-charge of catching juveniles in trouble. Hence, when she spoke to the old man on the phone, she knew that it was not a scam. Years ago when Utahime was younger but already legal, she had the same experience of appearing in the police station to bring out minors from the police station who were taken by the police for various reasons: drinking alcohol, fighting in brawls, gambling in the pachinko parlor, loitering late at night, etc.
She stared at the window, looking at the bright moon, feeling a bit nostalgic than usual.
“Sensei,” Miwa called her, interrupting Utahime’s thoughts. “We ordered some bento. This is yours.” Miwa handed Utahime a bento that was their dinner for the night. They didn’t opt to eat out in Tokyo anymore since they had to rush back to Kyoto. Furthermore, getting them out of police custody all the way in Tokyo was not something worth celebrating.
“Miwa, weren’t you supposedly sick with the flu, and that’s why you didn’t go to school today?” Utahime asked, her eyebrows furrowed, remembering that her other students told her that morning that Miwa was not in class because she was down with the flu.
Miwa started to panic, scrambling for an excuse, “I… Well, you see, sensei, I-“
“Never mind,” Utahime scratched her head. “Let’s save all that for tomorrow afternoon.”
Miwa sighed in relief, which Utahime pretended she didn’t see.
It was definitely going to be a long day tomorrow.
“So, what exactly happened?” Utahime asked, looking at the six students who were seated across her. The six of them had different looks on their faces: Noritoshi had a stern look on his face, Aoi looked bored, Momo was clearly putting on a brave front, Mai looked annoyed, Mechamaru was just silent, but was looking at Miwa, who was obviously nervous. Of the six of them, only Miwa looked like she was regretting what happened the day before. However, nobody was answering her question.
“Someone should talk or I’m gonna suspend all of you not only for one week, but for another week, too.”
Nobody was budging. They kept their mouths shut, not even bothering to say something. It was as if they didn’t hear Utahime’s question. This was a very surprising attitude from her students, who always showered Utahime with adoration and respect.
Utahime frowned, feeling a headache surfacing, “Let’s make that a month.”
“Sensei!” Momo was the first one to break as Miwa was already on the verge of crying. Miwa was on a scholarship and actually cared about getting suspended, since she had to support her family as soon as she graduated. But for some reason, she was keeping her mouth shut. Momo, fortunately, cared a lot for Miwa, even if both she and Mai would tease the blue-haired girl once in a while.
“Why don’t you tell me what happened then, Nishimiya?” Utahime turned to Momo with a stern look on her face.
“We just got into a brawl with students from Tokyo Jujutsu High, sensei. That shouldn’t be a big deal, right? Besides, it’s the first time,” Nishimiya tried to talk her way out, but Utahime knew there was something suspicious about it. She knew her students well, and Utahime knew that they were not the type to start things without a reason. Once in a while, they were childish and immature, but who wasn’t immature in high school, right? However, ambushing a kid they supposedly didn’t personally know all the way in Tokyo was something out of the question.
“The way you’re talking about it being the first time makes it seem like that there’s gonna be a next time,” Utahime noted starkly as Nishimiya didn’t speak anymore.
“Miwa was just standing there the whole time. She even passed out in the middle of the brawl. I don’t think you should suspend her, sensei,” Mechamaru spoke all of a sudden, earning Utahime’s attention.
“Is this true?” Utahime asked the rest of the students, who nodded without a second thought.
Utahime took note of the change of Miwa's liability on her notebook, “I won’t suspend Miwa for a month. However, first, she lied to her teacher that she was sick. I'm not punishing her because she was absent, but because she lied. Second, she was also there in Tokyo, but she didn’t bother stopping the rest of you from starting a brawl. Hence, I’ll suspend her for a week.”
Miwa nodded, feeling a bit better, “Thank you, sensei.”
“Why are you thanking me? You’re supposed to be contemplating on what you did wrong,” Utahime frowned, as Miwa looked down and nodded. “You could’ve stopped them, but you didn’t. Stopping your friends from doing the wrong thing, that’s something that you should have done. You can’t just say that you’re an innocent bystander, if you could’ve stopped them from fighting, Miwa,” Utahime reprimanded the blue-haired girl, who bit her lower lip, feeling dejected.
“Sensei, she fainted in the middle of the brawl,” Mechamaru pointed to Miwa’s head, reminding Utahime of the reason why Miwa had a bandage around her head. Utahime knew why Mechamaru was always over-protective over Miwa: he was head over heels for her, falling for her bright smile and gentle gaze. Hence, it was not surprising that he would come to Miwa’s defense.
Utahime turned to Mechamaru and Miwa, who sat beside each other. Utahime sighed, “Isn’t the ride to Tokyo pretty long? Miwa could’ve tried stopping the brawl from happening in the first place. Did she even attempt to talk everyone out of it?”
Miwa shook her head.
“Hence, a week of suspension for Miwa. The rest of you, since you won’t bother answering my questions, I’ll be suspending everyone for a month.” Utahime scratched her head. Knowing her students, they would probably think of it as a vacation. “This is going to show up on everyone’s records.”
There were collective groans at that.
“Also, I think I should transfer this case to another faculty member, the six of you aren’t even bothering to respect me by answering my questions. I mean, after all, I am just Iori Utahime, I-“
“Sensei, it’s not like that,” Noritoshi tried to reason out, speaking out for the first time. Kamo Noritoshi was the Student Council President, whom everyone in school respected. Being the heir of the Kamo Clan, one of the Big Three Clans, he had the charisma and authority in their group to convince everyone to go to Tokyo. While Utahime didn’t think that Noritoshi was the type who would instigate things, he had everyone’s trust. So, if Noritoshi asked his friends, they would go to Tokyo without a second thought.
“So, what is it?” Utahime asked, turning to him. Noritoshi was clearly contemplating what he was going to tell her. Honestly, if Noritoshi would come clean on what took place, Utahime should be able to finish things.
“My god, Aoi, can’t you stop using your phone at this time?” Mai grumbled, turning to Aoi who was busy on his phone. If Mai didn’t point it out, Utahime wouldn’t have noticed that Aoi was using his phone the whole time.
“Aoi, what are you doing?” Utahime asked, turning to the muscular third year student who looked up from his phone.
“Sensei, I was talking to my best friend,” Aoi replied in a matter-of-fact tone, as if it was no big deal if he was texting someone while Utahime was busy reprimanding him and five other students. Utahime had to clench her forehead for a bit, feeling her headache becoming worse every minute. There was no progress in today’s meeting, aside from the fact that she meted out penalties. Her students were clearly mum about the whole incident and their reasons for doing it. Utahime even has yet to find a way to contact the victim from the brawl. She needed to apologize to him and even determine his side of the story, since he might have an idea on the reasons why her students even decided to start a brawl. Honestly, Utahime wanted to avoid visiting Tokyo Jujutsu High School as much as possible. But, there was no other way for her to contact Itadori Yuuji.
“I can’t believe you’re referring to that Tokyo brat as your best friend when the two of you just met yesterday,” Mai rolled her eyes as Utahime turned to Mai and Aoi.
Tokyo brat? Met yesterday?
“Aoi, by any chance, is the best friend you’re referring to Itadori Yuuji?” Utahime asked, earning Aoi’s attention.
Aoi nodded. “Yup.”
She really should fix that habit of hers of jumping into conclusions so easily.
“Hi, Itadori Yuuji-kun,” Utahime greeted as she arrived inside a family restaurant, where Yuuji was waiting for her. Aoi was the one who arranged the meeting between Utahime and Yuuji, since he had Yuuji’s contact details. In fact, he wanted to join them, but Utahime reminded him that he was on a month-long suspension.
“Hello. You must be Utahime-sensei,” Yuuji greeted Utahime with a bow as he motioned for her to take the seat across his. "Please take a seat!"
“Why don’t we order food first? It’s my treat,” Utahime smiled as Yuuji tried to decline at first, but after Utahime insisted, Yuuji decided to accept. The two of them ordered food and drinks before Utahime decided to go straight to the point why she went to Tokyo for the second time in a week.
“First, I wanted to ask how you were doing. You were in a brawl with my students. I hope you didn’t get a lot of injuries,” Utahime looked at the bruises that Yuuji sustained on his arm. There was quite a good number, which made Utahime cringe when she realized that they came from her students.
Yuuji shook his head, indicating that he was okay, “I’m okay. The doctor in our school, Shoko-sensei, was able to patch me up immediately. So, I wasn’t really that injured. I can still go to school and go about my daily life.”
Utahime kept silent, encountering a familiar name from the freshman’s lips, but decided to shove her other thoughts. This wasn’t the time for that.
“I see. That’s good. But, just in case, you realized that you might have overlooked some pain in your body in the next few days, feel free to contact me so I can go with you to the hospital, okay?” Utahime took out her calling card, handing it to Yuuji. She knew that the kid was an orphan, and might not be aware on the medical procedures he would need to do if he went to the hospital.
Yuuji smiled, taking the calling card from Utahime and keeping it in his hands. "Thank you very much, Utahime-sensei."
“Second, I wanted to apologize to you on behalf of my students. I’m sincerely sorry that they decided to gang up on you all of a sudden. It’s a failure on my part as their teacher,” Utahime apologized, bowing in front of Yuuji.
Yuuji’s eyes widened as he panicked, stopping Utahime from bowing in front of him, “Utahime-sensei, you don’t have to do this. I’m fine, really. I can still go to school. It’s no big deal.”
“Itadori-kun….”
“Besides,” Yuuji scratched his head, feeling a bit uneasy, “the people who should apologize to me in the first place should be your students. You shouldn’t apologize to me on their behalf. You weren’t part of the people who tried to beat me up."
"But, they're my students. They're my responsibility," Utahime insisted.
Yuuji shook his head. "They might be your students, but they have their own minds. It’s not right for you to apologize on their behalf when you had no idea what took place. You also weren’t the one who instigated them to beat me up, right?” Yuuji chuckled at the last part, as if it were a joke. Utahime shook her head. “Utahime-sensei, I know you guide your students, but you cannot completely control what goes on inside their heads.” Yuuji grinned before proceeding to wolf down his cheeseburger.
Utahime went silent for a moment as memories of her youth were flooding inside her thoughts.
The bright sun was shining over a tall, white-haired boy who wore black round glasses to shield his bright blue eyes, who suddenly decided to be a teacher, despite the protests of his family who wanted him to succeed as the future head of their conglomerate. He was talking about this decision to a black-haired girl who wore her hair into two low pigtails.
“Are you even sure of your decision? I don’t think you can just decide to become a teacher when all your life you’ve been groomed to succeed to your family’s conglomerate,” the girl questioned the blond’s decision, feeling very skeptical of his sudden decision.
“It’s the only way to fix this entire system, you know. We can’t just let students suffer from all these traditions that do nothing but stifle human lives. Whether you like it or not, the students of our school will be running this country in the future,” he casually said, as if the girl wasn’t aware that she used to go to school with students whose families composed the top 0.05% of the society. She knew that what he said was reality since everyone around her had the capability to move around Japan’s government and economy.
“Will becoming a teacher really fix things?” She asked him.
He chuckled, seemingly amused by her question. “Of course, they have their own heads. But when we become their teachers, we'll be there to guide them. We can’t control them, but at least we have an influence while they haven’t become so twisted just yet,” he grinned before messing up with her hair.
“Stop messing with my hair! I’m older than you are!”
“-hime-sensei? Utahime-sensei? Are you okay?” Yuuji called out to her as Utahime returned to reality.
“Ah, yes. I’m sorry, Itadori-kun. I was thinking about something. Did you say something?” She asked, smiling sheepishly. It wasn't like her to space out all of a sudden, but she has been feeling nostalgic since yesterday for some reason.
“My adviser told me that he wanted to drop by since I told him that I was talking to the teacher of the students from Kyoto Jujutsu High School. I hope that’s okay with you?” Yuuji asked as Utahime choked on her drink. She coughed for a few moments as Yuuji scrambled for tissues for her to use.
“Yes, I don’t see any problem,” Utahime tried to force a smile on her face. At least, she has a few minutes to compose herself. Honestly, she was not prepared to see anyone in Tokyo, much especially him.
“That’s a relief since he’s already here,” Yuuji pointed to his teacher behind Utahime's seat.
He was already here?
Utahime turned around and saw a white-haired man who was in his late 20s, sporting a black high-necked jacket which also matched his pants. He was no longer the disrespectful, loud-mouthed, and rambunctious youngster from their heydays. Now, he seemed suave, oozing with confidence, and calculating. He nonchalantly searched for them from the entrance of the family restaurant they were in.
“Gojo-sensei!” Yuuji waved at his adviser as Utahime had no choice but to keep herself composed. There was no way to escape this anymore. It was inevitable. And she was going to be professional about this, even if he was going to be an ass about it. “This is Iori Utahime-sensei from Kyoto Jujutsu High School. Utahime-sensei, this is Gojo Satoru-sensei. He’s my adviser,” Yuuji introduced them to each other, unaware that the two teachers before him had a history unlike any other.
Gojo simply gave a smile, that was bordering a smirk, giving a chuckle before opening his mouth, “Ah, so you're the adviser of those rude youngsters from Kyoto who would easily start fights in Tokyo. They must get it from you, Utahime.”
“You’re the only person I don’t get along with!” Utahime roared back without missing a beat, as Yuuji was taken aback by their interaction.
Well, Utahime couldn’t just help it. It was their first interaction in nine years. In those nine years, they never saw each other. And maybe, it was for the better.
Because once upon a time, Gojo Satoru and Iori Utahime were very much in love with each other. They dated for a long time as their relationship lasted for five years. However, nine years ago, they broke up.
And it was a very bad break up.