Chapter Text
When Megumi first noticed that a pattern was beginning to form around him, he initially tried to pass it off as a coincidence.
After all, Megumi shouldn't worry about coincidences too much.
But it was something odd, and this suspicion that lingered at the back of his brain was like a Nue [1]. Megumi couldn’t quite put his finger on it, about the circumstances regarding the string of people that vanished from his life.
The first person to leave him was his mother. Logically, he must have had one because Megumi didn’t remember her. Sometimes he assumed that she abandoned them judging by his father's actions or, perhaps, she was dead when he observed beneath the surface.
Megumi later realized that his dad lost more than just a spouse when she died. Even if his father went out with other women charmed by his looks, he did not see them in the same way as they did.
There were times when his father would disappear for days, and, conveniently, he would drop Megumi off at someone else’s house.
"...know what happens if you make me look bad in front of him.”
"Yes, mom."
As they were waiting outside the apartment of his dad’s new girlfriend, Megumi raised his face to look up at him. The thin walls of the complex made it easy to overhear the conversation, but his father’s expression looked like someone listening to a morning assembly.
Which was covered by a mask in a beat as the door opened to let them in. A quick exchange ensued: his father, in a rush to go out; the woman, chasing behind him. They forgot the introductions, leaving the kids to do what their parents did not.
Megumi was still standing by the genkan[2] when a curious girl approached him.
"Hi, I'm Tsumiki," Her eyes smiled as she greeted him. "What's your name?"
Megumi stared at Tsumiki. Hand clutching his backpack’s strap, rooted to his spot.
"...Megumi."
"Nice to meet you, Megumi!" She said without a comment about his name. “Come in! Make yourself home while I prepare dinner.”
The warm welcome triggered Megumi’s alarms as he took off his shoes, placing them neatly in a corner so as to not intrude on others, before following her into a tiny living room.
Tsumiki went to the kitchen where she stepped on a stool and rummaged through a decayed-looking cabinet with practiced ease. "I'm not that good at cooking, but what do you want to eat? We have noodles, bread… ah! how about fried rice? There is still some leftover from yesterday."
Megumi’s gaze fell on a drawer filled with easy to prepare food.
He supposed he could give Tsumiki the benefit of doubt because they were in similar situations. Megumi would go along with this until his father came back and found another woman to pay for him.
His father does not come back.
And it took a few years for Tsumiki's mom to do the same.
In truth, Megumi didn’t have a favourable thought about her, and he wasn’t particularly attached to his father as he barely remembered what he looked like. So, it was just Tsumiki and him.
He wondered how long it would take until someone noticed that two kids were living on their own.
The answer arrived a few weeks later when their doorbell rang. Megumi tensed up at the sound, hands gripping the covers of the book he was reading.
Tsumiki covered for him as she stood up from the tatami floor where she was working on her homework to check on the door. She looked through the peephole and a hum of surprise escaped from her before Tsumiki opened the door, chain lock still latched on.
A cousin of her mother came to take them in. Megumi was cautious, would they act in Tsumiki’s best interests? He didn’t trust Sato-san even if his sister recognized her relative, but he couldn’t complain because they needed an adult who would act as their guardian. Indeed, beggars can’t be choosers.
Sato also suggested bringing them to her place. The siblings refused when they told her that they could handle living on their own with the past weeks being proof of it.
Megumi thought how someone must have forced her into this duty when the adult desisted on her offer without putting much resistance. She acted as their guardian in name, because she loathed having to spend time on them.
But this was okay. The arrangement they made was good enough for both parties.
It was during his elementary school years that Megumi started to catch glimpses of hideous creatures slithering around.
Tsumiki couldn’t see them, or anyone else for that matter. There was no use in speaking up about them and they appeared harmless. So, Megumi resorted to what he always did in other situations too. He kept to himself.
That would have been his plan if not for Itadori Yuuji. Because of Megumi's stand-offish behavior, others would say mean things about him. Not like he let them get to him, but Itadori worried.
“You don’t have to do this,” Megumi sighed as he looked at his classmates scampering away. “I don’t care what they say.” His gaze switched to the crack that Itadori accidentally made in the wall. How will they explain this to their teacher now?
“It’s not okay, Fushiguro!” Itadori refuted. He followed Megumi’s eyes and winced when he noticed the damaged wall.
Megumi found Itadori to be a peculiar classmate. Apart from his extraordinary physical strength, he got along with everyone easily. Up to an acquaintance level.
Then why did he have to pick Megumi to stick with?
Itadori gave up on trying to fix the hole, shoulders slumped with the thought of having to tell the teacher about damaging school property again.
“Fushiguro, I think you are a good person. What they are saying is wrong, they don’t know you.”
“How did you come up with that?”
“Uuuuh… just a feeling?”
Megumi did not reply as he started walking to the teacher’s office. Itadori trailed behind him with apprehension.
The bad thing is that Suzuki-sensei was busy, so they had to wait for her to listen to them. The good thing is that this time they weren’t scolded seriously.
As they exited school grounds on their way home, Megumi was beginning to question if he should keep repeating himself, because Itadori followed him knowing full well that he lived on the other side. He stopped walking and told him:
“You also don’t have to do this.”
Itadori had been accompanying Megumi home for the past days whenever he could. Because, as Itadori said:
“No! There are weird people around your house!”
Megumi threw a stare, expression unchanging, and Itadori panicked at the implication. “Ah! Ehm- I didn’t mean it to say bad things about you, sorry.”
“It’s okay. I know.” He turned and resumed his walk.
Megumi didn’t need someone protecting him on the way home. He was fine.
First, even if Yuuji was strong, a small body can’t compete against that of an adult, and second, on the extremely rare chance of something happening, having to worry about another person in an assault was troublesome for Megumi.
“What kind of people did you see?”
“Huh?”
“Near my house.” He supplied.
“Oh!” Itadori squinted his eyes in thought, trying to recall appearances. “I saw this bald scary looking guy with drawings on his body! There are also people with weird hair colors like yellow and white! One talked in a funny way… My dad told me they could be doing bad things, and that some can be ya… ya- umm, yankees.”
“You mean yakuza[3].”
“Yeah, that!” Itadori beamed at the help. He went silent and added, “Do you think that’s their natural hair color?”
Megumi glanced at him, reading behind his question, and reassured him with a huff. “I wouldn’t worry about it.”
“Why not? Hey, Fushiguro, that’s an important question!”
“I guess.”
Megumi came to the conclusion that Itadori was a kind… friend? He decided he could go with that just like how he adjusted to Tsumiki.
Or not.
As the next week, Itadori changed schools. His father remarried and they had decided to move to Sendai.
Itadori wanted to keep in contact with him, so they exchanged phone calls sometimes, but their amount slowly declined over time as he complained about his new stepmother meddling with them.
Even though Itadori wasn't there anymore, Megumi managed himself without issue.
He believed that.
This time, Megumi was waiting on his own outside the teacher’s office since he forgot to talk to her about the school field trip for next week.
“Excuse me, Suzuki-sensei,” Megumi said while peeking into the room. He figured he would have to wait as usual.
“Megumi-kun, what is it?” His teacher dropped her work to focus on him.
“About the school field trip next week, I won’t be able to go.” He answered, puzzled by her full attention.
Suzuki’s expression changed. “If it’s about your classmates, I already had a talk with the class about it. You don’t have to be scared.” Something was different. She had changed.
He did not expect his teacher to act like one now. Perhaps Itadori and his father talked with her about it before they left?
He shook his head. “It’s not that. We can’t afford it.”
“That’s okay. Someone already paid for you.”
Megumi blinked. His surprise from before turned into confusion. “May I know who did it?”
“They want to keep it a secret.” Her lips were tight as was her smile that appeared.
Well, he did talk with Itadori before about not being able to go on the upcoming trip. Did he think Megumi wouldn’t be able to know it was him?
“Okay. I hope it’s not much trouble but, if you can pass them a message, I would like to express my gratitude to them.” Megumi settled with a polite bow.
She grinned. “Of course! I’ll be sure to tell them.”
Ah.
That’s what was odd. His teacher was smitten. She reminded him of the women that tried to impress his father. Whoever she fell in love with must be influencing her newfound teacher aspiration.