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Damnit
They got me.
How could he have defended himself from this? How could he have prepared himself?
No. No, he should have known the moment he knew he was the target, that it wasn’t an attempt to kill him, but to defeat him. He’d gone so long without an inkling of a challenge to his abilities that he’d allowed himself too much arrogance, that he’d blinded himself to the possibilities of objects and techniques that could subvert or nullify infinity. He thought the only current threat to him was the Black Rope, and had thus trusted the task to seek out it out to Yuta while he held the fort here in Japan.
Yet, Gojo neglected to acknowledge threats unknown and unseen, and charged forward like a blind bull, assuming this would be much the same as the attack on the school.
It was anything but.
“You… didn’t have Ieiri Shoko dispose of Geto Suguru’s body, did you?”
The parasite puppets Suguru’s face, the teeth of it’s true body remaining set within the exposed moist, wrinkled brain. Cerebral fluid leaks from the open skull, Satoru feels increasingly sick, everything disgusting and wrong and realizing all at once just how badly he’d fucked up. How he’d failed to allow his friend his final rest, his cremation.
He told Suguru he wouldn’t curse him. He thought he hadn’t, had tried not to. Somehow though, in his selfishness, he’d succeeded in doing so anyway.
Love truly is the worst curse of all.
Ethereal eyes iced with rage, Satoru remembers then that all is not lost. His friends, his students, his comrades and allies, people and things he has spent near over a decade to grow and foster stand to rise in his place.
The parasite moves to replace Suguru’s skull cap, presumably to continue its victory speech. It’s something Gojo is loath to be made part of (he probably should stall for time, but fuck it, this has been a shit day and he wants to face his failures helplessly for as short as possible), and he’s about to tell the disgusting creature as much when out of nowhere the exposed brain explodes. The ballistic force of a bullet tears through and rips the organ from its host and into the air. The thundering crack of the deafening gunshot only just Satoru’s ears as more thunder follow, a storm of bullets tearing into it and around the hollow skull of Suguru’s body. Satoru’s mind freezes blank as he’s sucked back to another traumatizing head-shot from many years prior. But this wasn’t him being shot. It wasn’t her. It wasn’t Suguru.
The blasted brain tumbles across the subway floor with a wet sound, the human body collapsing in a limp heap, a marionette without its strings. Immediately, pushing apart bewildered and terrified civilians, a glowing jellyfish darts forward and snatches up the brain, wriggling mass of tenacles ensnaring it.
Gojo swings his head towards the shot’s origin, only to see a teenage, his newest student, rushing him, gun on the floor behind. Focus suppresses the emotion on his face, but as he comes within arms reach and raises a flat palm towards the snare of the prison realm, Gojo finds their green eyes indescribably stressed.
“Gate Open.”
The fleshy web grabbing him like a wad of gum snaps back into the hovering fragments, then back together to form a simple cube in the teens hand.
“Seal aborted.”
Just like that, Gojo Saturo was free.
Flying triumphantly to the teen, the jellyfish, the shikigami, carries the parasitic brain back with it, two beady black eyes looking to him for instruction. The young sorcerer, Yoshino Junpei, turns his lips downward in a deeply disgusted look, the way a pet parent might frown when presented with their furbaby’s kill.
“Just eat it already, Orizuki.”
The Shikigami hums ethereally, dancing in delight, its tentacles slowly feeding the ugly thing up into it’s mouth.
Technically from an investigative perspective, he should tell his student to not allow the shikigami to destroy the brain, but having just been given a reality check on the dangers of allowing dangerous corpses and curses to not be properly disposed of, Gojo lets it slide. Overall, he feels equal parts gratified and disappointed in the anticlimactic ending of the bastard. Almost as if he’d been robbed of executing righteous retribution.
Probably, definitely, for the best. Getting revenge personally was way overrated. There was plenty of schadenfreude to be had in someone else doing the job for you.
As Orizuki seems to take pleasure in injecting the organ with more acidic toxins, and pulling it up into its transparent body (and stomach), Gojo finally clicks his tongue and shakes himself from his stupor.
“Hey, uh, thanks for that Yoshino-kun. I gotta say, none of this was on my bingo card for tonight.”
Junpei, having his eyes locked as well on the morbidly fascinating sight of his shikigami snacking on the greatest threat to mankind in years, slowly nods.
“A fourth remake of body-snatchers wasn’t on mine, either… definitely had the worst jump scare though.” the film junkie jokingly admits, much to Gojo’s immediate amusement, before turning to glance at the bloody mess he’d made of the corpse’s skull. “I’m sorry, I know you knew him, but I wanted to be sure- I didn't know if it’d work- if I’d even be able to hit it at all.” Junpei’s voice lacks the confidence of before, the strength behind it melting as shock sets in, revealing the often-timid soul Gojo had come to recognize. “But I’m glad it did. I don’t want to think what would happen without you.”
That draws a smile onto Gojo’s face, his own relief overshadowed by the fondness for his student’s concern and faith. “It’s alright, my friend died a long time ago.” Seeing Suguru’s body gored a second time wasn’t pleasant by any means, but he knows his friend would forgive it for the sake of dignity. “If anyone’s at fault for it being disgraced, it’s mine.”
It was a difficult truth to swallow, but then so were many things in the world.
“Me being stuck in a box might have made things rough for a while, but it wouldn’t have been the end of the world.” He bolsters him, hand resting on his shoulder and shielding the boy with infinity. Although the greatest danger had been dealt with, there were plenty others currently surrounding them and the basement floors of the Shibuya Haikari.
“It could have been,” the teen argues back, lips twisting to the side and leering “If you’re gone, what’s to stop them from executing Itadori-kun?”
This kid…!
Of course, the boy’s strength and motivation here swung right back around to Itadori. The kid was one of Yoshino’s strongest driving forces, and holding any illusion that the boy would risk his life just because or for the greater good was laughable. At least for now, Yoshino Junpei was a person who lived only for himself and those he cared about. Given the overt altruism of Fushiguro and Itadori, and Kugisaki’s moderate level of compassion, the fourth first year had added another spectrum of ideals to balance out.
Damnit, he loves his idiots.
Regardless of all his self-serving foresight, Yoshino-kun still doesn’t know half of how bad it could have become.
Hopefully, it stays that way a while yet.
Giddiness tickling Gojo’s spirits, he sounds an exaggerated hum, shakes his head, and pointedly raises a finger in objection.
“Ah, but Yoshino-kun, I have faith in all my students; you should, to.”
“Sensei…!” On cue, Yoshino’s cheeks flare up, indignant and embarrassed. Despite responding to the banter, he sees the tension in the boy’s back, the tremble beginning to shake his hands, stress pushing itself to the surface. Not a good time for that. “You and the others have been growing very strong, and then there’s the likes of Okkotsu to back you up. Besides that, aren’t you and Kugisaki always complaining that I do nothing?”
Junpei’s face twists and continues to heat in embarrassment, and Gojo grins wider as the boy stutters a flustered flurry of excuses and explanations.
“It’s alright, it’s alright Yoshino-kun, I’m not mad at all!”
“Idiot, you’re making me nervous!”
“You’re doing a swell job doing that yourself.” He quips back, noting that the boy’s breathing was steady enough, and the irritation made his voice stronger. Hoping to distract both him and himself from the near catastrophe that had occurred, The Strongest steers his student to the discarded gun, discreetly keeping his sixeyes focused on Suguru’s corpse and the remaining gore of the parasite. The other curses were sure to be nearby among the ongoing chaos, and now that the boy had revealed himself it painted a bullseye on his head.
Thankfully, the gunshots had done a swell job of creating an even larger clearing in the sea of people around them, the buzz of panicked, crying voices near deafening.
“How did you know how to open the cube?”
“Ah, Mechamaru-kun told me.”
“Mechamaru?” Hadn’t he gone rogue?
“Yeah, he um- oh, wait.” Junpei lifts a hand to his right ear, touching a miniature Mechamaru earpiece sitting upon it.
“Mechamaru-kun, please tell the others Gojo-sensei has been freed.”
“They already know Yoshino-kun, I told them of your success”
“Eh?” The boy’s face flashes rapidly between turning white, and a blazing heat burning his cheeks. “W-why did you tell them that? I told you not to say anything!”
There’s a distinct smile behind the mechanized voice. “Reporting your status is important too.”
“Mechamaru-!”
“Excuse me,” Gojo butts in, handing Junpei his gun and laughing at the expense of the student, senses prickling at the edges. “Thank you Mechamaru for the part you played in this, I expect to hear more about it later. Now, unless there’s something else vital to the situation, I need a way to get Yoshino-kun somewhere safe.”
“I’m afraid there are not many places like that,” The special grade admits, “Currently there are three active barriers around Shibuya right now. Curtain A traps civilians, and Curtain B traps you, Gojo. Phones can’t be used within the barriers. A fourth curtain, C, blocked sorcerers from entering, but it was brought down by Itadori-san’s team not long ago.”
“That’s why I’m here.” Junpei clarifies, ejecting an empty cartridge and reloading the handgun, the motions seeming to steady his hands. “Maki-san and I were the only ones who could get through the C curtain, so were sent to update you and break barrier B.”
“I see,” His weird curse energy, right. “Have Itadori-kun and any other sorcerers you’ve contact with prioritize Barrier B, then Inner A. To be effective, I need mobility first and foremost.”
“Understood. Yoshino-kun---”
“I’m afraid we will need to cut this short,” Apologizing as a way of explanation, Gojo clarifies “as we’re about to have company.”
“Already?” His student asks at the same time Mechamaru dismisses himself, glancing up at Gojo uncertainly.
“Geto- oh!” A masculine voice cracks into childish laughter, draining the color from the boy’s face. Skidding into the hall and near Geto Suguru’s body, cheers a man stitched together and with wild eyes and silver hair. “No way, no way! JOGO, CHOSO, LOOK! GETO’S DEAD!” Celebrating his ally’s death was Mahito, practically dancing at the outcome. Plucking up the fallen portion of skull with curiosity, he spins it on his finger, then grins wide with inspiration as a cyclops curse and man with a black stripe across his nose stroll in behind him.
Spinning to face them, Mahito drops the skull cap onto his own head.
“Look guys, no problem, I’ll be Geto now!”
Jogo, eye wide and stressed beyond measures, exclaims. “Would you put that down? This is serious! Agh, this is what we get for teaming up with a Human. What a waste of time.”
Under his palm, Gojo feels Junpei suck in a deep breath, and squeezes his shoulder to grab his attention.
“Easy, you’re not fighting anyone right now.”
The boy’s eyes are ripe with tears of rage. “But- but Gojo-”
“No, Yoshino-kun. Not here, not now.” The civilian factor alone complicated things, but knowing one student was at ground zero and another at the near perimeter, Gojo would prioritize their safety over the lives of every bystander. “Do you know of the Trolly Problem?”
“I- yes? What does- that-”
“Those curses and I are the train, Yoshino-kun, and you and all those people are on the tracks.”
Slowly Junpei’s pupils constrict, brows pinching as understanding creeps in. “W-what…?”
“For now, just stay close to me Yoshino-kun.” Gojo rubs and pats his student’s shoulder, “When the opportunity presents itself, I need you to continue searching for the transmitters.”
The boy’s eyes war with his teacher’s, speechless. After what feels an eternity but is only a matter of seconds, he bows his head and stiffly nods, hands clenched in a white knuckled grip. Eyes softening and smile approving, Gojo praises the boy’s resolve and cooperation.
“Good. Let me show you what The Strongest can do.”
Without further explanation, Satoru scoops his student up and under his arm. Junpei instantly wiggles and sputters, but forces himself calm as the man waves his free hand to grab the squabbling curses’ attention.
“Excuse me! Yes, hello! Much as I love to interrupt, I’m going to need to interrupt and veto any and all plans of yours”
Jogo and Mahito, the ones arguing, twist and turn their eyes abruptly onto the sorcerers. The third, Choso, had been facing them the entire time and simply shifts his eyes. Immediately the mismatched eyes of the patchwork curse brighten, face splitting into a monstrous grin.
“-Jogo, I change my mind again! I want to kill Junpei first!”
“Ah, are you as deaf as you are ugly? My student’s here now, and it’s time for a lesson.” Gojo lowers his hand near his face, fingers folding. “Domain Expansion,”
Jogo sees it, knows it, has moved to run, but-
“Infinite Void.”
