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Yuta felt like it had been much longer than a year since the last time he’d stepped foot on these grounds. Had it really only been one year? A year since he’d said goodbye to his friends after they all almost died to Geto Suguru? It felt bittersweet in a sense, because yes they were all alive, and Yuta felt closer than ever to his friends, but he was also saying goodbye to them because Gojo was sending him off to train in Africa with Miguel.
But here he was now, stood in front of the looming dormitory building in the darkness of the night. He didn’t know what time it was but he didn’t think people would be awake. He couldn’t imagine sleep came easy as a jujutsu sorcerer, because it certainly didn’t to him, although he could never really sleep that well anyways.
He hiked his bag up onto his shoulder further and winced when it dug into a particularly sore spot. Yuta wasn’t the fondest of planes, especially at this time. He was exhausted and all he wanted to do was lay in his bed and sleep, but the second he stepped into the dormitory building, he was stopped by Gojo.
“Look who’s back!”
“Gojo-sensei,” Yuta greeted, nodding his head. “It’s good to see you.”
“You look dead on your feet.” Gojo replied brightly, hands on his hips as he knelt down to meet Yuta’s eyes through his blindfold.
“I am kind of tired, I was looking forward to sleeping in a bed.”
“Am I keeping you?” Gojo asked.
“Yes.” Yuta deadpanned. He wasn’t one to lie to Gojo, especially when he was tired.
“Do you not want to see everyone?” Gojo wasn’t offended in the slightest. “After being away for so long.”
“Gojo-sensei, you’re very dramatic,” Yuta shook his head but there was a faint smile playing on his lips. “I do want to see them but it’s late, isn’t it? Won’t they all be asleep?”
“Asleep? That’s funny,” Gojo snorted. “No, they’re all awake. I think they’re gathered in the kitchen or something. Come on, we’ll surprise them.”
“Gojo-sensei –” Yuta went to protest but Gojo ignored it and linked his arm with Yuta’s, dragging him down the dimly lit corridor and to the end where the door to the kitchen and living room was open a little. His white-haired sensei wasted no time in sliding the door open and jumping into the room with a wide beam.
“Surprise!” He called out as Yuta slapped the palm of his free hand to his face in exasperation.
“We really didn’t need to make this big of a deal out of this, Gojo-sensei.” Yuta muttered, dropping his hand, and lifting his head to meet the eyes of everyone in the kitchen. He let them scan over all his friends, looking at how much they’d changed.
Maki’s glasses were different, these ones were square and her hair was different too. She had bangs now. Inumaki’s hair had grown longer and it was less spiky, and he replaced his scarf with a high-collared shirt. Panda looked the same as he always had. Megumi was also there and he didn’t look much different, aside from looking a little more mature. He was sitting between two other students, Yuta assumed they were the first years he’d been told about in various letters from his friends. Itadori Yuji, Sukuna’s vessel, had pink hair and a bright beam on his face while the other, Kugisaki Nobara, had narrowed her eyes when she saw Yuta.
“Uhm. Hello.” Yuta cleared his throat, waving with his free hand as Gojo still had his arm linked through Yuta’s.
“Yuta?” Maki was the first to break the silence. “I thought you weren’t coming back for a week!”
“Uh – yeah… so plans changed,” He scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. “I finished my last mission early, and I think Gojo-sensei might have scared Miguel into letting me leave earlier than planned.”
“I didn’t scare him. I persuaded him. Aggressively.” Gojo corrected with a smirk.
“Sensei, you definitely scared him. I’ve never seen Miguel that eager to be rid of me,” Yuta raised his eyebrows. “I suppose I should say thank you, but you might have traumatised him for life now.”
“He’s fine,” Gojo waved it off and let go of Yuta, shoving him towards everyone. “Goodbye now, I’ll be going. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” Yuta watched him go with wide eyes and a sigh of disbelief and exasperation.
“First he doesn’t let me sleep, and now he disappears,” Yuta murmured quietly under his breath before turning back to everyone and taking a step back in shock when he realised Maki and Inumaki were both right in front of him. “Uhm –”
“You look different.” Maki said, cutting him off.
“Salmon,” Inumaki nodded, moving closer and poking Yuta’s shoulder. “Broader shoulders.”
“Yeah, what’s all this?” Maki poked his stomach, and he slapped her hand away light-heartedly.
“You think I wouldn’t get more muscled after training every day for a year and doing missions? Maki, I got more muscled just training with you!” Yuta huffed out a laugh.
“And your hair?” Maki raised her eyebrow, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Yeah, what’s the excuse for that? It’s so long?” Inumaki signed.
“Why are you both teaming up against me? And it’s long because I like it long.”
“Enough interrogation,” Panda’s voice boomed, and Yuta barely looked up to meet his eyes before he had swept all three of them into his big, furry arms and hugged them close. “Hugs.”
“Panda –” Yuta gasped as he struggled to breathe.
“Idiot! You’re going to strangle us!” Maki batted against his arm and Panda loosened his grip. She continued to groan but visibly relaxed for a little, indulging in the hug for a little while before Panda put them all down.
“Never do that again.” Inumaki swatted Panda’s arm, eyebrows furrowed in mock anger.
“No promises,” Panda grinned. “Yuta! You can meet the first years!” Yuta put his bag down beside the door, stretched his arms above his head to crack them after Panda’s hug.
“Okkotsu-senpai,” Megumi greeted, a faint smile on his face as the second years returned to the table with Yuta sitting in between Inumaki and Maki. “Long time no see.”
“So, you’re the one I’ve been hearing so much about.” Nobara’s eyes were still narrowed.
“Am I?” Yuta replied, cocking his head to the side.
“You’re the reason I couldn’t go to Kyoto for the tournament with the Kyoto school. Because you won, and they held it in Tokyo this year.” She crossed her arms over her chest, an undertone of anger lingering in her words.
“Oh,” He winced. “Sorry about that. I –”
“He’s a special grade sorcerer, Kugisaki. Of course he’d win.” Megumi replied, rolling his eyes.
“Shut up, you,” Nobara whacked the back of his head and he grumbled but went quiet. “You ruined a lot of plans that I had.”
“I’m sorry?”
“You better be. You’re taking me to Kyoto and you’re going to show me around, considering you’ve been there. Understood?”
“Yes, ma’am.” He nodded. Yuta might be a special grade sorcerer with a hell of a lot of cursed energy but this girl? She terrified him.
“Good,” A beam replaced the disgruntled look on her face. “I’m Kugisaki Nobara, and this is Itadori Yuji. There’s a second person inside his body. He’s a dick.”
“Kugisaki!” Yuji yelped. “That’s a horrible introduction!”
“I already knew that to be fair,” Yuta chuckled. “I get letters from these guys and Gojo-sensei. He also visits sometimes. He likes to scare Miguel.”
“He told you about us?” Yuji asked, incredulous.
“Yeah. I knew you weren’t dead too. Gojo-sensei tells me everything because there’s no one I can tell it to. No chance higher-ups find out through me.”
“Because you’re so far away?” Nobara asked.
“Well… yes… but also because I don’t like them. They had me sentenced for execution too but Gojo-sensei stepped in. Similar to your situation.” He directed to Yuji who’s mouth dropped open in realisation.
“Really? Why?”
“Do you not listen when I tell you things?” Megumi asked.
“Truthfully, no.” Yuji shook his head, a sheepish smile on his face.
“So why were you going to be executed?” Nobara asked, ignoring the other two.
“Because he cursed the childhood love of his life accidentally when she was dying and she was attacking everyone who touched him.” Maki said bluntly.
“You could have tried to word it better.” Yuta sighed.
“There’s no way to word it better.” She raised her eyebrows.
“What?” Yuji’s eyes widened and Nobara looked intrigued.
“It’s fine, she’s free now but I – she’s sort of like one of Megumi’s shikigami now I guess? I have a lot of cursed energy still so I’m special grade. Helps with my technique.” Yuta explained.
“What’s your technique?” Megumi asked. “I don’t think I know it.”
“I hadn’t developed it very well when we met.”
“He’s a copycat. That’s his technique.” Toge rolled his eyes.
“Yeah, I copy other techniques,” Yuta nodded. “Toge’s was the first one I did actually.”
“You can copy techniques?” Nobara’s eyes widened. “That’s ridiculously overpowered.”
“You see why he’s special grade now. Well… part of the reason I suppose.” Panda shrugged.
“That’s cool,” Yuji breathed out. “Will you train with us, Okkotsu-senpai?”
“Sure. I assume Maki has been training you on fighting, yeah? She can keep doing that, I know she’s miles better than me.”
“You’re a little modest, Yuta,” Maki shook her head fondly. “I am better than you, but you’re not bad by any means.”
“That’s high praise from Maki-san.” Megumi looked impressed.
“Yeah, you’re never getting that praise. You’re so far from Yuta’s league.” The dark-haired girl snorted.
“Thank you for the vote of confidence, Maki-san.” Yuji replied sarcastically.
“No worries. I’m just making sure you knew.”
It had been quite a while since Yuta was able to just sit at a table with a group of his friends and feel so warm inside being surrounded by them. It felt refreshing to be able to sit there and not have to worry about waking up early for more training or a mission or something like that. It felt nice.