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Gojo Satoru is truly lost.
He is The Strongest, no one stands equal to him, he knows, but there is very little in this world that he cares more about then his students.
It wasn't supposed to be that way. Megumi – he's more or less considered a family friend by him (and once, Tsumiki), and an unwanted guardian. As the holder of the incredibly valued Ten Shadows of the Zen'in, it was only natural that Satoru would become his teacher. The best for the best.
Yuuji was just – a mistake of unfortunate circumstances. Someone who shouldn't have been where he was. It was a massive boulder off every Jujutsu Sorcerer's back when it became known that Ryomen Sukuna would finally, finally be exorcised once and for all, and no one would need to continue thinking about those damn fingers in the one thousand years Sukuna has been sealed.
But no one had thought about the vessel, did they. The one who would have to take the fall. The one who was so willing to.
Nobara had been the only sorcerer to end up in his class naturally, in the end. Out of the three, somehow she had been the one to remind Satoru of himself the most. She was arrogant, concerningly sadistic, not above stealing the credit card from the most powerful person alive, and obsessed with fashion.
They are alike in the ways of their matching personalities, expensive tastes and familiar views on their supernatural society. They are unalike in how Nobara was free in every way Satoru wasn't.
It wasn't supposed to be the way it ended up.
Satoru had caught himself too many times thinking about things he shouldn't have, like how he kept muddling over which clothes he should buy for Megumi. How he had started to plan how to derail Yuuji's execution almost daily. How he had made a mental note to himself to buy Nobara a credit card he would personally pay for.
It all kept adding up. Like a person digging his own grave, realising it and not doing anything about it.
And yet.
And yet.
He is still the strongest. He had become a teacher to shape and watch the future generation remake the entire Jujutsu world, and his ambition has not changed. The higher-ups were against his decision from the start, the old fossils that they are, but as long as he stands the strongest, there is only one real higher-up in this world.
(But, a little voice resounds, there was never really 'and yet', was there?)
—
Leaving the Prison Realm made him realise just how much of a weak man he truly was. The Strongest was always a title with a worth he never fully understood up until then.
Nanami is gone, and so is a good portion of the Jujutsu Sorcerers who were stationed at Shibuya. Toge lost an arm. Maki is almost unrecognisable, an entire clan and sister less. Masamichi is gone.
Yuuji has facial scars. Megumi looks a lot more exhausted.
Sixteen year-olds.
It's what makes him snap a little, when he sees Nobara, with her right eye covered by an eyepatch, proudly showing off the rose sewn onto it. Really, it's a miracle he didn't earlier.
Gojo Satoru, The Strongest Jujutsu Sorcerer, renowned for his Six Eyes technique. Not even being able to prevent the destruction of one of his student's eyes.
It's what makes Satoru break a little in the end. It's what makes him do what others would never do.
—
(There was never a 'yet', or a 'but'. There was only 'when'.)
Down he dug.
—
When Satoru tears out his right eye, Nobara says nothing. She's left staring at him, pale and horrified, and her mouth a bit open. The area is silent.
Satoru feels his reserves get cut down in half mercilessly. Despite it, he does not pause in his movements, a small flinch only getting past. He smiles down at her almost content, feeling truly at peace for the first time since Shibuya.
He sees the horror, the denial and confused anger on her face before it even happens, and yet when Nobara opens her mouth and no words come out, she stays looted in one place. As if she knows what's going to happen but isn't strong enough to do anything about it.
Carefully, Satoru leans down and takes off her eyepatch, placing it in his pocket. The scarring is in full view, the melted skin and missing eye-socket in all of its glory. Satoru feels vicious rage for a slight second, before stomping it down. Not now.
He gently wipes all the auburn-dyed hair away, opens her eyelid and slowly places his eye in the socket. It's as mystifying and sky-blue as Satoru remembers seeing in the mirror everyday, and seeing it on someone else leaves him dazed. It doesn't suit Nobara's aesthetic at all, but that will be a problem for the future.
He hummed. Nobara most likely won't be able to use it at this present moment, but once Shoko uses her reversed technique to properly connect it to the optic nerve, she would no doubt be considered a user of the Six Eyes.
His usually flawless face is bleeding from the right side and he sees significantly less, yet he has never felt any better. Three Eyes has a nice ring to it, he thinks. Who knows, maybe he'll take to wearing an eyepatch himself someday. It had suited Nobara quite nicely in the short span it reigned.
The entire Jujutsu world will be astounded by the news. Higher-ups will rage and rage, cursing at him for willingly becoming disabled for a mere country girl, while curse users will no doubt jump in activity, feeling free without the suffocating presence of Gojo Satoru. And no one would really understand why he did it.
Yuuji is getting stronger by day. Megumi has begun training to defeat Mahoraga. And Nobara is now a Six Eyes user.
The next generation is sure to surpass him, and all of his students are alive and well.
Satoru looks towards the future.
—
"You look like you've eaten the sun, like you drank so much sunlight you're drowning in it." -Yves Olade, When Rome falls.