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Ieiri Shoko was born the same year as the hero that was predicted in the prophecy from the tower magician of Japan Kingdom. When she was born, the magician also predicted about a team that will go to an adventure to seal Demon King, a fighter, a healer and a magician. They give a specific characteristic features of each of the member. A fighter and a magician, born a year after the hero and the healer. 3 boys and 1 girl. Upon their arrival to this world, the people of the kingdom will witness something that is unusual. The leaf on fall season, suddenly turn green right before Ieiri was born. There is a blister of snow when the hero (knight) was born. When the magician was born, the Sakura tree at every corner of Japan Kingdom blooms full scale and it was only January that year. Also, when the fighter was born, a rock that can’t break suddenly appeared in front of the king’s castle.
Ieiri’s parents gave her away to the king because she is the healer in the prophecy. The king wanted to give Ieiri a proper training before she can fulfill her role as a healer. This was also applied to hero, magician and fighter. They were raised in the castle and they became best friend in an instant. The hero’s name is Gojo Satoru, the magician’s name is Geto Suguru, and the fighter’s name is Nanami Kento. Gojo has a laid-back personality and Nanami is the exact opposite of him, he is very strict with everything around him. Meanwhile, Geto and Ieiri are the flexible type, they can be like Gojo or be like Nanami.
Ieiri learned about her role when she was 3 years old. The king hired a teacher to give this team lessons about the history of the cursed land, Japan. Their teacher’s name is Masamichi Yaga. These four kids became attached to Masamichi because he was the one who taught them ever since they were 3. Masamichi basically taught them about history, how to control each of their power, and he trained them too. He did it all without any assistant to help him. Ieiri, Gojo, Geto and Nanami were calm when Masamichi told them about their task to seal the demon king, Ryomen Sukuna. This demon king resided far from Japan Kingdom. After destroying half of Japan, he told the king that he will cease fire but he wanted a castle of his own and that area will be his and every human in that area will be his slave. He openly chose Noboribetsu as his new home. He even threw a joke to the king, saying that as the demon king, choosing Jigokudani is really fit him. The king had to say yes to that insane request because half of the human population in Japan were annihilated cruelly by Sukuna and he also had to laugh to Sukuna’s boring joke. When Masamichi told that story to the kids, Ieiri said this to him, “He isn’t fully wrong. Demon came from hell, so that’s where he should live, isn’t that right sensei?” This made Gojo, Geto and Nanami laughed, it was like listening to an innocent kid’s question. Masamichi shook his head, couldn’t believe to what he heard.
Masamichi also told them the prophecy about the four of them. That God is finally lending his hand to help people of Japan to defeat Sukuna. The prophecy didn’t tell the people of Japan specifically about their adventure, it’s just that there will be a 4 super human that will lead Japan into victory over the demon king. The prophecy only shows that these 4 people will seal the demon king once and for all. Ieiri, Gojo, Geto and Nanami are that people. They will begin their journey to Hokkaido after Nanami’s seventeenth birthday.
They are all now 16, this year Ieiri and Gojo will turn 17 and eventually Geto and Nanami too next year. Meaning that they will go to seal the demon king July next year. It feels like a short time to pass until they reached their 16 birthday. All the time Ieiri has in her life is to help the hero to defeat demon king. She never thought what life will she has if she wasn’t the healer from the prophecy. She can’t even imagine how boring her life will be without Gojo, Geto and Nanami. Because she dedicates her life for them. Especially Gojo. She didn’t want to admit it but beside Gojo being the hero, Ieiri placed Gojo a little bit higher than Geto and Nanami.
It all started back when they were just 10.
Ieiri, Gojo, Geto and Nanami were training their combat skill at an open space near the castle. It was their break time, Gojo suddenly running happily to Ieiri with his arms full of wounds. “Satoru, how did this happen?” Ieiri quickly enchanted healing spell to Gojo’s arm. “I wanted to give you this, but my hand scratches rose’s buds and it was plenty of them, also I kinda fell off from the little hill there, Sho.” Gojo revealed a 4-leaf clover to Ieiri but it was torn. Gojo’s face turned gloomy when he saw it but Ieiri accepted it happily, she liked his effort after all. “I love it, thank you, Satoru.” She smiled from ear to ear, it was the first time someone ever give something sincerely like this to her, not because she is the member of hero’s party but for Ieiri Shoko herself. Gojo blushed, he didn’t expect to see that side of Ieiri. It was also the first time for Gojo to see Ieiri smiling widely like that. After that incident, somehow Ieiri and Gojo grew closer. To the point he loved to sneak out from the class together with Ieiri, to stroll around the garden or to walk to the nearest market. Masamichi scolded them for that actions but the king stopped him, he told Masamichi that the kids also need to enjoy their childhood. This triggered Geto and Nanami to join Gojo and Ieiri too sometimes, and made Masamichi came to an empty classroom.
Both Ieiri and Gojo didn’t understand what is the feelings they feel towards each other, it was just they liked each other’s company whenever it is, one of the reason was because Ieiri is the type to sleep late while Gojo is the type to sleep right on time before 11. He found out about Ieiri’s habit when he woke up in the middle of the night and wanted to go to the bathroom. It was when they both 14 years old. He saw Ieiri sat beside the big window near the stairs, she leaned on the window and looked at the stars on the sky, like she was in deep thought. “Shoko? What are you doing still awake at this hour?” Ieiri chuckled when she heard his question, “I never sleep before 12. Not everyone is like you, sleepyhead.” Gojo sat down too at her opposite. “Really? You have insomnia?” Ieiri shook her head, “The sleepiness hasn’t come yet. Also, I love the silence atmosphere when everyone is already asleep. It feels like the world finally rest. It’s weird right?”
“No, I think it’s cool, Sho. Seeing people being busy with their own task and their own life made me think that each of us are just trying to fulfill our role for existing in this world, I might not like you but I know where you stand on.”
“Thank you for understanding me, Satoru. But, it’s unusual for you to still wake up at this hour though.”
“I want to go to the bathroom. But then, I saw you here. Want to walk with me?”
“Sure, maybe I can sleep sooner.” Ieiri stood up with Gojo’s help.
“Now I know why you always look annoyed every time Yaga sensei move the class to 7 AM.”
“Yeah, I was only sleeping for like 2-3 hours if he moved our class to 7 AM.”
“Hahaha, he is really extraordinary, isn’t he?”
“Of course, if he isn’t extra, he won’t be able to handle us.”
“That is right.”
This sparked Gojo’s new habit, to accompany Ieiri until she went to bed. Even though he ended up slept first sometimes. Luckily, Ieiri knew magic a little, so she could easily move Gojo’s body to his bed using magic. However, Gojo also sneakily woke up to check if Ieiri already fell asleep, he tended to fix her blanket or move Ieiri’s body into a proper position so she could sleep comfortably and Ieiri never found out about this.
Finally, it’s July. Nanami’s 17th mini birthday party is over. The king calls Gojo, Ieiri, Geto and Nanami to come to the throne room before they depart to Hokkaido. The king bestows them a cloak based on their hair color. Gojo with white, Ieiri with brown, Geto with black and Nanami with yellow. He also asked the tower magician to give a special spell to the cloak, the purpose is to hide their presence along their journey to defeat Sukuna. This spell proven to be useless. Sukuna already knew about the departure of hero’s party from Tokyo. His subordinate heard the rumor of special people that will come to defeat Sukuna. They reported it back to Sukuna and Sukuna leisurely waits for them to come. He starts to twiddle his thumb and mark the time to meet these people. He wants to know how good they really are.
The adventure starts. Ieiri, Gojo, Geto and Nanami have to walk until Hokkaido and it will take at least a week on foot or If they’re lucky to find someone who pass their path with carriage, they can ride it. That will make their journey faster. However, their path isn’t smooth, every prefectures has their own obstacles, the closer to Hokkaido, the harder it will be. From level easy at Tochigi Prefecture with only a low-level cursed spirit. They had it easy, Gojo himself killed every cursed spirit that swarm around Tochigi. They continue their journey to north Ibaraki Prefecture, they have to pass through Ibaraki because the path from Tochigi to Fukushima had been blocked by Sukuna’s subordinates, so, the only way to go to Fukushima is through Ibaraki or Niigata. Nanami advised them to go to Niigata but Ieiri rejected the idea, saying that Niigata Prefecture Is too wide compared to Ibaraki. The party agreed to Ieiri's reasoning and they take a breather after they arrived at Ibaraki. The people from Ibaraki gave them a place to stay the night. The king gave an order to every of his people that if they met Gojo, Ieiri, Geto and Nanami, they have to help them with whatever they could.
“What the hell, I can’t believe you almost die just because you follow a rainbow winged butterfly. Remember, you’re our leader, Satoru. Don't let it happen again!” Geto voices his protest.
“Hehehe, I can’t help it. It’s rare to see that kind of butterfly in Tokyo. I simply got curious, Suguru. I’m sorry.”
Ieiri was silent along the way to Ibaraki. She was the one who saved Gojo from getting trapped by a giant killer plant. Her healing spell has an effect to erase hallucination. Gojo snapped back to reality a meter before he got eaten. Nanami takes a glance to Ieiri who tries to make herself busy. He walks to her side, “You’re angry too, aren’t you Shoko-san?”
“I’m not.”
“You can fool him, but you can’t fool me, Shoko-san.”
Ieiri sighs, “Right. A little bit. It’s fine, I’ll be okay in a minute. It’s still shocked to see how dangerous it really is out of the castle. We often had battle training with Yaga sensei but this is not training. We could really die if we careless about our surroundings.”
“He is a stupid hero. We have to protect him with at all cost, Shoko-san.”
“I know. Sorry Kento, for making you worry.” Ieiri pats Nanami’s arm. This triggers a jealousy in Gojo’s heart when he saw that.
The next morning, they shift their destination to Fukushima after spending one night at Ibaraki. This time, they stuck somewhere near Ota River. The curse spirit used water and mud to attack Gojo’s party. It wasn’t that troublesome but Nanami hates dirt. He keeps changing his clothes every time it has a mud in it. This fighter is a perfectionist and that includes his clothes. They spent almost 3 days just to go to Miyagi Prefecture. At Miyagi, Gojo, Ieiri, Geto and Nanami face a special grade cursed spirit for the first time. It can communicate with human. Geto almost lost his left arm when they fought this cursed spirit. One thing they learned after killing the special grade cursed spirit is the energy which they took from human, it returned to nature. Because suddenly a flower field appeared in front of Gojo, Ieiri, Geto and Nanami right after the cursed spirit vanished.
“This reminds me of your hair, Shoko.” Gojo gives Ieiri a brown colored flower. He wants to erase the jealousy in his heart by doing this.
Ieiri accepts the flower and forms a curve line with her lips, “Do you know what this flower means?”
“No?” Gojo tilts his head.
“Horned Pansy, the Angel Amber Kiss, the flower which blooms around April – July. Pansy represents the thought of lovers. I don’t think we have that kind of relationship, Satoru.” Ieiri teases Gojo. Ieiri knew much about plants because she is a healer. She learned about it back at Tokyo.
“I. I said that the color reminds me of your hair color, that’s all.” Gojo quickly turns his body and runs toward Geto and Nanami who still sit and admire the scenery in front of them. His cheeks are full with red colors that sparks on it. He feels like Ieiri could see his mind openly and he doesn't want her to know that yet.
Little did Gojo knows, Ieiri silently hopes that his heart is slowly approaching her heart. Ieiri takes her medicine diary and put the flower in it as one of the evidences of their journey. She'll laminates it after they won against Sukuna.
They arrive at Hokkaido at last. After fighting their way for more than a week. Sukuna’s loyal subordinates are ready to fight Gojo’s party. Three special grade cursed spirits. Gojo, Ieiri, Geto and Nanami defeat them in only 15 minutes, they’ve come a long way to Hokkaido and every time they killed cursed spirit, their skills became stronger. Ieiri then rushes everyone to go to Jigokudani, it’s only two days walk from Hakodate. But, Gojo refuses her plan, saying he wants to take slow to Jigokudani. He also says that this party needs to take a rest and defeats Sukuna in full power. Geto and Nanami somehow agreeing that idea except Ieiri.
Now Ieiri knows why and she should’ve stayed longer with them.
Ieiri stands alone in front of the king and brings Gojo’s sword, Geto’s staff, and Nanami’s armor in her hands.
“Congratulation in completing the adventure and making the prophecy comes true, Shoko.”
The king congratulates her with joy all over his face, of course he is happy because Japan is now free from the Demon King, Ryomen Sukuna. The prosperity will come back to Japan soon. But, Ieiri can’t show her happy face to the king and everyone who is at the throne room. The victory is in her hand but she can’t hold Gojo anymore. Gojo was gone forever from her life. His existence in this world has disappeared along with Geto's and Nanami's.
“Shoko, you can go back to your parents or you can stay at the capital with us here, I’ve prepared a house for you.”
“Thank you for the kind offer, your highness but I think I’ll find myself a house that is more to my liking.”
Deep down the king understands Ieiri’s feelings. She lost all of her best friend on that bloody war with Sukuna, she dedicated herself to learn healing spell to protect Gojo, Geto and Nanami. She lived all her life together with the three of them, so it’s not surprising to see this kind of state from Ieiri. Looking very disheveled after the war. No radiance can be seen on her pretty face, it’s all grief and sadness. Even though she tried her best to look okay but everyone includes The King notice it.
Ieiri excuses herself to the king and goes back to where her room at, she takes a shower and changes her clothes, then she packs all of her things, she has to go somewhere without the memories of them.
“You’re still alive, Shoko. Thank goodness.” Masamichi strides and hugs Ieiri tight.
“Sensei.”
“Don’t say anything, I know.”
Ieiri’s grip on Masamichi’s robe tightens, she cries as hard as she can in his embrace.
After saying goodbye to Masamichi, Ieiri takes off to another journey. This time she is all alone and she goes south. This way she won’t pass the road she used to take together with Gojo, Geto and Nanami.
But, Ieiri ends up back at Jigokudani. She now sits across Gojo, Geto and Nanami’s graveyard and holds Gojo’s sword in her hand. Ieiri swears that she took the road to the south but her feet made her walked to the north and to Hokkaido once again. “Looking at your graveyard like this, made me wonder should I just killed myself too so I can join you to afterlife, Satoru? How’s life there? Are you guys having fun without me? Tell me, are you happy up there?” Ieiri takes off the sword from its sheath. She points the sword to her chest, right on where her heart is. Ieiri closes her eyes, she is ready to throw her life that time. You have to stay alive for our sake, Sho. Please. Ieiri recalls part of Gojo’s last words. He wanted her to keep living as the survivor of their fight against Sukuna. Ieiri drops the sword and her head to the ground, starts to cry.
Flashback
They thought after wiped out all of Sukuna’s subordinate, Sukuna will be easier to deal with. However, that wasn’t true. Sukuna without his subordinate was way stronger, because he thought them as a burden in his life. He kept them only as the guardian dog, nothing more than that. He didn’t expect anything from them.
“Welcome, heroes from Tokyo. You came all the way to meet me here, what a pleasure!” It was a mocking tone. He didn’t feel scared at all with the arrival of Gojo, Ieiri, Geto and Nanami. He was calm, too calm.
“Cut that warm welcome, Sukuna. We’re here to kill you and take back our Japan from you.” Gojo made a signal to Ieiri, Geto and Nanami to position themselves for combat.
“Oh, how scary. What can a little boy like you can do to me though? You and your little friends are just going to waste your life. No one can win against me, the only one who can beat me is myself.”
“Don’t underestimate us, Sukuna. You’ll regret that.”
“I do whatever it is that I want to do. You don’t have the right to order me, Gojo Satoru.”
“Then let me show you true hell, Demon King.”
"I want to see you try, hero."
Their combat formation was Gojo as the tip with Nanami at his left side and Geto at his right side, while Ieiri right at his back. They charged with full speed, Ieiri started enchanting protection shield to Gojo and Nanami. Geto sent attack spell to Sukuna, he was in charge for long-range attack. Sukuna easily dealt with Gojo and Nanami’s attack, he didn’t break any sweat. It was Geto’s attacks that open the gap for Gojo and Nanami to land their skill on Sukuna’s body. Sukuna was clever, he brought his underworld troops, the skeleton zombie to attack Ieiri who was alone without someone who can protect her. Gojo noticed that and ordered Nanami to stay at Ieiri’s side.
“Don’t worry about me, Satoru! I can handle this much! I’m much stronger than you think I am!”
Gojo smiled, he knew Ieiri would say that. He placed Nanami to her aide just in case something unusual happened. Sukuna is someone stronger than all of them combined together. Gojo was trying to protect Ieiri because he didn’t want bad thing happened to her.
Gojo’s prediction was right, Sukuna turned his skeleton troops into a full-scale zombie that could think. Their attacks are way stronger than before. Nanami was busy killing them one by one and Ieiri healed him and maintained the protection shield on Gojo and Geto’s body. However, the zombie’s number never decreasing. They kept coming back like it was nothing. While Nanami and Ieiri struggled with the zombie, Gojo and Geto pushed Sukuna to his limit but the side effect was both Gojo and Geto were exhausted as hell and Geto almost run out of mana. He kept enough mana to seal Sukuna, so he relied on Gojo’s skill to make Sukuna succumbed to the ground.
Then they heard Ieiri’s scream, “NO!!!!!!!” Gojo and Geto turned their head to find out why and Nanami was dead. His head fell off his body and rolling to Ieiri’s side. “Satoru! Suguru! Kill him! Kill that son of a bitch!” Ieiri’s bad personality came out and she wiped out the entire zombie in an instant. She could use that deadly skill for once in a week. After that, she will collapse and black out for a day. This time, with sheer of rages, Ieiri still stood and preserved her healing spell on Gojo and Geto. Her mana also running out soon. Gojo and Geto managed to bring Sukuna faced the ground and Geto started to enchant the sealing spell. “You lowly human! I won’t lose!” Sukuna used the remain of his power to send an attack to Ieiri. He knew Ieiri was in charge of healing their wounds.
Gojo quickly blocked the attack at the cost of his heart. The attack went through his chest when he tried to protect Ieiri from it. Gojo fell down on his knees and used his sword to retain his body. “Satoru!” Ieiri held Gojo’s body softly and laid him down on the ground. She tried her best to close the hole on Gojo’s chest but her healing skill couldn’t do that. It was too late. On the other side, Geto almost finished with the sealing process. When he thought the door to the other world already closed, Sukuna blew his last attack to Geto’s head after seeing that Ieiri already released her protection shield on Geto and Sukuna vanished in the dust. "SUGURU!" Ieiri could only watch her friends died and she couldn’t do anything.
Gojo was breathing heavily, Ieiri punched his arm slowly. “Satoru, why you had to protect me? You could’ve just let me die and be the hero just like everyone wants you to be!” Gojo chuckled with blood all over his mouth. “I couldn’t bear the future without you, Shoko. I can’t watch you die in front of me. So, you have to stay alive for our sake, Sho. Please. I love y..” Gojo couldn’t finish his last words but Ieiri knew what he was trying to say. “Then, how am I supposed to live in the future without you, idiot?” Ieiri fainted and woke up on the next day in a resident’s house. She buried Gojo, Geto, and Nanami’s body with the help of the residents of Noboribetsu and went back to Tokyo with a carriage provided by the people of Hokkaido.
Present day
“Remember the day you give me a pansy flower, Satoru? I should’ve said the thing I want you to know back then. I like you ever since we’re just a little kid. Thought of lovers, I think of you as my lover, Satoru. I want to. But, I want to confess to you after our mission is over. Regret always comes late, right."
"Also, the last moment we spent at Toya lake when I accidentally slipped on the lake and drenched my clothes, you lent me your clothes and it was too big for me but I liked it. I like the smell of your scent. It was calming and I really like it. Although I only wear it for 5 minutes because Geto dried my clothes with magic but it was enough. I wish I could do that again in another setting with you, after we got our peace back from Sukuna. But God wanted the opposite, now I’m here talking alone to your tomb.”
Tears start to damp Ieiri’s cheeks and she doesn’t want to wipe it. This tears hold her loneliness, her anger and also her longing. She misses Gojo, she misses his subtle touches on her head, her arms, her shoulder, her back. She misses his mischievousness. She misses his voices, the way he laughs. She misses everything. She is scared that she will forget all of that in the future.
“If you lived, we probably will stay at the capital right? Because you liked the dessert there. You always complain every time we tried dessert shop in other prefectures and said that it wasn’t as delicious as the one you used to eat back at the castle. You are such a brat but I love you for the way you are.” The 3 words that seems too hard to say for Ieiri, finally come out from her mouth. “Right, I love you too, Satoru. I always love you. I’m sorry for being such a loser like this. I’ll try my best to stay alive as long as I can. Wait for me and book me a seat up there, hero.” Ieiri puts back the sword to its sheath and places it on Gojo’s graveyard. She does the same to Geto’s staff and Nanami’s armor.
"I'll come visit you again when I miss you, the three of you. Be happy up there, Satoru, Suguru, Kento."
Ieiri leaves the area with a new goal, she wants to help as many people as she can. She wants to help people with her healing skill. It doesn’t take a long time for Ieiri to become a famous doctor in Aomori. She chooses Aomori because she can go back and forth to Hokkaido quickly if she misses Gojo. In all her life, Ieiri heals everyone who needs her help.
Ieiri finally leave the world at the age of 77, she never got married to anyone because she still loves Gojo until her last breath. She dies in a peaceful state of mind and thinking that she will finally be reunited with the love of her life again, soon.