Work Text:
“How did you end up here?”
Nanami has a pretty clear idea of what Yuji’s answer would be with just a glance at his bloodied face and bruised knuckles, breathing heavily from over-exerting himself. Remnants of a fight were behind him in the alleyway where they stood – cracked walls, misplaced brick, holes in the ground.
“I chased it.” Yuji says with utmost sincerity written all over his face – or at least what could be seen past the blood and gashes – and the most matter-of-fact tone. Like it was just another Tuesday evening. “It went… fwoosh …and I went… hup …and I ended up here. Actually – ”
He takes a look around his surroundings now. Unfamiliar street signs, unknown businesses – for a boy from the countryside, this was a side of Tokyo he’d never been to before. Yuji blinks in surprise. “Where am I?”
“Kichijoji.”
It was a stroke of luck that Nanami had been nearby doing his own work. The idea of this kid just stumbling around like this, waiting for someone from the school to notice he was gone, or to notice that he hadn’t arrived, or whatever –
“I’m assuming Gojo had you dropped off in the middle of nowhere.” When Yuji nods, Nanami just sighs, taking his phone out of his pocket. “Which means Ichiji is probably nearby searching for you. I’ll give him a call.”
There’s a beat of silence between them, and Yuji breaks it just as Nanami’s about to press the call button.
“Thanks, Nanamin.”
That nickname again. He’d be annoyed, but…
The hint of exhaustion in his voice can’t be missed. It’s impossible not to hear it. It’s the same tone of voice he’d used in high school, the same exasperation his classmate had expressed coming back to the dorms. Way too familiar for his comfort, but it isn’t about him right now.
Without even thinking, a hand goes up to Yuji’s head. Nanami doesn’t know why. Yuji was just another one of Gojo’s students.
“Don’t mention it.”
“You should at least know these.”
Nanami turns the notebook towards Yuji after he’d scribbled down a few math formulas. He remembers all too well about the school’s focus – and it wasn’t about anything educational. He remembers being somewhat bothered by that, and after a long day he’d find some time to himself to study on his own. It’d do him no good to lose that sort of thing – at least, that’s what he told himself. Maybe he enjoyed it, too, but if he said that out loud back then, he would’ve been made fun of, and Gojo as a senpai was absolutely irritating even back then.
“Ah, I remember some of this from middle school!” Yuji’s voice rings out in the empty basement. Right. He’s supposed to be dead to the world. Very few know he’s alive – and because of that, Gojo had roped Nanami into bringing down more DVDs for the teen.
“That’s good.” He’s glad some things stuck to Yuji’s brain, or that his brain hadn’t been rattled one too many times that there were still remnants of thought in there. “It’s easy to find practice problems. Don’t avoid doing them just because you don’t want to, Itadori.”
“Yeah, yeah…” Yuji’s face drops a little. So he was right. He’s not exactly the type to study. “At least it’s something new to do down here.” His eyebrows furrow as he glances at some of the words Nanami had written down. “Maybe too new…this one…”
Nanami hesitates for a second. It’s six-thirty in the evening. He’d been clocked out thirty minutes ago – mentally, at least. There was a book he wanted to read back at his place. And yet…
“Do you need me to explain some?” There he goes. He offers his help. If he doesn’t, this kid might not go as far on his own. He’ll give him a starting point – yeah, that’s it.
Yuji turns the notebook back to him, a big smile on his face. “Yes! Please teach me!”
“Itadori, I’ve said before that I’m not a teacher.”
“Yeah, but…you sure are acting like it.”
Was he? That’s not his intention. He’s just got no choice – at least, that’s what he tells himself. No choice in…what, exactly?
“I’m just giving you pointers.” Nanami turns the notebook towards him so that he can try to explain some of the things he’d written down.
At the end of the day, Yuji is just a typical teenager – sort of. Still, it’s nice to know.
Yuji was a last-minute addition to this mission, only because Gojo had heard that Nanami was going alone, and that “I want my student to get some experience, but I’ve got stuff to do!”
Typical.
But that did mean they exorcized that curse pretty quickly. Yuji was shaping up to be a decent sorcerer, even if he was, supposedly, dead. The hard work was paying off. Was he feeling pride in watching him grow? Was he feeling envious at how quickly the teen was able to pick up skills? Maybe both things were true. At his age, it might be easier to just accept that fact.
He hears Yuji’s stomach growl, and he casts a look around the street. He knows where they are. He’s passed by this street many times, even back at his old office job. It’s annoying just how many times he’d walked on this sidewalk, seen all these signs, crossed all those crosswalks. Just how many hours did he waste around here?
But for once, he’s glad he did, because the teen next to him was starving .
“Come on.”
Nanami grabs a hold of Yuji’s shoulder, turning him towards the direction of a bakery he would frequent. There’d be something for Yuji there – and perhaps himself, too.
When they enter, the smell and atmosphere were pretty familiar. He sees Yuji’s eyes widen – another shop in Tokyo that he hadn’t been to, and it seems that everything in this city seemed to excite him – and he has to stop himself from pointing it out. He’ll let him have this moment. It only happens once.
“Grab whatever. I’ll pay.” With that, Nanami books it – well, he walks there casually, but at a pace that’s slightly quicker than normal – to where his usual sandwich is. No hesitation. The route to it is embedded into his memory. It’s familiar. A small joy in the world of being an adult. The little things that they tell you to look out for.
He guesses he has Yuji to thank for being able to enjoy this sandwich again today. Which, what was he up to –
“Itadori…”
He turns around to see Yuji holding a mountain of bread, and his eyebrow twitches. He has no trouble in believing that he could easily wipe through all that. He’s a teenage boy, and Nanami’s been one before – their appetites know no bounds. Does Sukuna get hungry, too? Maybe a part of it is because he’s the vessel for some other being. But still –
“Yeah?” Yuji peeks from behind the pile he was holding.
“Will you finish all of that?”
“Some of them’s for Fushiguro and Kugisaki.”
Of course.
“Fine. If that's all, let's check out.”
A thought crosses his mind that Yuji’s too comfortable with him. But if he acts like a normal teen because of it, then he won’t stop it.
He had plans for the future, but even he knew that some of them were futile, or at least, just there to satiate the logical part of him that would ask why he was a jujutsu sorcerer. To someday live in peace, to have time to himself, to relax –
But he stalled those desires because if he didn’t do this, could he have forgiven himself? If he knew he could fight these curses but didn’t, could he have lived with himself?
No.
He skirted around it because of it.
Yuji is the same. He has to do something about anything. But now that Nanami’s at the end of his rope, he’ll entrust the kid with the future. He actually has a chance of reaching that point. He could stop walking in circles and actually head somewhere.
At least, that’s what he hopes.
He’s still a teenager. But he’s got something going for him.
“Itadori, you take it from here.”