Chapter Text
“It's your fault! It's your fault that 'sensei' died!”
“There must be some way, some way for sensei to live, it's because you don't try to come up with more plans”
“Hundreds of contingency plans but no plan that can make the scenario where that 'sky' still exists?”
“You are so useless!”
“Why did you falter at that time? Why don't you rush out there? You have to be prepared for every eventuality, right?”
“At least you can block that attack for sensei, at least you can use your humble life in exchange for that person's life!”
“Why do you doubt your own judgment?”
“You are such an idiot”
“But the power gap is too great–even if I tried to help–”
“So it's your fault, it's because you didn't try hard enough to become strong enough to help Gojo-sensei, YOU LOSER.”
“That's right…it's all my fault…”
—...
...
It's been a year since the Culling Game incident, information about cursed spirits as well as individuals with special powers has been widely disseminated, at least throughout Japan. Knowledge about cursed spirits has become basic knowledge that every person needs to understand to ensure safety for themselves and those around them.
Civilians will be provided with emergency communication and support from Jujutsu headquarters and Jujutsu High schools across the country. In addition, police agencies also have close links with the Jujutsu High schools to coordinate investigations and exchange information, as well as cooperate with each other to optimally support civilians.
Revealing information about curses has two sides, the main harmful side is causing people to become confused and panic. But after the Culling Game incident, they had seen enough and couldn't be more panicked.
On the upside, the size of the sorcerers is multiplied. Jujutsu High schools organize projects to attract students like domestic colleges and universities. The benefits of becoming a student at the school are listed on the brochure:
- Free tuition
- Free accommodation, dormitory fully equipped with dining room and kitchen
- Uniforms are given free of charge when damaged. Students can also tweak the design of the uniform to their liking (still subject to some pre-existing regulations).
- Students can also request to forge their own weapons according to their own interests/skills.
- Students are paid after each practical task, the salary/bonus regime is exactly the same as that of professional sorcerers.
- After completing 4 years of study, students are guaranteed to have a stable career.
- The salaries/bonuses of students/sorcerers are guaranteed exponentially due to the dangers the job brings. The salary of the sorcerer profession is guaranteed to be higher than the general average, among the top occupations with the highest salaries.
- The school ensures that students do not work too hard and does not force students to accept assignments during the peak season.
Sounds too generous, right? Jujutsu High schools can also accept students any day of the year. And of course the condition to study at this school is the potential within each person, students must be able to see cursed spirits as the first prerequisite, in fact there are a few exceptions like Zenin Maki.
And of course life is not free for anyone, the benefits mentioned above are traded for the students' lives. They need to sign a death certificate before enrolling. There are actually some majors that are less dangerous.
Firstly, the major is in the medical department. This major is very special. Only students with a natural talent for Reverse Cursed Technique can register. This major rarely enrolls students, and the principal of the department is Ieiri Shoko.
As more and more students signed up, Shoko found a few talents with RCT abilities. This major is less dangerous but busy and requires working long hours because of the danger of the sorcerer profession.
The second less dangerous profession is assistant and driver for sorcerers. Their job is to provide information support as well as transport the sorcerers to their mission locations. In the past, they used simple 'curtain' to cover the eyes of civilians, but now they still use this method to keep their investigation work confidential.
Although it is a dangerous job, with the determination to protect themselves and their families, in fact the main reason is still financial, young students began to massively enroll. Normally, 30% of new students will often give up because of the harsh reality. The principal also introduced many different measures to reduce the death rate of students to the lowest level.
Jujutsu High schools began to spring up within a short period of time, and they began establishing headquarters/schools in Hokkaido and Fukuoka.
Headquarters in conjunction with the government calculated the number of people killed by cursed spirits and curse users, concluding that there was a certain reduction to reassure the people.
The new Higher-ups of the jujutsu headquarters have a policy to properly handle the current state of jujutsu society with the motto of confronting all problems and ensuring the safety of civilians.
There are many policies proposed by both current and past sorcerers such as Yaga Masamichi and Gojo Satoru - former principal of Tokyo Jujutsu High and the hero with the greatest contribution in the war with the King Of Curses.
That is the world after a year of destruction by the two most cruel curse users in history - Kenjaku and Sukuna.
The world will continue to move forward, people will rise up while still remembering the long day of Christmas, the day when the fate of the whole world was decided.
And here, inside the school located at the foot of Mushiro Mountain, everything is still moving while chasing the changes of the new era. New faces filled the once deserted classrooms, old faces with experienced features and trained souls were busy welcoming the change that was coming.
The image of 'school' is becoming more and more like 'school', the sorcerer is becoming more and more like a 'profession' in society. Civilians are more accepting of Sorcerers after the events of Shibuya and Culling Game.
The former students at Tokyo school are not missing anyone, but Kyoto school is missing two people, Maki Mai and Muta Kokichi. Meanwhile, in contrast, in Kyoto there are no recorded teachers who have passed away, but in Tokyo two teachers have passed away, Yaga Masamichi and Gojo Satoru. If we talk about another sorcerer who passed away as not a teacher but just a temporary sorcerer, it is Nanami Kento.
They died, leaving behind a society divided between sorcerers and non-sorcerers. Perhaps the consolation for those left behind now is that 'perhaps those people are smiling proudly in heaven'. But no, those words have no effect on those who actually experienced the great war that year.
They all have their own ambitions, wishes that they have not yet been able to fulfill. The burdens of those who left will forever be etched into a long scar on the nearly cryless hearts of those who remained.
...
“This time we will definitely have to do a great trip! Nothing can stop me anymore!”
After a long year of diligently cleaning up the remnants of the great war, Nobara swore to herself that she would take her two classmates on a trip abroad to regain her youth.
With the new motto that life must go hand in hand with work, Nobara is determined not to let herself become an old aunt who only knows how to sell herself to capitalists every day!! She is still young, still a 17 year old girl full of spring!! How could she drown her youth in work? The past year has been enough, now just leave everything to others.
“Foreign, huh..?”
Fushiguro scrolled through trustworthy travel review sites, as well as looked through the necessary procedures for traveling abroad. Perhaps other than Okkotsu-senpai, the students at Tokyo school have never gone abroad to work.
“Where should we go~ We were rewarded by our superiors for this trip so we have to take advantage of it to enjoy it~”
Different from his usual excited appearance of immediately jumping in to respond to his orange-haired friend, Itadori scratched his chin while thinking seriously. Actually, this trip was also the first time for the whole group, Fushiguro guessed that his friend was probably just so happy that he looked dumbfounded.
“How about going to Kuantan?”
Nobara and Fushiguro paused for a second, then returned to their state as if nothing bothered them at all.
“Malaysia ~ I want to go to the night market ~ The beach there is also beautiful”
Fushiguro kept texting someone and then looked up.
“Is it okay to invite Kurusu to come along?”
The eyes of the two close friends couldn't be more excited, making Fushiguro want to swear. Nobara gently poked Fushiguro's right shoulder in amusement.
“Heh~ You two are close enough to go on a trip together?”
While Itadori poked the spiky-haired boy's left shoulder.
“"From now on, let me be your right hand, Kurusu", in my entire life of movie experience, I have never found such a romantic line.”
A blue vein appeared on Fushiguro's forehead. Without any mercy, he used both hands to hit the heads of the two friends who were happily joking.
“Stop talking nonsense”
Pouting while rubbing the area where she was hit, Nobara remembered something very very very important.
“Hey hey, let's go to the shopping mall tomorrow!”
"Huh?" - Fushiguro pouted involuntarily.
“But you just bought—”
Before Itadori exposed his friend's shopping addiction, he was suddenly interrupted by a smile that couldn't have been more 'friendly'.
“Okay! So it's settled, see you at the school gate tomorrow~"
'This girl doesn't listen to anything anyone says' - couldn't have been the more accurate thoughts of two high school boys as they speechlessly watched their friend with shoulder-length hair boldly leave.
'Really similar to 'someone' huh...'
Secretly sarcasm in their hearts, both Itadori and Fushiguro knew without speaking who the other was referring to when they said the word 'someone'. Time flies really fast, it's been almost a year since the day they lost their homeroom teacher and also more than a year since the Shibuya incident - the event took the lives of both innocent civilians and their comrades who once stood beside them.
Time... really waits for no one, huh?
...
“That's enough for today, you both just go home and rest.”
The two first-year students bowed to the instructor and walked out of the infirmary while chatting excitedly about their progress in using RCT. Even if you have natural talent, using RCT is not easy at all.
Becoming the official instructor for students majoring in medical jujutsu reminded Shoko of the days when she tried to teach her two stupid classmates about RCT. Even though in a life or death situation, one person learned, and the other did not, but strangely, both of those idiots are no longer in this world.
‘He has already learned it, but it doesn't make any difference...in the end I'm still the last one.'
Oh, speaking of teaching experience, about 2 years ago, Shoko guided Okkotsu to adjust how to use RCT. When he saw Okkotsu using a rare ability, Satoru was very excited and dragged him to Shoko and then said something like "As expected of my student, Yuta is super good, right??".
Then about a year ago Shoko also observed how Itadori miraculously learned RCT.
Now those students still sitting in school are stronger than ever thanks to the battle that reached a milestone in jujutsu history. Almost able to stand shoulder to shoulder with official sorcerers, Gojo's students play no small role in the process of rebuilding jujutsu society.
But thanks to Sukuna being defeated and jujutsu society expanding on a large scale, the work of sorcerers began to become easier. The students constantly strive to contribute to rebuilding the collapsed world, but at the same time they can spend their youth to the fullest.
Is this the world Shoko's friend wanted?
Admittedly, at first Shoko felt that that idiot was not suitable to be a real teacher, but for some reason, the kids he taught became trustworthy in their own way.
Putting the cigarette away in the still intact box, Shoko rubbed her neck and stood up to make some coffee.
“As expected of your students, huh, Gojo”
The person who sets a goal and then disappears without even seeing the results with his own eyes, is the person who left this world his students who are also the most powerful sorcerers.
...
In a small corner on the top of a green hill, there is a small grave located separately from the graves located in close rows on the lower side of the hill. There are carefully tended clusters of hydrangeas with morning dew around. The light purple color intertwines with the blue sky, each petal symbolizing the nostalgia of the cultivator.
Long, slender fingers meticulously arrange white daifuku filled with red bean paste on a small plate, the ripe red color of strawberries lighting up the space covered in quiet cold tones.
After watering the flower bush and burning incense, the single figure sat down on the grass, leaning against the back of the still new tombstone. While hugging his knees to his chest, his sea-colored eyes looked towards the clear sky.
“The weather is really good today, isn't it?”
Just like that from day to day, when he moved the corner of his eyelashes, he unconsciously touched the color in the bottom of that person's eyes. Every passing cloud, every moment of the day, not for a moment did this high sky make him forget the smiling eyes hidden behind that white bandage.
But instead of feeling at peace, when he reached out and tried to reach the sky that could never be grasped again, this heart covered in bandages was almost torn apart.
'Have you reincarnated yet...?'
Gently pressing his cheek against the back of his hand resting on his knee, his black curls were blown by the wind.
'So cool..'
Even if they can't bear to see their precious friend or their trusted senior cultivating tears of the past every day, how could they be so cruel as to take away the only salvation in this stubborn person's daily schedule? They know that deep down in every individual's heart there is a certain threshold at which they cannot forgive themselves.
'You idiot, will Satoru feel proud when you're like a widow wandering in front of your husband's cold grave every day??' - Maki couldn't say that even though it felt very Maki. It was because they were close that they understood how much their stupid friend needed this place. Is this the final salvation for the poor sinner?
‘It's like that again…just like that day. If I had gone to see Rika-chan sooner, the accident might not have happened.'
‘If I were stronger…stronger…then sensei might not have to shoulder everything alone’
'He is strongest when he fights alone.' Yuta hated that sentence with all his heart, because in the end, no one could shake that curse.
'Damned..'
The thin, pale lips were bitten as if they were about to bleed. The feeling of unwillingness refluxed, making him want to vomit. Why, why couldn't he contradict that bastard's words? Why couldn't he grasp even a speck of dust that accidentally fell from the shirt of the person who brought him to this cruel but light-filled world?
He wanted to rush out there, he wanted to help his sensei, even if his flesh was torn apart, even if his heart stopped beating. Yuta knew that he was equally thoughtless and arrogant when he arbitrarily rushed out to help his teacher, but at that moment, when he saw his teacher face death again and again, his heart screamed 'come to his side'.
If he could turn back time, wouldn't Okkotsu Yuta be more rational and not blurt out 'I'm going out there too'? He didn't know... he just didn't want his teacher to die. Okkotsu Yuta's personality is like that, even though he has a kinder heart than anyone else, gentler than anyone, but he can ignore the world and run out there just to 'do something' to help his sensei, even if it ends up being crushed by Sukuna in the blink of an eye.
But...how can you know, what the person he loves wants to protect is this world, and Okkotsu Yuta is part of the plan to protect and rebuild jujutsu society. In the end, Okkotsu Yuta still followed his heart but it didn't feel right. What was right for both sensei and the world was what broke this 17 year old's heart.
Sometimes, people still want to rush into the flickering stove like a moth instead of choosing the right thing. This child named Okkotsu Yuta really startled them all, this child had become a special grade even though he was only 17 years old, this child was supposed to be more rational than any adult. But they forget that Okkotsu Yuta is also a child who cannot keep calm when it comes to his loved ones.
That kid had to watch the scene of the person who gave him the whole world on the brink of life and death over and over again, wondering if any piece of his soul was still intact?
‘Why do you have to choose?’
That's when Yuta realized, having to choose between staying behind to follow the backup plan and rushing out like a moth into the battle between the two strongest people, those two choices appeared as a consequence of Yuta's own weakness.
'If you were stronger, you wouldn't have to choose'
It doesn't have to be as strong as the strongest sorcerer in history or the strongest sorcerer in modern times, just strong enough to not get in Gojo-sensei's way, just like that and the situation has completely changed.
'It's all your fault'
From the beginning, Yuta was unable to become a flower, a flower that could reach the sun.
“Meow~”
Leaving the lofty sky, the boy about to turn 19 turned his eyes to the smaller sky. When he saw the white fur ball gently push the soft fragrant daifuku with his small paw, the corners of Yuta's deep eyes curved in a rare way.
“Hey, don't eat offerings”
Although the cat was very dissatisfied when being scolded, his two round blue marbles immediately lit up when he saw the large piece of dried fish in the hand of the guy in the white shirt. Four short legs immediately waddled towards the young teenager's thighs, the cat's mouth opened wide, grabbing a piece of dried fish and chewing greedily.
Calloused fingers carefully reached out so as not to startle the white creature, then gently touched the silky fur and gently stroked it. The feeling of soft cotton caused the special grade sorcerer's mind to temporarily leave stagnant thoughts.
'Just like the sensei's hair..'
When he felt the familiar softness, Yuta's heart became heavy again. As if sensing the bitter taste of sadness in his nose, the full-fed cat slowly climbed onto the white-shirted boy's lap, not caring that he was wearing black pants.
“What is it..?”
Seemingly oblivious to the weight of the fat cat on his lap, Yuta whispered in an almost breathless voice. The cat used its front legs to cling to Yuta's chest as if wanting to get closer, then used its tongue to lick Yuta's haggard cheek as if to catch invisible drops of dew.
“Fu fu, stop, stop licking, baka meow..”
A ticklish chuckle echoed in his throat, but for some reason he looked so helpless. It felt like a wall built of bricks suddenly collapsed just because of the small comforting gesture of a stray cat who liked dried fish.
“...”
The black-haired teenager took a deep breath, then suddenly buried his face in the big cat's pure white belly, startling it. The extremely clear, comfortable purring sound echoed in the ears, proving the enjoyment of the white cotton ball. But when he felt the trembling of the kind human, the white cat's eyes immediately opened wide, blinking in extreme confusion.
“..Nyao?”
The furry tail flicked nervously, could it be that the kind person was also hungry? Because every time the white cat is hungry, it wants to curl up and tremble on the ground.
“Maow..”
It seemed like he wanted to invite Yuta to eat something, but the cat couldn't think of anything delicious enough to give to his kind human.
And just like that...in the small corner of the tomb belonging to the most powerful sorcerer in modern times, every day the figure of a teenager appeared to take care of the hydrangea bush, every day a white cat comes by just waiting to steal the offerings.
“Tomorrow I have to try harder.”
To hold on to the world that Gojo-sensei embraced.