Chapter Text
This was supposed to be a quick day, like every first school days were. Show up, the principal talks in front of the whole school, welcoming the students to a new school year, then each homeroom teacher would talk a bit with their class, and go home.
Instead, Megumi sat in his classroom with the rest of his class, waiting for the principal, who apparently had an important announcement to make. And after a few minutes, the principal came with a man who had light gray hair that almost seemed to be white, light brown eyes and wearing a suit.
“Settle down class.” The principal clapped her hands a couple of times to get the children to pay attention to her. “I’m sorry to inform you all this, but Mrs. Saki isn’t part of our staff anymore.” She continued and the students rioted with disbelief and questions. The teacher raised her hand to quiet the room down.
“I don’t have the details, but apparently she was part of an accident. We’re all sorry to hear that and will be waiting for more news about the incident.”
Megumi raised an eyebrow at the information. Something happened to Mrs. Saki? An accident? Questions started to for in his brain, but he couldn’t think much about it when the principal started to talk again.
“But luckily, I’ve found a substitute teacher as good as Mrs. Saki was.” She gestured towards the man, who nodded before turning towards the class, his hands behind his back.
“Hello. I’m Yamada Minho. You will call me Mr. Yamada. I will be your new homeroom teacher this year.” He began, voice deep and rough, almost demanding attention. His expression was serious and firm, yet not unkind.
Some of the students looked at him curiously, maybe a bit apprehensively. Megumi, however, watched the man with curiosity and wariness. There was something about the man that made Megumi feel weird. Maybe it was because he was going to his teacher instead of Saki, or was it something else? Frankly, he liked Saki and hearing that something happened made him feel slightly sad.
“I understand this is new and uncertain for you all, but I hope we can get along in this school year. Now, I would like to know all of your names please so we can get to know each other.” Yamada told, gesturing for the first student to speak. As they did so, he nodded at each one with a slight smile, greeting everyone individually.
When everyone were acquainted, the principal let the students to leave, wishing everyone a great upcoming school year. Yamada smiled kindly as well, watching the students stand up and leave one by one.
As Megumi stood up from his seat, he watched Yamada smile at him before leaving the classroom, his gaze lingering on the kid for a second longer than other students. Megumi usually didn’t like substitutes and hoped that this one wouldn’t last longer than a few weeks. But seeing as Saki wasn’t going to come for the whole year, it might not be the case. He at least hoped nothing too bad happened to her.
As he waited for Tsumiki by the school gate, he couldn’t help but wonder about the new substitute teacher and why Saki couldn’t teach this year. What about the next year, or the one after that? Was this new substitute going to be their homeroom teacher from now on until he graduated?
He didn’t seem to be that bad though, but Megumi still didn’t like something about the man and he couldn’t really pinpoint why that was. Something just didn’t seem right with him.
He shook his head to get the thoughts out when he felt Satoru’s cursed energy near the school gate. The moment he turned his head, he saw the white-haired sorcerer walk towards him with a big grin and a hand already raised for a hair ruffle. He should have been surprised, but wasn’t, as it was Satoru he was talking about.
“Hey, bud. How was your first day?” He asked, ruffling Megumi’s hair, who swatted his hand away promptly after.
“Normal.” He answered dryly and Satoru chuckled in response. “What are you doing here? I thought you had a mission.” He asked, raising an eyebrow at the sorcerer with a questioning look.
Satoru grinned. “Oh, I finished that an hour ago. And I thought I’d take you two out for starting a new school year! It is Tsumiki’s last before she goes to Junor High School.” He told matter-of-factly and proudly.
Megumi looked unamused at the explanation. “You’re taking us to eat because it’s the first day of school?” He questioned, confusion mixed with a scowl. It was so Satoru to do something like that, but it seemed unprompted nevertheless.
“Well, it’s for Tsumiki’s last school year in this school, but we can’t leave you out, now can we?” He told smugly, grinning wide as Megumi rolled his eyes. “Plus, we haven’t gone out in a while. There are some new places I want to try out. It would be fun!” He grinned more.
Megumi sighed at the enthusiastic expression his guardian had. He was very serious about this plan and Megumi knew it was best to not argue with the man if he got like this. He sighed, giving up. “It would be more fun than today was, that’s for sure.” He slightly muttered, thinking about how boring today actually was.
Satoru chuckled, seeing Megumi’s scowl deepen. He bent down and poked the kid’s cheek. “Oh, come now, ‘Gumi, it couldn’t be that bad.” He teased.
Megumi, once again, swatted his hand away and glared at him for a moment. “We have a new homeroom teacher for this year.” He told after a slight pause, looking towards the school, seeing Yamada at the entrance waving to the children who left the building.
Satoru raised his eyebrow at the information, not expecting it. “You mean Saki isn’t teaching you anymore?” He asked, slightly confused by the news.
“Apparently. The principle said so. That she’d gotten into an accident of some kind.” He shrugged, making it seem like it was no big deal. “That’s him. Mr. Yamada.”
Satoru looked to where Megumi pointed and his eyes widened slightly in surprise. “A sorcerer?” He asked himself under his breath, but Megumi heard it, causing the kid to look up at him with surprise.
“Really? You sure?”
Satoru lifted his glasses and looked at Megumi with an expression that told: ‘I’m gonna pretend you didn’t just ask that.’ He looked back at the substitute teacher, putting his glasses back on, his expression thoughtful as he hummed to himself.
“Something wrong?” Megumi asked, slightly on edge seeing how intensely he was staring at the new sorcerer.
“No, just…” He trailed off, not really knowing how to put his thoughts into words.” I never knew a sorcerer to teach normies. That’s kinda weird.” He told, crossing his hands and narrowing his eyes. Megumi only hummed as a response.
Satoru couldn’t recognize the man, and he had seen a lot of sorcerers. Maybe if he could get some more information about him, he could figure out who exactly he was. But something held him back, almost like something was telling him that talking to Yamada was going to be a mistake. He furrowed his brows and was about to take a step forward to find out exactly who this new sorcerer/teacher was.
“Megumi!” Tsumiki called out, stopping Satoru from moving and turned his gaze towards the girl, who stopped near the two, making Satoru smile. “Gojo, you’re here as well?” She asked in surprise before giving him a quick embrace which Satoru eagerly returned.
He ruffled her hair and grinned with a slight chuckle. “Well, we gotta celebrate today! Come on, no time to lose! I already booked a nice place!” He took the two’s backpacks over each shoulder before walking out of the school perimeters, humming to himself.
Megumi sighed and Tsumiki grinned as they followed him. “Already?” Megumi grumbled with a deep sigh, but he didn’t linger on the thought for long. Satoru only grinned and Tsumiki smiled as well, skipping towards the sorcerer and gesturing for Megumi to follow.
Though Satoru couldn’t help to feel another pair of eyes at the back of his head. But when he turned his head, the feeling disappeared right then and there. He shrugged it off, thinking nothing of it and deciding to focus on the kids.
“I can’t believe it’s Tsumiki’s last year in elementary! Years go by so fast.” Satoru told as he stuffed his face with a crepe before wiping away a fake tear at the sentiment.
“You’ve only been with us for 2 years.” Megumi told drily and unamused, glancing at him with a questioning expression.
“Hey, a lot can happen in 2 years!” Satoru shot back in a defensive tone.
“Like getting adopted by still-basically-a-teen adult who has no idea what he’s doing?”
“Exactly!” Satoru grinned, pointing at the kid, Megumi only sighed. “But still, Junor High School already. I remember my first day in Jujutsu Tech.” Satoru put his head on his arm as he reminisced about the memory.
“Tsumiki can’t go to Jujutsu Tech.” Megumi told, tilting his head to the side in confusion at what was Satoru getting at.
“It’s basically High School for her, keep up.” Satoru interrupted, waving his hand to dismiss the topic. Megumi rolled his eyes as Tsumiki giggled. “The first day in a new school is always a doozy, that’s for sure.”
“What was your first day like, Gojo?” Tsumiki asked, looking at him with eager eyes, interested and curious about the new topic.
Satoru thought for a second with a humm before he took another crepe and ate it in one bite. “Well, it was different, let me tell you. I got drafted in the middle of the semester, but I could catch up easily, as I was so great.” Megumi could see the pride and arrogance flowing off of him like waves.
“Don’t get to full of yourself now.” He murmured, rolling his eyes before taking a bite out of his crepe.
“You know I and Suguru didn’t get along in the beginning. Neither did I and Shoko.” He told, remembering the arguments with the other classmate that happened almost every day, a soft smile on his lips. “Or I and anyone for that matter.” He mumbled in thought.
“Hmm, I wonder why.” Megumi commented sarcastically under his breath, rolling his eyes once more. Tsumiki hit his arm lightly, shushing him.
“Right? Like, I couldn’t understand as well.” Satoru replied seriously with a smile, ignoring the kid's sarcastic tone. “We got into a lot of fights, Suguru and I. Shoko stayed on the sidelines, but was close by in case something drastic happened. But we became best of friends in the end!”
“It wasn’t scary?” Tsumiki asked, somewhat timidly. Satoru looked at her, his smile fading a bit. “I was scared when I first started elementary school.” She glanced down and Satoru could see a slight saddened expression on her face.
Satoru hummed in thought. “I wasn’t scared, per se.” He began slowly, trying his best to put his thoughts into words. “But it was different than I was used to before. There were people close to my strength, Suguru, for example. And there was Shoko, who could heal others. A rare technique even in Reverced Cursed Technique users. And I couldn’t even do that at the time. It was a new experience.”
“You couldn’t use the Reversed Cursed Technique?” Megumi told, furrowing his eyebrows slightly, a hint of surprise in his tone.
“Yeah, I couldn’t. I eventually learned to use it. Although it wasn’t easy. And even if Shoko tried to help the both of us, she made no sense whatsoever.” He shook his head before pouting at the memory of her going “ hya, then hyo, then hyuhyoi. ” That might just have given him one reason for his headache when he tried to understand what she was trying to say.
“Then how did you learn it if Shoko couldn't help?” Megumi asked and Satoru looked at him blankly for a moment.
He grinned after a beat. “A lot of hard work, that’s how! Nothing comes to you easy, you know.”
“It does to you.” He responded with a scowl.
“Oh, come on, don’t get all pouty~” He teased, poking Megumi’s cheek, who swatted away his hand. “Well, you two finished?” The kids both nodded. “Well then, how about we go home and watch a movie! Your pick~.” He smiled at Tsumiki.
“Yes!” Tsumiki also beamed up as Megumi sighed and grumbled out a ‘okay’.
The three then got home and watched a movie Tsumiki picked out. Though, both Megumi and Satoru wondered what would be in store with this new teacher. Maybe it would be a good thing. No one couldn’t just judge a book by its cover.