Chapter Text
Takahashi comes back after the weekend to a boy she has never seen before, with spiky black hair and a frown on his face standing inside her classroom claiming that this was his new school. Of course, she was quite shocked to see this and had to contact the administrators twice to confirm that no, it wasn’t a mistake, yes, he is supposed to be there, his name is Megumi Fushiguro by the way and he’s your problem now ha ha ha . The whole time, the kid had just stared at her with the most condescending look Takahashi had ever seen in her life.
She still isn’t too sure how or why he managed to get in so late either. She’s seen rich couples try and make more than generous donations to be enrolled late, mothers begging for a slot while their husbands stand next to them nodding along, none of which were even considered for a moment, but here Megumi is in her class anyways. Takahashi just came in one day and there he was sitting at a brand new desk in the back of the classroom.
No matter, Takahashi thinks, she’s experienced with dealing with bratty kids of ultra wealthy parents, and Megumi will be no different. She turns to face the class, most of them already whispering about the new addition, before focusing on Megumi and mustering up the biggest smile she can at 8AM on a Monday. “Class, we have a new student today, his name is Megumi! Megumi, can you please introduce yourself to everyone?”
She then watches as the boy in question gets up from his seat, hands fidgeting in his pockets, and proceeds to give possibly the worst introduction (and the most concerning one) she’s ever heard.
“My name is Megumi Fushiguro but the teacher already told you that. I’m only here ‘cause Gojo says I have to. I hate this place and I want to go home.”
Wow. Who raised this kid?
The class is full of whispers as he sits down, so Takahashi clears her throat and prepares herself for a long day of dealing with third graders. “School is important , especially at your age! I’m sure you’ll grow to love this place in no time,” she says, pulling out a new box of chalk and an eraser to get started with their first period math class.
She teaches her students patiently, guiding them through some simple word problems as the chalk powder bunches up under her nails uncomfortably. She should get them cut soon, Takahashi thinks.
Megumi doesn’t say anything the whole lesson, but she sees him begrudgingly jotting down a couple numbers and decides that maybe there is hope for him yet. When she instructs them to put away their math notebooks and go out to the gym for second period, she watches as he trails behind the class and absentmindedly thinks about how on earth she’s going to get this kid to open up.
-
PE is a hassle for Takahashi, who hates exercise with every fiber of her being. Still, she puts on a brave face and adjusts her gym pants, before blowing a whistle and instructing everyone to run halfway around the track as a warm up and immediately situating herself on the bleachers, ready to wait a few minutes as they raced down the gymnasium.
The place is easily five times the size of the classroom, but she watches incredulously as Megumi effortlessly jogs around the whole place before any of the other students have finished their designated half. She silently mourns her bruised ego, watching the kid move at a pace she knows she would never in a million years be able to keep up with.
When they all regroup, one of the boys approaches Megumi, who looks mildly irritated at the sudden encounter.
The boy, Haru, smiles, one of his front teeth missing, excitedly yelling. “Woah, you were so fast!! How did you do that!? You have some kinda super speed powers??”
Megumi just shrugs, picking at his nails. “It’s not that impressive. My d- Gojo can run way faster than me.”
“You call your dad by his first name?”
Megumi pauses for a moment before answering.
“He’s not my dad, just my legal guardian or whatever. He just shows up to annoy me and my sister most of the time, honestly.”
Takahashi is just as surprised as the boy at this, tuning out the rest of their short conversation as she mulls over this new information. ‘Shows up most of the time? Is he just at home alone with his sister? Do I need to call the police? ’ she thinks, directing her students to form teams so they could play soccer.
As she watches the children kick around the ball, the thought of a nanny occurs to her, and she feels a little silly for not thinking of it sooner. Of course someone rich enough to have their kid in a school like this could afford something like that, she grumbles internally, disappointed at where her mind immediately went. No way her newest student and his sister were just unsupervised at home.
Megumi and Haru, who she hopes will make friends with him so he has someone to play with at breaks, are still talking as they pass the ball around to their teammates. Almost as if answering her thoughts and tossing all her reassurances for herself into the trash, she listens closely as Megumi tells Haru “Yeah, he just lets us do whatever and comes by every now and then.”
Well, at the very least his sister must be in her late teens or something, right? Busy parents always leave older siblings to care for younger ones.
“My sister? She’s, like, ten I think.”
Nevermind. Takahashi wonders if she really should call the cops.
-
Lunch break comes far too slowly, and the second she collapses in her chair in the teacher’s lounge and unpacks her meal of instant noodles and Sprite her colleagues are already asking her about the new student.
Mr. Sato twirls a pencil, chewing on a piece of tuna thoughtfully. “Did they seriously admit a new student now? After how strict they’ve been all these years too…”
Takahashi’s best friend, Yuki, leans back in her seat. “I know right? I wonder how much the dad paid to get him in.”
“What makes you think it was the dad? Maybe the mom is the breadwinner,” Takahashi jokes.
“Nah, I saw him with Megumi last week when they went to meet with the principal. When I saw the file after, there wasn’t a mother listed, just him and his son. He’s pretty handsome actually, though he looks nothing like his kid.”
Huh. So Megumi just had one guardian, then. “He looks nothing like his kid because they aren’t biologically related. Megumi mentioned that he was just a legal guardian.”
“So he’s adopted or whatever, it's the same thing, still his dad.” Yuki snickers, laughing a little before continuing. “Must be widowed. No way in hell would anyone dump a face like that. Looks way too young to have a kid like Megumi, but I guess skincare is doing wonders for people now.”
The faculty room groans, and Takahashi just swallows her food in resignation.
-
When dismissal does hit, Takahashi escorts each of her students one by one. The white concrete walls of the school become coated with dirt as groups of children lean against it or roughhouse nearby, the open gates letting out some of the cool air from inside to give her some semblance of cold as the summer temperatures threaten to give her heatstroke. Parents, drivers and nannies all come by, and slowly the crowd thins, until only a handful of students are left.
Takahashi watches as they get picked up one by one, until only one is left: Megumi. He’s staring out at the empty car lot impassively, and Takahashi wonders if he’s been standing there the whole time and if he shows any emotion at all. (The latter might be a bit dramatic for a third grader, but in her defense it was definitely justified.)
Ten minutes later she was contemplating calling Megumi’s guardian to remind him that his son was still here when a tall white haired man came rushing towards them, before slowing down to a light jog as he got close, bending down and wrapping an arm around Megumi and grinning wildly. He looked like he had just come out of a warzone, hair messy and was that a school uniform he was wearing?? all rumpled. He was wearing shades so dark Takahashi questioned if he could even see out of them, even though the sky was cloudy.
“Hey Megumi!! Sorry I’m so late, the higher ups are such slave drivers,” he pouts, and Takahashi is starting to doubt that this is Megumi’s legal guardian. An older brother or family friend at most.
She tries to ignore the unsettling feeling coming from him, and the dark stain on the bottom of his black pant leg.
Takahashi has always had good intuition.
“Get off,” Megumi scowls, trying to push the taller boy off of him, “I hate you so much. Why do you need to embarrass me in front of my teacher?”
Blinking, he suddenly leans over to examine Takahashi, arm still thrown around Megumi, and she freezes, feeling like a really tiny bug under a microscope. His eyes peer out from under the shades, an unnatural blue so bright and inhuman that it unnerves her. His gaze shifts to her shoulders, and he straightens up before swatting his hand in a slicing motion towards the air above it.
Takahashi is not quite sure if the sudden weight off of her shoulders is her imagination. The air around her seems to get a little lighter, the sky’s colors seeming just a bit brighter than she remembered.
The unsettling feeling does not leave. She is sure it is coming from him.
“You should lighten up a bit, teach, if you stress too much you could get wrinkles!” the white haired man jokes, and Takahashi shakes her head to clear the sudden feeling and remembers her situation. Gojo is loud and boisterous, and does not seem to shut up at all. She doesn’t think he’s stopped talking at all the whole time they’ve interacted. “I’m sorry, you must be here to pick up Megumi, right? Do you have anything from his guardian saying you can get him today? If it isn’t the parent we need a pass as proof we can hand the child over, you see,” she laughs awkwardly.
“Oh, no, I am Megumi’s guardian!” the man smiles, pulling out an ID. “Satoru Gojo, you can check with the school and everything.” The ID tells her he’s almost nineteen.
Takahashi stands there unimpressed. The man in front of her looks like he’s barely old enough to drink. The fact he is still wearing a school uniform, albeit an odd all black one with long sleeves, does not help. The only points he has in his favor are that he ticks all the boxes of Yuki’s description from lunch: handsome, young, and not at all looking like Megumi.
Both Megumi and Gojo seem to pick up on her suspicions, and Megumi is surprisingly the one to speak this time. The two of them must be used to this by now.
“He’s not lying. As terrible as it is, he's actually legally our caretaker.”
Gojo beams, pinching Megumi’s cheeks and sticking to him like a sponge. “Awwww, I knew you recognized me as your dad in that cold little heart somewhere!! I should buy us a cake on the way home to celebrate!”
“No! I said caretaker! Now stop annoying me already!”
Takahashi just sighs, watching the two boys bicker and Gojo pout. Megumi voices her thoughts, scowling at Gojo about how immature he is. Legal guardian my ass, Gojo was more childish than Megumi for god’s sake. But if both of them said it was the case, there wasn’t really much other choice. Eventually the two walk off, both waving a haphazard goodbye to her and going off in the same direction Gojo came from at first.
Megumi could deny it all he wanted, but she watched as he ever so slightly leaned into the taller man’s side, huffing out a curse she knew he didn’t mean as he kicked Gojo's shins.
Maybe Gojo wasn’t such a bad guardian after all. It must be hard having to care for such an angry kid.
When they finally turn and leave her sight, she realizes the path Gojo came from and the path they’re taking now only led to a dead end alley. She wonders how Gojo came from that direction, certain that she didn’t see him walk into the alley before turning back to head to the school at all.
When she walks down to check it out for herself, curious, she only finds graffitied walls and a half empty dumpster. Megumi and his guardian are nowhere to be found, but she swears she didn’t see them or anyone else for that matter walk back down the empty street.
The unease did not linger after they left.
-
Megumi seems to grow accustomed to school life slowly. His documents say he used to be homeschooled, which explained the lack of social skills, but overall Takahashi feels like he’s grown a lot from the moody little boy that announced that he hated the school at first.
Right now they’re practicing their writing by describing what they want to be in the future and why, Takahashi having given instructions to draw something related to that job too. She wanders around the classroom, peering at students’ papers and correcting mistakes in their spelling and punctuation. Most of them have jobs like doctor or firefighter, but some have answers like mermaid or knight. She takes a glance at Megumi’s paper, where he’s drawn a giant black creature with eyes and a little stick figure who, by the looks of the black spikes coming out of its head, was supposed to be him, killing it. Red colored pencil had been used to create what was presumably blood.
“What have you drawn, Megumi?” Takahashi stutters, because what the hell kind of job has a scene out of The Conjuring? “Jujutsu sorcerer. Duh,” he deadpans. “It's what Gojo does, and I’m gonna do it too in the future.”
Wait what?
“Can you explain to me what exactly a…jujutsu sorcerer does?”
God bless because she doesn't know how to deal with this kid if he starts talking about an imaginary bloodthirsty friend like what she saw in that horror movie last night.
“You wouldn’t really get it anyways,” Megumi scowls, and Takahashi is pretty sure she just reset all the progress made on making the boy not hate school by asking about this topic. “people like you can’t see them after all.”
“Oh? So why can you and your…father?”
Megumi picks up a grey pencil and starts drawing what looks like a really long sword, before switching to red to draw the handle. “We just can.”
Takahashi frowns. What kind of cryptic answer was that? She skims the page, and notices the last paragraph:
‘Sometimes Gojo takes me with him to easy missions so I can watch and learn what to do in the future. He doesn’t let me kill do anything most of the time though. I hope he lets me soon because I’ve been training really hard.’
Ah. So Megumi’s dad brought him along to work sometimes. No problem, lots of parents do that. She squints, trying to read what he crossed out, but to no avail. Looking up, he’s added eyes and sharp teeth to the black creature. There was now a dead stick figure in its mouth and multiple others on the ground. He looked up at her, not breaking eye contact for a moment.
Yep. Megumi was definitely possessed. Or he just had a really hyperactive imagination that his dubiously teenage dad encouraged a little too much.
For Takahashi’s sanity, she’s going to choose the latter.
( Later, when she gets home she decides to Google ‘jujutsu sorcerer’. All that comes up are results for urban legends and conspiracy theories of magic and evil monsters, along with a few missing persons cases and a dubiously connected cult.
She sighs in relief. Just a big imagination and not a horror movie scenario then.)
-
A month after she first meets Gojo, someone new comes by to pick Megumi up, and Takahashi contemplates her life choices once again because was everyone in Megumi’s life just a terrible influence?
The woman who comes for him has chocolate colored hair that just about touches her shoulders, with a petite frame and the same school uniform Gojo had but with a slightly different fit. She smells of cigarette ash and when Takahashi gets closer with Megumi in tow, (he was the last student to be picked up pretty consistently at this point), she can see a half finished one in her mouth.
“We don’t allow smoking on school grounds,” she remarks, and the lady’s face scrunches up in annoyance before turning impassive again as she tosses it on the pavement of the car park and crushes it under her heel. Megumi’s presumed pick up for today fishes around in her pocket before pulling out a permission slip with her name and Gojo’s signature on it and tossing it towards Takahashi.
The card identifies her as Shoko Ieri, and Takahashi contemplates the pros and cons of allowing Megumi to stay with her and Gojo. Right now the negatives were definitely outweighing the positives.
Shoko is talking to Megumi now, the kid standing in between her and his teacher. “I guess Satoru wasn’t lying when he said your school was good. Rich fucking private school, this place reeks though,” she mutters, nose wrinkling slightly. Her tone is so disinterested, and not in the same way as Megumi. His was more cold and slightly condescending, but hers was apathetic. Detached.
She’s just as unsettling as Gojo, Takahashi thinks, but I can’t put my finger on why.
Around Gojo, the feeling was to run as far as possible. Around Ieri, it was nauseating, as if her presence threatened to suffocate her.
Either way, it was concerning. On one hand, she worried about sending Megumi home with people like this, but on the other something told her he fit in with them just fine. Like they were all of the same kind of people, and neither Ieri nor Gojo meant harm to her.
“I assure you, the school grounds are frequently sanitized and the smell is quite normal,” she opts to say. Shoko raises an eyebrow. “Huh? That’s not what I was talking about, but good to know I guess…”
“My apologies, I must have misunderstood then…” Takahashi trails off. Ieri waves her hand without a care in the world. “Whatever, it's okay. Bye I guess. Satoru says I’m picking Megumi up every Wednesday and Friday.”
Takahashi watches them go, contemplating reminding Ieri not to bring cigarettes on school grounds again.
The next time Shoko comes to pick Megumi up, Gojo in tow, they have a car and a batch of fresh groceries in the backseat. Takahashi is pretty sure there is more than one six pack of beer in the plastic bags.
“You could’ve gotten us all back to the dorms faster, why bother with the car?” Ieri tells Gojo.
“You know I can’t bring so much shit with me in one go,” Gojo scowls.
Takahashi watches them, wondering what they mean.
-
The school play comes up shockingly fast, and Takahashi has everyone voting on what story to base their presentation on as soon as class starts. After much blood, sweat, and tears, they decide on Wizard of Oz, albeit a shortened and heavily altered version that they came up with. Whatever, Takahashi wasn’t getting paid to have them perform the story accurately.
They assign roles by letting everyone pick, and drawing lots for the popular characters. With all of the students seemingly satisfied with their roles, Takahashi begins the task of having to create a script with nineteen third graders, which ended up being surprisingly easier than expected; all she had to do was edit and clean up what they came up with.
By the next week, rehearsals began, and the week after that the school productions started. Takahashi waited with her class behind the curtains of the stage as the second grade classes wrapped up their plays and the floor was prepared for a completely different setting. Takahashi does not envy the people on prop duty, because going from Rainbow Fish to Wizard of Oz in ten minutes was probably not fun.
She does a quick headcount as they announce a short break to prepare for the next class, and internally screams when she realizes that she’s missing one particular student. Megumi was not the type to run off on his own, and she sends up a prayer to deal with whatever situation he could’ve ended up in as she tells everyone to stay put and that she’s going to be right back.
Takahashi rushes around the backstage area, passing children changing out of their costumes, a music technician on their phone, and at least five set designers. Still no sign of Megumi. She’s gasping for breath by the time she barges into the final dressing room, the last place to check.
The lights are all off, save for the LEDs surrounding the mirror. The wall has a large scratch running along it vertically, though it isn’t all that deep. She internally mourns her weekend knowing she will definitely have to email the school and the owners of the theatre they’re renting out. A black miasma that looks like the foggy version of tar swirls around the floor but when she turns to look at it fully there is only shadow.
The room feels heavy. Takahashi swears the fog wasn’t a trick of the light.
Megumi is standing in the corner, disheveled and panting like he just ran a marathon. She rushed towards him to check for injuries, finding none. Takahashi sighs in relief, ready to guide him back to the group after a reprimanding, but the glint of something sharp and metal in his sleeve catches her attention, and she immediately reaches for it.
Megumi immediately tries to pull away, but as he does the object falls out and Takahashi almost faints when she sees what it is: a small dagger, the blade about the size of half her forearm.
Her voice is stern when she addresses Megumi, who stands there like a deer in headlights. “Do you know how dangerous something like this is!? Why do you have this?”
The boy just mumbles, stumbling over his words knowing he’s been caught. “I- uh- it’s just for-“
“No excuses. I’m talking to your dad as soon as we finish the play. In the meantime, I’m going to be taking this,” she chastises, gesturing towards the door. “Now go back, we’re starting soon.”
Megumi opens his mouth to protest, clearly not happy with this. “Wait, you can’t-“
“No buts young man! You are not getting this back until I’ve spoken to your dad.”
He huffs, before moving towards the door.
The mounting tense feeling leaves when she steps out of the dressing room, and Takahashi can feel her jaw unclench and her muscles relaxing. She watches Megumi hurry back to the group and goes to follow him, catching sight of Yuki overseeing some of the production crew. She stumbles over to her when the men she’s instructing leave, hoping to catch a breather before having to go back to her class. She checks her watch. Two minutes until their play.
Yuki glances at her in confusion. “Takahashi, why are you here? Your class starts soon, you need to- hey, is that a knife!?”
Takahashi just stares at it again and sighs. “Yes it is. Megumi snuck off from the class and I found him with it. Completely unrelated, there is a pretty big slash in the wall in dressing room 5 now.”
“Whoah, wasn’t expecting him to be a troublemaker,” Yuki whistles, “You planning to talk to the parents soon?”
“Parent,” Takahashi reminds her, rubbing circles into her forehead. “And yes, I am. Right after the event ends, actually.”
“Well, good luck with that. I’ll deal with the paperwork for the wall, don’t worry about it.”
They both jump a little when the speakers come on, and Takahashi can hear them introducing her class’ play. “Thanks,” she says hurriedly, “but I think I need to go back to my students now.”
Yuki just smiles and shoves her towards the stage.
-
The play goes off without a hitch after that, and once all of the grades have presented their plays the parents begin reuniting with their kids and filtering out of the theatre. Takahashi scans the crowd for signs of white hair or dark shades, and her gaze eventually lands on her target, Megumi already standing next to him as Gojo takes picture after picture. Takahashi is pretty sure she can hear his laughing and Megumi’s grumbling from across the room.
She pushes through the aisles, ignoring the other parents in favor of reaching the two before they leave. “Excuse me, I need to speak with you regarding an incident with Megumi today,” she calls, finally having sifted through the crowd enough to be within arms length of the two.
He turns to her questioningly, still wearing those shades even though it’s dark out and the theatre lights are just enough to make your way to a seat. “Huh? What happened?”
She reaches into her pocket and pulls out the knife. “Megumi snuck away from the class while we were backstage and I found him holding this, along with a huge gash in the wall of the dressing room he was in. Do you know anything about this?”
Gojo hums, glancing at Megumi who looks as calm as always. “I see…”
Neither of the two seem to be taking the situation seriously at all. “Please, Megumi is a good kid, this doesn’t seem like something he’d do. I just want to know if there’s something going on or what, because if there isn’t a good reason for it I’ll have to report this to the admin. I’m willing enough to give Megumi a chance here.”
There’s a beat of silence before Gojo speaks again “It's a- uh- family heirloom. I know it's weird that Megumi’s allowed to carry it with him, but it’s the last remaining thing he has of his, ah, biological parents, so he’s a bit attached to it. Haven’t been able to separate him from the thing since I took him and his sister in. I know it's a bit unconventional, but we’re trying to get him to stop taking it with him all the time. He must’ve snuck it out of my room when we were getting ready to go here.”
Takahashi just stares. Was she supposed to fall for that?
Gojo seems to sense she’s not buying it, and he starts whining and kicking up a fuss. “C’mon, it's just one time! Can’t you just overlook it this once!? I pinky promise he’ll never get caught with it again,” he wails, kneeling and suddenly throwing himself at her.
Takahashi looks at the man, on his knees, dramatically wailing about how his ‘little Megumi just made a little mistake’ and decides to give them the benefit of the doubt for now.
“I’ll let it slide this once, but if something like this happens again I won’t be able to cover for him and he’s definitely going to get in trouble.”
Gojo shoots up like a rocket and smiles so wide it looks painful. “Hooray! Megumi, say thank you to your teacher, and remember not to get caught doing that again!”
Takahashi notes the wording, remembering to check Megumi’s bag in the future, because not getting caught was very different from not doing it again.
Gojo ruffles Megumi’s hair as the younger boy tries to desperately stop him. Megumi suddenly shifts, looking back to the stage. “I didn’t manage to get it, though.” “I know,” Gojo replies, patting him on the back.
Takahashi jolts. “Get what? Megumi, were you trying to stab something back there!?” Her mind is suddenly filled with images of news headlines and interviews: ‘Student Murdered by a Classmate Because of Negligent Teacher!’
Gojo just waves his hand at her, as if dismissing a butler. “Don’t even worry about it,” he announces, “By the way, I need to use the restroom. Megumi, wait here.”
None of Takahashi’s protests stop him, and he rushes off towards the direction of the backstage area and not the bathroom. She hears him call out a “Thanks for not reporting Megumi!” as he rushes off. Megumi just watches, making his way to the nearest aisle to sit down.
-
On the day of Parent Teacher Conferences, Takahashi is prepared to have to deal with Gojo’s childishness, having chosen the office with the thickest walls in anticipation of the man’s noisy behavior. She is pleasantly surprised when a blonde haired man with glasses comes in, dressed in a pair of slacks and a dress shirt. Despite also looking like a student, he looks to be at least ten times more mature than Gojo or Ieri for that matter.
He enters the office and immediately sits down, setting a briefcase onto the floor. “Hello, you must be Megumi’s teacher, yes?”
Takahashi nods. “Yep! Takahashi Takahashi at your service,” she says, introducing herself as she pulls out Megumi’s file and opens it to a list of his grades.
The man nods. “Kento Nanami. How has Megumi been doing in school?”
“Megumi is a great student academically, but I do worry about his social life. He doesn’t seem to be very interested in making friends, and he always just seems to be reading in the library.”
“Megumi has always been quite shy compared to his sister,” Nanami nods. “I’ll tell Gojo to talk to him about interacting with the other kids more.”
She hums in acknowledgement. Maybe the list of caretakers (if they could even be called that) in Megumi’s life had hope after all; Nanami was far more responsible than any of the other teenagers she’s met. She readies herself to continue, because if Nanami’s reaction to what she had to say next was bad she was never getting her hopes up for an older figure in Megumi’s life again.
“That’s not all. I don’t know if you were informed about this, but during the school play two weeks ago Megumi was caught with a weapon, and he caused some property damage to a dressing room. I talked to Gojo already about it after the play ended but, well…”
“You don’t need to elaborate, Gojo’s attitude is more than well known to anyone who’s spent more than ten minutes in his presence.”
Takahashi almost starts crying in relief. A real positive influence on Megumi’s life! No smoking and swearing on school grounds! No loud and far too childish attitude! She must be dreaming! “Yes, of course. Do you think you could talk to Megumi about it? I’m worried about that incident, and I don’t want it to happen again.”
“Of course,” Nanami reassures her, “Someone needs to act seriously when taking care of the kid and God knows Gojo and Ieri won’t.”
“Thank you,” Takahashi gushes, “You don’t know how much that means to me.”
“No problem.”
Takahashi spends a few more minutes going more in depth on his academics, discussing which subjects Megumi does well in, making sure to praise his reading skills and his physical fitness. When they finish, Nanami bows respectfully and thanks her for handling Megumi and his guardian before taking his briefcase and leaving quietly.
Takahashi sinks lower into her chair. Nanami was nice enough, she supposed, but he was distant. Cold. The feeling of off was nowhere near as strong as how she felt around Gojo or Ieri, but it was there nonetheless, and she could feel the temperature of the room rise a few degrees when he finally left.
Maybe what was really out of the question was not a positive older influence, but a totally normal one.
-
When she leaves for a short break in the courtyard, Yuki is already talking to a few other teachers and waves her down. “Takahashi! I can’t believe you got to meet that tall blonde before me!!”
“Well of course, he was here for Megumi and not one of your students after all,” Takahashi goes.
One of the interns, a young woman from a nearby college groans. “Is everyone in charge of that kid a supermodel or something? Seriously, first it was that white haired guy, then the brunette girl, now him…and they all go to the same college too!!”
Yuki nods in agreement. “Where even is that college anyways?”
“When I asked the girl last Friday she showed me her ID and it was some long name for a private school in the mountains. Tokyo Metropolitan something College?”
“Seriously, you would think people like that would be going to a new college here and not some random place near a Buddhist temple,” Yuki laughs.
The intern blinks. “I searched it up online when she told me. I’m pretty sure their school is the Buddhist temple.”
-
Note to self, Takahashi thinks, one good influence on Megumi will not counteract the two bad ones.
It was recess when what she is now referring to as ‘the incident’ occurs. Megumi was sitting to the side in the shade as always, reading a book and not talking to any of the other children, when one of the boys from his class came up to him. Aoi, Takahashi thinks.
“Hey, why are you always reading? You should join us and play some tag!”
Megumi continues reading. “No thanks.”
Aoi blows a strand of red hair out of his face. “Oh come on! You act just like your sister,” he grumbles.
Megumi looks up at that. “What about my sister?”
“My big sister told me yours is weird! She’s always talking about you and her books, even if she tries to act nice she just freaks out the class,” Aoi says, sticking out his tongue.
“Hey! Tsumiki isn’t weird!”
“Yes she is!”
“No she isn’t!”
“Yes she is! And I heard she’s stupid too! Apparently she didn’t even finish her last year of school!”
Megumi glared at Aoi before raising a fist and punching the red haired boy’s face dead center.
The fight had gone on for just under a minute, with the playground having erupted into shouts as people began watching. Takahashi had to pull them off of each other, with Aoi significantly worse for wear than Megumi, who had managed to escape with nothing but a black eye.
Aoi had been rushed off to the clinic, before the two were escorted to the vice principal's office to have their parents called. Takahashi sent up a prayer for what was about to happen when she heard two sets of footsteps coming down the hallway, Aoi’s mother already waiting inside next to her son glaring daggers at Megumi with a frown on her face.
The door slammed open and Ieri and Gojo stood there, the former carrying a 7-11 plastic bag with what looked like mochi inside.
Ieri stared at both kids before making her way to Megumi’s side, Gojo in tow. Her voice was as uncaring as Takahashi remembered. “So, what happened now?”
“What happened is your son attacked mine!” Aoi’s mother yelled. “Look at what happened to my baby boy’s face! All because your violent son couldn’t control himself!”
Megumi grit his teeth in indignation. “He insulted Tsumiki!”
Gojo raised an eyebrow at that. “See? Looks like your son was the one to start the fight,” he deadpanned, rolling his eyes. “Huh, Megumi, looks like you got him good. Did you remember not to tuck your thumb when you punched?”
Megumi nodded, and Ieri laughed, giving the boy a high five and passing him a pack of mochi from the plastic bag. “Don’t hesitate to hit him again if he bothers you more,” she snickered.
Aoi’s mother gasped. “This is not proper behavior at all! Of course teen parents like you are raising a brat like Megumi, I should call child services now and get both of you fined! Neither of you are fit to care for a child!”
“Hey, watch what you’re saying lady! I’ll have you know my kids are well cared for and raised right, though I can’t say the same for yours!”
Ieri looks pretty pissed too, though with how bland her face and actions are Takahashi can’t really tell. “Also, teen parents? Do you think I’d ever get pregnant from someone like him? Hell no lady.”
Takahashi is pretty sure Aoi’s mother is going to pop a blood vessel. Ieri just watches disinterested, and Aoi himself is still sniffling and nursing an ice pack to his beaten face. The vice principal clears her throat and tries to placate both parents.
“Now now, we reviewed security footage and both of you are right. Aoi, you did instigate by insulting Megumi’s sister, but Megumi you shouldn’t have risen to the taunts and used violence to solve the problem.”
Aoi’s mom let out a hmph, before crossing her arms. “Regardless of what Aoi said, I think the other boy should be suspended immediately! No, expelled! That boy is a danger to this school!”
“W-well, Mrs. Sato, since this is Megumi’s first offense I don’t think expulsion is an option, however-”
“What do you mean it isn’t!? That boy deserves it!”
“Wow this lady has some screws loose,” Ieri whispers, and both Gojo and Megumi let out a giggle. Well, Gojo does, Megumi just cracks a small smile.
Mrs. Sato rounds on them, waving a finger in Gojo’s face. “Don’t you dare disrespect me like that ever again, either of you! My husband is a very powerful man, and I could ruin both of you,” she sneers.
“Do you hear that, Shoko? She thinks she’s powerful enough to actually do anything to either of us,” Gojo sneers. “Maybe I should throw my position around too.”
(Privately, Takahashi realizes that she’s never actually asked what any of them do. Megumi mentioned he has no grandparents of any kind and it’s mostly just Gojo, Ieri and maybe Nanami caring for him. Where did they get the money or influence to get Megumi in the school? Nobody had managed to get in mid school year after all, but Gojo had somehow done it.)
“Position? As if a boy like you has one,” Mrs. Sato scoffed, going off on another tirade about irresponsible young people and demonic and violent children as the vice principal attempted to calm her down. Ieri just checked her phone, scrolling for a little before turning it off and shoving it in her pocket.
“Sorry to interrupt, but Satoru owes me some curry and the shop I like closes in an hour,” Ieri yawns.
“Oh yeah! Shoko and I are going to take Megumi now, you can figure out what to do,” Gojo yawns, “I hope you don’t die before that happens lady, you look old enough that it could happen anytime now.”
Mrs. Sato lets out a frustrated yell and slams a fist on the table. The vice principal raises her hands placatingly. “Uhh, Mr. Gojo, Ms. Ieri, we might need you to stay a bit longer to sort it out and-”
“Oh please, we both know nothing will happen to Megumi,” Gojo said, snarkier than normal. “Now, if you excuse us, we have a curry shop to get to. Megumi, next time you get in a fight don’t embarrass us by letting some snotty kid get a hit on you.”
Mrs. Sato is red in the face and Takahashi can tell she’s on the verge of tackling both Gojo and Ieri to the ground and having an all out brawl despite her complaints about Megumi doing the exact same thing. As much as she hates Aoi’s mom, she has to begrudgingly admit she has some point; Gojo and Ieri were definitely not handling the situation properly, and she had the same incredulous response upon seeing how the two teens reacted to the incident.
The three leave the way they came, ignoring all protests, complaints, and insults in favor of loudly discussing where to go for the rest of the day.
Gojo is proven right when Megumi gets off scot free, despite the protests of Aoi’s parents. Takahashi watches as Megumi walks back into the classroom the next day, his black eye somehow completely gone even though it looked bad enough to leave a mark until next week, completely unaffected by Aoi’s loud gasp of indignation.
-
Takahashi still isn’t too sure what the young guy who looks like he could be the same age as Megumi’s guardian is doing here in monk robes, but she escorts him to the principal nonetheless. He smiles at her and Takahashi gets the same feeling she has around Gojo, but sharper. Nastier.
If her gut told her Gojo meant no harm to her despite his presence, it told her this man in monk robes saw her as little more than a cockroach to be crushed under a shoe or hit with bug spray. As soon as they reached the office, she scuttled off back to her classroom, a cold sweat dripping down her back.
The mystery monk didn’t leave the principal’s office until twenty minutes after school ended, and she watched as he walked out to an empty parking lot with only her, Megumi, and Gojo who had just arrived. She watched as the man’s eyes looked at Gojo with…recognition?
“Satoru, long time no see.”
Gojo looked up at the man dumbfounded. He looked like he was about to hurl. “Suguru? Why’re you here?”
“Just helping out with a situation on school grounds,” the newly dubbed Suguru replied, his voice breezy but with a hard undertone. “The college can’t take care of every report, after all. No harm in dropping by here to, ah, help.”
Gojo fists clench, and Takahashi can see him shake. “I heard from Yaga what you’ve been doing. Suguru, you-!”
“We talked about this already, didn’t we Satoru? I told you I was going to do it, and you let me walk away. If you aren’t going to help me with it then we have no business with each other anymore.”
Takahashi looked at them both. What kind of drama did she find herself in the middle of now?
Neither of the men paid her any notice, and she’s quite certain they’ve both forgotten she was even there to begin with.
“You can’t be serious,” Gojo laughed, disbelief coloring his voice. “You’re just gonna be like that, huh? After leaving me, leaving Shoko and Nanamin-”
Suguru’s glare was cold as he turned and began to walk away. “Just drop it, Satoru.”
Gojo raises his hands in some weird symbol, and Megumi suddenly grabs his arm and glances at Takahashi.
“Let’s just go home. Geto isn’t going to listen to you, and if you use that here…”
Gojo shook and for a moment Takahashi saw a tear threaten to drip down his cheek before he quickly turned away. “I wouldn’t have been able to do it anyways,” he said bitterly, shoving one hand in his pocket and placing the other on Megumi’s head. “I didn’t the first time either after all.”
Takahashi watches as Gojo stands in the parking lot for just a little longer, looking out at where Geto went before gripping something in his pocket so hard she saw blood drip.
When she goes home, thinking about the interaction, she can’t help but hope the two of them can resolve whatever happened before it’s too late.
-
The last time Takahashi sees Megumi is an ordinary Tuesday. He asks to use the restroom and she tells him to be back quickly because she’s handing out the test in a few minutes.
Five minutes pass, and Takahashi begrudgingly hands out the test papers, hoping Megumi will come back soon so he doesn’t miss out on too much time to take the test.
And then another five minutes pass. Then ten. Then fifteen. By now the class is about to end, and Megumi’s desk has sat completely empty. Takahashi furrows her brows in worry, ushering the class out for recess and heading towards the bathrooms to look for Megumi. Her footsteps echo down the hallway, and she hesitates at the door of the boys bathroom, knocking before calling out. “Megumi, are you there? Are you alright?”
A muffled bang is heard from inside and something clatters to the floor. Takahashi strains her ear and she can hear what sounds like an animal trotting around the bathroom. No one opens the door.
Okay, no biggie. Takahashi’s just going to go in, get Megumi, and ask him why he seems to always find a way to get himself into the weirdest situations.
When she opens the bathroom door, she’s greeted with Megumi sitting on the floor, shivering, as a long gash goes up his leg. Two dogs, one black and one white flank him, the white one nuzzling his cheek and whining. Both of them turn to face her, but neither make a move to bite so she deems it safe enough to move towards Megumi.
The kid is somehow not crying or screaming in pain, but there are silent tears rolling down his cheeks and she can tell he’s doing his best to act tough. Her breath catches in her throat, and she immediately bends down to check on his leg. The cut is deep and blood gushes out into a far too large puddle of it on the floor. The pant leg of his uniform is coated with the stuff, and it sticks uncomfortably to the wound.
“Megumi, what happened? Where did the dogs come from?”
The boy takes in another sharp gasp of air, and she can tell he’s trying to swallow back his sobs. “Can- call- my dad, please,” he manages, and Takahashi does not comment on how he finally called Gojo his father.
“I need to get you to the clinic first, your dad might take a while to get here so I’ll inform the principal and-”
“No,” Megumi bursts, grabbing her wrist suddenly, “no, just call him now he’ll be fast I swear he-”
Takahashi knows the boy is not going to move until she does, so she swallows her panic and takes out her phone. “Okay, okay, do you know his number?”
Megumi recites a string of numbers, and when she calls Gojo picks up on the first ring. It sounds like someone is trying to recreate a world war on the other sound, with loud bangs and the sound of a building collapsing.
“Hello, it's the most amazing person ever! What do you need?”
“Mr. Gojo, it’s Takahashi from Megumi’s school, I found him injured in the bathroom and he won’t leave for the clinic until you come.”
A noise she can only describe as a really loud explosion combined with an earthquake comes from the other end and Gojo speaks again, panicked and worried. “He’s injured!? I’ll be there shortly, do not let him move from where he is now,” he barks, his surroundings having finally gone quiet.
“I’m afraid I can’t do that, he needs immediate medical attention-”
Takahashi is met with the call being hung up. She moves to find a way to pick Megumi up without jostling his leg too much, but the bathroom door bursts open and Gojo is standing there with Ieri right next to him.
“How did you get here so fast?” she blurts, eyes wide.
“Doesn’t matter,” Gojo responds, surveying the room. Ieri gently puts a hand to Megumi’s wound, and Takahashi watches in shock as it begins to close up.
“What- how are you doing that?”
Ieri just shrugs at her, before looking at Gojo. “Yaga is going to kill you for getting a non-shaman involved, you owe me big time for doing this.”
Non-shaman? Yaga? Takahashi didn’t understand a single thing.
The two dogs she had basically forgotten about in favor of what was basically a miracle happening in front of her suddenly barked, and she remembered their presence in the room. An odd red marking was seared into both their heads, and she wondered if this had anything to do with what Ieri mentioned about being a shaman.
“I’ll deal with it,” Gojo huffs, his gaze on Megumi and the dogs. “I guess you finally got your cursed technique, huh? Ten Shadows too, the Zen’in are going to really try and poach you from me now.”
His voice is confident, but she can see the worry in his stance, and the way he stands protectively over Megumi and Ieri.
“Your fault for arguing with them in the first place and deciding to take him in,” Ieri says.
“Well I couldn’t just leave him and his sister to such a sad existence now could I?”
Takahashi just stands there dumbfounded. “I’m sorry, what is this?”
Gojo tilts his head at her. “It's a need to know basis, and you don’t need to know. Someone will be here to clean up the situation soon, just don’t go running your mouth about anything, yeah?”
Ieri rolls her eyes. “Oh so now you want to be responsible…”
Megumi is completely healed by now, what could have been permanent damage not leaving a single scar after a single, minute long touch.
“Let’s go,” Gojo says, pushing them all together and picking Megumi up. The boy does not complain about the touch at all.
Takahashi watches them, still in shock. “Wait, what are you doing?”
Gojo taps his foot on the ground and checks the time on his phone. “We’re going to go, just remember not to say anything about what happened today or it could get really messy for you and a pain for me to deal with, yeah?”
And before she can say anything more the space where the three are standing folds in on itself and the space where they were previously standing is empty.
When she looks down, she notes numbly that they’ve taken the pool of blood with them too.
-
True to word, someone comes to speak with them at the school a day after. He introduces himself as Masamichi Yaga, and has a conversation with some important people that she is not included in. When he leaves, the principal calls her into his office and tells her to not bring up Megumi or what happened ever again or she would be fired. Takahashi asks how he even got in in the first place, but all he tells her is that ‘it was a favor for something a long time ago,’ and that ‘it had something to do with my wife’.
Megumi does not show up to school again. The desk in the back is taken out and the students are simply told he moved. Gojo’s number is no longer in service.
Takahashi is so desperately curious about what happened that day, but something tells her she doesn’t want to go poking around for answers.
Takahashi is a completely ordinary person, and Satoru Gojo, Shoko Ieri, and Megumi Fushiguro are decidedly not. So, in order to preserve her ordinary life, she makes a decision and walks away from a truth she does not need to know. Megumi was a student who moved, Gojo and Ieri were his weird guardians, and she knows nothing more than that.
Her life is mundane and uninteresting. She ignores how since that day the shadows in the corner of her vision sometimes move, and the dark seems to reach for her with hands it shouldn’t have. Takahashi is nothing like the students from Tokyo Metropolitan Curse Technical College, and for her sanity she would like it to stay that way.