Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"Megumiiiiiii," Yuuji hollers, letting himself into Megumi's office. He hasn't knocked in years, so why start now?

This acceptance of Yuuji letting himself in uninvited seems to be a two way street, since Megumi doesn't even flinch. He keeps typing away on his computer as Yuuji flops down in one of the chairs across from his desk. The loud thud Yuuji makes as he lands isn't enough to pull Megumi's focus, so Yuuji drapes both legs over one armrest and throws his head back over the other. Then groans loudly for good measure.

Megumi still doesn't look up from what he's working on. Which, rude. Yeah, there's a lot more paperwork and assignment grading that needs to be done for the second years, but none of it could possibly be that important.

Besides, Yuuji had Ibuki and Aemu last year when they were first years. They're both incredibly talented sorcerers, so their homework is probably already great. Yuuji also knows from experience that if it happens to take an extra a day or two for them to get their work back, they're super chill and understanding about it. Especially if you bring them ice cream when you tell them. Plus, Megumi only has two students this year. Yuuji has four, so he's got twice as many kids to worry about. And right now he is worrying.

"Can this wait, Yuuji?" Megumi's voice is tight and thin. "I'm in the middle of something."

Yuuji doesn't want to wait, but Megumi isn't exactly leaving any room for argument.

"Fine," he huffs, sitting upright in his chair.

There isn't much for him to fiddle with in here while he's forced to wait. Megumi tends to keep his desk pretty bare except for the essentials — pens, papers, a calendar, his laptop, a picture from their wedding. All the usual suspects. But Yuuji's favorite desk trinket to play with is right where it always is. Technically, it's Megumi's only desk trinket, but it's still Yuuji's favorite.

It's the blown glass fish with the funny little pout that Gojo gave to Megumi as an office-warming present his first year teaching. Neither of them ever really got what about Megumi screamed fish to Gojo, but Yuuji has fun playing with it. Picking it up and running his fingers over the fins and tracing the —

Apparently fun is off the table today because Megumi snatches the fish out of Yuuji's hands and puts it back on his desk.

Which means he just has to … sit here. Great. Exactly what he needs today. Complete silence while he's forced to coexist with his thoughts.

He tries to avoid it. Focusing on the hangnail on his thumb or picking at the dry skin on his lips instead of the thoughts buzzing around his head. It doesn't help that every time he adjusts in his seat Yuuji convinces himself he felt his phone buzz, but when he checks the screen there's no missed calls or texts from any of his students.

It's stupid. He should be over this by now. It shouldn't get to him so much. It's not like he hasn't done this before. This is his eighth year teaching, which means it's his eighth time sending his students out on their first solo mission.

Maybe Yuuji's just getting older, but it seems like his students get younger and younger every year. He still remembers what it was like to be their age — the burning need to help people however he could. Having to grow up so fast that he already felt like an adult at fifteen anyway.

Now that he's actually an adult, it's becoming more and more apparent all the ways he wasn't one, even when he thought he was. It's just hard when he can see how badly his students want to be out there, but Yuuji knows better than most how dangerous what sorcerers do is.

He's pretty sure it'd be hard to let them go even if he wasn't sending his kids out to exorcise curses. The world is dangerous for a million reasons that aren't curse-related.

Moaya especially is too trusting. She's got this gentle demeanor about her that makes strangers stop and ask her for directions even if there's a map right there or tell her all their secrets for no reason. And she'll let them — will listen to them talk and offer advice as best as she can with a genuine smile the whole time.

Yeah, she's the best fighter in her year and is absolutely ruthless in combat, but those people don't know that. They just see the long braids decorated with fresh flowers or the poetry anthologies she annotates on the train or the thank you she whispers to the Sun when it's nice out and assume they've found the easiest person on the planet to pick pocket.

Yuuji'd like to see anyone try to pull that with Wakumi. He'd probably be able to hear her giving the pick pocket a thorough public shaming through even the strongest of Tengen's barriers. Even if she was in Fukuoka and he was in Sapporo, Yuuji's still pretty sure he'd be able to hear it. She grew up in Tokyo, so he's less worried about her ability to handle herself in a city than he is about the others.

But she jumps into things without thinking. A "run directly into mortal danger" first, "ask a single question about how we could have avoided mortal danger in the first place" later kind of person. What if she talked her classmates into doing something crazy like surprise attacking a curse from above by jumping off a twelve story building (again) and Yuuji wasn't there to catch them this time?

If she listened to Hibiki more then maybe it would be different. They're the most logical of the bunch — they could be a little quiet, but nothing gets past them. Yuuji's started to break them out of their shell a bit and he was really glad he had. They tell him all the gossip and are super witty and seem like they're adjusting well.

But they're still working on being precise with scale when it comes to their technique. What if they only need to create an Echo Ripple that's the size of a room, but end up making one the size of a city block? Or worse — what if they need one that large but don't have the cursed energy to make it happen and end up getting hurt?

The one Yuuji is most worried about is Ruku. Mainly because he knows that Ruku is the most worried in general. Ruku didn't come from a sorcerer family like the other three, so he didn't know about curses until he was already a teenager. The adjustment hasn't been easy on him, but Yuuji is so proud of him for how hard he's working to face his fears head on. He knows from experience that this isn't an easy world to dive into. And Ruku wants to be a great sorcerer so badly that Yuuji has no doubt that he will one day.

But, still, that change doesn't just happen overnight. The things sorcerers face are scary in theory, but horrifying up close. There's only so much that listening to Yuuji tells stories about the curses he's fought can prepare his students for what it's like to be the ones fighting the curses themselves. What if Ruku isn't ready yet?

That was harsh. Ruku is ready — they all are. Yuuji wouldn't have let any of his students accept this mission if he had deeper concerns about their abilities.

And Yuuji knows all this. He spends every day with these kids and knows exactly how brilliant they are. They're prepared for their mission. The four of them have grown exponentially over the past several months since coming to the school. Yuuji is so proud of all of them. They are more than capable of succeeding today.

But what if something goes wrong on their mission and he isn't there to protect them? What if he forgot to teach them some vitally important bit of sorcerer lore that ends up being the difference between life and death? Four sorcerers in one place is a lot of cursed energy. What if something bigger than the curse they've been sent to exorcise comes for them? Or what if —

"They're going to be fine, you know." Megumi says, not looking up from his work. "You've trained them well. Today's mission will be a success."

Yuuji's nose scrunches. "How'd you know what I was worried about?"

Megumi turns his desk calendar around to face him. Yuuji leans in and sees today's date circled in red pen with a note that reads Yuuji's student's first solo mission. Cancel office hours to offer moral support.

"Well, my morals are not feeling supported right now." Yuuji pouts, crossing his arms over his chest. "I should be getting your full attention if you went through all the trouble of telling Aemu and Ibuki not to show up today."

"My office hours start in fifteen minutes," he explains. "Once they do, you'll have my full attention."

"Some husband you are," Yuuji mutters. Megumi exhales sharply exactly one time, but doesn't say anything else.

It ends up taking Megumi seven minutes to finish whatever he was in the middle of. Once he puts everything away, he finally looks at Yuuji. His eyes soften in the way they only do for him and maybe everything really is gonna be alright. Megumi comes around to the front of his desk and sits in the chair next to Yuuji. He takes one of Yuuji's hands into his and rubs small circles into the top of it with his thumb, spinning Yuuji's wedding band around his finger as he does.

"What's on your mind?"

Yuuji's worries make him feel small and powerless — like his kids are trapped out there and he has no way to help them. Saying it out loud to anyone else would make him feel like an idiot for being so anxious, but if Megumi's the one asking then he can find a way to talk about it. It might even help. He takes a deep breath.

"I'm just worried about them is all. Every year I think it'll be different, but it's not. If anything, it's harder."

"You care about them." Megumi says simply. "That isn't a bad thing."

Yuuji smiles, being the center of Megumi's blunt honesty — his matter of fact way of complimenting him — never gets old.

"I know it's not, I just … I wish it was easier to let them fly the nest, ya know? I want to trust them — and when I think about it I know they can do it, it's just hard not to worry about it anyways."

Spelling it out makes him realize how irrational it is. Feelings are, like, known for not needing logic to exist, so it's very much charted territory as far as emotions go. Saying it out loud definitely helps Yuuji pretend he's a little more in control of what's happening.

Megumi helps too. Just being near him has always made all of Yuuji's problems feel smaller. He relaxes into Megumi's touch, bringing his other hand to rest on top of the one already holding Megumi's.

"I can think of a way to take your mind off it," Megumi flirts and Yuuji's eyes snap to his.

Megumi leans in to kiss him. Yuuji does too, drawn in by his husband's handsome face and pretty eyes and —

The sound of Yuuji's phone ringing cuts through the room. He shoots a bashful look at Megumi as he pulls it from his pocket to see who's calling. The Caller ID says it's Hibiki and Yuuji almost drops his phone like four times trying to bring it to his ear as fast as possible.

"Hibiki, are you hurt? Are the others ok? Is everything alright?" Yuuji stands, ready to start sprinting to the mission site. "I can be there in —"

"Relax, Itadori-Sensei," they interrupt. "We're fine."

They're fine.

Yuuji's shoulders slump away from his ears and it finally feels like he can breathe at a normal rate. Clearly, he's just been worried over nothing.

"Well, Ruku did start crying after he punched the curse in the face, but the rest of us are fine."

From somewhere behind Hibiki, Yuuji can hear who he assumes is Ruku yelling something to the effect of Shut up! I did not — Wakumi, tell them I didn't! There's some more arguing after that, but Yuuji's so happy his kids are safe that all he can do is laugh.

"In that case, why don't the four of you get outta there and go get some lunch. Anything you want, my treat. I can't wait to hear all about the mission when you're back."

"Well, actually …"

Yuuji freezes. All the anxiety he'd just let go of is back in full force. Probably even more intense than before if the way Megumi's looking at him is any indication. His husband comes closer and threads an arm around his waist. Yuuji didn't realize how on the brink of collapse he was until he slumps into Megumi. The pressure of keeping himself vertical more than he can handle right now.

"Maybe you should come down here anyways."

"Hibiki …" His voice sounds haunted — choked — when he finds it. "What's going on?"

There's a thick gulp from Hibiki's side of the call. "The four of us are fine, but as we were leaving … we found someone. And she doesn't look so good."

/////

Megumi and I are en-route with Ijichi now. Do not do ANYTHING until we get there (Wakumi please re-read that last sentence at least twice).

Chapter Text

Yuuji spends the whole car ride to the mission site freaking out.

This does nothing to help Ijichi, who is already nervous enough at a baseline. The hyperventilating, leg shaking, and stream of consciousness anxious babbling combo that Yuuji is working through currently has him white knuckle gripping the steering wheel so hard that Megumi can see it all the way from the back seat.

So, as usual, it's up to Megumi to keep everyone's head on straight. Alternating between rubbing Yuuji's back and reminding him that his students are safe and whispering that everything's going to be alright, while also sending Ijichi understanding glances through the rearview mirror when he can.

If Megumi's honest, he really doesn't mind. He loves all of Yuuji and his worries are part of him, so Megumi loves those messy parts of him too. This kind of thing comes with the territory of being married and it's far from the first time they've shown up for each other when they needed it. Yuuji would do — has done — the same for Megumi in a heartbeat. Their life together an endless cycle of loving and being loved.

There's something about his students being in danger that's always gotten under Yuuji's skin. Fighting curses that would have anyone else running for the hills, looking death in the eye, putting his life on the line for those he cares about — Yuuji will do it all with an easy grin. But let him find out that one of his students so much as skinned their knee and he isn't there to immediately use RCT on it and the world might as well be ending.

They finally make it to the address in the mission briefing and the place is, to put it mildly, completely decimated. Megumi's seen earthquakes do less damage than this.

He looks at Yuuji with abject horror in his eyes. "And we're sure they're just first years?"

Maybe Yuuji will be proud of the damage they were able to sow once he lays eyes on his students, but right now he's fully in Find Them mode.

They make their way toward what looks like the center of the destruction. Megumi doesn't know much about the mission specifics, but based on what he's been able to piece together it seems like this place is (used to be) an apartment complex of some kind.

The external walls of the building are mostly still standing. It was five or six floors in total before Yuuji's students went to town on it. Almost every window is completely shattered. Stress fractures extend like lightning strikes across all the walls. Whole floors bowing under the stress of trying to prevent collapse. The air is thick with dust as bits of crushed cement and drywall float around them.

Once they pass through the massive hole in the wall that used to be the main entrance, Megumi has to yank Yuuji back by the collar to keep him from walking straight into the fifty foot wide sinkhole that's now the front lobby. A giant cavity the same size extends up as far as Megumi can see — an open air cylinder straight through the middle of the building.

At home, Yuuji talks non-stop about how incredible this group of students is, so Megumi knows that their skill as sorcerers has grown exponentially since coming to the school, but this is on a whole other level. Based on the amount of carnage, it's a small miracle they all made it out relatively unscathed according to Hibiki. Non-sorcerers certainly wouldn't have been so lucky.

Thankfully, the manager of the apartment complex was the one that asked for them to take care of the curse before it started making tenants leave. Since this was planned, they were able to tell all of the residents that there would be major repairs happening and everyone had to evacuate before the mission started. So no one was inside when this happened.

Or, apparently, no one should have been inside.

It's not hard to find the students from there. Ruku, Moaya, Hibiki, and Wakumi are all safe and sound on the other side of the sinkhole. Yuuji takes off at a breakneck speed around the side of the crater. Catapulting himself over piles of rubble to get to them in four seconds flat.

Megumi follows several steps behind, giving Yuuji a chance to check in on each of them. He catches himself smiling watching the way Yuuji dotes on his students.

When they first started teaching, Yuuji was worried about not being good enough for his students, but Megumi always knew that he'd be great. How could he not be? Empathy pours out of him without a second though. There isn't anyone in the whole world more committed to seeing the best in people and helping them grow than Yuuji is.

Megumi knows that he's a good teacher, in the most literal sense, but he's never been like Yuuji in that way. Offering students life advice, joking around with them, connecting with them — anything besides imparting academic knowledge has always been harder for him.

Upon closer inspection, Moaya and Hibiki seem totally fine. Just a few small scratches. Ruku is somehow covered in dirt, but only looks slightly more bruised than the first two. In a stark, but unsurprising, departure from the other three, Wakumi looks like she's been through hell, but can't wait to tell Yuuji all about it. She's grinning like a maniac and is covered head to toe in a gloopy purple substance Megumi assumes came from the curse.

They'd brought a standard first aid kit, but Yuuji's already hard at work using RCT on all of them. Wakumi and Ruku first, then Hibiki and Moaya. None of them can do anything to get rid of the purple sludge covering Wakumi, so she's unfortunately stuck like that until they get back to campus and can shower.

They're all chattering away the whole time. Wakumi spinning some grand tale of heroics, while Moaya and Ruku jump in to clarify a point or correct her when she starts re-writing history. Hibiki is content to watch the whole thing unfold, but Yuuji does his best to weave them into the conversation whenever he can, dutifully splitting his attention between the four of them.

It takes a while for any of them to even notice Megumi lingering a bit behind Yuuji. Wakumi is the first, interrupting herself in the middle of her story to greet him.

"Hey Fushiguro-sensei!"

The other students turn to look at him after that. Moaya and Hibiki politely smile and nod and Megumi returns the gesture.

"Did we interrupt your date?" Ruku asks without thinking.

Yuuji's cheeks turn as pink as his hair.

"We weren't on a date," he shushes. An unspoken but understood you're embarrassing me accompanying his words.

Wakumi narrows her eyes at her teacher. "We know you're married. You don't have to be weird about it."

With varying levels of success, Yuuji's students attempt to stifle their laughter. Whether Wakumi's bluntness or Yuuji's befuddled face is the butt of the joke is anyone's guess, but Megumi uses the momentary lull in the conversation to step forward. Diverting everyone's attention back to the task at hand so they can all go home.

"Where's the woman Hibiki mentioned? Does she need medical attention?"

The students all look between each other, trying to decide how to respond. Megumi had assumed his questions were straight forward, but apparently not.

"No to woman," Hibiki says, deciding to speak for the group. "Yes to medical attention."

Yuuji looks over at Megumi (which, if he's looking to him for answers, Megumi doesn't have any either) then back at Hibiki.

"But on the phone you said —"

"I think it'd be best if we took you to her," Moaya interrupts already leading the group over to a small alcove behind them. It's the exact kind of thing everyone's taught to seek out during an earthquake, which is probably what a non-sorcerer would have thought was happening considering the damage.

A slab of concrete seems to have fallen in front of it at some point during the battle, but Megumi can see the scratch marks on the floor from where one of the students must have pushed it out of the way. It only takes a few steps closer for Megumi to see the reason he and Yuuji were called here.

Covered in ash and splintered fragments of the building they're standing in is the crumpled body of a little girl.

Megumi can see her small belly is moving up and down at a steady rate, so she's probably just a little dazed at best or fully unconscious at worst. There's a big gash across her left leg that will definitely need attention. Blood has soaked into her bright pink joggers — staining them beyond repair — but doesn't appear to be actively pouring from the wound. Besides that, there just seems to be a few minor cuts across her face and arms, as far as Megumi can tell.

She can't be older than four or five. Her cheeks haven't lost all their baby fat yet, still round and pronounced. Megumi can't help but fixate on how tiny everything about her is. A tiny nose in between tiny eyes with tiny ears poking out the side of her head. Tiny fingers attached to tiny hands connected to tiny wrists. It's hard to believe that everyone starts out that small.

In the midst of the chaos, some of the girl's hair around the sides of her face has come loose from her ponytail. Plastering to her forehead and temples like long bangs. It reminds him of how Tsumiki used to wear her hair when they were kids.

"How did you know she was back here?" Megumi asks. Before the concrete had been moved it would have been impossible to see her at all.

"I don't know," Moaya says pensively, "I could just … tell."

Megumi purses his lips. Moaya is definitely Yuuji's most … metaphysical student. She sounds like she's in a trance just thinking about how she knew to search through the debris for someone in the first place. Maybe there was something to the whole meditating at sunrise to deepen her connection with the universe thing after all and she really could just tell.

Stranger things have happened.

Moaya takes the first aid kit from Megumi and kneels down next to the girl. Taking stock of what's in the kit and arranging the gauze and alcohol swabs in neat piles. Yuuji is right there with her, reaching out slowly to put a hand on the girl's shoulder and gently shake her awake.

"Hey," he says. "Are you alright?"

The little girl stirs with a groan far louder than someone her size should be capable of, but still doesn't open her eyes all the way.

"Oh, thank god," Ruku sighs in relief. Megumi looks over at the boy in time to see Wakumi smack him on the shoulder.

"What?" Ruku shouts indignantly. "I thought she was dead!"

Now everyone turns to look at Ruku. A collective Really? written across all of their faces. He turns bashful, face reddening at the unwanted attention. He's saved from any more public shaming by a small rusting pulling everyone's focus.

The little girl starts to sit up — rubbing her eyes and asking, "Are the monsters gone?"

"Yeah," Yuuji soothes, "The monsters are all gone now. Could you see them?"

She nods, her bleary eyes coming to rest on Yuuji.

"Did you know your hair's pink?"

"Uhm, yeah." Yuuji's head tilts a bit to one side. "I did."

"I want my hair to be pink but Mama said no."

This kid just woke up surrounded by six strangers — one of whom is covered in purple sludge — in a completely decimated building, but her most pressing concern is Yuuji's pink hair?

Yuuji, conversely, doesn't seem the least bit off put by the sudden turn in conversation. "I don't know much about dyeing hair. Mine just grows out of my head like this."

"Really!?!"

This is a world altering development for the little girl. She tries to stand to get a better look at Yuuji's hair, but the second she does she cries out in pain. The cut on her leg making any sort of movement with it almost impossible.

Megumi feels Yuuji's cursed energy flare at the sound of a child in pain. Immediately ready to use RCT to heal the wound. Megumi's faster though — reaching out instantly to snatch his husband's hand back. Yuuji absolutely cannot use RCT on a non-sorcerer while they're awake. Explaining anything about what happened this afternoon is already going to be a headache if she asks. He's not dealing with having to come up with some lie about how her leg that was badly cut just a second ago is perfectly fine now.

Besides, someone here needs to get them on back track so they can get this girl home to her parents and, with all due respect, that is not going to be Yuuji.

Megumi bends down next to them, putting himself between the girl at Yuuji. "You said that you have parents? Can we take you to them?"

The girl thinks for a moment.

"Mama and Papa said they were going to get me more coloring paper because I ran out. So they'll be back soon."

Megumi's face sours. "And when did they say that to you?"

"Sunday."

Today's Thursday.

Megumi feels for the girl. It reminds him all too well of his own less than stellar childhood. Of finding out the hard way that sometimes people leave and there's nothing you can do about it.

The students all share furtive glances with each other — putting the pieces together themselves. Hibiki in particular seems upset at the implications, their usually stoic face wrought with worry as they catch the attention of their classmates.

"She's been alone for five days?" Yuuji whispers.

Megumi mutters back, "Apparently so."

None of them know what to say for a second, the prospect of getting this girl back to her parents having just become significantly harder.

Yuuji turns to the girl, "My name is Itadori Yuuji. What's yours?"

"I'm Shimada Cheiri," she beams.

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Cheiri." Yuuji tickles her side and Cheiri giggles unabashedly.

"How about this — your leg seems like its got a pretty big owie on it. Why don't we take you to the doctors to make sure you're alright? Then, when we get there, we can call your Mama and Papa and they can stop by to get you on the way home from getting your coloring paper."

Either Yuuji has an incredibly trustworthy aura or this child has no sense of stranger danger because she agrees instantly. Yuuji scoops Cheiri up in his arms, taking special care to make sure her cut leg isn't rubbing up against anything. They start to make their way back to the assistants, but Moaya stops Yuuji first.

"Are you really going to leave her at the hospital all alone?"

"I'm not taking her to the hospital," Yuuji replies. "I'm taking her to Shoko."

He wants to take her to who?

The revelation of Yuuji's plan brings Megumi to a sharp halt. Balking at his husband's extremely misguided idea of how to help this girl.

"Moaya," Megumi says slowly. He's working very hard to keep his cool right now and would rather not risk losing it in front of a bunch of children. "Why don't you take Cheiri to car? Yuuji and I will be right there."

Yuuji turns to look at Megumi and has genuine confusion plastered across his face — like he couldn't possibly understand what the issue is with this idea. He knows better than to say as much in front of the kids though. That's not going to help anyone. They need to be a united front.

It takes a second — Yuuji introducing Cheiri to Moaya properly and ensuring that the younger girl is handed off with the utmost care. Cheiri really likes the flowers in Moaya's hair, so they're fast friends. He can hear her promising to help Cheiri pick some once her leg is all better as the five kids make their way to the assistants.

Finally alone, Megumi's shoulders slump. "Are you serious?"

"I am," he asserts.

"You actually want to bring a non-sorcerer to the school? A kid no less?"

"Look, I know she's not a sorcerer," he explains, "but she could see the curses! She asked if the monsters were gone —"

"That could mean anything."

Kids say weird things all the time. They aren't exactly the most reliable narrators.

Yuuji keeps talking as if Megumi hadn't said anything. "So maybe she's like Ijichi or Nitta or the other assistants. But, either way, she's hurt and all alone and we can make sure she gets better care with Shoko than we can at a regular hospital."

Megumi couldn't argue with that. The hospital would be able to get Cheiri patched up no problem, but there was no telling how long they'd have to wait to be seen. Not to mention, since he and Yuuji aren't Cheiri's legal guardians and the girl's actual parents have been missing for days, when they finally do get seen the hospital will have no choice but to turn Cheiri over to Child Protective Services. Those systems have good intentions, but are often stretched incredibly thin and can be rough on the kids in them.

It also doesn't help that the whole time, Yuuji is looking at him so earnestly. Megumi can tell he feels responsible for Cheiri. Yuuji would never forgive himself if something happens to her or they don't exhaust all possible options to make sure that she's alright.

More damning than all of that, is the fact that Megumi is stupid and hopelessly in love with his husband and probably indulges him more than he should. So when Yuuji makes his eyes go wide and pouts his lip just a little bit like he is right now, Megumi has been known to make incredibly dumb choices. Like, truly, monumentally stupid stuff. He might even —

"Fine." Megumi grimaces.

Yuuji beams and kisses Megumi on the cheek before running to catch up with his students. Megumi sighs heavily, but isn't far behind him. Someone's gotta explain all of this to Ijichi and it should probably be him.

The students all ride back with Nitta and Cheiri joins Yuuji and Megumi in Ijichi's car. Megumi texts an update on the current predicament Gojo and Shoko. He also requests that Shoko make the infirmary as child proofed as possible. The scalpels and needles that were supposed to be there were dangerous enough for a little kid, but the ashtray was a step too far.

It's about a half hour back to the school grounds. Cheiri falls asleep almost instantly, the steady movement of the car and the soft hum of the engine enough to lull her into rest. She probably needs it, considering the day she's had.

The whole time, Yuuji stares at her. Almost like he's convinced she'll stop breathing if he doesn't watch to make sure the next one happens. His shoulders scrunch up to his ears every time she so much as twitches in her sleep — the tension only dissipating when Cheiri's back to snoring at regular intervals.

Megumi pretends not to notice.

When they're finally back on campus, the three of them part ways from the students and head down to the infirmary. Shoko had, blessedly, done exactly what Megumi asked and made the room safe for a five year old to be in.

Getting Cheiri patched up is a straightforward process. Yuuji and Shoko work in tandem — Yuuji keeps Cheiri smiling and laughing the whole time while Shoko stealthily uses RCT to heal her wounds then puts bandages over the freshly mended skin. Megumi is mostly just … there. Within just a few minutes, Shoko is promising Cheiri that when she takes all of the bandages later she'll be as good as new.

It's late afternoon when they emerge from the infirmary. The sun is starting to set in the distance as they make their way to the main administrative building. All their things are still in Megumi's office after having to go to the mission site so abruptly. They'll gather up their coats and then they can hand Cheiri off to —

"Gojo?"

Megumi startles at Yuuji's question. But sure enough, sitting at Megumi's desk, typing away on Megumi's laptop, is Gojo.

"What's wrong with your laptop?" Megumi bites. Today's been long enough as it is, he doesn't need Gojo's shenanigans making it worse.

Gojo shrugs, not even bothering to look up from the screen. "It's in my office."

"Fine," Megumi marches over and slams the laptop shut. "Why are you in my office?"

"He's kinda mean," Cheiri whispers to Yuuji. She's just as bad at whispering as he is because everyone hears it.

For the fist time, Gojo acknowledges Cheiri. He comes around the desk and bends down to get at her level. "I was just about to say the same thing."

He's not wearing his blindfold, which might be arguably scarier. Having to be up close and personal with eyes that are that blue isn't for the faint of heart.

"You're pretty smart …" Gojo prompts, waiting for her to introduce herself.

Cheiri looks up at Yuuji and when he nods like it's ok for her to talk to the strange man with the freaky eyes she says, "Shimada Cheiri."

"Well, it's very nice to meet you, Cheiri." He pulls out some candy from his pocket and gives it to her. She starts smiling wildly and clumsily opens the packaging.

"Is that really necessary?" Megumi protests. "She's just gonna get a sugar high."

It's already so late for her. She probably needs to be put to bed soon, but Gojo is like the rich houses on Halloween and only deals in king size candy bars, so she'll be bouncing off the walls all night.

"Oh come on," Yuuji mocks, poking Megumi in the side. "It's just some candy."

"Besides she'll need it," Gojo mutters.

Megumi narrows his eyes at Gojo.

"Why?" The question is pointed. Gojo's definitely not saying something, but what is it?

Megumi's suspicious are confirmed even further by Gojo snatching the blown glass fish off Megumi's desk and shoving it toward Cheiri with an artificially cheerful, "Here!"

Cheiri's eyes go wide as she starts playing with it. Making the fish swim through the air and spinning it in the seat of one of the chairs like it's a doll in a music box. Satisfied that she's fully distracted, Gojo signals to Yuuji and Megumi to follow him to the corner of Megumi's office. They share a concerned look, but both move to do the same.

"What happened?" Megumi demands. He's clearly hiding something. And knowing Gojo, that could be anything from him eating the last of Megumi's snacks to him using his power as Principal to cancel school for the rest of the year.

Gojo turns to Yuuji. "So, you know how that curse your students were sent to kill was built on people's fear of their neighbors?"

"Yeah," Yuuji nods.

"Well," Gojo continues, "based on some of the initial reports from the building complex and the residuals Nitta sensed when she brought the students to the mission, it seems like the curse was able to strengthen its power by using tenants of the building."

He leans in closer, then looks over at Cheiri one more time to make absolutely sure she isn't paying attention before whispering, "Specifically, it took over the bodies of a young married couple and was using them to sow chaos around the building. The first reports came in about five days ago."

Five days ago. That was when —

"Their names were Shimada Takuya and Shimada Asuka."

When Megumi's eyes snap over to Yuuji's, his husband is already looking back at him. Confusion and dismay and shock and disbelief fading into and out of one another so fast Megumi can't tell what's what.

Yuuji finds his voice first. "Are you saying —"

"Yeah." Gojo cuts him off. "I am. So, not too loud."

The three of them sit in silent stupor as they process that the curse that Yuuji's students killed had killed Cheiri's parents earlier this week and had been using their bodies to torment their neighbors. At least they were able to exorcise the curse responsible. That was some sort of justice.

But still, this poor kid. She'd already seen her parents for the last time and didn't even realize it. In her head, they were still in line at the store — about to come home with more coloring paper. There was nothing they could do to make them walk through that door again.

"We can try to track down next of kin, but it'll take time. So until then …"

Gojo is staring at him in that creepy way he has. Megumi's seen this look countless times over the course of his life. Each one always marked some huge bit of chaos being dropped into his lap abruptly and with no warning.

The look is frequent, but the hands aren't. Gojo is wiggling his fingers at him. Like if Megumi doesn't put the pieces together fast enough, Gojo will tickle it out of him. Megumi has only seen the look and the hands together one other time in his life. Right before …

"No."

"You didn't even let me finish!" Gojo pouts.

"No."

Megumi repeats it even more sternly the second time. This is not happening. No way. End of discussion.

"She can't stay unsupervised at the school overnight so someone has to take her."

Any retort Megumi has is cut off by the sound of glass shattering. The three of them turn to look toward the noise and it's not hard to put the pieces together. Cheiri is staring guiltily down at the ground, where the shards of Megumi's blown glass fish lay broken at her feet.

"Megumi and I will take her."

"We'll what?"

Like hell they'll take her in.

"Why can't Gojo take her?" Megumi diverts, pointing at the other man. "He's known for picking up strays."

Gojo sputters indignantly.

"Really, it's no trouble," Yuuji says sweetly. "We're happy to have her."

The last part is very much directed at Megumi, who is very much not happy to have her.

Not that it will be an issue, because Cheiri is not coming home with them.

They aren't ready to be parents yet. They're only twenty eight. That's young, actually. He and Yuuji can't be responsible for a child — they're barely responsible enough for themselves half the time.

Megumi isn't even entirely sure he wants kids. Just imagining being in charge of a young person's safety and development is enough to make him feel like he's developing an ulcer. But living with that pressure all the time? In real life? He'd never enjoy anything again — he'd just be horrified about something awful happening to his kid 24/7.

Even if he wanted to — which he doesn't — it wouldn't be an option logistically. Their house is the furthest thing from child proofed. They don't have a guest room set up. They don't have clothes for her. They don't even have an extra tooth brush. They simply cannot responsibly house a child.

But more damning than any logic — than any of his astute understanding of responsibility — is the fact that Megumi is stupid and hopelessly in love with his husband and probably indulges him more than he should. So when Yuuji makes his eyes go wide and pouts his lip just a little bit like he is right now, Megumi has been known to make incredibly dumb choices. Like, truly, monumentally stupid stuff. He might even —

"Fine." The word is out of his mouth before he can stop it.

"One night."

/////

Hey Nobara, we have to raincheck dinner tonight. Yuuji & I just became the temporary guardians of a 5 year old.

Chapter Text

An hour ago, Yuuji was so sure that this would be easy. Was positive that they'd have a chill evening after such a big day. He was certain they'd get Cheiri home and give her a bath and nice balanced meal and she'd be asleep in no time.

Then Gojo had to go and give her that king size candy bar.

The second they cross the threshold to the apartment, Cheiri is bouncing off the walls. She wants to see every inch of the place and treat all their picture frames and well-organized bookshelves like toys. Totally ignoring the few actual toys they have, like the fox plushie that Megumi won him from a claw machine on their third date or the Naruto and Sasuke figures Nobara bought them sophomore year in hopes that they would be inspired to "look inward" and "do what they couldn't".

Yuuji is right on Cheiri's heels the whole time, doing his best to keep her away from all the dangerous stuff. Which mainly means keeping her out of the kitchen so Megumi can hide all the chef's knives before she can get her hands on them.

Having a kid in their home is making Yuuji see everything in a new light. The corners on the coffee table suddenly look like freshly sharpened daggers and the runner in the hallway looks like quicksand that could take Cheiri to the ground in three seconds flat.

How can he get her to chill out? Chasing her is clearly making her feel like they're playing. Yuuji wasn't worried about out lasting her in a game of tag. He definitely has more stamina than a five year old. But the faster they ran around, the more horrified Yuuji was getting that she was gonna start bleeding profusely and Megumi wouldn't let him use RCT to cauterize the wound because she's not a sorcerer.

He needed to think of something to distract her. And fast.

"Are you hungry?"

That's something. Kids are like little vacuums. They're always trying to eat stuff they aren't supposed to. He can redirect that energy toward something productive, like dinner.

Cheiri freezes in her tracks. Yuuji sees her take in a giant breath and let it all out in a guttural scream.

"I'm starving!!!!"

She darts off toward the kitchen, with Yuuji dashing right behind her. All the stomping catches Megumi off guard, turning with a sharp gasp as Cheiri stands in the doorway and shouts, "If I don't eat right now I'm gonna die!"

Megumi takes a second (and at least three deep breaths) to find his words. "I was planning on making eggplant kabayaki for dinner in a little bit, but I can start now if you're hungry."

Cheiri's shoulders slump. "Oh."

"Oh," Yuuji echoes.

Megumi eyes them both.

"What's wrong with that?"

"Eggplants are yucky."

Cheiri scrunches her nose up and Yuuji finds that he's involuntarily doing the same. "She's got a point," he nods sagely.

Megumi glares at him. It's easy to forget how scary he can be when he tries.

"I'm just saying!" Yuuji placates.

"I don't see you offering to make dinner."

So, the placation doesn't seem to have worked great, but, ya know, it's been quite a day. Megumi's allowed to be a little grumpy.

"Itadori-shi, you should make dinner."

They both turn to Cheiri. The overly formal honorific sounds so strange from someone her age. Yuuji kneels down to her.

"We're not that stuffy here, Cheiri," he assures. "You don't need to be so formal with us."

"I don't wanna be rude."

It's such a sudden turn from the little girl who was giggling and running around the house just a few seconds ago. She's shifting her weight between her feet and won't look him in the eye anymore. Seeing her so somber makes Yuuji want to cry.

"Really," he soothes. "I promise you won't offend us. We're pretty go with the flow. You could even call me Papa-Yuuji and him Papa-Megumi and neither of us would bat an eye."

Megumi absolutely bats an eye, but Cheiri is looking at Yuuji and not him right now, so it's fine.

"Ok Papa-Yuuji." Cheiri throws her arms around his neck and pulls him into a tight hug. "Can you make me Hamburg steak for dinner? Please, please, please!"

If he's being honest, he didn't expect her to jump straight to Papa-Yuuji immediately. But now that she has, he can't say that he minds. It almost makes him … proud — happy, even.

Hamburg steak is pretty simple to throw together. Cheiri is very interested in the whole process. She sits on the counter and asks questions about everything he's adding and squeals when Yuuji lets her help mix up the meat.

Megumi's keeping his distance, stealing glances at the two of them from the living room when he thinks Yuuji isn't paying attention, which is fine by him. He knows that Megumi needs his space sometimes and is always happy to give it to him.

Dinner comes together in no time, which is a relief because Cheiri is starving. She'd probably just been getting by on whatever snacks her parents had on hand for the five days that she'd been alone, so her tiny body craves nutrient density.

She scarfs down three full steaks in under five minutes. There's bits of meat flying in all directions as she chews like a beaver. Yuuji and Megumi stare slack jawed at her the whole time. Cheiri's cheeks, forearms, and (somehow) feet are covered in sauce by the time she's done.

A bath becomes doubly mandatory now. While Yuuji draws her a bath, Megumi takes the clothes that they'd found her in and throws them in the wash. They'll still be torn from all the falling concrete, but those are the only child clothes they have, so at least they'll be clean. In a small stroke of luck, they happen to have some bubble bath that Yuuji accidentally bought instead of shampoo last week, so he's at least able to make bath time fun.

Once she's all dried off, Yuuji puts her in the closest thing they have to pajamas, which is an old t-shirt. The shirt is oversized on him so Cheiri is absolutely drowning in it. Tripping over the excess fabric as she waddles toward the living room. Yuuji trails a few steps behind her, ready to catch her if she falls.

They have her set up on the couch for the night. Yuuji thought about trying to make the spare room that's currently a makeshift home office habitable, but then Megumi reminded him that's where they keep all their mission reports. Cheiri might not be able to read yet, but a lot of the reports have pictures, so that's a no.

The meal and the bath seemed to have quelled Cheiri's sugar high. She rubs sleep from her eyes as she crawls up into the couch.

Yuuji tucks her in, wrapping the blanket extra tight around her. "Goodnight, Cheiri. We'll see you in the morning."

"Papa-Yuuji," she calls. "Can you read me a bedtime story?"

"Oh, uhm, yeah — sure."

Yuuji settles next to her on the couch. They don't have any sort of children's books on hand, so he's just gonna have to make on up on the spot. What bedtime stories does Yuuji even know? He thinks for a second, grasping at straws for literally any story he can remember right now.

Then it clicks.

"Once upon a time," he starts, since that's how all good stories begin, "there was a doctor. But Dr. Richter wasn't like other doctors — he was an evil doctor. He's known far and wide for running all kinds of evil experiments, but one in particular, the most horrifying of all, was when he figured out how to turn a human into a —"

"Yuuji," Megumi sternly interrupts from the kitchen.

"What?"

Why was Megumi cutting him off? The story was just getting good.

"The plot of Human Earthworm is not a bedtime story."

"Sure it is!" Yuuji protests. "What's not to love about a story where a Human Earthworm gets to battle social evils of not being seen as a real person and take revenge on the evil doctor who made him this way?"

Megumi blinks, like, really hard.

"She's four."

"I'm five," Cheiri corrects.

"Wow." Yuuji holds up five fingers. "That's a whole hand."

This amazes Cheiri.

"That still doesn't mean Human Earthworm is an ok bedtime story."

"Do you have a better idea?"

Megumi thinks for a second before coming to sit on the other side of the couch. He seems a little stiff — like he's not quite sure about how this is gonna go.

Then he starts talking.

It's the kind of story that transforms the person telling it. It's clearly well-rehearsed and familiar to him — he even has different voices for some of the characters. The main character, a little boy that protects a turtle from other kids in the village who are trying to steal its shell, has Megumi's voice, but the turtle sounds like a grouchy old man when it starts talking to the little boy. Then, when the turtle reveals that he's the beloved pet of a nearby princess, the princess has a much lighter, higher pitched voice.

Cheiri takes it all in with fresh wonder, fighting hard to keep her eyes open so she can find out what happens next. It's a losing battle. Sleep overtakes her just before the end of the story.

They sit in silence for a second. The sounds of Cheiri's steady breathing the only noise in the whole apartment.

"Where'd you hear that story?" Yuuji asks softly, afraid that if he talks any louder he'll wake her.

Megumi looks fondly at nothing in particular for a second before murmuring back, "Tsumiki would tell it to me when we were kids."

Yuuji smiles and squeezes Megumi's hand.

They both attempt to stand and head to bed themselves, but Cheiri stirs, readjusting so that her head is resting on Yuuji's lap and her legs are strewn over Megumi's. It freezes them both in place, moving having just become significantly more challenging.

Megumi tries again first, gently wrapping a hand around her ankle and lifting slightly. He starts inching away from her and —

It only sends Cheiri hunkering down harder. Squirming out of Megumi's grasp and rolling over on her other side and pinning them both even more firmly to their spot.

Well, it looks like they're sleeping out here tonight since moving clearly means waking Cheiri and that is not an option. Yuuji shrugs at his husband who stares back at him crankily, but doesn't try to suggest they move her again. He's probably more eager for Cheiri to finally be getting some sleep than Yuuji is.

The couch isn't so bad. Yuuji's fallen asleep out here dozens of times before. Somehow sleep overtakes him even faster now that he isn't alone.

Yuuji maybe sleeps a little too well.

Instead of the first sound he hears the next morning being an alarm clock or Megumi puttering around their room getting ready for the day, it's a loud crash coming from the kitchen. Yuuji and Megumi both wake with a frantic jolt, moving in perfect unison to the kitchen only to find a guilty looking Cheiri covered head to toe in flour. There's a big metal bowl by her feet, which seems to be the source of the loud crash and all the flour.

Somehow she's the cleanest part of the kitchen. Every other counter top is littered with even more flour and opened packages and spilled milk and eggs.

So. Many. Eggs.

How he missed the sound of Cheiri waking up and cracking every egg in Japan is anyone's guess. Like, why did they even buy this many eggs? Had Yuuji been planning to make omelettes for a small continent the last time he went grocery shopping?

"What … happened?"

It's maybe the most defeated Yuuji's ever heard Megumi sound. He doesn't even seem frustrated — just confused and already exhausted at the prospect of having to help clean all this up.

"I wanted pancakes," she says as if it explains everything.

Yuuji returns Megumi's equally pained stare. It's gonna be a long day.

After a thorough scrub of the kitchen and another bath for Cheiri, they can actually start making breakfast in earnest. There's no more eggs or flour in the house, so Yuuji just heats up the leftover Hamburg steak from last night while Megumi brews a very large pot of coffee. Yuuji brings everyone's plates to the table and Megumi follows with two mugs and the least breakable cup in the house.

They set everything on the table and start divvying the plates and cups accordingly. The last item left is Yuuji's coffee mug. He reaches for it and —

"Here Papa-Yuuji! I got it."

Cheiri does not got it.

She tries to pass Yuuji his coffee but can't quite get her hands all the way around it and loses her grip. The mug tumbles out of her grasp and onto the table, the contents spilling onto all of the homework Yuuji was supposed to have graded last night.

Well, it looks like everyone's getting a hundred now.

Wait.

His students.

Yuuji scrambles to look at his phone. The clock reads 8:47AM. Otherwise known as forty seven minutes after they're supposed to be at school.

His eyes flash to Megumi's — turning his phone to face his husband as he says, "We've gotta go."

The next several minutes happen in a blur. Trying to finish getting everyone dressed and gathering up all the things he needs for class and trying to pack lunches for the three of them. Cheiri doesn't wanna wear shoes (for some reason?) and so Yuuji has to carry her out to the car. They don't have a car seat, so she has to sit in Yuuji's lap for the ride to school. If she didn't spend the whole ride trying to roll down the window and stick her head out he probably wouldn't have minded so much.

Even making it to school isn't enough. They can't go right to class because they have to check in with Gojo about Cheiri first. The walk there is ten minutes longer than it needs to be since Cheiri keeps trying to run off to find Yuuji's students again.

When they finally make it there, Megumi slams open the door to Gojo's office. "Please tell me you have something."

"Well, good morning to you too, Megumi," Gojo smiles. "I see you're off to an early start."

They're two hours late to campus. Megumi grimaces at the barb.

"Not funny, idiot."

Cheiri gasps quietly then tugs at Megumi's sleeve. "Papa-Megumi," she chastises, "that wasn't very nice."

The name registers with Gojo, who shakes his head in fake chagrin. "I tried to raise him better, Cheiri. But even when he was your age, Megumi was always so mean to Papa-Satoru. He's just kinda like that."

"No one in this room is a father," Megumi snaps.

Yuuji's caught off guard by how much the words sting. They're technically true, but it makes his insides feel all cold and hollow. He brushes it off.

"Were you able to find anything?"

Gojo harrumphs one last time at Megumi before kneeling down to get on Cheiri's level.

"Cheiri, do you remember your Aunt Masako?"

At the mere mention of her aunt, Cheiri smiles so wide that Yuuji can see each and every one of her teeth. Her brown eyes glimmer and glint, even under the florescents. This was it. They'd found some next of kin who —

"Nope!"

Oh.

Well, there went that theory.

"Eh, I can't say I'm surprised seeing as how —"

Gojo freezes mid-sentence. Full attention coming to rest on the closed door to his office. His eyes narrow slightly before he stands and walks to his office door.

When he throws it open, all four of Yuuji's students fall unceremoniously to the floor. Clearly their collective body weights had been pressed against the door as they attempted to listen in.

Yuuji groans internally. Like, seriously? He devotes a full three days during syllabus week to explaining exactly what they will and won't be able to get away with because of Gojo's technique and this is their best effort? Yuuji's not mad at them for listening in (if he was in their place, he would have too), but now they're just making him look bad by not even tryingto be sneaky. Had all those practice attempts of hiding walkie-talkies around campus to listen in on secret conversations meant nothing to them?

They all stand up and dust themselves off.

"Ok," Gojo sighs. "Who are you blaming for this, or are you all going down together?"

Wakumi steps forward defiantly.

"We're a team, Gojo-sensei. We came up with this plan together because we all wanted to make sure Cheiri was alright. You'll never get us to talk."

She crosses her arms and about faces to stand back with her friends. Only to turn and find that all three of her classmates were pointing at her during her whole speech.

Gojo chuckles to himself, "Well, it's good to see some things never change. But seriously, this meeting is just for teachers. No students allowed."

Yuuji turns to his students. They all seem hesitant to leave, staring up at Yuuji with big pleading eyes to convince Gojo to let them stay. Whatever Gojo has to say doesn't feel like something the kids should be involved in — even Cheiri, for that matter.

"Moaya, why don't you take Cheiri to the main garden and show her where you pick the flowers for your hair?"

This seems to be an acceptable compromise for not being allowed to stay in the meeting, since his students' main concern was Cheiri to begin with. Cheiri remembers Moaya telling her that they could pick flowers together yesterday and excitedly toddles forward. There's a small purple flower that Moaya had picked a lot of this morning for her hair that Cheiri decrees she wants for herself.

Yuuji closes the door behind his students as they all begin to make their way to one of the gardens.

Gojo's eyes are still glued to the door. He waits a few seconds, then shouts, "Wakumi, I know you're still there."

There's a muffled grumble from the other side of the door. Gojo tracks the path that Yuuji assumes Wakumi is taking away from his office. Only when she's a sufficient distance away from his office does Gojo go back to paying attention to Yuuji and Megumi.

"As I was saying, I'm not surprised the kid doesn't remember her aunt because she works for CIRO."

"She's a spy?" Yuuji blurts.

Sure, there are probably regular desk jobs at CIRO. But they're the top intelligence agency in all of Japan. More likely than not, if she works for them, it's doing some sort of field work.

"A very good one, apparently." Gojo slides a file across his desk. Megumi picks it up and begins thumbing through it.

"Even the partial access we get to national security information to help with missions wasn't enough to track her down," Gojo continues. "I had to get Mei Mei to pull some strings. According to her, Shimada Masako is one of the top spies in all of Japan. She's been working deep undercover for the last twelve years. I had Mei Mei pass the message about Cheiri's parents on to Masako's superiors, but who knows how long it will take her to get it. Depending on what assignment she's on, it could be months."

This sucks. Yuuji didn't even think about the logistical implications of getting a message to someone without blowing their cover. Especially a cover that they'd been keeping for twelve years.

Spies were super cool — always down to save the day and protect the innocent. Working toward the greater good, and all that. The best kind of people to have support from when something goes wrong. Masako doesn't even know Cheiri needs her help right now, since there's no quick way to tell her. When she finds out — if she finds out — she'll be crushed she wasn't able to come help sooner.

"And that's Cheiri's only next of kin?" Megumi asks.

"Unfortunately." Gojo sighs heavily. "Her mom's an only child and Masako is her dad's only sibling. Grandparents on all sides died before she was born and we couldn't find anything more distant."

Yuuji bites the corner of his mouth. This is not how he expected this meeting to go.

Poor Cheiri. She's all alone in the world and doesn't even know it. Yuuji would give anything to make sure that she was safe and taken care of.

"So, not much more we can do I'm afraid," Gojo shrugs. "I figure we let her play with Yuuji's students for a while longer, maybe make sure she gets a good lunch, then I can have Ijichi take her to the CPS headquarters in the prefecture over."

"What do you mean?"

Yuuji knows why he's confused. Gojo is talking nonsense right now. So why does Gojo look confused at him?

"She's a child civilian that needs to be taken care of. That's kind of their whole thing." Gojo says the words slowly, as if really enunciating them will make Yuuji understand them more.

It doesn't.

"Why wouldn't we take care of her?"

All of Yuuji's stubborn fire meets Gojo's annoying coolness head on.

"Taking care of the girl for a night was one thing. She needs long term care. Getting her back to her aunt could take weeks if we're lucky, months if we're not — and that's if the government decides to pass on the message about Cheiri's parents to her. You're both full time teachers here and take on missions as Special Grades. Adding a kid into the mix is no small ask."

Gojo explains it as though the outcome has already been decided. Like raising a kid while also being a teacher and Special Grade sorcerer could never possibly happen when there's a model case of it working right in front of them.

"But you did it."

"Yeah, but I'm me."

"So? There's two of us," Yuuji asserts. "We can —"

"Yuuji," Megumi cuts him off. "You can't be serious."

Megumi looks genuinely stricken. Yuuji knows he hadn't exactly been over the moon about taking Cheiri home in the first place. And that taking care of a five year old was certainly more work than either of them could have predicted.

But he should understand better than anyone the situation that Cheiri is in and how important it is that she has someone to take care of her right now. If they had an opportunity to step up — to do that for her — then why shouldn't they?

"Of course I am. Yeah, last night was rough —"

"Understatement," Megumi snips.

"— but all parents go through a learning curve."

"We aren't parents, Yuuji."

Frustration makes Yuuji's blood run hot — like an overheated kettle about to bubble over.

"Well, maybe I wanna be!"

The silence that follows feels like opening the door on a space ship and being sucked out into a black hole. All the air in the room dissipates in an instant. It's got Yuuji breathing hard just trying to keep himself upright. Megumi isn't breathing period — frozen in place as he stares open mouthed at Yuuji.

It wasn't like he planned on saying that. He hadn't planned anything before the confession was already out of his mouth. Now that it was, it was too late to go back on it.

Gojo stands up. "Hey, so this just got super awkward. Why don't you two take a walk or something and let me know what you decide later, yeah?"

"Fine," Megumi grumbles, already halfway out the room.

He and Yuuji walk in silence out of the main administrative building and toward the training grounds. It's weird for him to not be talking when he's with Megumi. It seems like all Yuuji ever does is talk when he's around him. Ranting about the plot of some movie he'd seen or filling Megumi in on something that happened in class today or deciding what they were gonna have for dinner.

This is more important than any of that though. He needs to be sure he's thinking through what he's saying first before he tries to do any more convincing.

It's only been a day, but he's attached to Cheiri. She's a good kid who has been dealt a really rough hand and it breaks his heart to think about her dealing with this all alone. He wants to make sure that she's safe and cared for, but understands this choice is one that he and Megumi need to be on the same page about. Their lives are eternally intertwined so a change this big to Yuuji's life would also be a change that big to Megumi's life. They need to be able to take care of her as a team — united front and all that.

Yuuji doesn't wanna push Megumi into something he isn't ready for. Especially so suddenly when they've been thrown into the deep end with no preparation. But Yuuji's so certain that he's meant to do this that it's kinda impossible for him to conceptualize any other option.

"I know you want to do this." Beside him, Megumi stills. Refusing to look at Yuuji because it makes it easier for the words to come out, but that can't stop Yuuji from staring at him. Sending silent encouragement that no matter what Megumi says next, everything will be alright. "And that it's the right thing to do. But I'm… I'm not good with kids."

Huh?

"Megumi, you're literally a teacher."

His jaw tightens. "You know what I mean."

"No, I don't."

Yuuji rounds in front of him. Megumi still doesn't want to look him in the eyes (which is significantly harder now that Yuuji is standing directly in front of him) so Yuuji gently cups his chin and uses it to tilt Megumi's face toward him.

"Talk to me."

Sustained eye contact is a limited time offer, so Yuuji gives Megumi his biggest, most convincing puppy dog eyes and his husband folds like a house of cards. He exhales slowly. Trying to put whatever is going on in his big beautiful brain into words.

"Parenthood is different than teaching. It's … normal."

Yuuji hears Cheiri's laughter floating on the wind before they both turn to see her play with his students down at the edge of the training grounds, near one of the gardens. Cheiri's hair is covered in flowers, but so is Ruku's, Hibiki's, and Wakumi's. They're all running around, giggling as they chase each other. Yuuji's students are staunchy teenagers, but seeing them play — like really play the way little kids do — makes them all look even youger than they are.

A smile crests across Yuuji's cheeks as he asks, "I mean, what's wrong with normal?"

"Our world isn't normal. Cheiri's not a sorcerer. What we do …"

Yuuji threads his fingers through Megumi's. The two of them have faced the worst of what their world has to offer together. They stand like that for a while, hand in hand. A moment of silence for all they've been through. All they've seen.

Megumi's voice is low and resigned when he finds it again.

"It's bad enough that we have to send our students out into the fray, but at least we can train them for that. She's just a regular kid. She deserves a normal life and we can't give that to her."

The more he's able to get Megumi to talk, the clearer it becomes that the two of them actually do have the same goal — for Cheiri to be safe. They just see different paths of how to best accomplish that.

This could be their united front.

They could focus on finding the best way to tackle this together and then all the pieces would fall into place. It might take a couple tries to work out all the kinks, but they'd figure it out — they always did. Megumi didn't need to worry.

Well, maybe that's a step too far. Megumi is always gonna worry. That's part of him and Yuuji wouldn't change a thing about his husband. But maybe if he can get Megumi to see that they wouldn't be doing it alone, then it'll feel less intimidating.

"Then we'll send her to daycare." Yuuji offers. "Or we can change up our class schedule so we can take turns staying home with her during the day. Or we can ask for help from Nobara and Maki and Yuuta and —"

"Yuuji, I don't —"

"Can we please just … try?" Yuuji can tell from the sour look that Megumi is giving him right now that he has a limited window to get Megumi to see this from his point of view, so he is not gonna waste a second of it. "If we do it and it doesn't work or it's too much or she's in danger, then we can take her to CPS."

This seems to have piqued Megumi's interest enough to make Yuuji feel like he has a second to catch his breath. Which is good, because the next words are harder for him to get out. They stick to his throat like sand — bothersome and irritating and wanting to remain unsaid.

Yuuji says them anyway.

"We aren't her legal guardians so if we take her there, then that's it. We'll never see her again. There's no going back. We don't need to promise forever right now. We just need to take it one day at a time."

That's fair, right? He's not asking for too much here?

Yuuji really does mean it — if this turns out to be more than they can handle and they can't do it, then he'll hand Cheiri over to CPS so they can find a family who's a better fit for her. Yuuji's not so stubborn that he'd let himself stand in the way of Cheiri being safe and happy.

But why can't safety and happiness be a thing they get to be part of too?

"Do you wanna tell her she's coming home with us or should I?"

Yuuji's eyes widen — taking in as much of Megumi has he can. Searching for any sign that he just imagined that those words came out of his husband's mouth. If there was anything — any hesitation, any doubt, any deception — Yuuji would find it. Every little tell of Megumi's long since memorized.

There isn't any. He really means it.

He wants Cheiri to come home with us.

Yuuji kisses him then takes off at top speed toward Cheiri. She's still playing some sort of tag game with his students. As Yuuji approaches, the four of them come to a halt, waiting to see what'll happen next. This couldn't be more opposite of what Cheiri is doing right now, which is running directly towards him. Yuuji scoops her up and spins her around before putting her back on the ground.

"Papa-Yuuji look!" She shouts. "I have flowers in my hair!"

"I see that." Yuuji takes a flower out of her hair and puts it behind his ear. "Now I do too."

This makes Cheiri giggle before she suddenly remembers. "Did the man with the weird eyes tell you where Mama and Papa were?"

Huh.

Maybe Yuuji should've thought about how he was gonna explain this a little more.

Cheiri's question startles his students just as much as it does Yuuji. Hibiki only shows it in the briefest widening of their eyes before schooling their face back into neutral. Moaya gasps softly, but throws a hand over her mouth to try to downplay it. She might have caught herself sooner, but her main focus was slamming her other hand over Ruku's mouth to muffle the, much more noticeable, pained yelp he was in the middle of. Wakumi (blessedly) is saying nothing with her words, but everything with her face. Jaw dropped so far you'd need six stamps to send it a letter.

Yuuji needs to get a handle on this and fast.

"I actually just talked to your Mama and Papa on the phone," he lies. "None of the stores in Tokyo had your coloring paper so they're taking the train to Chiba to look there. I told them that, if it's alright with you, you're more than welcome to stay with me and Megumi until they get home from their trip."

Smiles abound among all of his kids, but none of them brighter than Cheiri's. She vibrates with giddiness so intensely that some of the flowers fall from her hair. "Really?!"

Yuuji expects Cheiri to be looking up at him, but she isn't. She's looking past him. At Megumi.

Now everyone's looking at Megumi — Yuuji and all his students. Waiting with baited breath to see what he's going to say.

The attention flusters him, turning the tips of his ears pink as he replies, "Really."

/////

So (hypothetically) if Megumi and I were to charge all of the clothes and stuff we're buying for Cheiri to the school credit card would that be a fireable offense ??

Nevermind — Megumi still has your card in his wallet and said that everything's on you. Thanks for sponsoring our shopping trip !

Chapter Text

"That's not on the list, Yuuji."

The response is automatic at this point. He's repeated it no less than eighteen times in every store they've stopped at so far. Megumi stopped cross referencing everything Yuuji wanted to add to the cart with his list two stores ago. Nothing he grabbed was ever on it.

"But games are good for kids!"

Yuuji gestures emphatically with the box in his hand labeled Elefun, which appears to contain a blue elephant with a very long trunk, several fake butterflies, a fan to shoot the butterflies out of the trunk, and several nets to catch them with. Next to him, Cheiri is nodding her head so hard Megumi wouldn't be surprised if she gives herself whiplash.

"Besides," Yuuji continues, "It's important for her to have a lot of non-screen focused things to do. I refuse to raise an iPad kid."

"I want an iPad!"

"No." Yuuji and Megumi respond in perfect unison.

Thank god they're both on the same page about that. Yuuji could convince Megumi of a lot of things, but he'd seen the data about kids and screens and he was not letting Cheiri become a statistic in one of those studies.

Megumi turns back to Yuuji and sternly asks, "What's the point of having a list if we aren't going to stick to it?"

After their talk with Gojo this morning, Megumi diligently worked on a list of everything they needed to get for Cheiri now that she was officially in their care. Yuuji had stent that time joining Cheiri and his students in ensuring that his head was covered in more flowers than hair. Megumi hadn't even noticed the kids were putting flowers on him until one fell onto his phone screen where he was busy typing away in his notes app and pulling up safety reviews of car seats on Reddit.

It's a big commitment, taking care of a child. Since they don't have a timeline on when (or if) Masako would be able to reunite with Cheiri, they were assuming indefinite responsibility for not only her safety, but also her development. Meals and baths were one thing, but morals, emotional regulation, manners, confidence, situational awareness, common sense — those were all things care givers need to ensure their charges have a handle on before sending them out into the world.

There's no doubt in Megumi's mind that Yuuji will be great at this. It's Megumi's own shortcomings that will inevitably screw it all up.

He tries to push down that particular thought and refocus his attention on his husband, who is currently grinning dopily at him, Elefun box still in hand. When Yuuji's by his side, there isn't a whole lot Megumi feels like he can't do. Yuuji makes anything seem possible.

It also certainly helps that Megumi is getting a chance to actually think about everything they need to properly take care of Cheiri and get all the necessary supplies to set themselves up for success. Last night had showed him that their home was anything but childproofed.

And if it turns out that they really aren't cut out for child rearing, then Yuuji's offer still stood. It isn't pleasant to think about, making Cheiri a ward of the state, but having a last resort should all other options fail him had always brought Megumi comfort.

Yuuji lets out a heavy sigh. "Fine," he groans, lengthening the last vowel to really hammer home his wallowing.

The second Megumi turns his back on them, returning to contemplating if the multi-pack of kid sized towels is a better deal than the individual ones, Yuuji and Cheiri sneak the Elefun box into the cart. Megumi pretends not to notice. His list (he could begrudgingly admit) is devoid of anything fun, since his research had primarily been focused on the necessities. One game couldn't hurt.

It's not hard work to pretend like he can't see them shoving the box under the pajamas Cheiri just picked out. There's so many other things to pull focus in this capitalist hellscape, otherwise known as a mall. It's six stories of bright lights, advertisements, and other people's stupid kids. Movement and noise and uncannily sterile smells in all directions giving Megumi a migraine. No one here understood the concept of restraint — or the value of sticking to a good list. The whole building was designed to encourage over spending and over consumption.

Megumi had always been a bit of a minimalist. He owned few things and took care of them well and that was that. Despite her best efforts, Nobara had never been able to make him understand the appeal of buying another version of something just because it was 'new and improved' when the one he'd had for years still worked just fine.

Kids were different it seemed. They really did need their own training versions of everyday objects to get them used to the fine motor skills of holding plastic cups and fastening oversized buttons before they graduated to being able to use the real thing.

God, that was another thing they were responsible for making sure Cheiri had — fine and gross motor skills.

Megumi looks over in time to see Cheiri attempt to climb her way into the cart, lose her footing, then fall flat on her back. Clearly they still had a lot to work on in that department.

Yuuji looks more hurt by the fall than Cheiri does. His eyes are welling with tears as he looks her over. Asking her again and again if she's hurt. The repetition is having the opposite effect of what Yuuji's going for. All his worrying is making Cheiri feel like she should also be worrying, her shoulders tightening up toward her ears as she recoils away from him.

"She's fine," Megumi soothes, putting a hand on Yuuji's back. "Right, Cheiri?"

He keeps his tone neutral, trying to let his own certainty that she's ok prove to her that she doesn't need to worry. After eight years of teaching, Megumi's pretty confident in his ability to tell when a kid is able to walk off an injury and when they actually require medical attention. Falling a foot and a half off a shopping cart was definitely the former.

Immediately Cheiri's apprehension fades away, her shoulders dropping back down to their natural resting place. She grins brightly at Yuuji.

"Yep! I'm all better now. Thank you, Papa-Megumi." She toddles off toward a display for art supplies, the interaction already forgotten.

Yuuji's eyes widen as he looks back and forth between Megumi and Cheiri. "How did you do that?"

Megumi shrugs. "Superior parenting."

He says it casually because he knows it'll get a rise out of Yuuji if he does. Yuuji sputters out something behind him, but Megumi doesn't bother rubbing the victory in even further by trying to watch him come up with a response. He's more focused on keeping Cheiri in his sight as she examines all the different colored pencils and markers they have arranged at her eye level. It's busier than he expected for being the middle of the day. Hoards of people are milling about, interrupting his sight line of —

"Hey! You aren't even listening to me." Yuuji puts a hand on his shoulder and turns him around. It's just for a second, but Megumi already knows it's too long.

He wriggles free of Yuuji's grip, turning back to where he was facing just a breath ago and …

She's gone.

They lost Cheiri.

How did this happen? They'd been her proper caretakers for all of two and a half hours and they'd already lost her. There were movies longer than they'd been able to keep track of Cheiri.

Megumi might faint. He might throw up and then faint into a puddle of his own vomit. His breathing is too shallow — his heart pounding too loudly in his ears for him to think straight.

"Cheiri … she's …"

He gestures vaguely to the spot he last saw her. Yuuji's eyes catch on an ice cream place a few stores down from where Megumi is pointing. "Oh, does she want ice cream? That's fine, right?"

"Idiot."

If Cheiri was over in the ice cream shop, that wouldn't be a big deal at all. An ice cream shop is a perfectly acceptable place for a kid to be. That's why whenever a kid goes missing, the first places you check are all the ones you'd be horrified to find them by themselves. Parking lots, tall ledges, near open bodies of water, with strangers.

Megumi swallows more bile at the thought.

Focus, he chastises himself. He needs to do something. He needs to get her back.

There's a man in a mall uniform a few feet to Megumi's left, which is as good a place as any to start. Megumi goes to stand directly in front of him.

"Hey," he barks with all the authority and directness he can muster. The employee freezes, clearly getting the memo that he will be helping. "We have a missing child. I don't know what your protocols are for finding her, but you will be doing all off them until she is back here."

The employee cowers back further at each of Megumi's words. The severity of the situation has hit home, but he isn't doing anything. They need to move.

"Now."

This seems to remind the employee that he has legs that work and they take off at a full sprint toward the information desk. Yuuji seems to only now be registering what Megumi was trying to convey earlier. The determination in his eyes is resolute, betrayed only slightly by the trembling in his jaw that Yuuji's working hard to clamp down. There isn't more time to dwell on it. They follow behind the mall employee to a circular table labeled Information Desk.

"Code Purple," the employee pants to the manager at the desk. As soon as the manager hears this phrase, she immediately starts typing into a computer with one hand and pulling out an intercom microphone with the other.

"Physical description of the child and any identifiable clothing?" Her words are short and clipped. Not wasting any valuable seconds in preparing for whatever the next step of a Code Purple is.

The employee who brought them here stutters out nothing, not having gotten that far in his questioning before bringing them here. Megumi steps forward.

"She's a five year old little girl with flowers in her hair and bright pink joggers with a hole in one of the knees. You can't miss her."

The manager nods, pressing a button on the intercom mic in front of her. There's a moment of static before her voice can be heard coming out of every speaker in the mall. "Attention all staff, we have a Code Purple. Five year old girl with flowers in her hair and pink joggers."

She goes to press the off button on the mic, but Yuuji snatches it out of her hands before she can. "Cheiri, Papa-Yuuji and Papa-Megumi are very worried about you, please don't talk to any strangers —"

The manager cuts the mic feed before yanking it out of Yuuji's hand and setting it back on her desk with a dirty look. Megumi sends one right back her way.

The waiting is agonizing. Every second that ticks by feels like a full three days. Dragging on with no end in sight. He and Yuuji aren't allowed to go help the search because they apparently need to be here to identify Cheiri when she was brought to the manager — which makes no sense at all. Megumi was hoping the manager would just lock the doors to the building or something so Cheiri couldn't leave and then would let them go join the search. He doesn't trust any of these strangers to be half as dedicated — or even a quarter as capable — as him and Yuuji. The two of them would be way more effective during a search and rescue than random civilians. But to these people's minds, the two of them are also civilians and Megumi is sure as hell not having that conversation right now.

He can't even look at Yuuji right now. Whatever worried expression is inevitable consuming his husband's face will just make him feel even worse. Megumi settles for taking one of Yuuji's hands into his and looking out into the sea of people for Cheiri.

This was exactly the kind of thing Megumi had been worried about. His one goal — the only goal that mattered — had been to keep her safe and he'd failed. She's out there somewhere and Megumi can't do anything to help her. That's the worst of it. She's out there all by herself. Alone and scared and —

"Papa-Yuuji, how did you make your voice do that? I could hear you talking from the sky!"

Cheiri.

She's alive. She's safe. She's alright.

Yuuji and Megumi surge forward, pulling her into a tight hug. The force of it nearly topples Cheiri over in the process, but neither of them let go.

From over the intercom, Megumi hears the manager say, "Code Purple over." Soft pop music begins to play over the loud speakers again. Megumi hadn't even noticed that it stopped.

Megumi pulls away just enough to check her for any bumps or bruises she might have gotten when she was on her own.

"I don't wanna be poked," Cheiri laments. Megumi lets go instantly, but stays on guard in case she tries to make a run for it again, settling for just looking her over for any signs of injury or distress in the meantime.

"Cheiri," Yuuji says slowly, waiting until he has the girl's full attention before he keeps talking. "Running away like that is very dangerous. Do you know why?"

She shakes her head.

"It's mine and Megumi's job to take care of you, but we can't do that if we don't know where you are. If you want to go somewhere and do something that's fine, but you need to tell one of us, ok? It's not safe to wander off by yourself."

Cheiri nods somberly. "Am I in trouble?"

"Of course not," Yuuji soothes. "Why would you think that?"

"Your face got all weird while you were talking."

Yuuji takes a second to process this. The 'weird' that Cheiri's noticing is probably the fact that Yuuji's gone paler than a ghost and is barely containing the fact that he's trembling. That, along with the residual fear in Yuuji's voice, is probably scaring her.

It takes him a second, but Yuuji does his best to get this under control and takes a few deep breaths before he keeps talking. "I promise. I'm not mad at you and you aren't in trouble."

Cheiri still looks unconvinced. Yuuji thinks for a second then sticks his pinky out.

"Why are you showing me your pinky?" Cheiri's nose wrinkles.

"Do you know what a pinky promise is?"

She shakes her head.

"It's really special. A promise is only a pinky promise if you're so serious about keeping it that if you break the promise, you have to cut your pinky off."

Cheiri's sharp gasp does wonders do distract from Megumi's (mostly) internal groan. They seriously need to have a conversation about what is and isn't age appropriate for a five year old.

"And I pinky promise I'm not mad at you."

Age appropriate or not, it does seem to make it sink in that Yuuji seriously isn't upset with her. Yuuji gently shows her how to accept a pinky promise, intertwining their pinkies and scooping her up with the promise (just a regular one this time) of ice cream once they've finished all the shopping.

It takes another few hours, but they finally do manage to obtain everything on Megumi's list. Along with about a million things that aren't — Cheiri's favorite among them the stuffed turtle she still hasn't let go of since leaving the store. Megumi honestly isn't sure how they managed to fit all of it in the car.

The answer is, of course, that they didn't and had to strap several boxes to the roof of the car.

They don't bother unpacking it all right away, instead the three of them (and Cheiri's turtle) collapse into a heap on the couch. When Megumi checks his watch, it reads 5:14PM. It's only been nine hours since he had to clean up all those damn eggs.

Kids are exhausting.

A knock at the door cuts any rest they were in the process of getting short. Megumi doesn't bother standing. The knock is entirely perfunctory, since Maki has their spare key and unlocks the door for herself and the rest of their friends without waiting to be let in.

Yuuji attempts to introduce Cheiri to Maki, Nobara, Toge, and Yuuta, but Maki is ordering the other three around like a drill sergeant so Yuuji has to settle for pointing and waving for now. Megumi isn't really sure what all Maki's planning on building for Cheiri's room, but based on the amount of wood she's having their friends haul in right now it looks like it's going to be a second house.

The initial text Megumi sent to Maki in the midst of his list making this morning had just asked if she'd be able to come over and help build whatever Ikea children's bed they picked out for Cheiri. Naturally, she had no further questions about why Yuuji and Megumi were now taking care of a five year old, but was incredulous at the fact they were gonna buy her a bed and not let Maki build one. Megumi checked her location after the seventeenth text barrage and saw that she was half way to Viva Home already, so he merely replied with his thanks and a picture of Gojo's credit card.

"Was all this really necessary?" Megumi asks the next time Maki is within earshot.

"Do you want the kid to have a structurally sound bed or not?"

Maki already knows the answer so she doesn't bother waiting for a response. Already back to directing the work site that is his apartment by the time Megumi's scowl finishes settling into place.

Many hands appear to make light work. The last of the wood has made it inside, so Toge and Yuuji are working together to haul all the old mission reports from the spare room out to the car and have arms full of shopping bags when they return from outside. Yuuta is in the living room playing on the floor with Cheiri, burst of laughter filling the air as Cheiri uses her stuffed turtle to chase him. Nobara is helping to find new homes for the stuff that is staying in the apartment, but not in Cheiri's room. She helped them organize it all when they first moved into this place and is appalled that her meticulous organization systems haven't stood the test of time (or rather, the test of Yuuji). The sound of power tools hasn't abated from Cheiri's room since Maki went in, so she's clearly hard at work.

The whole thing makes Megumi feel kinda … useless.

Even if he went to any of the people in his home and took over their task right now, he's pretty sure that feeling would still be there. Megumi isn't special. There's nothing he could do to help that someone else in here couldn't do better. He's not as doting as Yuuji or as gentle as Yuuta or as resourceful as Maki or —

"You alright there, Papa-Megumi?"

Yuuta appears at his side, knocking his shoulder into Megumi's and forcing him back into the real world. Megumi huffs, both at being forced to face reality and at the reminder of Cheiri's nickname for him.

"Gotta admit, this whole fatherhood thing —"

"You don't have to say it," Megumi interrupts, not needing to hear his own insecurities out of someone else's mouth. "I know I'm not cut out for this."

"I was gonna say it suits you."

"Huh?"

Megumi doesn't hide his surprise at Yuuta's words, the easy way with which the other man turns the whole world upside down. When he studies Yuuta's face, Megumi doesn't see any signs of deception. But, then again, this is Yuuta. He just says stuff like that — he's too nice for his own good.

"I mean, we all knew that Yuuji would be great at this." Yuuta looks back over to the living room, where Yuuji and Nobara have taken over playing with Cheiri. "But when we were playing, just her and me, she didn't mention Yuuji once. All she could talk about was this story Papa-Megumi told her last night. She insisted that was the only thing we could play."

Megumi takes a closer look at the three of them in the other room. It doesn't take much more than that for him to realize that Cheiri is having them act out Tsumiki's bedtime story he told her last night. Cheiri is pantomiming for her stuffed turtle, while Nobara tries to poke at it and sticks up her nose to taunt the turtle. Only once the teasing is complete is Yuuji, the princess, allowed to reunite with the beloved pet turtle.

"I'm sure it's gonna take some getting used to." As Yuuta continues to speak, Megumi keeps his gaze forward, eye contact feeling like too much right now. "But don't sell yourself short. Even if you two go about it differently, you're just as good at this as he is."

Yuuta pats him on the center of his back then returns to the living room. Leaving Megumi to turn the words over in his head.

Even if we go about it differently, I'm just as good at this as he is.

"Megumi!" Maki shouts from the other room. "Come see what you think."

When Megumi crosses the threshold into what is now Cheiri's room, it feels like he's set foot in another dimension. Gone are the plain white walls and stacks of paper and desk that was more of a holding area for said paper than a place to do actual work.

The walls are all a pale purple now — she must have used some sort of peel and stick wallpaper for it since there's no fresh paint smell lingering in the air. Probably for the best, seeing as how Cheiri would have found a way to get herself covered in it from head to toe.

Despite all the wood she'd brought in, Maki really hasn't gone overboard. There are a few shelves screwed into the wall at Cheiri's height that hold all of the books they'd gotten for her. Megumi knows that they'll mostly be reading to her for a while, but he'd snuck a few in that he was hoping that she'd be able to read on her own soon. There's a small rug in the makeshift reading corner shaped like the sun. Megumi hadn't let Yuuji and Cheiri go overboard on toys, but the few stuffed dolls, Legos, and the Elefun box they'd snuck in are in cloth bins over in that area as well.

The room doesn't have a proper closet, so Maki had made a simple dresser. If today had been any indication, Cheiri was a messy kid and would therefore need a lot of different clothes. When Megumi pulls a drawer open, it's already full to the brim with all the clothes that Cheiri had picked out for herself today — a menagerie of bright pinks and purples in soft fabrics. Even if the colors were one step below a neon sign, Megumi could at least appreciate her valuing comfort in her picks.

Then of course there was the bed, a twin with a yellow gingham comforter so fluffy that it ended a full fifteen centimeters above the mattress. Maki had mounted a green canopy to the ceiling above it that hung down around the head of the bed, giving the impression of those hennin cone hats medieval princesses wore. He'd definitely need to talk to Cheiri about how it wasn't for climbing, but honestly, knowing Maki, the thing could hold the collective body weight of everyone in the apartment right now and not budge.

In lieu of a regular nightlight, Cheiri had insisted on what she called a "space light" that projected images of stars and galaxies in the night sky that slowly swirled into one another. Instead of the overhead light, there's just the space light and the last bits of sunset still visible through the tied curtains.

It's all so … normal. Probably far closer to the architect's original vision for this room as opposed to the small library of mission reports about curses that Megumi and Yuuji had been using it as before. A perfectly average kid's room for their perfectly average kid.

Well, she's not their kid, per se. Just a kid who is sort of temporarily in their indefinite custody.

Megumi turns back to Maki, who has her arms crossed smugly over her chest.

"It looks great, Maki. Thank you."

"Eh, don't mention it," she shrugs. "You two are doing a good thing. It's the least we could do to help."

He assumed she'd say something like that, but the reminder that their friends really do want to help them, that they aren't in this alone, is a welcome one.

Cheiri's the next person they show the room to. To say she loves it is an understatement. She's running to every corner — pulling all the toys out of their bins and clothes out of their drawers in an attempt to show Toge, Nobara, Maki, and Yuuta everything she got today. Her smile never abates the whole time she babbles on, leaving a trail of chaos in her wake. A tiny tornado, tearing the whole thing apart in three minutes flat. It takes them another twenty minutes to put everything back where it belongs after she's finished throwing all of it onto the floor, but no one seems to mind.

Once Cheiri's room is put away for a second time, Yuuji calls from the kitchen that dinner's ready. Their table only seats four so they all eat on the living room floor as Cheiri regales them all with her plans for the rest of the week, which includes lots of cooking, playing with her new toys, and getting Yuuji and Megumi to take her back to the school so she can play with Yuuji's students again.

It's a surprisingly pleasant evening.

After a full meal and a long day, Cheiri starts losing steam. Her eyes fighting to stay open, which their friends take as their cue to head home for the night.

Megumi volunteers to take care of all the dishes while Yuuji gives Cheiri a bath and brushes her teeth and gets her settled into bed for the night. With the last dish safely on the drying rack, Megumi goes to linger in the doorway of Cheiri's room as Yuuji tucks her in. She has her stuffed turtle stowed tightly under one arm and the other bunched beneath the covers.

She's on the brink of sleep, breaths coming in steadily as her head falls back against the pillows. Yuuji smiles softly at her and asks, "Do you want me to read you a bedtime story? We have a lot of new books to pick from."

"Uh uh," Cheiri shakes her head lazily. "No books. I only wanna hear Papa-Megumi's bedtime story."

The room is silent for a good seven seconds before Megumi processes that he should probably respond.

"Oh … uhm — Alright." Megumi doesn't realize he's smiling until the words come out all funny. Awkward and sticking to the insides of his throat. Megumi enters the room fully, going and sitting on the foot of her bed near Yuuji.

They're both looking at him so expectantly. It makes him nervous, but he does his best to take a steady breath and rubs his palms into the knees of his pants a few times before beginning.

"Once upon a time, in a village so high up in the mountains that clouds were their closest neighbors for miles, the road to enter it was walked by a turtle with an abalone shell."

Megumi does his best to tell the story just like Tsumiki would when they were kids. And just like Megumi would when he was little, Cheiri falls asleep right before the end.

/////

Just heard back from the daycare ! They said we can come by for a tour on Tuesday morning :))

Chapter Text

It's strange how quickly adopting a kid can go from world altering to totally normal.

All at once, nights don't feel complete without wiping food off Cheiri's chubby cheeks at dinner and tucking her into bed while Megumi tells her a story. Mornings aren't quite right unless the phonics videos Megumi insists on watching with Cheiri are playing in the living room while Yuuji makes three plates of breakfast.

Yuuji's probably biased, but Cheiri is a the perfect kid. She's funny and headstrong and kind and creative and incredibly discerning for a five year old. Getting to watch her experience the world for the first time makes Yuuji slow down enough to remember that little things like balloons floating and soup being warm really are magical.

She's also the luckiest person Yuuji's ever met. Whatever card Yuuji is holding three of in Go Fish is always the one Cheiri asks for, beating him to completing a full set — which is Fine and definitely doesn't bother him that he can't beat a five year old at Go Fish. Or Uno. Or Chutes and Ladders. Or Candy Land. He'd thought it was just a him thing, but then she'd beat Megumi at five straight rounds of Connect 4 and they'd both come to the conclusion that it must actually just be a Cheiri thing.

Childcare has definitely been hard. Cheiri knows Yuuji's students so she wants to see them all the time, but his students have their own coursework to worry about. Coursework that Cheiri can't exactly be around for because how is he supposed to explain to her that Ruku can make massive craters in the earth just by tapping it or Wakumi can shoot geysers of water out of the palms of her hands?

They also can't leave Cheiri home alone, so they've had no choice but to take her to campus anyways and figure it out. It's fun in the short term, but not a viable permanent option. Yuuji's students aren't getting proper instruction and if he's gonna keep sending them out on missions, they need that.

Not to mention, Megumi keeps worrying that Cheiri is missing out on valuable education and socialization with kids her own age and is going to fall behind her peers. He keeps texting Yuuji articles about child development from reputable scientific journals and Yuuji can only make his students write reports on them so many times before someone starts to get suspicious.

So daycare seems like the natural next step.

Yuuji doesn't love the idea of strangers taking care of his kid, but that's what today's visit is for. To meet the teachers and the principal and just generally sus the place out. He's hoping that once he gets to see all of it himself he'll feel a little more at ease. Not that he's been more than, like, the normal amount of anxious. Working parents do this all the time, so it can't be too bad, right?

Convincing Cheiri that daycare would be fun had been a group effort. Anything that took her away from Yuuji's students was liable to be a power struggle or make her cry and Yuuji hated both options. Yuuji wasn't thrilled about it either, but he needed to be fair to all his kids and that includes his students. After another day of Cheiri sticking to his side like Velcro (and keeping him from helping Hibiki refine their Echo Ripple), Yuuji joked with his students that he'd give extra credit to anyone who could convince Cheiri that daycare was fun so she'd think it was her idea to start going. He hadn't been serious, but the next morning he found Cheiri sitting in Wakumi's lap, listening to Wakumi spin some elaborate story about how much she missed being in daycare, how much fun she used to have there, how nice all the teachers were. Twenty eight minutes later, Cheiri was pleading with Yuuji to be allowed to go to daycare. Thirty four minutes later, Yuuji updated his grade book to include Wakumi's extra credit (she earned it).

With Cheiri's blessing secured, Megumi narrowed down a top three out of all the nearby daycare facilities. His first choice had been the first to reach out and offer them a tour, so Yuuji and Megumi delayed the start of class today to go see the place.

All three of them dressed up for the occasion, Megumi insisting that they needed to make a good first impression. Cheiri stole a tie from Yuuji and had Megumi tie it around her stuffed turtle's neck, so even Mr. Kiki was looking extra dapper.

The drive over is nice and easy, which bodes well for their future morning commute. It's in a secluded area, surrounded by lush trees and a walking path around a small lake. The tree canopy subsides to reveal a building that Yuuji would have thought was a royal palace, not a place where children learned how to spell their own names. There are spires and towers all made of polished marble and nestled amongst perfectly manicured shrubs and greenery. He double checks the address he put into the GPS, but the name in his phone matches the big sign out front — Scholars of Future Excellence Daycare and Elementary School.

The principal is already waiting for them outside when they arrive. She's probably around Gojo's age, with a freshly pressed navy blue pantsuit that's as crisp as the tight bun her hair is pulled into. Yuuji doesn't see any stains on it. This woman must be really good at her job if she's able to keep her clothes looking this nice while surrounded by so many kids all day.

Her smile is warmer than Yuuji expects as the woman, Ogawa-sensei, bends down to introduce herself to Cheiri (and Mr. Kiki) first before returning to her full height and acknowledging Yuuji and Megumi. "Welcome to Scholars of Future Excellence Daycare. We're thrilled to have you here today. We typically begin by taking our families on a tour of the facilities. Would you prefer to start with the recess area or the art studio?"

Yuuji and Megumi share a knowing glance, both already certain that Cheiri is going to say, "The art studio please!"

Ogawa-sensei does as Cheiri asks and begins leading them through a series of hallways until they find themselves in what has to be the most well stocked art room in the country. They have rolls of paper as tall as Cheiri in every color Yuuji's ever seen and a few he's pretty sure he hasn't (are they inventing new colors here?). The entire back wall is covered in organizational boxes that have everything from markers to clay to pipe cleaners to fabric to paint to collage materials to those little adjustable wooden humans that people use to practice drawing anatomy.

It's Cheiri's personal heaven.

"Papa-Yuuji, look! I could draw a new planet! Ooh! Or — or I could make Mr. Kiki his own bed! With a blanket and a pillow and —"

She goes on for another fifteen minutes. Every corner of the room sparking fresh inspiration for her creative genius. She's gonna fill the world with so many beautiful things. It makes Yuuji's heart swell with pride.

They're eventually able to lure her to another room with a promise that they'll be back here soon. Ogawa-sensei shows them the indoor recess area (which includes a gym, Olympic sized swimming pool, and a rock climbing wall), the equestrian center (home to mini and full sized horses), the cafeteria (nicer than most five star restaurants), and the garden (where they grow most of the food the kids are served for breakfast and lunch).

It's kind of a lot to wrap his head around.

On their way inside, they run across a group of twelve kids that are about Cheiri's age in matching uniforms, walking in the straightest line their small bodies can manage. At the head of the line is an older woman who nods when she sees Ogawa-sensei. The two exchange a few words before both turning back to face Yuuji and Megumi and Cheiri.

"This is our lead teacher, Sano-sensei." The other woman smiles politely to Yuuji and Megumi before getting down to Cheiri's level.

"Hello, Cheiri," Sano-sensei says, "My class is about to go outside for recess. Would you like to come ply with us?"

"Yes please! Can I Papa-Megumi?" She looks up at Megumi with her signature puppy dog eyes that are even more lethal than Yuuji's.

"That's fine. Just remember to be polite to the other kids."

He's putting on a brave face, but Yuuji can tell he's apprehensive about sending her out on her own. Yuuji squeezes his hand, but doesn't say anything, since he already knows Megumi would never admit that's what's going on in his head right now.

Sano-sensei takes Cheiri by the hand and begins to guide her and the rest of her class toward wherever the outdoor recess area is. Yuuji absolutely does not feel a lump forming in his throat.

"It's common for parents to be nervous for their child's first time in school, but I promise she's in very capable hands," Ogawa-sensei soothes. Yuuji's jaw unclenches slightly. At least the not-lump in his throat would be normal if hypothetically it was there (which is isn't).

The tour continues with Ogawa-sensei showing them a few of the classrooms and the nurse's office and the auditorium and music room. Yuuji can't shake the feeling that it's all too … nice. It's not just the volume of amenities, but the quality of everything. It makes sense that daycare would have improved since Yuuji was in it, but this felt more luxury than strictly necessary.

On their way from the meditation room to the science lab, Yuuji pulls Megumi back and asks, "Can we even afford this?"

They make a decent amount as teachers and from taking on occasional missions as Special Grade sorcerers, but this seems like the kind of place that would charge a full year's salary for just a semester of tuition.

"It's fine, I have some savings."

That's weird.

"I thought we combined all our accounts when we got married?"

Megumi shifts his weight, working diligently to avoid making eye contact with Yuuji in between all the squirming. "This isn't my money technically. It's old Zen'in money, from back when they tried to make me the head of the clan. Their offer included a financial incentive that I may or may not have forgotten to return when I declined."

It's a miracle Yuuji's jaw doesn't put a dent in the porcelain tile floors as it drops to the ground.

"Don't give me that," Megumi scolds, physically closing Yuuji's jaw for him. "I never wanted to use it, but I didn't want them to have it either, so I just held on to it. I figure a kid's education is a worthy thing to spend it on."

"How much is in the account?"

Megumi says nothing.

"Like, are we talking in the thousands or …?" Yuuji prompts.

Megumi says nothing.

"Millions?"

Megumi starts walking down the hall toward Ogawa-sensei. Yuuji's brain is whirring, still trying to process how much money could possibly be in that account before racing to catch up with them. He'll get the number out of him one way or another.

The final stop of the tour is Ogawa-sensei's office, complete with a mahogany desk and a series of marble busts that Yuuji assumes are former principals. There's already a manila folder with Cheiri's name on it placed on the center of her desk before they even sit down. These people work fast.

Ogawa-sensei gives all the papers in Cheiri's folder a quick once over before returning her attention to Yuuji and Megumi, now seated in wingback chairs across from her.

"I know the facilities here at Scholars of Future Excellence can be … enticing. We certainly take pride in them, but they aren't truly the heart of our school." She folds her hands in front of her on the desk. "This is a pivotal time in your child's education. As her parents, I'm sure that you're interested in setting her up for success with whatever she wants to do in the future and that's what we specialize in."

It's like hearing Megumi's voice out of another body. She seems to have a lot of the same mindsets around early childhood education as he does. No wonder this place was his first choice.

She goes on about pedagogy and social emotional learning and development milestones for what feels like hours. Megumi has a lot of questions about student teacher ratios and safety policies and staff qualifications that Ogawa-sensei is apparently knocking out of the park if his husband's poorly hidden grin is anything to go off of. Yuuji is content to smile and nod along and interject how proud they are of their daughter any time Megumi sounds too much like he's leading a council meeting, not trying to make sure this place will take care of his little girl.

After a small eternity, Megumi seems to have (blessedly) run out of questions.

"Well, it seems like Cheiri will be a wonderful addition to our school, there are just a few more logistics to go over." She pulls out a stack of papers so thick it would put most copies of the Bible to shame. She slides the paperwork across the desk to Yuuji who slides it over to Megumi. "This contains the student handbook, a list of all of the health records we'll need copies of, the enrollment contract, and a few others. And we'll of course need to meet Cheiri's other parents in order to finalize her admittance."

All the air is sucked out of the room.

What does she mean Cheiri's other parents? Does she somehow know that Yuuji and Megumi just picked Cheiri up off the street and have no legal claim to her? That shouldn't be possible. Gojo said that the adoption papers he had Mei Mei forge would pass any sort of speculation. How the hell did these people know about Cheiri's mom and dad?

"Her … other parents?"

Megumi finds his voice first. He's trying to seem casual, but Yuuji sees that his husband is just as confused as he is.

In a turn of events Yuuji didn't think was possible, Ogawa-sensei sputters. Like, fully croaks out a few nonsense syllables before getting her demeanor back under control.

"Oh. Uhm — apologies for any assumptions! It's just that one of our instructors was talking with Cheiri and she of course mentioned Papa-Megumi and Papa-Yuuji," she gestures to each of them in turn. "But also Mama and Papa, so we assumed there were other parents at home. All members of your polycule will need the appropriate paperwork on file as per school policies."

Their … what?

In a way, Ogawa-sensei assuming that Yuuji and Megumi were part of a polycule with Cheiri's dead parents was better than her knowing that Cheiri's parents had died three weeks ago and Yuuji and Megumi had decided to appoint themselves her guardians in the meantime. Neither option was great, but lesser evil and all that. Right?

Not really because evil was still evil and both options absolutely sucked. It was stupid of them to have not talked about what their cover story would be before bringing Cheiri here. Especially since in Cheiri's head, her parents were very much alive, they were just taking the world's longest detour to find her art paper and would be back any day now.

They would probably have to rescind Cheiri's admission if they found out that, on paper, she had maybe sort of legally been kidnapped. Well, if that happened, the rescinded admission would be the least of their worries, since Yuuji and Megumi would be fighting their way off some kind of watch list.

Yuuji looks over at Megumi, who is working through his own series of mental gymnastics about the whole situation and is just as shell shocked as Yuuji. In the silence, Ogawa-sensei decides that more words are the answer and keeps anxiously prattling on.

"It's something we have every adult that could be picking up your child do. If there are any grandparents or aunts and uncles or trusted adults who might be helping with pickup and drop off we'll need these forms from them as well. Though I suppose with four parents you're probably —"

"Apologies for any confusion," Megumi cuts in, voice solid and certain. "But there are no other parents at home. When my husband and I decided that we were ready to have a child we opted for open adoption. So Cheiri knows that she had a mom and dad before us and has met them a few times, but they aren't a part of her day to day."

God, he's so confident and good at lying. Yuuji doesn't know how he does it — just immediately dropping into full espionage mode. Meanwhile, Yuuji still hasn't taken a normal breath since this daycare principal looked them in the eyes and told them with full sincerity that the rest of their polycule (aka Cheiri's dead parents) had paperwork to fill out.

"Ah, I see," Ogawa-sensei says with a palpable sigh of relief that they can move on. "Thank you for clarifying."

"How soon will she be able to start?" Yuuji asks, eager to divert everyone's attention to literally anything else.

"Well, luckily our waitlist isn't too long at this time, so she should be able to start much sooner than normal."

That's awesome! They'll be able to get her in here ASAP and can go back to teaching their own classes.

"The second term…"

Ok, that's still a little ways off, but they could make it work until September.

"Of the 2030 school year."

What?!

That's five years from now.

"She'll be half way through elementary school by then," Megumi baulks.

"Well, she was only ever being considered for elementary school admission. Our daycare program is much more selective, if you can believe it. Most parents get their child on our waitlist around the second trimester of pregnancy so admissions are already decided well before the kids are ready to start attending."

"Before the kids even born?"

It's clear that this is a conversation Ogawa-sensei has frequently, her expression compassionate but route as she continues to explain to Yuuji and Megumi that they're idiots.

"I'm sorry sirs, but that is pretty standard for Tokyo. You'll be hard pressed to find any schools of a similar caliber to ours accepting children for immediate enrollment."

Man. This sucks.

Not only was Cheiri not able to go to this super awesome school, but apparently all the super awesome schools were gonna give them the same spiel because they hadn't thought to get daycare sorted while Cheiri was still in utero. They didn't even know Cheiri existed then! Why had the school even let them schedule this tour if they knew they wouldn't be able to take Cheiri in the daycare program anyways?

Chair legs scratch across the ground as Megumi stands abruptly. "Thank you for your time. Please remove us from the waitlist. We won't be moving forward." He doesn't give Ogawa-sensei a chance to respond, just turns to Yuuji and orders, "Let's go."

Megumi turns and leaves without waiting to see if Yuuji is following him. Yuuji sends the woman the most understanding smile he can muster before booking it out of the room and chasing after Megumi.

When he finally catches up with him, he does his best to encourage his husband with a gentle, "We'll figure it out. Don't worry."

Megumi doesn't meet his eye and maybe it's for the best. Yuuji isn't too sure what they're gonna do next himself. They were really banking on having childcare done and dusted by the end of today. This is definitely a major blow.

But he can't give up. Not yet. They've been in harder situations before. They'll get through this one too — they've just got to do it together.

Cheiri is waiting for them in the front office by the time they get there. As soon as she sees them, she bursts out of her seat and runs toward them. Practically vibrating with giddiness as she recounts her afternoon to them.

"Papa-Yuuji! Papa-Megumi! Today was the best day ever! I got to play on the playground and go on the rock wall and Mr. Kiki and I went down the slide together — Sano-sensei even let us go down the big kid slide, not the one for the babies. I get to come back tomorrow right? You said I could right? Wakumi was right, I love daycare so much — it's the best ever!"

Oh, so this is going to hurt like hell. Awesome. Just what he needs right now.

Yuuji bends down so that he's on Cheiri's level and speaks slowly when he tells her, "No Cheiri, we aren't coming back tomorrow."

"What?" Her little eyes are glassy, her voice choked and raw. "Why not?"

Not being able to give Cheiri everything she wants in life shatters Yuuji's heart in a way that's comparable to being hit with four hundred Cleave attacks at once.

"Well, I got a text from my students and they said they miss you so much that they want a little more time with you before you pick a daycare to go to? Does that sound ok?"

There. They can spin this into a net positive. He doesn't have to break his little girl's heart. Not today.

His strategy seems to work just as expected, Cheiri's glassy eyes losing their water and turning to pure sparkles. "Uh huh!"

Nailed it.

It's easy to get Cheiri back to the car after that, already excited to have Moaya help her give Mr. Kiki some fresh flowers. Megumi hangs behind the two of them, his brooding palpable from a mile away.

Yuuji gets her buckled and the door to the backseat safely shut. His hand is wrapping around the handle to the passenger's side door when Megumi's voice stops him.

"We can't keep lying to her you know," he says, solid and determined. "It's important for kids that their pa— adult figures are people they can trust."

"I don't like it either," Yuuji shrinks. Shame he hadn't realized he was harboring makes itself known in his gut as Megumi words sink in. "But until we can think of a better way that's kind of all I've got."

Megumi purses his lips, but gets into the car. Yuuji does the same.

The drive back to the school is awkward for everyone but Cheiri, who's too busy showing Mr. Kiki all the trees out the window to notice Yuuji and Megumi very pointedly Not Speaking. Seeing his students is a promise to her that Yuuji can keep, so Yuuji scoops Cheiri out of her car seat, gives Megumi a quick kiss on the cheek, then heads down to meet his students at the training pitch.

Thankfully Cheiri's too young to know what real school is like so she just think that Yuuji's school has a really intense PE program. It lets his kids at least train hand to hand, even if they can't work on their Cursed Techniques around Cheiri. Hand to hand has always been Yuuji's specialty anyways, so it makes sense. The students will get more than their fair share of CT work with Megumi next year, since that's always been something he's better at.

Everyone's exactly where he expects them to be.

Ruku and Wakumi are getting an early start to training. Which is to say, Wakumi has Ruku in a choke-hold that he's doing a really bad job trying to escape. Yuuji makes a mental note to practice that one on one with Ruku sometime this week.

Hibiki is off to the side, chunky wired headphones firmly in place as always, diligently stretching and rolling their eyes at Ruku and Wakumi.

Moaya somehow notices Yuuji and Cheiri first, even though she's on the far side of the training pitch and facing the complete opposite direction so that she can meditate facing the sun. Her voice is soft and hazy, yet manages to be heard over all the commotion Wakumi and Ruku are causing. "Hello, Cheiri. I hope that you and Itadori-sensei had a good morning."

"Moaya!" Cheiri shouts as she toddles over to greet her, throwing her arms around the older girl's neck. The two of them are already making their way to the flower bushes by the time Yuuji joins his other three students.

"Wow, you look miserable," Hibiki says bluntly. Yuuji sighs heavily. Leave it to them to not mince words.

"Let's just say this morning didn't go as planned. We still don't have a daycare that will take Cheiri."

"Aw bummer," Wakumi says. She thinks for a second before adding, "I still get my extra credit, right?"

"Really?" Ruku chastises, smacking Wakumi on the shoulder which she does right back to him as Hibiki shrugs and says, "I don't blame her. I'd have tried to convince Cheiri daycare was great too if I'd thought Itadori-sensei was serious about the extra credit."

"See," she taunts. "I basically know everything."

"Nuh uh!" Ruku shouts.

And they're fighting again. Great. Surely Yuuji and Nobara couldn't have been this bad when they were students, right? Yuuji grabs Wakumi's wrist before she can deliver what's sure to be a bone crunching punch to Ruku's nose.

"Save it for sparring you two."

The two of them tentatively create some distance between themselves, but Yuuji knows it's only a matter of time before they'll be at it again. Cheiri and Moaya seem to have finished their time at the flower bush. Her hair is covered in small red buds that match the ones Moaya is wearing. Mr. Kiki has a few of the same flowers tucked into the tie he's still wearing.

"Alright, kids," Yuuji calls, waiting for his students to line up in front of him. "We're starting with endurance today. In the next thirty minutes, I want you to have done ten laps around the pitch, ten minutes of planks, and ten sprints up and down the hill. Order's up to you."

"If you hate us Itadori-sensei, you know you can just say that. Corporal punishment isn't necessary." Ruku says it so somberly that Yuuji almost feels bad for him. Almost.

Moaya, never one to let her classmates mope for too long, links her arm with his. "I bet you laundry duty for a week that I'll finish before you."

"You're on!" Ruku says, suddenly far more interested in the prospect of not having to do his own laundry for a week than the "corporal punishment" Yuuji's assigned for their warm up.

Hibiki seems to want nothing to do with this bet and is content to start their warm up alone, doing planks in the spot that they were just stretching. The same can't be said for Wakumi, who runs to catch up with the other two. "Hey, wait! I want in on that bet too!"

"He should move now," Cheiri whispers to herself.

"Huh?"

Yuuji's head snaps back toward his students as he hears a loud thunk followed by two people yelling "OWWW!" from over where he sent them to start their warm up.

It's a complete accident. A total comedy of errors unfolding before his eyes.

Wakumi's path toward Moaya and Ruku was right through where Hibiki decided to set up shop to do their planks, which shouldn't have been a big deal.

Except that Hibiki detests working out in silence and was listening to music on their headphones. Their wired headphones. Their wired headphones that currently had enough tension in the cord to make what basically amounted to a tripwire. A tripwire that, of course, Wakumi didn't notice until she was already falling over it — directly onto two of her classmates.

Moaya was far enough to the side to not be affected. Ruku, apparently, wasn't so lucky.

Wakumi had fallen directly on top of him, taking them both to the ground. They were both clutching their heads in a way that let Yuuji know that their skulls were the thing that made the sound he heard before. Moaya and Hibiki are already checking to see if their friends have concussions. He'll be over there in a second to make sure neither of them need to go see Shoko.

Right now, there's something that's bothering him.

Because there are five jujutsu sorcerers currently assembled here. People who spend their whole lives training to hone their reflexes and prepare to be able to defeat curses in battle. Yet, the whole thing happened so fast that none of them even had time to call for Ruku to watch out. The only person who had seen it coming was …

"Cheiri," Yuuji slowly kneels down until he's eye level with the little girl. "How did you know that Ruku would need to move?"

"I saw it."

"You saw Wakumi fall before she tripped over the wire?"

"I didn't see it with my eyes. I saw it with my memory."

"I see …"

Yuuji absolutely does not see, but he's gotta get to the bottom of this.

"Do you think you could do it again?"

"Mhm!" Cheiri nods excitedly.

Alright. Great. Awesome.

If he can recreate whatever seeing with her memory thing Cheiri said happened, that'll at least give him something to go off of. And something is a lot better than nothing, which is what he's currently working with.

After checking to make sure that Ruku and Wakumi didn't suffer any long term damage in the collision (they're fine — just more at each other's throats than normal), Yuuji has then go to the far side of the pitch with the instructions to play one round of Rock, Paper, Scissors when he gives the signal.

Once they're out of earshot — and whatever Cheiri predicts can't affect them — he leans down and asks her, "Ok Cheiri, what's gonna happen?"

She thinks for a moment, humming to herself, until Yuuji sees the answer settle across her face. "The rocks are gonna come out of the ground!"

Ok …

Either she's really unclear about the rules of Rock, Paper, Scissors or this whole thing is just a weird coincidence that stems from a kid saying weird stuff. Honestly, it's probably just one of those two options.

Yuuji gives a thumbs up to Ruku and Wakumi and they begin their game.

Rock. Paper. Scissors. Shoot.

Wakumi plays scissors. Ruku plays paper.

No rocks in sight.

"Sorry, kiddo."

Yuuji ruffles Cheiri's hair, but her eyes are still glued to Yuuji's students. Her mouth is quirked to one side and arms crossed across her chest.

"That's not what happens," she laments. It's not in a sore loser way. She's frustrated.

From the other side of the pitch, Yuuji can hear Ruku and Wakumi bickering again. They definitely egg each other on when it comes to anything with a winner and a loser. Wakumi turns back to walk to the other students, pride radiating off her. Clearly she's just had the last word in whatever they were squabbling over and Ruku is not pleased about it.

Yuuji feels a surge of cursed energy coming from Ruku as a massive boulder appears in front of Wakumi, tripping her and sending her to the ground.

"See! I told you Papa-Yuuji! The rocks came out of the ground!"

Cheiri jumps for joy as the world finally makes sense to her again. That makes exactly one person here who understands what's going on, because Yuuji, Hibiki, Moaya, Wakumi, and Ruku himself are all frozen in shock.

Because Ruku has never done that before.

His technique is Hollow Cavern. He can infuse cursed energy into the earth to create a series of craters in the surface below him. The ground, floors of buildings — pretty much anything with a solid foundation. Excavation, not creation.

And Yuuji's students know that Ruku can't make things out of rock too. They train together every day and are intimately familiar with each other's techniques. None of them could have predicted that he'd start now.

None of them expect for Cheiri.

Cheiri, who has no cursed energy. None. Zip. Zilch. Nada. Goose egg. The only explanation Yuuji can think of as to how she could have possibly predicated that would be that she's a sorcerer. But if she was a sorcerer, one of them would have sensed it. She's even met Gojo several times and if anyone would be able to find even the faintest whiff of cursed energy it would have been him.

Something weird is going on.

"Ok, guys," Yuuji offers into the silence. "Class is cancelled for the rest of the day. Cheiri and I need to go have a talk with someone."

/////

Gojo I don't care where you are. You need to get back to the school now.

We have a situation.

Chapter Text

Megumi lurks in the hallway while Shoko does another full medical exam on Cheiri. Yuuji's in there with her, helping to keep her smiling and distracted so that Shoko can work in peace. It likely won't tell them anything they don't already know, but they have to start somewhere.

Maybe it's because he wasn't there, but the whole thing sounds far fetched to Megumi. There had to have been some sort of tell. Or maybe Yuuji needed to get his eyes checked. Or maybe he got the order of events wrong. There are a million explanations that are more realistic than whatever Yuuji's convinced happened. There's no way Cheiri could have done what he said she did without cursed energy.

His peaceful contemplation is interrupted by the arrival of Gojo, who saunters into the hallway and stands next to him. Megumi makes no effort to hide his annoyance. "There you are."

"Geeze, kid, gimme a break." He brandishes the thick stack of papers in his hand. "I was researching."

"You? Researching?"

Gojo nods and bares all his teeth in a dopey smile.

This can't be good.

"Are you familiar with the ancient practice of kiboku?"

"You were the one who taught me history in high school," Megumi retorts snidely. "What do you think?"

Gojo lets out a scoff low in his throat. "I also didn't think I taught you to be so rude and yet here we are."

"Get to the point. There's enough weirdness going on without you adding to it."

"I'm choosing to believe that your attitude has nothing to do with me and everything to do with the fact that something is wrong with your daughter."

"She's not my —"

"So, kiboku."

Megumi glares, but doesn't finish correcting Gojo since he's finally decided to get to the point.

"Is a ritual that started popping up in Japan way back in the Nara Period. People would burn turtle shells and look at the cracks to predict the future. It's fallen out of fashion nowadays. Certainly isn't as common as it used to be, but you can't deny the impact it had. Very important role, the diviner. Lot of power to be had by someone who can hold the future in the palm of their had. Depending on who you ask, there are some families that became so good at it that they stopped needing the shells entirely."

Gojo pauses to make sure Megumi is paying attention, then drops his voice to a pitch that can only be described as conspiratorial.

"They can see into the future all on their own."

Seriously?

Gojo spent forty five minutes researching the history of divination instead of coming down here the second one of his teachers said there was a situation he needed to handle? Yuuji being misguided in his efforts to care for Cheiri is one thing, but Gojo is just being straight up irresponsible at this point.

"That's just a myth, Gojo."

"Is it?"

Megumi rolls his eyes. "You don't seriously think —"

"Because according to the family lineage research I had Ijichi do when we were looking for Cheiri's next of kin, her ancestors were apparently some of the best."

Before he has a chance to say anything else, Gojo shoves the stack of papers in his face. Megumi gives them a cursory glance. Most of it is a big family tree that chases Cheiri's ancestors all the way back to the Nara Period. The last few pages in the stack are a lot of those same names in documents from museums and government databases about the historical importance of kiboku.

"When we were doing family tree researh," Gojo continues, "We didn't care about all the dead people because they couldn't take her in. But it seems like that was where the answers to a lot of our questions were."

What is happening right now?

Megumi's brain feels clogged with molasses. Everything is working slower than it should be and is sticky with stubbornness as he tries to work through how to explain to Gojo that this can't be real. Because there's no way this is actually what's happening. The whole thing sounds completely and utterly unbelievable.

But, then again, (and this is truly the sticking point) the whole idea of jujutsu sorcerers is also utterly unbelievable. Megumi probably wouldn't believe it himself if he didn't see it with his own eyes every day. So, who's to say that if curses are real, there aren't other forces out there that might sound just as far fetched to someone who isn't familiar with it? Who's to say this isn't one of them?

The implications of it are staggering though.

Someone with zero cursed energy is much harder to detect that a sorcerer. They'd be able to slip into any mission site essentially unnoticed. Not to mention, being able to see even just a few seconds into the future would allow them to know what a curse was going to do before it happened. Sometimes an extra few seconds is all that stands between life and death.

This gift could save countless lives.

Megumi looks back into Shoko office and sees Cheiri sitting in Yuuji's lap, giggling and clutching Mr. Kiki, and is reminded all over again how young she is. It's easy to forget sometimes since she's so new to their lives, but she's only five. These are incredibly fragile years for her development. And Megumi remembers all too well what it's like to be five years old with a power you don't fully understand, but seems to matter very much to all of the adults around you. How it feels to have people be far more interested in what you can offer them than in what you want for yourself.

He won't let that happen to Cheiri.

"Have you told Yuuji yet?"

"Nah, I figured you'd want a second to think things over before talking to him about it."

For someone who goes out of his way to pester Megumi so much, there are times when Gojo does manage to read a social situation correctly. This is, blessedly, one of them.

There are still too many questions. Megumi knows he can't find answers to all of them now. But, still, anything he can do to help. To get as much information as possible …

"I going to talk to Moaya."

"Moaya?" Gojo tilts his head. "Why?"

"Something she said the day we found Cheiri. At the time, I thought she was just being her, but now I wonder if there's more too it."

Megumi starts to head towards the last place he saw Yuuji's student's when Gojo puts a hand on his shoulder. "Trust your gut on this one, Megumi. Give her a better choice than I gave you."

The fullness of Gojo's words radiates through him, freezing him to the spot. Megumi to turn back towards him, but the hand on his shoulder disappears and he knows that Gojo's already gone.

Megumi sighs, then goes to find Moaya.

Back when they first found Cheiri, she somehow avoided being crushed by all that debris, even though she ostensibly should have been. Which as much as Megumi doesn't want to admit it, does lend credence to Cheiri having some sense of where the rubble would fall and knowing not to stand there. Then there was that thing Moaya had said. How she could just tell that Cheiri was there. It hasn't sat right with him ever since, and right now Megumi will take any clarity he can get.

Out on the training pitch, Wakumi and Ruku are more at each other's throats than usual and are being restrained from pommeling each other by Moaya and Hibiki respectively.

Megumi calls across the field, "Hey!"

All four students stop what they're doing the instant they hear Megumi. When they face him they have the decency to look at least a little guilty.

"Moaya, can I talk to you for a second?"

The girl's eyes widen as Megumi calls her out specifically. Moaya exchanges nervous glances with her classmates, but goes over to talk with Megumi despite it. Megumi leads her further away from the other three students, who are doing a bad job of pretending they aren't listening in.

"Am I in trouble Fushiguro-sensei?"

"No, I just have a question for you."

She relaxes considerably now that she knows she isn't in trouble. "Alright."

"That mission a few weeks ago when we found Cheiri, you said that you could 'just tell' that she was behind all that rubble. What did you mean by that?"

Something about the question flusters her. She attempts to sneak at least two more glances at her classmates, really making certain that they aren't listening in before she starts talking.

"I don't know if Itadori-sensei has explained my technique to you or not, but it's Wind Amplification. I can take any sort of movement in the air and infuse it with cursed energy. Then if I punch or kick along that path it can pack quite a punch. Even something as small as moving my braids a little is all it takes."

She demonstrates by turning her head slightly to one side, sending her two long braids moving to follow. It's a tiny adjustment, but Megumi knows better than to underestimate it. Being called ruthless in a fight by Itadori Yuuji isn't an easy compliment to come by.

"After training with Hibiki and watching them use Echo Ripple, I wondered if maybe I could do anything like that too. So during my daily meditations, I started to test myself by creating ripples of wind, then seeing how far out I can stay aware of it. Then I noticed that things like people or buildings will block the flow of the wind, so if I send out the wind ripples at a steady rate it kind of makes a sort of primitive echolocation.

"I can't sense anything too specific, just things that get in the way of the wind. It's not very good yet, so I haven't exactly told anyone about it. But I tried it after the mission was done and that's how I could tell something was behind all those rocks. I had no idea it would be Cheiri though."

Well, that answers the question of how Moaya was able to find Cheiri without sensing for cursed energy. It doesn't answer many of Megumi's other lingering questions about Cheiri, but that's not her fault.

"You said no one else knows you can do that?"

She shakes her head. "No, sensei. You're the first person I've told."

"Why?"

If Megumi didn't know any better he'd say that she looks … guilty. She can't bring herself to look him in the eyes anymore, too busy staring at the end of her braid that she's fiddling with the tie of. The smile she always wears is gone as she chews on the corner of her lip.

"Hibiki isn't as talkative as Wakumi or Ruku — or even me. I didn't want them to feel like I was stealing from their technique and passing it off as my own. Or that I was trying to overshadow them in some way."

"There's also no such thing as stealing in this work," Megumi is quick to correct. "Anything that can keep you or your classmates alive is fair game. Your heart's in the right place, but you should tell Hibiki about your echolocation. It's not good to get into a habit of lying to your classmates. Besides, you might even be surprised how much it means to them to know that other people are paying attention."

It certainly meant a lot to Megumi when his friends did that for him. Yuuji and Nobara are both much more chatty and exuberant than Megumi has ever been. Despite their differences, they always made a point to meet him where he was at and never forced him to be anything that he wasn't. If Moaya can do that for Hibiki, their cohort will be better for it.

She mulls the words over, seeming to take them to heart. An air of determination settling over her. "I'll tell them as soon as I can. Thank you, Fushiguro-sensei."

"You're welcome. Now why don't you get back to —"

"There you are!"

Megumi turns toward the sound of Yuuji's voice to see his husband making his way up to the training pitch, Cheiri held in one arm, the other waving wildly at Megumi. He hands Cheiri off to Moaya and asks her to give him and Megumi a minute.

"So what did Shoko say?"

"That she's in perfect health," Yuuji replies. "No signs of anything wrong with her. Also no signs of cursed energy or this being related to a cursed technique. Honestly, maybe I'm just imagining the whole —"

"You're not."

Megumi talks Yuuji through everything that he learned from Gojo. The history of kiboku. How it connects to Cheiri. That it means she's able to see into the future.

He's not sure what he expects Yuuji to say.

"This is great news!"

But it isn't that.

"Is it?"

"Yeah! It means that Cheiri doesn't have to go to daycare at all. She can stay here and train with us."

"What?"

"Think about it. This is something only Cheiri can do. This ability of hers has the potential to save so many people. We've gotta nurture that gift and make sure that she grows enough to use it to her full potential."

Yuuji talks as if he's the one making sense right now. Confident grin and relaxed posture accompanying his straightforward version of what their next steps should be.

But he's wrong.

"If anything, this means she absolutely cannot be on campus anymore."

"What're you talking about?"

Megumi can feel the frustration in his voice, even as he tries to suppress it. "We can't train her like a sorcerer because she isn't one. I still don't fully understand this thing that she's capable of, but I do know that it doesn't use any cursed energy. It's incredibly different from what we do."

"That doesn't mean there's no overlap."

"You aren't thinking this through, Yuuji," he says through gritted teeth. "You're being reckless."

"No, you're just worrying too much," he challenges. "But, if we train her you, won't need to worry because you'll know she can handle herself. What better place for her than right here with us?"

"Listen, training Cheiri is — "

"Training?"

Oh no.

He'd been too absorbed in arguing with Yuuji to realize that Cheiri had wandered close enough to be in earshot again, Yuuji's students trailing just behind her.

"Like what Papa-Yuuji's students do? That sounds so fun! I wanna do that! Can I? Please, please, please, please, pl— "

"No."

"But, Megumi."

Yuuji widens his eyes and pouts his lips just a little bit. It's tempting. A look that makes him want to give in. To drop the will to fight entirely and just give in, even though in his heart he knows —

Trust your gut on this one, Megumi. Give her a better choice than I gave you.

He will give her a choice one day. But this is no choice at all.

"I said no."

"But you were just saying that I could," Cheiri says stubbornly.

Megumi takes a deep breath. She's asking about things she doesn't understand, which isn't her fault. The best thing he can do for her right now is to try to explain his logic as best as he can. "No, Cheiri, I was going to say that training you would be a bad idea."

"Why is it bad?"

It's harder to apply logic that Cheiri will understand when there's so much context that he simply can't explain to her without revealing that everyone at the school is a jujutsu sorcerer.

Better keep it as vague as possible.

"It's bad because it would mean that you have to stay here while Yuuji and I's students are training and that's not safe."

"You …" She shrinks in a way that Megumi doesn't anticipate. Her small body trembles like it's on the brink of shattering. "You don't want me to stay here?"

"No, that's not what I said. I said it's not safe for you here."

"Yes it is!" A loud sob cuts through her words, tears and snot falling down her face. "You said that me staying here is bad."

Oh no. This is not good. He needs to make this better. He needs to say something. Say anything. Say —

"Cheiri, you're being unreasonable."

That was the wrong thing.

"No I'm not!"

It only makes the tears come harder. Her whole face is red now. Megumi needs to try something new. He bends down to be at her level. Tries to reach out a hand to —

"NO!"

Megumi recoils on instinct.

"You don't want me here Papa-Megumi! Don't pretend like you do!"

She runs over to Yuuji and buries her face in his side. Yuuji scoops her up in his arms. He sends an apologetic glance over her shoulder before carrying Cheiri off the training pitch to try to help her calm down.

Shell shocked feels appropriate to describe the silence left in the wake of that argument. He's not even sure how it had been able to go so wrong so fast. One misunderstanding was all it took. If she could just understand where Megumi was coming from, what he was actually saying, he knows that things would have been different. He's trying to keep her safe and protect her from how dangerous the world can be. From all the people in it who would try to take advantage of her because she's special.

Seeing her so upset — seeing his own words cause that many tears — makes Megumi feel like a monster though. He'd royally screwed this up.

He glances over at Yuuji's students, who seem just as shocked by what's happened as Megumi is.

"Well, that sucked," Wakumi bellows into the silence, nut-shelling the whole situation with a bluntness that's uniquely hers.

It's followed in short order by her three classmates groaning, "Shut up, Wakumi!" in perfect unison.

Megumi walks off the training pitch.

/////

Fine, but I'm only giving you Gojo's new credit card info if you actually show up 30 mins before you're supposed to guest lecture AND if you give me helpful advice on what to do about Megumi and Cheiri (you have to do both or I will cut up the card in front of you)