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Yuji looked up at the office building in front of him.
After his passing, it was found that Nanami had left him a list of things he wanted the young man to take care of. Whatever was in this building was the final item on an emotionally exhausting list. It had taken a few years since there were still devastating aftershocks and popup battles throughout the Sorcerer community following the events at Shibuya. Things only finally came to an end with the so called culling game and a final battle in Shinjuku that took so many sorcerers, Yuji couldn't sleep for months as he tried to help Shoko carry bodies back and forth. Then came the rebuilding of Sorcerer society and rehabilitation for many of the survivors.
But now he was free.
Of both Sukuna and the pressures of Sorcery.
Mostly.
“The last thing on the list?” he mumbled to himself as he entered the building and lowered the hood of his sweater. “If it's supposed to be the most important, why is it last?”
Nanami seemed to have already known he wasn't going to survive the entire ordeal so he had entrusted Yuji with several tasks to take care of for him. Yuji still didn't know what made his teacher so sure that he himself would have survived when he was so much more inexperienced, but unfortunately for the both of them, his assumption was correct.
“They call it ‘survivor’s guilt’ apparently.” Nobara told him one day. “Yuta and Maki started therapy and she’s been telling me about it.”
Though there were no therapists for Sorcerers specifically, it made him happy that some were doing their best to live normally after all of this.
There was a name on an envelope that Nanami had left behind and when he mentioned it at the security desk he was given directions to an office quite a few floors up. When he was younger he would have been excited to be in a skyscraper as tall as this one but as the floors passed he just counted them, barely taking note of their names or the people coming on and off the lift and the curses they brought with them.
“Did Mr. Nanami work with any of them?”
A few low level curses eyed him suspiciously but once they realized who and what he was they minded their business.
“Good. I’m too tired to deal with these things anymore.”
Finally the door opened on his floor to get off and he remembered he needed to take a left but not much after that. He stopped at a receptionist desk and led the remainder of the way.
“Ms. Y/n should be back from her meeting but she does have other engagements in a little bit so please make your visit brief.” the small woman said as she led him through a maze of cubicles.
Nanami wasn't the most outwardly expressive in the short time Yuji had known him but stories from Gojo and others said that he was a rather funny man when he wanted to be.
In the books and letters he left behind, Yuji was finally able to meet that side of him. In what could be considered a diary, he read Nanami’s notes on fights and meetings with a particular love for roasting Gojo mercilessly. In more personalized letters he spoke about his fears and hopes for what Yuji would be able to do should Sorcery become obsolete.
“I think I would have been a chef if I had the opportunity. And I can imagine you doing something active. You've always had so much energy.” He remembered telling Nanami about being scouted as early as middle school for different sport related scholarships. “Just, do whatever will make you happy.”
“Honestly, just be happy. That would be enough.”
Yuji pushed the thought back down and bowed as he entered the office.
Nanami described Y/n as one of the most beautiful people he had ever seen and Yuji agreed. There were only a handful of personal photos in Nanami’s place when it was cleared out and she had been in several. It seemed she hadn't aged much in the 6 or so years since he had taken them, save for shorter hair. She was smaller than he imagined but still just as imposing as she sat behind her desk still working on something before she closed out whatever it was and faced him with a calm professional smile.
“Welcome. How can I help you?”
“Hello Ms. Y/n. My name is Yuji Itadori. Sorry to drop by unannounced but I’m here on behalf of Nanami Kento.”
He felt all the warmth leave the room and something that looked like a mix of fear, rage, and hope crossed her face. “I’m sorry?”
“Mr. Nanami was one of my mentors.” he quickly started to explain. “He asked me to take care of some things for him.” Yuji quickly handed over the large envelope he had been carrying for just over half a decade.
“What?” Y/n’s hands shook as she reached for it but she hesitated. “What do you mean?”
Yuji stared at the ground. “He’s dead, Ma’am.”
He had learned that the best way to deliver bad news was straight forward and quick as possible, then, if needed, assist with picking up the pieces after.
Hands covered Y/n’s face in horror and she leaned back in her chair in disbelief. “What do you-? Whe-?” She tried to form questions but they each only made it half way out as her breathing picked up pace.
Yuji held on to the back of the chair in front of him. “It happened a few years ago but he left me a list to follow and he shredded that I followed it in a certain order.”
Nanami never said much about what their relationship was, but Yuji wasn't stupid and judging from her reaction the feelings were mutual. Not to mention his insistence that everything else be done before she was informed of his death, Yuji could tell there was something deeper between them.
Y/n seemed to be a quiet cryer and she quickly got up and began pacing before she crossed the room to draw the blinds over her door. She paused long enough to try and collect herself but when she turned back around Yuji could still see the tears falling.
“And how did you say you knew him?” she tried to be conversational as she offered him water and to have a seat.
“He was my mentor at Jujitsu Tech.” he was probably the best teacher he could have had back then.
She nodded absently and began squeezing her hands together. “He mentioned that school to me once.” she sighed shakily. “I told him that if he went back this would happen.” The tears started again. “He never listens.”
Yuji wanted to correct her but even he still used present tense sometimes. Y/n crumpled into the chair closest to her and Yuji quietly took the free one next to it.
He had never really been good at comforting people. It was usually his dumb luck and boyish charm that made whatever he said seem encouraging and it worked back then because it was a pep talk before a test or the final push to try out for a team.
It wouldn't fit right now.
You can't encourage someone out of grief.
Yuji instead tried to pass the envelope to her again. “Mr. Nanami wrote alot.” Y/n accepted it this time and held it close to her chest. “I don't know what's in that one because he said only you could open it but he left me alot of letters. And journals that I can give you if you want.”
He shoved his hands into his hoodie pocket awkwardly.
“Why did it have to be me, Man?” he thought to himself. “I have to be the one to tell the love of his life all of this?”
“When he left,” She sniffed. “He left me a letter telling me that he was doing it to protect people.”
“And he did.”
“You know that for sure?” she was fighting herself to keep from sobbing. “How do you know for sure?”
“I was the one he was protecting when he -”
Yuji’s stomach turned.
He still felt the impact after Mahito touched him.
The sound.
“When?”
Yuji snapped back to attention. “I’m sorry?”
“When did it happen?”
“In Shebuya. 6 years ago.”
A painful whimper left Y/n and she started to rock back and forth. “He was supposed to come back to me.”
“I’m sorry.” if he hadn't tried to fight Nanami probably wouldn't have been there. “It was my fault.”
Y/n coughed and shook her head. “No.” She started trying to calm down and dry her eyes. “He hates it when people do that.”
Self pity.
“Sorry.”
They both sat in silence thinking different things. Several times Y/n moved to open the envelope but would shake her head and put it back down. She had questions and Yuji was fairly sure he had answers. She kept trying to ask but only made out a few syllables before giving up and whispering that she had to tell somebody.
The painful quiet was interrupted by an intercom beep telling Y/n that someone was up to her office. Again her mood shifted and she straightened up and ran to her desk. “Shit. I didn't see what time it was.”
Y/n began fixing her make up and Yuji stood uncomfortably to the side as she tried her best to straighten out her appearance. Before Yuji could ask if he should leave, the door flung open and a grade schooler ran in.
“Mommy!”
Yuji felt like the floor was going to give out beneath him. Y/n put on a smile and hugged the little one asking how their day was. The child eyed him suspiciously but responded to their mother with a list of things they had learned at school.
The side eye alone told him everything he needed to know. Where Nanami had hazel eyes that veered more to the green side, this little one had more of a honey brown color closer to their mother’s. They seemed to be only a few shades lighter than Y/n with hair like hers but if the math was correct, they would be inheriting Nanami’s height.
“Ah, Yuji, this is Kohaku.” Y/n tried her best to smile as they turned the child around to greet him.
He crouched down to be eye level with the kid who initially turned away. “Hi.”
The kid stared at him and Yuji was painfully aware of his scars at that moment. He probably looked terrifying to someone that young. Kohaku pulled Y/n down so they could whisper something to their mother.
“Kohaku says that you have blue energy.” she sighed. This must have been a common thing.
Even though he didn't use it, Yuji was trained to always have some amount of cursed energy running through him just in case.
There are only two types of beings that could see that.
Kohaku was sent out of the office and Y/n shrunk within herself again as soon as the door closed.
“How old are they?”
Y/n stared at the closed door with an all too familiar dark cloud starting to close in around her. “They’ll turn 6 in a few months.” she said tenderly. “I found out I was pregnant shortly after he dropped off the face of the earth. Even tried going up to that stupid school he told me about but it just looked like an empty shrine more than a school.”
Jujitsu Tech was supposed to be impossible for non sorcerers to find. How could she have done it?
Maybe the pregnancy gave her temporary Sorcery vision?
“I know I’m overstepping but does Kohaku sometimes tell you they see things that aren’t there?” if they had the sight as well it probably only added to Y/n’s stress and confusion.
“The kid has a vivid imagination for sure.” she chuckled dryly. “The doctors called it synesthesia or something. Where you can see colors of certain things in different ways.”
Sorcerers didn't divulge their abilities to the public unless absolutely necessary. From his letters Nanami mentioned that he regretted not telling Y/n the truth about who he was. It probably would help her with their child.
“Mr. Nanami was the same.” He put out gently. He didn't really know what he actually told her and he didn't want to overload her with too much information at a time like this. “I am too.”
Y/n looked over at him confused. “With the color things?”
“It could be colors, shapes, stuff like that.” Yuji never really figured out how to explain curses to people who couldn't see it.
“Do…” She began nervously now. “Do they sometimes talk to you?”
Yuji nodded.
“Kohaku says the colors whisper when they don't want to be seen.” Y/n continued. “I never know what to say when it happens.”
It all clicked.
Yuji could see the shadow of the kid waiting in a chair on the other side of the door and Nanami’s voice was in his ear.
“She's going to need someone.” He said in a letter. “She might not accept it initially but just be there. You're the only one I can see being decent enough.”
“I might be able to help.” Yuji dug in his pocket for an old business card that Nobara insisted he carry with him. “Mr. Nanami taught me a lot. Not only about the stuff we see but life as well.”
He wasn't really fatherly but he was father-like, in that he was one of the few adults around him that allowed Yuji to feel like a child sometimes and not just a weapon. “The program ran us like cogs in a machine but if we were teamed up, Mr. Nanami always tried to take the brunt of the work so that we kids wouldn't have to deal with it as much.”
“He mentioned that he hated how kids are treated there.” Y/n looked over, seeming tired. “How old were you when they got you?”
He wasn't even 16 yet. And Gojo had told him that they had brought Nanami back specifically to train him.
But he did often make stuff up for dramatic effect.
“You were just a baby.” Y/n sighed as she walked back to her proper chair. “Shit you're still a baby.” It was true and he couldn't deny it. He felt like he was hundreds of years old but it was probably a holdover from Sukuna’s possession of him. She sat and Yuji saw how her eyes fell on the door again. He could see her brain working as she sorted through her private thoughts.
“In his letters, Nanami asked me to help you if you need it.” Yuji was feeling antsy and wanted to give Y/n her space. “Even if it’s just to help explain the colors Kohaku sees. I’ll be happy to support you.”
He owed Nanami his life. The least he could do was support the one Nanami never got to live.
If Y/n allowed it.
“You know they just asked me about their father for the first time last month.” Y/n sighed and looked at the silhouette of her baby. “There is only so much I can tell them. Would you be able to help with that?”
It sounded like it was supposed to be a dig but Yuji didn't take it personally. He did just ruin her life.
“I can. I didn't have a dad growing up and I never told him to his face, but I wanted to be just like him when I got older.” He remembered always talking Megumi’s ear off whenever he got back to the dorms after training with Nanami.
Y/n watched him trying not to cry again. “I don't want Kohaku to see me after I read this.” Her jaw was set as she tried to focus. “There is a cafe across the street. Kohaku likes to get a sandwich there after school sometimes.”
Yuji put together what she was asking and headed towards the door. “Do you want us to grab you anything?”
Y/n held the envelope close to her chest again and shook her head.
When he opened the door, Kohaku ran back in only for their mother to give them a tight hug and a kiss on the head before handing them a few yen to cover their food. She reminded the child to behave and told them how Yuji was a friend of their father’s and could tell him a story or two about him while they ate.
“Really?” small eyes looked up at him sparking.
“Absolutly kiddo.” Yuji smiled and knelt down to their level again. “And you wanna know a secret? Your Papa was blue too.”
Excited understanding filled the child’s face and after a final ok they headed out of the office. As he turned to shut the door, Yuji saw that Y/n had finally gotten the envelope open and a small silk bag was sitting in her hand. There was a noticeably fresh batch of tears on her face.
“I hope you're finally resting peacefully Mr. Nanami.” he thought as he let Kohaku race him to the elevator. “Your family is beautiful. You should be proud.”