Chapter Text
Yuji was having a strange week, to say the least.
In fact, it wasn’t an exaggeration to say he wasn’t having a normal week at all.
As he walked in the grounds of his newfound school, Jujutsu High, he couldn’t help but reminisce about the events that had just occurred in the last few days.
Somehow, he’d gone from a normal kid in his occult club to a vessel for a monster he barely comprehended, all because he ate some dumb finger? Sure, the spiky haired guy had told him not to eat it, but he hadn’t expected it to be that much of a big deal. All he’d wished for was to protect his friends, but next thing he knew, he was dragged into a world he wasn’t even aware existed, and was being told that monsters and magic and sorcerers were real.
If he hadn’t seen them for himself, he wouldn’t have believed such beings as curses existed. If anything he only believed in harmless ghosts and spirits, but that was about it. He knew messing with paranormal beings with his friends in the occult club wasn’t the most rational idea, especially when he could’ve picked any other club, but he certainly didn’t expect to be attacked by actual monsters.
Seriously, he didn’t understand what was the deal with the finger, especially when if anything it was only a bother to himself, since some annoying curse had possessed him. As much as people seemingly couldn’t shut up about how powerful it supposedly was, he had trouble believing them, especially all it did was nag him.
“Hey, Yuji? You listening?” It was his new teacher, Satoru Gojo. He’d been explaining to him how the Jujutsu world worked, and as much as he tried to grasp everything he was being told and the functioning of their society, it was hard when everything was being thrown at him.
“Oh, yeah, sure” He replied, holding his hands behind his head.
“Anyway, you’re about to have an interview with the principal.”
“The principal?” He said, rather sheepishly. He assumed it would be a set of a few easy questions or something, or some tests to get to know him? He’d heard of those somewhere, some kind of test where the answers actually serve to know more about the person taking it rather than to evaluate them, but he wasn’t too sure.
“Don’t take this lightly, screw this up and he could turn you down for admission, just like that.” He added, in the same tone you’d use to ask about the weather.
“HUH? And what happens next, immediate execution?!” So what, if the principal didn’t like the feel of him he’d be killed off?!
“Maybe, you never know with the higher ups.” He said, and while he was trying to keep the same casual tone, there was a hint of bitterness in his voice despite him. “Just try your best, alright?”
“Yeah... sure...” Well, he couldn’t do more than his best, right?
As they climbed the stairs to the building, Yuji could only brace himself for whatever was to come. Looking back, he realized that no matter what he’d imagine, he would’ve never guessed what he was about to set eyes on.
“You’re late, Satoru.” Said a dry voice, the one of the principal. He had short, dark hair, rectangular sun glasses, and was holding... a doll?
In fact, the one he was holding wasn’t the only one, he was surrounded by dolls in all shapes, sizes, colors and designs, ranging from cute little critters to some... less cute ones. How did an old man like him have such a sheer amount of... well, dolls? Judging by the fact he was sewing the one he held, did that mean he’d sewn them all? How did he find the time for that?
And, perhaps what was even more curious, was that there was someone else sitting close by him, not so far away. Sitting on a small stool close to the candle light was what seemed to be the figure of a girl. At least, that was what he assumed, judging by her slightly long dark red hair. He couldn’t quite get a good look on her face, all he saw instead was a curtain of crimson covering it.
Her back was arched over as she concentrated in whatever was the task she was doing, since she seemed to be holding something in her lap. Despite being so far away, Yuji felt a strange feeling looking at her. A sort of vague, faraway feeling of warmth, accompanied by a hint of unexplained discomfort.
“It’s been years, and yet you refuse to fix that habit of yours.” Added the principal towards Gojo, still intently sewing his doll. “You’re never late enough for it to disrupt schedules, it’s like you do it on purpose just to irritate people.”
“Maybe I do,” Replied the teacher, seemingly having no regard to the fact he was speaking to a superior. “but if it isn’t enough to be a bother, why even mention it? If it’s not enough of an inconvenience it shouldn’t bother you.
“Besides, all you do is sew dolls all day, why do you even notice?”
Right, so he really did spend his days sewing dolls.
Satoru turned to Yuji. “This is the principal, Masimichi Yaga.”
He then turned to Yaga. “Yaga, this is Yuji Itadori.”
“Ah, so this is the boy? Sukuna’s vessel?” The principal’s expression seemed to turn more bitter by the second, and Yuji hadn’t even spoken a word yet.
“Yuji Itadori, sir, I-” He was about to add that he liked girls like Jennifer Lawrence, but he was soon interrupted.
“What are you here for?”
“Uhm... the interview?...”
“Sure, but why Jujutsu tech?”
“...to learn Jujutsu?” Even at the simplest questions, Yuji worried he’d somehow get things wrong.
The principal shook his head. “Beyond that, what do you hope to find once you’ve learned to exorcise curses?”
He thought about it for a moment. “Well, I have to collect Sukuna’s fingers, right? He’s pretty dangerous, we can’t just leave them out there.”
“And why not?”
Now Yuji was just confused. What kind of question was that?
“People die every day.” He continued. “From disease, crime, accidents, it’s the natural course of life. But you can’t overlook it if it’s caused by a curse?”
“I don’t care what the circumstances are, I just want to save people. It was someone’s dying wish!-”
“So you’re going to fight curses because someone else told you to? How pathetic.”
To Yuji’s utter surprise, one of the dolls rose up upon Yaga’s hand, and it’s soulless eyes were set on none other than Yuji himself.
“Why, that doll isn’t a doll at all!”
“It’s a cursed corpse, they’re dolls I infused with my curse.”
Before Yuji could question the normalcy of the fact, the doll suddenly attacked him, landing a hard punch to his stomach.
He landed against a pillar, the air snatched clean out of his lungs. “I’ll keep making it attack you until you give a good enough answer.” The principal added, his expression as stern as ever.
He got back up, running towards the doll and charging it head on, as he tried to explain to the old man that the dying wish he was fulfilling was the one of his grandpa, which he had the faintest hope would arouse a bit of sympathy.
But unfortunately, it didn’t, as he was only met with the same rigid expression upon setting eyes on the principal’s face.
As the doll bounced away from his punch, it bounced around the room, with such speed that it snuffed out all of the candles, submerging the room in near complete darkness. He desperately tried to follow the doll’s movement- seriously, what the hell was Gojo doing when he needed him?- when another voice spoke up.
“Hey, the lights!”
Yuji didn’t recognize that voice, it was hard to even hear it from the sound of the doll’s bounces. Was it from that dark red-haired girl? He couldn’t quite tell in the darkness.
He squinted his eyes at an effort to see the girl, but in his distraction, the doll went flying towards him, landing a hit so hard on his chest that when he landed against the pillar once more- and this time more brutally- he had trouble regaining his breathing, and the back of his head felt slightly sore from the hit.
As the principal stared intently at Yuji, he turned to the young girl on the stool, his expression shifting from what seemed to be in the darkness to Yuji a softer one.
“Oh? Sorry Hikari, did you say something?” He said, as he lit up the candle that was near him, before heading towards the girl to light up the candle above her.
“Say, why’d the lights go out? I’d told you to invest in light bulbs, candles really aren’t-” As she spoke, she turned her head, and immediately went silent upon setting sights on Yuji. Her expression went from surprise to curiosity, as though she was just realizing that she wasn’t alone, but also that she was in the company of a stranger.
“Uhm... Are you doing an interview?...” She asked, almost hesitantly.
Way to state the obvious, thought Itadori, how the hell do you not notice a whole fight?
“It’ll be over in no time, don’t mind him you just go back to your sewing.” He told the girl, having lit up the candle above her and given her a friendly pat on the back. It was so jarring to see the old man being so friendly, and even more so when he went from smiling warmly to scowling bitterly upon setting eyes on Yuji.
Before he could get a good look on the girls face, he felt the doll hit him violently once more, this time at an uppercut at his jaw.
“Don’t get distracted, boy. Wow, you’re slower than I’d expected.”
What the hell?
“Besides, your grandpa still is just any other person.” At that rate, Itadori would’ve assumed he was entirely incapable of sympathy if it weren’t for him having shown it just then. Come to think of it that was arguably worse.
“Damn, you really have a way of saying harsh things, huh?”
“He’s a principal, not sure what you expected.” Piped in Gojo, who’s been silent until then.
“In any case, you haven’t answered my request yet.”
Yuji thought about it for a moment. Why did he want Sukuna gone?
Yes, he knew. As much as he’d always excelled at sports and fights, he’d never praised himself as being gifted, or taken pride into his talent. Not once had he ever thought it was something special to himself, something only he could do.
However, he was indeed the only person who could bring an end to Sukuna’s existence. Of course, he had no relation to the jujutsu world beforehand, and he could perfectly well go back to his old life and forget all about the jujutsu world, sorcerers, and curse.
However, he couldn’t handle the prospect of living on knowing that out there, somewhere, Sukuna could be causing a carnage or a massacre, knowing fully well that he let it happen. He couldn’t simply deem Sukuna as ‘none of his business’, he truly couldn’t.
“Jujutsu sorcerers never die without regrets, boy, so I’ll ask you this one last time, why did you come to Jujutsu tech?”
“Consuming Sukuna is something only I can do. So even if I could run away from this responsibility, I can’t just tell myself that it doesn’t concern me if someone is dying out there because of him, and even less that it isn’t my fault!
“I don’t want to die, but I don’t want to live with the certainty of dying with regrets either. I’m sure of my decision, and I won’t turn back on it.”
The principal stared at him for a few seconds, before speaking up.
“Satoru, take the boy to his dorms. Explain to him whatever he needs to know, if you haven’t told him already.”
Huh?
“You’re accepted to Jujutsu Tech.” Yaga added, flatly.
Yuji smiled, mostly out of relief, but also because he was genuinely happy. He accidentally looked at the red haired girl out of some instict, and he was surprised to see that she'd been looking at him. However, as soon as he noticed her, she averted her gaze, turning her head back to her work on her lap.
“Congrats, Itadori! Come on, give me one!” It was Gojo, who’d suddenly stepped away from the pillar he’d been leaning on, crouching down to Yuji’s level to give him a high five.
As Yuji was about to stand from where he was sitting, he felt a wicked punch, from none other but the cursed doll. He clenched his stomach, suppressing a groan.
“Ah... right, I hadn’t told it to stop.” Said Yaga, trying to keep a serious tone. But as he turned around, a faint smile played on his lips.