Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Yuuji didn’t mean to get himself involved in a fight that had nothing to do with him. His older brother already gives him enough shit for getting into fights and getting into trouble. But he couldn’t just walk past and pretend to not have seen anything.

He went to a different pharmacy than his usual one to go get his grandfather’s meds, since the one near his home didn’t have what he needed.  He had never been to this part of town much so he was admittedly a little bit lost.

He was walking near an alley when he heard sounds like grunting and yelling. When he walked closer he got a view of the scene. A guy who looked to be around his age, with spiky black hair was surrounded by a bunch of other guys wearing a matching middle school uniform. Yuji recognized the uniform being from a different middle school than his and realized where he was. The spiky haired guy was punching, kicking, and tossing around all the other guys like ragdolls and stacking them all up in a pile when they went unconscious. He had a mean, angry face, and Yuuji had no idea who this guy was but his first impression of him was, He seems like an asshole.

Before he knew what he was doing, Yuuji had gone up to spiky haired guy and grabbed his shoulder to stop him from punching that other guy square in the face. He seemed surprised at first but recovered quickly when his eyes landed on Yuuji. His already mean face turned even meaner when he frowned at Yuuji.

“And who the hell are you?”, he questioned.

Looking at him this close, Yuuji realized he had really long eyelashes and really pretty eyes. He noticed that they were two different colors. His left eye was an emerald green, while his right eye was a dark blue. His long eyelashes were casting small shadows on his face in a way that had Yuuji mesmerized. He couldn’t help but stare for a second. “Hey, what’s wrong with you?”, exclaimed the spiky haired guy, breaking Yuuji out of his trance and reminding him of where he was and what he was doing.

“Stop it”, Yuuji demanded. 

“Stop what?”, asked the spiky haired guy, who’s mean face wasn’t getting any less mean. 

“Stop beating up these guys, you should just leave them alone.”, replied Yuuji. 

“Huh? And what the hell is it to you if I don’t, you should just mind your own business,” snarked the spiky haired guy. Then he promptly pushed Yuuji’s hand away from him and turned around to completely ignore Yuuji and go back to trying to punch that other guy in the face again.

Before his punch could land, Yuuji reached to grab his arm and pull him away. Next thing he knew was the feeling of a fist landing on his face. Yuuji realized the spiky haired guy must’ve gotten agitated and redirected his attention to Yuuji now, instead of the guys he was beating up at first. He must’ve punched him with his free arm that wasn’t being held by Yuuji.

Now Yuuji wouldn’t say he’s an expert at fighting. He gets into an occasional fight every now and then, but only to stop assholes like this guy from picking on people who are weaker. However, he has always kind of been particularly gifted in the physical aspects of life. So much so that he was nicknamed ‘The tiger of west junior high’. A frankly embarrassing nickname that he never calls himself.

 So when this mean faced guy punches him, Yuuji's first instinct is to fight back.

With the hand that is grabbing the spiky haired guy's arm, Yuuji tosses him behind himself and smacks the guy to the ground. Spiky guy was clearly not expecting it since he blinks in shock on the ground for a few seconds until he seems to recover and aims to punch Yuuji again.

After a while of scuffling and punching on both of their behalfs, Yuuji has the spiky guy pinned to the ground, while holding him arms behind his back. “I won’t let you go until you swear to leave these guys alone!”, exclaims Yuuji. Spiky haired guy has an irritated frown on his face and seems reluctant until he says “ Fine, fine whatever, just get off of me.”

At that Yuuji frowns, “No you have to promise it.” 

Spiky guy turns his head around as much as he can to look at Yuuji's face.

 “Promise? What are you five? Whatever, I promise. Not like it matters much anymore anyway considering they all left already.”, points out spiky haired guy. Yuuji looks around and sees that the alley is now completely empty apart from the two of them. 

“Oh yeah, I didn’t notice. My bad”, Yuuji lets go of the guy and stands up to dust himself off. He looks around and finds the bag he forgot on the ground that has his grandpa’s meds in it and picks it up. 

Out of the corner of his eye he notices that mean faced guy is staring at him but trying to seem like he’s not. “So what did those guys do to you? Why were you so set on beating them up?, asks Yuuji. 

“For your information they were a bunch of punks that were harassing a group of nerds for fun. That’s why I beat them up”, says the spiky haired guy, who still has that intense frown on his face.

“Oh”, is all yuuji says. Now he feels kind of guilty and it must have been evident in his face.

“Yeah maybe next time you get yourself involved in a fight that has nothing to do with you, find the reason the fight started in the first place.”, scolds mean faced guy.

Yuuji wants to say something snarky to defend himself like ‘you shouldn’t beat people up anyway it’s wrong’, but he can’t exactly say that when he goes around doing the same thing. 

“Yeah, sorry, I had no idea. I guess those guys did deserve the beating you were giving them huh?”, apologizes Yuuji.

Spiky haired guy just stares at him for a second before he turns around and starts to walk away. “Whatever, next time just mind your own business.”, he says as he disappears. 

Yuuji stares at the guy as he leaves for a second before deciding to turn around and leave as well. He promised his gramps he'd be home in time for dinner, and he’s wasted enough time as is.

______

“Yuuji, what happened to you!?”

When Yuuji arrives home he’s greeted by his older brother Choso’s worried shriek. 

Yuuji loves his big brother. He really does. But he has this annoying tendency to be overprotective and overbearing of him at times. He understands where it comes from, so Yuuji can’t be all that upset with him about it. 

Before Yuuji was born, his mother, Kaori, had married and had her first child ,Choso, followed by Eso, and Kechizu. After years of an unhappy marriage, his mother had finally decided to divorce and she took full custody of her children. She then met Itadori Jin, and got married. They then had Yuuji, and they were a happy family for a while.

Unfortunately one day, Eso, Kechizu, and both of his parents were involved in a car accident that took their lives. Choso, and Yuuji were then in custody of Yuuji's grandfather and were raised by him ever since.

Yuuji was too young to remember any of it. But the memories are still there for Choso, so he can’t fault his big brother for trying to protect the family he has left.

“I’m fine. Sorry, I know I took a while but I’m fine, no need to worry. I got home safe.”, Yuuji tries to sooth.

“No, you have bruises all over your face”, points out Choso. 

Yuuji hadn’t even realized his fight with the mean guy left bruises. Considering how much his punches hurt, it wasn’t surprising. They guy had pretty decent strength compared to the people yuuji normally fights with. Which are mostly just typical school punks.

“Oh sorry, I uh- it’s not a big deal, I took care of it.”, yuuji says.

“Did you get into another fight? Now what have I told you about getting involved in fights so often. You need to start looking out for yourself! ”, scolds Choso.

 “Sorry. I’ll stay out of it next time. I promise”, smiles Yuuji.

It doesn’t seem to soothe Choso very much. He looks rather unconvinced.

“Alright well, go sit down and I’ll take care of you.”,commands Choso.

“I can take care of it on my own,don’t worry about-“

“Sit”

And well, reluctantly, Yuuji goes to sit down on the couch while Choso goes to grab the first aid kit. Choso comes back and starts checking for any swelling on his face. He puts ointment on his bruises and gives him a bag of ice to hold on his face. “Did you get hurt anywhere else?” Choso asks. “No, just my face,” replies Yuuji.

“Alright then, come help me set the table, dinner is ready”, asks Choso. And so Yuuji cleans the table and sets up the utensils needed. He then goes to his grandfather's bedroom to bring him to eat dinner.

“I’m not no fragile old man, you don’t need to escort me to the table. I’m perfectly capable of getting there by myself!”, yells his grandpa when Yuuji tries to help him get up from the bed.

 “Yeah, yeah, I heard you”, replies Yuuji. 

His grandpa is a stubborn old man who refuses to ever accept any help. Even during his time in the hospital, he refused to ever call on the nurses and it always made them nervous. Yuuji knows dealing with his grandpa isn’t easy, so he always brought flowers for the nurses to show his appreciation. Wasuke Itadori was later discharged from the hospital when they considered him well enough to at least go home. Now he refuses to ever go back to the hospital claiming that “ If I’m gonna die , I’m dying in this house!” And so that was that. Now Choso and Yuuji try to take care of him as best as they can at home.

When they’re all sitting down eating their dinner, Yuuji notices his grandpa staring at his face with a frown.

 “All you did was go to the store to get some things, why are you back with bruises all over your face?” he questions him.

“He got into another fight”, says Choso. Yuuji wishes he could deny the accusation, but he doesn’t quite have the evidence to back it up, so instead he stays silent and avoids eye contact. 

“Another one? What is with all the fights you have gotten into recently? You’re about to enter high school, you need to start being more responsible about your choices.”, scolds his grandpa.

“Sorry but it’s not like I went out looking for trouble. I just happened to come across it.”, Yuuji tries to defend himself.

 “And how exactly do you just run into trouble”, asks Choso.

 “Just explain to us what happened”, demands his grandpa.

And so Yuuji explains to them his trip to the pharmacy, and how in his way back he ran into mean faced, spiky haired guy beating up those other guys and he stepped in to defend them, but it turned out that mean faced guy was a good guy that was defending a group of other guys.

His grandpa stares at him for a few seconds. He clearly has something to say, and is trying to find a way to say it. 

“You’re a good kid, Yuuji. And it’s right for you to try to help others who need protecting. You’re strong, and there are people out there that don’t have the strength to protect themselves. As someone who is stronger you have the responsibility to look out for those people. But you need to be more careful about the fights you pick. You could end up getting involved with the wrong person.” 

Yuuji silently goes back to eating his dinner and thinks about what his grandpa just said. He starts to think of what he should say. Before he can think of anything Choso tries to change the subject.

 “Speaking of choices and responsibility; Yuuji, your graduation is coming up soon. Have you put any thought yet about where you’re going next?”

“I uh, have been looking into my options. I’m still not sure where I wanna go but I promise I’ll keep looking into it.” The truth is Yuuji doesn’t really care about where he is going to go. He just wants to go to a high school that is close to home so he can keep staying with his family. However he knows if he told his grandpa that, he would give him shit about needing to choose something for himself and quit worrying about him. So Yuuji still needs to think up a good lie as his reasoning for wanting to go to any school near home.

“Well ya better start choosing soon, there’s not much time left. Choosing a good high school is only step one for your decision on what you’re doing for the rest of your life.”, says his grandfather.

“Yeah I know grandpa, I promise I’ll keep looking into it.”, replies Yuuji.

He really does hope he figures it out soon.

———

It’s been a few weeks since the conversation with his grandpa, and graduation is coming even closer. He still has not made his decision about where he is going to go next, and apparently he’s not the only one. 

His school is having a field trip to Tokyo to go to this big science industry that also has a school. The purpose of the trip is to inspire kids about their future and take initiative. Yuuji didn’t quite catch the name of the place they’re going to because as soon as he heard it’s in Tokyo he lost interest.

 It’s not like a field trip to Tokyo doesn’t sound fun and tempting. In fact Yuuji would love to visit Tokyo at least once. However, he doesn’t have any real reason to go. He doesn’t plan on going too far from home, much less Tokyo, because his family is his top priority.

All his classmates sound really excited to go on this field trip though, especially his two closest friends, Sasaki and Iguchi. When school is done, they come up to him at the end of class before he even gets a chance to get up from his desk.

 “Can you believe it Yuuji?! A trip to Tokyo! It sounds like so much fun!”, shrieks Sasaki.

 “Yeah, I’ve never been to Tokyo before.”, chimes in Iguchi. 

“What kind of paranormal activity do you think there is in Tokyo, it must be more interesting than here right?”, asks Sasaki, ever the paranormal enthusiast. Yuuji finds it kind of ironic actually, considering she’s always scared out of her mind when they go on their little adventures to investigate places with rumors about ghosts and such. Her and Iguchi both. He finds it funny and endearing, and he refuses to ever let them go alone.

“We're going on the field trip to go to a science lab, Sasaki. I doubt you’ll find much paranormal activity there,” explains Iguchi. 

“Well you never know,” defends Sasaki.

“Yeah, it sounds really fun and all guys, but I don’t really plan on going,” informs Yuuji.

“Whaaaat? Why not?” asks Sasaki at the same time Iguchi says, “Aw, come on.”

“Well I know I haven’t decided where I’m going to go to high school yet, but I know it won’t be in Tokyo, so I don’t see much point in going. Besides, I need to be home for my grandpa anyway.” He may have been discharged from the hospital, but Yuuji still doesn’t feel comfortable letting him out of his sight. He knows Choso can take care of him just fine, but if Yuuji goes on this field trip he knows he won’t be able to enjoy it anyway since he’ll just be worrying over his grandpa the whole time.

“It’s only for a little while though right? I know you worry about your grandpa but it wouldn’t hurt to indulge just this once right?” Sasaki tries to convince him. “And we know you’re not planning to live in Tokyo, but the trip could be useful to inspire you or give you ideas about any other place you would like to go.”

Yuuji mulls over this for a second before deciding to just avoid the conversation altogether.

 “Yeah, they all sound like good reasons, I’ll just uh go home and think over it”, says Yuuji, then he gathers his things and makes a swift exit. “I’ll see you guys tomorrow”, he waves at them as he leaves.

———

When Yuuji arrives home Choso is already cooking dinner. 

“I’m home”, announces Yuuji when he walks in. He takes his shoes off and leaves them by the genkan.

 “Welcome home little brother!”, greets Choso. “Would you like to help me out with dinner today?” 

Yuuji likes making food with Choso. It’s something they’ve done together a lot since a long time ago. It started out as a necessity for Choso. Grandpa had started to slowly fall ill and he couldn't exert himself too much, so Choso decided to take the responsibility of cooking off grandpa’s shoulders. He started learning recipes on his own and little Yuuji wanted to help his big brother cook dinner for grandpa. Ever since then they have been making dinner together when they can and learning together. This particular recipe however was taught to them by their grandpa. 

It’s a simple meatball recipe. All you have to do is mix the ingredients together until the mix is ready, and then shape them into meatball shapes. Then heat a pan and put oil in it. And then just cook the meatballs in the pan.

Even though it’s a very simple recipe, it’s always been one of Yuuji's favorites.

“So how was school today?”, asks Choso, starting the conversation. Yuuji really doesn’t want to bring up the field trip thing because he knows if he told Choso or his grandpa, they would both just try to convince him to go. It’s bad enough Sasaki and Iguchi's conversation already tempted him to go. He didn’t want to give in.

“Uhm nothing interesting really. Just teachers still going on about graduation and talking to students about where they’re gonna go. Same stuff it’s been for weeks”, replies Yuuji as he starts mixing the ingredients into a bowl.

“You still haven’t made your decision have you”, asks Choso.

“No, I haven’t. But I promise I am thinking about it.”

“Please take it seriously Yuuji, make your decision based on something you really want to do. I want you to have the future you truly want. Make a decision that leads to a job you will dedicate yourself to and enjoy. Don’t make your decision based on others.”, says Choso.

Yuuji really didn’t think simply choosing which high school to go to was as big a deal as his family is making it out to be. But then again Choso has always been known for dramatics when it comes to Yuuji. And his grandpa is a stubborn old man who takes everything really seriously.

“I got it Choso, I swear. I really am thinking about it.” And Yuuji doesn’t really think it’s necessarily a lie, because even though he is basing his decision on his family, taking care of his family is what he wants to do. 

“Alright then, just keep what I said in mind," says Choso. At least this time Choso seems to have calmed down a bit. Now he has a different look in his eye. As if he’s thinking of what to say as he’s placing all the meatballs into the pan.

“Speaking of jobs, I will be out on a trip for work in a few weeks. It should only take a few days. If it takes any longer than that I’ll call and inform you both.”, Choso finally says.

Choso going on trips for work isn’t unusual. His work requires him leaving every now and then. Yuuji still isn’t sure what exactly his job is, but it seems to pay decently since Choso was the one to pay for all the hospital bills for grandpa.

Yuuji smiles at him and gives him a thumbs up

Choso smiles back

“ Alright, the food is ready. Go set up the table please”

———

Once the table is set and everyone is eating their food, his grandpa starts the conversation.

“So have you made your decision yet kid?”

At that Yuuji looks up from his plate confused. “My decision?”, he asks. 

“About school.”, explains his grandpa. Yuuji makes a groaning sound and throws his head down. “I just had this conversation with Choso a few minutes ago. I'd rather not have it again please.”, he replies.

“Well you were lying for most of the conversation so I think you should have it again”, says Choso. 

“Huh..?”

“You were lying”, accuses Choso

“..no I wasn’t?”

“Yuuji, you're a terrible liar. You’re clearly basing your decision based on us and not on what you want”, explains Choso. 

Well yuuji can’t really hide it anymore can he. 

“Okay maybe I am basing my decision on you guys, but it wasn’t entirely a lie either. Taking care of my family is what I want.”, he explains.

“That’s stupid”, replies his grandpa. “We are perfectly capable of taking care of ourselves. You need to start worrying about yourself instead and what you’re gonna do. Explore your options. Go on that field trip to Tokyo your school is doing”

“What!? How did you even know about that?”, shrieks Yuuji.

“Your school still informs me about things you know”, snarks his grandpa.

Yuuji sighs. “You really want me to go on a field trip to Tokyo for a school I’m not even going to go to?”, asks Yuuji. 

“The purpose of the trip isn’t to convince you to attend their school. It’s to present options and inspire you into things that will help you choose where you’ll go. It’s a great opportunity for you and you’re going!”, demands his grandpa.

“He’s right. The trip is a great opportunity and you should definitely take it.”, exclaims Choso.

“But wait Choso, the field trip is in a few weeks and you have a trip for work. We can’t leave grandpa alone!”, reasons yuuji.

“Your field trip is in two weeks and Choso leaves in three. And even if both things happened to be at the same time, I am perfectly capable of handling myself alone!” yells his grandpa.

And so yuuji wasn’t really given much of a choice. He was already tempted to go in the first place. And now he’s definitely not winning a two against one with the two most stubborn people in the world.

Well at least Sasaki and Iguchi will be pleased about the news.

———

The day of the field trip starts out normal. It’s not like Yuuji actually expected this field trip to guide him into making his decision. But not everything always goes as expected.

Sasaki and Iguchi were as excited as Yuuji expected them to be. Even more when they found out that yuuji was actually going despite saying he wasn't going to.

“It was definitely my amazing persuasion skills. Right itadori?” , says Sasaki as she elbows at Yuuji's arm and winks at him playfully.

 “Haha, yes that was definitely it.”, replies yuuji. 

To be fair, her little persuasion speech was kind of similar to what his grandpa said so the truth wasn't too far off.

“Come on guys let's go. I’m so excited!” says Iguchi.

Four hours later when they arrive to Tokyo, they arrive at a giant building with big letters that say “Jujutsu Industries”

When the class is taken to the front doors of the building they are told that a worker here will come to greet them and show them around the building.

A few minutes later a black haired man wearing a beanie comes outside and greets them with a  cheerful disposition. He looks to be rather young. Probably around his early twenties if Yuuji had to guess.

“Welcome to Jujutsu Industries, junior high students! My name is Ino Takuma and I will be your guide today. Before we enter each of you will be handed a badge for visitors, by one of our assistants, please make sure to wear it visible at all times and keep it with you, please. Once you are given the badge you can step inside the building.” he informs. A black haired man in a suit, who seems significantly older, starts to hand out badges to everyone, and everyone begins to make their way in.

When everyone is all gathered inside, Ino begins to speak again. He talks about the industry and its purpose. Everyone who works here works in science, trying to come up with new things like medicines and such. Anything to use science to make the world a better place. He explains that the industry made a school, specifically for students who want to focus on science and aim for a future where they can help people. 

“The best part about the school is that anyone is welcome to join in. Even if you’re from Tokyo, or from the county side, or even a foreigner, everyone is welcome here. Same for working in the Industry, as long as expectations for grades and such are met, anyone has high chances of being able to work here!”, informs Ino.

After that Ino goes on about the rules of being here, what not to do and such. Like not separate from the group, don't take off the badges, don’t touch things you’re not supposed to and not to enter closed doors. He takes them to labs where certain workers are working on minor things and everyone is allowed to watch. They do things like mix chemicals and write down what they see and a few other things that Yuuji doesn’t completely understand.

After being toured around many places of the building, everyone is given free reign to revisit the labs they were in, in case anyone was interested in seeing more of them. However they were given specific instructions on not entering any other place, except for the spots they had already been to. Sasaki and Iguchi had seemed to be invested in the section where there were multiple reptiles and insects, so they went to revisit that spot and Yuuji went with them.

“I didn’t know you were so interested in insects and animals, Sasaki.” says Iguchi, as they are walking back to the lab.

“I’m not really, but it is the most interesting part of this place”, she says. 

“Whaat? How so? Did you not like the lab where they made all those chemicals explode? That one was my favorite.”, says Iguchi. Yuuji knows that’s true based on the way his eyes lit up, though that could have just been the fire reflecting.

 “Of course I did, it was amazing! But there is more about the insects than they showed us.”, claims Sasaki.

 “What do you mean?”, asks Yuuji.

“They told us the purpose of this lab was to examine animals and their DNA to use whenever they need it for their experiments, and that’s mostly true, but there’s more. I’m certain they also experiment on the animals or combine their DNA to make new things. Like a new species or something of the sort.”, she explains.

“You really think so?”,asks Iguchi. “I know so,” Sasaki answers. “And we’re going to go see them.”

“What? But they weren’t in the lab. How do you expect to see something that isn't even there.”

“It wasn’t anywhere where they showed us, but they’re there trust me.” she says. 

“Yeah but where exactly?”

She points at the locked door they weren’t allowed to go into when they reach the lab. “In there”

It takes Yuuji a second to figure out what it is she intends to do. “Wait, are you trying to go in there? Sasaki! We’re not allowed to do that!”, he whisper shouts.

“They won’t even notice us going in. We’ll be quiet and discreet. Come on, it’ll be fun!” she says.

 “No way! You guys are terrible at being discreet. How do you even plan on opening it anyway? The door is locked.” responds Yuuji. 

“Oh I’m great at opening locks, I used to accidentally lock myself in my room all the time when I was little so I learned it out of necessity.”, explains Iguchi. 

“Awesome! You can get us in then!”, says Sasaki excitedly. 

“Guys no, we’re not breaking in anywhere. We’re gonna stay right here and do as we were told.” demands Yuuji. 

“Aww come Itadori, everything here is so boring.” she wines.

“You’re the one that was so excited to come to Tokyo, what happened to that?” questions Yuuji.

“Yes but it’s not like we’re allowed to leave the building and explore, and there was no paranormal activity in here at all. We gotta go to the next best thing.” 

“And the next best thing is animal experiments?”

“Yes!”

Yuuji takes a second to process the entire conversation, and the more it replays in his head, the more ridiculous the whole thing sounds.

 “No, no, we’re not breaking in anywhere. Besides, there are more exciting things here like uhh- the food! I saw some really good looking food by the cafeteria when we passed by and we haven’t eaten at all. Let’s go eat!”, exclaims Yuuji. He then grabs them both by the arm and takes them towards the cafeteria. 

“Trust me this is much better guys.”

His friends seem reluctant, but at least they don’t protest.

They reach the cafeteria and Yuuji sits his friends down on an empty table. 

“Alright you guys wait here and I’ll go get us our food alright? What do you guys want?”, he asks. 

“Oh, I’ll take the flan, it looks really good!” says Iguchi.

 “Uhh yeah I’ll just take a flan too”, says Sasaki.

“Alright, I’ll be right back you guys.”

Yuuji goes to the line for food and orders two flans. He orders a few other things for himself too, including snacks like ice cream. Apparently this cafeteria has all sorts of food, but yuuji doesn’t feel like getting anything too fancy.

When he makes his way back to the table he notices both of his friends have suspiciously disappeared. At first Yuuji thinks they may have just gone to the restroom. But then Yuuji remembers why he dragged them to the cafeteria in the first place.

You’re kidding.

He leaves the food at the table and makes his way back to the lab. When he gets there he doesn’t see his friends anywhere, but when he makes his way to the door and turns the knob it’s not locked anymore.

“Ugh come on guys”, Yuuji whispers in disappointment.

He looks around to make sure no one is looking. When the coast is clear he opens the door and makes his way inside. The first thing he sees is a long hallway and he follows it. At the end he meets the beginning of another hallway with many different doors. He doesn’t know which room his friends could be in so he tries to sneak peeks through the windows.

He sees some workers through the windows keeping themselves busy. Nothing looks suspicious. They seem to be simply taking blood from some reptiles and sorting things.

As he keeps making his way down the hall he spots a door that is slightly open and he quietly makes his way inside. 

There doesn’t seem to be anything in the room. Just a bunch of computers and cabinets. He keeps exploring until he reaches a room full of more reptiles and insects. However these animals don’t quite look like the ones from out in the regular lab. They look rather normal aside from their colors. They are rather vibrant and some of them even seem to be glowing. Although that could just be a trick of the eye due to the black light in the room. 

While he keeps looking around the room he sees two figures and recognizes them as his friends.

“Hey you guys!”

“Itadori! You came to join us after all!” Sasaki exclaims when she sees him.

“I only came here to get you guys out of here. Honestly, I can’t leave either of you alone for a second because you start doing something reckless. Come on let’s go.” He grabs both of them again and begins to lead them away, but before they can get too far the lights in the room come on.

“Shit”, he whispers.

“Hey, let’s go hide over there.” Sasaki whispers and points to a spot behind a counter.

When they get there Yuuji tries to peek over a little to see whoever came in. 

It appears to be a blonde man with peculiar green glasses and a weird tie. He's wearing a lab coat and holding a clipboard with a pen. 

He makes his way over to the insects and inspects them closer. More specifically at a container that holds a few spiders. 

While he is distracted Yuuji decides to make a run for it. He turns around to face his friends and tell them his escape plan.

“Ok, he looks to be distracted so while he's busy over there you two be quiet and slowly make your way over to the door and leave.”, he whispers at them.

They nod at him and begin to make him their way. 

Yuuji looks back as they go to make sure the man has not seen them

He’s pulling one spider out of the container and trying to place it inside a different one but before he’s able to

Iguchi accidentally elbows a door from a cabinet and it makes a noise.

Yuuji sees that the blonde man turns around into the direction the noise came from.

Thankfully they managed to make it pretty close to the door. Yuuji begins to wave his hands at his friends in a manner that tells them to make a run for it.  

They all begin to run as quietly as possible. Iguchi and Sasaki seem to have safely made their way out the door and yuuji begins to make a run for it too. But before he reaches the door he feels a hand on his shoulder that turns him around.

“What do you think you’re doing in here?”, questions the blonde man. 

Yuuji is frozen for a few seconds and he tries to think of what to say but his mind has gone blank. 

“Are you one of the students from the school that came to visit us today?

“Uhm yes sir”

“Then you should know you’re not allowed to be in here”

“Yes sir I’m very sorry I just uhh. I got lost?”, says yuuji. And he knows now that what his brother said a few weeks ago is very true.

He's a terrible liar.

“How could you have possibly gotten lost all the way here. The door should have been locked.”

Yuuji really doesn’t want to rat out his friends, so he comes up with the best lie he could possibly think of  while under pressure.

“I swear it was open…”

The man just looks at him for a few seconds. Yuuji is convinced he's not buying it. 

Due to the pressure of the moment, both of the people in the room failed to notice the spider that escaped from the container, crawling up on yuuji’s clothes.

After a few more seconds of silence, the man sighs and lets go of Yuuji.

“Alright kid, just get out of here and rejoin your class. I’ll make sure to lock the door so you can’t make your way back in here this time. Understood?”

“Ah sir yes sir!”, says yuuji.

“Alright get out of here”

At that, Yuuji turns around and leaves the room. When he makes his way back outside to the lab he’s  immediately interrogated by his friends. 

“Itadori! Are you okay? What happened?” “Did he catch you?” Sasaki and Iguchi ask at the same time. 

“Don’t worry I’m fine. Yeah he did catch me but he let me off easy for some reason. I wasn’t gonna question it so I left.”

“Phew, that’s a relief”, sighs Sasaki. 

“I’m sorry guys I almost got us in trouble”, apologizes Iguchi. “Don’t worry about it, Iguchi, that wasn’t your fault. Besides I was the one insistent on going in there so if anyone is at fault it’s me.” laments Sasaki.

“It’s fine guys seriously. Let’s just go eat okay. I left the food in the cafeteria and I was really looking forward to it” says Yuuji. 

“Alright let’s go”

The three of them begin to make their way over, Sasaki and Iguchi walking in front of him. While walking Yuuji doesn’t notice the spider crawling up his neck until he suddenly feels a sharp pain on his nape and he hisses. It felt an awful lot like a bug bite, so Yuuji's first reaction was to slap the spot where he got bit.

He felt himself kill whatever bug was on him, but before he could check for himself what it was, his friends seemed to have heard him hiss and they turned around to look at him with concern on their faces.

 “Are you okay Itadori?”

“Yeah, yeah I’m okay, don't worry about it. Let’s go.” he dismisses. Then he continues to walk back towards the cafeteria pretending like nothing happened.

He's sure it was nothing anyway.

———

After the field trip, when Yuuji arrives home, he hears his brother and his grandpa in Choso’s room. He hears them talking and moving things around so Yuuji walks in.

He sees Choso holding a suitcase, folding clothes and organizing other things inside it. Meanwhile his grandpa is taking clothes out of the closet and telling Choso what he should and shouldn’t take with him.

“Are you leaving already Choso?” Yuuji asks.

“Yuuji you’re back!”, Choso exclaims. Then he approaches Yuuji and hugs him tightly, slightly lifting him off the ground.

It doesn’t help the headache Yuuji started feeling on his way back from Tokyo. Seriously, ever since he got on the ride he started feeling motion sickness and he’s still feeling the effects. That’s not normal of him but it’s easy enough to ignore, so he stays quiet about it.

“Welcome back! How was your trip? Did you have fun?” Choso asks when he sets him down.

“Yeah, I had a lot of fun. I got to see some pretty cool things like explosions and stuff. It went great. Why are you packing you’re things already, I thought you leave next week?”, Yuuji asks. He was supposed to be leaving Friday next week, not right now, and Choso doesn’t normally start packing until the day before he leaves.

“I was, but something came up and it had to be pushed sooner. I need to leave today at midnight.” He answers.

“Oh” Yuuji responds.

“Don’t worry about it Yuuji, I’ll only be gone for three days.” assures his brother.

 Well it’s not ideal. Yuuji would rather not have to look after his grandpa while he feels this out of it, but he knows he’s strong enough to push through it. 

“Anyway, tell us about the trip. What did you guys do?”, asks Choso

“Did ya learn anything new? And more importantly, did it help you figure anything out for your future high school?” asks his grandpa.

“Well, it didn’t help me figure out anything specifically but I kind of have an idea for what I would like to do for the future.”

“Oh, and what’s that?”

Yuuji really did put some thought into it on his way back while battling his motion sickness. He thought back to what his grandpa said that day when he was scolding him about not wanting to go on the trip in the first place. That he has more strength than others and that it is good for him to use it to help those who are weaker or in need.

“I want to do something that helps others. The industry was really insistent that everything they do is to help people who need it and stuff, and I liked that. Wherever I go, I want to go somewhere that will lead me to a spot where I can help and save others. Like I don’t know, becoming a firefighter or something of the sort. Choose a school that will help me learn what I need to learn and choose a job where I can save others.”

He looks at his family and they stare back at him in awe. Choso looks like he’s about to burst out in tears, meanwhile his grandpa has a certain look in his eye. 

The stubborn old man has always refused to let his emotions show, but Yuuji has been with him for as long as he can remember and he has learned to figure out his grandfather's emotions through the years. He has never told Yuuji directly that he’s proud of him, but he doesn’t need to because the look in his eyes says it enough.

“Well that’s good. You’re finally starting to figure things out.”, his grandpa replies.

“Yeah, I still haven’t decided where to go exactly but I at least have a plan now” Yuuji says. 

His headache is slowly getting worse and he really doesn’t want his family to notice so he aims for a quick retreat.

“Anyway umm, I’m kind of tired from the trip, so I’m going to head to bed and rest for a little while, okay?”

“Alright, goodnight Yuuji.”

“Goodnight.”

When Yuuji reaches his bedroom, he grabs some clothes to change into something more comfortable. When he removes his shirt he notices something small fall out of the shirt and to the floor.

Yuuji crouches to inspect what it was, and at closer look he recognizes it as a dead spider.

He thinks back to the bug bite he remembers getting before him and his friends went back to the cafeteria. It must be what’s been making him feel so sick ever since.

He should probably be taking this more seriously. Like go the hospital or something of the sort. But Choso is leaving in a few hours and if he were to tell him about this, he would probably worry too much and drag him to the hospital and that would just add more stress to him. Yuuji really doesn’t want that.

So he’s going to keep being quiet about it.

Besides, it can’t have been too serious right? If the spider had been venomous or something, Yuuji’s sure the bite on his neck would have swollen. A swollen spot on his neck should be pretty noticeable and no one has told him anything about it all day.

It’s not like he has had any other symptoms so far other than his headache. He’s sure he can simply sleep it off and he should be fine. No need to make a big deal out of it.

With that Yuuji heads to bed and passes out as soon as his head hits the pillow.

———

When Yuuji comes to, he feels worse than ever.

On top of that splitting headache anymore, he feels lightheaded and dizzy.

His senses are on overdrive. The sounds from outside are too loud and his ears start ringing. His nostrils feel like they’re burning from smells being too strong. There’s too much input coming from everywhere and it’s all too much for him to handle at once.

He feels like throwing up. 

He runs to the bathroom as best as he can, keeping his eyes barely open. He reaches the door and pushes it open. He aims for the toilet and pukes up whatever he had in his stomach.

He feels awful and he’s pretty sure he can hear footsteps approaching him.

He keeps his head inside the toilet because he’s afraid he’ll have to throw up again. As soon as he lifts it. A hand touches his back and whoever the hand belongs to starts speaking to him.

“Yuuji, are you alright?”

Yuuji recognizes his voice as his grandpa's, and he has to take a few more seconds to recover before he’s able to answer him.

Finally, he lifts his head up from the toilet and turns his head in the direction his grandpa’s voice came from. 

He’s afraid to open his eyes and get hit with another wave of nausea, but thankfully when he opens them the lights are turned off. The only light visible is from the lamp in the hallway slightly bleeding into the room, but thankfully it’s not strong enough to hurt his eyes. He looks up at where his grandpa is standing and despite the low light, he can still see his face clearly. 

“Are you feeling alright?”, his grandpa asks him again.

Even though Yuuji was trying to hide how sick he was feeling earlier, his grandpa did just see him throw up and kneeling in front of the toilet, so it’s not like he can really hide it much anymore, but he really doesn’t want to worry his grandpa.

He hesitates to reply for a few seconds before finally answering.

“Not really no, but I’ll be fine just give me a second,” he says, shaking.

His grandpa stays silent for a minute rubbing at his back, he then puts a hand to yuuji’s forehead checking his temperature.

“Your temperature feels really high yuuji, you should head back to bed, I’ll bring you some water.”

Yuuji groans, and with a great amount of effort he gets up from his spot on the floor and begins to walk back to his bedroom.

“Change out of those clothes, they’re all sweaty, and only use one blanket so your fever doesn’t go up,” orders his grandpa, and then he disappears off into the kitchen.

Yuuji does as he’s told and lays back down on his bed. He looks at the clock on his nightstand to check the time. It’s past two in the morning, meaning Choso must have left a few hours ago. He must have not wanted to wake Yuuji up before he left. He’s a bit upset he didn’t get to say bye, but he tries not to let it get to him.

His grandpa walks back into the room with a bowl, a washcloth, and a water bottle. He turns the lights on and Yuuji winces immediately at the sharp light hitting his eyes.

His grandpa seems to have noticed it because he turns the lights back off, and tries his best to reach Yuuji in the dark without bumping into anything. He turns on the small lamp next to Yuuji’s bed instead, and it still hurts his head but it’s not as bad.

He places everything he was holding on yuuji’s nightstand and dips the washcloth into the bowl holding water. He then places the cloth on Yuuji's forehead, and he instantly feels a small sense of relief.

“Here you go kid, drink up,” his grandpa says while handing him the bottle of water. 

Yuuji takes it and drinks as best as he can while laying down. He manages to drink about half of the bottle without spilling anything.

He hands it back to his grandpa and gives him a muttered “Thanks.”

“You haven’t eaten since you got back from your trip, I’ll make you some broth and bring some medicine. We’ll see if you get better by morning,” says his grandpa and promptly leaves Yuuji’s bedroom before he even has a chance to reply.

Now Yuuji’s left alone with his thoughts, and a special grade headache. How he’s feeling right now is definitely the effects of that spider bite. It must’ve been more serious than he thought, and he debates whether to tell his grandpa or not.

He would hate to worry him, and he hates that he’s inconveniencing him right now. It’s almost three in the morning and Yuuji has his grandpa up, cooking and looking after him. Yuuji is old enough to look after himself now, and he’s the one meant to be looking after his grandpa, not the other way around.

But Yuuji thinks back to when he was little. The rare occasions where he would get sick and his grandpa would look after him with Choso’s help until he got better. He missed those days, so he couldn’t say with all honesty that he hated this. 

He’s not sure how much time exactly passes as he lays down alone in his bed, but eventually his grandpa comes back with a bowl of soup. “ Here ya go kid, eat as much of it as you can, meanwhile I’ll head to the pharmacy to get you some medicine.”

“What? At this hour? It’s almost three in the morning. Do we not already have some medicine?”

“Of course we don’t! Last time either you or your brother got sick you were like 7 years old, all that medicine is well past expired!”, his grandpa explains to him.

“Even so, you can’t go out at this hour! It’s fine I don’t even need the medicine, I’ll be fine with just the soup.”, Yuuji tries to convince him. Although he has a feeling it’ll be futile. After all, his grandpa is the most stubborn man on earth.

“How many times do I need to tell you, I’m no fragile old man! I’m perfectly capable of going to the store myself no matter the hour! Now stay in bed, and eat your soup. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

Yeah, Yuuji had a feeling he wouldn’t win this argument. He wants to argue back, but before he can say anything his grandpa has already left his bedroom once again. All he can do now is convince himself it’s no big deal. After all he supposes it’s not actually all that difficult to just go to the store and back, even if it is late.

He tries to let it go.

———

He’s halfway through eating the soup his grandpa made for him, when all of a sudden a deep cold shiver runs through his spine. He’s not sure why, but the shrill sends a cold sense of dread through him. Some kind of feeling that something bad is about to happen.

Yuuji tenses and stays frozen for a second, trying to figure out why he feels like this.

Then his grandpa comes to mind, and all he knows is he needs to get to him as soon as possible. He doesn’t know why or what’s happening, but his body starts moving on his own and he’s running outside of the house before he even knows it.

His headache, his fever, his nausea, and this horrible feeling all start to mix up inside him and he wants to throw up again. All of his senses are still on overdrive and overwhelming him. He can’t focus on where he is going exactly.

He’s running purely on instinct.

He runs as fast as he can until he comes near the corner of the pharmacy. Before he is able to turn it, he hears the ear drumming sound of a gunshot. Yuuji flinches at the loud sound and stops in his tracks, placing his hands over his ears. His ears are ringing, and a strong scent of blood reaches his nose. He’s scared to turn the corner, afraid of what he might see.

It takes him a second, but he gathers enough courage to move forward. When he turns the corner he gets a full view of the scene in front of him.

He sees his grandpa, laying on the ground. There’s blood spreading on his shirt, reaching the pavement, and Yuuji feels his heart drop down to his stomach.

He runs to reach his grandpa and kneels down to try to help him but it’s useless. There’s a deep wound in his grandpa's stomach. Clearly a bullet wound from that gunshot he heard. The blood just won’t stop and Yuuji doesn’t know what to do.

He yells for someone to call an ambulance but there’s no one around to hear him this late at night. There’s no one to hear his cries for help.

He keeps his hands on his grandpa’s stomach to try to stop the blood.

It’s useless, and the sensation just makes him feel more sick than before.

This is all his fault. If he just hadn’t gotten sick, or if he had just been better at hiding it then his grandpa wouldn’t have come here. This wouldn’t have happened.

He would not have had to come to the pharmacy this late at night and gotten hurt.

The pharmacy.

There’s people working in there.

He gets up and runs inside. He yells at them for help and to call an ambulance. The workers look startled but they see the blood all over his hands and do what he asked.

He runs back outside to stay at his grandpa’s side and tries to talk to him.

“Grandpa. Grandpa it’s ok. I got them to call an ambulance, they’ll be here anytime now just- just hold on until then ok.” 

His grandpa looks at him, and his hand reaches to grip Yuuji’s. He tries to say something, but his words come out garbled, yet Yuuji hears him.

“It-‘s ok” his grandpa says.

Yuuji just stares at him, unsure of what to do or what to say.

He’s sure he can hear someone’s heartbeat, gradually slowing down. He unsure of who it belongs to. Is it his grandpa’s or his own?

Eventually the ambulance arrives, and all the paramedics surround his grandpa and Yuuji is forced to step aside to let them do their work.

He can hear them. Everything they say. And it doesn’t seem like anything will be okay.

Time seems to slow down for Yuuji, and the paramedics lift his grandpa into the ambulance to take him to the hospital. The drive felt like it took hours for him.

Now they’re back at the hospital. Back inside the cold white rooms. Right where Yuuji didn’t want his grandpa to end up ever again.

And it’s all his fault.

———

The doctors come to talk to Yuuji to deliver the news.

They tried everything they could but they weren’t able to save his grandpa. The wound was deep and he lost a lot of blood. On top of that he was old and his body was too weak to fight back. 

They tried to do everything they could, but it just wasn’t enough.

His grandpa was gone.

Now it was just him and Choso.

He thinks of his brother, who left on a work trip like he always does only to come back to horrible news.

His brother who had lost so much family already, and just lost more.

He can’t let him deal with everything on his own. Yuuji has to be there to help him

He can’t shut down now.

Besides, it’s not what his grandpa would want.

When he’s done signing all the paperwork Yuuji heads to a home that is now empty. 

He steps inside and stands there, trying to process everything that’s happened to him. None of it feels real yet. It all just feels like some horrible dream, and he really wishes he could wake up.

All the events from the night have caught up to him. It’s morning now and he just wants to crawl into a ball on the floor and cry until he feels better. But he thinks of his grandpa, how he would scold him for sitting on his ass and not pushing forward. 

He takes a deep breath and heads to his room.

When he enters he sees the bowl of soup his grandpa made for him on the floor. He must have dropped it in his frantic rush to get to his grandpa.

He feels himself start to get sick again. But not physically. Not something a soup can fix.

But he can’t be sad forever.

He picks it up to start cleaning up. He leaves the bowl in the sink, cleans up the soup on his floor, and goes back to wash the dishes.

When he’s done he heads back to his room and closes the door. He moves to get to his bed, but something holds him back.

He looks back and sees his hand still on the door handle.

He pulls his hand back but it doesn’t budge. He’s still holding the door handle.

He pulls again, and again.

He grabs his own arm to try and keep pulling back but it doesn’t budge. It’s like his fingers are stuck on the door handle.

To be honest, he’s kind of freaking out. He doesn't know what’s happening but whatever it is he doesn’t want to deal with it.

He puts all his strength into his arm and pulls one more time. 

When he does he’s not met with resistance this time and falls backwards .

“Ouchhh”, he groans from the floor.

When he looks at the door, there’s a big hole in it. Suspiciously from where the door handle is supposed to be at.

When he looks down at his hands he finds the door handle.

Still stuck on his hand.

He shakes it frantically, but the handle just won’t leave his hand.

“Come ooon, let go!” he groans in frustration and panic.

He gets up from the ground to keep trying to get the door handle off him. While moving backwards he trips over the ground and reaches out to catch himself with something, anything. His hand touches the wall before he can reach the floor. And Yuuji realizes he finally let go of the door handle, but instead his hand is now stuck on the wall.

He repeats everything he did with the door handle to let go, but he can’t exactly make a hole on the wall as easily as he did on the door. He pulls and puts one of his feet up on the wall to help himself. He pulls again, but his hand refuses to budge.

He sighs, frustrated and tries again, but this time he uses both of his feet for leverage.

He hops and puts both of his feet up on the wall. He pulls one more time, adding a bit more strength to it. Finally, his hand is no longer stuck to the wall, but instead of falling to the ground like he expected, he looks down and sees.

Now it’s his feet that are stuck on the wall.

“Oh come on!”

Ok he’s seriously freaking out. He’s stuck on the wall a few feet from the ground, with no way to unstick his feet without sticking something else.

He is not sure of what to do anymore. He takes a deep breath and tries to calm his nerves. He decides to just follow his gut. Do whatever feels right.

He slowly lowers down, until he’s crouching on the wall. He then places his hands on the wall again, and he tries to move.

Slowly, he places one hand in front of him, and moves his feet forward. He repeats the same action with his opposite limbs. He’s moving forward on the wall. Almost like he’s crawling on it.

He moves from wall to wall. Completely circling around his room.

This is seriously freakish. He’s not sure how he’s able to do this but he doesn’t want to freak out.

Freaking out won’t help anything. He sighs and tries to relax.

He closes his eyes, and breathes in and out, and repeats. He repeats until his heart is no longer pounding in his chest and then-

He falls to the ground.

He falls face first and groans.

“Ow, that hurt.”

He sits up and looks back at the walls he was just crawling on.

“What the hell man, that was seriously weird.”

Then that sense he got that told him to run to his grandpa comes to him again. Less dreadful this time however, and more like a warning.

His hand comes up before he knows, and he catches something in his hand.

When he looks at it he sees he grabbed his manga before it could fall on him. He must’ve accidentally knocked it over when he fell off the wall.

That was even more weird.

The way he was crawling on the walls, sticking to stuff. Similar to how a spider crawls.

Wait. Spider?

Now that he thinks about it, everything weird that’s been going on with him started after that spider bite.

Ever since that, his senses had seemed to be abnormally heightened. Which was what started his fever in the first place. He was so unused to his senses being so intense that he wasn’t able to handle it and he got sick.

And now he’s sticking to stuff and crawling on walls. Even his now fast reflexes. All of those being spider traits.

But can he really gain spider traits after simply being bit by a spider.

Well… Maybe not a normal spider.

The spider that bit him. Yuuji mistook it for a regular spider, but now that he thinks about it; it could have been from the lab.

The lab he went to pull his friends out of when they decided to sneak in had a lot of spiders with radiant colors.

When Yuuji looked at the spider that bit him it looked like a regular brown spider with patterns. That’s why he assumed it was a normal spider. However, it could have just been the black lights in the lab that made the spider’s bright colors visible.

Yuuji doesn’t feel like he’s dying or anything, he just felt a little sick at first, so he doubts the spider was venomous.

He thinks back to Sasaki’s theories that day. About the industry turning insects into experiments. He realizes she might have been right.

One of the spiders in that lab must’ve slipped away when they snuck in and it bit Yuuji.

So Yuuji was bitten by an experimental spider, and now he has spider traits.

What the hell is he supposed to do with that now?

Then he hears the sound of a key turning on the front door.

What the heck? Is Choso back? His trip was for three days and he only left last night.

Yuuji gets up from his spot on the ground and walks to the front door.

When he gets there, he sees his brother.

He has his suitcase with him, and hair is messy. The eyebags he always has under his eyes look deeper than usual. He looks like he didn’t get any sleep at all.

When Choso sees Yuuji, he runs to him and hugs him.

“Yuuji! Are you okay!? How are you holding up? I’m so sorry I left. I should’ve been here. You shouldn’t have had to deal with that on your own.”

“What? No it’s okay, don’t apologize. You were on a work trip, that wasn’t your fault.” Yuuji says. He realizes this means Choso already knows everything that happened.

“How’d you know to come back? I didn’t call you” he asks

“The hospital called me, and I cancelled my trip to come back here as soon as I could.” Choso responds. “Don’t worry, my bosses understood and let me off easy.”

“Oh I see…Sorry, it was all my fault. I got sick so grandpa went out to get so medicine, and that’s why he-”

“Stop it.” Choso’s firm voice cuts in.

“Nothing that happened was your fault you hear me. Grandpa is the one that made all his decisions, and he decided to take care of you like a responsible parent. He made the right choice, none of it was your fault. You understand?”

Yuuji disagrees, it was his fault. But he knows arguing with his brother is futile, and it’s not the time for that. So he just responds, “ O-oh, right.”

That seems to have soothed Choso a bit, his expression turns into something sad and he pulls Yuuji in for a hug again.

“It’s okay, we’ll be okay. It’s just me and you now. We still have each other. We’ll figure this out together.”

Yuuji melts into his hug, and it’s the first time he’s felt safe since last night's events.

He believes in what Choso says. They’ll figure this out together.

———

It’s Yuuji’s first day back at school since his grandpa died, and he hates it. He hates the way all his classmates look at him. They look at him with pity, even Sasaki and Iguchi, and he feels really uncomfortable. His teachers all pull him aside to try to talk to him and tell him that he can talk to them.

He just wishes everything would go back to normal.

But he knows it never can. Especially with his weird new spider powers.

He’s really been trying to hide it as best as he can at school, but it’s kind of difficult.

He tenses up when he gets uncomfortable, and when he gets uncomfortable he starts sticking to things. In the morning he got stuck on his locker after Sasaki and Iguchi went up to him to give their condolences.

He played it off as best as he could and it took him minutes until he could relax and finally unstick.

The next time wasn’t so bad. 

He was zoned out in class doodling on his notebook when a hand touched his shoulder. His teacher was standing next to him, that look of pity in her eyes, asking him to pay attention and if he needed to, he could talk to her.

Yuuji just gave a tense smile and nodded at her. When she walked away he tried to put his pencil down, but realized it got stuck to his hand.

That was much easier to play off. After all, everyone else was also holding pencils, writing down their notes.

It was a little weird that he was still holding his pencil during gym class though.

Mid way through the day, he’s stuck in another boring class, with the same looks of pity coming from his classmates.

At least he’s starting to get used to it already.

The teacher starts talking about the same topic they have been bringing up this entire month. That graduation is coming soon, and everyone needs to choose what high school they’re going to.

They start talking about their trip to Tokyo, and how the trip was meant to inspire the, onto new things. How anyone could get some idea out of it.

But all Yuuji got was a dead grandpa, and new spider abilities.

Seriously, what is he even supposed to do with them? They said the purpose of the industry is to help people. But how are spiders that give people their abilities meant to help people?

Well he supposes spiders have some traits that can be helpful. His fast reflexes helped him not get hit on the head by his manga. That could be really helpful in situations where the object in question is something more dangerous than a simple manga.

His senses too. He was overwhelmed by his hyperactive senses at first, and after he started getting used to them, they were mostly helpful. He can see in the dark pretty well, and his eyesight is definitely much better than it was before. 

Plus that other trait. That sense he gets. The one that warned him of the manga about to fall on his head, and that told him he had to get to his grandpa.

If he had moved as soon as his sense told him to, he would have reached his grandpa in time, before he got shot. He could have changed that outcome and saved his life.

Maybe…

Maybe he wasn't able to save his grandpa, but he can save others instead.

He thinks back to his grandpa’s words after his fight with the spiked haired guy.

“You’re a good kid, Yuuji. And it’s right for you to try to help others who need protecting. You’re strong, and there are people out there that don’t have the strength to protect themselves. As someone who is stronger you have the responsibility to look out for those people.”

It’s what his grandpa would want right?

He now has abilities that others don’t have, and he can use them to help them.

Just like Jujutsu industries intended.

He knows what he needs to do now.

He just hopes he’s able to do it.

———

That night he talks to Choso after dinner.

“I know where I want to go.” Yuuji says.

Choso looks up from his plate and looks at Yuuji. He was mid chew when Yuuji made his declaration, and now he’s looking up at him with wide eyes and spaghetti peeking out of his mouth.

“You do!?” he exclaims. He’s clearly ecstatic about the news.

“Yeah, I just uhm- I was going to ask if it’s even possible”

Choso slurps ups his spaghetti and swallows. “Yeah of course, what is it?”

“I wanted to- go to Tokyo.”

He raises an eyebrow. “Tokyo? Why’s that? Did you like the trip that much?”

Yuuji gives him a chuckle and answers him. “ I mean I guess kind of. But mostly I’ve been thinking about what grandpa said before I left. About how I have the power to help others. The purpose of that industry and their school is to teach people how they can help others, and I think that’s the best place I can go to. The best way I can fulfill my grandpa's wishes and my own.”

Choso looks at him , and then gives him a warm smile. “I see. Well if that’s what you really want I can make it happen.”

———

Graduation passes by in a blur. He says his goodbyes to all his friends before they all go their separate ways to their own schools.

He’s really going to miss Sasaki and Iguchi. They were his closest friends all through middle school, and he had a lot of fun with them.

But it’s time for him to start a new chapter, and despite how scary it is, he’s also excited. 

He’s going to Tokyo, where he’ll meet lots of new people and learn to control his powers.

He’s been getting better at it on his own. He’s gotten used to his senses and he’s able to stick and unstick himself from surfaces on command now. He still gets stuck when he gets nervous, but he’s learned to relax himself until he can let go.

He already put in his form for the school and got accepted. It was easy. After all, he remembers Ino saying they had really high acceptance rates.

The only step left now is to find a place to stay and officially move.

Choso has been the one taking care of that. He already found them an apartment close enough to the school for a good price.

They won’t start moving until next week so during that time, all they have been doing is packing their things.

Things have definitely been harder and a big change without his grandpa, but they keep moving forward. It’s what he would want, and it’s what they want.

———

Moving day comes and it’s definitely a big adjustment, but Choso has always been reliable and he makes it work out.

They spend their entire summer adjusting and establishing routines.

Thankfully moving to Tokyo doesn’t interfere with Choso’s work. After all his job includes a lot of travel so his place of living doesn’t matter much.

Yuuji offers to get a job to help out but Choso outright refuses. He promises that he can take care of expenses on his own and that Yuuji should just focus on school.

He wants to argue back but when he thinks about it maybe it is better this way. Without a job, Yuuji can focus on learning how to take full control of his powers.

So while Choso is out at work, Yuuji goes out and explores Tokyo. He finds people in trouble and helps. Whether it’s just helping old ladies find their way home, giving directions, or stopping robberies.

He tries to be as careful as he can on robberies however. He sticks to small stuff at the moment, like petty theft from a convenience store, or people taking ladies purses and running off with them. Until he has full control of his powers, he wants to help with small things. He doesn’t want to be reckless after all.

He always makes sure to go home before Choso and sleeps, pretending like he wasn’t out all night.

The following mornings, he makes them breakfast and they spend the rest of the day doing whatever is needed.

Then school starts.

Yuuji is nervous about his first day, but he's also excited.

He’s already received his schedule and uniform. All that’s left is to go to school and start.

He makes himself and Choso breakfast like usual, and when he’s done he rushes to go to school. Choso offers to take him but Yuuji insists that he knows the way already and he would rather run there, claiming he’s too excited to sit still.

He reaches the school and takes it in for a minute. It’s not as big as the industry building was, but it’s definitely much bigger than his middle school was. It’s a bit overwhelming, but he shoves his nerves down and steps inside.

He changes into his school shoes and heads out to find his class. The school looked overwhelming from the outside,  but now that he’s inside, it feels pretty normal. It looks like a normal school, much like his middle school, just a bit fancier. 

He finds his classroom and enters. He looks around and sees there’s quite a few people in there already. He finds an open seat near the back next to a window and goes to place his stuff down. He takes a seat and looks around the classroom once again. There’s a lot of people that have clearly already made friends. Or maybe they just knew each other before coming here. Either way he feels a little out of place, and he’s too nervous to go talk to anyone on his own.

He diverts his attention to the person sitting next to him. He looks dark and gloomy. His head is facing away from him so he can’t see his face, but something about him looks familiar.

Eventually the guy turns his head to face forward. He sees a mean face, one emerald green eye, long eyelashes, and his spikey black hair. Wait-

“Hey, I know you!” Yuuji exclaims.

Spikey haired guy looks startled, and when he looks at Yuuji his eyes widen. 

“You’re that guy with the mean face! The one that was beating up all those guys!” He looks much the same as the first time he met him. The only difference is now he has piercings on his eyebrow, lower lip, and ears. They make him look pretty cool.

“Mean face.?” Yuuji hears the guy mumble while he makes a face and looks away.

“You remember me right? We ran into each other before the end of the school year. Hey, what's your name? I didn’t catch it last time”

“Yeah, I remember you,” the guy says, still not looking Yuuji in the eye.

“I see. I’m glad. It’s nice to see someone I recognize at least. It’s nice to meet you again. I’m Itadori Yuuji, he says, stretching his hand out for a handshake.

The guy just looks at Yuuji’s outstretched hand and then back at Yuuji. He hesitates for a few seconds, but he looks back down at his hand and shakes it.

“Fushiguro…Megumi.”

“It’s nice to meet you again Fushiguro. I hope we can get along this time and be friends,” Yuuji smiles at him.

Fushiguro looks at him and then diverts his eyes to the board.

Yeah, Yuuji thinks. I’m definitely looking forward to this year.