Chapter Text
“Satoru, we’re not an adoption agency.”
“Yeah, Suguru’s right. Adoption agencies are legal.”
Satoru’s splitting smile never leaves his face as he merely jostles the kid he’s hoisting up by the armpits in front of his friends’ faces.
“But just look at him! Isn’t he cute?”
Suguru can only cover his face with his hands, his long bangs drooping over them in defeat. Shoko stares at Satoru, deadpan, fingers itching for her cigarette box. She shifts her gaze over to the poor kid dangling in his unrelenting grip. His round eyes shine with some unspeakable sorrow that no kid his age should possess. His lower lip trembles as if he’s on the constant verge of tears.
“Okay, first off, can you please put the kid down. You’re going to give him head trauma with all that shaking.” On top of whatever trauma he clearly already has. Shoko wisely decides to omit that last part.
Satoru pouts, the overgrown child he is, but finally stops presenting the kid like a new cat to the unimpressed duo. When the kid’s feet touches the ground, Shoko kneels down next to him, meeting his eye level.
“Hello, I’m Ieiri Shoko.” She introduces herself softly, adorning a gentle smile that Satoru and Suguru probably didn’t think she was capable of. “It’s nice to meet you. What’s your name?”
The child glances at her before averting his eyes just as quickly. “I- I’m,” he stutters before completely abandoning the sentence. “My name is Okkotsu Yuuta.” His voice small and uncertain, he rushes through his words as if afraid of consequences. Exactly what consequences, Shoko isn’t sure, nor does she imagine she really wants to know.
“Okkotsu-kun, then. Can you tell me how old you are?” She had already started examining him the second Satoru had blazed into the room and shoved the kid in front of his unsuspecting friends. The kid was small, but dark circles already paint his undereyes as if he hasn’t gotten a good night’s sleep in way too long. It’s eerily similar to the same image she’s starting to grow accustomed to in the bathroom mirror every morning.
“Ten years old.” Yuuta holds up all ten fingers tentatively in front of his body before tucking his hands back behind him. He shifts from foot to foot, eyes still trained to the corner of the room. Shoko only quietly observes his nervous tendencies, far beyond the normalcy of just a shy kid. Loud whispers from the other two in the room interrupt her cataloguing.
“What’s up with the kid, anyways. He has a crazy amount of cursed energy,” Suguru hisses at Satoru.
“I know, I know. At first I thought I was tracking a special grade, but when I found the source, it was just this kid.” Satoru’s attempt at keeping his voice low fails miserably. “I asked around a little, dug a bit, and it seems like the kid is the source of the special grade. Earned himself a bit of a reputation already, even among the non-sorcerers, people are calling him the cursed child.”
Yuuta stiffens at the last two words. Shoko tears her attention away from Yuuta for a second to level a loaded look in the pair’s direction. “That’s great, Satoru. I’m sure we can discuss this later, though.” She cuts him off before he can continue his casual remarks about possibly the most scathing comments ever thrown at the child in front of her.
“Okkotsu-kun, is there someone that’s looking for you? Maybe a parent or a family member?” Shoko turns back to the kid, voice losing its edge.
From the corner of Shoko’s eye she can see that Satoru opens his mouth to protest, but Suguru nudges him before his complaints spill out. He only shakes his head when Satoru shoots a questioning stare at him. Thank god one of them possesses a single brain cell.
“No…” Yuuta brings Shoko’s focus back to him. He wrings his hands, staring down at the tiny fists they’re making. “I’ve been bad. I’ve hurt people. I needed to go away.” His lip trembles harder, hanging his head.
“Go away?” Shoko echoes, disbelief lining her words. Yuuta only nods.
“Far away, where I can’t hurt people anymore.” When Yuuta refuses to return her gaze, she casts an incredulous look at Satoru and Suguru. Satoru’s jaw is clenched a little too tight in his smile, and Suguru’s eyes betray the same shock poorly hidden in her own. She doesn’t want to jump to conclusions, but it seems that all three of them have deduced what the intention surrounding the boy was. At that moment, she didn’t care where Satoru had snatched the boy from. To hell with legality, they’d figure something out later. With Satoru’s wallet backing them, the world truly was their oyster.
After all, with four kids already between the three of them, what was one more?
—
Yuuta was a good kid.
Shoko could tell that much. What bothered her was how he managed to be so unnervingly well behaved. He trailed wordlessly behind the three of them. His eyes flitted around, always scanning his surroundings as if analyzing all the potential dangers. He didn’t seem to mind their lack of attention. In fact, he even seemed somewhat relieved by it. It was as if the best case scenario for him was simply being ignored, encased in the tall shadows cast behind the trio.
It rubbed Shoko the wrong way. What kind of kid wasn’t constantly vying for any kind of attention? Even little Megumi, as prickly as he was, made his presence known with his sharp tongue and barbed words (Shoko and Suguru always found it hilarious when the eight year old left Satoru sputtering, one of the select few truly able to disarm the unhinged man with a couple retorts).
She needed to figure out what the kid’s deal was. Sure, she could ask Satoru about what he found out already, but she wanted to hear it from the kid himself. It was purely clinical, she assured herself. A good way of testing out the psychological aspects of her medical training. After all, that would be part of her job too if she continued on her path as the resident doctor at Jujutsu Tech. Figuring out the story, identifying the root of the issue. Right, this was all just practice for the future.
She steeled herself with this newfound objective, falling into step behind the bickering duo and beside Yuuta. The kid definitely sensed her presence, but didn’t say a word, not even a sidelong glance. She tilted her head to the side, suddenly feeling ill-prepared.
Sure, she’s interacted with kids before. Strange kids too. If anything, all the kids she considered herself even vaguely close with were a bit strange between Megumi, Tsumiki, and the twins. This was different, though. This time she wasn’t meeting a kid who had already attached themselves to someone, claiming them as their adult. She didn’t have Satoru or Suguru acting as a buffer. Shoko suddenly felt the weight of choosing each word carefully, stepping into uncharted territory.
“Okkotsu-kun,” Shoko keeps the tone of her voice low in fear of startling the boy, “you know, I don’t think you’re bad at all.” Yuuta’s head snaps up to stare at her, bewilderment etched on his face. Shoko’s lips quirk up in a half smile. “Earlier you said that you hurt people and that you were bad, but I don’t think that’s true.”
Yuuta shakes his head so wildly, Shoko’s afraid he might give himself a concussion. “No…no, no, no,” he repeats like a broken record. “I’ve been bad. Very bad. There’s a monster,” he winces, correcting himself, “I’m a monster.” He finishes his sentence lamely, unable to elaborate further. Shoko purses her lips, trying to decipher Yuuta’s cryptic words.
If she’s being honest, she’s pissed. These weren’t words a ten year old would magically bestow upon themself. They sound like the words an adult would cruelly brand a child. She doesn’t have a doubt in her mind that Yuuta’s overly timid and jumpy nature was also the work of said adults, a way to make their life easier and atone for the sins he perceives he committed.
She’s really on fire with this whole psychoanalysis thing, she thinks to herself. It’s good to know that she has options if jujutsu society ever collapses. Sure beats strip dancing.
She recalls Satoru’s earlier words, something about a special grade curse. She can’t deny the overwhelming cursed energy emanating from the little boy. While he’s small in stature, cursed energy rolls off of him in fumes stretching far higher than his height. Could this “monster” he’s referring to…
Her eyes flick over to Suguru and then back to the boy. Could he be like Suguru perhaps? She shakes her head, clearing her thoughts. His technique wasn’t pressing right now. The two of them descend into silence. Shoko isn’t keen on pressing the kid too hard, and he makes no effort to revitalize the conversation. Shoko half-listens to the nonsensical debate her friends are having in front of her, sorting through her own thoughts about how to approach a second attempt at understanding the enigma that is Okkotsu Yuuta.
“Wait a second.” Satoru and Suguru screech to a halt in front of them. Shoko and Yuuta stumble to keep themselves from slamming into their suddenly stationary figures. “Where are we going?”
The three of them exchange baffled looks. “What do you mean, ‘where are we going’, I thought you knew. I was following you.” Shoko shoots a pointed look at Satoru who turns helplessly to Suguru.
“Yeah, same here.” Suguru’s eyes narrow when he catches sight of Satoru pulling his best attempt at puppy dog eyes. “Don’t look at me like that, you found the kid. I thought you knew what you were doing.”
Satoru throws his hands up in exasperation. “Hey, I went in, kicked ass, and saved a kid. Give me some credit! As for after,” Satoru scratches the back of his head, “well, to be honest, I didn’t think that far.” He grins, completely unfazed by the fact that he basically admitted to kidnapping a child with no real plan of what to do with him post-snatch.
“Satoru.” Shoko’s voice is dangerously icy. “You have got to be kidding me.”
“Yeah, got to admit, not your brightest idea so far.” Suguru pinches the bridge of his nose. The three brew in contemplation, considering the slim possibilities laid out in front of them when a small voice pipes up.
“I’m sorry,” apologies tumble out from the boy’s mouth, frantic and hurried, “I don’t want to be a burden. You’ve done enough, thank you. You can just leave me here.”
“No!” The three chorus, taking Yuuta aback. He cowers at the sudden change in demeanor.
“Sorry, we didn’t mean to scare you. It’s just that-” Shoko suddenly realizes at the worst possible moment that she opened her mouth with no idea how to mitigate such a situation, but she barrels on anyway. “You’re not being a burden, we’re just trying to figure out the best way to keep you safe. Don’t worry, we want to do this.” Shoko assures Yuuta, equipped with her most soothing expression. Yuuta nods slowly, inching back forwards closer to Shoko.
Satoru and Suguru share a smirk. “Seems like someone’s taking a liking to you, Shoko.” Satoru sing-songs, leaning over Yuuta in a, thankfully, hushed tone.
“Don’t try to saddle me with a kid you picked up off the street. Maybe, you and Suguru have some weird savior complex you guys should really work through, but I, on the other hand, do not share the same desire for teenage parenthood, thank you very much.” Shoko whispers before brightening up and clapping her hands together. “Great news, Okkotsu-kun! Satoru here just offered up his place for the time being. How very generous of you, Satoru.”
“Wait, what?” He locks eyes with Suguru who only shrugs.
“Well, your place is the largest…”
“Guys, wait. I can’t take care of three children.” Satoru pauses, a lightbulb going off in his head. He breaks into a smile that could rival the greatest villain. “Oh, Megumi is going to hate me.”
“Satoru-“ Shoko’s warning falls upon deaf ears.
“Suguru, grab the twins. We are about to have the most banging sleepover ever.”