Chapter Text
Sunday, 12/31/2017
Bright lights shone harshly into Megumi’s eyes, blinding him to the chaos of the party. He felt the bass of whatever dub-step was playing shake his rib cage, the blaring music assaulting his ear drums. He had no desire to go to this New Years celebration, nor had he been invited. But Tsumiki had, and no way was he letting her go alone. Some idiots in their grade wanted to host a crazy party for new years instead of spending it with their family, and of course Gojo had said they could go. Luckily, he wouldn’t have to stay much longer. She had promised him that at 11:30, they would leave to pray at a nearby shrine. That was where Gojo would meet them. Until then, Megumi was keeping a close eye on her, making sure she didn’t get tricked into drinking alcohol or get hit on by a creepy guy.
The place was crowded, insanely so. Every room was jam packed with teenagers, many of which seemed to be high schoolers. How had Tsumiki even gotten them into this? It didn’t matter. He just needed to keep her safe while they were here. Speaking of, where had she gone? Suddenly filled with panic, Megumi shoved his way through the crowd, trying to catch a glimpse of her brown ponytail. Eventually, he did. And he absolutely despised the situation he found her in.
Her back was to the wall, a tall, older guy standing over her with a drunken smile. Tsumiki, who was obviously sober, awkwardly tried to get away. It was then that he grabbed her shoulder, and it was then that Megumi snapped. In the blink of an eye, he was standing between Tsumiki and the creep, Megumi’s hand firmly planted on his wrist.
“Get off,” he growled, his emerald eyes piercing a glare into the guy’s ugly mug. But he only laughed.
“Yeah? Or what? You’re just a little boy,” his words slurred together, and his grip on Tsumiki’s shoulder hadn’t loosened even a bit. It was true Megumi was only fifteen, and this guy had to be in high school, but that had never stopped him before.
“Megumi, it’s–” Tsumiki started, but before she could finish her sentence Megumi’s fist had connected with the thug’s nose with a sickening crunch.
“Fuck!” he recoiled, removing his hand from Tsumiki’s shoulder to cup his broken nose. He sat on the floor, tears pooling in his eyes as blood poured from his nose. Megumi stared down at him, dry fury in his eyes.
“I told you to get off,” Megumi spat the words out, barely trying to hide how disgusted he was.
“Megumi! I can’t believe you did that, it was fine!” Tsumiki yelled, her eyebrows downturned in anger. There she goes again– forgiving so easily. Acting as if it was noble. Like forgiving a bad person made her a good one, and like that was something to be proud of. Like what Megumi did was something to be ashamed of.
“It’s time to go,” he told her, trying to ignore the idiot below him.
“No, it’s not. You need to apologize, you need to stop being so violent!”
“It’s 11:30,” Megumi held up the time on his phone, “You said we could go at 11:30. We need to go meet Gojo at the shrine.”
Megumi’s phone clattered to the ground as a hand swooped down and slapped it out of his hands. A black boot came down on it, crushing into tiny pieces on the house floor. “You think you can just get away with that?! You’re gonna pay, you brat!”
Great. The idiot was back. He was really starting to piss him off now.
“Sorry, but my sister doesn’t like it when I fight, so could you just fuck off?”
“Huh?! Like hell!”
A slap rang out in the room as silence fell over the rowdy teens for the first time in hours. Immediately, Tsumiki covered her mouth with her hand and apologized, “Sorry! I didn’t mean to hit you so hard!” Then she seemed to remember why she had hit him in the first place, and so she straightened her back and held her stinging hand as she looked down at him. “I’ve asked you to leave me alone. So now you’re going to leave. Me. Alone.”
He stood there in stunned silence, a red hand-shaped mark appearing on his cheek. And with that, Tsumiki turned on her heel and walked out of the house, Megumi trailing close behind. Once they were outside, he spoke up.
“What happened to no violence?”
“Some people deserve a slap in the face, not a broken nose,” she responded matter-of-factly.
“You gonna replace my phone?”
“Ah! I’m so sorry about that, I’m sure Gojo will get you a new one tomorrow. Sorry!”
“Yeah, whatever,” Fushiguro sighed, “I’m just happy to be out of that damn house. Way too loud.”
“I don’t know why I ever wanted to go. That was so lame,” Tsumiki whined.
“I told you.”
“Shut up! Let’s just go find Gojo, okay?”
“Whatever you say, sis.”
“And please stop fighting people.”
“Yeah, we’ll see.”
Once at the shrine, Gojo greeted his adoptive children with crushing hugs and takoyaki to share. When it was their turn, the group of three tossed in their coins, bowed, clapped, and prayed together. Tsumiki prayed that Megumi would make a friend, Megumi prayed that Tsumiki would stay safe, and Gojo prayed for his children as well as each of his students to live long lives after high school. And with their final bow, the family left. The anticipation of the new year to come was exciting, and neither of them could wait for what 2018 might bring.
Nothing could’ve prepared them for the Call.
—
Monday, 1/1/2018 New Day
“Are we seriously out of milk?” Fushiguro groaned, his bed head sticking out in all directions. He closed the fridge with a thud, looking to Gojo for an answer.
“Oops! Better go grab some more today. Wanna come with?”
“Absolutely not.”
“Is Tsumiki up yet?” Gojo leaned over the counter to look down the hall towards her room, checking over his sunglasses to see if she was coming to breakfast.
“No, I think she’s exhausted from last night.”
Gojo’s phone rang before he could respond. His ringtone was ridiculous- the Sailor Moon theme. For the sole purpose of embarrassing Megumi.
“Heeello?” He picked it up with a smile, and then scoffed. “Yeah, right.” Then whoever it was hung up.
“What was that?” Megumi raised an eyebrow.
“I don’t know, some prank call.”
Suddenly, his phone rang again. His screen displayed that it was the same number.
“Who is this?” Gojo picked up the phone again, annoyed. “Yes, I-” he got quiet. And then the phone hung up again.
“What did they want?”
“Nothing, they just… asked if I was Satoru Gojo, your legal guardian, and when I said yes they told me something weird about you.”
Megumi shook his head, “People really need to find better ways to spend their time.”
“Don’t you wanna know what they said?” Gojo pouted, clearly invested in the idiotic prank.
“Not really. I don’t have anything to hide.”
“I guess…” Gojo continued to pout, tracing circles on the counter with his thumb.
Just then Tsumiki emerged from her room, giggling to herself, “Guys, I just got the weirdest prank call!”
“You got that call, too?” Gojo asked.
“Sure did!” The two laughed at the absolutely ridiculous situation. Someone was clearly really bored. Even Megumi smiled, too. It was pretty funny, after all.
“Why didn’t you get a call, Megumi?” Gojo tried to catch his breath from his laughter.
“Oh, my phone broke last night. So there isn’t really anything for them to call.”
“Ohhh, so they called me instead. Makes sense.” Gojo reasoned, and Tsumiki nodded in agreement.
But it was going awfully far, contacting Megumi’s legal guardian when he himself couldn’t pick up his phone for a prank call.
It was a very elaborate prank.
Right?
—
On January 1, 2018 every person in Japan received a phone call from the same number: 555-NEW-DAY. No one knew who made the Calls, and by the end of the week nobody cared. The only information exchanged during this Call was the recipient's alleged Death Date. Everyone assumed it was an elaborate prank… until people started dying. Yu Haibara, who was a food service worker at the local schools, died of a seizure on the morning of January 2, 2018. Shoko Ieri, an old friend of Haibara, confirmed his death. She was a coroner as well as a high school teacher. Her coworker, Kento Nanami, who had been Haibara’s best friend since high school, was with him when he got the Call on 1/1/2018 and has confirmed that the Death Date given to Haibara was identical to the day he died on: January 2, 2018. Many incidents like this happened all over the country, and slowly the world realized that it was not a prank. These Death Dates were real, and somehow certainty was much scarier than uncertainty had ever been.
On 1/1/2018, Megumi Fushiguro did not have a functioning cellular device. For this reason, Satoru Gojo, his legal guardian, received his phone call instead. When it was confirmed that the Death Dates were real, Megumi told Gojo he did not want to know his. Megumi had never been afraid of death, and New Day didn’t change that. Gojo respected his wishes, and was the only person who knew Megumi’s Death Date.
From then on, the word “when” was rarely used outside the context of asking about Death Dates. The first day of every year would come to be known as New Day instead of New Year in an attempt to be sensitive to those who knew they would not last the entire year. The phone calls became known as the “Calls”, and Death Dates were treated in a similar fashion to birthdays, but less celebratory for… obvious reasons.
How are you supposed to care for someone when you know they only have a few days? How do you bear to face someone with one more birthday? How can you fall in love when they could be gone in three months? How do you give up on your dreams when you realize you’ll die before you can achieve them? How do you keep loving your kid the same way when you know how much time he has, even if he doesn’t?
Tsumiki refused to share her death date with anyone.
Megumi refused to learn his.
Most everyone else shared.
And then they tried to forget.
No one could, though.
Once you learned someone’s Death Day, it never left you. Not until yours came.
Some secrets were harder to carry than others.
Especially when it was your son’s.
—
CHARACTER BIOS:
Satoru Gojo: Teacher at TJHS (Tokyo Jujutsu High School)
DoB: 12/7/1989
DD: 5/5/21
Current Age: 28
Kento Nanami: Teacher at TJHS
DoB: 7/3/1990
DD: 10/17/20
Current Age: 27
Yu Haibara: School food delivery worker
DoB: [not confirmed by Gege Akutami]
DD: 1/2/18
Current Age: 26, deceased
Shoko Ieri: Coroner, teacher at TJHS
DoB: 11/7/1989
DD: 6/24/2062
Current Age: 28
Tsumiki Fushiguro: Megumi Fushiguro’s sister
DoB: [not confirmed by Gege Akutami]
DD: Private
Current Age: 16
Megumi Fushiguro: Tsumiki Fushiguro’s brother
DoB: 12/22/2002
DD: Unknown
Current Age: 15