Chapter Text
“You need to rest.”
“I’m fine. What we need to do is figure out what’s going on.”
“You would have fallen over already without my aid. Little brother, you're shaking… Give yourself a break. Have you not earned it?”
Choso couldn't ignore his brother’s unyielding nature, but he couldn’t cater to it either. The pair had been walking for hours and before their displacement, days across the remains of Shibuya fighting cursed spirit after cursed spirit. Rest was not something Yuji prioritized, and it was only after the first night they spent together did Choso ascertain why, though his brother’s reasoning for this needless self-inflicted punishment was lost on him.
“I can’t rest.” In spite of Yuji’s insistence, Choso set his brother down against the closest pillar of concrete supporting the bridge above their heads. With the sun off their backs and a breeze flowing through this tunnel, his brother would sit comfortably out of the sun’s glaring sight. The late summer heat was not kind, only compounded by the dense cityscape surrounding them.
“Choso, how can you be so calm about this?” Yuji’s body didn’t argue alongside his words as his brother’s head fell back against the cold wall behind him. “You saw the date.”
“I’m calm because it's my job to be.” Unnerving as it must be to feel the summer’s presence when winter was around the corner, Choso would ground his brother in place. Whatever concern he felt regarding their circumstances remained dormant, so long as Yuji was there to observe him.
“Do you have your wallet still? I will acquire food and information while you recover.”
Choso stood over Yuji as his brother pulled the faux leather pouch into his pocket. Battered and torn from days of struggle, the wallet managed to hold its shape and the crumbled bills inside.
His brother would not approve of taking food without the proper compensation. He hadn’t when the city fell apart, actively leaving behind coins and other means to pay back the businesses they scavenged through when Choso knew no one was going to return. At first, Choso believed the odd behavior was either out of habit or in a desperate bid for normalcy, but perhaps it went deeper than that. Stealing was a crime, and even in the absence of authority to enforce such laws, Yuji sought to obey them as a means to keep the rest of himself in check.
And now that there were people surrounding them again, such behavior wasn’t going to change. Hopefully, there were enough bills to cover a decent meal. Choso wasn’t above stealing, but to avoid his brother’s disapproval and bring more attention to himself than necessary, he’d do his best to compromise.
“You don’t have to do this for me. I can go myself in a minute—” Paradoxically, Yuji had already handed Choso his wallet upon his older brother’s request, doing nothing to convince him that he should engage with this last-minute indecision.
“I won’t be gone long. There look to be a few convenient stores on the road above us. They tend to have meals prepared for sale, correct?” Choso stepped back into the sun, a hand protecting his eyes as he cranked his neck back to view the brightly colored signage overhead. To his right, a tall set of stairs hugged the wall, supporting the upper street level. It was fortunate that the distance between them would remain short, as such blessings put Choso’s mind at ease.
“Keep your cursed energy as close to you as possible and don’t move from this spot. If danger comes, flare your aura just enough to get my attention.”
Ideally, Choso would only be gone for a handful of minutes, but he knew better than to expect his errands to be shorter than a half-hour, given the density of the crowd he could make out from where he stood. While he could not deduce if he and his brother’s presence had alerted any sorcerers present in the city, Choso hoped that the two of them could remain— as his brother put it —flying under the radar for as long as possible until they had answers for the inevitable onslaught of questions they were sure to endure upon getting caught.
“Ok. But you better get something for yourself while you’re there.”
“It is unnecessary—”
“Not to me.”
The ferocity behind eyes, so unbearably tired, was not something Choso could bring himself to compete with.
Food was not a concern Choso had to personally contend with. His unique biology made it possible for him to go long periods of time without consuming anything, subsisting on his own cursed energy to keep his body fresh and alert. Choso suspected that he could go another few days without food if they remained vigilant of trouble, but if it brought Yuji his own sense of ease, his older brother wouldn’t deny his request.
“Alright. I grab something for both of us. I’ll be back shortly.” Choso took a few steps before placing a hand on the wire mesh fence, keeping reckless youth from jumping over the short concrete wall along the exposed side of the stairs. “I mean it, little brother. Don’t move from this spot.”
“I heard you the first time.”
The sight of Yuji waving him off was the last push Choso required to formally begin his ascent to the upper level, where he hoped to find a decent food market or street vendor close by. The steps themselves were rather steep, deterring regular use from those with poor footing or shorter legs due to discomfort. They were tight as well, offering little space to fit more than one person comfortably, which hindered any form of cross-traffic between the upper and lower levels. These factors combined left the stairs sparse and Choso to walk alone, giving him time to think before he melded into the bustling crowd that flocked to the street above.
Choso could not recall how he and his brother ended up wandering the streets of an untouched Shibuya. The last memory he had was of Yuji’s executioner, Okkotsu Yuta, and his classmate, Fushiguro Megumi, returning to discuss their plans to meet with Master Tengen in search of answers regarding the culling game commenced by that thing Choso was forced to acknowledge as the shared parent of he and his siblings. The four of them were walking through the city’s remains, fortunate that many of the cursed spirits nearby fled at their shared aura alone, which should have made the trek to Jujutsu Tech swift.
Then Yuji had begun to lag behind. Distracted by his own thoughts, he was far too removed from reality to notice how much the distance between himself and the others had grown.
Perhaps it was Choso’s presence by his side that provided enough security to allow his brother to operate on autopilot. With at least one set of footsteps matching his own, Yuji continued to slow until his steps stuttered and eventually stilled. From high on the hill they’d climbed, Yuji stared at the flattened earth and splattered crimson that overtook the metropolitan cityscape with nothing but dismantled buildings and ruins to form a twisted crown along the edge.
His brother had done this before. Drifting into a state of perpetual mourning, Choso remembered reaching out for his brother’s shoulder to coax him out of his self-imposed torment and back to the present. The sensation of fabric against his palms was all that remained, as the memories that should have followed were absent with no sign of their return.
Within the blink of an eye, the two brothers were separated only by a couple of meters. Fists raised, bodies equally disoriented and on high alert for a foe that was now hidden from both natural and unnatural perception. Or there was never an enemy, to begin with. The thought crossed Choso’s mind, but that did little to explain why the buildings had returned to their skyline and the crowd walked as if the last couple of days were nothing but a nightmare shared only by the two displaced brothers.
Okkotsu and Fushiguro were nowhere to be found. Their cursed energy, residuals and all, had vanished without a trace. Hours of searching only offered more questions than answers. His brother bore the brunt of the confusion, quickly discovering the details of their surroundings of great concern, which Choso had originally overlooked.
Now braving the crowd once more, Choso couldn’t help but observe the ever-moving swarm of humans around him. A chill accompanied Choso’s gaze even as he braved the summer heat. To witness such mundane behavior was unnerving. As silly of a notion as it was, Yuji’s description of how he felt captured Choso’s own.
“It’s as if the ghosts of Shibuya had come back to haunt them.”
Shaking his head of such thoughts, Choso focused on the people directly, as opposed to what the overall sight before him meant for a while. As Yuji had previously pointed out upon their arrival, the movement of people remained the same. The tendency for individuals to keep to themselves as they navigated around one another. Phones were a common tool to accomplish this, outwardly displaying their disinterest in conversing with others without stating it explicitly, while keeping their own attention occupied with something other than their own thoughts.
However, even if the people’s actions were the same, the tools in their hands were not. The older cellphone models that lacked large touch screens and countless features were everywhere. A strange sight to be had in a city flooded with a constant stream of updated and innovative technology available for public purchase. Yuji pointed out the same disparity existed within their style of clothing and in the music that echoed in the air from businesses, speakers, and performers alike. His brother grew up in this era and knew the trends that accompanied it far better than Choso ever would.
The implications of the conclusion his brother had come to afterward had yet to settle within him. They had already confirmed Yuji’s suspicions together, and while shameful in his doubt, Choso still found the need to approach a nearby magazine stand and flip through every available thing he could find in search for the one date out of place that would expose this place for the lie for the illusion it truly was.
Only his search came up empty.
Nothing possessed a date past August 2007.
“Time travel.”
“Time travel?” Choso repeated, unsure if he heard his brother right.
“Exactly. Like in the movies—we’re in the past. The weird phones. The decade-old music. The buildings! The people—It’s the only thing I can come up with.” Yuji pressed his thumb against his forehead, channeling his thoughts into a more coherent order. “We’re in the past… We have to figure out what type of time travel we’re dealing with.”
“Types? There’s more than one kind?”
“Yeah. I mean, I’ve talked about them at length before when watching Back To The Future, but it's all supposed to be theoretical. I never actually thought—Look, there’s three that matter right now. If we’re dealing with a Prisoner of Azkaban or a Future Trunks situation, then it’s not so bad, but if not…”
Choso was sure there was a deeper meaning to his brother’s explanation, but Yuji’s references were lost on him. The confusion he felt must have been apparent, as Yuji took it upon himself to explain further.
“Right. So in the Harry Potter movie, Hermione gets this device—a time-turner—that lets her travel back in time and essentially be in two places at once while her past self does what she already did the first time around. Everything she did was always meant to happen, so messing with time didn’t break anything.”
Yuji paused, waiting for Choso’s approval to continue, to which he gave a silent nod. The past and the future exist simultaneously in this scenario. But there was no mention of returning to their present.
“The second type is branch theory. In Dragon Ball Z, there is a character named Trunks, and he uses a time machine to travel to the past and prevent someone from dying. Doing that created a new timeline, starting from where he traveled to because his future self never appeared in his own timeline. This prevents a paradox which we really want to avoid.”
Yuji spun around and continued walking beside him backward, now holding up his two index fingers to represent the two timelines from his example.
“Trunks can change the future of the new timeline—” His brother bends his left finger. “—But his own timeline remains the same.” As evidenced by the undisturbed right finger.
“And paradoxes are ill-advised.”
“Avoid at all costs.” A large X was formed by Yuji’s arms to emphasize his warning. “Most people agree that they kind of break reality. If this is the third type where everything we do changes our future, then our current selves might not line up with it. If we accidentally make it so that I wear a blue hoodie instead of red, then how could I be wearing red right now? The universe might make us disappear to correct this mistake.”
“All because of your hoodie?”
“The hoodie was an example. Imagine if we change the future so that I never swallow Sukuna’s fingers or that Gojo-sensei never gets…”
Yuji stopped walking. His silence told Choso more than his words ever could about the new, dangerous thoughts burning through his head. From the little enthusiasm his brother had displayed from speaking in detail about a subject he appeared to show genuine interest in, Choso had prepared for his brother to find impulsive joy in such a possibility.
Instead, Yuji’s face only drained in color to a concerning degree. He clutched his head, worrying Choso to no end as his brother took in a deep breath and wiped his eyes with the dirt-riddled fabric of his shirt.
“That’s… This can’t be real, right?” Yuji’s prior confidence had left him. “And even if it was, it’s never that easy. Knowing my shitty luck, I’ll just end up making it worse. We shouldn’t screw around here unless we have to.”
“While there is wisdom to be had in your caution, don’t paint yourself in such a negative light.” Choso wondered if Sukuna was to blame for the sudden shift in his attitude. The curse had been silent since Yuji had reclaimed his control over his body, but that was only from the perspective of an outside observer. There was no telling what Sukuna was up to while hidden in a place Choso’s ears couldn’t reach.
“Not even if it’s true?”
Family Mart.
The green and blue sign towered just above the crowd, easily catching Choso’s interest. There didn't appear to be too many people condensed inside the small business, which made the decision to enter and carry out his personal mission there all the easier.
Walking inside wasn’t as much of a problem as Choso prepared for it to be. His outfit, even without the accumulated battle damage, gathered curious eyes wherever he walked through the store. Fortunately, no one dared to approach him, leaving Choso to scan through the displays as he pleased until he found items worth purchasing.
The pre-made sandwiches on display were enticing. It was a toss-up between chicken katsu and tuna mayo, with the former ultimately ending up in Choso’s arms as he continued further in search of additional snacks to provide a balanced meal and something to supplement his brother later. It would be easier to offer one of those nutritional bars than to convince Yuji to stop and eat another meal. While not Choso’s preferred way of doing things, it was better than having his brother refuse to eat at all.
Choso plucked two of the tightly wrapped apples from the nearby end stand, checking for any bruises before settling on taking these for him and his brother to share. Fresh fruit was an obvious choice. The sign above them said that the apples were on sale when bought in pairs, alleviating Choso’s own worry of wasting the remains of his brother’s funds.
Last on Choso’s internal to-do list was to procure Yuji a drink. The coolers lowered the temperature of the air in their aisle significantly. Walking down past them to pick out an appropriately sized water bottle was a pleasant surprise because of this, and if Yuji were in better shape, Choso would have regretted not bringing him along.
He had intended to skip over the liquified sugar drinks that stood between himself and the check-out line, but the large sign labeled ‘ENERGY DRINKS’ above one of the glass doors got Choso’s attention. The cans stacked inside were colorful, bearing promises and rejuvenation and a return of power upon consumption. His first assumption was that humans had somehow managed to store cursed energy in a safe and edible form. Choso found he was completely off-base when he read the label to find caffeine to be the common ingredient amongst these odd concoctions.
Yuji could have one of these as a last resort.
Strawberry mango sounded appealing enough.
Upon reaching the register in another moment of weakness, Choso also slipped a chocolate bar into the pile of things he’d accumulated. A small treat never hurt anyone.
“Whoa, dude, sick cosplay! I didn’t know there was a convention nearby. Are you dressed up as someone from Bleach or something?”
Choso looked up at the young man standing beside his cashier. The girl working the register in front of him showed no signs of interest in their conversation, kicking her coworker underneath the counter out of her personal space—The pained grunt the young man gave was quite telling—so she could perform her job as expected.
Unsure what ‘Bleach’ was, Choso went along with it as he handed his things off to be scanned.
“...Yes?” He hadn’t meant for his answer to hold such uncertainty, but that didn’t appear to bother the young man, as his entire face lit up in glee.
“Awesome! Love the detail work. I’m more of a Naruto fan myself—”
“—Were you able to find everything ok today?” The cashier cut her coworker off, much to Choso’s gratitude as any further discussion would reveal his severe lack of knowledge on whatever the young man was going on about. Her eyes were unable to hide her aggravation, no matter how wide she smiled or how high she raised her voice, but there was no reason to call her out on it. They both wanted to get this transaction over with as quickly as possible.
The rest of the interaction would have gone smoothly, Choso was sure of it, if not for the voices that carried in from outside warning him that the path returning Choso to his brother was about to be more precarious than he’d prepared for.
“Admit it! You’re lost.”
An all too familiar voice, unamused with patience wearing thin.
“I’m not lost! In fact, I have Ijichi’s number!”
The voice of a stranger, confident in his apparent foolery.
"You can't just rely on bullying Ijichi to pick you up whenever you—"
The chime of the entrance bell marked not only their arrival well after their shouting had already reached Choso’s ears, but the sudden silence fell over them. He didn’t need to guess the cause, given that any sorcerer’s steps would come to a grinding halt upon stumbling across a cursed spirit when they least expected to.
While both teenagers remained where they stood, Choso did his best to hide his own shock by holding his body still and free from flinching. This didn’t stop his fingers from locking up nor his muscles burning with anticipation for a fight he was in no place to be getting mixed up in. His eyes perused the candy on display below the register as his ears were left to keep track of potential shifts in their movement.
Why did it have to be them?
“Would you like a bag, sir?”
The cashier’s question broke through the monotonous ringing of her scanner and the overworked hum of the nearby coolers which had temporarily filled in the void left behind by the teenager’s silence.
“Yes. A bag would be appreciated.”
Within mere seconds of opening his mouth, two sets of shoes shuffled across the polished floor. One more graceful than the other. One teenager forced the other to stumble at the behest of his unruly companion.
A quick glance at the mirror hanging over the check-out counter gave Choso a much-needed view of the two now crouched within the front aisle. Unmistakable silver hair paired with iconic circular sunglasses accompanied by a head of black hair tied up in a bun poked over the top of the chip display despite the former’s attempts at dragging them both under to remain out of sight. The hand clutching onto the collar of hair bun’s uniform was torn off, yielding his companion a tired glare as he, too, stared at Choso from afar.
Gojo Satoru and Geto Suguru.
Two men who once stood opposed to one another, now children, huddled together with hands raised over their lips as if that would prevent their whispers from reaching the target of their interest. Their subtly was nonexistent. It was almost laughable if it wasn’t for the cursed energy that radiated off them in droves, sheer strength compensating for their lack of stealth. A powerful deterrent against any mid to lower-level curse. One Choso, despite being classified as a special grade cursed spirit himself, chose to follow as he waited for the cashier to finish bagging his items as any hopes of leaving the timeline unscathed with his and Yuji’s presence diminished before him.
“That’s a curse, right? Tell me I’m not the only one seeing this.”
“I may not have your eyes, but I’m not blind either. Of course, I see it.”
“He’s buying food— Food! Since when did curses buy food? I thought they just, you know,” Satoru jerked his thumb across his neck. “Kill people.”
“Considering the curse is holding a conversation, this level of intelligence would be reason enough to deem it a special grade if the power I’m sensing wasn’t reason enough. Its cursed energy is uncharacteristically tame at the moment.”
That was Choso’s intention.
“And one more question. Do you have a membership card?” Choso’s eyes returned to the cashier, keeping a straight face as if those teenagers weren’t whispering behind him.
“No.” He then opened Yuji’s wallet, flipping through bills until he had enough in hand to pay for his things. If Yuji had a membership card, it would be several years too early for the system to acknowledge it. “I believe this should be enough.”
“Suguru, he doesn’t have a membership card. Even I have one—” Satoru’s comment earned him a curled fist planted firmly on the top of his skull. A rather extreme reaction, but something told Choso that this was a regular occurrence for them, as Satoru did little more than growl his frustration.
“And here’s your change. The receipt is in the bag. Have a good rest of your day, sir.”
Choso collected his things, nodded his head, and returned the pleasantries.
“You as well. Thank you.”
There were only a handful of steps to the exit. Leaving the store with both himself and the surroundings intact was now the primary objective. Escape from their gaze was going to be near impossible given who he was up against, but perhaps a decade’s difference in skill would provide a much-needed handicap if Choso were to make it back to Yuji without further complication. He didn’t, however, delude himself into relying on that possibility to be the case.
Steeling himself for their inevitable clash, Choso walked with eyes fixated on the door and crossed through the automatic doors back into the heat outside. It was on his third step down the sidewalk did Satoru’s voice precede his sudden appearance, the teenager now obstructing Choso’s path with only a few centimeters between them.
“Not so fast!”
There was no time to register what the teenager had said, nor comprehend the incredible speed with which he moved. The shift in energy had yet to catch up with Choso’s senses, leaving him floundering as Satoru lifted his finger to poke at his chest.
“Feels like a person… You’re some kind of incarnated curse, right? That’s what my eyes are telling me.” The sunglasses over Satoru’s eyes faltered, sliding down his nose just enough to showcase what he meant by that statement. Another warning. Almost all who live within the Jujutsu world knew of the Six Eyes and why the one possessing them should be feared.
This display however, did not possess its intended effect. Choso already knew the powers he was up against in greater detail than what Satoru anticipated. And while the teenager’s eyes instilled a sense of danger that dug underneath his skin, he expected to witness them. No shock or fear would show itself on Choso’s face, much to Satoru’s disappointment.
“Can’t name which one though… Suguru! You owe me soda!” The little pout on Satoru’s face was short-lived as the smug satisfaction of winning whatever bet they made out of earshot came out on top.
Following the finger pointed at this companion behind him, Choso took a step back to get both teenagers in his sights. Suguru was flanking him from behind, his appearance stirring unappreciated emotional whiplash that Choso only expressed through the lowering of his eyes, as he couldn’t justify placing his anger on the person whose body was unceremoniously stolen from him.
The best Choso could do was remind himself of the differences. Suguru wore a school uniform that took the place of the monk robes he’d grown used to. His shorter hair and his younger complexion (the growing bags under his eyes sought to deny this) held no scar to speak of. That was enough to drive away the contempt he felt. It had to be.
“I’m not buying you anything.”
“Come on! The store is right there!”
“And leave you alone with this curse? I’ll come back to the city in shambles.” That was a… unfortunate choice of words. “And stop poking it, you idiot! What are you, five?”
The length of their pause between Suguru’s order and Satoru’s defiant poke led Choso to believe that there was enough thought behind Satoru’s action that labeling it impulsive would be misleading. Reckless was far more suited. Childish worked just as well. In a way, this white-haired teenager reminded Choso of Mahito and his games. While he loathed that patchwork curse for what he’s done to his brother, the prior experience of their interactions appeared to be beneficial in numbing him to Satoru’s tendencies.
For now, at least.
“I would listen to your friend.”
“He speaks to us! What an honor!”
It was no honor. Satoru’s excitement was out of disrespect, clearly showing no sense of caution or consideration for the consequence that could come about if they were to exchange blows within this crowded street. Was this the same mindset Satoru took with him when he was dispatched to Shibuya in their time?
Choso hoped it wasn’t so.
“You’re some kind of special grade, huh? Do you have a name?”
As there was no avoiding these two, Choso resigned to conversing with them. He’ll answer their questions, but providing meaningful responses they could work with was too great of a risk. They may have already seen his face, but until he could return to his brother’s side and get a consensus on how to proceed, he was going to refrain from making any rash decisions.
“Yes.”
“Are you gonna share it?”
“No.”
Satoru sighed.
“Well played. So Mr. Has-A-Name-But-Won’t-Tell-Me, what does a curse like you need…” The teenager’s voice trailed off as he dipped behind Choso to snoop through the bag on his opposing side. “Apples and a sandwich? Oh, thank god there’s chocolate—”
“—They aren’t for me. They are for my brother—” Choso bit down on his tongue as he yanked the bag away from him, transferring it to his other hand to keep Satoru’s curious paws away from Yuji’s things. Just as he declared he would not share such information, this teenager had loosened his lips with remarkably little effort. His casual demeanor was infectious, serving him well in masking the weight behind his prodding.
“Brother? Hear that Suguru? Curses have brothers now! We really do learn something new each day—” Another fist came down on Satoru’s head, harder than the last with his fingers gripping the teenager’s hair and forcing him to bend over as an ashamed look was sent Choso’s way.
“I apologize for his behavior.”
Satoru pulled himself out from underneath Suguru’s grip, clutching his head as he shouted directly in his ear.
“Why do you keep hitting me!?”
Why do you keep letting him?
Choso’s knowledge of Satoru’s infinity had led him to believe the teenager was impervious to harm, but then again, this was Suguru responsible for striking him.
“You’re going to get all these people killed looking for a fight, as you’re doing now. I don’t want to deal with being an accomplice to that. I have enough headaches as it is.” Suguru’s intentions were not as altruistic as they appeared. “What we should be doing is moving this conversation elsewhere and out of sight of these ignorant people so we can exorcize this curse immediately. We could even dare report this to the higher-ups as expected of students and let them deal with it. Not play a game of ‘How can Gojo Satoru make the situation worse for his own entertainment?’”
It was rather bold to speak of killing him so openly, but it was the expected outcome when sorcerers and cursed spirits crossed paths. Choso couldn’t blame him for it, nor would he take offense. If the same words were spoken about his brother, however, he’d have their tongues. The future be damned.
“I’m not making it worse! If this curse was going to cause a massacre, he’d have done it when he first saw us! Aren’t you the least bit curious about what his deal is?”
“No.”
Satoru inched closer to Suguru, invading every ounce of personal space his companion had as he scrutinized Suguru’s answer.
“You’re lying!”
“I am not!”
“You are too! I bet you’re so curious—!”
Their argument quickly devolved into a shouting match. The rest of the world, Choso included, meant nothing as they snapped at each other, pressing metaphorical buttons to claim some sort of victory where there wasn’t a need to declare one. It was when Choso realized that this rivalry between them wasn’t going to end as swiftly as he thought it would, did he decide to test just how much of each other’s attention the two occupied.
One step back was successful, so Choso took a second. And then a third. He merged into the crowd on the fourth, following the flow of traffic until the top of the stairs he’d used earlier were within reach. Leaving the marital spat behind him, Choso broke out into a sprint the second he was out of sight, skipping multiple steps at a time on his descent to reach where he’d left his brother to wait for him. He wasn’t a fool to think he was anywhere close to leaving the pair behind entirely, but Choso was determined to make the most of the precious seconds he’d acquired without their presence to warn his brother of the two after him.
With one last burst of energy, Choso slid underneath the quiet underbelly of the bridge to find his brother right where he’d left him, head fallen over and eyes closed as he’d finally given in to the exhaustion plaguing him. Yuji rarely slept during their time together. It was a shame to continue that trend now, but they just couldn’t afford it.
He bent down on one knee and gently nudged his brother’s shoulder while his other hand lifted his chin.
“Little brother, it is important that you wake up now.”
“C-Choso…?” Yuji’s eyes fluttered open, his body doing the best it could to allow him to sit up straight on his own.
“Out of the three scenarios you listed, only one brought immediate disaster. Am I correct?”
“What are you…? Oh. That. I mean, sure?” Yuji’s answer did not bring out the confidence Choso was looking for, but it was not his brother’s fault for dealing with the haze of sleep, begging for his return. “Why? What’s going on?”
“We need to move—”
Choso’s senses alerted him of the two familiar flares of cursed energy standing above them. It was guaranteed that his and his brother’s positions were compromised, and with a one-third chance of facing immediate repercussions of his brother meeting his sensei years before they were originally meant to, he wasn’t prepared to bet his brother’s life on those odds.
Delaying their meeting further until Yuji could make an informed decision would be the best course of action now. Even if they came from speculative fiction, his brother’s understanding of matters of time exceeded his own.
“Cover your eyes and do not speak until you believe you must.”
Choso grabbed hold of his brother’s wrists and brought Yuji’s palms over his eyes. He’d hoped the meaning behind his words would explain itself, as the sudden surge of energy by their side concluded their short-lived privacy.
Satoru and Suguru stood side-by-side on the very edge of the bridge’s shadow, once again catching Choso off guard with the sudden shift in their placement. Albeit not as bad as the first time. The remnants of their argument remained present on Suguru’s face, while his companion shared none of the same frustration. A new spark of interest rose through Satoru’s glee, each new discovery the teenager made about Choso and his brother piquing his interest further than the last, truly ensnaring Satoru’s undivided attention.
Upon dropping to their level, the pair’s eyes moved from Choso to Yuji, assessing the situation between themselves with no effort made to hide their observations.
“Is he…?”
Satoru leaned back and answered Suguru’s question. “He’s something else. Similar, but his energy is off.”
They were talking about Yuji.
The Six Eyes were not to be fooled. Satoru would figure out that Yuji possesses a curse within him with ease. The name of the cursed spirit may elude the teenager if Sukuna did not surface, but the sheer amount of energy and the malicious presence that followed it would be enough of a hint to get Satoru’s guessing game started. If there was any consolation, it would be that the six eyes must have revealed the difference in how Choso and Sukuna merged with their hosts for Satoru to declare them different. Him being aware of Yuji’s retained sense of self compared to Choso’s complete takeover of his host could prove useful, given that sorcerers tend to be more open to the plight of a human than that of a curse. The piece of Choso that he considered human had come to regret the fate of his vessel, but what was done was done and right now, Choso required full control to maintain his ability to protect his remaining siblings.
Choso returned to his feet, stepping in front of Yuji to place himself in their way as a warning for the teenagers to keep their distance if they didn’t wish to start that fight Suguru showed interest in avoiding.
Satoru, however, ignored this and stepped forward.
Choso’s back tensed at the teenager’s advancement. He raised his hands as a final warning but did not engage with him. Not yet.
“Why are you hiding his eyes?” Yuji took in a harsh breath at Satoru’s voice, crisp and unmistakable now that it was so close to his ears. “Are they prettier than mine? You don’t have to spare my feelings if they are.”
Such an inconsequential thing to discuss.
“T-That’s…” It pained Choso to see Yuji’s hands shake, his uneven breaths doing nothing to keep his brother’s mind calm as he was confronted with the specter of the very man he was desperate to save. He could already picture the tears accumulating in his brother’s eyes. A sight Choso did not know if he could bear to witness.
“I believe they are.” Favoritism was not something Choso would apologize for. “I would ask you to leave him be.” I don’t want you to ruin them.
“You see, now I’m just more curious—”
“It’s ok, Choso.” Yuji took in a deep breath, giving his own thoughts room to breathe. Hesitant, Yuji pulled his hands away from the eyes he’d tightly shut underneath. The scars across his face were now in full view as well, bringing about a concern in Satoru for the first time in their encounter. The older teenager went as far as to cast an accusing glare Choso’s way, as if to blame him for his brother’s condition. Unaware of this, Yuji left the ground behind him as he too rose to his feet, using the wall as a support for his back to rest against even now.
Once satisfied with his progress, Yuji turned to Satoru and opened his eyes to look at the teenager properly. A mix of emotions came out at once, leaving his brother with no response that could encapsulate them all. Instead, Yuji turned to the ground almost in shame, lost in what he should say.
“I don’t think mine can compare to yours, Gojo-sen—” Yuji caught himself before completing his sentence. Referring to Satoru as his sensei would only bring about more confusion than there already was.
“Mine are something else, aren’t they?” Satoru beamed, flipping back to his carefree attitude as he accepted Yuji’s recognition of him, remaining aware that it alone did not mean much in the Jujutsu world. But it was a start. “Obviously you know me, but I don’t know you. That is a Jujutsu Tech uniform you’re wearing, and I would know if we got a new student at the Tokyo branch. Especially one with such distinct hair… Suguru! Do you think he’s from the Kyoto school?”
“How would I know?” Suguru did not share in the same joy Satoru displayed, but the concern that flickered over his companion remained with him. Whether it was for Yuji’s well-being, Satoru’s original observation of what the brothers were, or this apparent student’s affiliation with Choso was unknown. “I'm not the one you should be asking. Check for an ID.”
Yuji glanced at Choso, silently asking for the return of his wallet. Naturally, Choso complied, respecting his brother’s decision. He moved slowly in order to avoid causing alarm among the other two sorcerers observing them, pulling out his brother’s wallet from his pocket and handing it over with ease.
Finding his school ID was easy. The bent identification card was already partially jutting out of its designated pocket.
“Here.”
Satoru swiped the card from Yuji’s hand and held it up over his head, getting the best angle he could to assess the contents written on it. His eyebrows scrunched together in a matter of seconds, not too fond of what he found.
“Itadori Yuji… Is this some kind of joke? If you’re going to forge an ID, the least you could do is choose a believable date. 2018? Really?”
“It’s not a forgery. That’s the year I started attending Jujutsu Tech.”
“Yeah, sure, McFly. Cause you traveled back in time to hang out under some bridge in Shibuya. Is your DeLorean parked around the corner?” Satoru rolled his eyes, unwilling to play into what he presumed to be a poorly crafted lie being told directly to his face. But, despite his dismissive attitude, Yuji did not falter. His intent was not to deceive.
“Trust me, if there was a DeLorean, we would have used it to go home by now.”
Satoru blinked.
“You’re not joking.”
“I wouldn’t joke about this, Gojo-sensei.”
“Sensei?”
Both teenagers were stunned, if only for a moment, as Satoru’s laughter and Suguru’s stifled chuckles bounced throughout the man-made echo chamber they all stood within.
“Me? A teacher? Like Yaga?” Satoru forced himself to speak through his unrestrained wheezing. “Why would I ever want to do that?”
“Even I find that hard to believe.” Suguru’s hand covered his growing smirk as he at least made the attempt to hold his composure. “Who in their right mind would trust Satoru with children?”
Satoru, now gripping his sides while bent over from laughter, yelled back at his companion.
“What? You don’t think I could be a good teacher?”
“Teaching requires patience and responsibility, something you have neither of. Apparently, this ‘Itadori’ failed to consider that when coming up with this drivel.”
Their disrespect was infuriating, but the hand Yuji placed in front of Choso forbade him from acting on it. Instead, he held his tongue and let his brother continue speaking.
“I’m not lying. I don’t know why Gojo-sensei became a teacher, but that’s the truth.”
“Right.” Satoru broke out of his laughing fit, fiddling with the card in his hand as he stepped around Yuji and Choso to give them both a thorough look over. “OK sure, let’s say you and this curse— Who I now know is named Choso! —came from the future together. If you know me so well, then how do I like my coffee?”
“More sugar than coffee. If there are sugar cubes, you pop them back like Tic Tacs while taking shots of the creamer cups.” If this question was meant for Yuji to stumble over, Satoru was sorely mistaken. His brother answered it thoroughly, wiping away their confidence in place of Yuji’s own.
“Bah, my sweet tooth isn’t a secret.” Satoru pointed his finger at Yuji, demanding additional proof. “What’s my favorite Digimon?”
“The white cat with the blue eyes— Gatomon!”
“Wrong. It’s Agumon.”
“Now you’re the one who is lying! You always thought Agumon was, and I quote, overrated! I sat through a Digimon movie marathon because of you, and you wouldn’t shut up about it. Not to mention you spoiled the ending to over half of them.”
Satoru bit the nail of his thumb, hissing at Yuji’s answer. His companion wasn’t fairing any better, eyeing the two of them with greater uncertainty as these questions went on.
“All this proves is that you’re a very skilled stalker.”
“Are you kidding me?”
Yuji ran his fingers through his hair, yanking on the messy strands as his patience reached his limit with his body following suit. His right leg gave out from underneath him, causing his brother to fall forward, narrowly avoiding the ground as Choso moved his arms to catch him before any more harm could be done to him. The bag of groceries hanging over the crook of Choso’s elbow hit the ground, but a couple of bruised apples were the least of his concerns.
“Are you alright?”
“I’m fine.”
“That’s a hell of a cursed spirit to have at your beck and call.” It was Suguru who made the comment, earning Yuji’s vexation. His brother picked himself up, fingers still clinging tight to Choso’s sleeve even as he insisted he was able to stand on his own.
“He’s not at my beck and call. He’s my brother.” If Choso’s heart was alive, it would have skipped a beat. “You don’t have to believe me about who I am or how we know each other. I don’t care anymore! Just— God . If me being here, right now, is going to do any good, then please believe me when I tell you that the whole world is on a fucking countdown to being turned on its head, and we’re all stuck at the center of it. Your infinity— Red, Blue, Purple —won’t be enough to stop it if you don’t take this seriously!”
Silence fell over them as Satoru stood without a snappy comeback to retort with. The sunglasses the teenager kept loose on the tip of his nose fell off, clattering against the ground while his hands remained limp at his side. Shock wasn’t strong enough to describe the manic expression in his widened eyes.
“I haven’t used that ability since—The only people who know about it are either dead or...” Satoru looked to Suguru for an answer, whispering the rest of his thoughts aloud as he concluded on his own what Yuji’s knowledge meant. “You and Shoko wouldn't have told anyone. Which means I think... he’s telling the truth.”
“For real?”
All three of Satoru’s observers spoke in unison, Suguru’s skepticism drowned out by the relief flooding through Yuji’s and Choso’s veins.
“For real.” Satoru bent down to pick up his glasses. “At least about the time-travel. I don’t like how specific those answers were. Let’s start over from the beginning, and I’ll decide if I believe the rest of your story. Sounds good?”
“Yeah. I can agree with that.”
“Then, I must object.” Choso endured his brother’s visible frustration, but he had a good reason for putting their progress on hold. “Yuji needs to eat and rest first. Please allow him time to do so before interrogating him further. You must have plenty of questions, all of which will take some time to answer.”
His brother’s immediate health came first when up against the fate of the world every time.
“Sure! Give him the sandwich you bought. Take a breather. We can move this show to the school’s grounds and take it from there. Our sensei isn’t going to be happy about it, but he doesn’t have to know right away…”
There was no objection to Satoru's plans from his brother. As dangerous as it was to continue down this path, Choso settled to follow Yuji’s lead as he swore to keep a watchful eye out for any trouble that would surely find its way to them. Each step forward would have to be made with consideration. Not all the answers they could provide would gain favor, with two specific topics leaving Choso much to think about, hoping that he and his brother would find themselves time to agree on what should and shouldn’t be omitted from their tale.
It was rather ironic, given that Jujutsu Tech was their intended destination to begin with. Who knew when setting off earlier today, Choso would arrive with his brother eleven years ahead of schedule?
Satoru rummaged through his pocket, eagerly whipping out his cell phone with a small shake for everyone to know exactly what it was in a similar— less cautious —fashion to what Choso had done prior with the wallet on his way to returning to Suguru’s side. Donning the shades once more did nothing to hide his shit-eating grin.
“Do you honestly think this is a good idea?”
“What? You’re the one who originally suggested that we move our talk elsewhere. Plus, If Yuji is a student, then it’s not like it’s his first visit to the campus.” Satoru flipped open the device in his hand and began to poke around at the keypad. “I think this counts as a good enough reason to contact Ijichi. Don’t you agree?”