Chapter Text
It’d been almost a month since the incident at the Eishu Detention Center and the passing of his grandfather. While he spent most of his days on his intensive training with Suguru, a lot had actually happened. The major thing was the Kyōto Sister-School Goodwill Event that was held at their campus in Tōkyō at the end of the month. Yūji had been excited about the event since he learned about it from Mimiko, Megumi, and Nobara back before his field mission even happened. He wasn’t allowed to participate, of course, because he wasn’t qualified yet, but Megumi and Nobara had been elected to take part, so of course he wanted to be a good, supportive classmate and cheer them on. It had been fun to sit in the viewing lounge that the staff and visiting sorcerers used with Junpei and the twins.
Somehow, Yūji had come out of the Goodwill Event with a friend. Maybe. Truth be told, he still didn’t understand what had happened and no matter how much he tried to figure it out, he never got any closer to a valid answer. Yūji wasn’t complaining necessarily; sure, he could do without Aoi bombarding his phone with texts several times a day. But, well....It was nice? Having a friend he didn’t go to school with was always good and as eccentric or possibly insane as he was, Aoi seemed like a genuine and good person. Besides, he seemed really invested in making sure Yūji got stronger and was that such a bad thing?
Another exciting thing was that he was finally - finally! - able to spend weekends at the condominium with the others. The first time he visited the penthouse that weekend after talking to Suguru about what happened with his grandfather was incredible. Especially since it was the first time he actually got to meet the second years. They had been back from their field duty since his failed field mission, but between their focus on training for the event, Yūji being unconscious for four days, and then spending a week in a downward spiral as he tried to come to terms with his grandfather’s death, he hadn’t had the time or energy to actually introduce himself to them. Needless to say, that weekend was unforgettable.
On a smaller scale was the matter of his grandfather’s remains. When he had remembered that was an option, Suguru and Satoru had admitted they’d been trying to find who had claimed them, but there hadn’t been any luck. The crematorium that worked with Sugisawa was stubbornly refusing the digital age, so all their paperwork was filed and stored manually; someone like them could easily sneak in and get the records, but apparently there were limits to Satoru’s rebellion. It was one thing to rebel against the elders because that really only affected a small bubble; it was another thing to risk pissing off the government and causing nationwide backlash for sorcerers everywhere. But, it didn’t really matter. Yūji had asked them to stop looking. He didn’t feel right taking the ashes from someone who obviously cared enough about the old man to claim them, stating he didn’t think he had more of a right to them than the person who’d been there for his grandfather. Suguru vehemently disagreed, but dropped it after a short argument when he saw how serious Yūji was.
Oh, and he’d ingested the three fingers that were in their custody over the course of the month, but he didn’t really consider that a major event. It was literally why he was there, after all; a duty he had to fulfill. But, for some reason, Sukuna had sulked about it for a little while. That was weird.
“Mustard leaf?”
“Hey, Inumaki-senpai,” he said, watching the other join him on the bench. “I’m okay. I was just thinking about everything that’s happened this month, that’s all. I...kind of forgot how quickly time flies by, you know?”
“...Kelp.”
Yūji wanted to punch himself for bringing down the mood.
“Oh, hey. Did you guys figure out what you’re doing for Halloween?”
“Salmon,” Toge said as he pulled out his phone, opening the chat with the other second years.
“Shibuya, huh? That sounds like fun!”
“Salmon roe?”
“Ah....Well, we’re split right down the middle. Nobara, Junpei and I want to go to Ikebukuro, but Nanako, Mimiko and Megumi want to go to Kawasaki. We thought about asking Getō-sensei and Gojō-sensei, but....Well, we already know they’ll side with Nanako and them.”
“Salmon.”
“Junpei suggested we just spend Halloween separately, but Nobara and Nanako shot that down; they’re really stubborn about the six of us doing something together. Must be the–Uh–Peer loyalty?”
Toge looked at him, tilting his head curiously, but Yūji played it off. He didn’t know if the second years knew about the packbond or if he was allowed to mention it to them. All he knew was that even though Suguru and Satoru were their teachers last year, they didn’t suggest packbonding with them because neither Maki nor Panda could do it.
“It’s fine. I’m sure we’ll figure something out before next week.”
The other was quiet for a minute as he thought before he pulled out his phone to type something, showing Yūji once he was done.
“Sendai? Hm....I don’t know if Sendai has any Halloween events; Ojīsan wasn’t really big on crowds, you know? We celebrated holidays at home. I could check, though.”
“Tuna mayo.”
“Hey! Toge!” He and Toge looked back at Maki. “Come on; we’re going shopping for our costumes.”
“Salmon!”
Toge gave a thumbs up to encourage him to keep working on a solution for him and his peers before he got up and left with Maki. Yūji got out his phone to search for any events happening in Sendai that he might be able to suggest. He did find a festival hosted by Sugisawa High School that included class-run events and exhibits as well as a costume contest. It was fairly new, only implemented in the last couple years, but had become a popular and highly anticipated event in that short time. Yūji smiled as he stood, not looking up from his phone as he made his way to the bedrooms. This led to him not noticing Satoru blocking his way, bumping right into him.
“Oh. Gojō-sensei, hey. Sorry.”
“No worries, Itadori-kun,” Satoru said. “What’re you up to?”
“I was going to find everyone to see if they want to go to Sendai for Halloween.”
“Sendai, huh?”
“Yeah. See? Sugisawa High hosts a pretty big festival on Halloween. Cool, huh?”
Satoru read through the page on Yūji’s phone, smiling idly the entire time. Then his smile broadened.
“Well, how convenient!” he exclaimed. Yūji tilted his head. “Suguru said he thinks it’ll be fine to start sending you out on field missions again; you’ve gotten much better at controlling your cursed energy and you apparently landed a punch on him? Congrats! Pretty impressive getting that far with my bondmate.”
“Thanks, Gojō-sensei! Does that mean you’re sending me out soon?”
“Mhm! We were going to send you to Sendai this weekend with Megumi and Mimiko to tackle the field mission you should’ve been assigned to last month. It just so happens Sugisawa High is where you’ll be heading. If the others agree, you guys can just take out those pesky curses while you enjoy the festival.”
Yūji thought.
“...Won’t that be too risky with everyone there?”
“Nah. Sugisawa’s curse population are all small fry that aren’t even a threat to non-sorcerers; there’s just a lot of them. Between the six of you and the shikigami, getting rid of them discreetly shouldn’t be a problem. Besides, since it’s an official field mission, you’ll have a supervisor. Though, it breaks my heart to say it won’t be me or Suguru; we’ve got our own plans for Halloween.”
“Oh. So, it’ll be Nanami-san?”
“That’s right! Man, he’s going to be so pissy that he’s being sent to a festival! I can’t wait to tell him!”
“Might.” Satoru looked at him. “I haven’t even talked to the others about going to Sendai next week yet. He might be sent to a festival.”
Satoru puffed his cheeks in an exaggerated childish way at the possibility of his fun being intercepted, but it didn’t last long.
“Well, I have full faith in your ability to get everyone on board, Itadori-kun!”
“Yeah, yeah....I’ll try my best, Gojō-sensei.”
“Ha! Just remember to text me with their decision, yeah?”
Yūji let Satoru ruffle his hair before taking the cheap lollipop that his teacher bought in bulk and kept in his pocket in case his sweet tooth acted up at an inconvenient time.
“I will, Sensei!”
“See you tomorrow, Itadori-kun.”
“Okay!”
It was only after Satoru was gone and Yūji had gone to see the twins and Megumi about the possible change of plans that he fully realized what his teacher had said. It took until after he’d talked to Nobara to understand that meant he was probably going to be sparring with Satoru instead of Suguru. He wouldn’t normally be worried, but considering Satoru had gone out of his way to congratulate him for landing a punch on Suguru, he could only assume he wouldn’t be going as easy on Yūji as he did before the detention center.
“Hey, Sukuna, how badly do you want to fight Gojō-sensei?”
“Not enough to interfere with your training.”
“You’re a jerk.”
“Hm.”