Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

I wrote this fanfic for myself. The characters may not be cannon accurate. The situations may be unrealistic. I just wanted to save these two idiots that were not able to save themselves. Of course I included a bit of gratuitous self insert relationship with them as well. This is my fanfic after all. I'm a hopeless otaku from the 2000's era, and this fic does reflect that in the use of names and honorifics.

I've never posted on AO3 before, and don't personally like when there are too many tags on a single story. Though I do understand they are necessary, and if you think I should add a tag I will take it into consideration.

At this time I have several chapters written out, however I may need to make adjustments. This opening chapter is for the errata, and may contain story spoilers.

For now the plan is to post the story at a rate of One Chapter every Two Weeks on Thursdays. I will edit here if that times table changes.

Megumi's mother is a Fushiguro in this fanfic for ease of character identification. I already made up her first name, I'm not trying to make up the whole name.

As this is a fan fiction of Jujutsu Kaisen I do not care if you take inspiration from, draw, share, or translate this story, so long as you are not making a profit as this IP is not ours. There will be references to various media through the story as well, and I'll try and leave footnotes at those times. Such as games and doujinshis.

Explicit Chapters will be marked as such in their chapter title

Now that we've gotten a little into the story, I wanted to share a Pinterest Board I made for Setsuka's Photo Albums.

> Additions to Introduction Chapter as of 9 February 2026
> Changed 'she' to 'he' mistake when referring to Toji in Fushiguro Chapter as of 12 February 2026
> Removed possible scam comment March 2026
> Added Setsuka's Album Pinterest Board Link 11 April 2026

Chapter Text

On December 7th, 1989 Satoru Gojo was born and the balance of the world was changed.

However only a few months prior, on October 13th of the same year, a girl was born who would change the course of this story. Born with a vivid memory of an American woman born at the same time and date as herself in another world. That woman's life, and even the anime that took inspiration from this parallel universe. Jujutsu Kaisen.

Setsuka Minamoto (written as Snow Song) was not born an average child, born with the cursed technique to perceive Echoes of the Future of the Future she would know a person's response to her before they would. Coupled with the memories of a woman that had lived and died in America, she did not act like other children at all. Remaining silent for most of her childhood with her raven black hair and dark brown eyes that people would often describe as black mirrors she was considered a creepy child. Bullied by adults and children alike.

At five years old she was sold off to the main clan to participate in their Jujutsu Training. It was when she saw a boy with pale white hair and dazzling blue eyes sitting alone in the park that she knew where she was and who he was. Satoru Gojo was not her favorite character, not even her second favorite character in the show. Yet she would be damned if she let him go through the same fated story as what happened in the Hidden Inventory and Main Line of the series. Certainly a Jujutsu Sorcerer's death would not be kind, or pretty, or normal by any means. Yet if there was something she could do about it, some way she could help best friends stay together, she wanted to give it a shot.

"Hey, want to play?" She asked in a soft voice, one that mostly went unused on any of her family. People she didn't see worth asking questions or talking to. She already knew Gojo's answer. Could see his face and hear his voice going at the same time as she could see and hear what was happening right now. She wondered if the influx of information was anything like having the six eyes.

"Un!" Gojo said with a bright face as he nearly fell out of the swing to gather up with toys he'd brought with him. Setsuka smiled and felt her tiny shoulders drop a little as she saw him pick up the toys that he probably often played alone in order to show her and share with her. She lamented how she had to do her best to organize the things she saw and heard and felt. If his hand had touched her arm yet. If he'd said that line yet.

"Stop!" She shouted before covering her mouth with her hands and looking at the startled child in front of her. She knit her brows and shook her head "Not you, I sowwy...." She said with no small hint of embarrassment at her own childish words. Not only did this body move different than what she had wanted, too she was still learning the language. "Too much, I see you now an you later an it hurts my head..... 'sokay if I answer before you ask?"

Gojo looked at the girl with big blue eyes that seemed as if he could see through her soul, eyes that saw too much and knew too much. Not unlike her own. "Yeah." he said and waited a moment.

The girl introduced herself with the wrong name at first, far too used to that name she held back in America. To anyone walking by it seemed she was having a conversation with herself, simply talking and answering unasked questions as the blue-eyed young boy stared at her so intently. Yet both of them knew otherwise.

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"Satowu!" Setsuka called happily as she met up with him again. It had become normal for the pair to meet and play games while the other children seemed to prefer to keep their distance from the two. Having been told they were weird by their parents. Special was perhaps the word used, but they knew only that those kids were not like them and should not be played with. Leaving the playground nearly empty whenever either of them arrived.

Upon seeing his friend Satoru seemed to skip over to her so that he could grab onto her sleeve and peer into her dark eyes. Tilting his head he did not speak before Setsuka was answering him. Something both of the children had become used to doing.

"Mhmm. I'm good. Oh? Yeah, it's okay if you want to be a stay home husband. Mhmm. Leave it to me! I can make real good a house." Setsuka said as she thumped a hand proudly on her chest. Taking hold of the hand he initially gripped onto her sleeve with. Pulling him along with her to play house, as he had asked. Pretending to return home with stories of defeating curses to her caring house husband. Satoru clapping and cheering at her reenactments. Treating some of the toys they had both brought with them as if they were children and pets that the two of them would have to care for.

With only the two of them, they would have to be a bit more creative with the games that they played. Usually if they were sitting around or moving from one place to the other, Satoru would hold onto a piece of Setsuka's clothing. Though Setsuka would take full hold of his hand or wrap him up in a hug, as much as her small arms could. The white haired young child too started to show more affection for his friend. Trying to sneak up on her and tickle her sides, they would try and beat out each other's perceptions. Despite his overpowered title, Setsuka found her eyes to be able to match his when it came to trying to play ninja assassin.

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Between their own types of family training, the two children would do their best to meet up and play games. After months of playing together Satoru Gojo was able to beat out Setsuka's ability to see into the future and surprise her at times. Though she supposed that was just how things worked after all the praise and build up that went into his character in the anime, though she regretted letting him pull ahead of her. Sometimes Setsuka would stare a little too hard at his abdomen, knowing what was to come in a couple of decades. She did not lie to him. In fact she did her best not to lie to anyone, not from some moral compass but because it was a hassle to remember the lies. She already had too much to try and remember, things she wanted to change.

Telling Satoru that she was actually a middle aged woman from America that had watched him as an Anime character proved to be easy. Though she realized she had already started forgetting pieces of her old life. She thought his six eyes could tell him that something was off with her to begin with, or maybe they could tell him she was speaking the truth. How much information they gave, she could not be certain. Enough that most people would be unable to move with the flood of information at the least. As she told him only the child friendly parts of the anime, she began to realize pieces had started to fall away. Memories had begun to wane with the time spent in this body and with all the new information and language forming in her small mind. Her physical brain was still that of a child’s after all.

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It took over a year before the Gojo Clan cared that someone was hanging around their heir. Some cowardly child that did not speak had managed to stay around Satoru without fear. They started to keep Satoru longer, and gave him more things to do rather than let him meet and play with Setsuka. The girl watched just as Satoru did. Both children with creepy eyes that watched too closely and knew too much. They did not want these two together. Satoru was to be a tool for the clan, for Jujutsu society. He did not need time with others.

Setsuka had already become used to punishments from not speaking to adults in the first place, so she began to sneak out to see her friend. These two years together had reinforced her care for him. No longer an anime character that was maybe third place, but now her best friend in this whole messed up world. She learned long ago she had more freedom than he did. It was far easier for her to sneak out of her home, where people cared little for the small girl, and into the Gojo clan's main estate. The young girl had grown cocky with her special powers, forgetting how those around her held abilities that far exceeded her own. Sneaking past guards as she viewed their Echos of the Future. Climbing into Satoru's room at least once a week for them to spend time together. Telling stories, playing games. Whatever they did, the two tried to do quietly so that the adults would not find out.

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The pair of them called each other's names at the same time, looking towards the door. Setsuka hid inside of the closet and covered her mouth just in case her breath gave her away. One of the Gojo clan members that often looked after Satoru stepped into the room and looked around. "She's been here again hasn't she? Didn't we tell you that you don't need her? That she's only trying to get close to you for your power and family? A weakling like her isn't suited to be on Gojo Family grounds." he said. The girl in question was doing her best to hide her cursed energy, and keep calm so that it would not spill out and give her away. Though the comments did make her mad, it was nothing compared to what happened next. The adult struck Satoru across the head with a bokken, a wooden practice sword. Satoru had been knocked to the ground, unable to control limitless in his small body just yet. "Come on. You know the price for allowing that monkey to hang around. Meet me in the training room."

"Yes sir." The boy said softly as he picked up his tiny body from the ground and followed the man out, his brilliant blue eyes found Setsuka's eyes for a moment. Two possibilities appeared to her, Satoru screaming at her to run away and keep herself safe. Another one was Satoru saying ‘see you next time’. How had he come to be able to manipulate her own cursed technique like that? Setsuka kept as calm as she could, knowing well that she was only a tiny girl without the strength to defend herself, much less her friend.

Slowly the door closed behind Satoru as he and his attendants left. Waiting and counting the steps as they paced down the hallway, Setsuka didn't unclasp her mouth until she knew they were far enough away. Balling her small hands into fists against the floor. Trying to reign her fury in and not let it overwhelm her, though with the emotional stability of a child she could hardly keep tears of anger from falling to the floor. Satoru Gojo was still just a child. She could not abide by them hurting a child, and not for her sake. She was an adult, at least in spirit, so she was the one that had to do something to protect him.

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It took her some time before Setsuka was able to muster up the courage to sneak back into the Gojo estate and see her friend again. Yet she knew she had to. Upon meeting again she did not wear the same bright smile she often wore on a successful entry mission. This time she looked quite serious, even as Satoru himself was just as ecstatic as he always had been.

"I thought you might really not come back." He said, the whites of his eyes red as if he was crying often lately.

"You might be right." Setsuka said softly, opening her arms up to give him a hug in greeting. An invitation the young boy gladly took. "I don't like it Satou. I don't like you being hurt."

"But you get hurt too?" He said, squeezing her tightly. Afraid to let go. Though the fact he had figured out that she was being hurt and she did not know he was being hurt weighed on her small chest.

"I know. I get hurt for being your friend, and I was okay with that. I'm not okay with you being hurt to be my friend...." she said softly, wondering if Satoru really thought it was okay for them both to be hurt over their friendship.

"I don't care!" Satoru said selfishly, clinging to his friend.

"I do, silly." Setsuka said on the verge of tears, recalling how kind the young boy was. Not simply in the anime, but the one standing in front of her now. "I'm going to get stronger. Stronger so they can't hurt me anymore, and that they won't be upset by me being by your side. Until then…"

The blue eyed boy leaned back enough to look at her with his blue eyes, the corners still red with tears and grief. He did not argue again though, biting back the urge to tell her no. To tell her to stay with him, even if they both got hurt it was better than being alone. Satoru did not make another selfish request of her, and that made the girl knit her brows. Gently poking him at the bridge between his eyebrows and forcing him to close those dazzling eyes and whine pitifully. "It's okay. Be a little silly, an selfish. Do the things you want. When you or me get strong enough, we can find the other one and protect them. When we do that, and I see you again... I want you to be Satoru Gojo. Not a tool. Not a shadow of yourself. I want you to be who you want and do what you want. Okay?"

Chapter Text

'Toji Fushiguro. When did he pick up that name?' Setsuka thought to herself as she tapped on a notebook with her favorite pen. 'Megumi was born in 2002, so probably only a bit before that at best. That is if Fushiguro was his first wife’s name and not his second wife's name. So he'd definitely still be Zen'in.' The young girl had written everything she remembered out in English into a small notebook she kept on her person at all times. She did not want anyone else to get a hold of it. Wrapping it in plastic wrap from the kitchen and keeping it in her shirt.

Setsuka Minamoto went to find Toji Zen'in. She did not know when exactly he left the clan, when he was tossed into that room of demons and made it out alive. So her first step was towards that clan, to see if he was still there. How funny it is to just walk around the estate and gather information without asking a single question. Not directly at least. She could see the future of what would happen to each person if she asked them the question. Burning through her cursed technique purposefully and constantly was always tiring, but she was getting better at it. She could perceive just a little bit further out now. Seconds matter a lot in a fight, and those seconds saved her life.

Setsuka could feel the blade in her body before it struck. Could see her small form fall forward from third and first person perspectives before it happened. Yet so young, so under trained, could she move in time? She did. The blade cut her shoulder, but it struck the cement instead of through the center of her small back. Her senses were on fire. How many possibilities? How many lead to death? Not one? Somehow after the first miss, none of the other possibilities lead to death. Yet she could not see very far into the future and even if it wasn't immediate, perhaps just a few more seconds.

"Oh?" Came a familiar and nonchalant voice behind her. "You dodged that? Hmm, what did that old man say? If it's interesting, play with it a bit?" Zen'in's smile was still sinister, even as a teenager it seemed.

"Toji Zen'in. How lucky. Good or bad, I don't know, but it's some kind of luck I'm sure." Setsuka said with a nervous little smile. He's fast, and smart. He could beat Satoru with a bit of planning and resources. "Zen'in-san, teach me how to fight." she said boldly as she could manage.

Zen'in was scratching his stomach lethargically as he watched the child try and look confident on her small shaking legs. Like a cornered frightened animal. "Yeah, I could do that." It was here that the paths diverged. One said she had to hit him, another said that she had to survive. It didn't matter which was the one he was planning on saying, somehow she'd have to push him to be the first option.

Setsuka grabbed the blade that had gotten planted into the cement. There was no world in which she was a true threat to Toji Zen'in, and especially not in the body of an eight year old. So there was no need to try and hold back. "Only if I manage to cut you, right?" She said before he could really finish his thought process. Moving towards him at the same time, as fast as her small body would move. She supposed the lack luster training she had been forced into did at least a little bit for her.

She was so slow compared to Zen'in. So small. So weak. Yet she knew how to roll with a hit instead of taking it full on. She could see the paths he would swing from before he started, he was too fast and could easily correct his trajectory in the time it took her to react. Setsuka tried to see his movements further into the future. Tried to see where he'd be so she could hit him. It all seemed so worthless. She should have perhaps done a bit more before in the training. Should have tried harder before. Zen'in was not even fighting, but seemed to laugh at her with his eyes as he dodged easily. A casual swing of his fist or leg was more than enough to send her flying. Her small thin frame tumbled over itself, but she could not let it stop at that. She had to get up immediately, she had to prove she could. He was obviously just toying with her, a really terrible pastime. Yet if she could get him to teach her, she could use what little cursed energy she had in this body to catch up to Satoru. She knew that in this world twins were not a good birth for Sorcerers. She had figured that the version of her that had been born to live in America in another world was likely to be taking from her in the same way any other Sorcerer twin would. Setsuka pursed her lips and clicked her tongue in annoyance at her own circumstances.

Zen'in swung down another fist, slow and deliberate as he had been doing this whole little exchange. Wondering why this child would come to see something as useless and disgraceful as himself. She seemed to have some kind of technique, so she was not useless in the world of Jujutsu Sorcerers. Surely she would have been kept and protected if she had just stayed with her own clan. So why?

Setsuka did not dodge the blow as she had been, instead positioning the knife between herself and Zen'in at the last moment. Making him stab himself on the blade as she was thrown to the side from the full brunt of the hit. Her head bleeding, barely conscious, she looked at the blade hoping to see some kind of proof she had formally cut him. "Did I get you Zen'in-san? Or... can I call you Zen'in-sensei?"

A prick at best, but Zen'in supposed it was enough of a hit to let the kid off with her life at least. Waving her away with the same arm that was just stabbed. "No. Go on home and don't wander around here anymore."

A letter was handed to Toji Zen'in and when he opened it there was a child’s handwriting and little chibi faces in the corners waiting for him. If she could do this then why did she not just write to him to begin with. Glancing over the letter the man sighed and groaned. She told the Zen'in clan leader about the little agreement, and he found it hilarious enough to actually agree with the girl. Zen'in could not help but think of how he should have just killed her. It would have just been another day. "Maybe this’ll be interesting." he found himself saying aloud, his tone far softer than most would recall.

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"Come on kid, you asked for this." Zen'in barked out as Setsuka continued to do push ups with his feet resting on her back. The man himself looking through the papers for which of the horses he should bet on at the track. The girl seemed to have at least some use. "One, two, or three kid?" He was about to ask with a red marker in his hand.

"Ugh.... three?" Setsuka replied, apparently her own luck was far better at the race track than his. Though she should not be surprised. Toji Zen'in was known for loosing money on gambling.

Zen'in wrinkled his nose, it was creepy how she answered him before he asked. "Three..." he said with a hum. Not really sure of her guess on that particular horse, she had been wrong before. Yet he removed his feet and set a stack of books on her back instead. "Do another ten sets, and finish reading those before I get back." The man said before leaving her to go and do his own thing.

Setsuka should have known he would not take teaching her seriously. He never checked to see if she actually did anything he told her to, and did not seem to care. Yet she was earnestly doing her best, and it pissed her off.

After what felt like forever she finished the push ups, the girl let herself fall face first into the ground. Catching the books from falling off into the dirt, and gently setting them to the side. Staying face down for more than just a couple minutes. Eventually rolling to one side to try and ease herself up off the ground with her shaky arms so she could read the books as instructed.

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"Toji-sensei." The ten year old Setsuka said angrily as she knocked his feet off the coffee table with a broom. "No shoes in the house! I told you before, it's a pain to clean up!" The girl said with a huff, having gotten the okay to use his first name because she never knew when he might choose to leave the Zen'in clan.

"This is my house. I gave you the key to house sit while I'm on missions, not so you could take over." Toji said with a little annoyance in his voice, but he obediently took off his shoes and set them by the entrance. The man had not even planned to get a house for himself, but Setsuka had been getting into fights at the Zen'in house whenever someone spoke badly of him. Which was often. Not to mention his habit of staying at whatever woman's house that picked him up for the night was not something healthy for her. She had not grown nearly as much as he thought she would over the past two years. She was already scrawny for someone her age. What was her family feeding her?

"Too bad, I'm here more than you so it's mine now. Possession is 9/10ths of the law." She huffed. The girl was getting better at keeping conversations at a more regular rate. Better able to tell the difference between the Echoes of the Future and reality as time went on. The books and training that Toji had given her actually proved to be useful. She found out he spent a lot of time trying to figure out what could be good for his student, far more attentive and responsible than she had initially assumed.

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"Hey, scram kid." Toji said before even seeing that Setsuka was there "You don't have to go home, but get the hell out of here." He said with a little glance around before his eyes settled on Setsuka who already had her shoes and bag in her hands.

"Remember to use protection Toji-sensei." the preteen said with a wave of her small hand. Her muscles were well defined by now, though too she was just as well fed as she made sure that Toji was. It was about time for him to meet Megumi's mom she supposed. The girl thought perhaps she should just go back home. Toji had not noticed, but she had moved into the house. There was a week's worth of clothes in her bag, and that was all she needed.

The Minamoto Estate might as well have been a stranger's house when she returned to that small room that had been set aside for her. It was supposed to be her room, but there were boxes and cleaning supplies stored there during the time she had been avoiding it. Still she could only assume a roof over her head was better than nothing for a twelve year old. She did not realize how much resentment for her had built up while gone to stay with Toji.

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"There you are."

Setsuka was sitting on a swing at the park she'd first met Satoru, yet the one that came to greet her was not that old friend. "Yo, Toji-sensei." She would go find him for training, but otherwise over the past couple months he never sought her out.

Toji Zen'in gripped onto the chain of the swing set as he leaned down to get a better look at her, the man would never have moved to find her himself. Not normally. Not when he thought nothing in his life was worth keeping around. "Tatsuki-"

"You talked about me?" Setsuka asked with a blink, forgetting to let him finish his sentence before asking her own question. Especially considering the physical place they were at the moment. The young girl flushed and kicked a bit at the dirt. "Sorry. I.... know... I mean, there was a future I saw when I was little. One where you met Fushiguro-san, and took her name."

"I remember, you didn't tell me her name but you were adamant I'd find someone." Toji said with a little smirk, standing up as he too lifted the chain to spill Setsuka from her seat. Though she wasn't startled. That little question about him talking about her was the most surprised he'd seen her in years. "Come on kid." he said with a bit of softness to his tone.

"Toji-sensei." Setsuka spoke barely above a whisper "Do I... should I try and change your future?" The girl did not look up at him. Originally she was just going to use him to get stronger and protect Satoru's heart. Yet once again she found herself far closer to someone than she ever had been watching the anime. Feeling the tight squeeze in her chest at the thought of him dying not once but twice.

Toji leaned back and rubbed the side of his head in thought "I guess that's up to you kid? I don't care about what's going to happen to me."

"And.... to Fushiguro-san?" Setsuka asked as she looked to Toji with those chilling black eyes that knew far too much.

"If it happens, it happens. I lived before her, I'll live after her." was his reply, and Setsuka didn't know if he really meant that, or if it was the defense mechanism he'd learned. To never speak fondly of someone or something, or else it would be taken away.

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"Ehhhhh, this cute girl is your apprentice?" Fushiguro said as she looked at the girl that seemed so tiny compared to Toji. Having expected someone that was far more like a teenage version of himself. He hadn't even told her she was a girl. Though Setsuka had been around sorcerers enough to see that the woman’s eyes traced over her in evaluation. It made her stiffen.

"Y...yeah. I guess?" She said, looking at Toji who was already taking his shoes off at the entrance. Setsuka's eyes narrowed in annoyance. He never did that without making a fuss whenever she had asked him to.

The three of them sat down and talked about little things. The conversation was weird and long for Setsuka. She'd gotten used to conversations, but those were conversations with Toji. He hardly spoke, or asked personal questions. There was something nice about talking to Fushiguro though, and it did not take Setsuka long to realize that the woman was fine with letting her answer questions before they were asked. Not unlike how she had befriended Satoru.

Setsuka would end her elementary school career with the Fushiguro's at her graduation. Staying at their home whenever possible, even over night. It was no different to how she had been spending the years before, except that Tatsuki was there in the house. Letting Toji too realize that Setsuka had not gone home if at all possible. That the time he had kicked her out, and she was forced to stay home with her family, she had lost weight. Gained a few new habits when the door opened as well. Though it faded when she stayed with them in that house again.

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Toji Fushiguro looked at his hand, offended as it trembled in the dark. Clenching it into a fist, he took a couple practice swings at the air. He bounced in place and shook his arms down at his sides to try and get the thoughts from his head and simply let his body move as it was supposed to. Setsuka was getting better. Stronger. He still did not understand why she came for him. Why she had trusted him enough to make a promise about someone she was willing to get herself killed to protect. She was a good kid and he believed himself to be nothing at all. Nothing of worth. Toji used a speed bag to try and get all the jitters out of his arms. Yet it seemed to only make things worse. His chest tightened. His shoulders felt cold. A weight felt like it stacked on his back. More and more until he sank to the ground drenched in sweat. Eyes wide as he stared at the sweat dripping off him. This was nothing. This amount could not even be considered a work out for him, and yet with the weight on his back and the heaviness in his chest he could not pick himself up.

"Toji, sweetheart. Why are you awake?" Came a soft, affectionate tone that seemed to cut through the ringing in Toji's ears.

"Tatsuki. Sorry baby, did I wake you?" He said as he lifted a shaking hand to her cheek as she knelt next to his side.

The woman looked into those familiar eyes and shook her head before leaning her face into his palm "Not at all." Her soft fingers grazed over his knuckles while she peered at him with leaf green eyes. "I just want to be where you are right now."

Toji chuckled softly as he shifted to sit back on his heels and free both of his arms to be able to pull his wife into a hug. Tatsuki could feel the subtle tremble of his arms and the way he seemed to slowly sink into the affection she offered him. His body shaking more as he felt the safety of her presence around him. Holding him in whatever way he wanted, Tatsuki started to sing an affectionate lullaby.

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"Does your husband know you're out here at night." Toji said as he loomed over Tatsuki, his voice low and threatening.

"Don't do that!" Tatsuki said as she jabbed Toji in the stomach with one of her hands full of groceries. "You surprised me!"

Toji bent at the waist as if her hit had hurt him, wrapping a hand around the bags she had punched into his stomach and pulling them gently from her grip. "That's the point, you never even noticed I walked up behind you. Next time bring Setsuka."

"No, she has homework." Tastuki said as she held onto the other hand's worth of groceries as Toji had taken the others out of her grasp. Yet those too did not stay in her grip for very long as Toji distracted her with a soft kiss, as if he feared anything more would hurt her. All the bags were easily in his grip when they parted again. "Toji, give me those back."

Toji held the groceries high over her head as she leaned into his chest and stood on her tip toes to try and grab them from him as he did from her. Jabbing him again in his side when he did not give them over, yet this time he did not fake a double over. "No." The man said as he gave her another peck, this time on the cheek, while she was half trying to climb up his torso. Thoroughly enjoying himself. "Let's get back to the kid. You have stuff for dinner in here, right?"

"Yes." Tatsuki said with a sigh as she planted her feet back on the ground. She had been in martial arts most of her life, but Toji and Setsuka were simply trained differently. It worried her sometimes. "She mentioned wanting hot pot."

"Oh? Weird. She never wants anything." Toji said without much emotion.

"Exactly!" Tatsuki said with excitement in her tone. "She's so reluctant to mention anything like that unless it's for someone else. That's why I had to go out immediately and get some ingredients."

"Does that mean if I tell you I want you for dessert you'll come for me?" Toji whispered in a soft, rough tone. His lips curled into a sinister smirk.

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In a dark part of Toji's training room Setsuka sat curled into a tight, anxious little ball. Her breathing was harsh. Her heartbeat was too fast. Her mind would not stop running over the way her father called her useless and worthless. How her existence was not a part of the original story. That perhaps her involvement would mean the deaths of far more people, or even a worse life for those she cared about. The blood rushing in her ears drowned out the footsteps that drew closer to her.

"Setsuka-chan?" Came a soft and all too familiar voice, though it startled Setsuka and her fists came up defensively. Fushiguro put a hand on those small fists and pushed them down. "When I first heard about you, I thought you'd be a mini Toji. Looks like I was right. This is the same place I found him when he was having a panic attack.

"Toji-sensei.... had a panic attack?" Setsuka asked with a bit of disbelief. Enough to get her guard to momentarily quiver.

"That's right. You both weren't treated very well by that society of yours." She said, a hint of anger in that caring tone. The woman gently guiding the girl to lay on the ground and set her head in her lap. "You and Toji are far too kind for that place."

Setsuka knit her brow. Based on the echos she knew it would be fruitless to argue, but she could not see at all how either of them could be considered kind. Though as she was quiet, and contemplating, her mind falling out of the vicious cycle it had been in only a moment ago, Fushiguro started to sing. Something soft and rhythmic. Like a lullaby. The girl listened, let her mind focus on the song instead of her deepening desire to apologize for her very existence. As the song repeated, Setsuka pulled her phone out and messed around with it before showing the record feature to Fushiguro. The woman laughed and pushed the record button herself before she restarted the song. If she died, as she did in the anime, Setsuka wanted to have something left of her for Toji to cling to.

---------

"Tatsuki-oneechan!" Setsuka called out as she carried several bags into the house "Are you ready for Christmas Eve?" She called with warmth and perhaps a little hint of a stuffed nose.

"Setsuka-chan?" The woman said with a bit of a surprise. "What's all this?" she laughed as she helped Setsuka with all the things in her arms.

"It's Christmas, so I got you guys Christmas presents. You're my family more than my blood relatives after all." She said with a warm silly look on her face. "I've been working part time-"

"You're not old enough for that." The adult said firmly. Wondering not only how Setsuka has managed to find a job, but who would have hired an Elementary School student in the first place.

"Uh..." Setsuka had been helping Toji with some of his work when she was able to, it was good training and good money. He had stopped taking the really villainous and sketchy jobs as often anyway. "I was just helping a friend with some of the work they do for their family." She said, which was technically not a lie.

Tatsuki sighed in frustration, but let it go for now. Setsuka did keep her grades up as well as the training she and Toji had been doing. Though she wanted the girl to just be a normal student, to play with friends and eat too much junk food. "So, what's this about?" she said as she gestured to the bags.

"Christmas presents?" Setsuka said with a little tilt of her head "I usually just get one for Toji-sensei, but now I have you to give gifts too. Then when..." Setsuka had to shut herself up before she mentioned getting Megumi presents when he was born. "You know, if I have any more... family types of people, I'll be able to get them presents too."

The Japanese woman found herself a bit confused with the way the young child and her husband seemed to celebrate Christmas Eve. Asking her a bit more about it, and how it seemed that Toji was always on the receiving end of the gift exchange. Talking to her about the ways she normally celebrated Christmas Eve, and how many others often likened it to a holiday between people in love. Setsuka admitting with a soft huff that she did love Toji and Tatsuki. The adult gave up in the face of Setsuka's genuine affection for them, accepting that she would simply have to wait until Valentine's Day for her romantic getaways.

When Toji came home he seemed very comfortable with the giving of gifts, seeming to have never tried to correct the young girl on her view of the holiday in all their time together.

---------

Setsuka was strong enough now, at least she thought it might be time to seek out Satoru and let him know she would never be bullied or let him be bullied again. It had been so long. Yet, she wanted to help Tatsuki Fushiguro first. Making sure she ate well. That she was healthy. The story never said how she passed away, so instead Setsuka did everything to try and prepare for any possibility. The soon to be middle school student apologized softly to Satoru, hoping the wind might carry it to him. She stayed with the Fushiguro's. She was getting way too attached to too many people in this world. A world she was never meant to be born into, because a character of her name never appeared in the anime.

Megumi Fushiguro would be born the same year that Setsuka and Satoru started middle school. His mother would pass away before they started High School. That's what Setsuka knew, and she had to do her best to keep an eye out for this woman. She would meet Satoru in High School. That was her plan, to get into the same class as he was. It should have been easy, but her family seemed to have grown to hate the cursed child that never seemed to develop an innate curse technique. Instead just staring with those black voids in her eyes.

The young girl spoke and sang the lullaby she had learned from Tatsuki's to her belly as it started to grow. Telling Megumi stories of his father and mother even before his ears fully formed. Making his mother laugh at times with tales of the philandering, gambling Toji.

---------

The smell of blood hit Setsuka before she was close enough to really smell it. Her feet striking the pavement as she ran home from her classes. Faster. Faster. She told her legs to move. Trained by Toji, but still nowhere near as fast as he was. She cursed herself for going to classes and being a normal kid, like Tatsuki wanted for her. The door didn't stop her. She kicked it off its hinges as she could see who was there before they saw her. She could see their blade before they even heard her footsteps.

The door had not hit ground yet when she leaned forward to push off of it and took the sword that the man held. The man was surprised by the speed, and efficiency as she drew his own blade across his belly. He was definitely not a Jujutsu sorcerer, so Setsuka should normally not hurt him. Yet if she could make it look like he tried to commit sepuuku after what he did. Perhaps it would be okay. She knew how he would answer her questions. She jammed her hand into his mouth to keep him from biting his tongue off. Not yet. He had a phone. Her hands were shaking as she widened her eyes so that she would not blink and miss anything. Password successful. Found the texts, the emails. Zen'in. She took screen shots and forwarded the emails to Toji before pocketing the phone. Only after she had all she needed did she yank the man's tongue and slam her knee into his chin to make him bite it off. He would not understand why she stopped him just to let him do so a few minutes later. That she did not need him to tell her the information she wanted, only that she would need a future where it was possible.

"Tatsuki-oneechan?" she said as she took the time now to look over the woman. Though she could see no movement in her future at all. No breath. No heart beat. The girl fell to her knees and stared wide eyed as tears fell like rain down her cheeks. She would stare vacantly in front of her for an unknown amount of time. The light of day had dampened, and a crying toddler could be heard in the next room when she was finally able to get to her feet. Was there nothing she could do to change the future? She could not stop whatever happened to Megumi's mom, even though she was right there. Though she knew the future. It was after that when she heard Toji had cut ties with the Zen'in clan. That he emerged from a room that no one should have.

Toji adopted Setsuka. He paid the Minamoto clan for her, and took her as a Fushiguro. Yet she did not see him again after that, Toji had left the house and everything that needed to be taken care of to the young girl that had just finished Middle School. Picking up his old vices. Philandering. Gambling. The one time he did answer his phone he would scoff and tell her that her ability to see the future really was accurate. The words cutting her deeply.

Chapter Text

Satoru&Suguru Mission

Satoru Gojo was excited to go to high school. After all, he had been promised by a childhood friend that he would meet another good friend here at Tokyo Jujutsu High. Someone that he could share the title of strongest. Yet he was deeply disappointed to find only two choices from his own classmates. Surely she could not have been wrong, but perhaps she meant in high school and not necessarily that they would be in his class. These two were also people he would have to protect. Just like that friend of his, that he still needed to find. He knew he was more than strong enough now to protect her from being hurt again, but she had moved. He could not find even a record of her existence in the first place. It frustrated him. His family resources should be able to find anyone in the Jusjutsu world.

For their first mission Satoru Gojo and Suguru Geto were sent to subdue a curse in an old abandoned road tunnel. It was supposed to be something easy for the first years, easy enough that it bored Satoru to tears. Yawning he watched Geto swallow the cursed spirit he had turned into a small pokeball sized orb.

"What do those taste like?" Satoru asked out of curiosity, crouching at the top of the tunnel entrance to look down at Geto who was standing normally on the battered road.

"What do you care?" Geto asked, his face still a grimace from the awful taste of the curse. Like a dirty rag that had been used to clean up vomit and feces.

"I don't, but you've got me curious with that face you make." Satoru asked with an infuriating smile on his lips and a look of amusement in his eyes. Like a king looking down on a jester.

"I'll tell you when we aren't in the middle of a mission." The dark haired youth said as he turned on his heel to face an ugly looking curse, with nothing but a large maw for its face.

"Oh? I didn't peg you as a goody-two-shoes." Satoru said with a bit of amusement on his face, letting his sunglasses slip to the tip of his nose. "Looks like a Grade 1."

"Haa....Isn't that a little much for first year orientation?" Geto said from beside Satoru Gojo, the curse having stuck the ground where he had just been moments ago.

"Ha? You scared? Laaame." Satoru said as he made a face at Geto, holding his fingers up to activate his technique. "Weaklings like you can just hide behind me. Cursed Technique Reversal, Red Glow." There was a warm red glow, and then nothing. Satoru's sunglasses went crooked as the curse swung down on him.

"Gojo-san, you dumb-ass." Geto had grabbed Satoru Gojo to pull him away while the pair took to the skies with one of the flying type curses that would be able to carry two. "What was that technique you tried to use just now? Red Glow? You certainly take after your parents, naming something so useless."

Suguru Geto found his fingers forced to loosen the grip he had on his classmate, and his arm was farther back than he had meant it to be. As if the space between himself and Satoru Gojo had somehow lengthened artificially. 'Did he just repel me? Is that the rumored Limitless?' He thought to himself as he peered at the hand that had been tangled in cloth only a moment ago.

"Hey curtain bangs, if it's a fight you want I've got one right here!" Satoru yelled the childish insult at his dark haired classmate, making a rude gesture at the same time.

"Do you use Limitless manually?" Geto asked, doing his best to ignore the childish name calling. Though it did bother him a bit as he pushed his long bangs out of his face.

"Yeah, for now. What of it? I'll automate it soon enough" The white haired youth continued to yell, as if there was no cursed creature that was still below them while they argued without a care in the world.

"I guess that was the first and last time I could touch you, what a relief! I'll never have to touch you again." Geto said smugly before the cursed giant maw wrapped around him and he was swallowed up before Satoru's very eyes.

"What... he's... dead?" The young man questioned as he hovered himself in mid air, wondering if he could hope to protect anyone if this was the best he could do to protect his weak classmate. His wide blue eyes looking at the place Geto had once been. Though not for long as the curse that had just swallowed whole a Jujutsu Student would have its side burst open with dozens of wiggling centipede looking curses surrounding the young dark haired youth that tumbled out to the ground.

"Don't just declare me dead." Geto wiped the cursed blood from his face and let it splatter off to the side.

"Those bugs are disgusting." Satoru said as he made an ick face at the centipedes that now crawled on the ground around Geto. The curse screamed at the pair as it began to attack again.

Fighting was normal for a Jujutsu Sorcerer, having been trained from a young age both young men were able to imbue their hits with cursed energy. Satoru having a monstrous amount of reserve energy along with his innate techniques, eyes glowing as he used both Limitless and Six Eyes to find how and where was best to strike. Eyes wide and pupils like pin pricks as he actually had to focus and fight with what all his teen body could against this curse. Few times did he ever have the chance to go all out against anyone or anything. Grade 1 curses truly were something special.

As a young cocky teen, Satoru Gojo did not care much for if something came at him while he had activated limitless. So when the creature was making its death throws, already as good as dead, and put it's all into trying to at least one of them down with it. Satoru stood there without a care. Believing his limitless to be utterly perfect, and infallible. Yet Suguru Geto did not have that same belief.

"Why did you cover for me? I've got limitless!" Satoru demanded as he hovered over the badly injured Geto, uncertain of what to do and not make it worse. Geto laying in the dirt with his insides on the outside.

"Yeah and it could have failed, just like you failed that Red Glow thing earlier. Besides, my body just moved on its own." Geto said with a grimace. "What are you doing? Go get Ieiri-san, dumbass...." He said as his consciousness began to fade out.

---------

It was another day that Setsuka was staying in a small hotel room with Megumi, who was now officially her little brother. It was another day that Setsuka would tell Megumi that she was not certain when he could see his father again. It was another day that Setsuka had to remind Megumi that his mother was dead. It was another day that Setsuka had to tell Megumi he would not be able to meet her again. It was another day that Setsuka would have to remind herself that she had no one special. Yet again it was another day that Setsuka would cry quietly so that Megumi would not hear her.

The child was distraught often. Yet he could still smile and play, have fun and watch his shows. Setsuka could not shake the deep pain at her core. She had to stop Satoru from killing his best friend. She had to stop something. She had to get into Tokyo Jujutsu High. Yet she had known Megumi since he was a spark in his fathers eye, and she would do whatever it took to take care of him.

"Megumi-chan, please. Give me some time to finish this paper work. We can go to the park after I'm done." Setsuka told the child softly. Her voice tired, but caring.

"Megumi-chan. I really need to finish this test so I can get into the school I want." The teenager said, her emotions straining in her throat as the child had returned far too quickly.

"Megumi. Go play by yourself until I come get you." Flexing her fingers, she was trying so hard to not shout. To be calm. To be the adult she used to be. Yet her mind and body was that of a teenager. It was getting harder and harder to regulate her emotions.

"Your parents are gone. They've left you. I'm all you have right now and honestly? You're annoying me so much right now I may just abandon you too." Setsuka said in a cold tone. Still able to control her voice from rising to yell at the child, but she was no longer able to keep from saying hurtful words.

"No! Is you dey lefs!" Megumi shrieked back, clutching onto one of the only toys he was able to bring with him. "Not me!" The child ran to hide in the closet, as the hotel room itself had very few places for him to run away to.

Setsuka let the child run to the closet and returned to what she was working on. Even as she could hear his sobs of despair she felt only a shred of guilt at her own words. She did not like children. She did not even like humans. At least this way he was not bothering her in the middle of something important. Finishing what she had to do, and looking up to see that it had taken her until well after dinner to complete everything.

Now that she had the chance to complete her task, and her emotions had the time to calm, the words she said had finally come to reality. Her hands shaking as she looked at them, as if they had struck Megumi. The sun would not be up for much longer. She had told him she would take him out after she was done, not to mention they had not eaten dinner.

"Megumi-chan." The young teen said in a soft tone. Folding the papers to put into an envelope. "I'm sorry. I said really mean words that aren't true. You're right. It's my fault that your mom and dad aren't here now."

Carefully she approached the closet where Megumi was now playing, seeming to have gotten over the things that she had said before. Yet she knew kids could be more observant than they seemed. "Can you forgive your stupid Neenee?"

It seemed as though all was forgiven and forgotten, and Setsuka took him out for dinner and to the park as she had promised before. Yet those words had effected him more than she could see at first. He was more quiet. Playing by himself more, and easily bored with the things he did do. Nightmares came more often, so too did bed wetting. Setsuka had no one to blame but herself for letting her emotions get the best of her and hurt the only family she had.

---------

"Satoru, I'm tired of cleaning up after you. Come do your damn dishes." Geto said without hiding his frustration at the other teenager.

"Here." Satoru said as he pulled his wallet out and tossed some money on the table before returning to the game that he was playing.

"Ha?" Geto looked at the money a moment before grabbing Satoru by the collar and lifting him up off the floor. "I didn't say pay me for my time, I said clean up your mess."

"Like it really matters? If you don't want to do it, hire someone else with the money. I'm not going to." Satoru did not even look away from his game this time. Not until he felt himself lifted up by the collar of his shirt. "Eh?"

"You're not going to like the alternative." Geto promised as he felt the weight that was Satoru in his grip loosen. The other teen was floating and repelling Geto's hand as he had done before.

"Oh? You think you can make me regret something? Try it." Satoru said with a cocky grin, knowing that with his limitless there was no way for Geto to so much as touch him.

Geto looked at him with his head tilted down. "Turn limitless off." He said with a gesture.

"All talk? You can't do shit."

Geto sighed before the power was cut to the game console Satoru had been playing his games on.

"Nooooooo, I haven't saved for hours!!!" Satoru called as if he were in agony

"Do. Your. Damn. Dishes." Geto said as a cursed spirit behind him held onto a memory card and swallowed it.

"Alright! Alright!!" Satoru said as he raced off to the small kitchen, though he was clumsy at his attempt.

Geto watched him for only a few moments before he walked to the white haired teens side, seeing tears in the corners of his vibrant blue eyes. Someone so handsome, even crying, was not fair. Geto pointed out the dish soap to Satoru, and explained the process of washing dishes as well as the purpose behind each part. Satoru looked to Geto carefully while he was explaining, enough to make the dark haired young man become conscious of those wide curious eyes.

---------
August 2005

Trying to get Toji to stop his self-destructive attitude. Taking care of Megumi. Figuring out a way to get Megumi to be able to stay at the dorms with her. So much happened earlier this year that Sestuka was not able to get into her freshman year at Jujutsu High until half way through.

"Everyone please say hello to Setsuka Fushiguro." The teacher introduced, though the three students currently in the class did not seem too interested in their new classmate.

"Sato!" Setsuka said with a wave when she walked into class. "I'm back?" The teen said as she saw her old friend sitting there, his blue eyes on her the moment he heard her voice. Yet there was not a single echo that had him voice a greeting. "Sato? Satoru? Satoru-kun?" she said with increasing politeness, as her old friend had chosen not to utter a single word in reply or acknowledgment.

Finally he called her name as he stood up swift enough to knock his chair over. Infinity keeping it from clattering to the ground immediately, the name on his lips was certainly her own name but wrong. It was the name from the other life she lived in America. Whoops. "I'm actually used to being called Setsuka Fushiguro now." She said with a little laugh. Opening her arms to invite him into a hug, Satoru happily raced forward to squeeze her half to death.

"Where did you go! You weren't at your home anymore!" The teacher clapped his hands and told them to get their back into their own seats. "How was I supposed to find you if you changed your name!?" Satoru said as he seemed completely content ignoring the teacher, until Setsuka lifted him over her shoulder and moved him to his seat herself. "Oh shit!"

"We'll catch up later." She assured him as she fixed his chair upright and planted his ass back into it "I have a lot to tell you about." Once she'd gotten him into his seat the young woman too found her own to sit in for class.

---------

"Setsuka?" Satoru tilted his head to look at the young woman through the side of his sunglasses "Why did you choose that name?" He asked a bit curious. Walking alongside Geto and Setsuka as the latter led them back to where she was staying.

"That's the name I was born with here, I just wasn't all that used to someone using it when I first met you. Now... honestly I had forgotten about that name..." Setsuka said as she glanced to the side and gently knocked on the side of her head. A habit she'd picked up from Toji. "Yeah, yeah. Geto-san. I am a bit of a reincarnater or something like that." Setsuka said before Geto actually got the chance to open his mouth. The pair of them had dark hair that was half up, it could have been difficult to tell the difference between them from behind if not for the fact she was a whole foot shorter.

Setsuka could not stop Satoru from getting a few jabs in, as it seemed he had become even better at manipulating her own Echoes of the Future than she had been able to in all these years. "Fucking prodigy." She said with a roll of her eyes, explaining her technique to Geto a bit as they walked. Wondering if he too would be able to figure out whatever it was that Satoru had.

Once they arrived Setsuka stopped at the door to look at them. "Alright. So. Okay...." She had gone over this conversation in her head plenty of times, but somehow standing at the entrance of her room with Satoru and Geto felt so different and nerve wracking than she initially imagined.

Satoru clapped his hands "So eloquent, really. You've done a lot of growing up in our time apart."

"That's not nice, Satoru" Geto said with a smile. "Maybe she's taken a few too many knocks to the head since you've been apart."

"Haha. Thanks assholes." Setsuka said with a smile, her heart somehow felt a bit warmer with their teasing. "My little brother Megumi is inside, if you make him cry you'll pay. Say hi to him, and we're going to go to my room so I can put up a veil." Now that she had said it, and was looking at the young men in front of her, Setsuka became incredibly aware that they were all physically teenagers. Her breath hitched in her throat as she thought of just how bad this could look from an outside perspective.

Setsuka opened the door after her moment of crisis "Megumi." She called out in a sing-song voice. "I brought some friends today"

A dark haired 3 year old child was sitting at a table drawing, his hands stopping as soon as she entered. Eyes green like his mothers looked up at the people who entered. His small brow knit as he scooted off the chair to greet the new people politely. Looking skeptically at his sister. "You hab fwiens?"

"You brat." Setsuka whispered harshly under her breath, though the comment left Satoru and Geto laughing. Setsuka ushered the laughing jackals inside. The young woman explained briefly that Satoru was a friend from childhood and Geto was someone from her first class today. She led the teen boys to her room as tears of embarrassment gathered at the corners of her eyes. It felt so awkward to bring them there now that she was thinking about how it could be perceived.

"Emerge from the darkness, blacker than darkness. Purify that which is impure." Setsuka said in a soft tone as she let the dark inky curtain fall over the room and dampen the light from her windows. Satoru easily found a chair to sit incorrectly in, as Geto leaned on her desk. Half sitting on the edge.

"Satoru, did you learn English like I asked?" Setsuka asked, removing a small journal from inside of her shirt before he could even answer "Good, thanks." she said as he let her see his echo answer for him. Unwrapping the notes from the plastic she had kept them in to protect them from the weather as well as her own sweat. Handing it to Satoru. "I wrote everything I could remember down, just in case I forgot before we got to this point. High school seemed like such a long time away from when we were kids. So, Geto-san, to fill you in. This form was born at the same time as another me, I have all those memories including of an anime I watched called Jujutsu Kaisen. Setsuka Minamoto was not a character in that anime though, so it's up in the air how much has actually been changed by my meddling....." She said, thinking back to the fact she was unable to help keep Tatsuki from dying.

"Hey." Satoru said as he shook the notebook he had been skimming over "There's nothing about you in here." He said with a little frustration in his tone.

"Me? Oh. Why would I write that down? That life has little to do with this one, I just wrote about what was important." Setsuka said with a little tilt of her head, not sure of why Satoru would be upset.

"You." Satoru sighed dramatically as he spun the chair around, bumping into the desk and going a bit askew. "Don't you think your own life might be important? Your parents? Your friends? Your husband?" He said as he straddled the chair, hugging onto the backrest with a pout on his lips.

"Nothing really. That's a whole different world so the information there wouldn't be as useful here. Though I do try to keep up with the language I know, but that's because knowing English is pretty useful wherever you go nowadays." Setsuka replied, handing Satoru one of her plushies when he seemed to be upset. Not unlike what she would do with Megumi. The young man held onto the plush and rest his face against it. "I don't really get why you're upset, but I can assure you I am simply me no matter what is happening with my memories." She said before giving a pause as she remembered some of the core questions that Jujutsu Kaisen asked. Specifically the importance of the soul and the body. "Should I write about you and me? So I don't forget those times?" She asked as she looked Satoru in his blue eyes. Watched as the young man's cheeks and ears flushed a subtle pink.

"That's your choice." Satoru said, trying to feign indifference.

"I guess I should start a journal on my laptop, or maybe my phone. Like Future Diary." Setsuka said with a soft, affectionate smile on her lips. "So, I hadn't told you the whole plot before." The young woman told them both about what was written down in her notebook, telling them too that she did not particularly remember the plot anymore, the fight scenes or death scenes. She only knew because she had written it down, like it was second or perhaps even third hand knowledge by now. Reminding them she had changed some things, but in no way did she believe she made too much of a difference. Pausing a moment to let things sink in and answer questions. Satoru seemed to stare her down as she had gone over the whole story, as if he could see straight through to the soul inside. Geto asking the important and sometimes ridiculous questions until they all fell silent.

"So... I know your cursed techniques, and I told you about mine... should I tell you my vow as well?" Setsuka said aloud as she rolled the question around in her head and listened to the possible answers from Geto at least. Giving a subtle grumble before sighing. "Yeah, alright. I call it Words of the Fae. Any day that I speak nothing but the truth my cursed energy is doubled, but any day that I speak lies my cursed energy is reduced to zero. It's a twenty-four hour clock and not based on the day-night cycle." Setsuka revealed her hand to the pair of best friends. A look of disgust on her face when they both smiled sinisterly at the same time. Though she knew that was coming, it was better in the long run that they trust her. Especially over all the things she had mentioned today.

"You can't lie?" Satoru asked first as he let his arms swing loosely at the sides of the chair.

"About anything?" Geto continued with his own question as he and Satoru leaned towards each other.

"Yes, but I don't have to tell you everything just because you ask." Setsuka had originally planned to tell them too about the fact she murdered a non-sorcerer. That was the whole reason she put the veil up in the first place. The reason she learned how to create it. Yet sitting here looking into their innocent little faces, she could not bring herself to tell them.

Satoru and Geto stayed and pestered Setsuka as she cooked dinner for them and Megumi. They were surprisingly polite for teenage boys, at least while Megumi was around. The young woman recalled vaguely that both Satoru Gojo and Suguru Geto raised kids in the anime. How did they raise them? She remembered the ages, because she wrote them down, but what kind of parents were they? She could not remember.

"Okay, you've been paid with food for listening to my stories. Now away with you." Setsuka said as she shooed them both away.

"Aww, don't you want us to stay the night?" Satoru teased, even as it was dark and he still wore those sunglasses. "I promise I'd make a good brother figure for little Megumi-chan."

"Come on Satoru." Geto pushed on the small of his friends back. "You're overstaying your welcome. Unless you want a one night stand you can't stay over at a woman's place the first day you meet."

"Ah, then you go back to the room, I've known her a looong...." Satoru spoke in a childlike tone, though it was interrupted by Setsuka pushing her hand against his face and shoving him out the door.

"Go away, I'll see you tomorrow." Setsuka spoke with a smirk, adjusting her hand to slide up his face and into his hair. Ruffling it a little. "It's really nice to see you again, and you've done a great job just being yourself like I asked." she praised softly. The praise and head pats were not only appreciated but deeply desired by Satoru Gojo. Leading to him smiling wide enough you couldn't see the blue of his eyes anymore. The young man waving back at her as he was pulled away by Geto.

Setsuka made sure Megumi was cleaned up and ready for bed, the child adamant he could put himself to bed and tuck himself in. The young lady only helping when it was allowed by the child himself. Once that was done she went to her own room and planted her face into the mattress so she could scream and it would be muffled.

"What the fuck. What the fuck! Why are they hot?" Setsuka said as she stared at the ceiling, thinking how she did not have an issue before. Never thinking any of the people her own age had been attractive at all in middle school. She was supposed to be an adult, and these were teenagers. Unable to remember just how handsome Jujutsu Kaisen portrayed Satoru Gojo, it had really thrown her for a loop when she saw him again. She covered her face with her pillow and screamed again.

"Is it because I've forgotten so much? What makes someone an adult anyway? Their brain? Memories? Body? Ugh, that makes me sound like a damned pervert." She asked, remembering once again one of the core issues of Jujutsu Kaisen. "Are you Satoru Gojo because you're the strongest? Or are you the strongest because you're Satoru Gojo. Geto-san had his body taken over by Kenjaku. His soul had passed on. Yet the body still resisted when it saw Satoru. Toji's body overwrote that kid's soul. Is this body blotting out.... me?" She asked herself, the pillow discarded to the side along with the plush she had lent Satoru. "Who is me?"

Chapter Text

"Okay, let's see how I stack up against Limitless and the Six Eyes." Setsuka said as she stripped off her uniform jacket. Satoru pretended to cover his eyes, a disappointed look when he noticed she was wearing a work out shirt underneath. "Hands up, Satoru." Setsuka said as she gestured for Satoru to get ready for a sparring match.

Ieiri sat nearby on the benches, where Geto soon joined her. The pair sharing some snacks as they spoke about perhaps not who they thought would win, both quite certain Satoru Gojo would win as he was the strongest, no they debated over how long Setsuka would even last. "Oi, Satoru! Let her hit you just once so I'll win!" He teased as Ieiri demanded they fight fair.

Setsuka herself did not expect much either. She did not have the same heavenly restriction that Toji had in the show. She vaguely remembered someone else having a heavenly restriction too but the memory of the anime had grown hazy over time. Her cursed technique did not even work on Satoru since his power set made him the most overpowered character in the universe. With things as they were, she really would be surprised if she managed to get a hit on him. Her only chance was if she caught him off guard.

Close the distance. Step. Step. Dodge. Slide. Fighting had become almost second nature to her by this point. Each movement was muscle memory. The counters she had learned from Toji, as well as where to best strike a person. She had learned to take down people more than she had learned to take down spirits, and it showed in her fighting. Drop low. Sweep kick. Roll out of the way. Satoru was not taking the fight seriously. One look at his eyes and she knew he was not putting a bit of cursed energy into his techniques. He was running them on their basic settings, whatever that was. Setsuka smiled bitterly as she thought how utterly perfect the monster that was Satoru Gojo is. Yet, perhaps if he was not using limitless that meant he could be hit. The young woman redoubled her efforts.

Geto waved his hands over Setsuka like an umpire declaring an out, the young woman groaned from where she had been laid flat by Satoru. "Out! Not a single hit struck. Now I owe Shoko lunch." He said before nudging Setsuka with his foot. An action that earned a swift swat from the girl. "You must have limitless energy, even if you don't have much potential. Good for you."

"Fuck you." Setsuka flipped him off with both hands.

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Setsuka&Shoko Mission

"Ieiri-san." Setsuka said as she stretched, heading out on her first Jujutsu High mission with the only female classmate she had. "Do you want me to take care of as much as I can? Or did you want to fight some too?"

"No, have a ball." Ieiri said as she lit her cigarette.

"Can do, starlight." Setsuka said with a warm smile, standing still for a moment to put up the veil. "Emerge from the darkness, blacker than darkness. Purify that which is impure." The darkness shimmered above them before flooding down like water across a dome. "Stay outside, I'll give you a call if I need help."

Ieiri hummed as she watched the other teen disappear into the veil, smoke billow out of her mouth a moment before blowing it all out. Thinking back to how on their first mission she had to stitch Geto back together. Shifting the cigarette in her mouth up and down in thought. Taking long drags of smoke to hold before releasing the soft clouds, and eventually putting the last dregs of cigarette out on the bottom of her shoe. That girl sounded confident, but she was no Satoru. She was not even able to land a single hit on him, how could she really let someone like that try and take care of a job by herself.

Upon entering the veil she could smell something foul, and covered her nose as her eyes began to water. Ieiri wondered how Setsuka was able to conceal the stench with the veil, her own mind immediately going back over the basics of creation. It was certainly something you could do if you had a good grasp of how to create the various layers of a curtain, but normally one would not be able to do that without being well practiced. The way she often had to practice with reverse curse techniques to be able to use it well and especially on others. Perhaps not a monster like Satoru, but more of a technical curse user like herself.

There was a pile of dust and broken debris that went into the air, and Ieiri immediately started off in that direction. When she arrived she could not have imagined what she was seeing. There were so many curses. Not the handful of low grade cursed spirits that they had been advised on, but perhaps twenty that were Grade 3 and more beyond that at lower grades.

It was just another mission. Setsuka did not wear the smile she often wore when speaking with others. Her face was serious, her eyes seemed dead. The cursed weapon in her hands, the one given to her by Toji out of the Zen'in clan's very own storage, was a narrow straight double edged sword. Her fighting style seemed efficient. Like she knew exactly where the curse would be before it got there. Her body moving as if she were fluttering between each of the attacks. The girl looked used to fighting, despite this being her first mission against curses. Ieiri found herself wondering if this really was her first mission. Those focused eyes turned immediately to look into her classmate's eyes. It surprised Ieiri, having thought that she was well hidden. Yet for some reason Setsuka turned towards her and threw her weapon. Putting cursed energy behind it to force it to move just a little bit faster. Any amount faster.

"Move!" Setsuka screamed at the top of her lungs, even as her own leg was crushed by one of the curses she had been fighting.

"What?" Ieiri looked around her and behind her but not above. A cursed spirit came crashing down, but the sword struck it deeply to exorcise it. The girl with short brown hair immediately began to heal herself.

"Why are you here? I told you to stay outside!" Setsuka called in frustration as she no longer had her weapon. Instead she would have to use her fists against the Grade 3's around her. Already up on the broken leg that both girls had heard snap earlier.

"I was worried about you." Ieiri said as she picked up the sword that had been thrown at her. "And I was right to be, this is not something you can take care of by yourself."

"I can and I will starlight, leave the sword and go back outside the veil!" Setsuka called back to the teen, not wanting to put her in harm's way again. Yet unwilling to call her a burden or suggest that it was easier if she did not have to protect another person.

"I'm a Jujutsu sorcerer too." Ieiri said as she unsheathed her own cursed tool and took up a stance.

"You're not just... ugh, you're valuable! If you get hurt, if you die, no one can replace you." Setsuka said as she struggled without a weapon of some kind in her hands, yet afraid to run towards Ieiri where her sword was.

Ieiri could not help but feel flustered at the words as Setsuka was obviously struggling trying to keep the attention of all the cursed spirits. "So are you! Now come and get your sword. I'll watch your back."

Setsuka grit her teeth at how impossible the young woman was being. Yet she gave in and ran towards her to pick up the sword Toji had given her. With it back in her hands the curses began to fall once again. "Move left."

"Wait, my left or your…"

"YOUR LEFT" Setsuka yelled as she pushed Ieiri out of the way just to feel one of the bones of her forearm fracture. Thinking how much she had underestimated Toji, and how easy it had been fighting at his side. That she did not have to tell him anything, and if she did he would move without a second of hesitation. Perhaps she should write him a letter of appreciation. She had not written him anything since that first letter telling him to be her teacher.

Taking care of the low grade curses first was the first priority. Getting rid of the adds was important in any boss fight, and in real life it proved to be an insane amount of variables if they were left to cause trouble while they also had to try and avoid the Grade 3 curses. It felt like her brain was trying to push itself out the back of her skull. She focused on the most probable future of each of the variables.

Left. Two steps back. More left. Right. Duck. Setsuka called out to Ieiri as they fought together, trying to keep her within her line of sight at all times to be able to see what was happening. Yet after they barely managed to take down a couple of the Grade 3's she realized she had to change her approach. Instead moving to fight near to her, with the woman at her back and within arms reach.

"Do me a favor and call out when you get injured for me, starlight." Setsuka asked before the other teen could get fed up with her orders. "I'll tell you exactly what you tell me, but about six seconds ahead of time." She said with a wild look in her eyes. There were over a dozen more curses they needed to take out. Whenever she could hear the echo of Ieiri calling out to her she would call it out to Ieiri instead. Even if she did not properly understand whatever words or short cuts she was saying for herself.

The change in tactic took a little to get used to, but it ended up working a whole lot better than when Setsuka was trying to take on the responsibility alone. They worked together, but Setsuka was on a whole other level when it came to speed and strength. Pure physical prowess, before she started to incorporate cursed energy into her movements.

Both young women were beaten badly by the curses, but they were eventually able to overcome them and sit down to heal themselves. The adult that had been sent on the mission with them ran over in a panic at the sight of her charges so badly injured. Both girls sat leaning against each other, laughing at the sight of their flustered supervisor.

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It did not take long for Setsuka to be removed from the class any time they had to participate in tests and the like. Though she purposefully did not cheat with her abilities, the teacher and principle still made sure to remove the temptation. It annoyed her deeply, especially as they knew about her vow. Though she supposed they knew too there was a reason she called it Words of the Fae and not something a bit more truthful and honest. She would sit alone in a room, spinning her pencil as she read and thought over the questions. Easily able to make perfect scores with just the books that Toji had forced her to read. Multiple times. She finished ahead of time as well, setting the test paper down at the desk and leaving the school grounds. She would return when she assumed all three of her classmates had finished their tests.

"Yo! Setsuka!" Satoru called out from sitting in the grass "I thought you were the last one to finish the test, but it looks like you were out shopping? Don't tell me you're going to trade your place among the boys to be a girl?" A cup of ice cream went flying at his face where it stopped and Satoru was able to pluck it easily from the air. "Oh! Strawberry! My favorite." he said, happily peeling off the top.

"Yeah you seem the type." Setsuka said with a laugh, setting the rest of the bag down on the bench they were sitting around. "Shoko, Suguru, pick out whatever you like." She said with a smile, having got a number of different kinds of ice creams. Not until after everyone picked out what they wanted, or two they wanted, did Setsuka take a treat from what was left. "My favorite changes kinda regularly. So you don't have to worry about it."

"Just a little hint?" Satoru asked as he rummaged from another ice cream.

"Fine. It's a bit basic, but I do like vanilla and chocolate. Strawberry too. And matcha." The young lady felt like there was a flavor she was forgetting. "October 13th."

"So greedy." Suguru teased with a little smirk "When is your...." the teen scoffed and tilted his head to the side "I'll make sure Satoru buys you all the ice cream you want on your birthday then."

"Huh? Why me?" Satoru asked as he took the trash from Setsuka's hands "Gimme." He took the bag of trash and compressed it with limitless into a small ball. Throwing the trash into the bin like it was a basketball.

"Don't, Suguru." Setsuka said as she peered at him "Even as a joke I would prefer if you never imply someone is a burden on me. Well... I guess specifically that any of you three could never be a burden and I don't like it if you characterize me as someone that would find you to be." She said, growing a little more embarrassed as she said the words out loud. "Other humans are definitely burdens."

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Shoko&Utahime Mission

Tasked with working together on a joint mission Utahime Iori joined a Grade 2 Sorcerer on their way to pick up Shoko Ieiri. Allowing the Kyoto Jujutsu high student to look around the Tokyo School for a little while as mission essentials were finalized. She would greet the first years politely as an upperclassman, and yet only the two young women greeted her back with the same level of respect she showed them. The other two seemed to greet her more as someone on their own level. Satoru Gojo even used her first name without any honorifics.

"You should be respectful of your upperclassmen, Gojo-san" Utahime said in a calm, clear tone "I'm a third year student at your sister school, so please make sure you address me properly."

"Ehh? Why would I do that to someone so much weaker than me?" Satoru said as he leaned on Suguru's shoulder.

"It doesn't matter that she's so weak, Satoru. It's just the polite thing to do." Suguru pointed out, though it only made the older teen angrier at them both.

"Sorry about them, Iori-san." Setsuka said as she rolled her shoulders and stood up and stretched with a little whine. "I promise they're good boys, just a little annoying at times. I think it's endearing, but I won't push that philosophy on anyone else. Please look after us, Iori-senpai." she said with a small bow to the upperclassman, tilting her head to the side.

Something about the way she spoke felt measured, and purposeful. Iori did not feel like Setsuka was teasing her, but something about her words sounded like someone that was used to lying without lying. "I promise I will. I'll return Ieiri-san to you safe and sound after the mission."

Setsuka nodded a little just before the teacher and Grade 2 sorcerer that would be supervising the students emerged for Shoko and Iori. The teenage girls would slide into the car as they spoke together about the mission details. They were to investigate five strange occurrences around a particular school to see if they were caused by the build up of cursed energy.

The Spooky Steps
Arriving at the school location, the girls went to the first unusual occurrence. Said to be a set of stairs that changed its number with each student that passed over them. Both young women counted their way up and down the steps without an issue, no cursed energy and no low grade curses. Not even a flyhead. They concluded that it was most likely an issue with the students trying to count the steps instead of an actual curse.

The Friend From Beyond the Wall
The next of the so-called occurrences was said to happen near one of the cross-ways between buildings that was closed off, yet mysterious sports balls were said to emerge from nowhere. When the girls wen to investigate they did not have high hopes that this was going to be much considering the first of the supposedly cursed spirit activity. Yet when they arrived Shoko pointed out that there were indeed curses that moved through the area.

The curses were nothing too impressive, Shoko was the first to step up to the curse and land a strike. Her movements were swift. Even if she was not as skilled as her classmates in martial arts she was still a Jujutsu Sorcerer. Circulating cursed energy through her body she spun to use the elbow of one arm and the hand of the other to very nearly rip the cursed spirit in two. It disappeared and Iori clapped and offered words of encouragement and praise to Shoko.

The Moans From the Tunnel
Among the school’s corridors there was one that was said to echo with the moans of students that had failed their mid-terms. The two young women were a bit more cautious about this one, as it seemed like a more reasonable thing to cause a curse to coalesce at a school. Walking down the hallways they could hear the sound of a groan travel down the empty corridor. The two peered at each other and nodded in agreement. Listening closely as they searched for cursed spirits and residuals of cursed energy. When they arrived at the noise, they would find a kendo student that seemed to be practicing and give a sigh of relief.

"Good afternoon. You're very diligent at your practice, but the school is closed right...." Iori started speaking to what she thought was a young teen. Yet it turned around to face them and proved to have no kind of face. Instead turning to face the young woman with a kendo stick in hand. Two more appearing at its side, like copies of the original.

The girls stood back to back, Iori was able to pay attention to the younger teens movements and move gracefully in tandem. Whenever Iori would strike an enemy the clear sound of a bell would ring from behind Shoko. She had not noticed before, because her senpai's movements were so graceful, but Iori had a set of bells on each of her wrists.

Shoko hit one with the back of her knuckles as she spun her arm and crushed another into the ground with her heel. Iori's moments were different in their own right. With the tips of her fingers she struck a decisive blow against one of the curses, but no sound came from her wrist as she bent her fingers into a fish and continued the blow into another enemy. The bells rang twice, and that was on purpose.

It took only a single strike from either of the girls cursed energy to cause one of the kendo student shapes to dissipate. As if they were nothing at all in the first place, but illusions. For some reason when one disappeared, another would appear again. Always in packs of three, until they had stopped spawning all together. At the final count the girls counted fourteen of the strange curses exorcised, and became incredibly wary of what could have happened to the last one.

The Doppelganger
"Iori-senpai, don't you think this is a little weird?" Shoko said as she ran her hands along the window seal as they walked. "To have all these different kinds of stories, and curses all in one school?"

"It is. For now we can only follow the leads that we have, and try to find the common denominator." Iori agreed as they headed to the next unusual occurrence. "I think the final mysteries might have our answers, but for now we should investigate everything."

"I'm glad I get to go on this mission with you, senpai. Your presence is calming." Shoko said easily, making Iori flush with both pride and embarrassment.

"Of course, leave it to me. I promised your friends I would get you home safe, and I will." She said with confidence. Not in her own skills so much as her own strength of will. "Here, this bathroom is supposed to produce a replica of the person that looks into the mirror at the other end of the wall."

The first one to step in was Iori, cautious as she stepped into the bathroom and looked into the mirrors above the sinks. Yet none of them seemed to produce the effect desired. Thinking it might be a dud until she turned around and saw a full length mirror behind her where she thought there should be another bathroom stall. The older teen screamed at the top of her lungs when she saw her reflection in that mirror.

"Senpai!" Shoko said as she rushed over to the Kyoto students' side, noticing something like a shadow of Iori step out of the mirror and walk through them both. A cold shutter going through them as they turned to see the illusionary Iori become a solid curse that resembled an inverted color of the original.

"Let me take care of this." Iori said as she put an arm protectively in front of Shoko. The darkened illusion of Iori began to dance, and step for step so too did Iori. Yet the shadow could not sing, and the real one did. Bells rang out with each purposeful end of the dancer's graceful flowing movements. The real one rang clear and calm, while the inverted curse sounded hollow and haunting.

Both Iori and her copy finished their performance and their cursed energy received a boost. Each of them stepped forward to start to fight. Blocking each other's first strike, back and forth they fought. Yet the real Iori held an advantage of song, and that left her with a higher amount of cursed energy from the ceremonial dance. Her strikes were stronger. Faster. Her endurance against the others attacks too was better. Shoko raised her phone and snapped a few pictures of the performance. Finding it eerily beautiful. With the red of her pants and the sunset glittering off the gold of her bells, Shoko thought it looked like Iori danced with fire in her movements.

Protecting the underclassman, Iori dropped to a knee after defeating the clone of herself. Shoko walking over to her and placing her hands over the older teens shoulders. "I don't think I've seen someone beat themselves up quite so literally before."

The Animated Bag
Though they were growing tired, and the sun had already dropped below the horizon, the young women continued with their investigation. Wanting to finish in time for classes to start again on Monday. This time they would be going near the schools decommissioned incinerator to find a bag that was said to move around at times. Locating the incinerator was easy enough, though locked up with a steel chain and lock. Looking around they had to find what the mystery could be talking about.

"What's wrong with this field?" Shoko asked as she watched a cursed spirit swim through the ground.

"There might be a dead body." Iori said with concern "Look around, see if we can find the bags.... I have a bad feeling about this."

The girls looked around, and did in fact find a couple bags that had been scattered around in difficult to find places near the incinerator. Shoko only peered into one of the bags before closing it. Though she could hear the sound of Iori retching nearby.

"Kittens." Iori said, her eyes had a tired look to them as she stood in front of Shoko.

"A dog's head was in that one there." Shoko said as she lit a cigarette.

"Those aren't healthy for you." The upperclassman chastised.

"For this? I think I deserve it." Shoko said as she took a long drag of nicotine.

Iori could not argue with that, looking at the lighter Shoko had used. "Let's make a funeral pyre. Burning them might actually help to ease the curses around here."

The pair of girls began to gather all the dry sticks and wood they could from nearby. Pilling leaves and the dry upper mulch from around the school if necessary. Making a pyre near the incinerator, the path around it clear of debris making it a good place for fire in the first place. They held a makeshift funeral for the tortured creatures, at least what was left of their small bodies.

Chapter Text

Goodwill Event 2005 Day One

Setsuka had only been at Tokyo Jujutu High for a month when it was time for the school exchange event. She was thankful that she would not have to participate as a first year, though Satoru and Suguru had another opinion on the matter. Getting themselves permission to participate in the two day long event. Trying to convince Setsuka as well to join, though she would not leave Megumi's side unless it was necessary for classes and missions. Even if she did not want to participate, she still wanted to go to Kyoto and see what other sorcerers they would be dealing with. It was to be a team battle for the first day, and then individual battles the second day.

Setsuka shared space with Shoko while they were staying in some of the many rooms in the Kyoto school, while Megumi, Satoru, and Suguru shared a space across the hall. The second and third years were all placed on the same hallways as well. Boys on one side and girls on the other. There were only four first years, and yet that was more than what she had seen among the other classes. There was only a single person that had made it into the current fifth year at Tokyo Jujutsu High, Mei Mei.

Satoru and Suguru made the team battle less about the whole of Tokyo Jujutsu High, and more about the pair of them sweeping the competition. While Setsuka, Megumi, and Shoko sat in safety with the principal and teachers, watching what was happening and what curses were wiped off the board with minimal effort from the pair of teenage boys. Eventually Setsuka took Megumi up to the roof top with a pair of cheap binoculars so they could look for Satoru and Suguru themselves. The young woman pointing out to Megumi whenever the pair was flying above the tree line.

"Isn't this supposed to be a competition? Thought there might have been someone at least as strong as Setsuka." Satoru said with no small amount of disappointment in his tone. Walking on the forest floor with his hands behind his head and swaying back and forth without a hint of trying to defend himself.

"Setsuka is actually pretty strong, Satoru." Suguru said as he actually searched around for where the curses might be hiding from them. "You and I are just that much stronger than everyone. Over here, Satoru."

"Don't you think you're talking way too much?" Came the voice of a young man, a first year student from the Kyoto school. "Especially when you're so slow?" The young man was dressed in black loose fitting clothes, his face half covered by a mask.

Satoru smirked as he reached a hand out to stop the one that ran past them, only for it to be caught up in thin strands of string. Not just his arm, but it felt like his whole body was surrounded by string imbued with cursed energy. "Interesting, very interesting." the six eyes user said. Not only could he see the cursed energy in each strand, but too how the other teen had his cursed energy amplified by someone nearby. Listening closely he could hear her singing, and the ring of bells in a dance.

Suguru too found himself caught up in the web of string, yet he did not have to chase after the curse they had all targeted. Letting one of his own curses emerge from a dark rift and attack the wild curse, yet a thin wire of cursed energy hardened the fiber of the string and cut into Suguru's curse as well as the wild one.

With his infinity the strings did not actually touch Satoru, and he was able to move while Suguru could not. Quickly closing the distance between himself and the String Curse Sorcerer.

"What the hell?" The string user exclaimed as Satoru seemed to appear next to him, without a single thread on his body. Despite his age he was the fastest Jujutsu Sorcerer, and the best at hiding his cursed energy. For a brief moment of their first year, he was even faster than Satoru Gojo.

"Don't you want to introduce yourself and your power so that you can get a little boost in power? You might be able to struggle a little better." Satoru said as he looked down on the other young man, floating just a bit in the air.

"I'm not struggling at all." He said with a worried smirk. This was a team competition to kill curses, and therefore it was not necessary to divulge his skill. He could still use it to his advantage, he hoped.

Tokyo Jujutsu High cleared out almost all of the curses in under an hour. The Kyoto school was unable to reach any more than a fourth of the curses before the Tokyo School took care of them, and only one was actually stolen from Satoru and Suguru' hunt.

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Goodwill Event 2005 Day Two

The First Year at Kyoto Jujutsu High, Kagerou Furukawa (written as Shadow Wolf), introduced himself as he stood in front of Suguru Geto. This was the third time today he had introduced himself at the individual showcase portion of the event, having won his previous two matches against the upperclassmen. Confident he would be able to beat Suguru Geto after the brief meeting they had in the group showcase. Getting him three in a row win record and impress his own upperclassmen.

Satoru Gojo was a monster. His threads could not even touch that beast that should not be considered human like the rest of them. Though he hoped he could. His cool, kind, beautiful upperclassman would get so angry whenever Satoru started to bully her. Only a day had passed, and he had never seen someone piss her off enough to put tears in her eyes. He would put his life on the line if it meant making Satoru Gojo pay for making her cry.

"Suguru Geto. First Year at Tokyo Jujutsu High." Suguru replied in introduction dutifully. Looking up to where Satoru, Setsuka, and Megumi were sitting. Unable to hide the expressions on his face, the soft laugh at the sight of the signs they had made for him. Setsuka and Megumi had made enough to hold up a new sign every fight. It seemed she was confident he and Satoru would win, and she should be. They were the strongest.

Furukawa watched as his opponent looked so easy going, waving at a young woman up in the stands who held up a sign. "A girlfriend? She looks nice." he said with a little tilt of his head, himself waving to his school and especially the third year he was trying to impress.

"She's a friend." Suguru said as he let his hand fall to his side before sliding his foot out to stabilize his stance. "You?"

"Working on it." Furukawa said with a smirk "After I beat you I need to make Gojo-san pay for making her cry."

"Haa?" Suguru smirked at the confidence of this first year after having beaten a few of their weak upperclassmen. "I think you've got a better chance of being beaten black and blue, maybe she'll nurse you back to health if you ask nicely." He said as his arm moved behind him to summon a large Oni style curse, complete with a spiked war club.

Furukawa wasted no more time talking, the string he used easily unspun from a holder on his belt. The young man sent a fine amount of cursed energy through the thread, nearly indistinguishable from that of residuals. Letting them float on the air in layered circles around the curse before he tugged on them and trapped its club and arms to its body. The hide was tough, and it didn't become a jigsaw puzzle as he hoped. Yet with a bit more effort.

"You're not fighting a curse." Suguru said as he swung on Furukawa. The string user was saved only by his agility, as Suguru too had been able to keep his cursed energy well hidden.

"How?" Furukawa asked with a knit to his brow, finding it very difficult to believe someone would be able to beat him when it came to hiding and manipulating cursed energy to such a degree.

"I've been learning how to avoid a friend's cursed energy. It helped me learn how to mask mine." Suguru explained with a calm, confident expression. Chasing the other teen with fast and strong strikes.

Furukawa was confident, confident in his abilities. He was the fastest at Kyoto Jujutsu High. He was the best at Kyoto Jujutsu High in manipulating his cursed energy. He was able to make the threads barely noticeable, as well as himself. His reflexes, and combat capabilities had proven to be a match for even a third year at Tokyo Jujutsu High. So why, he wondered, did this First Year Jujutsu Sorcerer who did not even come from one of the main family blood lines have so much skill? Furukawa was from a Minamoto branch family after all.

Each blow was heavy enough to break bones if Furukawa was not careful with how they landed. If he could have avoided every single one as he did in his other matches, he would have. The string user would catch one of Suguru's wrists in a round of string. "I think I forgot to mention something, my cursed technique allows me to manipulate my cursed energy to create a charge of electricity through the textile threads I use. Thundersnare!"

Suguru felt a jolt of electricity race through his arm and up into his body. He could feel it numb his nerves and his thoughts. The curse manipulator was momentarily disabled and disoriented, a fact Furukawa took advantage of. He would strike several blows against the teen, ones that could have been fatal if he had used a weapon, but rules were rules and the only rule of this festival was to not kill your fellow students.

Having trained to eliminate targets swiftly, this festival's long drawn out battles were not his strong suit. Between the battles the day before and the multiple battles going on today, he was starting to feel his limbs grow heavy with fatigue. No one should be able to keep going after being electrocuted and taking several body and head strikes, that's what he thought as he aimed to catch his breath. Yet Suguru did not fall, instead he would push back the hair that had come loose from his pony tail. "Is that all? I know Satoru complained none of you were as strong as Setsuka, but even her love taps hit harder."

Tokyo Jujutsu High won the Sister-School Goodwill Event of 2005. Though perhaps it is more apt to say, Satoru Gojo and Suguru Geto won the Goodwill Event.

Chapter Text

Setsuka&Suguru Mission

Night fell slowly over the village that Setsuka and Suguru had been dispatched to. The pair lingering around outside after they had arrived in town, neither bothering to wake the supervisor that was sent with them. Setsuka kept a step or two behind Suguru as they scoped out where the vengeful curse might appear, a soft hum of the latest song she had fallen in love with ever present through the darkening streets.

The first night came and went without incident. They found no curse, despite confirming the residuals left around the alleys and low lit streets of the town. The pair continued to search, slowly widening the areas they looked through beyond what information they were initially given. Setsuka did not have to remind Suguru to eat his meals, and Suguru too did not have to remind her. Both seemed to simply gravitate towards the local restaurants around those times of day.

As the sun started to rise on their second day the pair began to regret leaving their supervisor behind, as they would have to pay for a room out of pocket instead of having Jujutsu High pay for it. Sleepy as she was having to stay awake and alert for two days straight, Setsuka found a cheap inn for them to stay at.

Working late nights with Toji had made asking for a room second nature when she was half asleep. Easily walking up to the front desk and answering all the questions needed before Suguru had even fully entered the lobby, still looking around the alleys nearby. By the time he saw her Setsuka was already handing over the card Toji had given her for payment. It held her portion of whatever jobs she helped him with, along with some extra for her taking care of Megumi. Though she did not know about the additional portions yet.

Suguru held his hand out for his key as the pair of them walked down the hallway, the young man stood outside the door as he looked at the number on his key that matched the door Setsuka was opening. "Um.... Setsuka? Did you give me the wrong key?"

"Hmm? No. Come on.... oh." Setsuka said with a pause as she remembered that the pair of them were teenagers of opposite genders. "I'm tired. I just want to sleep, okay? I promise I won't take advantage of you while you sleep." She teased, though with her being so tired her tone did not match.

A deep flush brightened Suguru's face before he took hold of the door so that Setsuka could continue in, the young woman half throwing herself into the nearest bed after taking her shoes off. Leaving Suguru to make sure the door got locked behind them. "She's either too trusting, or too confident. How am I supposed to sleep like this?" He would also pace around the room to clear it of whatever small time curses might linger before laying in the other bed. His worries about being able to fall asleep became unfounded as both teens fell into slumber.

Once their supervisor arrived the pair got an ear full for leaving them on the train. Telling them about the rural town that they ended up in and how much of a hassle it had been to get back to the city they should have gotten off at the first time. The lecture continued when the supervising adult found out Setsuka and Suguru had shared a room.

"Do you want me to leave you alone for a bit? I think she'd be more likely to call out to you if you were alone." Setsuka asked as they walked the small town streets that night, it had been a few evenings already they were searching for this particular curse.

"Nah. There's nothing that says she only attacks people who are alone." Suguru replied knowing it was just as likely to call out to Setsuka alone as it would come to him.

"Are you kidding? That's her whole lore thing, to ask random folks that are alone, Am I pretty?" Setsuka said with a knit brow, not knowing that Satoru had asked Suguru to protect Setsuka while the pair were out on a mission together.

"Doesn't matter. Honestly since this curse is Semi-Grade 1 it should be Satoru and I against it, we've proven we could stand against one already." Suguru said as he slouched down with a sigh.

"Maybe they just didn't want you and Satoru to have an excuse to go on a late night date?" Setsuka teased as she gave pause a moment to look down an alley way.

"We'd have been back the first day." Frustration sounded in his voice as he continued to try and avoid Setsuka's technique with the information Satoru had given him. The practice was good, but it was a lot of work to keep up with all the time. "Setsuka?" He asked as he heard no retort from the teen, soon spinning around to see that she was not there. Looking around he easily spotted the veil that was already falling over an alley that was not too far back. Easily able to race over to her. Finding that Setsuka was caught in the Slit-Mouthed Woman's domain.

"Of course you're pretty." Setsuka said as she waited for the curtain to fall, and for Suguru to take notice. Though she supposed it would be fine if he was a bit late.

"Even now?" the vengeful spirit asked as it removed a bandage from around her face, her mouth opened more and more until her jaw hung open from all the way back by her ears. Sharp pointed teeth set into the gums and numerous eyes along her face.

"I'd still date you, if not for the personality." Setsuka said with a grin as she moved out of the way of the clippers she knew were coming.

"Setsuka!" Suguru called as he saw her surrounded by scissors. Conjuring numerous squid-like curses to shoot at the Slit-mouthed woman.

"Suguru, if I tell you to move left please know I mean your left." Setsuka reminded him, having told both him and Satoru after she returned from her mission with Shoko.

Thinking and worrying about someone else proved to be a luxury Setsuka could not afford while fighting against a Grade 1 curse. Though it was nice that the curse was focused on her since she was the one that had answered the questions. It left Suguru with plenty of room to attack. The young man had at first been hesitant to attack whenever Setsuka was near the target, but soon found that when he was allowing her to sense his presence that she could anticipate his own attacks.

Dodge. Dodge. Dodge. Setsuka pushed herself to be faster, move faster. Be better. She drew her own sword. She would have to help Suguru wear the curse out so he could control it for himself. Instead of dodge, she began to block with her own sword so that she could get close to the curse and strike. Touching the ground was the best option for making sure she could move herself out of the way in case of something that would prove too much for her to heal. Such as her leg getting snipped off.

"Hey beautiful." Setsuka said as she got up close to the curse with a soft smirk on her face. Thrusting the sword into the Slit-Mouthed Woman’s chest. Pulling away as one of Suguru's curses rose up from under them.

After an eventful battle, Setsuka was on all fours on the ground just trying to catch her breath. Bleeding from numerous cuts and focused on healing herself.

"I suppose that was almost like fighting with Satoru, you both must love to flirt." Suguru said as he swallowed the orb with a grimace. Soon moving over to help his classmate. Telling her to sit and lean against him with her arms back. Pulling on her so she would move the way he was telling her to do, pressing her shoulders back so that her chest would open up and let her lungs expand better. The young man instantly catching how her chest rose and fell with her labored breathing. His blood rushing to his face as she lay against him with her eyes closed, holding her arms in whatever way he had positioned them.

As soon as her wounds finished closing up, and she had caught her breath, Setsuka removed herself from Suguru's lap to stand and stretch. "I'm hungry, should we get.... are you okay?" she asked as she looked at Suguru with his warm red face.

"Yeah, you're just too warm of a blanket." Suguru said with a sigh as he moved to stand as well.

"Haha, yeah. Sorry. I am a bit of a personal space heater." Setsuka said as she offered a hand to help him onto his feet. A gesture he took as the pair of Jujutsu Teens went to find a convenience store and get themselves some food. Once they found themselves back on school grounds, they too would find Shoko and Satoru waiting for them. The latter nearly close-lining them in a greeting hug. For a moment, Setsuka wanted to live here with them forever.

----------

"Setsuka Fushiguro used to be Setsuka Minamoto?" Furukawa exclaimed, sliding down in his chair and very nearly out of it in surprise. Trying to wrap his mind around the idea. The young man barely remembered being told not to play with a skinny girl his own age, but the thought of her had been pressed out of his mind since he hardly saw her outside of the family training anyway. Who would leave the Minamoto family for some no name family.

"She did?" asked a young woman who wore a traditional Miko's outfit and bells on her wrist. Leaning over to read the intel that her underclassman had gathered on the first years of Tokyo Jujutsu High. "So then you trained with her? Was she anything special?"

"She didn't stand out, but there must have been a reason someone took her in and that curse manipulation user said that she was strong. I know the Minamoto family isn't one of the big three among Jujutsu Sorcerers, but the family is still steeped in tradition and royal roots. She could have developed a special innate ability that she never divulged to her own family." Furukawa voiced as he thought through it, though his attention was split between the mystery and the upperclassman he had a crush on that was currently leaning over him. The young man straightened up in his chair as he cleared his throat gently. "What do you think, Iori-senpai?"

"I can't imagine an innate ability could have been overlooked easily. The whole thing is strange. It says here her adopted father doesn't have any cursed energy of note either." A thought occurred to Iori. Abuse. Perhaps the child could not stand abuse at her own family's hands. Her eyes looked over her underclassman with a bit of worry, not unlike when she helped pick him up after his battle against Suguru Geto. Could his family abuse him too?

"Iori-senpai?" Furukawa called her name gently as she stared at him, getting flustered and wondering if she was looking at his body for a specific reason or if she was just zoning out.

"Ah! No, it's nothing. It's just... a real mystery. Are you going to look into it more?" Iori asked as she sat upright again.

"Yeah. I think I will."

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Setsuka&Utahime Mission

Arriving first at an abandoned hotel was Utahime Iori and a supervisor that would be telling the young woman how to be a supervisor herself. As she looked at the stairs overgrown with ivy, she could not help but think back over the details of the mission. A horror game had come out the previous year called Silent Hill The Room, and it was an ongoing rumor online that this place was what the game was modeled after. Her fingers curled into her clothes as she thought about looking around the haunted location.

Iori was going into her fourth year in the Kyoto Jujutsu High School and that meant being a responsible upperclassman to her juniors. When Setsuka arrived on foot, she wondered where the Tokyo supervisor could have gone.

"Oh. hmm..." Setsuka rubbed the side of her head with the hilt of her cursed tool "I just kind of went where they told me? I didn't wait for a supervisor or anything." The young teen smiled and let her head tilt to the side with a soft laugh "But that's fine. I can put up a veil and I can heal myself with reverse cursed energy, so it's not a problem."

"It is a problem." Iori said firmly "You're still underage, you should be accompanied on missions. It can be very dangerous for you to go out and about like this on your own." She lectured with a fierce protective nature to her. Especially after hearing that Setsuka had been sold off to an older man. On paper she was his adoptive daughter, but the whole situation was too strange. Even Kagerou was having trouble finding out more about Toji Fushiguro than he should.

Setsuka blinked at her whole speech before laughing enough to shake her body and hold her stomach. "No, I'm not laughing at you. Sorry. Honestly, I'm fine. Princess." she said as one hand touched her jaw and drew up over her mouth to keep herself from laughing more. The Echoes of the Future were all too cute and feisty. "If it makes you feel better, I'll wait next time."

"Good." Iori said as she could not shake the feeling that Setsuka was honestly laughing at her. "And don't give me a weird nickname. Show some respect and call me Iori-san."

"Iori-san." Setsuka called in a soft tone "Iori-senpai." She changed it as she put her hands down and behind her back, leaning a little to the side to look up to the older teen. Though they were both near the same height. "Will you allow me to call you princess if I become your knight in shining armor?"

"No!" Iori said as she started to wonder why she worried about this young woman in the first place.

Setsuka laughed warmly at the reaction she went with. All the fear that had caused Iori to grip onto her clothes had disappeared with the impudent attitude of the Tokyo Jujutsu high First Year.

"Emerge from the darkness, blacker than darkness. Purify that which is impure." Iori called on a veil for it to flow down over the building. Walking into the space that it would end up covering. "Fushiguro-san, if I tell you to leave, then you must leave."

"I refuse." Setsuka said as she walked, her sword still in it's sheath but always in hand to use since she saw the building and could feel the cursed energy coming off of it. "We're to investigate together, and leave together. I refuse any orders to the contrary. Which also means no splitting the party."

Iori was a bit annoyed that she had read her mind on what she wanted to say and refuted it before she even got to. Even more she was upset that she felt reassured by what the younger teen had said, and the fact she would not need to explore the creepy building on her own. Shining a flash light into the corners and along the darkened areas.

Setsuka walked a few steps behind the older teen dressed in Miko's clothes. Her eyes scanning over the darkness. "You know it might be easier to see without the flash light. Your eyes could adjust to the darkness and we could look around semi-normally."

"It's definitely too dark to see without a light, a curse could sneak up on us." Iori said as she spun around at a sound to shine a light and look in the direction of an old plastic bag.

"Use your other senses, or... I guess it's more like all your senses?" Setsuka said as she moved forward to touch the other woman's hand and switch off the light. "You could hear that bag, right? That means you can hear well. You're doing a good job."

Iori jumped as she felt Setsuka’s hand against hers, the only thing that kept her from dropping the flash light was the fact Setsuka was holding it against Iori's hand. The young teen did her best to repeat the lessons that Toji had given her while they were out on their missions. Tracking things based on all your senses and not just sight.

Working with the Sorcerer Killer to track and beat humans had proven useful more than once in her short life in this world. Though he had never let her kill anyone, saying that once you kill that first person there was no going back. Setsuka believed he must have been disappointed in her.

Together the two girls moved carefully through the run down building. Pointing out the foot prints and other traces of people that had come and gone before them. All coalescing at a broken wall that had foot prints going to but never away.

"Here. It definitely looks like it does in the game." Setsuka said as she looked to Iori "What should we do?"

Iori never would have noticed all the footprints that went towards the wall if Setsuka had not helped to point it out. "We have to cut it from its roots, so that it won't take anymore lives." She said with confidence and passion.

"That's my princess." Setsuka said with a little smile, though the comment was ignored. "Let me go first. Like I said I can heal with reverse cursed energy, and also my innate technique allows me to sense seconds into the future. I'll be able to warn us if anything is about to happen."

Iori could not argue with the fact Setsuka was better suited to going first in this case. She would be able to boost her cursed energy if needed, but she had a vast amount of cursed energy already. "If you manage to not get hurt, then I'll forgive you for that last princess comment."

"Haha, I'll do my best." Setsuka said warmly, though she made no such promise. A fact that Iori did catch, and did not approve of. Even if she could not say anything about it.

First through the wall was Setsuka, finding herself in an alternate dimension. Truly like something out of Silent Hill, and yet she knew this was an incomplete domain. That much was good. Better than something fully formed. She was not confident that she could defeat a curse with any kind of domain without Satoru or Suguru by her side. Behind her Iori too climbed through the hole and into the strange new world.

The concrete hallways were dull in color. Grey. Yet too much so, it was wholly unnatural. The lighting was wrong. There were industrial steel pipes running up along the walls, and an escalator that came down from nowhere. Walking down the hallway, the two young women kept their eyes out for the things around them. Anything around them. Any color. Any movement. Then something fell down out of the pipes. It was on four legs, and almost looked like a large dog. Yet they had no eyes and its tongue, nearly as long as its body, simply hung out of its mouth. The way it moved looked very off putting.

"Yeah. That's... accurate." Setsuka said as she drew her sword, herself unable to play horror games and preferring to watch Suguru play them in her stead. "Haha, I can feel a chill in my shoulders. I doubt that this is the culprit, so let's keep an eye out still." she said, though her talking had aggravated the blind creature. It's ears perking up before it lunged at her. Easily she swung with her sword and cleaved through it's jaw and body, leaving it in two neat pieces that began to dissolve as curses do.

The cursed domain did not disappear, and the two had to continue searching through the grey expanse. Though they were not left alone. If one of those creatures was not enough, then perhaps three. Yet Setsuka took care of them with ease each time. Iori found that she did not have to do much of anything. That was until they felt the cursed energy of something emerge from the walls.

Setsuka took hold of Iori's hand and pulled her from where she had been and against the younger teens body. Forcing her out of the way as something vaguely human shaped emerged from the walls. Not all the way, only a large incomplete torso that was the same color as the concrete, but looked like stretched flesh.

"Thanks. I hate it." Setsuka said with a disgusted look on her face as she moved to position herself between Iori and the strange cursed. "I don't... I don't like this mission. I would really like to cancel my subscription."

"Fushiguro-san, my cursed technique allows me to grant a willing ally a boost to their cursed energy. You already have so much, but that thing is..."

"It's Grade 1" Setsuka said as she let her foot slide into a wider stance, bringing her sword up on level with her chest. "If I... told you to leave me here and get some help or at least get yourself to safety, would you?"

"Weren't you the one going on about us completing this mission together?" Iori said as she struck her wrists together so that the clear ring of bells sounded through the hallway. "Protect me, and I'll be able to grant you more cursed energy."

"Hmm, okay. I'll protect you. Even if it means you won't forgive me for my slip up earlier." The young woman went through a couple things to say, but that seemed the best through her Echoes of the Future.

"I can let my knight call me princess." Iori said as she began to sing and dance in the middle of the grey space. The only color among the dull backdrop, her red and white clothes flowed and stopped as she wanted them to. The bells rang only when she commanded them to. Every movement was precise, and mesmerizing. Yet Setsuka could not watch, she had to protect. Protect she did.

Every time the curse raised one of its taunt pale arms to bring down on Iori it was intercepted by Setsuka instead. It was far easier to protect someone that wanted to be protected than to try and protect someone that was not wanting it or not used to it. She could remember how hard the battle against just a couple dozen Grade 3 Curses had been so difficult because Shoko wanted to fight for herself. How fighting that Semi-Grade 1 had been so difficult, not only because of her domain but also because she and Suguru were fighting around each other. Not yet used to fighting in tandem. Yet somehow Iori proved very capable of it.

Setsuka could feel her cursed energy surge. She had been wondering if Iori would be increasing her cursed energy based on what it was base line, or if it would be based off the 200% that she currently was working with. Smiling as it felt as if she held even more raw energy than Satoru Gojo. He would one day be able to use it so efficiently that it could be considered endless, but for now she felt powerful.

The young woman exhaled slowly, letting the cursed energy course through her muscles. Faster. Stronger. More durable. That's what a boost in cursed energy could do for her. She put it all into her physical abilities instead of trying to put it into her innate ability. If she only had a second of time to react, it would be enough. Reinforcing the dual edge sword she used so that it would be able to maintain its integrity with her enhanced strikes. She did not want to break the gift that Toji had given her.

Protect Iori. Cut the curse. Protect Iori. Slice. Dodge. No, it would be better to let it get that hit in. Setsuka took the hit. Let its nails dig into her flesh. Let it pierce her skin. In return, she cut the main body of the creature without having one of the arms block her. From its weird taught, stingy neck down across its chest and to the floor. Then again the other direction. Setsuka spun her sword before letting it move over its scabbard and sheathing it. The curse and the dimension around them crumbling to nothing. Now she had to heal, but she felt so weak for some reason. Looking back to Iori, Setsuka wavered.

"Ah, it must have worn off...." She said as she pressed her hand against the gaping wound in her side.

"Setsuka!" She heard a voice scream out for her.

The dark haired young Tokyo student looked towards where that panicked call came from. "Hey Starlight, you wouldn’t believe how happy I am to see you." She said before collapsing into the hard ground.

Chapter Text

October 13th Setsuka's Birthday

Setsuka looked over the counter top filled with ice cream as Satoru and Suguru brought in an arm load each. Megumi looking very excited over the piles of sweets. "Guys. Guys we can't...." Setsuka started to say, but her words easily dissolved into laughter as Shoko also came in with an armful of even more ice cream and a huge grin. "We can't eat all of this."

"We? This is for you to eat. Happy birthday." Suguru said with a smile.

"Don't listen to that idiot. Just take what you want, we'll figure out the rest. Happy Birthday." Shoko said as she gave Megumi a hand up into a chair so he could look over the dozens of flavors of ice cream.

Satoru wrapped Setsuka up in his arms and nuzzled his face against her shoulder, even if it made him both crouch and bend down to do so. "Happy Birthday, Setsu." He said with every bit of happiness he felt at being able to celebrate her birthday with her again. The first time since they were children.

Setsuka squirmed in Satoru's grip to be able to wrap her arms around him the way she wanted to, letting her face fall into the space between his neck and shoulder. "You're too tall."

"You're too short." Satoru corrected, even though he was the one that had to duck when moving normally around Tokyo.

Once Setsuka decided she could not accept more of Satoru's affection she pulled away to start looking over the ice cream. She did not know there was a ring of red around her eyes, though she could feel the sting of it. This was the first birthday without Toji or Tatsuki for nearly a decade. Suguru and Shoko gave pause when they saw her face, the red of her eyes. They too would give her hugs as they called her name softly, confusing the raven haired teen with all their affections. Setsuka would try to distract them with the sweets before Megumi too joined in the hugs.

Setsuka cursed as the sting in her eyes was softened by tears. Trying to rub them away with her palms. She grit her teeth to keep herself from lying. To keep herself from telling them she was fine, or that she had just gotten something in her eyes off of Satoru's jacket. Instead it was better to remain silent. Her friends holding her, their affection was the reason she could not hold it together anymore.

The four of them sat at the counter with the pile of ice cream between them after Setsuka had run out of tears for the day. Suguru pressed a glass of water into her hands and a cool popsicle against her puffy eyes.

"Sorry..." Setsuka apologized softly, taking hold of the things that Suguru handed her.

"Don't start that, just say thanks." Satoru pouted at her as he leaned his arm and torso against the counter top, letting his head rest on his arm as he looked up at her. The young woman holding her head down in embarrassment.

"Thanks." Setsuka said as she playfully punched Satoru's arm and tried to put a smile back on her face.

Ice cream was eaten until they grew sick or tired of the sweetness, Setsuka being one of the first to tap out. Satoru ate the most of the sugary sweets, and Megumi gave himself a stomach ache that Setsuka helped him lay down with some antacids. More than ice cream, they had come with presents to share with her.

"Shoko! Thank you!" Setsuka said as she unwrapped a small karaoke machine, wrapping the other young woman up in a tight hug. "We should break this out tonight! Oh, wait...I don't have any CD's for it yet."

"It's not just from Shoko." Suguru said as he tapped her head with a CD case shaped gift. The three of them had gotten together to make it more of a set than otherwise, though too Satoru bought an extra gift into the mix despite what they had previously agreed. The argument that ensued brought tears to Setsuka’s eyes again, but this time from laughing too hard.

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December 7th Satoru's Birthday

Satoru sat on the edge of Suguru's desk, chatting about the party they were going to have at Setsuka's place in the afternoon. The dark haired teen telling Satoru about his own birthdays back at home with his parents. Satoru was fascinated at how different it was from the ones that he would have with his own family, as heir to the Gojo Clan and the blessed birth of someone with the Six Eyes and Infinity.

"Happy birthday, Satoru!" Setsuka said as soon as she showed up to class, wrapping him up in a hug as soon as she saw him. Squeezing him tightly enough to lift the man off his feet and spin him around. The white haired teen loving every moment of it. "Should we grab Suguru and skip class?" She asked with a smile

The teacher came in behind her and knocked both of them in the head. "Try doing that before you come into the classroom if you're planning on skipping." He said as the students all settled into their places. The four of them sticking around for class, as the alternative was terrifying.

"Come on starlight, I didn't mean to leave you out." Setsuka said as the other young woman seemed to ignore her "I swear I'll kidnap you too if you want." the raven haired young woman pleaded and whined.

"Why do you have a pet name for Shoko, but not for us?" Satoru asked with a pout.

Setsuka hummed as she thought about it for a moment "Because you're stronger than me?"

That comment led to Shoko punching Setsuka hard enough to send her rolling on the ground. The feeling of tumbling came before the actual tumbling came, but it was worth it for the young woman that could see and feel the future before it happened. Rubbing her head with a laugh when she was on her feet again. Dusting her uniform off. All of them stepping into the dorm room and greeting Megumi as he too welcomed them home.

"Hap Birfday Sato-Nii." The young child said as he had run over to hug Satoru's legs, nearly taking the teen out in the process. The teen lifting Megumi into his arms and walking him back over to the drawings he had been working on before. Asking about the picture which had all of them in it with small colorful triangles on the blob figures heads. Megumi squirmed until he was placed on the floor and handed Satoru the picture as a birthday present.

As Satoru was distracted by her adopted brother, Setsuka went into the kitchen and took a pretty white strawberry cake out of the fridge to set on the counter top. She poked a couple candles into the edges before lighting them with a match. The birthday boy himself approached the kitchen and crouched down as he looked over the counter at the cake before letting his blue eyes peer at her expectantly. "Did you make it yourself?"

"I'm not good at baking, so no. But I am going to make you some spicy curry for dinner." Setsuka said as she pushed the cake towards him so he could blow out the candles. The five of them shared the cake before dinner. Setsuka giving away her strawberries to Megumi, and the extra icing she did not want to Satoru.

Setsuka showing off a large hand knit red scarf that was as tall as Satoru himself. Though it was not perfectly made, the sides curled in place and the width and density changed where she had changed how tightly she knit the strings, Satoru was more than happy to wear it. Wrapping it around his neck a few times as it hung down to his sides, and keeping it on for the rest of the night.

Suguru and Shoko started to yell at her for being like Satoru and getting an extra gift. The three of them having pulled together and bought the collectors box set that had just come out of an anime Satoru had been really fond of.

After dessert and gift exchange they ate spicy curry that Setsuka had sweetened with apples for Satoru. After dinner there were once again more desserts to fuel Satoru's sweet tooth as the plugged in Setsuka's Karaoke machine and sang late into the night. All of them groggy into the next day at school, though too they felt it was worth it.

----------

December 22th Megumi's Birthday

"Happy birthday Megumi-chan!" The four teens exclaimed, skipping class for the day to celebrate the child’s fourth birthday together. They did not stay inside of campus grounds today, but instead went out into Disney Tokyo. Setsuka had bought all the tickets for them ahead of time, far ahead of time for the time of year.

When Setsuka attempted to pay for something for herself, Shoko tried to steal the wallet from her. Though she did not know how to avoid Setsuka's Echoes of the Future. Suguru on the other hand plucked it out of her hands after she avoided Shoko's vain attempt. The two high-fiveing before tossing it to Satoru before she could try and mug them for it. Satoru paid for the food and snacks they consumed at the theme park with his family's money.

Once in a while Megumi would look around at the other families, but the four teens would not let him dwell on wondering where his own parents were. Not today. Still wrapping his small mind around the idea that his mother would not be returning, or that his father was in the throes of depression and fighting in his own way. Setsuka had been with him his whole life, and since the death of his mother and the absence of his father been answering the hard questions with honesty. Today was about fun though, and distractions. She hoped that next time they went to the parks, Toji would be with him.

The only thing Setsuka was able to get from her own wallet were pennies to press at the stations around the park, and even those Satoru took from her coin pouch without handing her the whole thing. She liked the small cheap souvenirs better than most of the others that could be bought.

After Satoru paid for lunch the five of them found a place to relax for a bit as Setsuka put down a blanket and encouraged the four year old to take a short nap. Of course the four year old put up a fight, but after all the excitement of the morning and a full belly from lunch he was out cold for an hour. That too gave the teens time to lay down and rest. They had been taking turns holding his hands or carrying him as he saw fit. Setsuka eagerly making sure that he got to do what he wanted, as long as it did not mean putting him in danger of getting lost. After the nap though, Megumi was back at ordering them around the theme park.

"I match Sugu-nii!" The child happily announced to their group. After an incident on one of the rides where Megumi got sick, he and Suguru ended up with matching Disney themed shirts.

"You're right, that's so cool" Shoko said warmly before gesturing to herself as she asked "What about me? Do you want to get matching ears with me?"

The child eagerly agreed to Shoko's suggestion, ending up with matching items with everyone of the teens that had taken him out to the park for his birthday. Matching shirts with Suguru. Matching Mickey ears with Shoko. Matching house slippers with Setsuka. Last but not least he had matching hip bags with Satoru.

They all played through the day and into the night. As the cold winter air creeped into their bodies Setsuka put a warm beanie on Megumi's head, under the ears as he did not want to take those off, and a warm scarf around his neck that he could cover his face with. Everyone seemed to huddle around the young woman. Cold hands gripped onto her warm ones to steal her heat. Someone's cold nose pressed against the back of her neck, Satoru. It had to be Satoru. Even when she felt someone's cold hands slip under her jacket to rest against her shirt, she did not flinch.

"Setsuka, how are you so warm?" Shoko asked as she gripped onto Setsuka's hand like a life line.

"I've always been warm natured? That's why I'm half dead all summer." Setsuka said as she opened her arms and tried to wrap up the ones who were in front of her. "See? Warm."

They had to agree. The group stayed in Tokyo Disneyland to watch the evening's fireworks show. Setsuka would carry Megumi out of the park in her arms, and the young child would easily fall asleep even before they made it all the way out of the park.

Setsuka asked her three friends if they wanted to stay over for the weekend, since Christmas would be on Sunday. Shoko vehemently declined, and requested she never be invited to spend Christmas Eve with them ever again. Though Suguru asked her why she would make such a strange request.

"When I was younger, Toji-sensei was the only person I could spend the holidays with. I'd always get him a gift for Christmas, even if he didn't say thank you or get me anything in return. Then Tatsuki-oneechan came into his life, and I had someone else I could spend the holidays with. We bought each other gifts. She said it was weird at first, but I really liked spending Christmas together. Then Megumi came along and it was a whole family affair. It felt like family at least, even if I wasn't. Though I guess Christmas Eve is more of a couples holiday, so it makes sense if you don't want to spend it here." Setsuka said as she crossed her arms over her chest protectively, doing her best to keep her voice light and warm instead of letting her feelings seep into the words. The loneliness. After hearing that, how could the boys decline her request?

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December 24th Christmas Eve

Setsuka had saved an entire photo gallery saved online that depicted all of Megumi's fourth birthday weekend, and planned to add pictures from Christmas to the album as well. She shared the link for it with Toji along with her friends that had been there with them. Proud to have at least three people that she could count on to make sure Megumi was safe and cared for. She could not count his father yet, not until the man had worked the pain out of his system and returned for his son seriously.

"This is for dad, big smiles." Setsuka said as she took a picture while Megumi opened even more presents.

Satoru and Suguru had been surprised to see gifts for them under the small Christmas tree Setsuka had set up atop of a side table. Yet Satoru had found the gifts that first night and it gave them both time to pick something out for her as well. They took turns going into Tokyo to buy the gifts, the other one distracting her and Megumi so that they would not notice what they were doing. Each of the boys putting a gift for Setsuka and Megumi under the tree. Suguru had an extra present as well from Satoru.

When she opened up her gifts Setsuka could not help but laugh, as both of them had gotten her a flavor of tea from the same shop. When Satoru opened his gift he found one of the regional sweets from a place Setsuka had gone on a mission to. While Suguru felt a sense of guilt when he saw that Satoru also got him a gift. Opening them up to find that he got an omamori from Setsuka and a fairly unique snack flavor from Satoru.

Megumi was happy with the sweets and snacks he received from the trio of teenagers as well. Happily putting them away in his personal snack bin that Setsuka had gotten him. Letting him have the responsibility to maintain it's order so he would understand how quickly snacks you like can disappear. Though she wondered if he was too young to understand all of that just yet, it would be good practice. She hoped.

The whole day Satoru and Suguru could not push from their minds the idea that Christmas Eve was a day for people that were romantically involved. Both of them caught up on little gestures and wondering if the other teens involved might be interested in them romantically. Setsuka was the only teen that was peacefully oblivious.

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December 31th Toji's Birthday

Toji did not even realize it was his birthday before he received a message notification. There was an image of Setsuka and Megumi with those silly birthday hats on and a hand drawn picture of the two children and the two parents. Tatsuki's blob figure had a halo over her head, but she was still there in the picture with them.

The text read: Happy Birthday, even if you're not super excited about it we're both really glad you were born.

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February 3rd Suguru's Birthday

The day went by normally and Suguru was starting to wonder if they had forgotten his birthday, despite the fact Setsuka had it written down in that small notebook of hers. Breakfast was not special. Even when he got into class for the day, no one wished him a happy birthday. Considering what they had done for others birthdays, the teenager was starting to sulk.

"Suguru! Come over and join us for lunch, what are you doing way over there?" Satoru asked with a warm call to his friend.

Normal. Again. Everything was normal. Suguru tried to not let it bother him. He would simply guilt trip his friends into hanging out with him after classes were done. Even after Setsuka had invited them all over for Christmas Eve too. Maybe she really did not think too much of it, but he had. Suguru should have left them to their own devices like Shoko had.

After lunchtime Suguru returned to see Satoru and Setsuka speaking with their teacher about something in the hallway. Satoru rubbed his throat as if it were tired. Suguru had tried to warn him about talking so much, though today especially he seemed to over run the conversation. Suguru was unable to find the time to reminding them of his birthday, and hang it over their heads. He smiled as he wondered what kind of face they would make when they realized.

"Suguru!" Setsuka called as she put her hands together "I'm going to have to leave immediately after class on a mission, do you think you and Satoru could take Megumi out for dinner? I'll give you money." She asked with a little tilt of her head.

Suguru sighed with a rough upset tone. He did not want her to leave with his birthday on her mind during a mission. It could end with her getting hurt if she was distracted. Though he wondered if it would even be enough to distract her at this rate. "Yeah, we'll take him out. Don't worry about money, you always cook for us."

"Thanks Suguru, you're a life saver. Tada. This was going to be a bribe, but... I didn't need it." She said as she handed Suguru a warm sour lemon drink, making him smile softly because it was the same brand he normally bought for himself.

The teens filed back into the classroom at the behest of their teacher. Studying for the remained of class time. Setsuka, true to her word as always, ran out of the classroom as soon as the teacher released them. Shoko too waved as she followed after Setsuka, Suguru's brow knit as he figured the two girls must have been on the same mission. Sighing as he packed his bag away. Thinking how this really was some kind of birthday. The first one away from his home and family, and it already felt awful.

First stop was Setsuka's dorm room where Megumi was patiently waiting. Happily greeting the two young men that had become like brothers to him in the short time he knew them. Though in his young mind the past few months were a vast portion of his life. Satoru and Megumi shaking a moment where they shushed each other.

"Hey, Satoru. Where are we going? We didn't have to come all the way here for dinner." Suguru complained

"It's going to be a little while before we can have dinner, right? Let's take Megumi to an arcade." Satoru said with a bright smile that melted Suguru's heart.

The dark haired young man agreed as he continued to let Satoru lead them to a place that had an arcade, and too some karaoke rooms. "Setsuka would like this." he said softly. "We should bring her here... maybe this weekend."

"Oh, uh. Yeah, we'll definitely bring her here." Satoru agreed, as too did Megumi who soon was shushed by Satoru as they shared another moment of trying to quiet each other.

It was fine to be a bit louder around the games and other students chatting, but it was good to practice restraint in public as well. Suguru looked around a moment before Satoru suddenly grabbed his face and forced him to look into his pretty blue eyes. The young Jujutsu High student pushed his hands away from his face. "What?"

"Ah...haha, you uh." Satoru was starting to sweat when his phone gave a notification sound and he immediately checked it. "Oh good. Let's go grab a karaoke booth and have a look at what they might be able to bring us here? That way we don't have to go elsewhere." Satoru said as he took Suguru and Megumi's hands.

"I don't think that's going to be a very healthy dinner." Suguru said as he was swept away with Satoru's moods again.

"Happy birthday Suguru!!" Called all of the people that the young man cared about. His parents. Setsuka. Shoko. Even Satoru and Megumi at his side. The two of them gave each other high fives for they had been able to keep the secret safe from Suguru the whole time the others were preparing. For what seemed like forever he stood there slack jawed, looking them all over and then at the table. There was no fast food at the table in the middle. Instead it held the things Setsuka had found that he liked while they ate dinner together, as well as his favorite foods from living with his parents. The dark haired teen pushed a palm lightly into his eye as he could feel the tears of happiness and relief well up.

"Idiots." Suguru said in a soft, appreciative scoff. Sitting together with the people he cared about, both at Jujutsu High and before, to have a meal together for his birthday. Surprised as he was. His parents happily chatted away about how they had received a call from Setsuka, asking them to join a birthday party. Telling Suguru the whole embarrassing story of the call, and how she had spoken about missing her own family. Though Setsuka had not mentioned the boys spend Christmas Eve with her, she did tell them about the boys spending an important holiday with her since it would be the first without her family. Though the parents assumed it had been New Years that the students spent together, and Setsuka's biological parents she was talking about.

Putting the karaoke room to good use, Setsuka and Satoru especially would sing loud without a care in the world. Though when it came to songs that Setsuka actually regularly liked and sang to while she was cleaning, it was pleasant to listen to. With other songs though, she did have to drink more water to soothe her throat when she went far off pitch.

Suguru asked his parents where they would be staying. The pair staying for a night in Tokyo before going home. Embarrassed that Setsuka and Satoru had paid for their trip into the city, though really it had just been Satoru's funds that paid for it. He too offered to pay for the hotel, but Surugu's parents could not rely on a teenager for so much. His mother held his hands in hers a moment as she told him how proud she was of him. Sending the teens off at a reasonable time. Setsuka carrying her little brother after he was out so late into the day.

Chapter Text

Dining together had become a nightly routine for Setsuka, Satoru, and Suguru. Even if Satoru or Suguru got sick and had to stay in bed, the other would bring some of Setsuka's home cooking to them. The first time Setsuka got sick though, the boys went to her room and did their best to cook some food for her. Megumi tried to help as well, demanding that he was big enough now that he was four.

"Sato-nii, go hold neenee's hand." Megumi delegated as he was busy helping Suguru with all his tiny might.

"She's a little old for that, Megumi-chan." Surugu spoke in a soft tone whenever it came to Megumi. Though Satoru was already skipping away to not be helping in the kitchen.

"No" He said with a defiant look on his tiny face "It don't matter." Megumi frowned as he continued to clean and stack vegetables for Suguru to cut and peel.

Suguru chuckled warmly, and agreed that it was a wise thing to take to heart. That no matter how old you are, you could still have someone hold your hand when you are sick. Though he did worry if that would be all Satoru would do.

In her room Setsuka was laying still as she heard the guys talking in the other room, sighing when Satoru attempted to tip toe inside to sit at her bed side. "I'm awake, just walk normally."

"Aw. Why are you so lucid? In anime aren't you supposed to be completely out of it and confess your feelings for me because you thought it's just a dream?" Satoru teased, though his tone was soft enough to not bother her headache. Crouching down to touch her forehead with his cool hand, which drew a soft pleased sigh.

"I realized a long time ago that this isn't an anime, Satoru. I love everyone here too much." She said, her own voice was quiet but grating with her sore throat.

"That's the shit I was talking about." Satoru said with a smile as he snuck a hand under her covers to find hers to hold "Go on. How much do you love us?"

Setsuka laughed, but it soon turned into a cough as she rolled away from Satoru so as to cough into the pillow instead of his face. Satoru rubbed her back as she shook with the deep rough sounding coughs. The young man felt a bit guilty for his teasing if it caused her to hurt. "Isn't it embarrassing to hear as a Japanese person?"

"Embarrass me."

"You and Suguru are my favorites. I love you both. I love your relationship. How you both seemed so good for each other. You're so beautiful. Physically, sure, but also at heart. I want to save you. I want you both to be happy, so much Satoru. I'll end the whole world if it means you'll get a happy ending. Even if I know that Jujutsu Sorcerers don't get happy endings. I want to make it happen." Her words made Satoru's face burn with embarrassment, though it made him happier to hear than anything else. He remembered she told him he was not her favorite character in the anime when they were young, but he did not think that was because she had the two of them in mind. It made him so happy he thought he might float on air.

"Should we get rid of the rest of the world?" Satoru asked in a soft, affectionate voice.

"Suguru won't like that.... you have to ask him before you kill a bunch of people, and make him promise the same...." Setsuka said in a soft, worried tone.

"We should all three agree, before we do anything drastic." Satoru agreed with a little nod of his head against her mattress. "When you get better, we'll talk about it."

Setsuka agreed softly, turning her head to look at him. It would not take long until Suguru knocked on the door frame to call the both out for dinner.

----------

Standing at the top of a set of tall straight stairs was a dark haired teenage girl, peering down the stairs with a single thought on her mind. What if she just fell down? She could see it, feel it in her bones. At least the first few seconds. Her neck would not break right away, but surely with such a long staircase, at some point it would? What was the point of her continued existence in the first place? Her influence on people's lives was only ever negative. She thought she had no friends. At least not ones that would come looking for her at the bottom of a stair case. Satoru had looked for her since they were children, but now he had friends. Good friends. She was not needed. So, what if she just fell down?

The feeling of a hand on her arm? Someone must be around, and have stopped her in one of the variations of the future. Then she should just walk normally, and no one would think twice. Yet that hand really did grip her arm hastily, even if she did not yet move.

"Setsuka, did something happen on your mission?" Came the voice of Suguru. "He had become better at avoiding her ability, so why did she sense his arm before he grabbed her? Setsuka looked into his worried eyes and realized that perhaps he just was not paying attention before. Perhaps interacting with her in a way that avoided her Echoes of the Future was bothersome to him.

"Nothing in particular?" She said with what she hoped was a carefree smile. A customer service face, she supposed. The same one she would give to the people that called for Jujutsu Sorcerers help.

"Then why does your face look like that?" Suguru said with a frustrated roughness to his tone.

"I have resting bitch face, you know that." The girl said in reply as she lifted her other arm to frame her face with the back of her hand as she tilted her head.

"That's not the same. You looked.... haaa....." Suguru had not yet let go of her arm, as he sighed he let his hand slip down from her forearm to her hand. "Come away from there, it's dangerous." He led her in a different direction down to the dorms. She was hiding something, but he knew nothing she said was a lie. He could still feel her cursed energy coursing through her, but that did not mean she was telling the truth.

Just a little more and Setsuka figured that Suguru would drop whatever questions he had. "Aww, is Suguru-chan worried about me?" she teased.

"You were thinking about throwing yourself down those stairs." Suguru said as he tried to pull her forward to look at him, yet she stubbornly stood her ground. One arm is not enough to move her if she did not want to.

"What makes you think that? Honestly, I told you. The mission went fine. I'm just a little tired." Tired of living.

Suguru wondered if he really had just been seeing things. Yet he could not forget the look of her dark eyes. It seemed they had turned into a void instead of reflective like a mirror, there had not been a single glisten of life in them. His hold on her hand loosened as he wondered if it was better to drop the questions. When it did, Setsuka pulled away.

"Thanks for worrying, but what about you? Your missions going well?" She asked warmly, patting him on the back and walking forward so that the two of them could continue down to the dorm rooms.

----------

Satoru watched as Suguru seemed more interested in Setsuka. A soft smile on his lips as he watched his two favorite people in the world. Even as he let everything they said pass in one ear and out the other.

"Noblesse oblige is the idea that those with a privileged standing have a responsibility to those below them. Which in some ways presents an issue that people are below other people, like setting a hierarchy itself tends to be troublesome in human society." Setsuka said as she sharpened her pencil with a small pocket knife.

"That's true, but I don't think it has to be set in that way. Jujutsu Sorcerers have power, that doesn't mean they're of a higher cast. It just means we're the only ones with the power to protect those that don't have the ability to use cursed energy." Suguru stated, actually enjoying these sorts of conversations with Setsuka. Instead of the fights they normally dissolved into if he said anything similar to Satoru.

"But is that even true? Toji-sensei has no cursed energy at all, and he's able to fight curses just fine. Don't you think it could be possible for some people that aren't curse users to be able to fight curses, at least the low level ones? Which would help ease the burden on other sorcerers." Setsuka continued as she picked up her paper to throw the pencil shavings away into the trash.

"That would make them Jujutsu Sorcerers, even if they don't have innate abilities, if they can use cursed energy or a cursed weapon they would be the same as us." The young man thought about it for a moment after speaking, of what she could be proposing. If it could work, or if it would just cause more trouble and panic, which would just cause more curses.

"You grew up with a nice family, Suguru. It's not really going to be easy to try and get the families to recognize people without innate abilities to be recognized as Jujutsu Sorcerers, much less those from outside the families." The young woman said, remembering the things she and Satoru had to go through. Remembering the names that Toji had been called. The fights she had gotten into because of all of it.

"That's not fair. I can't know what goes on in other families if you won't tell me." Suguru pointed out. Making Setsuka blink at him in surprise before resting her chin on her hand as she realized he was absolutely correct.

After classes were over for the day, Setsuka obtained Megumi and took him along with Satoru and Suguru to the park that they had on campus. Taking turns with Satoru to tell Suguru about their own families and issues that lay within. The other leading Megumi around so he would not hear the troublesome stories. Of the abuse that both of them had gone through to get to where they were at the moment. Letting him know of the promise they had made as children, and why they had made it. Setsuka spoke of the time she floated between houses, hiding away from the Minamoto family at her mentor's house.

Satoru told Suguru about the training he had been forced to go through as a child. How it was Setsuka that let him realize that it was not normal to be hurt because you wanted to see someone. That being a friend was not supposed to be something that caused pain. The isolation he suffered as a result of his birth. Removed from his parents care as a child so he would not even have that attachment, and fighting curses from a young age. Being treated as special had meant being treated as something other than a human being. If not for Setsuka and Suguru, he might still believe that it was normal for a Jujutsu Sorcerer to simply be a tool that killed curses rather than a person that needed to be cared for.

Setsuka would tell him that she tricked Toji into training her, and the dangerous missions he had taken her on. Even as a child. Fighting non-sorcerers and curse users alike, until she was beaten and had to be carried home multiple times. Yet she spoke of it with such warmth and fondness. Her tone changing when she spoke of the abuse that started up again when she had to return to her home after years of hiding away from it. When Toji had gotten married, she was no longer needed at the house. Thinking she was not wanted, the same as she was not wanted at her own home. She would look at Megumi in those moments, a pained smile on her face as she told him about Megumi's mother.

On Setsuka's phone was the soft voice of Tatsuki, singing that lullaby that calmed Setsuka and Toji whenever they had a panic attack. Whenever they began to spiral out of control. She played the voice for Suguru. A voice Satoru never heard before. A voice that called Megumi over as the child ran close to listen to the recording of his mother. The four of them sat and simply listened.

----------

February 2006

Valentine's day came and went with White Day steadily approaching and the fever induced confession continued to live rent free in Satoru's head. It sounded as if she still considered herself an outsider in their world, despite saying she had accepted this was a world she lived and loved in. Being the strongest, feeling like you were an outsider among people right next to you. That was something Satoru understood all too well. Something that Setsuka and Suguru had pushed away as they made themselves present in his own world among the strongest. Whenever they sparred it was pretty obvious to Satoru that Setsuka would be able to catch up by the end of their first year. She had already been able to get real hits on him between the rules he had put on Limitless The three of them together would be the strongest, and they would continue to climb together. Above everyone and everything. Satoru wondered if they could climb together, but really together.

"Suguru." Satoru called attention from his friend as the pair were lounging around reading manga, setting his own aside for the moment as he moved to lean over the man in question. Pushing his manga to the side as well.

"Oi, Satoru. If you have a question just ask, don't put your face in mine." He said, even as he allowed the white haired himbo to do as he pleased.

"Do you like me?" Satoru asked with clear blue eyes.

"What do you mean?"

Satoru hummed a moment, shifting his weight to the side before leaning down to kiss Suguru on the lips. A small gentle peck before pulling back. "Do you want to date me?" He asked as his eyes seemed to peer through Suguru's.

"Fuck." With a bright red face, Suguru tried to cover his own eyes so he would not have to see what kind of face Satoru was making at him. "I thought you liked Setsuka? Isn't that why you're always over there?"

"I do, but I like you too. I think you could help me get her into a relationship with the three of us." Satoru said with a bright, cocky ass smile. "I've found her stash of BL manga, she keeps them out of Megumi's reach but they aren't exactly hidden."

Suguru moved his hand to glare at Satoru before grabbing a handful of white hair and dragging him down into another kiss. "That's such an asshole thing to say, Satoru. You're being selfish."

"Well... Setsuka said to be a bit selfish."

One might believe in a shameless self insert fan-fiction the pair of young men would almost immediately start to plot on how to get together with the third partner mentioned, however they were instead preoccupied with one another. Satoru would share his favorite moments in the BL manga's he borrowed off Setsuka's shelves, and tempt Suguru into reenacting them. Though the latter would point out how there was no massive height difference between them, and even their hand sizes did not match nearly what they looks like in the manga. Though Suguru more than once pinned Satoru against a wall and left the blue eyed teen nearly speechless.

----------

Blue eyes obscured by dark sunglasses watched over Setsuka as she looked through her phone with a content little smile on her adorable face. She thought she was being sneaky about it, but Satoru knew she had been taking pictures of him and Suguru. Her phone sound was always off so they could not hear the photos snap, but she would leave her phone around the house sometimes. Whenever he wanted to see how Setsuka did, he would riffle through her photos and messages.

Suguru held up a book and took hold of Satoru's face to turn it towards him, tilting his head to kiss his boyfriend in the middle of the classroom. Shoko leaned back in her chair and sighed at the display of affection she was slowly and painfully getting used to. His amber eyes looked over Satoru's face carefully, how the other closed his eyes and leaned fully into the attention he was given. A small smirk on his lips when they parted in the kiss and he set his book down again.

"Feeling jealous?" Satoru asked with a smug smirk. "I told you the truth, Suguru. I like you." He said as he traced a finger over Suguru's ear before he let his hand follow the lines of hair around the back of his boyfriend's head. "I like you a lot."

"I really like you too, Satoru." Suguru said, just before the teacher knocked them both in the head and told them to pay attention.

After classes ended for the day Suguru whisked Satoru away into the city. Taking him to a new movie. Despite the Gojo family heir having more money than he knew what to do with, Suguru refused to let him pay for the date. This was something he wanted to do, a time he stole him away for himself. Be a bit selfish sometimes, right? The two young men took a seat towards the back of the theater, it was supposed to be an action movie with plenty of mystery involved. Some assassins and super powers. Yet you could never guarantee it would not be boring, and they would simply have to entertain each other if it was.

"That was pretty good for a b-grade movie." Satoru said with a laugh, his shoulders and stride relaxed with Suguru at his side.

"It was supposed to be a high budget film." Suguru spoke with a chuckle in his tone at his boyfriend's habit to insult everything. The pair may have downed two popcorn buckets between them, but they were both ready to eat a real meal after the movie. Suguru finding a place he could pay for with his sorcerer's income, even if it did not live up to Satoru's rich palette.

The two young men ate dinner across from each other, talking about the movie they had just seen. Too where they should go after dinner, as neither wanted to return to the dorms just yet. Though they lived together, there was something special about being out in Tokyo as if they were just normal teenagers that felt nice.

"Did you see how they ran? It looked like it was supposed to be fast, but it was sooooo sloooowwww" Satoru feigned a slow-mo voice as he too moved his arms and legs a bit slower as well, using infinity to keep himself afloat between steps. Making fun of the movie some more with Suguru. Watching him laugh. Watching him smile. It was addicting.

----------

"I'm so restless, do you want to spar?" Setsuka asked Suguru, the pair had been left behind for the afternoon as Shoko and Satoru headed out to take care of a mission.

The young man had to think about it for a moment. "Yeah, sure." He would finally agree with a stretch.

Setsuka gave a soft excited cheer as she hopped up from her desk. Waiting for him to follow her to the practice field with an excited smile on her face, but very soon did her mind start turning. Looking over Suguru a moment before asking. "Is that sure like you want to, or sure like you're humoring me?"

"Does it matter?" Suguru asked as he rolled his shoulders and stood to lead the way if she was not going to start walking.

"Yeah, of course it does." the young woman said with a frown. "Don't do things just to placate me. Be it things you say, or things you do." She said as she lifted her bag over her shoulder and walked down the hallway with her classmate.

Suguru had noticed that Setsuka seemed to like him, that was probably the reason that Satoru had asked him out in the first place. He was always watching Setsuka, so he should have also realized. The young man had to admit it was fun to be around her, but sometimes he felt more like a third wheel. He did not know that Setsuka felt the same way, especially after it was obvious Satoru and Suguru started dating.

"You're Satoru's childhood friend, I've got to be nice to you." He said knowing full well that friend was not what Satoru wanted to be with her.

Friend of Satoru's. Not even his. Setsuka gripped at her shirt, just over her heart as it felt like it twisted in her chest. "Yeah. That's fine, but you should be a bit more selfish sometimes. Just say if..."

"Stop telling people to be selfish." Suguru said as he spun to look at her, his head tilted back as he looked down at the young woman that was nearly a foot shorter than him. His tone was cold. "We are Jujutsu Sorcerers, and we are the strongest. Don't act like you aren't part of that too. Don't act like you're fine with everyone else being selfish while you stand back and let the people you like leave you behind. Tell us to spar with you at our best, like that first day. So that you can catch up and stand at the top with us."

Setsuka stood there slack jawed at how Suguru had just told her off, her face a little flushed at the way he looked down at her and his tone of voice. Turning her head to the side to try and get a hold of herself better.

"Don't cry." Suguru demanded as his brow knit together, knowing he had let the jealousy get the better of him.

"I'm not." Setsuka shot back "I just..." Thought you were hot. Yet she could not say that aloud. Instead looking at his face again. "Fight me, let's go all out."

Suguru smirked and nodded as the pair of them walked out to the practice field. Both stretching beforehand as Setsuka explained that he really could go all out and she would just use reverse curse technique to heal up when they were done. Suguru mentioning they might want to set their uniform jackets to the side, just in case. Too telling her to use her cursed weapon, if he was able to go all out then she needed to as well. Teasing her that he would not let her get a hit in.

Letting her have her weapon was a mistake. Suguru could have lost an arm if he did not focus his cursed energy into the space she was about to try and cut through. Had she been holding back against him before? Things became even more difficult once he did block her attack, as if it were a test to see if he could handle her swings. Fast. Suguru was finding it more and more difficult to avoid her Echoes of the Future as well as her blade. Every time he slipped up and she could see his echo, she would not use the blade but instead her own body. A knee. An elbow. A fist. Whatever she felt was the most useful in that situation. Eventually he had to bring out the very curse that she had helped him capture, the split mouth woman.

Laying in the grass the two of them had slices in the under shirts they wore, as well as their uniform pants. Setsuka lamented the fact that she would have to get a new bra as the one she was wearing had half the band cut through as well. She took out her phone and scooted a bit so that Suguru was in frame too as she snapped a selfie with him.

"Hey, let me see those." Suguru said as he reached for her phone.

"Oh.... sure, just don't think I'm too weird. Okay?" Setsuka said, sending the picture to Satoru before she handed the other teen her phone to look through.

Suguru looked at her as she seemed a little flustered at handing the phone over, knowing she had given Satoru permission before to look through her phone and messages but did not expect her to do the same for him. He started to peer through the pictures curiously. Soon though he started to blush at the pictures she had taken. The way that Satoru looked at him in some of them was just as affectionate if not more than when he caught Satoru looking at Setsuka. The look in his eyes, the smile on his lips. Suguru covered the lower part of his face as he could feel his cheeks warming with a flush. "Hey.... can you send me some of these?"

"Eh? Just pick the ones you like and send them yourself, there's too many to try and send all of them." Setsuka said as she let her head shift to the side.

Suguru started clicking through more and more of the pictures and wrinkled his face at the sheer number of them. "You're just like him. Maybe not the same, but.... did you know he lays down in our bed and just.... inhales? Your bed and mine."

"As long as he doesn't put his shoes in the bed, I don't care what else he...... wait I definitely care if it's something else. You two, don't do anything weird in my bed." Setsuka declared as a joke, though Suguru was eerily quiet. "You didn't do anything weird in my bed did you?" she asked as she pushed herself up on her hands.

"How do you always have so much energy?" Suguru said as he chose to stay laying on the cool ground.

"That's not the point, what did you do in my bed?" Setsuka hesitated a moment, did she even want to know? Yes. She kind of very much wanted to know.

"Yo, Setsuka! What's got you all excited?" Came the infuriating voice of Satoru Gojo as he had returned from the mission.

"I'm not excited!"

"She's thinking of all the lewd things we could have done in her bed while she was away." Suguru said with a smirk, his eyes closed as he could hear the anxious Setsuka's voice going up an octave every time he or Satoru teased her.

"I... yes, but that's...." Her face all the way to the tips of her ears had turned a brilliant red.

"Ah, because you love us. Right?" Satoru said, repeating her embarrassing words back to her. "Fantasize all you want, maybe you can give us some ideas?"

Setsuka buried her head in her hands and wondered why she had ever given in and told the whole truth like that. Why she liked these two young men that teased her to the point she wanted to bury her head in the ground. She would eventually stand up and stomp over to grab her uniform shirt before throwing Suguru’s into his face. "I'll see you at dinner!"

"I guess that means we shouldn't show our face before dinner?" Suguru asked as Satoru stepped closer and leaned down to kiss his boyfriend tenderly on the lips. Satoru had the happiest look on his face, knowing that the plan was starting to work. At least a little.