gumi glanced at Yuji, his tone steady.
"I'll have my uncle protect you."
After spending the day with him, gumi had already decided — It wasn't right for Yuji to just be executed. It was far too unfair.
At this point, he could only leverage connections to try and sway the higher-ups.
There were only two people who could actually make that happen: his horoom teacher Gojō Satoru, and his uncle Zen'in Shinsuke.
With Gojō out of the country, that left only one option.
"…Thanks, gumi."
Yuji still couldn't understand why everyone wanted him dead, but if soone was willing to protect him, wasn't that basically a lifesaver?
---
Two days later, gumi brought Yuji to Jujutsu High right on schedule to handle enrollnt.
"Yuji Itadori, right? Co with ."
Shinsuke eyed him with mild irritation.
This was supposed to be Gojō's job, but the guy had conveniently skipped town.
"Oh, okay."
Yuji looked around curiously, then asked,
"Uh, Mister, gumi said I might get the death penalty. Is that… true?"
"You're currently the vessel of Ryōn Sukuna, the King of Curses. By all rights, the higher-ups shouldn't allow you to exist.
But considering how rare Sukuna's vessel is, they've decided to let you ingest all twenty of his fingers before killing you, thereby erasing the King of Curses completely."
Of course, that "decision" only existed because Shinsuke had personally threatened them.
Otherwise, those old n would've executed Yuji without hesitation.
"So I'm dead either way, huh?"
Yuji let out a breath, then grinned faintly.
"At least this way I die for sothing. That's not so bad."
"…Wait. Twenty fingers? I'm not about to eat his toes, am I? No way I'm doing that."
Yuji froze at the thought. Ten fingers made sense — but toes too? The idea made him queasy.
"Sukuna, the King of Curses, had four arms. Twenty fingers.
Who in their right mind would turn toes into cursed objects?"
"Haha… fair enough. That's a relief." Yuji chuckled nervously.
"Hey, Mister, are there really that many curses out there?"
Even now, his understanding of curses was still fuzzy.
Shinsuke gave him a quick rundown of curse basics.
Just then, a mouth opened on Yuji's cheek, its tone dripping with arrogance:
"Hey, sorcerer. Care to make a deal?"
Slap.
"Sorry, Mister," Yuji winced. "Sotis this guy pops out on his own."
Though Sukuna couldn't seize control of his body outright, he'd occasionally erge like this.
"Oh? And what kind of deal?"
Shinsuke's lips curled slightly. He was curious what the so-called King of Curses would propose.
"Restrain this brat and let take over completely," the mouth on Yuji's hand said, voice laced with 'sincerity.'
"In return, I'll give you the chance to follow ."
Pffft.
"Hahahahaha…" Shinsuke burst out laughing.
"Didn't expect the King of Curses to be so entertaining. You almost sound human."
"Unfortunately, I'm no sorcerer — just an ordinary man. Take your offer to that white-haired guy instead."
"…I see. Fine. I'll rember you."
Sukuna marked Shinsuke in his mind. Soday, he would make this "ordinary man" pay for the insult of calling him human.
He was the King of Curses — four arms, two faces.
He may have once been human, but he despised being called one.
"Uh… Mister, is this guy really that strong?"
Yuji didn't actually know how powerful Sukuna was. But the title "King of Curses" said a lot.
"He's strong," Shinsuke replied casually. "Back in the golden age of jujutsu, all the sorcerers combined still couldn't defeat him.
Even after death, no sorcerer in later generations has ever managed to destroy his fingers."
Yuji's expression stiffened.
"What if I eat all twenty fingers and then lose control? Is there anyone who can stop him?"
Yuji was already thinking ahead, worried about what might happen in the future.
Shinsuke said calmly,
"Relax. You need to understand—right now, in the jujutsu world, there's soone called the strongest sorcerer. If it cos to it, he'll step in."
"Really? The strongest sorcerer? What's his na? Can I et him?" Yuji's eyes lit up with curiosity.
"You'll find out soon enough. He'll also be your teacher. His na is… 2.5 Gojō Satoru. Don't forget it."
"…2.5 Gojō Satoru? What kind of weird na is that?"
Before Yuji could question further, they had already arrived at Principal Yaga's office. The room was dimly lit, only a few candles flickering in the corners.
"Principal Yaga, the kid's yours now. I'll leave the rest to you."
Shinsuke gave Yuji a wry smile.
"Do your best to pass the evaluation."
Then, without another word, he stepped outside and closed the door behind him.
"Eh? Mister?" Yuji turned around, but his escort was already gone. Left alone, he looked around nervously until his eyes landed on the man at the desk, busily sewing a small doll.
"Hello! I'm Yuji Itadori!"
Yaga paused his stitching, lifted his head, and gave Yuji a steady look.
"So you're the one."
"Why do you want to co to Jujutsu High?"
---
About half an hour later, Yuji staggered out of the office, sporting a few bruises.
"Looks like you passed."
gumi leaned casually against the doorfra.
"gumi! You're here? Where's Mister?"
"It's Professor Zen'in," gumi corrected with a sigh, then turned to lead the way.
"Co on. I'll take you to the dorms."
His expression was full of annoyance—clearly, once again, he'd been stuck with all the grunt work.
"Oh, o-okay!"
Not long after, Yuji arrived at his room. His eyes widened in delight.
"Whoa! This place is aweso—it's a single room!"
gumi explained, "Most of the second- and third-years are out, so the place feels empty. Even if they were here, there aren't that many of them. Anyway, I'm next door. Call if sothing cos up."
"Got it!"
Excited, Yuji began unpacking, slapping up a poster of his favorite woman on the wall, then carefully arranging his things. Tomorrow, he'd start learning how to use cursed energy and begin the search for Sukuna's fingers.
---
The next morning—
Yuji awoke to find two towering n standing in his room.
"Holy crap! Mister!? And, uh… who's this guy?"
The sudden sight nearly made him jump out of bed.
"This," Shinsuke said with a smirk, "is the one I told you about yesterday—the strongest sorcerer alive."
Introduced with clear emphasis, the tall man at his side was none other than Gojō Satoru. Shinsuke had spent the previous night forcing him to cut his trip short and co back—there was no way he was going to let Gojō treat a work trip like so vacation.
"Oh! So you're Professor 2.5 Gojō! Nice to et you! I'm Yuji Itadori!"
Yuji straightened up instantly, his eyes gleaming with admiration. This was the man who could fight Sukuna head-on. Whether Yuji succeeded or failed from here on out depended on him.
"…What 2.5 Gojō? I'm Gojō Satoru, your jujutsu teacher."
Gojō rubbed his chin, giving Yuji a long, assessing look. His expression turned puzzled.
"Well I'll be… he really did rge with Sukuna."
He had thought Shinsuke just dragged him back out of spite, annoyed he'd taken ti off. But no—this ti, the bastard was telling the truth.
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