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CHAPTER ONE
unorthodox interview
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(episode two — for myself)

(2018)

"HE JUST ATE it whole?" Naomi asked, trying hard to understand the information given to her as she gently peeled back one of the bandages she applied to Megumi, the first year student who she's sitting next to as he lays in his bed, her heart warming a bit to see that his wounds are gone.

"He tossed in the air like a game time snack and swallowed," he said, she can hear how tired he was, "I couldn't do anything to stop him."

"It's alright, Gumi," Naomi smirked at the way he glared at the wall when hearing that nickname, "Gojo and I will figure something out for him, don't worry, you just get your rest."

Megumi nodded and swatted away her hand when she ruffled his hair, chuckling at the way his ears tinged pink and she left his room, balling up his bloody bandages and throwing them away in the nearest trashcan.

It had been a few years since she had first met Megumi and although the circumstances were... less than desirable, she loved being around the kid, he seemed to be the only one who was also able to give her husband as much shit as she did back when they were in High school.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket, pulling her attention down to it, she saw his face lighting up her screen. Quickly answering, she put the phone to her ear.

"Hey honey, was just thinking about you, are you and Yuji here?" She asked, heading towards the front doors of the school.

"Yep, we're waiting in the courtyard for you, darling!" Naomi smiled at Satoru's name for her and she shook her head.

Stepping out, her already good mood seemed to lift when she saw her husband. Next to him, was a young boy around Megumi's age, with bright pink hair and scars in the bottom outer corners of his amber eyes. Naomi tilted her head as she took in his appearance. Was that a mouth opening on his cheek?

"Any hierarchy other than strength is worthless!" She could hear as she approached, her brows furrowed as she looped her arm with Satoru's.

The young boy, Yuji, slapped a palm to the side of his face in alarm.

"I'm sorry about that!" Yuji said to Satoru, his glance to Naomi made him look confused as he noticed the way they held each other, "sometimes he just does that."

"What an amusing body you have now!" Satoru mused, a finger to his chin as he studied Yuji, even with his blindfold on, Naomi can feel the pulsating energy of the six eyes in her husband.

That same mouth opened back up on the back of Yuji's hand, Naomi blinked back in surprise but then leaned in to study it, curiosity creeping up on her.

"I do owe you a big favor though, once I make this punks body my own, you'll be the first one I kill!" This must be Ryomen Sukuna, the famed King of Curses she studied in her second year.

"It's my honor to be targeted by Sukuna himself," Satoru smirked, not turning to look at the hand.

"This guy is really that famous?" Yuji asks after covering the back of his hand with his other palm, alternating his gaze between the two of them to look for an answer.

"Ryomen Sukuna is an imaginary fierce god, with four arms and two faces," Satoru explained for the boy, "but he once existed as an actual human being, although it was over a thousand years ago. In the golden age of Jujutsu, sorcerers gathered all their might to challenge him and failed. Crowned with the title of Sukuna, we couldn't even destroy his grave wax as he traversed the ages after death as a cursed object. Without a doubt, he is the king of curses."

"Who's stronger: him or you?" Yuji asked. A small chuckle escaped her at the question.

The two of them started to head for Yaga's office, quickly checking the time, they were definitely a few minutes late for Yuji's interview. Yaga hates tardiness, so Naomi knows that he isn't going to be pleased with the two of them when they get there.

"Well, if Sukuna regained all his power, he might cause me a little trouble," Satoru pondered

"But would you lose?"

"I would win."

Naomi nudged her husband's side as they ascended the steps to the building where Yaga requested they bring Yuji.

"Oh, this is my wife, Naomi, if we don't find all the fingers by your third year, she'll be your teacher," Gojo introduced him.

"It's nice to meet you, Sensei," Yuji bowed to her briefly with wide eyes.

"It's nice to meet you Yuji, I'm sorry you've been dragged into all this," Naomi smiled softly now, "and I'm sorry for your loss, Megumi caught me up on everything."

"Thank you," Yuji gave a smile of his own before they entered the building. This is where Yaga usually spends his time making more of his puppets, so he must be putting Yuji on a trial of his own.

Satoru shifted his arm, pulling her hand into his and squeezing before lacing their fingers together. She looked up at him and despite his blindfold, she can feel his assuring gaze.

"You're late, Satoru," Yaga addressed them, "eight minutes late. As usual, not quite enough to chastise you for. I told you, fix that, and not to drag your wife into your bad habits."

"If it's not enough to chastise me for then don't chastise," Satoru was dismissive, "besides, you're just sitting around making dolls anyway, so what's eight minutes?"

Satoru turns his head to Yuji, who's clearly a little confused from what Naomi can read on his face.

"Principal Masamichi Yaga," Gojo introduces, a sly smile on his face.

"This is the boy?" Yaga asks, one of his cursed puppets sat limply in the palm of his hand. Naomi has known this man for over ten years now, and he still refuses to tell her how he manages to get some of them to work for so long without draining his cursed energy.

"Yuji Itadori!" Yuji introduces himself with a polite bow like the one he gave Naomi outside the building, "I'm into girls like Jennifer Lawrence! This is an honor."

Naomi tilted her head as she looked up to her husband, confused. He seemed to be holding back a chuckle. He was an avoiding her gaze and she knew that if Satoru looked at her, he would crack. Instead, he once again squeezed her hand in his.

"What are you here for?" Yaga asks.

The question seemed to throw Yuji off, it did the same for Naomi, she wasn't sure what Yaga was trying to get out of the boy. Her admission interview had gone extremely different when Yaga was still only a teacher when she had been admitted to the school. She remembers sitting timidly in Sato's office, answering his questions about her family and their demise. She remembers showing him what she had done to the curse that killed them and left her scarred.

That all had been so long ago now, all she remembers is Suguru reassuring her before the interview. And she remembers  Satoru taunting her. That was the first time she felt an inkling of wanting to commit violence on the man, and it wouldn't be the last.

"An interview?" Yuji answered Yaga's question, seemingly confused by the question.

"But why Jujutsu High?"

"To learn Jujutsu?"

"I mean beyond that," Yaga clarified, "what do you hope to find once you've studied curses and learned the art of exorcising them?"

"Well, I suppose," Yuji pondered, his hands coming up as he expressed his words, "I'm going to collect all the fingers of Sukuna, can't just leave them all out there—"

"Why not?" Yaga asked, making Yuji stare at him dumbfounded, "people you'll never know die every day due to crime, accidents, and diseases, it's just the natural course of life."

"Here he goes again," Gojo comments. Naomi knew what he meant, Yaga was always a very cynical man, she wasn't phased by his dark view of the world and his brooding behavior anymore.

"But you're telling me you can't overlook it when that death is caused by a curse?" Yaga asked.

"It was someone's dying request of me!" Yuji answered, "and I don't care about the details, I just wanna save who I can."

"Hmm, dying wish?" Yaga asked, finally standing up from his spot on the ground, surrounded by his stuffed puppets, some of them were actually... cute this time, "you're saying you'll fight curses just because someone else told you to do that? Insufficient."

Yaga outstretched his right arm, his fingers splayed out and hovering over one of his puppets, Naomi knew it's name, it was on the tip of her tongue, she stopped trying to remember all the puppets a long time ago except for the one that's a second year student, his name is easier to remember anyways. The cursed corpse rose, its blank face staring Yuji down. Naomi sighed, pulling Satoru to the side, knowing what would happen next.

"That's not a doll!" Yuji said, astonished by the feat, "it's alive!"

"In a way, they're corpses. Dolls I've infused with my curse." With a flick of Yaga's hand, the doll sprung into action, charging at Yuji but then flickering out of view, seconds later, it was in Yuji's face, its fist clenched and reared back.

Yuji had the sense to block the gut punch with his bag, but it still sent him flying back, crashing against a support beam of the building.

"That's one hell of a doll," Yuji observed, meanwhile, that very doll was flexing its muscles, and gloating over its successful hit.

"A persons true nature reveals itself during a crisis, I'll keep attacking you until I get an acceptable answer," Yaga informs him. The doll was still jumping around, cheering itself on.

"Look man, it wasn't just someone else," Yuji groaned, now charging at the doll, "it was my grandfathers dying request!"

Then the kid had done something so quickly, it even took Naomi by surprise. He actually landed a punch square in the puppets face, sending it crashing into the wall next to Yaga. Yuji stood in the center of the building, his legs slightly crouched in a fighting stance with his fists clenched at his sides.

Seconds later, the puppet was bouncing off the walls, the floor, the ceiling, and the rows of support beams that hold the building up, candles went out from the speed that it was going. The room was consumed by darkness due to the fact that there were no windows. Naomi subconsciously stepped closer to Satoru, who released her hand and opted to wrap an arm around her, the warmth of his body seeping into her.

She isn't a fan of Yuji having to literally fight for a spot here at the school. She wants to say something, but she knows it's a waste of her breath when it comes to Yaga. She just hopes that she doesn't need to use her bandaids on him, if they'll even take.

In the darkness, Naomi isn't able to see how the fight is going, she assumes it isn't great considering Yuji's grunting and groaning.

"Family's still just someone else." Yaga's voice echoed through the building as a match was lit and pressed to the wicks of the candle nearby, "a jujutsu sorcerer constantly faces death, and not just their own death. Sometimes you must ignore the victims and rend the flesh from those who the curse has murdered."

Naomi looked down at her shoes, even eleven years later, her sister's face still flashes in her mind. A face that was once so beautiful, marred by a nasty curse. Satoru's arm around her squeezed tighter, pulling her out of her head. She looked up but his lips were already against her temple, as if he could pull the haunting images out of her that way. It did seem to work, even after four years of marriage, Naomi can still short circuit when he gets affectionate.

"It's an unpleasant job, you have to be highly motivated and perhaps a little crazy to handle it," Yaga explains, "you'd do this because someone else told you to? Don't make me laugh! It would be more believable if you said you were doing it to postpone your execution—"

"Oh screw you!" Yuji exclaimed. Naomi blinked back her shock at his words. She likes this kid. "I—"

"And tell me this: are you going to blame your poor grandfather when you get killed by a curse too?"

Yuji paused, his eyes widening at the question. It seemed to have stumped him.

"Damn, old man, you say some pretty harsh things," Yuji finally said.

"Teaching is making people realize truths." Yaga said. Naomi gasped, looking up and narrowing her eyes, she told him that in her interview for the teaching position she's in now.

"That's right, I guess—" Yujis thoughts were probably punched out of him when the puppet came back for round two, or three, Naomi lost track.

"It's not easy to imagine how you'll feel on the verge of death, however I can say one thing for certain: at the rate you're going, you might end up cursing your beloved grandfather for his dying wish. Jujutsu Sorcerers never die without regret so I'll ask you just once more: why have you come here to Jujutsu High?"

The puppet was closing in on Yuji but something visibly shifted in him, as if he had internal fighting instincts. Shortly after dodging the punch aimed for his head, Yuji and the puppet were a flurry of limbs until the pink haired boy managed to get the puppet trapped in a headlock, a determined look on his face.

Naomi has only just met the kid, but the pride she feels swelling in her chest is already overtaking her.

"Consuming Sukuna is something only I can do, so even if I could escape my death sentence, and run away from this responsibility, then someday I'd be eating food, taking a bath, or reading manga, and the moment I stopped to think, I'd go 'oh, I bet that right now, somewhere out there, someone is dying because of Sukuna but that doesn't concern me, it's certainly not my fault' you expect me to tell myself that?" The candle Yaga lit flared out like it had a life of its own, like it was feeding off of Yujis increasing energy. "Well, I refuse to do that. I don't know how I'll feel when I'm dying, but I won't regret the way that I've lived."

"Satoru, show him to his dorm room, Naomi, be sure to explain the security arrangements to him as well," Yaga had a small hint of a smile on his face, or at least, that's just what Naomi could see after knowing him for so long, Yuji may not be able to see the pride, "you're admitted. Welcome to Jujutsu High."

Yuji loosened the hold on the puppet a satisfied hmph at the news of his admission hit Naomi's ears as she and Satoru approached the boy who was still on the ground. It was too late to warn Yuji to watch out for the puppet, it already threw a punch so hard that it flipped him over.

"Sorry, I forgot to release the curse," Yaga winced as he observed Yuji, the puppet dancing next to him.

• ★ •

WHEN NAOMI REALIZED Satoru's plan to put Yuji next to Megumi's room, something scratched at the back of her mind. He had an underlying reason for this. It couldn't be just to annoy Megumi like he claimed. She remembered how far apart his room was from Suguru's, how far her room was from Iori and Ieri's rooms.

Then, a heartwarming realization. She had just finished up sending out another email regarding her own students and their progress with the assignment they were requested for. She would have to head out soon and check in on them and review their work. But she needed to do one last check in on Yuji and say goodbye to her husband before she left.

Their voices echoed into the hallway, pulling her to them. She didn't make it into the doorway before she was sighing. Yuji was already kneeling on his bed, taping up a picture to his wall of a hot woman in nothing but a stringy bikini on the beach.

"Are you sure he's going to be that cooperative— oh, Naomi Sensei!" Yuji immediately pulled the picture down, hiding it behind his back with a blush.

"Don't be shy Yuji, Naomi had picture like that in that same spot too, but the picture was of me," Gojo tilted his head, facing Naomi from where he leaned against the wall. Seeing him in her old room brought back memories of highschool, some good, but mostly bad. Especially when it came to him.

"You wish," Naomi rolled her eyes, looking to Yuji, "I'm going to be heading out soon, I've already gone over security protocols but if you have any questions, call me and ask, or go to Megumi, he can help you too."

"Uh, hello?" Satoru asked, taking long strides to bring himself to her side in a matter of seconds, a hand going to her side to pinch at her lightly, making her swat him away with no success, "I'm literally his teacher."

"And you're literally the worst," Naomi chuckled, doing her best to catch his hands but failing, "I have to go check my students progress, it's been a couple days since they checked in with me, I'll text you when I'm heading back home, okay?"

"Alright, honey," Satoru hands stopped pinching and instead lifted to cup her face, holding her still to lean down and give her a kiss, firm yet loving. There was always love in his kiss.

"Don't destroy the school while I'm gone," Naomi whispered as she held his hands in hers.

"No promises."

Naomi sighed, kissing his cheek. She turned to leave but stopped herself, waving to Yuji one last time. The young boy was already trying to re-tape the picture to his wall when Naomi headed out the door.

Her phone was in her hand once again, going back to the information sent to her regarding Hakari and Kirara's location and the grade of the curse they were sent to exorcise.

A groan escaped her lips, when she looked at where she was heading. Rolling her eyes as she headed to her classroom.

"I hate going to Akita."

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3.1k words

omg hello sweet angels how are we????

just wanna let yall know that updates might become slow...

"greta it's only chapter one what happened, pookie?"

:/ there are tears in my one direction eyes rn, i definitely wasn't a fan of liam at the end due to all the shit he's been doing but I've been a fan of one direction since 2010, so like... shit hurts u know??

anyways, thank you all for joining, I hope you guys stick around bc I fucking love this marriage and I can't wait to dive into their lore!!!!

see you at the next update!

— greta!