Work Text:
Act 1
Itadori Yuji jogged along the road. He had been running like this for two days, sleeping outdoors, followed by Chousou who claimed to be his older brother.
The street was empty. The remains of a campfire smothered, emitting a pungent smell of gasoline. Black smoke rose slowly. The door of a convenience store was violently damaged, crooking on its hinge like a hollow eye socket.
Chousou pulled open the door and looked in. He made a gesture to Itadori.
Itadori stepped over the threshold and walked in. The shelves were all empty, from food to shampoo to batteries. But Itadori knew a friend who worked at a convenience store when he was in Sendai, so he knew exactly where the extra food would be stored.
Itadori reached out his hand, groped under the cash register, and pulled open a drawer that contained nearly expired bread and bottled water, which hadn't been founded by other people.
He snapped his fingers at Chousou. Chousou walked over to him, and although he didn't speak it loudly, it was as if he was voicing his approval , saying that he was his smart little brother, from the tip of his braid to the bottom of his leather shoes.
If Itadori hadn't been so tired, he would have told this inexplicabe brother to stop boasting. Itadori’s toes curled up less than comfortably in his torn sneakers.
The late autumn sun pierced the room bitterly, bloodless, pale, and thin.
They took all the stuff, stuffed their coat pockets, and put them everywhere where they could (Chousou found a flashlight, so they also took a plate of batteries).
Huge unformed cursed spirits wobbled and drifted through the air, like a cloud of too low a height. Twisted, small cursed spirits poked their heads from sewer manhole covers, from collapsed abandoned houses, from overturned cars, muttering, "It hurts, it hurts…… "
At the night, they found an abandoned dwelling. They rolled in, and built a fire in the yard.
The owner of the house had a pool, whose water had dried up long ago. They jumped in, sitting at the bottom of the blue pool.
Itadori collected rags and wood together, and Chousou poured out some gasoline, pressed a lighter (also got at the convenience store). The fire soon wavered up.
At first, the flame was fragile and small. Then, at a certain moment, it suddenly swelled up as if it had swallowed all the oxygen around it.
The fire reflected its shadow on the hundreds of small blue tiles around the pool. Itadori walked around the unoccupied house and looked in through the glass windows. The owner left in such a hurry that the chairs toppled to the floor and pieces of cups and plates shattered everywhere.
In a cracked photo frame, a young couple smiles happily around a little boy with a birthday hat.
Itadori returned to the fire in silence and sat down. Chousou handed over a loaf of bread to him. Itadori took it, chewing without feeling its taste.
"It has been a hundred years since my brothers and I were born." Chousou opened his mouth, "I had never thought that there would be such misery on earth again."
"...... "
Itadori could not think of something suitable to answer. He opened his mouth and found his voice was harsh and hoarse because he had not spoken for a while.
He finally didn't say anything. He shrugged, and threw the bread wrapper onto the fire.
The flames licked the paper greedily. The wrapper soon turned into a thin piece of carbon.
Due to the widespread power outage in Tokyo, the stars could be seen clearly in the night sky.
There were lots of shiny stars.
The stars also could be seen in the suburbs of Tokyo. In Tokyo Jujutsu High.
Itadori, along with Fushiguro and Kugisaki, used to climb to the roof to breathe fresh air, in the calm and uneventful old
days, when Gojo Satoru was still annoying and noisy, just a few months ago in the summer.
Because the door to the rooftop of the girls' dormitory was locked, Kugisaki would sneak into the boys’ dormitory. She would knock on the door of Itadori with her biggest effort to keep quiet.
Itadori, then, would put down his game player and go to open the door. Kugisaki would peek into the room with a hair-messed head, making a face to Itadori and Fushiguro.
They then would climb to the top floor and push open the small door to sneak out.
In the middle of a summer night, even if the breeze blew, the skin still kept sweating. Lying on the roof, the three of them could see the night view of the Tokyo city in a distance, like a sleepless city; they could also see hundreds of thousands of stars overhead, blinking eyes towards them.
"Look, it's Sirius! My grandfather taught me that!"
Itadori raised his arm and pointed in a certain direction, gesturing excitedly.
He added, "The stars I see in Tokyo are exactly the same as in Sendai! How interesting!"
"Nonsense. You can see the same thing anywhere in the northern hemisphere." Kugisaki pointed mercilessly, "Hey, what's that one shining over there, do you know that?"
"Ah! I know! The name of that star is--" Itadori opened his mouth with pride and was just about to show off his knowledge, but at that moment he caught a glimpse of Fushiguro.
Fushiguro Megumi, lying beside him, was pillowing on one arm and watching him quietly, eyelashes lowered. He wore a silent smile, which almost could be called gentle.
Itadori felt his heart flutter violently. He forgot his words, his mouth dropping open, his eyes blinking rapidly as he stammered and repeated the syllables he had just said, "The name, the name of that one is, uhhh-"
What was he talking about just now?
Now, instead of heart fluttering, Itadori felt his heart was in his throat. He could only be vaguely aware that Fushiguro Megumi was still looking at him, laughing loudly this time, mocking him along with Kugisaki.
Such circumstances had happened for a few times. Itadori vaguely felt that sometimes Fushiguro would stare at him quietly. But he did not dare to turn his head to confirm. He would rather pretend as if he did not notice it, and continued to write crookedly with his head down (he could not remember what he was writing), or continued to talk with Kugisaki, or pretended to be completely ignorant about Fushiguro’s eyesight, trying hard to look like he was working hard on a question of Yaga.
It would be fine if Fushiguro wasn't looking at him at all, and it was all in his wishful thinking. Itadori would shake his head and then continue to live happily and carefreely.
The truth he was truly afraid-- was that if Fushiguro was indeed staring at him (but why? Itadori didn’t understand. I'm not as good-looking as you are), once their eyes met, Itadori didn't know what he should do or say or react correctly.
He would definitely stammer, his brain blank, and fall down to the ground like a piece of paper.
Fushiguro was his good buddy and his good friend. Once the current state of balance was broken, just because he said something wrong, their friendship would end up in a pathetic way, then he Itadori Yuji would be very, very sad.
Act 2
A piece of wood in the campfire sputtered and exploded with a bang, pulling Itadori's thoughts back. He was not in the Jujutsu High, and there was no Fushiguro or Kugisaki along with him.
Itadori's heart sank. The scene that Kugisaki lying on the ground, motionless, flashed into his mind again.
There were some other images.
Itadori shook his head violently, trying his best not to think back.
The flames cast his shadow on the wall of the swimming pool. His shadow shook, like a devil with fangs and claws.
"Yuji, you are tired. You should go to sleep for a while. I will keep night watch." Chousou suddenly opened his mouth.
This weird brother was really nice to him, although earlier he still wanted to kill him. Itadori was confused. But he also felt grateful.
"Okay. Please make sure you wake me up at midnight, and I'll switch with you." Itadori said.
Itadori could not fall into sleep at first. He opened his eyes wide, gazing at the stars on the sky, feeling that the stars were condemning him silently.
He felt a bit wronged. He turned over to look at Chousou. Chousou was gazing at the fire, thinking about something in silence.
After a while, the stars were less harsh and they became much gentler. Itadori blinked dazedly and finally fell into sleep.
In the early morning, Itadori shivered awake in the cold air. He woke up and realized that the campfire went out.
Itadori took a look at an old electronic watch on his wrist (which was once belonged to his grandfather). It’s 4:45.
Why didn't Chousou wake him up? Itadori was a little annoyed. He walked over and found Chousou was dozing in a sitting stagnant position.
Oh. It turned out that, this man (if he could be considered a human being) would also feel exhausted and weary, just like him. Itadori thought quietly.
He suppressed a yawn, added two pieces of wood to the burnt-out fire, and started it again.
At around noon of this day, they arrived at a neighborhood far from Shibuya. On the way, they dealt with a dozen of cursed spirits.
The people in this neighborhood had not all gone; the highway was inundated with piercing horns. Cars waiting to leave town lined up like a river of steel. The sidewalks were crowded and chaotic with panicked pedestrians running all over around. Children's cries, women's screams, coarse curses, and the clanging of metal and glass, all mixed up together, into big, loud sounds.
There was a large LED screen on the street-side, sometimes with a signal, sometimes with a grayish snowflake dot. Breaking News scrolls a blinding red alert as a serious host making announcements that a large explosion of unknown cause had occurred in Shibuya, that Tokyo residents should evacuate the city in an orderly manner, and that the Prime Minister has declared an emergent policy.
Itadori walked through the crowds, and Chousou followed him, squeezing through
the mass. There was a girl on the roadside, holding a bulging large paper bag. She accidentally collided with pedestrians, and the paper bag fell to the ground. The contents fell out.
It was some food, such as wrapped snacks and bread.
Some pedestrians around her stepped over them like they didn't see it, and some even bent down to grabbed a loaf of bread and turned away. The girl’s lips trembling, she tried to pick them up, only to be squeezed off again by the rushing people passing by.
Itadori squatted down to help her pick up, one, two, three. After that, he escorted her through the crowd. They went into a less crowded alley.
The girl was so happy that she was holding back her tear. "Thank you," she saw Chousou that followed Itadori and added, "thank you all!"
Itadori saw a cursed spirit lying on her back, with long and thin legs. It spitted its tongue out at him.
Itadori did not even spend a second to hesitate before he reached over. The cursed spirit was bounced off into the air and slapped flat by his power. It slowly disappeared.
"Ah, my shoulder suddenly doesn't hurt anymore!" The girl said with tears in her eyes, "I've been tired for a few days. Thank you very much!"
"You're welcome."Itadori asked, "Could you tell us, where is everyone going?"
People were displaced and escaping, partly because of him, because he passed out, so the Sukuna went out -
Itadori thought bitterly.
It's his fault.
"Some people are going to Yokohama, and some are going to Chiba. That direction is to run towards Kansai." The girl said with a worried smile, "I just rescued some goods from my bakery. I'm going go to the suburbs, as far as I can."
"Here, please take those!" She handed over two loaves of bread, wrapped intact in clear plastic paper and sandwiched with slices of ham. Itadori reached out to take them. "My guests all say this flavor is the best."
She said shyly as if remembering something, "…There was a tall and handsome customer in
my store. He always came to buy this flavor."
"One day before he left, he stopped to talk to me. And my back stopped hurting, just like what you just did. It's amazing, isn't it?"
A cloud-like flush floated on the girl's cheeks: "But I rarely meet him since then."
The girl said goodbye to them and merged into the crowd. Itadori sat down and unwrapped the bread in silence.
"Does Yuji know the person she just said?" Chousou looked at the street with a thoughtful expression.
"Maybe. Probably a Jujutsu Sorcerer, too." Itadori took a gloomly bite of his sliced ham, his heart churning with unease again, like a rising river before a rainstorm.
He didn't know where Fushiguro was. He hadn't heard from Fushiguro since they had separated two days ago. His cell phone had been damaged in the fight with the cursed spirits. Along the way, once he came across a phone booth, he went in to dial, but never did he get through.
He hoped that Fushiguro’s phone was just damaged, and he himself was safe and sound.
Behind Itadori there was a vending machine, which has long been empty. The frame, which is usually lit with small red and green lights, was dark and listless.
He finished his bread, crumpling the wrapper into a ball, and his thoughts drifted away again.
Act 3
In the middle of summer, the drumming cicadas were chirping. The sky occasionally drifted over a trace of crayon-like clouds. The hot white sun was baking the ground. An electric fan hanging overhead was whirling, and a lost fly was swept along by the air currents, also spinning around in the classroom.
Yaga gave them an assignment, " Identify the morphological origins of different kinds of cursed spirits, give examples and write down one or two ways of how to exorcise them ".
Itadori Yuji could not learn with his heart. He thought of the movie tickets this evening (Gojo Satoru had mercy for them and funded them to go to a movie) and popcorn. He thought of watching the movie when Fushiguro would also sit beside him in the darkness, his eyelashes fluttering, laughing happily at the big screen.
Thinking about this, Itadori was even less able to learn.
His mind was wandering, one hand spinning the pen, the other hand on his cheek, slightly inclined head, peeking an eye at Fushiguro.
Fushiguro Megumi, serious doing his homework, was sitting in a good manner in front of his desk, his back straight and his eyes focused.
Itadori's eyes met Kugisaki’s, who was sitting on the other side of Fushiguro.
Kugisaki frowned at him, made a face, and threw a crumpled note toward Itadori, behind Fushiguro's back.
Itadori winced. He caught the note, unfold it and read in his mind.
Kugisaki's handwriting was as bad as that of Itadori (Fushiguro’s was the most beautiful among them). She wrote in a crooked manner.
"Why do you always keep a look at Fushiguro? Is it the reason that I think?" The sentence was followed by an angry sketch expression.
“......."
Itadori was speechless for a short moment.
He lifted his pen and added a sentence at the bottom: "What’s the reason you are thinking of?" He rolled it up and threw it back.
Kugisaki found out his thought, and Kugisaki was right.
He didn't mind if the person found out is her. She was smart and she was also his good buddy.
Maybe Kugisaki could even give him some useful advice.
Kugisaki threw the note back again.
"You know what I mean, right?" She writes crookedly. "So, I guess I’m right!" Next line: "Need some advice?"
With gratitude, Itadori was just about to write his answer, "Yes! Thank you soooo much!"
Suddenly, he felt a shadow standing in front of him.
Fushiguro stood up towards him, slightly frowning. He stood only a step away from Itadori's desk.
He asked in a tone confused and a bit skeptical, "What are you two doing again?"
Despite the high temperature, cold sweat slid silently down the back of Itadori's neck. With a rapid swift movement, he rolled up the crumpled, pathetic note, threw it into his table drawer and tore it apart with his fingers in the darkness, and tore it apart, trying to destroy it before the subject of this small plot found it.
"Hahahaha, nothing! I was just asking Kugisaki about her homework!" He heard his voice saying dryly.
Kugisaki exaggeratedly mouthed to Itadori behind Fushiguro's back, begging him not to confess her.
Fushiguro stood so close to him that the Itadori could even smell the scent of softener coming from Fushiguro’s clothes. It was refreshing and cool, like a lemon’s scent, but also like a mixture of grass and wood.
Under the attack of the refreshing scent that lingered in his nose, under the close stare of Fushiguro, Itadori feels his heart beating violently and fast, as if it was refusing his control and about to jump out.
The cicadas outside the window drummed and chirped restlessly, totally unhelpful to his attempts to calm down.
He tried to squeeze out a weak smile, thinking he must look very silly. It must looked unnatural. Itadori wondered if he had developed Parkinson's at a too early age.
Fushiguro still looked skeptical, but did not ask anything more.
"Okay. I can lend you my reference book if you still have further questions." He raised one eyebrow, looking at Itadori inquiringly.
"Of course! I definitely need your reference book!" Itadori said without thinking. He immediately wanted to zip his own mouth, because he would not be able to play video games recently, Fushiguro would keep an eye at him and ask him to study.
Fushiguro laughed softly, and there was no sarcasm in his laugh. He walked back, opening his book, and continued to write his assignment.
Itadori, then, also looked down at his own assignment, which was far from the minimum word requirement. His heart fell back into his chest, still beating under the effect of adrenaline.
(to be continued)