⁃ Fire.
In a burning apartment, a little boy lay on the floor, frozen in terror before a man with long black hair.
The man wasn't alone... at least, he was embraced by a creature resembling a worm with a hideous baby's head.
"W-why?... why, big brother!?" screamed the child, ignoring the smell of urine coming from his pants.
He had expressed his frustration by gathering what little courage his fragile little body could possess.
"You are no sorcerers, you have no place in the future world I intend to create... sorry."
The man extended his hand toward him, after that... nothing.
....
"No!!!!"
"Doctor!!!"
The voice of an unknown young girl caught his attention, right after he jolted up in his bed.
'What?! A nightmare?'
Several thoughts crossed his mind in a split second.
Yet, Johnson was able to analyze the situation with unusual calmness for his young age.
"...I see."
Finally, observing his surroundings and searching through his new memories, he understood.
'This nightmare... No, these memories are real.'
The survey on that sketchy website had been real, not a hoax.
Johnson had really ended up in the Jujutsu Kaisen universe, reincarnated as Chrollo Lucilfer, but under the official identity of Chrollo Geto.
According to his memories, his mother had given him this name on a whim, as it clearly wasn't a Japanese name.
"...So this is cursed energy?"
A white aura, similar to hot water vapor, began to slowly emanate from his body.
After a brief hesitation, Chrollo attempted to invoke his innate cursed technique or his Hatsu.
A book slowly appeared in his hands... but he had to dismiss it almost immediately, drained by the effort but also...
"Shit, what were those visions!!"
He was suddenly assaulted by images of a child in an enormous dump, trying to survive with others.
'Blood, murders, endless fights, and above all survival'
Unconsciously, he held his head between his hands.
A reflexive gesture to try to muffle the noises, the pleas, and the screams of men turned into corpses in his visions.
"Whoa there, I see you're not completely recovered."
A familiar and annoying voice suddenly resonated from the door.
"M-mister... Gojo"
The relationship between Gojo and the former owner of Johnson's body was bad, or at least from young Chrollo's perspective before the incident.
However, the new Chrollo knew that Satoru Gojo was merely mocking the kid and provoking him a little.
Nothing really mean in itself.
"Excuse me, young man," the doctor entered with the nurse to examine Chrollo's general condition before explaining the situation to Gojo.
In summary, Chrollo wasn't injured and was simply suffering from extreme stress due to the incident.
He recommended rest in a quiet place.
"So, can he leave the hospital today?"
"...Yes, but I'd like to keep him under observation tonight as a precaution."
Gojo made a thoughtful gesture before nodding to show his agreement to the doctors.
Finally, the two people found themselves alone in a strange atmosphere.
"You saw your brother do 'that'?"
Surprisingly, it was Gojo who broached the sensitive subject.
Chrollo simply nodded without expressing anything more.
What could he say?
He was supposed to be a traumatized child who had lost everything in one night.
And the identity of the culprit didn't help either.
"*Sigh* Suguru, you really went that far..." Gojo muttered in a low voice before sitting down next to him.
Chrollo didn't react much, but he couldn't hide his interest in Gojo's cursed energy... more precisely in the control he had over it.
'Is it because of the Six Eyes?'
When he inherited Chrollo's Hatsu, he also obtained the heritage of the Phantom Troupe.
Thus, upon activating a Hatsu, he received the memory and experience of the holder.
It's because of this effect that he no longer saw Gojo from the perspective of an innocent child... nor even from a fan of Jujutsu Kaisen.
'A monster like Chrollo has never seen before.'
That was Chrollo's impression of Gojo.
The worst part is that he's still very young compared to the canon.
"Tell me, brat."
"Call me Chrollo or this conversation ends here."
After recovering from the visions related to Meteor City, Johnson had been able to respond properly to his interlocutor.
Gojo simply scratched his head with an embarrassed and comical expression, before shrugging to show his resignation.
"Okay, if you want... but I wanted to know if you'd like to live with me?"
This sudden proposal slightly caught Chrollo off guard, but his mind quickly grasped the logic.
'He must have detected the residue of cursed energy and linked it to my survival.'
Suguru Geto is now a fanatic incapable of accepting a world where sorcerers and ordinary people coexist.
It's therefore unlikely that such a man would spare his own brother... unless the latter was also a carrier of cursed energy.
Thus, the activation of his Hatsu — or now his innate cursed technique — must have left traces in the room.
Gojo had simply made the connection and decided to guide him.
It was surely an act of repentance because he had failed to save Suguru Geto from himself.
'This idiot wants to use me to feel better.'
Chrollo frowned as he met Gojo's blue eyes, but still nodded to his proposal.
An act in contradiction with his expression, but quite logical given his current situation.
'Either I follow him, or I find myself in an unknown place with unknown risks.'
"Great, I'll see you tomorrow!!"
Gojo didn't delay before leaving.
He was an Special Grade Sorcerer .
So, Chrollo wasn't offended by his abrupt departure.
...
"What did you say??"
"You and your sister are too young to manage this place, so I'll be the eldest."
The next day, Satoru Gojo kept his word and drove Chrollo to the Gojo clan domain.
The place was larger than Chrollo had initially imagined. But he wasn't going to complain about it.
He was quickly introduced to Toji's children, but things didn't seem so simple between them.
'I'm not going to obey these idiots'
Despite his misplaced thoughts, Chrollo's facial expression never changed.
On the other hand, Megumi was about to explode.
"Come on, boys, you're not going to fight over this." Tsumiki Fushiguro tried to defuse the situation, but Chrollo saw an opportunity in her words.
"Good idea."
The little girl was confused by Chrollo's sudden words, but what followed shocked her.
"We'll settle this the old-fashioned way. Come fight me."
"You piece of..."
Unfortunately, the fight never took place due to Tsumiki's intervention, and the two boys didn't hold a grudge.
During that same week, Chrollo was able to notice various things within the Gojo domain.
For example: he is heavily monitored, contrary to its simple and traditional external appearance.
The other important observation lies in Megumi.
Contrary to his first impressions, the kid isn't ordinary and has already awakened to the arts of jujutsu.
He simply had terrible control of his cursed energy, which had led Chrollo to believe he was ordinary at first.
Apart from these elements, there was nothing unusual.
'As expected, Gojo is rarely present.'
He sketched a rare smile before starting to watch a movie to begin his training.