TL Note:
HELLO!! HELLO!! IT'S-A-ME, SKY!!
So glad to be back. As celebration, I'll be posting 5 new chapters for both fics!!!
Also, I reached the part in the raws where shit started to hit the fan, and the angst are brewing. So...
Yeah. :)
Enjoy!
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Fushiguro Megumi's fake guardian: Zen'in Naoya, who took pleasure in scaring his nephew by unleashing cursed spirits on him.
Fushiguro Megumi's real guardian: Asou Akiya, who had temporarily left because something had come up.
While Fushiguro Megumi was left helpless and alone, Asou Akiya furrowed his brows slightly. Several dozen kilometers away, he felt a sudden, inexplicable pang of anxiety.
Zen'in Naoya was a double-edged blade, just as likely to hurt himself as he was to hurt others. Asou Akiya didn't trust his character, placing his faith only in Naoya's ambition and desires. With a Binding Vow in place to keep him within certain limits, there was theoretically no way Zen'in Naoya would deliberately harm Fushiguro Megumi. However, Akiya couldn't exactly count on him to be a good uncle who genuinely cared for his nephew, either.
Tokyo Disneyland was the largest amusement park in Japan, and it held special significance as well. Even Zen'in Naoya would have to think twice before doing anything reckless there and consider the consequences.
The worst-case scenario was that Fushiguro Megumi would be left crying and unable to find anyone, abandoned by Zen'in Naoya somewhere in the amusement park...
He didn't dare send Zen'in Naoya a text message in front of Gojo Satoru. Gojo had already made his position clear at the aquarium: he absolutely despised the Zen'in clan.
Anxious on the inside, Asou Akiya cursed the rainbow pig under his breath, hoping that the idiot wouldn't actually act like a pig. Outwardly, however, he kept his emotions in check and devoted himself to keeping the white-haired boy beside him company.
He had already broken one person's promise. He couldn't afford to break another's.
Gojo comes first...
Megumi, I'm sorry. Please forgive me, I can't make Gojo unhappy for your sake.
An afternoon of fun wasn't particularly long, but neither was it especially short. For both Asou Akiya and Gojo Satoru, it became an unforgettable memory.
After Gojo Satoru learned the Reverse Cursed Technique, his clan's attitude toward him changed completely. They submitted to him wholeheartedly, ready to welcome him as the next clan head at any moment. The Cursed Spirit Repository and the Cursed Warehouse, which he had once been forbidden from touching at will, were now fully open to him. He could take any cursed tool he wanted, and there would be no problem if he wanted to give cursed spirits to a Cursed Spirit Manipulation user.
Gojo Satoru found those clan members who obediently submitted to him, knew nothing about who he really was, and had no intention of getting close to him utterly boring.
The Gojo Clan was like a game he had already completed; every member was a rigid, etiquette-bound NPC, even if they harbored little schemes of their own, none of them had the courage to defy Gojo Satoru.
After arriving at Tokyo Jujutsu High, Gojo Satoru found everything he had never experienced before fascinating.
Wow, I got beaten up.
Wow, someone mocked me to my face.
He had been ambushed, his chest hurt terribly, and he had forcibly stopped the bleeding...
What an interesting experience...
At the amusement park, Gojo Satoru freely voiced his preferences as he played with the bubble machine Asou Akiya had bought him, shooting streams of bubbles in every direction.
"Akiya, I like games that offer something new! I'll stay awake for days and nights just to beat a game. If you keep playing with me every time, I'll be even happier!"
Asou Akiya watched the rainbow-colored bubbles drift into the distance. For no apparent reason, he remembered Kenjaku's remark that Gojo Satoru was at his strongest when he stood alone.
Gojo Satoru, surrounded by a crowd of people, was no longer the invincible Gojo Satoru who stood above the entire world.
Was invincibility what Asou Akiya liked?
Yes, and no.
Invincibility meant standing at the very pinnacle of a world's combat strength. Such a person would never die and would be exceedingly difficult to injure; their life would read like an exhilarating biographical tale, one that future generations would leaf through in astonishment.
He loved reading books; he loved stories filled with rich content and dramatic twists and turns, stories that ultimately awakened in people the will to strive for a better future...
Asou Akiya had never wanted to protect someone who was flawless and perfect.
Asou Akiya popped a tiny bubble with his finger. It went pop! as he murmured softly, "Gojo, as long as you don't do anything to break my heart, I'll keep playing with you for the rest of my life."
Gojo Satoru blinked. "Huh? Isn't that super easy?"
"Easy..."
Gojo Satoru pressed a finger to his cheek, his face breaking into a radiant smile. "You're the one who said it, Akiya! You said you'd forgive me as long as you saw me smile."
Asou Akiya muttered under his breath, "Did I really say that? I don't remember; besides, you never used to be willing to smile..."
"I don't care! You definitely said it!"
Asou Akiya reflected on his own feelings. Back when Gojo's smile had been something he couldn't have, he'd desperately wanted Gojo to smile at him. But now that he'd gotten what he wanted...
Was that really all there was to it?
It was beautiful, and he was happy to look at it a little longer, but Gojo Satoru smiled at other people like that, too, didn't he?
As evening fell, they left the amusement park; Asou Akiya saw Gojo Satoru into a taxi. The white-haired boy leaned against the lowered window and called out to him, "Come back soon!"
Asou Akiya gave him an OK sign.
He waited until Gojo had disappeared from sight, until the taxi was a kilometer away, then five kilometers away...
The smile on Asou Akiya's face remained firmly fixed in place. He pulled out his phone and dialed a number.
Zen'in Naoya answered in a cheerful yet malicious voice. "Good afternoon, Akiya-kun?"
Asou Akiya said, "Let Megumi take the phone."
With all the sincerity of someone who couldn't care less, Zen'in Naoya replied, "He ran into a cursed spirit at the amusement park and got scared witless. He might not be in any condition to take your call."
Asou Akiya: "..."
He held back once, then twice, but eventually reached the end of his patience. "Shut up! Let Megumi talk to me!"
Forbidden from saying another word, Zen'in Naoya obeyed the Binding Vow and handed his phone to Fushiguro Megumi, who was nearby.
The moment Megumi got hold of the phone, he burst into tears and immediately tattled. "Akiya-ojichan! Where are you? Naoya-ojisan abandoned me twice!!!"
Asou Akiya immediately hailed a taxi to Tokyo Disneyland. The moment he arrived at the park, he took off running toward Fushiguro Megumi's location.
While on the way, he contacted an Assistant Manager he knew well and asked whether there had been any incidents involving cursed spirits attacking people at Tokyo Disneyland. The answer he received was a firm no.
Fushiguro Megumi was covered in scrapes, his sea-urchin-like hair caked with dust and sweat. The moment he saw Asou Akiya, he rushed into his arms in a panic, his little face is deathly pale as he stammered, "I-I followed the method Akiya-ojichan taught me— I didn't deliberately look the cursed spirit in the eyes, but it still noticed me and chased me! I tried to run away, but no matter how much I called for Naoya-ojisan, it didn't help!"
Asou Akiya checked his injuries and picked up the three-year-old child. Then, with a stern expression, he demanded, "Naoya, where is that cursed spirit?"
Zen'in Naoya answered without hesitation. "I exorcised it."
"Did you report this incident to Tokyo Jujutsu High?"
Zen'in Naoya stared at him in surprise. "It was just a Grade 3 cursed spirit, why should I need to report something like that to Tokyo Jujutsu High?"
A mocking smile spread across Asou Akiya's face. "A sorcerer's duty is to protect ordinary people. It's not as though Megumi was necessarily the only one injured, kfcourse I'm going to investigate."
Zen'in Naoya had a perfectly reasonable excuse ready. "Don't make things so complicated. Be careful, or Tokyo Jujutsu High might find out about Megumi's identity."
Asou Akiya gently stroked Fushiguro Megumi's back. The little boy sobbed softly, his eyes reddening as he clung to is Akiya-ojichan's neck, seeking comfort and security in his embrace.
"Megumi, don't cry, don't cry. Tell me everything Naoya-ojisan did, from beginning to end."
The child's tears melted Asou Akiya's heart completely.
Fushiguro Megumi did his best to explain what had happened. "He got lost, and then I got lost too; he came to pick me up, but some ladies caught him trying to sneak in without paying. He said he was going to buy the whole place, after that, I paid the money, and we went outside. Then he disappeared again, and after that, I played by myself and saw a scary monster..."
Zen'in Naoya seized on the main point. "I found him every single time. He's the one who kept getting lost!"
Fushiguro Megumi wasn't the timid sort. His eyes reddened with anger as he glared back at Naoya. "Naoya-ojisan was the one who disappeared!"
Asou Akiya remained silent. After listening to their conflicting accounts, he continued gently soothing Megumi without interruption, allowing the little boy to gradually calm down.
Zen'in Naoya felt that Akiya-kun sorely lacked masculine grit. He couldn't believe Akiya would actually feel sorry for a child who cried after encountering a cursed spirit.
What sorcerer hadn't gone through experiences like these during childhood, only to pick themselves up and grow stronger?
"Megumi, you're such a wimp," Zen'in Naoya said indignantly. "Your father definitely never cried when he was your age."
Asou Akiya's voice turned icy. "Naoya, this farce has gone on long enough. I'm giving you one last chance to come clean."
Zen'in Naoya held his head high. "Whatever Akiya-kun thinks happened is what happened, I suppose.
The end result is that Megumi is unharmed.
I also saw Megumi's shadow move with my own eyes, which proves that he really has awakened his technique. He's simply not good at using it yet."
He believed that for people like them, benefits came first and results were all that mattered. Besides, all he'd done was make Fushiguro Megumi embarrass himself a little.
"Megumi, I'm so sorry."
Asou Akiya held Fushiguro Megumi even more gently, his heart aching with guilt. He had already pieced together what had happened, there was no doubt about it. That pig, Zen'in Naoya, had wanted to test Megumi's cursed technique and had somehow gotten his hands on a Grade 3 cursed spirit to scare the boy.
Normally, young sorcerers awakened their cursed techniques between the ages of four and six. This was because children's brains were still developing, making it difficult for them to experience sufficiently intense negative emotions.
The fact that Fushiguro Megumi had awakened his technique meant that he had suffered a fright unlike anything he had ever experienced before.
"Akiya-kun, let's go. We've been dragging this out for far too long..." Zen'in Naoya urged him.
Holding Fushiguro Megumi in his arms, Asou Akiya walked outside and flagged down a taxi. He climbed into the back seat and slammed the door shut with a bang.
Zen'in Naoya's voice abruptly cut off.
...
After returning to the old apartment building, Asou Akiya carefully bathed Fushiguro Megumi, washing away the grit and dust clinging to his skin.
He gently blew cool air over the boy's red, swollen abrasions. "Megumi, does it hurt?"
Megumi gritted his teeth and endured the pain. "It doesn't hurt. Naoya-ojisan said something else, too. Is it true that my dad never cried?"
Asou Akiya looked at him with tender sympathy. "I don't know."
"Did Naoya-ojisan lie again?"
There was something particularly telling about that word again.
Although Asou Akiya was displeased with Zen'in Naoya, he wasn't going to badmouth someone to a child. "I'm not a member of the Zen'in clan, and I never knew Toji when he was little. Maybe he cried, maybe he didn't. That part of his life is already in the past. Naoya was just saying whatever came to mind."
Fushiguro Megumi looked dejected. "Akiya-ojichan, I hate Naoya-ojisan ."
"That's all right, I don't like his temperament either. What he did today went too far."
Asou Akiya admitted his own mistake. "I was the one who entrusted you to him, so I'm partly to blame for failing in my duty to look after you. I won't let this happen again."
After a moment's hesitation, Asou Akiya asked, "Megumi, I can become your guardian and keep you by my side, taking care of you myself, bqut there's one condition."
A sudden, overwhelming sense of relief washed over Fushiguro Megumi, as though he had finally been offered a way out of his misery. His clear green eyes reflected the black-haired boy's reluctant expression.
"Akiya-ojichan, please take me away from here!"
"I need you to swear that you will never, for the rest of your life, use Makora, the tenth shikigami of the Ten Shadows Technique."
"What's that?"
"...A foreign demon god that will drag you into an abyss of misery."
"Misery? A demon god?"
"That's right, Megumi. Think about it carefully. You can imagine me as a wicked witch in a fairy tale, taking advantage of someone in a desperate situation, and you are a lovely little mermaid. Do you want to come ashore and pursue a different kind of life, or stay beneath the sea with your family?"
"Akiya-ojichan, I don't understand. Can you tell me what I should choose?"
Fushiguro Megumi asked Asou Akiya, his question betraying both his keen intelligence and his innocent confusion.
The "Ten Shadows" had placed the power of choice in Asou Akiya's hands, leaving the usually eloquent boy momentarily speechless.
Because he had already taken Gojo Satoru's side.
His thinking was biased, and his choice was selfish. He was imposing this restriction based on the fate that had befallen Fushiguro Megumi in the original story.
If Fushiguro Megumi agreed, it would mean cutting off one of the few remaining paths by which a jujutsu sorcerer could reach the realm of the "strongest." Even Fushiguro Toji, resting beneath the earth, would come to hate him, believing that he had obstructed Megumi's chance to shine and fulfill his extraordinary potential. In the eyes of most jujutsu sorcerers, strength was synonymous with dignity. If Zen'in Naoya were the one who possessed the Ten Shadows Technique, he would sooner choose to die alongside Akiya than accept such a restriction.
After a long silence, Asou Akiya finally spoke. "I can't tell you whether it's good or bad. That's something you're supposed to figure out for yourself when you grow up."
There was an unshakable resolve in Asou Akiya's eyes, the kind that had been etched into his very soul.
"All I can tell you is that if you make this vow, you'll be helping me save the person who matters most to me, and I absolutely will not betray the promise you're making."
This was why he had approached Fushiguro Megumi in the first place, why he wanted to help him: to seal away Makora!
To deny Ryomen Sukuna the chance to learn the World-Cutting Slash!
Fushiguro Megumi gently touched Asou Akiya's forehead with his damp hands, just as Akiya had comforted him moments earlier, trying to ease the sadness in the other boy's heart.
"Akiya-ojichan, I'll help you."
At last, he had found a purpose of his own. He had found something he could do for Akiya-ojichan, something that made him useful to the person who mattered to him.
He would never again have to endure being abandoned by his own family like he had today...
Asou Akiya slowly lowered his head and half-closed his eyes. It was as though the child's touch had reached straight into his heart. He let out a soft sigh.
"Good boy."
...
Fushiguro Megumi thought of the bedtime stories he had heard, and of the Little Mermaid he had seen at Tokyo Disneyland.
In the fairy tale, the Little Mermaid had turned into sea foam, but Akiya-ojichan was different; he could use magic, and he was incredibly powerful!