—Why the fuck did I have to go through that?—
The end of the boy—Fujieda Haruto—was the kind of thing that makes you want to say those words.
It wasn't like his parents were trash, or that he suffered horrific bullying at school, or anything like that. It was mundane, utterly ordinary, completely unremarkable, and commonplace—he thought he was living a life that fit his station.
But the world's irrationality gives not a single fuck about such things. It attacks without a shred of mercy, as if to declare compassion utterly useless.
While wandering alone on a food-tasting stroll, a hobby of his, he was attacked by a random assailant.
With no warning whatsoever, he was stabbed in the gut, in the chest, and in the neck.
The one who killed him was a classmate. Spouting incoherent bullshit, the classmate kept stabbing him obsessively. Probably high on something; that guy had always been a piece of shit.
In any case, the boy Fujieda bled out and died on the spot. And the next thing he knew, he was living with an unfamiliar grandfather and older brother.
His senses screamed that they were family, so he quickly realized he'd been reincarnated.
After that, he adapted fast. He felt some guilt about being an unfilial son in his past life, but he lived without any hardship, spending peaceful days nagging his brother, who went to play pachinko.
However, there was something that bugged the hell out of him. Monsters were creeping around everywhere.
The first time he saw one, he thought he'd die, but when he pretended not to notice, it ignored him right back. Apparently, if you avoided eye contact and committed to ignoring them, you could avoid them for the time being.
As a test, he mentioned it to his brother and grandfather. Their reactions were... weird. His brother was completely indifferent, saying, "Does it even matter?" but his grandfather showed a thoughtful expression before advising, "Just don't get involved for now."
That being said, having some freakish aberration constantly in your line of sight is annoying as hell. As he grew, his mind changed too, and he gradually got more pissed off.
So, kendo stick in hand, he decided to pick fights with the monster bastards. The monsters gleefully attacked, but having sparred—no, gone all-out in genuine fistfights—with his brother, who claimed to be the reincarnation of Mirko Cro Cop, he could beat the living shit out of them normally.
Feeling refreshed from being able to pulverize monsters invisible to normal people, the boy got a taste for it. When irritated, he'd secretly vent his stress by using the kendo stick to beat the ever-loving crap out of monsters.
When he was too stressed, he'd even accidentally kill a few, but since they were entities normal people couldn't see to begin with, and even if someone saw him, he could claim it was just practice swings; it was no problem at all.
And so, the boy—Itadori Yuka—became a perfectly ordinary high school student whose hobbies were food-tasting strolls and using monsters as substitute sandbags to beat to a pulp.
June 2018, at the Itadori residence in Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture.
"Bro, are you some stray dog that eats shit off the ground or something?"
"No... I'm a perfectly healthy male high school student..."
To his younger brother, who let out a voice of quiet, utter exasperation, the older brother, Itadori Yuji, sat seiza-style, curled up and guarded by a suspicious-looking man wearing a blindfold.
It was a natural reaction for Yuka to be half-pissed at his brother, who usually seemed like a cheerful, good-natured guy.
The reason being, his brother had been missing since yesterday.
After seeing their grandfather off on his deathbed and preparing dinner, Yuji had left the hospital first to return home, but never came back. While thinking he was probably having a sleepover with his Occult Research Club senpais, Yuka welcomed the morning, only for his brother to return with a strange man in tow and declare…
"I've been sentenced to death."
Yuka heard why from the person next to him, a so-called 'jujutsu sorcerer' named Gojo Satoru.
About how an upperclassman he knew from his old school broke the seal on a cursed object and was attacked by monsters called Cursed Spirits.
In order to defeat it, his brother ingested that cursed object—a finger of the Two-Faced Specter, Ryomen Sukuna.
Then, with Sukuna now incarnated, his brother became a death sentence target, but a proposal was made: "If you're gonna kill him anyway, have him ingest all of Sukuna's fingers first, then kill him," granting a stay of execution.
And further, because his brother said, "Don't touch my little brother," it was decided, "The little brother also has the potential to be a vessel," making him a death sentence target too, with Gojo proposing, "I'll monitor them at my place," which was approved.
Having heard everything as it was, Yuka began his lecture with that exasperated voice.
"Bro, I've always told you, right? Live a life that fits your station. If you push yourself beyond your limits, you'll absolutely get fucked over later. No matter how sick you are of your little brother's nagging, this time was just not okay. What the hell were you thinking? And we're in mourning, for fuck's sake."
"Yes..."
"And then, what's this about me being sentenced to death, too? I wasn't even there, was I? How the fuck did the story jump that far? Because of you, bro, I'm gonna get killed too. How are you gonna make this right?"
"I am so fucking sorry!!"
Yuji quickly and quietly prostrated himself before his genuinely lecturing younger brother, Yuka, but was shown no mercy as Yuka wielded verbal knives: "If apologies were enough, we wouldn't need the police, you dumbass," delivering the finishing blow.
Then, Yuka redirected the spearhead of his anger toward Gojo Satoru.
"And so... the piece of trash who prioritized mochi over a student's life is gonna be our teacher."
"Whoa, he's sharp as a tack."
Yuka fixed Gojo with a dangerous glare.
He was fucking furious—Yuji hadn't seen his brother this enraged in a long time and held his breath.
"Gojo-sensei, can I confirm one thing?"
"Of course!"
Gojo grinned, showing his teeth, and gave a thumbs-up. Using that as his opening, Yuka proceeded to grill him.
"My brother and I aren't one of you people from the start. Sure, I used the monsters around here... the Cursed Spirits you guys talk about, as sandbags to vent stress, but I never cursed anyone to death or launched terrorist attacks in the city. Let alone declared war on you freaks. And yet, you're trying to slaughter us based on some 'Jujutsu Regulations,' a term I'm hearing for the first time. Am I correct so far?"
"...Yeah."
"My brother, who ingested Sukuna's finger, well, he's got some serious fucking nerve. But originally, who's responsible for managing dangerous shit like that? It's you guys, right? It's not like we're supposed to manage it, is it?"
"...Yes..."
The fact that Yuka wasn't shouting made it worse, as he closed off all avenues of escape, cornering Gojo.
The earlier cheerfulness vanished completely. With every word Yuka spoke, Gojo's head hung lower, until he finally sat seiza-style next to Yuji.
"To begin with, if you'd rushed over instead of buying mochi, this wouldn't have happened. Sukuna's incarnation is the jujutsu world's fault for negligent management of the fingers, and of course, you share responsibility too, right, Gojo-sensei?"
"..."
"I'll take silence as affirmation."
Yuka's tone grew increasingly rough.
After a pause, he glared at Gojo, his eyes oozing killing intent and loathing.
"You... fucking bastard. Treating people as criminals with some bullshit logic that has nothing to do with them, then trying to act like you're doing us a favor just by postponing the execution. You planning to make my brother and me wipe your own shit-stained ass, you fucker?"
"Yuka, STOOOOOOOOOP!!"
Seeing his brother exuding an aura that seemed like he might just snuff out Gojo's life force then and there, Yuji desperately stopped him.
'What Yuka said was absolutely right, but any more of this and Gojo-sensei's spirit might just die!'
Somehow managing to persuade Yuka, Yuji let out a grand, deep sigh and relented.
"...Well, it seems like it's too late for a nobody like me to scream and shout anyway, so I'll obediently come along. A trip to hell. Wait a sec, I need to get ready."
Scratching his head, Yuka headed to his room. Watching his retreating back, Gojo spoke to Yuji.
"Hey, Yuji."
"Hm?"
"I'm... sorry."