Silly author note: Megumi every time he's slightly stressed: "With this treasure I summon"
Bro that's not teamwork, that's outsourcing.
===
The banging on his door was aggressive enough to wake the dead. Or at least wake someone who'd been passed out for maybe four hours after the kind of day that would've killed a normal person.
"WAKE UP."
Shinra cracked one eye open. Gray light filtered through the window. Too early. Way too early.
"FIVE MINUTES."
"Now."
It was Megumi's voice. Of course it was. Potential Man himself, here to ruin what little sleep Shinra had managed to wake the dead. Or at least wake someone who'd been passed out for maybe four hours after the kind of day that would've killed a normal person.
"WAKE UP."
Shinra cracked one eye open. Gray light filtered through the window. Too early. Way too early.
"FIVE MINUTES."
"Now."
It was Megumi's voice. Of course it was. Potential Man himself, here to ruin what little sleep Shinra had managed to get after yesterday's near-death experience.
Shinra stumbled to the door, yanked it open, and immediately regretted every life choice that led to this moment.
Megumi stood there in full uniform, looking like he'd been awake for hours. Fresh. Alert. Annoying.
"You look like shit."
"Good morning to you too, sunshine." Shinra leaned against the doorframe. "What time is it?"
"Breakfast is in thirty minutes. I'm showing you where the cafeteria is so you don't get lost and die of starvation before your first mission."
"Wow. So caring. Really warming my heart over here."
Megumi's eye twitched. Just a little. Progress. "Follow me."
He turned and walked away without waiting. Shinra grabbed his uniform and followed, because apparently this was his life now.
---
The cafeteria was chaos.
Not bad chaos. Just... Panda chaos.
The giant panda was at the stove, wearing an apron that said "KISS THE COOK" in bold letters, wielding a spatula like he was exorcising a curse. Something was smoking in the pan. Multiple things, actually. Different colors of smoke.
"I AM MAKING OMELETTES!" Panda announced to no one in particular. "THEY ARE GOING WELL!"
"That's the third thing that's caught fire," a voice said flatly.
Shinra's eyes found her immediately.
Maki Zenin.
Sitting at the table like she owned it, legs crossed, a book in her lap that she wasn't reading. Her hair was shorter than he expected. Her arms were more toned. Her resting bitch face was magnificent.
Down boy, ROB snickered. You're staring.
I'm not staring. I'm observing.
You're staring.
Okay, maybe he was staring a little. But come on. It was Maki. The woman who would go on to slaughter an entire clan. The one who told Gojo to shut up and meant it. The one who...
"You the new first-year?"
Her voice cut through his thoughts like a blade. Which, knowing her, was appropriate.
"Uh. Yeah. Shinra." He moved toward the table, trying to look casual. "You're Maki, right? Gojo mentioned you."
"Did he." Not a question.
"He said you're the only one here with actual talent. The rest are just... here."
Maki's eyebrow went up. "He said that?"
"No. But he should have."
For a fraction of a second, something that might have been amusement flickered across her face. Then it was gone. "Sit down before Panda burns the building down."
Shinra sat.
Inumaki was across from him, nursing a rice ball. He caught Shinra's eye and gave a small nod. "Tuna."
"Uh. Same?"
Inumaki's eyes crinkled. That was probably good.
"THAT IS TOGE FOR 'WELCOME'!" Panda yelled from the stove. "HE LIKES YOU! I CAN TELL!"
"You can't tell that," Maki said.
"I HAVE A SIXTH SENSE FOR THESE THINGS!"
"You have a sixth sense for burning food."
Panda looked down at the pan. Something was indeed burning. He poked it with the spatula. "Hmm. This is fine. This is part of the flavor profile."
Shinra watched the chaos unfold and felt something he hadn't felt in years.
Comfort.
This was stupid. This was ridiculous. A panda who couldn't cook, a girl who'd kill him if he annoyed her, a guy who communicated in rice ball flavors. This was nothing like his old life.
He loved it.
Don't get attached, he reminded himself. You know what happens. You know who...
Shut up, he told the voice. Let me have this.
Panda brought over the "omelettes." They were definitely burnt. They were also somehow still moving. Shinra ate his without complaint, because he'd survived on instant ramen for years and this was objectively better.
"So," Maki said, cutting through the silence, "Gojo said you fought a Grade 2 yesterday. Alone."
"News travels fast."
"You beat it."
"Eventually. After it beat me first." Shinra shrugged. "Learning experience."
Maki studied him. Her eyes were sharp, missing nothing. "Most first-years would be dead. Hell, most second-years would be dead. Grade 2s aren't jokes."
"Beginner's luck?"
"Luck doesn't exist in jujutsu." She held his gaze for a moment longer, then nodded. "You might actually be useful. Don't prove me wrong."
High praise. From Maki Zenin, that was basically a declaration of friendship.
She likes me, Shinra thought. She actually...
She doesn't dislike you, ROB corrected. There's a difference.
Let me have this.
The cafeteria doors banged open.
Gojo Satoru strode in like he was making an entrance in a music video, which he probably thought he was. He was carrying a bag of something that looked expensive and holding it like a trophy.
"GOOD MORNING, MY FAVORITE STUDENTS!" He spotted Shinra. "Oh! New kid! Just the person I was looking for!"
Here we go.
"You're going on a field trip today." Gojo tossed something to Shinra, a small pouch that clinked when caught. "Cursed object retrieval at Sugisawa High. Standard Grade 1 relic. Fushiguro's already waiting outside. You're his backup."
Shinra caught the pouch. Inside were supplies, salt, talismans, the usual exorcism gear. "Just me and Megumi?"
"And whatever curses you find! Think of it as team bonding!" Gojo's grin was visible even through the blindfold. "Two first-years, simple mission. If something goes wrong, you call. If nothing goes wrong, you come back and tell everyone how great I am. Win-win."
He knows something's going to happen, Shinra thought. He doesn't know what, but he knows.
He's Gojo, ROB agreed. Probably feels the timeline getting weird.
DING!
The blue screen materialized in front of Shinra. Gojo's blindfolded face didn't react, he couldn't see it. Good.
[CHOICE MISSION: The Sukuna Special]
Option 1: Go with Megumi and let Yuji Itadori eat the finger.
Reward: Yuta Okkotsu-level Cursed Energy + Efficiency (Basically become a battery with perfect MP management)
Option 2: Go with Megumi and stop Yuji from eating the finger.
Reward: Conqueror's Haki (One Piece special, flex on weak wills and make people pass out)
Shinra stared at the screen.
Conqueror's Haki?
I can pull from anywhere, ROB said smugly. Multiverse perks. So what'll it be?
Shinra thought.
Option 2 was tempting. Conqueror's Haki was insane. Imagine flexing on a curse and watching it just... die. Imagine walking into a room full of enemies and half of them dropping. In the jujutsu world, that was basically a cheat code.
But Option 1...
Yuta-level cursed energy. Not just quantity, efficiency. The kind of reserves that let Yuta copy techniques like they were Pokémon, that let him fight Special Grades without running dry. That was endgame potential. That was the difference between surviving Shibuya and dying in it.
Plus, there was the timeline.
If Yuji didn't eat the finger, what happened? Sukuna stayed sealed. The story didn't start. Megumi probably took the finger back to school, and Yuji went on with his life until Kenjaku's plans kicked in or another curse found him or...
Or nothing, ROB finished. Timeline diverges completely. No Yuji as a sorcerer. No Sukuna vessel. No memory arc. No Shibuya. No...
No chance to save anyone.
Shinra made his choice.
Option 1.
[MISSION ACCEPTED: Let Him Cook]
Objective: Ensure Yuji Itadori consumes Sukuna's finger.
Reward: Yuta Okkotsu-level Cursed Energy + Efficiency
Smart, ROB approved. Now go watch a teenager make the worst dietary decision of his life.
Shinra looked up. Gojo was watching him with that unnerving blindfolded stare.
"You good? You spaced."
"Fine. Just... excited about the mission." Shinra stood, pocketing the supplies. "Sugisawa High. Me and Megumi. Got it."
"Try not to die. You're entertaining."
Shinra nodded to the second-years, Maki's assessing stare, Panda's enthusiastic wave, Inumaki's quiet "Salmon", and headed out.
---
The walk to Sugisawa High was mostly silent.
Megumi wasn't a talker. Shinra wasn't in the mood. They moved through the city, past normal people living normal lives, completely unaware that curses existed and that two teenagers were on their way to handle one.
"Any idea where the object is?" Shinra asked, already knowing the answer.
"Records say it's stored somewhere on school grounds. We'll search until we find it."
"Could take a while."
"Then it takes a while."
Deff Potential Man , Shinra thought. 0 wins, 0 relevance, 100% determination to search a whole school.
---
Sugisawa High was exactly what you'd expect, generic Japanese high school, the kind that appears in every anime ever. They arrived mid-morning, students in class, grounds empty.
Megumi immediately started searching.
Methodically. Thoroughly. Checking every classroom, every closet, every possible hiding spot. Shinra followed, pretending to help, knowing full well the finger wasn't here. It was in the Occult Research Club room, wrapped in paper, waiting for idiots to unseal it. But he couldn't say that. Had to play the game.
Hours passed.
The sun crawled across the sky. Students came and went. The school went dark. No finger.
"We'll continue tomorrow." Megumi's jaw was tight. "Hotel nearby. First light."
Shinra nodded. Right on schedule.
---
Day two.
More searching. More nothing. Megumi checked everywhere, gym, roof, boiler room, each classroom twice. By afternoon, he looked ready to punch a wall.
"It doesn't make sense."
Here it comes.
"Unless someone broke the seal. Unless students found it and took it."
Shinra kept his face neutral. "Took it where?"
"I don't know. But if they opened it..."
They both knew what "opened it" meant. Cursed objects weren't souvenirs. They killed people.
Just then...
A flash of pink. Running past them. Fast.
Yuji Itadori.
Megumi stiffened. "That guy, he's got residual energy. He's been near the object."
Technically true, ROB noted. Finger's in the club room, but Yuji's touched it. Traces linger.
"After him!"
Megumi took off. Shinra followed, but held back. Let Megumi chase. Let Yuji escape. Let the timeline breathe.
They lost him in the streets.
Megumi was quiet about it. That controlled fury thing he did. Somehow scarier than shouting.
"He's fast. Too fast for a normal."
"Maybe not normal."
Megumi glanced at him. "Maybe."
---
The hospital was quiet.
They'd tracked Yuji through luck and persistence, asking around, following leads, piecing together where a high school kid goes when his grandpa's dying. Nurse confirmed it: Wasuke Itadori, room 304. Family only.
They waited.
Shinra sat in the lobby, watching the elevator, feeling the weight of what was happening upstairs. In the manga, this scene wrecked him. Reading was one thing. Being here, knowing an old man was dying one floor up, knowing his last words would shape everything, that hit different.
You good? ROB asked, quieter than usual.
No. But that's not the point.
Elevator doors opened.
Yuji walked out.
Eyes red. Face carefully blank. Papers clutched in his hand, his grandfather's will, probably. He moved through the lobby like a ghost, one foot in front of the other, not seeing anything.
Then Megumi stepped in front of him.
Yuji stopped. Blinked. Recognition flickered through the grief.
"We need to talk," Megumi said.
---
They talked outside.
Yuji leaned against the wall, still holding those papers, expression shifting as Megumi explained. Curses. Cursed energy. Cursed objects. The finger.
Yuji listened. Didn't interrupt. When Megumi finished, he was quiet.
"So," he finally said, "monsters are real. That finger thing, it's dangerous. And my friends have it."
"They found it, yes."
"They were gonna open it tonight. Thought it was a prank. Some ritual..."
"You need to take us there. Now."
Yuji pushed off the wall. Something had shifted, grief buried under purpose. His grandfather's last words. Shinra knew them by heart: "You're strong. Help people."
Here we go.
They ran.
---
The school was wrong.
Even outside, Shinra felt it, heaviness in the air, wrongness that made his skin crawl. Cursed energy pooled around the building like fog. Something had happened. Something bad.
"They opened it," Megumi breathed. "They actually opened it."
Crashes inside. Screams. Breaking things.
"My friends..." Yuji started moving.
Megumi grabbed his arm. "You can't. You're not a sorcerer. You'll die."
"They're in there!"
"And you'll join them if you go in blind!" Megumi's voice sharp. "Shinra..."
Shinra stepped forward. Time to move.
"Split up." He pointed. "Megumi, you and Yuji take upper floors. I'll clear lower, work my way up."
Megumi hesitated. Looked at Yuji, then back. "He's not trained. He can't..."
"He's stronger than he looks. We don't have time to argue." Shinra met his gaze. "Trust me, Let him cook."
Something in his voice must have worked, because Megumi nodded. "Fine. Upper floors. If you run into trouble..."
"I won't. Go."
They went.
Shinra watched them disappear inside, then turned to the entrance. Cursed energy pulsed like a heartbeat. Multiple curses. Some weak, some not. Perfect.
Time to work.
---
Lower floor was chaos.
Curses everywhere, Grade 4s mostly, the kind that spawn from bad vibes, but a few Grade 3s mixed in. They swarmed the halls, drawn by the finger's energy. Students had been here. Now there were only remnants, scattered bags, overturned desks, fear residue the curses fed on.
Shinra moved through them.
Grade 4s popped like balloons. One punch, done. Grade 3s took more effort, but not much. He'd fought a Grade 2 yesterday. Compared to that, this was target practice.
CRACK. Curse dissolved.
SMASH. Another gone.
CRUNCH. Three at once, taken out with a spinning kick.
Too easy. Almost boring.
He reached the stairwell and paused. Above, he sensed it, the big one. The curse that formed from the finger's energy. The one that would throw Megumi and Yuji through the roof.
Right on schedule.
Should I help? he wondered. Jump in? Save them the trouble?
And miss the show? ROB's voice was gleeful. Yuji needs to eat that finger. Let it happen.
Shinra leaned against the wall and waited.
Above, sounds of battle, Megumi's shadows, Yuji's desperate fighting, the curse roaring. Then a crash. Through a hole in the roof, he saw them: Yuji and Megumi, thrown onto the rooftop, the massive curse looming.
Now.
Shinra moved to a window, jumped to the roof in one bound, landed quietly at the edge. Megumi was down. Yuji stood over him, protecting him. The curse advanced.
And then Yuji saw it, the finger. Lying on the ground. The source of everything.
Shinra watched realization dawn. Watched him make the choice. Watched him grab it, stare for one heartbeat, and shove it in his mouth.
CRUNCH.
The world stopped.
For one perfect moment, everything froze. Then cursed energy erupted.
It blasted outward like a bomb, ancient, malevolent, overwhelming. Sukuna's power. The King of Curses, waking from a thousand-year nap. Shinra braced, felt it wash over him.
DING!
[MISSION COMPLETE: Let Him Cook]
Reward: Bumta-level Cursed Energy + Efficiency (A/N: maintaining the agenda... Is our top priority )
The power hit him like a second explosion.
Flooded through every cell, cursed energy beyond anything he'd felt, vast and deep and impossibly efficient. Where before he had to work to shape it, now it responded instantly, perfectly, like breathing. Techniques formed in his mind. Possibilities opened. Potential unlimited.
This, he thought, is what Special Grade feels like.
Enjoy it, ROB said.
On the rooftop, Yuji was changing. Tattoos spread across his skin. His eyes opened, ancient, terrible, wrong.
Fraudkuna, Shinra thought. Needed a 3v1, a stolen body, and Mahoraga to hold your hand through the Gojo fight. Hiding behind a teenager like a human shield.
[END CHAPTER 3]