negativity || gojo satoru

chapter 6 - mistakes

"Come in."

As Gojo entered his office, Ozpin inwardly raised an eyebrow at his costume change, but he did not question him. Instead of his usual black track suit, he was wearing a light blue button up shirt with dark gray pants and was donning sunglasses instead of his usual signature blindfold, which left his hair down. Ozpin gestured towards the unoccupied seat.

"How was your task?"

"Successful, but I think there's something you need to have a look at."

Ozpin raised an eyebrow as Gojo took out his scroll, swiping to the image he had taken the night before. He placed it on his desk.

"Upon arriving at the location, I encountered this person in the image. I believe he may be linked to the appearance of mutated Grimm as he had been interacting and fueling them with dust."

As Ozpin transferred the image to his own devices, Gojo continued his report.

"The Grimm listened to his commands, when he yelled something about 'Project 24', the Grimm he had placed a vial of fire dust into attacked me, temporarily blinding me so I was unable to capture him."

"Anything else?"

He considered telling him about the siphoning of his abilities, but it would put his identity at a higher risk than it already was, so he simply shook his head.

"No, that is all."

"Thank you. You may leave."

Gojo nodded, retrieving his scroll as Ozpin slid it back to him. He exited his office, heading straight for the library. There were many questions rising in his head as he replayed the previous night's events, mostly surrounding the Grimm's abilities. What are they? And why can they absorb my cursed energy?...

--

The day before the field trip...

He finally arrived at the cafeteria, now in his newly repaired Jujutsu Sorcerer outfit. Usually, he would sneak away to eat wherever he wished to (which meant the roofs, but Glynda wouldn't stop yelling at him about it), but once again he was noticed by Ruby.

"Hey, Mr Gojo! Come sit with us!"

She waved at him, at which he waved back. He joined them, just like the few other times he had been caught by her. By now, he'd learnt all their names. They talked for a small while, the topic mostly revolving tomorrow's field trip to the Forever Fall Forest, most of the questions having been directed at him due to them knowing he would be present, accompanying them.

"Hey, have you ever actually been there Gojo?"

"A few times, yes."

Yang had brought up the question, and at his answer (which he already regretted), a certain few started to bombard him with a crescendo of more questions, which he had no obligation to answer but would, nonetheless.

"Ya know, one time I heard that you lived in the forest before coming here to Beacon! Is it true? Did you actually grow up there?"

"No comment."

His response just piqued all their curiosity, now even more eager to find out the foggy backstory of their friend, and somewhat possible teacher. He just grinned, ignoring most of the questions that could seriously out him, whilst answering as few as possible. Once they had all quietened down, he caught a small wince on Jaune's face at the mention of their task on their field trip. Him being on the far opposite end of the table, he waited to catch him after lunch.

"Hey Jaune, you alright?"

The blonde haired boy looked up towards him as they were leaving, partially surprised at his concern.

"Oh, no, it's nothing Mr Gojo."

He tried to brush it off with an anxious smile, but he must've known it did a bad job of hiding it, because Gojo only hesitantly left him.

"Well, if that's the case, just know that I hold some power in this school too, you know? Anyways, have a good time in class!"

Jaune felt a small part of the weight on his chest lift as Gojo spoke, before he left him with a wave and signature teethy grin. But it was only like a grain of a desert.

--

Gojo's second encounter with Jaune was at night. He was returning from Ozpin's office, looking for his dorm without a map as he had left his in his room. You'd think a week would be enough to get accustomed to this place... Whilst wandering the area, he came across Jaune, who seemed to be waiting outside a door nervously. That was concerning. In multiple ways.

"Hey Jaune, you're not that kind of guy... are you?"

Jaune turned towards him and his quizzical stare (you could tell even behind his blindfold), before getting flustered and spluttering in denial.

"N-NO! I would never even think of doing such a thing, and it's also literally my own team's room!"

"Then what are you waiting for?"

He sighed, rubbing the back of his head as he shied away. His expression turned grim, a frown settling on his face.

"I just... screwed up, and now things are a mess and I- I'm, starting to think that I don't belong here... heh, it's kind of embarrassing to say that in front of you..."

Gojo raised an eyebrow as he continued.

"Cause you're just so... strong and amazing, even from that one incident with Cardin, anyone could tell. You're kind too, and just everything I want to but can never be."

Gojo sighed. Low self-esteem children... what a mess indeed. Alright, mature Gojo you're up!

"You shouldn't let one mess up define you."

Jaune looked up at him.

"I've messed up many times, more than I could count, some..."

His chest felt heavy as his mind went back to the times when he was young, when he was naive, which could have very well caused his death. His mind went back to his only best friend. My one and only. It went back to meeting him again, he was dead, he should've been dead, why was he there?-

Clearing his throat to cover up his pause, he continued speaking.

"Sometimes, those mistakes nearly got me killed."

Jaune's eyes widened in shock, confused that someone like him could be overpowered, but then again, he was human, wasn't he?

"You're still young, and still have much more room to grow, so just get over that mistake. In the long run, it's not going to be the last one you make, I'm sure there's going to be worse. And also, you think I was born with my strength?"

(In a sense, yes, I suppose I was though.)

"I had to train to become stronger. No one is just... born strong. Anyways! That's all I have to say to you, so get up, because you're not getting stronger if you just doubt your capabilities all day!"

Whilst his words may have been a bit... contradicting due to his case, they got the message along fine, so he turned to leave the boy to his team, hoping that his words left some impact on him so he wouldn't be all sulky the next day.

"Thank you, Mr Gojo."

He thought he could see a small tear forming but ignored it. He nodded, before leaving to find his room. (he didn't get lost, pshh, Gojo getting lost? No way!) Once he was a fair distance away, he could hear Ruby coming out to talk to him. Maybe she would be easier for him to open up to, and hopefully she could help him, as they were both in quite similar predicaments.

All that was left now was to get some sleep and get ready for the coming field trip. Surely it wouldn't be too bad? Who am I kidding, what's going to go wrong this time?

a/n : kind of a filler, but i hope the next chapter is a bit longer and will most certainly have some more action!