The first Student

Second Year

A whole year, y/n couldn't believe it. She had been training at the Jujutsu Academy of Tokyo for a whole year. Under the guidance of Saturo Gojo, she had already learned quite well to combat curses of different danger levels. However, her progress has stagnated since spring of this year, when her second year had started. A little earlier, a curse had manifested itself in y/n herself, after her former lover had screwed her over. When the leading Sorcerers had performed a kind of exorcism on her, something strange had happened. Somehow, y/n had managed to collect the cursed energy >that had been fired at her to exorcise the curse< and release it again in an explosive manner. Gojo had been trying to figure out how y/n could repeat this ever since. But nothing had worked, neither meditation nor provocation. And Gojo had really spared no effort and pushed her to the extreme all summer long. After all, he had given her a week off for recovery. That meant y/n had spent the last few days with her father in Niigata without any curses. Yesterday, Sunday evening, she arrived back in Tokyo. Gojo had picked her up from the train station and taken her to dinner before going back to the academy.

This morning the display of her phone showed Monday September 5th 2011 and y/n honestly had to drag herself out of bed. The fact that she hadn't learned anything really new in the last few months was demotivating. But she knew that if she wouldn't show up to class on time, Gojo would torment her even more than he already did.

"Good morning," Gojo waved at her exaggeratedly, as soon as he saw her on the training field. Y/n returned the greeting with significantly less vigor.

"Hey! What's up with that face?", Gojo cheekily poked her in the shoulder. Y/n firmly slapped his hand away. "That's stupid. We're not getting anywhere. I haven't achieved anything so far jumping around with you like an idiot, it won't be any different today."

"Oh yeah?", Gojo crossed his arms over his chest. "So if my method is stupid, tell me, do you have another idea?"

Y/n shrugged. "Well, think about it. When I released this wave of energy, I was in terrible pain, perhaps even afraid of dying. If I train with you, that's not the case, I'm not scared of death. You just go on my nerves so much, that I want to kill you."

"Oh," Gojo grabbed his uniform where his heart laid under the fabric, pretending to be hurt. "No reason for such harsh words!"

Then he tilted his head thoughtfully. "But I understand that you don't feel like training like this anymore. I'm sick of it too. But I know we can do it  somehow."

"Oh yes?", y/n was not convinced. Gojo nodded. "Much weaker Sorcerers have already learned great techniques. You on the contrary are not weak."

Y/n sighed but gave him a little smile. Then an interesting thought occurred to her. "Gojo, theoretically, could we try to replicate the whole thing?"

"Replicate? I don't think anyone would want to join in," Gojo sounded like he knew exactly what she wanted to say, but didn't say it. Y/n nodded. "Didn't you say you were the strongest? Then you should probably be able to bring up enough power. So if you bombard me with all you have and my body thinks it has to die, then it could work."

"Could? You're crazy," he said, but y/n heard his excited tone clearly. She grinned at him. "You are too. I know you want it."

"Sure it's a tempting idea." He returned the grin. But then he pouted with regret. "But we can't do experiments like that here. Otherwise Yaga will kill us both."

Y/n patted his arm confidently. "Then you'll think of something why we need a few days to ourselves. I'm counting on you."

Gojo shook his head, somewhat stunned. "I have to say, even though you didn't really want this life, you are thriving in your role."

Y/n clicked her tongue decisively. "I'm ambitious. If I have to do it, I'm going to do it right."

So Gojo did as she told him and thought of a good reason why they both had to go away for a few days. He didn't tell y/n what exactly he had told Yaga. It didn't matter anyways, the only important thing was that Yaga allowed them to go on a little excursion.

So the next day a driver from the academy took them to a lonely country house somewhere north of Tokyo. Y/n, who only knew the largest cities of her paternal grandparents' homeland, was very impressed by the idyll. At the beginning of her life, y/n's family had lived in Europe. Her father had met her mother during his semester abroad in France and later moved there for her. When this unfortunate accident had happened to y/n's siblings >because y/n simply hadn't been able control her powers as a child< her parents had tried to continue living normally even after the death of y/n's siblings. But that hadn't worked well for long. Y/n's mother had been exhausted and hadn't wanted the family anymore. So y/n's father had moved back to Niigata >where he grew up< with y/n. But he hadn't done much with her. After all, he had to work to support them both. So moving to the Jujutsu school in Tokyo had been y/n's first real trip across the country.

Gojo was amused by her childish euphoria. Every time she explained how beautiful she thought it was here in the countryside, he shook his head and laughed. Of course the academy wasn't in the middle of the city either, but here it was just nature far and wide.

"I guess you don't have much time for trips, or do Sources have holidays?", she said as she chopped up the ingredients for dinner. Meanwhile, he just sat around on one of the countertops in the kitchen and didn't even think about helping her.

He rocked his head back and forth indecisively. "I went on trips. But the last one... Just has a bitter aftertaste."

"Why is that?" Y/n raised her head curiously. Gojo dangled his long legs in silence for a while before answering. "Last trip I went on was with three people, all of them are now gone."

"Oh," y/n lowered her gaze back to her cutting board. But then she wanted to know more about it. "What happened?"

Gojo didn't like questions, she knew that. He rarely answered any. But perhaps it was because they were a bit off 'away from their normal everyday lives' that he now became quite detailed for the first time.

"Suguru and I were protecting a girl, Riko. Her body was meant to serve as a vessel for the spirit of a very old Sorcerer." Y/n looked at him, not understanding anything. "Huh?"

"The name is Tengen. This spirit is the most potent barrier user among all Jujutsu Sorcerers. But that's not that important," Gojo rolled his eyes. "It was about Riko. We went to the beach with her and her maid. So that she could enjoy the last days of her being herself."

Y/n just listened to him. For one thing, she didn't know how to answer that. On the other hand, she was sure that if she made a comment he would stop talking.

"Back then, many people wanted to prevent Riko's body from becoming a vessel for the spirit. So she was shot after we came back. Which was pointless, a new suitable body had soon been found."

"Oh my goodness, that's terrible," y/n said now, honestly affected.

"But I understand. After something like that I wouldn't have liked to go somewhere else either", she added. She already knew that Suguru Geto had disappeared. So if he had been involved in this whole thing, she didn't want to put Gojo through the hassle of having to tell her that again. So they stayed in silence for a while. The only thing that made a noise was her knife scraping across the cutting board.

"Sometimes you remind me of Riko," Gojo said at some point. Y/n paused for a moment. Was that a compliment or not? She raised an eyebrow skeptically. "Oh yeah?"

Gojo nodded. "At times she was unbearable, impudent, a real snotty brat."

"She will have had her reasons. After all, she had to go on vacation with you," y/n replied. However, she was a little afraid that she had gone too far. This girl had died and y/n was very sure that it had been a drastic experience for Gojo. Even though he probably wouldn't admit that. But because y/n also didn't like giving emotional speeches very much, they were rude to each other again. But that was a good thing, they both got along with that.

Juju Stroll
"Can you hurry up? I really have to go to the bathroom!", y/n whined at the closed door. She heard Gojo laughing on the other side. "You have miles of nothingness outside."
"You cannot be serious! I'm not a dog. I'm never going anywhere with you again," she ranted and banged against the door.