Koi No Yokan (gojo x oc)

Juju Stroll: The Hard Truth

an: sorry these chapters are taking so long to come out! also from here on out i'm going to start using the juju strolls as a way to convey important scenes that we wouldn't be able to see from kaede's pov, along with the usual fluff that they've been so far. 

happy reading 🫶

The early morning was once again filled with the sound of Tomiji training hard. With every sharp turn the katana sliced through the cold air, and a grunt of annoyance followed. He tried to repeat the steps Hama had shown him, the family routines used to train young warriors—to train people like Kaede, not him.

In another angry twirl, the katana breaks through a nearby bamboo shoot, cutting it clean in half, letting it topple onto the floor.

"Try not to destroy the shrubbery while you train."

Tomiji turns around, finding Geto-san sitting at the opposite end of the courtyard. How long had he been watching?

"They can always plant more," Tomiji huffs, wiping the growing sweat on his brow.

"Is that really the right way to think about it?" Geto frowns. "Destroying things under the assumption they can be fixed."

"I'm not in the mood for a lesson."

"It was a question for me, not you."Geto's gaze is fixed to his hands, expression dark in such a way that it turns Tomiji's stomach. "I spoke with Yaga Sensei again."

"And?"

"He said no."

Tomiji's heart now drops with his sickened stomach, a myriad of disbelief washing over him like a storm. "Did my sister put him up to it? Did she tell him not to let me join the school?"

"Your sister hasn't done anything, Tomiji-kun," Geto sighs. "It's because she's in such good graces with the higher ups that you're allowed to stay here in the first place."

"So they keep me around as some sort of token of appreciation towards her?" Tomiji shrivels in disgust. "I'm more than just Uematsu Kaede's little brother! I can exist separately from that—"

"Then why be so determined to enter her world?" Geto says. "She is the strongest, Tomiji-kun, which means that anyone becoming a Jujutsu Sorcerer will always be compared to her scale of power, even myself. That's just the way it works." He does his best to remain impartial, but they both must face the truth. "We can arrange for you to enroll in a regular school. You can have your own life there."

"You're asking me to give this up?"

"I'm asking you to think about what you really want. Is this really for the sake of existing separately from Kaede, or is this about something else?"

Tomiji remains quiet, careful not to overanalyze his own motives. Perhaps, he himself isn't sure of them either. "If someone became stronger than my sister..."

"Then she will still be the second strongest Jujutsu Sorcerer, until she finds a way to be the strongest again."

"But if someone stopped her—"

"Are you suggesting someone hurt your sister just so you can get what you want?"

"No, no!" Tomiji shakes his head, his mouth spewing words before his mind can assess their meaning.

"You have no cursed energy, Tomiji-kun. You don't have a heavenly pact either to fix this for you," Geto says calmly. "If you were allowed to become Jujutsu, you would be killed the moment you faced a curse. I don't want that, and despite whatever you may feel, your sister doesn't want that either."

"You're saying..." The words don't seem to reach his tongue. How could they?

"You can't be a Jujutsu Sorcerer."

Tomiji's lungs feel as if they have stopped working. The dream he's fought so hard for, has now come crashing down on him.

"I'm sorry," Geto says in earnest. "I shouldn't have encouraged you in the first place."

"I don't blame you," Tomiji says, feeling numb. In his heart, he's already found who to blame. The one who has gotten exactly what she wanted from the start. Who is responsible for every wrong turn taken in his life. The thought fills him with hate.