#cio

“C’mon Megumi, you’ve gotta pick the right Shikigami for the job, your Divine Dogs aren’t always gonna cut it.” Gojo calls without looking up from his phone. 

Megumi glowers as the white Divine Dog snaps at the curse’s tail, barely missing as the spirit slips back underground. The curse isn’t causing much trouble, but it’s been more than five minutes since the kid conjured the Shikigami, and that kind of time won’t cut it when he’s sent on a mission by himself. 

“Divine Dog can sniff out the curse, none of the others can do that,” Megumi snaps. “And this is only a Grade Four, I don’t need to be supervised.” 

Gojo sighs, Megumi has been extra cranky lately, and his baseline is already pretty aggravated. Mastering work with the Divine Dogs is critical for a Ten Shadows user, sure, but Megumi has a clear preference for them, and it’ll make him predictable for stronger curses. Are they the best option in this case? Maybe. But Megumi needs to be pushed a little more too.

“It’s education, you need a teacher for that. And I’m helping you think outside the box.” Gojo grins. 

Despite his claim to the contrary, Megumi is looking intently at the ground where the cursed spirit disappeared. He’s taking time to think through his options before he makes his next move. 

The park the curse is living in is largely deserted, families probably sheltering from the late afternoon heat. But it’s better than being on a mission alone, and will likely lead to spending more time with the two kids, so Gojo doesn’t mind too much. A little humid sunshine is a small price to pay. 

The white dog growls and paws at the lawn where the ephemeral curse disappeared, and Megumi conjures its twin from the shadows so the two shikigami can tear into the soft ground. 

Clods of dirt fly through the air, and pieces of the cursed spirit's body become visible in flashes as it digs away from the dogs. Megumi may not be passionate about sorcerer work, but he's got a knack for fighting tactics and a powerful technique. He just needs to find the motivation.

Moments later, the bloody spirit is unearthed and torn between the two shikigami. 

Gojo hops up from the bench and pats Megumi on the shoulder a couple times before being shaken off. Megumi lets the dogs dissipate and starts back towards the train station. Usually he'll stick around for a couple moments to debrief, but the angular line of his back is all pre-teen defiance today. Gojo takes a few jogged steps to catch up to the boy. 

“Hey, I’m just saying you should always be ready to pull out a new tactic. You’ve got a great technique and you already know how to use cursed tools, you should always think about what’ll take the curse out the fastest. You don’t want to leave an opening.”

Gojo can’t see Megumi’s face, but it looks like he’s grimacing. His shoulders ratchet up an inch. 

“You gotta be well rounded if you want to start school strong. The next couple years will fly by, before you know it you'll get assigned a Grade and need to exorcize faster than this.”

“If you’re really trying to teach then you should let someone else supervise my missions. Like Nanami. Maybe I would actually learn something.” He mutters the last sentence under his breath. As an extremely good sport, Gojo pretends that he didn’t hear it and pivots the conversation.

“Everything is going well in middle school now, right?”

“It’s fine.”

“What club did you join again? You mentioned basketball?”

“It doesn’t matter, I said everything’s fine.”

Gojo asks a couple more questions about his classes but it’s clear that Megumi isn’t in the mood to chat. They walk quietly for a few blocks, coming up on the station that could take them directly back to campus. But afternoon is melting into evening, and it’s been a while since Gojo saw Megumi for anything outside of training. He stops and grabs the fabric of Megumi’s jacket, halting them both.

“I think we should have dinner together- what do you want?”

“I want to have dinner at home. I’m not hungry yet.”

“Aww come on, it's been forever since we've gotten dinner out. We can have whatever you want, my treat.”

Now Gojo can see Megumi’s blank glare. 

“I want whatever Tsumiki made for dinner. You can get what you want.”

“You’re really going to skip getting food out? We’ll take Tsumiki too, of course, we’ll just stop by the apartment and get her.”

Megumi sighs. “Yes I’m sure I don’t want to go out. I exorcized the curse, can I go?”

Gojo releases the jacket. “Yeah, ok. Tell Tsumiki hi for me.”

Megumi doesn’t say anything else, but nods before continuing on to the train station. He doesn’t even bother to look back or say goodbye. 

At least he has a good relationship with his sister, and Tsumiki has a good head on her shoulders. She’ll make sure Megumi eats a good meal and finishes any outstanding homework, and maybe make him have some fun too. He smiles as he pictures the kids watching cartoons and wolfing down junk food. The summer holiday is coming up, just at the end of July, just about time for the three of them to have a non-sorcery related excursion. 

It's unfortunate that Megumi can be so mullish, he really is talented, and Gojo knows he’ll turn out to be a powerful sorcerer. Gojo tucks his hands back into his pockets and contemplates for a moment- without the kids to help him choose dinner, it would probably be best to grab something quick and head back to campus to prep for classes the next day. 

He slowly walks back down the road, leisurely reading the signs before strolling into a ramen shop. Even though it’s really too hot for the soup, it’s probably one of the fastest food options. He orders a bowl from the machine at the front of the restaurant and finds a seat among the other young professionals, all grabbing dinner alone before commuting home. Even the ambiance is subdued, quiet except for the tap of utensils on the bowl and a soft word from the kitchen every so often. 

Gojo’s bowl is empty before long, slurped away while thinking of Megumi and Tsumiki across town. 

The commuting traffic has slowed a bit by then, the streets are full of young couples and tourists exploring the city together. He passes them by and catches the train back to campus. It’s a comfortable walk in the cooler evening air, and the greenery makes it almost pleasant. He scans the grounds as he takes the steps back to his working area, the individual sparks of cursed energy. Career sorcerers in the common rooms, the students clustered in their dorms across the green, and your flash of cursed energy alone in your room. 

He snaps his attention from the echo of your mark back to his mess of an office. Piles of case files litter the desk, both his own and possible missions for the students, they’re interspersed with notes from the weekly administrative meetings, because forced attendance at them isn’t enough, they also expect faculty to read about the meetings. 

He sighs and sits, shuffling those to the side. Somewhere in the stack he knows there’s notes for the spirit he’s supposed to exorcise in Funabashi tomorrow. Unfortunately, the directors and assistant managers are too lazy or uninterested to keep the documents separate, which means even more of his time is wasted on administrative nonsense. 

If any meaningful change is going to happen, this is what needs to be focused on. Megumi will be a strong sorcerer, enough to surpass himself one day, and the students that he trains will fill the rest of the ranks to support each other and ensure corruption doesn’t blot out the good that can come from Jujutsu. There isn’t a personal matter important enough to lose sight of that for.

Moonlight leaks through the widows as he works through the sheafs of paper, putting each into the appropriate stack. 

It’ll be another long night. 

~*~ 

Missions and on-call days have been almost suspiciously light, and you were lucky enough to be scheduled two days off back-to-back. You’ve spent plenty of time out in the sun, recharging your technique and savoring time away from campus. 

Now as you run on the treadmill in the campus gym, you can fix your attention on the other pressing matter: your currently uneventful love life. 

Bachelor sorcerers are common enough, though a skilled one may be able to detect some part of the cursed energy in your mark. If you ever want to get out of sorcery, a normie would be your best bet. They wouldn’t even need to know about your technique or that curses exist. 

Possible ways to meet someone flow through your mind as your feet slap on the belt of the machine- you could try downloading a dating app or reconnecting with an old classmate, though you don’t think either would be particularly successful. There are usually other people solo climbing when you go bouldering, so that would at least give you a shared interest. It would require you to make the first move, though, which leaves a wide margin of error. What would you talk about if not work?

Maybe it would be better if you didn’t talk at all. You begin your cooldown, jog slowing gradually to a walk and ponder. When you step out of the gym and into the temperate night you look beyond the reaches of campus, where you know Tokyo lies. The lights and smog aren’t visible out here, but there are plenty of love hotels and clubs in the city, if you dressed up and went out you could probably find a partner that way. Thousands of people do it every day. 

But you don’t get dressed or take the train into the city. You walk back to your small apartment in the faux-serenity of the nearly-abandoned campus to spend the rest of the evening in your room by yourself. 

Another night you’ll find the motivation to go out. 

That’s what you tell yourself as you sigh and pick up another stack of plastic water bottles on your work table, then shuffle a stack of mail into place. Clearly, the extra time you've had hasn't been spent cleaning your apartment, or putting anything to right after your research stint. The air is stale, the mess overwhelming, and the small, utilitarian quarters uninspiring of any desire to clean. You start the water of the shower and scrub the sweat from your body, focusing only on the hiss of the water and smell of your soap. Another night, you tell yourself as you fall into sleep. Empty of dreams, into the darkness.