the fruits

AN AMUSEMENT PARK, HOW ORIGINAL, NAOKI COULDN'T HELP BUT THINK. The four of them were looking up at a quarantined amusement park. It looked like something out of a CSI episode, yellow police tape surrounding the main entrance, circling around the gates’ pillars depicting cute chibi bears and an anthropomorphic white dog that was not Snoopy. The park itself wasn't very large, it didn't extend as far as the eye could see and there were metal bulbs protruding out of the ground, connected by each other with rope to make the dividers between the amusement park and the outside world.

Naoki glanced down at the clipboard holding all the details of this particular mission.

Funworld (how original) was a small amusement park that started in the early 90s, each ride was still the same as the originals and were carefully maintained and repaired. Business went up and down like any other amusement park, but a year ago there had been a boom in visitors. It all centered around the ‘World of Reflection’ attraction, which was a classic mirror maze. Visitors reported strange happenings, such as seeing someone else behind their reflection, seeing dead loved ones (potential mind-peering curse?), and others which boiled down to seeing things that shouldn't have been there. Small little incidents brushed under the rug and normally things like this wouldn't have made it on Jujutsu society's radar, except that everyone who had ever reported these strange things, were found dead in front of the mirrors in their home. Judging by the photos attached to the case file, all of them died with a grotesque expression of fear that resembled the painting ‘The Scream’ — eyes almost bulging out of their sockets, mouths perfectly rounded, and jaws as loose as it could be stretched. They all died within a week of coming to the attraction.

So potentially, a powerful enough curse that could allow itself to latch onto the negative emotions of its victims and follow them all the way home.

“Is this The Ring?” Six Eyes chuckled derisively, chucking the case file back to the manager, who scrambled to pick it up from where it flopped to the ground. “Was some idiot so scared of freaking Sadako that they manifested this shit?”

Naoko tucked away the little part of them that agreed with Six Eyes deep, deep inside. Agreeing with Six Eyes once was one thing, agreeing with him twice in the same day? Naoya just might actually chuck themself of the Ferris wheel.

Getou gave Six Eyes the stink-eye (ha! Naoki was so funny) and helped the poor manager to pick up the clipboard. Naoki didn't know why he bothered, it wasn't like the manager couldn’t pick it up himself. “Can the curse communicate?”

“All the victims are dead,” Naoki pointed out, “so unless someone here is a secret necromancer, we wouldn't know.”

“My money's on you,” Six Eyes stated, allowing his glasses to fall down the bridge of his nose so his bright blue eyes met Naoki's own.

“Fantastic, you becoming poorer due to your own delusions is music to my ears.”

“I think Getou-san's a necromancer,” Ieiri piped up, pulling out the lollipop she'd been sucking on, “he has a very… Mary Shelley vibe.”

“Man, I don't even really know why Mary Shelley's important. But I guess Curse Eater here does look like the type that'd fuck his partner on top of his mother's grave.” Six Eyes slapped Getou's back, causing the boy to shoot him yet another glare.

“Do you read, Six Eyes?” Naoki scrunched their nose, “maybe you should, your stupid is showing if that’s the only thing you know about Mary Shelley.”

“I'll read, if you tell me if you were really born looking like a femboy or if you just did plastic surgery.”

In a swift motion, Naoki grabbed the clipboard from the manager and threw it at Six Eyes’ face. Infinity would've stopped it, but Naobito wasn't known as one of the fastest sorcerers for nothing and Naoki was one of his favoured proteges. The clipboard hit the side of Six Eyes’ head with a clack, causing his sunglasses to be crooked.

“Frankenstein,” Getou hissed at Six Eyes, looking at him as if he were dogshit on the road (understandable), “Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein, you uncultured swine.”

“Yaga-sensei, my classmates are being mean to me,” Six Eyes called out in a sing-song voice, “Naoki threw a clipboard at me, and Curse Eater called me an uncultured swine.”

However, that seemed to be the very thing that snapped Yaga-sensei's patience. “There are people dying, you crooked punks!” his irritated yell caused a pin-drop silence to settle over them, “now get in there before I get you all expelled!”

Six Eyes, mercifully, had the common sense generated by his last existing brain cell to only make a comment once they'd left behind Yaga-sensei and the manager at the entrance. “Sheesh, talk about touchy.”

“He was right,” the disappointment in Getou's voice was palpable, “people are getting killed because of this and we're all taking this as if it's a walk in the park.”

“I mean, we are technically walking in a park,” Ieiri dryly pointed out, “besides, I think it was Gojo's comment on graveyard fucking that thinned his patience.”

“What? No, no, it was Naoki throwing a clipboard at me.”

“Have you ever entertained the possibility that sometimes people just need to be smacked for them to get a point? And that ‘people' in this case means you,” Naoki said in a faux-curious voice, glancing at Six Eyes from the corner of their eye.

Six Eyes shrugged. “Nope, absolutely not. Who would wanna smack this gorgeous face anyways?”

“There's a bunch of people lining up, if you must know.” Naoki deadpanned.

Getou caught Naoki's eye. “I'll be getting in that line.” he grumbled quietly.

Ieiri must've caught that, because she let out a low snort as she fell into step with them. “Got room for one more?” she gestured towards Six Eyes who was rambling about having the urge to smack him was a crime against humanity itself.

They eventually reached the area where the ‘World of Reflection’ is set up. Surprisingly, instead of some carnival themed bullshit, they got a temple theme which wasn’t unlike Jujutsu High. Naoki cast a gaze on their surroundings and nothing was out of place, but that Cursed Energy being emitted from the attraction spoke of something else. Unlike regular Cursed Energy which was an amalgamation of negative emotions, thus causing an unpleasant feeling of dread or anxiety in sorcerers especially in high amounts - this attraction also featured a pull to it. The curse was practically begging them to come inside instead, which meant that the curse could not only utilize Cursed Energy, but probably had a technique. So a Grade 1 at least.

Six Eyes whistled, draping himself all over Naoki as if they were the best of friends. Naoki resisted the urge to smash his face into the concrete, or better yet entangle him in the shadows and watch him drown but Naoki settled for turning their face away from him.

“Wow, that’s a lot of Cursed Energy for a weakling.”

“You think our teacher’s trying to kill us?” Ieiri huffed, squatting down on the floor as she traced her empty lollipop stick on the concrete.

“Sorcerers are always short staffed, it would be a waste to kill us this early,” Naoki said darkly, “no, this guy is just trying to see if we’re ballsy enough to be walking into certain death.”

“None of us are going to die.” Getou’s voice brokered no argument.

Ieiri mimed taking a drag with her lollipop stick. “I mean we got two Special Grades with us, so if we still die then the entire world is fucked.”

“Don’t worry kids, your lord and saviour Gojo Satoru will help you younglings survive.”

Naoki’s head snapped towards the direction of Six Eyes’ face. “I would rather die actually.”

Six Eyes hooked his chin on their shoulder, glancing up at them through pure white lashes, his shades having been tugged downward his nose bridge. “Don’t worry itty bitty Zenin, I won’t let you die. That’s my curse to you.”

Naoki whipped out their phone.

Zenin Naoki
if I ever have to get rescued by Six Eyes…
You have full permission to run me over with a car.

Feral child
I’d do that even without your permission :D

Confident in their younger brother’s homicidal tendency, Naoki closed their phone and shoved it back into their pocket. They shrugged Six Eyes off of them and gestured to the door. “Well, what’re we waiting for?”

Ieiri stood up with a tired groan. “Famous last words.”

The four of them entered a narrow corridor where only one person could fit at the time, Naoki was right at the front, with Getou behind them, Ieiri after, and Six Eyes taking up the rear. The lighting was dim, each light on top of them only illuminating a few feet in front of them.

“Zenin-san, shouldn’t the one with magical eyes be in front?” what Naoki hoped Getou actually meant: Shouldn’t we put the most annoying person in the world first so he can be the human sacrifice while we all defeat the curse?

Naoki would be so happy, they’d actually wear red and gold to the Six Eyes’ funeral.

“His eyes can see the back of his head.”

Even in the dim lighting, Naoki could see Getou raise a perfectly arched brow. “Really?”

“Yes.” No.

“Okay. Makes sense.”

Why is this guy not doubting anything I say?

Regardless, Naoki formed the hand sign needed to summon the Divine Dogs. Mochi appeared, the white dog already growling and rushing forward. “Mochi will tell us if the curse is near.”

“I could’ve told you that.”

Naoki reminded themself to breathe, lest they pummel Six Eyes to the ground and lose a good chunk of their fighting force.

“Then step forward, Strongest.” Getou snarked, voice so derisive that any lesser person would at least be chastised.

Unfortunately, Six Eyes was not one of those people.

Mochi’s bark echoed and there was the sound of glass sliding against one another, the high pitched sound almost like a screech.

“Well -”

Whatever Naoki wanted to say was cut off because they soon found themselves falling.

It was not even a second before they dropped onto a glass floor, rushing up to their feet in a fraction of a second. They gazed down, the glass floor was a mirror and they could see the soles of their boots with every speck of dust gathered on it clearly as if they were seeing through a high definition screen. Naoki looked forward, behind, left, right, and up. Everything around them was made of a mirror that seemed to span across infinity with no sharp signs of it adhering to any surface. It was as if they were in a box made of mirrors, with their only companions being thousands of copies of themselves.

Naoki stepped closer to the mirror, laying a hand on the surface. It reacted just as any other mirror, the surface flat and slippery.

They pulled their hand back, but their reflection did not.

Naoki extended their senses, attempting to call back Mochi into the shadows but the shadow dog did not respond. They clicked their tongue, which meant that they were either in a domain or Mochi was dead. A sharp pang tugged at their heart, but they brushed it off, swallowing. They could wallow later, when they were back in their dorm.

If they were in a domain, that meant the curse was there with them but Naoki could not see nor could they hear or smell anything strange. Cursed Energy was saturated in the very air, like an ever present morning mist that had not yet lifted, or perhaps the mirrors of the curse’s domain itself reflected cursed energy onto infinity and that was why Naoki could not pinpoint the location of the curse.

A domain usually had a barrier which was easily breakable from the outside, but considering Six Eyes hadn’t crushed Naoki’s surroundings to pulp using Limitless - that meant that either this Domain Expansion had no barrier (highly unlikely) or they had already walked into the domain like a group of sitting ducks. Perhaps they had not and the domain was only set up after they entered the attraction. But stupid as he was, Naoki didn’t think that the activation of a Domain Expansion would slip past any of them, much less Six Eyes.

He's trying to kill me, there can be no other explanation, Naoki smirked to themself. Fine then. If that was how Six Eyes wanted to play it, Naoki could be a spiteful little shit.

Six Eyes aside, where was the curse?

Naoki watched their reflection, which smiled widely at them in a way Naoki themself had hardly ever smiled. Their reflection removed its hand from the mirror, twisting their fingers to reveal a shard of glass. Naoki watched it carefully, the sharp edges cutting into its palm as blood dripped down its wrist. There was a sudden warmth accompanied by a bitter sting and Naoki glanced down to see that their hand was bleeding, just as the reflection.

The reflection raised the shard of glass to its neck, its smile falling and morphing into the beginnings of a scream. Warmth trickled down Naomi's neck, staining their shirt beneath.

All the visitors reported seeing something behind them.

There on the corner of the mirror, a figure that did not blend so seamlessly into the surroundings.

Naoki moved before it realized their eyes were on them, twisting as they delivered a brutal kick.

Naomi's foot felt as if it were smashing a window and the curse screeched. Naoki's hand formed the hand sign for Orochi and the great serpent emerged from the shadows of her Cursed Energy and coiled around the curse, squeezing as its fangs crushed against the glass-like curse, cracks appearing on it.

Naoki grinned, but of course that was when everything went wrong.

The world exploded in a cacophony of shattering glass, the shards tinkling against each other like tiny bells.

Naoki swore and dropped to the ground on their knees, curling in on themself as they shielded their head and neck from the raining glass. The curse screeched once more, but they could feel Orochi tightening its grip on the curse.

“Gotcha ~”

Naoki scowled, pulling themself up as they met the smug face of the Six Eyes whose hand was held out. Ieiri was standing away from them, most likely avoiding the glass and with her was Mochi who was stiff and his maw opened in a quiet snarl. Naoki's shoulders sagged with relief, Mochi was fine, he didn't die.

It was interesting that Mochi remained despite Naoki not feeling the connection between them. They'd have to try that out again soon, in a more controlled environment. Though the power of a deceased shikigami is inherited by the others, Naoki didn't want any of their shikigami to die.

The attraction, ‘World of Reflection’ was completely reduced to rubble and Naoki sniffed at the collateral damage of Six Eyes’ technique. Although powerful, its destructive power could be excessive and if Six Eyes didn't have the control, the entire amusement park would probably be reduced to the ground.

Six Eyes smirked at them, mocking and utterly convinced of his superiority. “I did say that I wasn't gonna let you die.”

“Funny, I thought you were out to get me the whole time.”

Six Eyes’ smirk fell and his bright eyes narrowed as an expression of annoyance settled over his face. “Whatever, Zenin.” he spat, turning on his heels and walking away.

What a weirdo, Naoki couldn't help but think.

Ieiri skipped towards them with more energy than she had had through the entire journey there. She reached up, placing a hand on Naoki's shoulder. Instantly Naoki felt all their muscles relax and a cooling sensation brushing over their skin like a cold summer breeze on a hot sunny day. Feeling one's wounds knit themselves close was a more surreal feeling than watching the skin melt back together, it wasn't unlike the pulling and tugging Naoki had felt when she had to get stitches but it was certainly less painful than their past experience.

But then again, they'd been punished to get stitched up without anesthesia at the time.

The wounds inflicted by the curse and the little cuts from Six Eyes’ destruction of the curse's domain were all healed without a scar. Naoki quietly whistled at the potency of Ieiri's Cursed Technique.

“You're good,” they said.

Ieiri had that easy smile on her face, but Naoki would be blind to miss the way her warm brown eyes had the slightest tinge of pride in them. “Thanks.” she waved off.

“Could you hurry it up?” Six Eyes called out, tone closer to annoyed than playful, “I'm getting hungry.”

“How long was I in the domain?” Naoki asked.

“Only a couple of seconds,” Getou answered, stepping forward towards the still restrained curse. “Are you okay? How long did it feel for you?”

Naoki scrunched their nose at the concern in his voice, considering they were still standing and talking of course they were alright. “A few minutes, give or take.”

“I kinda hate the wonky time perception aspect of domains,” Ieiri sighed, rolling her neck, “what if you go in there and by the time you get out, a hundred years have passed?”

“Like Avatar?”

Ieiri blinked in surprise. “Didn't think you'd know that show.”

They honestly wouldn't have known if their father and brother hadn't dragged them to watch it with him. Naobito was obsessed with all things animated since it was closely related to his Cursed Technique. Naoya, who'd inherited that technique, was forced to endure Naobito going on a tangent all the while watching either anime or even overseas animations. Naturally, Naoya never wanted to suffer alone so Naoki had been dragged kicking and screaming into watching these films or series. It all started when the feral child had mentioned to their father that Naoki absolutely loved anime and would totally want to learn more about the world of anime despite not having Projection Sorcery.

The flash of genuine happiness in Naobito's expression when Naoya spoke that bald faced lie meant that Naoki had to go along with it. And the man had looked too proud of himself when he presented Naoki a plush of No Face from ‘Spirited Away’ for Naoki to admit to him that they were absolutely terrified of No Face and that no, it did not look like Madoka, her deer shikigami.

“I watch things,” said Naoki lamely and Ieiri only hummed in reply.

Naoki glanced at Getou from the corner of their eye and could not help but watch as the restrained curse, still wiggling against Orochi’s grip, swirled as if it were being sucked in a whirlpool. The curse seemed to twist into a black ball, the size of the palm in Getou’s open hand. It was fascinating and yet morbid, to see the creatures they fought and many die fighting to become nothing but part of a collection in Getou’s arsenal. Naoki dispelled Orochi and the great serpent faded away into a pool of shadow that was gone as soon as it appeared.

Naoki couldn’t look away at the sight of him pressing the ball into his mouth and swallowing it with a grimace. It sucked that the curses couldn’t look more appetizing than a black ball with golden whirls within it, looking like a medicine from the deepest parts of hell. And judging from Getou’s expression, it tasted as shit as it looked.

“What does it taste like?” Naoki couldn’t help but ask as Getou stepped forward to join them.

“Like a dirty rag dragged through vomit and shit.”

“So you know the taste of shit,” Naoki pointed out, “when did you happen to eat it?”

“Every year in my village, we eat cow shit to thank the gods for the blessing of natural fertilizer.” Getou said it with such a straight face and a matter of fact tone that if Naoki didn’t know any better they’d take him completely seriously.

“You think you can trick Six Eyes into having a bite of that?”

“Come onnnnn!” Six Eyes moaned, as if they’d just run a mile instead of taking a few minutes to take out a curse. “I’m hungrrryyy!”

Getou seemed to think about it for a moment, before settling. “I’d make a chocolate cake out of it, just for him.”

They found Yaga-sensei right where they left him, at the entrance with the manager. He raised a brow at the small tears in Naoki’s uniform.

“Got a nice chat with the curse inside its domain and Six Eyes bombed the entire glass palace.” Naoki explained.

“I see,” he nodded, “I’m glad you’re all safe.”

“So am I,” Getou shoved his hands into the pockets of those awful, baggy pants and stared at Yaga-sensei with an expression that might have been thought of as casual if one didn’t look at the sharp glint in his violet eyes. “But honestly, throwing a Special Grade curse at us on the first day - if we were anyone else, we’d be dead.”

“But you aren’t anyone else,” Yaga-sensei crossed his arms, “and in this world, you’re sometimes thrown into dangerous situations without your permission or very suddenly, what will you do then? Kindly tell the curse that this is above your pay level?”

“I’d tell it I was running late for tea with my mother.” Naoki couldn’t help but snark.

They were used to being thrown headfirst into dangerous situations, the Zenin clan adhered to the ‘what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger’ mentality. If you were strong, you survived and if you weren’t, you died. There were only two choices, survival or death, and no one was going to hold your hand while you were dying. Because who would want to touch the weakling?

“Still, it was reckless to put Ieiri and Zenin on this mission.” Getou plowed on.

Naoki gaped at him. “Excuse me?”

“I think I did alright,” Ieiri disagreed, the only hint of disapproval was the slow blink she directed at Getou, “I didn’t feel like I was in any sort of danger and believe it or not, I’m a non-combat personnel so my job is to ensure I stay fine enough to heal you all in case you get battered. I think Zenin did really well, he immobilized the curse and was probably gonna get out of there soon, give or take a few seconds.”

Ire dripped down Naoki’s chest, settling into a hot pool of anger in their stomach. They really should have pushed Getou into oncoming traffic, how - how dare he? Did he think that just because he was a Special Grade upon entrance that Naoki was some weakling who only got accepted due to their clan? Kamikaze or not, the previous wielder of the Ten Shadows took down the Gojo clan head who had achieved mastery over Six Eyes and Limitless. While powerful, Naoki was certain that Getou would lose to Six Eyes.

Naoki wanted to summon Mahoraga right then and there just to drag him to hell with them. To watch as he became surprised at his Cursed Technique being useless against the shikigami, Naoki would laugh from hell as Mahoraga killed him.

“Getou, your classmates are not the non-sorcerers you want to protect,” Yaga-sensei said firmly, his brown eyes narrowed at Getou. “They are upcoming sorcerers who’ve just proved they have what it takes to willingly walk into danger and come out on top, regardless of your and Gojo’s presence. I suggest you treat them with the dignity they deserve.”

There was a moment of silence as Ieiri seemed to stare at nothing, Getou and Yaga-sensei had some kind of stand off, Gojo was watching, and Naoki was seething.

“I understand,” Getou said finally, before turning to Ieiri and Naoki. He inclined his head. “I’m sorry for saying that.”

“All good.” Ieiri shrugged, no ill will apparent as the edges of her lips quirked up in a faint smile.

Naoki, on the other hand, now had an abundance of ill will. They stepped forward, giving Getou a beatific smile. “One day,” they said slowly, whispering into his ear, “I am going to slit your throat while you sleep and sew it back together so finely, they’ll never know why you bled out.”

Naoki stepped back, with the same beatific smile, satisfied at the way his body stiffened at her words. “It’s okay, Getou. This is all so new for you, after all.”

“You guys done?” Six Eyes interrupted boredly, typing on his phone, “I know a place that sells good strawberry shortcake.”

The café that Six Eyes led them to was apparently famous for its strawberry shortcake. Of course, only the best for ickle Six Eyes. But Naoki didn't particularly care for their strawberry shortcake, which was apparently a lavish sponge cake soaked in strawberry syrup accompanied by chantilly whipped cream with fresh, whole strawberries placed between layers.

No, Naoki was a creature of spite.

“Oh, I wouldn't know what to order,” they told the waiter, smiling, “I'm sure Getou will order for me, after all I am incapable of such a miniscule task.”

Ieiri snorted, watching them like they were the star of an overplayed soap opera. Six Eyes on the other hand, had dictated his order to the waiter and was now playing some kind of shitty Tetris game on his phone. But Naoki knee Six Eyes well enough to feel the flicker of his eyes drifting towards Naoki and Getou.

Getou himself kept a straight face and asked Naoki, “What would you like, Zenin-san?”

“Oh I couldn't possibly choose, just like I couldn't possibly have won against —” Naoki cooed.

Getou smiled at the waiter, quickly interrupting Naoki. “He'll have some sencha with the strawberry cheesecake, thank you.”

The waiter bowed and left, all too eager to leave with Naoki's temper so obviously bubbling beneath the surface and the tension between them and Getou palpable.

“You don't need to terrorize the civilians,” Getou chided, as if what had happened earlier was nothing more than Naoki being a dick to some waiter.

“‘Terrorize’ what a strange word,” Naoki cocked their head to the side, their fingers tapping the table, “I didn't know you thought I was capable of that.”

“I think you're a very capable person and I know that you're angry right now,” Getou said simply, as if he hadn't insulted them just an hour ago.

“Well, you certainly implied I wasn't just a moment ago,” Naoki snorted, “so quick to change your tune, are you?”

“No, because I never considered you incapable in the first place.”

“But you thought I was weak and that is worse than anything else you could have said.” Naoki hissed through gritted teeth, their hand gripping the knife of the cutlery laid out before them.

Getou's jaw clenched and Naoki was delighted at the obvious annoyance. “I thought the curse was above your current level, not that you were weak.”

Six Eyes chuckled. “You're wasting your time, Curse Eater,” he leaned back against his chair, extending his feet out beneath the table. Naoki kicked at the foot which dared venture into their leg room. “Zenins are damn spiteful, they don't forgive nor do they forget.”

“And Gojos are arrogant, they think their technique makes them invincible and the strongest.” Naoki shot back.

“But I am the strongest.”

“Nah, Ryomen Sukuna would win.”

“Lucky for us, Ryomen Sukuna is a bunch of fingers.”

“Enough,” Getou snapped, patience clearly at an end.

He stared down Six Eyes, who held his stare for a moment before rolling his eyes and looking back towards his phone and then his violet eyes drifted towards Naoki.

“Zenin-san, I'm sorry for saying those things earlier. It wasn't my intention to imply you or Ieiri were weak, but I only spoke out of concern for you.”

What the actual fuck?

Concern?

Naoki laughed hysterically. “Why the fuck would you be concerned about me?” they searched Getou's face for an answer. “Are you my mother? Even my mother stopped being concerned once I reached a certain age. You should worry more about yourself. You, after all, have much more lofty goals than me.”

“You're my classmate,” Getou spoke plainly, as if that explained everything. “I don't necessarily want to see you get hurt or die.”

“Things don't always work out the way you want it to.” Naoki brushed him off.

“I know they don't,” his voice was much quieter now, still firm yet it lacked the harshness he had had earlier when scolding Six Eyes and them. “But can't I hope for certain things?”

Naoki let out a disbelieving breath, looking away from Getou and back at the table. They opened and closed their mouth like a fish, glancing back and forth between the table and Getou. “How childish.”

They hated how weak their reply sounded.

“Ara, Zenin-san, I don't think you have any leg to stand on in terms of being childish. You were being super childish just now.” Ieiri smiled drolly.

“I was being petty, there's a difference.”

“Sure.” Ieiri agreed easily.

A silence settled over their table, as if all four of them didn't know what to say to one another when there were no problems or curses to deal with. Six Eyes was busy playing with his phone, but Naoki was sure he was alert towards the happenings of the table. Surely even he was not so careless as to disregard his surroundings.

“You know, I don't think we've ever introduced ourselves properly to one another.” Getou said, an olive branch extended to all of them.

Naoki wanted to shove the olive branch down his throat, what was he doing being so kind? Kindness for you killed in the Jujutsu world, kind people were the prime targets of insanity. The one elder half-brother Naoki found tolerable hung himself on the sakura tree in front of their mother's apartments. The kinder servants were always the ones punished the most.

Kindness had no place in the Jujutsu world. Kindness meant dying far younger than you should've.

“I'll start,” Getou continued, “my name is Getou Suguru and I'm from Oshino, Yamanashi. I've seen curses since I was a child, but it wasn't until the end of primary school and the start of middle school did I figure out what my Cursed Technique actually does. My mom's a tour guide and my dad's a karate teacher. I'm an only child.”

Ieiri smiled, more genuine than her airy, calm smiles. “Sounds fun. I'm Ieiri Shoko from Yokohama, my dad's got the same Cursed Technique as me, it's just that he can barely heal anyone else. Both my parents are sorcerers, but we don't come from a clan or anything fancy like that. I'm an only child too.”

“Gojo Satoru, everyone knows who I am. Nice to meet ‘cha.”

Naoki wanted to scoff at Six Eyes’ lackluster introduction, but they supposed that they couldn't just say ‘my parents were barely around because I was handed off to servants to raise’. Naoki suspected that was the case for him, the same way it was for Naoki. Yukina only saw them for the more pleasant parts of child rearing and their father had ignored them until they had manifested their Cursed Technique.

“My name is Zenin Naoki, I'm from Kyoto. I have one younger brother, and three elder half-brothers,” they used to have four, “both my parents are sorcerers but my mother is more concerned with her duties as lady of the clan nowadays.”

“That's a pretty big family,” Getou's brows were raised.

“Ah, I have cousins as well.”

“The Zenin clan's big compared to the Gojo clan,” Six Eyes interjected, “but they're not as big as the Kamo, who’ve got countryside branches and all.”

Right, the Kamo and their attempts to have a Blood Manipulation heir. Yukina had had a good laugh when there was news of a bastard boy being brought into the clan because he was the only one with the prized Blood Manipulation. The boy's mother was the clan head's mistress and both the Gojo and Zenin clan had a jolly time pointing out that both Six Eyes and her were born from official wives not mistresses. Thus the two were deemed to have better ‘breeding’ than the new Kamo heir whose mother was originally a servant, and a ‘clearer bloodline’.

Naoki knew the Kamo were getting antsy. Both Six Eyes and them were in the same age group and were a decade older than the Kamo boy. If anything happened to the boy's father then he would have to contend with two other clan heads with greater experience and power than him. The main problem would be Naobito, who didn't seem like he was going to croak anytime soon and had no qualms manipulating or coercing a child. Six Eyes’ grandfather, the current head of the Gojo clan, was about to croak and his father would serve as interim head until Six Eyes turned 18.

Either way, both Zenin and Gojo clans had heirs who weren’t six years old.

Getou seemed more pleased than ever. “Well now that we know the basics of each other, let’s talk about our likes, dislikes, hobbies, and dreams for the future.”

“Did you rip that off from Naruto?” Six Eyes snorted, swiping his plate of a whole strawberry shortcake off of the waiter’s tray before the man could realize it had been taken.

The waiter paused for a moment, his expression one of bemusement and he was about to place the cake knife by Six Eye but he was waved off by the manchild. “Uh, sir?”

Six Eyes paid him no mind and stabbed his fork into the whole cake, taking out a huge chunk and popping it into his mouth like the mannerless manchild he was. The waiter looked as if he wanted to be anywhere but near their table, and hurriedly distributed the rest of their snacks and drinks before hightailing it out of there.

Getou sighed from his nose at Six Eyes’ behaviour. “That’s what people normally talk about when introducing themselves, Gojo.”

“Right - anyways,” Six Eyes finally swallowed his chunk of cake and Naoki couldn’t help the look of utter disgust they threw at the manchild, which only prompted a grin from him. “I like Digimon and sweets, I hate the Higher Ups and my clan elders, I have lots of hobbies cause I’m good at anything I put my mind to, and my dream for the future is to remain the strongest.”

Naoki must be in hell, because why were they agreeing with Six Eyes on a certain matter involving a bunch of stupid old men in their clans?

“Hey, maybe you shouldn’t be so brazen about hating our superiors -”

“They know, don’t worry,” Naoki couldn’t help but say, “and lucky for Six Eyes here, they can’t do anything about it except be petty and make life unpleasant for him.”

“Man, it must be nice to have free reign to be a bunch of pretentious assholes,” Ieiri popped open a cigarette box, and brought one to her lips.

“Miss, this is a non-smoking -”

Ieiri shot the staff member a tepid smile. “I’m not lighting it, don’t worry.”

“But you know, Gojo, you’re not much better than them,” she continued, tapping the unlit cigarette on the edge of the table. Six Eyes, of course, didn’t stop eating at Ieiri’s address. “You’ve got the same brand of arrogance, just in a more tolerable flavour than theirs.”

“Hah? Is it arrogance if it’s the truth?”

Ieiri’s tepid smile didn’t falter. “The truth is whatever people in power make it,” she said, “it’s a big world, Gojo. You could find someone that takes you by surprise.”

“Fat chance.”

“But not completely zero.”

Getou took a sip of his sencha, cutting into his slice of cake like a respectable human being. “Let’s move on,” he said, watching Six Eyes drag his fork against the sponge cake until it was reduced to crumbs, “Ieiri-san, what about you?”

“Oh, I’m boring,” she admitted breezily, “I like cigarettes though I’m trying to lay off on them, I hate pulling all-nighters though I’m a bit of a night owl, I guess my hobbies are drinking alcohol whenever I get some, and my dreams for the future - I never actually thought about it, but being a doctor sounds nice.”

“That’s nice,” Getou managed to infuse what would usually be an empty platitude with sincerity. “Well, personally I like zaru soba and martial arts, I don’t really like eating curses even though I need to, my hobby is practicing martial arts, and I guess my dreams for the future is the same as my reason for becoming a sorcerer - I want to protect the weak.”

Six Eyes mimed vomiting, but it was completely ignored by Getou who then stared at Naoki, who looked back at him blandly.

“I like my shikigami, I dislike a lot of things, my hobby is training, and my dreams for the future -” include maiming Six Eyes, “is to tame the final shikigami in the Ten Shadows technique.”

Six Eyes groaned, throwing his head back against the backrest of his chair. “God, you’re soooo boring.”

“And you are insufferable on a good day and homicide-inducing on a bad day, but you don’t see me complaining do you? Oh wait, I just remembered - you don’t have good days.”

“If you ask nicely, I might let you curse me.”

“Will you let me kill you?” Naoki asked sweetly, leaning forward on the table.

Six Eyes smiled then, a smile that was both like his usual smirks and yet completely different. “Maybe in the end.”