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CHAPTER START---
"Are you excited to start your new adventure?" Gojo asks as Taiyo leaves the house, locking the door behind him.
The boy was dressed in his usual workout tracksuit and carrying a suitcase and backpack.
"I just hope this is as much fun as I'm imagining," Taiyo says as they walk down the steps toward the cars.
Principal Gakuganji was staring at his phone, standing beside the leading car, seemingly rewatching something over and over with a mischievous smile on his face.
In the middle car, Principal Yaga was waiting for the duo, while in the back car, the woman and the nervous man were standing by discussing something.
"It'll be even more fun than that," Gojo says. "But I think Mei Mei wants to say hello before we go."
"Hmm," Taiyo looks over at the woman, signaling him to approach her. "So that's the crow lady's name…"
"Careful with her, she's a bit…well, you'll see," Gojo says as he gets into the front seat. Principal Yaga moves to put Taiyo's suitcase in the trunk as the boy walks over to Mei Mei.
"Hi, so your crows were spying on me earlier, right?" Taiyo asks.
"They offered me a small bonus for scouting ahead," she says. "I'm Mei Mei, this is Ichiji."
"Nice to meet you," the man bows politely.
"Right, so, did you need something from me?" Taiyo asks.
In response Mei Mei leans back against the car and reaches through the window, retrieving two rolled-up posters and a marker.
"I didn't think Jujutsu Sorcerers cared about this kind of thing," Taiyo says as he begins signing the first poster.
Both were of him wearing all his medals at the closing ceremony last week.
"To Ui Ui, he's a fan," Mei Mei says.
He finishes signing the first poster, which she rolls up and places on the front seat.
"And is this one 'to Mei Mei'?" he asks while signing the second one.
"No," she casually takes the poster and marker before he can add a name to it. "Your autograph has good value, but after you die, it will be worth so much more. And since Jujutsu Sorcerers die often, and in gruesome ways…"
"You're investing in my death," Taiyo says, playfully. "Well, I'll be happy to disappoint you."
Mei Mei shrugs. "This investment cost me nothing, so regardless, it's all profit."
"Then next time I'll charge you," Taiyo says, causing the woman to turn and begin walking up the stairs to the ruins of the shrine.
"If you did that, I'd have to ensure my investment paid off, and that's too much of a hassle," she says while walking away. "Do ensure you have some value to me."
"I'm sorry about her," Ichiji bows once again. "Please have a pleasant journey to Jujutsu Tech. We have to ensure the barriers around this valley are stable before leaving. Your home will also be repaired, at no personal cost to you."
"Thanks," Taiyo says before walking back to the middle car and getting into the back seat.
Taiyo sees the sealed box containing the cursed finger on the back seat and just pushes it aside and places his backpack beside it.
"So, is this going to be a long drive?" he asks as Principal Yaga starts the car and begins following Principal Gakuganji's driver through the rural roads.
"The school is in the mountains just outside of Tokyo," Gojo says. "But you won't find it unless someone there wants you to. Master Tengen creates barriers around it to keep it hidden and expand the campus so we have space to go a bit wild."
"Like how your Domain Expansion was bigger inside than outside?"
"Exactly," Gojo says. "You'll love it there. You can go wild without anyone accidentally seeing you."
"Just don't overdo it," Principal Yaga says. "The school isn't self-repairing."
"Oh right, this is my first time not being homeschooled," Taiyo says.
"It really isn't that kind of place," Principal Yaga says. "We have academic classes, sure, but attendance isn't mandatory since you just have to do the exams at the end of each school year. Most of the people who attend work within Jujutsu Society, so they don't really pay attention to the classroom learning aspect of the school."
"And since people get paid based on their Grade, you'll be paid more as a student than most people in Japan get," Gojo says.
"But if you ever want to leave Jujutsu Society and live a more normal life, don't ignore the classroom learning part of our school," Principal Yaga says.
"I see, and will there be a lot of people in my class?"
Gojo immediately laughs. "We didn't even expect to find one person for your year group. But since the school year starts in April, we've got another month to keep looking. Jujutsu Sorcerers are pretty rare, so it's not uncommon for some years to only have one or two students."
"Jujutsu Tech Kyoto has around ten students in your year," Principal Yaga says. "But that's mostly because Principal Gakuganji has close ties to the conservative faction, so anyone the big clans sponsor or doesn't like will be sent there."
"Those must be the 'useless old men' you mentioned," Taiyo says, and Gojo smiles.
"Yeah, and they'll hate you just as much, or actually, maybe a lot more than they hate me," Gojo says. "I don't really listen to them or care about their agendas. But I still respect the basics of holding ourselves apart from regular human society. But you still pursuing a career in sports is a direct violation of that."
"So I just have to get strong enough that what they think doesn't matter."
"Exactly," Gojo says. "So be sure to listen to your teacher."
"Oh, who will that be?" Taiyo asks, and the car falls silent.
"Admittedly, we didn't expect to have any students this year, so I haven't decided yet," Principal Yaga says.
"Well since I'm the strongest, I wouldn't really mind," Gojo says.
"Can you teach?" Taiyo asks. "Because I've been to the Olympics twice and spoken to the people at the very top of their sports. Many of them are prodigies who also outworked everyone, but because of that they perform as easy as they breathe, and they're shitty teachers because of it."
"That's exactly what Gojo is," Principal Yaga says.
"Then who is the best teacher of Jujutsu?" Taiyo asks. "I don't need them to be strong. I need them to teach me to be strong."
"It also has to be someone we can trust with your secret," Principal Yaga says. "Luckily, I know the perfect person."
"What secret?" Taiyo asks.
"I'll explain tomorrow. When we get back to the school, I'll call your teacher over. The school year doesn't start for another month, but there isn't any problem with you starting early."
"Enough of that, let's make a quick detour, look!" Gojo shoves his phone in Principal Yaga's face.
"Hey! I'm driving!" the man yells as the car swerves slightly.
"Hey Taiyo," Gojo turns to look back at him. "Let's go get some parfait!"
"Sure, but, shouldn't we hurry up and get this thing to the school first?" Taiyo points at the box in the back seat.
"Nah, you don't need to worry about Sukuna's finger. The box keeps it hidden, and if anything happens, I'm here…"
---4 Hours Of Gojo's Antics Later…
"I'm never going anywhere with you again!" Taiyo grumbles as he gets out of the car.
"What do you think being his teacher was like?" an equally annoyed Principal Yaga says as he shuts off the car and steps out.
"You're both being so unreasonable," Gojo says as he gets out of the car, holding a few bags from different stores, from a few different parts of Tokyo. "How will I know where the best cake is if I don't try them all?! Huh?!"
"Next time at least tell us what you're planning before you drag us along," Taiyo says as he takes his suitcase out of the trunk, while Principal Yaga holds the box with Sukuna's Finger.
"I don't know why you're so grumpy. You had more fangirls than me bothering us," Gojo says as they all begin walking up the hundred steep steps through the mountain route.
Leading up from the car park, there were hundreds of steps, similar to those leading up to an ancient shrine, with lush green mountain forest on either side.
"Yeah," Principal Yaga says as they ascend the steps. "You were loving all the girls chasing you."
"Yeah, but that's different," Taiyo says. "It's fine when I can leave when I want, and do whatever I want."
"Completely untethered, huh," Gojo mutters as he's snacking on a chocolate bar. "That's good. You can reach far with that mindset."
"I know, it's gotten me to the top of one of two realms already," Taiyo says as they reach the top of the stairs, and he sees miles of lush green valley ahead of them.
Shinto buildings of all different sizes, a river, and a lake, along with a few different sports fields and an even larger forest going beyond the edge of his vision.
"Wow…" Was all he could say, amazed by the sight of Tokyo Jujutsu Tech. As if a Shinto monastery took over an entire valley so close to Tokyo.
"Without the Barriers, it would be quite small, only a few buildings," Principal Yaga says. "But Master Tengen is second to none when it comes to using Barriers, so she blesses us with as much space as we need, to foster the future of Jujutsu Society."
Taiyo looks around in amazement as he falls into step behind Principal Yaga.
"I'm going to put my snacks away for later," Gojo says before disappearing from beside them.
"Wow, so he really can warp."
"He was serious when he said revealing your hand makes it more effective," Principal Yaga says as he leads Taiyo through a massive building that's completely empty. "This is the main hall. When you get assignments, I'll meet you here if I give them out in person, but most of the time I'll just send you a message or call your phone."
"Oh, so no scroll?"
"Sometimes Kyoto uses those, but we prefer efficiency to tradition over here," Principal Yaga says.
"And who are these people?" Taiyo asks as they leave through the back of that building and walk past a few men and women in black suits, discussing something as they ascend the steps into a slightly smaller building.
"Those are the Managers, like Ichiji, who you met earlier. Think of them as administrative people who assist you during missions, and Windows are people who can see Cursed Spirits and Cursed Energy but can't use it, they're all over Japan and report unusual activity to us, but you'll rarely see any of them here."
"I see, Windows report it, you assign missions, then Managers take students or graduates to deal with it," Taiyo says. "So it's really more like a military than a school."
"Exactly. The Jujutsu Clans can be called upon in cases of emergency, but they usually just play politics and leave us to handle the real work. But they hold a lot of influence over the higher-ups at Jujutsu Headquarters, so try not to piss them off before you're strong enough to handle it."
"So those are the 'useless old men' huh, got it."
"The building those managers were going to is the main dining hall. You can get food there from 8 AM to 9 PM, anything after that you'll have to use a vending machine or go shopping."
"Is it free?"
"Of course," Principal Yaga says as they arrive at a much smaller building. "And this is the dorms for your year group…so you have the entire place to yourself."
Taiyo follows the man inside and sees a hallway with ten doors, but at the end of it, the building leads into a private courtyard with a small koi pond and a rock garden.
"Damn, reminds me of home," Taiyo says. "Since I'm the only student, can we knock down some of the walls and extend my room?"
"I'll think about it," Principal Yaga says. "Now, feel free to get acquainted with the campus and unpack your things. I need to go call your teacher. We'll meet tomorrow morning to discuss some important matters."
"Huh, is that it? No books about Cursed Energy or anything?"
Principal Yaga frowns. "Jujutsu Sorcerers pass down knowledge within their families, clans, and to students directly. They rarely have written records of anything, and those who do will never hand it over to outsiders so easily, so what we have is limited."
"Damn, but you do have something?" Taiyo says.
"There," Principal Yaga points to one of the smallest buildings within their view. "That's our library. It contains books and scrolls about some of the basic applications of Cursed Energy and the history of Jujutsu, but it's more efficient to just have your teacher guide you."
"It would be easier if I get a head start," Taiyo says as he hands Principal Gakuganji his phone.
"What? I already have your contact information."
"Wi-Fi password, this school has that, right?"
"Of course we have that," Principal Yaga says as he types in the password. "Hey, promise me you won't be as much trouble as Gojo is."
Taiyo chuckles, giving the man a mischievous smile. "No."
END CHAPTER---
Discord: discord .gg /eHuxNeZfyS [Come chat with me]
pat.reon: Keanu_Eugene [Read ahead & support me]
You.tube: @KeanuEugene [Giving away all my writing knowledge]