Tokyo Jujutsu High — Sunset
The air was fresh, with the kind of breeze that slips through the trees as the sun sets, dyeing the courtyards orange and gold. Naoya Zen'in walked through the outer corridors of the school, his hands in his uniform pockets. They were due to return to Kyoto the next day, and although the mission had been successfully concluded, something inside him was still troubled.
Not because of the cursed spirit they faced. Not even because of the presence of other strong sorcerers like Gojo and Geto.
It was the lingering taste of the clash of realities.
"This isn't Kyoto," he thought. "Here... the rules are different."
Suddenly, as he turned a corner near the training grounds, he stopped.
There was Satoru Gojo, sitting on a stone railing, his dark glasses still on even though the light had almost gone. He held a half-empty bottle of juice, relaxed, as if this corner of the world belonged to him.
Gojo turned his face slightly, just enough to look at Naoya over his glasses.
"Oh, look who's here. Prince Zen'in," he said with a half-smile. "Did you get lost, or did you come to admire the architecture?"
Naoya continued to frown, but didn't leave.
"I was just walking. I didn't know this corner already had an owner."
Gojo smiled wider and took a sip of juice.
"Nah, but if you're going to stay, you have to pay a toll: interesting conversation or awkward silence. Your choice."
Naoya leaned his back against a nearby column, not looking directly at him.
"What's someone like you doing here, anyway? Aren't you Tokyo's star child? Shouldn't you be... I don't know, teaching others how to be as perfect as you?"
Gojo laughed softly, without mockery.
"Perfect? Nah. I'm just special. There's a difference."
"Such modesty."
There was a brief silence.
They both stared at the sky without speaking. Only the wind and the murmur of nature around them. Footsteps were heard in the distance: Shoko Ieiri was leaving the building with Geto, chatting about something trivial. The two noticed Gojo and Naoya, exchanged a glance, but continued on their way without approaching.
Internal Monologue – Naoya
"Gojo... his presence is annoying. Everything about him screams 'freedom.' He's not like us. He doesn't carry the weight of lineage, of duty, of clan. He has power... but he has no chains. And yet, they respect him. Why?"
Internal Monologue – Gojo
"This brat… He has sharp eyes. Too aware for one so young. He's like a well-forged knife, yet to decide whether to cut flowers or throats."
Gojo broke the silence.
"You know, during the mission, I thought you were just another conceited noble. But… now I'm not so sure."
Naoya raised an eyebrow, still staring straight ahead.
"Oh, really? And what made you change your mind?"
"I don't know. Maybe… that way you looked at the cursed spirit. There was no fear. Only anger. As if it had offended you to exist."
Naoya narrowed his eyes.
"Because weakness is a sin."
Gojo glanced at him.
"You think so?"
For the first time, Naoya looked at him directly, coldly.
"In the Zen'in Clan, if you don't have cursed energy, you're nothing. Maki... my cousin... is 4 years old. They already look at her with disgust. For being born 'defective.' They don't hate her for what she does. They despise her for who she is. Monsters aren't born. They're forged. And weakness... is the perfect forging."
Gojo remained silent. His glasses reflected the sunset, but beneath them, his eyes were serious.
"So what are you then? Forge or forged?"
"Both," Naoya answered without hesitation. "And that's why I'll never be weak."
Gojo sighed, crossing his arms behind his head.
"You know... I didn't grow up in a clan like yours. My family was technical. Nothing special. But I had special eyes. So suddenly, everyone wanted a piece of me. I saw the contempt too. The manipulation. The self-interest. But I decided something..."
Naoya looked at him.
"What?"
"If I was going to have power... then I was going to change the rules."
Naoya smiled dryly.
"Naive. Power doesn't change the rules. It imposes them. And those who don't accept them... disappear."
Gojo straightened, stepped lightly off the railing.
"Maybe. But there's another way."
Naoya crossed his arms.
"Save the weak?"
"No. Teach them not to be."
There was a thick silence. The two young men stood face to face, without open hostility... but with palpable tension.
Internal Monologue – Naoya
"You don't understand... You were born special. You don't know what it's like to have to prove it every second. But that idea... 'teach them not to be weak'... It doesn't sound so bad. It sounds like... a method. Like control."
Internal Monologue – Gojo
"He's going to be a problem. But also an opportunity. If he doesn't lose his way. Although… I have a feeling he already is."
Naoya was the first to break the connection.
"I guess the toll has been paid."
Gojo smiled.
"With interest."
Naoya turned and walked firmly away. Gojo stood for a moment, staring at the red-tinged sky.
From a distance, Geto watched him. He didn't say anything, but a shadow of thought crossed his eyes. Shoko noticed his expression.
"What's wrong?"
Geto replied, in an almost philosophical tone:
"Just... thinking about how the world changes when the strong start speaking."