--- Third Person POV ---
Walking through the sky castle's halls, Nanahoshi guided Gojo toward the garden—somewhere quiet enough for them to continue their earlier conversation.
Nanahoshi knew her way around the sky castle well enough; she'd lived here for a bit before heading off to the magic city of Sharia, so navigating the main halls was basically muscle memory by now.
Soon, they arrived at a vast garden. Flowers of unfamiliar shapes and colours covered the open space, some shimmering softly under the light, others swaying as though moved by a gentle, unseen breeze. Tall crystal-like trees cast dappled patterns across the stone paths, and delicate vines wrapped around floating archways, giving the entire place an otherworldly elegance.
Gojo let out a low whistle. "Damn… fancy. Guess the old man's got drip after all," he said, eyes roaming over the garden like he was rating it.
Nanahoshi nodded lightly. "Yeah… this world's a mess, but it's got its moments," she said. She heard him drop 'old man' again, but she didn't even bother this time—she had bigger things on her mind.
They soon reached a small table set, its polished surface catching the soft glow of the floating lights overhead. Without a word, both of them took their seats across from one another.
Nanahoshi didn't waste a second. The moment they were seated, she leaned forward slightly, her tone firm and direct.
"First of all," she began, eyes locked onto Gojo, "I want to ask you—who exactly are you?"
"And how are you even able to do the things you do?" she pressed on, brows knitting. "I don't remember people in our world having superpowers." The moment she mentioned it, the image of Gojo casually teleporting flashed in her mind.
"Ahh, diving right in, huh?" Gojo said, leaning back in his chair, hands clasped behind his head, a lazy grin tugging at his lips.
Gojo nonetheless complied, leaning forward slightly as he began to explain. He told Nanahoshi about cursed energy—the invisible force that manifests from negative human emotions—and how jujutsu sorcerers can manipulate it to perform extraordinary feats. He described cursed techniques, the unique abilities each sorcerer possesses, and how they use these techniques to combat cursed spirits, which are born from negative energy, as well as dangerous cursed users who misuse their powers. He spoke with a casual confidence, making the complex system seem almost intuitive, though the sheer scale of it left Nanahoshi wide-eyed.
"…to think something like that existed all this time," Nanahoshi murmured, her eyes wide with disbelief, struggling to process the magnitude of what Gojo had just explained.
"Pretty shocking, huh?" Gojo said, a teasing smirk on his face. He was genuinely amused by her reaction. Normally, he wouldn't have bothered explaining any of this—there was a strict rule in the Jujutsu world about keeping everything secret from ordinary people. Even Gojo, who usually tossed the elders' rules aside like trash, followed this one without question.
But since they were in an entirely different world, Gojo saw no reason to hold back or keep any of it a secret.
"More or less," Nanahoshi said after a steadying breath. "Your technique… it lets you teleport, right?" Her gaze was sharp again, curiosity overpowering her earlier shock.
Gojo let out a low, amused chuckle. "Teleportation? Nah, not quite. That's just one little trick. Teleporting's baby mode compared to what my technique actually does."
Sensing the curiosity practically glowing off her face, Gojo figured he might as well flex properly. "My cursed technique: Limitless lets me mess with space itself," he said, tapping his temple with that smug little smile. "Pretty awesome, right?"
Gojo leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table, a smug grin spreading across his face.
"Alright, that's enough about me being stupidly overpowered," he said, flicking his fingers as if brushing the topic aside. "Your turn now."
He fixed his gaze on her, eyes sharp with interest.
"Yeah, of course," she said, straightening up a little before launching into the story of what happened to her after she was dragged into this world.
She explained how she had been pulled into this world during the Displacement Incident—an event that warped everyone in the Fittoa Region across the world. She told him about meeting the Dragon God Orsted shortly after her arrival, their travels across the world, her stay in the Sky Castle to learn summoning magic from Lord Perugius, and her eventual journey to the Magic City of Sharia, where she enrolled in the university. From there, she spoke of her breakthrough in summoning a watermelon from their world into this one, and how her current companions had supported her along the way. She also briefly explained about mana, and magic.
Gojo nodded along, then shot her a quick grin. "Not gonna lie, that's actually kinda impressive. Summoning a whole watermelon? Didn't think you had it in you."
He leaned back, arms crossed. "Seriously though, good job. For someone with zero cursed energy, or this mana, that's pretty cracked."
Nanahoshi gave him a small nod, keeping her composure. "Exactly. That's why I returned—to deepen my understanding of summoning magic and push it further."
Although she had managed to summon a watermelon from their world in the span of six to seven years, it still wasn't enough. After all, there was a massive difference between pulling over a fruit and bringing over a living being.
"Well, you're in luck then—'cause now you've got me." Gojo said, pointing a thumb at himself with his usual smug confidence.
Nanahoshi eye-rolled at Gojo's usual attitude. "Yeah, yeah. You still need to learn the language of this world, so I don't know how useful you'll be. And there's one more person I need to introduce to you."
"Oh? And who's that?"
"His name is Rudeus Greyrat," Nanahoshi replied, "and he's also from Japan, just like us."
Gojo's brows lifted, his curiosity sharpening. "So if your boyfriend didn't pop into this world with you… you talking about that chubby dude?"
"Ah—no, definitely not him," Nanahoshi said quickly, knowing exactly who Gojo meant. "The person I'm talking about was reincarnated here, not teleported like us."
"Oh?" Gojo's brows lifted slightly. He was familiar with the idea of reincarnation, sure—but hearing that someone came back with their memories intact actually stopped him for a moment and in another world no less.
"And since Rudeus can speak Japanese, I'll leave it to him to teach you the common language of this world, as well as the basic information," Nanahoshi said, quietly shifting the responsibility away from herself.
It wasn't that she couldn't teach Gojo — she simply didn't have the time to waste. Her research into summoning magic had finally begun making progress after years of stagnation, and every spare minute counted. Babysitting Gojo through the fundamentals of this world would drag her down more than it would help him. Rudeus, on the other hand, was patient, knowledgeable, and already accustomed to explaining things to newcomers.
In her mind, this arrangement was perfect: Gojo would learn everything he needed, Rudeus would handle the troublesome parts, and she could return to the one pursuit that mattered to her — finding a way home.
"How responsible of you," Gojo drawled, that smug little grin tugging at his lips. "Passing me off to someone else already, huh? Real caretaker energy you've got going on."
Nanahoshi didn't even dignify the comment with a real reaction.
A slow, weary sigh slipped out of her as she shot Gojo a tired eye roll—the kind that said she'd already run out of patience dealing with his nonsense, and she hadn't even met the man for more then an hour now.
Regaining her composure, she met his eyes. "Call it whatever you want. I don't have time to babysit you. Rudeus does."
Gojo leaned back in his chair with that annoying, satisfied little smirk—clearly pleased with himself for getting a rise out of her.
"And did he came here with you?"
"Yes, you saw him earlier in the throne room," Nanahoshi replied, recalling how Gojo had briefly studied Rudeus and his group. "He's the one with the light brown hair."
"Oh, the one with that absurd amount of mana?" Gojo replied, more as a statement than a question.
Before their conversation could truly wind down, Gojo's attention shifted to his left, locking onto a group of familiar mana signatures, from the throne room earlier.
"ahh, speak of the devil." he muttered under his breath.
--- End ---