Chapter Text
Geto started intently at the kid tightly hunched upon himself. Even from the distance between him and the boy he could make out dark and heavy bags circling the underside of his eyes. If Okkotsu weren’t blinking, Geto would have surely mistaken the kid as dead.
It was hard to believe this kid was set to be executed- he was quite literally just an average 16 year old child.
Though Geto knew he couldn’t let that gloss over his judgment. It clear as day was documented- four students suffered severe injuries after insistently bullying Yuta Okkotsu. He saw the photos and they weren't pretty.
The way the higher ups spoke of the boy made it seem as if he was a hideous curse himself. During the entire meeting Geto felt his skin crawl at the way they spoke of Okkotsu. Which was what caused him to suddenly interject with “I’ll look after Yuta Okkotsu… At Jujutsu High.” After that there was no longer room for discussion.
Which is how Geto found himself in this current situation.
Slowly Geto held up the distorted looking knife clutched in the palm of his hand. “How’d this happen?” He softly questioned.
“I tried to kill myself… but Rika wouldn’t let me.”
Geto figured that to be the case but hearing it outloud still caused an ache in his chest. He let out an almost missable sigh just before speaking again. “Well Okkotsu-kun I’m sorry you felt that way. I just hope you’ll feel more welcomed here at the school.”
Okkotsu seemingly just seemed to hunched even further upon himself, his eyes no longer straining to look up in Geto’s direction.
“I’m not going. I don’t want to hurt anybody anymore… I’m not going outside.”
“...but won’t you be lonely?”
— — —
The discussion he had with the first years beforehand had gone unusually well. They all took seemingly well to the idea of Yuta Okkotsu - with only minimal backhanded remarks from Maki.
Though of course they had millions of questions regarding the boy's curse, which lead to Geto sneaking Okkotsu’s file for his first years to read over prior to officially meeting him.
“All right everyone I can now officially introduce you all to our new transfer student Yuta Okkotsu.” Geto said with a limited amount of hurrah. “Come on in.”
Seemingly in slow motion the door to the class rattled open just before Okkotsu finally decided to enter. The moment he stepped forward Geto saw the way all three of his students tensed up. Suguru Geto may have been a fool but he wasn’t an idiot- he knew his students could feel the dark aura rising of Okkotsu as he entered the classroom. He saw the way Maki’s hand tensed to grab a weapon, Inumaki for the collar of his uniform and the way Panda held both his hands in tight fists.
He was honestly just glad he briefed his students beforehand or else this introduction could have ended badly.
“I’m Yuta Okkotsu. Nice to meet you.”
Geto clapped causing the boy next to him to flinch. “Alright I suppose other introductions are in order.” He pointed to each of his students as he started to introduce Okkotsu to each of them. “Cursed tools user Maki Zen’in, cursed speech user Toge Inumaki and lastly Panda.”
“I’m Panda, nice to meetcha.”
“Alright, so including Okkotsu-Kun that now makes four first years. Wonderful! Now down to business… Our afternoon class is going to be conducted in pairs. Maki and Panda will make a pair.”
At the news Maki quietly tsked as she sank down lower in her seat- which Geto chose to ignore as he continued to speak. “Which leaves Inumaki and Okkotsu to pair up.”
“I look forward to working with you.” Okkotsu said as he briefly glanced up at Inumaki.
“Salmon.” He agreed as he stood up from his seat to stand besides his timid partner.
“Is… is salmon agreement?” Okkotsu questioned as he glanced over at Geto with uncertainty.
Geto couldn’t help the small chuckle that rose from deep within his throat. “Yes actually.”
— — —
When it came to his students Geto put extra care into teaching them- they were the next generation after all. So when it came to pairing Okkotsu with one of his other three students it was quite the obvious decision to pair him with Inumaki. He figured Maki to be overly harsh and sarcastic for the already too timid Okkotsu and Panda to be a bit too forward. Which left the much softer and understanding Inumaki. The only issue he found with this pair was the communication aspect. Though Geto figured Okkotsu might as well start learning now instead of later.
The mission he assigned the two should be an easier one for Inumaki which left the perfect learning experience for the inexperienced Okkotsu. Plus if anything were to go wrong Geto would be just outside the veil.
“Where are we?” Okkotsu questioned as the three walked toward the towering school building.
“This is an elementary school in which some of its students have gone missing.”
“Missing?! Were the students attacked by a curse?”
Geto nodded. “Two that we know of anyway. Crowded places with large amounts of memories tend to spawn curses.”
“Salmon roe.” Inumaki added as he gently patted Okkotsu's arm.
“Schools, hospitals, people's memories infest places like that with negative emotions which results in curses like the one here. The goal for you two today is to exorcise the curse, rescue the two kids and possibly retrieve any dead.”
“Dead?!” Okkotsu asked in a slight panic.
“Tuna tuna.” Inumkai said softly, causing Okkotsu to slightly deflate.
Just from that interaction alone Geto was glad he decided to pair the two together. He just knew Inumaki would be good for his new student. Even if Okkotsu didn’t understand him, the tone of Inumaki’s voice seemingly did the trick of calming him down.
With Okkotsu being distracted by his classmate, Geto whispered a veil into existence. Though the change in lighting didn’t stay a secret from Okkotsu for long as he was quick to bring it up.
“It’s turning into night!”
“That's just a veil. It’ll make you guys invisible to the outside world and reveal the curses to you.” As he spoke Geto slowly backed up towards the outside of the slowly closing veil. “Follow Inumaki-kun he will show you how it's done.”
“Wha- sensei wait!”
— — —
Inumaki didn’t really know what to think of Yuta. He was someone with such an immense aura which completely contrasted with an already extremely timid personality. He was someone tossed into something scary and new so Inumaki could not blame Yuta’s panic as Geto sensei disappeared behind the walls of the completed veil.
It was easy to understand why Geto sensei assigned Yuta with him. He was easily able to sympathize with people which made it easy for him to comfort people in stressful situations- which Maki and Panda really weren't able to do.
“Mustard leaf?” he asked as he grasped at Yuta’s sleeve.
The other boy was quick to flinch before turning to look at him. “Um… what?”
Inumaki blew a breath through his nose before deciding to try something else. ‘Do you know JSL?’ he questioned with the swift movement of his hands.
Yuta seemed to perk at the sight. “Yeah! I know a bit.”
Inumaki was glad most of his face was covered as a large smile rose onto his face. ‘Are you ok?’ He asked once again but now in sign.
“Just a bit anxious.” Yuta nervously chuckled as he rubbed at the base of his neck.
“G-get… in. G-get… in?”
Inumaki was quick to turn toward the now approaching curses. They all looked the exact same- long lengthy limbs with a zipper taking center stage in the middle of its body. Their clawed hands tore open the zipper resting on its chest revealing an inky black hole.
“They’re coming! W-w-what should we do?!”
Gently Inumaki pushed Yuta behind him as he stepped closer toward the curses himself. “Bonito flakes.” He uttered as he pulled down the collar of his shirt. “Explode!” He was then quick to shout causing all the approaching curses to completely evaporate into nothingness.
“Woah.” Yuta uttered, looking absolutely awestruck.
Inumaki poked his partner's arm to gain his attention before once again signing. ‘C’mon we aren’t done yet.’
“Um, where are we going?”
Inumaki huffed slightly before responding. ‘Inside the school, of course.’
With that the two made their short trek to the inside of the school building. From the corner of his eye Inumaki could make out beads of sweat running down the sides of Yuta’s face even as he attempted to look smaller with hunched shoulders.
“Aren’t you scared Inumaki-kun?”
“Bonito flakes.” Inumaki distractedly replied as he glanced around with vast amounts of attention.
“Oh um… well there seems like there should be ghosts… well, I can sense there already where.”
“Salmon.” Inumaki agreed with a slight nod of his head. He found it interesting that even with the veil covering the school grounds and the limited amount of curses in the area, none were actually attacking. Could it be because of Yuta-kun?
“Inumaki-kun!!”
With the sudden shriek of his partner's voice Inumaki was broken out of his current train of thought. He was quick to turn toward Yuta ust as he exclaimed a panicked “Behind you!”
What stood behind him was a much larger cursed spirit with teeth bulging out from behind its lips. With a quick snap of his wrist the collar of his shirt once again returned to under his chin as he quickly shouted “Twist!”
The curse jerkily moved around as Inumaki spoke causing just one of its arms to contort into a twist. Inumaki could feel blood already beginning to rise up his throat just as the cursed spirit tightly grasped at him and Yuta just before tossing them into its mouth.
“Th-th-tha… thanks for the meeaal.”
— — —
Inside the stomach of the curse Yuta shakily stood and instantly took notice of Inumaki hunched over on his knees coughing up an unhealthy amount of blood.
“Inumaki-kun!” Yuta was quick to say as he hurried to kneel beside his partner. “Are you alright?”
“Salmon roe.” Inumaki rasped as he whipped blood from his chin.
Yuta gently grasped Inumaki's arm as he helped him stand back up. “D-did we just get eaten?” He then questioned as he looked at Inumaki with uncertainty.
Inumaki gave a shaky nod as his body sagged heavily against Yuta’s side causing the one question's cheeks to flush in slight embarrassment.
“What’re we gonna do?”
Before Inumaki could even begin to answer, someone cried out a pained “Help!” and what Yuta saw made his gut painfully twinge. The two elementary students they were looking for laid together within the stomach of the curse. The one still conscious had a horrible looking curse on his eye while the one other was out cold and drooling all over himself.
Yuta was about to once again ask for Inumakis input just before he felt more weight sink down against his side. When he turned to look all he saw was his partner's eyes fluttering on the brink of passing out.
“Is he alright? Please… help us!” The kid once again cried out.
“But… I can’t.”
“Tuna Tuna!” Inumaki called once again bringing Yutas attention towards him. ‘Yuta-kun. Why did you enroll at Jujutsu High? What do you want?’ He shakily signed against Yuta’s arm.
“I… I didn’t want to hurt anybody anymore. I tried to run away and disappear. But… Geto sensei said I would be lonely. I couldn’t bring myself to disagree.” Yuta sucked in harsh breath before once again speaking. “I want to be with people. I want to be relied on by somebody!” He couldn’t stop the tears that started to collect in his eyes and roll down his cheeks. “I want to believe… that it’s okay to keep living.”
The fingers Inumaki had clutched on Yuta’s shirt began to go slack. ‘Then start by exorcising this curse Yuta-kun. You have to exorcise them! And keep on exorcising them! In time you and your feelings will be validated… and soon you’ll gain the trust you need.’ As Inumaki signed the last word his whole body completely went slack against Yuta’s side causing the other teen to hold up the entity of his body weight.
Yuta barely noticed as the front of his uniform ripped open due to the previously tight clutch of Inumaki’s hand. Though his one remaining hand was quick to rip the chain hanging from around his throat.
“Rika.” Carefully Yuta slid the ring onto his finger.
“Yeah?” He heard Rika utter, causing a shaky breath to release from his throat.
“Lend me your power.”
— — —
Geto looked on from the outside of the veil as Rika tore through the curses body. He couldn’t bring himself to look away- Rika was definitely a sight to behold. “Terrifying.” He uttered with awe breaking through.
It didn’t take long after for Okkotsu to come stumbling out from the veil with three bodies weighing down his back. Once he stood in front of Geto he finally allowed himself to collapse down onto the sidewalk.
“Good work.” Geto whispered as he leaned down toward him. “You did it.”
— — —
After Yuta got checked by Shoko is when he came over to heavily sit on the bench beside Geto.
“Shoko said Inumaki and the elementary kids will be alright.”
“That's good…”
“You don’t seem relieved.” Geto said as he glanced over at the teen sitting besides to him.
“For the first time… I summoned Rika.”
“Oh- I see. Wouldn’t you consider that a good thing? That’s a big step forward.”
Yuta sighed just before deciding to respond. “I just thought of something… maybe Rika’s not cursing me… maybe I’m the one cursing Rika instead.”
Geto let out his own broken sigh as he gently patted his students shoulder. “You know… I’ve always believed love manifests the most distorted kind of curses.” As he said that the blur of Satoru’s eyes instantly came to mind causing a painful ache in his chest. Apparently what he said had a similar effect on Yuta if the quivering of his bottom lip weren’t a big enough tell.
“Sensei.” Yuta said in a shaky voice as he tightly clutched his ringed hand into a fist. “I’m going to undo Rika’s curse at Jujutsu High.”
— — —
Laying in the center of the remains of a shattered chain laid a Jujutsu High ID. A slender pale hand reached down to grasp it between their fingers.
“Yuta Okkotsu… special grade… interesting.”