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CHAPTER THREE
compartmentalization
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(episode 6 — after rain)

THE FLICKERING FLOURESCENT lights pulled Naomi's attention up to the ceiling, making her tilt her head. With the amount of money that gets poured into the school, she would think Shoko's department would at least get enough funds for proper lighting.

"You know, I have a deeply flawed personality," Satoru's voice pulled her from her thoughts, bringing her attention to him as he sat next to her in the chair against the wall, awaiting Ieri's return to begin Yuji's autopsy.

"I know," Ijichi agreed, he was standing on the other side of Satoru, his hands clasped together infront of him as he also waited.

After the autopsy, the three of them will be making preparations to go see Yaga at his home for a meeting over dinner regarding her new role as support for Kusakabe and Satoru.

Kusakabe is out on an assignment himself, but he apparently has already discussed this with Yaga since the suspension of the third years, and so now all that needs to be done is hashing it out with Yaga himself.

Naomi is just really looking forward to Yaga's cooking.

"Ijichi, expect a forehead flick," Satoru pointed to the man standing next to him.

"A forehead flick?!"

Satoru crossed his arms as Ijichi looked down in alarm. Naomi shook her head with a smile, Satoru could knock someone out with a forehead flick using just the right amount of jujutsu, but she wouldn't allow him to do it to Ijichi. Satoru is just trying to put up a front to not reveal how affected he is by the fact that Yuji is dead.

"Being a teacher is not my style," Satoru explained, "do you know why I decided to become at this school in the first place? Ask me."

"Oh, I just thought it was because Naomi did and you wanted to follow her here," Ijichi tilted his head back, "but if why did you do it then?"

"Well, part of it was Naomi," This made her blush as Satoru nudged her side, "but it's also because I have a dream."

"You have a dream?"

"Yup, as you can see in this case with Yuji, the top of the jujutsu world is a den of vice, conservative fools, traditional fools, arrogant fools, just plain fools, it's a bargain sale on rotten mikan," Satoru explained, "and I want to reset that garbage jujutsu world."

The noise Ijichi made could only be described as shock and horror.

"Murdering all the fools at the top would be an easy task, but no fix 'cause they'd all just get replaced and then there'd be no revolution," Satoru droned on, "plus, if I did that, no one would want to follow me. That's why I chose education instead, as a way to raise up strong, clever compatriots. And sometimes it's also why I send students to do my missions. It's tough love!"

Naomi raised her eyebrow at that. She had a feeling that it was also for him to get a chance to slack off and say he's going to do his reports, but somehow still ends up not doing that either.

"And they're all talented, especially Hakari," Satoru smiled, "and the second year, Okkotsu, they'll become jujutsu sorcerers on par with me... Yuji would have been one of them as well."

Naomi glanced down at her husband's lap when he leaned forward, a frown spreading on her face when she saw the way his fists clenched. The raspiness in his voice was unmistakable to her. One hand spread across his back, rubbing soothing circles as the other slipped to the hand closest to her, squeezing.

She was doing everything she could to pull the tension out of him. To comfort him. Ever since she and Satoru started working at the school, they were proud to not have a single student die on them, for it to happen to Yuji, it was jarring.

"Hey you three," Ieri spoke up from across the room where she stood next to Yuji's body on the table, a surgical mask covering her face as she pulled her gloves on, "I'm going to get started, are you gonna watch from there?"

When Naomi looked up, it was like her breath was snatched from her lungs. Her eyes were wide as her jaw hung.

There Yuji was, sitting upright and confused by his surroundings. Shoko seemed to be confused by the three of them and their shocked faces, turning around, even she was shocked to see Yuji alive.

"Where're my clothes?" Yuji asked.

"G-g-g- Gojo!" Ijichi stuttered out, but Naomi's husband was laughing, his left hand holding his head as Naomi released his right hand to get up and find something for the boy to wear. Ijichi was still stuttering and fumbling over his words as he looked at Yuji.

"Ijichi, stop," Satoru chuckled.

"I'm a little bummed," Shoko admitted as she looked at Yuji.

"Yeah, well, it's embarrassing, but who are you?"

"Hi, Yuji!" Satoru finally greeted as he approached the boy who still sat on the table, it was probably freezing for the poor boy.

Shoko finally helped Naomi find something to help Yuji cover up. Letting him regain some of his dignity.

"Welcome back," Satoru smiled.

"Yo! Well thanks!"

The two shared a high five, but when Naomi found pants for the boy and he finally was somewhat decently dressed, she pulled him into a tight hug, cradling his head.

"Have we learned to keep our vital organs inside the body from now on?" She teased, as she pulled away slightly to look at Yuji, still processing the fact that he managed to come back,

Yuji chuckled a bit.

"I promise to keep my heart where it belongs this time." Yuji assured her. She placed two fingers on the pulse point of the neck, finding the thrum of his heartbeat.

She couldn't help but pull the boy into another hug. Her arms were tight around him and warmth spread in her chest when she felt his arms circling around her, his chin resting on her shoulder.

"Shoko and I need to talk about a few things, and Ichiji needs to get the car ready for our trip, can you show Yuji the room he'll be staying in for now?" Satoru asked of her, "the spot that we found that one time."

Naomi chuckled and nodded, helping Yuji off the table. As Satoru and Ieri left the room, her phone buzzed, she pulled it out to see who could be texting her to see that it was her husband already.

Toru
I want Yuji to remain dead to
the public, to give him time to
recover. Please don't say anything
yet to his friends. There's something
else we need to talk about first. Lets
wait to get home tonight.

naomi
of course, dear. don't be long,
Yuji is going to have a lot of
questions.

toru
<3 :)

Naomi rolled her eyes with a smile as she led Yuji to the basement room that they discovered in high school. They would occasionally still come down here in their free time as adults, but with their jobs, it wasn't as often as they used to.

It was a simple amount of furniture, there was a couch in the center of the room facing the tv and entertainment stand pressed against the wall, a coffee table separating them.

"Whoa," Yuji spoke in wonder as he made himself comfortable on the couch, "this is cool, did you and Gojo come down here a lot as students?"

"Uh, sort of, yeah," Naomi spoke as she looked around, with them not being in Ieri's morgue anymore, she wanted to check in on the kid, "Yuji, are you alright? What do you remember?"

"Well, I remember Sukuna ripping out my heart, and I remember fighting Megumi, I also remember telling him that I hope he lives a long life," Yuji sighed, "is he doing alright?"

"He's doing as well as anyone can be, but Nobara is with him, they'll help each other," Naomi explained as she sat on the couch next to him, "listen Yuji, I don't want to lie to you, I hate lying to the students, it's very obvious that you were never supposed to come back alive from that mission, in the state that you're in, it's not safe for the higher ups to know you're alive, they'll come after you again, and Satoru and I don't want the others getting caught in the crossfire again."

Yuji nodded, his face hardening as he listened.

"I understand, I don't want my friends getting hurt either."

"I'm glad we can agree," Naomi sighed, leaning back into the couch.

It wasn't long before Satoru had come back with a bag slung over his shoulder and two more in his hands. One plastic and probably from a grocery store, and the other a tote, its contents crackling like hard plastic.

"I'm here!" Satoru announced with an enthusiastic smile, it was infectious to her.

Naomi got up from her seat as she took the two bags from her husband, watching as he tossed the one on his shoulder in Yujis direction. It landed with a plop right next to him. The boy opened it up to find clothes— probably his.

"Sick! Thanks!" Yuji spoke as he got up. The pair of them stepped out for a moment so he could change, and when he called out, they came back. Yuji was in a pair of sweats and had a zip up jacket on over his t-shirt, and of course, his red sneakers.

Naomi looked inside the tote bag to find one of Yaga's puppets— probably stolen, and their entire movie collection in the bag. Naomi sighed when she noticed this. Knowing exactly what this meant, she turned her head over her shoulder to give a disapproving look to Satoru.

He only grinned as he placed two soda cans out on the table that was pushed against the wall of the room.

"Hey, what's that for?" Yuji asked.

"You're already ahead above the rest when it comes to close combat, Yuji," Satoru explained, "so what you need to learn to do next is: control cursed energy, and we need to add to your basic knowledge of jujutsu."

Yuji smiled and chuckled, he just came back to life and he's already back to his usual self, as if what happened the day before was just a bad dream.

"What's wrong?" Naomi asked.

"Sorry, I'm just happy 'cause I know you guys are the best and you're the ones I wanted to have train me!" Yuji explained, "Before, I was too weak and I couldn't save anybody, worse, I nearly got Fushiguro killed. I won't be able to face them the way I am now, make me strong..."

Yuji looked up at the two of them, his features pinched into a hardened expression of determination.

"Make me into the strongest!"

Naomi and Satoru exchanged a glance.

"Oh, well, Naomi is going to be taking over some of my teaching duties with the other first years so that I can focus on you," Satoru explained, Yuji seemed to deflate slightly when he heard this, looking over at Naomi with a slight pout which warmed her heart, "so while she may show you something from time to time, I'll be the one to guide you most of the time, until you're strong enough to rejoin your friends."

"I'll let you guys get started, I'm going to check in on the others, I'll see you later," Naomi pulled Yuji into another tight hug, making the boy grunt in shock, and maybe just a little bit of pain.

A brief return of the affection is all Naomi allowed before she pulled away and turned to Satoru, getting on her toes, she pressed a soft and brief kiss to his cheek.

"Go easy on him, okay?" Naomi asked quietly, "we just got him back."

"Of course," Satoru flashed another cheesy grin before kissing the tip of her nose.

Naomi scrunched her face as she walked away, heading up the stairs to the door.

"She's got a strong hug," She heard Yuji comment as she opened the door. Satoru's laugh echoed out the doorway, making her grin as well.

"You'll adjust to it in time."

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2.1k words

updates two days in a row? it's more likely than you think!

i've been watching nothing but jjk for nearly three weeks and i still haven't gotten tired of it. like wtf when will it end.

(we shall see)

I'm really hoping to get this book finished before season three comes out which is apparently mid to late 2025 so we also shall see how long this hyperfixation will last. I'm considering choosing this book to be one of my books for nanowrimo next month... I just can't help myself.

thank you all for your support and i hope to see you at the next update!

— greta!