Chapter Text
It starts with death.
When it comes to fire, it is not the heat you should fear but the smoke that worms its way into your lungs. Suffocation is more common than being burnt alive, because human bodies are rather wonderful at regulating their temperature.
Sweat pours down your brow as flames taste your flesh. They burn, they devour, but you live. It hurts, an agony as the fire licks at your skin, laps up those beads of sweat, and reduces cloth to ash.
Yet it will be the smoke that kills you as you cry for help. The smoke that demands your silence with a fit of coughs. The smoke that has you keeled over, body succumbing to the hungering blaze.
It starts with finality.
Endings are nothing more than a new beginning.
"Though I refuse to make such deals with devils, I trust in your judgement."
It ends and begins with love.
"And if my choice is wrong?"
"So long as it is yours, how could I refuse?"
Memory is a fickle thing. They remember that they were someone once, before this endless void. They remember love and death, they remember a life before the before, a love before the love, death before death.
But as sand slips through cracks, so too do memories evade them. Reaching out, desperately grasping at the faintest feelings in hopes they might bloom and enlighten them. Bestow upon them the knowledge of memories faint.
For an eternity, they dwell within nothingness - Until there is no memory left to encourage attempts at recovery. None but those simple things they know.
And then there is light, a brightness unmatched. There's existence, crying, screaming, and lying.
There is a woman who cradles an infant of sand. She smiles so kindly, so sweetly, with a bottomless affection in her gaze. Yet this body's sight is blurry, eyes too new.
Scars circle the woman's head, a thorned circlet threaded through skin. Her arms are warm as summer grass, urging you to waste your time in a haze while watching the clouds pass by. In this endless cosmos, is there anything grander than love?
"Yuuji." She says, the words not quite processed by an infant's mind. "Your name will be Yuuji."
Permanence. Benevolence, humanity.
The first gift we are given is a name, for life is not a gift but a curse. This grand gift we are bestowed with is a parent's blessing or a monster's scorn.
For if you find it in your heart to hate an infant and grant them a name of despair, then are you not a beast?
"He has your eyes," A masculine voice, pink intruding on the infant's vision. How rude, to obstruct their gaze.
The slight is forgiven when the man takes the infant in his arms, so very gentle and adoring. If the lady is the sunshine, then he is a winter hearth. Chasing away the biting cold while the sun slumbers behind a clouded sky.
"All infants have blue eyes, Jin," She rolls her eyes, a smile on her face. "They'll either gain colour in the next few months or remain blue."
"If the littlest brat's eyes turn brown, he'll be your clone, brat," A gruff older voice scoffs. "Kaori, your genes didn't even put up a fight."
"He must have gotten his mother's personality then!" Jin laughs. "Who's gonna be a badass when they grow up? You are!"
"Don't cuss in front of our son, Jin."
"Ah, right!"
Yuuji Itadori is a weird kid. That is the consensus all have reached regarding him. To adults, this means they hide their dislike behind smiling masks and patronising words.
To children, they take this in stride.
"Yuu-tan! Yuu-tan!" A little boy claps his hands as Yuuji crushes a rock between his own. The boy laughs, black and pink hair swaying with the motion. "Another! Do another!"
"No way! Yuu-chan said he'd teach me to dance!" A girl pouts, crossing her arms. "Come on!"
Weird does not mean Wrong to children. Strange does not mean Other.
And so Yuuji Itadori grows up loved and with friends. He grows up with too much strength, and so he learns to control it.
How much force is a firm handshake, and how much is a broken hand?
How much is turning the handle versus breaking it?
Tapping glass or shattering it?
Jumping high versus cracking the roof?
Yuuji grows up strong, so he becomes gentle and passive. Smile first, never jump to conclusions. If you do, and someone gets hurt, then it's on you.
Yuuji is asked to join sports, but he swears that off when a kid goes home missing a tooth and with a crooked nose.
He takes to sewing and cooking instead. To wood and metalwork.
When other children bring home ribbons and trophies from school competitions, Yuuji brings home a cutting board and candle holder.
When he breaks a plate, his grandfather shows him how to repair it without dismissing the past. The house gains plates and cups with golden scars.
When his mother and father die, Yuuji looks into what material could stand the test of time.
On top of their graves rests a pair of bronze butterflies. Rebirth.
May they be happy in their next lives.
And so Yuuji grows. He's twelve when he tries on a dress. It flows and spins, sparking euphoria.
Grandpa dresses him in his old clothing. Hakama, geta, haori, kimono. The fabric flows when he spins, and Yuuji laughs with a beaming smile.
"You're just like your grandmother." Wasuke hums, staring so adoringly at his grandson. Even if he hides behind a gruff and blunt demeanour, the man loves just as much as his family.
Yuuji learns to dance, far better than his previous clumsy steps. He takes to the quick rhythm of jazz, the cruelty of ballet, the elegance of fans, the beauty of flames.
Though ballet was good for flexibility, Yuuji couldn't imagine going into such a... unique industry.
Yuuji is fourteen when he wins his last talent show at West Junior High, and thus his last month's supply of free ramen.
Yuuji is fourteen when his grandfather is hospitalised.
"Sugisawa Hospital," The lady picks up the phone as Yuuji stares out the window. The morning sun beams down upon the street and causes the window to glare. There isn't much to look at anyway, simply the daily monotony of this town.
"This is Yuuji Itadori. I called earlier," A pause as the woman talks. "Yes. Yes... I'm sorry to keep calling, but how's my grandpa doing?" Wasuke is a stubborn man, in a manner only the elderly can achieve. A body reaching its limits, aged and failing, yet still they would rather scold those who reach out a helping hand than accept it.
"Huh? I thought they already told you. Oh, never mind. Just hold on a minute. I'll go find out myself," He hears the phone being placed down as she walks away. He waits, hoping that Wasuke hasn't been too problematic for them.
"Leave me alone!" Rings out through the phone before the woman can return. Loud and clearly from another nearby phone. It must be the one that Wasuke's call button connects to.
"Tell him not to come here! He should go to his club! Go to his club!" His voice is rough, with a hint of exasperation. Probably annoyed that his dutiful grandson is checking in on him. How tragic.
"I- uh, I guess you probably heard that," She nervously chuckles. "So, what type of club are you in, Itadori?"
"Yeah, I heard. Thanks a lot." He ends the conversation there, offering a simple goodbye. If Gramps is going to be all pissy because he isn't at his club, he'll just head over after school. Yuuji knows his grandpa isn't the asshole he paints himself as, but sometimes he wishes he could force some sense into the old man's head.
Of course, Yuuji wants to check how he's doing. Gramps is the...
'The only family I have left.'
An old photo hangs on the wall. Four smiling faces and a scoffing Wasuke. Gran stands beside him, graceful as ever. Yuuji's mother, Kaori, holds him with a smile while Jin leans against her, arms around the pair.
It's a sweet photo.
It's the only photo they have of everyone.
"I should get to school."
"Ready to go, Sasaki? Iguchi?" Yuuji asks, sitting between the two, fingers on the coin. His seniors both give nods and sounds of determination as they all stare at the paper.
The Occult Club is a simple, dark, and cluttered room. A Home Economics storage space. Boxes are stacked in corners, and the shelves are full of old textbooks.
"Spirits Gods, Spirits Gods, which animal is the student council president barely weaker than?" The coin dragged itself and their fingers across the page. Sasaki's glasses seemed to shine as a grin grew on her face. Iguchi remained stoic as ever.
"Ku-ri-o-ne," A sea angel, huh? Iguchi must have been the one to guide the coin's direction, then. Sasaki has little interest in marine studies and probably doesn't remember what a sea angel is.
"A sea angel's tougher?" Yuuji laughs, covering his mouth as Iguchi mimics one. It gives Sasaki the context to start cackling herself. Before the door slams open at least.
"Occult Club!"
"Hey, plankton president!" Yuuji smiles, waving a hand. "What's up?" He slams a paper on the desk, earning the trio's curiosity. Some sort of form they have to fill? Maybe a notice of new rules or something.
"As you were previously informed, a research club with no real activities must forfeit its club room. So vacate immediately!"
"We keep telling you not to underestimate our club, president!" Sasaki's glasses gleam as she pulls out a file. "Behold! The truth behind the mysterious plague affecting the students near the rugby field!"
The student council president sighed. Yuuji chuckled lightly, smiling behind his hand. He doesn't necessarily believe the illness to have an occult cause, but where's the harm in letting a theory run free?
"Seriously? Some of the students were hospitalised. This is not a joking matter!"
"We're not joking! It's an alarming situation, but we've deduced the cause!" Sasaki brings out the student statements about strange noises and a newspaper article from thirty years ago. A man who went missing during the school's construction, last seen near the developing field.
Sasaki explains their process and theories, waving her hands dramatically as she states the club's conclusion.
"The mysterious illness was caused by the vengeful spirit of Yoshida, whose body is buried there!" Yuuji and Iguchi contribute with jazz hands. It's a very helpful and dramatic contribution.
"Actually, it was just ticks." The student president states, shooting down their theory. "Hard ticks to be exact. Large blood-sucking bugs. If one bites you and infects you with SFTS, it can be fatal, so you have to be careful."
"S-So what if it's just ticks!" Sasaki protests. "We're still trying to uncover occult activity, so it's a valid activity report!"
"Like the science club and their hypothesis turning out wrong," Yuuji contributes as Iguchi nods. "There's nothing wrong with being wrong,"
"You said wrong too much." Iguchi shakes his head, earning a pout from the pink-haired teen.
"You say, but the biggest problem is you, Yuuji Itadori!"
"Me?" He isn't getting suspended again, is he? Man, he's had such a good record going here. Unlike middle school... It wasn't his fault some people deserved a good punch.
"Yes. You're registered with Track and Field, so this club doesn't even have the three members required to be a club!" The president scolds as Sasaki and Iguchi turn on the poor, innocent Yuuji. He didn't do it, he swears! Not guilty! Not guilty!
"You did that, ha?" The evil eyes Yuuji gets make him want to hide under his hood.
"I registered for the Occult Club, I swear!"
"I'm the one who changed it!" Yuuji nearly jumps at the coach's loud entrance, the man standing menacingly in the doorway. Coach Takagi has been trying to rope Yuuji into the club since he chose Sugisawa Municipal High School. While the other sports coaches had backed off when Yuuji explained the reasoning behind his disdain toward sports, Coach Takagi had yet to give up.
"How many times do I hav'ta tell you? I'm not joining the team," Yuuji sighs in exasperation, isn't this really shady? He's pretty sure you need a student's or guardian's permission to change their club!
"You are!"
"No, I'm not!"
"However, I'm not some demon. So, if you can defeat me, I'll excuse you from the team. We'll settle this fair and square with a competition!" Ah, if that's how he wants to do it...
"That'll work!" If it's Takagi that Yuuji is up against, there's no losing. Be it a physical or mental competition, Takagi just isn't on his level. Isn't that the entire reason Coach Takagi wants Yuuji on his team in the first place? "You're on, Coach!"
Hopefully, this doesn't take too long. Yuuji wants to pick up some flowers for the nurses before he gets to the hospital.
A pop of colour is needed to balance Grandpa, after all.