"Yuji Itadori's execution is determined. Nothing can change it now." One of the elders speaks from behind the Shoji screen dividers.
"Like hell you are, you bastards." Yes, it's me, once again, still alive, still kicking. I thought for sure in past years, Geto must have sent minions to eliminate me, but nothing like that happened; my enemies were still old geezers who were sitting on the opposite side of the dividers.
"Naoya, calm down; that's not how you talk to someone older than that. Let me teach you how," Gojo preached to me as he looked at elders. "Either you spare Yuji Itadori or this room will be your last memories and resting place."
"Dude, you are just threatening them." But that seems to work; they didn't say anything to Gojo's words.
Some might say you can just play around in front of the group of such high-status men. Can't they just order our death or even worse, assign other Jujutsu sorcerers to end us?
Literally speaking, Gojo can't be killed by any current sorcerers; they don't have the power to penetrate his infinity. As for me, let's say they didn't do anything for unknown reasons, like I haven't gotten even one assassination attempt till now from them. Maybe they value my Reverse Curse Technique. Well, I also have political influence, but since they are the high elders, they won't put that in their eyes.
In the end, after Gojo threatened to wipe them out if they didn't rescind the execution order, the elders begrudgingly agreed to postpone Yuji's sentencing indefinitely.
---
"Haa, that was a good talk," Gojo stretched as he walked under the night sky, as I followed him behind.
"Gojo, can you stop dragging me into all this political posturing?" I sighed, rubbing my temples. "They would have postponed Yuji's execution even without my presence, and I've lost a precious night's sleep because of you. My bed is calling my name."
"Oh, come off it," Gojo chuckled, tracing aimless patterns in the night air as we walked. "You wouldn't have shown up just because I asked if you didn't want to be here. I know you were just as determined to save the kid the moment you heard his name. Care to tell me why that is?"
"Oh, nothing. I just like that name. And I was also fascinated by how he managed to take the control back from Sukuna." I looked at the moon as I said that; I don't want Gojo to read my inner thoughts. "So where is it currently?"
"Well, since it was an unexpected situation, Yaga hastily arranged a room in the main building."
"What about the sealing room?"
"Since we are dealing with the vessel of the King of Curses himself, I couldn't rely on the standard sealing rooms, which are only designed to contain Grade 1 curses or below, in good weather. I suppose I can't exactly blame the school's administration for that oversight, though; we've rarely had a need for high-level containment protocols until now."
"I see." I nodded at Gojo's words, a yawn escaping my lips. "Anyway, I'll see you tomorrow."
"You're not coming to see Yuji?" Gojo asked, clearly surprised; he had expected me to accompany him to check on the boy's status.
"I'll see him tomorrow. It's not like I can do much for him if I visit now." While I was genuinely excited to finally meet the protagonist of the JJK world, the prospect of getting a full night's sleep felt significantly more urgent.
I will not give my sleep to anyone else; I treasure my 8 hours of nothingness that much.
---
Inside the room was covered in talismans from floor to ceiling. Strange seals were attached to every wall, creating a suffocating atmosphere that made Yuji feel as though he had stepped into a prison of some lunatic. Sitting in the middle of the room, his arms restrained to a chair, Yuji listened quietly as Satoru Gojo, who was introduced as the teacher of Megumi, spoke. But that smile of Gojo's gives Yuji a weird sense of uneasiness.
"Well, the good news is that you're not getting executed today," Gojo said casually, as if discussing the weather. "The bad news is that the jujutsu higher-ups still want you dead."
Yuji blinked. "That's... not really good news."
"Fair point." Gojo scratched the back of his head before continuing. "Basically, the old geezers decided that Sukuna is too dangerous to leave alive. Since you're his vessel, they originally planned to execute you immediately."
Yuji lowered his head slightly but wasn't particularly surprised. If he were in their position, he might have made the same decision.
"However," Gojo continued, raising a finger, "I and a lazy bum I know managed to convince them to postpone your execution."
"Postpone?"
"Yep. You're a special case. For some insane reason, you're able to suppress Sukuna. That means you can safely consume his fingers without losing control. Since there are still nineteen fingers out there, the higher-ups decided it'd be useful to have you collect and eat them first."
Yuji stared at him for several seconds. "So... my execution got delayed because I'm useful?"
"Exactly."
"That sounds horrible."
"It is horrible," Gojo replied cheerfully. "But it's better than dying today. Any tomorrow onwards you will be studying here."
~~~