#Megumi getting to chose for himself and choosing to fight back for himself this time. That's my boy🥺🥺

[winterrbluess]

JJK spoilers

This chapter....THIS chapter has me sobbing a bucket like Yuji, he is so precious. His growth has astonished me so much. His introspection and the ability to step in other's shoes and sympathise with them (even Sukuna) is his greatest strength. His whole fight was to bring Megumi back, to save one person atleast and now not only he grew out of his cog mentality but is leaving the choice in Megumi's hands that it's fine if he wants to give up. For the first time someone tells Megumi it's fine to give up and not wanting to fight anymore or get stronger or fulfill any space or role. Yuji giving Megumi the agency to deal with his loss and trauma, to choose for himself...grieve and just end it all. It's so tragic yet beautiful with how Yuji is always there for Megumi and vice versa. And Megumi's monologue about wanting to enjoy the domesticity of life..God it's heartbreaking how he just wanted to...exist, to live like a 16 year old, safe and surrounded by his loved ones without the burden of being strongest in future on his shoulder.

This panel is so bittersweet...with it being directly parallel to Gojo one but with such stark contrast..Yuji is there for Megumi only..not an ally, not the strongest sorcerer of future but his friend.

[linkspooky]

I WANT YOU TO UNDERSTAND ME

It's not surprising to me that Gojo's dying monologue he spent more time talking about his fight with Sukuna than any of his students. Gojo's priority from the beginning isn't to save Megumi but to fight all-out against a strong opponent, the line is: ""The Absolute Strong. The loneliness that follows. The one who will teach you about love is..."

This fight is basically the climax of Gojo's identity crisis which has been a long running issue for him throughout the manga. He's simultaneously a self-confident individualist with an overpowering sense of "ego" and a person with little idea of who he is outside of the role in society that was given to him. Gojo went into the fight looking for someone capable of understanding him, the fight is about Gojo seeking an answer to who he is, that's why he fights and that's why he loses.

Gojo is Not Normal

Nanami's statement is misinterpreted I think.

"You live for Jujutsu. You don't wield it to protect something. You use it solely for the sake of satisfying yourself."

A lot of people took this to mean that Goo didn't care about anyone but himself, even though Gojo directly contradicts this earlier.

"I love everyone and don't feel lonely snow, but somewhere along the way there was a line I drew, not as a human but as a living creature."

He states he does love other people, if only from afar, he just doesn't understand them. Gojo can't make other people his reason to fight, because he only understands himself. He only sees himself. He can only fight for what's inside himself.

"You can make a flower bloom, you can admire it, but you can't tell that flower 'I want you to understand me'

Gojo's students are the flowers. Itadori, Fushiguro and Nobara are all named after flowers. He's raising them up to be as strong as him, he's fond of them, but he doesn't think they relate to him because he exists in a different category of other people.

A lot of people want Gojo to be a more traditional caring mentor figure like Kakashi or Aizawa they're missing what's really interesting about his character. When Nanami says "Gojo only cares about being the strongest" it's true because his entire character is written around the statement "I am the strongest". He is conceptually about what it is like to be the strongest man in existence. That is the character concept, and Gojo's entire identity crisis revolves around that he's built up his personality around being the strongest at Jujutsu and nothing else.

Gojo can only fight for his own ego and self satisfaction as Nanami says, because he has nothing else, he has no identity outside of that.

However, before I get into why I want to point out that Gojo is not normal. It's not because someone on his power level is fundamentally incapable of relating to other people, but Gojo himself...is not right in the head. He's making an active decision to choose not to empathize with people whatsoever, it's not just that it's hard to understand him, it's that they can't understand him.

Gojo talks about his students like they're members of another species. They're flowers. They can't relate to him on a human level because he's something other than human. A friend had an interesting reading on why specifically it's flowers Gojo chose for his metaphor.

Plants are less sentient than insects, they don't contemplate anything they are just taken care of by their gardener and grow towards the sun. That's how differently he sees himself from others.

I wanted to include this take from @kaibutsushidousha as well.

Gojo's not from the planet mars he's a human who has human emotions and human psychology like everyone else, so that's simply not true, but Gojo believes it is and that belief influences how he interacts with everyone.

Gojo can't see himself reflected back in other people for some reasons that aren't his fault and some reasons that are. Gojo has been from birth, treated as different from everyone around him, not for anything he really did but because he was born with a really strong jujutsu ability. He's a literal chosen one. He always seen as the six eyes user, the strongest, before he was seen as a person. His entire life has been defined entirely by the abilities he was born with, he was born to be a Jujutsu Sorcerer so of course that's what he builds his entire identity around.

Not only is he told that he's categorically different from others, but he also believes it. We know little about his early childhood besides Gege's statements that he was spoiled, but we do see later on in childhood there are people who are willing to treat Gojo normally despite the position he has as the strongest. This is when it starts being Gojo's fault that he continues to see himself as different from other people.

Shoko, Gojo's closest confidante in his schooldays after Geto's days basically tells him that. She's been with him for years and yet he still has the audacity to act like he's all alone in the world. Even when people try to treat Gojo normally and relate to him on a personal level, Gojo actively ignores their presence in his life like he did Shoko because he's not only been told he's different from other people because he's stronger, but he believes it and he's built his entire world view around it.

This is why the only person that Gojo ever let in was Geto, because Gojo believed that Geto was someone who could stand on top with others. THe only person who could believe the strongest, or teach them about love was someone equally as strong. Gojo just happening to meet another sorcerer who was special class as a teenager not only allowed him to have a friend, but fit perfectly into his narrative that he was separate from others and only someone as strong as him could understand. There are people like Shoko and Nanami who treat Gojo normally despite the fact he's the strongest, but Geto was the only one Gojo met in because he met the qualifiaction of being someone equally as strong.

This isn't really the case for Geto. Geto comes to see weak people as inferior yes in the sense he sees Non-Jujutsu Sorcerers as inferior, but Geto is capable of making connections to other Jujutsu Sorcerer. Geto has his family, he has Nanako and Mimiko and the rest of his followers who he all cares about equally. Geto met all of them and chose to relate to them, he even tells Gojo after killing his biological parents that he's choosing who his real family is now.

"It wouldn't be fair if I made an exception for my parents, now would it? Besides my family now consists of more than just them."

Geto demonstrates someone as powerful as Geto can make a choice to relate to other people. It's shown in the way that Geto treats Nanako and Mimiko, he is their father and he raised them as his daughters. Compared to how Megumi is just a student to Gojo. Gojo's only invested in making Megumi into a strong Jujutsu Sorcerer, because Gojo doesn't fathom connecting to someone weaker than him. He's only their to raise up a strong sorcerer, whereas Geto who's capable of connecting with people in other ways is raising up Nanako and Mimiko and they're connected as parent and child.

Geto and Gojo are similiar in a lot of ways, same level of strength comapred to the rest of humanity, same god complex (and yes it is a god coplex, there's a reason the two people Gojo relates to are Geto who has constant religious imagery associated with him and Sukuna who's literally satan) and yet Geto shows someone roughly Gojo's power level can make connections to others Gojo just chooses not to.

This is where I'm stealing from a friend's post a bit. @theanimepsychologist points out that Geto notices the beginnings of Gojo's identity complex soon after it started with Toji.

I always thought of the panel above as Geto being jealous of Gojo surpassing him in strength but, in retrospect, I think Geto’s disappointment had more to do with Gojo’s sense of self over-identifying with the title “the strongest” and how that made him harder to relate to, which is one of the main themes in this chapter. I’ll come back to this in a sec. But first… Quick depth psych segway. I think I’ve said this before, but it bears repeating again that an overwhelming sense of self is all ego. There’s nothing wrong with ego per se. The problem is that an over-identification with ego means inherent separateness because, as an organ of the psyche, the ego sense of self is what gives us a separate identity from the collective.

Geto notices that Gojo is drawing a line between himself and other people, and pulling away because of that because people in the second category of weak can't possibly understand the strong and he's reacting to it. Geto is also the only person to underline to Gojo himself that he's unsure about his own identity.

Gojo knows he's the strongest, but he doesn't know anything about himself besides that, or even what being the strongest entails in his relation to other people. He's never constructed an identity outside of it in part because he's never had to, nobody has ever challenged him for his title as the strongest, and he also fits jujutsu society's mould perfectly. He's perfect at what he does, why would he need to change? Why would a person who reached enlightenment at seventeen need to reflect upon himself or figure out who he is? You can't really become more enlightened.

The other reason he's never constructed an identity is he's never interacted with anyone on equal terms. Metaphorically Gojo exists in a vacuum of human interaction. How appropriate is it in a way that he was sealed in a box where time didn't move completely alone for who knows how long, because that's kind of just how Gojo sees himself in relation to the rest of the world.

As Psycho points out an unregulated ego results in an inherent separateness from the collective. People don't exist in a vacuum however. We wouldn't know who we are if we were entirely alone. We are defined just as much as ourselves, as we are by our interaction with others.

Ich and Du, translated as I and Thou is a book by philosopher Martin Buber. His two main porositions is that we may address existence in two ways:

The attitude of the "I" towards "it" towards an object that is separate in itself, which we either use or experience.

The attitude of "I" towards "Thou" in a relationship in which the other is not separated by discrete bounds.

I -> It is the world of sensations. If I am looking at a chair, I say "This is a chair. This chair is an eyesore." I am seeing the chair. I don't relate to the chair.

I -> Thou can be used to refer to a relationship between human beings. You don't experience the human being., you can only relate to them and what that relationship means to you. He goes on further to say that love requires a subject -> subject relationship. To love someone means you have to relate to them as if they are another being, you can't love an object.

He's a philosopher to put forward that it's human's connections with each other and their ability to relate to each other that brings meaning to life. Gojo in Buber's terms is only experiencing the world around him, not relating to it. How appropriate of someone with the six-eyes, an ability that gives him sight far better than anyone else to see himself as only an observer to the outside world, like a floating pair of eyes.

The choice that Gojo makes not to relate to other human beings on an equal level, not only isolates him, it affects his sense of self. People cannot exist within a background. Gojo's like a vampire who can't see his own reflection. ? It's all because of this caveat that Gojo himself has set up that no one can possibly relate to him unless they were equally as powerful as him that he can't see himself in others. He can't see himself in others, he can't find anyone to help him understand himself, and therefore his identity crisis goes unresolved.

Twitter user @ det_critics pointed this out that the question: "Take away his strength and what is he?" isn't one Gojo has an answer for, and one he's actively been running from.

As I said Gojo literally doesn't have a reflection, we see that in story when the prison realm opens its eye and it's just a void where Gojo's face is supposed to be. Gojo choosing not to think of himself as the strongest is also a choice not to think about who he'd be if he wasn't. A question he evades over and over again by telling himself that he can't be understood by people who are weak b/c he categorically exists on a different plane of reality.

When he does look for an answer it's telling just how not normal Gojo is in who he chooses to empathize with: which is Sukuna.

This is who Gojo as chosen to be the only other person besides Gojo he felt he could relate to. The same person who monologues about weak people like this.

The same person who monologues that weak people shouldn't even be alive, they should be culled. Sukuna sees weak people as insects. Gojo sees them as plants.

The first person that Gojo relates to as a subject rather than an object Geto is cut short, the next person he relates to as a subject is Sukuna of all people. He chooses to see himself in Sukuna, because Sukuna validates that incorrect idea Gojo has that someone as powerful as him could never possibly be understood by other people. After all, Sukuna the strongest sorcerer of all time isn't even really human anymore, he's a curse a calamity. For Gojo who doesn't see himself as relatable to other human beings this is validation of that mistaken notion.

It's also telling of how much Gojo's own identity issues have warped him that he finds a curse personally relatable, and even pitiable because it's lonely. Sukuna, who's main problem is that he's bored because a life of killing people is unfulfilling and it's turned him into an adrenline junkie. This is who Gojo's personally chosen to relate to because they both only see the world in the category of "the strong" and "the weak."

Gojo's viewpoint of other people is mistaken for several reasons, but one interesting one was pointed out for me by Psycho. He refers to his students as flowers, but they're lotus flowers. Lotus flowers mean many things, but they're seen as symbols of purity because they rise up from the mud. Gojo is only looking at the flowers, not the mud they rise from .

"No mud, no lotus. The mud is what makes us who we are, and no one can 100% understand what wading through the mud feels like. I think people see oh shiny lotus, the outcome of wading through the mud but they overlook the self because we live in an outcome oriented society.

Gojo is someone who doesn't see the mud and therefore doesn't relate to the personal struggles of others. Which sabotages a lot of his personal relationships. Which like, to bring Megumi into this, Megumi is proof that Gojo IS NOT NORMAL.

Megumi is the kind of special genius that Gojo is, he's born with the strongest technique one capable of killing Gojo, but he doesn't become a special class at seventeen like Gojo, nor is he interested in doing that because Megumi is an entirely different person with differnt personal struggles than Gojo. He has all the raw potenital that Gojo does, but they have wildly different upbringings. Gojo was primed for success by being the spoiled child of his clan, while Megumi is an abandoned child. It proves again Gojo's maxim of people who have that much power are inhuman and don't follow human psychology is wrong because Megumi has all the potential to be as strong as Gojo, but he's just a normal kid. Megumi is still wading through the mud and Gojo doesn't see that.

GOJO IS NORMAL

Jujutsu Kaisen seems to be following Buber's logic on how identity is defined by the interactions we have with other people, because there was a period in Gojo's life where he did create an identity outside of being a sorcerer and that's when he was Geto's friend.

In the afterlife we even see him regressing to that previous state of being. There was a period for three years in his life that Gojo was something besides being the strongest, and that was when he was Geto's friend too. If Jujutsu Kaisen is about how identity and meaning are both constructed from the interactions we have with other people (subject -> subject) interactions then it's telling that Gojo reverts to his seventeen year old self because that was the first and only time in his life he was capable of relating to another person, and acted like a fully developed person outside of the role of sorcerer he was born to play.

If identities are constructed though that means they're not inherent. Gojo is not inherently the strongest, just as he's not inherently different from other people. This is different from what Gojo's been told his entire life. He was born the strongest. It's inherent to his identity, a fundamental part of who he is. Therefore people who are strong are inherently different from those who are weak, it's something internally different about them which makes it impossible for Gojo to comprehend the motivations of weak people.

Rather than just strong and weak being constructed categories. Gojo's the strongest at Jujutsu but if you took him outside of Jujutsu and asked him to work any other job he'd no longer be the strongest. He's only the strongest as long as he remains in his fish bowl that is Jujutsu Society. However, Gojo believes differently, he believes being the strongest is what he is, it's something inside of him, and something that makes him fundamentally different from others. This is the line that Gojo has been told due to being born with the six-eyes and this is what Gojo has bought.

This is also what his ability the limitless symbolizes, no one in this world can touch him or reach him, he exists somewhere else. However, the limitless can be breached and Gojo has been shown before there are others capable of touching him.

Toji is the first and only living human being to challenge him, until Sukuna comes along. However, Toji does arguably more in story than just give Gojo a good fight. Toji full on traumatized him, soemthing which Gojo refuses to acknowledge. Toji is the beginning of the end of Geto's friendship, the death of Amanai Riko sends Geto on a spiral for an entire years, and drives a wedge between Geto and Gojo's friendship when Geto self isolates and Gojo doesn't know what's wrong with his friend.

Gojo also experiences what it's like to be defeated for the first time in his life, and his response is to perfect the limitless so he runs it constantly all the time. Remember, before that he was exhausting it doing it for three days in a row, and when Geto told him to take a break Gojo reassured him he wasn't worried because he knew Geto had his back. Gojo was someone who could let down the limitless before that, but afterwards Gojo always insists on fighting alone with his shields up all the time. All to deny that feeling of vulnerability that Toji inflicted on him for the first time in his life, something he remembers years later, you know like trauma.

There are times when Gojo is reminded that it's possible he's the same as anyone else, he can experience human weakness. Geto's fall is another time, one post says it's particularly challenging for Gojo to comprehend why Geto would defect because he saw Gojo and himself as above others and therefore immune to human weakness.

gojou 100% has a god complex and thats why getous downfall hit him harder than anyone else. he saw himself and getou as above everyone else and exempt from ‘regular’ peoples flaws, he never thought either of them could be led astray and when getou finally snaps hes bewildered that something like that could ever happen to either of them. hes not just heartbroken over his best friend becoming an enemy, hes thrown for a loop because getou, the one person he thinks of as just as above everyone else and incapable of failing as he is, could ever do something wrong, could ever be wrong. hes finally put into a position where he has to face the fact that hes just as capable of screwing up as anyone else and he can’t make sense of it. gojous hesitance in killing getou isn’t just a byproduct of their friendship, it’s also him realizing that it could have easily been him on the other side of the conflict, which breaks the illusion of him being better than everyone for a second. and like that’s still not enough for him to reject this idea, personally i think that his comment about him and getou being 'the strongest’ in volume 0 is indicative of the fact that despite everything he still hasn’t grown out of this delusion.

Gojo has trauma, because he's a human being with human psychology. He makes mistakes, he has terrible past regrets like his friendship with Geto gone wrong, but he doesn't acknowledge those things because as stated above Gojo thinks he's immune to having regular people flaws. Gojo seeing himself in another category from regular human beings also allows himself to deny an vulnerability, because the strongest isn't supposed to have weaknesses. Seeing yourself as too distant to ever be touched by others also means they can never hurt you, emotionally or otherwise, an extreme form of the hedgehog's dilemna which is explored an Neon Gengesis Evangelion, an existentialist piece Gege takes obvious inspiration from.

The fact that he avoids other human beings, not because he's fundamentally incapable of understanding them but because he's distancing himself from human feelings like loss, pain, suffering these weaknesses that are part of the human experience just proves he's the same as everyone else. If he wasn't capable of feeling those things he wouldn't avoid it, he wouldn't spend ten years mourning Suguru but not killing him directly until he was forced to on December 24th, he wouldn't be trapped by the box because seeing Geto alive made him have a three minute long trauma flashback.

Gojo is a normal human, with normal human emotions and human psychology, albeit twisted from the power he was born with and his unique viewpoint of the world but he doesn't believe that he is. He uses that as an excuse not to interact with others and because of this his identity suffers. Gojo is someone defined by how limited he is in the story despite having limited power.

Gojo fails as much in the story as he succeeds. As my friend @justapanda put it.

"But, it loos like being strong isn't enough..." Another point could also be made here that, regardless of being the strongest at this point, Gojo was incapable of stopping his closest friend from straying down a dark path, which is perhaps Gojo’s greatest failing in the series. This failure also comes back to bite him much later on as Kenjaku’s ace in the hole to finally checkmate Gojo involved surprising him with the now possessed body of Geto, which distracted Gojo long enough for him to be successfully sealed by the prison realm. Once again, the vast amount of power that Gojo had attained turned out to be completely useless in preventing his own sealing, which has now placed him in an inactive role for over half of Jujutsu Kaisen’s duration. Earlier in the story, Gojo once said: “Ironic, isn’t it? Given everything, but unable to do anything.” when referring to the function of his own domain. This was another intentional use of foreshadowing to describe the dilemma that Gojo was inevitably going to face himself. Satoru Gojo is no limitless man, for no one man is without his limits." Another point could also be made here that, regardless of being the strongest at this point, Gojo was incapable of stopping his closest friend from straying down a dark path, which is perhaps Gojo’s greatest failing in the series. This failure also comes back to bite him much later on as Kenjaku’s ace in the hole to finally checkmate Gojo involved surprising him with the now possessed body of Geto, which distracted Gojo long enough for him to be successfully sealed by the prison realm. Once again, the vast amount of power that Gojo had attained turned out to be completely useless in preventing his own sealing, which has now placed him in an inactive role for over half of Jujutsu Kaisen’s duration. Earlier in the story, Gojo once said: “Ironic, isn’t it? Given everything, but unable to do anything.” when referring to the function of his own domain. This was another intentional use of foreshadowing to describe the dilemma that Gojo was inevitably going to face himself. Satoru Gojo is no limitless man, for no one man is without his limits.

Gojo has moments where he brushes up against the idea that he's not capable of doing everything, that he has faults and fails like every other human being. However, that feeling never really lasts for long. He always tends to double down on his belief that he's the strongest rather than facing his faults because that's where he's comfortable. Gojo can't see himself reflected in other people and therefore is not capable of reflecting and critically evaluating his faults. Not only that but avoiding looking too critically at those losses, he also stops himself from feeling the pain of those losses and denies that vulnerability.

Gojo exists on another plane from other human beings, and therefore why would he experience human sadness and pain? All he feels is a vague sense of loneliness and unfulfillment because he's been so alienated from his own emotions and in Gojo's mind that's better than struggling with weakness. Who would deliberately choose to be just like everyone else when you can be special? Why get close to others when the hedgehog's spines are just going to stab you? However, people form connections because of their weaknesses. Humans cooperate with each other because they are a social species. All of society exists because people divide labor and help each other out. Even Gojo can't say there's no point in his life where he was weak, because he was cared for as a child and raised in a family. He didn't come out of the womb a fully formed individual. The darwinian survival of the fittest, and the black and white strong vs. weak way that Gojo sees the world just doesn't exist, especially in modern society. There's nothing wrong with individualism, but the extreme end of individualism is wrong because no one exists in this world alone you share it with everyone else.

Gojo doesn't even see that though, because he's not living in the same world as everyone else. In his mind the limitless makes it so he basically exists on another plane of reality, but again the limitless can be breached.

Detective critics basically said that Gojo's delusion was always a false one, he always existed in the same world as everyone else, he simply deluded himself into believing otherwise. There are reasons for this, his upbringing, trauma and not wanting to face the pain of that trauma, but it's still a choice he made. Gojo didn't want to live for other people, he didn't want to relate for them, so he lived for himself pursuing his own strength. Ironically, it reflects Toji's own decision to take pride in neither himself or others and live only for the sake of showing that the Jujutsu World that rejected him was wrong.

Toji chose to live a life where he only lived to fight and prove he was stronger than the sorcerers who rejected him. He chose it over his own son Megumi, abandoning him in order to continue his lifestyle as a mercenary. He even chose it over continuing to live because he stayed and fought against Gojo to prove he was stronger than the pinnacle of Jujutsu. Toji lives for strength, and he is someone even Gojo respected the strength of, but what else does he have?

Toji's identity is unstable, he doesn't really live for any purpose, he kills people then blows the money gambling, he jumps from women to women to mooch off of them, he's also mentally unstable as well he shoots a little girl in the back of the head and feels nothing. The instability comes from his isolation, Toji is rejected by everyone the same way that Gojo is lauded by everyone. But Toji goes on step further in that he fails to construct any identity outside of being rejected and his entire life is spent rejecting the people who rejected him. Why does Toji want to be strong, he doesn't know. Purpose is something you have to construct for yourself, because there's no inherent meaning to life. Identity is something that's constructed by both yourself and your interactions with others because people aren't born inherently one thing or the other.

Gojo and Toji just refuse to do this, and only focus on themselves and the goal of being stronger. In Gojo's case I'd argue he doesn't fight for other people because he doesn't feel that connection with other people or rather he doesn't let himself. Hedgehog's dilemna to the extreme. Gojo only fighting for himself isn't Nanami calling him a selfish person who doesn't care about others, it's sad because Gojo never found any other reason to fight or meaning to his life but by getting stronger for its own sake.

Gojo only fights for the sake of satisfying himself, but here's the clincher, he's unsatisfied. Not only did he fail in his goal of giving Sukuna the fight of his life, because he knew Sukuna was holding back on him, but also admits to Geto that what would have really been satisfying is if Geto was there with him to pat him on the back.

He's failed on both fronts, he's failed at being the strongest and he's failed at making a connection to the people in his life. Gojo and Toji die in pretty much the same way, they die standing up in the middle of battle, but their last thoughts aren't of disappointment that they lost but their loved ones.

They spent their entire lives believing they were stronger and therefore different than others, and fighting to satisfy their ego and what does it amount to? Toji lived a life of hedonism and then died abandoning the one person he genuinely loved. Gojo has failed his stated goal of revolutionizing Jujutsu Society and dies before he can see whether or not his dream of a reset Jujutsu World will even come to fruition.

They belived they were someone stronger and therefore inherently better, and are put in their place when someone stronger comes along. They die just like all the other mortals. They believed they were alone so they died alone. It's sad and it goes to show how destructive being "the strongest" was to Gojo's identity in the end. Gojo thinks he's Sukuna but Gojo doesn't want to be Sukuna, because Sukuna's alone, and unlike Gojo you could make the point that Sukuna's not a human being who has human emotions because he's a curse. If Gojo was truly someone who could understand Sukuna he would have been truly alone the same way Sukuna is, and that's not what he wanted.

It's too bad Gojo never thought seriously about what he wanted, and therefore learned his lesson too late. He was always looking for someone he could relate to, except for in the people who were right in front of him.

[goatyuuji]

JJK 271: The death of Ryomen Sukuna

As a Sukuna fan, this chapter was everything I could ask for. Such a beautiful end for such an interesting antagonist. Okay coming back to the chapter, more specifically to Sukuna and Mahito conversation, we see Sukuna admitting that he had different paths he could have travelled, two to be more precise: one being with Uraume and one with a mysterious black hair figure who is dressed as a shrine maiden, so the question here is who is this mystery person...it's definitely not Yorozu since Yorozu has never dressed this modestly and I don't think this is Sukuna's mom either...so who is this???

I believe this is Kenjaku when he first approached Sukuna in the Heian era.

We previously had a panel of Sukuna's mummified body dressed as a monk by Tengen in the manga...so Sukuna might have grown up in a religious setting, and what better way to get close to him than approaching him as a miko or a shrine maiden.

But that's beside the point. The point here is Sukuna talking about the two paths he could have chosen, and he ends up choosing Kenjaku. He allows Kenjaku to make him as a curse object, allows Kenjaku to make a vessel for him to reside into, allows Kenjaku to rope him into the culling games, and even allows Kenjaku to trust him with Tengen and the merger. But the sukuna who chose this path was an angry version of him, the curse version of him if you will. He wanted to spit back the curses that were residing him, so full of anger anger anger hate hate hate. Even at his death bed his only response to kindness was "don't underestimate me, I'm a curse". So this version of Sukuna choosing Kenjaku over Uraume was no surprise.

But what changed then????....well.....HE LOST

He lost, not to Gojo or Yuta or Yuji or the serveral dozen sorcerers who jumped him, in the end he lost to MEGUMI FUSHIGURO. In ch 268 we see Sukuna trying to manipulate Megumi to give him all the control, to give up and leave it to him.

This curse version of Sukuna who doesn't know anything except cursing others back, recounting all the deaths Megumi caused to him, telling Megumi how he can't live a proper life anymore....somehow somewhere it feels like he is trying to delude himself too by saying after all the atrocities he caused in 1000 years there is no use fighting back, no use in living a proper life anymore. And this Sukuna has never lived for anyone except himself so it's easier to curse the world back, easier to give up all the control and just cause panic and doom and death.

But Megumi is not just living for himself, he lives for Tsumiki, for Yuuji, he can't doom the entire world when the world has people like Tsumiki and Yuuji in it and so he fights, he refutes the notion of proper life and says he wanna try living for someone else one more time.

All this could not have been done without Yuuji Itadori of course, Yuuji Itadori who came as a guardian angel to Megumi Fushiguro, who never gave up on Megumi once, who showed Megumi how to live one more time.

Not only that Yuuji Itadori showed Sukuna, the king of curses, the one person who kept cursing and ruining his life again and again, pity. Yuuji who was cursed by several people in his life, his grandpa, Nanami, Junpei, Mahito, Gojo, Choso, Nobara and Sukuna himself, still able to live his life without cursing others back, still able to live his life with compassion. And Sukuna reaction to it is understandable: rage. Because Yuuji is everything that his chosen path won't let him be, Yuuji is everything that that Sukuna could have been if only he hadn't chosen the path with Kenjaku...if only...

So after Sukuna who has lost everything and there is nothing more for him to lose, he decides to choose a different path, he chooses Uraume. And just like Megumi who decides to live for someone else (Yuuji) when given the second chance, Sukuna chooses to live for Uraume this time. He acknowledges his defeat with grace, does not condemn the path he chose the first time but instead he is regretful which is so raw and unfiltered coming from Sukuna, and moves on North this time with Uraume. This time Sukuna chooses Uraume instead of Uraume choosing Sukuna and serving him.

And with this the story of Ryomen Sukuna comes to an end. We never got his backstory, we never even got his real name because he never looked back behind him to acknowledge those measly things. To say in short, this is the death of the King of Curses who was just living to cause death and destruction around him and rebirth of someone entirely new.

[barbiegirldream]

I need to write down my thoughts about how Yuji and Megumi were no less selfish than Geto and Gojo or Sukuna and Uruame but were narratively rewarded because what they were being selfish about was each other.

Geto wanted to kill all non-sorcerers and disregarded Gojo to do so. Gojo wanted to nuture the youth and disregarded everything but his students. They didn't get to survive. Gojo killed Geto himself. Gojo is going south because he believes in those kids he chose to make his.

Sukuna chose himself and his strength while Uruame chose him but in a capacity of supporting that strength. They get a do over because this time they're willing to choose each other.

Megumi chose to let Sukuna into the world by asking to save Yuji. Megumi begged bargained and extracted promises out of Yuji to stay by his side that as Yuji worried he would make Megumi suffer. And Yuji chose to fight for Megumi's life over everyone else's even if that meant letting Sukuna back into him. A choice they both professed over and over again was the same as killing everyone Sukuna does themselves.

But Megumi and Yuji loved and loved so hard it won them their lives.

[neonscandal]

some questions about jujutsu I would appreciate it if you could answer me. 1. do you think megumi and itadori are a comparison to geto and gojo? 2. What do you find most tragic about geto and gojo's relationship? 3.if geto didn't exist, who would you ship gojo with? ps; I would ship toji and gojo.

Answering these out of order to hide spoilers!

3. If Geto didn't exist, I would ship Gojo with Nanami. Nanami would be bothered 600% of the time.

2.Most tragic is the fact that, while Gojo always looked at Geto's soul and accepted him unconditionally, Geto thought their relationship was over the moment he chose to leave Jujutsu High and they never reconciled this disparity while living. If you want an exhaustive list of the things that rot my brain and prevent me from remembering basic things like my childhood and the Pythagorean theorem, please, feel free to read this recently updated and ongoing list. 😭

Lastly, yes, I think ItaFushi are meant to be a parallel to SatoSugu. See below for why!

⚠️ Spoiler Warning through JJK chapter 247.

The comparison isn't perfect but I don't know that it's meant to be.

I feel like I reference Naruto a lot for having not seen it but I'm pretty sure it's a solid example of the generational failures of the Uchiha clans and the Hidden Leaf Village as overcome by Sasuke and Naruto, respectively.

I think that JJK could be a circular story (check out the Rick & Morty progression, in particular) and that SatoSugu and ItaFushi seem to run as parallels. To simplify, we'll break it up by the OG for parallels:

SATORU

and Megumi (he got blue eyes when he's supposed to have green.. 💎👄💎)

Born of Jujutsu royalty with a familial technique

Familial technique damns them to a burden of responsibility. Gojo became the head of the Gojo clan, Megumi is bought and sold but effectively abdicates his place with the Zenin

When given the chance, relents to leverage the value of his cursed technique to protect others that they deem deserving. Gojo protects Megumi, Yuta and Yuji; Megumi protects Tsumiki and later, Yuji.

In spite of the above, will execute their responsibilities of a sorcerer but will also pick and choose if they will do something outside of that obligation. Think back to Megumi's moral judgement when it came to those in the detention center and Gojo's willingness to act outside of direct orders because... he could.

Just leaving the visual evidence of these little weirdos

and Yuji

The Sun characters but not without shadow.

Blessed births, even though Yuji's was... untraditional, it forged him as a powerful vessel with inhuman strength without a heavenly restriction.

Anomalous strength. Gojo for Six Eyes and Limitless which haven't been seen together in one user in over 100 years. Yuji is able to produce Black Flashes at will and at a rate which is canonically uncommon.

Experienced death and rebirth which brought about change in them. Gojo found enlightenment; Yuji, while in hiding, experienced loss, the tragedy of which marked him noticeably.

They both know the alienation of greatness. Both undergo power ups shattering the ceiling of their previously understood power thresholds and go beyond the comprehension or without the knowledge of their counterparts. Gojo, I think, knew that it would foundationally upset something between he and Geto. Yuji probably just thinks he is getting acclimated to the new world he finds himself within and doesn't realize how insane his glow up has been.

Guilt for not being able to save someone "close to them". Gojo, obviously, with Geto and Yuji with Junpei, initially, but that list has grown. Exponentially.

SUGURU

and Megumi

The Moon characters but they have something worth fighting for that gives them an air of light.

Both believe in and will act on behalf of the weak. Geto believes the strong should protect the weak and keep the strong in check. Megumi believes that if someone cannot observe the basic tenet of don't kill me, I won't kill you, he should exact punishment whether the person infringed on this basic law with him or not.

Despite their code, they still develop or have a discerning application of their morals.

But what happens when that morality is tested? Geto realizes the weak are capable of harm when he discovers the abuse of Nanako and Himiko. Megumi, if he hasn't already, will eventually come to understand that saving Yuji came at the cost of countless lives, including that of Tsumiki, in a way, even if she died by his own hand.

Know intimately the loss of someone they were close with only to find that person returned to them.. but different.

Feeling left behind by the power ups of their counterparts, they are left to their own devices. Notably, Geto spirals into depression and PTSD, Megumi, citing the difference, asks Gojo for additional lessons so he doesn't fall behind.

Doomed by the narrative? or at least by their power. Kenjaku covets Geto's body for the hold it has over Gojo and, possibly, the cursed technique that enabled him to espouse Mahito and Tengen's techniques. Sukuna covets Megumi for Ten Shadows.

Subsequently, both are possessed by something that easily outclasses them but they still are able to rebel when fighting against their counterparts. Geto's corpse strangles Kenjaku in Shibuya; Megumi manipulates how much cursed energy is output when Sukuna fights against Yuji.

Both of them recognize that, despite their counterpart's strength, they are still deserving of concern and worry. This is likely informed by the knowledge of their own weakness and inability to protect.

and Yuji

Outsiders to jujutsu society

Get their power/strength from ingesting something unholy; curses or cursed relics. Either way, both seem to beg the question of how long one can you these things before it poisons something within you?

Earnestly want to help people with a martyr mentality. The idea being, if I am the only one with this power then it's my responsibility to do something; Geto with his role as a sorcerer and Yuji as the only person who can consume Sukuna

Subsequently damned by this noble desire. Geto finds that the sacrifice is no longer palatable after the sacrifices of Riko and Haibara and the abuse of Nanako and Himiko. Yuji experiences survivors' guilt for every slight Sukuna is able to inflict while he continues to live.

A pattern of failure to protect (Riko and Junpei) followed by the loss of a companion (Haibara and Nanami, and what a way for their deaths to mirror one another...) as an impetus for great change in their characters.

The wealth of their goodness has the potential to cause just as big a vacuum of negativity when they break. Arguably this is what pushes the invisible hand that guides the events that radicalizes Geto and informs Mahito's insistence to break Yuji's soul.

Speaking of souls - this idea of their soul's in particularly. Gojo seeing and recognizing Geto's. Mahito feeling the edge of Yuji/Sukuna's soul. We see that Sukuna can aim attacks at Megumi's soul but... why did the goodness in Geto's persist for Gojo to love him unconditionally? How did Yuji's soul withstand external attacks from Mahito and internal attacks from Sukuna?

Where SatoSugu's fatal flaw was hubris, we don't see that with ItaFushi and that, perhaps, is the biggest indication that they're correcting the faults of their forebears while also suffering the repercussions of their failure.

Gege Akutami could absolutely have the whole story end in flames, don't get me wrong. I would 10,000% be invested to the very last page. There's no guarantee that this is a circular story, that any of these characters find peace or that any of them even survive but I can't help but see the similarities, at least as far these four are concerned.

[hajimine]

perennial destiny — fushiguro megumi x gn!reader

synopsis: megumi does not like the concept of soulmates. he wants to be able to choose who he loves—and he chooses you.

word count: 1.2k

genre: fluff, soulmate!au but not really, established relationship, soft!megumi (this is so cheesy fr)

soundtrack: on a clear day by joe hisaishi

a/n:��i’m ngl i actually like this lol so i hope you guys do too! tysm @rintaroll​​ for being my beta and for the song rec mwah ily (ew) <3

A light smattering of clouds paint the blue sky in splashes of white, providing you with a little bit of shade from the otherwise bright afternoon sun.

You gaze at the little ducks waddling around on the pond, following their mother’s path. Unconsciously, you feel your lips curl up into a smile.

“What are you looking at?” Megumi murmurs, face turned towards you as he uses his hand to block out the sun from his eyes.

Humming, you give him a cheeky smile. “Nothing.”

He scrunches his face slightly, biting back a smile. He's used to your antics at this point.

Using his forearm to cover his eyes, Megumi sighs contently, shifting the position of his head on your lap to make himself more comfortable. The added weight on your thighs feel comforting, almost. Like it’s the most natural thing in the world.

The two of you stay in silence for a while as you bask in each other’s presence, enjoying the moment. The dark-haired boy plucks a stray dandelion beside him, inspecting it closely.

“Do you,” he starts, hesitating. You hum, urging him to continue. “Do you believe in soulmates?”

You stay quiet for a while, pondering his question. “I think I do, actually,” you admit. “It’s kinda sweet—the idea of it all. I’d like to think that there’s someone out there who’s meant for me, y’know?”

Megumi closes his eyes, his eyelashes fluttering as he considers your answer. He's really pretty, you think to yourself.

“Don’t you think it’s a little bit dumb?” He asks finally.

The bluntness of his words takes you by surprise. You laugh, gazing down at him with a fond look in your eyes. There’s a small frown on his lips; the crease between his brows a little more pronounced than usual.

Carding your fingers through his hair, you watch as he relaxes under your touch, the tension leaving his shoulders bit by bit.

You settle on a simple question. “What makes you say that?”

Megumi sighs, “The whole ‘fate and destiny’ thing. I think not being able to live your life the way you want to is a little depressing.” He purses his lips. “What if you don’t like your soulmate?”

You turn to look at the ducks again, but they were nowhere to be found. Now, the pond was silent, and there were no ripples in sight.

The pleasant smell of earth seeps into your lungs as you breathe in. Never in a million years would you have expected to have this kind of conversation with him.

You didn’t exactly peg him as someone who would be interested in the concept of soulmates at all. A soft smile graces your lips.

“Well, I suppose there should be a system to prevent that,” you squint, “maybe they would make it so that it’s impossible for you to hate your soulmate.”

Megumi clicks his tongue. “That just makes us robots then.”

This makes you grin. “Robots?”

“Yeah,” he mumbles, now shy. “If that's the case, you really have no choice in your thoughts and feelings, it simply strips your humanity away from you.”

You stop running your fingers through his hair for a moment and Megumi shifts, nudging your hand with his head to get you to continue. Cute.

Amused, you ask him, “Well, what if soulmates are real, and I’m not your soulmate, what would you do?”

He plucks another dandelion from the ground and inspects it before holding it close to his chest.

“It won’t change anything.” He says, not an ounce of hesitation in his words.

“Wouldn’t you wanna find your real soulmate?” You inquire, the flames of curiosity dancing in your eyes.

Without wasting a second, he sits up, turning around to face you. He studies your face for a second, eyes traveling down the curve of your nose and down to the slight upturn of your lips before returning to hold your gaze. 

Megumi speaks, eyebrows furrowed. “No. the fates or the heavens or whatever the hell is controlling our destiny won’t have any effects on my choices. I’m not about to be another pawn in the gods’ game of love. It’s the least I can do.”

And you laugh, light and bubbly; ignoring the fact that your chest feels abundantly lighter after his statement.

“You’re really serious about this, huh?”

His cheeks flare up, the headstrong confidence from a minute ago now gone, replaced by the charming bashfulness only a few have had the privilege to see. 

“Well,” he mumbles, “I’m not gonna leave you just ‘cause some prophecy tells me to. I like you. A lot.” Maybe a little too much, but he doesn’t tell you this.

The breeze tickles your face. “Yeah?”

Megumi refuses to meet your eyes, but he continues. “I want to spend the rest of my life with someone I chose myself. Soulmate or not.”

It is not his words that make your heart flutter—it’s the quiet blossoms in his cheeks, the sureness in his voice. If fate was a human, you’re sure that he’d fight her with no hesitation. Heck, even if she was a god, knowing Megumi, he would fight her too, even if it’ll cost him his life.

You watch him twirl the stem of dandelion between his fingertips. He doesn’t blow on it, nor does he make a wish like anyone else would in the presence of the perennial, he simply observes the flutters of white falling from its head. 

“So you would defy destiny if you had to?” You ask, knowing exactly what his answer would be even before he utters another word.

“Yes.” his dark eyes are steady, not a drop of uncertainty swimming in its depths. 

The soft breeze suddenly feels a little too warm for comfort. “That’s awfully romantic, don’t you think?”

And he blinks at you, but he does not yield. “Well, I just think soulmates are awfully unromantic.” He says, the corner of his lips twitching slightly.

A genuine laugh bubbles out from your chest. “You’re a curious one, Fushiguro Megumi.”

The smile on his lips is a fond one. “What about you?” He props his chin on the palm of his hand. “What would you do if soulmates are real?”

“Ah,” you pretend to think, “you’d be my soulmate then.”

He rolls his eyes at you, but the tips of his ears are dipped in vermillion. “But what if I’m not your soulmate?”

You spare him nothing but a glance, rising to your feet before brushing the dirt off your pants. As you squint at the setting sun, a contented sigh escapes your lips. On days like these, you could fully take in the beauty of the afternoon sky as you observe the shades of reds and golds dancing in the heavens.

“Then I’m afraid I’ll have to leave you to find my one true love.” You hum, biting back a laugh.

The dark-haired boy scoffs and stands up, walking towards you with his hands in his pockets. Half a smile graces his lips as he reaches for your waist, pulling you close. With the sort of tenderness he reserves just for you, Megumi rests his forehead against yours. He feels warm.

Megumi smells faintly of the earth—a product of the hours he spent sitting under the sun with you—along with a hint of the cool menthol shampoo he uses to wash his hair. And together, they create a blanket of comfort and familiarity, one that you’ve grown to call home. You breathe in.

“I won’t let you leave.” He mumbles, eyes fluttering shut. His palms feel comfortably warm on your waist; gentle and light, yet sure and heavy at the same time.

There’s a playful sparkle in your eyes as your lips curl up into a smile. “I know you won’t.”

per·en·ni·al /pəˈrenēəl/

(n.) a perennial plant

(adj.) lasting or existing for a long or apparently infinite time; enduring or continually recurring.

a/n: as always, reblogs are highly appreciated! please let me know what you think of this fic, i always love hearing from you all! also: yes, there’s another flower symbolism in this piece lol <3

-> writing masterlist  |  taglist is in the comments

[roulettefeel]

Hi! Same anon as yesterday. I was hoping I could ask you one more question: how do you think Keiji will act in 3-2? I noticed that while the Shin route has eliminated the Yabusames and Q-taro (leaving Shin with Kanna's killers), the Kanna route has three children/two and a teen and no tech savvy person (unless they can revive Hayasaka's doll). I have no idea what to expect from Keiji, who cares for the group but who also has the 3rd highest survival rate and prioritized himself over Sara in 3-2.

(Cont) I don't know if he'll pull a "let's kill everyone, Sara, and escape together" since that already happened with Ranmaru, but I am curious to see how he'll respond now that the opportunity to "weed" people out has become more accessible than ever, and the chances of escape are becoming slimmer. He went through a lot in 3-1b and saw how hard the group was fighting for his survival, though, so I'm not sure. Anyways, thanks for putting up with me. I love your blog. :)

November and December were a busy time for me, but now that I have time to answer this:

- "Let's kill everyone, Sara, and escape together" has been more than just Ranmaru. Joe considered it but backed down without communicating to Sara, Nao could actually pull it off with the power of choice in Sara's hands, and then there was Ranmaru. Who knows maybe Ranmaru doing it in 3-1 means it doesn't have to happen in 3-2 because the attempt was already made.

As for Keiji specifically, what comes to my mind when I think of what needs resolved for his character is that Megumi (who was left out of 3-1) needs to get focus and proper characterization in 3-2. Nankidai gave characterization to all the other dead candidates so no way is Megumi going to be characterized solely by how other characters saw her instead of getting a chance to speak for herself. I do not know why Megumi would show up in 3-2 or what exactly it would do for Keiji's character but writing wise I'd assume its a situation to put to test what kind of person Keiji truly is.

A living Shin needs resolution with what seeing his mentor/friend Sou Hiyori again does for him as a person. Mr Chidouin being part of the death game in some capacity is going to exist for Sara to confront her own upbringing and sense of self. Megumi is a dangling plot thread for Keiji for her role in creating what kind of person he is as his mentor.

Kanna route Keiji will be the most impactful test of character for Keiji because Shin has promised conflict in 3-2 that makes him easy for the group to cannibalize if it would heighten their chances (likely leaving Sara in the end to choose between Gin and Keiji, in a route she already chose to kill a child for the sake of someone more "useful" to her). Kanna route has no need for inter-group discord and the numbers aren't so narrowed down with the living Yabusame that its easy to just give up and attempt a two person victory. Shin route is built to be ugly, but Kanna route can get uglier if Keiji betrays the group. Especially with 3-1 completely ignoring how shady Keiji was in chapter 2 in favor of Sara having an emotional bond with him. Can her fragile state of mind even handle Keiji being shady at this point?

[pinepickled]

why tf you ship sukuna and megumi??

Aw, thank you for letting me write a little something for these two! They really are my OTP (for this fandom, anyway).

I ship them for a lot of reasons~

I think that Sukuna is a very powerful being who hates being bored, and who finally saw something he liked in a world of curses. Megumi intrigued him greatly, and it shows. He is always so gentle with Megumi, even when fighting. To me, it's always looked like Sukuna was trying to coax Megumi into letting go, into being free with his emotions- even the "undesirable" ones.

I like how Sukuna goads Megumi into turning his back on civility and elegance, how Megumi feels free to split his face into a grin and laugh loud and proud when he fights Sukuna. I like how Megumi always feels more natural when Sukuna is present, as though he knows that any pretense is moot next to him. How Megumi feels free to act like his father, to enjoy the fight and the pain and the opponent in such an intimate way, even though these have done nothing but hurt him in the past.

I like how Megumi is, ultimately, at Sukuna's mercy- and I like how Sukuna can be so merciful when Megumi is involved. I like how Sukuna is enchanted by Megumi- and how Megumi is haunted by Sukuna. I like that when they meet, the world around them can't help but quake.

I like how Sukuna can grab Megumi by the neck and make the boy fear for his life, while simultaneously holding his own cursed hand over Megumi's heart and heal his wounds. I like that Sukuna isn't going to run away from Megumi when the boy let's loose, and how Megumi always tries to meet Sukuna's strength with his own.

And that's just what has happened in canon.

I think Sukuna likes to hold Megumi. Likes to wrap all the arms he can summon around Megumi, and hold him close so that perhaps Megumi will feel just how not-human Sukuna is, and choose to stay in his arms anyway. I like that Sukuna surprises Megumi, how even though the curse is who he is, Megumi can still be surprised by the peace he finds within the specter.

I think that when Megumi finally surrenders, finally willingly drops to his knees without being beaten bloody, that Sukuna will catch him. That Sukuna will be gentle, will cradle Megumi's face in one hand, hold on to his waist with another two, and finally have a firm hand on Megumi's thigh as Sukuna carries him to their bed- Sukuna has many hands, after all, and what would be the purpose of having so many if not to hold Megumi?

I think that when Megumi chooses to splay out and curl up in Sukuna's bed, he won't fear for his life- not that time. Because then Sukuna would walk in, as he always does, curse markings and blood red eyes boring into the shaman, and Megumi would only see the relaxed posture, the soft smile, and the welcoming embrace. That's all Sukuna has to give him, after all.

Perhaps Megumi would get on his knees first- face away from the curse so he wouldn't need to face the reality of his situation. That somewhere along this road, he chose to put his ass in the air for the King of Curses. Chose to let that dangerous being- the most dangerous being- run warm hands up and down his thighs, over his back, along his neck and his jaw and everywhere those hands could reach. That he chose to let his first time be with something not even human- and that he would never tolerate any time after that being any other way.

Maybe, once Megumi had fully sat himself on the terrible decision that was loving Sukuna, he'd lay on his back. Beautiful heart and soft tummy exposed, legs spread patiently, softly gripping the sheats beneath him, waiting for his curse as he always did. And Sukuna would come, because leaving such a beautiful sight unseen would be a crime. He would come and seat himself right where Megumi wanted him, and would wrap his many arms around Megumi- he always gave the best hugs. Maybe, as he slowly worked himself into the shaman under him, always so careful, he would take a clawed hand and hold Megumi's own calloused fingers. Gently, softly, and with great care would he finally lay on top of him, cradling that hand, and move as though they were two beings who'd known eachother for a lifetime. And Megumi would realize that through all of the curses and blood and battle, the King chose not to pound him within an inch of his life, but to make love instead. There is a certain warmth Megumi will never forget, the warmth that that realization brought.

Of course, for good times there must always be bad- especially when you love the King of Curses. People are hunting him, and Sukuna isn't one to back down. How foolish these poor, poor shamans are. To believe that their own measly cursed power could compare in any way to the King. Gojo could have, if he'd wanted to, but he didn't. Gojo had learned a long time ago, standing over the bodies of his best friend and his students father, that there was no way in hell he'd follow anyone's damned agenda again. Being friends with the King of Curses was much more rewarding- and he got to see his cute little student more often too! But foolish shamans are foolish, and many have challenged Sukuna- and all have died. When the foolish shamans realized that their foolishness would only send them to an early grave when it pertained to attacking Sukuna, they went for Megumi instead. It was plainly obvious that Sukuna favored Megumi, after all, and Megumi was still a weak shaman who could only reliably use a few Shikigami and whose prowess with the sword was nothing compared to his sire.

But that's okay. Megumi has Sukuna after all, and no one is more safe in this world than the one who chose to love the King.

Megumi remembers a time in his life, so long ago, when he despised death, and hated pain. It was a brief memory, barely crossing his mind. It was hard to think at all, really, when he was seated atop his King, slowly moving up and down, blood the only thing aiding his movements. Whether the blood was his own or from one of the dozens of bodies strewn across their front lawn, Megumi truly didn't know. He was very pleased, on the other hand, that Sukuna had kept the fight outside this time. Whenever the fights went into their home, it was Megumi who had to clean it up- and being on his knees always gave Sukuna ideas so it took forever. Thus, Megumi decided to reward his King, though through his haste he hadn't properly prepared- and now it seemed he didn't need to.

Sukuna loved Megumi like this- loved how that scared little boy who bit off more than he could chew was now feeling nothing but ecstasy surrounded by the carnage he'd narrowly avoided. Sukuna didn't know how Megumi had gotten so bloody- perhaps when Sukuna had thrown a body toward the door where the shaman was standing- but it didn't matter. The King was so blessed. He had a cute little thing willingly riding his cock, in the middle of a pool of blood, and using it as lubricant. There was no prettier sight to see than this, nowhere Sukuna would rather be, than with Megumi not having a care in the world about anything but him.

Well, that's all that was floating around in my head! Hope you enjoyed this little rambling of mine~

[jujutsu-headcanons]

Team Tokyo First Years + Mario Kart headcanons 

(Ft. Yuji, Megumi, Nobara, you & commentary from Sukuna)

This disaster happened because Yuji was bored. Isn't this how most shenanigans at Jujutsu Tech start?

Yuji was going through old boxes he never unpacked. Yeah, it's been months. He's lazy.

He found this one that he didn't pack himself. He pulled it out of the storage closet when Gojo helped him move from Sendai to Tokyo and he just grabbed it

He wonders what's in it

Its mostly full of cords he has no idea what they go to, a couple of headphones and

uwu what's this

Oh my gOD IT'S HIS WII

This thing is 12 y/o he hadn't seen it in at least 6 does it even still work

Looks like the controllers and cords are here let's plug it in

IT WORKS

Oh god it's so old

Okay what games are there

Just Dance, Wii Sports, Mario Kart, Cooking Ma-

MARIO KART OH GOD THE NOSTALGIA

This was his absolute favorite game to play as a kid

Can you believe he's never played it with anyone else?

He's gotta get the gang here

He texts the group chat and proposes they have a game night

Surprisingly the students answer his text really quick; Gojo seems to be off doing who knows what

Megumi knocks and lets himself in. He's only here because he has nothing better to do. That and if he had ignored the text all Yuji would do is bang on the wall or worse- come to his door

Nobara barges in as usual- why is she carrying so much stuff

Guess who just got free LED lights for their room to "set the mood?" 

Uhhh Nobara why are you wearing a tracksuit it's fucking Mario Kart

Oh she's very serious about this

At least she brought snacks

You didn't even read that Mario Kart was involved you just wanted to hang out with Yuji

Okay let's get started Megumi wants to go home even if he is enjoying the bonding time

Nobara curls up in Yuji's bed as if it's her own; Megumi picks a comfy spot on the floor with his back against the bed; Yuji chooses his beanbag chair; you pick [Yuji's lap, next to Megumi w/ your legs across his lap, cuddled up with Nobara]

While Yuji picks out the perfect playlist to play from his speakers, Nobara takes the liberty of going through the Wii.

She has to make herself a Mii it's a rule

This takes like thirty minutes by itself

She edits Yuji's Mii to look more like him (since he made it when he was about eight) and names it Himbo

She makes you a Mii while over-exaggerating your height (by making it very short or very tall) and names it Pookie

She makes Megumi a Mii real fast and names it Cranky BitchBoy

Yuji tells her to be nice

She changes it to Emo Sea Urchin

Good enough

After an hour passes, they're finally ready to play

Except Yuji only put batteries in one controller and he has no batteries

They tear his room apart before finally stealing batteries from his headphones and remotes

Nobara waits until now to announce she can only race with the steering wheel

....and Megumi prefers the nunchuck to motion controls are you fucking-

Yuji tears the box apart and manages to find a fucking steering wheel and a fucking nunchuck

Okay, can we start now?

Mario Kart: Wii!! Wahoo!

Alright; should we play teams or-

"It's bad enough I have to work with you guys in real life, no"

You and Nobara are on team red, the boys on team blue

She makes it very clear she's going to make them eat her dust

She didn't say it that way btw, that's the most polite way of putting it

Yuji chooses Waluigi because he's a meme and makes funny WAAAA noises

Megumi chooses Yoshi because he's a medium character. Medium characters have a field advantage because smaller characters get bumped around while larger characters have drag. Also-

Nobara chooses Daisy because "Damn they made her so thicc".

You choose [character]

Yuji is so eager to play he doesn't care what kart he chooses

Megumi takes forever to decide between a kart or bike and finally chooses the Sneakster

Nobara chooses the Mach Bike bc of how it makes her character look

You choose [cart/bike]

You four argue over what course to do

So you end up taking turns choosing

Nobara pauses halfway through the first race because her character won't fucking turn

Yuji insists it isn't the controller so they trade for one round

Its the controller

Upon further inspection, it was deemed that it looked like the controller had been soaked in some sort of juice

It was the grape soda incident of 2010

Okay gotta get a new controller

Okay it's fixed

Yuji forgot 1) he was player one and 2) he wasn't Yoshi (his normal character) and spent two laps staring at the wrong screen

He still finished 11th. Nobara finished 7th, you finished 3rd and Megs finished 2nd

Yuji ended up catching up really fast until he started showing Nobara tips

See Nobara claimed she knew everything about the game

So Yuji showed her how to flick the remote when she jumped and how to hold the go button down when the countdown was at 2 

She rlly did leave him in the dust

Yuji and Nobara lean their whole bodies with the controller while Megumi sits completely still

Nobara gets way into this game I stg she screams and yells and kicks her feet I hate it

She tries to bump your and Yuji's controllers to throw you off

"Noba-chan, I'm on your team"

"I don't give a fUCK STOP BEATING ME"

"IM ON YOUR TEAM"

"AHHHHHHHH"

Slap fight ensues

At some point, Toge comes and knocks on the door because he can hear the screaming from all the way down the hall

"Are you guys...okay?" -Inumaki language

Nobara just complains, so he leaves

You and Megumi are so fucking good at this game

Nobara starts targeting you two with shells until she realizes you're on her team and they don't hurt you

"Truce?"

All you can do is sigh

At some point, Sukuna comes out 

He thinks he's a sports commentator

He announces every little thing, like when someone falls or gets shelled

Which always makes Yuji look away from his screen

Sukuna proceeds to bully Yuji for running into walls, falling off, etc.

You laugh but quit when Yuji pouts

Nobara doesn't stop laughing

Despite Yuji being an idiot and having to be carried by Megumi, blue team wins

Nobara throws her controller and screams some more

Yuji breaks out into hysterics for some reason

Megumi sighs. He gets ready to go home but-

"Sit down Fushiguro that was just a warm-up round"

Okay, fine, he'll just beat her again

Nobara pulls you and Yuji to the side

"We gotta beat Fushiguro"

Yuji was bribed with food

No teams this time

"Let's do Rainbow Ro-" "NO" 

Daisy's Circuit it is 

"Hey Yuu-chan can I play a song"

"Sure name-chan"

"Hey Alexa play Move Bitch by Ludacris"

AHAHAHHAHAHA MOVE BITCH GET OUT THE WAY

This is Nobara's song. She is invincible with this song.

Maybe it really was a warm-up round, Nobara is doing much better this time

She's in first place

It looks like Megumi is getting bored, he's falling back, losing his lead

Now if his calculations are correct, when you're in last place you're more likely to get-

Bingo

"Kugisaki, do you love me?"

"What the fuck, are you going soft on me Fushigu- don't you fucking dare"

"Goodbye Kugisaki"

"STOP STOP HOW DO I AVOID A BLUE SHELL ITADORI"

"YOU CAN'T YOU'RE FUCKED"

"FUCK FUCK FUCK"

Nobara doesn't finish the race due to the fact she is throwing a temper tantrum. She throws her controller so hard she breaks the wheel, controller and puts a dent in the wall

He hides it with a poster btw

Megumi wins.

"Avenge me, name-chan"

"Noba-chan we have one last race we can still beat him"

Nobara is PUMPED

Oh my god when no was looking Megumi chose Rainbow Road

Okay pause

Whoever falls off the most is gonna be the person who fell of the least's bitch for the week

Sinister laughing ensues

In conclusion: Yuji is now your bitch

Yujikuna gets bitchslapped for making dirty remarks

Nobara is the first to tap out due to lack of controller and ends up feeding you chips while you race

You tap out and end up snuggling with Nobara as the boys pull out another game that's two player

You two fall asleep while watching them bicker over which way to go

Megumi pauses the game and the boys just end up scrolling through their phones and talking-

-Until Yuji falls asleep in the beanbag chair

Finally, Megumi can go back to his room...

...Except, you three are so cute

Its kinda like a sleepover

Y'know, he doesn't hate you guys

He's just really bad at emotions

Should he stay

Yuji does have another beanbag he can crash on

...He'll just say he fell asleep going through Twitter or something

Goodnight... Friends

[bonsai62]

JJK Chpater 138:

1. First of all... everyone...

The nerve of this fine ass puto for saying this. Not only did he disrespect Maki, he disrespected Mai. No women should ever be behind a man and if some people still think like that fuck you idc. You know what... I’m glad he’s toxic so if Maki is gonna rise from her being close to death we can see her beat his ass. With Mai on the side + Nobara (if she’s alive) because we all know Nobara would defiantly kick his ass. I’m not gonna lie though, we’ve always been very curious on how the clans are on the inside and now it’s time to see that. He seems like a very interesting character regardless of him being machismo. I can’t believe I’m saying this but I can’t wait to see his powers and fighting style.

2. Megumi being head of the zenin clan.

You know what... I’m not surprise that Toji did an reverse uno card on the family. Toji probably already knew that was gonna happen but in all reality... I doubt Megumi would choose that position. I think he would give it to Maki (Idk if that’s allowed lol) since they’re related. Also, if Maki were to accept she would defiantly change everything that is toxic and wrong with the clan. She would start from scratch with her sister (Maybe.. you know... Nobara 😏) and create a clan that isn’t jsit about power and corruption.

3. Puto wants to kill Yuji and Megumi.

Okay, if we are being real here most people are like that tbh and wanting to kill a family member to take over the thrown. Hello, Scar from the lion king 😭 as much as I don’t want to say it but I kinda can’t wait for puto and Megumi to interact and everything. Lowkey would be cool. If Yuji and Megumi happen to actually see each other, we can see a good duo again with them and this time it would be a good fight since they already fought together before! But I am nervous on how he’s gonna go after them considering that Yuji is very vulnerable and Megumi too. Look, all I’m saying is homeboy is gonna get his ass beat 😭😭😂

4. Megumi looking for Yuji

Honestly... are we really surprised? He was ready to murder and die for Yuji... again you can’t deny the fact that Megumi really cares for Yuji. And I’m a say this one more time: Yuji better acknowledges it becaus if he can acknowledge Nobara for being by his side and not being alone then he should do it with Megumi too. I have no seen Yuji done that or maybe he does it in the down low, who knows. Or maybe he did and I just forgot.But, yeah, while we are all like “ahhh” at the fact that Megumi is looking for Yuji, it still puts him in a bad position with his wack ass family.

5. Yuji protecting Fushi and not returning to his friends

Very, very, very solid argument. I know I said that yuji hasn’t acknowledge that Megumi is willing to risk a lot of things for him but I appreciate him for doing what’s best for Megumi. Away from Sukuna. Yuji and Megumi has this guilt that’s been going on since they first met. They both want to protect each other but their way of protecting each other is different.

Yuji= staying away from Megumi

Megumi = Being by Yuji side no matter what

If I was in Yuji’s position I would’ve done the same. He already blames himself for a lot of things but I think he knows Fushi better and his friends that they know it’s not Yuji’s fault... it’s the fine ass curse fault for acting up. But still he wants to protect them. Understandable! I think if they give us a couple of more chapters we will see how things are. Remember, Choso told Yuji to go if he wanted to but he chose to stay for a very logical reason. Yuji’s friends are so damn important to him.

Also, I am very glad that my question had been answer about if yuji knows that Sukuna wants something from Fushi. Sukuna is evil... not Kurama evil but that mf is evil. We all have our theories that hes gonna use Megumi’s powers to help him. However, Megumi won’t slide. He’s probably gonna use his sister and Yuji against him. Which sounds about right to me becasue I know I would if I wanted something lol!

But one thing that I notice that is always going to be in the back of Yuji’s head is that saying that Fushi told him when they got into that one time argument. I really do hope that when Fushi and Yuji meet up they can finally talk. I know I’ve been waiting for them to have that closure and that never ending guilt that both of them have for each other, like, please... give us closure from our boys! 😭

Other than that this was a good fucking chapter. I love that we get to see the second ark rise tbh like it gets my stomach all twisted and shit 😭

Oh... and Yuuta needs a slap on the face of he ever tried to do soemthing to Yuji because he should know his place better than anyone else. But I’m still gonna pretend that his lik scene with the higher ups was a circus show 😌 a standing ovation 😌

[chromatic-lamina]

Megumi Fushiguro & Tadashi Okazaki

I’m still finding my way with Jujutsu Kaisen, and there are a lot of really great meta out there, and probably someone has touched upon this already, but I haven’t come across it yet. Then again, I haven’t read incredibly widely and I’m late to the game, but take a look at the panels below from chapters 6-12.

In chapter six, Yuuji with his compassion and desire to help and respect all, even in death, wants to deliver the body of the dead inmate of the juvenile detention centre, Tadashi Okazaki, back to his mother. He’s been murdered by a high grade curse.

Megumi has a far more practical and also more judgemental point of view when it comes to dealing with the dead and those who loved them, especially when his, Nobara and Yuuji’s lives are on the line.

Nobara and Yuuji in particular are inexperienced, and Megumi is a grade two sorcerer at this point, so still learning, though he has a heap of potential, as they all do. Anyway, Megumi says that this dead guy is not worth their time due to the reasons for him being in the centre (driving without a license twice and killing a little girl the second time due to this). Considering it’s a Juvenile Detention Centre, Tadashi couldn’t have been much older than these three, though he certainly looked it.

After the battle that follows from discovering Tadashi’s body—during which both Nobara and Megumi think that Yuuji has died (and he did, but Sukuna did a great job on getting him back on his feet)—Megumi says the above to Tadashi’s mother, that his friends wanted to bring Tadashi’s body back so that she could have some peace. He stresses that it wasn’t his idea, he wasn’t sure about the idea, and that they failed, anyway. The reader is then shown these panels:

Megumi, running to help save Nobara from another curse while Yuuji fights the special grade, doesn’t even pause, but above we can see him think and weigh up the situation in a split second when he passes by Tadashi’s body again. 

Previously he’d said that they might not be backtracking, and this guy wasn’t worth saving alive, let alone giving him respect when he’s dead. Yet, he rips Tadashi’s name label from his shirt.

At this point, Yuuji is still alive and I don’t think that Megumi expects him to die. So, even if he was influenced by Yuuji’s ideals, it wasn’t due to the fact that he felt he needed to honour one of his last wishes, or anything like that.

Regarding the panels above, where Megumi apologises for not saving Tadashi’s life, I don’t think that he’s had a change of heart, considering his own moral compass, though he might have saved Tadashi Okazaki had he been alive, in his role as a jujutsu sorcerer. The use of ‘we’ shows that maybe he’s using their role as jujutsu sorcerers as a smokescreen, and he’s telling a few white lies there, I think, in terms of the disintegration of Tadashi’s body, though I’m not 100% sure. I’m happy to change this if anyone wants to set me right.

However, Megumi also knows that some gesture, some symbolism, is better than none at all, and the form that he’s taken, considering the obstacles faced when the three poorly equipped sorcerers were basically sent on a suicide mission (the elimination of Yuuji being the target of the higher ups in the school), is compassionate to my mind.

He didn’t have to grab the name label, and he didn’t have to visit Tadashi’s mother, particularly when his own friend had apparently died. And he did it so quietly. When he took the label, maybe his intention was for Yuuji to deliver it, but maybe he’d intended to act alone as well; fulfilling a role for the jujutsu sorcerers, but also a personal one, because no-one sent him, as seen in the very last frame below.

While still learning, Yuuji sets himself up for tasks that he may or may not be able to pull off, and thereby actually endangers the lives of his colleagues by not weighing up the consequences of what appears to be a selfless act. In the right circumstances, with full power, retrieving Tadashi Okazaki’s body is a very decent thing to do. In fact, while arguing over what is the right use and application of their power in choosing who they might help or not (and asking the pivotal question from Yuuji to Megumi of why Megumi chose to save him when he knew harm could come from it), Nobara gets sucked into another floor, Megumi loses his white Divine Dog shikigami and Yuuji promptly loses a hand. Again, they didn’t know what they were up against, but what might be perceived as sentimentality in the face of survival jeopardised them. At the same time, Megumi still found a way to give Tadashi Okazaki’s mother a tiny remembrance or proof that her son was something, and was worth something, if only to her. I feel a body would definitely bring about more of a sense of closure, but something was hopefully better than nothing, and neither would probably do a thing to alleviate the grief.

He’s such an interesting character. They all are, but I like these quiet actions and determination, and the reflection. And the gesture. And it’s all she’s left with. Oof.

[beepop-uwu]

Why Shin Tsukimi Was Doomed From The Start (Your Turn To Die Theory)

Hellooo, this is my first time doing something like this so please excuse the trash I am spewing out. Not spoiler free so beware! Also this is not an excuse for Shin’s behaviour but rather an explanation for why.

Theory under the cut!

---

Shin Tsukimi: 0.0%.

Those were the numbers which he read. They echoed in his head over and over again. Taunting him, humiliating him, cursing him. He could barely keep hold of the paper, his hands trembling.

0%. He didn’t know why. He didn’t know how. But he knew what he had to do.

He had to abandon himself. 

No longer would he be the weak, kind, trusting Shin Tsukimi, the mere fool who has a 0% of surviving this death game.

He would become Sou Hiyori; strong, cunning, manipulative. He would be able to fight against this predetermined destiny and change his future. Survival was his priority. No one could take that away from him.

---

Shin Tsukimi decided to “abandon” himself to become the lying and distrustful Sou we’ve all come to love or hate. A self-proclaimed job-hopper who seems quiet and stand-offish at first, but is later revealed to be a schemeful liar who manipulates others to his advantage in order to pertain to his absolute goal of survival. To add more fuel into the fire, the chaos he creates is usually directed towards us, the protagonist, who he has a specific hatred for. Thus making everything more difficult for us through his schemes and lies.

(Chapter 1.2: "Sou" trying to turn everyone against Sara)

But as we progress through the game, we see there is more to him than just a rat who likes to cause problems, but as a reliable ally with amazing skills which are able to help the group gain valuable information about the death game and even almost escape from it. His hacking skills and intelligence prove him to be an invaluable character within the group.

Despite these skills, Shin Tsukimi has a 0% chance of surviving the death game.

This brings upon the question… of why?

Well it’s all because of his first trial.

The first trial is the deciding factor of how the rest of the game will play out, some easier than others, some more traumatising and some which entirely depend on trust. I believe these trials were made specifically for each person with key purposes in mind.

For example, the trials for Sarah and Joe, Mishima and Nao, and Kanna and Kugie all had the ‘The Two Person Vote’ which heavily tested their trust in each other. It’s important to note that each pair had one non-candidate (Joe, Nao and Kugie), which could lead us to the conclusion that this trial had the specific purpose of getting rid of non-candidates before the main game.

(Chapter 1.1: Sarah and Joe's first trial)

Another example is Keiji and Megumi’s trial where Keiji had the opportunity to save his previous corrupt boss, but chose not to. The trial was set up to confront his past issues and tested his ability to overcome them. In the end, he could not and watched as she was pulled apart by chains. This trial wouldn’t have worked if both people cared for each other, proving that the first trials were in fact made with a specific purpose in hand.

(Chapter 2.1: Keiji leaving Megumi to die in their first trial)

Now onto Shin’s first trial.

In his first trial, he was shown the roster of candidates and their percentages, having them explained in excruciating detail by Sue Miley. She made sure to highlight how accurate these numbers were as they were calculated through the testing of AIs. Being shown his percentage of 0.0% caused his mind to break, leading him to take on the persona of Sou.

(Chapter 2.2: Shin finally revealing the truth)

I believe this trial is the cause for his 0%. By showing Shin these numbers, it psychologically cornered him and caused him to become distrustful of the others. He came to the conclusion that this death was due to the other’s own cruelty, believing that they were all going to turn against him and try to kill him off. By causing Shin to become doubtful and untrusting, this trial led him to take drastic measures which he believed will raise his chance of winning.

(Chapter 2.2: A flashback of Shin's thoughts during his first trial)

But it in fact, does the opposite. By becoming the untrustworthy Sou, he caused the others to dislike him and antagonise him. The others became more likely to turn against him and voted for him. It wasn’t because of his weak or timid personality, but it was his deceitful nature which caused him to self-sabotage himself.

(Chapter 2.2: Shin regretting his actions before death)

Just like he says mere minutes before his death, if he were to believe in everyone from the start, things would have been much more different. They could’ve been close to escaping, he wouldn't have had to work so hard to isolate himself and he wouldn't have had to die a lonely death. It’s at this moment he realises his mistake and regrets it, accepting that his fate was of his own doing.

It’s like a paradox, Shin’s first trial causes him to learn of his winning rate, thus he takes on the persona of Sou Hiyori. But by doing this, he becomes untrustworthy and more likely chosen to die, thus attaining a 0% win rate.

We see glimpses of Shin’s true nature when he’s figuring out an escape for everyone. When he successfully hacks into the security system, all of his fear is gone, causing him to become much more happy and lively. The idea of everyone escaping together has caused him to momentarily go back to being Shin and truly see his potential as a helpful ally had it not been for his first trial.

(Chapter 2.2: Shin excited about successfully hacking the system)

We also get to see pre-game Shin in chapter 3 as an AI. Here we see him for his true self without the pressure of the death game. He’s sweet and trusting, nothing like the person in the game.

(Chapter 3.1: Meeting Shin's pre-game AI)

Another thing I’d like to briefly discuss is what was the reason for Shin specifically being given this trial out of all the characters. You could argue it’s because it’ll cause the largest impact on him due to his percentage but if we go with the idea of the trial itself being the cause for his percentage, then this trial could have been given to any of the characters to break them.

But why did they choose Shin?

Well I believe it’s because he’s the most likely to derail their plans. Bringing in a hacker could be potentially dangerous as he has the ability to hack their system, gain their knowledge, and use it against them with the help of the others. If he started working together with them from the beginning, there was a huge possibility of the death game being in danger. Of course, it is later confirmed that they can’t escape, but if Shin were to work together with vital characters such as Kai to find out more information or an alternative escape, their chances of everyone surviving would have risen.

Therefore, in order to save their precious death game, the masters of the death games psychologically cornered Shin and ultimately lead him to his 0% chance of survival.

---

Thank you for reading my analysis! I’m not very used to this so please feel free to add more or speak about your own theories! :)

[linkspooky]

hiii i really enjoy ur jjk metas and especially ur thoughts on megumi's character. I wanted to know what your opinion is on chapter 268 and the subsequent ones about the way his character was currently handled. I always believed he had to save himself and go against reggie's curse of "let fate toy with you" by fighting back but I can't lie and say I'm not disappointed with what we got instead. he ended up just being saved like a damsel in distress by yuuji and he never really gained back his agency, someone had to give it to him without any work from him (except a puddle and that's about it lmao). and him in the end choosing to live for someone else again when that had been the problem since the start is just irritating me. he doesn't seem to have shown any signs of growing at all and in fact regressing to his old state but just replacing tsumiki for yuuji for who to live for.

and the way his character is after these chapters just seem flat and stripped of any defining qualities like he just woke up from a bad dream and not the worst time of his life where he lost everything. none of what happened to him gets addressed or dealt with by him and it just feels he regressed back to the start of the story as opposed to having the Showdown's events affect him. his sister's death is just shrugged off and the only thing we get is an empty scene of him not even saying what he had always wanted to say to his sister, not even to her grave. he just seems indifferent. and even if he wasn't close to gojo, I feel he should atleast mention or talk about the fact his mentor had died by his hands, even if there isn't that deep of a connection.

I also knew megumi was never gonna get any power ups as that kinda contradicts his character arc of finding value outside of jujutsu, but he never even does that. he just goes back to jujutsu work (the mission at the end of 270. I'm really hoping the "last" part is right otherwise I'm gonna really question the effectiveness of this story tackling its themes of cycles and breaking them lol) and nothing about his powers get addressed (what he thinks of it, if they're even functioning, etc etc) so it just makes 266 (which is one of my favorite chapters) and what it's trying to say about megumi's character lacking for me. he wanted a simple life outside of jujutsu, but he returns to it anyway? yuuji was the first person to give him a choice, some sort of agency, but it doesn't even matter because he never really takes it, just chooses to hinge his life's value on someone else again? sure, it's a choice and a significant one to want to live when you were shown earlier to want to die, but that decision rings hollow for me when he never realistically did anything to work for it. he just got a talk from yuuji and we weren't even shown him having a moment to himself deliberating on it or realizing he has worth to other people, we're just shown him making that decision without any self-reflection.

I feel like I'm missing something crucial. it just feels so out of left field from what I understood about megumi's character that it makes me wonder if I understood him wrong this entire time.

I know megumi values the people he loves so to me him choosing to live for yuuji works in a vacuum, but after what happened with Tsumiki and how it failed for him the first time and frankly the lack of development or weight given to this decision therein after just leaves me feeling numb. though even if he chose to live for himself it wouldn't be as effective for me anyways with how next to nothing he did in this entire arc to try to regain his life.

and also, what about his domain? I know he's not going to get power ups but why was it never completed? his domain had represented him since the start, and how he is an incomplete character with a shaky sense of self and his domain reflected that, but is it just going to stay incomplete forever? I was so sure the climax of his character arc would come with him completing his domain as to show that he finally understands himself and what is reflected in his soul but what now lol. if it was never gonna be completed why even make it an incomplete domain and have such a narrative weight and meaning to it? (him unlocking it right after gojo's talk of being selfish). if gege really just needed a random power up for megumi then he didn't need to go to such lengths of making it matter, and attaching an "incomplete" label on it practically dangling it in front of the audience that this'll have payoff at some point but it just seems unfinished. unless the incomplete part is some sort of commentary about megumi's character? I'm not sure, the decisions being made these chapters are just completely out of left field to me so I'd like a second opinion to provide some clarity on the matter

Hello, anon. I did my best to address several of your points here.

I agree with lots of your points about Megumi's endgame and Gege's writing choices, but I'm still moderately satisfied with what we got out of the ending and I did my best to explain why.

[medea10]

My Review of Kaguya-sama: Love is War - Season Two

Season One Review Here.

Here we go again! Those crazy kids, will they ever confess their feelings for each other?

HISTORY: Love is war! The first one to admit love is seen as weak and is thus deemed the loser in this fight. That reigns true in the minds of student body president Miyuki Shirogane and student body vice president Kaguya Shinomiya. Both of them are mad for one another, they just won’t admit it. So, Miyuki and Kaguya play mind games with one another to see if they can make the other crumble. In a war with many wins and losses, who will be the first one to admit their feelings for the other?

SEASON TWO: While the mind games are still happening, it seems like they’re going towards a cuter case (at least when it comes to Kaguya). Yes, she still covers her tracks so she comes out looking cool as a cucumber, but inside she’s a mess. We start the season off with Kaguya wanting to celebrate Miyuki’s birthday. It’s just that Miyuki is stubborn about celebrating his own birthday or even receiving gifts (due to his upbringing). And then we add a few more road-blocks to this story with the addition of new members of the student body.

Then we end this memorable era of the student council as new members are set to take place with an election. Despite the sad atmosphere with remembering all the fun stuff that occurred last season, everyone will be coming back to their old positions for the upcoming school year. I mean, this was the third episode! It would be a real cock-tease if everyone left their positions this early in the season.

NEW CHARACTER: Let’s enter the Student Council Election arc! With the disbanding of the previous student council, it’s time for the students to choose their next president, vice president, etc. Miyuki was skeptical about continuing his reign as president, but he’s going to run for a second term. While Miyuki is still popular, a first-year student is ready to take him down. In comes Miko Iino! She’s seen as a sticler for the rules. Even when she’s in the student council, she doesn’t waste time scolding every member (except Chika) about minor imperfections. Here’s what you might recognize her from.

*Miko is played by Miyu Tomita (known for Crim on Interspecies Reviewers)

LICENSING: This anime is licensed by Aniplex of America (just like season one) and is EXCLUSIVELY streamed only on FUNimation. I wouldn’t be so pissy about this if sites like Crunchyroll and Hulu hadn’t already streamed the first season from the start, but FUNimation and Sony want to keep the series all to themselves. The company’s a monster!

THE DUB: Holy crap, the unthinkable has happened and FUNimation has scrounged up an English dub to this series. But only for this season! What the shit is going on? Is it like when Crunchyroll and FUNimation shared the anime Free! for a while? Why is it only this season that’s being dubbed? Well anyways, if you’ve read my thoughts on season one, you’ll know that I had “strong” feelings towards this getting a dub. Meaning, the narrator had to be voiced by R. Bruce Elliott! Well…they did voice the narrator with someone from Space Dandy. I just didn’t expect it to be voiced by Space Dandy himself! In short, Ian Sinclair is voicing the narrator and I am okay with this. He’s no R. Bruce Elliott, but Ian Sinclair is friggin’ awesome. I actually think the dub is really good from what I’ve heard so far. There’s only a few episodes available at this date and time, but make your own decisions here. Here’s what you might recognize these folks from.

ENGLISH CAST: *Kaguya is played by Alexis Tipton (known for Honey on Space Dandy, Lala on To Love Ru, Iris on Fire Force, Mizuki on Baka and Test, Aoba on Keijo!!!!!!!!, Hana on Prison School, and Saya on Blood-C)

*Miyuki is played by Aaron Dismuke (known for Al on FMA, Hiro on Fruits Basket, Kakeru on Fruits Basket 2019, Van on Escaflowne [redub], Marx on Black Clover, and You on Deadman Wonderland)

*Chika is played by Jad Saxton (known for Charla on Fairy Tail, Hana on Fruits Basket 2019, Koneko on High School DxD, Dorothy on Black Clover, Tamaki on Fire Force, Megumi on Food Wars, and Chika on Love Live Sunshine)

*Ishigami is played by Austin Tindle (known for Accelerator on Index/Railgun, Kaneki on Tokyo Ghoul, Karma on Assassination Classroom, Marco on Attack on Titan, Natsuo on Domestic Girlfriend, and Sunakawa on My Love Story)

SHIPPING PART II: Ooh boy, we’ve got some extra cute moments between Kaguya and Miyuki this season. From Kaguya giving a slice of cake to Miyuki for his birthday to the star-gazing moment where Miyuki grabs Kaguya and things get a little too close for comfort, this season was getting a little hot and heavy! Although, we didn’t get another moment with sick Kaguya this season! And it becomes increasingly clear to both characters that it’s getting harder and harder to put up that façade in front of one another. In the case of Kaguya, she ends up going to the emergency room only to learn that her “heart condition” is just the love for the president.

Even though we don’t get any kind of love confession this season, we do get some choice moments like Kaguya becoming friends with Miyuki on LINE, Kaguya’s run-in with Miyuki’s father, and of course that awkward position in a locked room between the two star-crossed lovers. You know what I’m talking about, the misunderstanding position. Literally every high school anime has this happen at one point!

MUSIC: So…no cute ending theme like Chika’s from last season? Crabapples!

Aside from that, the first time I heard DADDY, DADDY DO, I was a little skeptical on the visuals they chose to match the music. Thankfully, that only lasted for two episodes at the most and the rest of the time I’m dancing around to this catchy theme.

And while I’m on the subject of music, has anyone else noticed the amount of 80s music references that was shown throughout the season? Maybe I’m just stuck on that episode where Kaguya is trying to vogue like Madonna.

FUNNIEST MOMENT: Underwear and man-whores! So much misunderstanding it was too much for me to contain my laughs.

ENDING: The last couple of episodes revolve around the school sport’s festival. Surprisingly, we get a fair amount of time dedicated to long-time holdout Ishigami. He ended up doing something quite surprising by joining the cheer squad and was willing to participate by dressing in drag for a skit. I find Ishigami made a cute girl. Then, we get some cute Miyuki x Kaguya shenanigans when Miyuki’s father visits the sports festival.

So the episode before the second season finale, we get a full episode dedicated to Ishigami. In episodes prior to this one, we were getting a taste of what’s up with our favorite gamer. There was talk of Ishigami being a violent psychopath in middle school with the way the faceless rumormill has been talking. Apparently when Ishigami was in middle school, he would frequently talk to this girl in his class. But then this girl gets a boyfriend! That wouldn’t bug Ishigami until he overheard that boyfriend cheating on this girl. It does get worse with what this scumbag tries to do. And that’s when Ishigami beat the crap out of him!

Unfortunately for Ishigami, his class and the girl walked in when he was pummeling the shit out of this dude. And so the truth gets warped! Especially when dude starts lying by saying Ishigami did this because he was jealous of their relationship. Because of the altercation, Ishigami was suspended from school for a time, had to see a councilor, and was forced to write a letter of apology to the jerk he beat up. That last one, he was unable to do so. If you were in his shoes, you wouldn’t write an apology letter either, you’d write a note that simply says...

“Go to hell, Dumbass”!

Amazingly, those are the exact words Miyuki told Ishigami to say to that jerk. Miyuki was the first person to open up to Ishigami after this incident. Despite the harsh time Ishigami had in middle school, after starting high school he learned who his real friends are, both from the student council and the cheer squad. I really should state that I was happy to see Ishigami get an episode revolved around him. He was introduced only half-way into season one and felt like he didn’t make that big of an impact with me. Ishigami this season stood out a lot more and I was very satisfied with the results.

Now in the final episode, Kaguya lost something dear to her. Her phone! Let me explain. She was given a flip-phone when she was 5 years old to only be used for emergencies. Kaguya really didn’t use her camera until she was in the student council and these photos are pretty special to her. So imagine her shock and horror when it falls off the school building and being told that she can’t retrieve her photos. Just as well, she had an obsolete flip-phone. Even me, with my retro media collection, I don’t own one of those! But now that Kaguya has joined the rest of society with a brand-new smart phone, she was able to join LINE and all of her friends shared with her the photos they took during those special moments Kaguya thought were going to be lost to her forever.

In the final segment, it wasn’t really anything romantic-driven. It was just another game brought on by Chika. Basically they all took turns blowing up a balloon until it pops. Or, an anime version to the Spongebob Squarepants episode, “Wet Painters” where Patrick blows a giant paint bubble. And leave it to Chika to inadvertently blow up the balloon by doing something you wouldn’t expect. It blew up, blew everyone and the school away while DADDY DADDY DO plays in the background.

We end with Kaguya and Miyuki standing up together and the narrator assuring us that the war of love is not over.

I love this series, I truly do. I just feel like the way these stories were set up, I feel as though the first season should have ended with the 3rd episode of the second season. Don’t get me wrong, I do like the ending to the first season with the firework episode. It’s just that this particular episode gave us the end of the student council, Kaguya actually called Miyuki by his first name, and with Miyuki announcing his candidcy for president again, it opens up for more to look forward to with season two. But that’s just my thought on the matter. I’m sure this was the setup in the manga, but in the 12 episode dynamic with the anime feels weird. And same can be said about having the Ishigami episode right before the season finale. I’m glad this story was told, I just wish it was placed better in the 12 episode anime season setup.

Despite my tiny gripes there, I enjoyed this season very much. There’s definitely been a lot of development between Miyuki and Kaguya this season with some overused tropes and surprising moments no one expected. I can honestly say I didn’t expect Miyuki to take Kaguya by the shoulders as he talks about stars and constellations. Although, I did expect Miyuki to freak the fuck out sometime afterward because he thought he acted like a dork. But we get the main duo get a little closer with certain moments like the star-gazing episode, Miyuki’s birthday, and Miyuki adding Kaguya to LINE. So it once again leaves us on the hopes of a season three. Unfortunately at this date and time, no word on that happening! So maybe I should go on and read one of the 15+ volumes of the manga.

If you would like to watch the second season of Kaguya-sama it seems like the only one that has it available is FUNimation, with the English dub airing once a week. But if you would like to watch the first season, Crunchyroll and Hulu have it available for streaming.

[maddiesmt-morphina]

7 minutes in heaven- Chapter 4- Truth or dare - part II

Autor's note: Guess who is back?! And Oh my god!! Thank you all for your kind words!! Your comments are my source of inspiration and I've received such a wonderful feedback that I couldn't help myself and wrote a longer chapter! I've had such a fun writing it and I really hope you guys have fun to read it as well. See you guys next time!

#

Damn that stupid bottle. Erina cursed her cousin, the bottle, the game, and even her so called luck for having abandoned her. She looked to her challenger and found out that she was not that scary. Yuki kept a friendly look on her face. She did not appear to have bad intentions. With that, Erina allowed herself to relax a little, massaging her shoulders and neck that looked like pure concrete, such was the tension.

"So Erinachii, do you prefer truth or dare?"

"The truth, of course" The blonde said confidently as she smiled slightly and could have continued this way if she had not been reminded by the challenger herself that she would have to drink the contents of the glass. The heiress let the liquid burn her throat and felt all her senses being work up. She could not deny that the taste was peculiar and not bad at all, but the force with which it snatched her papillae and the way it left her head spinning reminded her that a few more glasses of that liquid could make her forget who she was.

"So, Erinachii, what's going on between you and the good-looking professor?"

"Excuse me?" Erina's eyes widened. She didn't want to believe Yuki's question.

“Oh! And Quit to say it's nothing because everyone here already saw how”- Yuki seemed to choose the words carefully – “close you both are.”

The blonde felt her cheeks explode. She felt extremely betrayed by her friend's question. But also, it was not her friend's fault. Yuki had already taken at least 3 cups of Sakaki's drink. In the end, she realized that she couldn't escape the question and tried to answer it as clearly as possible so that she would not be misunderstood. She cleared her throat and made sure her voice did not flinch as she spoke.

"Professor Asahi and I have absolutely nothing. He is forcing a situation that doesn't exist, at least not for me."

"For the time being." Erina looked in the direction of the voice and saw her cousin smiling innocently as if she had not thrown any more straw into the fire.

"As I was saying, before being grossly interrupted, Professor Asahi is doing everything on his own and I have by no means encouraged such behavior."

"But you have tea with him, don't you?" Alice was becoming more and more inconvenient, and Erina felt her patience dissipate like water on a hot day.

"Yes. But only because he insists a lot. I think the correct answer to your question, Yuki, would be tea. This is it, conversations and tea, this is what has happened between me and Professor Asahi. The heiress switched her attention to her cousin and referred to her when she asked.

"Happy, Alice?"

"Not even close"

A dark aura settled in the bedroom. Everyone could see clearly the clash of the cousins to reach beyond physics.

"Next" someone, who Erina could not identify, said. She could only face her cousin and send threatening messages to her through her eyes. On the other side of the circle, a certain redhaired paid a special attention to the situation. Something in him complained insistently and he could not tell why he was uncomfortable after hearing Yuki's senseless question. He looked at his own hands and noticed that his fists were closed and ready for combat. But why? And who did he want to fight against? Or against what? He did not continue the line of thinking once he had noticed the bottle stop spinning and pointed in his direction.

"How convenient" Alice couldn't barely contain her laugh.

Soma looked at her challenger. Shoji did not seem to have the best intentions for a challenge and the boy was not willing to find out what kind of perversion his friend had in mind. Before the boy could ask the question, Soma began to turn the drink of the glass and almost choked on the power of the drink.

"Truth? Oh really? You disappoint me Yukihira"

"I'm not willing to perform the perverted challenges hovering in your head Shoji." He took the rest of the drink and completed it, letting a half smile emerge on his face "At least not yet".

"What a killjoy! Well, since you chose truth, could you at least clarify why you challenged Professor Asahi to a shokugeki?"

Soma was terribly sorry. He should have taken the challenge.

"Well, actually it was he who challenged me. He was full of himself saying that he would defeat me easily and well, that made me very angry and also ..."

The room was completely silent, everyone seemed focused. Erina and Megumi blushed as they remembered the situation and wondered if the boy would go all the way in his story.

"And" Yukihira heard Shoji encourages him to continue. He didn't know why it was so difficult to reveal the motives behind the shokugeki. To tell the truth, he had not yet understood what happened that day.

"And also, because he said that he was the only chief who could satisfy Nakiri and that made me very annoyed"

Soma didn't notice, but the revelation had a double weight for a certain heiress who listened carefully.

"So, you want to satisfy Nakiri?"

The young man seemed to reflect and put his fingers on his chin as he answered.

"Yes. I could say that. But the point is I got there first so if he wants to try something he needs to get in line, you know?"

The first seat observed, without understanding, his friend’s jaw drop. Sakaki was the first to speak.

"My god Nakiri! I knew you had admirers, but have a queue? That's what I call power."

“Hihihi! I didn't know that my cousin was so seductive like this”

The blonde, who was already redder than normal, didn't know what to think. She did not know if she was irritated or tried to clear up the situation. The problem was that even she didn't understand what was happening, so she would be satisfied to be extremely annoyed for the time being.

"That's definitely not it, Alice! at all!"

The gossip was getting out of control and she could only hear part of them

“Erinachii! You need to tell me what is your secret?!” Yuki commented with a wink.

"I wouldn't blame Yukihira for trying to defend his territory" Daigo, on the other side of the circle, also gave his opinion on the subject. Meanwhile Soma was confused. It seemed he was not speaking the same language as his friends. Why, suddenly, they were talking about how much Nakiri was attractive? In what part of his answer had he mentioned it? He didn't even remember thinking that way. But again, on second thought, those violet eyes combined with the pink of her cheeks when she was angry always attracted him and he couldn't help but wonder how much that combination of colors made her look more appealing. Although, he was sure he'd never mentioned anything of the kind in his reply. So, he decided to find out what the hell they were talking about.

"What are you guys talking about? I just said that Nakiri's tongue was mine!"

The moment he let slip the untold detail, he knew he was fucked.

"Yukihira!" The heiress's shrill cry made him look at her in alarm.

"What? But that's what I said wasn't it, Tadokoro?"

Megumi couldn't believe his friend was that naive. Even she had understood the double meaning of that phrase. But she couldn't help him this time and he actually said that Nakiri's tongue was his.

"Oh yes..that's what you said."

Erina no longer knew whether she wanted to die or to kill. A vein was already pumping in her forehead.

"For God's sake, Yukihira! Either you shut your mouth or I'll have to go and shut it myself!"

"I'd like to see that!" Alice punctuated and Erina swore her to death at that moment.

"What did I said?" No word would define more Yukihira Soma at that moment than: lost.

It was then that Issihiki intervened in favor of his friends. He was amused by the situation, but he understood that this was their problem and that it should be resolved when they both understood more about themselves.

"Guys, I think we should get back to the game. Soma has already answered your question isn't it Shoji? I believe he has answered too much already"

"Fine. We still have a lot of game ahead" Shoji shrugged and once more the bottle turned.

The next round was in charge of Mito Ikumi and Zenji.

"So Mito, truth or dare?"

“Truth” The girl took the drink and felt the temperature rising. She was grateful for the clothes she wore to be cooler otherwise she would be suffering from instantaneous combustion.

"By any chance do you have a crush on someone in this very room?"

Mito expected all sorts of scientific questions, but never a question as personal as this.

“Wha...what?”

"Yeah Nikimichii do you have a crush on someone here? !" Ikumi could hear Yuki's voice echo through the room.

“W .. Well ... Hmm .. I..I think ..y..yes.”

“And who is it?”

At that very moment, Ikumi remembered an important rule of the game. And she smiled in relief.

"I'm sorry, Marui. But I've already answered your question"

"God Marui! How are you the brain of the dorm if you can't even ask a proper question in a game like this?”Shoji complained

"Honestly Man!" Daigo complained with his right hand flat on his forehead.

The game continued without any great news until the bottle stopped again in front of Erina. Honestly, she no longer had the strength to control the flushing of her face. He drank again and felt her conscience prepared to say goodbye. This time she would be Daigo's victim. At least she was escaping from her cousin's questions.

"So Nakiri, since you have so many admirers like that, I can’t help but wonder: How good is that god's tongue of yours in matters that do not involve food?"

"I'm sorry, what?" She looked at him curiously.

"Oh you know ... God's tongue ... it's a nickname that is open to interpretation"

“Excuse me?!” the girl didn’t want to believe what she was hearing.

“Nakiri..I'm sure you already know what I mean, right?"

Daigo raised one eyebrow and winked at the blonde. Still shocked by the question, Nakiri swallowed and felt the taste of the drink still linger in her mouth. She took a deep breath and remembered a passage from a manga she had read recently. She was really tired of being passive in this game and decided she would be the dominant one.

"Ahh, of course." She gave a seductive laugh, and in the sweeter voice she could muster, added "Hm, I think we'll have to find out, will not we?" She finished, running her tongue lightly on her lower lips and biting them in the process.”

The Boy smiled as if he had won the lottery and wasted no time in approaching the heiress, closing his eyes and pouting in the process. However, he just felt himself being stopped by something cold on his lips. The texture was nothing like a woman’s lips. It was then that the boy opened his eyes and found a finger on his lips and the almost devilish smile on the blonde. She wasted no time in revealing her true intentions.

"But unfortunately for you, I chose truth and not dare, didn't I? Then you can go back to your little place.”

While some laughed and mocked Daigo, Soma could not erase, what he had just seen, from his head. The way she looked at Daigo, the smile she gave him, that damn tongue moistening her reddened lips, the blush ever presents on her face, and especially that voice he had never seen her use. He imagined himself in that situation and found himself wishing her to use that voice to talk to him and only him. He didn't notice, but his low eyebrows and the narrowing of his lips showed that he was not happy with what he had just seen. Unfortunately, he was not alone.

"Soma? Are you alright?" Megume looked worried and was not alone.

"Yeah Yukihira! Looks like you're ready to kill somebody" A few steps away, Takumi also noticed his friend's behavior.

"Of course, I'm alright, why wouldn't I be?" Soma said much louder than he should, and of course everyone in the room notice it.

"Because Daigo here just got almost kissed by your girlfriend" He heard Shoji gasp with laughter.

"We're not together!" Erina and Soma spoke together and blushed as they looked at each other.

"All right lovebirds, we'll let you stay ignorant if that's what you prefer."

“Alice! If you continue with these nonsensical pranks I swear to god you're not going to see the sun tomorrow.”

“Oh, my! I'm terrified! Ryo! Defend me from that mad woman!”

“Ahh, very well! Now I'm the crazy one?! Ah Alice, do me the favor?! Just shut up!”

“Hmpf” Alice just shrugged and waited the next turn to start.

The bottle spun and Erina almost shrieked with joy as the bottle pointed toward Alice, only the challenger this time was her best friend.

"I think it's time for revenge, it'sn't dear cousin." Erina let out all the venon she had in that sentence.

"You wished it had stopped for you, didn't you, Erina? Too bad that it didn't" The red-eyed girl looked at Hisako confidently. She did not show even the slightest fears.

"All right, Miss Alice!" Truth or dare?"

"Dare, of course."

Hisako seemed to think for a moment. She wanted to get revenge for Alice having put her on a date without her consent, wanted revenge for the jokes and situations in which she had put her best friend. And then looked at the girl's side. Stoic as always, Ryo showed nothing through his eyes. Hisako smiled. She knew exactly what was the weakness of the girl in front of her.

"I dare you to stay an entire day without Ryo's company. No phone calls, messages, conversations by any other form of communication and of course without seeing each other. You can start tomorrow."

Alice narrowed her eyes and everyone could see that the challenge did not please her at all. A few feet away, Hayama could not help but stare the pink-haired girl. He let out a smile. He had subjugated her and no longer regretted having agreed to go out with her. At least they had one person in common to bad-mouth about.

"What kind of dare is this one, Hisoko? Ryo is my aide, I can't afford to stay a whole day without him" Alice was uncomfortable, but she did not move from her confident pose.

"Just an aide? You're sure, Miss Alice?"

"What are you implying Hisoko?"

"I'm confident that in your so called 'mature' mind you have already understood what I mean"

"Hmpf. This is bullshit. But fine. This will be an easy one after all" Alice folded her arms and gave up. At his side, Ryo had no emotion at all. The only certainty that he was still alive or paying attention was when he himself stretched out his arms to turn the bottle. However, when he did, the bottle seemed to lift flight because of the force applied. Hisako noticed and smiled, maybe he was more upset with the challenge than he looked like.

"Hisako, there wasn't something more difficult or humiliating for you to challenge Alice to?

"Erina-sama, if my suspicions are right, this challenge will be harder than you think."

As they talked, the game continued, and they only listened again when they heard Takumi's indignant voice.

"Isami! What do you think you're doing ?!"

"Calm down Nii-chan! I promise you'll enjoy the challenge."

Hisako turned to Yuki to ask what was happening and heard the girl laugh as she spoke

"It's just that Ibusaki dared Isamichii to challenge his own brother"

"Is it fair?" Erina seemed to doubt that this was legal in the game.

"Well, Alicihii said nothing, so I suppose it's legitimate"

The three girls turned their attention to the game just as Isami revealed his challenge

"I'm sorry nii-chan.. but it's a challenge then ... " Isami seemed to think and at the end gave a friendly smile "Let's make it something fun, why don't you call Tadokoro to dance?"

Megumi felt her cheeks burn and Takumi's eyes widened with his brother's daring.

"YOU WANT ME TO DO WHAT?"

"Ah nii-chan you've always been a waltz and I'm sure Tadokoro will not bother, especially after you've offered to take a challenge in her defense" "It was not like this Isami! Do not make it sound like something that is not."

"Whatever. I'm sorry nii-chan but game is game."

The younger Italian finished with a raised hand as if to say that he could do nothing.

"But we don't even have music!" Takumi tried to argue once again and was silent with the sight of all of his friends showing off their cellphones with various music streaming programs. The blonde sighed and gave up. He rose in the direction of the blue-haired girl.

Megumi shivered in anticipation. She knew how to dance, but she had never danced with Takumi, much less in front of an audience. The girl saw the boy reach out his hand and almost got lost in his blue eyes.

"Tadokoro, do you give me the honor of this dance?"

She shivered at his chivalry. She felt like a princess in the eyes of a prince, and she began to realize how much she liked this feeling.

"Hmmm ... yeah ... alright " She let a shy smile grace her face and the two stood in the center of the circle.

The music began to play and they began to dance slowly at the sound of first notes. Takumi wrapped one of the girl's hands in his and let the other fit on her waist in a firm, protective grip, meanwhile Megumi, still nervous, followed in his footsteps and let the trembling hand become accustomed to a place on his broad shoulder. Concentrated on follow the dance steps, they did not even look into each other's eyes. Megumi was afraid of drowning again in those blue eyes. Takumi was sure that if he looked into her eyes he would be lost forever. The music advanced and Takumi gained confidence enough to make her whirl in the chorus. He took advantage of the closeness he gained after turning her around and bent to whisper in her ear with the intention of soothe her.

"Calm Principessa*. Try to relax a bit, I promise we'll be done soon"

The problem was right there. She wasn't sure if she wanted that dance to end. She felt his fingers caress her hand in an attempt to make her relax and thanked him mentally for the concern and attention he was giving her. Takumi felt the girl's body relax in his hands and breathed in relief. He knew it had not been her choice to be there, but he would do whatever he needed to make her feel as little uncomfortable as possible. After all, she was not to blame for the wrong choices of that stupid game. It was only when the music was over and that the cheers of their friends resonated around the room that they remembered that they weren't alone. Takumi disengaged himself from the girl leaving a chaste kiss in her hand.

"Thank you, Tadokoro."

In that moment, when he met her eyes, she almost thanked Alice for suggesting that game. The two returned to their proper places amid praise and cheers, but without taking the shy smiles from their faces. The game continued with Shun being challenged by Isshiki to wear his apron. Ryo being challenged to eat one of Soma's culinary abominations, and Zenji being challenged to spend at least a week without complaining about parties in his room. And when Mito asked Isshiki what his greatest regret was, they all listened intently the boy's story:

"I'd say that my greatest regret was to never paid attention to how Nene felt. I regret not having done anything before and the consequences reflect on our almost non-existent relationship. I miss her, what we were, and perhaps what we might have been if only I had been more attentive to her feelings, "Isshiki confessed without ever taking the smile off his face. But everyone could see how his eyes conveyed something mixed with pain and missing. Daigo and Shoji were the first to speak.

"That's some deep shit bro"

"Yeah...that's fucking deep"

"I think there's still time, Isshiki-senpai! Why don't you try and talk to her? " Megumi advised and was backed by Yuki.

"Yes! Isshiki- senpai! See this as an extra challenge."

The brown-haired young man smiled and accepted the challenge.

"Since I have the support of my dear kohais. I accept the challenge."

And then the bottle was turned one last time for a certain pair of young people. When it stopped it made it clear that the final battle had finally began. The Nakiri's looked at each other menacingly. Erina was already feeling the effects of the drink turn her conscience and she was afraid of losing her senses at any moment, but she couldn't let her cousin threat her dignity even more by choosing a challenge. She looked into her cousin's red eyes and turned her last glass of 'juice' from the night.

"Ask your question at once, Alice."

"Calm down dear cousin. I know you can't wait to reveal your secrets, but we're going to have to filter them, right?

“Fuck off Alice”

"Apparently, the drink is already making your tongue very loose, isn't it, Erina?"

Erina needed all her strength to keep control of herself and waited patiently. Meanwhile, Alice seemed to think hard about the question she would ask. She didn't want to waste questions like Marui or even be as predictable as Yuki. Alice smiled and raised one eyebrow.

"So, Erina, is it true that you think Yukihira's food is delicious, but doesn't admit it because of your pride?"

Erina's eyes widened. Alice had cornered her like an animal waiting for the hunter's slaughter. How had she discovered this that was one of her deepest secrets? True, she didn't know why she felt strangely happy when she was in his company. And she didn't know why she always felt her stomach turn when he smiled in her direction. But there was one thing she knew from the first day she'd seen him at that entrance test. And this was the fact that she recognized that day that the boy's food was indeed delicious and that her pride and his attitude had forced her to not admit it. She tried to untie the knot that was stuck in her throat and ended up feeling the taste of the drink still lingering. Everyone was looking at her with curiosity, especially a certain redhead. She stared into her cousin's eyes and let pride predominate in her response.

“Dare”

“I beg a pardon?”

“I choose dare”

#

Principessa* = Princess in italian.

[linkspooky]

Yuji, Alone. 

I have been saying in my past few meta that Yuji has a really unhealthy way of viewing both himself, and his relationships with others. Yuji is excellent at reading the feelings of others and empathizing with them, and at the same time terrible at processing his own emotions, a trait he shares with Geto who he is once again paralleling this chapter by choosing to stew in isolation rather than reach out for support. 

Chapter 138 does an excellent job of showing how deep these issues run, which I will explain under the cut. 

1. Yuji and Geto

If I were to explain the unhealthy mindset Yuji has by simplifying it down to one sentenence, simply stated it would be “I want to help others, but I don’t want to accept help from other people.” 

Both Yuji and Geto are so motivated by empathy they feel like they are responsible for solving other people’s problems, and they often use other people rather than themselves as a reason to move. They’re actually selfless to a fault. In that, it’s a problem in their behavior. They do everything they do for other peope, so they have no idea what they themselves want. If Gojo is someone who has a strong self image, a strong set of beliefs, an idea of what he wants to do to the world, Geto and Yuji are people who try not to think about themselves at all. 

Not only does Yuji almost never critically exam his own motivations, but he also doesn’t think of his relationships with other people. 

This is something Yaga pointed out as a danger with Yuji’s way of going about things, all the way at the beginning of his arc. If you’re doing it because your grandpa told you so, then is it really something you want to do? When you die, is it going to be your grandpa’s fault too?

Yuji is someone who seems selfless on the surface, and to an extent he is, but just like Geto that’s not all there is to him. It’s something Gojo called out early on, Geto presented himself as someone selfless, motivated entirely by using his powers to protect others, but he was also doing so self righteously. 

To clarify what I mean by self righteous, Geto believed that he was doing something because it was the objective right thing to do, but actually it was just his own personal feelings. That’s why after Riko’s death forced him to critically examine himself, he realized he didn’t want to follow the rules of Jujutsu Society. 

Both Yuji and Geto pay attention to others, but also have the blinders on in regards to themselves, and that’s the parallel right there. Yuji says he is doing these things for other people, that his number one priority is to save them but that motivation is even deconstructed in the third chapter.

Yuji’s not actually doing this for purely altruistic reasons, but for selfish ones. He wanted to do something that nobody else could do. Yuji’s life was like a vaccuum before this point. He didn’t have any real friends, or anything he wanted to do. Suddenly he had a purpose basically gift wrapped and handed to him on his lap. 

Basically, Yuji and Geto both have this schewed way of seeing other people. They thing other people exist to validate their own existences. 

To put it simply. If Hidden Inventory Geto helps weak people than he’s valid. If Yuji helps people, then he’s valid. 

Not only is the way they view themselves built around how they help other people, but at the same time all of their relationships are built up on this as well. Relationships that are built upon shaky foundations will crumble apart easily when tested. 

Geto’s most important relationship was with Gojo, they had an intense chemistry and interaction with one another like they were made for each other. They were both good at naturally balancing each other out, Geto was the one who stood up to Gojo and acted like a tether, and Gojo ackonwledged Geto as his one and only. 

However, the relationship was also built on the idea that Gojo needed Geto. Geto was only able to view his relationships with other people in that way. Geto, wants to take care of people, wants to help people. However, eventually, he was left behind by Gojo who no longer needed him as a partner in combat. On top of that, Geto awoke to a higher purpose in ridding the world of cursed energy. Geto wants to be needed by somebody in the same sense that Yuji does, so for Geto at least being needed to save the whole world in his eyes, was just more important than maintaining his relationship with Gojo. 

Which is why both Geto and Yuji’s relationships fall apart. They are great at making relationshisps, but not at maintaining them. Attention is drawn to the fact that the trio has great chemistry with each other and get along well, but they’re also terrible at communicating with each other. 

"The seats... in my life... How should I put this? I don't want my heart to be affected by people who don't have a place there. Does that sound cold? Well, I guess there are also guys like you who brings their own chair and takes a seat." Translation by Miho.

Almost literally, I don’t want anyone who’s not a part of my life to try to talk to me or tell me what to do. Also the reference that Yuji is kind of different because Yuji just kind of walked into her life unannounced and invited himself there (this is how Yuji forms relationships with everyone.)

All three of them go behind each other’s backs and keep secrets from one another. All three of them avoid direct confrontation, Nobara even says she doesn’t really want anyone else even trying to tell her how to live her life. The Origin of Obedience arc shows that Nobara, Yuji and Megumi are all good at fighting together as a team, but also questioning if they have a healthy friendship outside of that?

Any relationship takes work, confrontation, arguments and even just plain old talking about things. However, someone who is primarily insecure in their relationships will not be able to do things.  Couples shouldn’t only argue, but couples who never argue is just as unhealthy. If you are so afraid that one argument is going to end a relationship, then your relationship was fragile to begin with. 

Yuji and Geto experience conditional relatinoships. In the sense that, they are only allowed to have friends, if they are helpful to those friends. They themselves are never allowed to ask for help. It’s true that Gojo was kind of blind to Geto’s faults, but also Geto would have never asked for help. Gojo could not see, and Geto deliberately hid things from them. 

Geto always makes his relationships on the condition that he is needed. When Gojo grew more independent, Geto took that as a sign that Gojo didn’t need him anymore and deliberately started to pull away.

Because, Geto isn’t ever allowed to be the one who needs someone else. 

2. Avoidant Attachment

This is just a personal theory of mine, but I think Yuji’s issues might even center around the psychological idea of attachment theory. Especially it’s since deliberately mentioned to Junpei, that Yuji never met his mother. 

Attachment theory is a complex idea, but basically it states that attachment to other people, that is the idea to form healthy relationships with family members, friends, romantic partners is learned instead of naturally present in us. It’s a skill people develop in their formative years. 

Those who show patterns of problematic attachment in childhood will continue the behavior into adulthood unless it’s corrected, because attachment is a skill that’s developed the same as anything else. Of the four categories, Yuji and Geto most resemble this one. 

Avoidant attachment: Children with an avoidant attachment tend to avoid parents or caregivers, showing no preference between a caregiver and a complete stranger. This attachment style might be a result of abusive or neglectful caregivers. Children who are punished for relying on a caregiver will learn to avoid seeking help in the future.

Which goes further to explain how they can be so empathic towards other people, and yet the same time completely unable to maintain close relationships with them. It’s because, they avoid people at the same time. They don’t seek out help when they need it, because, deep down they view themselves as unworthy of the help. 

Geto did not immediately break after the trauma of losing Riko, it was the year of isolation after that where he slowly was consumed by his regrets. Geto got worse and worse over a period of time because he couldn’t handle his trauma in any healthy way, until he just completely snapped. 

During that time he asked himself the same questions over and over again, but Geto wasn’t able to find any kind of healthy answer to his questions because, he didn’t reach out for anybody. It wasn’t just the trauma, it was the behavior after the trauma, the decision to isolate himself for over a year. No one does well in isolation. You need other people to grow or develop. If anything Geto stagnated. Geto’s central flaw was his self-righteousness. Rather than realizing he was wrong and trying to change this flaw of his, he just doubles down and becomes even more self righteous. He goes from believing he’s responsible for protecting all the weak people, to believing he’s a superior being tasked with eliminating all the weak people in the world. So, it’s not really that Geto changed, moreso that he stagnated because he cut off all his relationships with other people. 

And isn’t Yuji doing the exact same thing right now? Yaga even points out this similaritiy between Geto and Yuji, that they try to carry every regret and burden they have on their own. 

It’s not out of selflessness that they do this though, but rather insecurity. Geto didn’t come to Gojo with his problems, because he wanted to be the strongest alongside Gojo he didn’t want to be weak. He was deliberately avoiding Gojo. 

I think it’s important to establish that Yuji wasn’t abandoned by his friends this chapter. Yuji is alone, because he chose to be alone. He’s alone because he’s avoiding both of his friends, because he’s so, so afraid the friendship will end because it’s based entirely on the condition that he be a helpful, good person.

It’s true that Yuji is genuinely worried about his friends getting hurt because of him, but look at his choices. He’s not really tackling the problem in a healthy way. He’s doing everything he can to avoid the problem, isolating himself, and just trying not to think about things. He could try to talk with Megumi and find a solution, but he’s not doing that because he’s insecure in his attachment to others. 

I think his reaction to Choso pretty clearly illustrates this too. Yuji isn’t around his friends because he doesn’t want to be around them. Which is tragic, because Yuji is holding himself responsible for the mass murder which isn’t really his fault. However, Yuji saw his relationship with both Nobara and Megumi as conditional to begin with. He can only be friends with people he can help, and he can never receive help from them. It’s unhealthy to start with because relationships go both ways. Yuji is also, completely unresponsive to Choso.

Yes. Choso suddenly walking to him and delcaring them brothers is really weird.  I don’t expect Yuji to just suddenly start getting along with him right away.

At the same time, Choso explains what the unconditional love between family is between Yuji, and Yuji just doesn’t get it, because he either hasn’t experienced enough of it, or his grandpa the only person that ever unconditionally loved him is gone. Yuji can’t understand Megumi’s love for him is unconditional,. because from the beginning he sees all relationships as conditional. 

Yuji and Choso are facing opposite direcitons because they’re opposites. Choso is willing to hurt complete strangers too, but his love for his family is unconditional and he will do anything for them. Yuji will help complete strangers, but, he doesn’t really understand unconditional love, and even his love with his closest friends has a few conditions. 

Which is why someone who appears on the surface as such a friendly guy who makes friends everywhere he goes, can call himself “a loner” because in Yuji’s mind he is. He doesn’t have friends, he has people who need him. 

Which is just incredibly sad because Yuji doesn’t understand this. Yuji isolates himself thinking he’s doing it for the sake of his friends, but neither Megumi nor Nobara would want him to be alone.