Every year, October marked Japan's season of harvest celebrations, and with it came a succession of major sporting events.
As the pressure within the jujutsu world eased, a sense of lightness spread everywhere. Veteran sorcerers who had weathered countless battles gathered to drink together, savoring fine alcohol and good food, while assistant supervisors from the logistics departments crowded into izakayas, forming impromptu complaint conventions where they vented their grievances to their hearts' content.
Inside a high-end private room, more than a dozen assistant supervisors were dining together.
Don't be fooled by the fact that they couldn't compare to frontline combatants. Caught between sorcerers and the Headquarters, they endured endless indignities, and their income was noticeably lower as well. Yet their circle understood the necessity of sticking together for warmth. It was highly insular and sharply exclusionary—if you weren't one of their own, it was difficult to find common ground, let alone receive an invitation to an izakaya gathering where jujutsu-world affairs were discussed openly.
"This year, the most promising sorcerers at Tokyo Jujutsu High are without a doubt Gojo Satoru and Geto Suguru."
"I heard they're already semi–special grade?"
"That's right! Two absolute problem children. They don't know the meaning of respect for instructors—whoever draws the short straw to teach them is the one who suffers!"
"Their promotion speed is terrifyingly fast. I wouldn't be surprised if those two students become full special-grade sorcerers next year. Compared to them, their classmate Asou Akiya is much more normal—he's currently a Grade Three sorcerer…"
"Asou-kun is an angel! An angel sent to save assistant supervisors!"
"Hey, Ishii, are you drunk or what?"
"I'm not exaggerating at all. Whether it's the assistant supervisors teaching classes or the ones assigned to follow behind those two genius sorcerers, we rely on Asou-kun every single time to get missions done. Sometimes he even helps us write mission reports! Do you have any idea how valuable that is? Those two genius sorcerers love nothing more than ditching us and running off to complete missions on their own!"
"…Thank goodness I wasn't assigned to them."
"Don't celebrate too early. They don't have fixed assistant supervisors—whoever gets assigned from above has no choice but to go."
"I heard there's a third-year student at Tokyo Jujutsu High who wants to become an assistant supervisor. Is that just a rumor?"
"No, it's true. That Miss Mei Mei has expressed interest. Maybe it's just a momentary whim from a young lady of a sorcerer clan. Being an assistant supervisor isn't easy—sure, the casualty rate is low, but the likelihood of developing depression is even higher."
"It's miserable. If it weren't for the paycheck…"
"We're basically a bunch of human punching bags."
As the negative emotions continued to pile up, one of the female assistant supervisors, Ms. Usami, quickly spoke up, trying to rein things in. "Everyone, let's control our emotions a little. We won't spawn cursed spirits, but being this pessimistic will still affect our work later."
The male assistant supervisors gave their female colleague some face and sighed in unison.
"Drink. Let's drink."
The topic gradually shifted from complaining about how hard it was to be an assistant supervisor to discussing who was the most terrifying presence at Tokyo Jujutsu High.
One assistant supervisor raised his hand and said, "I nominate the 'Six Eyes.' Just getting glanced at once makes my skin crawl."
Ms. Usami followed up, "I nominate the Cursed Spirit Manipulator. That guy's smiling face is terrifying, and he even threatens people."
Another assistant supervisor, one who had once been unlucky enough to enter the infirmary, shuddered as he spoke. "Ieiri Shoko. When she picks up a scalpel, it's honestly scary. I thought she was going to dissect the sorcerer she was treating just because he talked a little too much…"
One assistant supervisor burst into tears. "Every time I see Miss Mei Mei and she asks how much savings I have, the contempt in her eyes is scarier than my wife's!"
Despite his mafia-like appearance, Yaga Masamichi didn't make it onto the list of terrifying figures at all. After spending enough time together, everyone knew him well enough to understand that Tokyo Jujutsu High's second-in-command was actually a warm-hearted teacher, and he treated assistant supervisors kindly.
"Doesn't anyone think Asou-kun is pretty scary too?" someone suddenly asked. "I mean, being classmates with both the 'Six Eyes' and the Cursed Spirit Manipulator?"
"Do you think Asou-kun might switch careers and become an assistant supervisor someday…?"
A few drunken remarks like these surfaced now and then, but before long, they were drowned out and forgotten.
After all, Tokyo Jujutsu High was overflowing with talent this year.
Who among them didn't have something extraordinary about them?
Put another way—
For a jujutsu sorcerer to survive long-term in the jujutsu world, you either had to be strong enough, crazy enough, or smart enough.
On October 5th, Yaga Masamichi received a Teacher's Day gift from the entire class.
It consisted of four handwritten greeting cards from the students, along with a bouquet of carnations purchased with everyone pitching in together.
The one who had come up with the idea was, naturally, Asou Akiya. If the planning had been left to the other three students, whose attitudes toward such things were largely indifferent, there would have been no chance of organizing a class activity capable of genuinely moving Yaga Masamichi.
On the contrary, getting his veins to bulge in anger would have been far easier for them.
Yaga Masamichi clumsily gathered the bouquet into his arms and lowered his gaze to the four cards tucked among the flowers.
Each Teacher's Day message—and each person's handwriting—was as distinctive as their personality, every one of them unmistakably unique.
[Gojo Satoru]
Yaga! I think you're actually pretty decent as a homeroom teacher~.
[Geto Suguru]
Yaga-sensei, happy Teacher's Day! Please overlook Gojo's habitual lack of honorifics.
[Asou Akiya]
I really did my best to get the whole class to cooperate, dear Yaga-sensei. Happy Teacher's Day!
[Ieiri Shoko]
Yaga-sensei, Akiya picked the flowers, and we all split the cost. I suggest you don't get too emotional—be careful, or Gojo and Geto might laugh at you behind your back.
Yaga Masamichi nearly embarrassed himself as his eyes stung and reddened.
A middle-aged man who should have been sending countless students out into the wider jujutsu world found his voice hoarse with emotion, replying to his students with a few unpolished, hurried words.
He was married, but he had no children of his own.
The students of Tokyo Jujutsu High were the vessel into which he poured his ideals, his hopes, and everything he believed in.
But how many of them could truly bear the weight of such expectations?
Only a handful, at most.
Yaga Masamichi understood that this year was different—utterly, fundamentally different. With Asou Akiya actively working to bind the class together, they were no longer cold, isolated jujutsu sorcerers operating as individuals, but classmates who entrusted one another with something rare and precious: genuine friendship.
Faced with Asou Akiya, who carried himself almost like a class representative, Yaga Masamichi finally found himself entertaining the idea of taking on a personal disciple.
Gojo and Geto would grow strong even without his full guidance.
Shoko was an indispensable member of the support staff; there was little he could teach her, and he himself did not understand Reverse Cursed Technique.
Only Asou—
Yaga Masamichi knew that the boy was an orphan, a reckless child who had willingly abandoned the ordinary world to plunge into the jujutsu society. He likely bore immense pressure on his shoulders, was bound by a contract with the Gojo family, and although things were manageable now with Yaga guiding him through missions, once he graduated—if he chose to continue chasing after his classmates' footsteps—his road would almost certainly be steep and unforgiving.
Yaga Masamichi could not bring himself to stand by and watch Asou Akiya struggle alone. A Grade 3 sorcerer was simply too weak in the jujutsu world.
Rather than regret it someday, it was better to make the decision now.
After accepting the gifts and finishing class as usual—deliberately ignoring the awful, expectant expressions on Gojo Satoru's and Geto Suguru's faces as they waited for him to tear up—Yaga Masamichi called Asou Akiya to his office alone.
"Asou," he said calmly, "would you like to become my disciple?"
Not a student.
A disciple.
Yaga Masamichi made the distinction unmistakably clear, regarding Asou Akiya as a piece of uncut jade.
Perhaps, in the eyes of others, Asou Akiya's potential was limited, someone who would never reach the rank of a Grade 1 sorcerer in his lifetime. But Yaga Masamichi wanted to try—to see, after pouring in every ounce of effort to polish and carve him, just how far the boy could go.
Asou Akiya answered the question without answering it at all, a faint smile playing on his lips.
"Sensei," he said lightly, "I'm quite shrewd, you know. Ordinary people don't stand a chance of taming me."
Yaga Masamichi: "?"
Asou Akiya broke into a radiant smile. "Haven't you noticed? I acknowledged you from the very beginning."
There was no hot tea in the office, no ceremonial tools laid out for a formal initiation. Asou Akiya found the situation faintly unsatisfying.
"I don't like forming bonds with people," he said calmly. "After leaving the orphanage, I never wanted to go back. Spending time with people who are destined to drift onto parallel lines makes me unbearably sad. People always change—most grow mediocre, a few grow rotten—and I'm someone who is drawn to strength by nature. I don't want to waste my energy on people who choose to sink on their own."
"There's a line by the French poet Rimbaud that I've loved for a long time."
"I am willing to become anyone—either everything, or nothing at all."
"I'm always a little greedier than you imagine, a little bolder too. The question is whether you dare to accept that."
"Yaga-sensei," Asou Akiya said, his gaze steady and unflinching, "would you be willing to adopt me?"
"Let me take care of you in your old age."
With a single sentence, Asou Akiya dropped a king straight onto the table.
The fifteen-year-old did not want to bow in formal apprenticeship, nor did he want to serve tea; he wanted to become family—to become the son of Yaga Masamichi, a Grade 1 jujutsu sorcerer.
It was a decision made on the spot, yet his voice was firm and resolute, striking directly at the core of Yaga Masamichi's heart, binding it tightly so that the man would not pour all of his pent-up paternal affection onto some unknown future Panda cursed corpse. Asou Akiya wanted to leave Yaga Masamichi an extra path forward: if there had to be a son, wouldn't a human one be better at this stage, more meaningful?
He did not want a diluted bond between teacher and student.
He wanted all of Yaga Masamichi's fatherly love.
"Ah?" Yaga Masamichi was utterly stunned by his student's words.
He had long known that Asou Akiya was both reckless enough and clever enough, but turning the act of taking on a disciple into adopting a son was far beyond his expectations. In the jujutsu world, inheritance was an ancient and solemn matter; an adoptive father–son relationship went far beyond that of master and disciple. Very few sorcerers were willing to take such a step—unless they had resigned themselves to never having biological children and to severing the hope of passing down their technique by blood.
In fact, Yaga Masamichi had no biological children at present either, and his marriage could only be described as barely holding together.
"Wait… give me a moment to think," Yaga Masamichi said slowly. "Akiya, you want me to adopt you?"
"Yes."
"Why? What is it that you want? Anything you wish to learn, I can teach you."
"Those things don't compare to you yourself, Yaga-sensei."
Asou Akiya made no effort to hide the excitement and ambition blazing in his eyes. He would unite every force that could be united, seize every chance to form deep and unbreakable bonds, push himself to a higher position, change the fate of those he cared about, and transform himself from a mere chess piece into someone who could leap beyond the board itself.
"Yaga-sensei," he said clearly, "I want a father's love—a jujutsu sorcerer father worthy of respect."
Yaga Masamichi was the kind of man who would give his life for the Panda cursed corpse, even though Panda was not human and would likely never call him "Father" even once in his lifetime.
Wasn't that, too, a blazing affection that transcended reality?
Asou Akiya wanted it.
He wanted it with a near-mad intensity, desperate to break free from a dull reality and from relationships that were never wholehearted enough.
At that moment, Asou Akiya suddenly remembered that he was, at heart, still a child in need of an adult to rely on—alone in the world—while the middle-aged man before him was wavering. Taking full advantage of his youth, of his boyish face, he pressed forward without hesitation, openly acting spoiled toward Yaga Masamichi.
"Is there anything about me that you're dissatisfied with? I can change! I really, really like the kind of person you are!"
As he spoke, his smile lifted with his words, bright and unrestrained.
Why bother with restraint, why hesitate at all? When the moment to act arrived, he was willing to wager everything, to place his very self upon the gambling table.
Today was Teacher's Day; next year, it could be Father's Day—wasn't that wonderful?
In the future, he could even become the older brother of the Panda cursed corpse!
…
Yaga Masamichi's heart fell into turmoil.
This was bad—urgent, even. His favorite student wanted to become his adopted son, and on top of that, he was obedient, sensible, adorable, and frighteningly good at acting spoiled!
—
Author's Notes:
Asou Akiya: I'm very greedy—you've all seen it, haven't you? But this greed makes me happy; it lets me go mad, just once.
Asou Akiya: I want to be Yaga-sensei's child, to be the Panda cursed corpse's older brother!
Asou Akiya: All or nothing—everything or nothing at all!
In the original work, after the Panda cursed corpse was created, the databook states that it had no name and was simply called "Panda," solely because it was the only panda at Tokyo Jujutsu High.
This indirectly shows that Yaga Masamichi was lonely at heart and longed for children, caring little for bloodline, family name, or the symbolic inheritance of techniques.
After becoming adoptive father and son with Yaga-sensei, Asou Akiya wouldn't even need to change his surname!