(Pov Satoshi)
Satoru had informed me of the beginning of the mission involving Yuji and Nanami. It would be about a day now until Nanami runs into Mahito in the sewers and engages in battle with him. It wouldn't do much, though, as Nanami doesn't know the shape of his soul despite my previous assistance. After I first woke up from my post Toji injuries, I had tried to teach the others how to view their own souls to give them an advantage in future fights, but it turns out that's not very easy. Each soul has its own shape, and finding yours is nearly impossible without outside help. Mahito can see them because of his technique, and Yuji knew of his because of Sukuna taking up space within him.
There had been the possibility of just hitting them with the Soul Split Katana to try and force them to understand the soul like I had to, but my case was special. In this world, the body and soul are very closely linked. It's why when Mahito manipulates the soul, it distorts the body, but in the case of those with a restriction like mine, the body is powerful enough to control the soul. It was this that allowed me to live despite the damage to my soul, as my body was still in relatively good shape, and later it would allow Toji to dominate the soul of the body he would be summoned into.
That always made me wonder what would happen to me if Mahito tried manipulating my soul, but I wasn't curious enough to let him actually try. Instead, I needed to prepare myself for the conflict and learn more about my own soul as well. I had sort of neglected it after learning the shape of mine, as that was all I needed to use the Soul Split Katana properly, but I would need to know more of it for later. For instance, if the Culling Games do happen, Megumi's sister will likely show up, and if I can understand the soul enough, I may be able to cut the soul of Yorozu away from Tsumiki, and if I can do that, then I could do the same for Yuji or Megumi with Sukuna to bring the fight to an end early. It had worked before when I used the sword to separate Maki and Mai without needing to kill them, unlocking both of their full potential.
It was the end of the day when I went to go and check on Shoko, but when I entered her office, there were two bodies on the table already. "Satoshi, come take a look at these." She said, already puffing on her cigarette. The two bodies were distended and disgusting creatures resembling curses, and yet, despite being dead, they persisted instead of disintegrating. I knew what these were, then the bodies of transfigured humans created by Mahito, their souls and physical forms twisted beyond recognition. Even without my prior knowledge, I could tell they were former humans due to the lack of the unique scent that curses give off and the lack of cursed energy they gave off, as even the weakest of cursed spirits will give off some static-like tingles from their bodies.
"They look like curses, but their bodies are human," I stated after looking them over. Shoko nodded, a tired look in her eyes. "Where did you get these things?"
"Nanami sent them over said he, and Itadori ran into them during their investigation." She said, handing over one of her cigarettes. I had tried quitting at one point a few years back, but this job is stressful enough without going through withdrawal. There are only so many times you can snap at your friends before they stop being your friends. "So what do you make of it?" She asked after a moment. I didn't know how to respond without making it seem like I knew more than I should, but this was a good opportunity to get involved myself.
"I think that those two are in trouble. I'm going to head out and try to meet up with them before whatever did this comes back." I finally said, doing my best to sound genuinely worried, though I trusted the others to hold their own for now.
"What about your students don't you need to actually teach them?" She asked.
"I'll just get Satoru to help them for a day or something; he owes me a few," I responded and began to leave when she grabbed my hand.
"Just be careful ok whatever did this is more dangerous than anything I've seen before." She said with worry in her tone.
I pulled her into a hug and squeezed her. "Hey, you know me i'll be fine i'll be back in a day or two."
She looked up at me before sighing and giving a small nod. I hugged her one last time before letting go and finally leaving. As I left, I got out my phone and gave a call to Nanami, but it failed to go through. That was slightly concerning, as it most likely meant that Nanami had already gone underground to look for Mahito and could already be fighting him. The town where the investigation was taking place was a few hours away, so it would be a bit before I could get there, but once I was there, I would need to find Yuji and Junpei first.
It was another two hours before I finally made my way to the small town that had been under threat by the curse, and I had finally been able to get into contact with Nanami, so he had filled me in, though I already knew the information. The human-looking curse, Mahito, had an ability that allowed him to manipulate the soul and was responsible for the deaths and strange monsters that had been sent back. Nanami had found his lair in the city sewers and engaged him, but was unable to do much damage given his inability to damage the soul, and as such, he was forced to withdraw after going into overtime. It was kate but the sun was still up, meaning I had time, and I knew generally where Yuji and Junpei would be at the moment.
I was thankfully correct, as not long after arriving near the river running through the town, I found Yuji talking with a young boy with black hair and a sad-looking face, clearly Junpei. This was good. I had actually gotten here earlier than I thought. Now, I could change things even further. Originally, I had planned to save Junpei and recruit him to Jujutsu high but now I could save his mother and prevent him from going down the path that led to his death.
"Hey, Yuji, who's your friend?" I called out, startling the two boys, though Yuji was quick to recover, and a large smile broke out on his face.
"Hey, Gojo-Sensei, what are you doing here?" The boy asked, running up to me with Junpei following behind much more cautiously.
"Well, I heard you and Nanami were having some trouble, so I came to check on you. Now, who's this guy?" I asked once more, gesturing to Junpei behind him.
"Oh yeah, this is Yoshino Junpei, he's the guy who was in the theatre when this started, he's actually really cool, and he likes good movies," Yuji said, gesturing to the boy who looked a little uncomfortable with the attention.
I gave the kid a look and could tell immediately he had quite a bit of potential as a sorcerer, as, given his lack of practice, his cursed energy was pouring off of him to the point I could feel it tingling already like one of those old fat TV sets. Before I could say anything, though, a new voice interrupted us. "Hey Junpei, who are your new friends? Why don't you ever tell me anything?" It was a woman's voice, and when I looked over, I saw who had been talking, and it was clear she was the boy's mother. They had the same dark hair, and their faces had very similar features as well.
"Mom, what are you doing here?" Junpei asked, embarrassed, clearly overwhelmed as his face grew red.
"I heard my son was skipping school again, and now I catch you hanging out with delinquents for shame." She said while messing with his hair. "Oh, relax, I'm just messing with you."
"Hello Yoshino-San, I'm Itadori Yuji Junpei's friend. Sorry for ditching school with him," Yuji said, giving a short bow as well.
"Oh, so polite its fine, really. Junpei's always been a quiet boy. I'm just glad he has friends now." She said in response before turning to me. "Who might you be?"
"I'm Gojo Satoshi, and Itadori is one of my students. I came by to check on him when I found both of them here." I said before, adding a little extra. "In fact, I believe your son would do very well at our school; he has quite the aptitude."
That seemed to shock everyone, Yuji most of all, as he hadn't been able to tell if Junpei could see curses yet. I had known for a while I wanted to fully recruit Junpei into Jujutsu high and if I could get his mother to agree, that would be good as well. As I gave a brief explanation of the school while not yet mentioning any of the special stuff, she decided to invite both of us for dinner to discuss the idea some more. This would be my chance to save her, as somewhere in her house would be one of Sukuna's fingers that would attract curses to the home, killing her and sending Junpei down his dark path, but I could find it first and prevent her death. After that, it would be a simple matter to draw out Mahito, and with Yuji Nanami and Junpei dealing with him, it should be easy.
I was confident things seemed like they'd work out just right.