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#and Tsumiki would like Choso because he likes Megumi
runabout-river · 3 days
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No matter what Gege does with Gojo, I don’t think it will be satisfying for me
I considered every option for what could possibly happen with Gojo, regardless of how likely I think they are, and I genuinely can't find myself considering any of them a satisfying conclusion.
**1. He is dead and no one will mention him in the last chapter.**
Hate this. So much. Random civilians in Shibuya were shown respect by Yuji in the middle of chaos and panic, but nobody has ANYTHING nice to say about Gojo?? Since the fight ended, we got Kusakabe saying he is at fault for not killing Yuji and Shoko calling him an idiot (endearingly) for not destroying Geto's body. Lovely.
**2. He is dead and somebody will say something or we will be shown a grave.**
Better but still bad. I feel like the ship has sailed at this point. They had a chance while reflecting on the fight and we got nothing. Megumi and Shoko were at Tsumiki's grave and... we got nothing. I think it's pretty safe to say no one will be mourning him in the last chapter, they're already going on missions after all. And a simple mention feels incredibly cold and empty.
**3. He is dead but will come back to life due to his soul still not departing and sacrificing one of the Six Eyes in a binding vow.**
I won't comment on how possible or not this is because Yuta managed to return to his body simply by being in proximity of Rika. If Gege wants to write it, he can. However, we are talking about the last chapter of the manga and this would absolutely take away the spotlight from Yuji. Not to mention that this route needs groundwork that I don't think 19 pages can provide for. ALSO, this still doesn't explain why nobody is sad or willing to acknowledge him because, to them, he is dead.
**4. He is actually alive and that's why nobody has been shown to be sad about him.**
Would make sense in terms of characters like Yuji and Yuta not showing any emotion towards him. But this isn't like Nobara's situation. Like I said, it needs build up. A character like Gojo should be shown making his choice, not just appearing out of nowhere. It would add absolutely nothing to his arc and would honestly be pure fanservice.
**5. The dream theory.**
I don’t know how much you've heard about this but there is a theory going around that these last chapters or more have all been a dream. I won't do any analysis on the validity of it because this isn't important to my point. "Who's dream?" is the actual question here.
**a) It is Yuji's dream.**
You want to tell me somebody as kind and compassionate as Yuji has no place for his teacher in his dream of a happier tomorrow? Get out of here.
**b) It is a collective dreamlike state, a product of Sukuna's activation of the Merger despite the rules imposed on it.**
Again, nobody, not a single soul, has it in their heart to include Gojo in their dream? In any way other than criticizing him? It would go against all the care Yuji and Yuta have shown for him and be a genuinely awful characterization. It would show he was actually not loved at all, something we know isn't true.
**c) It is Gojo's dream.**
So, Gojo is dreaming of a world where his body is used as a weapon, his students don't care enough to even mention his name and life goes on as if he never existed? He can imagine himself being blamed but not having a place in his ideal future? Do you want me to kill myself?
I would really like to hear opinions or other options if you have any. Right now, this is all just sad.
*Cracks Knuckles*
First of all, I have read the dream theory and I believe it's possible but for now we take the last chapters at face value.
Yes, the lack of any mourning for Gojo (and Choso) is sad and a sour note at the end of the manga. We already had this lack of regard for his death during the Shinjuku fights. There I could understand though how the characters pushed all their feelings to the side once Gojo had been defeated.
They needed to act fast and steadfast, so we got most of their concern and other emotions while Gojo was still fighting.
Now though there is no excuse anymore. JJK had alwasy been a little loose when it came to the slower and reflective moments but Gege had the space the previous chapter to fill it with somehting meaningful. Instead we got an unnecessary explanation of the New Shadow Style school system that's just plain unimportant three chapters before the end.
So in that regard, yes, Gege fumbled it. Even in the driest part of Gojo's death, there still should've been an earth-shattering shake up of the status quo the same way his birth had changed the jujutsu world. But that was also lacking because chapter 270 basically erased all conflict in the story.
So what will happen now?
Your option 1) hate it, too :D
Option 2) nothing to add. Perfectly said how Gojo should've already been talked about instead of letting it go to the last chapter where he most likely won't get centre stage.
Now to Option 3/4) First, the last chapter will be longer than 19 pages. It was either double or tripple the length of a normal chapter so there is more time to flesh the last things out. Second, I have my own theory on how Yuta using Kenjaku's CT on Gojo's body and then getting ejected from it, might've have permanently revived Gojo.
I don't like Gojo being just alive though because that would be anticlimatic and detrimental to the high stakes and emotions that came before. It would be just one more thing in this super happy ending everyone got (except Choso). What could work though is Gojo's body being alive but in a vegetatitve state. Then it would be open ended how his story would go on.
Now the thing about the dream theory is: Yuji only imagines the good things. That's why characters where their death was ambiguous are all alive and only those who had been 100% confirmed dead are dead. With Yuji doing the dreaming, he would push negative feelings about death away and mourning is one such feeling and he had done exactly that previously as well.
If this theory comes true, Yuji would be mourning way more than just Gojo's death at the end. He would also be mourning the good end he envisioned for everyone. And that's sad but also... what I would prefer in contrast with this sugar cloud of a happy ending.
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k-martins · 9 months
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Gege killed Tsumiki because he knew Choso and her would be the most epic “cursed, protective older brother/sister” duo ever.
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thepersonperson · 2 months
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Gojo kind of sucks at being Megumi's dad but he’s definitely his dad. (An analysis of Gojo and Megumi's messy relationship.)
Notes before we start.
1) Read the light novels. They are the equivalent of Bleach's CFYOW for JJK. There is a fan translation (Book 1 & Book 2), but I will be citing the official translation from my own copies.
2) I will be mainly using the TCB scans for the manga because of their accessibility. 
3) Raws are from Mangareader(.)to.
4) Written as of JJK 263.
5) Read the light novels.
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(Click pictures for captions/citations.)
Preface
This was written with the assumption you've also read these other analyses:
The Tragedy of Gojo Satoru (aka how to read Gojo)
Gojo's Relationship to Toji
Please give them a quick glance at least.
And Remember Umineko: Without love it cannot be seen.
Gojo Satoru—World’s Most Okayish Dad
There's heavy debate on whether Gojo is a good dad or a bad dad or even if he is a dad at all to Megumi. I will argue the case for Gojo being an ok dad. Not great or terrible. Just ok.
The best way to do this I think is to start off with Megumi's biological father, Fushiguro Toji.
Gojo and Toji Parallels
Toji is objectively the worse father, but Gojo and him have a lot in common when it comes to handling emotions after your wife dies. Gege draws attention to the fact that Gojo is essentially Toji. Both in looks and function.
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What fascinates me about this comparison is not only does it visually scream at you “HEY GOJO IS MEGUMI’S SEMI-DEADBEAT DAD”, it also solidifies that Gojo has never gotten over Toji. And perhaps even idolizes him to an unhealthy degree. He’s dressed up as the Ultimate Killing Thing. Toji can kill the unkillable—The Strongest. If he’s more like Toji, he can kill Sukuna.
In addition to foreshadowing the outcome of the Gojo vs Sukuna fight, this also drew attention to the fact these two had been completely dehumanized by Jujutsu Society, albeit in polar opposite directions. Both of them suffered extreme objectification by their clans and the people around them, leading to a general disconnect from others. Their strength is worshiped, feared, and used until it kills them. The difference between them is that Gojo was deified while Toji was demonized. 
Since these comparisons appear to be deliberate, I want to examine what makes their relationship when it comes to Megumi and coping with Jujutsu Society.
Breaking the Cycle
When it comes to generational abuse, trauma, and toxic beliefs, a single generation is typically not enough to break the cycle. Often victims can recognize what went wrong but fail to address the crux of the problem and carry a softened version of that toxicity onto the next generation. I think the differences between the Zenin Clan, Toji, Gojo, and Megumi when it comes to misogyny demonstrate this idea very well. 
The Zenin Clan operates on misogyny. Women are treated as servants and breeding stock by the men who enforce this hierarchy for their benefit. (Naoya is the youngest of many older siblings because Naobito didn’t stop making his wife have children until his Cursed Technique (CT) was inherited.) Violence towards women is acceptable and encouraged. When Toji broke free of his clan, he also left behind this violence towards women. As a victim of their cruelty, he recognized that inflicting it was wrong.
That being said, I truly believe the main reason Toji didn’t massacre the Zenins was him benefiting from their misogyny as a man. Even if just a little. Naobito offered him an indirect place in the clan through selling Megumi and Naoya respected his strength. As a girl, Maki was not afforded anything and therefore had nothing to lose. The only way forward for her was to burn everything to the ground.
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And despite seeing first hand how poorly the Zenins treated women, the idea that they exist to serve men is a mentality Toji still held onto. He bummed money and childcare off women and was content to laze around while Tsumiki most likely handled housework at a young age. 
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Toji was canonically a decent husband to his wife. He also canonically fell back to his unstable behavior and abandoned his children to gamble after she died. And though I acknowledge this as a tragedy, this too is another instance of misogyny. His wife was his sole source of his emotional wellbeing, a common burden thrust onto women in relationships with men. They’re expected to not only do physical labor in the relationship, but the emotional labor too, essentially becoming a personal maid and therapist. I’m not surprised he wound up this way, he wasn’t really taught how to care for himself.
Compare this to Gojo who is even less of a misogynist than Toji. He doesn’t expect women to do anything for him. His recruiting is equal opportunity when it comes to strength and he has not once disparaged his female students on the basis of their gender. He can even recognize that the Zenin Clan is a bad place for women. His issues are far more subtle—Gojo seems to deprioritize the women in his life, even if unconsciously. Gege has stated that Gojo can never fully be honest with a woman which would explain why he emotionally shut out Shoko after Geto left. It’s not like Gojo is open with men either, but when it comes to admiration, he always thinks of male characters first and foremost.
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(It's also kind of telling that his other female student, Kiara isn't anywhere here either. Maki's face being blocked out is probably a coincidence, but it sure visually says something.)
I don’t consider Gojo’s failure to be a good teacher to Maki a part of this. He just sucks as a teacher for everyone. So much so that Gojo had to beg Nanami to mentor Yuji and bullied Miguel into training Yuta. Someone who can’t even use Cursed Energy (CE) is far beyond his capabilities. (Note how Nanami thought Gojo was coming to him for Megumi. This guy can’t even teach his alleged successor properly.)
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The main problem is how he treats Utahime. Gojo just straight up makes sexist comments towards her when he bullies her. He doesn’t do this to any other female character so I assume this is done to get under her skin instead of a deeply held belief. Since Gojo is otherwise not sexist, I think this may be a case of not being told this is outright discriminatory. For example, when Gojo is racist towards Miguel, he gets called out, immediately apologizes, and stops talking. Utahime doesn’t do that. She just tells him to respect her on the grounds she’s his elder—the very thing that Gojo is rebelling against.
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Still there’s no excuse for this. Unmarried women over 25 in Japan face a lot of stigma as it is, Gojo antagonizing her over that is a terrible thing to do. (Unless this is a case of T4T banter where Gojo’s sexist comments are Trans Inclusive Radical Misogyny.)
I’m not sure where this puts Tsumiki in Gojo’s life. Gege has admitted to fumbling her character in the story. One of the biggest complaints of fans is that it doesn’t feel like Megumi cared that intensely for her because their relationship was hardly shown, so I’m inclined to give some leeway to Gojo here.
Gojo does care about non-sorcerer lives and will go out of his way to ensure their well-being despite otherwise treating them indifferently. When it came to Geto’s family he also took care of the ones that defected because they were important to someone he loves. I have no doubt he made sure Tsumiki’s basic needs were met. There could be a whole unique dynamic he has with Tsumiki that may or may not be expanded upon in the anime or light novels. 
But as it stands, he most certainly deprioritized her in his life. To what extent? And was it for being a girl or being weak? Who knows. She’s not in the afterlife airport scene and Gojo doesn’t think about her in death. This could be for a number of reasons. 1) He has no idea she’s dead. 2) He really did just limit things to his high school years. 3) He didn’t care about her at all. My point is I don’t know and he definitely screwed up here.
In all these cases, it seems that Gojo’s problem lies less with misogyny and more with his relationship to strength. Gojo has correctly identified that strict hierarchies are a problem. As an adult he does not tell others to put up with him because of his seniority, strength, or gender. People are free to insult him, smack him, and order him around without fear of consequence. But just like how Toji still sees women as a means to serve him without being violent, Gojo sees his strength as something that separates him from other people without abusing it.
On a fundamental level Gojo stopped seeing himself as a human because of the objectification he experienced as a living weapon. Other people to him are both precious and unreachable. His internal beliefs have him convinced this immense difference in strength means no one weaker than him can ever fully understand him. And once again, just like Toji, this is all related to unprocessed trauma.
When Geto abandoned Gojo, one of his reasons was their difference in strength. Geto straight up tells Gojo this to his face. They no longer can be friends because he’s The Strongest. Geto no longer understands him because he’s The Strongest. Gojo took that to heart it seems. If his best friend won’t be with him because he’s too strong, no one can truly be with him unless they’re as strong as him. 
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I want to be clear. What broke their relationship wasn’t their difference in strength—it was exploitation at the hands of the higher ups. They kept those two separate and overworked until one of them snapped. Both of them failed to identify their work culture as the crux of their problems. Geto blamed non-sorcerers while Gojo blamed himself and only Jujutsu Society. And in the same way Toji tried to rely on women to fix his problems, Gojo went all in on strength. This is how Gojo can be correct in seeing the higher ups and tradition as a massive problem, while still overworking himself and putting his students in dangerous situations.
But despite all these flaws, Gojo did right by Megumi when raising him. Megumi is a Zenin by blood—misogyny should be present in every single drop, and yet it is not. Megumi is so divorced from sex-based hierarchies that he barely sees gender. When Todo asks a rather sleazy question about what women he likes, his answer is gender neutral and on the basis of them being a good person. He prioritizes the women in his life, respecting Maki as a role model and taking action in service to his sister’s wellbeing. His protectiveness of Tsumiki isn’t chivalrous either, Megumi extends the same prioritization to Yuji since they both meet his definition of a good person.
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Megumi has internalized Gojo’s disinterest in hierarchy so much that he has no interest in power either. When he’s made the head of the Zenin Clan, he immediately wants to give the title to Maki. A girl being more competent than Megumi is not something that bothers him in the slightest. Naoya could never. All that money and influence mean nothing to him. People and animals are all that matter to him. This violent cycle of misogyny ends with him.
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Gojo also did good by ensuring both Megumi and Maki were never exposed to the feud between the Zenin and Gojo Clans. Megumi is only made aware of it in passing as encouragement for his growth. Since Maki massacred the rest of the Zenins, that generational beef is officially over too. Two violent cycles ended in part because Gojo rejected the strict hierarchies perpetuating the problem.
The only cycle Gojo didn’t break was the over reliance on strength and child labor. He did lay the groundwork to escape it I think. None of his students believe strength means they need to be isolated. They cooperate in combat and appear to be close friends that enjoy themselves when they can. Since the higher ups are all dead and Japan is in disarray, there’s a good chance they can do something truly revolutionary with this if they survive Sukuna.
Gojo sucks at parenting, but it is still parenting.
Demonstrating how Gojo has benefited Megumi doesn’t make him a father. After all, neither Megumi or Tsumiki take his last name and Megumi refers to him as Sensei. There’s also the underlying coercion in their arrangement, Gojo’s aid came at the cost of Megumi becoming a sorcerer.
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I put the memories of their meeting side by side for comparison. Gojo's is probably more accurate since it's presented with more details and clarity. But little Megumi seeing Gojo as a strange and annoying aberration says a lot about their relationship.
So, I turn to the undisputed Mother of the Year, Geto, for comparison.
Gege has stated that Geto was a father to Mimiko and Nanako. He outwardly shows affection towards them as family and spends much more time with them However, Geto runs a cult whose aim is genocide and everyone in his cult is a family member. Geto’s daughters do not take his last name and call him Master. They participate in cult activities and murder operations as they were raised to be prejudiced. There’s also the underlying manipulation in how he recruited them at their most vulnerable. If Geto can be called dad despite all this, then Gojo should be too.
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Geto is the better parent by far, I won’t dispute that. He pursued motherhood as a means to cope with his mental illness immediately at age 17. As a cult leader he had plenty of time to be a father since he didn’t have a real job. He set his own hours while being financed by donors, allowing him to be more active in his children’s life. Gojo was not nearly as proactive, he picked up Megumi after he started the first grade.
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In Japan, children may enter the first grade in April after turning 6, therefore it can be assumed that Megumi is 6 here and the year is 2009 in April or later. Megumi is in short sleeves and the weather looks warm, so the furthest out the date could be is early September. Gojo was born on December 22, 1989 while Megumi was born on December 7, 2002, giving them a 13 year age gap that puts Gojo at age 19. Since Toji was killed in August of 2007 this means there were 1.75–2 years between his final request and Gojo acting on it. It is unknown how long Tsumiki’s mother was absent.
I do not fault Gojo for this since he could’ve never predicted their mother abandoning them. After Geto died and Nanami was in mourning, the higher ups pushed all that extra work onto him. It’s likely that Gojo had no time to pursue this until he forced the issue near the sale date. These work obligations no doubt strained his relationship with Megumi and Tsumiki as their caretaker.
Some think that this absence is proof Gojo is not a father. I think this absence is proof that he is.
An emotionally distant father who works all day, barely has time for you, and is a pain to deal with. Yes he may pay all the bills and give you a place to live, but you still kind of hate him for being an ass. Sound familiar? You probably know someone with this exact dad if he’s not yours. He even has a clear bias for the son he wants to grow up to be just like him! (I'm so sorry Tsumiki.) 
But that’s not what truly makes him a dad. Gojo couples his affection with cruelty. The way in which Gojo torments Megumi specifically is unique to him and no other student. With all his other students he is consistently, overly friendly. With Megumi? He bullies him in the way only a parent can.
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If you aren’t a parent to a child, perhaps you own a pet that you consider your child. I have yet to meet a pet owner that doesn’t mess with their baby to get a reaction out of them.
And since Gege storyboarded Jujutsu Strolls, this video clip is in a state of probably canon.
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I can’t think of anything more dad than deliberately embarrassing your child to mess with their love life.
Fathers like these tend to have children that want to destroy them in some capacity. It can serve as a strong motivation for their growth. Protag with crappy dad they might hate while also seeking validation from them? What popular Shounen doesn’t have this? We’ve got Baki the Grappler, Full Metal Alchemist, Bleach, Hunter x Hunter, etc. (Hey look 2 of those are works Gege is heavily inspired by.)
As stated in CFYOW, JJK Thorny Road at Dawn, Chapter 5: At the End of a Sidewalk, Megumi is motivated the most when he imagines destroying Gojo.
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In summary, Gojo fits the typical emotionally distant dad bill. A little bit misogynistic, a little bit racist, and trying to live out his failed dreams through his child who he bullies due to unprocessed trauma. (And holy fudge the amount of anime dads that have a kid specifically to surpass them.)
Megumi considers Gojo family even if he won’t outright state it.
Given how Megumi treats Gojo, it may be difficult to believe that he sees his sensei as anything other than a nuisance. But that's kind of how Megumi treats everyone, including his sister. How Megumi is with Tsumiki specifically can give us insight into his behaviors when he's around family vs non-family. Using her as a reference, it can be inferred how he categorizes Gojo.
Tsumiki (and Yuji) vs Gojo
We know that Megumi values his sister greatly because he prioritizes her well-being above most other people. But this motivation is never directly spoken to another character. Megumi keeps his feelings on the matter so close to his chest that Nobara and Yuji are shocked to learn he even has a sister. I don’t think seeing them together would indicate their closeness either. Outwardly Megumi often treats Tsumiki coldly, refusing her affection and even picking fights with her.
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And despite his internal dialogue being less harsh towards her, it can still be quite biting. While he recalls her on the verge of passing out, Megumi refers to Tsumiki as his バカ姉貴 (Baka Aneki) or Stupid Sister. Believe it or not, this is actually affection. Sukuna uses similar phrasing for his mother and this Twitter user explains why that's actually a kindness.
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Thankfully, Tsumiki and Yuji can see through Megumi’s stand-offishness for what it is. They’re good people who are willing to look past his flaws so Megumi treats them the same way. In this regard, these two act as a blueprint for reading Megumi. For the people he values most he’ll treat them harshly and barely mention them. His expression of love is unspoken devotion and downplayed admiration.
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But without that context, Megumi constantly smacking Yuji and the following passages from CFYOW, JJK Summer of Ashes, Autumn of Dust, Chapter 1: Kyujitsu Kaisen would make you think that he hated him.
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All of this is why I believe Megumi's taciturn behavior towards Gojo is his strange way of showing he cares and perhaps as family.
I want to draw attention to the extras where Megumi responds to the question: What is Gojo Satoru to you?
The VIZ translation has Megumi answer: "Well, I guess I owe him my life. I guess…”
The original Japanese is: "一応恩人です......一応"
This is an extremely inaccurate translation as this Tumblr user will explain:
一応 (ichiou) is “for the time being”. 恩人 (onjin) is “benefactor” or “patron”, generally someone that care for his well-being or who he’s indebted to. So it’s “for the time being, he’s my benefactor”.
If we translate back the VIZ version to Japanese, it will be 命の恩人 (inochi no onjin) meaning someone who has saved your life, which is usually used in the context of a literal life-and-death situation. For example when Gojo saved Yuuji from his execution.
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Megumi calling Gojo his benefactor greatly downplays all that has been done for him. And his expression is very similar to when he speaks of or around Tsumiki. I think it’s safe to assume Gojo means more to Megumi than he's letting on.
Though Megumi claims he's protecting Tsumiki because she's a good person, I believe there's an additional reason. He owes her a great debt. When their parents abandoned them, she was the one who looked after him first. When Gojo wasn't around to directly care for them, Tsumiki took charge. Megumi's devotion to her is an expression of gratitude for all her efforts.
When Megumi says Gojo is his "benefactor for now", it sounds rather callous. I believe this can be interpreted as something much more benign. In the same way Megumi is returning the favor to Tsumiki, this could be him hinting he plans to one day repay Gojo for his aid.
Gojo is the first person Megumi goes to for help.
Megumi prioritizes Tsumiki and Yuji in part because they need protecting. He sees himself as their guardian and expends a lot of effort ensuring their safety. No such thing occurs for Gojo because he’s The Strongest and the caretaking adult in their relationship. Megumi prioritizes Gojo in a completely different way—he’s the first person he goes to for help with difficult things.
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I think this is significant because Megumi otherwise does not seek direct help from others. Sure he'll train with and borrow things from people, but there's a distinct lack of vulnerability he's willing to show.
When Megumi is near death, Gojo’s memory and lessons are his crutch. He does this in his rematch with the Finger Bearer, its aftermath, and before he summons Mahoraga against Haruta. The only other people who have consistently been on Megumi’s mind near death are Tsumiki and Yuji.
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And who else grew on the brink of death? Gojo. These two even make the same kind of faces as they flip out during brutal fights. Megumi rarely smiles and its a bit concerning he seems at his happiest when he's in the throes of battle like his sensei.
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This could just be a Zenin thing since Maki, Mai, Noabita, Naoya, and Toji will broadly smile when they are obliterating the enemy. But I find it fascinating that Yuji and Yuta did not develop this habit at all despite being personally trained by Gojo. It's possible that Gojo's influence made this aspect of Megumi worse.
What I like the most about Megumi seeking Gojo's aid is how eager his benefactor is to give him whatever he wants when he asks. Gojo is not stingy with his money at all. Megumi’s physical needs are so fully met that he inadvertently shows how spoiled he is when interacting with Yuji and Nobara.
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Not only does Megumi recognize higher end fashion, he has strong opinions on it. He also sees Yuji and Nobara react poorly to the price point so he offers to pay a little more. But as you can see, he is so disconnected from average people's money situations that he thinks ~$800 to be put towards a ~$2,500 shirt isn't a big deal.
This indicates that Gojo dotes on Megumi more than other students. Megumi seems to be in such a special category that other characters pick up on it. In other words, Gojo really is acting more like a parent spoiling his favorite child than a teacher here.
Sukuna recognizes how much Megumi values Gojo.
Megumi resisted Sukuna as a vessel by lowering his CE output before the bath. If this affected Sukuna’s ability to obtain his true form post-bath, I do not know. Kenjaku and Yorozu make the claim he could change it, but Sukuna acknowledges full control over Megumi’s body requires Tsumiki being killed first. Sukuna also says that Megumi’s face is better for fighting other sorcerers. He reverts to his true form in his fight with Kashimo, conducting only 2 battles with Megumi’s face on purpose. …If Sukuna is to be taken at his word. 
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If Megumi’s resistance prevented the change, that means his soul wasn’t completely broken until Gojo was dead. If Sukuna intentionally manifested his true form after Gojo’s death, that means the two were close enough to be used as a strategy in the same vein as Yorozu/Tsumiki. Either reading suggests a close bond on par with his sister.
Why this dynamic sucks for them both.
The tragedy here is that Gojo and Megumi likely never communicated these feelings to each other. If Megumi can’t even tell his sister he cares directly, there’s no way it’s happening for Gojo. And given how Gojo keeps everyone at arms length because of his own personal hang ups, I doubt he’d ever express it either.
Gojo can’t call Megumi his son, that would be a weakness. Megumi won’t call Gojo his father, he learned how to keep his distance from the best.
Gojo’s avoidant attachment style seems to have reinforced it in Megumi. He was already pretty distant with Tsumiki as a young child, but it appears to have worsened with age. He regrets it himself in basically the same way Gojo regrets failing Geto after he’s gone. Megumi learned from the best you know. Her revival after a coma lasting 1 year and 7 months isn’t enough for him to stop doing this either—he continues to play it cool, just like Gojo.
Gojo on some level is aware he has screwed up royally with Megumi. There’s good reason Nanami thought Gojo was coming to him for help with Megumi first. He does try to make up for this in his own little Gojo way. He gets him friends his age, he tries to have him do normal kid activities, he gives him attention when asked.
But Gojo will never be open about why because he clearly doesn’t know how to address his own hang ups or grief in a healthy manner. And unfortunately Megumi has inherited his bad habits like sons tend to do. He internalizes his trauma, seeks no emotional support, and shows no signs of distress until it breaks him.
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As an aside, Gojo is posturing here when he pretends nothing is wrong with Sukuna. …But like I’ve said, he’s not the best dad in the world, so him getting lost in the fight and forgetting about Megumi isn’t out of character. It’s just another trait of his that makes him even more like Toji.
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(And since Megumi's name means Blessing, this also doubles as them forgetting about their blessing.)
Gojo didn't want any of this baggage for Megumi. He didn't just want Megumi to be strong—he wanted Megumi to be better than himself. During that training session after the baseball game, Gojo tells Megumi not to sacrifice himself so that others may succeed since sorcerers die alone. He recalls this conversation when he dies, making Megumi the first person he thinks about in death.
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As shown by JJK 261, Gojo could not follow his own advice when it came to self-sacrificing. He sacrificed his life and body so that his students could survive. This is a part of that cycle Gojo couldn't break himself, but trusts the future generation to do so. He laid the groundwork for it knowing he'd likely never live to see it fulfilled.
And still, Megumi is even more traumatized than Geto. His only saving grace is Yuji’s refusal to give up on him. Gojo tried to be a dad to him and he failed. Megumi is paying the price for that dearly. Their relationship had problems that were never going to be addressed until the very nature of Jujutsu Sorcerer work changed. Gojo didn’t have the time to process his own grief let alone raise 2 children properly because of overwork. Their messy father-son dynamic isn’t uncommon or unexpected. Like I said, you probably know someone with this type of dad if he isn’t yours.
In Conclusion...
Gojo is an ok dad and Megumi is definitely his son. Whether or not they use those labels for each other is ultimately irrelevant. Geto's words to Kuroi Misato, the maid who looked after Riko when no one else would, put it succinctly:
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obsesssedblerd · 29 days
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Part Four: "I promise, I'll make this right."
- the jjk men promising to be a better partner for you after they forget your anniversary. 
final written part of this smau series.
Pt 1: Toji, Nanami, Geto, and Sukuna
update: gojo, shiu and choso here
contains: angst to comfort
a/n: AHHHHH FINALLY!!!! here's part one! sorry for any mistakes!
thank you so much for being patient. I appreciate it. <3
---
TOJI 
Before you can even knock on the door to Toji’s house, it flies open. Five year-old Megumi drops his dog plushie and rushes to hug your legs, his body shaking as he looks up at you with teary eyes. “Where’d you go? I was scared that you weren’t coming back.” 
“Aw, Gumi,” you sigh, reaching down to pick him up so you could hug him closer to you. “I’m sorry, honey.” 
“Please don’t leave,” he whimpers between sniffles. “Me, Tsumiki and Papa would be so sad. He’s already sad. He was crying yesterday.” 
You knew it. You thought your mind was playing tricks on you when Toji came to see you yesterday, but you heard correctly—he was crying. Your heart aches at the utter fear in Megumi’s voice, and the way he’s clinging to you, like he’s certain that you’d disappear if he didn’t. You had greatly underestimated how much you meant to him.
“Megs?! You can’t just open the door for anyone! It’s dangerous—” Toji gasps when he comes downstairs and sees you there, holding Megumi and comforting him. He stands there frozen, eyes wide with disbelief. 
One look at his eyes confirms what you heard last night. They were a little red and slightly puffy.
“Sweetheart,” you whisper to the boy in your arms, “I need to talk to your dad, alright? Why don’t you head back inside?” 
He nods, and you set him on his feet. “Sorry, Papa,” he mutters to Toji as he uses his sleeve to wipe his eyes. 
Toji smiles softly at him and ruffles his spiky hair. “It’s okay.” 
Once Megumi is inside, you and Toji stand next to each other on the porch. You think about what life’s been like the last few days. The anger, the arguing. The hurt. Perhaps this was the hardest part—accepting that you can’t keep pretending that everything is alright, no matter how much you love Toji. 
A warm, comforting hand intertwined with yours, and it shakes you from your thoughts. “We have to talk about this,” Toji starts. “I can’t let this happen.” 
You exhale. “Toji.” 
“I do not care what needs to be done. I’ll do it,” he says, his voice thick with determination.
You glare at him. “I meant it when I said that I’m tired.” 
“And I meant it when I said that I’m not letting you walk away,” he bites back, then takes a small, shaky breath. “Yes, I was crying yesterday,” he admits. “I was crying because you’re considering leaving me, and it terrifies me so much more than I thought it does. Treating you like you don’t matter to me by always hanging out with my friends, along with forgetting our anniversary is such a shitty thing to do, and I know that there’s nothing I can do or say to undo that.” He then squeezes your hand gently, desperately. “But I’m going to try to make it right by keeping my promise to you and being a better man for you.” 
You want to say something, but your eyes pool with tears, so you face the ground instead. It’s so frustrating. You want this to work. You love him, and walking away from him will destroy you, but you also didn’t know if it could work. What if he chooses his friends again? What if he continues forgetting you? What if none of this is worth it and—
“Look at me.” His voice is soft, yet firm.
You shake your head. 
“Baby, please, look at me.” 
You muster the strength to meet his eyes, and his thumbs tenderly swipe underneath yours to wipe away the tears. “I’m sorry,” he whispers, slightly leaning forward so your foreheads are touching. “I’m so sorry. I swear to you, I’ll never do this shit to you again.”
You’re quiet for a while, then you tell him, “If it does happen again, then I’m done.” 
“Deal.” 
He pulls you to him, and you feel his body relaxing into yours. When you hear him sniffle, you begin to pull back, but he only holds you tighter. He’s crying again, and he doesn’t want you to see. “No,” he tells you in a quivering whisper. “Just let me hold you for a minute.” 
“Toji-” 
“I wouldn’t know what to do with myself if you disappeared. Not to mention figure out a way to break it down to Megumi and Tsumiki.” At the mention of his kids, he sniffles again. “Especially Megumi. Fuck, if you left, I don’t think he’d ever forgive me, or smile again. You make him so happy and comfortable.” 
You let him take his time, and relax your head on his shoulder. Once he’s calm again, he pulls away to look at you. “Give me a day to find a new restaurant for our anniversary, and find a babysitter for the kids. Then, I have a surprise for you.”
“A surprise?” 
“Yes. I’m going all out to make this up to you. You’re crazy if you think all you’re getting is a dinner after I fucked up this badly.”
---
NANAMI
Though you were super upset with him, you still dreamed of Kento. You dreamed of hefty, detailed conversations that weren’t rushed, long walks along the sandy beaches of Malaysia, private moments that had no chance of being interrupted, and plenty of time to do nothing at all. 
When you awoke from your dreams and remembered that he made the decision to spend his only free moment with Shoko and not you on your anniversary, your heart ached brutally within your chest. Is this how it was going to be forever? Are you going to spend your entire relationship wishing to be with him rather than actually spending time with him? 
You know that you have to talk to him; you’re just unsure of what you’re going to say. A part of you has accepted that Kento Nanami is simply too busy for a relationship with you, and that he’d rather spend his limited free time relaxing. 
You sit in your car, which is parked outside of the house that you and Kento share. Maybe it was best for you two to split ways. You could break the news, then move out within a month. You have plenty of money in your savings, and resources to help you find a new place fast. 
Okay, you think to yourself. Time to go. You exit your car, then walk in towards the front door, your hands shaking while reaching for your keys. When you finally unlock the door and step inside, you stop in your tracks. The living room of your house is beautifully decorated with red and gold balloons and streamers, and there’s rose petals sprinkled on the floor. On the table, there’s a massive, luxurious bouquet of roses in a glass vase, and a box of chocolate covered fruit next to it. There’s also various gift bags neatly arranged on the couch and the floor. 
You expected this. 
“Love, is that you?” You hear Kento’s voice come from the kitchen, and then he appears in the doorway, his shoulders slumping when he sees you. He’s holding another gift bag, and it looks like he was getting ready to place it with the rest. 
“Kento, I-” 
“No, sweetheart, please.” He sighs, then walks over to you. “Please allow me to explain myself.” 
“There’s nothing that needs to be explained. You missed our anniversary.” 
He grabs your hand when you start walking in the other direction. “And I’m so sorry for it. I’m extremely disappointed in myself for missing the dinner you had planned. I promise-” 
“Yeah, that’s the thing, Kento. You keep promising, but you never deliver on those promises!” You snap, whirling around to face him. “You promise me that you’re going to work less so we can spend time together, but you never do. You promise me that things are going to change, but they never do. You promised me one night, which was all I wanted, and you missed it. I took care of everything else so all you had to do was just show up, but even that was too much for you!” 
Kento goes quiet, his honey brown eyes full of desperation as he squeezes your hand gently. “I know,” he says softly. “You’re right. I’ve made promises, and I never delivered. It’s incredibly selfish to ask for more when you’ve already given so much without me returning any of it. It got so bad to the point where you believe that asking for one night is asking for too much, even though you deserve far more than that. I understand all of it, love, and I know why you feel like a break-up is the only option, but… I can’t let you go. I’d be so lost without you. Keeping you requires change, and I’m going to change things, starting now, if you grant me another chance.”
When you don’t answer, he continues, “You’ve been gone for so long. I spent hours sitting here, right on this couch, waiting for you to walk through the door. I was beginning to think that you wouldn’t. I felt sick, and I couldn’t sleep. I don’t want to get used to you not being here anymore. I don’t want to live a life where you’re not here by my side. I love you. I’m so sorry for taking you for granted. I have a lot to prove to you, and if you give me another chance, I’ll do it, no matter how long it might take. I won your heart once, and I’ll win it again.” 
You’re still quiet, but Kento doesn’t press you. Instead, he brings your hand to his mouth and places a light kiss on it. “I have two months off,” he says softly. “Come to Malaysia with me.” 
That surprises you. You blink in shock, then meet his eyes. “What??? Is two months even possible? But Kento, what about your job? Isn’t there something big happening in Shibuya?” 
“I told Yaga that I needed time off, so I got unassigned from that. Since I have had plenty of PTO earned over the years, it’s no problem,” he says simply, then gestures to the room full of presents. “Gifts mean nothing when what you crave the most is time with me. So, I want to give you that, like I should’ve done so long ago. Come to Malaysia with me, and I’ll earn you back there. Just me and you. No sorcerer stuff, no students, no interruptions.” 
“But-” 
“Sweetheart.” His voice is slightly shaky. “I always keep saying how I’d be spending more time with you after just one more mission.” His eyes drift downward. “But as a sorcerer, there’s no guarantee that I’ll come home every single time. There might be a mission where I don’t make it back, and I’ll regret all of the time I didn’t get to spend with you.” 
Your heart suddenly feels heavy. You hate talking about this stuff with him. You can’t imagine getting a phone call and hearing that he died on a mission. However, he’s right. There isn’t a guarantee, and you would be stupid to think that there is. 
He strokes your cheek tenderly, and it pulls you back to reality. “Come with me,” he says. “Let it be the start of me not only making this up to you, but also changing like I talked about earlier.” 
Time alone, completely uninterrupted. It’s all you ever wanted. You know that it would take time to return to good terms, but like he said, it’s a start. 
“Okay,” you say, and he sighs in relief before pulling you into his arms. “Thank you,” he whispers. “I promise, I won’t mess this up.”
---
GETO
Shoko lightly taps your shoulder, and it snaps you from your daydream. You look up at her, and she takes the cold cup of coffee from your arms. “You’re spaced out,” she says. “It’s obvious that you’re not going to drink this.” 
“Sorry,” you mumble. 
“Don’t apologize. These last few days have been hard for you.” Shoko disposes of the coffee, then begins washing the mug. “Have you talked to him since?” 
“No.” 
“Well, what are you thinking?” 
For the millionth time, you reread the last few messages between you and Suguru. He was right about you not trusting him, and it seemed like he took accountability for his actions. However, you’re still hurt. You think you’re going to be hurt about this for a very, very long time. Just thinking about how you spent a while at the restaurant anxiously checking the time, waiting for him to show up, has you falling silent again. 
“Hey,” Shoko sighs as she rubs your back. “It’s alright if you don’t know right now. You might have an answer when you see him-” 
A sudden knock at the door has both of you straightening up. Your eyebrows furrow, and you point towards the door. “Did you text him?” 
“No. I was just about to ask you that,” she says. 
You two approach the door, and you hear voices coming from the other side of it. 
“Satoru, this is a bad idea. She said that she-” 
“Lalalalala! I’m not listening!” 
“Satoru.” 
“Look, I don’t care! You should’ve done this days ago after forgetting the damn anniversary, dumbass. Me, Nanako, and Mimiko are tired of listening to you cryin’ in the shower.” 
Shoko facepalms. “Idiots. Both of them.” She opens the door, and Satoru grins, his blue eyes glimmering from behind his glasses. “Well, look who it is!” 
Suguru, your boyfriend, is nervously scratching the back of his head. You can tell he wants to say something, but doesn’t know what. Shoko looks over at you, and you nod that it’s okay. She nods in return, then pokes Satoru’s chest. “C’mon, let’s walk up the street to the bakery and give them a minute.” 
“Yes!” Satoru cheers, then waves at you before shoving Suguru inside and closing the door to Shoko’s apartment behind him. 
Suguru groans in annoyance. “I’m sorry. I know you needed time, but that asshole teleported us here before I could even-” 
“It’s okay,” you tell him as you sit on the couch. Half a minute later, he hesitantly sits next to you, relaxing into the cushion when he sees that you don’t move away from him. 
“Angel,” he starts, and like always, your heart jumps at the nickname. “I’m so sorry that I did this to you.” 
You wave him off. “Suguru, you’ve apologized enough.”
“No, you’re saying that because you’re drained. There’s no way I can apologize enough for missing our anniversary. I don’t blame you for being upset or for contemplating a break-up. Anyone would. That’s why I told you that I’m willing to earn your trust back. It’s going to take a lot, and I’m okay with that, if you’re willing to give me another chance.” 
“But what if this is nothing but a waste of time?” You ask. 
He sits up, determined. “It won’t be. I won’t let this happen again.” When you don’t reply, he places his hand on top of yours. “I missed you. Every day, Nanako and Mimiko asked about you. Our little home isn’t the same without you there. I’m so sorry that I missed your dinner. If you give me another chance, I’ll do better.”
Without even knowing, you lace your fingers with his. Though you’re mad at him, you’ve also missed him. But, you miss the Suguru who spent so much time with you towards the beginning of your relationship. You wondered if you’d ever see him again. 
“Hey.” You look towards Suguru, and he brushes his thumb over yours. “You know that I won’t force or pressure you,” he says calmly, even though his voice shakes. “I messed up badly and hurt you. If you truly want to end this, I understand, but-” 
“Suguru,” you cut him off loudly. “I just want my boyfriend to choose me as often as he chooses his friends. It feels like you only consider me when they’re not available, and it got so bad that you forgot our anniversary.” 
“And I’ll do that, and so much more,” he says firmly. “I know that I promised you before to spend more time with you. There’s so much that I need to make up to you.” 
More promises. Though you’re hopeful, you’re also nervous. 
“If I mess up this badly again, I’ll let you go. I won’t argue, I won’t fight it,” he proposes. 
“Alright,” you mumble. “One chance.” 
“All I need. Thank you.” Suguru carefully grabs your wrist, then tugs you into his arms. You breathe in his scent, and your body settles comfortably into his. 
“Don’t make me regret this, Suguru Geto.” 
“I won’t. Now come on, I have some promises to keep.”
You text Shoko that you’re locking up her apartment when you and Suguru leave, then you let Suguru take you outside.
---
SUKUNA
It’s well after midnight when you return to Sukuna’s estate. You walk the familiar hallways until you find your way to the garden. You sit on the dewy grass, and exhale slowly, enjoying the night air. 
You don’t go looking for him. You know that he’ll sense you here and come find you. 
The tiny bursts of light get your attention. Fireflies. He was right, they are out. You were surprised when Ryomen Sukuna told you that he remembered your love for them. After he forgot your anniversary, you were convinced that he just simply didn’t care about you, especially when he said that he only remembered things that were important to him. 
Suddenly, the air around you thickens as you sense his presence. He’s here. 
“You’re back,” Sukuna says from behind you. He sounds a bit uncertain. 
“No point in staying out forever,” you reply flatly. 
He doesn’t respond. He joins you on the ground, and you feel him watching you closely. You stare at the ground, your fingers lightly stroking the blades of grass. 
“But if I did decide to stay away,” you start, still facing the grass, “would you have let me go?” 
“Not if there was a possibility of earning another chance.” 
You finally look up at him, and before you can say another word, he gently puts a finger to your lips. “You are here, so I’d rather not waste time talking about hypothetical situations where you are not here.”
You shrug, then look away again. Truthfully, you didn’t know what to expect when coming back here. The King of Curses was anything but an easy partner to have a relationship with. You didn’t know why you, a mere sorcerer, loved him, but you did; so much and so deeply that it hurt to breathe sometimes. You know that he sees nearly everyone beneath him, but you thought that he at least respected you enough to show up for the dinner you planned. Maybe you’re foolish for returning.
“I hated every second that you were gone,” he says. Usually, Sukuna doesn’t admit to anything like that. It feels nice hearing it. “This place is so quiet without you.” 
A breeze blows in the garden, and it’s chilly enough to make you shiver and wrap your arms around yourself. Sukuna uses an arm to pull you closer, and you settle into his warm body with a small, relieved sigh. Your back falls against his chest, and you feel his chin rest atop your head. 
“There is something I haven’t told you,” he mutters.
“What is it?” 
“A year ago, right here in this spot, I realized that it was love.” Your eyes slightly widen, but you don’t stop him. “You were watching the fireflies and explaining some memories you had about them from your childhood. So simple and so harmless, yet it felt like my entire soul had shifted when I finally figured it out. Then it hit me again when I watched you play with Yuuji in the rain, then once more when I held your hand while you slept. It also hit me when you left, and I spent the last few nights feeling your soul tremble as you cried, knowing that I caused it.” 
Sukuna gives your shoulder a little squeeze, then fully wraps his arms around you. “Perhaps if I had told you these discoveries of mine the moment I had them,” he explains, “then you would have never questioned your importance. You have no idea how much you mean because I have not told you. That, in addition to this situation, is my fault.”
Something within you cracks, and a new wave of tears rush to your eyes. You blink them away, deciding that you’ve cried enough in the last few days. 
“Forgive me, petal,” he whispers. “I know you believe that I missed the dinner you planned on purpose so I could hurt you, but that is not true. It will never happen again. You have my word.”
When you tilt your head up to look up at him, you’re met with his gorgeous, crimson eyes. Your king was evil, no doubt, but you always believed that he was the most beautiful being you’ve ever laid your eyes on. You nod once, and he presses a kiss to your forehead. 
“Come with me,” he tells you. 
“Where are we going?” 
He stands up, then lifts you into his arms. “You need to rest, and I would like for you to do so with me so I can have you close. Then tomorrow, I will begin to make this up to you, like I promised.” As he carries you inside, you rest your head against his shoulder. “Happy anniversary, petal.” 
Finally, you smile. “Happy anniversary, Ryomen.”
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bbunisre · 9 months
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02: MEGUMI IS LIGHTWEIGHT (1.3k words)
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Panda’s parties are always the same—borderline annoying, misogynistic rap music pulsating in your ears and a lot of dancing. A lot. So when you enter the party, swinging your car keys with your fingers and shooting acknowledging nods at mutuals, you’re not surprised to see the same once again.
“They’re here!” a rogue Panda yells, coming through with a red cup.
He hands another one he's holding to you, an unspoken understanding of your frequent drinking habits. It wasn’t that you were an alcoholic (past you would say something else) but you were known for your high tolerance.
“Where’s that bastard Toge? I need to have a word with him.” I ask Panda.
“Oh, I think he’s upstairs. Probably making out with some chick, I don’t know.” Panda shrugs easily.
Even if Panda is the closest to Toge, you know in a heartbeat that Toge is not easily drawn to the temptations of lust as easily as Panda thinks he is. In fact, you guess that Toge's most likely playing on his Switch upstairs, avoiding the party that Panda’s forced him to come to.
You turn to Tsumiki, “I’ll go. Will you be alright?”
“Yeah, all good,” she smiles at me, “Come back soon though. Don’t kill Toge.”
Megumi’s listening to your conversation whilst Yuuji and Nobara argue about who’s the beer pong champion out of the two of them at the entrance of the house. You pull them by their sleeves so they’re not in the way of passing guests anymore.
Sometimes, it feels like you’re babysitting them.
“Can’t promise, babes,” you tell her with a half-shrug.
Tsumiki’s phone starts ringing, “One second.”
She steps out to take the call, leaving you and Megumi a foot apart from each other, “Megumi, how about you?”
“Sorry?” he asks.
Forgetting what Toge's said is a lot more challenging than you expected. You push down the uneasiness in your gut.
“It’s your first party, is it not? How are you feeling?” you ask.
Megumi's expressions are hard to read but after being around him for so long, you’ve become accustomed to his body language.
“I will be alright. Thank you.” he replies politely.
You smile, patting his shoulder, “I’ll come and check on you later.”
Megumi nods and you take your leave to the second floor, a breath of fresh air coddling you at the escape. When you see the familiar Toge in Panda’s bedroom, your estimate is correct. Toge is sprawled on Panda’s bed, playing some Otome game on his Switch. He says he plays it because it’s cringe and he wants to make fun of it...you're starting to think that he really does enjoy it.
“Y/N.” Toge notes.
“Toge.” you reply, sitting on the bed next to him.
He switches off the game and turns to you as you take a languid sip of the drink, “Has Megumi asked you out yet?”
You almost choke in the process, furrowing your eyebrows and swallowing properly. Setting the drink aside, you hit Toge, “You’re out of your mind. He doesn't like me.”
“I mean, it’s always been kind of obvious if you ask me.”
“What are you talking about?” you sigh, “There’s nothing. You’re being delusional.”
Toge rolls his eyes, “No, you are. And he does have a massive crush on you because he was so desperate to believe that you didn’t like girls.”
“That’s a huge sentence coming from your mouth,” you comment, laying down next to him.
The reverberations of the music downstairs make its way up Panda’s creepy staircase and into the bedroom walls.
“He does,” Toge affirms, “I’m sure of it. Besides those tweets, there’s definitely something there.”
“Why are you so insistent about it?” you ask, turning to the white-haired boy.
It’s odd; Toge is usually reserved and calm so when you see him ramble passionately about Megumi, you’re not too sure what it can mean.
“I don’t know,” he answers, turning to you also, “But remember when you broke up with…?”
He waits with bated breath for you to approve.
You sigh, “You can say Choso, Toge.”
“Yeah, Choso...” he nods along, “When you broke up with him last year, he always asked about you through me. You were a mess, a really bad mess, like a really, really, really—“
“A mess. Got it.” you state, remembering those tearful nights.
“Don’t know why he didn’t ask Tsumiki. Maybe he was scared of being found out. Maybe—“
“Maybe he didn’t want Tsumiki to keep thinking about me. Don’t you remember how worried she was about me then? He probably didn’t want to pressure her and he couldn’t ask me because I wasn’t talking to anyone.” you theorise.
“I mean, you could be right but those Tweets.”
“The kids were probably just making fun of him.” you say, getting up.
“Where you going?” he asks.
“Chill, princess. I'm not gonna leave you now.” you respond, walking towards the opened balcony. You can’t believe Panda gets this whole view to himself.
Toge follows you outside and the two of you sink onto the couch outside, watching the neighbourhood as Toge passes you a joint from Panda’s secret stash.
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An hour later, you remembered that you’d go check on Megumi. Sure Tsumiki is there too but she’s super popular, everyone will be talking to her while Megumi explores the unfamiliar terrain by himself.
So you say goodbye to the high Toge and walk back downstairs. Everyone’s dancing and hands drag you to dance but you push them away, saying you need to use the bathroom.
“Where is he?” you ask yourself, wondering around Panda’s house.
You see Tsumiki and Panda talking on the couch, Yuuji and Nobara playing beer pong but where’s Megumi? He's gotta be here somewhere.
“Y/N…”
A heavy hand lands around your shoulders.
“Megumi! Are you okay?”
Megumi’s lids are heavy as he leans onto you.
“Did you drink?”
“I…I thought he said it was a mocktail. I think I had too many cocktails.”
Of course he did.
“Okay, relax. I can’t drive right now because I drank too, but we can go out for a breather, how does that sound? There isn’t much space here for you to sit down.”
Megumi nods, barely processing your words with his eyes closed.
You inhale and prepare for the journey through the pushy and overly welcoming crowd as you make your way to the front door. The excited partygoers ask about his conditions but you give them brief summaries as you battle through the crowd. Finally, when you’re through the front door with a heavy Megumi, you make him sit on the porch’s stairs, “Wait here. I’m gonna get Tsumiki to drive you home.”
As you’re about to leave, he grabs your bicep, “Don’t go.”
You’re staring.
Very obviously staring.
“Please…” he whispers weakly.
“Okay, I won’t.” you answer, sitting next to him. There aren’t many people coming in and out of the party now. Most of them are getting drunk.
Right now, you’re trapped in your own world with Megumi. The last thing you wanted to do tonight, especially after what Toge told you. You didn't know he cared for you that much.
But it can't be true. Megumi can't like you. You're his sister's best friend.
The silence is louder than the rap music playing inside.
“How are you feeling?”
“I regret coming.” he responds.
Slowly, his head tips to your shoulder. You’re not sure if he’s realised he’s done it or the alcohol has consumed every working thought in him.
All you can muster is a nod as you’re glued to his side—thighs pressed together, shoulders smashed and his unruly hair prickling your cold neck.
If what Toge says is true, which it’s not, what would you do in this situation? Would you confront Megumi or would you flee?
“I can go get Tsumiki—“
“Y/N.” he states.
“Yes, Megumi?”
You can’t stop that gut-wrenching sensation in your stomach. Megumi looks up at you, long eyelashes fluttering open. You know what’s coming before it even comes.
“I like you. I like you a lot.”
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LENA'S NOTES - another chapter because ily guys <33
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six-eyed-samurai · 3 months
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YUUJI ITADORI’s whole family is in the movie business, but he’d only starred in minor roles before the directors were looking for someone to play the main character in Jujutsu Kaisen and his uncle Sukuna, who was already cast, recommended him and his brothers. Was quite psyched about dying his hair (because Kaori wouldn’t let him before) but he spent a hell of a long time having to learn fighting techniques and complained about the pain but definitely bulked up a little. One of the most social of the cast, he’s sort whose social media is bursting with photos of him on set, fellow actors and fans. And yes, real life Yuuji is just as clueless as his on-screen persona.
MEGUMI FUSHIGURO brought his actual dogs to filming - originally there were only supposed to be one Divine Dog but he didn’t want to bring one without the other. The stylists love him because they never have to do anything with his hair as it’s already naturally spiky and messy. He and Yuuji’s on-screen interactions are a hundred per cent genuine as they get on pretty well. Off-screen Megumi looks and acts emo as his character, but more playful and judgmental. Nobody knows or suspects it was actually him that stole Gojo’s sunglasses, Momo’s broomstick and Noritoshi’s arrows. As he’s the one with the most experience with filming, having played secondary rules in teenage TV series or a cameo in his dad’s movies, Yuuji and Nobara actually look up to him a lot but do not trust his “advice” for acting. Tsumiki was going to play a bigger role alongside Megumi but with other projects coming up she decided to just play his character’s sister.
NOBARA KUGISAKI is, on the contrary to character, a city girl. One thing she does share with her Jujutsu Kaisen character however is the impulsive urges to over shop but for exotic food. Nobara is the most Internet famous actors on set due to being a part time social influencer rating restaurants. A running joke amongst the cast is how Nobara arrived to the auditions: getting directions wrong for another audition, Resonance, and ending up at Jujutsu Kaisen but decided to ball and go along with it. Sadly she eventually decided to leave Jujutsu Kaisen for Resonance when they called her back so the directors had to kill off her character; everyone will deny it but they all cried during her leaving party. She still hangs out with the JJK cast though.
CHOSO KAMO is no stranger to the movie industry, having played a few cameos in movies like Wing King, Blood and Supernova or some ads; he was so hyped and proud when the directors announced not only would they be casting Yuuji as the main role but Eso and Kechizu would be voice acting he wouldn't stop crying or taking photos (he and Jin, actually). He had to grow his hair out for the role but after that decided to keep it long, delighting his mother and all his female co-stars as Choso's very okay with them playing or styling it. He's definitely the big brother to the entire cast, splitting up Nobara and Yuuji’s arguing, chasing after Megumi’s dogs and even trying to protect everyone from Gojo’s pranks. That scene where his character started sobbing at being called big bro? When asked how he pulled it off so realistically in an interview Choso admitted he just thought of when all his younger brothers started walking and crawled to him instead of their parents. Then proceeded to bawl his eyes out again.
GOJO SATORU is a doofus both off and on screen. Some joke he barely has to act at all, seeing as his behavior never changes, varying between entertaining the younger actors with his boasts of being the best sensei ever and impressions of past characters played in Infinity, Hollow Purple and Six Eyes or annoying all his co-stars by pretending he can’t see through the blindfold despite the thinness and bumping into everyone and everywhere. One of the first people cast in Jujutsu Kaisen, he “persuaded” the directors to also star his best friend Geto, claiming they had never ever ever done a project without each other before and wasn’t going to start now. Absolutely the sort to sign everybody’s autographs and wink at the ladies at fan events but a menace to reporters as he’d just shout “Teleporting!” and run off with his long ass legs ever since JJK started. In response to people grieving over the death of his character he only posted “They think its Gojover, I’m offended”.
GETO SUGURU was originally going to play a role on the good side - the role Nanami took, actually, before the directors decided he was better as Kenjaku and Gojo decided it would be funny if the both of them were enemies. Geto is looked up to by his younger co-stars (Gojo complains that it isn’t him) for support and advice due to his even longer experience in acting in Cursed Spirit and Night Parade of a Hundred Demons. The only time he’s ever caused trouble was when he somehow found a megaphone and nobody could stop him from shouting exaggerated instructions - “Sojo Gatoru, again!” “Punch harder, IIIITADORIIIII!” “Cleave! Cleave! I said cleave, Ryomen!” - at everyone currently acting. During an interview he said the only time he couldn’t stay in character was when Kenjaku popped open his brain; he was rather grossed out by the whole thing.
KENTO NANAMI’s makeup takes about as long as Sukuna’s and that’s because it takes forever to sharpen his face and cheekbones and is not actually a blond. Is as fed up with Gojo’s antics as he is on screen, but off-screen Kento is quite relaxed and the one to post a lot of those “I’m about to get ready for filming and you’re coming with me” tours behind the scenes. He’s one of those underrated actors who don’t get the main roles but whatever they do they do well - Kento only got his big hit in Seven to Three that led to his role in JJK. They had to retake his death scene many times since everyone couldn’t stay in character, sad that he would be leaving so soon; Kento joked about going to Malaysia after his role was done in Jujutsu Kaisen.
RYOMEN SUKUNA was one of the first the directors hired for Jujutsu Kaisen, thanks to his fame from his long acting as villains in Malevolent Shrine, Divine Flame and Disgraced One. He wasn’t too happy about dying his hair pink but the tattoos did grow on him over time, as did the habit of calling all his co-stars “brats”. He’s absolutely terrifying when filming but at most he’s just old-man cranky off screen; if you see any photos of the cast they uploaded on social media, he’s the one who’s always caught off-guard and face frozen in some scowl at being suddenly photographed. Also a complete dumbass when it comes to social media, so his account is pretty much handled by his brother and manager Jin Itadori or recently his nephew Yuuji.
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uriekukistan · 5 months
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jjk driving hc’s plsss (any characters) :3
heyyy answering this so i can go to bed with happy thoughts :D (tears still in my eyes as i write) um idk how to drive a car so pls keep that in mind
can't drive. no license.
yuuji doesn't need to drive when he runs so fast. gojo is a certified passenger princess. will demand aux and a stop for a fun drink geto also doesn't need to drive because he has a bunch of curses he can ride around on choso is 150 years old, he would probably freak out if you put him behind the wheel yuuta idk he just looks like he can't drive. but he'll give u money for gas if you drive him somewhere panda i think this is self explanatory he's a panda
no license but they drive anyway
mahito because he's a menace to society. horrible driver. runs people over and thinks its funny. sukuna is actually weirdly good, but he's an ass on purpose. rides ppl's tailpipe and then when he passes them he goes slow af. honestly gojo belongs here too, but only happened one time. he totaled the car. inumaki but he's actually good at it for some reason. if he just took the drivers test...but he wont. he doesn't even have a learner's permit.
can legally drive but they really shouldnt because they're a hazard
definitely shoko. it's kinda alarming that she's the one to have a license out of sashisu because she's a disaster on the road. has one of those things that hangs off of the rearview mirror nobara is the type to be looking around for stuff in the car while she's moving, like looking around in the backseat EYES ON THE ROAD. there's a lot of stuff in her car but it's not messy if that makes sense. she just likes to be prepared. ino is also a horrible driver. always hitting curbs n shit. definitely been in quite a few accidents, so his car is the most beat up looking thing you've ever seen. the inside is surprisingly clean tho
actually good responsible drivers
ichiji & nitta like we've seen it happen so it's possible tsumiki would be decent at driving as well, probably speeds a bit but within the normal everyone-does-that range. clean car with pastel detailing inside like seat cushions and steering wheel nanami is probably the best driver here, but i think we expected this utahime is also a pretty responsible driver, but she definitely gets major road rage probably maki, she also gets major road rage tho
drives like a grandpa
megumi i love you but you can at least drive the speed limit...also its not gonna distract u to put a little music on. at least his car is clean and he has one of those car air fresheners
sorry if this seems disorganized im genuinely ?:????F>>VF????? rn and also its like really late for me, i just needed to do something fun after that chapter....
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rubyredridinghood · 8 months
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JJK Characters and Their Piercings/Tattoos
SFW✅ CONTENT!! 18+ blogs please dni ^^ TW: Mentions of needles, some spoilers, not proofread lol
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SATORU GOJO
•Standard ear piercing but usually nothing extravagant
•Unironically has the cross dangly because he thought it would be funny but never wears it
•Mostly diamond studs or silver
•100% GOT A NOSE STUD IN HIGH SCHOOL
•He thought it would attract more attention from the ladies (as if he needed anymore) and of course it worked
•Also has his belly button pierced and I stand firm on that belief
•Likes to flaunt it on the beach and often keeps his shirts unbuttoned in unprofessional gatherings
•Often matches the nose stud and belly button ring and has drawers full of them
• Has a tattoo on his hip of a black beta fish (yeah🥲)
•Speaking of which, he has a small one on the back of his neck of a crescent moon
•He got matching ones with Geto right before *the incident* in high school to celebrate Suguru’s 18th, Geto has the sun
•Covers it with foundation all the time when he’s in public
•Has a tattoo on his upper arm of a doodle Megumi drew when he was little
•It was the first thing Megumi ever drew and showed him (It was literally just him and Tsumiki as stick figures) and he cried
•Has a pretty high pain tolerance so he mostly did well with the process, but the hip tattoo hurt like hell for him and they basically had to pin him to the table to keep him still
•Made Shoko come to his appointments for moral support
CHOSO
•Standard ear piercings
•Usually just sticks to silver or black studs because he’s afraid of being judged :< •With a little push he might wear small hoops occasionally
• Vertical labret piercing (middle of lip) only wears hoops
•Does not do well with needles (shockingly), so he cried the first time he got body mods done
•Got his ears pierced at Claire’s and held the teddy bear
•Has only one tattoo along his left forearm with the names of his brothers written out in kanji (including Yuji)
•Also cried during the tattooing process
•He’s just a pretty princess he can’t help it😞
•Has a rotation of like 5 different pairs of earrings and lip rings because he likes to keep things simple
•Really wants to get an eyebrow piercing but chickens out every time
SUGURU GETO
•Gauges (duh)
•Started stretching his ears in early high school after he got tired of normal earrings
•Used to sit in agony in class whenever it was time to move up the taper size
•Got his septum pierced but decided he didn’t like it a few months later
•After high school (betraying everyone lol), he started by getting industrials
•Tongue piercing came next, has all kinds of fun tongue rings for funsies
•Tongue was super puffy after getting it done, Mimiko and Nanako had to speak for him for a couple weeks while he expressed his throughs through grunts of frustration
•Has the universally headcannoned back tattoo of a dragon
•Has the sun tattoo on his nape to match Gojo’s moon
•Covers it with his hair obvi but sometimes looks at it in the mirror when he’s feeling lonely
•Left arm is a complete sleeve filled with various details such as red spider lilies, various geometric patterns, and names of his loved ones hidden throughout
•Simplistic patterns running up his fingers on both hands
•Did not budge during any of the procedures, however the intensity of many of his healing processes usually rendered him unable to do certain things, so he often required assistance afterwards, even while swearing up and down he didn’t (he almost fell down the stairs)
TOJI FUSHIGURO
•Definitely has the standard earlobe
•Used to have a nose stud but stopped wearing it
•Again nothing flashy but his wife and Tsumiki bought him hello kitty earrings and he will wear them proudly
•Has a simple tattoo down his neck of his wedding date in Roman numerals to Megumi’s momma (or you😘)
•Got it there because he tends to rub his neck when he’s stressed, so running his hands over the ink reminds him of his life’s blessings
•Also has Megumi’s and Tsumiki’s names behind both of his ears (screw canon can’t change my mind fr)
•Has one (1) on the knuckle of his wedding ring finger of a heart his wife drew
•Hides it under the ring because it embarrasses him to show other people but loves to look at it when he’s alone
•Pretends to be completely fine during his procedures but is gripping his wife’s hand for dear life and biting his lip until it bleeds
•She def laughs at him for it
•Hates needles with a passion and always dreads getting new ink done but it’s always worth it in the end
RYOMEN SUKUNA
•Canon tattoos lol
•Also canon that he has his ears pieced, but he definitely got everything possible done on both ears
•Has a ton of different earrings and chains that make his appearance more regal and scary
•Has his tongue split 100% •Had a super puffy face after that procedure, and Uraume had to had to hold back laughter while assisting him through his normal daily affairs
•Nobody could take him seriously for weeks
•But when it healed he was scary as all hell
•Bridge piercing 1000%
•Didn’t really react to his procedures, however if you look closely you might see him barely squint his eyes when the needle goes through
•Got permanent bracelets because he thought they looked cool
•Small gauges
•Doesn’t let anyone touch his tattoos or piercings unless he’s being bathed or with someone he loves (you pookie🥰)
•Partly because it’s lowk sensitive for him and he doesn’t like the feeling
•Forgets to take out his earrings when he sleeps and wakes up with weird marks all over the sides of his head
•Constantly losing earring backs
•Also drops earrings all the time because his hands are huge and steps on them with the needle side up
•Poor Sukuna
My first time posting detailed hcs! Hope you like it ^^
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queenendless · 11 months
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👻🦇🎃 Spooky Lovin' (Various JJK ft Adult!SatoSugu x Adult!Female!Reader) 🎃🦇👻
A/N: Just my headcannon on an imagined scenario with the JJK cast celebrating Halloween together and they're all A-OK and happy and 😭🤧❤️‍🩹 There are ships/pairings in this here and there plus the costumes I thought of for them all that took forever to think of! Spooky romantic fluff. Cause writing that vampire AU 18+ piece is ... hard.
Pairings: Yuji x Megumi, Nobara x Maki, Yuta x Rika with hints of Yuta x Toge, Kokichi x Miwa, Shoko x Utahime, Nanami x Haibara, Mai x Momo, Yuki x Choso, and Satoru x Suguru x Fem!Reader at the end.
All credit for JJK cast goes to Gege.
* Please DON'T plagarize, translate, or repost my FANFIC content. Reblog, like, and follow instead.
I hope you enjoy. And —
HAPPY HALLOWEEN~!
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THE CAST'S HALLOWEEN ATTIRE!
🎃Yuji in a tiger onsie and his usual sneakers with black face paint on for the whiskers and the nose.
🎃Megumi as wolf boi with just a wolf ears headband on … he was willing to put those on for his Yuji bae and that's all you're getting.
🎃Nobara as OUAT Aurora with a sword because she is a cute badass.
🎃Maki as OUAT Mulan because I like her warrior armored suit. Blame the fanarts I've seen.
*Plus seeing fanart of those OUAT girls together made something click.
🎃Toge as the Mummy. Better that than automatically putting him in a sushi roll suit.
🎃Panda as Frankenstein's Monster. In the torn up black Frankenstein jacket, stitches painted on, Frankenstein bowler head wig, and bolts in the neck. It was either this or Killer bear.
🎃Yaga as Dr Frankenstein. Labcoat, gloves but with his shades still on. Makes perfect sense.
🎃Yuta as Bendy the Dancing Demon.
🎃Rika as Alice Angel
*They both start off cute then become quite terrifying but in the best way.
🎃Kokichi as Victor from The Corpse Bride.
🎃Miwa as Emily THE Corpse Bride.
🎃Nanami as Captain America cause I got the idea from @TimieTate on twitter. But he keeps said cap off. He'll keep the shield just to see the fanboy within faces Yu, Yuji and Ino come to life.
🎃Yu Haibara as Iron Man cause I like Stony and it all fits now. Also he used face paint to add in the beard goatee combo.
🎃Ino as a zombie with the usual horror makeup with green skin, bloody cuts, and he's a cutie wanting brains~
🎃Shoko as Sally
🎃Utahime as Genderbent Jack Skellington with a Zero plushie.
🎃Momo as Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Just the poofy velvety black dress, witch's hat, It was the broom's fault.
🎃Mai as Salem Saberhagen/Cat. It's just in a velour jumpsuit with an attached tail, layered choker necklace, cat ear headband, and ankle boots.
🎃Todo as a crossdressed Takada … cause why not.
🎃Choso as Netflix's Castlevania Dracula, with his hair loose to match. Also because of the whole blood thing.
🎃Yuki as Lisa Tepes also from Netflix's Castlevania cause they're both independent and stubborn and it just made sense to have them pair up.
🎃Riko as Wednesday Adams
🎃Kuroi as Morticia Adams
🎃Toji and Shiu as Sam and Dean Winchester. Just wearing leather jackets, rustic shirts, torn jeans and boots for the rugged look. Doesn't matter who's dressed as who. They can both make either roles work.
🎃Noritoshi Kamo as Hellsing's Alucard
🎃Junpei as Ash Williams. OG Classic. With detachable chainsaw toy hand.
🎃Nanako as Mitsuri Kanroji
🎃Mimiko as Nezuko
🎃Tsumiki as Shinobu
*They all got the wigs and custom made toy Nichirin swords. Also because Tsumiki and Shinobu share the same seiyuu. It was either her or Yor from SPY X FAMILY. Lord knows Gojo, Geto and Megumi would never want to see this girl in that kinda getup; overprotective they are.
🎃Mei as Disney OG Ursula. They both have white hair and do business with high rewarding profits. I had trouble figuring out a costume for Mei, okay!?
🎃Ui as a Flotsam Jetsam Mashup. Devoted brother/minion, so be it.
🎃Kusakabe as a Scarecrow. Apparently he's a fearful man that is courageous when it counts. It all fits.
🎃Akari Nitta as OG Disney Cinderella. Cause why not? It's cute!
🎃Ijichi as Zorro. Be a brave badass, my man!
*Those two are doing a callback to A Cinderella Story; the OG one, where Sam is Cindy and Carter is Zorro. Ergo, neither pair are couples.
🎃Arata Nitta as just a bedsheet ghost. He's timid as hell according to his wiki so there.
🎃Satoru as Wassup Ghostface
🎃Suguru as Viper Ghostface
🎃You as OG Ghostface
*Cause I gotta put my favorite horror character of all time in this and seeing fanart of them as Ghostface is a big turn on~! Plus Gojo gives Wassup vibes. And Viper looked so cool for Geto. And yes you be representing the OG!
🎃👻🦇 🎃 👻🦇🎃 👻🦇🎃👻🦇🎃👻🦇🎃
Fall has come.
Warm colored leaves whisking in the cold blowing winds.
And so much rambunctious chatter teemed the atmosphere.
The annual Halloween carnival fair has arrived.
"Fushiguro! Let's go on that ride next!" Yuji cheered enthusiastically as the pair rode the flaming pumpkin head shaped go bumper car.
"Fine fine! Just keep your eyes on the – ACK!" Megumi grabbed those mochi cheeks of Yuji's to make him face forward, both jerking forward as they got slammed in up front by another go cart.
"Itadori-kun! Eyes on the road!" Junpei laughed.
"You two can get it on later, ya know~" Ino teased, grinning, innuendo jokes going hard.
"Ino-san, please don't egg him on." Megumi grumbled, bashfully avoiding eye contact.
"If he wants to, sure." Yuji made it all seem so simple.
"WHAT!?" All three exclaimed in shock, startling the other drivers and passerby, earning him a hard yank on his tiger hood.
Mingling outside a food booth
"Mmm, umai~!" Nobara's eyes lit up with actual stars in them as she eyed her crepe with bat and spider sprinkles paired with chocolate sauce. "Delicious and Insta-worthy~! Maki-san, what do you think?"
She smacked her lips in afterthought, eyeing the"With the black and orange dyed cone, matching sherbert ice cream gave off that spooky pizzazz to put one in the festive mood "Not bad. Too much though."
"Hmm … then finding the best cammable sweets for Maki-san is our goal for this all Hallows Night!"
"Don't go overboard, baka." Maki bopped her on her crowned head, endearingly smiling. "Cause we're burning all this sugar in our workout tomorrow."
Nobara saluted. "Yes ma'am!"
From down the road, sitting at a mini table set up outside another food both, Mai scoffs at the sight. "Maki, what do you see in that girl?"
Giving heated glares to some passerby that were giving cat calls to Mai, Momo "Your envy is warranted but not tonight. Now have a spooky berry." Momo plopped a bloody frosted one from her decorated strawberry coffin into her partner's mouth.
"Out of all the people, she chose to date … her." Mai muffled through her full mouth.
"I heard that, you know." The Kyoto pair looked up to see Mai's twin and her bae standing there; Maki a bit facially irked whereas –
"We BOTH heard!" Nobara's seething face was too close for Mai's comfort; Maki restraining her from going feral, though Mai looked undisturbed.
Oh? I didn't see you there." Mai's false smile had Nobara shooting steam out of her nostrils.
"She means well." Momo; understanding Mai's protectiveness over her twin, just sat there and ate those berries away.
The baseball struck gold as the bottle tower collapsed with ease.
"Alright Nanami-san! Perfect aim as always!" Haibara cheered, clapping before pointing at the prize he wanted hanging above their heads. "How many prize booths does that make now?" Haibara beamed, arms full of stuffed toy prizes.
"This would be the fifth one. I believe we've reached a moderate amount at this point." Nanami stated, adjusting the strap keeping the star spangled shield on his back, as they walked off with their reward.
"Yeah. This is more than enough for my sister. Thank you. So here." Picking up his latest prize, he handed the Iron Man chibi doll to his beau. "As a token to remember this night."
Nanami was so taken back by the gesture. "Then you keeping this one would even things up." He plopped that Cap chibi plush right on Haibara's face.
Haibara nuzzled the Cap plush with his cheek. "I'll follow you to the ends of the Earth … Kento."
God, Nanami's heart was getting ready to burst right outta him! "Yu …" Looking straight ahead, he shyly blushed as he kept a hand on Yu's back just in case. "I'll never forget."
On a park bench, viewing the fair from across the way, the two ruggedly dressed drinking buddies were hogging the bench.
"You know spying is a bad look for you, Zen'in."
"Shut it. It's Fushiguro now, remember?" And yet, propped against the back of the bench, Toji kept glancing at his wolf eared teen son walking with his fellow sorcerer buddies through the festive grounds evidently content regardless if he was smiling or not.
"Just go say to your kids already, you big old wuss."
Downing some booze, Toji sighed. "Nah. It's better this way. Besides, his two new papas would kill me in cold blood if I got even close."
"You're actually pissed you didn't get invited to their group gathering." Shiu drolled, getting bonked in the back of the head by Toji's half empty bottle.
"Still though, nothing like a drink and a smoke outside to spend the night away." Shiu mused, smoke slipping through his lips.
Toji's semi bored eyes suddenly became focused as they trained on a former target that now alluded to his sights after slipping inside one of the many houses of horrors littered around the fair grounds.
Holding hands tightly, Riko and Kuroi jolted and squeaked among the many other costumed attendees from every jump scare triggered by the gory horrifying figures coming every which way.
"Riko-sama, it's okay if you don't want to keep going."
"No! I can be brave through this! Just to rub it in those two's smug ass faces! I can do this – mmph!" She bumped into someone's back amiss her self encouragement. Looking up into the blackest eyes of Count Choso who bluntly uttered.
"Boo."
Riko's terrified screams didn't startle Choso in the slightest as she flailed, losing balance, and falling into Kuroi's arms.
"Sorry about him, Amanai-chan. Just trying to get him in the spooky spirit is all." Yuki's head popped out from behind him, apologetically smiling.
"An incarnated object … in the flesh!" She was as terrified as she was astounded at being in his presence, especially when he punched a screeching animatronic that got too close for comfort.
"Another former Star Plasma Vessel." Choso pointed out dryly.
"I chose my own path going forward of my own free will, same as you. No need to be so blunt about it." Riko stuck her tongue out at the somewhat irked hybrid man.
"Riko-sama, let's get going. We're holding up the others behind us." Kuroi cautioned.
"Yes yes, we're wasting precious time here! The night is still young after all!~!" Not wanting to get kicked out and sued by those running the house, Yuki dragged those three out to the exit, barreling through puzzled exclaiming normies.
In a mock up Haunted Mansion ride, Kokichi stayed stiff but flustered as Miwa held his hand, hugged his arm, and cuddled up next to him in their automatic carriage seat for two.
"Are you enjoying yourself?" She curiously wanted to know.
He nods, fidgeting a bit. "And you?"
"Yes … I'm with you, after all." Miwa's genuine smile spoke volumes to how true she meant it.
"Good." He kissed her cheek all feather-like, earning a glow from her face before she peppered his face all with lipstick kisses, to his dopey smiling face.
"Oh my precious students!" That alerted the two as they spotted their sensei tearing up, to which her date used her Zero plush to pat away those tears.
"Just ignore us. We'll keep mingling with our brethren, that's all." Shoko waved to them, lounging in the fake graveyard setting.
"Not if we get kicked out over it!" Utahime panicked.
"Eh, no big deal." Shoko's usual apathetic shrug.
"You promised me you wouldn't act like THOSE TWO – MMPH!" Utahime got shushed by a smooch. Zero's nose lit up red, smooshed in between them, pouting as they parted. "You don't play fair."
Shoko rubbed her nose against Utahime's, mixing her faded blue powder with her white face powder, smiling proudly. "You make it too easy."
Outside, in a corn maze, Toge was looking ahead over the tops, carried on Panda's shoulders,
"Tsuna Tsuna."
"Go right?"
"Shake."
"Got it. Oh, Yuta, why must you leave us in your wake!? We barely see him anymore! Now he left us behind in this maze!" Panda dramatically tearfully shouted to the heavens.
"Mentaiko."
Turning this and that way, they finally found Yuta. On the hay covered ground. With Rika laying atop him.
"T–Toge! Panda! Uh … I can explain everything! I – It was just a slip –!" Yuta sweated bullets.
"He still cushioned my fall. You're always looking out for me, Yuta, my love~!" Rika gushed.
While he remained calm on the surface; that and his mouth was covered in wraps, Toge was irked at seeing his close friend being smothered by his lifelong love.
"If you two wanted to be alone, all you had to do was say so." Panda suggestively said.
"Uh, that's not – AH!" Getting pulled up to their feet, Yuta blushed at how intense Inumaki's gaze held him with such devotion. Ruffling his hair, Toge was now turning red from what those wraps didn't hide, Yuta laughed a bit at the cute sight, before Panda bear hugged them all. "I – I missed you all too!"
Leaning against the fenced borders of the exit, Kusakabe-sensei stood beside his fellow Scarecrow; a display maybe but still, staying steer clear of any unwarranted hassle.
"Kids … naively enjoying normalcy despite our true reality. As long as I don't get screwed over in the long run, I'm –!"
A clown faced balloon got thrusted in his face.
"Take one. Enjoy yourself. I mean it."
Principal Yaga, handing out spooky themed balloons to adorably costumed kids passing by with their parents, still noticed the somber fear in his eyes. Speaking of kids –
"Come on, uncle! Mom is waiting for us!"
Yaga smiled at seeing Atsuya being dragged off by his Batman dressed nephew, willing to let his guard down for the little guy, a bat shaped balloon in his small gloved hand.
Mei cackling as money rained the sky. "Thinking you can trick me out of my wits," Men with wounded pride crumbled around her. "Only to be treated to my heart's content." They should never have bet straight outta their wallets. "Now that's what I call the best treat ever~!" She was that good at the shooting ranges. And darts. And slamming the hammer to ring the bell.
"Nee-sama, on top, as always~! Perfection~!" Ui applauded in his own odd unsettling way that only his elder sister enjoyed as she laughed madly.
Noritoshi hoped Miwa and the girls' choice of costume for him wouldn't make him feel so … out of his comfort zone. And yet, the various fangirls that adored the character he portrayed had them taking him up on both sides, hugging him arms and giggling nonstop at how fine he looked. Guess letting his hair down and loose made the look really sell. Still …
"I cannot tell if this is better than dealing with curses … or worse."
Getting dragged off to God knows where, an overwhelmed Noritoshi passed the masked Ijichi-san who was mesmerized by Nitta-san as the princess she is inside and out, twirling on the bridge. "I'll make sure not to lose my glass slipper~!" She cheekily jokes.
"I'd gladly carry you should you ever lose them." Ijicji bravely offered.
"Oh thank you Ichiji-san, but I'll manage. Right, Anata?"
All she got from the tarp draped ghost of her teen brother was jerky nodding and an "Eep!"
"He's really shy. But that makes him that much more precious to me~!" She hugged her startled embarrassed tarp brother.
It brought tears to Ichiji's eyes, sniffling. "Ah sibling love … so pure!"
And for Todo. Yeah, a Takada-chan Halloween themed concert was happening nearby. And yes he got tickets to see her. Cross dressed as his #1. The man will wear it with the utmost unbridled pride and joy for his Takada-Chan. And he'd lose it seeing her dressed as the best half angel half devil in history. "Pure and forbidden to all … the perfect balance … that's my Takada-chan~" He'd be on Cloud 9 yall!
SNAP!
"Ooh, another one!" Nanko cheered.
FLASH.
"New pose time." Mimiko softly suggested.
CLICK!
"Okay, one more!" Tsumiki added.
Posing and taking photos with cosplayers of their fave online idols in their demon slayer outfits was too much fun for all those involved.
"PHOTO BOMB!"
A Wassup Ghostface popped up above Nanako's head. Followed by a Viper one appearing between Mimiko and Tsumiki's faces. Startling away their cosplaying acquaintances.
"Our own papas giving us heart attacks, unbelievable!" Nanako complained.
"It was a good scare, though." Mimiko clapped a bit.
"It made my heart jolt right out of my chest!" Tsumiki exclaimed.
"Huh? Where's Mama, though?" Nanako asked.
"She's missing." Mimiko noted.
"I thought you three would all arrive together." Tsumiki reminded them.
Gojo pulled up his mask to beam at them. "Not to worry, girls. The Mrs is fine. Quite fine, actually~" Gojo's purring tone at how fine you looked in your costume did not go unnoticed as the girls mock gagging into their hands.
Geto also pulled his mask up to peck their foreheads. "You girls keep having fun…not too much, though." Geto wanted the best for his girls too, but not around unsavory company.
"Yes, Geto-sama." The twins kissed his cheeks before dragging Tsumiki off to rendezvous with Megumi's group.
The big question.
Where are you in all this?
Photographing the moments, of course.
Entrapping these precious once in a lifetime memories.
Looking over them all from afar, your tender smile gave way to a wave of attachment as tears pricked your vision behind that mask.
This fragile tender peace amiss this cursed world was what you sought-after.
Swaying from the overflow of sentiment, empathy and affection you felt for this found family had you shaking in your actual costumed boots.
"Tell me …" You felt his cursed energy appear immediately, hovering right behind you. "What's your favorite scary movie?"
You felt giddy, butterflies flocking your nerves, smiling nervously underneath your mask. "This one." You pointed at yourself. "Duh." You giggled as he glomped you from behind, lifting your mask off to see your red cheeked beauty. "Lord forbid I wanna remember this night, digitally and soulfully. Doing group hangouts takes lots of planning, coordination and effort – AAH~!"
You squealed as Satoru lifted you up bridal style, spinning you around, marveling at your form highlighted by the moon while the fair lights made your e/c eyes sparkle like the universe laid in your gaze. Matching his Six Eyes perfectly, hypnotized by them as ever, as he kissed you openly.
"Heaven sent … you truly are." Tuffs of his snony bangs tickled your forehead and nose as his face beamed with pride and joy, unbridled love stretched from both ends of his wide smile, all for you.
"An angel for our depraved souls," Feeling those giant clothes hands cup your cheeks from behind, your toothy smile looked up to see Suguru sharing the same twitterpated expression.
"Ghosts having guardian angels … huh. Who'd have thought?" Your attempt at joking only made them give loud, slobbering, open mouthed smooches all over your face as you became a flailing giggling mess.
"Selfie time~!" Satoru chirped as he took tons of them with his phone, lots of laughs and kisses exchanged amongst the many goofy, creepy, and ecstatic faces you three made.
When midnight would soon be upon you all.
"Looks like we're right on schedule." Suguru mused as you three saw everyone that you personally invited eventually convening where the end of the fair grounds and the park meet, fairy lights hanging among, between, and around the tall hanging trees, various spooky tune favorites playing in the background to set the mood.
"Precisely." You threw the heavy ginormous bag you brought with you.
You popped it with the signature cursed energized finger gun.
It rained candy for all assembled.
While some – Yuji, Panda, Toge, Yuta, Rika, Junpei, Ino, Nobara, Miwa, Riko, Yu, Todo cause his lovely Takada-chan's concert had ended early, Nanako, Mimiko, Tsumiki, Satoru who yes scrambled over to get some too – clamored for every piece they could get their hands on.
Others – the adults at least – had restraint or not much interest.
As the fireworks went off to signal the end of the night, so much lively chatter bounced off everyone in animated mayhem, and you could only stand there and watch in amusement, content, and peace.
You wanted to freeze this moment. As well as many others. From back then to going forward.
This world – this reality – was something else.
You found more meaning, a sense of belonging, and heart in being here.
You would shape, bend and change it all to make it the kind of world you wanted it to be.
One where you could protect the smiles of those you feel attached to. Keeping this little slice of semi-normalcy intact, this somewhat safe haven of a life.
And should any curses wreak havoc upon the city – they will be most active on this night after all – this league of sorcerers would exorcise the hell outta them.
Sitting down on the grassy grounds, you were lost in the glowing sight that you got startled as Suguru slung an arm around your shoulders, nuzzling your humming self with his own.
"Truly a memorable night. Well done, love~"
You two jumped as Satoru collapsed before you two, candy stains smearing his lips, but smiling too much to care. "Best Halloween thus far! But next year we gotta top it! We should throw a bash! At our place!" Satoru's eyes were crazed and high at that point.
"Satoru, no more sugar for you tonight." Suguru lightly scolded.
"But Suguru, I feel so good right now~!" You and Sugu sucked the sweetness right off Toru's lips. "Like that but more~! Please love~?" Those puppy dog eyes and pouty lips have you kissing his lips. "Thanks you two~"
Helping Satoru sit up enough to rest on his elbows, you three spent the moment relishing the youthful scenery. Satoru's head rested on your left shoulder, Suguru's head rested on your right shoulder, and you hummed at how warm and cozy and right it all felt.
Calling out to everyone assembled to do at least one group cheer before the clock struck twelve.
Finishing the night off with one last –
"HAPPY HALLOWEEN!"
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linkspooky · 1 year
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MEGUMI WILL LIVE
Sukuna reverting to his Heian era form sent the fandom into a panic because everyone assumed that Sukuna fully reverting back meant Megumi is now permanently dead. It doesn't. I understand how the fans would be worried because of how unceremoniously Gojo was just offed, but remember even Gojo got a long fight beforehand only the finishing blow was offscreened. He's still in Megumi's body though, all he did was change the shape of Megumi's body to look like his heian era self. It's the same way that Choso transfigured his host body when he was inserted inside of it, or other members of the culling games like Hajime did. The original owner of the body is still alive, because if the owner dies then Sukuna would still die along with him.
However, not only is Megumi not dead currently he's not going to die and the rest of this post will be explaining why.
Angel explains in chapter 199, that the reincarnated players are cursed objects swallowed by bodies who then use the bodies as vessels, reshaping them and then suppressing the body's original owner. It's the same for Megumi, Megumi at the finger and became a vessel for Sukuna, but instead of transforming all the way Sukuna stopped the transformation halfway through - until now. However, even in that case Megumi's soul is still there just suppressed.
Angel: My objective is to wipe out all players who've recinarnated. Most of them do it by suppressing the vessel's original owner... whether internally or subconsciously. And that's against God's laws... so it's wrong. Megumi: God? Angel: That's just a name I give to my beliefs. Pay it no mind. Angel: So I decided to live in symbiosis with Hana. Megumi: Can your technique revert possessed players to their original state? Angel: It's not impossible, but it's extremely likely they will die... because the cursed object and body fuse. SO it's difficult to strip away one. Yuji: That's why Sukuna dies if I die.
Sukuna hasn't completely killed Megumi, he's just suppressed the host consciousness, that was essentially the entire purpose of both the bath, and then killing Tsumiki immediately afterwards to bury Megumi so deep he won't fight back.
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However, as I said that's just the technical explanation. I'm going to make a thematic argument about why if only one character of the four main characters survives until the end of the manga like Gege predicted, it will be Megumi. Before I begin though this is just a theory, I'm not saying Yuji or Nobara deserves to die so if you're a fan of them please be chill. Megumi will live and here's why...
Megumi's character arc is about birth rather than death. Megumi is a child, the end goal of his character death is not for him to die and be at peace with his death like Gojo and in my prediction Yuji, but rather for him to grow from childhood into adulthood. Everything in his character revolves around this concept, even his name.
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Megumi, named blessing by his father. A child who is blessed in many ways, born with a technique that would have given Toji acceptance in the Zen'in if he had it, born a prodigy that got the attention of Gojo Satoru, and not blessed in other ways, no father, no mother, no adult in his life to guide him and forced to become a sorcerer or starve from an early age. However, more than that the name represents Toji's desire for Megumi to have a better life than he did.
Toji: Take care of Megumi, okay? That place is ueslss for someone like me, but for him...for someone with potential...it'll be a little better. Toji: I don't care... I don't care anymore. Toji: Hey, what's your name? Megumi: Fushiguro. Toji: Not Zen'in, huh? Toji: Good for you.
I have said before that Jujutsu Kaisen is a tragedy, but tragedies aren't really hopeless stories where everyone dies and nothing good ever happens. Even while Gojo's death is tragic, his dying dream is bittersweet as he reflects on the fact he made great friends in life and protected a lot of people. Which is why I don't think Megumi's name is supposed to be ironic, he was named blessing because he's supposed to be where the chain of abuse that started with the Zen'in -> Toji and carried on -> Megumi finally ends by breaking that cycle.
Megumi is a child, episode 5 of Juju Stroll "had Megumi describe Panda's smell as "ohisama" (お日様) which is a super childish way of saying "sunshine". It kind of literally translates to Mr. Sun, and it's such a cutesy way of talking that the girls get flustered. It's also mentioned in one of the audio dramas where they go out to eat beefsteak that Megumi only wants to eat the sauce and Yuuji reacts by basically saying "Are you a kid??" He also dislikes red peppers."
These childish affectations are there to show us Megumi is not what he appears. That's also basically the twist with his personality too, because he has an incredibly serious personality, and is considered a jujutsu prodigy most people mistake him for being mature for his age when he's really just repressing his emotions all the time.
Fushiguro had intended to just pay and leave but with his serious personality, his idea of leaving was dismissed by Itadori’s reasoning. However, his eyes that were as deep as the night that peeped out from the bottom of a deep ditch became even more lifeless. Fushiguro tried once more to switch off his self-awareness. Numbness was the safety feature of life. If he did not think of a way to protect his spirit, it would not be strange if a curse was born.
Megumi is putting on airs of being an adult, but I'd argue he's the most childish of the main three, because at least Nobara and Yuji both had parental figures and normal childhoods until high school. Megumi was handpicked to be a sorcerer at age six and received no adult guidance outside of that, just training to be a sorcerer. Megumi is a child forced into sorcery at a young age in order to pay his bills and survive, in the manga where the central goal of one of the main characters is that children should be able to live out their youths. If Megumi dies before he's even able to grow up, that goal will be unaccomplished.
Ijichi: Then Itdori will have to go into hiding for good. Gojo: Nah, I'll have him ready in time for the goodwill event. Shoko: Why? Goo: Easy. I refuse to keep this kid from living the best years of his life. Not just him, but everyone.
Of course that argument works for Yuji and Nobara as well. They're also children who I am predicting will die tragically early, wouldn't that go against the themes of the manga too? My argument is this, we've already seen kids die young, Mai Zen'in, Kokichi Muta, Junpei Yoshino, because Jujutsu Kaisen is a tragedy. However, there will be a few characters who survive into adulthood and live to see a better world where losses like the above characters don't happen anymore. Those characters however, are characters where their character arcs revolve around them living.
Yuji's character arc is a contemplation of death and searching for a proper death (I'll talk more on the differences later) Nobara's is more tricky without talking about the quality of the writing, but let's say Nobara's death shows that even a "main character" isn't exempt for death. Which is appropriate as Nobara thinks of herself as the main character of a story. Megumi's character arc however is specifically about a cycle of abuse that started with his father, and continued to him. Unlike Nobara and Yuji who were outsiders who made the choice one way or another (traveling to Tokyo, or swallowing the finger) to enter into the world of sorcery, Megumi was born into this situation and his choice was become a sorcerer when he was a teenager or starve. Gojo had the chance to break the cycle of abuse with Megumi and he didn't, because he saw another potential strong sorcerer.
Toji: But then the unexpected happened 11 years ago, when Toji Zen'in appeared. he was physically gifted through heavenly restriction and on top of that he was an anomaly who had escaped from cursed energy. As a human being who had escaped fate through the power of restriction... he destroyed our destinies.
Jujutsu Kaisen is a story about cycles, and not only is the narrative goal set by Gojo to 'reset this crappy Jujutsu World" so that the cycle of abuse adults heap on children will be broken by the end of the story, but Toji himself is referred to as the breaker of chains and Megumi is Toji's son. Megumi, who he named blessing. The inciting incident of the story happened, because the Zen'in abused Toji to the point he became a remorseless murderer and killed Riko in front of Geto's eyes, starting the domino effect that led to today's plot. Megumi is at the center of that, he is in a way the central victim of the story in a way Yuji is not because even Yuji got the choice to eat the finger or not. Eating the finger, and being executed to destroy Sukuna are burdens Yuji willingly took on whereas Megumi was possessed forcibly by Sukuna creating the current situation. Yuji also wanted to be a sorcerer and wanted to get stronger as one when sitting in his room and waiting to have the fingers delivered to him was a possible option, whereas for Megumi the choice was to be a sorcerer or starve.
Jujutsu Society will not have changed from Toji's generation, or even Gojo's generation if Megumi the child does not survive to adulthood like his father.
Megumi is someone with very little agency or sense of control over his own life, just like a child too he is at every turn practically helpless to the forces of the adults in his life. Of course he's a character who makes choices, but he's still making those choices in the framework of a world of adults who have authority over him. Megumi doesn't get to retire at being a sorcerer or he'll starve, so the choice he makes is "I'll selectively choose who I save as a sorcerer" which is a comrpomise he makes.
He doesn't have a choice but to be a sorcerer, so he chooses to be a sorcerer for selfish reasons. He's also someone with little care for the institution of sorcery. Even his choice to be a sorcerer with the Zen'in, or to be a sorcerer with Gojo is made on the axis of "What will give Tsumiki a better life?" The same with his choice to save Yuji from execution, he doesn't care what is right or wrong by sorcerer society standards, just that he personally wishes to see Yuji saved. Afterwards when Yuji expresses remorse for Sukuna's mass murder in Shibuya, Megumi is pretty unbothered by the moral ramifications of it.
"We aren't heroes fighting for justice. No one can ever truly judge us, so we must continually prove the worth of our existence. and we don't have the luxury of thinking of ourselves. We've just got to save people. I believe that was the original principle behind your actions. So start by saving me!"
Those words aren't just foreshadowing for what Yuji's final task in the manga is (Hint hint, Yuji now needs to save Megumi from Sukuna's possession otherwise Sukuna will continue to rampage in his body).
It's also illustrative of Megumi's character, he's not someone who makes moral judgements at all, not really. He has no concept of moraity, justice, because those are adult ideas and he is a child trying to survive in the world of adults with what limited power he has. Megumi does make choices as I said he chooses to forgive Yuji for mass slaughter in Shibuya, during the Culling games he chooses to make saving Tsumiki a priority above everything else even innocent people inside the games (something only Yuta is shown actually doing) which is consistent with the choices Megumi has always made. Megumi has no choice to be a sorcerer, so he chooses to use his power selfishly to protect one or two loved ones (and his comrades sometimes) instead of using them for altruistic reasons like Yuji or utilitarian reasons like Gojo.
Megumi doesn't have morals, because he's not in a stage of development where he can actually think and develop morals. This is a thing in psychology, Jean Piaget was the first psychologist to study ways in which children processed the world different from adults. He identified stages of moral development believeing it correlated with stages of cognitive deveolpment (congition = understanding) which Kohlberg then defined into roughly six stages of development.
Stage 1. Obedience and Punishment. Child is good to avoid being punishment. Stage 2. Individualism and Exchange: At this stage, children recognize that there is no just one right view handed down by the authorities, different individuals have different viewpoints. Stage 3. Good Interpersonal Relationships The child / individual is good to be see as being a good person by others. THerefore, answers relate to the approval of others. Stage 4. Law and Order Morality. The child becomes aware of wider rules of society, so judgments concern obeying rules to uphold the law and avoid guilt. Stage 5. Social Contract and Individual Rights. The child becomes aware that laws exist for good, there are times they work against interest of individuals. Stage 6. Universal Principles. Pepople at this stage have developed their own set of moral guidelines they apply to everyone.
Megumi is trapped at Stage 3, his only concern is how his actions will affect his interprersonal relationships with others. Everything he does is in regards to maintaing those interpersonal relationships, and he casually just disregards outside morality all the time. Even Kurusu who bonded with Angel and entered the culling games because of one kind deed Megumi did for her in the past shares this same reasoning, she does good deeds because she wants to be approved of by the person she likes.
Hana: Fate is all. I believed we would someday meet again. So little by little, in hopes of being worthy to stand by your side... I help people.
Megumi's morality is-selfcentered yes, but he hasn't developed into a mature enough person to be able to think of the points of view of other people. Even when Megumi does attempt to assert some control in the world an adult appears and steals control from him, literally in fact when we learn that his attempts to save Tsumiki were pointless to begin with, because Tsumiki is possessed by Yorozu. Shortly after this revelation Megumi permanently loses control, because his bodily autonomy and basic ability to make choices is stolen from him by an adult. Megumi's life is defined by how little control he has in it, he says it in what is his first inner monologue.
Megumi: The only thing that is fair about life is how unfair it is to everyone. She was the kindest person, there was no reason to think otherwise, she was someone who deserved to be happy, but Tsumiki was cursed. My father who didn't even know my gender gave me the name Megumi. He's still alive somewhere. Karma doesn't happen on its own. Criminals are disciplined under the law. Jujutsu sorcerers are only a cog in this retribution. If only more good people could receive fairness. I'll save people whether or not it's fair!
That entire monologue but especially the first sentence is true to Megumi and his life so far, the only thing fair about life is how unfair it is to everyone. Everything is chaos, especially the world of adults, something Megumi has not been sheltered from at all. Megumi's name was blessing, but his father who was responsible for taking care of him just ran off somewhere else and left him to the wolves.
You could even draw some kind of sick parallel to the king of curses himself, who refers to himself as an unwanted child. I don't know if we're going to get a sob story for Sukuna, but if the greatest curse in history was created because he was thrown to the wolves as a child, then that says a lot about sorcerer society. Megumi is just more aware of the dog-eat-dog nature of Jujutsu Society then the rest of the characters, it's why he's constantly trying to tell Yuji that sorcerers arent' heroes. It reminds me of two quotes from Buffy the Vamprie Slayer from Faith, another homeless teen exposed to the world's violence at a really young age with no adults to sheperd her.
Joyce Summers: You don't know the first thing about Buffy... or m Faith:  Don't I? I know what it's like. You think you matter. You think you're a part of something, and you get dumped. It's like the whole world is moving, but you're stuck. Like those animals in the tar pits. It's like you just keep sinking a little deeper every day, and nobody even sees! [...] Buffy: I gave you every chance. I tried so hard to help you, and you spat on me. My life was just something for you to play with. Angel - Riley- anything that you could take from me you took. I've lost battles before - but nobody else has ever made me a victim. Faith: And you can't stand that. You're all about control. You have no idea what it's like on the other side! Where nothing's in control, nothing makes sense! There is just pain and hate and nothing you do means anything. You can't even..."
Megumi's life is defined by this learned helplessness, he's not someone who at seventeen believed he had the complete freedom to do whatever he wanted like Gojo, he's trapped in the tar pits sinking a little deeper every day. There's a reason his Jujutsu Technique is shadows, which turn into muddy water when he uses his domain expansion, and why Sukuna bathed in black water to sink Megumi down to the bottom of his consciousness so he'd stop fighting back.
Megumi's someone with power, but with no real agency in how he uses it, as someone who avoids making choices, and asserting himself over ad over again. Unlike Sukuna and Gojo characters with overwhelming senses of self who seem to have complete freedom to choose, Megumi entirely lacks a sense of self, and therefore doesn't make his own choices.
Gojo: You sacrificed yourself so that Nobara could advance. Well, good for you. But people like Yuji and I... are always swinging for the fences. I'm not saying a sacrifice bunt is bad. Baseball si a team sport in which each member is expected to play their role. However, being a Jujtusu Sorcerer is an individual sport. Megumi: But isn't coordinating with other sorcerers important? Gojo: Yes, but no matter how many allies you have around you... you'll always die alone. Right now, you can only judge and match those around you instead of picturing a stronger future you. Maybe it's because of that ace in the sleeve you think in a worst case scenario if you were to at least sacrifice yourself all would end well. Keep that up and you can forget about becoming as strong as me, you won't even match up to Nanami. To die and then win, and dying victoriously are two completely different things, Megumi. Give it your all. It's okay to be selfish!
Megumi's narrative challenge goes beyond learning that it's okay to be selfish sometimes though, he's tasked with learning to cultivate a sense of self where he has none previously. You se Megumi is the most Jungian of Jung characters in the Jung manga, his power is literally the treasures he keeps hidden in his shadow. He's someone who continually fails to live up to his potential. He has no looked in his shadow at all whatsoever and therefore he's completly stunted in his development. His goal is to develop the ten shadows figuratively, but literally it's too cultivate a sense of self and reach adulthood as a fully grown individual and not the helpless child he is currently. He even is the first ten shadows user to develop a domain expansion, a domain expansion is a sorcerer using their innate domain (personal inner world) onto the outer world.
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Megumi's endpoint is individuation (the process through which a person achieves a sense of individuality separate from the idenities of others and begins to consciously exist as a human in the world.)
As Jung Stated:
The aim of individuation is nothing less than to divest the self of the false wrappings of the persona, on the one hand and the suggestive power of primordial images on the other.
Jung's two theories on selfhood was divided between persona (what we are for other people) and the shadow (what we suppress about ourselves subconscious images we are controlled by). Here we have Megumi, someone who puts on the persona of being a mature, serious individual to survive in the world of adults, and also has the ten shadows which are representative of the suppressed undercurrents of violence but also his self-sabotage that Gojo identifies, suppressed emotions he is unconsciously controlled by. Both of these identities are Megumi and neither of them are.
Megumi's not a fully realized individual because he doesn't have a balanced sense of self at all, or even any sense of self because his two sides are all out of whack. In Jungian terminology the shadow is made up of primordial images shared by all of society, and what is more primordial then being literally possessed by a curse that's a character based off of a folk legend of ryomen sukuna in the real world.
Integration of the shadow is necessary for the process of individuation, Jung even names a confrontation with the shadow as a prerequisite for moral growth.
“The shadow is a moral problem that challenges the whole ego-personality, for no one can become conscious of the shadow without considerable moral effort. To become conscious of it involves recognizing the dark aspects of the personality as present and real. This act is the essential condition for any kind of self-knowledge.”
Once again connecting back to Kohlberg's terms of moral development loosely, children see morals in terms of just outside consequences being applied to them. A child thinks "I can't steal this cookie because the adult who is the enforcer of morals told me it's wrong and will punish me." The final step of moral development is to create your own morals which apply to the world around you. Jung calls the shadow a moral problem because you have to become conscious that you yourself are capable of being wrong in order to properly render judgement on yourself. You can't judge yourself, or reflect on yourself, if you don't look at yourself properly, or ignore half of what you are because you don't want to see the bad in you.
The encoutner with theshadow and the confrontation with the beast is the first step of individuation, and what is Ryomen Sukuna if not one big shadow representing all the evils and selfishness of mankind. A cruel reflection of both Megumi, but also Gojo and Toji. Megumi, Sukuna says, this is how Gojo and Toji lived. They lived fighting from others and simply taking what they wanted, and no one could take from them.
It's extra ironic that Megumi is a blessing, and Sukuna refers to himself as an unwanted child.
Translation by @kaibutsushidousha
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Sukuna is clearly a result of climbing to the top of the food chain after being thrown to the wolves, something which Megumi could become if he learned to wield his power that way and something arguably Gojo tried to push him towards (at least in the sense that Gojo wants to craft Megumi into a successor, into another Gojo). Megumi isn't nearly on Sukuna's level, but Megumi could become Sukuna, someone who only ever wields their power for themselves and only cares about being the strongest. That kind of person would never experience loss and discomfort the way Megumi did when he helplessly watched Tsumiki die. Sukuna is funcitoning as a beast for Megumi to compare himself to, even making Megumi himself feel guilty by getting Tsumiki's blood on his hands via killing her with his technique.
Kenjaku: What's the point of soaking in it? Ura Ume: To be near evil, and to submerge Megumi Fushiguro's soul.
Megumi has to confront Sukuna to learn that he is not like Sukuna. The other option is remaining helpless inside of Sukuna and just letting Sukuna completely have control. Regaining control of his body, and also discovering himself are essentially the same thing in this situation. Jung says that people who are unaware of their shadow, will be controlled by it, or at lest they won't realize that they're the ones messing up when things go wrong and will always attribute it to outside situations like fate instead of realizing they do have control and choices to make.
“The psychological rule says that when an inner situation is not made conscious, it happens outside as fate. That is to say, when the individual remains undivided and does not become conscious of his inner opposite, the world must perforce act out the conflict and be torn into opposing halves.” (Carl Jung)
To briefly reference another manga.
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For Megumi regaining control over his body and assserting himself would also mean accepting that he's the one making choices here, he's the one to blame when things go wrong, and he's responsible. I argued over and over again that Megumi is effectively helpless yes, but that's because he's symbolically a child in order to grow into an adult he would have to learn to take responsibility for his actions like an adult would.
Such a process would also involve having to admit to some degree culpability and fault to his own actions. To become a person living in the world and therefore capable of making mistakes, rather than a dead dinosaur sinking in the tar pits.
“If you imagine someone who is brave enough to withdraw all his projections, then you get an individual who is conscious of a pretty thick shadow. Such a man has saddled himself with new problems and conflicts. He has become a serious problem to himself, as he is now unable to say that they do this or that, they are wrong, and they must be fought against… Such a man knows that whatever is wrong in the world is in himself, and if he only learns to deal with his own shadow he has done something real for the world. He has succeeded in shouldering at least an infinitesimal part of the gigantic, unsolved social problems of our day.” — Carl Jung, Psychology and Religion (1938)
Megumi is obviously not even remotely close to there, not only is he blinded by shadows, but he's been referred to as a fool before this.
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Let fate toy with you, before you die like a fool a prophecy which has been hanging over Megumi's head since the Reggie fight. You could take this as foreshadowing for Megumi's death, but honestly that's only if you're interpreting it in the most literal way possible.
Number one, what is fate in Jujutsu Kaisen?
Characters talk about it, but there's no canonical concept of fate. When Megumi asks Angel what God is, Angel says that you can just refer to God as a set of beliefs they have. In a Jungian reading, Fate is just what we attribute to things we think are out of our control but really aren't. It's not fate toying with Megumi, it's outside factors, and Megumi's own perceived lack of agency in his decision making.
Number two, what is death in Jujutsu Kaisen?
Remember this is the most Jung of the Jung manga, and when I hear die like a fool I think Tarot.
The Fool's Journey is a metaphor for the journey through life. Each major arcana card stands for a stage on that journey - an experience that a person must incorporate to realize his wholeness. 
In Tarot a set of 22 major arcana are used as stages in a metaphorical journey where an individual starts out as a newborn, a nobody, and becomes a fully realized individual through a series of stages and trials that prompt self reflection. Megumi would be in this manga the archetypical fool on the fool's journey, because as I said of the four main characters he's the one with the least sense of self and the most helpless. Megumi does not make choices, Megumi is pulled along by the nose.
We begin with the Fool (0), a card of beginnings. The Fool stands for each of us as we begin our journey of life. He is a fool because only a simple soul has the innocent faith to undertake such a journey with all its hazards and pain. At the start of his trip, the Fool is a newborn - fresh, open and spontaneous. The figure on Card 0 has his arms flung wide, and his head held high. He is ready to embrace whatever comes his way, but he is also oblivious to the cliff edge he is about to cross. The Fool is unaware of the hardships he will face as he ventures out to learn the lessons of the world. The Fool stands somewhat outside the rest of the major arcana. Zero is an unusual number. It rests in the exact middle of the number system - poised between the positive and negative. At birth, the Fool is set in the middle of his own individual universe. He is strangely empty (as is zero), but imbued with a desire to go forth and learn. This undertaking would seem to be folly, but is it?
The fool is in the center of his own individual universe, and is also strangely empty, a zero. A person who I'd argue like Megumi has no identity, and has to journey out into the world in order to find one. Once again, I'm arguing Yuji had a normal life for seventeenish years even if he's Kenjaku's science fair project, Nobara was raised in a small village, Megumi is the only person who was born within the small secular world of sorcerers and never experienced anything else (who is also one of the main four characters) and unlike Gojo is helpless and not the strongest dude in existence.
Death is a stage of the fool's journey, it's not the end or even a literal death but a transformation. The fool's journey argues that a symbolic death has to happen of the old self in orderto make room for a new one. Which is true for a lot of things of life, in order to grow into an adult you have to stop being a child. Entering the next stage of life requires leaving behind the last one.
DEATH: The Fool now begins to eliminate old habits and tired approaches. He cuts out nonessentials because he appreciates the basics of life. He goes through endings as he puts the outgrown aspects of his life behind him. He process may seem like dying because it is the death (13) of his familiar self to allow for the growth of a new one. At times this inexorable change seems to be crushing the Fool, but eventually he rises up to discover that death is not a permanent state. It is simply a transition to a new, more fulfilling way of life.
The next stage after death is the temperance, which has you know... an Angel, which there's totally not one of those in Jujutsu Kaisen. While I wouldn't say that JJK is a manga that strictly follows the fool's journey like say Tokyo Ghoul does where you can map out stages of the story to different major arcana, "let fate toy with you before you die like a fool" I think isn't a stretch to connect to the idea of death and what it means to the fool's journey.
Megumi arguably also has to let things die in order to progress as a person. Tsumiki is more or less dead by the beginning of the story. We never see her on her own terms just Megumi's memories and you can't be alive in a memory, there was never any chance of resucing her because we knew she was possessed by Yorozu we were just led into believing she might have been one of the people who awakened a curse technique instead. Megumi in a way as cruel as this sounds needed to let Tsumiki die, because there was nothing he could have done to help her, and he hasn't allowed himself to grieve or mourn her or move past her in any way. His entire identity is built around protecting his princess, but his princess isn't in another castle, she's dead. He needs to find a new identity, a new reason of living, and that can't be Tsumiki or even Yuji because Yuji is just a repeat of Tsumiki even in the sense that both of them are doomed by the narrative.
Megumi needs to let his sister die and mourn her, and that also requires being alive to mourn her when this is all over.
Sukuna: The destruction of Tsumiki Fushiguro will allow me to completely bury Megumi Fushiguro.
Sukuna argues that the death of Tsumiki will be the death of Megumi, but in reality that's just the death of who Megumi used to be. The person who defined himself entirely as being Tsumiki's protector and existing for the sake of her happiness is gone along with Tsumiki, but there's still a chance he could start from scratch. This is what Sukuna compeltely fails to take into account, but then again Sukuna doesn't even understand why people who are weaker than him bother struggling to live in the first place.
Sukuna: Well, allow me to ask. Why are you so weak? You're weak, yet you cling to life. Cotinuing on your path means destruction, yet you wish to be happy as long as possible. You should spend your lives stifling your misery/ Yuji: You should be the one trying to stifle this misery! Suuna: Come coloser. (Hm? Why is he so tough? No, that's not right! It's my cursed energy output that's low!) Damn you, Megumi Fushiguro.
Immediately after seeing this speech about how weak people should stop resisting him because it's futile, watching Yuji continue to resist him sparks inspiration for Megumi to fgiht back from within. All of this showing evidence that Megumi is not doomed, he himself can still move on to form a new identity after this "death" he's experienced of his old ones. In fact it's probably going to be what beats Sukuna, because this is Sukuna's blindspot he doesn't think weak people are capable of resisting him in any way.
Strong and weak are separate categories in his mind, he doesn't think people can grow. But you know, Megumi's whole narrative challenge is to grow up.
Why Megumi, why not Yuji?
Megumi and Yuji are close character foils and a lot of things I said for Megumi could be said for Yuji as well, but I am pretty firm in saying Megumi's going to live instead of either Yuji living, or them both living. As I said this is because of what I think the difference in Yuji and Megumi's arcs are, Megumi is the child that's supposed to grow up that's his backstory, that's what he is symbolically, the child neglected and failed by every adult who came into his life (Toji, Gojo) and by sorcerer society as a whole.
Megumi's goal is individuation, to grow into a fully developed individual, an adult. It would be too tragic even for this manga to have Megumi be neglected and abandoned all his life and then to die like a fool.
Well, wouldn't it be tragic for Yuji, too?
Yes, but Yuji's narrative has been setting us up for that tragedy since the first chapter.
Tragedies aren't just stories where sad things happen, it's a pretty rigidly defined narrative structure. A tragedy just like any story is about set up and pay off. You set up certain ideas early on in the narrative, you prepare your audience for an ending and you deliver on that ending, any last minute flips, twists, unless those are properly set up too are going to be seen as narratively unsatisfying.
Tragedies don't happen because rocks fall and everyone dies. Tragedies in the modern sense happen because of the choices of the characters made over the course of the story, in other words you reap what you sew.
Unlike Megumi's narrative arc which has been setting us up for him to grow up, Yuji's has been setting up the opposite since day one.
Grandpa Itadori: Yuji, you're a strong kid, so help people. It doesn't ahve to be all the time just whenever you can. You may feel lost. Don't expect gratitude. Just help them. When it's your time to go, make sure you're surrounded by others. Don't end up like me.
Yuji's narrative challenge, a literal dying curse given to him by his grandfather is for him to help people in his life so he'll die being surrounded by friends instead of dying alone. Everything Yuji does after that, and swallowing the finger in the first chapter, is contemplating the kind of death he thinks is a "Good/Natural Death" and the kind of ugly and unsatisfying deaths that curses bring on their victims.
Yuji's reason initially for agreeing to be executed is that if he eats all 20 sukuna fingers, then he'll prevent a lot of the unnatural deaths in the world that would have been caused by curses being drawn to those fingers. He draws a line against the abrupt, gruesome, early deaths caused by curses and their victims and the kind of death his grandfather had where he at least had a natural death at the end of a long life.
Death... Well, I can somehow feel death from the school. I'm afraid of dying. I wonder if grndpa was scared of death. No, probably not. I cried because I was sad, not scared. The death I face now, and Grandpa's death... how are they different? You're a strong id, so help epople. He was short-tempered and stubborn. No one went to see him besides me. Don't end up like me, huh? I guess so, but... I think you died peacefully, grandpa. (Faces a curse spirit) This is not a natural death.
No matter who they are, Yuji wants to spare them from an unnatural death, because he on top of that doesn't think he has the right to make judgement calls on who lives and who dies. Yuji is constantly contemplating his own death and what it means from the narrative.
In the Cursed Womb arc, Yuji feels like he can faith his death only for him to become so terrified in the face of fighting a special grade cursed spirit that he loses the ability to keep Sukuna under his control and can't switch back with him after letting him go. Yuji realizes his resolve isnt' as strong as he thinks it is when actually facing death for the first time, but also how to channel those negative emotions into something because he pulls off his first divergent fist in the heat of the motion.
When encountering Junpei and Mahito, not only does Yuji elucidate Junpei on why he doesn't want to make judgement calls on who lives and who dies because even if he inevitably has to be a murderer one day he feels like if he does life will lose its values, he also is confronted with Mahito the antithesis of Yuji's beliefs. Mahito's way of killing is to mutilate humans so horribly they are begging for death, the unnatural death possible. He creates victims who Yuji cannot save and cannot bring a natural death, only be mercy killed, and he creates another one of Junpei right in front of Yuji just as he was on the brink of saving Junpei from his unnatural early death and sparing him instead of hunting him down and killing him as a curse user as he is supposed to.
In The Origin of Obeidence / Death Painting Arc not only does Yuji realize the two people he's killed are living beings who cried for their family members (also his brothers what a twist), but also he is told face to face by Sukuna that his action of eating the first cursed finger which he thought would make less curses appear in the world, actually caused the curse fingers to resonate and draw stronger curses to them. The action that he thought would save more people in the long term, has in fact, killed some people in the short term because of this resonance.
In the Shibuya arc, basically everything is thrown in Yuji's face, what was foreshadowed in the previous arc that eating the fingers with Sukuna might not save a bunch of people in the long term turns out to be true. Now no matter how many people he could save by offering himself to be executed after eating all 20 fingers, Yuji still has caused the massacre of thousands in Shibuya because of eating the finger.
In the aftermath Yuji is mindlessly killing curses as a cog, until at least Megumi shows up and begs for Yuji to "start by saving me..."
Yuji's arc is a self-reflection and contemplation on death, and his goal is to die on his own terms, but also to die surrounded by people unlike his grandpa who would die alone.
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Now, Yuji is currently the only character who has any interest at all in saving Megumi as a first priority (everyone else constantly just talks about the need to put Sukuna down first).
Saving Megumi at the cost of his life, fulfills Yuji's two narrative goals, helping people, and also dying surrounded by others. He also would be rejecting the cog mindset, because Jujutsu Society would say kill Megumi for the greater good above all else, it's what everyone else in this situation is prioritizing first. It's also fulfilling Megumi's request to Yuji "start by saving me..."
Yuji's death is tragic yes, but it would end in a way that's satisfying to his narrative arc. Yuji gets to determine the way he wants to die, and he dies out of choice, not as an unthinking cog, and not alone. Gojo's death is tragic, but it's also satisfying to his narrative, he wanted to live to be the strongest and using his strength selfishly even accomplishing some selfless goals and protecting others for selfish reasons and he got to go out on his own terms.
Yuji is the cage that Kenjaku built to contain Sukuna, and Yuji can probably devise some way to take Sukuna back from Megumi so he can choose once again to die on his own terms, this time at least for the sake of saving a friend who he can die beside.
Megumi's death would be tragic, and also unsatisfying to his narrative, because he wouldn't get the chance to grow up. He's not dying according to his own choice here either, if he's killed alongside Sukuna then he's being mercy killed, or sacrificed for the greater good (the greater good). Megumi didn't choose to get possessed, and if he's killed here by Yuji, or Yuta, or Maki or whoever he's not choosing to die either, or even getting to die fighting like Gojo did.
Jujutsu Kaisen is a tragedy, but it's also one where we have been telegraphed by the narrator that the society will have changed by the end of the narrative. The central goal of the narrative is to allow these ids to grow up in a better world, and become fully realized adults and in order to do that a few of the kids actually have to survive to adulthood. I argue that Megumi will be the one to survive, because he's the most childish, and with the most growing to do. It will still be tragic in a way, Megumi who only lives for others, having to learn to live for himself is about as bittersweet as you can get. However, if Megumi's narrative goal is to learn to live without Tsumiki, without Yuji, then the only way for him to do that is well... to live. Even if it's lonely, or hard, Megumi needs to live on past the end of the manga.
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violetken · 1 year
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what if megumi's mom never died?
WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR JUJUTSU KAISEN MANGA!!!!!!!
(I’ve been thinking about Toji x Megumi’s mama so much and I decided to make a long rant about an AU where she lived! I’m not Gege, so take this with a grain of salt.)
To start off, it is canon that megumama was the only woman that Toji ever ‘truly gave himself to’. She made him a better person, and her death highly influenced him to do the actions we see in canon. That being said, if she was alive, ‘hidden inventory’ would be pretty boring. Toji wouldn’t assassinate Riko, and would ideally be working a random job in an office to provide for his family. However, Haibara’s death would still occur, and unfortunately, Geto would turn to the dark side. Geto was born cursed to begin with, and there are so many other factors besides Riko’s assassination that drove him insane.
Gojo’s personality had a significant change after Toji attacked him in canon. Since Toji never attacks him in this AU, I like to think his personality would be slightly different than we see now. Probably more annoying/immature. He also might not always keep his limitless technique on 24/7. 
Megumi’s cursed technique would still be here in this AU, and therefore he still is Toji’s winning card against the Zenin clan. Toji likely would have more children with megumama as well, so there is a possibility of having other children with powerful cursed techniques. However, Tsumiki and Megumi would have no knowledge of one another, since Toji wouldn’t have married her mother. 
Speaking of Megumi, he’d be a happier teen, and have a good childhood since he has both parents, siblings & an overall stable family life. His personality would be very different! I like to think he’d be a little bit more like Yuuji or even Gojo. In canon, he thinks his parents left him, and he had no one to rely on, which is why he behaves the way we see. In this AU, it is the opposite. 
I believe Toji would allow Satoru Gojo to mentor and train Megumi. Megumi and Gojo would likely get along very well. Toji would form some what of an alliance with Gojo. Additionally, Toji would definitely train Maki & help her reach her highest potential. Toji & megumama might even take care of both Mai & Maki, knowing how cruel the Zenin clan was to them, and they all bond over their hatred of their clan. If Toji chooses to take both the girls under his wing, the relationship between the sisters would have been much much much stronger, and Mai likely wouldn’t have died. 
In this AU, Sukuna and Kenjaku are still lurking and scheming. Therefore, Shibuya & the culling games & everything after would still occur, but certain things would just be a tad bit different. For example, Granny Ogami wouldn’t bring Toji’s soul back from the dead, and he wouldn’t wreck havoc. There is a 50/50 chance of Gojo being sealed. It doesn’t matter much though, because he will eventually be unsealed anyway. 
If Toji interferes in the Shibuya battles that take place, there is a slight chance that deaths could’ve been avoided, such as Nanami & Nobara. However, the deaths of some characters seem unavoidable, such as Principal Yaga, Mechamaru & Grandpa Zenin. There is always the possibility of Toji dying in Shibuya too, but let's say that he survives Shibuya. Characters would still be heavily injured from Shibuya: Inumaki losing his arm, Maki & Nanami getting burns, Nobara & Nanami both losing an eye. 
Since Mai is alive in this AU, the Zenin clan massacre likely would not have occurred. Megumi & Naoya would still fight over the position of the new clan head. With Megumi having support from Choso, Toji, his siblings, Maki, Mai, Yuuji, and literally so many more people, Naoya wouldn’t even be a problem & Megumi would win in a landslide….Therefore, the Zenin clan would go through vast changes, now that Megumi is in control, and has the help of Toji/Maki/Mai.
Sukuna likely would not have been able to possess Megumi. Instead, it likely would’ve been Yuuji’s body or maybe one of Megumi’s siblings (if they have special cursed techniques) bodies that Gojo is fighting in the current arc. Without Megumi/Sukuna’s shikigami, Gojo would have a much easier time defeating Sukuna. It won’t be easy to save the vessel while defeating Sukuna (we don’t even know currently in the manga what is going to happen…), so the chances of Sukuna’s vessel dying are 50/50. 
After defeating Sukuna, the group likely would go after Kenjaku, and most likely return victorious. Gojo would put Geto’s body to rest once and for all. 
Overall, Jujutsu Kaisen would be a bit less dark and would have a somewhat happy ending with most of the characters being alive (although some of them are not in good shape, but who gives af at least they are alive).
That’s it for now, let me know what you guys think!
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runabout-river · 5 days
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Thoughts on JJK chapter 270 (spoilers)
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Before I write my thoughts down, I have to confess that they've been tainted by a post I read I after reading the chapter. I decided to write the first part of my review as I had initially wanted to but the second part will discuss the things I read afterwards.
We start the chapter with a beautiful scene of a grave belonging to Tsumiki but my first thought was... what about Tsumiki's soul that had prevented Megumi from killing a girl?
If this is what Tsumiki's end and Megumi's final reaction to that would be, why did Gege bother including her soul as an active character into the story?
I also tried to find the raws to see what exactly was written on her grave. Only her surname? And was it also in English?
After that we get to Tengen and what happened to her and it was exactly here where my thoughts of this chapter went a big 🤨😵🧐🤬🤪
So Yuji just punched her out? And nothing more happened to her? The Culling Games are over? How did that happen? And through which remains would she stay stable? There was nothing left of Sukuna, at least nothing that had gone through Kenjaku's ritual. The only place she would be stable would still be inside Megumi. Her barriers are magically stable as well.
What a... neat ending to all those plot threads...
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Then we come to Maki finding her past helpers and telling them that all the reincarnated sorcerers would be separated from their hosts by Yuji soon and...
That's against established canon. We already had the discussion that the souls of the host's can't be saved because they've been pushed down to complete darkness. Choso couldn't feel the soul of his host anymore and that was how the narrative absolved him from any wrongdoing because now he didn't have to give his body back for ethical reasons and he hadn't made an unethical deal to be reincarnated either.
Only Megumi was said to have a chance of being saved and no one else.
So now I'm here and scretching my head thinking... was Gege so desperate or time constipated to end the manga that he threw that point out? Or is sth else going on here...
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We get Takaba back and he has a suspicious looking partner now, with whom he can do more comedy.
Now I don't think that's the real Kenjaku there. It's more likely that Takaba simply imposed that hairstyle on his new partner because he's missing his short time best friend.
For an actual Kenjaku comeback, he wouldn't have Geto's body anymore. Imo, Kenjaku did have spare bodies lying around he could've fled to at the last second though.
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We get more loose ends being tied up and for Higuruma it's clemency. This is another point in the "everything turns out perfectly good for the good guys" part we have been bombarded with in this chapter.
I'm like, Gege, isn't this too much? Wasn't JJK darker than this? Even Shoko gave up her smokes. The military plot is just "we'll deal with them" and there's no mention of JJ societal instability with the clans falling apart.
Either he really wanted to wrap every loose end up... or
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Gege forgets Megumi's scar on a pretty big panel and we get an anime love complication with one chapter remaining. It was funny though.
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Then we come to the end where we're set up to believe that life of the first year trio will go on as it should've been without those major Shibuya/Shinjuku complications.
Just going on missions and living life like that.
Now, one could accept that kind of ending (why isn't that in chapter 271 though?) But it comes off as so... lackluster and mended with fire after big chunks of the plot were cut off.
After I had finished the chapter, I was the most disappointed at everything that had to do with Tengen and the CG. So Gege sets up that the sorcerer life will continue afterwards. Even without wanting a Part 2, just ending the CG and Tengen's story like that is... unnecessarily boring and wasted space for nearly everything that came before that.
But then I read @thepersonperson post on how the last 3 chapters of JJK could possibly have been an induced dream sequence this whole time.
Induced by Yuji through his ability of creating fake memories right before defeat/death. His own DE is an application of this and Sukuna's strangely similar ability of talking with freshly deceased people in a dreamscape.
When Yuji had first expanded his domain, I went on such a ramble at the time about these strange abilities of them both. What I said back then was that Yuji wasnt an active/aware participant of them but by now he had acquired Sukuna's CT and again a DE.
This could mean that his induced dream sequences could've evolved enough that he became aware of them instead of only pushing them into someone else. In other words:
Yuji is dreaming of his best happy ending.
And here truly experiences that but he can't tell until now that it's a dream. He might very well be lying on the ground now about to die.
The post I linked adds more details to this theory like inconsistent character placements and "mistakes" like Megumi's scar suddenly missing, which would be commonplace in a dream.
That last picture up there with the guy who's supposed to be cursed but it was actually his girlfriend who had her perception of reality altered as well as the name of this chapter, would be the final hints about the last few chapters having been another glitch in perception.
Now only one week is left then we'll get our final answers to JJK. If this dream theory is true, then Gege will establish himself as the biggest troll, either with a JJK 2 or with a tragic ending.
(And if this really comes true, then I don't think I'll manage to escape the spoilers)
But whatever might come and even though I'm meh about the end (as it's presented to us right now) I still love JJK and immensely enjoyed reading, watching and engaging with it 😄
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thewritetofreespeech · 7 months
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Could I request surprising Choso, Megumi, and Nanami with a simple yet beautiful cake for Valentine's day?
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He doesn’t really understand Valentine’s Day.
Not only has he never participated in, being trapped in a painting all his life until recently, the concept is lost on him. Why would you only have one day to tell the people you love that you love them?
He appreciates the cake though and asks if he can spare a piece for his brothers, who will never get to have any.
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He hasn’t received a Valentine since Tsumiki, who used to make him Valentine’s Day chocolate every year; and a few girls in school he was too dense to get the meaning of.
Megumi is pretty dense about it now too, asking what the cake was for, and when they tell him he legitimately blushes. One for being so dense, and two because he got a Valentine’s Day present.
He’s not a big fan of sweets but he still tries it. Pleasantly surprised that it’s not too sweet, which he likes. Yuji is extremely jealous.
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They exchange gifts only every other year or so. Being together so long, Valentine’s Day isn’t really that important to them. As jujutsu sorcerers you should take every day as an opportunity to tell someone how you feel.
Still, every year they have a nice dinner at home. Neither one likes crowds. And Nanami’s wine collection is usually better than what you can get on any pre-fix menu anyway.
They surprise him with the cake after dinner and Nanami is pleased. Clearly, they put a lot of work into it and he is grateful for the effort. It will have to wait until the morning though, as Nanami has other plans than cake for the evening.
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k-martins · 1 year
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Honestly guys, I'm not very positive about Megumi. Of course, I really believe that this countdown to Megumi's death thing might just be a marketing ploy (seriously, dropping the bombshell that the most popular character in manga can die and then take a break is a very smart thing to do and that will generate a huge buzz on twitter until chapter 232 comes out.) But I also don't think Megumi will last long in the manga. Let's write it down. _ Mind in complete collapse. _ Sunken in evil. _ Lost the most important person in his life. _ Shattered soul. I don't think the power of true love can save him from dying (or becoming something worse than Sukuna even)
But it's definitely not Fushigurover until I see a coffin.
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My theories are: _ Tsumiki will appear to talk to Megumi. It became a little clear to me that the "brothers" relationship is something very important to GG. Megumi and Tsumiki, Mai and Maki, Todo/Choso and Yuji. And one of the constants is that whenever one of the brothers is about to fall, he is helped by the older one. Think of Mai, even if she felt a bit of resentment towards Maki, she was still there to help her get back on her feet. When Yuji fell in Shibuya, Todo appeared to pick him up. Choso was about to die, but the thought of his brothers made him struggle to defeat Kenjaku. Did you notice the pattern? So, it makes sense to me that the one who will get Megumi back to fighting will be Tsumiki. GG didn't just raise her to be the "girl in the fridge", I'm sure of that. Tsumiki barely appears, being just a person we know through Megumi's eyes, so this would be the moment to really see her on screen. And if there's anyone who can make Megumi fight, it's Tsumiki. Yuji and Gojo can help, but she is the big sister who will lift him up. Furthermore, Lilies also symbolize "protection", and they were associated with Tsumiki. If anyone can protect Megumi from harm, it's Tsumiki.
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_ Megumi won't come back… Completely. Now forget everything I said above. Megumi will still come back, but he will come back the same way as Maki. He lost his sister, the good part that kept him in line. He killed her with his own hands. Megumi is not the hero. He's just a kid thrown into a dangerous world, with powers he didn't even want, relying only on Gojo's "kindness" for him and Tsumiki to survive. Megumi saves people because he trusts him own conscience. He's not saving because it's the right thing to do (like Gojo and Yuji) or because he has to (like Geto). He kills curses because it will make a better world for Tsumiki. Now, he doesn't have Tsumiki anymore. What he has is a broken soul, a stolen body, and powers that can't help him. Megumi is not Geto, with his desire to make the world more evolved. He is not Yuji, determined to save as many people as possible. Megumi is someone who will set the world on fire by taking everything out of it. Then, it will be left to Yuji to defeat him and give his soul rest. If that happens, we'll only have two options: Either Yuji brings him back to the light, or we'll parallel Satosugu again (please GG, if that's your plan, do it masterfully)
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mana-jjk · 10 months
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i have like 3 long posts in the drafts about a college au, hard of hearing toge and partially blind maki, and inuokko dynamic with kids but here i am, once again, not finishing my wip <3
so anyway, first and second years and how much they believed in santa, second years being a lot longer because i am actually insane. ft. inuokko and nobamaki of course
yuuji - his dad probably wanted him to have so much magic in the holidays, but his grandfather was very practical. so he probably got a singular santa christmas before being raised to know he wasn’t real. but yuuji is such a good kid that he kept it to himself and just played along with the other kids. choso still thinks he believes, probably because a small part of him is a little kid at heart.
megumi - tsumiki did her best to keep the magic of the holidays, but they didn’t have a lot of money so she struggled a lot. he’s a very practical kid so it didn’t take him long to figure it out. for a while he didn’t say anything until it slipped out in an argument that he knew and wasn’t a kid. when gojo adopted them, he took a little too much enjoyment in gaslighting them that santa was real but had been delivering their presents somewhere else. not out of being a good guardian, but because he enjoys lying to children, especially pulling off weird feats and watching megumi twitch.
nobara - 100% believed in santa the longest out of the trio and is embarrassed by it. if you ask her, she always knew he was fake and she was just trying to get cool presents. but if you ask her grandmother, she would go on an exasperated rant on how stubborn she was in believing in santa, and threw a fit every time someone tried saying he wasn’t. she still loves christmas, the aesthetic, presents, cafes, specials, etc. and gets excited like a little kid. she begs maki to match outfits and go ice skating and get the special christmas cake with her. at heart she’s still a little girl in a lot of ways, even if she won’t admit it.
panda - he stills believes in santa. it’s a long going pact for no one to tell him that his dad is blackmailing everyone to let him keep believing. Despite being a rational creature who insists human are the silly ones, he abides by traditions strictly to ensure that santa will show up. yaga has basically been enforcing his belief because he finds it cute and it lets him act like a parent for at least a small while.
maki - was never allowed to believe in santa, didn’t even know what he was apart from the glances she and mai would get in store windows and atop strawberry cakes they were never allowed to have. the most joy they stole for themselves around that day was when it would snow. sneaking out of their room, they would draw shapes into the show and making matching snowmen for each other that they hid in bushes. when taken to help with shopping, they’d discreetly awe at the shining lights and everything they weren’t allowed to indulge in. when maki came to jujutsu high, it was simultaneously difficult and gratifying to partake in everything she was denied as a child. she loves junk food, so having kfc chicken and strawberry cake for the first time was life changing. she pretends to complain when nobara drags her out, but never puts up a fight for too long before they’re interlocking hands and looking into store windows that she had only ever been able to steal glances at. despite always vying to spite her family, sometimes she forgets the simplest way to do so is in living her life happily. that’s why, when nobara insists on pulling her into the ice skating ring, gripping her arms with a wide grin and a practiced ease in the way she skates them in circles, fingertips still warm from holding the hot chocolate, and eyes sparkling, maki can feel her walls melting down. when they eventually move into together, after everything, their wounds ache in the cold. nobara no longer has the confidence to go out into the city, not missing an eye and with a scarred face. it’s maki who gently drags her out, who pulls her under the christmas lights and pushes back her hair, presses her lips to her forehead and just holds her. despite everything, despite how much they lost, despite how maki’s heart burns every time she sees the snow, despite how nobara’s heart thunders every time someone looks for too long, they haven’t lost each other.
toge - like maki, he never even knew what santa was. growing up, he was seen as dangerous from the moment he opened his mouth. teaching him how to talk was seen as dangerous because the more words he knew, the more that could be used against them. so there was no outings, no TV, no visitors, nothing beyond the grounds he grew up in. he spent his entire childhood restricted until gojo intervened. but that’s for another time on my headcanon of his backstory ✨ so, coming into jujutsu high he was experiencing these things for the first time. gojo goes all out for christmas, so it was a heck of a first impression. at night, when everyone was asleep, he’d spend hours looking at their mini tree, hands around a cup of tee. the first present gojo gave him was a blue scarf, so he wasn’t always restricted to face masks. he signed it off as santa, but it took one alarmed look from a possible intruder for maki to tell him. he has a weird relationship with the holiday, like a new person coming into an established friendship, like an interloper. he enjoys it passively, but can’t help but feel like he’s intruding within it every time it comes around. though it’s the same for most, if not all, holidays. yuuta sees it despite how toge prides himself on hiding it from his friends, and takes every opportunity to prove him wrong. toge finds himself subject to traditions that still confuse him, but he never could deny the other. so at late hours he finds himself cutting paper snowflakes, listening to japanese christmas songs, watching too many movies about the elusive santa. at early hours, yuuta physically drags him from his bed, sometimes having too carry him, to open presents at too early of an hour. when yuuta leaves, christmas is cold again, and only vaguely feels right when they video call each other from opposite time zones. despite yuuta’s excitement of the holiday, he opens his present from miguel and gojo early so they can do it together.
yuuta - he grew up in a very normal household that did actually let him have a good experience with the holiday. he and his sister would decorate together, wake up as early as possible, and indulge in as many activities as they could. rika would join them later, snowball fights and arts and crafts that ended in sticky hands and laughter. when rika died, all of the joy went with her. his parents never actually told him santa wasn’t real, after rika died it just didn’t matter to him anymore. when his sister tried to initiate a snow ball fight, rika nearly broke her arm. after that, his household lived in a constant state of holding its breath. his sister tried and tried to reach out to him for everything they used to do, but again and again rika would hurt her until his parents physically pulled her away from him. when he was taken to be executed, he thought maybe his family would be able to celebrate christmas again. of course his first christmas eve at jujutsu high ended with him murdering his teachers gay lover, and freeing his childhood friend, but they did end up having a small celebration despite it all. after that, after he came back from abroad, after the war finally finished, he finally allowed himself to enjoy the holiday again. he spent hours decorating the little apartment he and toge were staying in, sheepishly scratching the back of his head when toge looked at the mistletoe with a raised eyebrow. he takes toge to markets and to the illuminations around the plazas and districts, trying to pretend like he didn’t spend hours researching the ideal holidate. despite that it’s toge that always gives him the perfect gift at the perfect time. the one he’d never be able to forget, was a product of those times he’d whisper in tears that he wished he knew how his sister was doing, too scared to reach out himself, wishing he’d get even postcard. he would never be able to forget the way toge squeezed his hand before pointing at a girl. even after a few years, he’d recognized her immediately. she hasn’t noticed them yet, intentionally on toge’s part, he was giving him a chance to decide. breathless, he called out her name, she turned to him and smiled with tears in her eyes, and for the first time in years they were allowed to hold each other other. he loves the holidays, loves his friends, his boyfriend, his sister, and loves that after everything, he was given the chance to live so joyously.
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cursedvibes · 4 months
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( tw short mention of suicide)
I wish Yuuta’s relationship with his family ( more specifically his sister) was explored upon more it would’ve added more to his character and make me care for him more in this current arc
All we know about Yuuta’s family is that he’s only in touch with his younger sister
Where and what were they doing with Yuuta pre jjk0? Do they know about Rika? Do they know their son almost killed himself?
I recently saw a lot of angsty posts/tweets about e.g. Maki having to tell Yuuta's sister what happened to him, that he sacrificed himself to protect her and Japan, he's a hero despite what he did etc. That would indeed be quite sad, but....we literally know nothing about his family, much less what individual members are like or their impression of Yuuta beyond his parents are scared/don't really like him and he reconnected with his sister at some point. The only reason we even know they exist is because of two extra pages in Volume 0. It is never brought up in the story just like Rika's extended backstory. Apparently he's still in contact with his sister according to that info, but that has no impact on canon at all. He never thinks of her or his parents. He even visits the city they live in, knowing the people there are in danger due to the Culling Game and never is concerned about them. They just don't come up.
It would be very interesting if we actually knew something about them and if they impacted his character because it could've added more tension and a personal touch to the Sendai colony fight (where you also didn't really get the impression that he's fighting in the city he grew up in, it might as well have been Osaka or something). Sibling relationships are also quite important in jjk, so this could've played into the themes going on with Yuuji & Choso, Maki & Mai, Sukuna & Jin or even Megumi & Tsumiki. Just idk, something.
Giving him that familial connection would also shine more light on what it's like to be a sorcerer in a non-sorcerer family. A special case because they have such important ancestors. Yuuta is one of the strongest sorcerers out there and yet his immediate family and close ancestors are all non-sorcerers. Puts him apart from Special Grades like Gojo or Yuki. It might even give him more reason to care about the general population. We never saw Geto's parents, but it at least impacted his character quite a lot and continued to do so until his death. For Yuuta it's pretty much only important when he's newly introduced to Jujutsu Tech, but it doesn't shape his view of the world and people much. He likes to talk about being blessed. Bringing his family into it who's very much not that unless you go back 1000 years would be interesting. It might even strengthen Yuuta's view of himself as being outstanding, but we get nothing about that. He might as well be an orphan considering how he acts in canon.
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