Yuta Okkotsu's redemption

As he stepped through the main entrance, he felt resistance while passing through the barrier.

Akutagawa Shang followed Satoru Gojo, slowly walking toward the building.

When the door opened, it was pitch-black inside, with only a few candle flames flickering in the darkness.

"Come on, let's go in," Satoru Gojo said, stepping into the darkness.

Akutagawa Shang nodded as well and followed Satoru Gojo inside.

The building's interior was just like its exterior: yellow talismans covered every inch, packed tightly together from the ceiling down to the base of the walls. Even the floor was no exception, and in some places, they overlapped in four or five thick layers.

As soon as he entered, he felt as though the cursed energy in his body had been suppressed to some degree, though, really, it wasn't much-like someone had draped a blanket over it.

They rustled beneath Akutagawa Shang's feet, as though he were stepping on a pile of dry, yellowed leaves.

The building was considerably larger inside than outside, though he had no idea how that worked. With no windows to let in light, the interior was pitch-black. The only illumination came from a handful of candles, and even those lit up only tiny patches. It was like a deep, dark hole; someone afraid of the dark might well be scared to death here.

"Yikes, this place is seriously creepy. Is this where Jujutsu Society locks people up? Stay here too long, and you might end up depressed."

Akutagawa Shang muttered under his breath.

"Well, you might not know this, but this building's been used to hold jujutsu sorcerers awaiting execution for who knows how long. It might even be older than the two of us put together. I suggested to those old geezers before that they could make it a little more humane-renovate it, put in a couple of windows, that sort of thing. And guess what happened?"

"What happened?" Akutagawa Shang was a little curious.

"You know how conservative the higher-ups are. Those old geezers practically hissed at me. They went on about how 'the ways of our ancestors must never change' and how these were Jujutsu Society's traditional rules. They absolutely refused to change a thing, as if it would kill them. So nothing came of it." Satoru Gojo spread his hands helplessly.

Akutagawa Shang looked speechless too.

"I suspect those guys might not even know how to use a smartphone."

"Nothing that advanced. I doubt they can even use a basic senior phone." Satoru Gojo chuckled.

Suddenly, Akutagawa Shang felt his foot hit something and paused.

He slowly bent down, felt around in the darkness, and picked it up. In the faint candlelight, he could just make out what appeared to be a small knife twisted into a corkscrew.

"...What's this?" Akutagawa Shang handed the knife to Satoru Gojo.

"Ah... why do this to yourself?" Satoru Gojo looked at it in silence for a moment, then sighed and led Akutagawa Shang toward the light.

Up ahead, candles formed a circle, illuminating the area within.

Sitting right in the center was a boy of fifteen or sixteen: Yuta Okkotsu.

As soon as they approached, Akutagawa Shang felt Okkotsu's terrifying cursed energy wash over him. He definitely had more cursed energy than anyone Akutagawa Shang had encountered so far; even Satoru Gojo couldn't compare. (I remember Volume 0 said he had infinite cursed energy, I think.)

Satoru Gojo walked up to him and took out the small knife Akutagawa Shang had found.

"Can you tell me what this is, little Yuta?" Satoru Gojo asked in the coaxing tone one might use with a child.

"It used to be a knife. I tried to kill myself with it earlier, but Rika stopped me. She came out and turned the knife into that." Yuta Okkotsu kept his head lowered, his eyes hidden from view.

"...That's a little too dark."

Akutagawa Shang nodded as well, seemingly agreeing.

Because Rika possessed him, Yuta Okkotsu had spent all these years avoiding hurting others. Forget friends-he'd barely even had opportunities to talk to normal people. After being isolated for so long, it would have been stranger if he weren't gloomy.

At least those emotionally unstable types only scored patterns into themselves; this already counted as an attempted suicide.

"Well, we can't have that. You're going to a new school today, Yuta."

"I'm not going! I-I don't want to hurt anyone else. Just let them kill me." Yuta Okkotsu bowed his head even lower, his voice now choked with tears.

"That won't do. It took a lot of effort to snatch you away from those shriveled old fossils. Here, this is your new classmate. Come on, Akutagawa-kun, introduce yourself." Satoru Gojo pushed Akutagawa Shang forward.

"Huh? Sure. I'm Akutagawa Shang. We'll be classmates soon."

Yuta Okkotsu remained silent with his head bowed, offering no response to Akutagawa Shang's greeting.

"It's rude to ignore someone when they say hello, you know. Going so long without anyone to talk to must be rough." Akutagawa Shang crouched in front of him too.

Although Yuta Okkotsu still kept his head lowered, the constant trembling of his body gave him away.

"You'd like to make a few good friends you can talk to as well, wouldn't you?"

"But everyone's scared of me. They call me a monster. Nobody wants to talk to me." Yuta Okkotsu's sobs grew louder and louder. The negative emotions that had been building up for so long all but burst out at that moment, and his whole body shook uncontrollably.

"Yu~ta~, don't cry. Rika will always be with Yuta." Just then, a pale figure emerged from Yuta Okkotsu's shadow. Rika stroked his head, seemingly comforting him.

"Rika-chan," Yuta Okkotsu called softly.

"They won't," Akutagawa Shang suddenly said.

"What?" Yuta Okkotsu seemed to think he had misheard.

"Nobody will be afraid of you. The students at Jujutsu High all have cursed energy, just like you."

"Really?" Yuta Okkotsu jerked his head up, tears still clinging to the corners of his eyes. But Akutagawa Shang's words had clearly won him over completely. Now only one final problem remained.

"But I'm still scared Rika will hurt everyone." Yuta Okkotsu lowered his head slightly again. Kindhearted as he was, he didn't want to see anyone else hurt because of Rika.

"Then you have even less to worry about."

Akutagawa Shang grabbed Satoru Gojo, who had been behind him munching sunflower seeds and watching the show, pulled him over, and pushed him out in front before addressing Yuta Okkotsu.

"Do you know who he is?"

"No." Yuta Okkotsu shook his head. Clearly, having never set foot in Jujutsu Society, he knew nothing about the Satoru Gojo standing before him.

"Good, since you asked, allow me to introduce him. Standing before you now is 'your homeroom teacher,' 'the current head of the Gojo Clan,' 'the strongest in modern Jujutsu Society,' 'the once-in-a-century bearer of the Six Eyes,' 'one of the four modern special grade jujutsu sorcerers,' and 'the record holder for eating eighteen sweet daifuku in a row'-Mr. Satoru Gojo."

"That's... amazing." With his limited experience, Yuta Okkotsu was awed by that long string of titles.

"Don't worry. As long as he's around, Rika won't be able to hurt anyone." He gave Satoru Gojo a firm pat, signaling for him to show off a little.

Satoru Gojo obligingly propped his chin on his hand and put on an exceedingly wise expression.

"Besides, cursed energy doesn't just hurt people. It can save them too. Every year, more than ten thousand ordinary people lose their lives to cursed spirits. You have an incredibly powerful force inside you-so powerful that even without any conscious intention of fighting back, you could kill a grade 1 jujutsu sorcerer and a grade 2 jujutsu sorcerer who attacked you. If you use that power to exorcise cursed spirits, I believe you'll be able to save a lot of people."

"After all that, the final decision still comes down to what you want. So, Yuta Okkotsu, would you like to join Jujutsu High?"

Satoru Gojo and Akutagawa Shang held out their hands, offering him an invitation.

Yuta Okkotsu reached out and took their offered hands, as though he had finally found something to hold on to. He raised his head, his gaze becoming utterly resolute.

"I've made up my mind. Sir, I want to... join Jujutsu High!!!"

Okkotsu rose from the floor, as though he had escaped some kind of restraint. He glanced back one last time at the circle of candles, then turned around again. The pitch-black, talisman-covered walls slowly receded behind them as he followed the two out of the darkness and toward the radiant, free world beyond the door.