JJK: Binary (Jujutsu Kaisen Fanfiction)

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CHAPTER START---

---September 3rd, 2014…

Walking into Jujutsu Tech Kyoto from the car, Taiyo is carrying a backpack slung over his shoulder as he ascends the stone steps from the car park.

He made his way to the summit of the tallest mountain overlooking Kyoto City. He walks past a few signs labelling this area as unsafe, looks up at the hundreds of broken-down stairs ahead of him, then presses forward.

And not a few steps later, he enters the Neutral Barrier, hiding the campus, and finds himself on a large mountaintop plateau, filled with buildings and forested landscape.

Appearing far more traditional than Tokyo Campus, as there were many people in traditional shrine maiden or monk robes, along with a few Managers rushing about.

The buildings were similar enough, although he noticed the entire campus was structured far more like a temple than Tokyo Campus, and there were small rivers between the buildings, creating a maze of rivers over them to connect the buildings, each of which was on its own island.

"Beautiful, right?" Ijichi asks as he enters the Barrier behind Taiyo.

"This place looks like it doesn't believe in Wi-Fi…or warm showers."

Ijichi gives him a strange look. "Can you even feel warm showers?"

"Not anymore. But I don't feel the cold either, so it balances out."

"Of all the Curses I've seen, that may be the worst one," Ijichi says jokingly as he walks forward, signalling Taiyo to follow him. "Gojo said the 1-on-1 matches are almost over, so he'll be ready for you in an hour or so. But nobody will hold it against you for backing out. You do realize that, right?"

"I know," Taiyo says as he follows Ijichi through the campus.

They cross a few bridges, and he glances down into the connected rivers, seeing crystal clear water and massive koi fish swimming below.

"What happens if someone grabs one of those fish?"

"You could. Master Tengen created these barriers for the campus, but because they're so far from Tokyo, they aren't self-repairing or forever shifting like ours. Because of that, buildings and such take much longer to repair and can't be moved around. But the koi are Shikigami that will persist until harmed or until you try taking them beyond the barrier."

"Barrier Techniques truly are the height of Jujutsu," Taiyo mutters as they arrive at the dorms.

Ijichi opens the door and hands him the key. "We'll be heading back to Tokyo in the morning, and some of the students will be going into Kyoto tonight to see the sights."

Taiyo chuckles and takes the keys. "Regardless of how the fight ends, I doubt I'll be in any condition to walk about, but thanks for the heads up."

"Right, I'll go inform everyone of your arrival. Everyone should be at the largest building on campus to watch the students compete, so you can report there when you're ready." Ijichi gives a polite bow, then scurries away.

Taiyo watches the man leave before closing the door.

He gets into his room and opens his backpack onto the bed, changing into some running shoes, a red short-sleeved t-shirt, and a matching pair of track pants.

He then looks at himself in the mirror, feeling the excitement bubble up as it always does before a competition.

And pushes it down, sitting on the bed with his legs crossed and hands together, meditating, casting aside thoughts of pushing himself to the limit against his competition. Replacing them with serenity and relaxation.

A few minutes into this ritual, his eyes snap open, glancing at the door, then close again.

"Come in," Taiyo says, and a moment later the door opens to reveal Ino, with his mask on his head like a beanie and a thin sheen of sweat on his neck.

"How'd you know it was me?" Ino asks as he enters, closing the door behind him, and sits on the chair at Taiyo's small desk.

"Cursed Energy Signature," Taiyo says, still maintaining his pose. "How did it go?"

"We lost the last two days pretty badly," Ino says as he looks around Taiyo's very humble room. "I figured they'd put a Special Grade in a nicer place."

"Maybe if they liked me. How bad was it?"

"They crushed us in basically everything, just like last year. But that was just the last two days. It's a three-day event, and today, the last day, was the 1-on-1 matches."

"Did Tokyo win those?"

"Nope, but I won mine, and Nanami-Sensei said it could be enough for a promotion to Semi-Grade 2."

"One step closer to Grade 2. Congratulations."

"Well, it's not a sure thing. He just said it was possible thanks to my performance."

"If Nanami says it, then it's likely a sure thing."

"I'm just glad I didn't disappoint him. The last thing I want is to go out in front of everyone and make it look like he wasted this last year on me."

"Jujutsu is an individual sport. Nanami understands this. He won't hold Tokyo losing against you, unless it was your fault."

"It wasn't."

"Then the individual performance will matter more to him, the things you can control and be held responsible for."

"Thanks, but you know—"

"No."

"Oh, come on! We would have crushed them with you competing! Please?!"

"No."

"Just one year? I want to win one of the overall events before I'm in 4th year, you know 4th years can't compete."

"Then get strong enough on your own. I'm not wasting time on an event I don't need. I'm already Special Grade, they can't promote me any higher. Not to mention if I had to show my hand before fighting Gojo."

"Showing your hand makes it stronger."

"The element of surprise is a strength in itself," Taiyo says. "Plus, it's been a real pain in the ass training these past few weeks. Since I've been basically under house arrest at Tokyo Campus, I can only train my big moves when Gojo isn't around, which isn't often."

"So you really aren't backing out of the fight?"

"No way would I do that," Taiyo says, and opens his eyes to see Ino take out a small card and fill in some details.

"What is that?"

"Nothing."

"Is that a betting card? Are you gambling on whether I'd back out?"

"Well, more than just that, but…yeah."

Taiyo narrows his eyes at him. "Did you bet against me?"

Ino glances at Taiyo, then back at his already filled-in card.

"How bad did you bet against me?"

"Well, I mean, it's Satoru Gojo."

"How bad?"

"Look, the important thing is, I don't think you'll die. And I didn't fill in the 'loses in one hit' option."

"That's an option?!"

"Have you not seen Gojo fight? Of course it's an option."

"I'm Special Grade too."

"But you're not Gojo."

Taiyo just rolls his eyes and gets off the bed, unable to retort to that statement.

He grabs his things and walks to the door, followed closely by Ino.

They begin walking to the main hall, side by side, and Ino gladly chats his ear off about the Kyoto students he competed against this year.

As they're only a few buildings and bridges away, Taiyo sees Mei Mei approaching, a stern look on her face.

Beside him, Ino gets nervous and stiffens as she blocks them, holding a hand out to Ino, expectantly.

He hands her his betting card, which she glances at and then adds to a stack of others in her hand.

"Nanami wants to talk to you about your last performance review. He's in the main hall. Go ahead."

"Yes ma'am," Ino says before rushing off to his sensei, leaving Mei Mei and Taiyo alone.

They stand like statues for a few seconds, waiting until Ino turns the corner and enters another pathway, then Mei Mei leans forward and hungrily kisses him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and pulling him closer.

He holds her waist and pulls her body against his, enjoying her for the first time in weeks.

After a few seconds, they separate, taking a moment to breathe as she glares at him. "This assassin nonsense needs to end."

"Awe, miss having me free of Tokyo Campus so we can spend more time together?"

She rolls her eyes. "I miss having you with me so I can handle higher-paying missions. Every day you're on house arrest costs me money."

"And…?"

She looks away, frowning. "And I don't hate the warmth of your body against mine during the night."

"Exactly, you can't get enough of me. Was that so hard to admit?"

"That's not what I—" Mei Mei notices Taiyo's face burn bright red for a moment, heat flowing through him and burning away her lipstick that stained his face.

She takes out a blank betting card and holds it between them as a voice calls out from behind her.

Standing a head taller than her, Taiyo looks over her to see Kusakabe approaching, his expression shifting to one of disdain and annoyance as he sees her speaking to his student.

"Mei Mei. What do you think you're doing?" Kusakabe asks, seeing the bored look on Taiyo's face.

She turns around, ensuring he sees the betting card in her hand, as if offering it to Taiyo, as if she didn't know exactly how strong he was when making the cards for maximum profit.

"I figured the challenger would want to make a few bets. Only on himself, obviously. Can't have him taking a fall just to fatten his wallet, after all."

Mei Mei turns her back to Taiyo and faces Kusakabe as he reaches her, holding out the card for him.

"Come to think of it, you haven't placed a bet yet. Fill this out and stain it with your Cursed Energy, but only cards handed in before they take the field will count."

"I'm not interested in your money-making schemes, now leave us be."

Mei Mei holds her hand with the card back over her shoulder, and Taiyo gently takes it before she lowers her arm.

"Not everything is inherently valuable. For most, value must be made," she says, looking directly at Kusakabe.

"Or in your case, by killing and stealing."

Mei Mei sighs. "Again with the baseless accusation that I stole the New Shadow Style: Simple Domain and did such a horrific thing…when will you let this go?"

"When you admit what you did."

"So strict about morality, it's a wonder you not only survived, but made it his far in the world of Jujutsu," Mei Mei says before walking past him, not bothering to look back.

"Greedy bitch," Kusakabe mutters as they're finally alone.

Taiyo doesn't react beyond giving his teacher a curious look. "You hate her this much for stealing a technique?"

"I couldn't give any less of a damn about the technique, but she killed half a dozen students at the dojo to get the Technique scroll."

"Hmm. I didn't know that," Taiyo lied.

"I just need her to admit it, then even the higher-ups will stop protecting her. The New Shadow School predates modern Jujutsu infrastructure, so once she admits that, they'd turn everyone, including the 3 major clans, against her."

"She must have known that. Are you sure she'd be dumb enough to do that?"

"She's clever, but her greed is something otherworldly," Kusakabe says, then feels a surge of Cursed Energy behind him.

He turns around to see Taiyo filling out some options on the betting card.

"Seriously? After I just gave an inspiring speech about greed?"

"Inspiring?" Taiyo doesn't even look at his teacher, only focused on the options, some of which were rather insulting. "I hope nobody thinks I'll surrender after one hit…"

Kusakabe doesn't respond, deciding to keep the massive brainstorming session his friends had earlier to himself…

END CHAPTER---

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