Mirror Eyes & Bright Blue Skies | Jujutsu Kaisen

Ⅻ. Her Determination

The next evening found Ikuko on the porch just outside her room, sifting through boxes of her stuff that had been salvaged from her apartment. She wiped soot from the cover of her old laptop, which thankfully turned on when she tried booting it up. Satisfied it would survive, she set the brick of a laptop aside and picked up a pair of black combat boots, her only pair of shoes to survive the fire, turning them over in her hands to see they'd been mostly unscathed. She set those aside as well and sighed.

For several moments she stood in place, letting her hands cover her eyes to block out the sunlight and letting her ears focus on the breaths of chill air she took.

You're okay, she told herself and forced herself to the boxes once more.

Her fingers reached back into the box she'd been working on just as her eyes settled on something fuzzy and grey stuffed near the bottom underneath her collection of CDs. She curled her fingers around it, drawing it slowly and carefully up, out, and into her arms. A sob tore itself from her throat. It was a ratty old teddy bear, but she buried her face into it as tears streaked down her cheeks.

Everything from yesterday, her fears, pains, regrets, disbelief, joy, the reality of her situation, all of it came crashing down on her at once, as if a catapult flung boulder had smashed into her carefully constructed dam and released a flood of sludge, fixing the water's flow, allowing the stream to breathe. She slid to the floor, leaning back against the wall behind her for support.

Ikuko tried, and failed, to stifle her sniffles. But she didn't mind so much. It felt good to finally let it all out.

Her fingers rubbed the bear's fur, making sure it was still there, I'm so glad...

It was just a ratty, old teddy bear she'd named Amai-chan, probably not even worth five cents at a thrift store, but the bear, a gift from her parents, had seen her through so many rough times. Her first day of first grade, her first failed test, her first and only heartbreak, and her darkest, depressive years following her family's move to the city.

"Now, baby-girl, I know you hate getting poked, but just hold on tight to Amai-chan and it'll be over before you know it."

And hold tight she had, to the point where afterward she rubbed the bandaid off her poor, violated finger, getting blood all over the bear's fur, much to her 12-year-old self's horror.

Ikuko smiled at the memory. Amai-chan carried all the strength her parents tried to give her, the warmth of their hugs, the memories of their lives. If she'd lost the bear to that fire...

To stave off another flood of tears, Ikuko took a deep breath through her nose, allowing the unique, bittersweet, floral, coffee scent she always attributed to her parents to wash over her and calm her.

She raised her face from the toy's fur and propped her chin atop it instead. For a while, she just looked out at the barren trees surrounding the house. Her mind needed a moment to simply wander, so she let it.

There, the wind curled through a pile of dead leaves. There, leftover clouds from yesterday's rain rolled across the sky. There, down the slope, in the distance, figures meandered in the big courtyard area at the school's entrance.

Was that Gojo's white hair glinting in the distance?

Ikuko wasn't sure if it was, but the thought set her mind to other matters. Chiefly, the matter of Gojo's deal.

Was this deal supposed to be so skewed in her favor?

I mean, just the part about saving my mom is priceless, and all he wants is me to stay here, let Shoko-san and him monitor my condition, and train me as a jujutsu sorcerer? Hell, I should be paying for those services.