Chapter Text
放棄された靴
hokesareta kutsu
A scream ripped through the air atop the roof of a nondescript Japanese high school’s building in a town a few stations away from Tokyo by Shinkansen, in the year 2020.
A girl with a stylish haircut quivered as she stared at the edge of the roof, from which she’d just witnessed Utsui Minako, the girl rumoured to be the target of Daiki from the boys’ soccer team’s affection, fall from three stories.
It’s true that this fashionable high school girl hated Utsui, but not enough to wish death upon her.
She didn’t mean for it to end up this way.
When people find out that this happened just because she gave the girl a shove, everyone would view her as a murderer. Surely, she’d be expelled and be unable to go to the university of her dreams. Surely, her life was ruined the moment she gained that criminal record.
Whether it be murder or manslaughter, this was it. Her life was over.
Another girl, one of this fashionable girl’s friends, shook her shoulder frantically, grabbing her attention.
“It’s okay! Look! Somehow, her shoes came off when she tripped against the edge.” Her friend told her, directing her attention to the discarded shoes nearby.
“…Huh?” the fashionable girl stuttered, still shocked from what had just occurred.
Another of her friends rushed to the discarded shoes, and positioned them neatly together at the edge, then went to the bag of the girl who had fallen and fished out her notebook and pencil-case.
Her friend spoke, as she began to scribble something on the notebook, “If we stage it like this, it’ll look like she jumped herself! Then, you won’t have to tell them it was you who pushed Utsui, Kanna-chan!” she told the fashionable girl, Kanna.
Kanna widened her eyes in horror, realising her friends’ intentions.
They were staging a suicide. All to protect her…!?
“I c-can’t…! I-I didn’t m-mean to push her…! I…!” Kanna shook her head frantically. This was wrong! This wasn’t what she came here to do! She only wanted to intimidate Utsui into not going after Daiki…
But now, Utsui is surely dead…
“You wanted to go to university to become a fashion designer, right? You can’t give up!” one of her friends encouraged her.
“This isn’t the end, Kanna-chan. We know you didn’t mean for this to happen, so we support you!” her other friend agreed, and the two of them stepped forward to hug Kanna, and to comfort her.
Kanna could only sob. Because her friends loved her, and supported her dream. Because even after all of this, she still wasn’t sure if Daiki would ever return her feelings. Because even in spite of everything, this was wrong, and she was a killer.
On October 31st, 2020, Utsui Minako died after falling from the top of her school’s roof.
But, despite what you may think, this wasn’t the end for her.
…
For what felt like a long time, Utsui Minako could feel nothing, see nothing, hear nothing. She floated in an inky void, thinking of nothing and wanting for nothing.
But at the same time, there was something clawing at the back of her mind, telling her that something was very, very wrong.
Where was she? And how did she get here in the first place?
Digging back through her memories, she eventually managed to remember what she’d been doing last.
She’d been eating the bento her mom made her on the roof of her school at lunch time, preferring to sit away from the kids in her class.
She didn’t have many friends, but she did have one who enjoyed the same things as her, so they got along well. Unfortunately, on that particular day, her friend was home sick with a cold and so Minako ate alone.
But what happened next?
Digging a little more, she remembered that Hoshikawa Kanna and her two friends, Kita and Suzuki arrived on the roof. It seemed like Hoshikawa had been looking for her, and she hadn’t look pleased.
She accused Minako of flirting with someone from the soccer team, but Minako had never been interested in soccer so she didn’t know who Hoshikawa was talking about. She tried to placate the girl from her class, and reassure her that she had nothing to worry about, but Hoshikawa didn’t listen to her.
Then, she got physical, and Minako remembered stumbling back, and hitting something with her feet. Her feet felt strangely cold, but Minako was more focused on the sensation of…
Minako gasped, finally opening her eyes, so widely that it stung.
She fell…! From the roof?!
Minako looked around frantically, but she found herself swaying unnaturally, as if she were underwater.
She tried to cry out, for anyone to help her, but her voice didn’t come out and it made her feel even more alarmed. She wanted to cry, but no tears came out either.
Where was she? What happened to her?
Is she…dead…?
‘That… must be it… Hoshikawa-san pushed me… and I fell down… I fell a long way… and I remember… my head hurt a lot… and then there was nothing… I’m dead.’
…So, you have finally accepted your own death. That’s good. It’s the first step…
Alarmed by suddenly being able to hear, Minako began to look around for the owner of the voice. She wasn’t alone in here, after all…!
…And yet, it is not your time, child. How unfortunate of you. I didn’t anticipate this. As such, there are some steps that must be taken in order to maintain the cycle of life and death…
“What do…?” Minako paused, surprised that this time, her voice came out, “My voice…! U-Um, what do you mean? Who are you? And where are we?” ‘What happened to me?’ Minako also wanted to ask, but she’d already learnt that. And this invisible stranger had seemingly confirmed it as well.
…I am known by many names to your kind. I am the World, I am the Universe, I am All, I am Truth. Or perhaps, you may call me God. However, in truth, I am but an arbiter. It is my responsibility to move souls from one life to the next, at the correct time. As such, you have come to me in my realm, the place between life and death, after facing your untimely end…
“A God…?” Minako uttered, bewildered by what she was hearing. It was a lot of words to use, and yet, she still found herself confused. But a few things stuck out to her and so she continued; “You said my death was untimely… unfortunate… and that it wasn’t my time. What did you mean by that?” she asked this supposed God.
…It is simply as I said. October 31st, Year 2020, at 12:44pm. This time of death does not align with your assigned end. At the birth of each soul, a time of death is assigned to it. It is known as one’s Lifespan. Normally, a human should live their life until their assigned time. But there are occasionally anomalies such as yourself. Dying prematurely outside of your assigned time causes quite a problem, as Lifespans are assigned in order to keep the cycle of death and rebirth moving smoothly. If the natural cycle gets interrupted, there would be nowhere for your soul to go....
Nowhere for the soul to go… Meaning, there wasn’t a place for Minako to return to, now that she had died before her time.
And Minako guessed, there was no option to just let her return to her own body. So that left her… where, exactly?
What was going to happen to her, now?
Would she just float here, doing nothing, for the rest of… forever?
…Fear not. Although there is not a place for your soul within your original world, there is a different path you can take. After all, yours is not the only world in existence. There are many worlds that run directly alongside your own. They are known as Alternate Universes. Does your world not discuss this matter, within fiction? Such is a possibility open to souls who slip from their assigned Lifespans as you have. Preparations have already been made. There is a particular universe available to you, which you seem to have prior knowledge of, so I will soon be sending you there. Armed with what you already know, you will be able to survive until the end of your intended Lifespan…
Minako’s head was already spinning with all of the information she was suddenly acquiring. Lifespans that were decided at birth. The existence of Alternate Universes. The fact that reincarnation was a thing. And on top of that…
“A world I know about already? What kind of world is that?” Minako asked the arbiter speaking to her.
…In some cases, Alternate Universes are similar to your own world, but with changes created by a single different action taken. However, there are also worlds not so tightly connected to yours, which selected humans of your world may have visions of. Quite often, those visions have been transformed into fiction. This is the case, for you. The world I will be sending you to, is within a story you already know well…
Minako furrowed her brow. A world within a story she already knew well? But Minako rarely read books; real ones, at least. Minako was an Otaku. She loved to read manga.
So, if it’s a world within a story she knows well… which manga was it going to be, exactly? A dangerous Shonen manga, like One Piece? Minako never did well with boats, so as much as she loved the Strawhats she hoped it wasn’t that one.
A romance manga like the ones she read when she was a bit younger might be nice. She’d probably end up just being a background character, but that wouldn’t bother Minako. It’d be the safest, most normal second chance at life she could hope for.
Yes, a romance or slice of life manga would be the best bet. She hoped that it would be like that.
…
Unfortunately, the arbiter had something to say which crushed that fantasy all at once.
…I believe the work of fiction was named, ‘Jujutsu Kaisen’ in your world by a one Akutami Gege. Searching within your most recent memories, you seem to be quite well informed of how its world works. Therefore, I wish you well on your--…
“JUJUTSU KAISEN!?!? Wait, no--!” Minako cried, but suddenly she felt like she was being pulled away somewhere.
How exactly was she going to live out a safe, happy and long life in a world where at any time she could be attacked by some sort of curse, or cursed spirit and she could do nothing about it?
She might even end up dying even younger than 16 this time!!
“W-Wait, please! I-I can’t go to Jujutsu Kaisen…! I wouldn’t stand a—” she tried desperately to call back the arbiter’s attention, hoping to get them to reconsider and send her to Fruits Basket or something instead.
But the arbiter didn’t pull her back. Instead, as Minako’s awareness faded, the arbiter spoke one final time.
…There is little need for concern. Adjustments will be made for you. You will have the protection of the world’s strongest, so things will go as preordained. Live your life to the fullest and return to me at your correct time. Farewell…
…
…
…
The first thing she noticed was the bright sun shining down on her. She was standing, she noticed, as she could feel the ground beneath her feet. The sky was a beautiful blue. And surrounding her were huge… yellow…
“…wari… …imawari… Himawari…!”
Sunflowers. They were towering over her, far more than they should. Sunflowers were huge flowers, sure, but she’d never seen ones that were at least three times her height. Was that even possible?
Where was she?
She’d been reborn, Minako knew, because she still remembered talking to the arbiter what felt like only moments ago. One second, she’d been pulled back through the darkness, unable to turn around to see where she was flying off to. And the next, she’d nearly been blinded by how bright it was.
After thinking about it, she realised that maybe the reason the sunflowers were so tall was because she had become so small?
Minako looked down at her new body, and sure enough. Her arms and legs were short and stubby, and she could tell from her fingers that she still had a lot of baby fat. Her body was tiny.
Who was she? And how old was she, right now? Her guess was about 4 or 5, but…
“Himawari-chan!” a voice suddenly exclaimed and she felt a large hand on her shoulder, causing her to shriek in surprise and she would have tripped over if not for being caught by the owner of those larger hands. On closer inspection, they were women’s hands.
Minako looked up at the person who’d just nearly scared the life out of her, to see an exasperated middle-aged woman with brown hair tied into a low-hanging bun, with gentle hazel eyes.
She let out a huff, “I’m sorry I scared you. But you really shouldn’t go so far away from me, Himawari-chan. You scared your Mama quite a bit, you know?” she told Minako, and she blinked owlishly up at her.
Himawari…? Was that… Minako’s new name?
And she called herself ‘Mama’, too. Then, that meant this was her new mom, right?
“...Sorry, Mama…” Minako… no, Himawari said softly, subconsciously moving her hand up to scratch her itchy head.
As if by reflex, her Mama put her hand on top of Himawari’s to stop her from scratching, and she scolded her; “Be careful…! You might pull off your wig if you keep doing that. We can’t have it falling off in public.” She suddenly looked stern and it threw Himawari off a bit.
She might pull off her wig?? This brown hair… was just a wig?
It’d explain why her head felt so unbearably itchy, but why was she wearing a wig? Was she bald??
Himawari held back from itching more, distracted by her confusion, and her mom picked her up and began carrying her back through the field of sunflowers she’d woken up standing amongst. When they left the sunflowers behind, Himawari got an answer to where she was, when she saw the signage as they went to the bus stop.
Nayoro Himawari Batake. A sunflower farm north of Asahikawa in Hokkaido.
So that answered the question of where she was. She was near to Asahikawa, which was north of both Sapporo and Hakodate. In her previous life, Himawari had never gone this far to the north of Japan before.
Through the course of the long bus ride home, Himawari learned that they actually lived closer to Sapporo than Asahikawa, in a little town called Tobetsu.
It’s when they arrived in Tobetsu, that Himawari also started seeing her first real hints of being in Jujutsu Kaisen's world. The closer one gets to a big city, like Sapporo, the more chance of seeing curses, if you have the ability to see them.
And apparently, Himawari could.
They were small, creepy, and unsettling looking as they peeked out from behind lamp posts and the like, but all-in-all they looked ultimately harmless, which was a small relief. But it left Himawari feeling uncomfortable and cautious when her new mom finally brought her up to what must be their house.
“Are you okay, Himawari-chan? Did the bus ride give you an upset stomach?” Himawari’s mom asked, looking down at her concernedly as they both took off their shoes as the entrance.
Himawari shook her head, “I’m fine.” She told her mom, neatly placing her shoes to the side. She got up and announced; “I’m gonna go to the toilet!”
Her mom chuckled and nodded, “Alright, then! I’ll get started on dinner. Call me if you need me.” She said and let Himawari go.
Of course, it took her an embarrassingly long time to find the toilet, even though the house wasn’t even that large. But when she finally arrived in the bathroom and closed the door behind her, she was finally alone again.
She let out a deep sigh after the lights finally flickered on, and looked down at her hands again.
She had a second chance at life, now, as Himawari, but was going to take a lot of getting used to. Although that woman was her new mom, she still felt like a stranger to her. It’d be hard, at least at first, to act naturally around her. And to be a convincing 5-or-so year old, too.
And… it was also going to be weird getting used to having such a small body again. Thinking about that caused Himawari’s scalp to itch again and she finally remembered she was wearing a wig.
And so, she got the stool next to the sink and stood on top of it, to look into the mirror. The wig was a bob that reached her shoulders, and it was brown. Her eyes were hazel like her new mom’s, but… her eyebrows caught her attention.
They were such a light colour that it startled Himawari, and she quickly pulled off the wig, and wig cap along with it, only to be even more surprised by what she saw.
Her hair… was as white as snow.
As white as… a certain sorcerer within the world of Jujutsu Kaisen also possessed.
…You will have the protection of the world’s strongest…
The ‘world’s strongest’… as in… him?
What did this mean?!
And if she supposedly has his protection, then where the heck was he?!
“Probably in Tokyo…” Himawari murmured, subconsciously rubbing at the corner of her eye at the feeling of some discomfort, but she still felt lost.
She’d been reborn, and this new body already held a lot of mysteries. She had white, unnatural hair, but her new mom was intent on hiding it from everyone under a wig. She was separated from her so-called protection, but she didn’t know the reason why.
Just what kind of situation had she been reborn into?
And what was she going to do next?
…