Chapter Text
Subaru remembers that from the moment he was born, he could see them.
Monsters, climbing buildings like spiders, crawling in narrow alleys where light barely shone, clinging to people, feeding from their fears and insecurities.
Subaru learned to ignore them, he avoided alleys and always walked in crowded streets, learned to not flinch even when one was in front of him. He knew that noticing them meant being a target. And inwardly he was beginning to think he was just crazy.
The first time that he fought a monster wasn’t a pleasant memory. But that incident, when he was barely six years old, awakened something in him.
The next morning in the hospital, when he looked in the mirror, Subaru found what (for a six year old) would be the most amazing thing in the world: his eyes had black stars as pupils! (plus a strange tattoo? of a star and the name “Pleyades” on his chest). But strangely his parents couldn’t see them.
Then luckily he met the “blind guy” who taught him some things about the “monsters” (now he knew they were called curses) and his new powers!
He met his older cousin Kirara Hoshi and both practiced their cursed techniques together when the adults weren’t looking, and sometimes when the blind guy or some of his friends came to visit.
Kirara named her Cursed Technique [Love Rendezvous] while Subaru named his Cursed Technique [Benevolent Stars]. In reality both Techniques worked almost the same way.
The Techniques distort space in certain ways depending on which marking was placed and the cursed energy of the target.
- Targets marked by the same star would attract each other, making the target with less cursed energy fly towards the target with greater cursed energy. (Don’t ask them how they figured that out, Subaru and Kirara spent half a day glued to each other because Subaru was barely figuring out how to erase a marking, they promised to never tell anyone how that happened)
- Targets marked by different stars may never approach, with the exception of two stars that are connected to each other. From nearest to furthest (Each one being connected with the previous one and next one): Pleyades (Subaru himself), Maya, Merope, Taigete, Electra, Alcione, Estérope and Celeno. So for example, a target marked with [Electra] may only approach [Taigete] or [Alcione] before moving towards another star connected to them.
Subaru grew up with Kirara as his older sister, training and discovering his powers. At home when nobody was looking you could sometimes see objects flying to Subaru’s hands.
April 1 2017, Subaru finally was 15 years old. He convinced his parents and managed to go to Tokyo Metropolitan Curse Technical College.
It turned out “Blind Guy” was Satoru Gojo, the strongest sorcerer alive.
His first year was pretty alright if you asked him. He had nice upperclassmen, Hakari and Kirara-nee-san, who helped him a lot (most of Hakari’s help was because of Kirara’s insistence) and nice classmates: Panda, who he hugged in secret every occasion he got (Maki wouldn’t have let him live that down), Inumaki, very considerate and nice person, Subaru even considers him to be a close friend, and finally Maki, who beat him up in training every occasion she had (Subaru knew it was her tsundere-way of caring, but it still hurt), thanks to her Subaru reached a not so nice conclusion:
He effectively “has no hands”.
He sucked in combat and his only saving grace was his “bullshit” (Maki’s words, not his) cursed technique, which he uses to trick his opponents.
But that was the extent of his capabilities. He didn’t have Reverse Curse Technique nor any physical abilities. Gojo-sensei said he has “one of the best Cursed Energy control he has seen on his life” and “one of the best control on their Cursed Technique” and that he had to “lock in” and search to be better on his good points rather than trying to reach an average level on his bad points.
Then he casually threw a book explaining Domain Expansions on his desk.
Subaru proceeded to laugh so hard he nearly hurt his lungs. How could Gojo think he could pull up a domain?! Simply hilarious.
Approximately at the middle of the year Yuta Okkotsu appeared. When he stepped into the classroom Subaru, casually, on sheer instinct, nearly blew his head with a marked coin he had been playing with just a moment ago.
Thankfully Gojo stepped in-between and saved him.
They both bonded over the small time they both were the underdogs of their year (Yuta stopped being one the moment he became better using a sword than him)
The Sister School Exchange Event came sooner than later and they swept the rug with the Kyoto students. Subaru doesn’t like to remember that particular event, because while Yuta was casually fighting Todo, matching his pace, Subaru was stuck getting team tagged by Maki’s twin and broom girl! And he was losing! Luckily for him his team killed the Grade 2 Cursed Spirit before he got more humiliated by those two.
The next day after the group event came the individual fights, where Hakari casually showed his new domain against Todo and Yuta humiliated Kamo. Maki won by default because her sister surrendered. Inumaki just told the broom girl to fall down and kicked her until she lost consciousness. Subaru got paired up against Miwa, who was a mess of nerves. The fight didn’t last long, but it seemed like it because of the breiveté of the other ones.
It ended with Subaru barely winning. Panda and Kirara got left out because they had too many combatants, so they fought between themselves to not feel left out (Kirara absolutely destroyed Panda).
Gojo congratulated them, insisting on how Subaru had a bad matchup and should not feel bad for nearly losing to Miwa. That did nothing to help his self-esteem issues.
Later that year on Christmas the Night Parade of 100 Demons occurred and Gojo sent Panda, Inumaki and him with a seal he never saw him using and never will see him using again. They appeared on school grounds and faced Geto, who luckily was a really bad matchup against Subaru, who laughed when he touched one of his Cursed Spirits and realized he marked every one of them through Geto’s Cursed Energy. Must say, seeing Geto get hugged by 30+ Cursed Spirits at the same time is really funny.
Soon enough Yuta appeared like an anime protagonist and beat up “racism guy”.
Subaru laughed again the moment both Yuta and Geto were charging their final attacks, Yuta said “How cruel, this is true love.” and Geto replied by saying “Then this is racism!”.
Yuta had his girlfriend finally go to “heaven” (or whatever is on the sky), tho he didn’t know if she deserved it, considering her horrible track record of incidents (before being expelled Kirara invited him to spend time with her and Hakari, and both drunk spouted everything Gojo told them he investigated about Rika, which was worrying to say the least).
Being a second year and having his own kouhais was an interesting experience. At the beginning he had to adapt to having Kusakabe as his teacher, which was more of the no-nonsense type of guy compared to Gojo. But that came with advantages, being a second-year student came with more freedom at the time of choosing how to spend your time, which meant that Subaru spent less time in combat-training and more studying cursed energy composition, veils, seals and cursed object creation. Even managing to catch some curses as shikigami! (Due to the fact his Cursed Technique has nothing to do with shikigamis they were trash ones, but nevertheless it made him proud. He mostly used them to have moving marks. Subaru later realized he could use them to do menial tasks like carrying books or bringing him things. Pretty useful, he wondered why sorcerers don’t use this more regularly)
He spent a last spar with Yuta before he left for Africa and was surprised to learn how much he progressed even when he wasn’t spending much time in combat-training, he was even able to hold his own for some time thanks to the new technique he developed, which allows him to mark targets at a distance.
Subaru remembered Gojo’s words and understood what he meant, he didn’t need to balance out his weaknesses if he became overwhelmingly good on his strong points!
(Gojo later explained that he didn’t meant it that way but that he was proud of him reaching a satisfying conclusion on his own)
Some weeks later he got to meet the first-years, Nobara and Megumi (that strangely was a man having a girl’s name), who were mourning his deceased friend.
Personally Subaru didn’t care much about Sukuna’s Vessel, he honestly felt bad for him but thought it was doomed to happen. He just shouldn't have put himself in a situation where he became the vessel for the King of Curses. (Later when he learned what really happened that day, completely blamed Gojo and was seriously angry with him. He just threw a Finger Retrieval mission to a Grade 2 FIRST YEAR IN JUJUTSU SCHOOL SORCERER when it’s usually handled by the strongest First Grades, usually Kusakabe, Usami or Nanami or even Satoru himself. He genuinely felt Itadori’s injustice)
Training Megumi and Nobara was ok, he didn’t have much he could teach them in the short two weeks they had to train for the Sister School Exchange Event, only quick-thinking and decision making in a fight.
Surprisingly, Megumi was able to discover his Cursed Technique relatively easily, by watching other matches and testing theories on his own. Even then, discovering a technique and actually countering it was really different, even more so for someone who had a bad Cursed Technique matchup against Subaru.
Subaru never underestimated Megumi, so he wasn’t able to approach him with his shikigami nor being able to track the correct path of stars to reach him. He knew the order of stars but Subaru was good at hiding his marks.
It seems Itadori never died? What the hell came through Gojo’s mind?! He left Megumi and Nobara to grieve for him for WEEKS! Just to make the reveal he didn’t die just when the event is going to start! Well more reasons to resent Gojo (even if he knows he’ll just calm down and forgive him later).
The Sister School Exchange event came and Subaru used it to test his new techniques, the far-away marking saved him a lot of trouble against Miwa when he first found her, but after he left her with Maki Subaru found Hanami fighting Kamo, Inumaki and Megumi.
Subaru took the opportunity to test another idea he had. He grabbed one of the various coins he kept in his pockets and marked it with 6 stars, [Merope], [Taigete], [Electra], [Alcione], [Estérope] and [Celeno]. As he thought, after marking Megumi with [Maya] the coin clutched in his hand began trying to make distance between Subaru and itself. By letting it go, the coin sped away from his hand obliterating Hanami’s left horn when she wasn’t watching him.
The idea originally came from his first meeting with Yuta, where Subaru made the same thing instinctively.
The battle progressed with Itadori landing a black flash, impressive feat if you ask Subaru, who hadn’t landed one yet (he came close some times, but nothing happened). Todo and Itadori made good work of the Curse who died when Gojo’s [Hollow Purple] smashed at it.
Subaru wondered if [Love of the Seven Sisters] could affect an attack of that magnitude like that if he were to mark it.
The next couple of days were unremarkable, until the news (old ones) of Nobara landing a Black Flash and Megumi using his Incomplete Domain reached him, then he knew he had to up his game if he wanted to remain as a reliable sempai!
Why??? WHYYY!???? How is this so frustrating!?
He’s doing everything right! He SHOULD be able to open a domain! Even an incomplete one!
When Subaru decided to try to open his domain, he was surprised to find out that he was able to do the steps properly. His extra time studying barrier techniques helped him with that, after all, Domain Expansion is a combination of barrier techniques.
He was able to deploy the barriers appropriately, but there was something he was missing.
When he showed Gojo, he gave his own explanation:
“Imagine that you are on the edge of a ravine, and you have to jump to the other side. You know you are capable of jumping, but your nerves don't allow it. Only when a lion chases you does one dare to jump off the ravine and reach the other side.”
“Only when one finds himself in a desperate situation is able to give it everything one has, that’s the way I managed to learn the Reverse Cursed Technique.”
Either way, Subaru didn’t have enough time to think about it because it turned out…
…31 of October was just two days away.
Insane, utterly insane. To think that an attack of that magnitude would happen.
That day Subaru found himself teamed up with Inumaki, having heard Itadori’s message they decided to evacuate everyone they could find.
They fought some curse users and transfigured humans who were lingering on the streets. And they were ready to call it a day until they saw a fucking meteorite.
What… the… fuck… was… happening…
The most terrifying part was when they felt that disgusting cursed energy expand through the streets.
They were both caught up in Sukuna’s Domain.
Inumaki lost an arm, and Subaru…
He… was fine? (but naked)
It seems that he took a page out of Gojo’s book.
Subaru, in normal circumstances, had no way of survival, the moment the Domain was expanded he was much further away from its border than Inumaki, even if he reinforced his body the relentless attack of slashes was brutal.
He had barely seconds to spare.
What could he do? All options ran through his mind.
Anti-domain techniques? He had none.
Trying deploying his own domain? It would break instantly and he would have technique burnout.
Running away? He didn’t have time, his coins were made dust and trying to mark something out of the Domain would take too much time, time he didn’t have.
Then a thought crept up his mind, one that only someone crazy, only a sorcerer could have:
He would learn the Reverse Cursed Technique or he would die. Do or die. Because honestly it came to that.
And as they say… always bet on Hakar— on Subaru.
On the brink of death, Subaru learned the Reverse Cursed Technique. Which gave him enough time to mark something far away, out of the domain, to pull himself out.
(Even in that state, having just escaped and crying out of shock, Subaru couldn’t help himself to note how Sukuna’s Domain didn’t have a barrier)
Already out, Subaru tried healing Inumaki’s arm, and when that failed he carried him to Shoko’s station.
Who the hell was Mahito? It turns out everyone forgot to tell him the basics of who Mahito was.
He found Itadori and Todo fighting a Disaster Curse out in the streets. (After rushing into a store to steal some clothes)
Being the great sempai he was, he couldn’t leave him alone!
He marked from far away everyone involved before coming in. Itadori, having noticed his presence, gave him a quick explanation on how Mahito’s technique worked.
How utterly disgusting.
They kept beating Mahito up, Subaru going support mode with his Shikigamis and markings.
Many times Mahito remarked how Todo and Subaru had the most confusing techniques there could possibly exist.
Then everything went to hell.
Subaru’s first priority was getting Todo to teach him Simple Domain. Getting trapped in Sukuna’s Domain is enough to motivate everyone (He promised to go to Takada’s concert with him in exchange).
After some days, sorcerers were deployed and Subaru went to find Kirara first.
Finding Megumi almost taking her head off with his Demon Dog Totality wasn’t in the range of what he expected. Luckily he managed to defuse the situation and convince Kirara to help them.
Soon he joined the games taking the mission of guarding Tsumiki until everyone managed to complete their objectives.
It would have been a good idea having marked her just in case.
It was incredible the relief that brought him hearing the new rule be added. And then followed by surprise seeing Megumi’s points rising by five.
He screamed in happiness when Yuta’s points went to almost 200!
They were going to save the day like anime protagonists.
One part of him was disappointed he got the role of a side character.
Sukuna entered Megumi (wait that didn’t sound right) and almost killed everyone until he fled away.
Fucking King of Curses had to look into Megumi’s memories to even touch them tho! That’s a win in Subaru’s book.
After the training arc, like in an anime (with Subaru STILL being unable to open his Domain), everyone grouped together to face Sukuna.
Subaru wasn’t worried though, Satoru would win for sure!
Gojo Satoru died at the hands of The King of Curses.
The fucking prick got too arrogant and forced us to face the FUCKING KING OF CURSES.
Subaru and Kirara were relieved to play the supporting role. That was a lie he told Kirara, Subaru wanted to face him directly.
Kirara accompanied Ui Ui and Subaru got tasked with being on stand-by and retiring combatants that were injured with his runes.
He would sweep in and grab the injured to bring them to Shoko.
Sukuna noticed this, and seeing how his opponents disappeared and kept coming back to fight, decided to kill the direct source of his problems.
Subaru, caught off guard holding an injured Kusakabe back to Shoko so he would be able to save him, could only look in the face of the one who would kill him.
And he closed his eyes.
Light flooded his vision as he heard the sound of wooden wheels rolling through stone paths. Some voices of vendors could be heard at the distance, allowing the city’s atmosphere to truly settle in Subaru’s head. The sound of the fountain behind not even registered on his mind.
“Is this the afterlife?” The voice came only as a whisper as Subaru looked forward to the busy street filled with humans and demi-humans.
The boy looked at his outfit, finding the cuts from the previous fight exactly as they were.
Then he looked up again, seeing the clear blue sky and a giant castle at the distance.
“Or maybe…”
“Isekai……”
Non-sorcerer him would be thrilled, excited to live the adventures that would come from this event.
But Subaru…
Subaru had friends, he had his sempais and kouhais, he had his classmates. He talked to his parents, he loved his “sister” Kirara almost more than anything in the world, he managed to ask Kasumi on a date after the Shinjuku Showdown, he loved, loved and loved them to death.
But now, he was forced to leave it all behind.
Is there even a body where I left or I just disappeared?
Tears started rolling down on Subaru’s face, slowly starting to fall down to the pavement.
“Gojo-sensei was right…” his voice started to break as he fell down to his knees.
“Love truly is the worst curse of them all.”
For the first time, Subaru Natsuki allowed himself to break down.
Extra info:
- Satoru Gojo, at the moment of talking about how there were Sorcerers that will surpass what a Special Grade means (when thinking about Itadori, Okkotsu and Todo) thought of including Subaru in that group, but discarded the thought because Subaru wasn’t crazy enough.
- Subaru didn’t try to open his own Domain mostly out of a lack of confidence, thinking it was impossible for him to do it; he never tried it until he saw he was being left behind by his kouhais.
- Caught up in Sukuna’s Domain, Subaru had to come up with his own interpretation of the Reversal of Cursed Energy on the spot to be able to use it.
- The moment Todo saw his marks in the fight against Mahito he thought: ‘If our chances of winning were 99% just a moment ago, now it’s a guaranteed 100%!’
- Sukuna has no way (outside of World Cutting Slash and Domain Expansion) of countering Subaru’s Technique, only in a prolonged confrontation he would be able to figure it out.
- Sukuna after possessing Megumi faced Yuji, Maki and Subaru. Being unable to figure out Subaru’s Technique he swallowed his pride and looked to see if Megumi had any insight. His Cursed Technique slightly impressed him, the only compliment he could give him.
- Sukuna was sensing cursed signatures suddenly disappearing away when he wasn’t paying attention, and he tied the knots and decided to kill Subaru the first occasion he had.
- At the moment of almost killing him Subaru just disappeared in front of his eyes. This resulted in Kusakabe’s death at the hands of Sukuna. Who had been the person Subaru was carrying the moment of his disappearance.
- After defeating Sukuna, everyone looked for Subaru but wasn’t found. Kirara was the most affected and kept the spots Subaru had marked as a reminder.