Chapter Text
Hello, and thank you for choosing this story! Hopefully you have, or are currently reading Echoes of the Soul, but if not, no worries this is a collection of reader/Jujutsu Kaisen character one-shots. These are stories that I felt didn’t add too much to the original storyline or they were fun situations I could see happening but didn’t have time to go over. If anyone has any character interaction that they are missing out on, please leave me a comment, or if there is a situation that you would like to see how our Empathic Echo reader-insert handles it, drop me an idea!
These stories are for fun, and it gives me practice honing my writing skills. So, if you had fun with this and you haven’t read the original reader/Toge story, please go check it out next, (also shameless plug) check out my other two stories. Do you like Attack on Titan? Demon Slayer? Cross overs of the two? Then boy, do I have a story for you, check out my Dream a Little dream of me. Not your thing, that’s Ok.
Do you like Attack on titan? Levi (who doesn’t)? Original characters and Magic? Then check out Song of Black and Blue Birds!
Onto the first story, thank you again for reading and I hope that this story finds you well and in a happy place!
Story one: The way to a man’s soul is through his bakery
“Hi Bromigos!” I called to the first and second years as I joined them on the training yard, I had just finished my shift with Shoko in the medical ward and rushed down to join the rest of the second years for lectures and training.
“Bromigo?” A familiar voice asked behind me.
“Hi Mr. Nanami!” I smiled at the blonde man as he approached the group; I hadn’t seen him since our fist meeting when I first arrived at Jujutsu High for my exchange program. “You know,” I shrugged. “The perfect hybrid of Bro and Amigo, Bromigo.”
“Bonito Flakes.” Inumaki shook his head as he silently huffed, Really, you should come with a dictionary, and people say that I am the one who doesn’t make any sense. He teased.
“Humph” I mock glared at the boy “I’ll have you know that I have on multiple occasions, been complimented on the grace, clarity, and eloquence of my speech.”
“Tuna?” By who? The deaf, and children learning how to speak?
“Just because most of the people were hearing impaired or children under the age of one, doesn’t change a thing, a compliment is a compliment.” I tried to keep my angry look during our mock fight, but I couldn't keep a straight face as Inumaki raised his eyebrow and gave me an exasperated look, I broke character and laughed as he snickered.
“Ignore (Y/N) and Toge,” Maki told Nanami, “When they get into their one-sided arguments like these, neither end up making any sense. Why are you here Nanami-san?” She asked the blonde man who was watching the fight with amusement.
“Gojo asked me to help with training this afternoon, to help you get the first years up to speed for the exchange event.” The group all nodded as Nanami conducted our training for the rest of the afternoon.
The remainder of the day was spent under the watchful and serious eye of the 1st grade sorcerer, during this time I was able to use my power as an empath to get a better understanding of the man that I had only met once. As he watched us spar, he was ruthless in letting us know our short comings, every mistake we made, and every move was analyzed and criticized. However, his criticism was not done out of anger and had no malic behind it; in fact, it was the opposite. His strict way of teaching was an act of love.
His strict training was done out of deep concern for our safety and lives, he knew that our training made the difference between life and death in the field. I could feel him watch us and worry when we made a mistake; at one point he watched as Toge sparred with Maki, as he landed a blow on her, Nanami flinched, If this was a real fight, she’d be dead, I’ve watched a few comrades die in that same way before. He thought to himself as he had a flashback of now dead Jujutsu sorcerers he had known. He didn’t want Maki to face the same fate, so he quickly corrected Maki and pointed out her mistakes.
When the training was concluded, we were all run ragged, but everyone felt as if they had learned important new skills.
“Well, I think we have all earned our dinner tonight, who’s hungry?!” I said cheerily to the group as we gathered our things. “Mr. Nanami would you like to join us for dinner?” I asked the man. “I’ve made fresh bread, to go with the dish. Not to brag, but I am a decent cook.” The rest of the group nodded and for once Inumaki didn’t have a snarky response for me.
“Fresh bread?” he asked, I could tell he was hungry and temped by my offer, but he was the adult, and we were the children, he didn’t want to impose or spend his free time with us, he wasn’t Gojo! “Thank you for the offer, but no, I have somewhere to be.” He nodded to us but as he turned and left, I felt a bit of his regret, he could sure have gone for some freshly baked bread.
***
A few weeks later, I sat on the couch with Toge’s head on my lap, as I was thinking about my soul training lecture and the people who still had yet to achieve a moment of carefree fun enough to feel their souls. Mr. Nanami being at the top of that list, as I sat thinking I caught purple eyes staring at me.
“Yes, can I help you? Or are you just taking a moment to admire my eyes?” I teased the boy as I caught him staring, a light blush appearing on his face.
I am constantly admiring you, miss soul eyes. he smiled at me, as it was now my turn to blush at his flirting, Besides the obvious admiration of your beauty, I was just wondering what you are thinking of that is making you look as if you are trying to solve world hunger and the cure for the common cold at the same time.
“Oh, I was just…” I started to explain but then something hit me, “Wait say that again?!” I told him as the beginning of an idea started to form.
Say what?! He squawked. You know I don’t actually speak; you are just reading my thoughts.
“I’ve already told you; I’m not really reading your thoughts. I just can feel your emotions and intentions, not to mention my magics and your cursed energy is linked so I get a clear picture of what you want to communicate with me, I only hear what you want me to, so you do have some form of mental privacy.” I chided him, “Now is not the time to talk about magical communication; please repeat what you just said, I think I am having a lightbulb moment.”
Um…that you are beautiful, and I like to look at you…? he thought awkwardly as his face flushed red.
“No not that but thank you.” I smiled at the boy.
Oh, that you look like you are trying to solve world hunger. He told me as the idea began to form.
“That’s it! Toge, you’re a genius!” I told the him as I watched his purple eyes light up.
Well, I knew that, but it is nice to hear it from you. He teased, but then added. Not that I am not a genius because I am, but why am I a genius?
“I was thinking about all the people who have yet to find their souls and that Mr. Nanami is an even harder case than Fushiguro was, but then you said hunger, and it brought back memories of my first week here. Mr. Nanami is a foodie, maybe if we cooked with him, he could achieve one moment of happiness, enough to feel his soul!” I said excitedly as the boy just stared, blinking big purple eyes at me.
It's worth a shot, he shrugged. He really couldn’t even think of one activity that made him happy?
“Not even one.” I said a bit sadly “But I’m not giving up on him. Not everyone can find their soul as quick as you did. I am still shocked you found it so fast, you must really like dancing”
No. he shook his head, It was not the music that made me happy, it was the girl I was dancing with that set my soul free. His eyes were soft as he reached up and stroked my face.
“I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. Toge Inumkai you are one smooth talking sorcerer.” He just smiled at me as we plotted a way to help my friend find his soul.
***
The next afternoon found me and Toge riding the train into a poor part of Tokyo with the grade 1 sorcerer Kento Nanami in tow.
“Are you going to tell me why you are dragging me all over Tokyo?” He asked as we got off the train.
“We are not taking you all over Tokyo, but just to one specific place.” I said as we headed over to our destination. We arrived after a few minutes of walking, Nanami just stared at the building.
“A battered woman’s shelter. Are there curses here that we need to exercise?” He asked raising an eyebrow to me.
“No, this is an exercise to find your soul. Every Friday they have volunteers come and cook for the victims of domestic violence, tonight we are going to bake. I don’t know a lot about you Mr. Nanami but I know two things, you are a good man who likes to help people, and you like bread, A LOT! So, this is perfect for you, we get to help the community, and we get to bake.” The blonde man just stared at me.
“Okay,” he nodded to us. “Even if it doesn’t work, we will at least not have wasted our time, because we are still helping the community.” He shrugged.
“That’s the spirit!” I cheered as we entered the building, looking around I saw women and children of all ages sitting at different tables spread around the main room.
“Hello, you must be the new volunteers, from the private cram school!” A happy voice called from behind us, we turned to see a smiling woman, I immediately liked this lady; through my magic I could feel that she was kind and generous.
“Yes, Ma’am! I am (Y/N) (L/N) and I was the one who contacted you. We are a part of our school’s culinary club, and we wanted to use our skills to reach out to the community. Let me introduce you to our club instructor and teacher Mr. Kento Nanami and my friend Toge Inumaki, just letting you know he is on the quiet side.” I introduced the group.
“Nice to meet you all, I am Hanako Tachimoto and I run the kitchens. Let me show you around.” She led us into the kitchens, and we spent the rest of the evening preparing a meal for the community. At first Mr. Nanami was all professionalism and seriousness but as the other volunteers opened up to us about why they where here, he became more comfortable.
“I was beat by my father, so when my husband beat me, I thought that was just how the world worked and I had no strength to fight even if I wanted too.” One woman told us as we kneaded the bread. “But then I had my daughter; when she took her first breath, it was as if she breathed into me the strength to fight and get out of that situation.” She smiled at us, a smile of a survivor. “Now I help here to feed others like me. I help nourish their bodies, hopefully giving them the strength to keep fighting too.”
Others shared stories similar to hers, we listened to their stories of hope as the smells of fresh baking bread filled the air. Once the cooking was done, we passed out plates to the crowd and then sat with them. I watched Mr. Nanami lose himself in the smells of a homecooked meal and the feeling of warmth as he helped people. They came up and thanked him for his amazing food and for being a teacher that was shaping the next generation to be good civil servants. Mr. Nanami was a good man, and good people didn’t do things for the praise, good people did what was right because it was the honorable thing to do, but it still felt nice to be recognized for it.
“Thank you, all of you for your help.” Miss Hanako thanked us as we prepared to leave after the clean-up was done.
“No thanks are needed.” Mr. Nanami said, “For what you are doing here is what deserves the real praise. You are giving hope to people and healing their souls. Thank you.” He told her with a bow.
As we took the train back to school we sat quietly thinking about our evening.
“So,” I said breaking the comfortable silence. “Did you figure out where your soul resides? I know you felt something, I was monitoring your mood to see when you found it.”
“I think so, but I am confused.” He frowned, “I thought it was somewhere in my stomach, that’s where the cursed spirit attacked me when we fought. However, I felt at one point tonight as if weight was lifted from my shoulders and my chest felt lighter.”
“Yes, I thought the same thing when I first looked at you, but after watching for a while, I noticed something interesting. Your soul likes to move around, very unusual.” I smiled at him. “It roams around with the same sense of noble obligation that you ring out, helping your body out in times of different need. When you were fighting in stayed in your gut, helping provide support to your cursed energy production. When you helped train us, it moved to your eyes and brain, helping pinpoint problems that you could correct, hopefully saving us later from an early death. Tonight, it stayed on your shoulders, carrying the weight of all those people’s burdens on yourself, but then something amazing happened.” I paused as he looked at me, waiting with nervous energy for me to speak.
“You realized that you didn’t have to shoulder the worlds’ burdens alone. You are not alone in the fight to make the world safe, there are plenty of people who still care and have the same sense of obligation that you do.” I smiled and patted his shoulder, “You also realized in training us, the youth of the world, that you even secured a future where others will continue the fight without you, when it is time to pass the torch. That’s when you felt your soul in your shoulders, and it felt as if a weight was lifted off them.” I finished with a smile, leaning on Toge, resting my head on his shoulder as Nanami stared out the window processing what I just told him, after a while he looked at me.
“Thank you, (Y/N) and Inumkai-kun, both of you helped a great deal today. I look forward to seeing what kind of adults you grow up to be, something tells me you will be strong sorcerers, but you will also become honorable people.”
“Salmon!” Thank you, but we will only achieve these goals because of teachers like you.
“Toge is right,” I nodded in agreement. “It’s thanks to you and our teachers that we are on the honorable path of life, we will keep walking it, but only if you keep leading the way.” He just nodded a small smile on his normally stoic face.
With a happy sigh, I closed my eyes and let the rocking of the train and the beat of Toge’s heart lull me to sleep as we made our way back to school.