The food arrived in waves.
Which, in hindsight, was the only reasonable way to serve Oden.
Plate after plate covered the table until it looked less like a normal dinner arrangement and more like someone had made a strategic error in the kitchen. Bowls of rice. Grilled meat. Soup. Fried dishes. Side dishes. Things Oden had pointed at with no understanding beyond that looks edible.
And now—
he was eating all of it.
Calmly and efficiently.
Without a trace of shame.
The four across from him had, for the most part, stopped trying to hide their staring.
Panda leaned back slightly.
"…You really weren't exaggerating," he muttered.
Yuta smiled awkwardly. "He did say he wasn't hungry."
Maki folded her arms. "His definition of not hungry is disturbing."
Inumaki, who had been watching Oden demolish what should have been a group meal, quietly said, "Salmon."
Oden, meanwhile, continued eating like none of them existed.
Yuta cleared his throat.
"Alright," he said. "Can we ask you some questions now?"
Oden gave a thumbs up with one hand while still chewing.
Yuta glanced at Maki, then back to Oden.
"First," he said carefully, "who exactly are you?"
Oden swallowed.
Then took another bite before answering.
"I'm Oden."
Maki's brow twitched instantly.
"That's a name, not an explanation."
Oden looked in her direction.
"You asked who I am. I answered."
Panda immediately looked down at the table to hide his reaction.
Yuta coughed into his hand and tried again.
"Okay. Where are you from?"
Oden tilted his head slightly.
Oden answered without hesitation.
"Kenya."
Maki's eyes narrowed.
"No, you're not."
"Yes, I am."
"You're clearly Japanese."
"That wasn't the question."
Panda let out a wheezing sound that might have been laughter.
Maki shot him a look.
Oden kept eating.
Yuta tried to keep things smooth.
"You mean you lived in Kenya?"
Oden tilted his head slightly.
"I'm from Kenya."
Maki leaned forward.
"You don't sound like someone raised there."
Oden paused.
Then, in calm, natural Swahili, he said:
"Nimetoka Kenya. Nimeishi huko kwa miaka mingi. Msiponiamini, hilo si tatizo langu."
(I'm from Kenya. I've lived there for many years. If you don't believe me, that isn't my problem.)
The table went silent.
Panda blinked.
Maki blinked.
Yuta blinked.
Even Inumaki looked faintly impressed.
Oden, apparently deciding that was not enough, added:
"Na njaa bado ipo, kwa hiyo msinipotezee muda."
(And I'm still hungry, so don't waste my time.)
Panda slowly raised a paw.
"…Okay, I believe him now."
Yuta seconded.
"…Okay," he said slowly. "That's fair."
Maki narrowed her eyes.
"That still doesn't explain anything."
Oden shrugged and kept eating.
Panda, still thinking about the blindfold, leaned forward a little.
"Hey," he said. "Do you have the Six Eyes?"
Oden paused mid-bite.
Then lowered the food in his hand.
"That creepy guy with the smile asked me the same thing," he said.
Oden continued.
"What is the Six Eyes anyway?"
That question hit the table like a small explosion.
Maki stared.
Panda stared.
Inumaki stared.
Yuta stared.
Oden looked between them.
"…What?"
Yuta was the first to speak.
"Well," he said carefully, "to be fair… he is from Kenya."
"That's not the point," Maki said.
"It kind of is," Panda replied.
Oden took another bite.
Then looked directly at Yuta.
"You're a monster, by the way."
The sentence arrived with such blunt sincerity that Yuta actually froze.
"…What?"
Oden pointed at him with his chopsticks.
"The amount of cursed energy you have is disgusting," he said. "Are you even human?"
Yuta visibly did not know how to answer that.
Maki answered for him.
"You have the same amount," she shot back. "So that makes you inhuman too, doesn't it?"
Oden paused.
Looked at her.
Then at his food.
Then back at her.
"…Really?"
"That's all you have to say?" Maki demanded.
Oden did not elaborate.
Yuta, perhaps deciding it was better to steer the conversation before Maki reached across the table, spoke again.
"The Six Eyes," he said, "is an extremely rare ocular ability."
That got Oden's attention.
Yuta continued.
"It belongs to the Gojo clan. It gives the user absurdly precise perception, especially when it comes to cursed energy. Efficiency, control, analysis… all of it is on another level."
Panda nodded.
"It's basically broken."
Maki added, "There's a reason people make a big deal out of it."
Oden thought about that for a second while eating.
Then nodded once.
"That's actually pretty cool."
Maki exhaled through her nose.
Yuta smiled faintly and pressed on.
"Do you know about Gojo Satoru?"
Oden swallowed.
Then answered immediately.
"Who is that?"
The four of them froze again.
Maki looked like she had just been personally offended.
"What kind of sorcerer are you?" she demanded. "How do you not know Gojo?"
Oden looked at her blankly.
"The kind who doesn't know Gojo."
Panda bowed his head.
Inumaki muttered, "Salmon…"
Yuta covered his mouth, very clearly trying not to laugh.
Maki pinched the bridge of her nose.
"This is ridiculous."
Oden, oblivious to the spiritual damage he was inflicting, continued eating through the silence.
Yuta let the moment settle, then tried a different angle.
"Alright," he said. "One more important question."
Oden gave another thumbs up while picking up a bowl.
"What do you use jujutsu for?"
That made Oden pause longer than before.
He lowered the bowl slightly.
His answer, when it came, was simple.
"To survive."
It was the truth.
Then he added—
"And to train."
Also the truth.
Then—
"And sometimes because Miguel tells me to."
He took another bite.
"I also use it when annoying things happen."
That one was vague enough to be suspicious.
Maki noticed.
"What kind of annoying things?"
Oden answered smoothly.
"Curses. People. Some birds."
Panda blinked. "Birds?"
Oden didn't explain.
Yuta studied him carefully.
There were truths in what he said.
That much was obvious.
But there were gaps too. Deliberate ones. Places where he slipped sideways instead of forward. He wasn't exactly lying well.
He was just mixing honesty with nonsense until sorting them became work.
Clever and annoying.
But clever.
Yuta folded his hands loosely on the table.
"Oden," he said, "would you be interested in joining Jujutsu Tech?"
Oden looked up.
"…What's Jujutsu Tech?"
This time, the others were much less shocked.
Panda even nodded as if this was now consistent with the established chaos.
Yuta explained patiently.
"It's a school for jujutsu sorcerers. A place where we learn, train, take missions, and exorcise curses."
Maki added, "It's also where people like you are supposed to be instead of wandering around Tokyo."
Panda pointed at himself. "And where talking pandas are apparently accepted."
"Salmon," said Inumaki.
Yuta smiled.
"The point is… you'd have structure there. Training. Information. People who understand this world."
Oden listened while continuing to eat.
A school for sorcerers.
A place where all of this, cursed energy, techniques, curses, absurdly strong people was normal.
That was…
Actually interesting.
"…That's cool," he admitted.
Yuta brightened slightly.
Oden pointed a chopstick at him.
"I'll think about it."
Yuta nodded.
"That's enough for now."
And then—
the restaurant door opened.
A man and a woman entered together, dressed with the effortless precision of wealth. Behind them followed a bodyguard whose posture made it clear he was not ornamental.
The man glanced around the restaurant and smiled lightly.
"This place looks nice," Uzumaki Yusuke said.
Beside him, Uzumaki Tamaki barely heard him.
Because her eyes had already landed somewhere else.
On a particular hooded figure.
Blindfolded.
Eating a mountain of food at a table surrounded by impossible people.
Her breath caught.
Then quickened.
Her whole body went rigid.
Her lips parted.
And in a voice so faint it almost vanished into the noise of the restaurant—
she whispered:
"…Oden?"
---
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