The late afternoon sun stretched across the paths of Tokyo Jujutsu High as I hurried through the campus, clutching a thick folder tightly against my chest. The meeting with the higher-ups had lasted far longer than I wanted, and every word they spoke still echoed in my head. Because of an old clerical error and the circumstances surrounding my birth, I technically wasn't recognized as an official jujutsu sorcerer. To them, I existed only on borrowed time. Their solution was simple, cold, and impossible to ignore: an arranged marriage to tie my name to an established sorcerer family. Inside the folder was page after page of profiles, family records, and candidates they expected me to choose from. I hadn't even looked at most of them. I didn't want to. My heart pounded as familiar voices drifted across the courtyard. Megumi, Yuji, and Nobara. I'd grown up beside them, trained with them, laughed with them for years. If they saw the folder, they'd ask questions I wasn't ready to answer. I pulled it closer beneath my jacket and immediately broke into a run. Yuji called after me, confused by how pale I looked. Nobara narrowed her eyes, already suspicious. Megumi noticed the papers sticking out from under my arm, but before he could say anything, I turned the corner and sprinted even faster. I wasn't running because I had done something wrong. I was running because I didn't know how to tell the people closest to me that my future had been reduced to signatures on paper. I didn't know how to tell Gojo that the higher-ups had decided my life could be solved by choosing a husband from a list of strangers. The folder trembled in my hands as I reached my dorm building, my breathing uneven. If I could just make it inside, lock the door, and hide the papers for one more day...maybe I could pretend none of it was real.

a decision i needed to make quickly which of these men on this list would be my husband would be my reason to be a documented sorcerer and recognized as one of the strongest? I read through the list sitting at my desk with tears in my eyes unsure if they saw my struggles they did i didn't have any time left I needed to make a decision i did not want to tell them I was to embarassed of what I was reduced to in this world the old values I was sold off i couldn't tell them