The long-haired youth he's been following stops in their tracks and slowly looks over their shoulder, revealing gray skin that even under the dim surrounding light has very clear stitch marks all over it.

"Wow, you can see me?"

“Y-yes? Can. Can other people not?”

The person's smile widens but they don't answer. "So what if it was me who did it?" They fully turn around to face the boy. "Does that upset you? Were those three... special to you?"

“…um. I-I mean they were kind of. The worst? Was. That an accident, or?”

"Oh, no... they were being so rude, you see, talking loudly during the movie like that. I could barely hear it over their voices."

“Oh.” Pause. “I-I-I actually meant the effect, I know you picked them as test subjects because they were being terrible, but the, the thing you did to them seemed more uncontrolled and experimental than deliberate and. How did you do that, are you still learning, and can you teach me?”

Oh no that last part probably shouldn’t have slipped out, should it.

Their smile widens even more, however that's at all possible. "Well, I suppose you could call it an experiment, yes. And teach you? I think that specific thing I did is, shall we say, one-of-a-kind. But... so are you."

“What? I-I am? Just because I can see you?”

"No," they say again with that same nonchalance. "Many people can. But I can see you." They take a slow, deliberate step towards the boy. "I can see you have... potential."

squeak.

They laugh and turn around, making a "come hither" gesture with a finger. "I'm Mahito. It's... interesting to meet you."

Well on one hand he could not follow the creepy stitched person who can and did morph literal people into popping like balloons further into the alley, and do the safe sane thing of running away, and probably never ever know what any of this is about and go back to an unpleasant teenage existence of being horribly bullied and friendless and alone and magic not being real, or.

Or he could. And probably die but maybe actually learn anything about what’s going on.

“… interesting to meet you too,” he says, a little shakily, stepping after Mahito on trembling legs. “I’m, uh. Junpei. Yoshino Junpei.”

"So!" Gojo motions demonstrably to a tall, blond man in a business suit, tie, and slightly tinted glasses. "Presenting ex-salaryman Nanami Kento! Nanami, presenting Itadori Tokan, Sukuna's vessel and pronounced clinically and legally dead! Now make friends. Nanami has agreed to supervise you as you go running off to apply your knowledge to real curses!"

Nanami Kento looks... less than thrilled to be here.

"Gojo-san, how old is he. When you asked me to supervise one of your students I thought he'd be third or fourth year. I am not a teacher."

"Sixteen," Itadori replies easily, bowing to Nanami. "It is a pleasure to meet you, sir."

"Hajimemashite," replies Nanami, with all of the inflection and personality of drywall. "And now goodbye, I refuse to be responsible for a child. Especially with the grades of curses I typically handle."

"He'll be fiiiiiine. I've been sparring with him for the last month!"

Pause.

"You have my condolences," says Nanami, to Tokan.

Itadori straightens back up. "Thank you sir. It has been educational and very, very painful."

“I imagine so.” He looks back to Gojo. “I’m still not taking him. It’s not his abilities that are in question. You and I are used to the kinds of horrors grade 1 and special grades can and do inflict. The bodies they leave. It is not an environment someone his age should be exposed to carelessly.”

“He’s already been exposed. Several people have already succeeded at killing him, he has Sukuna inside him having a daily chat, and he’s seen and fought a special grade before. He’s already in the deep end, whether any of us like it or not. I need to make sure he can swim.”

"Yeah I was dead for a while," confirms Itadori. "Sukuna decided ripping my heart off would be good to keep me hostage. As if I would let him just run amok with my body just because I would die if I swapped back."

"Personal danger is not the sort of thing I mean. I mean the civilian casualties and hostages, the moral dilemmas that intelligent curses like to inflict. Situations such as: rescue the tortured hostages, or go after the curse responsible. Using them as shields. Using them as bait to lure a sorcerer into a trap. Leaving pieces of them to unnerve and anger. Things that haunt you long after the curse responsible is dead."

"Sir, with all due respect, as Gojō-sensei said, this is my life now, I am in it whether I want to be or not. I am Sukuna's vessel, these things are going to happen to me and around me regardless and sooner rather than later. If they are the sorts of things I currently cannot deal with, then I would rather be ready for them than flounder."

"Fine."