He’s led past some picturesque gardens into a large hall, the end of which has a large, muscular, intimidating looking man.

Surrounded by adorable plushies. He’s patiently sewing a new one. It is small, bright blue, and looks like it’ll be some sort of sheep.

“Your other student, Satoru? And this one isn’t going to demand a phone interview?” he asks, not looking up from his sewing. He sounds disgusted with the idea of phone interviews, like the very idea is insulting.

"Well I was not exactly aware it was an option but I think I would not have taken it anyway."

“Good. I’d rather look you in the eyes and see your answers in them. Phone interviews. If the answer had been any less sure I’d have dismissed her on principle.” He finishes off his set of stitches, and ties it off, carefully knotting the thread so it’ll hold firm. This done, he stands and looks at his prospective student.

“So. Why are you here.”

"To do an interview!" he replies brightly.

His prospective Sensei lets out a little snort.

“Obviously. I meant in broader terms. Why are you here, at this school. Why do you want to learn to become a jujutsu sorcerer?”

...well, serious anime time, then. He shuts his eyes, and... thinks.

The principal waits, arms crossed.

After a couple of minutes Itadori opens his eyes again and raises three fingers in the air. He pinches the ring finger with the other hand: "I want... to do something that matters. I am not... the smartest, brightest, most talented. I am not going to be a doctor and save people's lives. I am not going to be a lawyer that brings justice to the masses, or a brilliant inventor, or anything like that. This matters."

He moves to the middle finger: "I am the strongest." He looks over at Gojō and amends, "Physically. I don't know why. I break strength records without trying. It feels... right... that the thing I do, the way I matter, has to do with that. Maybe there's a god, and that is why god gave me this strength. Maybe my mysterious backstory and unknown parents have to do with it, maybe they were sorcerers and did something..."

Index finger now. "I was extremely bored. All the time. School is boring, being a regular teenager is boring, sex is fun and doing it with new people in new ways is fun but it's not really... important. It passes the time, I like it, it still does not make my life not boring. This does."

He lowers the three fingers and shrugs. "I don't think any of these is more important than the others. They're all true."

"There are other professions that fulfill all of those requirements, other ways to use physical strength to do something that matters without getting bored. Firefighting comes to mind, I'm sure others would too with a bit of thought. Exorcising curses is messy, horrible, and often thankless. Most people who hear you name your profession will think you're insane, and definitely not think that it matters at all. You will never get rid of all of the curses in the world, and you will almost certainly die to one. If you get good enough, you can be like Satoru here, constantly bored despite being surrounded by curses that would make other men flee in terror. They are not all so interesting to exorcise."

He had an answer to all of that but actually, "Are you constantly bored, Gojō-sensei?" is what he asks of the white-haired mentor figure.

"Oh, terribly!"

Itadori tilts his head for a moment, then turns back to the principal. "I think I don't mean the same thing." He shakes his head. "It doesn't have to be this thing. I did think of firefighting, actually, yeah. But the plot is just starting." He smiles and hikes a thumb in Gojō's direction. "He has a plan. Maybe the villain is literally inside me. And... right now, firefighting is actually out of the question, isn't it? Either I do this or I..." He shakes his head once more then looks straight at the principal again.

"You don't have anyone else to kill Ryōmen Sukuna. Only me." It's a hunch, but obviously they would not have been holding onto the finger (fingers? actually why are there twenty—wait, focus) for so long, so he thinks it's right. "I don't want to say that everything happens for a reason. I do not... think it does. But I think this did. What are the odds that I would personally find Sukuna's finger and, being part of the Occult Club at school, which had exactly two other members, would help unseal it, and then after a fight that nearly kills me I would eat the finger and turn out to be the one person in, in hundreds of years?" He glances at Gojō when he says that, for a moment, but then focuses on the principal again. "Hundreds of years, maybe ever, who can actually keep him subdued—

"Every piece of me is saying that this is right, that this is what happens next, that I gotta do this. Never mind that it is either this or dying, never mind that you guys keep saying I am going to face things so terrible the choice is not actually obvious, never mind the super strength or the boredom or wanting to do the right thing—I feel it in my gut." He's kneeling on the floor, he doesn't know when he did but it feels thematically appropriate so he leans forward for the effect. "I am joking about this being the start of the anime plot but it's only half a joke, there is something big that is just happening, I know there is, and I am already here, this is where I am meant to be, and, and maybe I'm wrong, maybe I am just a kid who got struck by lightning three times, someone has to on a planet with seven billion people, maybe I will be skewered alive on my first mission, but it will not be because of overconfidence, it will be because I am doing what I think is right, I am doing what I think I am meant to do, and if I die I will not die regretting it."

"Hm. We'll see about that. A sorcerer never dies without regrets." He gives a little nod, all the same. "But welcome to Jujutsu High, Itadori Tokan."

He grins widely, stands up, then bows deeply. "Thank you, Gakuchō-sensei."

The principal gives another nod, then returns to his sewing of adorable, bright plushies.

"Satoru, show him to the dorm. Explain the security and everything else to him, too. And see about getting him a uniform."

"Sure, sure," says Gojo casually, giving a little wave and turning to leave.

Security measures are straightforward enough, and Gojo does some sort of super speed sorcery nonsense to get Itadori's measurements in under ten seconds, so then all that's left is the housing.

Notably, it's spacious, nice, and comfortable, with a lovely view of the mountains. He has his own en suite bathroom, and right next door is a familiar face.

"...you're here," says said familiar face before glacially turning to glare at their sensei.

"Fushiguro-senpai! You're not dead!"

Their Sensei smiles innocently.

"He's not! It takes more than a fall from two stories and a couple of stubborn walls to kill a jujutsu sorcerer." He walks over and ruffles Fushiguro's hair. "I thought you might like the company, my precious student."

"As long as said company isn't very loud," he says, batting Gojō's hand away and rubbing at the edge of the bandage still attached to his temple. "Hard enough dealing with one of you."

"And the day after tomorrow, we'll go pick up our third student! Try to get settled in and reacquainted by then."

"Reacquainted," Fushiguro repeats in a slow drawl.

"Oh! Wait, I forgot to ask earlier! How come Sukuna's got twenty fingers? Or are you counting toes, too?"

And now it is Itadori's turn to get glared at. "You... didn't even ask that? Do you even know what you signed up for?"