Chapter Text
Sukuna snorted lightly and silently observed Yuuji from his throne on the mountain of bovine skulls. The boy had proven to be more skilled than the King of Curses had expected. But of course, he was still his vessel. And someone like that couldn't be a weakling. Sukuna wasn't going to allow that.
Yuuji let out a cry of joy when, following the instructions previously given by the King of Curses, he was able to cleanly cut one of the skulls.
"Did you see that, Kuna!?" the boy shouted, giving him a look filled with joy. Sukuna rolled his eyes and landed next to the child. He observed the two pieces of the skull with a certain indifference and disinterest.
"Not bad for your sixteenth attempt, brat," Sukuna admitted. The boy puffed up his cheeks slightly and looked at him, slightly annoyed.
"But I was able to do it!" protested Yuuji.
Sukuna smirked at that moment. "That's true. And it's time for you to show it to those two idiot sorcerers, don't you think?"
The boy's eyes filled with excitement, and he quickly forgot his anger. "How should I do it?" the boy asked. "I want them to let me go with them on missions," he admitted.
Sukuna rolled his eyes, visibly irritated. "How many more times do you plan on saying that? Now stop bothering and go show them already."
Yuuji smiled and nodded energetically. The King of Curses expelled him from his innate domain without further ado. After that, he leaped to the top of his mountain of skulls and reclined on his makeshift throne. A small smile adorned his features. "It's going to be fun to see their reaction," thought the King of Curses, paying attention to the outside.
"And how can I show them?" Yuuji asked at that moment. He had just arrived in the kitchen, where Suguru was preparing food. Satoru, given his tendency to burn the food or resort to junk food, was forbidden from taking on that task.
"Kid, that's your problem, don't involve me," Sukuna said, furrowing his brow slightly.
Yuuji approached Suguru, suddenly indecisive. The adult was cutting a carrot on a cutting board. The special-grade sorcerer placed the knife on the counter and looked at him. "Is something wrong, Yuuji?"
The boy shook his head and approached. He looked at the partially cut carrot and decided to try with that. He concentrated as best as he could on the vegetable and made the gesture with his fingers that Sukuna had taught him.
Suguru immediately noticed the cursed energy emanating from Yuuji and frowned. "What are you doing?" he asked, following the boy's gaze and incredulously watched as the carrot split into five pieces. The same thing happened with the cutting board.
Alarmed, Suguru pushed the pieces aside and urgently examined the countertop. He let out a sigh of relief upon seeing that it was intact. He gave the boy a worried glance, noticing that he was looking at him expectantly.
"Where and who taught you to do that?" he asked, approaching him and grabbing his shoulders more forcefully than necessary.
"Kuna," the younger boy replied, honest, without a second thought, looking at him strangely. "He said that's how you would let me go on missions."
"Since when?" demanded Suguru, not loosening his grip in the slightest. Yuuji began to squirm nervously.
"You're hurting me," murmured the pink-haired boy as tears began to well up in his eyes. Suguru immediately let him go and stepped back a bit. He crossed his arms and looked sternly at Yuuji.
"How long has he been teaching you?" he asked again.
Yuuji counted mentally, helping himself a bit with his fingers. "Um... two months, I think," the boy said, sounding somewhat unsure.
"And why didn't you tell us anything?"
"Kuna told me it would be best to give you a surprise," Yuuji admitted, looking at the ground, starting to feel like all of this had been a bad idea.
"You shouldn't listen to him," Suguru advised, frowning. "Now go to your room and stay there. We'll talk calmly about this when Satoru and the others come back, understand?"
Yuuji nodded and, dragging his feet, made his way back to his bedroom.
"He didn't seem happy at all," the boy thought, with a clearly accusatory tone, as soon as he was lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling.
"That's not my fault," Sukuna quickly dismissed, suppressing a laugh. The sorcerer's reaction had been worth it. "I promised to teach you how to use my cursed technique, and I did, didn't I?"
"Well, yeah, but..."
"Then that's it," Sukuna ended the matter without the slightest consideration. "Now they will probably let you participate in their missions. Wasn't that what you wanted?"
Suguru grabbed his mobile phone and frantically dialed Satoru's number. He brought it to his ear and waited, his heart pounding rapidly, for the other special-grade sorcerer to answer.
"Come on, Satoru, pick up already," he thought, as the second ring sounded and his friend still hadn't answered the phone. He let out a sigh of relief when, after the fourth ring, Satoru deigned to answer the call.
"Suguru!" the sorcerer with white hair responded energetically. "What's up?"
"How much longer until you guys get back?" Suguru asked, getting straight to the point.
"Are you missing us that much?" A slight teasing tone tinged his words. "Well, a couple more hours, I think," he added when he received no response from his friend. "Has something happened?"
"Sukuna has taught Yuuji how to use his cursed technique," Suguru revealed, casting a sidelong glance at the countertop. The carrot and the cutting board remained there, witnesses to what had happened.
"Oh, really?" Satoru asked, interested. "And does he master it well?"
"Satoru, that's not the issue," Suguru snapped coldly, rubbing his forehead with his left hand and momentarily closing his eyes. "Why would the King of Curses teach him that just like that?"
"I have no idea, but it was only a matter of time before Yuuji could use his cursed technique," Satoru admitted. "And all we can do now is make sure nothing bad happens."
"How can you be so calm!?"
"Because we are the strongest."
"We'll talk about it calmly when you're back," Suguru decided, unwilling to let the matter rest. "I don't like any of this. I don't trust it at all."
"I understand, but there's not much we can do right now," Satoru conceded, adopting a more serious tone. "We'll talk calmly when I'm home, okay?" He hung up the call without giving Suguru time to respond, and the other sorcerer let out a growl as he moved the phone away from his right ear.
He sat on the nearest wooden chair and rested his elbows on the table. The sorcerer massaged his forehead, nervous, and closed his eyes while trying to relax. He took deep breaths several times. Suguru felt a knot forming in his stomach. He had a very bad feeling about all of this.