Chapter Text
Yuji took a deep breath to gather the well of patience he had in him, all of it, because he was going to need it today. Just in case he doesn't wanna murder all of his friends while they were at this fuckall resort-yes, sukuna had driven him to cursing, don't sue him.
Their entire party- sans Mahito because he was an asshole- was standing in front of a giant grass maze, that Sukuna had lead them to. Gojo wasn't here either because he was off arguing with one of the camp counsellors about shutting this maze down instantly for the general public so no one can be in any danger from the finger.
Yuji heard the camp counsellor say something about 'bribe me to do that' and tuned it out. Gojo was loaded enough, he could handle it easy.
When Yuji had swallowed both his pride and the latte made from Sukuna earlier, the curse had blabbed about murdering everyone here-Yuji and Gojo first- for about an hour, while Yuji had had to sit in the bus beside the coffee-maker and try his best to tune it out by focusing on Megumi and Gojo that were arguing right outside of the window. About Geto, Yuji was sure. He couldn't exactly read lips, because,
He was pretty sure Gojo wasn't saying, "You know waffle? Raisin soup." to Megumi with that annoyed expression on his face. Guess his lip-reading career would have to be put on hold now.
But he had made out enough to extrapolate that Geto was one of their hot topics of conversation.
Yuji sympathised with both of their situations, really, but he was also starting to get tired of the telenovela drama they were putting on for everybody to see. Alas, he didn't really have any suggestions for them either, because it wasn't even a case of miscommunication. Both of them were talking, and shouting and yelling, and the situation still wasn't solved.
Yuji had begun to think that their fight was happening just because both of them were way too stubborn and way too similar for their own good. There wasn't really a cure to that, either.
Sukuna didn't let him immerse himself in the drama for too long though, because when he realised that Yuji was tuning out all his instructions for Murder with a capital M, he-touch and affection starved, Yuji was sure- started being a little too personal with his attacks.
Things like how he would make Yuji watch as he killed his grandpa and make Yuji an accessory in hanging Megumi with his own intestines, all in Graphic Detail. Deep breathing unfortunately didn't help this time, and Yuji had picked up the coffee-maker, carried it out the bus, and punched it to the best of his ability. It didn't cause much but atleast left a dent in it, right on the 'Sukuna' logo.
"Well, atleast we know you can end him with enough effort after we get all the fingers, Yuji-kun!" Gojo had exclaimed.
Gojo and Megumi had to calm him down from ending the Sukuna coffee-maker off a cliff when it still didn't shut up on it's own.
Three hours, twenty minutes and six seconds after Yuji drank the latte- no, Yuji didn't count, Megumi did- Sukuna finally, finally revealed the location of the next finger. Ofcourse, it was in the middle of a maze. Ofcourse, they had to parse the maze on their own because Sukuna was enough of an asshole to not tell them the exact way through the maze. Ofcourse.
"Gojo, can't you just like fly up and look for the finger?" Nobara asked from beside him and Yuji's eyes brightened up immediately. This didn't have to be a big event, Gojo could just find the finger easily and Yuji could go back to enjoying the vacation with all his favourite people-
"I made sure to mask the finger's energy so only you could find it, brat." Sukuna's voice spoke up from inside his head before he could even have a chance to be happy. Right.
"Sukuna just said he masked the finger's energy so only I can find it." Yuji said, looking hollowly at the maze with pink flowers sprouting up between the grass borders. He heard Nohara groan from behind him and agreed silently.
"I'm guessing the talktime for Sukuna in your head will increase even more, now?" Megumi said.
Yuji continued to stare hollowly ahead, refusing to accept it. The last finger had increased the time Sukuna could talk to him to an entire day, already, and who knows if it increased exponentially? What if the time was two days, now? Or three? Or four? He really would need all of his patience today.
He looked at the bus parked nearby with both the coffee-makers in it, and hated the smug looking machines. Yuji knew they looked smug, there was no other way to explain the shine they both had. Assholes.
He looked back at Yuta-senpai, worried. If he had to face Sukuna, then Yuta-senpai would also be facing the other coffee-maker in his mind, and who knows what the other coffee-maker even wants? With Sukuna, atleast they had a motive and a sort of plan, but this one was a wildcard.
"How is the other curse treating you, senpai?"
Yuta-senpai just shrugged. "He doesn't talk about much except than this grand plan that he has, and how it will change the world once and for all. I'm just tuning it out right now, so it doesn't really bother me."
Well that was just wonderful. Not to say that he wasn't happy about senpai- he was- but it did make Yuji curse the universe a little more because why was he the only one saddled with a hater of a curse? Unfair.
"What grand plan?" Megumi spoke up.
"That's the thing, he doesn't tell me anything about it, I'm starting to doubt if this guy even has a plan, really."
Megumi ran a hand over his face, "I just hope he never thinks of one, either, one curse is more than enough."
"What other curse are you talking about?" Sukuna spoke inside his head.
"One better than you." Yuji answered back, using his Sukuna voice. His Sukuna voice was just his inside-inside voice, so that no one except the curse heard it, just sprinkled with a lot more malice on top than Yuji would ever.
He tuned out Sukuna's affronted indignant shouting when Yuta-senpai addressed him again.
"This curse seems to like you, though, Yuji. It says you're his 'favourite'." Yuji felt like he would actually throw up when he heard that. What was worse, a curse that hated him being inside his head, or a curse that loved him outside? All Yuji wanted was to chuck both the coffee-makers down the mountain.
Gojo returned after that, having convinced Mei-san to evacuate the public after all and stood alongside them as they stared at the maze.
"So, who wants to go first?" Nobara asked.
Yuji took a deep breath and step foot into the maze, the grass around him getting thicker as soon as he got a foot in, the wind rushing through his hair and his trusty teammates right behind him, following in his footsteps-
"Do you think you look cool right now, brat?" Sukuna's grating voice interrupted his daydream. Yuji barely resisted the urge to pout at that. So what if he did? It wasn't a crime. He wasn't going to justify himself to Sukuma, though.
He looked back and his trusty teammates were not, in fact, following him.
Gojo called out, "Yuji-kun, can you feel the pull of the cursed finger?" Oh yeah, Yuji had forgotten about that.
Yuji called back,"Just a minute!" And focused on the surroundings around him like Gojo had taught him. He slowly felt it, the vertigo, the pull, like someone was pulling him in a singular direction with an infinite amount of hands. He opened his eyes and looked back, ready to point the team into the direction-
Yuji stumbled backwards, suddenly dizzy, even more than was usual for these finger locations. Megumi was by his side in an instant, pulling one of his arms of his shoulders to support him. Yuji looked up at the others who were also gathered by his side now.
"What happened?" Megumi asked.
"I feel... multiple fingers here, atleast six, I think, all in different directions."
Yuji saw everyone go through a series of emotions and finally settle on happiness and contentment. He was going through the same. So many fingers in one single place was nothing short of nationwide level dangerous, but now they had the chance to stop this stupid chase and get all the fingers right here, right now.
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Yuji and Co. finally reached the first finger, which had required massive levels of concentration by him. Even making his first foam leaf on a latte hadn't required this much focus and that was saying a lot.
Usually, locating the fingers wasn't as difficult because there was only one in a single place, and he could easily locate it. But the multiple fingers pulling him every which way made it hard to actually find where the hell a single one was.
Massive headache notwithstanding, he finally saw the wooden box that had contained all the fingers up till now. And what was better, Sukuna hadn't said a single word to him ever since they had entered the maze to get the fingers.
Finally, the universe was rewarding him with the one good day he deserved.
Gojo picked up the box and brought it close to his face, opening it. Yuji had to crane his neck up to look at the- what number was this- finger. Only, it wasn't there.
No finger.
After all that, no finger.
Before Yuji could process the entirely empty box lined with red velvet, Sukuna burst out laughing in his head-ear, whatever.
"The box is empty! You said the finger was in the maze!" Yuji hissed out loud, uncaring of using his Sukuna voice anymore even though it made him sound like a maniac to the others standing before him.
Yuji waited for Sukuma to stop laughing and finally answer him. Two minutes had already passed and the curse showed no sign of stopping his stupid laughter yet. Yuji allowed himself to relish in the fantasy that Sukuna was unable to catch his breath due to all the laughter and died due to it until Sukuna's voice yanked him out of it.
"Having fun, were you, brat?" How Yuji hated that smug, arrogant voice of his.
"Shut up. You lies to us!"
"Not really, it's more of a half truth. You were so excited about getting all the fingers today itself, weren't you?"
"Don't you want to have all your fingers too? Why are you being such an asshole about this?!"
"Because I don't like you."
"What?"
"I don't like you. I hate you, infact. If I was in someone else's head, like your friend Fushiguro's, I would easily help him get the fingers in the shortest amount of time."
Right. That made sense. Yuji had never thought that he would say something like this, but,
"I prefer Kenjaku to you."
Sukuna's offended shouting provided him atleast some solace.