Chapter Text
The elevator ride passed in a blur and as the doors opened, Yuuji was left dumbfounded. Peeling off his mask to get a better look at the headquarters, he realized just how many spider-people there were.
“Any sign of Patchface?” Maki questioned, walking past a girl dressed in a hijab and a Union Jack.
“Let me ask,” she answered easily as she split off from Maki to inquire about Patchface’s location.
Wait, did she have a British accent? Yuuji wondered as they kept walking through the hero-filled halls. Who would’ve thought he’d have the opportunity to meet a British person!
Spinning around in an attempt to soak everything in, Yuuji looked at Fushiguro in awe. “This is amazing!”
Glancing at him with an amused expression, Fushiguro kept walking ahead. “This is the lobby.”
“Oh.”
Getting to the end of the hallway, the dark haired boy swept his hand out in front of them, gesturing to the open spaces that were filled with countless other spider-people. “Welcome to Spider-Society…” Fushiguro said, doing jazz hands half-heartedly as he watched Yuuji look out into the headquarters.
Here, spider variations were walking upside down, teasing one another, throwing around cheesy jokes and swinging through the various platforms. Watching them all exist and just get each other, it dawned on him that this was what he had been missing.
—
Swinging onto the next catwalk, Inumaki followed Yuuji’s gaze disinterestedly. “Tuna tuna?” he said when a variant with mechanical spider legs sticking out of their back walked by.
Yuuji stared at him blankly before he remembered something. “Hah? Hey wait, what happened to that small elite strike team?” Yuuji wondered, recalling Fushiguro first telling him about the society.
Locking his jaw, the dark haired boy ignored his questioning gaze. “They’re part time.”
Nodding like that made perfect sense, Yuuji kept observing, eventually lagging behind, allowing Inumaki enough time to pull Fushiguro aside. “Mustard leaf?”
“He knows enough.”
Inumaki leveled him with a blank stare that seemed to burrow further into Fushiguro’s skin the longer their staring contest carried on for. Before the silver haired guy could ask anything, a pained sound came from behind them as Yuuji keeled over, the last effects of glitching dissipating from his body.
As Fushiguro rushed over to Yuuji’s side, Inumaki hummed, tilting his head at the sight before staring at Maki expectantly while gesturing to the pink haired boy. Tightening her jaw with a sigh, she finally relented, fishing in her jacket pocket for something before she tossed it to Yuuji who caught it smoothly.
“A watch!” He cheered, examining it in his hand already far too happy for someone whose cells had just been deteriorating.
“It’s a day pass. This just prevents you from—” A glitch seized Yuuji’s body once again, only stopping when he slipped the bracelet onto his wrist.
Oh you’ve gotta be kidding me, Maki thought as she looked at Yuuji completely unimpressed. “Doing that,” she finished, as she turned away to keep walking, eventually leading them through a triangular entryway filled with several containment fields.
“Who is in these… laser cages?” Yuuji questions, nearly jumping out of his skin when one of the cage’s inhabitants slams his fists against the wall with a scowl.
“Anomalies,” informed Shoko as she popped up beside the younger boy. “They’re people who wound up in the wrong dimension.”
Huffing smugly when she passed by a cage with a humanoid lizard in it, Maki glanced back at the group. “We kick their ass and send them home.”
“They’re not interesting,” Fushiguro cut in with a scoff when he saw his friend’s intrigued expression.
“You’re so boring, Megumi-chan!” Shoko objected. “We’ve got a bunch of Doc Ocks… a Sandman, a Sandwoman, Video game guy… A riveting Kraven… A boring Rhino… A Prowler…” said the hologram, pointing out each example with a dismissive flick of the wrist.
“Prowler?!” Yuuji whipped around quickly and despite Fushiguro’s reminder that he was “Not your Prowler,” the pink haired boy still came face to face with an old friend.
The Prowler sat in his cage hanging his head as he fidgeted quietly with his claw-like gloves that Yuuji remembered having far too many close calls with. But none of that mattered more than the boy wearing the suit.
“Junpei…” he breathed out, feeling like someone had wrung his heart out.
Frowning at the attention, Junpei looked over at him with an irritated frown. “Don’t you know it’s rude to stare?”
Muttering a quick apology, Yuuji moved away from the laser cage in a daze, lost in a whirlwind of his own thoughts before he slammed into somebody.
“Sorry,” he said as he looked up to see a girl with wide purple eyes and black shoulder length hair styled with choppy-looking bangs. Upon closer inspection, Yuuji noticed she had several piercings scattered across her face and half of her bangs were dyed cyan.
“I’m Spider-Man,” Yuuji greeted with an awestruck smile and wave as he pushed thoughts of Junpei down. He could work through his baggage later but right now he was intrigued by the pixelated spider-person in front of him.
With an excited gasp, she clapped her hands together. “No way! I’m Spider-Woman! You can call me Kirara,” she added as she slung an arm around him like they had been friends for years.
Undeterred by her closeness, his smile widened. “I’m Itadori Yuuji!”
“Aawww,” she purred. “You’re adorable, Yuu-chan!”
Turning back to the two of them with an exasperated expression, Fushiguro clenched his jaw tightly. “Can we keep moving?” He snapped and Yuuji was about to follow him when he saw Kirara teleport to a separate room.
“Whoa! How do you do that?” He asked, watching as her pixels moved around and reformed at a control panel.
“I’m an avatar. My real body is back in my home dimension sitting in a gaming chair and eating chips with my boyfriend!”
Flicking a switch and pressing a few more buttons at the console, they watched as an all-white mechanical spider crawled out of a hole in the ceiling and began to weave a light-web around the anomaly.
“What does that do?” Yuuji shouted excitedly as he pointed a finger at the light-web. “That looks awesome!” The mechanical spider was really creepy though he thought, finding himself mildly grossed out by it but he kept his mouth shut.
“It detects whatever dimension your DNA is from, and sends you there,” Kirara answered, making a zooming motion with her finger. “It’s super humane and not creepy,” she promised when she saw Yuuji’s horrified expression as the light-web began to freak out, sending flashes of bright light around the room until both the anomaly and web were gone.
“We should go,” Fushiguro muttered when the mechanical spider retreated up into its hiding place.
Smiling sheepishly at Kirara, Yuuji waved goodbye. “Uh, see you around?”
“Good luck out there Yuu-chan!” She called when Fushiguro webbed the back of his suit and pulled him away. Chuckling when she saw him stumble backwards, Kirara knew that there was something special about Itadori Yuuji.
—
“He’s in there,” Maki said, pointing a disinterested finger towards the door ahead of them. Placing a hand on her hip, she looked at the three of them carefully. “This is as far as I go. Also don’t touch any of his experiments or he’ll kill you. You got this! Now go in there and tell him why you don’t deserve to be fired! You might want to look out for his bad mood though,” She added with a mutter as she ushered them into the corridor before the doors closed behind them.
“Is she always that cryptic?” Yuuji asked as Fushiguro took up the front, leading them through the eerie hallway.
“Pretty much,” the dark haired boy said, ignoring the uneasy feeling in his gut.
Pulling a panel off the wall, Inumaki blinked slowly before stashing it in his pocket. “Bonito flakes.”
Call him crazy, but Yuuji was pretty sure he was beginning to understand what the older boy was trying to say. “Maybe it did before you ripped it out of the wall?”
Inumaki shrugged as he ran a hand along the computer keyboard resulting in several ERROR signs popping up. “Salmon roe.”
Distracting from the truth? What is he talking about? Maybe Yuuji got ahead of himself with the whole ‘understanding Inumaki’ thing.
Knitting his brows together, Yuuji tried to piece together what he could possibly mean. When he came up empty, he sighed. “What’s the truth then?”
Inumaki shrugged again as he snuck another trinket into his pocket. Leaning against the wall, he tilts his head at Yuuji like he’s interested in something. “Tuna mayo?”
Glancing in a glass container filled with a slime of some sort, Yuuji shook his head. “I want to get a watch!” But when he looks at Inumaki he’s met with an expression that says, just make your own watch, dumbass.
Palming a transmitter, the older Spider-Man studied it carefully before tossing it away. Picking it up on account of lab safety, Yuuji frowned at his odd behaviour. Why was he so resistant to him joining the spider-society?
“Look, I was all by myself for a year and it really sucked! I want to be able to see my friends but I need a watch in order to do that,” retorted the pink haired boy.
Pausing up ahead, Fushiguro glanced back at them, and Yuuji wondered if he was imagining the guilt on his face. “Come on…” he urged, his expression tightening with every step they got closer to Yuuta.
Inumaki nodded and raised his hands in surrender as he fell back to let the two of them talk to Yuuta. He just hoped that Itadori wouldn’t join until he knew everything that was going down here…
Continuing into the center of the lab, they watched as the elevated control panel began to descend, though it did so very slowly. Catching his bewildered look, Fushiguro lifted a hand to stop Yuuji. “Yeah, I know. It’s slow.”
Behind them, Inumaki looked at them with an unreadable expression. Tossing the panel he’d stolen earlier into the air and catching it smoothly, he figured the kid would be okay. For now at least.
Once the control panel got to a reasonable height, Fushiguro wiped his hands on his suit before he took the initiative. “Okkotsu Yuuta meet, Itadori Yuuji.”
Raising his hand in greeting, Yuuji bounced on his feet excitedly. “I know I’m new here but I’ve got a few ideas to catch Mahito—” Before he could get another word in, Yuuta whipped around and lunged at Yuuji, his sword already drawn.
Feeling all the air rush out of his lungs, Yuuji gasped as he felt his back press against the floor uncomfortably. Pinning him to the ground and keeping his eyes trained on the boy, Yuuta pressed his blade closer to Yuuji’s neck.
“Yuuta, don’t!” Fushiguro called, moving forward before Inumaki dragged him back with a pointed look. Yuuji had to be able to take care of himself. That’s just how things worked around here. Besides, Yuuta wouldn’t kill the guy. Hopefully.
Ignoring the outburst, Yuuji tried to free his limbs from Yuuta’s grip but the older man wouldn’t budge. “You don’t get to worry about Mahito,” he hissed as he jabbed his knee further into the pink haired boy’s abdomen. “It’s too late for that. Now, because of you, there’s another hole in the multiverse.”
Yuuji stopped struggling to give his captor a puzzled expression. “I did what now?”
Shoving past Inumaki to help his friend, Fushiguro interjected angrily. “He doesn’t know any better,” he defended and Yuuji would almost feel deeply moved if it wasn’t for his slightly insulting word choice.
Dragging himself to his feet, Yuuta raised his eyes to Fushiguro coolly. “But you did, Fushiguro. You knew the dangers of interfering with the canon.”
Closing his eyes and exhaling deeply, Fushiguro knew that Yuuta was right but when Itadori had jumped in to save the police captain and had come out unscathed, everything had seemed like it was going to work out for them. Now, he realized that was childish. He’d made his bed, now he had to lay in it.
“What’s happening?” Yuuji wondered, glancing between Fushiguro and Yuuta with a frown as he dusted himself off from the floor. “Did I miss something?”
“Yuuta! Go easy on the kid…” a familiar voice called as he strolled easily into the room via the ceiling. “He’s gone far too long without teaching from his super good looking sensei!”
“GOJO-SENSEI!” Yuuji exclaimed, looking between Fushiguro and his teacher like he couldn't believe it. Without a moment of hesitation, Yuuji barreled into him with so much force it nearly knocked Gojo back.
“Yuuji!” he cheered happily, returning the embrace. Pulling back a second later, Gojo slung an arm around the younger boy’s shoulder as his eyes roamed over his student. Had he really grown that much since he’d last seen him? Gojo wondered taking in Yuuji’s broad shoulders and unreasonably pronounced muscles. Shrugging it off as just a puberty thing, he smiled easily ready to address his star pupil.
“Don’t be afraid of Yuuta. He just looks scary, he’s completely harmless!” Gojo assured, waving off Yuuji’s grimace. He certainly didn’t feel harmless when he’d attacked him and tried to slice him open with his katana. “Anyway, you look great! Did you do something different with your hair?” He wondered as he spun his student around to get a good glance at his new suit. He wasn’t so sure about the whole red suit idea but the kid was somehow able to pull it off.
“Uh, no? But you look great as always, Gojo-sensei!” Yuuji said, providing the older hero with a thumbs up and a smile bright enough to charge solar panels for a week.
“Don’t compliment him so easily, it’ll go to his head,” Fushiguro grumbled. “Besides, what's so ‘great’ about a bathrobe and a baby carrier? Did Geto kick you out of the house again?” He wondered, suppressing a shudder as he eyed Gojo’s electric blue Digimon print bathrobe that was thrown over his white spider suit.
Gawking at the dark haired boy's audacity, Gojo laid a hand over his heart with a dramatic gasp. “Megumi! How could you! First of all, bathrobes and baby carriers are all the rage now, didn’t you hear? And second of all, Suguru only kicked me out of the house one time! Temporarily! But only because I forgot it was our anniversary.”
Yuuji stared at them blankly, clearly not following before realizing he should probably say something about Yuuta’s insane accusations. “Sensei, you have to tell them—wait. Baby carrier?”
With a gleeful squeal, two little girls swung by, plastering themselves to the wall as they began to climb around the lab. “Mimiko! Nanako!” When neither of them listened, Gojo excused himself before swinging up to the roof to wrangle his twin daughters.
“I’m coming to get you! Don’t move! If you get hurt Suguru will kill me!” The white haired man called in a sing-song voice as he managed to catch one of his daughters. Wagging his finger in her face with mock disappointment, he clicked his tongue. “Guess I shouldn’t have made those web shooters for you two trouble makers, huh? But you’re too cute!” he sighed in defeat while Mimiko clutched onto her doll, her eyes shining while Gojo cooed delightedly. “Oh what the hell! I can’t stay mad at you, Mimiko!” He cried while nuzzling her happily as he pressed his cheek against her hair.
While Gojo was busy doling out his affections, Nanako managed to evade Yuuji and Fushiguro’s best attempts to catch her as they only managed to succeed in driving her closer to Yuuta who looked one second away from a heart attack. A second later, Nanako dropped from the ceiling, landing on Yuuta’s shoulder with a chirp.
Biting back a startled noise, Yuuta nearly dropped her when she slipped off his arms. Letting out a relieved sigh that he hadn’t almost killed Gojo’s kid, he tried to signal the other man. After all, they were getting seriously off track.
Swinging over to the control panel to collect Nanako, Gojo slung an arm over Yuuta’s shoulder like a car salesman trying to make a pitch. “You know Yuuta, you really ought to relax. The multiverse won’t explode if you take a break. Let your guard down! I know you’re a real funny guy under all that brooding and intense staring!”
With a sigh, Yuuta offered Nanako back to Gojo who opted to catch her by her foot. Wow. Gojo-sensei kinda seemed like an unsafe parent, Yuuji thought as he watched his teacher hunt down Mimiko who had escaped in the moment of confusion but ended up cradled comfortably in Inumaki’s arms.
As Gojo went to retrieve his kid once again, Yuuta turned to Yuuji, his mouth set in a firm line. “Itadori. You interrupted a canon event,” Yuuta said, tilting his head toward him as Yuuji’s brows knitted together.
“Canon event?” And then it dawned on him. But that didn’t make sense. “Huh? Wait, what are you upset about? I saved those people—”
Stepping closer, Yuuji felt an uneasy feeling spread through his body as Yuuta fixed his intense eyes on him. “And that’s the issue.”
Lips pulled into a frown, Yuuji watched as Shoko appeared to activate a sprawling map of the multiverse.
“What’s this?” Yuuji asked as he tried to touch the web pattern that emerged a second later. Gesturing to the space around them, Yuuta gave him a pointed look.
“This is everything. This is all of us. Every confirmed spider. All of our lives woven together…” He trailed off, letting the magnitude of the situation set in.
Pointing towards the connecting nodes in the diagram as he inspected them closer, Yuuji furrowed his brow in concentration. “What about these?” Yuuji questioned as Yuuta stalked closer.
“They are the canon. Events that are a part of every spider’s story, every time. Some good, some bad, some very bad.” A second later the node displaying the spiderbite that gave them all their powers disappeared instead being replaced by a projection of someone important dying in Spider-Man’s arms. Distantly, Yuuji recognized Gojo holding the hand of a young girl with a headband but the rest of the projection passed quickly, temporarily stopping to show the projection of Fushiguro kneeling beside a girl with long brown hair sprawled around her like a halo.
However, the projection doesn’t end there. Instead it comes to a halt with a projection of Yuuji himself beside his friend—
“Junpei…” He breathes out but before he can dwell on it, Yuuta moves on.
Behind him, Yuuta motioned to another node that began to change as he continued the explanation. “This is Event ASM90. A police captain close to Spider-Man dies saving a kid from falling rubble during a battle with an arch-nemesis…”
If that’s true then Fushiguro’s dad…
Glancing over to his friend, Yuuji watched as Fushiguro’s eyes remained fixed on the ground. When he finally looked up and met Yuuji’s eyes, his face was expressionless though it was clear they were thinking of the same thing.
This time when he turned to the projections, they were of Spider-Man desperately clinging onto their universe’s police captain. Following the line, Yuuji glanced back at Gojo who was turning his daughter’s eyes away from his own projection.
“That happened to you?” Yuuji asked, his voice small as his sensei pressed soft kisses to the top of his daughter’s heads.
“And me.” Maki added as she faced her own projection with a hardened expression. Looking toward Inumaki, Yuuji watched as he shrugged indifferently. “Salmon.”
“That’s how the story is supposed to go,” Yuuta explained, his eyes regarding Yuuji with a cool stare. “Canon events are the connections that bind our lives together. But those connections can be easily broken. That’s what makes anomalies so dangerous…”
All around them, a holovideo flickered to life showing the events of the bridge in Ino’s dimension beginning to collapse. “That police captain’s death was a canon event. You weren’t supposed to be there and you weren’t supposed to save him. That’s why Fushiguro tried to stop you,” Yuuta said as the video paused on Fushiguro grabbing onto Yuuji’s wrist.
Yuuji turned towards Fushiguro. “I thought you were trying to save me.”
Closing his eyes, the dark haired boy floundered for an answer. “I was. I was trying to do both.”
Fast forwarding the video to where Yuuji had been saving the police captain and the little girl, Yuuta’s eyes hardened. “Itadori, now that you changed the story, Ino’s universe is unraveling. If we’re fortunate we can stop it but we haven’t always been that lucky.”
“That wasn’t me, that was Mahito!” Right? He couldn’t have done this. Could he? “He’s the one who's been messing with the multiverse!” Yuuji objected, gesturing to the black hole in the video.
“That’s what happens when you break the canon,” Yuuta said solemnly as he approached the pink haired boy.
“How do you know?’’
Meeting Yuuji’s eyes, Yuuta admitted finally, “Because I broke the canon before. I found another world where I was happy. At least, a version of me was. And that version of myself was killed so I replaced him. I thought it was harmless—living the life I never had. But I was wrong.”
In the holovideo, people were screaming, scrambling desperately as they tried to escape from the dimension threatening to collapse around them. Yuuji watched, eyes wide in horror as the civilians began to glitch before simply disappearing a moment later leaving nothing but an empty space behind. In the back of the crowd is a teenage Yuuta holding the hand of a girl with brown hair and long limbs, her blue dress flapping wildly around her as he tried to escape with her.
Right as he thinks they’re about to make it, hologram Yuuta looks back as the girl glitches slowly, her body slowly disappearing before his hand drops to his side, no longer held by anything.
Turning away from the holovideo with a pained expression, Yuuta looked down as the rest of the dimension began to disintegrate into nothing. “You break enough canon, save enough captains, we could lose everything.”
As the lines and nodes begin to snap around them, leaving them blinded by a flash of light, Yuuji's eyes widened in realization. “My brother is about to be captain…”
“Spider-Man, I’ll make you pay for everything you took from me.”
“And soon, Spider-Man, you and I will have a battle of truths! WHO WILL COME OUT ON TOP?!”
“Mahito does it. He kills him. When does it happen?” But when he looked around at his friends none of them would meet his eyes. “When does it happen?” He repeats, his voice more forceful until Yuuta finally relents.
“In two days. When he’s sworn in.” He says as Shoko’s hologram appeared beside him with her arms crossed. “That’s what the model says at least.”
Lurching back with shock, Yuuji stares at them with pleading eyes. “Send me home.”
Yuuta shook his head regretfully. “I’m sorry, Itadori. I can’t do that. Not now.”
“What am I supposed to do? I just have to let him die?” Yuuji demanded, gesturing to the faint outlines of the web design from the multiverse map that still lingered around them. Yuuta remained silent and Yuuji can see it in his unwavering eyes that he won’t give in.
“What about your dad? He’s a captain right?” Yuuji asked, his eyes wide as he begged for his friend to understand. To just listen to him.
Fluttering his eyes shut, Fushiguro exhaled slowly. “Yeah…”
“That’s it? You aren’t just going to do anything about it?” Whatever hesitance he sees on his face must have been answer enough as Yuuji turned to Gojo, trying to push down his disappointment.
“What about Riko? Or your police captain? All of that would’ve been okay with you if you knew and let it happen?” He’s almost shouting now but when Gojo looked at him his cerulean eyes were filled with resignation.
“Yuuji. If it weren’t for the people we lost, most of us wouldn’t be here,” his teacher said as he led him towards the holograms of various deaths. “And all the good we did, it wouldn’t have been done.”
Dropping his head, Yuuji grinded his teeth as he stared at the ground. Why wasn’t anybody listening to him? He huffed before pushing past Gojo. “So we’re supposed to let people die because some algorithm—"
At that, Shoko raised her hands defensively as she scoffed offendedly while the pink haired boy moved closer to Yuuta, his amber eyes alight with fury. “—says that that’s supposed to happen? Do you realize how messed up that sounds?”
“You have a choice between saving one person and saving an entire world. Every world,” Yuuta insisted, forcing himself into the younger boy’s field of vision when he tilted his head down.
“I can do both! Spider-Man always—”
“Not always,” Gojo corrected before his student’s eyes filled with disbelief and betrayal.
“Itadori,” Yuuta starts, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder though Yuuji shrugged it off a second later. Looking at him with his hands raised in surrender, Yuuta pressed on. “We all want to live the life we wish we had. Believe me, I tried. And the harder I tried the more damage I did. You can’t have it all.”
Breaking eye contact with Yuuta, Yuuji glanced around wildly, realizing he was surrounded. Had they been moving in closer this entire time?
Undeterred, the older man continued on, his palms facing the sky. “Being Spider-Man is a sacrifice. That’s the job. That’s what you signed up for. And if you don’t get that, maybe you’re not cut out for it.”
Brows knitting as he took in the shrinking space between him and the rest of the spider-people, he realized he needed to find a way out. While searching for an exit, his eyes landed on a tall, mechanical spider suit that stood out amongst the crowd and when the cockpit opened, he was met with the familiar face of Kugisaki Nobara.
“Kugisaki?” Yuuji wondered, taking in her tired expression and dead eyes. Peering closer, he realized she had an eyepatch that rested over her left eye, the band stretching across her face before disappearing under her hair. And even her brown hair that used to have a bright shine to it, seemed duller and flat like all life had been sucked out of her, inside and out.
Glimpising around the lab, Yuuji spun around. He's totally surrounded and more spider people keep spilling in as if trying to keep him trapped here. “What’re you doing? Is this an intervention of some kind?”
Spinning around, he motioned to his friends, giving a pointed look at Gojo. “Is that why you’re here? To let me down easy? I guess it worked last time, why not try it again, right?”
“Hold on, look Yuuji—” Gojo tried as he held out his hand placatingly. “Come on, kid—”
“You were right, Fushiguro. You never should’ve come to see me.”
And his friend’s words, the dark haired boy froze. No no no no no. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. Ignoring the burn in his throat and the sinking feeling of hopelessness in his gut, Fushiguro felt his perfectly crafted mask crack at Yuuji’s acrimonious tone.
“Kid, look at me,” his mentor urged before Yuuji’s amber eyes flicked up to him coldly.
“Stop calling me that,” he warned as Inumaki smirked behind him, pleased at this turn of events. Looked like he didn’t want to enlist anyway. “Salmon roe…”
Realizing that this had been what Inumaki had meant about being independent and making your own watch, Yuuji nearly missed Maki scolding the silver haired Spider-Man.
“You’re not helping, Inumaki.”
“Tuna.” Inumaki shrugged but he nodded at Yuuji’s puzzled expression as if he’d read his mind.
Reaching out to the pink haired boy, Gojo winced at the boy’s anger. “Yuuji,” he tried. “Please understand. There’s more at stake—”
“You can’t ask me not to save my brother! Not when he’s done so much for me—”
“I’m not asking,” Yuuta hissed out, looking at him with a stern expression though his eyes were full of pity.
Before Yuuji could realize what was happening a containment field sprung up around him, trapping him in an orange laser cell. Banging his palms on the cage, he whirled around to drive his fist into the energy field, only to be met with more resistance.
Distantly he could hear Gojo approach Yuuta while Fushiguro turned to Maki pleadingly. Scoffing when she refused to do anything, the dark haired boy turned his fury onto Yuuta. That bastard.
“I told you he wouldn’t listen,” Yuuta asserted as he gave Gojo a pointed look. Grimacing, the white haired man watched as Fushiguro moved beside him as he placed himself in front of Yuuji. “That’s enough. Let him out.”
“He’s right, Yuuta. Just give him a second, please!”
Pinching the bridge of his nose, Yuuta ignored both of their shouts. “If we let him leave he’ll only do more damage! We both know that. His existence threatens everything we’ve worked so hard to protect.”
Inside the cage, Yuuji punched the energy field fruitlessly while his breaths came in short, shallow spurts. He needed to get out of here. He needed to save Choso and get him far away from where Mahito or the spider-society could find him. But no matter how much he looked for a weak spot, none appeared.
“Itadori…” a voice whispered. Whipping around to the sound of the voice, Inumaki looked at him expectantly while he held up his palms, wiggling his fingers in emphasis. Before Yuuji could get too hung up on the fact that Inumaki had spoken, the older boy raised his eyebrows. “Palms.” he mouthed.
“We just need to hold you for a few days, kid. Sorry it had to end like this, Itadori.” And with that, Yuuta turned away, leaving Gojo and Fushiguro behind.
Placing his palms on the energy field firmly, Yuuji glowered at the other man’s back. “I told you not to call me that!” he shouts as his frustration and anger finally boil over as a flash of black and red energy fills the containment cell and explodes it across the room, knocking everyone back.
As the sparks dissipated in the air around them, Inumaki snickered to himself, replaying Yuuta’s shock before he’d been sent flying by the pink haired boy in front of them who was staring at his palms, completely amazed by his own power.
Glancing up from his hands, a plan began to form in the back of his mind as he gazed at Yuuta’s furious expression from across the room. Not wasting a second, Yuuji turned tail and ran, ignoring the way his name resounded through the halls as Yuuta chased after him.
As he raced out of the lab, he only hoped he wouldn’t be too late to save Choso.