Chapter Text
"leave."
And Megumi didn't know that'd be the second to last times he'd hear him again.
Fushiguro ran around the domain, breathing hard as he ran away from the special grade spirit.
He spotted a color of familiar figure, a figure who was fighting curses—stilling his momentum, he ran to the place where he saw Kugisaki.
Seeing a grade 3 curse about to attack her from behind, he summoned his frog shikigami.
The frog shikigami manifested and opened its mouth, striking Kugisaki and wrapping it's tongue around her, effectively putting distance between her and the cursed spirit.
"Ew, you know.... I hate frogs." She deadpanned, letting her limbs fall limply.
He waved Ijichi-san goodbye as he drove away, the car slowly getting farther and farther—towing Kugisaki away, and to get her treated
'I swear that guy.. If he's dead. I'll kill him.'
Fushiguro turned to go back to the detention center, letting a sigh and silently hoping for an alive Itadori.
"Hey." Itadori called out, making the black haired teen look up from where it came.
'he survived?'
He paused, his lips parted slightly before a figure with pink hair moved like a blur infront of Megumi.
"I'm bored, I won't fight you just yet." They said in a casual tone, brushing their pink hair back.
The sorcerer stayed in place—unmoving, sweat dripped down his forehead. Sukuna circled around the teen, a sly smile on Itadori's face.
The air started to get humid, dark clouds gathering at their positions.
"Fushiguro, am I right?"
The night settled in, sealing Fushiguro's fate, with Itadori tagging along, unwillingly. This shouldn't have happened, not to a particular someone.
"Fushi... That brat is not the person you think of, he's a coward, nothing more, gave control to me right after your cursed energy was out of range." He started, planting his spot infront of Megumi's sight.
'that nickname...'
"Thought he could control me. And well, he got what he deserved for trying to use me without giving anything in return."
"So in light of that, I'll give me a little gift." Sukuna ripped the top off of his shirt, his nails sharpening as he stepped back.
' 'me'? What does he.. I need to move!'
The black haired sorcerer finally looked Sukuna in the eyes, seeing the manic grin on his face and the red-orange tint in his usual dark brown eyes. Sukuna plunged his hand into Itadori's chest, brutally ripping his own heart out.
Crimson splattered onto Megumi's face, while blood dribbled down from Yuji's mouth. The curse threw the heart aside and stepped closer to Megumi, his clean hand coming up to wipe the blood off the sorcerer's face.
"Let's fight now." He commanded, producing a finger, Sukuna's finger, and swallowing it.
'I NEED TO MOVE NOW!'
Megumi knew Itadori wasn't going to make it. The moment he left him alone and went to find Kugisaki.
He knew that and hoped to whatever God there is that Itadori would defy his expectations. Yet he didn't, because of him and his hesitance.
But... it shouldn't have hurt this much.
...
...
...
He didn't know how he got attached so quickly.
Maybe it was because of Yuji's cooking and stupid questions that did it.
Maybe it was the stupid playful banter they had every single day.
Maybe it was the unprompted training sessions Itadori had prepared for them.
Maybe it was silent trust they formed when they weren't actively dying.
Maybe if Megumi didn't freeze up, would Yuji still be alive?
So many 'maybes' and no true answer.
He stared down, fidgeting with his hands as some people towed away with Itadori's body. The light rain had become a storm, fitting the situation they were in.
How perfect.
He didn't dare look away from the window, only focusing on the droplets rippling through the puddles.
"So. He's really dead?" Nobara speaks up to break the silence and Megumi was glad she did, it was slowly suffocating him. "Yea." He replied, crossing his arms burying himself in his high-collar.
"I can't believe potato head let himself be killed." She snarked, glassy eyes betraying her own words. She hugged herself tighter, pulling out her phone.
...
Things are going to get better.
Nobara let out a shaky breath, she would not let herself cry over a person she only knew for two weeks.
Even if he cooked for her, held her bags, let her do make-up on him, helped her blackmail Gojo-sensei for his black card, trained her and suggested cool stuff..
Yeah, she wouldn't cry over that stupid idiot. Even if it meant no more of his irritating presence.
Kugisaki was sitting on the couch in the living room of their dormitory. It had been a long day of training, just a one more month and the event they've been preparing for would happen.
She blinked at the phone, her head resting on her palm as she swiped up on her phone. It was pictures of her, Fushiguro, and Itadori.
Nobara let her head sink into the mattress. Looking through the photos she had taken before—
Everything would be fine..
The brown haired girl looked up, Megumi was at the counter top. He looked like he was cooking something. Kugisaki raised an eyebrow, it was always.. Itadori doing that. She shuffled off her spot, prompting to stand beside the black spikey hair teen.
"Are you cooking?" She questions, peaking from his shoulder. Nobara grins at the implication but Megumi just grumbled, smacking her face with the back of his hand.
"Ow!" Kugisaki shouts, stumbling back to the table. "Hey! I just asked a question? You're going to ruin my perfect face!"
Megumi promptly ignored her and went on with his cooking, dumping the meatballs into the saucepan.
"Don't ignore me." She fumed, gripping her phone tightly.
Fushiguro sighed, putting down his hands to rest onto the countertop. "Yes, I am cooking." He grumbled. Looking at Kugisaki in the corner of his eye.
She withdrawn her hand, looking downcast at her phone, glimpsing at face of Itadori—who, was smiling. It was just them playing a game and he had won it.
"Did he have any words?" She coughed into her hand, putting her phone away.
Megumi looked to the handwritten note on the table, the recipe to the meatballs written into the paper. A small chibi tiger drawn into one of the corners, obviously made by Yuji—who was surprisingly good at drawing.
"He said: you, Gojo-sensei, and I to live a long life." He replied with a gloomy sigh, turning his attention to the pan.
"That's stupid." She sneered, her voice quiet.
Megumi sighed again, deciding to lift the mood, if only just a little. "Did you know Itadori tried taught me how to make meatballs the other day?"
"pfftttttt! Hah!" Kugisaki barked out, laughing at the thought of Fushiguro cooking with Itadori.
"Really? Bet you failed miserably." She added, leaning on the counter tops.
"..yea, it took us two tries to finally make a good meal." He admitted, letting his arms fall to his sides, turning the heat to low.
"Anyways..."
It really is awkward..
"When he was training me, he was going on how he was going to learn about seals and all that jujutsu stuff." She began, recalling the memory. "He was going on a rant on how he was in an abandoned building with his old classmates—when suddenly!" Nobara pulls out her phone again, clicking on her gallery.
She clicked on a picture showing it to Megumi. "He slipped on a wet spot he had created earlier and almost broke your notebook!"
"And he said: Fushiguro is going to scold me!" She finished with a dramatic flair.
Megumi couldn't help but let out a quick breath of air, that might've been him laughing.
"Achoo!"
Yuji sneezed, letting out a long suffering sigh as he held the cursed plushie in his hands. Gojo-sensei had left minutes ago, leaving him with a TV and a plushie..
He extended his arms and let cursed energy flow through, it came as naturally as breathing, doing it for years.. well, not really.
The pink haired sorcerer searched the dark room for the notebook he had brought with him after persuading Gojo-sensei to grab it. Yuji hoped he didn't read it, but..
He might've gotten some forgotten alot. Yuji tilts his head to the side, replaying the things he did before he came back. But right now, should thinking of ways of how to making his friends stronger.
He flipped to a new page, snatching the pen that came with his notebook of 'continuous planning with no end'
• try to subjugate more shikigami (F)
• slow thinking, definitely get them more active. (K)
• Hesitance (F)
• aim (F & K)
Make them more stronger.
Great ideas, I know, I know! I'm such a genius..
Itadori sighed, scratching the side of his head in contemplation. He flipped through the notebook's pages filled with his unreadable handwriting.
"This is too much planning for me." He whined, throwing his head back. The movie went dark, showing another point of view. Yuji focused back on the screen, a pout visible on his face.
Itadori should really work on other things, maybe like his stamina, cursed energy control, cursed technique. Maybe even learn about and barriers!
(well he is good at shrine, but he could only use that when he is Sukuna.)
Yuji rips a page off the notebook he's using, letting float in the air for a millisecond before he uses shrine
Dismantle
The paper cut into 4 pieces, uselessly fluttering to the table beneath. Yuji notes that his version is so so so much weaker. Atleast he could use it, did he have another cursed technique?
He searched his shitty memory. Who was C—
"I should take a break." He nodded to himself. Turning his attention to the screen, where the protagonist just killed his old best friend, who turned out to be the secret villain all along!
"That seems familiar." He observed.
Well.. yeah, it's literally Gojo and Geto.. but I'm referencing something else..
Time has passed only for a moment for Yuji, and well.. that's because he was busy learning about seals and barriers!
"I think I've learned about these before..." Yuji mutters, meticulously jutting down notes in his notebook as he breaks down how a specific seal—which he made! Works.
He had been sitting outside, under the shade of a random tree in the backyard of Gojo's little safe house.
He has multiple safe houses, Yuji knows that, but he can't recall where he got the information from.
"Theoretically, this seal should be able to disguise a person's cursed energy." Itadori thought out-loud, holding the notebook out as he scrutinized the drawing of the seal he made.
He pulled it close to his face for further inspection, before pulling out a special type of paper he had asked Gojo-sensei to get for him.
The pink haired sorcerer started to draw the seal, carefully copying it. As he drew the symbol—he continuously poured a drops' amount of cursed energy into the ink.
Sticking his tongue out, he leaned closer to the paper. And after finishing it, he brought it up to the sun, imbuing it with cursed energy. "I should try it out." He suggested to himself, tilting his head.
Bzt!
"Hm?"
Yuji shoved his hands into his pocket, putting the seal away momentarily for his phone. Opening the phone, he went and looked in the LINE app.
Itadori, how do I use cursed energy again?...
The teen narrowed his eyes and pursed his lips before typing out a response. Recalling how Gojo-sensei had said it.
To use cursed energy, you have to feel a negative emotion, then you have to focus on that negative emotion to use cursed energy.
If you want, we can meet up again, just tell me where, okay senpai?
Finishing his response, he scrolled back up to review the past messages.
There was a fire at a local place, multiple dead bodies by fire. But there was no plausible reason for the fire.
Yuji stared at the message for a beat, continuing to scroll upwards and ignoring it. After a while, he exited the app and pocketed his phone, carefully grabbing the seal and sticking it to a part of his body where it wouldn't be seen.
"Hehe.. can I scare sensei with this?"
If you asked Satoru how Yuji is, he'd say
"That kid is dead"
But that kid is obviously not so he has other opinions! Which is:
"Yuji? That kid is a prodigy in disguise, he somehow learned how to make seals and barriers in a month and he's gotten way better at controlling cursed energy in a week."
Well. He has other opinions but he'd rather keep to himself.
The strongest observes his kouhai and Yuji interacting.
"—If both suck equally, i'd rather go with the one I'm better suited with." Nanami declares swiftly, adjusting his tie. "That's the only reason I'm back."
The teen comes next to him to whisper in his ear. "That's depressing" he laments.
"I know right??" Gojo replies, having to lean down to whisper back.
The grade 1 sorcerer sighs, putting a hand on his hip as he continues. "Itadori, don't think I'm like Gojo." He says, his voice monotone and low
"I do trust him," he pauses, if only for a breath. With Gojo smirking like it was a prize needing to be showed off.
'wow. I missed this.'
"But I don't respect him!" He emphasized, with the aforementioned man gasping, clutching his chest like it gravelly wounded him.
"I don't like how the higher-ups work their system, but I do agree with the rules." He voiced out, stepping nearer to the exit. "Even If you're the vessel of Sukuna, but you work hard. I won't recognize you as a sorcerer. Please do your best to prove that you are. "
"Oh, then.. I'll work hard for that recognition!" The teen promised.
They walked up the stairs. Shoes clacking against the concrete slabs.
"The surveillance and didn't get anything?" He questioned, following behind the blond haired sorcerer. "Well, among from the victims there was teenager that survived."
Yuji hummed at that. "So, is the culprit a cursed spirit?" He does remember the answer, yes it is a cursed spirit. It killed people important to him, so he would remember, but he forgot what it looked like.
"Well... The teen has motives for it, but that's the polices' job."
Itadori glanced at the 'curse' behind them, with Nanami telling him to deal with the one he saw, unbuttoning his beige-color tuxedo jacket and pulling out a cleaver with cloth wrapped around it. Adjusting his tie, he checked his weapon before pointing it at the green-skinned curse.
"Let me know if you think you can't handle it." He advised.
Yuji let his arms fall, slumping over. "I'm not a kid.." he pouted, looking down at his soft hands. Hands that's stained forever in blood, he remembered the faces of his friends—this time, he's going to save them all.
Even if it destroys him, it's an afterthought to him.
Just an afterthought.
Seeing his friends, his mentor, Nanami, seeing them getting hurt—killed, he would protect them.
That was the reason he came back.
right?...
Of course it is. a voice sang
He came back to protect them and fix everything.
He could talk about the plans he made for their safety all day, maybe even show how his new seal he made the other day. He could impress them, show he's not that stupid.. naive..
Yuji snapped out of it, directing his gaze to the sorcerer.
"—It's the adult's duty to protect children." He said, like it's common knowledge, well.. it is. Nanami approached the curse.
"You're not an adult. Losing more hair by the month, or your favourite sandwich not available in he convenience store."
He glared at the curse, pointing the weapon at it. "It's the little losses, that builds people into a adult"
"He looked at my chest weirdly."
He grunted as he was punched harshly in the cheek, falling to the ground as a result.
'If there was a button that killed everyone I hate, I'd not press it.'
"Well it's big, so it bounces around when you run!"
"I understand you Yoshino.." another says, hitting hit again.
'But.. If there was a button that kills everyone that hates me.'
He hesitantly looks up, glancing at the woman and the three men—glaring daggers into their souls. He hitched his breath as one talked like he wasn't even there, laying on the ground. Pathetically.
'I'd press it with no hesitation.'
"Special, some cursed spirits are called that." It began, flipping a page.
"Cursed Spirits are the culmination of cursed energy that flows out of humans, even if it's not real, a scary image and common knowledge of it is enough to make a powerful cursed spirit."
The teen below it hummed, rubbing his chin while putting all his weight to the wall behind him.
"A scary image and common knowledge of it..." He muttered, raising his head to look at the patchface curse. "Are you talking about ghost stories and myths?" He questioned.
The curse smiled and showed a page of the book it was reading. "Yep! Like Ms. Hanako in the toilet, or the nine-tailed Fox. There is many more." It added.
"Sorcerers label them as Special grade and guards it from the public." It shifted it's position to lay on it's back, putting an arm behind it's head.
It smiled, staring at the gated skies. "An image of fear shared by many people can give life to Special grade Potential curse."
"I guess they only know about that," it turned it's head to look at Yoshino. "But what people are truly afraid of are not the stories."
Junpei looked at the floor, putting his palm out as he realized the answer. "Natural disasters too?" He answered questionably.
Mahito chuckled in response, closing it's eyes "Haah... It's nice to talk to you.."
Junpei flushed at that, putting his hands together and having them touch at the fingertips. "No.. not really."
The grade 1 sorcerer ran at the curse, leaving a good distance between him and it, dodging a head kick.
"No matter the opponent, my Cursed technique creates a weak point." He dodged another move. "Seven to three, it creates a line across any point of the opponent, if I strike the point on that ratio, it'll be a critical hit."
"Even if the opponent is stronger than me, it'll still do damage to it. If it's weak, even a blunt blade can slash through it"
Itadori effortlessly dodged a strike from the cursed spirit, weaving through it's punches. He doesn't want to kill it, yet. Yuji listens to his mentor, taking a few steps back as a curse charges towards him.
"Are you listening Itadori?" Nanami questions, glancing at him.
"Yep." He responds back, grabbing the transfigured's arm and harshly throwing it to the red circle, hitting a home run.
He turns his back momentarily to the disoriented curse. "Is it really okay to reveal your technique?" Again, he knows the answer, but he can't help it!
"If there is no dangerous stakes at hand, then do so." He dodges another strike. "With a binding vow, it can even benefit you." His cursed energy charges up. "Like this." A ratio appeared on the curse's legs, with Nanami cutting them up fashionably.
Flop.
It uselessly thudded to the floor without it's limbs to move it. Nanami let the blood drip into the puddle, infecting it with it's crimson. He flicked the excess blood away. "That's all I want to say." He said coldly.
'He's still the same person that I could remember.'
That really ticks him off, why did Nanamin have to die? It's unfair. So unfair, he'll kill. Kill that curse. He got burned too, that must be from Jogo. Right, it's coming back to him. He'll kill the two curses, he'll kill them. Kill.
The curse, he's going to meet it soon. It killed.. He can't recall. Whatever, he's going to kill it when he gets the chance. Kill, kill, kill, kill..
"Itadori, watch your back."
Huh?
The teen gets thrown off his balance, with the teen screeching as he lands on his butt. "Oww!" He hisses, standing up and releasing his reign over his cursed energy—if only for a second, out. It made the 'curse' cower, freezing as shock overtakes it.
"Eh?" The sorcerer made a suprised sound, taking advantage to it's momentarily still body. Yuji landed a punch, cursed energy lagging behind, bursting forward as the hit landed—punching a hole through it. "Yeah!" He celebrated, throwing his hands up.
"I'll give recognition to your everything. Junpei."
He flexed his fingers, turning his hand front to back. Today was going to be a good one. Junpei had a smile on his face, maybe for the first time in days, maybe weeks.
"Found him." Ijichi-san announced, making the pink haired teen in the back perk up."Casual wear" he noted, keeping his gaze level.
"By the looks of it, he hasn't been to school lately." The manager said in a perpetually tired voice. Itadori leans forward, grabbing the headrest of both of the seats.
The teen gives a sigh, following up the observation with his own. "Well, I'm the same.."
Yuji turns to Ijichi-san, a question forming. "My classmates, how are they? Are they fine?" He asks, his voice cheerful—disguised as something else.
The manager has his eyes locked on the suspect infront of them, answering back. "They seem to be doing well." A small smile on his face.
Itadori smiled back, waves of relief flooding him. He doesn't know why.
"What is the plan Ijichi-san?"
"Well.." he adjusts his glasses, keeping his eyes on the road.
"We have a flyhead, it is a curse that's really weak, it can't even be classified as a grade four. We are going to use it to identify if he knows about Jujutsu." Ijichi-san starts, turning his head to look at the aforementioned curse. Stopping the car for a moment.
"We'll let it attack him."
Yuji exclaims at that.
"First, if he's a non-sorcerer who cant see it, please save him. Second, if he can't see it but can't exorcize it, please save him aswell. And question him about the incident"
The pinkette nods along, reclining back into his seat as he listens intently.
"Third if he's able to see the curse, and can exorcize it, immobilize him immediately." He says seriously, adjusting his glasses once more.
"It's that serious?!" He comments, a little shocked how Junpei was going to treated.
"Yes." Ijichi confirms back. Turning back to the road. "But, release him and apologize if it's a misunderstanding." He adds.
"And fourth, if you think he has the potential to be a grade 2 sorcerer, or above... Retreat immediately and report back to Nanami-san."
The adult parked the car, opening the door. "Let's head out."
"Alright!" Yuji exclaims, in a tone that's way too excited for this type of mission.