Chapter Text
"Tsumiki, I'm back." Megumi closes the sliding door to their house.
There was a cough from somewhere at the back of the house. "Welcome back, Megumi."
Megumi took off his footwear and walks to Tsumiki's room. He opens the door and sets down the things he manages to get today. "Our neighbor gave us some eggs for the week. We can have that for tonight's dinner."
Tsumiki smiled, knowing how caring their neighbors have been since they found out about her sickness. The village they live in were very nice to each other, and both the Fushiguro siblings don't know what to do without them. "Make sure to thank them when you meet them again, okay?" Tsumiki went into a coughing fit after giving Fushiguro the command.
Megumi grumbles. "Yeah. I will."
Tsumiki smiled again as if the pain in her chest were all gone.
"Well then, since you're back, let me help out in the kitchen! I think I'm getting better-" Tsumiki tries to stand from her futon, but lost her energy and fell.
Megumi went into a panic and holds her sick sister so the impact won't be harsh. "Don't overdo it, Tsumiki. You're weak, so I have to do everything."
Tsumiki hits Fushiguro in the head. Fushiguro flinches in pain. "If I'm weak, then why does that hurt, Megumi?" Tsumiki said with an innocent smile on her face.
Megumi holds his head, stinging in pain from the hit. "I'll get you for that, Tsumiki." He grumbled. Megumi takes the goods he got from the neighbors and heads for the kitchen. "It might take some time to start the fire, so wait for a bit ok?"
"It's fine," Tsukimi said from her room. Their house is a small one, so they don't need to raise their voices when they're in different rooms. In fact, it's more of a hut if one would describe their living spaces.
About 2 years ago, Megumi and Tsumiki's parent's got together. It was a scandalous affair, to begin with, so it was doomed to end badly. Their father left some time ago to do a job, but he never returned. Their mother also left to look for the father, but she also never returned. Both of them accepted the reality that their parents are not coming back. At first, they live a quiet and peaceful life. Before their mother left, she gave them a large sum of money, enough for Megumi to go to a local school run by their neighbor. As Megumi goes to study, Tsukimi was the oldest in the house, so she looked for a job. In the end, she got a job, which is making kimonos. Tsumiki refuses to waste the money given by their mother, as she wants to save that for emergencies.
Life was seemingly peaceful, until about 2 months ago. Tsumiki got sick for some reason, which causes Megumi to stop going to school and look for a job. Only he was too young for anyone to hire him, only aging 12 currently. As a result, they had no choice but to use the money their mother left them. Turns out the money needed for Tsumiki's medicine was expensive, and she needed to take it often to get better. As a result, the Fushiguro siblings are currently heavily dependent on the kindness of their neighbors.
Megumi blows the fire with the bamboo pipe harder, so the fire will get even bigger. When the fire was just right, he rolled the sleeves of his clothes so it won't catch fire. "Tsumiki, the fire's ready. It'll take a moment for the food, so you can take a bath first."
Tsumiki went into another coughing fit, Megumi went back to her room to check on her. Tsumiki clears her throat, not wanting to worry Megumi. "Right, I'll go in a second."
Megumi sighs and carries her sister by the shoulder. "Come on. I'll get you to the bath."
Tsumiki didn't resist Megumi carrying her. "Sorry. I guess nee-san's very weak..." Within her heart, Tsumiki felt very guilty for relying heavily on Megumi.
Megumi felt terrible. For once, her sister doesn't have her usual cheery attitude. "What are you talking about. I'm doing all this so you can get better, and so you can start going to work again." Megumi grumbles, acting like his usual grumpy self to cheer her sister up.
"Hehe... I guess that's true."
-----
It was a busy day today for Megumi. A neighbor finally agreed to let Megumi work for him. It was his first day of carrying heavy things. His hands are killing him.
When he reached his house, he notices someone waiting in front. His hair is white and he's wearing a blindfold for some reason. He's also very tall. Freak. Megumi cautiously approaches him. "Who the hell are you? What do you want?"
The white-haired man looks at him. Looking isn't exactly the right word, as his eyes are closed. But his face is looking down to where Megumi is. "You must be, Megumi then! A sharp contrast to your nice sister."
Megumi went on guard when her sister is mentioned. "What do you want? Money? We don't have much, so why don't you get lost."
"Ohh noo... I'm scared! A 12-year-old boy is about to beat me up~" The white-haired man flails his body around jokingly, pretending to be scared.
"Tch." The man was annoying him greatly.
"But no. I'm here to talk to you about your sister... and you too." The man looks at the house again.
"What are you talking about? What about me and Tsumiki?" Megumi asks.
"Your father, well, he was from a family with a bloodline of great wealth and abilities. Soon enough they will come over looking for you since you have their blood too. You have to make a choice soon enough, that is when they come knocking on your door."
Megumi doesn't know what he's talking about, he always expected that his father was just a deadbeat bastard. "What choice?"
The man raises his finger, showing a number. "One is that you accept their call and live out your life with your blood family. They're rich so you'll live a luxurious life." The man raises another finger. "Two is that you live a life constantly running away from them."
Megumi thinks upon the choices. However, there is a crucial point that the man hasn't mentioned. "What'll happen to Tsumiki?"
The man smiles. As if knowing that's what Megumi will prioritize. "Your family won't take her in if that's what you're asking. In their eyes, she's just a stranger." For a second there, his voice was serious.
Megumi grips his hand tightly. "Then I'll take the second choice. You can tell them to get off my back because I'm not leaving Tsumiki behind." Megumi walks past the man and opens the door to the house.
The stranger silently smiled, his expected answer received.
-----
Megumi places tonight's dinner next to his sister. "Hey, Tsumiki. Did you meet with anyone strange just now? Did he went inside?"
Tsumiki thinks for a moment. "No. I was resting for the whole day. Was there a visitor just now? I heard you talking with someone outside."
"No one. Just someone asking for directions." Megumi answered hastily, not wanting his sister to notice something wrong.
The Fushiguro siblings ate their dinner silently. However, Tsumiki broke the silence. "Hey, did you hear about the shrine in the north of this village? I heard from a rumor that someone prayed there and their prayers were answered or something."
Megumi frowns. "Tsumiki, you believe in those things? It's probably fake or just a rumor."
"I know. But wouldn't it be nice if it was true? What would you wish, Megumi?"
For you to be healed. The thought rang in his mind without any doubt. "Why am I telling you that? Eat your dinner, come on. I need to clean up."
Tsumiki chuckled at her brother's grumpy attitude. The chuckle slowly changes into a cough. The cough became even louder and she coughs up something to her bowl of rice.
"Tsumiki!" Megumi rushed to his sister. He pats her back so she can breathe better. He looks at the bowl of rice to see what she had coughed up. Blood?!
-----
The village doctor went out of the exam room. "She's stabilized, for now. I've given her the medicine she needs, but it's only halting the disease."
Megumi looks down to the floor. Is there nothing that can be done?
The doctor sat on his desk. "She needs to go to the city to get better treatment. I'm sorry, this is all I can do."
Megumi thanks the doctor and brought Tsumiki back to their house. When they reached the house, Tsumiki went to sleep immediately. Fushiguro slept on the floor, next to her like he always does. They only have one futon, after all.
-----
Megumi wakes up to the shine of sunlight on his face. What time is it now? Megumi checks on his sister and sees that she's still sleeping soundly.
I can't go to the city. It's too far, Tsumiki will be exhausted if I take her there. I can't just leave her behind, it'll bother the neighbors. Megumi tries to think of a solution for his predicament.
The words of the white-haired stranger ring in his mind. If I let them take me in, will they take care of Tsumiki? But the man said that they won't care for her...
Then there's what Tsumiki mentioned last night. A miracle. I need a miracle right now.
Megumi stands up and packs his things. He's heard of the mentioned shrine a few times, many of their neighbors like to talk about it. It was quite far to the north village. Might take him an hour or two to get there. Megumi packs yesterday's leftover rice and made them into onigiris. After making sure that Tsumiki is fine, he left a note for Tsumiki and left their house.
-----
It was a small mountain, but it was steep. Taking slow steps in the mountain, Megumi sees a clearing not far from where he is. It took him some time to finally find the shrine. It was already in the afternoon now. The sun is thinning away his stamina.
Megumi bites the exhaustion and perseveres through. For Tsumiki. He walks and finally reaches the shrine.
Only he didn't expect that what'll await him is an old dilapidated shrine. Seemingly abandoned for a long time. Will this work? He saw 2 pink-haired boys around his age sitting in the shrine. Both of them are using kimonos that looked expensive. Megumi decides to ignore them and walks towards the shrine.
"What? Another one? Who does he want to be cursed?" One of the pink-haired boys said. He has tattoos all over his body and his hair is swept back.
The other boy doesn't have the tattoos and his hair isn't swept back. But it's still messy. "Hey, we don't know his prayer yet so don't assume it'll be for a curse."
The tattooed boy yawns and scratches his chest. "Humans are all the same, they want someone to suffer in the end."
The boy with the messy hair huffs, but Megumi can see the irritation in his face.
Megumi stops when he's in front of the altar. He places an onigiri and prays. Please cure Tsumiki's illness... This is the first time he prays to a god.
"Heeeh... Curing someone's illness? I'm not interested, you deal with it." The tattooed boy leans on his hand to the side and lazes around.
"Oi, Sukuna! You can't just dump all of the work to me!" After saying that, the messy-haired boy lunges at the one called Sukuna.
The tattooed boy didn't move an inch from his spot, but the messy-haired boy was sliced into 10 different pieces as if there was an invisible blade in the air.
Megumi was alarmed at the sight and falls back. Someone just died?! Fushiguro stands up and looked for the body's pieces, only there were none. He looked to where the tattooed boy was lazing around and he's not there anymore.
Megumi checked around the shrine to see if there's any sign or trace of those 2 boys. It was empty, there was no sign of life. Was it just my imagination? Megumi walked back to the front altar and saw those 2 boys on the shrine clearing. The tattooed boy is sitting on top of the other boy.
"Oi, Sukuna! Let me go already!" The tattooed boy seems to be heavier than he looks, as he's having a hard time getting him off of him.
"Come back and try to beat me when you have someone praying for you, brat. Oh wait, you don't." The one called Sukuna yawns again.
Megumi decides to butt in. He can't focus on praying because of them both. "Oi, you two. If you're not going to pray, can you just leave? I'm trying to focus."
Both of the pink haired-boys became surprised, their faces clearly showing it. He can see us?