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Sunlight leaked through the window, creating glare on the TV screen. The streaks blocked Yuji’s vision and his character was eating lead for it.
“Megumi, they’re being toxic! On God! They’re trash. Dog water!” Yuji frantically mashed buttons on his video game controller. Nothing seemed to be helping his character’s rapidly depleting health bar.
“Chill.” Megumi pulled his headphones from over his ears. He rested them around his neck and rolled his shoulders.
Yuji shot up from the sofa, frantically pacing around the room. Damn sunlight fucking shit up! He glanced out the window, the sun peeked through the horizon. Not as pretty as in the game, because reality wasn’t that kind. It was its own kind of pretty—lone star, bright enough to outshine all the others kind of pretty.
“Pretty, huh? Sunlight does feel better in the flesh.” A crude voice mocked his thoughts.
Sukuna surged through him. The use and full control of his right hand faltered. Two fingers hooked on the controller desperate to stop the expensive item from falling. His eyelids drooped. So tired. He’d been up all night helping Megumi unlock team achievements on his game.
“It’s my turn now.” Cursed energy pulsated in his veins.
His breathing grew short and shallow, desperate-sounding. It was getting harder and harder to suppress the curse. His grip almost faltered on the controller. “Go away!”
“Yuji?” Nobara must have noticed him, trembling and hunkered against the wall. “Are you okay?”
Sukuna's power fizzled like a quickly put-out fire but his thoughts, like smoke, continued to linger. Useless kid. Everything just prolongs the inevitable.
“Don’t get so upset. It’s just a game.” Nobara said.
Yuji lifted his head and forced a frazzled smile. Sukuna’s dry chuckle rattled his brain in his skull.
“Come here, idiot.” Megumi commanded.
Yuji staggered, reeling from the after-shock of near possession. Every muscle in his body weakened. He meant to plop down on the sofa—his butt found an equally enjoyable spot to rest.
Megumi hissed, a few breathless curses leaving his lips. The sound of the game demanded his attention.
Two arms hugged around Yuji and rough hands covered his own on top of the video game controller.
Megumi guided Yuji’s fingers over the buttons.
Yuji wiggled, the tingling sensation dissipated. His senses dialing down to the hard chest he was pressed against, the plastic headphones digging into the back of his neck, and gentle breaths tickling his cheek.
“If you’re too tired to play. We can finish tomorrow.” Megumi released Yuji’s hands. He returned his grip to his own controller and eyes to the TV screen.
“But isn’t getting this achievement important to you?” Yuji groggily wiped the sleep from his eyes.
“The special event doesn’t end today.”
“How much longer till class?”
“Yuji, you’re asking all the wrong questions.” Nobara pushed his thigh with her foot. “You should be asking if you can get a nap in.”
“Did you take a nap?” Yuji asked.
“Of course.” Nobara stretched. The pizza box on the sofa fell into the mess of empty soda cans on the floor. “You boys better promise me, that one day out this week you won’t play the game. Lack of sleep can take years off your life.”
Yuji wasn’t worried about the last part; at least not for himself. “Did you hear that Megumi?”
“I’ll sleep when I’m dead.”
“HEY!” Yuji and Nobara shouted in unison.
“I mean when my character is dead. Relax, damn.” Megumi combed a hand through his hair. His eyebrows bunched together as a frustrated, “Tch,” left his lips.
Nobara’s expression softened. She propped both her feet up in Yuji’s lap. “Naptime, for you then.”
“I’m still playing the game, too!” As soon as he spoke his character dropped dead.
Gunshots and explosions blared from the TV. The names of dead players appeared on a long list.
“You’re shaking.” Megumi said, his kill streak increasing rapidly.
“I wasn’t expecting you to start dropping bodies like that!” Megumi’s arms around him seemed more like a protective shield. “Seriously, I feel like I should start calling you senpai.”
“Why are you so easily impressed?” Megumi hooked his chin on Yuji’s shoulder.
Yuji should be used to it by now—the three of them had made a habit of sharing body heat together on the sofa. Long weekends that were once full of the scent of bleach and the beep of hospital equipment, now were full of the scent of greasy pizza, barbecue potato chips, and shouting over video games.
“Be honest, you were just waiting to show off.” Nobara’s foot poked Megumi’s side.
Megumi shrugged, the corners of his lips tugging upwards.
“Look at my game too, Yuji.” Nobara shoved her phone in his face. A female character was on the screen. She wore a low-cut dress that matched with the scarlet halo over her head.
She was just like him, marked for the grave. “She’s cute.” Yuji said.
“She is the MC of the RPG. Ya know typical issue of a girl stuck in an all-boy magical guild.”
“THAT’S A TYPICAL ISSUE?”
“Phone,” Nobara commanded.
Yuji slid it over to her. He noticed a new character appeared. “Who is that?”
“You’ll see after you play story mode.”
Oh gosh, she was downloading it. Yuji wasn’t very good at video games. His grandpa never bought him any, only wanting him to focus on after school club so he could find friends.
Yuji’s new favorite place to relax was Megumi’s lap. He couldn’t put a finger on why. But in the game, the main character got put in many awkward situations—much worse than his own blunder. Still, the boys in her guild didn’t seem to mind, they always protected her.
“I can’t believe you’ve really gotten into it.” Nobara walked alongside him as they made their way to class.
The halls of their old school were empty. Plenty of space to hide curses between the forming cracks and cobwebs. Or bury mistakes and dead vessels that were too weak to serve their purpose.
His hands started shaking, a finger accidentally tapped START. A high-pitched voice cried out, “Notice me, Senpai!”
“Oh my gosh! Your main character, you made her voice so adorable!” Nobara hummed along like it was a catchy tune.
Her humming slowly eased his flare of panic. His fingers kept tapping, somehow it arrived at the selection of his next quest in story mode.
“Wow, you’ve nearly reached the first big boss! And your character isn’t even customized? She can infuse her magic in normal weapons like guns and swords to deal more damage.” Nobara’s entire face lit up. She looked so happy right now, sharing her love of the game with him.
She clung tighter to his arm. The entire concept of personal space out the window. It felt nice. Almost relaxing. When Yuji had his friends around, they numbed all of Sukuna’s harsh words.
“Just don’t make her protector trashy.” Nobara said.
“How about him?”
“Nope.”
“Him?”
“Nope.”
“Every character can’t be trash.”
“They basically are.” Nobara pulled out her phone. Each character she scrolled past had a personality different than the last. “There’s only one best boy.”
“Is it him?” Yuji pointed at the same character that piqued his interest earlier.
The character shook his head and blinked. “Cut the crap and stay here.”
“Aw, is it because he looks like Megumi?” Nobara coed.
Something flipped in Yuji’s stomach. His cheeks warmed in perfect sync with his mouth’s denial, “No!”
His protector…Her protector. The character even sounded like Megumi, that time before it all went wrong, trying to convince him to stay outside the school. Stay here. Even then, Megumi looked out for him. When Megumi knew nothing about him—only the danger lurking beyond the barrier. He was just another average person and if ONLY he would have listened. He could still be…
“Ya know, there’s a special cutscene where MC has to deliver her final kiss.” Nobara smiled, her expression growing more playful. She drummed her pretty painted nails on the screen.
Yuji swallowed his fear. “How do I get that character?”
“Just luck.”
Damn it! Yuji shoved his phone in his pocket. He pulled open the classroom door, allowing Nobara to step inside.
Luck was never kind to him. Not in the game, where he summoned three times for a total of thirty cards and not one his favorite character. Not in real life, with him ensnared by Sukuna. Maybe that’s why sitting in Megumi’s lap brought Yuji some sense of relief. Here: the sound of Megumi’s heartbeat, the touch of his hands, his low breathy laugh.
“Hah! Crazy. No way they should have pulled off that headshot.” Megumi had his eyes glued to the TV. His character in the game crawled on the ground for shelter.
“Hold on. I got you.” Yuji traded his phone for the controller and rushed over to revive him.
“Why are you playing two games at once?” Megumi asked.
“I want to play with you and Nobara.” The game made Yuji feel things. He wasn’t sure what but, “Plus I’m close to getting a super hot new character!”
“Oh?” Nobara raised a brow, “He’s hot now, Yuji?”
Yuji covered his mouth with a hand. His reaction, when he first met Megumi, was bafflement. A stranger talking about weird things like curses—it was a laughable hospital scene. But at the time he didn’t laugh, because this stranger was so serious, so blunt…
“Hurry up and save who you want!” The character shouted, urging Nobara to click past the notification screen. His eyes darkened as he growled, “Neither one of them will feel as good as I do on the inside.”
So hot.
Megumi mashed the buttons on his controller, his arms squeezing Yuji’s sides.
Yuji muffled a yelp.
“My bad.” Megumi squeezed Yuji again. “Trying to…this guy just keeps dodging.” He jerked the controller upwards.
“Megumi!” Yuji bounced up and down.
“Get up if you don’t like it.”
“You have me locked in place!” Yuji couldn’t squirm free even if he desired. Not from the way Megumi gripped his sides, keeping him caged, hugging him close where his…
“Big sword, decent stamina. What did you expect?”
Yuji groaned. A moment passed where he only heard his heart pounding in his ears. This game was too much, way, way too much.
“Fucking finally.” Megumi settled, returning to the same position Yuji found so comforting. He nodded at the screen. “I completed the achievement.”
“Sweet! You can thank us for our good luck later.” Nobara cheered.
Megumi raised a brow, “Luck had nothing to do with it.” He began to pull his headphones over his ears, then paused. “Is this okay?”
Yuji tapped away at his game.
“Idi—Yuji.”
“Huh?” Yuji blinked upwards.
Megumi squeezed him again, this time more playful and considerate. “Is this okay?”
Yuji leaned his head back, till Megumi could clearly see his smile. “I don’t mind, long as you don’t.”
Megumi covered his ears and turned away like sunshine distorted his vision.
Luck had everything to do with it. Yuji couldn’t summon the character he wanted; he refused to kiss any other character! He didn’t care how much pent-up magical energy his main girl needed to release. All that was necessary was keeping her HP above zero and rejecting every advance a character made towards her.
“That’s not very nice.” She aimed her gun at the boy’s forehead.
The only downside about rejecting a character’s affection…
BANG!
She lifted her finger off the trigger. Her lips puckered and she blew on the barrel of the gun. “Try again in your next life.”
“How wasteful. Living sacrifices are more fun.” Sukuna’s red eye bloomed on his hand. His pupil cut to the side to look at the game revealing another unsuccessful summon.
Yuji nearly dropped his phone. The eerie glow of his screen was the only light provided to him under the blankets in his bed.
“Figuratively and literally,” Sukuna sneered.
His tone sent chills down Yuji’s spine. He curled more blankets around himself. He tried to drown out Sukuna’s rambling with the music from his game.
“If a character shines such a bright light in your miserable life, I want to test the limits of what he can do.” Sukuna said.
Characters; games. The very idea of being degraded to a series of binary codes made him sick. “My life is just one big game to you isn’t it?” Yuji hissed.
The silence answered more than any response from Sukuna ever could. He was a vessel, an error written in the code of life.
“Long as you don’t eat all my fingers, I get to... What does your game call it, respawn?” Sukuna smiled, brilliant and dastardly. “I’ve lived for thousands of years and I’ll live for more. Be lucky I’m letting you have your fun.”
Only live once. Yuji wasn’t going to keep wasting his time arguing over something pointless. He swiped away from the game and opened his text messages.
Yuji: U awake?
Megumi: Wat u want?
Yuji sent a screenshot of all his summoning history.
Yuji: Can’t get lucky🥺
Megumi: Shouldn’t u be gawking with Nobara?
Yuji: I WANT SOOOOO BADLY!
One minute. Two minutes. Still, no response.
Sukuna laughed maniacally as he had once again succeeded in making a damn fool out of him.
Yuji lowered his phone and buried his face in his pillow. Maybe the idea of binary code made him so sick because he wanted to be able to CTRL+Z.
His phone vibrated: New email! From: [email protected]
Huh? Yuji swiped right to open the email. There was an attachment, a Google Doc. He clicked on it. The link transferred him to a shared document.
My phone died. Can’t find charger.
Yuji typed out his response a space under: Lol. Look who’s creative! :D
Megumi started to type something, then his letters backspaced before finishing: …This is quicker than text anyway.
Yuji typed: Or I can scream at the top of my lungs :D :D :D :D :D We are only a thin wall apart.
Megumi typed: U would scream for me? Then the sentence was quickly backspaced.
Yuji clicked the undo arrow. The sentence reappeared and he burst out in a fit of laughter. He was sure Megumi heard him, a very loud BAM vibrated through the wall.
Delete that. =__=
Yuji kept canceling out each time Megumi tried to get rid of it.
Fuckin annoying!
:D :D :D
Megumi stopped typing, but his icon was still visible.
Yuji smiled at the still mostly empty document. He wanted to fill the pages with nothing but conversations between the two of them: I’d scream for u, if I had no other way to get ur attention. If I couldn’t talk, I’d run to u. Or do ‘em cool hand motion thingy!
Good.
The response was simple but meant more than Yuji could describe because it came from Megumi. A guy who tended to be less sociable online than he was in person.
Many things Yuji wanted to undo and many things he wanted to keep. He hated that! He hated thinking about how just like in a game, one choice could drastically alter a character’s perception of you!
“So cool! I haven’t even gotten him yet!” Nobara gasped. “What choice did you make after you defeated the boss?”
“Don’t kill.” Yuji said.
“Really?” Nobara stared at his character stats. “I killed him on my route.”
“He started crying.” Yuji remembered playing through the story: How the villain broke down in tears after revealing his bloody massacre was all for the sake of reviving his sister from the underworld. “All I saw was a lonely boy who wanted to save the only family he had left.”
“He is such a powerful card!” Nobara switched to her main game screen. “Still too bad, he’s not this heartthrob.”
Megumi increased his hug from behind, Yuji could feel him getting impossibly strong. He huffed, clicking the trigger button quicker. “I just bought this new scope. If I die because of it, it’s trash.” He flicked his controller.
Yuji bounced, catching a glance of the floor. A blue card rested on top of chip crumbs.
“Wouldn’t it be cool if you could respawn in real life? Then you didn’t have to worry about stuff, just do it on your next playthrough.” Nobara said.
Even on another playthrough, Yuji might end up eating Sukuna’s finger to save Megumi. No, he would eat Sukuna’s finger. He would choose that route, every single time.
“Megumi, your bank card is on the floor.” Yuji picked up the piece of plastic.
Megumi shrugged.
Yuji lifted one side of Megumi’s headphones. Hip-hop music filled the space between his lips and Megumi’s ear. “I’m going to put it in your wallet.”
“Do what you want with it.”
Those blue eyes shouldn't look so engaged, so cold. He wanted them to look upon him like they did in the hospital when they first met.
“I don’t make promises. Show me with your actions.” The statement sounded a bit muffled from Nobara’s phone. But Yuji knew that voice like he knew the sound of rain.
He fixed Megumi’s headphones. The card in his other hand felt worth its weight in gold.
“Go on. Spend it like you’ve earned it.”
“Can I buy whatever I want?” Yuji yanked the card close to his chest. The body he was pressed against sighed deeply.
“I already answered that.” Megumi whispered so quietly that if he hadn’t been near Yuji’s ear, those words would have never registered.
But now, they were processing reactions faster than Yuji’s brain could mark them as appropriate. “Thanks so much!”
“Shut up and sit still.” Megumi returned his focus to the game. “I’m close to completing another achievement.”
Yuji fell silent and fidgeted. Such caring and amazing friends he had. They really did shine the brightest doing the things they loved.
He loved and wanted to love everything his friends did. That was the reason he started playing the game. Somewhere along the route, he got emotionally invested. A thrill rushed through him each summoning round as his SSR gauge boosted.
Finally, his screen dimmed to a message written in cursive: “Does the filth from your mouth ever stop flowing?”
Yuji threw his head back and shouted at the top of his lungs, “LET’S GOOOOOOOOOO!”
He jumped out of bed and left his room. He spun around in the narrow dorm hall. Twisting and turning and shouting with euphoria. A door almost slammed into him as it opened.
“Did you forget Nobara told us no video games tonight? We’re supposed to be catching up on sleep.” Megumi stepped out of his room, one hand in his sweatpants pocket and the other fiddling with his headphones around his neck.
“Yo, check it!” Yuji hopped over to Megumi. “I finally got him!”
Megumi peaked at the game. “You’re naming the character after me?”
“Yeah, you helped me get him!” Yuji responded with a large grin.
Megumi turned away. Was he disgusted? Upset? Confused. Plain frazzled confusion. “You’re playing a dating sim.”
“No, it’s not!” Yuji stepped inside Megumi’s room. “Let’s watch the cutscene together. Then you’ll see. Or maybe we can act it out!” The space was big enough. There was a bed and a desk, almost like the dorm room of his character. “You could get the real MC experience.”
“The what?”
“RPG games are all about putting yourself in the character’s shoes. What would you do?”
“I hope you don’t self-sacrifice like you do in first-person shooters.” Megumi closed his door.
Yuji swallowed, his pulse sky-rocketing. He hoped his jaw didn’t slack, that it wasn’t too noticeable how his right hand slightly trembled despite holding tight to his phone.
Megumi faced him. His vacant gaze scoped every inch of Yuji’s heart.
There was nowhere for him to hide. His stomach flipped. Pop. Face burned. Pop. Adrenaline fueled him. Pop. Pop. Pop. “I wouldn’t have done that if I knew you were holding back!”
“I held back because I thought you were bad at the game.” Megumi said.
“I was bad at the game! But when you pulled me into your lap, you showed me how to be a better player!” Words were coming too fast, thoughts pushing soundwaves. His health bar was depleting. “If I know better, I try to do better! That’s why I couldn’t let my cute main character date some scrub because I knew she needed the same feeling of supporrr—”
Sukuna bubbled to the surface. Pop. Pop. A deafening roar filled his head, “Watch your mouth around our favorite character, brat!”
Yuji’s knees folded. He tried to grab on to something. Go away! His hands wouldn’t stop shaking. Heat ate at his insides. GO AWAY! He heard something hit the wall, pain devouring his senses.
Through the blur of tears, he saw Sukuna’s tattoos manifesting on his flesh. His reflection in the mirror, more curse than human.
“This whole time you were suffering.” The sound of his favorite character’s voice mixed with Megumi’s.
Yuji’s shaky fingers must have hit play on the cutscene by mistake! Now Megumi was acting it out; Mere inches from his face with a pissed-off expression.
“Such an idiot. Thinking you could hide this from me.” Megumi slapped Yuji’s ass.
“Megumi!” Yuji squeaked. Please! Run! His grip on reality was faltering to an endless strand of ones and zeroes.
“I’m not scared of what you’ve become.” A crazed grin flashed on Megumi’s face. “You’re my creation after all. You did this because of me.” His hands firmly grasped Yuji’s ass as tightly as he did his video game controller. His thumbs moving and pinky finger bouncing, hitting all the right combinations that made…
Yuji groaned. Again. Again. It was the only sound his mouth could formulate.
Emotions, those were easy to say, Yuji could ramble on and on about liking Megumi. But how to apply everything, make the same feeling make sense to others—
Megumi silenced Yuji with a kiss.
Yuji wanted to push away; he should push away. But he felt Megumi’s arms around him and wanted to keep those arms around him. Forever. His fingers dug into Megumi’s shirt, pulling him closer.
The video game dialogue didn’t matter, the only thing that did was Megumi’s lips on top of his own—forcing Sukuna into the depths of his domain.
The cursed sensation deserted his bones. Yuji folded like putty in Megumi’s hands.
Megumi pulled back, wiping spit from the corner of his lips. His face flooded with embarrassment all the way to his ears. Yet there was also the same look Yuji got the first time they met.
Yuji slowly unfisted his hands from the ball of fabric. His tongue wet his bottom lip. “You still have a hand on my butt.”
Megumi quickly dropped his hand to his side.
“Haha!” Yuji couldn’t stop himself from laughing, “I must have a pretty big butt since you like touching it so much.”
“I wouldn’t say all that.” Megumi flexed his right hand as if imagining grabbing a fistful of Yuji’s ass. “It’s just a lot to hold at once.”
Yuji was sure his face became just as embarrassed as Megumi’s. He held his phone in front of it. “You’re the one who chose to act out the cutscene with me! I didn’t think you were actually gonna do it.”
“I didn’t think you were purposely sitting in my lap.” Megumi took a seat on the bed. “Don’t tell anyone about this.” He patted his lap as if beckoning Yuji forward.
Yuji sat in Megumi’s lap. Familiar arms hugged him close as Megumi fell over, laying them both in the sheets and pillows. He wouldn’t mind keeping this their little secret. “I’ll take it to my grave.” This secret along with all their other cringe moments.
“Not even Gojo sensei. If he finds out Sukuna has been trying to possess you, he will have to report it to the higher-ups.”
Yuji felt his bottom lip quiver. Wait, Megumi wasn’t talking about…?
“When you can’t protect yourself, run to me.” Megumi’s hold shifted to more of a spooning cuddle. His chin found its way to Yuji’s shoulder and his head tilted to softly bump him. “I’ll take care of you. No matter what has to be done.”
Of course! Around his friends, Yuji didn’t have to be just a vessel. He could be, “I really like playing video games. Even if that game, well, I can see how it’s an RPG dating sim.”
“And somehow, we still made it into a team game.” Megumi murmured, his breath puffing warmth against Yuji’s ear. “That should be a bonus achievement.”
The setting sun was visible through the window. Yuji felt its steaks being replaced with something much more sweet and comforting. He cuddled into Megumi’s embrace, letting sleep wash over him.