Chapter Text
Yuuji Itadori, at the tender age of seven, felt curiosity about everything around him. But among all the things that caught his attention, what stood out the most was the second drawer of the desk in his mother's office.
Kaori always kept it locked and never separated from the key. On more than one occasion, Yuuji had asked her about its contents, but his mother always just smiled strangely and said it was something she would give him when he was a little older.
He had tried to extract something from his father, but Jin also had no idea what was inside and had no desire to find out, unlike Yuuji.
This brought him to the current moment. His parents had gone out to dinner with a friend's parents, and they wouldn't be back until late. And his grandfather, who was supposed to be looking after him, was taking a nap, leaving the field open for the boy to try to open the mysterious drawer.
Yuuji tiptoed down the hallway, trying to make as little noise as possible. The only sound in the house was the snoring of Wasuke, his grandfather, who was sound asleep in his room. Yuuji stopped in front of the wooden door that led to his mother's office and opened it slowly. The door squeaked a bit, and the boy held his breath, nervous. But seconds passed, and his grandfather did not wake up.
"Thank goodness," thought the boy as he entered the room. He glanced at the door for a moment and, for a second, considered closing it. However, he risked it squeaking again, waking his grandfather, so he decided against it.
His eyes stopped at the desk, and the boy moved towards it. He circled the huge reddish-brown solid wood table and crouched a bit to reach the three black drawers on the left side.
He confirmed that only the middle one was locked. The child sighed and moved away a bit, disappointed.
"Now what?" he wondered aloud. Lacking a better idea, he opened the first drawer and began to rummage through all the papers Kaori had stored there. But there was nothing more. Feeling even more disappointed, Yuuji closed the drawer and prepared to open the third one. Inside, there was a stapler and a box of paperclips, as well as erasers and some pens. But what caught the boy's attention was the small silver key at the bottom on the right.
With not much hope, the boy took it and felt the cold touch of the metallic surface of the key. He carefully closed the third drawer and swallowed saliva as his eyes focused on the lock of the mysterious second drawer. His hand trembled slightly as he tried to insert the key, but eventually, he managed to do it without any problems.
"It fits perfectly", the boy murmured as he tried to turn it to the right to open, but upon encountering resistance, he tried turning to the left, and a slight click was heard, indicating that the drawer was open.
Excited, the boy forcefully opened the drawer, nearly dislodging it completely from its place. Yuuji had always been stronger than other kids his age, and there were times when he didn't measure his strength.
Inside the drawer, on the left side, almost hidden from view, was a small wooden box. Curious, Yuuji reached out and took it. He turned it to look at it from all angles, but saw nothing unusual.
"So much for a box?" he wondered, confused. Determined not to let his little adventure end in complete disappointment, he opened the object. "Maybe the important thing is what's inside," the boy thought, trying to cheer himself up.
Inside, wrapped in a strange paper full of symbols that Yuuji didn't understand, was an elongated object. Yuuji furrowed his brow, sat on the floor, and examined the strange object up close.
"Maybe it's a birthday gift or something," Yuuji thought as he began to carefully unwrap the paper. His face reflected confusion when, upon completely removing the wrapping, he saw a kind of dark red finger.
He examined it closely, intrigued, but it didn't seem like anything special.
"Yuuji?" he heard his grandfather's voice from the hallway.
The child paled, and hearing his grandfather's footsteps echoing down the hall, he did the first thing that came to his mind. He put the strange finger in his mouth and swallowed it.