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Satozakura High School, 14th of October, 2018.
Yuuji slammed himself against the front doors of the school. “Ugh, damnit! Usually this works!” He kicked the concrete path in annoyance.
Fushiguro leaned in, his spiky black hair swaying in the slight breeze. Yuuji thought it was far too nice of a day to be stuck in a veil, busting through the back entrance of a high school. He could see the sun shining through the grey curtain above them. It was a lovely sunny day outside.
“Hey.” Fushiguro’s voice grabbed his attention again. “I think I figured out why Itadori’s plan didn’t work.” He pointed to a small, faded sticker near the handles that read “PULL DOOR” and tapped it lightly.
Kugisaki burst out laughing, grabbing Yuuji’s shoulder for stability. “Dude, are you kidding me? How did you miss that?”
Yuuji rolled his eyes and shrugged Kugisaki’s hand off. “Wasn’t looking. Also, for the record, kicking a door down looks way cooler than yanking it open, so we’re sacrificing some badass points here!”
He stepped forward and grabbed both handles, heaving with all his might. He heard a scraping, and then a metallic whine before the doors flew open, locks ripped clean off.
He turned to the other two first years. “See? Laaame!” He stuck his tongue out and pointed both thumbs solidly at the ground for emphasis.
This earned him a light conk on the head from Kugisaki. “Who cares? I just wanna get this over with! This place gives me the creeps when there’s no one around.”
Yuuji couldn’t help but silently agree. He had been feeling a sense of odd familiarity with this building, like he had been here before, but he couldn’t place it. The hallways only added more to that sense. Where have I seen this before?
They entered, and Fushiguro immediately entered his summoning stance. “Divine Dog: Totality!” The other two simply pulled out flashlights, not having any flashy moves like he did.
Fushiguro reached the end of the hallway first, and called out to the others. “Okay, there’s a light switch here. I’m going to flip it, so if anything goes wrong, we’ll know that’s the issue.”
Yuuji and Kugisaki gave quick signals of affirmation, and Fushiguro turned the lights on. Unfortunately, the light only lasted for about three seconds before the fluorescent rods switched off again. Another few toggles of the switch yielded nothing.
“Did the bulbs all burn out at the same time?” Yuuji wondered out loud.
“Maybe a cursed technique. They said we were dealing with a Grade 1, maybe it’s something to do with darkness?” mused Fushiguro.
Kugisaki snorted. “You guys are overthinking it. It probably just flipped the fuses off. Grade 1s are smart, remember?”
Yuuji scratched his head, embarrassed. “Oh. Yeah. That makes sense.”
“I suppose.” Fushiguro absentmindedly scratched the ears of his dog, Kuro. Or was it Shiro now? Or some combination of the two, since the dogs combined?
Kugisaki scoffed and beckoned them forward. “Come on, guys, let’s get a move on. If we finish this up within the next two hours, I can get over to the shopping malls and grab this one cute top I’ve had my eyes on!”
The three of them moved in silence through the first floor, stopping at the bottom of the stairs.
“I’m wondering about whether or not we should split up, since there’s at least three more floors based on the number of windows.” said Yuuji, looking at the stairs. He could almost remember it… was it a movie? A really sad one, I think. I remember not liking these stairs.
Fushiguro held his light up, inspecting the ceiling. “I’m also wondering about the decision to give us flashlights as opposed to headlamps, which would free up both hands.”
Yuuji chuckled, snapping out of his head again. “Clearly you’ve never watched X-Files, Fushiguro. Flashlights are way cooler!”
Kuro let out a quiet whine, and Fushiguro bent down to scratch under its chin before standing back up to meet Yuuji’s gaze. A slight reddish hue spread across his cheeks. “I mean… not really. I’ve been meaning to for a while, though… Maybe we could watch it together?”
Yuuji grinned at him as Kugisaki made a gagging motion behind him. “Maybe we could! I’d like that a lot, actually. There’s a lot of episodes, so it could take a while!”
Fushiguro had just opened his mouth to respond when the clacking sound of shoes on a linoleum floor came from upstairs.
“Shit, someone’s up there!” Kugisaki hissed, readying her hammer and pouch of nails.
“Hold on!” Fushiguro said, waving her and Yuuji both back. “I’ll send Divine Dog up, so if anything goes wrong it’ll signal us.”
The massive dog bounded up the stairs, turning the corner to head up to the second floor.
Yuuji took this time to survey his surroundings. He had several ideas as to where this might be, especially with this grey, muted light streaming through the windows. Is it the school from that one scene in Human Earthworm? Or maybe the school I took a tour of when I moved here first? Or… God, no. Please don’t let it be that. He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, and felt a chill run down his spine. He really hoped they weren’t where he thought they might be.
After a half minute of faint sniffing and claws clicking against the floor, Fushiguro’s dog returned, completely unscathed. It came to a stop on the fourth step from the floor, fixing its eyes on a point behind Yuuji and barking. The three first-years whirled around, assuming combat stances, and were met with a row of windows filtering dull sunlight into the hallways, nothing more.
“Well, I think that means it’s safe to go upstairs.” said Kugisaki, clearly trying to cut the tension. She darted up the steps. “See you losers in Harajuku after I deal with this curse!”
Yuuji quickly followed her up, with Fushiguro behind him. The second floor looked much the same as the first, same rows of lockers on the same long hallway with the same shut classroom doors. The residual cursed energy was much stronger here, though, and seemed to lead directly up the stairs, to the third floor.
As he prepared to follow the tracks, Fushiguro stopped him. “Wait! Listen. Something’s definitely up there. It’s saying something.”
Yuuji listened closely, and was able to pick up a voice. He made out a word, repeated over and over again. “Why?”
His heart sank. That voice… No. No. Nonononononononononono. Please, anything but this.
Kugisaki noticed his despair first. “Hey, Itadori… you okay? Everything alright?” she said, showing a surprising amount of genuine concern for him.
He shook the feeling off. It can’t be him. That wouldn’t be possible.
Fushiguro placed a hand on his shoulder. “If you need, you can go outside and let us take care of this. We’ll be alright, okay?”
Yuuji shook his head. “No. I can handle this. It’s fine.” He slowly made his way up the stairs, careful to make as little noise as possible.
The sight of the third floor almost sent him to his knees. This was exactly where it had happened. That window, the one with the newer looking pane… I punched him through that when he was trying to kill me. That spot on the floor there, that was where he cried his eyes out and I told him he would be safe with me. That dent in the wall… from when Mahito pinned me up there and made me watch him die.
He took a shaky breath. I can do this. It won’t be that bad. He looked around at the rest of the visible hallway, and immediately saw how much worse it could get.
The figure of a thin, wiry boy, maybe a year or two older than the first-years, paced in the hallway, its back currently to them. It had either dark brown ot black hair, as it was hard to tell with the lighting, that came down to cover the neck area. Its hands were shoved into the pockets of its black jacket. It repeated, over and over, one simple phrase. “Yuuji… why?”
If Yuuji’s heart had sunk before, now it was in the Mariana Trench. His breath caught in his throat.
No. No no no no no no no no no no no no. Why? Why did it have to be this?
He stood there, frozen in place. Fushiguro lightly laid a hand on his shoulder again. “Itadori, are you okay? Seriously?”
The curse—because until it was one hundred percent proven otherwise, it was just a curse—turned its head, leveling its cyclopean stare directly at the three of them. Its one visible piercing green eye widened and locked onto him.
“…Yuuji?”
Yuuji blanched. He felt rooted to the ground, unable to move an inch. Fushiguro was shaking his shoulder harder, frantic now.
“Itadori, why does this thing know your name? What aren’t you telling us?” He heard real fear in Fushiguro’s voice, and still he could not muster the energy to move.
“Yuuji… is that you?” the curse asked, and began to walk towards them.
Just move. Run. Damnit, do something!
“Alright, we’re leaving!” Kugisaki yelled, grabbing both of the boys’ collars and yanking them back down the stairs. Yuuji’s feet bumped against each step as he was dragged backwards down to the second floor.
Once they were solidly off the steps, Kugisaki didn’t stop. She sprinted down the hallway, still clutching their collars. “New plan! Itadori tells us what the fuck he knows, and we all listen to him and figure out what to do from there, okay?” she snapped at them as she rounded a corner and finally dropped them both.
Yuuji fell to his knees, his breath shaky. He trained his vision on the floor, not wanting to meet their gazes. “Okay… so, you guys remember how I died, right?”
“No, why would we ever remember that?” said Fushiguro, voice dripping with enough sarcasm to drown a man.
Kugisaki flicked his arm. “Shut up. Continue, please.”
“Okay, so… I was sent on a mission to investigate the mutilated corpses at the Kinema Cinema with Nanamin- I mean, Nanami, and when we checked the security footage, we saw someone running out of the theater. So Nanamin sent me to investigate, and I ended up meeting him.
“We had… a really nice day together. We had a lot in common, actually. We both liked the same movies, we were both only children who never had much of a connection to our extended families, we were both latchkey kids, all that. His mom… died, and he was convinced someone at his school did it, so he went to find him.
“We, um… we fought over whether or not it was right to kill for personal vendettas… and eventually he ended up breaking down and crying, and I promised him I would take him to Jujutsu Tech… and then this curse showed up, acting like his friend… and like, transfigured him into some kind of curse thing, but like, a different thing than that one up there, and I had to kill him. His… his last words were ‘Yuuji… why?’”
Yuuji looked up at the other two, who were in positions of shock. Kugisaki was leaning her forehead against the wall, and Fushiguro had a hand solidly over his mouth.
“Wow, that’s… awful.” Kugisaki said, with none of her usual enthusiasm or spark.
“I’m so sorry that happened, Itadori. I really am.” Fushiguro extended a hand, and helped him up to his feet.
“It’s okay! Can’t change the past, right?” Yuuji grinned, trying to show them that he was alright. It didn’t seem to work.
“You sure you’re alright? I mean, he seemed to think you were close. That desperation in his voice… and did he call you by your first name just now? You said you only spent a day together!” exclaimed Kugisaki, which elicited a sharp inhale from Fushiguro, for reasons Yuuji couldn’t quite understand.
“I- I mean, it was really more like a day and a half… and I really didn’t have any other friends, you know… being dead and all. I called him by his first name, too.”
“Which was…?” Fushiguro pressed.
Yuuji took a deep breath. “…Junpei. His name was Yoshino Junpei.” His fingernails dug into his palms.
As if on cue, a voice echoed down the hallway. His voice. “Yuuji… where are you? I know I saw you! I thought you were my friend, Yuuji!” He sounded like he was angry. Like he was crying.
“Shit. Do we have to fight him? It feels, like, wrong.” asked Kugisaki.
“I really hope not…” said Yuuji, steeling his resolve in case it did come to blows.
Fushiguro’s Divine Dog readied at his side, while he went through some complicated hand gestures. “Itadori, do you know what his cursed technique is?”
“Jellyfish. He summoned a giant jellyfish. It made poison and had these huge stingers. It also worked really well as a shield. I don’t know if he could do any more, that’s all I saw.”
“Great. Thank you, Itadori. That’s just what I needed.” Fushiguro stretched his hands out, flexing his fingers.
The footsteps and the voice got closer and closer. “Yuuji? Yuuji, please…”
Yuuji tried to swallow the lump in his throat. I have to do this. I have my friends here, we can do this together.
Fushiguro flexed his hands again, and called his dog to his side. Kugisaki opened her pouch and readied three nails between her fingers, hammer primed to swing.
As the figure rounded the corner, the three sprung their attack. Kugisaki began with a volley of cursed energy-charged nails, driving all three down the hallway with one solid hammer swing. Yuuji quickly followed, running in to begin an onslaught of blows. Divine Dog ran at his side, snarling, while Fushiguro summoned another shikigami behind him.
“Toad!” he heard Fushiguro yell out, and a long, pink tongue shot out to ensnare the curse.
This plan was working perfectly, up until the thought of ‘this plan is working perfectly!’ entered Yuuji’s mind. Everything crumbled after that.
The curse broke free of its bonds, and dodged the nails, which sailed directly out of a window. No moves were made by the curse for a moment, as if it was waiting for something.
Once Fushiguro and Kugisaki went in for close-range combat, things got worse. The curse put its palms together out flat, right over left, fingertips touching. It rotated its hands so that its thumbs touched its pinky fingertips.
Then, a set of words came from its mouth, in a voice that broke Yuuji’s soul just a bit more than if they had been said by anyone else.
“Domain Expansion: Toxic Crushing Solitude.”
As soon as the invocation was uttered, a deep black barrier materialized around the four of them. Once it had fully formed, Yuuji looked around to examine the exact extent of the curse’s ability.
As far as he could see, they were in some kind of bubble of air under the ocean. A deep blue abyss surrounded them, and looking upwards, there was the tiniest hint of sunlight.
“Shit! Not good, not good a-”
Whatever Kugisaki was trying to say was quickly cut off, and Yuuji spun around, wrenching his feet out of the water they were beginning to sink in to see a swarm of small glowing blue jellyfish encircling his classmates. Moon Dregs, he realized.
He charged towards the bloom of jellyfish, and swung his fists wildly to disperse them. As the school dispersed, he saw his classmates lying motionless, starting to sink into the waters below them.
“No, no, no!” Yuuji took a knee, grabbing Fushiguro and shaking him. There was no response from him, and Kugisaki looked to be the same. Divine Dog and Toad were dispersing into shadows, which could either be a good sign or a very, very, very bad sign.
He turned to Junpei, because as much as he tried to hide it from himself, this was Junpei, not just a curse. This was him, whether Yuuji wanted to admit it or not.
“What did you do to them?” he asked, barely containing his dread.
Junpei’s visible eye widened, and in the dim light of his domain, Yuuji could see him frantically holding his hands out in front of him, as if to try and defuse the situation. As if this was just a petty argument.
“Please, please, please, please don’t be mad! I- I didn’t do anything bad to them, just paralysis. They’ll be fine. They’re your friends, right? The ones you told me about?”
Yuuji nodded slowly, unsure of what exactly Junpei wanted. He got to his feet and took a few shaky steps toward the boy.
“I’ve… been wanting to talk to you.” said Junpei.
“I can tell,” Yuuji replied, though it came out a bit colder than he intended.
Junpei sighed, and dismissed his domain. In the grey light of the veil, this close, it was easier to see how much he had changed since the last time Yuuji had seen him.
His skin was the same it had been when Mahito transfigured him, rubbery and bluish, and the fabric of the back of his jacket was shifting as if there was something under it. He looked gaunt, emaciated even. His one visible eye was sunken, and his hair, which he still wore over the other half of his face, was greasy and matted. Despite all of this, it was still undeniably him. The boy Yuuji had fallen in love with.
“Can we go somewhere? I’d prefer to have a little privacy, and your friends are… right there.” Junpei seemed nervous about asking this.
“Give me a minute, then. I’ll be right back,” Yuuji said, scooping Fushiguro up with one arm and draping Kugisaki over his shoulder. He made his way down the stairs and out of the doorway he had broken open, dashing over to the black sedan parked just outside of the veil. He knocked on the passenger window.
The tinted pane rolled down, revealing a very stressed looking man wearing a pressed black suit in the driver’s seat.
“Ah! I-Itadori! Is everything alright? Did you exorcise the curse?”
Yuuji sighed. “No, not yet, Ijichi. These two got paralyzed. I need you to take care of them, make sure they’re alright. If either of them wakes up, tell them I told you they should stay here. I can handle this myself.”
Ijichi nodded. “If you say so.”
He stepped out of the car and walked around the side to open the back door, motioning for Yuuji to place the other first-years in the seats. Yuuji slung Kugisaki off his shoulder and gently laid her into the car. Fushiguro grunted softly and weakly twitched his arm as Yuuji carefully placed him in the backseat.
“It’s alright, Fushiguro. I’ll be fine,” Yuuji assured him. “I know what I’m doing.”
He sprinted back into the building, mentally preparing himself for a very difficult conversation.
Junpei was waiting for him right where he had left him.
“Come with me, Yuuji. I want to show you something.” he said, before walking up the stairs and out of sight.
Yuuji followed him up, and caught a glimpse of something glowing and blue under Junpei’s jacket. He shuddered to think of what he had become.
Junpei quickly passed the third floor stairwell, which Yuuji appreciated. If I had to spend any more time seeing that place—remembering what happened—I would probably just break down. Completely.
He didn’t stop at the fourth floor, either, and instead continued up to the entrance to the roof. “Here, let me get the door.” Junpei said, before forcing it open with a swift kick.
He walked out into the sunlight, which, through the veil, almost appeared like midnight during a full moon.
Yuuji followed him out, and leaned on the railing next to him as they neared the edge of the building. The school had a large athletic field, much like the one at West Junior High. That was neat.
“You know, I used to come up here,” Junpei said. “When I was in school. It was sort of a safe space. Until Itou and his cronies found out.”
“Oh, that sucks. I’m really sorry.”
“Yeah. It’s okay.”
After about a minute of silence, Yuuji snapped out of his thoughts and back to the present. “…So,” he said, looking over at Junpei.
“So.” Junpei replied, meeting his gaze.
“Um… how have you been?”
“It’s been… interesting, to say the least.” Junpei scratched his neck. Yuuji noticed his voice was slightly off, with the distorted warble that curses usually had to it. His gut twisted slightly.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. I, um, came back? I guess? Two days ago. I think.”
Yuuji perked up. “What was it like? Coming back, I mean.”
“Well…” Junpei stared back out at the lawn. “It was weird. One second I was nothing. Just sorta… floating in a void of nothingness, no thoughts, no consciousness, no feelings… just nothing. Then, I’m back here. In school. Like this.”
“Wow. Weird. So, you didn’t like, return to your body or whatever?”
“No. I think I just… manifested this new one out of… cursed energy. Why do I remember what that is off the top of my head?”
Yuuji shrugged. “I can’t begin to explain half this stuff. I still don’t get most of it myself.”
Junpei raised a hand up to his face and ran it through his hair. “It’s… really weird. It’s honestly not much different from being a human, but… it sorta feels different, you know? Just… the feeling.”
“What feeling?”
“I don’t know. Everything just feels… worse. Like, I’m way angrier and sadder all the time. And it kinda hurts. Just a little bit, everywhere.”
Yuuji felt the lump in his throat getting larger and harder to ignore. “I’m… I’m so sorry, Junpei.”
“Yeah. Thanks. What’s really worse is that… it doesn’t always feel like this. I can make all those feelings, all that pain, go away.”
“How?”
“By killing.”
Yuuji blanched. He knew Junpei had wanted to kill his bullies, and that he had come close at the school before. Yuuji had been the one to stop that. He just never expected that Junpei would actually go through with it. “You didn’t.”
“Yeah. I killed Itou. And Tsubasa. It made the bad feelings, all that pain and anger and sadness go away for a little. But I still just felt… empty. Like deep down I knew I shouldn’t have done that.” He raked his fingers across his scalp and through his hair.
“We can… we can work on that. You can still come to Jujutsu Tech, Junpei. We can help you.”
Junpei let out a chuckle, giggling a bit longer than Yuuji would have liked before turning to face him. “Oh, you’re actually serious. Do you hear yourself? I’m a curse now. Even if I can control the pain so that I don’t have to hurt anyone, good luck getting everyone else on board with this idea. You said your teacher was the strongest sorcerer ever, right? What do you think his first response is going to be when he sees one of his students walk in with this horrifying mess?” He backed away from the railing, gesturing to himself.
“I- Junpei, we can… we can think of something, okay? Please…” Yuuji was practically begging now, and his vision was beginning to blur.
“No. Yuuji, listen to me. You have to kill me.” Junpei said, in a tone far too calm.
“…What?”
“You heard me. I want you to kill me. You’re a jujutsu sorcerer, right? Your job is to exorcise curses. Well, I’m a curse now. So… do it. Exorcise me.”
“Junpei, please… don’t do this to me. I can’t do it. Not again.”
Junpei took a few more steps toward Yuuji, grabbing his collar. “Yuuji. Look at me. Look at what I am now.” He flipped his bangs up, revealing his other eye, and his damaged forehead.
Yuuji had seen Junpei’s scars once before. After the dinner they had had together, Junpei suggested watching a movie. Yuuji had thrown out the idea of Aliens, and once they were settled on the couch, everything went great. Until the moment the titular aliens revealed themselves. Junpei had been nodding off a bit, and his head had come to rest on Yuuji’s shoulder more than once, which was adorable. So naturally, the loud sounds of the film startled him awake, and the jostling caused his hair to fall away from his eyes. It was only a second, but Yuuji caught a good glimpse at several round burn scars. He’d been in a bit of a funk the rest of the night, but tried not to show it. Who would do something like that to such a sweet boy?
Now he could see the scars up close. There were nine of them, clustered up above his left eye. They were small, but heavily discolored, especially against the blue tones of his skin now. What was worse was what came next. The scars opened. Not like wounds, but like eyelids.
Eleven brilliant green eyes now stared at Yuuji, pleading with him wordlessly to shut them forever.
“Junpei… I can’t. I can’t do this. Not again. Never.”
“God damnit, Yuuji! I want you to be the one to do
this! You need to be the one!”
“Fuck, Junpei, why does it have to be me? Why can’t anyone else do this? Why?”
Junpei sighed, and loosened his grip on his uniform. “Because I know you’ll make it quick. I know you’ll make me feel as little pain as possible. And because… it’s like you said, right? You wanted to be surrounded by everyone who loved you when you died, right? Well, so do I. And they’re all here right now.”
Yuuji choked up. “I really can’t do this. Like, I physically can’t.”
“Fucking hell, Yuuji, why not?”
“Because I love you. I can’t bear to see you hurt. I just want to be happy with you. I love you, Junpei.”
Junpei sighed again, but it was much shakier this time.
“I wish you didn’t.”
Yuuji felt like the floor under him had given out, like his heart was twisting itself apart, like every bone in his body was shattering.
“…What?”
“I said… I wish you didn’t love me. This makes everything so much harder.” Junpei was shaking now.
“Do you… not feel the same?”
“No, the problem is… I do. And I wish I didn’t, I really do. I really wish I could just hate you and have it be that simple.”
“But why? Why do you feel like this?” Yuuji felt his cheeks growing warmer, hot tears trickling down.
“Because you weren’t there for me when I needed it most. You didn’t fight Mahito hard enough. You could’ve saved me. And you didn’t. It’s your fault I died. It’s your fault I’m like this.”
Every wound Yuuji had healed over the last month or so suddenly reopened. He fell to his knees, sobbing.
“You don’t mean that… you can’t mean that. Please, tell me you don’t mean that. I tried so hard. I did everything I could. I took your body to everyone that might have had a chance of saving you. I did everything. I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay. I’ve done everything I can now. I made my peace. I killed my bullies. I would’ve liked to kill Mahito, too, but every time I try to leave here, I just get pulled right back. Like I’m bound to here. I just want to see my mom again, Yuuji. I wanna see her. Please, just let me go to her, okay?”
Yuuji looked up, tears streaking his face. He saw Junpei, who was also crying. It was a bit disturbing, as all 9 of his scar-eyes were crying too. He looked almost exactly like he did that day in the third-floor stairwell. Just a scared, sad little kid.
————
Nobara awoke in the backseat of Ijichi’s car. She looked over to see Fushiguro, who also seemed to be recovering from the effects of paralysis. She stretched her arms out as far as she could with the seat in front of her, and yawned.
“God, what happened?” She asked, to nobody in particular.
“Itadori said you had been paralyzed.” said Ijichi from the front seat. “He asked me to watch over you to ensure your condition didn’t worsen.”
“Well, we’re better now! Let’s go help him!” She grabbed at the door handle and pulled it. The door didn’t budge.
“Ijichi, you need to unlock the doors.” Fushiguro said from his side of the vehicle.
“I’m afraid I can’t do that. Itadori was very clear with his instructions. He said he wanted to handle this alone.”
“Ijichi, please! That’s our friend in there dealing with a Grade 1 curse by himself!” Fushiguro was pleading now, desperate. He and Nobara were both desperately fumbling with the locks on the doors.
“I’m so sorry, Fushiguro, but I cannot allow you to leave. I have the utmost faith in Itadori. He would not give me this task if he didn’t think he could do it.”
“God da- oh, wait! There he is!”
Nobara craned her neck to see what Fushiguro was talking about, and sure enough, there was Itadori, walking across the field and towards the car. He was moving slower than usual, but she was sure he was fine. Itadori was the strongest physically of all of them. Nobara was pretty sure he had gotten his strength in exchange for his brain.
He got closer, and Nobara could see the state of him. The front of his uniform was splattered with purple, as were his face, hands, and strangely, a large patch on his shoulder. His face was horrible to look at, contorted by sadness and soaked with tears and blood. His shoulders sagged and shook.
“I, um, I’ll take shotgun, if that’s alright. I think he needs some space.” Nobara suggested, and slowly got out of the car to move into the passenger seat.
She held the back door open for Itadori to collapse into before sliding into her seat and buckling up. She adjusted the mirror to see what was happening in the back seat, and she caught a glimpse of Itadori in Fushiguro’s arms, wailing and rocking back and forth, before Ijichi moved the mirror back wordlessly.
“Are we all ready to go?” he asked.
Itadori managed a weak “Yeah” at the same time as Fushiguro nodded in confirmation.
Ijichi started the car, and the radio turned on, blaring some overplayed “sad” pop song Nobara had heard a thousand times before.
Nobara reached out and turned the volume down almost all the way. Itadori deserved some quiet.
She craned her neck back to see how he was doing. His head was on Fushiguro’s shoulder now, and she couldn’t help but notice it was positioned in a similar way to the purple bloodstain on his shoulder. Her gut wrenched.
Fushiguro was saying something to him. She was able to make out “Hey. If it’s any consolation, Gojo told me once that when sorcerers become curses, usually they stop being able to think straight, since their body is constructed from cursed energy, and by extension, negative emotions. They aren’t typically in their right minds.”
She felt as though she was interrupting something private. She turned back to face the road, and reached back to put a reassuring hand on Itadori’s knee. He would talk to her when he felt ready. Until then, all she could do would be to continue living like she had been.
Rays of daylight shone down, magnified by the windshield. Nobara shielded her eyes, and flipped the sun visor down. The blue, cloudless sky and the bright, vibrant sun contrasted horribly with Itadori’s violent bawling. It was a terrible sunny day outside.