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“I’m sorry… I ate it,” Itadori says, and at first Gojo doesn’t believe it.
“Really?” Gojo asks, which prompts a confirmation from both Megumi and Itadori.
Gojo feels him about to say, “Sorcerers don’t eat curses”, but he stops himself.
It had been a long time. It had felt like a long time. Ten years since a sorcerer had eaten curses. Almost a year since… Ah, there it is. That ache. He’d spent ten years feeling like he’d lost a limb, but this past year had been different. Empty. Gojo’s Six Eyes had always allowed him to know where Suguru was; even without them, Gojo knows that he can tell Suguru’s cursed energy, his essence, apart from anyone else's. The Six Eyes just helped. That wasn’t the case, anymore, though, because now they had nothing to find.
Learning that Itadori had consumed a curse—cursed object, Gojo kept correcting himself—had been a shock, but he hadn’t seen it for himself, so to speak. It was an aspect of the mission that was important, but the repercussions of said consumption took precedence; soon Gojo had plenty of other things to think about.
It wasn’t until later, the next day when Gojo accompanied Yuji to the crematorium, that it was brought back to the forefront of his mind.
“So, have you made up your mind?” Gojo asks, hoping Yuji decides to join them. He was strong, Gojo could tell, and had a lot of potential. Plus, Megumi had asked him to help Yuji, one of his rare requests. He hardly had any other option besides doing everything in his power to help Yuji.
Yuji looks over at him, and Gojo can see the resolve in his eyes. “Let’s do it.”
Yuji sticks his hand out, a silent beckoning to give him Sukuna’s finger, the second he would be consuming. Gojo tosses it over, and he is now front row to watch as Yuji opens wide, and swallows it down. He immediately gags, and then starts laughing. Gojo tenses, preparing himself in the event that Sukuna takes over, but then Yuji is laughing even harder. It’s still him, Gojo thinks, his whole body relaxing minutely.
“Ugh! It tastes so bad it’s funny!” Yuji says, rubbing his throat with his hands.
“What’s it taste like?” Saturo had asked, watching as Suguru consumed the grade 1 curse they’d just fought.
Suguru grimaced, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. “Sort of like… a rag that’s been used to clean up shit and vomit.”
The description made Saturo want to gag, and he frowned at the thought of Suguru having to taste that, over and over and over again. He had no idea it was that… awful.
“Come on,” Saturo had said back then, “let’s get something sweet, it’ll take the taste away.”
Suguru smiled at him, the smile he only ever gave to Saturo. “Good idea, Saturo.”
Something like grief passes through Gojo, the memory having come up easily, as if it happened the week before and not over a decade ago. I've been here before, Gojo thinks. Gojo had assumed another person with an ability anywhere close to Suguru’s technique wouldn't be born for another hundred years; no, if he was honest, he didn’t think anyone like Suguru would ever be born again. That was lightning striking twice. Suguru’s life was a singular event, and though Gojo doesn’t have regrets, he wishes that he had been allowed to see more of it. Or, that he hadn't had to have been the one to end it.
“Well, Yuji-kun,” He says instead, putting on a smile that he doesn’t have to worry about reaching his eyes. “There’s someone who’s been waiting on you, he’ll be happy to know you’re coming along. Maybe we can get something sweet on the way back.”
He watches as Yuji and Megumi bicker with a certain kind of fondness, but it’s also tinged with nostalgia; Gojo knows if he poked at it, he would tear open a bottomless void of someone’s missing. Suguru should be here, teaching Yuji how to get the taste out of his mouth, how to deal with sharing your body with a curse.
Suguru should be here.
Suguru should be here.
Suguru should be here.
But he isn’t, not anymore. Gojo focuses back on Megumi and Yuji, the future of jujutsu society. So bright, so full of life, so full of potential to change everything. He smiles.
“Right! Let’s get going, shall we?”