Chapter Text
The first thing Suguru became aware of was that something was forcing him to breathe. The second was the sound of a heart monitor. He brought his hand up, only to freeze. Wait. He had a right arm. But hadn't Yuta Okkotsu blown it off? Hadn't Satoru...killed him? What was happening?!
He completed the motion to grab the breathing mask over his nose and mouth, fumbling blindly as he tried to figure out how to get it off before he realized that what was holding it in place was the fact it was attached to a breathing tube, and that was the weird sensation in his throat. He gagged a bit as he pulled it free and rolled onto his side, coughing. The heartrate monitor started to beep more quickly as he moved to sit up, finally daring to open his eyes.
It appeared to be a hospital room at first glance, but upon a second look, he realized he was just in the corner nearest the door in the school infirmary. Why was he here, how was he alive? Lifting both hands, he stared at them. He knew Yuta had blown his right arm off, he remembered clutching the seared stump!
Well first things first; assess the situation. He was on a gurney bed, he had an IV in each arm, and....a feeding tube going through his belly button. There was a clip on his right index finger leading to the heart monitor.
He touched the feeding tube curiously. Had he been in a coma? That would make some kind of sense considering he was completely healed, though he couldn't understand why Shoko would have bothered. The most surprising part next to being alive though was that he wasn't in any way restrained, which given that he was a curse user, even one who had tried to kill a boy with an execution order on him, was something of a shock.
Either way, he had to get out of there before anyone came to check on him. But of course just as he was having that thought, the door opened and a woman stepped in. She froze for a beat when she saw him before hurrying over. It was only when she got closer that he realized it was Shoko.
"Well now, aren't you a surprise." She drawled, and smacked a palm into his forehead. "So, who are you?"
"Huh....? Suguru Geto." He stated, brow furrowing before he wondered if she was checking if he had amnesia, in which case answering honestly might have been a bad idea.
"Hm....so you say." She considered him, then started peeling something off his head--bandages, he realized. "Well alright....that appears to have healed up well, so maybe you are somehow Suguru Geto."
He pursed his lips, baffled enough that all thoughts of escape had fled for the moment.
".....How long have I been unconscious?" He asked tentatively.
"It's been a couple of weeks, I believe." Shoko picked at her lip pensively. "It's been hard to tell exactly with what's been going on."
"What's going on?"
"Say Geto, what's the last thing you remember?"
"The last thing...? Dying, of course." He swallowed.
"Okay. When do you remember dying?"
".....What?" He frowned at her. "What do you mean 'when'?"
She gave a heavy sigh. "Let's try this...what's the date?"
He gave her a confused look. ".....Well, if it's been a couple weeks, then....January 7'th?"
Shoko smiled faintly. "......It's November 8'th, 2018."
Suguru stared at her. "......Shoko. That's significantly more than 'a couple of weeks'."
"It would be if we were talking about when you did your Night March of a Hundred Demons, but not if we're talking about the last time your body was alive." She seemed to be enjoying this and smiled at him crookedly while he stared back at her with shock and dawning horror.
".....What?"
"You've died twice to Yuta Okkotsu, Geto. Just that the second time it wasn't you in the body."
Suguru decided not to argue the fact that it had actually been Satoru who had killed him, which made him come to a sobering conclusion.
"I guess Satoru is going to be coming to kill me again, isn't he."
Shoko's lips twitched. "No. I don't think you need to worry about that."
Her tone made him wary. ".....Why is that?"
She turned away to grab some sterile gloves. "Because he's been sealed in the Prison Realm, and we don't currently know where it is."
------
The situation came out while Shoko was giving him a checkup, removing the IV's and gastrointestinal feeding tube. It had all begun when Satoru had failed to dispose of Suguru's body properly, and at some point his corpse ended up possessed. This individual had gone on to assault Shibuya on Halloween with the assistance of curse users and several curses, some of which were special grade which had apparently shown a true self-awareness.
Satoru was sealed in the Prison Realm during this and if a student from Kyoto calling himself Mechamaru hadn't had a contingency in event of his own death to call Yuta back to Japan immediately the situation likely would have been much much worse than it had been, though he still hadn't arrived in time to stop the sealing of Gojo, or the deaths of several sorcerers and scores of non-sorcerers.
Yuta's arrival didn't initially change the tides much until he discovered 'Suguru' and did battle with him, in the end managing to kill him and use Rika to put his body in stasis to keep any remaining curses from being released. At the same time, it was discovered he did not possess the Prison Realm, so he had likely entrusted it previously to an ally.
Suguru's body was then transported to a secure location. Despite this, when Shoko arrived several hours later to see to the body to remove it from stasis and put it on life support until he could be killed fully somewhere safe to release curses, it was discovered that Suguru's brain was missing. Shoko had sewn his skullcap back on anyway and continued with the life support plan.
The time since then had been clean up and damage control mostly, as well as trying to figure out where and how the enemy had escaped when they'd thought he had died, and dealing with the aftermath of Satoru being declared an accomplice to the ‘Shibuya Incident'.
"I'm really curious how you managed to regrow your brain, though considering the current situation, this may be a blessing in disguise." She concluded before arching her brows at him. "Provided you're going to behave yourself and swear off your murderous ways."
"You always had such a way with words." Suguru remarked dryly. "I don't know how I regrew my brain. This is as much a mystery to me as it is to you. As for my 'murderous ways'...." He tilted his head slightly. "I have more important concerns than killing non-sorcerers. I assume you want me to help find the Prison Realm?"
"While it's not really my decision, that's why I'm choosing to help you." She pursed her lips. "Whatever's coming, we'll need Gojo....and until we have him, we'll need you."
"You make it sound like you intend to dispose of me once Satoru is rescued."
Shoko gave him a look and snapped the wrist of her glove. "That will be up to Gojo." She turned away to throw them out.
Suguru stared at her for several moments before he smiled crookedly. "....Fair enough, I suppose." He murmured. "Shoko. You said the curse user had several curse users with him who were killed. Were any of them identified?"
She looked over at him. "I have some of their bodies in storage if you want to take a look."
".....I think I would, yes."
She pointed to a cabinet. "Your clothes are in there. Get dressed and meet me in the hallway." She then swept out of the room, leaving Suguru to walk over on unsteady feet to pull out his clothing and make his clumsy body work to dress himself, a bit surprised to find out it was indeed ‘his clothes'. Why had the fake kept the gojo-kesa? Well, that wasn't worth worrying about right then. At least it was familiar.
------
Every drawer that Shoko opened had him tense until the body bag was opened and he was presented with the remains of someone unfamiliar. But if no one was anyone he knew, then surely that meant his 'family' was still safe, right?
"This one is the most perplexing." She intoned as she came to one on the end. "There were apparently signs that there had been combat nearby, but not that this individual had been involved in it." She opened the drawer and unzipped the bag, and Suguru felt his heart drop into his feet as his worst nightmare came true all at once.
"No..." He whispered, eyes widening as he reached forward, his hands shaking. "No....no no....Mimiko, no...."
She was missing her head, but her uniform was unmistakable. He touched it lightly. "Mimiko..."
"For what it's worth, I'm sorry." Shoko murmured.
He closed his eyes and bowed his head, gritting his teeth as the tears fell, deaf to Shoko's words. His curses bubbled under his skin, but he held those back, if only barely. He didn't need to see Nanako's body to know she would have died with her sister. Not them! Not them! The one who'd been puppeting his body was their murderer, he knew it had to be true. He brought his hands up to his face, trembling with fury and grief. He was going to kill him!
He didn't notice Shoko dial a number, didn't hear her walk away as she quietly spoke to someone on the other end. He barely registered when hands gripped his arms and manhandled him into standing, didn't resist when his arms were pulled behind his back, and seals were put on him. He just walked unseeing where he was steered and hung his head when he was seated in the sealing room, tied up and left there. He remained like that for he didn't even know how long before someone else entered and spoke to him, giving him a sharp slap across the face when he didn't respond.
Slowly he lifted his head to find himself faced with Kyoto's Jujutsu High Principal Gakuganji and Utahime, who was shaking out her hand and staring at him with a guarded expression.
Suguru slowly narrowed his eyes and tested his bonds, though he wasn't surprised to find that he couldn't even budge them. "What's this then?" He asked. "Are you going to kill me when I've only just come back to life?" So much for helping find and free Satoru. He was pretty sure he wouldn't be able to come back a second time.
"That depends." Gakuganji replied, arms tucked behind his back as he regarded him. "I'm told a parasitic curse user was using your body as his vessel, and not to expect you to know what happened a month ago, but I remain unconvinced."
Suguru pursed his lips with a frown. "Well I can't do much about that." He tilted his head slightly. He didn't know if Gakuganji was one of the higher ups or not, but he did know the old man was allied with them. That meant he couldn't be trusted. "I won't be able to tell you anything about the last year, let alone last month. Last thing I remember is dying at Satoru's hands, and then I woke up on life support today."
Utahime looked at Gakuganji, her hands pressed together as her only sign of nervousness with her otherwise calm facade.
Suguru leaned as far forward as his restraints allowed as the silence continued to stretch. "Does it really matter if I'm who I say I am or not? Either way I'm a curse user, right?" His eyes narrowed slightly. "Though the fact I was dragged here instead of somewhere else....are you hoping this room will contain the deluge of curses inside of me when you kill me?" He tilted his head, and his expression became shrewd. "Or is it because I'm more useful to you alive...?"
Gakuganji stared back at him in stoic silence for several moments before speaking. "You are alive at the moment because we want to know who your allies were. If you give their names, perhaps we can work out an arrangement."
"My allies? The ones from the Night Parade, or do you mean most recently?" He strained against the ropes holding him, and tried not to show his surprise when he felt one of the rings give slightly. "Because if it's from Shibuya, I can't tell you because I was dead!"
"As I said; I remain unconvinced of that." Gakuganji stated. "Satoru Gojo and you were allied a year ago, and now he is accused of having aided you in Shibuya."
"Gojo." Suguru purposefully used his last name, curling his lip slightly. "Yeah. I protected him last year when he nearly died to White Widow, and how did he repay me? He killed me. Putting aside that you're full of shit about him willingly helping with whatever went down in Shibuya, I'm no ally of his." He shook his head, but bit back more words that might give away just how much he actually still cared about Satoru.
He strained again, feeling the loosened ring give a little more. "Listen to me, Gakuganji. There were two girls at Shibuya, about sixteen by now. I raised those girls since they were five. They were like daughters to me, and whoever was using my body got them killed, or killed them himself. I want revenge. I don't know who was working for him, but I'm...I'm begging you for the chance to find out. Bind me to a Vow. Kill me when this is all done. I don't care. Just let me avenge those girls."
Gakuganji seemed to bristle slightly, but it was Utahime who spoke. "You are in no position to be making–"
"I'll take his Vow."
Gakuganji straightened and Utahime drew in her breath sharply, turning her head as Yuta stepped into the room. Suguru straightened up as well to appraise the youth. Dark eyes stared back at him impassively. There was no emotion in that gaze, just resolution. He had changed a lot in one year, it appeared. He carried himself with a confidence he had previously lacked, and as Utahime opened her mouth to speak before glancing at Gakuganji and seeming to think better of it, the teen had already shut the door behind himself and made his way over, staring at Suguru as if he was trying to figure out if he was worth his time to even talk to.
It was an effort for Suguru not to sneer in return, not to bristle that this child might seek to pass judgment on him. But here was also his potentially best chance to avenge Nanako and Mimiko, so he just stared back at him.
"And what would you make him Vow, young man?" Gakuganji asked after a moment, sounding merely curious.
Yuta's gaze shifted to Gakuganji. "I would forbid him from using any of his martial skills or cursed abilities unless it was against curses or curse users." He turned his head slightly to side eye Suguru. "With the condition that upon breaking the Binding Vow, he experiences excruciating pain."
Utahime's brows shot up in undisguised surprise, and even Gakuganji seemed a touch taken aback. Suguru snorted softly and bowed his head, quickly considering his options. Utahime and Gakuganji would be easy to take out quickly even without access to his curses, but Yuta was a bit more of an unknown.
While he was confident that a year ago he could have taken the boy out in any situation he was unable to use Rika, now he wasn't quite so sure. The way Yuta carried himself now, the easy arrogance of a special grade…it was entirely possible he had an unexpected ace up his sleeve. But it was equally true that Suguru couldn't let himself be bound to such a vow.
He tensed abruptly and yanked upward with all his might. One of the rings remained firmly planted, but the other ripped free. It was enough, and with his legs unbound, he kicked out at Gakuganji–and found his strike blocked by a sheathed katana.
Unbalanced by his thwarted attack, Suguru fell over when the chair tipped, grunting when his shoulder slammed into the floor. He tried to recover, but before he could, agony ripped through his other arm, and he found himself pinned to the floor by Yuta's katana through his forearm and the floor beneath.
"Gakuganji-kocho?" Yuta questioned calmly while Suguru grit his teeth, trying to assess the damage and whether it was worth it to try to free himself. "May I bind him to the Vow?"
"Hm." Gakuganji eyed Suguru for a moment, then looked back at Yuta and stroked his beard. "With the addition that he is forbidden to attempt to free Satoru Gojo."
Yuta let out the softest huff of a laugh. "I think Gojo would just kill him again if he did that."
He knelt to meet Suguru's angry and defiant gaze, then reached out to nick his thumb on his own katana and pressed it against the slowly oozing wound where he had impaled Suguru. "I bind you, Suguru Geto. You are forbidden from using your martial skills or–"
"Damn you, Okkotsu." Suguru snarled.
"cursed abilities unless it's against curses or curse users. You are also forbidden from making any attempt to free Satoru Gojo. If you break this Vow, your body will turn against you and cause agonizing suffering."
"Sadist." Suguru gritted his teeth when Yuta stood up and yanked his katana free, giving it a single firm shake to remove the blood before cutting the ropes holding him down and stepping back to let him stand up.
Suguru got to his feet slowly, wrapping his sleeve around his injury to soak up the blood and try to slow the bleeding, his expression dark. Utahime looked uneasy, her gaze sliding away from him as she drew into herself in discomfort. Gakuganji and Yuta on the other hand, remained unscrutable.
After a few moments of letting him glare, Yuta tilted his head to meet his gaze. "You're bleeding pretty heavily. We should see you healed in case I nicked an artery." He turned to leave the room, leaving Suguru to follow.
They traveled down the hallway in silence at first, Suguru glaring at the younger man's back. At a turn in the hallway however, Yuta stopped just as they turned down it to step back around him and check back the way they'd come. Satisfied that they were alone in the hallway, he turned to Suguru, lifting his hand. Suguru felt the RCT flow over him, stopping the bleeding and sealing the wound.
".....I thought you were going to make Shoko heal me." He admitted, flexing his hand.
"With the enemy being so uncertain, I think everyone would prefer Ieiri-san conserve her strength." Yuta replied, turning away to resume walking.
"I can't help but notice that the Vow only prevents me from hurting anyone who isn't a curse user." Suguru commented a few paces on. "So I could easily part ways with you once we're out of these hallways."
"You could." Yuta agreed. "But if Gakuganji-kocho was worried you would, he would have asked me to make the Vow more stringent." He tilted his head to look at Suguru. "I was listening. You want revenge against whoever killed your ‘daughters', which aligns with our goals. You're not stupid, you know there's strength in numbers."
"I'm not obliged to join up with you." Suguru replied. "I can just return to my own allies."
"The allies who joined with the same person you want to kill, you mean?"
That made Suguru stop briefly, though he was moving to catch up to Yuta again a moment later. "They obviously thought they were allied with me."
"Maybe. When I fought the one using your body, he certainly knew all your tricks, but he didn't much act like you...so either he only bothered putting on an act for your allies, or they didn't know you very well." Yuta shrugged. "It doesn't make any difference to me, but I do know one other reason you'd probably prefer to stay close by."
"Oh?"
But Yuta didn't reply. Suguru scowled in impatience, but let the silence stretch, beginning to gather a guess as to why Yuta wasn't answering the question.
They emerged into the sunlight a few minutes later, both shielding their eyes against the glare. Once they'd adjusted to the light, Yuta looked around them with a calculating gaze, and then looked at Suguru.
"You'll want to stay close because you're forbidden from freeing Gojo-sensei, but I'm not...and you want him free at least as much as I do, don't you."
Suguru huffed a soft laugh, noting that it hadn't been toned as a question. "You were listening, and yet you think I'd want to free him?"
"Yes." Yuta moved to start walking. "But first I'll take you to Tengen-sama. She might want to talk to you."
------
When all you had was time, all you had time to do was think.
Satoru slept intermittently. The constant chattering of the skeletons got annoying at times, but mostly he had figured out how to ignore them, and while he'd managed some meditation, his mind was too much of a buzz for that to work for long.
How long had he been in this place? Days? Weeks? Months? Years? Time did not pass for him. His phone had no signal and displayed no time. The apps didn't work and the battery didn't drain. Nothing to do but try to sleep and try not to think, but thinking was really all that was left to do when sleeping stopped being an option.
So he mused on the novelty of his situation. Here he could get all the rest he wanted, even if his ‘bed' was made of bones, but he had no other form of entertainment, nothing to distract himself. He told himself it was fine even though he'd made a pretty big mistake, but worries leaked in anyway.
Oh he believed in his students and his other allies, but he knew he couldn't trust the higher ups. Last time he'd been absent, they'd tried to get Yuji killed, which had technically succeeded thanks to Sukuna, though the youth's survival was also due to Sukuna. Something had happened there, but Yuji didn't remember it, and speculation would only get Satoru so far.
What would happen now? What might have already happened in the indeterminate time he'd been trapped in this place? Was Yuji still alive? Was Yuta safe? What of his other students, past and present? Were his allies alright? He had only killed one of those special grade curses, and he had no idea how the sorcerers who had been present in Shibuya might have handled them.
All he had time to do was think, and it was hard not to worry. Self-reassurances only worked for so long. Perhaps he would go mad. He already had no idea how long he'd been in the Prison Realm.
Pointing that out to himself was an odd comfort. Why worry when he didn't know whether his concerns had come to pass already or not? It wasn't as if fretting about it was going to do him any good anyway. For all he knew, they'd lived long and happy lives already and were long since dust. He could pretend that was the case at least, and either way, there really was no point in wasting his thoughts on things he couldn't do anything about.
He pushed his blindfold up to look at the chattering skeletons around him. "I don't suppose you can do anything else, huh?" He commented without expecting a reply, and huffed a soft laugh when the mindless rattling continued. "Well, at least you're consistent, I can respect that."
Were these skeletons the remains of previous sorcerers? No, there seemed to be far too many just at a glance for that to be the case.
"Hey, if you guys think Satoru Gojo is the best, keep on rattling!" He paused a beat. "Yay!" Giving his hands a couple of claps as if they had participated, he then chuckled to himself and settled in. What did he know about the Prison Realm anyway? Well….quizzing himself gave him something to do besides worry, at least.
So what did he know? It was made from the remains of the Buddhist monk, Genshin. It was impossible to escape once trapped inside, no time passed within, and the only way to use it again was for the occupant to die. Since he had no intention of killing himself (at least not any time soon), that meant he would be trapped in this hellscape forever unless that bastard wearing Suguru's skin let him out again.
He pulled his blindfold back over his eyes and crossed his arms. Maybe he could nap a little more. Anything to hold onto his sanity a bit longer.
------
Suguru's brow was furrowed, his lips pursed, as they walked down the hallway that led to Tengen. ".....I see no one cleaned that up." He murmured when they came out into the main area and he saw the bloodstains.
Yuta tilted his head curiously. "You know what happened here?"
Suguru huffed a soft laugh, though there was no humor in the sound as he tucked his arms into his sleeves. "Do you remember the story I told your class about why I became a curse user?" He nodded to the bloodstains as they passed them. "The girl we were trying to protect died there....right in front of me."
"Was she a sorcerer?"
"She...well she wasn't trained as one, but she could see curses. More likely she was a Window." Suguru murmured before he tilted his head. "Why do you ask?"
"Because you sound like it upset you, so I wondered–"
"If I only cared because she was a sorcerer?" Suguru stopped walking. "I used to be the one preaching how non-sorcerers needed to be protected. 'Survival of the weakest'."
"And that girl's death started you down that path."
He looked back at Yuta, and smiled mirthlessly. "You've been a part of Jujutsu society for about a year now, and before that, you suffered because of Rika. You can't really tell me that you haven't seen something from mundane humans that made you wonder why you protected them."
Yuta stared back at him impassively. "I cursed Rika." He stated. "It wasn't her fault she was suffering, but mine. Still, she forgave me. As for humanity as a whole...of course I've seen terrible things, but the only difference I see between sorcerers and non-sorcerers is their control over cursed energy. We're not better because we control cursed energy. In fact, your old self was right; survival of the weakest makes the most sense."
"Ohh?" Suguru tilted his head, looking amused. "Why do you say that?"
Yuta pursed his lips, considering him. "Because my family are non-sorcerers. If they didn't exist, I wouldn't have been born. If all that exists is sorcerers, there are too few of us to maintain a proper population. Society would collapse."
"Hm. I seem to recall Satoru bringing up a similar point once…but what if non-sorcerers were forced to evolve into sorcerers? What then?"
"Hey!"
Suguru startled and looked over at the voice. Much to his surprise, he found that between one blink and the next, their surroundings had changed, and he and Yuta were now standing in a blank white space. A space that was suddenly a lot more occupied.
"You think you can just use my argument to prove your point, Suguru Geto?!" Yuki exclaimed, hands planted firmly on her hips. "That isn't what I meant when I said it, and you know it!"
Suguru glanced at the others with her, a man who looked severely sleep-deprived and possibly anemic, and someone standing behind them both whom he couldn't see very well. Deciding it didn't matter for the moment, he lifted a hand in a shrug. "You also said killing all non-sorcerers was an option, so I–"
"If I had known you were a maniac, I wouldn't have had that conversation with you!" Yuki snapped, cutting him off.
"Suguru Geto." The strange man intoned. "Why are you alive?"
His gaze shifted back to the stranger. "I don't know. Who are you?"
"Choso." He replied simply. "If I didn't know you were Suguru Geto and not Kenjaku, I would kill you where you stand."
Suguru pursed his lips. "....Well, I suppose I appreciate you not doing that. So ‘Kenjaku' was the one who...who was puppeting my body?"
"That'd be him." Yuki agreed. "Though we both know the blame for that happening lies with Gojo, huh? I never would've thought he would be the sentimental type."
Suguru gave her an irritated look, but before he could retort, the person who had been standing behind Yuki and Choso reached out to gently push them aside, and he was distracted by realizing the person was no person at all.
"Tengen-sama." Yuta spoke, both in greeting and in introduction.
Tengen smiled, a surprisingly benevolent expression considering the inhuman appearance. "Okkotsu-san." Came the reply before she turned her attention to Suguru. Though she had stopped smiling, somehow she still radiated serenity.
"Geto-san." She greeted him then. "I was hoping Okkotsu would bring you here. There are things I must tell you."
"....I'm listening." He had questions that had nothing to do with the situation and everything to do with why Tengen looked like this when he remembered Yuki stating there had been another Star Plasma Vessel to take Amanai's place. Nonetheless, he realized that his curiosity would have to wait.
Tengen folded her hands together. "This will not take long, as I already explained most of this to Okkotsu and his juniors, and they will be able to fill you in as necessary later. What you need to know now is this; when Kenjaku fled your body, he also took half the number of curses within your body and copied your curse manipulation. He did this through a Binding Vow."
"So he already planned to die?!" Apparently this part was news to Yuta.
Tengen shook her head. "I don't believe so. Kenjaku has always had the ability to copy the cursed abilities of his hosts before he transfers to a new vessel, up to a limit, though I do not know what that limit is. However, he seemed to have planned for the possibility of death. He has taken a new vessel now....or perhaps an old one."
Suguru frowned. ".....I see. I think." He turned his head aside, only to look back at her from the corner of his eyes. "Is this why you have these two heavy hitters guarding you? Are you afraid of him because you've become a cursed spirit?"
Tengen's upper eyes closed, followed by the lower ones. "You are quite astute. Though right now, it is you they are here to protect me from." She opened her eyes again and smiled. "Although, if you were to absorb me before Kenjaku had a chance, it would certainly foil his plans quite effectively."
Suguru's gaze jumped from Yuta, to Choso, and finally to Yuki. They were all tense, all ready to defend Tengen from him. Choso was hard to get a read on; he almost felt like a curse himself, but Yuta and Yuki were both special grade, and both likely stronger than he was. He was outgunned just from one of them, let alone both.
So he put his hands up with a chuckle. "I don't think I'll be attempting that. You seem just fine with these two protecting you, and as much as I want to frustrate the bastard who was using my body, if he found out, he might go into hiding before I have a chance to kill him."
"This is possible." Tengen agreed. "Or he would find another way to get what he wants, but I am nonetheless relieved by your answer. I have lived a very long time, but that does not mean I am in a hurry to die."
"Does he even know Geto is alive?" Yuta spoke up. "He might have assumed we would have killed him by now."
"That is also possible." Tengen stated. "Perhaps you will be able to use that to your advantage in the short term."
".....Do you know how I'm alive?" Suguru asked and looked down at his right hand, flexing it. The hand that he should have lost, so either Kenjaku or one of his allies could use RCT, since it would have been far too late to regrow by the time Shoko had gotten a hold of him. "Shoko said I was missing my brain when I....when my body was first retrieved."
"That is a mystery to me, though I could hazard a few guesses." Tengen put a hand to where her chin should have been in thought. "The first is that Kenjaku did that intentionally when using his Binding Vow to escape. The second is that it was an accidental side effect, and the third is perhaps something to do with your curses. In the end, I can only speculate."
"Well...I suppose the fact is more important than the why." He looked back at her. A curse who had been human, who still acted very human despite its–her–inhuman appearance. "Is there anything else I should know?"
"I think we can tell Geto-san the rest, Tengen-sama." Yuta spoke up before Tengen could reply.
"Hm. Very well. I'll leave it to you then." Tengen smiled and inclined her head to them both. "Good luck."
"Thank you." Yuta and Suguru intoned as one. Suguru tucked his arms into his sleeves to bow deeply, even as his instincts were screaming at him not to take his eyes off ‘the curse'. He then turned to go, keeping his arms in his sleeves as he walked. The featureless surroundings around them melted back into the place they'd been, and he stopped by the bloodstains again, staring down at them and wondering why it still hurt to think about. He didn't move until Yuta continued past him, and then he mutely followed him until they got into the elevator.
"So, where are we going now?" He asked once the lift had started moving.
"To meet up with the others and fill you in on the rest before we plan our next moves." Yuta replied, his tone flat and closed off. His posture was tense, body half-turned away. It was clear he wasn't interested in talking.
Suguru blew out his breath softly and just faced the front of the lift. He didn't know why Yuta was angrier than he had been before the conversation with Tengen, but prying into it didn't seem like it would get him very far, so he simply let the silence stretch and followed where he led.
------
"So he really is back from the dead." Maki said in greeting when Suguru followed Yuta down into the basement of Jujutsu High. Suguru had to do a double-take when he saw her. Covered in burn scars, some of them still looking pink and raw despite the obvious RCT work that had been done on her, one eye bandaged behind her glasses. Something pretty severe had certainly happened, and he had to admit he was surprised she had survived it since all her visible skin was marred. Though considering he'd been surprised when she'd survived his attack on the school the year before, she was clearly more resilient than a typical non-sorcerer.
He pursed his lips and looked away while Yuta went to greet her, taking in the others in the room. He recognized Megumi, but the pink-haired boy was new to him. He noted the boy was similarly sizing him up and with enough wariness that he'd likely been forewarned about him to some degree.
So he smiled. "Hello." Tucking his arms into his sleeves, he inclined his head slightly. "I don't believe we've met before. I'm Suguru Geto."
"Uh...Yuji Itadori." The boy awkwardly rubbed the back of his head, as if uncertain if he should have even given his name.
"A pleasure to meet you, Itadori." Suguru smiled before looking over at the others. Panda and Maki were both giving him the side-eye, while Megumi's gaze was fully focused on him with a tense wariness. Inumaki was conspicuous by his absence, but Suguru knew better than to comment on that, assuming he had died. They probably wouldn't accept his condolences anyway.
But perhaps he could try an apology, and so he turned more fully to face them and bowed just far enough to show respect without implying deference. "For what it might be worth, I apologize for what–"
"Oi Yuta!" Maki interrupted loudly. "Why's this guy still alive anyway?"
For a good five seconds there was nothing but ringing silence before Yuta softly cleared his throat. "I bound him to a Blood Vow that will put him in intense agony if he breaks it, so he's more useful alive right now."
"Huh." Maki eyed Suguru, who had straightened up, and then looked back at Yuta with a small, amused smile. "Didn't anyone tell you Blood Vows are illegal?"
"Only when used on another sorcerer. Since Geto-san is a curse user, and I did it in front of Gakuganji-kocho and he didn't say anything, I don't think he minded."
Suguru smiled wanly. "Yaga swore me to a Blood Vow last year, but he didn't name the price." He spread his hands. "Perhaps my rebirth is the shape the Vow took, so I have a chance to redeem myself. Or perhaps it's the reason I lost."
"Perhaps." Yuta said, looking at him with a deadened expression.
"Whatever. I'm off." Maki moved to leave the room, being sure to give Suguru a wide berth.
"Be careful." Megumi spoke up. "Some of the Zen'in might respect my new....status, but–"
"Don't worry about me. I know how to handle those old men." Maki waved a hand dismissively. "I'll be back with those weapons in no time at all."
".....I see I've still missed a few things." Suguru murmured, glancing after her before he looked over at Yuta. "So, what comes next?"
"Now…we tell you about the Culling Games, and what our plans are concerning it."
Suguru was invited to sit, and the teens (and Panda) settled uneasily nearby as Yuta and Megumi took up the bulk of the explaining; Kenjaku intended to merge humanity with Tengen, but in order to do that he needed to gather cursed energy and had chosen to do that through the Culling Games. Part of this involved transforming some normal humans into sorcerers and also awakening some ancient sorcerers into modern bodies. Then came the explanation of the rules:
1. After awakening a cursed technique, players must declare their participation in the Culling Game at a colony of their choice within 19 days.
2. Any player who breaks the previous rule shall be subject to cursed technique removal.
3. Nonplayers who enter a colony become players at the moment of entry and shall be considered to have declared participation in the Culling Game.
4. Players score points by ending the lives of other players.
5. Points are determined by the game master and indicate the value of a player's life. As a general rule, sorcerers are worth 5 points and nonsorcerers are worth 1 point.
6. Players may expend 100 points to negotiate with the game master to add one new rule to the culling game. However, players cannot add their own life's value to the amount that can be spent.
7. In accordance with the previous rule, the game master must accept any proposed new rule unless it will have a marked and long-lasting effect on the Culling Game.
8. If a player's score remains the same for 19 days, that player shall be subject to cursed technique removal.
They only had eleven days left to declare their participation, and part of their plan involved adding a rule to allow the transfer of points and allowing players to transfer points between one another as long as one of them had already scored points, therefore preventing the death of those other players without forcing them to kill as well. This part of the plan involved trying to find two players; Hiromi Higuruma and Hajime Kashimo, and getting one of them to add the aforementioned rule.
The other part of the main plan was to find a player calling herself ‘Angel' who could, according to Tengen, open the back of the Prison Realm in their possession and free Satoru. They intended to search the colonies for her, and hope they could get her to cooperate. Tengen had mentioned Tokyo colony 2 as a possible location for the ‘Angel', so the focus would be there.
Finally Suguru was informed that ten million curses had been released and spread across the ten colonies.
"Ten million curses...." Suguru looked somewhat floored by that, having never conceived of ever having that many.
He hadn't taken a mental inventory, and concentrating on it now he didn't have ten million curses of his own, which meant these curses had come from somewhere else. He did still find he had about three hundred curses though, which meant if Tengen had been right about the amount being split between them, Kenjaku had originally had over six hundred. Three hundred curses that Kenjaku had doubtless hoped would be released upon Shibuya when he'd fled his body and would have been had Yuta not acted immediately to seal his body with Rika. But that still left him with three hundred curses at his own disposal, and that would surely be of at least some benefit despite his restrictions.
"We plan to go tomorrow and wait for Maki if we can, and see if we can't gather another couple of allies." Megumi looked at Yuta. "Are you still planning to go to Sendai?"
"Yes." Yuta nodded and then looked at Suguru. "I delayed when Ieiri-san said you were showing signs of waking up, but now that you're here, you're going to accompany me."
"Hm…I understand." Suguru crossed his arms. "But to participate in the Games, you'll need to revise the Vow you forced on me so I can fight sorcerers, or I'm not going to be of any use."
"No." Yuta replied firmly. "There will be plenty of curse users. If we encounter any sorcerers, we'll simply avoid them, or I'll handle it."
"You are going to get me killed." Suguru replied through his teeth. "Then that's three hundred extra curses you'll have to contend with."
Yuta arched his brows, expression otherwise unimpressed. "You're Special Grade. I think you can manage not to die long enough for me to handle any conflict you can't resolve yourself. I'm not giving you any opportunity to harm anyone who wasn't already mentioned in the Vow."
Frustration boiled, but then Suguru glanced at the others and sighed heavily, shutting his eyes before he spread his arms in a bow. "....Very well, Okkotsu. We'll do this your way." Not that he had a choice. "Are we leaving for Sendai right now?"
"Yes." Yuta stepped forward to walk past him and leave before he turned back and gave a cheerful smile to the others. "Good luck, guys!"
Megumi raised a hand in reply, lowering it only after they were gone and turning to look at Yuji. "Right…time for our part then." Provided Kinji Hakari could be convinced to join them, of course.