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For the first time in minutes the platform was quiet. One sorcerer stood in the center breathing heavy, face splattered in blood. Totality stood behind him, teeth formed into a deep growl. Chimera Shadow Garden had taken a lot of him, despite having refined his domain having it active for two tenths of a second was a lot of work. His Ten Shadows had worked with him and in that short time frame all 1,000 transfigured humans were exorcised. Fushiguro knew it was a gamble, knew he’d be putting innocent lives at risk but it worked.
As he stood in the middle of the platform his mind flicked briefly to his students. He hoped that they’d be alright, they had Maki, Yuta, Nobara, Higuruma, and others to protect them. They’d be fine. Briefly, he wondered if he’d be proud of him.
A familiar influx in cursed energy pulled him from his thoughts. Paces in front of him sat a small box wrapped in a familiar sealed paper. He recognized the item immediately.
“Prison Realm, Gate Open.”
The box bloomed open like a grotesque blood red flower, accompanied by a bulging eye staring back at him. His breath shuttered and Totality melted into the shadows as he shifted his weight.
“Hey Fushiguro!”
He froze.
His forced his frozen body to move, to glance backwards.
“Long time no see!”
Yuji Itadori greeted him with a happy wave. Pink hair, with a bright boyish grin clad in the white kimono and the dark blue scarf he’d taken to wearing. He looked the exact same has he did on that day. The small eye shaped scars were no longer present under his brown eyes in exchange a neat line of stitches littered his forehead.
‘A fake? A transformation technique?’, green eyes widened, ‘No it’s really him!’
His mind replayed their high school years, the small moments between the two. The one time in his teenage years where he felt truly happy was with the pink haired sorcerer in front of him. Not feeling like the famed Ten Shadows user, Head of the Zenin clan; but simply Megumi Fushiguro.
He remembers when Yuji defected, standing in the hallway Nobara at his side while Yaga informed them. Nobara was brash, and loud proclaiming that he would never defect, not Yuji. While Megumi was quiet as his world shattered around him.
He’ll never forget the guilt he holds for not realizing something was wrong sooner. The night Yuji died replaying in unmistakable clarity.
Yuji slumps against a wall, he knew he was dying as he stumbled into the alleyway and slid down the wall. His head rests against the cool brick behind him as soft footsteps approach. “You’re late Megumi, that’s unusual for you.”
Megumi’s roughed up sneakers pause in front of him. He’s quiet for a long moment, “Yuji,” his head rolled to his shoulder, “Do you have any last words?”
A small chuckle escaped as Megumi couched to meet his gaze. Blood coated his face and Megumi watched as a ruby droplet fell onto his scarf, darkening the ruined blue fabric before bleeding into the stark white beneath it.
“Fushiguro, it’s okay,” he smiled, “I hope you live a long life.” Brown eyes smiled up at him, “Don’t cry Megumi! It’s okay. Just make it quick alright?” Megumi nodded, and spoke his last words before finishing his job.
Megumi’s brought out of his shock as seven fleshy tendrils shoot into his body. He grunts and attempts to move only making the prison realm tighten its hold.
Yuji sheepishly rubs his neck, “Come on you shouldn’t lose yourself in thought! Not in the middle of a battle, Megumi.”
He couldn’t move and couldn’t beckon his shadows either. “It’s checkmate” he thought bitterly before returning his gaze to the man wearing his best friend’s body. “So, who the hell are you?”
“It’s me! It’s Yuji Itadori! Don’t you remember me?”
“Your cursed energy is telling me that you’re Yuji Itadori,” his lips curled into a snarl as he pulled against the prison realm, “But my heart and soul know otherwise! Now answer me! Who the hell are you!”
The stitches pull loose and Yuji’s forehead is removed. The man’s lip curls, “You really are your father’s son.” Megumi was a variable Kenjaku initially never considered. The son of the famed Sorcerer Killer and Zenin clan failure never meant anything to him until he mastered his technique.
“It’s my technique. I can pass from one body to another by replacing its brain with myself. Of course, I can also use the techniques of the body I inhabit,” he explained. Truly, his own flesh and blood was never the plan for his vessel, but it worked wonderfully.
“Tell the truth. You never did have Nobara Kugisaki dispose of Yuji Itadori’s body that day, did you?” He reapplied the stitches. Yuji was an successful experiment capable of holding Sukuna and himself was a feat. He’d never understand the King’s obsession with obtaining Fushiguro, he made for a pitiful sight in front of him. A welder of the Limitless technique and the Six Eyes hadn’t been seen in thousands of years. His obsession was childish.
“I’ll release your seal eventually,” he mused, “Maybe a thousand years from now. You’re simply too strong to be let loose. And you’re in the way of my current plans.”
Megumi laughed, the man in front of him was a fool. He didn’t know of Satoru’s existence and he’d like to keep it that way. The kid was strong, potentially stronger than him once he mastered his technique. Him alongside his other students deserved to be kids. He also understood that Satoru has the means to take down the imposter in front of him. They’d be in good hands.
“Goodnight, Megumi Fushiguro. Let us meet again in the new world.”
As the prison realm shrunk the world around him the last image he’d ever see was that of his best friend, his One and Only.