Work Text:
31 October 2018
02:27:45 JST
Itadori Sukuna is drowning. It’s not a new sensation, and he doesn’t fight against it. He can’t die, anyway. He will not let him.
But it forces him to talk.
Sukuna stares up through the surface of the water, the ceiling lit by the flashlight of his phone in the otherwise pitchblack bathroom. Breathes in. And waits.
Why do you keep doing this?
The voice rumbles, lazy and deep, not unlike a whale song, through the bathwater. A red glow fills the bathroom.
I’m lonely.
Don’t you have a brother? Classmates? That annoying teacher of yours?
They don’t understand.
And they never will. Nobody ever will.
The water explodes all over the bathroom and Sukuna retches as it forces it’s way out of his mouth and nose. He clings to the edge of the bathtub until the shaking subsides.
The bathroom is a mess, the floor covered in water. His nose is bleeding, he realizes belatedly. It’s black in the cold light from his phone. Inhuman.
[Audio transcript – Jujutsu Council Headquarters, 26 October 2018, 17:03 JST]
[Note: this file has been redacted for security reasons]
A: Our only condition is that you kill him. The twin can live.
B: I’m sorry, can we retrace our steps here? You want me to commit murder – for you?
A: I thought I was quite clear.
B: Yeah, I got that. It just sounds so… illegal, if you get me.
A: We have had this conversation before, [redacted].
B: We certainly did. And if I recall correctly, I told you to g–
A: I urge you not to repeat what you said back then.
B: What will happen if I do?
A: There are others we can ask.
B: You wouldn’t dare.
A: Please remember that you have a duty –
B: I will slaughter you.
A: Will you show some respect?
B: Respect? For you lot? When did you decide to become a comedian?
A: The boy needs to die. We let you keep [redacted] alive because he will conceivably never become so strong that you couldn’t overpower him.
B: You think he’s stronger than me? Are you out of your minds?
A: Do you think you could win against [redacted]? No matter the circumstances?
B: That’s ridiculous, he’s not–
A: That’s what we need, [redacted]. One hundred per cent certainty. Can you give us that?
16:38:20 JST
The earth rumbles as the mountain splits. It stays upright by merit of its sheer weight, as if nothing happened. As if it wasn’t just cut into hundreds of cubes.
Satoru just wanted him to try. And that’s the problem, isn’t it? He says, “just try it” and Sukuna just does it. It’s been like this since the detention center.
“Did you want them smaller?” Sukuna very nearly grins. He’s been warming up to Satoru, though it’s a slow process. Suguru, on the other hand…
“I assume it doesn’t make a difference?”
“Not really, no. Just uses more energy.”
“Good,” Satoru nods. They’ve been testing. Basics. Control. Hand-to-hand combat. Suguru insists that they should be practicing fights, but as much as Satoru hates to admit it, he’s scared. Scared that this boy, who seems to see no limits in his technique and the thing that lives behind his eyes and delights in any show of strength might find a way past infinity.
He wants Sukuna to trust him, but he can’t find it in himself to trust Sukuna.
He hates himself for it.
“Are you hungry?” He forces his tone to be light.
“Always. I want meat.”
“Sure.” Satoru ruffles his hair.
Before he teleports them back to Tokyo, he throws a glance back at the mountain, which is now a ticking bomb.
18:42:09 JST
“There you are,” Yuji peers through the half-open door into Sukuna’s room. “I haven’t seen you all day.”
His twin is sitting cross-legged on his bed, chewing on beef jerky and flipping through a history book. He barely glances up when Yuji squeezes himself into the room.
“I was training with Gojo-sensei,” he mumbles between bites.
Yuji plops down next to Sukuna and peers into the book he’s reading. It looks boring.
“How’s that going?”
“It’s fine. He’s not really teaching me much.”
“Do you want to switch? My shoulders still hurt from the drills Geto-sensei makes me do with Maki-senpai.”
“No thank you.” Sukuna stuffs another piece of jerky into his mouth and turns a page.
Ignoring Yuji. He shuffles closer and puts his head on Sukuna’s shoulder.
“What’re you reading?”
Sukuna wordlessly closes the book over his thumb and shows Yuji the spine. Collected accounts of Ryomen Sukuna. Aha.
“Is it helpful?”
Sukuna just shakes his head.
Okay. He seems reasonably calm and distracted for Yuji to not immediately die if he says something. “The bathroom was pretty wet this morning.”
“Old building,” Sukuna says promptly, “Someone should probably check the plumbing.”
“They did, though.”
The book slaps closed. “What are you on about?”
Yuji leans back as Sukuna glares over his shoulder. “I just thought you might know something.”
“Well, I don’t. Now get out.”
19:00:00 JST
A curtain is lowered over Shibuya station, centered on the Tokyu Department Store.
19:47:48 JST
“They want me to go in alone.”
“Oh, definitely not,” Suguru leans against the counter, arms crossed tightly across his chest, like he always does when he’s trying to not curse someone out.
“They’re asking for me specifically. The people inside the curtain.”
“And? You’re just going to listen to them? This is like, screaming ‘trap’. With neon signs and fanfares. You cannot be this stupid.”
“Hey!” Satoru protests, “They have nothing to set against me.”
“That’s probably what they want you to think,” Suguru scoffs, “Whoever they even is. We don’t know who the enemy is, Satoru!”
“And it doesn’t matter. I’ll take care of it. The rest of you can stay outside the curtain, take care of anything that might slip through. It’ll be over before you know it, just like whatever they planned to do during the Goodwill Event.”
“Which we still don’t know.” Suguru sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose. “They tried something that day, and we don’t know what it was and who exactly was involved, because you so magnificently thwarted their plans. And now, they just get rid of you first, and try again.”
“They can’t get rid of me. I’m Gojo Satoru.” It’s supposed to be a joke, but it lands about as well as a fist to the face. Suguru glares at him.
“Let me come with you,” he says after a moment of silence.
Satoru clears his throat. “I was going to ask you to look after Sukuna.”
“I think you might need the backup more than he does, actually.”
“Okay. Ouch.”
“Satoru –”
“Fine. But if they get pissy, I’m blaming you. I was coerced.”
20:14:01 JST
Four response teams from the Tokyo Jujutsu High School are on standby on various points outside of the curtain. Per decision from the Jujutsu Council, Kusakabe Atsuya, Panda and Itadori Sukuna have been stationed outside of JR Shibuya Station, New South Exit.
20:31:58 JST
Gojo Satoru and Geto Suguru enter the curtain at Dogenzaka Nichome East.
20:41:12 JST
“Why is everything so empty?” Sukuna asks as they move through the streets of Shibuya. “I can’t feel a single person.”
He doesn’t really expect an answer. Kusakabe made it very clear that he thinks Sukuna deserved to be executed, and he is indeed still pissed that he’s alive. And Panda is, well. He’s a panda. Sukuna can’t tell if he’s taking this whole thing seriously.
Kusakabe certainly isn’t. He’s not keen on getting involved, and he has ignored every attempt Sukuna has made as to find out why. Which is also an answer. Kusakabe is a bum. A coward. And he wants him dead. Great combination.
Sukuna squats next to the bench they’ve been loitering around, and focuses on his surrounding. But there’s nothing. For at least a kilometre, Shibuya is devoid of human life. Which leaves only one place –
21:17:06 JST
Shibuya Station Platform B5F
“I’m going to be sick,” Suguru whispers, and he means it both figuratively and literally, “how many are there? Are there even this many people in Shibuya?”
Around them, the mass of transfigured humans clogs the tracks, the platform – everything. Piling on each other, squeezing each other to death as they try to get to them.
Satoru’s limitless is the only thing keeping them from being suffocated. He only managed to exorcise one curse – Hanami – before the amount of people, transfigured or not, made it impossible for them to move.
“I’m going to have to kill them,” Satoru says, voice emotionless. “I’m going to have to use my domain to stun them, and then kill all of the transfigured ones. Otherwise we’re trapped here.” And they’ll slowly kill of every civilian in Shibuya, is what he doesn’t say. They can always bring more civilians, more transfigured humans in. But the curtain traps Satoru, and they have no chance of disabling the barrier under these circumstances.
21:18:02 JST
Gojo Satoru expands Unlimited Void for 0.2 seconds. In the following 4 minutes and 59 seconds, he and Geto Suguru slaughter nearly 3000 transfigured humans.
21:23:01 JST
Curse user Itadori Kaori puts a gun to Geto Suguru’s head.
“Gate, open.”
21:26:44 JST
“Gate, close.”
[Audio transcript – Excerpt from Mini-Mechamaru’s report to Itadori Yuji; approx. 21:30 JST]
[...] I am only going to say this once: Gojo Satoru was sealed. [...]
21:40:00 JST
The blade slides in between his ribs, from the back up into his lungs.
Sukuna is too stunned to realize what is happening. There’s no pain, the world is silent. Kusakabe and Panda are nowhere to be found.
“Nice colleagues you have there,” a gratingly bright voice laughs into his ear. “They ran off before we even got here.” The voice cackles in delight.
Sukuna chokes and stumbles, the blade slides out of his body as he collapses against the wall.
“Oh, did I hit an artery?” The voice belongs to a ratty looking blond guy with his hair up in a tall, lopsided ponytail and a missing front tooth. He’s in the company of a white-haired monk, who’s staring down at Sukuna with unadulterated hate in their eyes.
“Be quiet,” they say, which actually has the blond guy shut up.
Blood trickles down Sukuna’s nose.
Shit. He can’t breathe.
The monk squats in front of him and wipes the blood from his nose.
“Weak,” they sound disgusted, “you should never have been born.”
“Can we go now?” The blond guy whines. “I’m bored, you know?”
21:41:26 JST
[One missed call from: Baby bro]
21:59:58 JST
Where are you?
I’m always here.
I’m scared.
Why? You know how to heal yourself.
I don’t know if I should.
What are you scared of, brat?
My teacher is scared of me.
And you are scared of him.
Yes, but… it’s awful. I don’t want to live like this.
I don’t think I understand.
I don’t want others live in fear of me. And I don’t want to live in fear of others.
You don’t need to fear anybody. And why care about the others?
22:10:23 JST
Itadori Yuji enters Shibuya station and is promptly attacked by Cursed Womb Death Painting Choso.
22:15:15 JST
Special Grade Cursed Spirit Dagon open its domain: Horizon of the Captivating Skandha.
22:46:32 JST
Shibuya Station Platform B5F
“I can’t believe that worked.” Satoru leans back against the tiled pillar in the middle of the platform. He’s sweated through his expensive shirt, the uniform clings to his back and his white hair sticks to his forehead.
Suguru hasn’t seen him so disheveled since their student days. He can’t help himself – it makes him laugh. “It really shouldn’t have.”
He drops his head onto Satoru’s shoulder. “I’m so glad we’re alive. And not sealed. Anymore.”
“Hm.” Satoru presses his face against the crown of Suguru’s head. “Thank you for coming with me,” he whispers.
Suguru stills. “No need to thank me. I coerced you, remember?”
Around them is a sea of dead transfigured humans and stunned civilians. The entire space is covered in rumble and reeks of blood. The cursed spirits fled a while ago – they should probably get off their asses and help their colleagues and students.
But Suguru selfishly wants to enjoy this moment just a little bit longer. It took him the better part of an hour to figure out a way past Itadori Kaori’s Antigravity System without bringing down all of Shibuya down on him or committing mass murder.
The curse user lies dead in a pool of her own blood. That was the condition for opening the prison realm: the previous owner needed to be defeated.
“You do know that this is catastrophic, right?” Satoru is still whispering. “I was sealed. That is… that is enough of a reason for them to do anything.”
22:50:31 JST
Sukuna wakes up in a puddle of his own blood. He is quite literally dripping in it. His fingers are sticky with it, and the monk and the ponytail-guy are gone, Kusakabe and Panda are also nowhere to be seen.
He checks his phone, which is unsurisingly difficult with his bloody fingers. It’s been over an hour since he was ambushed. Was he really unconscious for that long? Or is he losing time?
Yuji still hasn’t called him back. Sukuna tries not to worry about it. Maybe he lost his phone. Maybe he’s busy fighting for his life. It does not mean – he shouldn’t even think about it.
22:51:28 JST
“Yuji?” Satoru hurries along the empty hallway toward the slumped figure next to the restrooms. His student remains motionless.
Satoru kneels and carefully takes Yuji’s bloody face into his hands.
“Hey,” he gives him a gentle slap. No reaction. Satoru pouts. This is not good. Yuji will probably live, but what concerns him is the fact that a first-year is out here alone. Injured. No adult in sight. Granted, Mei Mei is not the gold standard for responsibility, but this is not a good sign.
Not for the first time Satoru wishes he could heal other people. He ruffles Yuji’s hair, smoothes it back the way Sukuna wears it. “Come on, give me something.”
But Yuji remains limp no matter what he tries. He’s contemplating shaking him awake when something slithers in the hallway.
It’s the volcano head. Jogo. Oh.
The cursed spirit freezes when it sees him.
Satoru cackles and tears his blindfold off. “Wrong twin, loser!” he calls out.
Jogo ducks instinctively. It’d almost be cute if Satoru weren’t so angry.
“Don’t even think about it,” he warns when the cursed spirit tries to retreat, “Your boss is dead, but I’m sure you already knew that.”
Jogo stares at him, pupils flicking back and forth between him and Yuji. Satoru cracks his knuckles. “Come here. We’re having a fight. This time I don’t need to show off.”
If Jogo protests, like complaining about how Satoru killed his bestie, the asparagus, or how he’s annoying and whatever, it’s drowned out by the sound of blue barreling through the hallway.
23:05:00 JST
Dogenzaka, in front of Shibuya 109
“With this treasure, I summon…
23:06:37 JST
He’s definitely losing time. His brain is skipping through space like a video on fast-forward.
What are you doing? I don’t want to be like you!
23:07:59 JST
I’m not doing anything.
How did he get here? What is this thing? No. Why does he know what that thing is? Since when does he know how to heal people?
23:09:17 JST
Mahoraga is so gigantic. Fast. Overwhelming. It doesn’t leave Sukuna time to think. His body seems to act on his own, dodging and slashing and cleaving. Everything he does happens only with one thought in his mind: I want to live.
23:12:09 JST
Inside Shibuya Station.
“Kento?” Suguru nearly stumbles with relief when he sees the blond man staggering through the hall. He’s badly burned and obviously delirious, but he’s alive.
It’s a miracle, really. They’ve only lost one sorcerer so far, and that’s Zen’in Naobito (Suguru will not shed a tear for the man). He already brought Maki and Yuji to Shoko, and Satoru is currently searching for Nobara and the others.
There’s still no trace of Sukuna, unfortunately. They’ve regrouped with Kusakabe and Panda, who claim to have fled when they encountered curse users. The entire thing smells like rotten fish. Suguru doesn’t blame Panda, but Kusakabe definitely saw an opportunity much more effective than simply voting for an execution. He’s such a coward.
“Suguru.” Kento’s voice doesn’t sound good. “Have you seen Megumi? I’m looking for Megumi.”
Suguru shrugs off his jacket to place it around Kento’s bare shoulders. “Satoru is looking for him.”
“This whole thing is such a mess,” Kento says tiredly, “It reminds of the thing with Riko.”
Suguru bites his lip. “Hm. Me too. Come on, let’s get you to Shoko.”
23:16:50 JST
Somewhere along the line, the fight slows down. Not really, of course. But Sukuna is finally able to perceive it. He wonders if Ryomen has something to do with it, but he hasn’t said a word since the fight started.
The shikigami’s power is adaption, he’s pretty sure. The wheel on its head clicks ominously whenever Sukuna throws something new at it. It grows more resistant, stronger, bigger, lighter, smaller, learns how to heal itself, resets itself, starts anew.
It’s fascinating.
It’s fun.
23:19:49 JST
Dogenzaka Alley
“Interesting. You’re a double.” Satoru strokes his chin, pretending to think. He’s never properly seen Mahito, which is probably why the cursed spirit is still so chipper.
Mahito giggles, “Have we met before?”
“Fortunately not.” He means it. The curse is a nerve-grating experience, he can already tell just from the minute they’ve interacted.
“They’re connected, though. I already used resonance on it,” Nobara throws in. She standing behind Satoru, mostly uninjured except for a nasty concussion, which is starting to show itself in a deep purple bruise under her chin and blood-shot eyes.
“Hm. Thanks, Nobara. That means, if I do this…”
Mahito doesn’t even get the chance to protest.
23:20:00 JST
It stops being fun when Sukuna runs out of ideas and cursed energy. The constant attacks and self-imbuing to keep up with the insane speed of the battle are more than he can handle. Not for this long. He needs a trump card.
Well, you’re in luck. We’ve got one.
23:20:14 JST
Dogenzaka Alley
“Don’t worry, I’m not going to kill you just yet. A friend of mine might still have use for you.”
23:20:36 JST
His bones crack dangerously as he comes down hard on the rooftop of the skyscraper.
I can’t do that. I don’t have enough cursed energy left for a domain.
I will help you.
23:21:08 JST
“Shouldn’t you intervene?” Nobara stares up into the sky. Something flies across with a shrill ping and shears the top of a building two streets over.
Satoru crosses his arms and follows her gaze. “I should. But I found a better solution to the execution problem. They just need to fear him more than me. I need their bones to rattle with terror whenever he steps into the room.”
23:21:56 JST
“Domain expansion: Malevolent Shrine.” Sukuna feels it immediately, like pins digging into his skull from all sides. The air becomes dense with slashes, which Mahoraga braces like it’s nothing.
Yeah. This went from horrifying to a fun plaything to really fucking annoying, and Sukuna wants to slap Megumi. He’ll definitely slap Megumi. If he’s still alive, that is.
Catch it before it finishes the cycle.
23:23:23 JST
Think about it. You’re in the bathtub. Water is in your nose, in your mouth, in your lungs.
Nothing matters. You can’t die.
Breathe in.
Focus.
[...]
Open.
“Open.”
23:23:24 JST
Shibuya goes up in flames.
I will always be here, brat. Because I was you. I am you.
A keen observer might even see four giant red eyes glaring down at the city.
23:23:55 JST
Itadori Sukuna is drowning. He must have fallen into pool after the domain collapsed. The chlorinated water fills his mouth and his nose and burns in his eyes.
Where are you?
But there’s no answer. There will never be an answer again.
I’m here, he thinks to himself. Who am I even looking for?
1 November 2018
23:56:17 JST
Tokyo Jujutsu High School
“Hey, idiot.” It’s Nobara who shakes Yuji awake, rather violently at that. “Sukuna’s awake.”
Yuji squints at her. The madwoman actually switched on the lights when she stormed into his room. Her hair’s messily tied up, there’s a sleep mask over her forehead and she wearing the most hideous Hello Kitty pyjamas he has ever seen.
“Isn’t it in the middle of the night?” he groans. “You asked to be, I quote, ‘alerted immediately, even if you were just taking a shit’.”
“I said that?”
“You did.” Megumi’s voice is completely flat and at least an octave deeper than usual. He looks like he stuck his toe into an outlet.
It seems Yuji felt much more love for his twin five hours ago than he does now. But these two won’t let him stay behind.
So he stumbles out of bed, fishes mismatched slippers out from under his bed and joins the sad parade to Sukuna’s dorm room.
When Gojo-sensei dragged him out of the rooftop pool he fell into he was so low on cursed energy that Ieiri actually looked concerned for a second (Yuji has never seen her concerned. Not even when he showed up with a missing hand or when she saw the sizable hole in Megumi’s skull). It was around that time Yuji noticed that Sukuna had actually called him hours prior, at a time when he was apparently bleeding out in an alleyway. If he’d died back then, Yuji might have actually killed himself.
Gojo-sensei is sitting by Sukuna’s bedside when Yuji pushes open the door. He looks up with a tired smile. “Look, the next shift is here.”
“Why are you not asleep?” Megumi scolds from behind.
Gojo just winks at him. “Someone needed to watch over our patient. But now that you’re here, I’ll go to bed.” He stands and ruffles Sukuna’s hair for a moment, which, to Yuji’s surprise, his twin accepts without protest or death threats. He also stops to quickly squeeze Megumi and press a kiss into his temple before leaving them alone.
Megumi shudders. “It scares me when he gets like this,” he grumbles. Nobara quietly laughs at him.
But Yuji is not paying attention to them. He has already secured a space for himself on Sukuna’s bed. “Are you okay?” he asks.
“Only exhausted,” Sukuna admits. “I feel like I’m made out of rubber.”
“I missed your call –”
“It’s okay. I know you were busy with your own shit.”
“Still, I should have –”
“Silence!” Nobara commands. “You can talk about all that deep shit when the sun is up. Now make space!”
Nobody dares to disobey, and so they end up in a very tight four-person pile, Yuji half on top of Sukuna and Nobara squeezed between Sukuna and Megumi. None of them have time to contemplate how insanely unnecessary and uncomfortable the whole thing is. Two minutes later, all of them are fast asleep.
2 November 2018
03:04:19 JST
The bathroom is filled with steam from the hot bathwater, and once again only illuminated by a phone flashlight. It’s unnecessary to do this, but he needs to make sure that he didn’t hallucinate the whole encounter. Still in his pyjamas, Sukuna steps into the bathtub and slides under the surface of the water.
Breathes in.
Where are you?
There’s no answer.
He smiles.
06:00:00 JST
“You are disgustingly proud of yourself.”
“Can’t you just let me have it? Old man Kamo pissed his pants when he found out the little boy they want to execute subjugated Mahoraga.”
Suguru exhales a cloud of smoke. “I’ll let you have it. But this isn’t over.”
Satoru leans closer, until his head rests on Suguru’s shoulder. “We’re jujutsu sorcerers. It’s never over.”