Floating Like a Lilo ── Itadori Yuuji (✓)

08 HOW TO SAVE A HUMAN LIFE

Fushiguro, like you, can't bring himself to even speak. Every thought he has ever conjured cannot be explained with words. Nothing that humanity has devised can capture the intensity of this moment.

Sukuna walks ahead and stands next to you, "This is what he gets for trying to use me without any kind of pact. Feels like he's having some trouble switching back."

Is he...gone? Is that how it is? No body, no final goodbye? Just...this?

It's not even like Itadori died, but rather he stopped existing.

Sukuna's sharp claws tug at Itadori's black uniform, "Still though... It's only a matter of time."

He rips it apart and casts it to the ground where it seemingly wilts under the rain. "Mm," His lips curl devilishly, "I've thought about what I can do."

And then, horrifyingly, like something out of a nightmare, Sukuna reaches into Itadori's heart and pulls it out. The grin on his face makes you want to scream, and instinctively you try to stop him but your legs won't move.

Blood trails down the corners of his twitching lips; he looks at ease, completely undisturbed by the actions he is doing.

"Wh- What are you..." You choke out something, anything.

Crimson spills and runs down the lines of square tiles on the ground, the splatter of rain enhancing the scent of death. Fushiguro's eyes widen, much like yours, caught up in the shock of what was unfolding.

Sukuna holds up a pulsing heart, beating away in his hand - not any heart, it was Itadori. "I'm taking this brat hostage," He says uncaringly.

"Hostage?!" Fushiguro frees his hands, "What?"

"I can live without this," Sukuna looks at the heart, "But that ain't true for the brat."

As he says this, he throws it carelessly to the side. You blink, looking at this heart that was struggling to live while cushioned by chartreuse grass.

"Switching out with me means he dies," Sukuna continues, pulling out something from his pocket and it's a dried, shrivelled finger. "For good measure," He comments and swallows it.

Sukuna's finger... You try to catch your breath but it's hard to with the rain and the wind and him. That special-grade must have consumed it.

"With that, I'm as free as a bird," His hand twitches unnaturally, veins writhing in evolution, "You can be frightened now. I'll kill you."

Fushiguro initates a battle stance, raising his hands. You watch, still shaking because your mind is blank and you don't know what to do.

"Itadori's coming back," He says suddenly. You can hear the confidence and faith entangled in his words and it gives rise to something hopeful brimming in your ribcage. "Even if that means he'll die. That's just who he is."

You gulp, standing still because you don't have a battle stance yet.

Sukuna scoffs, "You give him too much credit. This guy's just a little tougher and denser than other humans."

"That's... that's because he is! He's still alive and we'll drag him out of you, even if it kills us," You narrow your eyes.

Sukuna wipes the blood hanging around his mouth with the back of his hand, smiling, "Just a moment ago, he was scared out of his mind, on the verge of death, and prattling on about his regrets and all that nonsense. I know for a fact he doesn't have the guts to kill himself."

You look at the hand, realising it was the same one that the special-grade had cut off on Itadori. So, the hand got restored...

"He can use Reverse Cursed Techniques," Fushiguro notes grimly.