A Dead Man's Return

V. Atonement

"What does that mean?" Yuji raised an eyebrow, the latter facepalming for a moment before continuing.

"It means there's no other way to see it Itadori. No hidden meanings, just kill or be killed like Nanami said. Kill or let even more be killed. Black and white."

"Everything is grey to me. Killing is killing Kugisaki. It's a sin." Itadori muttered, watching as a black car pulled in front of them, the driver side window rolling down and Ijichi waving at them. "But at the end of the day, you're right. This is what we signed up for after all, right?"

Nobara nodded her head, the latter opening the rear door for her in a gentleman's gesture, entering after her and shutting the car door.

They rode back in silence, the morning rain's soft acoustics being the only accompaniment to their thoughts.

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Two days later - Monday

...

9:30 AM

"It's grim. I've never seen nor heard of anything like this before. They're human guys. Or they were."

Three adult sorcerers stood inside of the infirmary, staring at the dismembered curse that for some reason had humanlike organs, just scrambled around.

"They're... humans? But how?" Nanami stood over the metal table that Shoko was working over, as she shook her head and looked down at the curse– human. Gojo had his lips pursed and his eyebrows lowered, searching his brain for a plausible explanation.

"My guess – don't take my word for it – is that they were somehow manipulated by cursed energy and transfigured. There's no other explanation. Their very genetic makeup is altered... mutation." Ieiri sighed, Satoru pointing in the air with a lightbulb over his head.

"That's exactly right! It would explain why they were showing human emotions and were visible in pictures, they're not curses. You're so smart Shoko, what would we ever do without you!?" Gojo smiled brightly, but it quickly dissipated when the two other adults stared at him with unamused glares. He quickly turned chibi and sat in a corner.

"Like Gojo said, that would explain their humanlike qualities. You said that they were begging to be killed, right?" Shoko asked the blond haired sorcerer, who nodded his head and sat beside her as they examined the dark green curse. "Perhaps they still had a conscience. The very foundation of what these humans were was changed by the curse or curse user that did this to them, so it's surprising they still had any kind of emotion. It's very unsettling."

"We'll get to the bottom of it, I'm sure. In the meantime, Gojo, is it possible to bring your two students on one more mission? There's something that I saw in the security cameras when I double-checked after they both had left. Also, don't tell them about what we've found, I don't want to alarm them." Nanami explained, turning to the white haired sorcerer, who had turned back to normal and was smiling.

"Of course Na-na-mi! Let me go get them!" Satoru sang, vanishing and leaving a frustrated Nanami and an amused Shoko behind.

Within seconds, Gojo returned, this time with company.

"Oh, Nanami-Senpai!" Itadori waved furiously at the blond haired sorcerer, who clenched his jaw at the incorrect honorifics.

"Ah! Nanami-Senpai, I like the ring to that!" Gojo teased, sitting down on the other seat next to Shoko, both Kugisaki and Itadori following him and standing around the table. They looked down at the lit-up dismembered entity with grimaces, their attention then locking onto the three adults.