pomegranate ink | y. okkotsu

xxii

a/n: i've had so much free time recently hence how much i've been updating but ngl in the next week or so it's back to the daily grind so idk how much i'll be able to write then unfortunately. we'll see what the vibes are once we get there but in the meantime enjoy the pomegranate ink spam!!

Unlike the others, who got to lay around in bed in order to recover from their injuries, you were back on your feet almost immediately after Ieri finished using her Reverse Cursed Technique on you. Word had come from your family that there was some administrative delay preventing them from arriving, so you and Ieri were the ones responsible for healing the rest of the students. Ieri told you it was fine and that she could do it herself, but you knew she was secretly relieved that you were helping her.

Tullia was the first one after you that Ieri healed, and when you explained the situation to her, she was ready to help, downing another vial of the precious tetrodotoxin that Gojo had bought her for emergencies. It was the only way, according to her, that she'd be able to regain enough energy at a fast enough pace to support you healing so many people at once, especially given the extent of some of the injuries.

Most of the Kyoto students were comparatively alright, so you left them to Ieri, knowing that as a Reverse Cursed Technique, Composition was stronger. Unlike other Reverse Cursed Techniques, Composition was specifically meant to regenerate body parts, allowing it to heal at a faster rate and in a more advanced manner — closer to how one's own Reverse Cursed Technique would operate on oneself.

You made your way to where Megumi had been set down by Panda, knowing that the buds in his stomach were an unknown and therefore the greatest cause for concern. Tullia followed after you, still sipping on a cyanide smoothie despite the fact that she had already taken tetrodotoxin earlier. You wished that you didn't have to use her like this, because she deserved to take some time to herself as well, but there was nothing to be done about it.

"Let's see how we can deal with all of this," you said, wrinkling your nose as the buds' little fangs snapped at your hands, which were hovering over Megumi's stomach. Megumi was fading in and out of consciousness, his entire front covered with the blood he had coughed up earlier. His face was clammy and gray, his spiky hair limp and sticking to his forehead. You brushed it out of the way, pursing your lips at how cool your palm was against the heat of his skin. His breathing was fast, and when you pressed your fingers against his neck to take his pulse, you found it to be unnaturally rapid.

"Y/N? Is that you?" he said. "Why is the world spinning? Can you bring me a blanket? I feel cold."

"You look like you're burning up, though," Tullia observed, leaning over him and blocking the sunlight from reaching the makeshift hospital bed. Megumi blinked at her, though in truth his eyelids barely moved.

"What do you mean?" he said, his voice sounding like he was speaking through cotton. "I'm so cold. Y/N, why is the world spinning?"

"Is Elakshi around?" you asked Tullia. You knew for sure that Elakshi, at least, was completely unharmed — she hadn't suffered at all in your brief match, and then you had directed her to leave with Tullia before reaching the special grade, so it wasn't like she had had the chance to be injured. She might be a little tired from having to carry Tullia all of the way out of the forest, but given what the others had had to endure, you didn't really have much sympathy for that.

"She's probably staying with Noritoshi. He ended up in a bad way," Tullia said. You swallowed. The thought of Noritoshi being hurt like that was unsettling — even though you were stronger than him now, he was still the one you always imagined to be above injury, the example of what a regular sorcerer who was not, say, Gojo, should be.

"Then I'm sorry to do this, but can you ask her to please come here with a blanket? I think it'll make him more comfortable if he has one before I use Composition on him, especially because I don't know how removing the buds will shock his system," you said.