Choso and Yuji stood on a bridge and had just finished exorcising a few Cursed Spirits together.
"As impressive as ever, little brother," Choso complimented him.
"Are you still calling me that?" Yuji looked at him.
"I'll keep calling you that, over and over. Try to recollect. After all... your father had stitches on his forehead, didn't he?"
Just then, a man with dyed blonde hair accented with his black roots appeared. It was none other than Naoya Zenin.
"I don't see Megumi," Naoya said. "Am I the first one here?"
Choso and Yuji looked up at Naoya who was still talking to himself. "Is that possible? Is he that slow?"
Just then, Naoya looked down at them, "What are you two doing? You totally stand out. Don't you want to run?"
"Run?" Yuji repeated.
"Huh? You don't know?" Naoya tilted his head. "Your death sentence is back in since Satoru's support is gone."
"Huh?" Choso mumbled.
"Oh," Yuji said and recalled Ino's words.
"My business is with Megumi, so I honestly don't care if you live or die," Naoya admitted. "But I can't have you scampering around... so I'll start by breaking your legs."
"What do you want with Fushiguro?!" Yuji shouted.
"I think I'll have him die," Naoya said. "But it'd help if he wrote a little something first."
In that instant, Naoya leapt down next to Yuji, "I heard that Megumi is looking for you."
Acknowledging Naoya's speed, Yuji is still unable to avoid the strike on his face. Before Yuji and Choso can land a hit on Naoya, the man had suddenly disappeared. They looked back and saw him standing there.
"He's really fast, but..." Yuji trailed off.
"It's probably a Cursed Technique," Choso finished off.
"You two are tougher than I thought. To be honest, I didn't expect much. Shall I try... upping my speed?"
Just then, all three of them felt an overwhelming presence enter the scene.
Yuji turned to look at it, thinking it was Gojo, but soon realised the cursed energy was much creepier.
"Hm? You're not alone," said Yuta as he took out his katana.
"Who are you?" Yuji asked.
Yuta jumped from the wall he was on and destroyed a part of the wall he landed on. Choso and Yuji looked at him dumbfounded, though they kept quiet.
"Who's with Itadori?" Yuta asked.
"So you're Yuji's executioner," Choso said after realising the objective of Yuta's arrival.
"Wait just a second!" Naoya shouted. "I'm on your side. You're Okkotsu, right?"
Hearing that name, Yuji immediately felt his body shudder. Okkotsu, the second-year Fushiguro mentioned that was with Y/N-senpai... Just like her and Gojo-sensei, he's a Special Grade Sorcerer!
"Who're you?" Yuta asked Naoya.
"I'm Naoya Zenin, Maki's cousin," He answered. "I'm also here to kill Itadori. Don't worry, I won't interfere. But in return, even if you kill Itadori, will you refrain from telling your superiors for a while? He's bait for someone I want to meet."
"Very well," Yuta answered. "I leave the other to you."
With those words, the battle had suddenly begun. Yuta sprinted past Choso and towards Yuji. Choso tried to slow him down with a Piercing Blood shot, although Naoya stopped the attack.
Yuji and Yuta were both surprised at each other's speeds. Choso was ready to use his technique again, but Naoya had stopped him.
"I saw you earlier. Blood Manipulation, right?" He asked. "I don't know why you have that... but other than Piercing Blood, it's not that frightening. In order to use Piercing Blood, you need Convergence, which requires charging up. I don't need to say the rest for you to understand. This is checkmate. So now you die."
"No. I'm warning you," Choso cut him off. "Do you think you can leave here alive... after trying to hurt my little brother?"
Meanwhile, away from the underpass, Yuji sprinted over a car resting on its side and leapt over it. Yuta quickly ran to its side, readying his katana. However, Yuji grabbed onto the car and reverses direction, barely avoiding Yuta's attack.
"You're like Y/N," Yuta said after being stunned from how sure he was that he struck Yuji.
"Wait! We can talk this out right?! You're Okkotsu, Y/N-senpai's boyfriend, right?!" Yuji exclaimed while punching the car towards Yuta.
Yuta narrowed his eyes at him, "What is it? Did you see her? Is she okay?"
Yuji shook his head, "She isn't."
"What happened?" Yuta immediately asked him.
"I don't know, but she looked like she had cried," Yuji answered.
Yuta felt his soul leave his body after he heard those words. "Where did she go?"
"We separated but she went somewhere that way," Yuji pointed to the right.
Yuta looked at the direction before he looked back at Yuji, "Sorry, but I still have to kill you. Just trust me, okay?"
Yuji looked confused but that was all Yuta needed to pierce his katana into Yuji's chest. Sukuna was taken aback immediately, but soon a smile replaced his frown.
Yuta quickly made his way over to Choso and Naoya, dragging over the deceased Yuji with him.
Before Choso could react, Yuta struck him down with his fist repeatedly in a second. "Looks like you're hurt, Naoya. Shall I heal you? My Reverse Cursed Technique can heal people. In return... please inform your superiors of Itadori's death."
───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────
After Naoya had left, Yuta summoned out Rika to take care of Yuji while he went to look for Y/N.
He headed towards the east where Yuji had pointed. He looked down at his ring and imbued his cursed energy into it.
"Show me where she is," He ordered. Instantly, Yuta could feel the other ring which also had his cursed energy.
He followed it immediately and found himself at the bottom of a high-rise building. He looked up at it, contemplating of just running up the stairs in one go or breaking in through the windows.
"Yuta?"
The Special Grade sorcerer felt his heart stop and slowly looked back in front of him. His eyes met those lovable [e/c] eyes that belonged to his one and only girlfriend.
"Y/N," He whispered. Without another second, he ran towards her and pulled her into a hug.
"W-What're you doing here?" She asked. He didn't miss the way he felt her body tense up and how she didn't hug him back.
"I came here to look for you," Yuta said. "You can't expect to just leave me a message like that and expect me not to worry!"
"Oh..." Y/N trailed off, recalling the message she'd sent to him.
"Angel... What happened?" He asked, bringing her hand up and kissed her knuckles.
"Nothing happened," She smiled at him.
"Don't lie to me. I know you when you're lying," Yuta said. "Talk to me. Don't you know how worried I was? Think about my position, Y/N."
"If I told you, you would want to stay away from me," Y/N let go of his hand and took a step back.
"You know I won't-"
"No, Yuta," She cut him off. "I did really horrific things. I killed people, Yuta. I killed innocent civilians. Thousands of them. And I... I'm not the strong woman you think I am. I couldn't save Akio and Akina... They died right in front of me."
Yuta felt his heart stop at those words. The Haiba siblings that he met a year ago, were now dead.
"I'm a monster, Yuta," Y/N felt the tears come up again. "God, I'm crying again. This is pathetic. I'm pathetic."
When Y/N didn't hear a response from him, she looked up at him. "Please... say something, Yuta."
In the next second, Y/N felt his arms around her back and his chin on the top of her head.
"You've been through so much, haven't you, my love? I'm so sorry that I wasn't there with you. It's okay. You can cry as much as you want to, I'm here now," He whispered, caressing her hair.
Y/N couldn't help but let the rest of her emotions out into uncontrollable tears and sobs. The person she could finally find comfort in was here, right by her.
"I'm sorry, Yuta..." She said through sobs.
"It's not your fault. I don't care if you've killed people. I know you weren't in control. You lost yourself, didn't you?" He asked.
When Y/N nodded her head, Yuta could only tighten the hug. "I'm sorry I wasn't there for you. I'm sorry I wasn't there to pull you back from the edge."
Y/N shook her head and let out a smile as she pulled back to see his face, "It isn't your fault. Everything happened so quickly."
Yuta smiled and wiped away the tears on her face, "You've been so strong. I love you, you know that? I love you so much, Fujiwara Y/N."
Y/N smiled and nodded her head, "I know."
Yuta didn't hesitate to lean forward, pressing his lips to hers. He kissed her gently, at first, not wanting to push her further than he should. But Y/N already had her hands around his neck, bringing him closer to her body. It seemed as if nothing else mattered in the world. Her safe haven was finally here, holding her in his arms.
"I missed those lips of yours," Yuta whispered as they pulled away.
Y/N smiled and pressed a quick peck to his lips, "Just them and not me?"
"Oh, come on. Angel, you know what I mean," Yuta pouted at her.
Y/N laughed and smiled lovingly at him, "I know. I'm just teasing you."
The moment he heard her melodious laugh, Yuta knew she was back to her usual self. He knew he managed to cheer her up.
"Come on, we've got somewhere to go."
───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────
Yuji suddenly woke up, finding himself next to a fire and spotted Yuta sitting across him. Just next to him, Y/N sat with her head on his shoulder.
"Y/N-senpai?" Yuji called. "I'm...?"
"What a relief!" Yuta exclaimed with a smile.
Yuji gave him a look, "???"
"I think it was around September," Yuta said. "Gojo-sensei and Y/N came to see me. He asked us to watch over you. While Y/N was next to you, I had to put on an act."
"Act?" Yuji tilted his head.
───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────
"I've got a bad feeling," Gojo said. "If anything happens to me, I need you two to take care of the current first and second-years."
Yuta looked over to Gojo while his right hand was intertwined with Y/N's left hand. The said girl was happily swinging their hands together, happy to see him after a long time.
"If anything happens?" Yuta repeated. "Like you getting a girlfriend?"
"You're a comedian now, huh?" Gojo pursed his lips, unamused.
"Well, I can't imagine what would happen to you," Yuta answered truthfully.
"Although, it's hard to see you getting a girlfriend. You can't even stay committed," Y/N commented.
"Hey! I can stay committed!" Gojo quickly exclaimed.
"Sure. As if you don't wear those glasses to flirt with women every other day," Y/N waved her hand off dismissively.
"Shh! We don't talk about that!" Gojo pinched her cheeks.
Y/N quickly kicked him in the shin, forcing him to let go of her cheeks. She pulled Yuta with her, looking at Gojo with a smile.
"Back to what I was saying, I'm especially concerned with Itadori Yuji. He's a first-year," Gojo informed Yuta. "Just like you two, he was up for secret execution. If you could keep an eye out, I'd appreciate it. By the way, where's Miguel?"
"He doesn't want to see you."
"..."
Y/N smiled and kissed Yuta's cheek, "Come on, Yuta. Let's leave Gojo-sensei behind and go exploring."
"Sure," Yuta chuckled, causing a tick mark to appear on Gojo's forehead.
"Will you two stop flirting in front of me?! Or else I'm banning you two from ever seeing each other again!"
Y/N stopped in her tracks and slowly turned around with a smile, "If you do, you'll never be my favourite teacher. You'll lose your favourite student, and I'll leave the Jujutsu World to be with Yuta."
Gojo immediately gasped after hearing that he wouldn't be Y/N's favourite teacher.
"I take it back! Don't choose Nanamin over me!!"
───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────
"Instead of allowing a different executioner or having all information about you being hidden, I decided this work-around was best," Yuta explained. "But they aren't dumb. So in order to get Jujutsu Headquarters to approve me as executioner, I entered a Binding Vow to kill you. So I killed you. Sorry about that."
"Wait, you killed Yuji?" Y/N looked at him.
Yuta immediately looked at her, "Yes, but it was the only way to know he was safe! Sweetheart, I healed him with Reverse Cursed Technique the moment I killed him. Don't kill me, please?"
Y/N narrowed her eyes at him playfully, "I'll think about it."
"Angel!" Yuta whined with a pout.
"Wait... why are you doing all this?" Yuji cut in.
"Because you're important to people who are important to me," Yuta said, looking at Y/N.
She smiled at him, "Okay, I forgive you."
Yuta smiled at her and caressed her cheek while glancing at Yuji, "I too once bore a power I couldn't handle. I thought it had been forced on me, but I had invited it upon myself. But not you. Like Y/N, the power you bear isn't your own. You aren't to blame."
"You don't understand," Yuji said while looking down. "It isn't about whether it's my fault. But... I-"
"Itadori," Megumi called from the side.
"Fushiguro..."
"What're you doing? Let's head back to Jujutsu High. The barrier around the school is loosening. As long as no one directly sees your face, it should be no problem for you to go back. We'll rejoin the older students and-"
"Stop!" Yuji shouted. "Don't act like everything is normal! Don't act like nothing happened! I killed people! Because of me, lots of people died!"
"It's our fault," Megumi said. "Don't be selfish and give up all alone. We aren't heroes fighting for justice. We're jujutsu sorcerers. No one can truly ever judge us so we must continuously prove the worth of our existence. We don't have the luxury of thinking about ourselves. We've just got to save people. I believe that was the original principle behind your actions. So start by saving me... Itadori."
Immediately, Yuji's eyes snapped back to him.
"Noritoshi Kamo had made plans for those involved with jujutsu to face off in a culling game. Tsumiki is ensnared in that. So, I'm begging you, Itadori. I need your strength."
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