3rd Person's POV (At the Zenin Clan's estate)
Right after their escape from the Jujutsu High students, Sukuna (now in Megumi's body) and Uraume finally reached the Zenin clan's residence where Sukuna's "bath" ritual was going to take place. Upon reaching there, Sukuna wasted no time and got busy with the rituals of the "bath" in the Cursed Warehouse of the Zenin estate while Uraume and Kenjaku found themselves conversing with each other outside that room, waiting for Sukuna to finish his bath and come out any time soon.
"To finish the Culling Game?" Uraume asked in a confused tone, holding some fresh clean clothes for Sukuna.
"Yes. I can't merge Tengen with humanity until I end the calling game." Kenjaku confirmed with a knowing smile.
"But you are the one who designed the game to continue." Uraume countered back with a scoff, annoyed.
"In order to establish such an insane game, I took a binding vow to end what was permanent." Kenjaku explained.
"Then go do it. What are you doing here?" Uraume scolded him with a frowning face, causing Kenjaku to pout.
"You don't want to hear how? Too bad..." Kenjaku whined out loud with a small pout before letting out a sigh and smiling again. "I'm interested in the bath. The bath is a ritual for turning a vessel that is cherished as a family treasure into a cursed tool to protect it from external threats. It means 10 months and 10 days of soaking the vessel in a solution with cursed energy obtained by crushing a choice selection of venomous creatures. Sounds nasty. You're doing that to cursed spirits?"
"When killed, a cursed spirit turns to dust. The same is generally true for their severed body parts. So I carefully wrung each one and then used my cursed technique to freeze core parts such as the head to sever it. I diced and filtered the rest." Uraume replied calmly as they started to head towards Sukuna where he was taking his bath.
"What's the point of soaking in it?" Kenjaku asked in confusion as they arrived where Sukuna was at that moment, the Cursed Warehouse or the Cursed Pit.
It was a massive room with a staircase on one side where people had to walk down to reach the actual floor of the room. In that room, there was this huge sac hanging on the top of the ceiling, and inside the sac contained venomous insects, such as scorpions, spiders, centipedes, lice, snakes, etc., and so many other stuff. And from that sac above leaked out some sort of thick dark-colored liquid form which dripped down from the sac and filled the floor of the room like a pool.
It was the same room where Toji Fushiguro had received his scar when he was a young kid after the Zenin clan threw him into this same disciplinary pit, full of cursed spirits. The same room where Maki Zenin had attained her own enlightenment during the massacre of her entire clan.
This "bath" was practiced in the Chinese Gu jujutsu sorcery since ancient times where they would make various venomous insects devour one another in order to create an ultimate poison. One basically had to place various types of venomous insects into a pot or a container and just let them fight, kill, and devour one another until the most deadly one remained. And this Gu ritual was introduced to Japan during the Heian period and was given its own name, kodoku or the "bath".
"To be near evil and to submerge Megumi Fushiguro's soul." Uraume replied to Kenjaku's question as Sukuna merged out of the "pool", completing the ritual of his bath.
A smiling Uraume then handed the Curse King a robe or a kimono of some sort which Sukuna accepted gratefully before putting them on to hide his naked body.
"You're keeping that visage?" Kenjaku asked as Sukuna was fixing the collar of the kimono.
"For now... This is better for fighting sorcerers." Sukuna replied with a smirk before noticing a small scar on the tip of his right hand's index finger but then he brushed that out of his mind immediately and tried to focus on his next moves. "Kogane, where are Nana Osaki and Tsumiki Fushiguro?"
Upon hearing the call, Megumi's kogane appeared before them to give out the details he asked for while they were making their way out of the Cursed Warehouse.
"Nana Osaki has gone back to Jujutsu High with her teammates while Tsumiki Fushiguro is now at Sendai." The kogane replied, giving out the locations of the two women.
"Players are no longer confined in their colonies and Tsumiki Fushiguro issued an invitation to fight..." Kenjaku explained.
"But why in Sendai?" Uraume asked in confusion.
"How exasperating!" Kenjaku sighed dramatically. "Yorozu is from Aizu. After countless years, she wants to visit her home and Sendai is in the neighborhood. You're truly exasperating!"
"Like you can talk." Uraume barked out at the man.
"Enough." Sukuna scolded them in his usual bored yet annoyed tone.
"Are you really leaving to fight Yorozu?" Kenjaku asked as he turned his attention back to the Curse King.
"Do you find that strange?" Sukuna questioned back.
"I thought you would ignore her. It's always been one-sided between you." Kenjaku stated in amusement and this caused Sukuna to smirk back in response.
"Yorozu doesn't matter. But the vessel does." Sukuna replied.
"But what about Nana Osaki?" Kenjaku asked, smirking back. "I didn't know she was that important aside from the fact that she's from the Osaki clan and has great potential."
"Megumi Fushiguro is in love with this Osaki girl. So madly in love that it's sickening. Her destruction would not only break his mind and soul completely, but it would also literally drive him to bottomless insanity. Osaki's death would be much more powerful and effective than Tsumiki Fushiguro's death in order to completely bury Megumi Fushiguro's soul." Sukuna explained.
"Then you should have killed her off right away after taking over the boy's body." Kenjaku pointed out.
"Yes, I know that and it was a mistake on my side." Sukuna sighed before a vicious smirk formed on his face again. "But then again, it would be much more fun and exciting when I'll be able to kill her off in front of that man... Just imagine, I'll destroy his cute little student right in front of him and he won't be able to do anything to save her life... That devastated look on his face would be worth witnessing, I guarantee you..."
Kenjaku immediately understood whom he was talking about and whom he was referring to when Sukuna said "that man". It was none other than the white-haired sorcerer himself who was still currently trapped inside the prison realm.
"Oh, understood." Kenjaku simply replied with a malicious chuckle before the three headed out to their respective destinations.
While Sukuna headed out to the Sendai region to face off against Yorozu (and potentially kill her off), Kenjaku on the other hand headed out to somewhere else in order to retrieve a special item for Sukuna from an underground cave. It was the same cave where he had held Master Tengen captive.
"Kogane, add a rule... Barring new players from participating in the Culling Game." Kenjaku stated calmly as he was making his way deep inside the cave.
"Denied, that conflicts with rule 7." Kogane replied.
"Aw, don't say that!" Kenjaku pouted.
"Denied. That conflicts with rule 7." Kogane repeated its previous words.
"Japan has numerous pure barriers that raise the precision of Tengen's cursed spirit suppression and barrier techniques by assistant managers. Four of them are pivotal. The center of the Imperial Palace. At the holy mountain of Hida. The tombs under Jujutsu High which were once a candidate location for relocation of the capital. Yamakuni Mausoleum in Kyoto. And the colossal one here dividing Japan into East and West. The Culling Game consists of a bond barrier that was created based on this pure barrier by Tengen. The Culling Game has no game master. But if it's anyone, it's Tengen... Although I'm the one who forced it on him. After the Shibuya incident, if Tengen had released these pure barriers, the culling game would have ended and my plans would have been for naught. But without these pure barriers, it would have been necessary to redo the never-ending fight with cursed spirits and reclaim barrier technique know-how from 1000 years ago. Many people would have died but Tengen bet they would win. And now Tengen is in my hands. I have the one who built these pure barriers. Destroying them will be easy..." Kenjaku explained the situation to the kogane as he finally reached the spot inside the cave where he noticed Master Tengen standing there with arms crossed over his chest while holding a firm unpleasant look on his face. "Kogane, add a rule... Closing the Culling Game to new players. If you don't, I will destroy this barrier and forcefully stop the Culling Game."
"That conflicts with rule..." the kogane was about to repeat its same words before Tengen interrupted them.
"What are you doing?" Tengen asked in a monotone voice.
"I'm creating a glitch..." Kenjaku replied gleefully. "No matter what it chooses, it will disrupt the continuance of the game, so it will decide on the most sustainable option. And that means my new rule will pass."
And hearing all of that, the kogane started to panic from the inside, and in response, it immediately passed Kenjaku's rule.
"A player has added a rule to the Culling Game! Rule 13: As of this moment 9:09 PM on November 18, 2018, no new players may join the Culling Game!!" the kogane announced.
"Add another rule... Stipulating that the game ends when all players except Suguru Geto and Megumi Fushiguro have died. If you don't..." Kenjaku added, giving the kogane a threatening look.
"A player has added a rule to the calling game!" the kogane immediately started announcing another rule right after the previous one. "Rule 14: The game will end up on the deaths of all players except..."
"Why adopt such circuitous means?" Tengen asked Kenjaku, raising an eyebrow. "If you want to end the Culling Game, why not simply remove this pure barrier?"
"Because then the barriers for ritual merger with you would disappear..." Kenjaku replied with a smirk, causing Tengen to let out a huff in annoyance.
Later they walked down some tunnels further into the cave and made their way toward some sort of mummified sorcerer or cursed spirit who was sitting there in the middle of the wide open space, wrapped around by a cloak, dead.
"Heh, heh! May I take this to Sukuna as a souvenir?" Kenjaku chuckled, pointing at the mummy and Master Tengen furrowed his eyebrows in response.
"Yes. It will not disturb the barrier." Tengen muttered a reply in a displeased tone, frustrated by the fact that he wasn't able to do anything at that moment to stop or prevent things from happening in the future.
Nana's POV (Back at Tokyo Jujutsu High)
After witnessing Sukuna's departure (while still inside Megumi's body) with my own eyes and a broken heart, I lost all of the energy reserved inside me and just fell immediately unconscious. Sukuna, now possessing Megumi's body, made me feel like losing hope, made me feel like losing my sanity as well. I knew the rush of adrenaline in my veins was pushing me to fight Sukuna and save Megumi thus far, but as soon as they left the scene, everything within me extinguished within a minute and my life turned into nothing but shambles and miserable hell.
When I woke up from my unconscious state, I found myself lying on a hospital bed in Shoko sensei's clinic. Apparently, Maki senpai and Yuji were the ones who took care of me and brought me back to the Jujutsu High when I didn't have my consciousness then. And when I did wake up from my comatose, the first thing I learned from Shoko sensei was about Tsumiki's death at the hands of Megumi aka Sukuna.
Sure it did break my heart and spirit upon hearing the news, given that Tsumiki was a close friend of mine and was like an older sister to me, but also at the same time, I did kind of expect this to happen in the back of my mind. After learning that Tsumiki wasn't Tsumiki anymore, rather she was taken over by the spirit of some 1000-year-old jujutsu sorcerer named Yorozu, and also seeing Yorozu challenge Sukuna for a duel while still in Tsumiki's body, I knew something bad was going to happen later in the future. And looks like my guess was correct all along and that unfortunately led Tsumiki to her own demise. And as always there was nothing I could do about it even if I wanted to, making another failure be added to my list.
But despite all of these failures and heartbreaks, we still needed to rescue Gojo sensei from that prison realm since he was the one who could stop Sukuna and Kenjaku and also save Megumi at the same time.
"Now, Kenjaku can end the Culling Game by getting rid of all the players except Sukuna." Ui Ui stated in a serious tone as he and I were walking down one of the hallways of Jujutsu High, making our way to Shoko sensei's clinic.
"This might be a condition for the merger..." I responded back in a thoughtful tone.
"It's simpler this way, so there is no need to worry over complications while fighting." Ui Ui added and I hummed in response.
"To win, we just need to defeat Kenjaku and Sukuna." I stated with confidence and Ui Ui deadpanned at me.
"You say that like it's easy, Osaki. But it's like trying to kill Satoru Gojo." He warned me.
"Yes, and Gojo sensei is gonna come back." I countered back before we entered the clinic where we noticed Shoko sensei just completed treating Hana's injuries.
"Sorry, this is the best my Reverse Cursed technique could do." Shoko sighed as Hana was sitting on the operation bed wrapped up in bandages with Yuta Senpai standing beside them.
"Normally, we would be dead already. Amai stopped us with his cursed technique." Angel stated, referring to Yuji's friend from middle school who was also a part of the Culling Game. "And while I can't be certain, I think it helped that Takaba was nearby..."
And that's when I decided to walk closer and make them know my presence.
"Shoko sensei..." I called out softly, walking inside the room with Ui Ui. "Can I perform my healing technique on her?"
Hearing that Shoko sensei's eyes widened in surprise.
"You mean Akiko sensei's healing technique?" sensei asked and I nodded my head at her in response. "Have you finally mastered that technique yet?"
"Sort of, I guess." I smiled a bit and stood beside the bed where Hana was still resting. "Would you mind me using my power on you, Hana?"
"No, it's okay. Go ahead." Angel answered in Hana's place while the said girl simply nodded her head in response with a smile.
"So, what's this healing technique anyway?" Yuta senpai asked with curiosity as he moved closer to my side to see what I was doing.
"It's one of the inherited cursed techniques of the Osaki clan..." I replied before gently placing my hands on Hana's chest and stomach. "It's a rare ability and not everyone in the Osaki clan inherits it."
"This Osaki healing technique kinda works like the Reversed Cursed technique in a way. It allows the user to heal all sorts of physical external and internal injuries, small or fatal wounds don't matter, and can even save the lives of nearly-dead people if the technique is used correctly. The user can also use this technique onto themselves to self-heal their own injuries as well, making them practically immortal in a way. What differentiates this ability from the usual Reversed Cursed technique is that it can do physical restoration, meaning this ability can reattach severed limbs and body parts to the main body, can heal crushed bones and skulls, literally can do anything, without leaving any scars, and marks. The only thing this ability can't do is heal physical and mental diseases and disabilities or genetic disorders... This is why Nana's mother Akiko Sensei was considered to be the best doctor out there in the Jujutsu society at the time back then..." Shoko sensei explained further and this left the others in complete shock.
"R-Really?! That's so amazing!" Yuta senpai gasped in awe with widened eyes.
Right on cue, upon activating my healing ability, several colorful glowing butterflies appeared to come out from my body and landed on the surroundings, including Hana's body. And when the butterflies touched her body, the injuries were being healed instantly, leaving the others (except for Shoko sensei) shocked in amazement.
"Wow, so pretty!" Yuta Senpai gasped out in awe again, looking at the butterflies flying around him while trying to catch them with the palm of his hands like a little kid.
But as soon as he touched them, the butterflies immediately dissipated within the air, leaving glittery dust behind.
"Eh? They disappeared." Yuta complained with a disheartened tone, pouting as he looked over at me and I chuckled at him in response.
"You can't hold onto them, senpai. They'll disappear as soon as they touch anything around them." I explained and Yuta's pout deepened even more which was really cute though.
Then I looked back at Hana again and gave her a sheepish smile.
"Sorry, I couldn't fix your right arm, Hana. If we had your severed arm with us right now, I could've reattached it back to your body. But since Sukuna tore off your arm and threw it away god knows where, I can't fix your arm anymore. I can only reattach body parts back to their original places. I can't regrow or regenerate body parts like the original ones you lose..." I explained it to her.
"It's okay, Nana. Thank you for healing me." Hana smiled back, expressing her gratitude towards me.
"Sorry, but I need to ask something..." Yuta senpai then chimed in and we all looked back at him again.
"Kurusu is in no condition to continue fighting." Angel interrupted, causing Yuta to furrow his eyebrows a bit.
"Angel, can you switch bodies like Sukuna?" Yuta asked.
"Speaking from experience, it's not possible. Including me, many past sorcerers accepted Kenjaku's invitation. Because they didn't know how to become cursed objects after death. That's still true, but the disgraced one is different. After experiencing it once, he may have learned how to divide his soul as a cursed object." Angel explained.
"Then..." I trailed off.
"Yes, our work ends when we undo Satoru Gojo's seal..." Angel added.
"But, what about Megumi? What will become of him?" Hana asked in concern.
"Not sure what will happen, but we need to figure something out to save him as quickly as possible." I replied in a serious tone, letting out a small sigh. "The only person who can do that is Gojo sensei."
After that, all the surviving members from Tokyo Jujutsu High, Kyoto Jujutsu High, and the sorcerers who took part in the Culling Game with us (Kashimo, Takaba, Hana, Higuruma, and Amai included) all gathered around in a wide common space to discuss our next plan.
"I have some ideas for helping Fushiguro." Yuji stated as he walked into the room with a serious look on his face.
"Me too. But..." Yuta senpai trailed off.
"Either way we need to render Sukuna unable to fight." Maki Senpai added.
"Yuji, take this." Choso called as he walked over to the pink-haired boy and handed him a book.
"What is it?" Yuji asked in confusion, taking the book from Choso.
"Records of soul research that Yuki Tsukumo left along with the back of the prison realm. It may prove useful." Choso replied.
"Thanks." Yuji responded back in a light tone, looking down at the book.
"No problem." Choso smiled at him.
"No, I mean about your brothers..." Yuji added as he looked up at Choso.
"That's okay too. They will live on inside you." Choso replied, his smile softened even more.
As I quietly watched everyone getting ready to unseal Gojo sensei and also preparing themselves to face off against Sukuna and Kenjaku, I began to recall back the time when Gojo sensei once said these words to me a long time ago.
'I'll foster a strong and intelligent group. I won't leave anyone alone...'
I then let out a heavy sigh and leaned back against a wall behind me as my face softened at the thoughts of Gojo sensei. My heart ached and hammered against my chest at the thought of Gojo sensei. Ever since the day he got sealed inside the prison realm, I kept thinking about him. Sure I loved and cared about him, even though I never outright expressed my emotions openly to him, but he was always there in my heart and mind every damn second. I was so concerned for his well-being to the point where I literally took away human lives in order to survive the Culling Game and seek help from Hana and Angel. I made my own hands dirty and bloodied so I could get help from Angel from Gojo sensei. It was all for him.
As a kid back then, I was in love with both of you... Although I did fall for Suguru first before I fell for you... Baka sensei, who's alone? I was there for you all along. There are a bunch of monsters now awaiting your return... So please come back, Gojo sensei... I miss you...
The next day
The next day, in the same common space with everyone, present there, Takaba and Yuji took the back of the prison realm and placed it on the ground in the middle of the room.
"Hold on. You plan to unseal Satoru Gojo in here?" Angel asked in confusion as Takaba placed a cloth on the ground while Yuji put the prison realm cube on it in the middle.
"Yes. Is that a bad idea?" Yuji asked back, confused.
"Well, it is a bit dreary for a welcome party. Should I decorate? Got any origami paper? I'll make those ring thingies!" Takaba suggested in his old Takaba fashion.
"Not what I meant." Angel deadpanned before looking over at the rest of us. "Physical time doesn't flow in the prison realm. Meaning that you can't die from causes related to time passing, such as hunger or old age. Well, unless the person chooses to kill themselves."
"You could use that like a time machine." Hakari Senpai noted.
"That's not what I am talking about. It's only been 19 days since Halloween for us, but we have no idea how much time has passed for Gojo. For him, it might feel like a moment. Or it could be like he's been alone for centuries." Angel explained.
"Oh, which means...?" Yuji trailed off.
"I'm worried about his state of mind. He's the strongest sorcerer of our time, right?" Angel asked.
"Depending on his mental state, it could be dangerous to unseal him in this confined space..." I stated, crossing my arms over my chest.
"Yeah, that could be bad..." Yuji and Hakari stated in unison with concerned looks on their faces, imagining the ruckus that Gojo sensei might cause if he got out of the prison realm unhinged.
And that led us outside the Jujutsu High building, at the Kiroko Minefield in Saitama prefecture which was the Jujutsu High Training Ground No. 4. I stood right beside Shoko sensei who was wearing shades and was sitting on a chair far away from where the prison realm was placed on the ground while the others hid behind huge rocks and boulders with Hana flying in the air, ready to activate her technique and unseal Gojo sensei.
"Nana, wear these." Shoko sensei stated as she handed me another pair of shades, and without asking too many questions, I simply took the shades from her and wore them to cover my eyesight.
"Salmon!!" Inumaki senpai yelled out through a megaphone, prompting Hana to unleash Angel's power.
"Jacob's Ladder!!!" Hana and Angel yelled out in unison and released a huge beam of blinding light from high up in the sky, hitting the prison realm cube which was on the ground.
My heartbeat started to pick up speed and my whole existence was filled with concern, excitement, and anticipation. Even though it was only 19 days since I last saw Gojo sensei, I was still holding onto my breath and kept my fingers crossed, wishing that nothing would go wrong when unsealing him. On other given days, Gojo sensei's absence for 19 days won't have affected me that much, but since it was a different situation and so much had happened within these 19 days, it felt like an eternity for me.
Sensei's coming back... Gojo sensei's coming back...
The light beam was too bright and powerful for everyone to look at what was going on, so they all covered their eyes while Shoko sensei and I remained unfazed because of the shades we were wearing. After unleashing the power, the light beam hit the cube, and in seconds the beam dissipated away, leaving behind smoke and dust everywhere around us.
"Did it work?!" Yuji asked as we all rushed toward where the cube was with anticipation. "Sensei!! Is it okay if we go look?!"
But when we went closer, there was nothing at that spot; not even the prison realm was there.
"Huh? Sensei...?" Yuji asked in confusion and my eyes widened a bit in concern.
"The prison realm is gone, but where is Gojo sensei?!" I asked before looking over at Hana.
"Is it my fault...?" Hana mumbled to herself.
"Thus was born an odd bit of trivia for the world..." Takaba noted with a heavy sigh.
Applying Angel's cursed technique to the prison realm makes Satoru Gojo disappear...?!
"Maybe he was evil or something? That's why our light made him disappear. It isn't my fault, got that?" Hana asked, trying to defend herself and we all looked at her with deadpanned faces.
She's playing defense...
"She's going on the offensive..." Yuji noted.
"Gojo is sketchy though." Shoko sensei added.
"That's right. Can't really argue that Gojo sensei's personality has some evil to it." I sighed as I started to get worried again, thinking of what might have happened to Gojo sensei.
But just then, all of a sudden, the ground beneath us started to shake violently, startling each and every one of us present there and I stumbled back, losing my balance a bit.
"An earthquake?!" Hana gasped in shock.
"This timing can't just be a coincidence!!" Yuji gasped as well.
3rd Person's POV (Far away from the Jujutsu High Campus)
Faraway from Jujutsu High, somewhere between the mountains, Kenjaku was standing in the middle of some ruins, waiting for the arrival of a certain individual.
"I placed the prison realm in a subduction zone. 8000 meters underwater, in the deepest area of the Japan trench. I also left a cursed spirit as a detector inside layers of seals. I did all that because Tengen told me about the back. This way I could kill you if the seal disappeared." Kenjaku stated with a scowling face yet a wicked grin danced on his lips.
He looked up at one of the high walls in front of him and noticed a certain familiar white-haired sorcerer appeared on the scene, standing there on the walls. It was none other than the Satoru Gojo himself, without his blindfold and jacket on him at that moment.
"Seriously, what is with you?" Kenjaku scoffed through his gritted smile while Gojo stared down at him with an unreadable expression. "It's been a while, no? Have a nice rest?"
"I think you should pick your words more wisely." Gojo responded back with a serious tone and the smile on Kenjaku's face was now long gone. "They are about to be your last."
And with that, right the instant, Gojo unleashed his hollow purple technique and shot the beaming ball at Kenjaku who quickly dodged the attack and jumped down from the high place he was standing on. The whole area of the ruins shook up overwhelmingly when the hollow purple ball beam hit one of the walls of that place, a few walls and pillars crashing down eventually. Gojo was about to jump and attack Kenjaku once again when suddenly someone else appeared on the scene and threw a punch at Gojo who immediately blocked the attack with his left arm. And the appearance of that person left Gojo completely speechless for a moment.
"You have changed since I have been gone... Megumi..." Gojo stated in a deep tone with a frowning face when he noticed Sukuna (now in Megumi's body) was the one who attacked him just now.
Gojo and Sukuna along with Uraume jumped down from mid-air and landed on the ground where Kenjaku was standing and now Gojo was facing off against two old sorcerers who had taken over the bodies of his best friend and his student.
"Do you remember?" Sukuna asked Gojo with a smirk, recalling back to what the former had said to the latter a long time ago.
'When I make this kid's body mine, you'll be the first one I kill!!'
"I have got a new boy, but I'm still gonna kill you." Sukuna added, as his smirk widened even more.
"You ran away from Yuji, but now you wanna talk tough? How sad, dude!!" Gojo slandered the King of Curses while smirking back and this didn't sit well with Uraume at all.
"How dare you?!" Uraume yelled out as he was about to attack Gojo.
But immediately Gojo punched a powerful strike on Uraume in the stomach and sent him flying far away from the rest of them, blood spitting out from the ice-cursed technique user's mouth.
"Who are you?" Gojo asked Uraume in annoyance.
"Wait, Sukuna." Kenjaku chimed in as he appeared on the scene and stood beside Sukuna. "Keep your promise to me before fighting him..."
"The Almighty Sukuna is taking orders from that patched-up old bag?!" Gojo laughed out loud comically, throwing insults at them left and right while also thinking of the current situation he was in.
'Actually, I have got things to do before I fight him... I would like to mourn Suguru's body, but Sukuna is awfully tight with whoever's possessing Suguru thanks to a binding vow they made or something. What a pain in the ass...' Gojo thought to himself.
Meanwhile, Sukuna began to recall back to one of the last words of Yorozu before he killed her off at that very moment.
'I have much more to teach you about love!! And ultimate strength and the solitude it brings!!'
And remembering those words caused a smirk to form on Sukuna's face.
"Very well." Sukuna responded back to Kenjaku.
"What's the date?" Gojo asked as he sighed in annoyance, running a hand through his snow-white hair.
"November 19." Kenjaku replied.
"What say we do this on December 24?" Gojo suggested and hearing this made Kenjaku chuckle in response.
"Ha, ha! How romantic. Isn't it gross to make plans with each other on Christmas Eve?" Kenjaku taunted with a smirk.
"Well, having two death anniversaries would be confusing." Gojo scoffed in a bitchy tone.
"You don't expect to lose?" Kenjaku questioned again, furrowing his eyebrows and Gojo thought back to what Yuji once asked him months ago, the time when he brought the young boy to Jujutsu High for the first time.
'Is he stronger than you, sensei?' Yuji asked in confusion.
'Hm... Good question. If Sukuna were to completely regain his power, it might be a little tough...' Gojo replied, trailing off a bit.
'Would you lose?' the pink-haired boy asked again with curiosity.
And that's when a wide smirk formed on Gojo's face and confidence cast over his form.
"Hah! No. I will win." Gojo replied back, bold and firm with his conviction.
Hearing that, Sukuna chuckled in response this time around.
"Make sure to keep that cute beloved student of yours safe." Sukuna sang out with a smirk and Gojo furrowed his eyebrows in response. "Who knows what might happen to her from now on..."
It didn't take Gojo to understand rocket science to know who Sukuna was talking about. The white-haired sorcerer knew exactly who that cute beloved student of his was – it was none other than Nana Osaki herself.
For a while now Gojo had been thinking about his people from Jujutsu High and also about Nana like how she was doing, what she was doing, was she even dead or alive. But hearing Sukuna say those words made him feel relieved to a great extent. Nana was alive; she had made it through these hellish 19 days successfully.
19 days seemed to have passed as both an eternity and as quick as a blink of an eye. How that was possible not really he himself could understand. But that wasn't important. That was anything but important in his eyes. What was important was getting back to his friends, and getting back to his students. Getting back to Nana.
19 days in that damn cube of eternity had changed him. It had brought to light many things, about himself, the people around him, and all sorts of things he had never imagined would cross his mind. But in the prison realm, all he had was time. Things he would never think about otherwise were all Satoru Gojo could think about.
How much he didn't need to be or feel like the strongest; how much he realized he could finally rely on other people (his students) to take care of harder missions. He would always be the strongest sorcerer, and people would always fear him, but no longer he would have to do things by himself; Gojo Satoru would always be feared and hailed as the most powerful, but at the same time he would have people almost as strong as him by his side.
He would have Nana by his side once again.
Nana's POV (Back to Jujutsu High Training field)
After the occurrence of the sudden earthquake, everyone else and I were left in complete shock and confusion, thinking of what might have happened and why that earthquake even occurred in the first place anyway. More time passed by and I started to get more and more anxious, especially for Gojo sensei's well-being.
Where is Gojo sensei? He should be here by now... Did something bad happen to him? Has he got into trouble or something...?
We all then split apart and started searching around the area, trying to find any evidence regarding Gojo sensei as we looked through the forests and mountains around us. Hana, who was the only one in the group to have flight ability, flew through the sky and surveyed the area from above while the rest of us remained on the ground and continued searching for the white-haired sorcerer.
But unfortunately, Sensei was nowhere to be found.
Later I made my way to the top of a small hill and stood at the edge of a cliff from where I was able to see the whole area in front of me far and wide. I looked up and noticed Hana flying as she passed by me up in the sky.
"Hana!!" I called out loud and she looked down at me from above. "Did you see any weird suspicious white-haired dude yet?"
"No, I didn't see someone like that yet!" Hana replied with a sheepish look on her face, giving me an apologetic smile and I let out a groan in frustration. "I'll immediately let you know as soon as I see someone like that!"
And with that, Hana flew away and I was all alone once again.
Standing there, surveying the area, I began to think about the moments and incidents that I had witnessed in these past 19 days. My fight with those nameless sorcerers back from the Shibuya incident and the Culling Game; my ultimate conflict with Toji Fushiguro, Kenjaku, and Mahito at Shibuya; the death of Nanami-san, and many other familiar people I knew of; me killing off those human sorcerers just to get through the Culling Game; and on top of that, Gojo sensei getting tricked and sealed by Kenjaku into the prison realm – so much had happened in these past few days and I was still alive, standing strong and proud.
But how? How was I still alive? Was I that strong? Was I that smart and intelligent enough to avoid certain situations that would get me killed? Or was it just pure luck? I still didn't know.
I let another heavy groan in frustration and lifted my right hand, placing it on my head. I ran my slender fingers through my long raven locks and began to wonder where that idiotic sensei of mine had gone to. The prison realm wasn't there after it got struck by Angel's Jacob Ladder technique. It vanished immediately after it got hit by the light beam.
Even though Master Tengen did say that Angel's cursed technique was the only way that could open the prison realm and unseal Gojo sensei, nothing like that happened when we tried doing it. Instead, the prison realm vanished in thin air and yet there was still no sign of Gojo sensei's existence.
I felt like crying at that moment. I felt like screaming and throwing hands at anyone at that point. All those hardships for nothing? Seriously? I fisted my hand in my hair and bit down my bottom lip.
"Where are you, Gojo sensei?" I grumbled out in anger and frustration, a frown forming on my face; I was annoyed but I was also very concerned. "I did so many things to get help from Hana and Angel, to get you out of that stupid prison realm. All those trials and tribulations for 19 days... and yet, you're still not here. Angel's technique should have worked; that's what Tengen-sama told us... Gojo sensei should be with us by now... Just where the fuck are you, baka sensei?! Come back right now!!"
I yelled out particularly to no one and right at that moment, someone spoke up from behind me.
"Aww!~ You missed me that much, Nana-chan?!~" a familiar yet annoying masculine voice stated to me in a teasing tone.
I immediately froze in my spot and my eyes went wide open in shock.
"Wait... that voice..." I mumbled out before turning back to look and my breath hitched in my throat at the sight right before my eyes.
There he was, standing tall and strong right in front of me, the menace himself.
"It makes sensei so happy you know." Gojo sensei grinned at me cheekily. "I didn't expect you to miss me this much."
I opened my mouth to throw a snarky remark back at him but nothing came out of me. I went completely silent at that moment.
Sensei didn't have his blindfold or his jacket on him anymore right now. He was just simply wearing a black tight-fitted t-shirt which he always wore beneath that jacket of his, his usual black pants, and a pair of black shoes. He was standing there in front of me, all in black, and still had that charming yet teasing look on his face, but for some reason, he also looked so different at the same time. To me, he was no longer seemingly the dorky menace to society he used to be. Something about him seemed to have matured.
I was so happy and relieved that my heartbeat started to calm down a bit and tears began forming in my eyes. My lips quivered but I bit down my lips to control my emotions. My breathing was also calming down once again and I began to process the moment inside my head – Satoru Gojo was standing in front of me right now. And seeing my struggles and expression made Gojo sensei soften his facial expression at me.
"Aww, Nana-chan, you crying for me?" he cooed, walking up to me.
And for some reason, his words angered me. Why was he so chilled right now? Why was he acting like nothing happened? Why was he teasing me now? In my mind, Gojo sensei was idiotic, he was foolish. He was too full of himself and he always acted like a clown. He was still acting like one right now.
Just as he was about to reach out and cup my face in his hands, I simply swatted his hands away from me before slapping him right across the face. And my hand actually did hit him; he didn't use infinity to block the attack. Thinking back, he was always like that towards me and only me. Always taking those punches and kicks from me. Always so soft towards me as if I was some delight being. But why?
Gojo sensei, on the other hand, didn't look shocked at all that I slapped him. It seemed like he expected it from me. And he accepted it too casually as well. He probably thought that he deserved it too, which to be fair, to some degree, he did. He did deserve my slap. And now he deserved my scolding as well.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?!" I scolded him with a scowling face and teary eyes and Gojo sensei silently listened to me with a soft face. "Going off on your own and doing shit by yourself?! Getting tricked by some weirdo and trapping yourself inside a fucking box?! Do you know how worried we all were?! Why do you have to cause problems all the damn time, huh?! Why did you make us worried for you?! You're the strongest, right?! Always bragging about your power and strength... Then why the fuck did you get trapped inside a box, you fucking loser?! Didn't you say you love me and that you'll always be by my side?! Why did you leave me, huh?! Why are you so goddamn careless?!!"
In one breath, I said so many words that I needed to stop and breathe again. I wanted to tell more things to him. I wanted to scold him more. Wanted to shout at him more. Wanted to kick him and punch him. But at the same time, I was losing the strength to even fight him. I was tired, I was exhausted. So instead I ended up shedding more and more tears.
And while I started sobbing, Gojo sensei tried reaching out to me once again and this time he was successful. I didn't resist him and fight back. I let him touch me. Sensei gently wrapped his big muscular arms around me, engulfing me wholly, holding me in his arms and pressing me firmly against his large chest, his big hand cradling the back of my head. Only about three seconds had truly passed before sensei and I were sinking into each other's embrace, the tension releasing and hold of each other becoming more relaxed, filled with comfort.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." He whispered solemnly, a tone of adoration mixed in it, burying his face into my raven locks. "I missed you so much, Nana-chan..."
I buried my face into his broad muscular chest and closed my eyes, finally wrapping my arms around his torso. I inhaled his scent a bit and he still smelled the same as he did 19 days ago, but he also kind of smelled of sweat. Don't tell me this man had seriously been training within the prison realm this entire time? From how much buffer his chest was and the feeling of his arms being more defined, I would say so.
"I didn't miss your dumb ass at all, sensei, just so you know." I grumbled out again, frowning and I could feel him smiling into my hair.
"Yeah, I know." He chuckled softly, tightening his grip around me even more and I pouted in response.
"You're stupid and annoying, sensei."
"Yes, I'm fully aware of that..."
"I hate you, sensei."
"I love you too, Nana-chan."
Even though I was mad at him, I was also feeling really relieved at the same time. After all, Gojo sensei was finally home and came back to me.
3rd Person's POV (The next day at the Zenin estate)
"My deepest apologies. I was unable to find the last finger. I shall accept whatever punishment you deem necessary..." Uraume stated in a guilty tone while handing over the cursed fingers to Sukuna who was devouring them one after another.
"It's fine. Satoru Gojo has the last one." Sukuna stated nonchalantly who was sitting on top of a huge rock under a tree.
"Oh, he does?" Uraume asked nervously.
"Well, probably. In order to postpone the boy's execution, he proposed to the higher-ups that they wait until the boy ate all my fingers. But he won't just sit around and do nothing. I bet he has been holding one of my fingers, putting the death sentence on indefinite hold." Sukuna explained.
'Gojo shamed me in front of Sukuna for a second time. Even with the Reverse Cursed technique, the wound still hurts...' Uraume thought to himself as Sukuna hopped down from the rock and started to walk over to the mummified curse which was brought in by Kenjaku for him from Tengen.
"Don't worry. I can compensate for one digit." Sukuna reassured and a wicked grin formed on his face as he lifted the severed head of the mummified curse in his hands. "Mummification, huh... Did Kenjaku or rather Tengen do this ironically...?"
A small chuckle escaped from his lips before he started to devour that curse as well.
Meanwhile, on the other side, Kenjaku was sitting on a couch in the living room, watching TV and at the same time, he was conversing with his Kogane about the current scenario they were in.
"Kogane, 19 days have passed. How many players who never entered a colony have died from cursed technique removal?" Kenjaku asked.
"Sixty-one... Shall I display them?" Kogane asked.
"No, thank you. Did they fear killing or being killed?" Kenjaku stated to the Kogane in a thoughtful tone. "No, I doubt their reasons were so instinctual. After all, the rule that Hiromi Higuruma added allowed them to avoid both. The people of this country believe reality is stable even though their lives are always on the brink of ruin. Not everyone has the courage to risk their lives. But if someone places them in danger they have no choice but to act. With no hope for the present or future, they are willing to die at any time. I despise people who never know the feeling or approaching their ideals step by step... I'm talking to you, Tengen..."
And with that, Kenjaku drifted to his own thoughts, planning on how to make moves against Satoru Gojo a month later.
3rd Person's POV (Back at Jujutsu High)
"Satoru Gojo versus Ryomen Sukuna in the flesh. Before there were betting matches at shady arenas that were barely legal according to Jujutsu regulations. After the change in regulations in the aftermath of the Shibuya incident, even upstanding citizens are watching. It brings in 5 billion in pay-per-view orders and that doesn't even include the gambling. I have never been more thankful for my cursed technique." Mei Mei stated to herself, smiling, with a tabloid in her hand as she continued watching Yuji and Kusakabe training together at the dojo.
Meanwhile, Yuta and Inumaki were walking down a hallway and conversing among themselves.
"Spiced cod roe..." Inumaki stated in a calming tone.
"Don't worry, Inumaki. I told Jujutsu headquarters about your arms so they would assign assassinating Itadori to me. But Itadori doesn't know that yet." Yuta smiled at his friend.
"Salmon, salmon." Inumaki added in a soft tone.
"Yeah, Sukuna did that. So it shouldn't be Itadori's burden." Yuta reassured him.
"Salted fish roe." Inumaki requested, asking Yuta to use his cursed speech technique if the latter ever needed to use it on the battlefield, and hearing that brought another smile to Yuta's face.
"Thanks. That will be useful." Yuta smiled again, feeling grateful.
At Shoko's clinic, Gojo sat on top of an operation bed with his legs crossed while Shoko and Ijichi stood in front of him, all of them holding serious looks on their faces.
"Now, it's just the three of us, huh?" Gojo sighed heavily, hearing what went down after he got sealed away.
"Well, there's one who isn't fully recovered yet..." Shoko informed while smoking a cigarette, talking about Nobara.
"Yeah..." Gojo trailed off, feeling lost for a moment. "I thought Nanami was the type to survive no matter what."
"I'm sorry." Ijichi stated in a shaky, nervous tone.
"What do you have to be sorry for, Ijichi?" Gojo asked in confusion.
"I thought you were implying why did he die and not me?" Ijichi questioned back, also looking confused.
"Is your opinion of me that low?!" Gojo snapped, feeling hurt by what Ijichi just told him before calming himself down once again. "You still have a big job to do, so stay sharp."
And at that moment, Ino walked into the room and Shoko shifted her attention to him.
"Ino has something to say about Nanami..." she stated as Ino stood in front of them, informing them of what they all needed to know at that moment.
Nana's POV (Later that day)
Right now, at the moment, I made some tea for myself and Gojo sensei and were about to drink the beverage together like how we always did in the past. I walked out of the kitchen with a tray full of tea and snacks in my hands and started to make my way toward the living room. Walking down the hallway, as soon as I reached my destination, I noticed Panda Senpai, still in his small form, was standing at the doorway of the living room with a sorrowful expression on his face.
It seemed like he was eavesdropping and I wanted to ask him what was going on when suddenly a familiar voice spoke up from inside the room.
"I'm the one who killed Yaga." A gruff tone stated and I knew it was Gakuganji.
"Oh..." Gojo sensei trailed off.
"Tell me why..." Gakuganji asked.
"Why what?" Sensei questioned back.
"Why wasn't there a curse placed on me?" Gakuganji specified his question.
"No reason..." Gojo sensei trailed off. "Other than I know you through the Principal. You are a by-the-book kind of guy, so you can be trusted somewhat. The reason the higher-ups ordered you to kill the principal was that I had gotten sealed, so who am I to criticize? Did he say anything at the end? About Panda...?"
"He said cursed corpses aren't spontaneous mutations. There's a way to create them." Gakuganji replied.
"Even old farts change, huh?" Gojo sensei let out an amused chuckle.
"What do you mean?" Gakuganji asked in annoyance.
"You haven't told anyone that, right? Panda's secret is a special grade case. Before you would have definitely told your superiors. You have changed, old man." Gojo replied in a teasing tone and I could tell the other elderly man was pissed right now.
So I decided to step in and walk through the doorway.
"Gojo sensei, I brought some tea..." I announced, letting them know that I was there and they both shifted their attention to me now.
Gojo sensei was casually sitting on a couch with his legs crossed and an arm laid over the couch's head while Gakuganji was standing right beside him on the left side of the couch. Panda Senpai on the other hand, already left the scene and was nowhere near us anymore.
"Principal Gakuganji-san, hello." I greeted the said man politely with a small smile dancing on my lips. "You're here as well. Want some tea?"
"No. I should be going now." The man replied with a sigh before he slowly walked away from the scene with his walking stick in his hand.
When Kyoto's principal left, I looked back at my sensei and noticed him grinning widely at me.
"I brought tea for you." I smiled and sat beside him on the couch.
"Like old times, yeah? You're so sweet to me, Nana-chan~" he cooed with a smirk and I rolled my eyes at him.
"You know what? It was a mistake. I'm not serving you tea anymore from now on." I scoffed setting down the tray on the same table in front of us.
"Aw, don't be a meanie, Nana-chan!" he whined with a pout.
"Then don't be an ass, you dolt." I countered back and Gojo sensei chuckled out in amusement at our banter.
"Ah, I really missed this, you know." He smiled and my gaze softened at him.
This man always knew how to flutter my heart. He knew he was extremely beautiful and gorgeous and he always tried using his outer beauty to defeat me, to sway me away. Not that it made me fawn over him like his usual fangirls, but it did make my heart skip a beat or two and I hated him for that. He was shameless about it as well. He was rude, he was crude. He was too flamboyant and flashy for my taste and he was loud as hell. He was annoying, so freaking annoying and he was a smug bastard. He had no brains and he was stupid as fuck. And yet, despite everything, I still yearned for his love and attention. I still wanted him to look at me and only me, no one else.
"What did you do in the prison realm in these 19 days, sensei? You look buffer than before." I pointed out.
"I trained really hard. You like my new body now?" he asked smugly, flexing his arms.
"You're disgusting, sensei." I deadpanned at him.
"What about you, Nana-chan? What happened in these 19 days?" he asked back with curiosity and I started to tell him everything from beginning to end.
I started to tell him about my part of the story from the time when I learned about sensei getting trapped inside the prison realm, to my struggles and battles in the Shibuya incident and at the Culling Game up until the moment when Sukuna took over Megumi's body and fled away from us. I told him each and every detail of my hellish experience over these 19 days and Gojo sensei listened to every word of mine with great attention and sincerity. Sensei even complimented me for my strength and intelligence and also praised me for surviving this hellish experience till the very end. A few minutes passed by and I stopped talking about my part of the story.
"You met Toji Fushiguro?" Sensei asked in surprise, setting down his teacup on the table.
"Crazy, right?" I asked back. "Not to mention, Toji-san's so powerful and handsome."
"Huh, handsome?! Don't tell me you're in love with that man, Nana-chan?!" Sensei gasped out in horror, furrowing his eyebrows.
I almost choked on my tea upon hearing that bizarre question. I looked at him as if he had completely lost his mind. Sensei should thank the supreme being above us that I didn't slap him across the face right then and there for asking me such a revolting question like this.
"What the hell?! Where did that come from?! I'm not in love with Toji-san!" I snapped back in disgust, frowning deeply at my sensei. "What's wrong with you? I'm just stating the fact. Besides, Toji-san's dead and he's the same age as my own parents. He was also friends with them. That's disgusting, sensei."
"I just thought I had another competition..." Sensei responded back nonchalantly and this made me want to punch him in the face.
"You're an idiot, sensei." I sighed heavily.
"You're right. I'm an idiot." Sensei chuckled softly, before leaning back on the couch comfortably while holding a solemn look in his eyes. "In these past 19 days, while I was trapped inside the prison realm, I thought about my life, I thought about my relationships, about the people I knew and encountered. I thought about my past actions and mindset. I thought about my present actions and mindset as well. I'm so flawed, Nana-chan, despite having these looks and powers. I'm flawed as a friend, I'm flawed as a teacher, I'm flawed as a student, I'm flawed as a human being."
He then turned to look at me and his icy-blue eyes bored into my brownish-amber ones.
"I realized what an asshole I was when I was younger." He continued with a sorrowful yet sheepish smile. "I did so many things and said so many stuff that hurt your feelings. I hurt you a lot back then, didn't I, Nana-chan? But I never apologized to you... I'm sorry, Nana-chan. I truly am sorry."
Sensei then slowly reached out and grabbed my hands in his larger ones. My heart skipped a beat when he did that. Dammit. His hands felt so warm under my cold skin.
"And I want to convey my true feelings to you properly today..." he added, intertwining our fingers. "When we're lucky enough to find someone that makes our world brighter, shouldn't we grab hold of that person and never let them go? You know, Nana-chan, you are more than enough for me, no one else ever could be. You are everything. And even if you broke my heart, smashed it to pieces, it would still be yours, I would still be yours because some people are worth the pain. Because of you, the world makes sense to me in a way it didn't before."
My breath hitched at his words and a blush started to form on my cheeks, but sensei didn't stop there.
"I have a place now, with you." He stated. "I don't feel alone with you. I feel like I have a family and a home again. You're my home. All of the dark shadows seem to disappear when we're together. I love you so much that I thought you were the meaning of my life. I thought that people were put on earth to find other people, and I was put here to find you. Part of me loves you to no end. And the other part of me hates you too. Because you've ruined love for me. I'm never going to love anyone the way I loved you. And I hate you for that. You're such a cruel girl, Nana-chan. So cruel..."
He lifted my hands and brought them closer to his lips, placing gentle kisses on my knuckles. His lips brushed my skin and this caused shivers to run down my spine. The touch was electrifying, it was exciting. It didn't make me uncomfortable though even if this was wrong and totally forbidden. But who was there to stop us anyway? Did sensei care? No. Did I care? Probably not as well. And for some weird reason, I didn't want this to stop. Whatever this was going on between me and sensei, I wanted it to be there forever, for eternity.
"I promise that even when our lives feel like they're crumbling, I'll stand beside you. I will be your strength when you need it. I promise you will never have to wonder if I love you because I'll show you in every way. You are the other half of me. You are my belief in fate." Sensei confessed and his words truly touched my heart.
What happened to me in these 19 days, anyway?
When Sensei confessed his feelings to me for the first time days ago, I was confused, I was nervous. But now, I was okay with it? As if I always wanted this for so damn long.
Maybe I did. Maybe I did want Gojo sensei's love and attention. Acting all tsundere and making him chase after me was all fun and play, but now thinking about my real feelings for sensei, I somewhat got the real picture now. It wasn't like I was dependent on him in any way. I was fine on my own without sensei in these last 19 days. I was sure I could survive without him for the rest of my life as well. But yet, I still wanted him beside me. I wanted him to be with me forever.
"It's even harder for me not having you around, sensei." I finally spoke up, looking down at our intertwined hands and Gojo sensei gave me a curious look. "I finally figured it out. As you were my Mom's student when you were a kid, I have known you ever since I was born. We have known each other the longest; longer than any other people we knew. Even longer than we knew Megumi and Suguru... Sensei, you had a very shitty personality back then. You were arrogant, over-confident, complex, disrespectful, and narcissistic, and I hated you for that in the past. You really were nothing but trouble from the beginning... But slowly you started to change. I began to realize that your feelings had always been so straightforward and I started to understand that you were actually earnest and a bit awkward. Anytime I looked for some advice, it always ended up being about you. And then I suddenly realized I'm always thinking about you one way or another. You did nothing but cause me trouble. You're annoying and gaudy. You're a lolicon and are always on the verge of committing a crime. You always rub it in my face that you're smart and handsome. You're self-centered and you're basically filled with nothing but flaws."
I stopped talking for a moment to catch a break and looked up at Gojo sensei with small tears in my eyes.
"You're right. You're so flawed, but yet, I still love you... I love you, Satoru... I've fallen in love with you..." I finally confessed and Sensei's eyes went wide open in shock.
Ah, right. There it was. The real emotions I was feeling all along. The burden I was carrying on my shoulders this entire time was now gone and I felt lighter now. As if the curtains were moved to the side and now I could see the real picture here, of how I actually felt for this man. That I actually loved him. I loved my Satoru Gojo sensei in a romantic way. And as much as it sounded wrong or it looked wrong, I stopped caring about it from now on. Finally, I could be true to myself and call him "Satoru" once again after so many months when I became his student.
"You are the one. Took me a long time to realize that..." I muttered with a small sigh in a soft tone, looking away from his surprised gaze. "When you were gone, you were still here. Like a damn ghost haunting my every step and thought. As if I wasn't able to move on. Wasn't going to. You had a piece of me..."
Gojo sensei then let go of my hands and held my face in his hands, making me look up at him again. The warmth and adoration he held for me in his eyes soothed my aching heart and the fiery sensation of his fingers that touched my facial skin left me completely breathless. When did Gojo sensei have this effect on me anyway? Or did he always have this effect but I never noticed it before?
"You love me?" he asked with a genuine smile cracking on his face in happiness.
"I do, Satoru." I confessed, nodding my head.
"And Megumi? Do you still love him?" he asked again.
My eyes widened for a moment before my face softened at the thought of Megumi.
"I love him too, Satoru. I love Megumi as well." I replied, shutting my eyes in guilt, and avoiding eye contact with him. "I'm so selfish, I know. Falling for both you and Megumi... I'm the worst... I'm so sorry, Satoru..."
Before I got the chance to break down in guilt, sensei pulled me in a bear hug and rested my head on his chest. I could hear his steady heartbeat through his chest and the sound of it brought comfort to me once again.
"There's nothing wrong with being in love with two different people at the same time. Things like this happen. Don't worry about it." Sensei reassured me.
"Really? Is it okay?" I asked. "You're not mad? You're not upset?"
"No, I'm not mad or upset. I was aware of your feelings for Megumi, so I knew... but I wasn't aware of your feelings for me and so it kinda shocked me." Sensei replied with a light chuckle. "But it's okay. There's no need to rush and make a decision right now. Take your time. Think about it with a cool head. And whatever decision you'll come up with, I'll happily accept them... I'm happy, Nana-chan. So, so happy. Thank you for loving me back..."
Sensei wanted me to take my time and figure out my own feelings for him and Megumi. He wasn't forcing me to choose him or anything. He was giving me the space and time I needed to think properly. He had always been like this to me, so kind, so patient, despite his idiotic behavior and eccentric personality. That was how Satoru Gojo had always been towards me – another reason for me to love him more.
"And one more thing..." Sensei stated with a cheeky toothy grin and I looked up from his chest, meeting his gaze. "Thanks for going back to call me Satoru again."
And hearing that, I simply chuckle out loud with him in response.
A month later (December 24th, 2018)
A month passed by since Satoru came back to us from that prison realm. Right now, everyone gathered around in the lobby of Jujutsu High's main building and we were all waiting for the elder sorcerers to come and join us, as it was already the time of the most anticipated conflict – the fated battle between Satoru and Sukuna.
"Good luck?" Hakari asked.
"Don't die?" Panda added.
"Nothing sounds quite right." Hakari sighed in frustration, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Yeah, he has always won before..." Panda stated sheepishly.
"So why worry or cheer for him?" Kirara asked in confusion, standing beside Hakari.
"Kelp..." Inumaki agreed, nodding his head.
"I do think he would be pleased though." Yuta chuckled sheepishly.
"If he's overconfident, then I'll punch him before Sukuna does!" Maki grumbled through her gritted teeth.
And just then, Satoru, Gakuganji, and Utahime sensei walked into the scene. Shoko sensei, Kusakabe sensei, and many others also arrived at the scene and joined us, the students.
Satoru (who was wearing a traditional attire for Jujutsu sorcerers) had this serious look on his face and his infinity was turned on, and seeing him like this sent shivers down the spines of the other students.
They all froze in their spot and his expression made them quite nervous and hesitant to even approach him. But unlike them, it didn't affect me.
"Baka Satoru, what's with that look on your stupid face?" I scolded him with an annoyed frowning face, walking up to the said man. "Also, your cursed technique is in the way!"
Others looked at me like I was crazy.
"Satoru?!"
"Did she just call him by his first name?! She went back calling him by his first name again?!" they all whispered to themselves, but I didn't give too much attention to it.
That serious look on Satoru's face was long gone now and he let out a hearty chuckle at me. He then took off his white coat, revealing the tight-fitted black t-shirt he was wearing underneath.
"Ha, ha! Give it to me, Nana-chan!!" Satoru grinned at me, pointing at his back.
I grinned back at him and slapped him on the back as a way of cheering and encouraging him before he stepped outside to fight Sukuna. And this lightened up the mood a bit and caused the other Tokyo students to do the same thing as well, giving them the confidence to approach Satoru as they also started to slap and pat him on the back. Everyone started to laugh and cheer on Satoru.
"Get them, you blindfolded idiot!!" Maki encouraged.
"Prove you're more than just a pretty face!!" Kirara added.
"Salmon!!" Inumaki cheered as well.
"Let me know if you need help." Yuta senpai chimed in politely.
"Kick his ass, Gojo!!" Hakari added as well.
"You can do it, Gojo sensei!" Yuji grinned, giving a thumb's up.
And seeing this, Satoru chuckled out and smiled once more.
"Yeah, I got this!" he replied before looking back at me.
He reached out and held my hands in his, pulling me closer to him, smiling down at me with so much love and adoration. A smile that fluttered my heart, a smile that blinded my eyes. Fuck, I loved this man so much. Sure, Satoru Gojo was a menace to society, but he was my menace, only belonged to me.
"Don't fucking die on me, you moron. If you do, I'll seriously come at you, resurrect you, kill you again, and then bury you down in the earth." I threatened him with no malice in my tone, frowning at him, but in Satoru's eyes, I looked really cute at that moment.
Well, that's what he thought and always told me anyway.
Satoru's smile softened at my words before he leaned down at me. He gently pressed his lips against my forehead and kissed me. It was something I wouldn't have let him do in front of others in the past, but as I said before, I didn't care anymore.
"I promise, I'll come back to you, Nana-chan..."
A/N: The fact that I once said Nana-Megumi's relationship reminds me of Eren-Mikasa's relationship from Attack On Titan (I said it in chapter 15) and now Megumi's body is taken over by Sukuna and Gojo's going out there to fight him which might lead Megumi to possible death... AH! MY HEART!!! 😭😭😭💔💔💔