"With that, allow me to say it once more." Gojo says to the pink-haired boy who was sitting across from him, tied down by ropes and seals. "You're being executed."
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"The recap and current events don't line up, though." Itadori said as a sweat drop rolled down his forehead.
"Hey! I did my best." Gojo pouted, puffing up his cheeks. Yuji cringed at the sight. "The execution is still on but I got your sentence suspended."
"Suspended?" The pink-haired boy inquired, his face going back to normal. "So you're not killing me right away?"
"Yup." The white-haired man says, popping the 'p.' "I'll explain from the top." Gojo reaches into his pocket and pulls out one of Sukuna's shriveled, wrinkly fingers. "This is the same as the cursed object you ate. There are twenty in total." He then points at himself with his thumb. "We possess six of them."
"Twenty?" Yuji blinked, confused, but then realizes what Gojo potentially meant. "Oh, each finger and toe?"
The strong sorcerer shakes his head, chuckling softly. "No, Sukuna has four arms." Gojo throws the finger into the air and attempts to eradicate the finger with his cursed energy, but fails miserably as the finger sinks into the wall, without any scratches. "As you can see, we can't destroy them." Satoru gets up from his chair and walks over to the wall, pulling out the cursed finger. "The curse is just that powerful."
"The curse grows stronger by the day, and the seals of modern-day jujutsu sorcerers can't keep up." He turns back around, facing Yuji. "That's where you come in!" Gojo points at Itadori with his index finger. "When you die, the curse inside you will die as well. Our elders are cowards, y'know." He exhales in annoyance, recalling the meeting with the higher-ups. "They're demanding we kill you right away." Yuji stiffens up in fear. "But that would be a waste, wouldn't it?"
"A waste?"
"There's no guarantee that another vessel capable of handling Sukuna will ever be born again." Gojo walks to the other side of the room, still holding onto the finger. "So, this is what I proposed: if we're going to kill you anyway, why not kill you after you've absorbed all of Sukuna?" Gojo pauses, breathing in sharply. "The higher-ups agreed. So now, you have two options before you."
"Either you can die right now, or you can find all the parts of Sukuna and die after you've absorbed them."
Itadori felt his heart drop to the pit of his stomach after hearing those words come out of Gojo's mouth. Was he really going to die either way? Was there no other option? What will he do?
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Later, at Sugisawa Hospital, Iguchi, one of Itadori's upperclassmen, was lying in a hospital bed unconscious, while his friend, Sasaki, sat next to him. Sasaki hears someone knocking on the door, and she saw Itadori peeking through.
"Itadori." The brunette spoke quietly as she watched the pink-haired boy walk into the room.
"How's Iguchi-senpai doing?" Yuji asked as he stood at the end of Iguchi's hospital bed, holding onto the bar.
"The doctors say he's fine, but he hasn't regained consciousness." Sasaki said as she lowered her head down in shame, clutching onto the hem of her skirt tightly. Before Sasaki knew it, tears began to drop onto the back of her hands. "It's all my fault." She cried softly. "If I hadn't asked him to come to the school that night," Sasaki starts to cry. "I know you won't believe this, but this weird monster attacked us, and I was captured too."
"I believe you." Itadori suddenly responds, making Sasaki perk up in surprise. "Those weren't monsters, they were curses." He began to explain. "That finger was a special-grade cursed object. It had the power to draw other curses to it and make them stronger, so it wasn't your fault." Itadori's grip on the bar tightened as he bit back some of his own tears. "It was mine for picking it up, sorry. It'll be alright though." He lets go of the hospital bed and starts to walk away. "Someone capable of fixing Iguchi-senpai will be here tomorrow."
"Itadori?" Sasaki gets up from her chair.
"Sorry, senpai. There's somewhere I need to go." The pink-haired boy makes his way to the door, giving the brunette a small wave before leaving. "Bye-bye." He mumbles sadly while exiting the room.
Mei was standing outside of the room, waiting for Itadori while silently eavesdropping on the conversation. When Itadori came out of the room, she noticed his wistful expression and instinctively realized how distressed the poor boy really was. Even though Itadori tried so hard not to show it, he looked so heartbroken. Kaminaga felt pity for him.
She couldn't imagine how hard it must be, to have a heavy burden weigh on one's shoulders. Mei gently pats Itadori on the back, giving him a warm and comforting smile.
"I know we may not have known each other for very long, but if you ever need anything, Itadori, you can talk to me. I'll be here for you. I'll listen to whatever you have to say." She tries to soothe him, and it works, almost a little too well.
Yuji instantly wraps his arms around Mei, hugging her tightly as he buries his face into her soft, silky hair. "Thank you, Kaminaga." He whispered quietly as Mei slowly hugged him back.
"Of course, Itadori."
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After the therapy session, Mei and Yuji are now sitting down on a bench with Gojo, in front of a crematorium building. Smoke was coming out of one of the chimneys. Kaminaga was sitting in the middle, while Gojo and Itadori were sitting at the ends of the bench.
"Who passed away?" The white-haired man asked the pink-haired boy.
"My grandpa. Although, he was like a father to me." Itadori responds sadly.
"I see. Sorry it happened at a time like that." Gojo apologizes sheepishly, uncertain of what to say in situations like this. "So have you decided what you want to do?" He clears his throat, trying to break away the tension.
"Are casualties like these from curses pretty common?" Itadori asks the white-haired sorcerer.
"This one was a rather exceptional case, but in terms of the damage, it happens all the time." Gojo answered with a shrug. "It's a good night when someone dies a normal death after encountering a curse."
Mei nods her head in agreement. "Most of the time, humans aren't very lucky when they stumble upon a curse. Usually, they'd immediately... get killed by the curse." She spoke bluntly. Itadori's expression saddens even more. "But," Mei spoke up. "you helped save two people the other day, giving them a chance to live and die a normal death. Does that make sense..?" She said almost automatically.
Silence was all that was heard after Mei said her part. After a second or so, she blinks, realizing what she just said and immediately starts spouting out apologizes. "I'm so sorry, did I say too much? Did I sound morbid? Ah.. I'm so sorry." she murmured profusely, waving her hands around.
"No, no, it's fine, Kaminaga! Honestly, I think you're right." Itadori says, trying to calm the girl down.
Eventually, Mei finally settles down, going back to her usual, timid and quiet self once more.
"Anyway, if you're planning to hunt down Sukuna, you're going to witness some gruesome scenes, and I can't guarantee you won't end up that way yourself." Gojo turns his head to look at the pink-haired boy. "So, choose your hell."
Yuji recalls the events that occurred the other day, thinking deeply to himself.
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After the smoke finally stopped coming out of the chimney, Itadori and the two other sorcerers walk into the crematorium, heading to one of the cremation rooms.
Inside, Itadori stands next to what remains of his grandpa's dead body: ashes and small particles of bones. He grabs a pair of large tweezers and starts to gather up all of the ashes, placing them into a small plastic bag, while Gojo and Kaminaga stood at the doorway, watching him silently.
"If all the parts of Sukuna were gone, would there be fewer people who get harmed by curses?" Yuji asked the two sorcerers as he continued to collect the remains.
"Of course." Gojo replied curtly.
Later, after Yuji finishes collecting what was left of his grandpa, he closes the lid of the bucket, and places it on a table near a photo of his grandfather.
"Do you still have that finger?" He asked the white-haired man.
Gojo pulls out one of Sukuna's fingers from his pockets, and casually hands it to Itadori.
"Looking at it again, it's pretty disgusting."
Gojo and Kaminaga take a few steps back as Itadori opens his mouth, and swallows the finger whole without any hesitation.
'Well, that's the second one. One-tenth of the whole.'
'What's going to happen?'
Yuji feels a sudden burst of energy rush through his body as tattoo marks began to appear on his face once again. He clutches the fabric of his shirt on his chest, trying his best to maintain control over his body. Itadori could hear the sound of Sukuna's wicked laughter, he could feel Sukuna trying his hardest to gain control over his body, but Itadori refuses to let that happen.
The pink-haired boy staggers over to the wall next to Gojo and Kaminaga, resting his head against the hard, cold surface. 'Could Itadori manage to maintain control over his body?' Both Gojo and Kaminaga asked themselves as they readied their cursed energy, prepared to attack Yuji if the worse-case-scenario ever dared to happen: Sukuna possessing Itadori's body.
Their hands twitched anxiously as the pink-haired boy began to laugh. Did the plan fail? Did Sukuna manage to take over? However, their worries subsided after seeing Yuji look up at them, sticking out his tongue in disgust.
"Gross!" He exclaimed, holding his throat. "So gross it's funny..."
Mei lets out a relaxed sigh, while Gojo's lips curled up into a smile.
'That settles it.'
'It's not just a physical tolerance.'
'He can control himself against Sukuna without issue.'
Itadori groans in pain, trying to swallow his own saliva to make the bitter taste go away.
'We haven't seen someone with talent like that in a thousand years.'
Itadori glances up at Kaminaga and Gojo, noticing their silence and calculating gaze.
"Something wrong?" He asks them, worriedly.
Mei shakes her head 'no,' while smiling softly. "Don't worry, nothing's wrong at all."
"So, I take it this means you've steeled your resolve?" Gojo questions the pink-haired boy.
"Not at all," Itadori replies blankly. "I'm still wondering why I have to be executed, but I can't just do nothing about the curse." He looks back at the photo of his grandpa smiling happily. "That last request is gonna be a pain in my ass." He breathes out frustratedly. "I'll eat every part of Sukuna, I don't care what happens there." Itadori says with a determined look on his face.
"I've already decided on how I'm going to die."