.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

❝ if i'm ever reborn i... i want to be a jellyfish. a jellyfish just gently rocking on the waves ❞

[ Before anyone asks: no, Y/N can't heal anyone other than herself. ]

┏━━━°⌜ 憑拠 ⌟°━━━┓

"Are you saying I'd get in the way, Nanamin?" Itadori asks, glaring at the blond man who was leaning against the wall across from him.

Y/N looks between the two with concern, tugging on her bandages nervously.

"You're inured, aren't you?" Itadori questions, "Next time, take me with you. 'My partner died, but I wasn't there with them. Why? Because I'm a child.' I don't want any of that."

"You can't." Nanami rejects, looking away from Itadori, "As you already know, this patchwork cursed spirit uses transfigured people. There are some people who are beyond saving."

"If you continue this work, there will come a time when you're forced to kill a persons yourself." Nanami tells Itadori bluntly as the boy's eyes widen, "But this is not that time."

"Please understand this. Being a child is not a sin." Nanami says, making Itadori look down at the ground with his hands clenched into fists tightly..

Nanami turns on his heel and walks down the hallway until he's out of view, leaving the two in tense silence.

━━ ⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆ ━━

"What are you doing, Junpei?!" Itadori exclaims, two sets of eyes turning towards him.

Y/N looks at Yoshino, then to the injured boy floating infront of him, then to the teacher who was standing on the sidelines.

"Stay out of this, jujutsu sorcerer, cursed spirit." Yoshino's eyes narrow at the two, a glowing jellyfish shikigami materializing behind him.

Y/N was the first to react, swinging her hand as a pair of scissors cut at Yoshino, making him jump back towards one of the doors leading into the school.

Itadori runs forward, cursed energy surrounding him as Yoshino runs through the doors.

Y/N quickly follows the two, them chasing Yoshino up the stairs into the fourth-floor as Itadori sends a punch towards Yoshino.

"Moon Dregs!" Yoshino shouts as the jellyfish swings forward to block the attack, the two sliding back against the floor as the jellyfish encircles Yoshino protectively.

A jellyfish shikigami? Itadori stares at Yoshino wide-eyed, Blunt attacks won't work when he's inside it?

"I'll say this one more time... Stay out of this, jujutsu sorcerer, cursed spirit!" Yoshino shouts, "It's none of your business!"

"That's not something you get to decide!" Itadori shouts back, cursed energy burning around his fist.

"What's the point of indiscriminate salvation?" Yoshino questions, gritting his teeth before shouting, "Don't mistake the value of a life!"

The jellyfish's tentacles fly towards the pair, the two having no time to react before they were wrapped in them, trapped.

Y/N grunts at the restraints, going to summon her scissors and cut them out of when Yoshino suddenly starts to speak.

"People pretend their emotions are everything, but the heart is just the metabolism of the soul. It's all a delusion! Don't restrict me with rules that are based on a delusion. No one has the right to stop anyone from taking what lives they can. Just sleep over there. There's something I have to go back and do."

Yoshino starts to walk away when—

"Who are you making excuses for?" Y/N questions, hand wrapping around the collar of Junpei's shirt in a loose grip.

Yoshino launches himself forward, freeing himself from the curse's hold as he turns around to see the jellyfish's tentacle splattered across the floor, cut into pieces.

Itadori's fist collided with the body of the jellyfish, launching it towards Yoshino as glass shatters, the two falling out of the window.

Yoshino stares up into the dark sky with wide eyes, Why? Why won't Moon Dregs' poison work on them?

Junpei's body collided with the jellyfish's as he bounces of it before landing on the cold cement floor.

"Why...? Why? Why?!"

Junpei's hands cross each other, the jellyfish's tentacles wrapping around each other as spikes poke out of them.

Junpei's eyes dart up, seeing two figures jump out of the window as he grins manically. They're in the air! They can't move! No... if there's a chance to crush them, it's right before they land!

Spiked tentacles launch towards the two, Y/N simply adjusting her gravity to dodge them mid-air as Itadori runs across the translucent tentacles, jumping up and punching them into the ground, sending a shockwave as Yoshino stumbles where he stands; nearly falling over.

Y/N floats down next to Itadori, landing beside him as she raises one of her hands to the left, three glowing purple lances floating next to her.

"Junpei, I don't understand... a damn thing you're saying!" Itadori shouts, standing up as he glares at the boy, "You can string together whatever logic you want."

"You're just trying—" Itadori runs forward, cursed energy burning around his fist as Itadori's eyes widen at the distance between them being covered so quickly, "—to convince yourself you're in the right!"

Itadori punches Yoshino, the boy getting shot through the window as Itadori jumps in after him, Y/N following.

"I don't know what your motive is. I'm sure you have a reason for doing this. But is it really worth throwing away that life you have?" Itadori questions as Yoshino looks down at the ground, shoulder trembling.

"'The human heart is a delusion'? Can you say that in front of her?!" Itadori shouts as Y/N simply stares at Yoshino silently, waiting for the boy to answer.

"...People don't have hearts."

"You're still—"

"They don't!" Yoshino snaps, startling the two as the boy starts to cry, "Otherwise... otherwise... That would mean people cursed me and my mom with those hearts!"

"That would just be too much... I wouldn't know what is right or what is wrong anymore..." Yoshino summons the jellyfish shikigami again, it's spike launching towards the two as it stabs Itadori through the chest twice.

Y/N startles, staring wide-eyed at Itadori, He could've dodged it— Why... why didn't he—?

"Why didn't you dodge it?" Yoshino asks shakily, voice trembling as he makes the shikigami disappear.

"Sorry." Itadori stumbles forward, blood dripping onto the floor across the shattered glass, "I said a lot of self-important stuff without understanding anything."

Itadori crouches down infront of Yoshino, meeting him on eye level, "Tell me what happened. I swear I won't curse you anymore. So please."

━━ ⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆ ━━

"No way... your mom..." Itadori mutters after Junpei finished telling him what happened with his mom, Itadori holding Junpei's hands in his own.

"Junpei, come to Jujutsu High. There are lots of crazy string teachers and reliable friends there. If we all work together, I'm sure we can find whoever cursed your mom." Itadori declares confidently, "Then you can make sure they get their due! Let's fight together!"

Y/N senses the curse before she see's them, moving to stand next to Yuuji as she looks up at the stairwell infront of her.

A curse with pale blue hair and stitches covering their figures stands at the top of the stairs, arms spread out so he was nearly touching the walls.

"Who are you?" Itadori questions the curse who doesn't answer as he walks down the stairs towards them with a bright grin.

Who is that? Y/N stares at the man with a guarded expression, unable to hide the bits of nervousness creeping through.

Otadori stands up next to Y/N, leaving Junpei as the only one on the ground.

"Nice to meet you... vessel of Sukuna and L/N Y/N." The man holds his arm, it forming into a large mass of flesh before it launches towards the two, barely missing Junpei as the two bodies slam against the wall.

That's...! Y/N eyes flash in recognition, struggling against the hold the curse has on her, trying to free her hands that were firmly squished against her side in an attempt to summon any weapon she could. The one Nanami mentioned!

"Junpei, run!" Itadori shouts at the petrified boy, "I don't know what relationship you have with him, but right now, just run! Please!"

"Itadori-kun, please calm down!" Junpei turns to look at the two who were pinned against the wall, "Mahito's not a bad person..."

Junpei suddenly trails off, freezing as he thinks over his words, memories of all his encounters with Mahito flashing through his mind. Bad... person...

Mahito puts a hand on Junpei's shoulder, "You know, Junpei, you've got a good head on your shoulders. But sometimes deliberation can lead to worse foolishness than imprudence. You're a stereotypical case of that!"

Mahito grins at Junpei jeeringly, "You're almost as foolish as those people you calls fools yourself. That's why you'll die."

"Idle transfiguration." Mahito murmurs as Junpei's body contorts, skin blowing out and turning blue before he collapses to the floor, a short body with an alligator-like head taking place of the boy.

The two freeze as Mahito's hand turns back to normal, freeing the two as they land on the floor.

"Now, time for round two." Mahito lifts his hands off him as Junpei runs towards the two, launching a punch.

Itadori and Y/N dodge the punches, Itadori quickly restraining Junpei as he shouts, "Get a hold of yourself! I'll heal you right now!"

Junpei weakly punches Itadori, who grits his teeth before looking up.

"Sukuna!" Itadori shouts as the pair of red eyes opens under his golden ones, a mouth with an amused grin forming on his cheek.

"What?" Sukuna asks almost tauntingly, as if he already knows what Itadori is going to ask for— which in all fairness he likely does.

Itadori... Y/N looks at the boy sadly, mentally sighing. He... needs to stop asking Sukuna for help...

"I'll do anything! You can do anything you want with me! So heal Junpei like you did when you restored my heart!" Itadori's voice was nearly begging— desperate for Sukuna to accept the offer and heal Junpei.

"I refuse!" Sukuna laughs mockingly.

"Damn you." Yuuji grits his teeth, glaring at Sukuna the best he could.

Good. Sukuna thinks with a satisfied grin back in his domain, He's completely forgotten about that pact.

"How very amusing! You'd offer up your pride, your future, your everything, to try to rely on me... And you can't save anything!"

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

❝ 𝐈 𝐊𝐍𝐎𝐖. 𝐈 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄. 𝐈 𝐒𝐀𝐖 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐆𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐓 𝐕𝐎𝐈𝐃 𝐈𝐍 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐒𝐎𝐔𝐋, 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐒𝐀𝐖 𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐄 ❞