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Nanami had taken Yuji in after the incident, and although he rarely let emotions show, he knew Yuji needed some company. Yuji, meanwhile, was left alone with his thoughts, rattling around in Nanami's quiet, meticulously tidy apartment.

One evening, Yuji stood in Nanami's kitchen, peering into the fridge. His stomach grumbled. He glanced over his shoulder, half-expecting Nanami to appear behind him, ready to critique his cooking methods. But Nanami wasn't here, leaving Yuji alone in the silence, with nothing but his own thoughts.

"I'm hungry," Yuji murmured to himself, fishing out a box of raw meat. The pale light from the fridge flickered a bit as he shut the door and plopped the box on the counter.

With practiced hands, he prepped the meat, setting it on a pan with a little oil. The smell of sizzling beef filled the kitchen as he hovered over it, gaze distant. After a long pause, he sighed, his voice barely louder than the hiss of the pan.

"Even after everything that's happened..." he muttered, flipping the meat with a spatula, "...I still like Y/N. I really do." His voice softened, a reluctant smile flickering across his face as he watched the meat cook.

"But..." he continued, his expression hardening as he plated the meat alongside a scoop of rice, "...everyone who's died can't forgive you for what you've done." He stared at the plate, as if it could offer him some sort of guidance. "And so, well... I'll bear that burden with you. Of Y/N's sins."

He sat down at Nanami's perfectly set dining table, poking at his food with a contemplative expression. "But how do I do that?" he wondered aloud, absently chewing on a piece of rice. "Do I... grab her with a bomb? Double suicide? But from what I've heard, attacks have no effect on you."

His eyes suddenly brightened, an idea flickering to life. "'Attacks have no effects'..." he muttered, as if tasting the idea. "And boom! That's when it hit me."

He leaned back in his chair, looking both horrified and oddly intrigued at the thought that had popped into his mind. "Y/N and I... we could... become one."

With the gravity of his realization hanging in the air, he speared a piece of the meat, raising it thoughtfully to his mouth. He took a slow, deliberate bite, chewing with a strange mix of curiosity and trepidation.

"So this is how you taste like, Miss Y/N," he murmured around the mouthful, a ghost of a smile crossing his face.

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Yuji took a deep breath as he stepped into what used to be your house. Well, "used to be" felt a little generous—everything still looked the same, right down to the half-chewed slippers by the door and the unmistakable scent of dog fur everywhere. Immediately, seven dogs surged forward, barking, wagging tails, and jostling to get his attention.

"Hey, hey, okay! Settle down!" Yuji laughed, crouching down as they swarmed him. Each dog nudged and snuffled him, some even managing to get in a few licks. It felt like a scene straight out of a movie, where the hero is finally welcomed home by the loyal family pets. Except, he was pretty sure none of these dogs remembered him.

After getting them calmed down (which mostly involved letting them climb all over him), he finally wrangled them into their leashes, all seven of them tugging and tangling in different directions.

"Alright, team. Let's go meet Nanami."

The park was quiet, the sun dipping below the horizon, casting long shadows as Yuji and Nanami sat side-by-side on a park bench. The seven dogs surrounded them like an army, the leashes wrapped around Yuji's arm as he tried to keep them still.

A little girl wandered over, her eyes lighting up at the sight of so many dogs. "Lemme rub your belly!" she squealed, leaning in toward a particularly fluffy one.

Nanami barely acknowledged her, and Yuji only half-turned. The girl was already happily scratching one of the dog's stomachs as Yuji broke the silence.

"I ate all of it," he said, looking at Nanami, "and... Y/N hasn't revived. Not in my stomach, not in my toilet."

Nanami sighed, eyes narrowing thoughtfully. "Attacks have no effect on Y/N... so, how did you manage to kill her?"

Yuji paused, glancing down. "Honestly, I didn't want to injure Y/N. I mean it, from the bottom of my heart." He paused, staring up at the sky. "Eating Y/N... becoming one with her... that's not an attack. That," he said with a wistful sigh, "is love."

Nanami raised an eyebrow. "Hmm... maybe you just accidentally found a way around her contract. But there's one thing I'm curious about." He leaned in, looking at Yuji with genuine curiosity. "How did you attack her without her sensing you?"

Yuji grinned, a little proud of himself. "I figured something out... from what I know, Y/N senses people by smell, not sight. Faces don't really stick with her, but she'll always remember a person's smell. So, I took a gamble—she only saw Sukuna. She wouldn't even recognize me. And... well, my contract with Sukuna let us swap bodies for a bit." He smirked, rubbing his nose. "I guess she never noticed Sukuna wasn't there for a minute."

Suddenly, Yuji felt a sharp pain on his finger. "Ow!" He looked down to see the little girl from earlier, still lingering by the dogs, now biting his finger.

"Hey, kid!" he said, waving her off. "We're having a top-secret conversation here. Go scram!"

But as she glared up at him, Yuji's eyes widened. There was something so... familiar in that look. His heart pounded. "Miss... Y/N?" he whispered, voice filled with a mix of hope and disbelief.

Nanami cleared his throat. "This kid was found over in China," he explained nonchalantly, "so I... borrowed her. But she's not Y/N anymore."

Yuji took a closer look. The kid didn't look like you—different hair color, different face shape, a lot younger, obviously. But her eyes... they held that same fierce, unyielding look. A chill went through him.

"She's the Control Devil," Nanami continued. "Makima's gone. None of her memories, none of her power remain in this kid. But... if we leave her in this country's hands, she'll become like Makima all over again."

Yuji scratched his head, trying to process this. "Right... uh, well... for the record, I don't think I'll be eating any more meat for a while."

Nanami stood up abruptly. "Yuji," he said, his tone cool and measured. "I'm leaving this kid in your care."

"What?" Yuji's eyes nearly bulged out of his head. "Hold on a sec—"

Nanami ignored him, already reaching into his pocket. "I'll be busy for a while. Figured leaving her with you was the best option." He tossed a set of keys at Yuji, who barely caught them.

"I found you an apartment. I'll send money whenever you need it." And with that, Nanami was gone, fading into the twilight like a particularly stoic mirage.

Yuji looked down at the little girl. "I never agreed to this... Hey, miss, what's your name?"

The girl looked up at him with blank, almost uninterested eyes. "Nayuta."

Yuji sighed, feeling a strange weight settle in his chest. "Nayuta, huh? You want anything to eat? Besides meat?"

The girl nodded, giving him an expectant look. "Bread."

"Bread, huh?" Yuji managed a small smile. "So, you're a devil with cheap tastes." She raised her hand and gave him a thumbs-up, utterly serious.

That night, after the ordeal of unpacking, feeding Nayuta, and wrangling the dogs into his new apartment, Yuji finally lay down to sleep. He'd set up a bed for her in the other room, but somehow she'd crawled over and snuggled in beside him, a small, warm presence in the stillness of the night.

As Yuji drifted into sleep, a voice whispered to him, hauntingly familiar.

"Yuji... do you know what my dream was?" The voice felt like a gentle wind, carrying memories he hadn't realized he'd been clinging to.

"Miss Y/N?" he murmured, half-asleep.

The voice continued, soft and sad. "My dream... was to be hugged by someone."

Yuji's heart tightened in his chest as he hugged Nayuta closer.

"It seems so simple, doesn't it?" Y/N's voice went on. "But I was the Control Devil. I could never have an equal relationship with a human. All I had was Public Safety. I wanted... a family. I wanted a world where I could have that family."

A tear slipped down Yuji's cheek as he held Nayuta, a sense of quiet, bittersweet peace settling over him as he drifted deeper into sleep.

THE END

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a/n: wowies i finished it after like 5 months 💀

uhm yeah hope you enjoyed, if you did please vote and see you in my next story
(why did that sound like a youtube outro lmao)