There is something tight in Nobara's chest, something that grips around her heart and seizing the oxygen in her lungs. Her knees are scraped and wounded, and her arm burns uncontrollably. Nobara, in her youth, is taught that pain means empathy, and pain means growth. She grows up painfully—she grows up with her hammer and her nails, a Cursed Technique, though unorthodox, becomes a peculiar one. The other sorcerers in her village calls her Cursed Technique kindfor even until the end, she uses it to empathize with the curses, that at the end, she acknowedges that came from a human, born from a human, and therefore, deserves a proper rest. Nobara never thought like that though. She thought of herself as cruel instead, sometimes cowardly because of this technique that bridges a connection between a doll and a spirit, not like Fushiguro's or Itadori's—at some point, she envied the people around her, from her village. At some point, she looked at her Cursed Technique and wondered why she ended up with this.

Her arm burns. It really does but Kugisaki Nobara is Kugisaki Nobara. She has no time lamenting over how Fushiguro is a member of the Zen'in Family and stands as one of the few people that appears once every hundred years, and she has no time thinking about how Itadori must be special too, for being born with enhanced everything and the ability to pull the Ryōmen Sukuna at bay. Nobara is strong. After all, Itadori was not the only one who managed the Black Flash and he was also not the only one who defeated a Special Grade Curse. Nobara is strong.

And yet, her arm still burns. Itadori still dies in front of her and she still mourns with Fushiguro, and—and Itadori is still gone just as easy as he returned. He had been right next to Nobara, within arm's reach as they grin at 'Niita-san' who yells at them from above. Nobara remembers grinning, hands together in an attempt to be apologetic as Itadori helps Fushiguro up and then—the world tilts, Itadori is being pulled to the right, and Nobara and Fushiguro to the other side. She yells his name and for a moment, their hands almost touch but the memory ends like this: Nobara chokes on water, salt assaulting her tastebuds, her chest screaming for air. She thinks of Fushiguro and his wounds. She reaches for him, heavy in land, and even heavier in water, but she pulls and the realization that they are alone arrives.

Nobara wakes up.

She sits up immediately, trying to recognize the room they are in. There is a table pushed at the side, right beside a counter with a microwave. There are chairs stacked to the side—they are in the backroom of the convenience store. The ground is soft. She breathes: correction—the futon is soft. And cold. But very comfortable nonetheless. Fushiguro is sleeping at the other side of the room, with his own futon and his own wall to be pressed against. She somewhat vividly remembers the old man, the manager who introduced himself as Sugiyama, telling them that he has extra futon at home and he can bring it here, in the back of the store for them to sleep in.

She sighs. "What time is it?" She jumps, a small yelp escaping her lips. She looks to the side to see Fushiguro facing her. "What the hell, Fushiguro."

"What time are we supposed to open the convenience store again?" Fushiguro begins to sit up. He crosses his legs, ruffling his hair. Nothing changes. Nobara relishes in the little things that will always remain stagnant. She yearns for Itadori's return but she does not say that.

"Sugiyama-san said that we should as soon as we wake up. A convenience store is supposed to be open 24/7. I guess we're lucky that he's the only one managing the place and he usually ends late in the evening," Nobara finally stands, her bones creaking as she stretches. "He looks like he's rotting.

"Kugisaki," Fushiguro deadpans.

"What? It's true, and oh, by the way," Nobara wiggles her finger right in front of Fushiguro's face, smug, "Pretty girls get to be in the cash register. You're restocking everything."

Megumi is pretty sure he has more experience in eliminating curses more than Kugisaki, but to be fair, he knows little about her and she knows little about him too. But, in Itadori's case, Kugisaki and Megumi know a little too much about him, mostly because of how, when he died, they had to scavenge all the memories they had of him, all the small evidences that yes, Itadori Yūji was alive at some point. Megumi learns to stop believing that Itadori will die around the time he came back from the 'dead'. He just kept on coming back over and over again that Megumi stopped believing. He wonders if Kugisaki thinks so too.

While Megumi probably has more experience that Kugisaki, Kugisaki is the one who adjusts easily in this environment. If Megumi had been in the cash register, he would have definitely been lashing out at some of the people—many of them looking like Curses and when he sees a particular person with a 'Mutant Quirk' (as Kugisaki explained when she scavenged through the old magazines left unsold in the store) clinging to someone looking relatively human, Megumi gets the urge to clasp his hands and summon his Gyokuken. Of course, Kugisaki explicitly explained that what Megumi would be doing is hate crime—"Reflexes," Megumi's hands shook as he had reasoned out. Sometimes, he still closes his eyes and sees Sukuna ripping out Itadori's heart, sometimes, he sees Kugisaki getting pulled out of the tunnel with her saying that it is going to be alright when no, one of them already died (not alive, but not dead), who can say that one of them will not follow soon? (Kugisaki pushed his shoulder then in an attempt to comfort, not really fond of patting someone on the head. Megumi agrees with her.)

So now, Megumi, hands full of chips, most he had never seen before, religiously puts it in the shelves. From the corner of his eyes, he sees Kugisaki molding effortlessly in this world. She maintains her smile, she remains relaxed, she becomes part of this world easily that Megumi finds himself wondering if he has become a baggage. That is until, in the few instances that Kugisaki is free, she puts her face on her hand, meets his eyes, puts a free hand by her lips, and mouths: "What's that?" She gestures to the bag of chips in his arms.

He follows her gaze.

A large man is seen at the packaging of the food. His face is unbelievably shadowed, giving him an air of mystery, and his impossibly large body even emphasizes this even more, resembling a body builder with how much space he is taking in the bag. He takes up more space than the actual name of the brand, than the actual pictures, and this is supposed to be the snack that solds out the fastest? Megumi already refilled the snacks for the third time this day, all the elementary school students—even the middle schoolers and some high schoolers—buying them speedily. 'MAITO KONPĒTO', the packaging says.

He lifts them up for Kugisaki to see. She snorts in amusement.

Megumi looks at the package again and at the window where he can see various kinds of people mingle with one another. He does not think he can get used to this anytime soon, he realizes as he finishes putting in the snacks. With an exhausted sigh, he slumps to one of the benches, grabbing the 204th issue of 'HERO WEEKLY'. The issue from a few days ago, perhaps it had been before the week ended, had a guy named 'Best Jeanist' plastered all over the cover. This time, 'Fat Gum' envelops the whole page. He flips it over, other 'Pro-Heroes' in various poses there as well. He bites his inner cheek irritably.

This 'Fat Gum' apparently has a 'Transformation Quirk', one that allows him to absorb anyting into his body fat. He used this Quirk to partially stick a 'Villain' against him, thus winning the fight and 'saving the day'. Megumi honestly cares little about this. He does not care about who saved the day. All he cares about is the cultural connotation behind this—is it normal to know a lot about Pro-Heroes? Should Megumi and Kugisaki watch the news everyday? Should they have a favorite Pro-Hero? Is asking what a person's Quirk at first meeting alright, or is it treated like they do with Cursed Techniques, hidden and kept to themselves? Megumi scavenges for any information he can find.

He grabs a pen from one of the shelves selling them, ignoring Kugisaki's questioning gaze. He begins scribbling on the magazine, telling himself that he will be paying for it once he gets his pay. Hopefully

Best Jeanist. Fiber Master. Emitter.

Fat Gum. Fat Absorption. Transformation.

Megumi picks up the context clues: Emitter, written as '発動'—invocation, the first character being 'discharge'. He has seen these characters a lot even back then. And judging by the other magazines he managed to find at the staff room where they sleep in, there is this other hero from the 197th Issue of Hero Weekly, Vlad King, who has a Technique—an Emitter Quirk similar to that of the Kamo Family's.

(He remembers listing the differences, the only way he managed to fall asleep. Kamo Noritoshi can control his blood that is both inside of him and outside of him, his external and internal blood. Vlad King, according to the Hero Weekly that details a little too much about him, he can only control blood once it is outside of him. In addition to this, he is not as affected by Anemia despite his large amount of blood discharge and can even absorb it back to his body. Kamo-senpai, however, relies mostly on his Curse Energy and how much blood he lost. Strategically, Megumi prefers Kamo's, since Kamo can also control his blood and his body temperature thanks to his internal manipulation. Though Megumi still contemplates on Vlad King's ability to not be Anemic.)

Megumi comes into conclusion, that between what they know so far, Emitter and Transformation, Megumi and Kugisaki definitely fall under 'Emitter', unless there is another type that can be classified under it. According to what he gathered so far, Emitters involve some kind of, as the name stays, an ability to 'emit'—something that relates to generating or controlling. Megumi can 'control' and 'emit' shikigami, and Kugisaki can 'manipulate' her hammer and nails. And by extension, add certain effects to it... he supposes. Megumi is unsure of the details of her abilities, not having been there when Kugisaki and Itadori fought the Curse Brothers.

"You do know that we're going to pay for that, right?" Kugisaki shows up out of nowhere, getting rid of the apron she has been wearing since six in the morning. Megumi glances at the clock. Five in the evening. Kugisaki sits beside him. "That's, like, 500, and that pen is 200—that's a total of 700, 'shiguro. Pay up."

Megumi rolls his eyes. "Stop joking around for a moment," he scolds half-heartedly and shows what he scribbled to Kugisaki, "We don't have access to anything right now. We don't even have our phones—"

"You think we can ask Sugiyama-san where the local public library is?" To be fair, the only reason why they did not go there for the past few days was because they were far from presentable. They stank of blood, grime, and they had not taken a bath for days then. "We can actually check out history books there, and well, make our life easier."

"Yes, but look," Megumi points to the magazine cover. "Why do they need 'Pro-Heroes' when they have Police Officers? What's the difference between them? And criminals are called 'villains'? Is there a distinction between petty criminals and villains? What makes a criminal, a 'Villain'? And, don't you think it's odd how—"

Kugisaki grabs him by the shoulder, meeting his eyes gravely. Megumi's breath hitches. "Fushiguro. Calm down," she says, "Slowly, show me what you learned."

And so, Megumi does. His foot taps in anxiety, knowing that he and Kugisaki are stuck in a different world. Gojou-sensei is not one dial away; there is no reassurance that he will immediately come as he always does whenever there is some sort of problem. Itadori is missing. Itadori might be dead. And—"There's another one," interrupts Kugisaki softly, "A bunch of preschoolers came by and one of them was bragging about how he got his Quirk early. Apparently, he's around three. The 'average' time to get a Quirk is four years old. Unless you have the third type of Quirk—Mutant. Their bodies are physically different than the average person.

Before they both know it, a knew customer appears and Kugisaki is forced to return to the cashier.

Megumi sighs, fiddling with the pen.

...

Sugiyama-san is an unbelievably kind man. They had closed the convenience store early as the manager said, and ended up getting invited to the man's home. Megumi follows behind him, Kugisaki glancing at him in confusion every now and then. Once, Kugisaki leaned and whispered if this was the part where Sugiyama tried to murder them. Megumi does not appreciate the joke (jokes about death seem to make him more and more uncomfortable; he hates it, he realizes, he hates it so much) but he does not say this out loud, letting Sugiyama unlock the door to his home. When they arrive, Kugisaki and Megumi are greeted by warm food. An old woman smiles at them. "You two must be Kugisaki-chan and Fushiguro-kun," she greets.

Kugisaki smiles immediately, stretching her cheeks. (That must be uncomfortable, Megumi thinks.) "Thank you for having us," she says and nudges Megumi's side who mimics her words.

Sugiyama-san huffs, and sits at the head of the table, kneeling on the floor. "Sit. Yuriko made these for you two," he grumbles.

Sugiyama-san is an unbelievably kind man.

Megumi catches Kugisaki shaking as she kneels down, pulling him beside her. Sugiyama introduces the woman as his wife, the woman insisting for herself to be called 'Yuriko-baasan'. Megumi tried to reject the offer but Kugisaki is alrrady speeding through, her grin a little more genuine as they dig in. The food (Sugiyama-san is an unbelievably kind man) tastes as good as Megumi remembers homemade food to be (unbelievably kind); warm to the touch, filling his stomach contently, and Megumi has not eaten this kind of food since Itadori cooked for him and Kugisaki.

The mood crashes when Yuriko speaks, voice meloncholic and eyes too sad to complement their dinner. "You two eat so well. You remind me of my grandchildren," the ones who were recruited by Villains, Megumi recognizes, "They had names as beautiful as your own—'Megumi' and 'Nobara', yes?" Sugiyama-san is an unbelievably kind man, but, Megumi thinks, he is not kind to them because they need help. It is because of something else entirely.

When they finish after idle chatter (Yuriko asking Kugisaki what type of food is her favorite, promptly comparing her to her own missing grandson), Yuriko announces that she will be preparing a bath for Kugisaki and that she prepared a room for both of them. Surprised, Kugisaki halts in passing Megumi the plate she finished washing. "Oh, we don't want to intrude anymore, Sugiyama-san, Yuriko-bāsan," she tries to say but Yuriko only shakes her head.

"I can't believe Kaworu is making you sleep in the convenience store's staff room! You two are growing children! You need a better place to sleep in." As if only emphasizing this, Yuriko pats Megumi's shoulder. "Look at you. You must eat well! How tall are you now, Megumi-kun," his first name rolls easily.

"179 centimeters—"

"How tall!" Yuriko exclaims.

Megumi never feels tall, not when the person he used to be with the most is Gojou Satoru, standing taller than most people around him. "Thank you—"

"Um, Yuriko-san," Kugisaki interrupts out of nowhere. Her smile is strained on her lips, unsure as she wipes her hands on the dark skirt of their uniform. "Fushiguro-kun and I... have different rooms?" The honorific is foreign, terribly foreign.

Yuriko frowns. "Well, of course, Nobara-chan," this earns her a raspy chuckle from Kugisaki.

Rubbing the back of her head to appear sheepish (Megumi knows her habits like the back of his hand; he misses the way Itadori's cheeks would rise as he smiles—they are alone, and Itadori is still as missing as ever), Kugisaki shrugs. "You see, Yuriko-san, I get night terrors, and I—I'm more comfortable when I sleep with someone with me," she feigns a blush and Megumi clenches his fists; they are alone, truly, truly alone, "I get really bad nightmares and only Fushiguro-kun knows how to handle them ever since we... our friend..." Her acting is impeccable, a few tears even escaping her and Yuriko has no choice but to embrace her.

Kugisaki's eyes are lifeless as Megumi meets them. She smiles, a little more genuine but less happy than it usually is.

Yuriko does eventually help Megumi move his futon to Kugisaki's room, the room of Yuriko and Sugiyama's grandson. Kugisaki lays on her stomach, arms wrapped around a pillow and decked in pajamas that probably belong to Yuriko. Megumi, too, wears the couples' grandson's old clothes. He sits on the futon beside Kugisaki's risen bed. He leans back, head thumping against it. "So, night terrors?" He muses.

Kugisaki scoffs. "We're literally in a different world, Fushiguro. I wouldn't be able to sleep if I sleep alone in some guy's room," she grunts, "And besides—look at those posters! You think I'm going to sleep comfortably with grown men staring at a girl as delicate as me? Absolutely not."

Megumi looks at the posters and sweatdrops. "Who are those people even?"

With a soft huff, Kugisaki twists her body, laying on her back with her elbows keeping her up. "I know that guy—" She points to the tall, muscular blond that Megumi once saw in the snack packaging. "All Might. Whenever someone buys those weird snacks, the receipts always say 'All Might's Favorite Konpēto'—he's a Pro-Hero, apparently. He's all I've been seeing in this room, and that other guy. The fire guy."

There is a long moment of silence, just Kugisaki staring at the ceiling and Megumi to the floor. Megumi wonders what Kugisaki is thinking, but at the same time, he realizes that their problems are one and the same: the missing Itadori and how to go home—home to where the Cursed Spirits are? Home to where Tsumiki is. Where the others are.

"Fushiguro."

"What?"

"You snore a lot.

Megumi snaps his head. "No, I don't!"

The public library is surprisingly small, but Megumi does not care about that. The moment he sees an available computer, he immediately rushes there with Kugisaki scolding him for causing a commotion. Megumi is getting more and more jittery, uncomfortable with this world and the people around him. His Cursed Energy has been building up inside of him in the past few, and so does Nobara. And he wonders: this world does not have Cursed Energy but now that they have introduced this to this new world, will Curses show up? The thought streesses Megumi out, eager to fight a Cursed Spirit to release his pent-up frustration.

Kugisaki sits beside him typing away in her own free computer. "Well, we got our answers then, 'shiguro—police officers aren't allowed to use their Quirks while Pro-Heroes are. The same with criminals and Villains," she starts small, "What do you want to focus on first?"

"History. We just need a quick rundown and we can put the pieces together ourselves—you think there's a Dimension Traveling Quirk? It seems likely," though obnoxiously powerful, Megumi wants to shrug away the thought but he witnessed a dragon just a few minutes into traveling to the Public Library. These kinds of destructions are normal here. People find it entertaining watching a bunch of people in spandex suits fighting against 'Villains'. And those same 'saviors of the world' are used for marketing and commercials. Like that Maito Konpēto that Megumi is so sick of seeing. "What are you going to look up?"

A pause. "Villain activity," for Itadori, are the unspoken words.

Megumi focuses on his own side, thankful that Sugiyama-san is understanding enough to let them have a day-off on their second day of work—which, Megumi admits, is embarrassing but Sugiyama-san looked so serious when he agreed, as if seeing something Megumi cannot see. And so, hours after hours, Kugisaki and Megumi spend the entire time immersing themselves in this world, an occasional comment here and there: "Can you believe it? Some Pro-Hero has a podcast, or something," and "They rank... Pro-Heroes?" until Kugisaki stops on something.

Megumi feels his eyes fluttering every now and then because of his exhaustion. He rubs them, feeling them watering already with how long they have been using the desktop. Even the librarian is looking at them in suspicion, especially since it is a school day and they are not even in their uniforms but in the clothes that Yuriko and Sugiyama let them borrom. "Fushiguro, there are hero schools here," not a surprise for even sorcerers have schools. Megumi only hums. "Fushiguro. Listen."

"What?" He asks, annoyed.

Kugisaki looks like she is about to blow up on him because of his tone, face red. Megumi relaxes his shoulders. They are alone. They only have each other. He sighs, running his fingers through his hair. Kugisaki continues between clenched teeth. "There's a school called UA, just a few blocks away from the convenience store, and they host this annual Sports Festival and, and, and—before you get annoyed, I'm going to say this straight up: UA broadcasts their Sports Festival all over the world; in radios, in TVs, in the internet. Everywhere. The podcast Pro-Hero guy? He hosts all the time, apparently, and that's why their viewers skyrocket. And you know what?"

"What?" Megumi asks warily.

"Everyone will be watching. Pro-Heroes will be recruiting future Pro-Heroes, and Villains will be watching to see the new threat. If we get in, make enough of a commotion, Itadori will see us and—" Kugisaki's voice dies in her throat. "And maybe, he can come find us. What if he's also looking for us? Itadori can't just get kidnapped. Not when that Sukuna is there with him. He's just lost. You know, that idiot," she says desperately, "And then, we can go home. I still have to train with Panda-senpai, you know!"

Megumi bites his lower lip. He pushes Kugisaki on the shoulder, immitating her like she did a few days ago. "We can start there. Examination season in... how many months?" He asks even though he knows. He will be sixteen before he can see Itadori again, in the worst case scenario. His birthday will pass and only then will he get to take a shot on his biggest chance and even then, too many momths will pass.

Kugisaki grins. "And we still need some documents for us," she adds.

And that is the hard part. But if Megumi considers the availability of Villains, then wouldn't forging documents be easy? Technically, anybody can forge a document and if they do, this will not be the first time when they committed a crime. All they have to do is to be meticulous and anything can be searched in the internet. Like, how to forge a document. And Megumi highly doubts that a school will pay particular attention to a pair of teenagers who have no distinctive characteristics that make them stand out from othere. Megumi had black hair and Kugisaki's orange-brown does not even look strange here. Instead, it looks normal.

Kugisaki's eyebrows twitch. "Did you just call me plain?"

Ah, Megumi said that out loud.

(They will be okay, Megumi becomes relieved. They will be. All they have to do is show Itadori that they are here and that they are waiting for him. They will be. They will be okay. Megumi, Kugisaki, and Itadori. They will be—)

・ konpeito is a type of japanese candy.

・ question of the chapter: who would you like megumi and nobara to meet, and what class should they fall in?

not knowing is buddha