Title: Nevertheless

Disclaimer: I do not own Jujutsu Kaisen.

AN: Wow. The amount of times I rewrote this chapter is just... T^T I think it was mostly due to Gojo's presence. He is seriously so powerful that whenever I thought of a fight scene, I went 'but wait that doesn't work because of Limitless or Infinity.' It was a constant struggle and I had to get really creative with this chapter in order for everything to make sense(at least I hope it does). So, I'm not really happy with this chapter. I would also like to mention, Gojo is fifteen here and he doesn't use his reversal techniques because he awakens them when he fights Toji and that's still a couple of months away from the original timeline. And it seems like he didn't master Domain Expansion even after he turned 16 since he never used it against Toji. I don't even know anymore. Enjoy.

Chapter 6

Osaka is only a short plane ride from Tokyo, but has a very different personality compared to the capital city. I don't know how to describe it, but the overall atmosphere, the people, and dare I say, the culture here seem to be unique from the capital.

We arrived at the Osaka Itami Airport at the scheduled time and immediately rented a car to drive to our hotel. As a person who faced some serious financial setbacks in my past life, the Ritz-Carlton was one of the most luxurious hotels I've ever stayed in. The hotel itself was a fusion of traditional Japan and eighteenth century British style with antique furnishings from both sides of the world. It consisted of an extravagant spa, fitness area, indoor and outdoor pools, six fine dining restaurants and bars. All of the restaurants were certified Michelin starred such as the French restaurant, La Baie and Tempura by Hanagatami.

I have no idea how the school could afford to book a two nights stay for three people but hey, if they can pay us sorcerers generously after each mission, I'm sure they have the means.

After checking in to our respective rooms, we decided to have lunch at Tempura where Sakaguchi gave us a recap and disclosed more details about the mission.

"As the headmaster had stated, all twenty-one victims were prostitutes from the ages of twenty and twenty-eight, mostly disappearing around the Red Light district and its alleyways. Their bodies were found underneath manholes suggesting the cursed spirit dwells within the sewers of the city. Due to the women operating mainly at night, the spirit is also active during that time."

"Easy." Gojo said while munching on the appetizer of shrimp tempura. "We can track it down from the residue it leaves behind, exorcise it, and the end."

"Well, I'm sure it wouldn't be as simple as he thinks, but with the amount the cursed spirit wreaked havoc, I'm sure we'll be able to track it down easily." I also took a piece of the tempura.

"But that's the tricky part," Sakaguchi pushed his glasses upward. "We're having trouble pinpointing the exact location of the curse."

"You're joking right?" Gojo stopped midway from reaching for another piece. "A cursed spirit that's been this active can't go about without leaving residuals around the city."

"I agree." I frowned, puzzled. "Didn't Principal Yaga state the sorcerer they sent previously to investigate the case detected cursed energy?"

"Yes, but when the sorcerer returned, he reported that residuals were faint, barely noticeable as if the cursed spirit was attempting to hide or alter its tracks." The assistant director answered. "The headmaster sent both of you to exorcise it due to your sensitivities to cursed energy detection."

Okay, now that was interesting. From the many missions I completed up until now, I haven't faced a curse that possessed high enough intelligence to try hiding its residuals. Could it be a… curse user? But there was also a chance an unregistered special grade similar to Mahito could be the perpetrator since we don't know anything about the cursed spirit.

"Is there a chance that it could be a curse user?" I proposed. "It's attempt at masking itself implies its consciousness and ability to display complex cognition."

"That is possible…" Sakaguchi trailed off. "However, I hope that's not the case. It'll be more troublesome if it turns out to be a curse user and we may have to retreat based on the decision of the headmaster."

Gojo sulked. "You're underestimating us."

"No, he's worrying for us." I countered.

"I am indeed worrying for both of you. As the assistant director tasked with accompanying you in this mission, it is my responsibility for your safeties."

Just then, our main dishes arrived and holy shit, was it fancy. The dish I ordered was the Hamakaze sushi set with a side of kumoi tempura. I seriously considered not eating this due to how beautifully it was decorated. Gojo and Sakaguchi both ordered charcoal-grilled filet which included sashimi as their sides and were also decorated with the same amount of lavishness.

"Our mission will not start until much later, in the night. Until then, I suggest both of you rest up since we'll be working late this time."

Gojo and I didn't reply as we were too busy stuffing our faces.

After lunch, all of us returned to our rooms and rested well into the night and by eleven, Sakaguchi knocked at my door, alerting me that it was time. Before leaving, I ran over my checklist of things to pack which mainly consisted of my blood bags. Another complaint on being a Kamo that I might add, is how bothersome it is to always carry pint bags whenever I'm preparing for a battle. Sometimes, just sometimes, I'm tempted to not bring any and let myself bleed to death instead, but we don't want to waste our second chance in life now, do we?

"Remember, be safe and please look out for each other." Sakaguchi reminded as he took the last turn that led us to our destination. "I'll be waiting nearby so alert me once you have completed the mission."

Gojo and I got off the car, heading towards the pleasure district but I momentarily paused from the realization. We were both under-aged to be in such a location; we were fifteen. And I'm not sure what the laws were in Japan, but there had to be an age restriction on who can enter.

The colorful, neon red street lights lit up buildings from the swallowing darkness of the night and advertised sex shops, strip clubs, and adult theaters. Part of me felt awkward as we walked, scanning for any residuals. I never in my previous life and certainly this life visited a Red Light district so it made me a little uncomfortable.

"Well, this place is like a ghost town." Gojo slightly lowered his glasses.

He was right. I glanced at my wrist watch and at this time, the area should be bustling with people but there weren't any in sight. Everything was still except for the rapid blinking lights of advertisement. It was kind of eerie and I had a strong sense that we were being watched from those closed curtains.

"Yeah, you're right." I mumbled.

Well actually, now that I think about it, the emptiness makes sense. Twenty-one women had gone missing and turned up dead in a manhole connected to the sewers. Of course, everyone was on edge, fearing for their lives and afraid to come out. They were civilians not sorcerers, so they probably thought a serial killer was on the loose.

"It's empty because these people are terrified."

Gojo crossed his arms, "no shit. You just figured that out?"

"You said it was a ghost town, implying you didn't know too."

"No, I merely compared this place to a ghost town."

"Same thing." I marched forward.

We circled around the area, trying to find the residual footprints of the spirit.

"Did you detect any?" I asked while searching.

He hummed. "I am seeing a faint trail that's leading to that manhole." He pointed at a nearby alleyway.

I stared at his bright cerulean eyes. The Six Eyes. A rare ocular jujutsu inherited within the Gojo family that grants its user the exceptional perception and ability to utilize Limitless to its full potential. No two bearers can exist at the same time and Gojo Satoru is the first sorcerer to be born with both Limitless and Six Eyes in the last hundred years.

I followed him to the manhole and the cursed energy seemed to be permeating from there. I took out the map Principal Yaga gave to us and pinpointed our location on it. There was a red dot. "This is one of the locations where a victim was last seen."

"Is this the manhole where they discovered the bodies?"

"No," I studied the map, looking for the manhole that had multiple drawn circles around it. "That's the one a few blocks down from us. But strangely, I didn't detect cursed energy when we passed by it earlier. Did you see anything?"

"I didn't. That's why I thought this manhole was the one where they discovered the bodies."

"Should we enter?" I asked apprehensively as I did not want to go inside a literal shit hole but we had a job to do here.

"We should but are we really?" He mused, "it connects to the sewers or storm drains and I can already feel my nose dying from the thought of the smell."

"But it could be down there right now." I said tentatively. "What if we don't go down there and miss our chance? We both can see energy trails leading to this manhole so the possibility of catching it right now is high."

"Why can't we lure the spirit out instead?" He grumbled.

"Because that might take a while and we're not endangering civilians to use as bait. We're going down there now." I said more decisively. "Besides, do you want to wait all night for it or hunt it down and finish the mission early?"

"Touché." He reached for the lid of the manhole and peeled it open like you peeled a bandage off. "Ladies first." He said a little too cheekily.

I glared at him before slowly and carefully descending the steps that led to the sewers. My God— the smell was so revolting. I'm starting to have second thoughts about entering this place.

Dim lights barely light the place, casting looming shadows that can easily trick one's eyes. The humidity combined with the sickening smell was starting to hurt my head. The brick walls were adorned with vulgar graffiti, making me question why anyone would stencil in this dirty, dingy place.

I searched the ground for the spectral footprints the spirit left behind, leading us to the tunnel on our right.

"Can you see the residuals leading to that tunnel?" I pointed.

"Yeah, I can see it."

We tracked it down as best we could, navigating our way through different tunnels like a maze and occasionally stopping due to the cursed energy fading in some areas. It was all in vain though, when the energy led us to a halt at a dead end.

"Damn it."

"Interesting." Gojo snickered. "It hides its presence like a sorcerer does."

"That's why I thought it was a curse user and that theory is becoming more of a reality to me." I tried probing for another trail but the energy dropped dead at this section. "But why abruptly hide it here? If it was trying to conceal itself from detection, it should've done so from the beginning."

There were cracks within the walls of the dead end but they weren't big enough for a cursed spirit to fit into. There was only enough space for a bug to crawl in-between and I'm assuming the spirit or whatever it is, is at least a decent size for it to cause all those murders. So how did it escape?

"Did we miss a trail?"

"I didn't see energy from the other tunnel we passed by." He completely took off his black-out glasses. "And it's impossible for anything to slip past my eyes."

"It'll take us a long time to search the entire sewage. We should head back to the Red Light district and wait for it." I suggested.

"I think that's a better idea, although time consuming."

I pinched my nose. "Alright, let's head back before I become nose blind."

"I think I already am." He took a deep whiff of the grimy air.

"Gross! Don't do that!" I lightly smacked him on the arm. "You might actually destroy your nose."

We carefully navigated our way back through the tunnels, using the colorful graffiti on the walls as indicators that we're going the right way. I greedily gulped in the fresh, crisp air as Gojo helped me out of the manhole. You know you had it rough when plain, city air smelled nice. He tightly sealed the lid back on, leaving no traces of its removal and we circulated the district again.

"This place can't be the only Red Light district in Osaka." I chewed on my lip. "That's my other question; why is it only attacking this specific one?" I leaned against the wall. "Now, we play the waiting game."

Gojo sighed dramatically, "It's going to be sooo boring. Wait, no, no. Since your plan failed, we're doing it my way."

"You're way?"

"We're going to lure it out."

"We're not using a civilian as bait." I said sharply.

He grinned. "Who said we're using a civilian?"

I blinked, connecting the dots. He meant me. Honestly speaking, it wasn't a bad idea. I can lure the spirit away from the civilian population and worst case scenario, I'll be the only casualty.

"Fine. What do we do?"

"According to the reports, the spirit has a modus operandi, specifically targeting prostitutes in the area. You're going to disguise yourself as one while suppressing your cursed energy. He cracked his knuckles, "then, we're going to ambush it."

I pursed my lips. "There's also a strong possibility it can easily identify us. Remember, it's one of those rare ones that has high intelligence."

"We don't know that. We know it has intelligence but how much is what we're also testing. Can it easily be fooled with suppressed cursed energy and a semi-terrible disguise? Or can it easily tell. If the disguise doesn't work, we'll lose nothing. It won't hurt to try."

That's true. We're still not aware of what we're dealing with here; a grade A or a special grade and if a special grade, is it perceptive enough to effortlessly identify us?

I marveled at how bipolar Gojo can be. One moment he'll be fiercely idiotic and the next he comes up with an ingenious idea.

I examined the clothes I was wearing, wondering how I was going to modify it to fit the 'style' of a lady of the night. The standard uniform of Jujutsu High is decently clad with high collared jackets, skirts, and for me, stockings. How was I going to transform this? I was wearing a spaghetti strapped tank top underneath my jacket; that's something, right?

"Here, hold this." I handed my jacket to Gojo. "Don't lose it."

He flung it over his shoulder. "Don't know about that."

Next, the stockings should go in order to make my skirt look shorter than it really did. The skirt that consisted of my uniform was a mini, similar to the one Maki was shown wearing in the series. Hopefully, I don't look too ridiculous.

I don't even know what I'm doing.

"I'm going to take my stockings off." I stood still, waiting for Gojo to be a decent gentleman and turn around. But, he didn't.

"Turn around." I demanded, awkwardly.

"Why?"

"So I can take off my stockings."

Clicking his tongue to the roof of his mouth, he turned around. "Hurry up."

I wriggled out of my stockings, scrunching it up with one hand before stuffing it inside my skirt pocket. I let my hair loose, securely tying my lucky string around my wrist and smoothed out my hair.

"Even if you detect its position early on, don't attack until I lure it away from the civilian population and give you a signal." I showed him my wrist. "When I start tying my hair back up, that's when you attack."

"I know, I know." He waved it off, then blended within the shadows, hiding. I felt the flow of his cursed energy die out like a candle light being extinguished, effectively masking himself from detection.

I suppressed my own cursed energy, keeping it quiet as if I had none, as if I was a regular civilian and started strolling through the district. The entire time, I was aware and vigilant of my surroundings with the tiniest of sounds having my hand grasp for a blood bag.

For about an hour and thirty minutes, I wandered the district, trying my best to act natural as possible. It was now one in the morning and my patience was running dangerously thin. If I pass through that alleyway with the Doraemon graffiti one more time, I'm going to lose it. No hate to Doraemon but I'm about to go insane from repeatedly seeing that same drawing for the last ninety minutes. Where was this fucking cursed spirit?

I deliberated for a minute on whether I should keep going or call Gojo but ultimately decided this will be the final round. If this spirit doesn't show itself soon, I'll uproot this entire place to find it because this is becoming ridiculous.

I crossed the street and was about to cut the last corner, when I felt the cursed energy. It was glowing wickedly, stalking from behind, like a predator does to its prey. Based on its energy, I could already tell it was a powerful curse. We were still at the heart of the district, too close to where the people were. Placing a curtain in this vicinity was a bit risky as the barrier jujutsu has limits on obscuring our activities to the outside world. Simply put, there were too many people and the possibility of a civilian or two slipping past the curtain was high.

Calmly, I walked on, pretending to not notice the intruding presence. The spirit was still quite a distance away from me and I couldn't detect its spike of cursed energy activity yet. Good. I switched directions, praying that it'll follow me and after making sure it still was, I resumed feigning ignorance. Once I reached a region that was a safe distance from the district and downtown, I unraveled my hair tie. I slowed down my pace, indicating that I had noticed it.

"I'm surprised it took them this long just to send a couple of kids after me." The feminine voice from behind was clear, not incoherent or disembodied like the other curses I came across.

Judging how it figured us out, it had to be a special grade. The arrogance in its voice suggested that it was underestimating us, thus willingly revealing itself. However, if we were, should I say more 'seasoned' sorcerers that spirit might have second thoughts. Looks like the disguise was meaningless. If it was watching us from the beginning, Gojo would've found its position way before we even went down the sewers. Which means, it arrived a few seconds ago and immediately knew.

I stopped and slowly turned, messily tying my hair back up. "I think you should duck."

The cursed spirit retained a resemblance to the human form and if it weren't for the entire pitch black eyes, I would've thought it was a curse user. It had ungodly pale skin, long crimson hair parted in the middle, and matching ruby red lips. It— she was frighteningly beautiful. Although, one curious thing about her was the red threads that bandaged around her arms, legs, neck, and any visible body part except her face. They were thick enough to use as ribbons, like those Christmas ribbons you used to wrap gifts. Did cursed spirits have their own fashion styles they followed? If not, I made a mental note to watch for those.

The spirit tilted its head in confusion and her eyes widened. With a trail of black sparks, Gojo swooped in from somewhere and slammed a two kick combo to her stomach and I nearly scored her across her neck with Piercing Blood. I missed though, because like ice-cream under the mercy of the sun, her body melted into a gelatinous form, completely avoiding the attack.

The hell? No wonder we struggled to track her down earlier and winded up at the dead end. Not only did she have the ability to mask her residue, her body was malleable, giving her precise and full control over it. She must've escaped through the cracks of the concrete walls by molding her body to fit in the tight crevices. And because we thought it was physically impossible for anything to fit inside of those cracks, we never investigated them thoroughly.

"Emerge from darkness, blacker than darkness. Purify that which is impure." I chanted.

Darkness oozed from a specific point in the night sky and it sprawled into a dome structure, trapping all three of us within.

"I must admit, it took me a moment to figure out you were a sorcerer and it took another to locate the other one." The cursed spirit smiled, one that stretched unnaturally from ear to ear. "You have my praise for concealing yourselves for a mere minute."

"And you have my praise for taking that long to figure it out." Was Gojo's snarky reply.

She sneered, "they sent some… peculiar sorcerers, haven't they?"

I positioned my hands close to my blood bags, getting straight to the issue. "Why are you terrorizing this area and specifically targeting the prostitutes?"

She raised a finger to her chin and hummed, pretending to think. "I don't know if I want to tell… but frankly speaking, both of you will die anyway so, why not?"

Damn, I didn't think I'll meet anyone who possessed the same amount of arrogance that Gojo did.

"Woah," Gojo stuffed his hands into his pockets, "I like your confidence."

"Thank you." I recoiled as she winked at him. "I am Yūdokuna, a cursed spirit born out of humanity's fear of love. Lust, infidelity, jealousy, paranoia, all of the negative aspects of love, I am that manifestation."

My eyes narrowed. There was a clear correlation between her existence and her actions. "And why exactly are you targeting prostitutes?"

"Because they are filthy." She answered without hesitation. "The level of toxicity human love can reach, the level of dishonesty, betrayal, and hypocrisy human love can reach; isn't it disgusting? Humans easily confess love to another but just as quickly they betray, producing false promises and relationships full of lies. This all accumulated to my conclusion that humans are incapable of love and do not deserve the ability to." She spit out the last few words. "Can you not see the hypocrisy? Since I am the outcome of that negativity, I should be the one to bear the burden of eradicating it, yes?"

There's a certain level of bullshit one can endure before they subconsciously stop themselves from hearing anymore. And that is kind of what's happening with me here.

"So, I've decided to start with the filthiest of them all: the prostitutes. Aren't they corrupt beyond reasoning? The very notion of humans engaging in something so intimate and supposedly reserved for those who they truly love for monetary gain— infuriates me. That is why I decided to start exterminating them and eventually, I will wipe out every single human on this planet. A planet free of suffering, a planet free of corruption."

I think she'll fit right in with Mahito and Jogo's little special grade club.

"You done?" Gojo yawned. "You're really dragging this on for something that's brimming with confidence." Now cue his trolling mode. Honestly, the few moments where I enjoyed his trolling was when it's directed towards cursed spirits.

"Well, aren't you testy?" She held out her hands in a way that displayed her nails. The next part was disgusting to see but her nails began to grow unnaturally longer and they lit up with the familiar black aura fuming around her fingertips. She collected cursed energy to her fingertips and with the flick of her wrist, chaos.

There is a kind of fast movement that is precise and well thought through, not the impulsive and random swipes of the cornered. That was how I'd describe her nails as they pummeled towards us at a speed faster than light.

Of course, Gojo already predicted her movements when he saw her cursed energy accumulating at her fingertips using his Six Eyes. He tackled me down with him, narrowly avoiding them as they zipped past us and landed in perfect unison on a nearby tree with a loud 'thunck.' If being impaled with someone's grungy nails was bad enough, imagine turning into stone and perishing into fine dust. We watched in consternation as the color gray leaked from underneath the embedded nails, rapidly invading the natural colors. From browns and greens the tree was now a stony gray and within seconds, it crumbled until nothing was left of it.

"It's such a bother saving you."

"Excuse me for not having the Six Eyes or Infinity." I sarcastically replied.

We scrambled back up and I promptly activated Flowing Red Scale. Immediately, another rain of gross fingernails shot at us but this time I can see them clear as day. Gojo indifferently walked on, knowing the nails had no way in reaching him while I dove to the side, dodging it and in a flash, I was behind her. Forming a blood knife with Blood Edge, I proceeded to jam it near the thoracic spine. Sensing my presence in a nick of time, she pivoted and hovered her nails near my face. Thinking that she'll feign another barrage of dust-turning nails, I flung myself away from her and that was a mistake.

She devilishly smiled and there was a brief pause before her body flickered from a new found speed. With a brisk move she planted an uppercut to my chin and a few kicks to my waist. Despite the aching sensations, I dropped low, under her grabbing hand, placing my hands on the ground and powdered out with a double horse kick that slammed right into her chest. She went flying backwards, too startled by the sudden speed of it.

Behind her, Gojo gripped her by the wrist and viciously yanked her. His fist collided with her face, producing a loud thwacking noise but before he could land another hit, she bent down and retaliated with a triple kick. The hits never got to him. He returned the favor by applying the same move against her, except his were far more brutal and the final, drop-kicked her with a force so intense that it broke the sound barrier. The spirit's body moved like a raggedy doll against the current of the wind and smashed into a couple of trees. That had to hurt.

"Is that all you got?" He taunted.

I could tell the curse spirit was becoming agitated. Gathering her strength once more, Yūdokuna slowly stood up. This time, there was something different about her. Her body glowed a cyan blue, indicating an influx of cursed energy. She was limiting herself until this moment.

Did I say she was fast before? I'm sorry, her past self was nowhere near as fast as the one we're facing now. It seems like speed is her only forte. Her body dripped into the goo-like consistency and like an angered snake, slithered her way towards Gojo. She was agile, slipping through his grasps and assaults, avoiding him like a plague and striking whenever there was an opening. By all means she was fighting against Gojo; the window of opportunities was slim to none. Over time, her attacks were becoming sloppier, more desperate and began to realize that no matter what she did, it was impossible to touch him.

"How?" She gritted her teeth. "Why is nothing hurting you!"

"It's called Infinity, sweetie."

Blood Meteorite. Hardened blood pummeled Yūdokuna, aiming at the vital spots of her body. Some found their targets, forcing her to retreat a couple of times.

Pretty soon, there was a steady rhythm to our fight, a steady beat in which Gojo and I worked as one person. When he strikes, I cover; when I strike, he covers.

Hurling up two blood bags in the air, I used the excessive amount of blood to produce a distinctive version of Slicing Exorcism. Unlike my previous usage of the attack, the blood is shaped into a form of a long stream instead of the usual shape. Aiming at a target that's in very close proximity with your ally is a tricky situation. Well. What was I, a Kamo or something? A lengthy surge of red liquid fired from my hands, whipping through the air with deadly precision that it produced a crackling noise.

Her body barely reacted to my technique and she hissed as the blood sliced through her right leg. Purple blood trickled down from the deep gash but it wasn't enough to sever it. My next attack will.

The wound slowed her down considerably but not quite. Deciding to deal with me first, she launched a series of attacks, starting with a furious wave of dust-inducing nails.I weaved through them and purposefully slowed down for her to reach me. Thinking that she finally had the upper-hand, she closed the proximity between us and that was her fatal mistake.

Clenching a fistful of her clothes with my right hand, I placed my left arm underneath her right and turned around. Tucking my body into hers, I swung her over my shoulders and threw her onto the ground. A single arm shoulder throw that I learned from Suguru. From there, Gojo signaled me to step back and when I did, he launched what was hopefully the finishing blow.

"Cursed Technique Lapse: Blue."

Her frozen state of disbelief was the last thing I saw before she was enveloped by a smoke of dust.

We expected her obliterated form but when the dust cleared, there was nothing except for some splintered trees and a large crater on the ground where she stood. A trail of purple blood indicated she had escaped. Barely. Sure enough, we felt cursed energy flickering behind us. Her right arm was completely gone, cut off cleanly, creating a cavernous dip on that side of her body. A fountain of blood was gushing out of that area but she made no attempts to heal or do something about it.

Holy fuck. Why is she so hard to get rid of? She was like a cockroach, surviving everything. I expected her to be dead from his attack but here she is, somehow still standing. If I were her, I would try to retreat by now. Why was she trying so hard?

She scoffed. Then, descended into a fit of a crazed laugh. "I didn't think I'll be pushed this far. No matter what it takes, I will kill both of you!"

We watched as she unraveled the scarlet ribbons donning her left arm with her teeth. I knew those had a specific reason.

"Have you heard of the Red Threads of Fate?" She asked. "I heard in this country, there is a legend that an invisible red thread connects those who are destined to meet. Regardless of the circumstances, place, or time. The thread may stretch or tangle but it never breaks." She wipes the ribbon on a small smudge of my blood smeared at her right cheek, the excess from my Blood Manipulation techniques.

"But what should we do?" She cooed in a pseudo-worried tone. "My threads break."

I compressed the blood in-between my hands, preparing for Piercing Blood while Gojo prepared for another technique.

"Red Threads of Death!" Holding one end of the ribbon between her teeth and the other with her left arm, she hastily ripped it in half.

My heart thumped and suddenly pain. Pure pain and agony. The type of pain where you felt as if the insides of your body was burning. The type of pain where a thousand swords were piercing at your body, endlessly, all at the same time. It was searing, coiling, throbbing— I— didn't know what was happening.

I forced myself to calm down, taking even breaths but the heavy air was instead choking me, crippling me. I coughed, hacked and tightly gripped my clothes, not understanding why I was feeling this way. I sank to my knees, clutching at the area of my clothes where my heart was. Something thick was forcing its way from my stomach, filling my mouth at an alarming rate and threatening to explode from my mouth. I cupped a hand over trying to keep it in but it was futile. The taste of iron permeated in my mouth as I coughed in desperation. Blood. I stared at my shaking hand, stained with scarlet liquid.

I was shaking, convulsing uncontrollably, having lost control over my limbs. Blood rose to my mouth again. The world spun, a loud ringing took over my ears, and my vision obscured from the tears forming in my eyes. I vomited.

"Natsue…?" I heard his distant voice call out but I wouldn't— couldn't physically answer.

The pain… was too unbearable. It was to the point where I rather die than go through this.

I wanted it to stop.

Stop. Stop. STOP.

I erratically clawed at my body, not knowing where the pain was originating from but wanting to soothe it. I was terrified. Another fit of blood.

"She's dying." A satisfied voice cackled. "She's dying and you can't do anything about it! My cursed technique, Red Threads of Death utilizes my ribbons as an effigy due to my cursed energy flowing through them." The cursed spirit explained. "As long as body fluid from my victims is absorbed within, it'll establish a link and when I tear it, the body will automatically shut down! Like the ribbon ripping, the body begins to tear itself apart! Isn't it amazing?"

I was dying. I didn't want to die again. There was too much here, too much still to do. And mother, Chitose, Noritoshi, Shoko, Suguru, Satoru… I— I didn't want to leave them. There was a place in my heart that still aches whenever I thought about the previous life I had abruptly left and I didn't want to go through that again.

I wanted to live.

But the world was fading.

For a while Gojo said nothing and I was worried. Ha. Who's worrying about who? It's funny how I'm surrounded with a pool of my vomit blood, body shredding itself up and yet, I'm worried about him.

"It's strange." He stated. "I don't think I've ever wanted to kill a cursed spirit so badly in my lifetime."

"I'll like to see you try." She challenged.

"I didn't want to waste this on you and I haven't perfected yet, but you know what? Fuck it." He said, darkly. "Cursed Technique Lapse Maximum Energy Output: Azure Glow."

Azure Glow. Using the power of attraction, he releases the maximum amount of cursed energy and produces a single point to attract everything around itself. That single point is focused so much that the universe becomes upset because there is a piece of space where the laws of physics don't apply. The universe tries to fix this by pulling matter into that space to fill it with something that makes sense. So in practice, whenever he creates that point, he essentially creates a black hole, a place that attracts mass explosively. It's a complicated concept to wrap your head around, especially when you're dying.

Please just put me out of my misery…

The world began to rumble, groaning as the earth shook violently and cracks similar to that of an earthquake formed on the ground. I tightly squeezed my eyes shut, the massive disturbance making the pain increase by twofold. The low rumbling and thundering sounds of rocks, trees, debris and other objects, smashing, colliding together made me pressed my hands against my ears, despite the coiling pain in my stomach.

An ear-splitting, gut wrenching scream of Yūdokuna accompanied the boisterous noise in the background and then, silence.

The pain, the insufferable pain loosely let go of its grip on my body and the air once again became lighter, breathable. The world stopped spinning, ears stopped ringing, and blood stopped threatening to burst from my mouth. Everything was at peace. But I didn't dare to move, fearful that one tiny action would cause the pain to come back again.

I heard the scuffling of shoes dragging along the dirt ground.

"Natsue." He gently placed his hand on my shoulder.

I tested first, lifting my shoulder slowly and when I didn't feel that life-threatening pain, I opened my eyes. Gojo slid his hand behind my back, easing me to a sitting position.

I raised my head and— it was peculiar. His tired eyes, his face. In all those months I've known him, I have never seen this expression before. There was this look of apprehension, worry, concern, anxiety, insecurity and a twinge of fear all mixed into his sapphire eyes. He always carried a comical, laid-back expression, rarely having anything crumble that façade but right now— this moment, all traces of those expressions were gone. It was foreign.

"There was a way to break her technique. Her death." He muttered. "You okay?"

"Yeah." I rasped, wiping away the blood trail at the corner of my lips. "I— I think I'm good."

My insides felt raw and no wonder since I spent the last whatever minutes throwing up my bloody guts.

"Can you stand?"

"I don't know." Using Gojo as support, I attempted to stand up but my legs shut that idea down quickly, buckling underneath me.

Carefully placing me back down, he crouched, turning his back on me. In normal circumstances I would rather crawl my way back but I was exhausted and allowed myself to accept. I forced my wobbly legs to stand up and wrapped my arms around his neck. He gradually stood up, making sure I didn't fall backward in the process.

I hadn't realized the full extent of our environment until now and the damage was beyond what the landscaped looked previously. Rugged, carved trails of the landscape led to a single spot, which I assumed was where Yūdokuna was and a whole area of trees were completely uprooted. Street lights, benches all gone from existence. Chunks of stones and debris littered the area. There was nothing left.

We started making our way back to the spot where Sakaguchi told us he was waiting. I didn't dismantle the curtain, knowing that if the public eye were to see this, it'll spark unnecessary attention and questions. Principal Yaga will probably send out sorcerers in a few days to resolve the issues anyways.

"You're heavy." His attempt at cheering me up I supposed.

I weakly bonked his shoulder, "I almost died."

"…I know."

I'm sorry.

Sakaguchi rushed to our sides when he saw us approach out of the Red Light District with me piggy-riding on Gojo.

"Are you both alright?" He asked in alarm. "What happened?"

We spent the next few minutes briefly recapping the events, explaining the cursed spirits motives and abilities. When it came to the part where I almost died, I flew past the details, not wanting to worry Sakaguchi any longer. Gojo glanced at me a little disapprovingly as I downplayed my death and excused the piggy-ride by explaining I felt too lazy to walk. I stared at him, silently conveying with my eyes to let it go.

"It's a relief both of you didn't receive life-threatening injuries. Let's head back to the hotel." He pulled out the keys to the car.

When we arrived back at the hotel, my strength had mostly returned and I was able to walk by myself. Sakaguchi left us with instructions and once again praised us before leaving for his room. "I need to report to the headmaster of your findings and let him know that sorcerers are needed to clean up the area and to do damage control. Both of you rest up now, you guys did a good job today. We'll be leaving at noon tomorrow so make you start packing as well."

We nodded and I turned to enter my room when my stomach unleashed what was the most powerful growl anyone has ever heard in the entire universe.

Gojo blankly peered at me over his glasses, not knowing how to respond.

"I uh—" I mumbled embarrassingly, not meeting his eyes. What lovely timing my stomach has. "Umm I'm gonna—"

He chuckled, "you literally have the most perfect timing. Meet me at the front lobby after cleaning yourself up. We're leaving."

"To where?" I lifted a brow.

"Didn't I say Osaka was the powerhouse of street food?"

We wove around the streets of Dotonbori district near Namba Station,squeezing through the crowd of people lined up for the street food. The mixed concoction of fried foods swirled the night air and the shouting of people advertising their foods brought anticipation to my empty stomach.

Our bodies first gravitated towards the iconic food of Osaka: Takoyaki. I swear to God, those were the best I had in a long time and I had a few in my lifetime. We toured around the tightly packed streets, stopping by food stalls one after the other. Okonomiyaki, kushikatsu, oden, yakitori, shumai, butaman, gyoza, yakisoba, croquette, and that didn't even include desserts. We took a fifteen minute break then ventured out again for the sweets. Taiyaki, daifuku, green tea crepes, dango, dorayaki, fluffy cheesecake, and pudding. It was astonishing how we managed to fit all of those inside our stomach. But if you really want to eat something, your stomach will make room for it. I promise you.

We wandered to a nearby park and found a bench to finish our last dessert.

"You can't be the same person that was vomiting blood an hour ago." Gojo scooped his last spoonful of pudding.

I swallowed a mouthful of the dessert. "I was hungry, leave me alone!"

"You know I will never do that." He teased.

I rolled my eyes and stood up, swiping his empty cup of pudding, "I'm going to go wash my hands."

While leaving the restroom, I spotted an elderly man selling wagashi and instantly my mind wandered to them. Did father do anything to them yet? How were they? Does mother still walk the cherry blossom garden without me? How much did Noritoshi grow? Was Chitose still forgetting to turn off the lights in the storage room? Something stabbed at my heart. It had only been a few months but I missed them very much. When will I be ready to return?

I felt my legs move on their own. "Excuse me, may I have two of the strawberry flavored ones?"

By the time I came back, I arrived to see Gojo watching the crescent moon with another foreign expression on his face. It was… loneliness, I think. Which seemed absurd because at this stage of his life, he still had Suguru. He still had all of us. There was this certain glint in his eyes, it was fleeting but definitely there.

How does it feel to know you are the strongest? Do people even treat you like a human?

In my opinion, his goofy personality is just a fake persona. A coping mechanism. An act he puts up in order not to let others get too close to him. Even his powers are perfectly suited for keeping others away. Always within reach but never really touching; a metaphor for his entire existence.

Despite being an extroverted and easy-going person, he is one of the loneliest. In the series, he stated that Suguru was the only friend that he's ever had. Although they fought, although Suguru became a curse user, although Satoru had to kill him, in the end, he still thought of him as a best friend. He met Suguru when they were probably equally strong and Suguru often humbled him by challenging him. When he became the strongest, no sorcerer matched his strength anymore. None of them were at his level or tried to understand him, so there was always this space between him and everyone around him. Nobody viewed him as an equal. Everyone besides his schoolmates and teachers admired him to the point where they chose to ignore his flaws.

We know nothing about his family, only that he's the head of the clan. Like I mentioned before, having the limitless and the six eyes must've put a lot of pressure on him as a child. He never really got to experience a normal childhood because of that and when he was born, people either saw him as their savior or their enemy.

He who wears the crown, endures its weight.

People never viewed him as a human being who has feelings and flaws (besides Suguru). Even Toji called him a monster.

It alienates him.

It dehumanizes him.

When he realized I was approaching, he quickly slouched into the bench, all traces of his previous demeanor gone.

"Oi, what took you so long? Did you take a dump?"

"You seriously have no filter for anyone."

He shrugged. "I'm just being honest."

There was a lengthy pause between us.

"Are you really, though?" I quietly asked.

He instantly picked up on the changed atmosphere.

"This might be really out of the blue but..." I placed the strawberry wagashi in his hands. "To me, you are Gojo Satoru: a teammate, a friend. No matter what they say or think, in the end, you are just Satoru to me. So, be honest with me, will you?"

Your silence is deafening. Stop and just talk to me, please.

The soft moonlight reflected against his jewel-like eyes as they searched my face for any indication of a lie. But there were none. And once again, his eyes were difficult to decipher.

Had I overstepped boundaries? It was certainly not my intention to do so.

"…Satoru?"

He blinked. "Nothing. You look kinda ugly today." Then took a bite out of the wagashi.

I smiled, "you even more."

AN: The end had a little bit of character analysis on Gojo. I really think he is such a lonely character especially after Suguru betrayed/left him and I find it a little annoying to see how popular he is but some people don't really take the time to truly understand him. He's more than a comical-OP character and I hope people realize how well written he is lol Anyways, thanks for the reviews and follows